directed by Jennifer Lynch
written by Matthew Negrete
THIS REVIEW IS SPOILER-FILLED FROM THE VERY BEGINNING. ANYONE WISHING TO AVOID SPOILERS IS ADVISED TO AVOID READING IT
The rottenness of Alexandria is slowly exposed to Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and his group as it is revealed exactly what their secret to survival is: the willingness to abandon their own people in the name of self-preservation. This occurs on two separate occasions. In one, Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) is assigned by Alexandria's community leader Deanna Monroe (Tovah Feldshuh) to work on construction of the expansion of Alexandria's walls. During construction, the group are attacked by walkers, and in the ensuing firefight, their lookout, Francine (Dahlia Legault), is knocked from her perch by a stray bullet. To Abraham's surprise, the foreman, Tobin (Jason Douglas) orders his men to stand down instead of trying to save Francine. Abraham intervenes and inspires the other construction workers to help, to Tobin's embarrassment. It is later on Tobin's recommendation to Deanna that Abraham gets the job of foreman.
The second instance, however, is much more gruesome as Glenn (Steven Yeun) goes on a supply run with Noah (Tyler James Williams), Tara (Alanna Masterson), Eugene (Josh McDermitt), Aiden (Daniel Bonjour) and Nicholas (Michael Traynor). In particular, they require replacement parts for their solar panels to keep the power grid running, so they head to a fairly large warehouse. There is an abundance of walkers in several areas in and around the warehouse, but the group is well-armed and reasonably careful, until Aiden, in dispatching a walker that was once a soldier, accidentally shoots a grenade on his body, causing an explosion in the warehouse, as a result of which all hell breaks loose. Tara is gravely wounded, Aiden is impaled and eventually eaten by the walkers, and in their efforts to escape, Glenn and Noah are abandoned by Nicholas, resulting in Noah's grisly death, which Glenn witnesses, horrified, from behind a revolving glass door. Eugene finds the courage his character has not had since he was introduced, and saves both Tara and the remainder of the group by running to get the van and distracting the walkers.
Meanwhile, Rick investigates the destruction of Jessie's (Alexandra Breckenridge) owl statue, while Carol (Melissa McBride) has an unexpected visitor in Sam (Major Dodson), Jessie's son, who caught Carol stealing guns from Alexandria's storage and whom Carol threatened to feed to walkers if he told. From her snippets of conversation with Sam, and a brief visit to his house in which Jessie's husband Pete (Corey Brill), refuses Carol's request to talk to Jessie, Carol deduces that Pete is beating Jessie and possibly Sam, and tells Rick he must kill him.
Meanwhile, Fr. Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) the Episcopalian minister whom the group saved from certain death at the beginning of the season, has a little heart-to-heart talk with Deanna in which he does not exactly have kind words for Rick and his group.
I haven't been this disturbed by a character's death since Lizzie (Brighton Sharbino) killed her sister Mika (Kyla Kennedy) back in season 4. Noah's extremely graphic demise as he is ripped apart by walkers is arguably the most gruesome death that has befallen anyone who has belonged to Rick's group since the series began.
What makes Noah's death truly disturbing, though, is that even though the character has only been around for a few episodes, it really seemed as though the writers had plans for him, especially in view of the fact that Beth sacrificed her life for him. It also seemed as though Nicholas, the character whose cowardice and refusal to work together with Glenn in extricating them from the revolving door in which the three of them had found themselves trapped, was simply going to get his comeuppance and that would be that, so Noah's death felt a bit out of left field, thus adding to the shock. Even from a cynical standpoint I figured that, as a black man and one with a limp at that, Noah's days were always numbered, but I didn't figure they would kill him so soon, and so brutally. The actor who played him never even made it to the opening title crawl. He never even had a full-blown story arc.
Finally, a bit of the dialogue exchanges between Nicholas and Aiden, just before the group abandoned their futile attempts to pull him off the wreckage on which he had been impaled, disclosed that this was the way of Alexandria: to leave their own people behind. This was also reflected in Tobin's reaction to Francine's falling helpless into the midst of walkers. Noah was a victim of that very philosophy, and Glenn nearly was too. It was scarce gratification or consolation to see Glenn catch up with and beat up Nicholas as the latter tried to commandeer the van from Eugene, whose redemptive arc was probably the sole positive note in this unrelentingly bleak episode.
I wasn't angry at Noah's death, because unlike that of Beth and later, Tyreese, it didn't feel pointless or badly written, but I was genuinely, deeply shaken. I think it's to the writer's credit that I honestly could not feel the anger or disgust that punctuated my viewing of "What Happened and What's Going On" but actual shock and sadness.
Still, it's hard to blame the people furiously calling the show's writers racist. After all, three black men have been killed in the course of the season, and four "minority" characters given that Beth, as a woman, also occupied a position of somewhat less privilege than, say, Rick or Daryl (Norman Reedus). One writer even reportedly stated in an interview that Beth was killed to help Daryl develop as a character which, if true, makes them unbelievably crass. By betraying the group at the end of the episode, Father Gabriel has, I would think, basically marked himself for death, too, which would make him the fourth black man to die over sixteen episodes (though notably, he did something similar in the comics and is still around). If Morgan (Lennie James), who has been tailing Rick's group since he reappeared early in Season 5, finally joins up with them in Alexandria, he had better stay with them for a loooooong time.
Daryl makes a brief appearance in this episode, having settled into his new job as recruiter, but Carl (Chandler Riggs) and Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green) are absent. They have their own running story lines brewing, and they are sure to come to a head in the two remaining episodes, especially considering that the last one will be ninety minutes long.
With two episodes left in the season, there are still plenty of unanswered questions. What is really going on between Pete and Jessie? Why does the reclusive teenager Enid (Katelyn Nacon) sneak out of Alexandria periodically, and what is she hiding? Who carved the "W" on the forehead of the walker Carol killed while she was meeting outside Alexandria with Rick and Daryl? Who was the group of psychopaths who cut the residents of Noah's decimated Atlanta community in half and left the zombified top halves stuffed in a truck? Who are the "Wolves?"
The answers to many, if not all of these questions will, if this episode is any indication, most likely be drenched in blood.
8.5/10
Monday, March 16, 2015
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
The Order of the Day: Sexual Tension (A Review of "Forget," Episode 13 of Season 5 of "The Walking Dead") (mild spoilers)
directed by David Boyd
written by Corey Reed
After several episodes on the road, Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and his group of survivors still find themselves trying to settle into Alexandria. Community leader Deanna Monroe (Tovah Feldshuh) invites them all to a party. Aaron (Ross Marquand) reaches out to Daryl (Norman Reedus) the one member of the group who adamantly refuses to mingle, while the two of them are out hunting. Rick dispatches Carol (Melissa McBride), who has effectively packaged herself as harmless, to find out where the Alexandria folk have hidden their guns and sneak out a few, which she does, and Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green) who has lost both her boyfriend Bob (Lawrence Gilliard, Jr.) and her brother Tyreese (Chad Coleman) in the course of the season, still grapples with her grief and rage. There's a little bit of walker-slicing action here as Daryl and Aaron attempt to tame a wild horse, only to run afoul of several of the undead.
This episode had a slightly more relaxed vibe than the last one. There was none of the hostility that marked the last episode, such as the late scuffle between Glenn and the self-appointed alpha male Aiden Monroe (Daniel Bonjour), though Rick's secret "council of leaders" meeting with Daryl and Carol, and her consequent gun-retrieval errand shows that the group are far from relaxed.
The bigger surprise, actually was the sexual tension aspect that played out over the show.
The more overt manifestation was when a slightly inebriated Rick stealing a kiss on the cheek from the married Jessie (Alexandra Breckenridge), who seems more than willing to reciprocate the brewing affection. This basically continues a narrative thread subtly opened during the last episode when the very-friendly Jessie greeted Rick with supplies and cut his hair. The somewhat frosty interaction between Rick and Jessie's husband Pete (Corey Brill) later that episode seemed to set the tone for things to come, and this episode takes things a bit further. Readers of the comic book series may recognize this particular plot thread and recall how it plays out, though of course the show is often pretty well-known from deviating substantially from the comics. What I found more interesting was that basically the show's writers seem to have no qualms about casting Rick as the wife-stealing bad guy in this scenario. While I'm willing to cut Rick some slack given what he's been through and the probable fact that he hasn't had any sex whatsoever since his wife Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) was killed off several seasons ago, I can't help but wonder how far from grace the show's writers are willing to let him fall.
Perhaps even more interesting, however, is the dynamic between Daryl and, of all people, Aaron, with whom he spent majority of this episode. Aaron spends most of that time trying his best to connect with the distant, hostile Daryl. From his Aaron's openly expressed admiration for Daryl's skills as a tracker, to his act of inviting him to join him and his lover Eric (Jordan Woods-Robinson) for spaghetti dinner, to his act of gifting Daryl with a motorcycle, to finally, his act of offering Daryl a job as Alexandria's new recruiter, it seems pretty clear that, at the very least, Aaron is interested in sparking a friendship with Daryl. Call me malicious, though, but I cannot help but wonder if there's something more to it than that, at least on Aaron's part. He would be the second new character apparently willing to two-time their longtime companion, though his union with Eric seems a rather happy one, in contrast to Jessie's somewhat strained marriage to Pete.
Romantic implications aside, though, Daryl's budding friendship with Aaron, platonic or otherwise, may nonetheless have a direct impact on how things unfold in the remainder of the season. Rick and Carol remain cautious as ever, and when the two of them and Daryl congregate outside the walls of Alexandria and Carol hands out the guns she has filched from storage, Daryl turns down the one offered to him. This represents a seismic shift in his character; from the least open, most suspicious member of the group, almost overnight Daryl has turned into the one of the most eager to embrace his new life without reservation. I'm not criticizing the writers for this; I think it's a bold move and I hope it pays off well. It really helps that Daryl does not exist in the comics because now there's no telling where his story could eventually go. I used to think that killing him was one of the most important things the show could do with his character but now that the show has opened up the possibility of him turning against his longtime traveling companions, I realize that there are so many other possibilities.
And then there's the mystery of the walker Carol shot outside Alexandria with the letter "w" carved into its forehead, something which will no doubt figure when the season reaches its climax.
As the fifth season nears its end I realize that the show has settled into a routine of sorts; every season-ender is punctuated by violent upheaval or something truly terrifying. Season one ended with the destruction of the center for disease control, season two ended with the destruction of Hershel's farm, season three ended with the destruction of the prison, and season four ended with the group being held captive by cannibals, and only because, at the time, the group didn't have a home or base of operations to destroy. What makes things interesting after all this time is observing the permutations and watching how things will play out once the climax rolls around.
The problem is, though, that time around, though, the show's writers have squandered quite a bit of the "shock value" of any of the deaths, with three important character deaths in the course of the season, two of which felt utterly pointless. This could blunt the impact of any lives that may be taken at the all-important season climax, unless some really important lives are taken.
Still, I must credit them for managing to build up some real tension for the finale in three weeks' time.
Dan dan daaaaaaan....
8.8/10
written by Corey Reed
After several episodes on the road, Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and his group of survivors still find themselves trying to settle into Alexandria. Community leader Deanna Monroe (Tovah Feldshuh) invites them all to a party. Aaron (Ross Marquand) reaches out to Daryl (Norman Reedus) the one member of the group who adamantly refuses to mingle, while the two of them are out hunting. Rick dispatches Carol (Melissa McBride), who has effectively packaged herself as harmless, to find out where the Alexandria folk have hidden their guns and sneak out a few, which she does, and Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green) who has lost both her boyfriend Bob (Lawrence Gilliard, Jr.) and her brother Tyreese (Chad Coleman) in the course of the season, still grapples with her grief and rage. There's a little bit of walker-slicing action here as Daryl and Aaron attempt to tame a wild horse, only to run afoul of several of the undead.
This episode had a slightly more relaxed vibe than the last one. There was none of the hostility that marked the last episode, such as the late scuffle between Glenn and the self-appointed alpha male Aiden Monroe (Daniel Bonjour), though Rick's secret "council of leaders" meeting with Daryl and Carol, and her consequent gun-retrieval errand shows that the group are far from relaxed.
The bigger surprise, actually was the sexual tension aspect that played out over the show.
The more overt manifestation was when a slightly inebriated Rick stealing a kiss on the cheek from the married Jessie (Alexandra Breckenridge), who seems more than willing to reciprocate the brewing affection. This basically continues a narrative thread subtly opened during the last episode when the very-friendly Jessie greeted Rick with supplies and cut his hair. The somewhat frosty interaction between Rick and Jessie's husband Pete (Corey Brill) later that episode seemed to set the tone for things to come, and this episode takes things a bit further. Readers of the comic book series may recognize this particular plot thread and recall how it plays out, though of course the show is often pretty well-known from deviating substantially from the comics. What I found more interesting was that basically the show's writers seem to have no qualms about casting Rick as the wife-stealing bad guy in this scenario. While I'm willing to cut Rick some slack given what he's been through and the probable fact that he hasn't had any sex whatsoever since his wife Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) was killed off several seasons ago, I can't help but wonder how far from grace the show's writers are willing to let him fall.
Perhaps even more interesting, however, is the dynamic between Daryl and, of all people, Aaron, with whom he spent majority of this episode. Aaron spends most of that time trying his best to connect with the distant, hostile Daryl. From his Aaron's openly expressed admiration for Daryl's skills as a tracker, to his act of inviting him to join him and his lover Eric (Jordan Woods-Robinson) for spaghetti dinner, to his act of gifting Daryl with a motorcycle, to finally, his act of offering Daryl a job as Alexandria's new recruiter, it seems pretty clear that, at the very least, Aaron is interested in sparking a friendship with Daryl. Call me malicious, though, but I cannot help but wonder if there's something more to it than that, at least on Aaron's part. He would be the second new character apparently willing to two-time their longtime companion, though his union with Eric seems a rather happy one, in contrast to Jessie's somewhat strained marriage to Pete.
Romantic implications aside, though, Daryl's budding friendship with Aaron, platonic or otherwise, may nonetheless have a direct impact on how things unfold in the remainder of the season. Rick and Carol remain cautious as ever, and when the two of them and Daryl congregate outside the walls of Alexandria and Carol hands out the guns she has filched from storage, Daryl turns down the one offered to him. This represents a seismic shift in his character; from the least open, most suspicious member of the group, almost overnight Daryl has turned into the one of the most eager to embrace his new life without reservation. I'm not criticizing the writers for this; I think it's a bold move and I hope it pays off well. It really helps that Daryl does not exist in the comics because now there's no telling where his story could eventually go. I used to think that killing him was one of the most important things the show could do with his character but now that the show has opened up the possibility of him turning against his longtime traveling companions, I realize that there are so many other possibilities.
And then there's the mystery of the walker Carol shot outside Alexandria with the letter "w" carved into its forehead, something which will no doubt figure when the season reaches its climax.
As the fifth season nears its end I realize that the show has settled into a routine of sorts; every season-ender is punctuated by violent upheaval or something truly terrifying. Season one ended with the destruction of the center for disease control, season two ended with the destruction of Hershel's farm, season three ended with the destruction of the prison, and season four ended with the group being held captive by cannibals, and only because, at the time, the group didn't have a home or base of operations to destroy. What makes things interesting after all this time is observing the permutations and watching how things will play out once the climax rolls around.
The problem is, though, that time around, though, the show's writers have squandered quite a bit of the "shock value" of any of the deaths, with three important character deaths in the course of the season, two of which felt utterly pointless. This could blunt the impact of any lives that may be taken at the all-important season climax, unless some really important lives are taken.
Still, I must credit them for managing to build up some real tension for the finale in three weeks' time.
Dan dan daaaaaaan....
8.8/10
Saturday, March 7, 2015
A Review of "Remember" Episode 12 of The Walking Dead Season 5
directed by Greg Nicotero
written by Channing Powell
This episode, Alexandria is introduced in earnest as Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and the other survivors are welcomed into Aaron's community. Of course, given the succession of hellish experiences Rick's group has endured since the governor destroyed the prison back in season 4, it's perfectly understandable that they have trouble assimilating into a new community, but they all know they need this, and it is this underlying knowledge, helped along by the patient prodding of community leader and former Congresswoman Deanna Monroe (Tovah Feldshuh), that spurs them to give it the old college try.
Monroe has thought of everything for them; housing, "stress debriefing" in the form of taped interviews, and jobs. Carl (Chandler Rigg) meets kids his own age, and tries to be a "normal kid" again. Carol (Melissa McBride), during her interview, keeps quiet about her violent, warrior-woman life and packages herself more as a den mother, which results in her getting a job as a caregiver for old people. Glenn (Steven Yeun) gets recruited to go on supply runs by Monroe's son, Aiden (Daniel Bonjour), and Rick and Michonne (Danai Gurira) are offered jobs as the community's police officers. Rick even finally shaves himself and gets a haircut from a comely resident named Jessie (Alexandra Breckenridge), who, it is disclosed later in the episode, happens to be married.
Daryl (Norman Reedus) remains aloof and on edge.
Settling down proves difficult, however. Carl is restless, and voices concern to his father than living there could make them weak. Glenn's supply run with Aiden sours quite quickly when Aiden's "pre-game" ritual, which involves chaining up walkers and tormenting them, nearly costs Tara (Alanna Masterson)her life and which ends with Glenn getting into a brief scuffle with Aiden, ultimately getting the better of him, and with Daryl getting involved in the fight as well against Aiden's lieutenant. Rick breaks it all up, though.
Out of caution, the entire group sleeps in the same house despite being offered two very large houses to sleep in. In the end, though Monroe respects Rick's decisions, but that doesn't make him any less wary of what could happen.
What impressed me about the writing of this show was how efficiently writer Channing Powell sets up what is certain to be a hell of a season finale, it strikes me that not a single minute here is wasted on the extended conversations that have irked enough people over the years to earn this show the nickname "The Talking Dead." Every conversation leads to something. Every moment of silence is pregnant with possibility. The show's writers have laid their cards on the table, and are clearly setting up a doozy of a season finale. It strikes me that there is no "bait and switch" here like there was in Season 4, when the beacon of hope that was Terminus turned out to be another nightmare; it's fairly clear that the crap is going to hit the fan, and soon.
What I particularly liked about this season was how it focused on the "core group" or the Season 1 vets and Michonne. The more obvious indicator of this is that it's only the season 1 veterans (and Michonne) whose video interviews are played throughout the episode, though one presumes they all went through the process. It also hews fairly closely to the comic book version of this story, though Deanna Monroe was originally Douglas, and a couple of characters were a little different (and Andrea, unlike her televised counterpart, was still alive). It's indicative of how important that story was to the group that the people behind the show endeavored to reproduce those scenes as faithfully as possible.
Of course, Daryl Dixon remains the wildcard here, not having been part of that story at all. I've already said my piece on how important I think Daryl Dixon's death could be to this series, but if the show runners are ready to pull (or have already pulled) that particular trigger, they aren't letting anything on right now.
I don't know what's coming in the last few episodes of this season, but to my mind "Remember" does a hell of a job setting us up for a wham bang finale.
8.8/10
written by Channing Powell
This episode, Alexandria is introduced in earnest as Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and the other survivors are welcomed into Aaron's community. Of course, given the succession of hellish experiences Rick's group has endured since the governor destroyed the prison back in season 4, it's perfectly understandable that they have trouble assimilating into a new community, but they all know they need this, and it is this underlying knowledge, helped along by the patient prodding of community leader and former Congresswoman Deanna Monroe (Tovah Feldshuh), that spurs them to give it the old college try.
Monroe has thought of everything for them; housing, "stress debriefing" in the form of taped interviews, and jobs. Carl (Chandler Rigg) meets kids his own age, and tries to be a "normal kid" again. Carol (Melissa McBride), during her interview, keeps quiet about her violent, warrior-woman life and packages herself more as a den mother, which results in her getting a job as a caregiver for old people. Glenn (Steven Yeun) gets recruited to go on supply runs by Monroe's son, Aiden (Daniel Bonjour), and Rick and Michonne (Danai Gurira) are offered jobs as the community's police officers. Rick even finally shaves himself and gets a haircut from a comely resident named Jessie (Alexandra Breckenridge), who, it is disclosed later in the episode, happens to be married.
Daryl (Norman Reedus) remains aloof and on edge.
Settling down proves difficult, however. Carl is restless, and voices concern to his father than living there could make them weak. Glenn's supply run with Aiden sours quite quickly when Aiden's "pre-game" ritual, which involves chaining up walkers and tormenting them, nearly costs Tara (Alanna Masterson)her life and which ends with Glenn getting into a brief scuffle with Aiden, ultimately getting the better of him, and with Daryl getting involved in the fight as well against Aiden's lieutenant. Rick breaks it all up, though.
Out of caution, the entire group sleeps in the same house despite being offered two very large houses to sleep in. In the end, though Monroe respects Rick's decisions, but that doesn't make him any less wary of what could happen.
What impressed me about the writing of this show was how efficiently writer Channing Powell sets up what is certain to be a hell of a season finale, it strikes me that not a single minute here is wasted on the extended conversations that have irked enough people over the years to earn this show the nickname "The Talking Dead." Every conversation leads to something. Every moment of silence is pregnant with possibility. The show's writers have laid their cards on the table, and are clearly setting up a doozy of a season finale. It strikes me that there is no "bait and switch" here like there was in Season 4, when the beacon of hope that was Terminus turned out to be another nightmare; it's fairly clear that the crap is going to hit the fan, and soon.
What I particularly liked about this season was how it focused on the "core group" or the Season 1 vets and Michonne. The more obvious indicator of this is that it's only the season 1 veterans (and Michonne) whose video interviews are played throughout the episode, though one presumes they all went through the process. It also hews fairly closely to the comic book version of this story, though Deanna Monroe was originally Douglas, and a couple of characters were a little different (and Andrea, unlike her televised counterpart, was still alive). It's indicative of how important that story was to the group that the people behind the show endeavored to reproduce those scenes as faithfully as possible.
Of course, Daryl Dixon remains the wildcard here, not having been part of that story at all. I've already said my piece on how important I think Daryl Dixon's death could be to this series, but if the show runners are ready to pull (or have already pulled) that particular trigger, they aren't letting anything on right now.
I don't know what's coming in the last few episodes of this season, but to my mind "Remember" does a hell of a job setting us up for a wham bang finale.
8.8/10
Friday, March 6, 2015
A Late Review of "The Distance" or Episode 11 of "The Walking Dead" Season 5
directed by Larysa Kondracki
written by Seth Hoffman
As I write this, I have already seen Episode 13 of "The Walking Dead," but I was so pleased with what I saw that I feel I have to weigh in before moving on to the next episode, or to just do a "two for one" review.
Following the survivors' harrowing experience of wandering for days without transportation, food or water, they again find themselves facing hope once more as the mysterious Aaron (Ross Marquand) comes to them, offering them sanctuary in a community that he swears is safe and sustainable. Having been burned by one unfortunate experience after another with fellow human beings, however, Rick and his group exercise utmost caution, with Rick himself knocking Aaron out while he's making his initial pitch for the group to join his community, and then having Aaron tied up while his group checks out Aaron's claims of having a vehicle big enough for all of them. Later the group tries driving to the camp, using a road other than the one Aaron claims is cleared of walkers, and things go disastrously wrong.
After being bitterly disappointed with the mid-season premiere, I was glad to see an episode as well-written as this one, which is focused primarily on Rick and which draws on all of the years of his character's experience to inform his decisions and his extremely cautious approach to a new situation . My irritation with the episode that turned out to be Tyreese's swansong was how his death was basically brought about by uncharacteristic, badly-written carelessness. Here, Rick is in full-on paranoid mode, which is somewhat understandable considering that it was not too long ago that a place he and his group believed to be friendly and welcoming turned out to be a den of cannibals.
The effectiveness of the writing, though, is down to how well Aaron is presented, helped along by a very sympathetic performance by Marquand. As a viewer, I wanted to believe he was telling the truth, and wanted to hate Rick for his antagonistic attitude...but I couldn't. That was the triumph of this episode; everything Rick's people did was informed by their harsh experience, and it was therefore impossible to blame them for thinking the way they did. At the same time, while a less effective script or performance would have made it easy to dismiss Aaron's promises as yet another too-good-to-be-true utopia, this script, ably realized by Marquand's well-nuanced performance, really sold his pitch effectively.
Time will tell if Aaron's community is the haven he says it is, and if the comics are any basis things will get a whole lot worse before they get better, but whatever happens I am grateful for this episode, which set up the introduction of Alexandria quite effectively.
8/10
written by Seth Hoffman
As I write this, I have already seen Episode 13 of "The Walking Dead," but I was so pleased with what I saw that I feel I have to weigh in before moving on to the next episode, or to just do a "two for one" review.
Following the survivors' harrowing experience of wandering for days without transportation, food or water, they again find themselves facing hope once more as the mysterious Aaron (Ross Marquand) comes to them, offering them sanctuary in a community that he swears is safe and sustainable. Having been burned by one unfortunate experience after another with fellow human beings, however, Rick and his group exercise utmost caution, with Rick himself knocking Aaron out while he's making his initial pitch for the group to join his community, and then having Aaron tied up while his group checks out Aaron's claims of having a vehicle big enough for all of them. Later the group tries driving to the camp, using a road other than the one Aaron claims is cleared of walkers, and things go disastrously wrong.
After being bitterly disappointed with the mid-season premiere, I was glad to see an episode as well-written as this one, which is focused primarily on Rick and which draws on all of the years of his character's experience to inform his decisions and his extremely cautious approach to a new situation . My irritation with the episode that turned out to be Tyreese's swansong was how his death was basically brought about by uncharacteristic, badly-written carelessness. Here, Rick is in full-on paranoid mode, which is somewhat understandable considering that it was not too long ago that a place he and his group believed to be friendly and welcoming turned out to be a den of cannibals.
The effectiveness of the writing, though, is down to how well Aaron is presented, helped along by a very sympathetic performance by Marquand. As a viewer, I wanted to believe he was telling the truth, and wanted to hate Rick for his antagonistic attitude...but I couldn't. That was the triumph of this episode; everything Rick's people did was informed by their harsh experience, and it was therefore impossible to blame them for thinking the way they did. At the same time, while a less effective script or performance would have made it easy to dismiss Aaron's promises as yet another too-good-to-be-true utopia, this script, ably realized by Marquand's well-nuanced performance, really sold his pitch effectively.
Time will tell if Aaron's community is the haven he says it is, and if the comics are any basis things will get a whole lot worse before they get better, but whatever happens I am grateful for this episode, which set up the introduction of Alexandria quite effectively.
8/10
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
A Review of The Walking Dead, Season 5, Episode 10: "Them" (Mild Spoilers)
written by Heather Bellson
directed by Julius Ramsay
After last week's infuriating mid-season debut, last night's episode of the top-rating zombie apocalypse series The Walking Dead slowed things down a bit with an episode that, for the first time in a long time, had the group dealing with issues like hunger, thirst and lack of shelter, as they are forced to walk after their vehicles break down. Still reeling from a succession of shocking deaths, namely those of Bob (Laurence Gilliard Jr.), Beth (Emily Kinney) and Tyreese (Chad Coleman), the group of survivors, in particular Tyreese's sister and Bob's girlfriend Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green), Beth's sister Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Daryl (Norman Reedus) who spent much of season four wandering around with Beth, begin to feel the emotional burden of their collective physical and emotional ordeal, and the ties that bind them become increasingly strained. Suddenly, they are no longer just threatened by walkers or rival humans but by the lack of basic needs for survival, and later, by the elements.
I made no secret of how I felt about last week's episode, which, for all its artsy-fartsy trappings, was basically a sloppily-written kill-off episode. While this new episode is far from my favorite work from the series' creators, for me it improves over the last one in terms of writing, by pitting the characters against the elements and lack of supplies for the first time since, well, possibly, ever. Rick and his group have always been able to find supplies, shelter and provisions with relative ease, even in the tumultuous post-prison episodes that saw the group scattered. Even the late Gareth (Andrew J. West), of the Terminus cannibals, pointedly said to Rick, just before the latter hacked him to death, that he looked like he had never been hungry. Well, this episode changes that, although the writers bail the characters out at the last minute.
There are quite a few "talking dead" moments throughout the narrative, which threaten the overall pacing of the episode at some points, but the good news is that the episode is still chock-full of walkers, especially since the crew spends most of their time out in the open. It was fun to hear Andrew Lincoln's Rick finally say the title of the show after five long years.
All told, however, while the episode does have a few things to say about grief, optimism and the ties that bind (and what can weaken them), I couldn't shake the feeling that it was basically a placeholder of sorts, something to keep the characters busy while the writers set up the next big story arc which, as far as I can tell, officially begins at the very end of the episode.
After the nail-biting cliffhanger of Season 4 led to a season that, to me, has been one disappointment after another, I truly hope this bodes well for my favorite crew of apocalypse survivors.
7/10
Monday, February 9, 2015
A Review of "What Happened and What's Going On" Episode 9 of "The Walking Dead" Season 5 (SPOILER ALERT)
written by Scott Gimple
directed by Greg Nicotero
How do you follow one truly pointless, gratuitous character killing? With another one, only this time, target the most predictable target for extinction, a narrative cliche so old it was a running joke in movies and television years even before they invented the internet meme.
Rick Grimes's (Andrew Lincoln) crew splits up with Rick, Tyreese, Michonne (Danai Gurira), and Glenn (Steven Yeun) taking Noah (Tyler James Williams), the nurse whom the late Beth (Emily Kinney) saved from captivity in the Atlanta hospital before her death, back to his community, which, they hope, could be a safe haven for them as well. Unfortunately, it has been overrun, apparently by other humans, who have left a trail of death and destruction in their wake, leaving Noah despondent. Rick, Michonne and Glenn begin to forage for supplies, while Tyreese attempts to console Noah, who then runs to his house to see what has become of his family. Predictably, they find nothing but death. Curiously, Tyreese, after seeing the shadow of a walker in the house, suddenly and rather inexplicably finds himself transfixed by pictures of Noah's twin brothers, one of whom is lying dead and eviscerated on the bed.
(Spoiler alert)
He then gets bitten by the other twin, just before Noah destroys what was once his brother. Tyreese gets sick, has visions/hallucinations of the ghosts of past characters, then dies.
Yup. They went and killed the black guy.
To be more accurate, they killed off the show's longest running black guy, and the second one this season, after Bob (Lawrence Gilliard Jr.) died earlier this season. I'd be offended if I wasn't so amused. It feels particularly insulting that they killed them almost right after they introduced two new black characters, namely the aforementioned Noah, and an Episcopalian priest named Fr. Gabriel (Seth Gilliam)...almost as if they were replaced. It's like some guy wrote on Twitter: lose a n***a, gain a n***a.
Tyreese was at the heart of some very interesting story threads in this show. His arc, in which he forgave Carol (Melissa McBride) for having killed his girlfriend in the prison back in season 3, was incredibly moving, and the moment he forgave her was the lone bright spot of the unrelentingly dark episode "The Grove" back in season 4. For me, "The Grove" will go down as one of the series' best-written episodes ever, and while Tyreese's death does nothing to change that, I really feel that a character who participated in an episode that important deserved a far better sendoff than this poor excuse for an episode. It would have made more sense had he been killed in a melee with a rival group of humans, especially considering that he wasn't willing to kill any.
Instead, in defiance of all character logic, he allows himself to be distracted in a house where he's ALREADY spotted a walker's shadow, and as a result gets bitten. This is a veteran of two and a half seasons; such carelessness on his part is unforgivably sloppy by the writers. The idiocy of his carelessness is highlighted by the fact that he tells Noah that he will enter the house first, and exercises utmost caution. He lets his guard down for...what? A picture of two kids he's never even met? Was it because they were black? Could this episode have been written any worse?
Considering my last post was about the only death that would really matter to this show, I find myself highly disappointed that the show's writers went for one of the easiest, most obvious targets imaginable, namely the black guy who refused to kill people (humans, that is, not walkers).
I don't care how many dead characters made cameo appearances to "welcome" Tyreese into the afterlife. In fact, I'm even pissed that the writers didn't even think of bringing back Tyreese's dead girlfriend Karen (Melissa Ponzio) for this gratuitous cameo sequence. I don't care if the governor (David Morrissey) showed up again. I don't care if Tyreese's ticket was long overdue for punching. This episode still felt like some shockingly lazy, perfunctory writing, and conjures up images of white guys in suits making the creative decisions.
(End spoiler alert)
There's nice, artsy shot selection and some pleasant, wistful, rustic music playing throughout the episode, which gives it a bittersweet tone. The actors involved pretty much give this episode everything they've got. There are generous helpings of walkers.
I normally appreciate little touches like this. However, this time, none of these things could prevent this episode from leaving a truly terrible taste in my mouth.
4/10
directed by Greg Nicotero
How do you follow one truly pointless, gratuitous character killing? With another one, only this time, target the most predictable target for extinction, a narrative cliche so old it was a running joke in movies and television years even before they invented the internet meme.
Rick Grimes's (Andrew Lincoln) crew splits up with Rick, Tyreese, Michonne (Danai Gurira), and Glenn (Steven Yeun) taking Noah (Tyler James Williams), the nurse whom the late Beth (Emily Kinney) saved from captivity in the Atlanta hospital before her death, back to his community, which, they hope, could be a safe haven for them as well. Unfortunately, it has been overrun, apparently by other humans, who have left a trail of death and destruction in their wake, leaving Noah despondent. Rick, Michonne and Glenn begin to forage for supplies, while Tyreese attempts to console Noah, who then runs to his house to see what has become of his family. Predictably, they find nothing but death. Curiously, Tyreese, after seeing the shadow of a walker in the house, suddenly and rather inexplicably finds himself transfixed by pictures of Noah's twin brothers, one of whom is lying dead and eviscerated on the bed.
(Spoiler alert)
He then gets bitten by the other twin, just before Noah destroys what was once his brother. Tyreese gets sick, has visions/hallucinations of the ghosts of past characters, then dies.
Yup. They went and killed the black guy.
To be more accurate, they killed off the show's longest running black guy, and the second one this season, after Bob (Lawrence Gilliard Jr.) died earlier this season. I'd be offended if I wasn't so amused. It feels particularly insulting that they killed them almost right after they introduced two new black characters, namely the aforementioned Noah, and an Episcopalian priest named Fr. Gabriel (Seth Gilliam)...almost as if they were replaced. It's like some guy wrote on Twitter: lose a n***a, gain a n***a.
Tyreese was at the heart of some very interesting story threads in this show. His arc, in which he forgave Carol (Melissa McBride) for having killed his girlfriend in the prison back in season 3, was incredibly moving, and the moment he forgave her was the lone bright spot of the unrelentingly dark episode "The Grove" back in season 4. For me, "The Grove" will go down as one of the series' best-written episodes ever, and while Tyreese's death does nothing to change that, I really feel that a character who participated in an episode that important deserved a far better sendoff than this poor excuse for an episode. It would have made more sense had he been killed in a melee with a rival group of humans, especially considering that he wasn't willing to kill any.
Instead, in defiance of all character logic, he allows himself to be distracted in a house where he's ALREADY spotted a walker's shadow, and as a result gets bitten. This is a veteran of two and a half seasons; such carelessness on his part is unforgivably sloppy by the writers. The idiocy of his carelessness is highlighted by the fact that he tells Noah that he will enter the house first, and exercises utmost caution. He lets his guard down for...what? A picture of two kids he's never even met? Was it because they were black? Could this episode have been written any worse?
Considering my last post was about the only death that would really matter to this show, I find myself highly disappointed that the show's writers went for one of the easiest, most obvious targets imaginable, namely the black guy who refused to kill people (humans, that is, not walkers).
I don't care how many dead characters made cameo appearances to "welcome" Tyreese into the afterlife. In fact, I'm even pissed that the writers didn't even think of bringing back Tyreese's dead girlfriend Karen (Melissa Ponzio) for this gratuitous cameo sequence. I don't care if the governor (David Morrissey) showed up again. I don't care if Tyreese's ticket was long overdue for punching. This episode still felt like some shockingly lazy, perfunctory writing, and conjures up images of white guys in suits making the creative decisions.
(End spoiler alert)
There's nice, artsy shot selection and some pleasant, wistful, rustic music playing throughout the episode, which gives it a bittersweet tone. The actors involved pretty much give this episode everything they've got. There are generous helpings of walkers.
I normally appreciate little touches like this. However, this time, none of these things could prevent this episode from leaving a truly terrible taste in my mouth.
4/10
Two-For-One: A Review of Daredevil #11 and #12
written by Mark Waid
drawn by Chris Samnee
My favorite creative team working in comics today does it again.
After tangling with a more "classic" villain in the last story arc, Daredevil finds himself dealing with a somewhat different threat in this two-issue story: a motorcycle-riding showboat named Stuntmaster. The problem arises when the original Stuntmaster, George Smith, approaches Matt Murdock and asks him to sue the man currently wearing the costume, who has the backing of a wealthy pharmaceutical company. The problem is that George has no cause of action, given that he sold the rights to the Stuntmaster character several years before. Matt has no choice but to tell George the truth, until he hears that George has killed himself. Matt, as Daredevil, then decides to take the fight to Stuntmaster, who has called him out to perform a very dangerous stunt on the Golden Gate bridge. Things, however, are not quite what they seem...
These two issues weren't quite the home-run for me that the Purple Man storyline was, but they still hit the spot. The first issue is mainly spent setting up the big confrontation for the second, but the payoff is pretty handsome as we get to see Daredevil engaging in quite a few feats of derring-do, like jumping off a bridge and even driving a convertible with his billy clubs while standing up. I think it was Chris Samnee who made a cameo as the driver of the Dodge Charger convertible that DD commandeers.
The story also feels like a bit of filler, given that Waid's already set up a pretty big storyline involving longtime DD villain the Owl, but it's a welcome break from what, if the promotional materials are any indication, looks to be yet another major shakeup for the character. Something to cleanse the palate, so to speak.
I confess, I'm a little worried about this whole impending "Marvel reboot" business because of the implications it might have for this title. Still, Waid and Samnee have had a good, long run on this book even prior to the renumbering, so if they decide to move on, I'm grateful for the exceptional stories they've given for the last three years.
I look forward with bated breath to DD's climactic confrontation with the now supercharged Owl!
8.1/10
drawn by Chris Samnee
My favorite creative team working in comics today does it again.
After tangling with a more "classic" villain in the last story arc, Daredevil finds himself dealing with a somewhat different threat in this two-issue story: a motorcycle-riding showboat named Stuntmaster. The problem arises when the original Stuntmaster, George Smith, approaches Matt Murdock and asks him to sue the man currently wearing the costume, who has the backing of a wealthy pharmaceutical company. The problem is that George has no cause of action, given that he sold the rights to the Stuntmaster character several years before. Matt has no choice but to tell George the truth, until he hears that George has killed himself. Matt, as Daredevil, then decides to take the fight to Stuntmaster, who has called him out to perform a very dangerous stunt on the Golden Gate bridge. Things, however, are not quite what they seem...
These two issues weren't quite the home-run for me that the Purple Man storyline was, but they still hit the spot. The first issue is mainly spent setting up the big confrontation for the second, but the payoff is pretty handsome as we get to see Daredevil engaging in quite a few feats of derring-do, like jumping off a bridge and even driving a convertible with his billy clubs while standing up. I think it was Chris Samnee who made a cameo as the driver of the Dodge Charger convertible that DD commandeers.
The story also feels like a bit of filler, given that Waid's already set up a pretty big storyline involving longtime DD villain the Owl, but it's a welcome break from what, if the promotional materials are any indication, looks to be yet another major shakeup for the character. Something to cleanse the palate, so to speak.
I confess, I'm a little worried about this whole impending "Marvel reboot" business because of the implications it might have for this title. Still, Waid and Samnee have had a good, long run on this book even prior to the renumbering, so if they decide to move on, I'm grateful for the exceptional stories they've given for the last three years.
I look forward with bated breath to DD's climactic confrontation with the now supercharged Owl!
8.1/10
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