*Spoilers Ahead*
The pieces fall into place this week as The Walking Dead prepares for it’s 90-minute season finale and things don’t look the greatest going into it.
Last week, we ended with Carol leaving the group due to her guilt over having to kill and we continue that thread a little this week as we see Carol encounter some Saviors. Carol goes back to the “scared housewife” act but it seems like a less obvious act this week. She pleads with them to not kill her but it seems more like she doesn’t want to be forced to take them down. This Carol plotline is the first time in a while that Carol has felt like she was being pushed in a direction by the writer’s and not naturally following a character arc.
If there was a major problem with “East” that would be it right there, it feels like a lot of what happens is happening not because the characters would do it but because the writer’s need them to get in their places for the finale. The show has done this many times before, especially in it’s earlier seasons, and the main problem I’ve always had with it is it makes our main cast look stupid. Why would Rick let a bunch of his heavy hitters leave the community, knowing full well that The Saviors are planning something, in search of Daryl and then go after Carol as well.
I suppose it can be written off with Rick seemingly getting overconfident in his group’s abilities. He seems unconcerned with the possibility of a huge attack because he believes his people are prepared for it, despite the fact that they now no longer have a doctor. Rick’s overconfidence has been building and it’s clearly leading to a big fall but that isn’t the major concern when he and Morgan go out in search of Carol.
Morgan had been positioned earlier in the season as one side of the morality coin that Rick kept flipping between, with Carol on the other side, but with Carol feeling the weight of her previous actions Morgan decides to bring his points to Rick. The conversations between Morgan and Rick are the best part of the episode and I’ll be very happy, if also very surprised, if Morgan manages to make it out of the next episode alive. He seems to be set up this week as a martyr for Rick’s eventual progression to the “all live’s are precious” side.
Finally, we have Daryl, who is upset with Denise’s death because the man who caused it, Dwight, is alive thanks to him. Daryl running off on his own makes sense but having Glenn, Rosita, and Michonne follow after him seems too much like setting up the pieces for the finale, especially once they get captured by Dwight. The fact that Dwight and his men were easily dispatched last week and yet manage to capture Daryl and friends is a major problem that has been building thanks to the characters taking out the Saviors at every turn. The numbers have been skewed in our group’s favor for so long that it seems less like tactical thinking that gets Dwight his victory and more blind luck.
Still things are destined to go from bad to worse from here, Negan is on his way and the whole season has been building to his arrival. Our heroes have been built up as unstoppable and next week, we find out how true that turns out to be.
Bits ‘n Piece
- “The world’s ours,” okay Rick we get it, you think nothing can beat you.
- I’ll never be able to dislike anything when it’s set to Johnny Cash.
- Maggie also collapses from pains at the end of the episode so expect that to be followed up next week as well.
- God, could they have picked a worse cliche than the “someone gets shot, fade to black,” trick?
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