After an anti-climactic abrupt ending last fall on The Walking Dead’s final season part one, the show returned with one of the best mid-season premieres in years.
Lauren Cohan, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Norman Reedus carried the majority of this episode with strong dialogue from their characters, suspenseful action against The Reapers, and decisions that were made that had me questioning how far these characters go to finish them. It was Maggie for the most part on this week’s The Walking Dead that had those strong scenes along with Daryl. The attention was on her due to her killing one of The Reapers.
But this member of that group was not easy to kill at first. The person fought Maggie, Elijah, and Negan all at the same time without any help. It proves that having military combat experience helps in the world of The Walking Dead. And that was one of those cases. Maggie did take this person down in the most ruthless and savage way while also trying to go after the other members. Also, Gabriel did have a savage moment too along with a good one liner. I also cannot forget Negan as he had one hilarious line!
But there is an other side of the episode that is resolved too. The heavy rainstorm that started on “For Blood” subsided here. However, the basement where Judith and Gracie were trapped due to the flood, brought out tension and fear from both characters. Aaron did save the day with some brutal walker kills at the risk of his own life. While that was going on, Carol, Connie, and the rest were trying to get the fire off the windmill.
When The Walking Dead does split stories like this, they can sometimes be hit or miss. This time, I felt that it was a hit. The pacing is really great and there was enough room for the stories to be told. By the time everyone regrouped by the end with one reunion a season in the making, The Commonwealth soldiers arrived at Alexandria with Eugene.
I cannot lie, I did chuckle at Gabriel’s reaction before Eugene told them that they were here to help. He had that “not this s*** again” look and I could not blame him.
The way Lance introduced himself to the group is identical to the comic. It is the final scene that happens after this (side note, a good seamless transition) that puzzled my head. All I can say, is that there is a six month time skip and it seems like two characters are at odds against each other.
This is one of the better episodes of this season of The Walking Dead and I can say that I was satisfied.
