*Spoilers Ahead*
After the non-stop pace of the first three episodes this season it was time for The Walking Dead to take a step back and lower the tension. After giving us the lowdown on Morgan last week we head back to Alexandria this week and things aren’t looking great.
Rick returns but brings a bunch of zombies to the gate and the already tense Alexandrians now have to deal with the possible threat of the zombies coming in. “Now” spends a good majority of it’s time focusing on the Alexandrians and their story seems to be learning how to survive in this new world after being sheltered for so long. While that’s all well and good, the problem is that most of the Alexandrians aren’t very well-developed leading to the majority of the episode feeling a little boring.
The other problem is that most of these characters are still not being very well-defined. Deanna was, arguably, the most defined Alexandrian last season but even her story here seems dull as she deals with her son Spencer and his growing resentment towards the her way of leading. It might be strictly because of Spencer not being all that interesting but I think it also has to do with the dissolution of Deanna’s character. Deanna last season was a strong leader and someone who could seemingly go head-to-head with Rick but in attempting to show her grief over her husband’s death the show has actually managed to make her a less interesting character to watch. She’s no longer capable of even standing up to her son let alone Rick.
In fact, the only truly interesting plotline resolving around the Alexandrians this week deals with the new doctor, Denise. Denise’s plotline isn’t all that different than the one she got in “JSS” but it works because Denise manages to feel like a real human being and her budding romance with Tara is all kinds of adorable.
Elsewhere, the show continues to show and tell us how Rick is right about pretty much everything and even when he’s wrong people will go out of their way to defend him, as Aaron does early in the episode. I understand the writer’s need to make sure we still root for the main hero of the show but it’s okay for the hero to be wrong, he’s only human. All in all, it ends up being a great week for Rick. Sure there’s a ton of zombies just waiting to get inside the community but he gets to hook up with Jessie and Deanna, point blank, tells him he should be leading Alexandria. Sure, there are plenty of folks who don’t seem fond of him but, as we’ve seen, they’ll all die quick when the time comes.
The absence of Glenn is played up tonight in probably the strongest story in the episode with Maggie and Aaron, both dealing with their own problems, teaming up to attempt to go find Glenn. They never actually make it out to find him as Maggie decides it’s better to have faith that he’ll be back.
“Now” ends up being the first real misstep in this season and while I’m sure the show will bounce back I’m just hoping it decides to give us a reason to care about more of these people next time we focus on them.
Bits ‘n Pieces
- My “Glenn isn’t showing up til the mid-season finale” theory is pretty much a guarantee at this point. I don’t really see them checking in on him until he shows up to help the Alexandrians or something.
- No Carol!?! Seriously, shouldn’t we have at least had a scene talking about her? Nobody apparently batted an eye at her suddenly going into warrior mode.
- I’m not sure Rick should really trust Ron with a gun but he seems pretty oblivious to the whole thing.
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