10x08 The World Before

[5.6/10] What a pile of mush. These overlong premieres and finales are so often a chore. The Walking Dead regularly struggles with pacing and structure, so giving it extra real estate may make sense for selling time to advertisers, but does not work from a creative standpoint.

So let’s talk about the themes, heavy-handed though they may be, since they’re one of the few quasi-positives in this one. I like the idea of folks like Aaron wondering whether they are building something that lasts, or something that will be washed away by the sands of time. You get that idea in Aaron talking to his daughter, in Judith writing down the events of the community, and even in our heroes visiting the library and seeing the stores of human knowledge.

That’s the broader philosophical conflict between our heroes and The Whisperers. The Whisperers think that nature is retaking civilization, and that giving into the dead is the only way to survive and persist in the new order. Erase your identity. Embrace nothingness. That’s the Whisperer way. But our heroes are aiming for the exact opposite, to build something that can last, to hold onto the scraps of civilization leftover and create a society and a people that will be the first chapter of a much larger story.

Sure, this is The Walking Dead so that’s dramatized with hamfisted monoglues, but still! It’s an interesting idea and one the show hasn’t really explored yet.

The same can’t be said for the “should we trust outsiders or treat them with suspicion?” routine. Dante’s betrayal understandably leaves people out of sorts, wondering how someone who’s been working against them could have lived among them and befriended them and become a part of their community for months and months. The montage at the beginning of the episode does a nice job at explaining the how, but the characters still have to grapple with the why and what it means.

Unfortunately, it leads to the same old “do we close ranks and protect our own, or do we live up to our principles?” debate that the show has been having since, well, at least The Governor arc back in season 3, and arguably from the very beginning. We definitely did it with The Saviors, and I gotta say that I’m just sick of it. You can only peel that apple so many ways, and we’re hitting seeds and core at this point.

We get it. The state of nature means it’s hard to trust people, especially when resources are scarce and there’s conflict. But good lord, we’ve just done this so many times, in so many ways, that the show doesn't really have any new take on it.

What follows makes very little sense. The Dante reveal is an interesting twist less because of the shocking “he was a bad guy the whole time!” pulling of the rug out from under the audience, but more because having a prisoner who betrayed you but could also be useful and maybe even have stockholm syndrome is an interesting place to take the narrative. Of course, TWD squelches that immediately by having Gabriel kill him in a heretofore unseen rage, one that is, I guess, supposed to be motivated by his own sense of being overwhelmed and guilt at being a bad judge of character.

Mind you, that’s preceded by the weirdest, most tin-eared couples argument the show’s had in a while, which is saying something. Rosita and Gabriel don’t feel like a real couple. They don’t feel like real people. They just feel like thin cardboard stand-ins for vague, unformed ideas. Rosita is worried about the safety of herself, for her daughter’s sake, which is something. But the dialogue is so rough that it comes out jumbled and frankly, bizarre. And we’re back on the Eugene love triangle thing, which, good lord, was always kind of a misstep and feels even hinkier now.

Oh yeah, and Siddiq’s dead, which surprised me a little. I figured that Dante had a legitimate attachment to Siddiq (which the show seems to confirm), and so he would only sleeper hold him rather than suffocate him. But there goes another character who had a little extra spark to him. We have a funeral and mournful words, but it ultimately left me cold, with how much other nonsense was packed into this one.

Speaking of which, we have Aaron getting info on where the horde is from Gamma, only to lead a coalition of the willing into one of Alpha’s traps. The scene between Daryl and Carol is heartfelt and good (as most are between those two) and the visual of them surrounded by Walker hands is a cool one. But man, they all seem like idiots for falling for the trap, and the whole thing comes off as contrived.

Last but not least, we see Michonne interrogating a man named Virgil who saved Luke and got caught poking around the Oceanside camp. Danai Gurira continues to make heartbreaking monologues out of poorly written lines, but this is the storyline that succumbs the most to the show’s endless retreads of “security vs. mercy” moral debates. The arrival of someone who might be able to give them a bomb sufficient to destroy Alpha’s horde is super convenient, but at least it leads to a few good scenes with her and Virgil. (And there’s some particularly adorable scenes with Luke and Judith before the shit hits the fan as well.)

But on the whole, this is one that spends a lot of runtime to have the same sort of overextended conversations the show has during regular episodes, and with less focus and coherence. The least TWD could do if it’s not going to be good is not overstay its welcome. Trying to pack so much in like this adds more pacing problems, and despite the odd cliffhangers we get here, does little too excite me about whatever’s in store for the back half of the season.

They've pretty much explained all my suspicions from last week. Nice of them.

• No JDM, that's some serious bummer.
• No Dog. Another bummer.
• Not a lot of cold calculated mind from Carol.
• Sneaking walkers. I mean, MatPat gave a theory for it on The Film Theory, but in a library. Those rotting guys supposed to be making their voices all the time. Wait a sec, I got it. It's because they were in a Library. You have to keep quiet.
• I like Dan Fogler's character.
• Michonne needs Guns. A lot of guns.
• Best place to live through the zombie apocalypse is an island like Hawaii, the Maldives, New Zealand... or a fortified naval Base isle.

On a serious note:
People like Alpha are the kind of wannabe gangsta who are only feel safe doing their f#cked up sh¡t hiding behind their large numbers. I ain't saying she isn't playing smart, but 1on1 or even 20on20 she knows she ain't much. Calling Daryl and folks weak or scared is easy when you're hiding behind a herd. Again, it's smart but when you're using it for bad things and taunting your opponents you become a bitch.
I think I've managed to get a full closure of a finale to the above paragraph at least as entertaining, multi-subject, confusing and hanging as this mid-season finalé was, no?!

P.S: I've recently watched SW: episode 8 - The Last Jedi. People here talking about filler episodes should go watch it and let me know. If those 2+ hours weren't a filler that add nothing to the story and TWD episodes are. Well, than we have a really different way of reviewing story telling.