It’s been a long, painful road for The Walking Dead fans over the last seven years. Since it debuted in 2010 with possibly the best pilot in TV history, it’s had more than its fair share of ups and downs with fans falling by the wayside and new ones being made along the way.
It reached its peak in season five, bringing in a tremendous 17.29 million viewers, not even accounting for the huge number watching online. The Walking Dead was a behemoth, an adaptation of a scrappy comic book series that somehow managed to tap into the public consciousness despite being unrepentantly violent and, for lack of a better word, depressing.
But then season 7’s unforgettable premiere aired and split the fanbase, perhaps irreconcilably. Criticism was rife, focusing on the show’s dependency on crossing the line to create headlines – two horrific deaths traumatised seemingly millions of fans as they didn’t return for the next episode. Ratings continued to slump as viewers were deterred by The Walking Dead’s unique brand of misery, hitting the lowest number since season three with the Tara-centric “Swear”.
Without even realising it, I was one of those fans.
It’s not that the viscera flying around in the premiere did much to unsettle my stomach – I’ve sat through enough zombie movies to know it wasn’t all that bad. It was more of a creeping dissatisfaction as, unlike every other episode since Rick first woke up in a hospital bed, I didn’t instantly rush to watch the newest chapter in miserablist storytelling.
The show just didn’t have the same magnetism which kept me obsessed for years, even when I knew that it was deeply flawed. Time passed and the new series progressed without me, but I always kept an eye out for it, eager to jump back in if things took a drastic upward turn. Although it wasn’t quite being shouted about from rooftops, critical reception slowly warmed up and the fans made their way back.
In an attempt to avoid doing work and to once again fall in love with my favourite show, I watched all nine episodes I’d missed back-to-back. Here’s what I thought.
Episode 2 – The Well
Plot summary: Morgan and Carol arrive at The Kingdom where they meet Ezekiel and his oddly proportioned tiger.
– Ezekiel is the best new good guy this show has had in a long time. His talk with Carol where he exposes his true self was really great.
– Richard looks so much like The Governor.
– Carol’s decision to live on her own makes sense. The show’s doing a good job with her – it’s crazy that so many of its characters murder without psychological implications.
– The episode plants the seeds for The Saviors quietly but effectively. We know they’re bastards, but the leader of this group seems to be more morally sound.
Rating: B+
The perfect palate cleanser for “The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be”.
Episode 3 – The Cell
Plot summary: a captive Daryl is tormented by The Saviors at Sanctuary.
– Dwight is the real star here. You go from hating him to feeling sympathetic for what he’s been through multiple times in forty minutes.
– Daryl’s refusal to bend the knee and call himself Negan was tense. He’s been through so much that it was a nervy moment to see if he finally broke.
– However, the show basically torturing its heroes is a bad habit and one it needs to break.
– The arc with Dwight and the runaway Savior was the high point. Instead of looking for salvation, Dwight goes for the middle ground.
– Easy Street is a fucking great song.
Rating: B-
The Well delves deeper into the machinations of The Saviors, but it’s a wearying episode if you love Daryl.
Episode 4 – Service
Plot summary: Negan makes a trip to Alexandria and strengthens his grip over Rick.
– Negan’s mannerisms are already beginning to grate, which might be the point. His prolonged monologues were captivating in the premiere, but we’ve already been exposed to him too much.
– That being said, his making Rick hold Lucille is a brilliant way to show his utter dominance. This isn’t the same Grimes anymore.
– Hearing Rick talk about Shane was an unexpected nice touch. His death was when everything changed, shifting the show in new directions. Looking back on it now, it all seems so small.
– Rick admitting Judith isn’t his broke my heart. He hasn’t seemed human for quite some time.
– Rosita is just about the most myopically stupidest character on TV.
Rating: B
A rambling Negan is offset by the best use of Rick in recent TWD history.
Episode 5 – Go Getters
Plot summary: Maggie and Sasha find themselves at Hilltop under incapable management.
– Things are starting to look up, something the show really needs. There’s only so much misanthropy viewers can be put through.
– Enid and Carl kissing was cute, so obviously Enid is going to have to die.
– Jesus is one of the show’s most watchable characters. I am never usually fond of episodes focusing on secondary characters, but I could sit through one about him if it means we find out more about his backstory.
– It’s surprising that Gregory hasn’t been overthrown. That’s probably still to come.
– A lack of focus on Glenn’s death works out for the best here. He’s gone and won’t be forgotten by anyone, so there was no need to spend forty minutes moping around over it.
Rating: B
Maggie’s a natural leader and Go Getters sets it up perfectly for an arc down the line. Gregory is a superb shit.
Episode 6 – Swear
Plot summary: Tara discovers a new community with unusual habits.
– I watched five minutes of “Swear” and skipped to the next episode. Tara is a good character, but not good enough to anchor an episode around. It’s also The Walking Dead at its most naive, thinking it can take us away from the main plotline to waste forty minutes that could have been spent on more important and pressing threads.
Rating: N/A
Episode 7 – Sing Me A Song
Plot summary: Carl finds himself in Sanctuary beside Negan and Lucille.
– Negan still rambles, but it feels like a more focused look at his character here. He’s a complex character with a demented sense of respect and that was shown off wonderfully thanks to Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s surprising chemistry with Chandler Riggs. There’s a creeping tension that Carl is either being groomed to be Negan’s successor or being played with before Lucille comes a-knocking.
– I genuinely couldn’t tell what Carl’s socket looks like. Reminded me of some kind of nut.
– Nice little build-up of resentment from Dwight towards Negan here again. It seems like Dwight might be key to the war ahead.
– My heart sank when Negan picked up Judith. Even though the undead are everywhere, one guy is more of a danger to her than a herd of them.
– Rick and Aaron’s hunt for supplies was great, particularly the posthumous snark from the guy who met his end on the boat.
– Daryl’s murder of Fat Joey feels weirdly justified. It was brutal, but even the weakest members of The Saviors can’t be trusted.
Rating: A
An extended episode that I could have watched another hour of, “Sing Me A Song” represents season 7’s turning point.
Episode 8 – Hearts Still Beating
Plot summary: Rick and Negan collide in Alexandria with treachery and shocks in store.
– I had high hopes for Spencer. It’s true to an extent that Rick is as harmful an influence as he is a protective one, but trying to overthrow him was criminally dumb. The entire Monroe family is now dead and almost instantly forgotten about.
– The scenes between Michonne and the unnamed Savior soldier were great. It reminds the audience of how much a hivemind the villains are and just how far and wide their influence stretches.
– Whenever Rick and Negan share the same screen, it’s impossible to look away – they’re two similar people with very big differences. It’s a shame that Rick couldn’t have joined the strange new family for a plate of spaghetti, though.
– The mini reunion was an emotional moment, but the nods between Sasha and Rosita said more than any number of hugs could.
– Rick’s decision to fight was the most uplifting scene the show has had in a long, long time. It feels like a reward to the fans for being taken through an almost endless sea of shit.
Rating: A-
An effective mid-season finale that sets the tone for a (hopefully) more optimistic second half.
Episode 9 – Rock in the Road
Plot summary: Alexandria and The Kingdom finally come together.
– It’s great to see Rick have his swagger back and the show as a whole.
– The scene outside of Gregory’s house with the Hilltop residents was cheesy as all hell. There’s nothing wrong with leaning on the cheese now and again, though.
– Ezekiel continues to be immensely watchable, along with his slapstick troupe. I could happily watch a spin-off series focused around their goofy antics. It would be easier watching than Fear the Walking Dead, that’s for sure.
– Richard is becoming a really interesting character. If things had gone differently for him, leadership might have been calling.
– The scene with the cars and the wire was absolutely absurd and I loved every second of it.
– Ezekiel’s decision is naive at this stage of the post-apocalypse. He still hopes for peace, but as we all know after seven seasons of this, it isn’t going to happen without some blood being spilt.
Rating: A
The most comedic episode of The Walking Dead to date shows off its much needed lighter side and sets the gears of war turning.
Episode 10 – New Best Friends
Plot summary: Alexandria meets Depeche Mode.
– This episode was inches away from going up the ramp for a shark jump. It was ridiculous and fantastic.
– Jadis’ group are going to be the villains at some point in the future, I just feel it. Even if they all look like rejected Ikea designs, they can’t have made it this far without doing some damage to others.
– I was so relieved that Gabriel didn’t betray the group. He’s come such a long way and is one of the better character, which will make it all the more sadder when he’s inevitably killed.
– Richard and Daryl’s fight feels like a metaphor for something, but I can’t be bothered to look deeper into it. It was intense.
– Daryl made the right call in not telling Carol. The two have a bond that’s unlike any other in the show; they would die for each other. If Daryl told Carol all about recent plights, the last scrap of who Carol really is would be gone.
– The fight between Rick and the Winslow walker was nonsensical magic. All of the junkyard scenes in “New Best Friends” felt like they were supposed to be taken lightly to balance the scenes with Carol and Daryl.
– Atrocious green screen, however. And no, it isn’t a plane.
Rating: A
Totally bizarre, “New Best Friends” is startlingly different in tone to the season 7 premiere and it’s all the better for it.
Should I start watching The Walking Dead again?
I definitely recommend it if you’re a lapsed viewer. The first five or six episodes were utterly miserable but still watchable, building Negan up as a villain and breaking down our heroes. Their rise back up is a slow one, but it makes it all the more effective when they’re rejuvenated as the badasses who cleared a whole town of zombies with only melee weapons.
Plus, it’s getting to the point now where you’re going to be utterly lost if you come back to it again. A lot has happened since the premiere, which isn’t something you can always say for The Walking Dead. Apart from a regrettable diversion episode, season 7 is all about moving forward and planting the foundations for huge arcs to come in later seasons.
It isn’t the best series of The Walking Dead, though it still has time to make a lasting impression. Also, it has a CGI tiger. Come on.
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