What I Saw: The Walking Dead

A small break from the rain here in Cali before it all comes back for another couple of days. Been on the search for a decent throwaway kind of show, one where it’s a sort of interesting with a few seasons but not so compelling to blog about. I was watching Supernatural’s last couple of seasons, where it’s good but has more of the same “I’ll always have your back bro.” Something to watch and if I get interrupted I won’t get mad because I’m not really missing out on much. Let me know in the comments of any shows that might fit that criteria.

What I watched:

The Walking Dead S7.E9&10 “Rock in the Road” and “New Best Friends”

What I saw:

As everyone already knows, The Walking Dead is back for the second week now, and it is a strong second half so far.
The first episode back, the survivors unsuccessfully attempt to get Gregory from Hilltop to get on board for the war against the Saviors, or at least step down and let them lead the way. The people of Hilltop feel differently and tell Rick they are willing to fight. The survivors finally meet up with the Kingdom through the emissary that is Jesus. They also have a radio Jesus stole from the Saviors which lets them know when trouble might be going their way. They get past the pleasantries (and the surprise of seeing the tiger) and Rick makes the case for taking on the Saviors. He points out that whatever peace they may have now is hanging by a thread and eventually Negan will start to encroach more on his subjects livelihoods. However, at the end King Ezekiel decides to stay out of the fight, but offers asylum for Daryl since the Saviors are looking for him; which they accept.
The scene in the Hilltop highlights the very basic ideas of what makes up a society: the people and their leader. The people at Hilltop have followed Gregory so far because he was the only one willing to take responsibility for decisions made on behalf of the group, which is the bare minimum required of a leader. It doesn’t take much for people to be swayed and follow someone who is willing to take on the role, and Gregory has been coasting by on the principal. However, now that the people have seen strong leadership through Maggie, the people have chosen her. After all, a leader is only as powerful as the people allows them to be. Gregory has already lost his position, even if he himself hasn’t realized it yet.
As we saw in the first half of the season, Ezekiel is an actor took on the role of king and just sort of faked it until he maked it [sic for comedic purpose]. Now that the Kingdom faces another crisis, he has to hope that he has learned enough along the way to make the right decision. He mentions he had tried to take on the world beyond the boundaries of the Kingdom and he failed; and he feels taking on the Saviors could be another mistake. He also seems to be taking inspiration from the old world’s leaders, giving the Martin Luther King Jr. speech as a bed time story. I really liked how the writers included that, because as a black man it is only natural for Ezekiel to remember the history of black people and draw from the leaders that existed in those struggles.

Speaking of bed time stories, I also really enjoyed Rick’s parable for which the episode is named after: the rock in the road. Rick tells the story of how a rock embedded in a busy road wrecked so much havoc; destroying wares and even loss of life. Finally a little girl, after her family lost all of their wares and their only means of livelihood, said enough is enough and decided to dig out the rock with her bare hands so it could ever hurt anyone else again. She was rewarded with a bag of gold buried underneath the rock, because the king who put the rock there decided anyone who is determined to do what is best for the whole kingdom should be rewarded. The parable was really appropriate for Ezekiel’s position, but ultimately falls short of convincing him.

I’m a little torn at Ezekiel’s portrayal, because he is faking the whole king bit and relies heavily on others to help give him advice on what to do. It seems like everyone he trusts is telling him that something must be done about the Saviors, but he is just flat out ignoring it. I think it is more about the writers trying to stretch out this recruitment phase until the end of the season. This just makes him feel out of character to me since his personality is bending to the will of the writer gods.

The second episode had a pretty good payoff with Gabriel and Carol (separate arcs, not implying that they got together...which would make a super crazy out of nowhere twist). In the previous episode it showed Gabriel taking all the supplies from Alexandria, and Rick and the other survivors getting captured by a new group when they followed his clue at heading towards the boat. Rick makes a deal to prove he can make it worth the Dumpster Divers’ while to join them in the fight against the Saviors. Meanwhile, Daryl learns where Carol has been holed up at while derailing Richard’s conspiracy to ambush some Saviors and place the blame on Carol to spark Ezekiel into war.
This episode was good for the storytelling elements rather than any deeper meaning hidden within it. They explained that Gabriel got ambushed at the beginning of the last episode, and explained one of the Dumpster Divers’ scouts was the one watching Rick and Aaron get the supplies off the boat. I also liked how they are somewhat lazy survivalists, because their leader explained they “take but do not bother.” They go for the easy steal rather than risk everything to get it. They also give a sense of mystery for the new group by the way the leader speaks, which is somewhat mystical or medieval rather than just plain English.

The other big payoff was with the re-union between Carol and Daryl, which was heartwarming and sad at the same time. Daryl hears from Richard that Carol is isolating herself just outside the Kingdom, and he stops a scheme that will put her in danger. Richard had planned to blame Carol for the attack he and Daryl were about to do which could lead to her death from the retaliation. Once again, the ends do not justify the means, since Richard’s plan involves setting up an unaware third party to die. Then Richard had the gall to say he would die to defend the Kingdom, and Daryl calls him on it by saying “so why don’t you.” But once Daryl and Carol are finally reunited, Carol basically explains that since everyone is so important to her, she will do anything to protect or avenge them and she was afraid of slipping into that darkness. The sad moment comes when Daryl decides not to tell her about Glenn and Abraham getting killed by Negan, since he is trying to look out for her the same way she has always looked out for him.
Lastly is the conversation between Daryl and Morgan, when Daryl once again calls someone out on their bullshit. Morgan is hesitant to break his new moral code of no killing, and is somewhat aligned with Ezekiel’s decision to stay out of the war. However, Daryl mentions that in the world they live in there is no absolute morally right choice, the real world is constantly smudging the black and white lines into gray blobs of ambiguity. And much like how Morgan had to let go of the staff passed down to him, he will have to let go of the ideas that were passed down to him as well and accept the fact that war with the Saviors may be something that has to be done.
In conclusion, I really like the storytelling that’s going on in this back half of the season, minus the way I think Ezekiel is acting out of character. I like the parable, and how each character is getting set up to make a choice about the war. The only thing missing is more one-on-one zombie kills. We got a cool moment with the clothesline kill of the herd, but I want to see a zombie’s skull get smashed or stabbed, you know? I hope they are able to keep up with some of the interesting storytelling for the rest of the season, because I know they won’t actually go to war until next season. I want some more WTF moments between then and now!
What do you guys think about the pacing of the story on this last half? And which is your favorite character story arch so far? Let me know in the comments!