*Spoilers Ahead*
Last season of The Walking Dead ended with an elongated finale that felt needlessly drawn out in a few spots. For the premiere of it’s sixth season, the show once again expands it’s timeslot but also starts with quite possibly it’s biggest set piece ever.
Rick and his group, including a few Alexandrians, are preparing to lure a large group of walkers out of a quarry that they’ve been trapped in, presumably by The Wolves and take them on a path away from Alexandria. The plan itself is one that sounds good until you think about all the ways it could go wrong but I’ll give the show the benefit of the doubt because, for good or bad, Rick isn’t exactly known for thinking through his plans.
“First Time Again” manages to start the season in the right direction by taking the time, in between the luring, to give a lot of the characters a moment to show where they’re at and where they might be heading this season.
Naturally, Rick is the biggest focus as his mindset is examined in great detail this week. Rick has essentially been given free reign by a grief-stricken Deanna and that doesn’t sit well with everyone, particularly Carter. Carter doesn’t trust Rick, mainly because he just watched him shoot a man he knew in the face, but he also goes about it all wrong by actively planning to take down Rick. Not a smart idea when you just saw how insane the guy is.
The episode really shines in it’s focus on the relationship between Morgan and Rick. Lennie James presence on the show is welcome as Morgan brings a light touch to handling Rick’s crazier tendencies these days. The scene on the porch where Rick explains how he wanted to kill Carter because people like him shouldn’t still be alive is a great showcase for both James and Andrew Lincoln.
Elsewhere, Glenn is once again having to work with Nicholas and, rightly so, is reluctant to trust him with anything. The dynamic here works well as Nicholas attempts to redeem himself, most likely before biting it in the next few episodes and Glenn gets to show why he’s still the nicest guy in the zombie apocalypse.
We’re also treated to a few brief scenes with Abraham and Sasha, mainly to show us that Sasha still isn’t one hundred percent mentally, luckily for her, Abraham doesn’t appear to be either. As ridiculous as his character can be at times, I still love Michael Cudlitz’s portrayal of him as this manic ball of manliness who is clearly masking deep emotional issues, as all truly manly people do.
The episode also decides to switch things up by going black-and-white for the flashbacks in this episode. While I’m not huge on the device it was a nice change of pace as well as a solid shout out to the show’s comic origins.
Overall, this season of The Walking Dead is off to a very good start and it looks like things are only going to get more hectic for our survivors as we move along.
Bits ‘n Pieces
- Eugene also gets some time to shine as he tries to talk hairdos with newcomer, Heath and then walks in on Carter talking to others about taking down Rick. I hope we keep seeing more of him.
- Maggie continues to have odd character motivations when she calls Tara “one of the most important people to me.” Although if it’s all building up to Glenn getting it on with both of them then it will be worth it.
- Not much Carl this week as we see a shot of him holding hands with that girl whose name I’ve already forgotten and that’s about it.
- Also a shocking lack of Carol this week, correct this now show!
- “I’m supposed to be delivering pizzas, man.”
Jesse Swanson is a would-be writer, podcaster and funny guy who covers TV shows of all shapes and sizes. You can find him on Twitter @JesseSwanson