The first and only time that we were able to see “smart” walkers on The Walking Dead was on the very first episodes of the first season.
Ten seasons later, one of them made a good return on this week’s episode of The Walking Dead. When I saw that walker climb the shed of the house with a rock, I thought to myself why this is happening. Sure, they can reference this on the final episode of World Beyond, but I believe that the reason it took this long for a variant of a walker to appear on screen again is due to the long legal battle with the first show runner.
With that aside, I like the episode. However, there are some nitpicks I have that ruined my enjoyment. Remember that “Evolution” episode from season nine? That one built up The Whisperers as a threat from the start to the finish. Here on “Variant,” they tried to replicate the same mood and feel from that episode with little to no build up that ends in an anti-climactic normal walker takedown.
The performances from the cast were good. Ross Marquand, Michael James Shaw, Josh McDermitt, and Christian Serratos stood out to me in a bright fashion. The Eugene and Rosita scene felt like a final goodbye between the two characters. Aaron being the one to lead the small group to Oceanside brought out the leader in him regardless of how stressed he was. And Mercer and Princess both realize that there is a conflict of class ranks with their relationship.
All the stories displayed here on this episode were great. Just the build up to the variant walker left me underwhelmed with how this will play into the rest of the season. What I am more concerned about, is that the story does not seem like there would be a valid conclusion by the end.
