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The Walking Dead: What Happened And What’s Going On Review

By Brent Scott

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It has taken me about a week after the mid-season premiere of The Walking Dead to collect my thoughts on the return of the series and the possible direction of the show.  It was a strong episode that had good parts, although there were some aspects that could have been done better.  But first, I have an analogous observation.

I don’t know how much audience overlap there is between The Walking Dead and South Park.  For those who prefer to watch AMC dramas over Comedy Central cartoons, there is a popular South Park episode titled “W.T.F.”  Maybe you’ve heard the episode’s famous quote: “they took our jobs!”  Anyway, in this episode the boys put on backyard wrestling performances.  ‘Performance’ being the operative word.

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The kids eventually hold auditions for new talent where the prospective wrestlers read heart-wrenching monologues.  Their actual wrestling shows are like Jerry Springer episodes in dysfunction, but minus the fighting.  At one point WWE owner Vince McMahon watches over the show from up high with opera spectacles and appearing pleased, says, “that’s good wrasslin’.”

Take the WWE out of this episode, toss in The Walking Dead, and that’s where we are.

Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself.  Let’s recap.

The first half of season five was shuffled between three stories: a group going to D.C., another group out in Atlanta to rescue Beth and the third being about Beth’s life in Grady Memorial Hospital.  The main cliffhanger, though, was the death of Beth in the final minutes of the episode.  Despite all the planning to ensure a blood-free exchange, things went south after Beth stood up to her adversary, Dawn, which cost her.

We watched in slow motion as the D.C. group arrived at the hospital just as the rescue party exited.  Maggie, who was part of the D.C. group broke down at the site of Beth’s lifeless body in Daryl’s arms.  And break.

Viewers were left with three potential questions,  1: What impact will Beth’s death have on the group, especially Maggie, who didn’t seem too broken up over Beth’s abduction and disappearance.  2: Now that D.C. is a bust, where will the group go?  3: What will happen when Morgan meets up with Rick and the other survivors?

All great questions but only the second was answered.  Here come the spoilers.

This episode was very different from any other episode in the series.  The showrunners cleverly made some promises and opened up the possibilities of the coming events when the survivors returned Noah to his hometown, only to find it in ruins.  While it wasn’t outright stated by the characters, this community was in an odd condition.  Houses partially burned from the inside out.  Severed legs littered the perimeter and what were presumably the matching torsos were packed into a box truck in the woods.  Rick will no doubt encounter whomever was behind this brutal attack.

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Michonne and Glenn felt disgruntled at their nomadic nature and dwindling lack of hope for a sanctuary.  There wasn’t much friction between these two and Rick, though.  Weather beaten himself, he just seems to be up for whatever will keep the group in high spirits.  They decided to head to D.C. anyway.  All this set up the story for the next few episodes and possibly the sixth season.

But all of this was the backdrop.  The main focus centered around one thing, Tyreese’s death.  Again, this is where the episode departed from the tradition of the zombie genre and explored a more human element.  The episode was shot and cut in a more artful form which director, Greg Nicotero, equated to Terrence Malick.  The bulk of the episode played out like a fever dream of Tyreese’s.  I’m okay with this.

But at the same time I’m not.  Have you seen The Tree of Life?

For all the foreshadowing, the episode missed its mark in a number of ways.  The first being that the two characters who needed to be present following the cliffhanger death of Beth; Maggie and Daryl, weren’t.  Yeah, they are in the funeral at the beginning and we see Maggie crying near a body on the side of the road.  But we later learn that the grave at the funeral belonged to Tyreese, not Beth.  During The Talking Dead, Nicotero said the episode was about misdirection, which isn’t fair to the audience.  It also isn’t fair to Beth’s character, who was used as a device for Tyreese’s death and wasn’t given the time that she deserved in her own.

Maybe Maggie and Daryl will have an adjusted attitude in the following episodes but it isn’t going to have as much of a hold over us as it would have in the first episode back.  This is doubly true considering that now Tyreese is the one most freshly dead.

But this brings up another issue.  Half the cast, if not more, were absent from this episode.  Not everyone agrees on this, but I made a case during the first half of the season that this division-of-cast episode structure hurts the show.  With a cast this large it may be difficult to write them all in.  To do so would dilute the story and emotional attachment to characters.  But the same is true for revolving focus between smaller groups episode to episode.

While I can’t say this will be the structure going forward since I can’t see a reason to divide the group again, the show’s been doing this since the first split at Hershel’s farm.  Maybe the spinoff should have instead been put in place to allow parallel stories to be told when they branch out like this.

But let’s get to the main focus of this episode again.  Tyreese’s death.  After being bit, he hallucinates other dead characters.  These were the few that he felt maybe his decisions led to their deaths or the subsequent deaths of others through action/inaction.  The Governor, Beth, Bob, Martin (from Terminus), Mika and Lizzie.  Along the way Tyreese comes to terms with all that had happened and appeared to realize that a lot of what was weighing him down was out of his control.  For instance, Bob didn’t die because Tyreese let Martin get away.  Bob was bit well before his capture.  This catharsis was a great moment in the episode.

But this only works if Tyreese lives.

Tyreese didn’t share any of his revelations with the group when they caught up with him.  He was too far gone.  So the 40 minutes we spent with him through his emotional journey was wasted time.  I’m not saying that Tyreese didn’t deserve a strong send off.  What I am saying is that 90% of what happened in the episode cannot be taken to and will have no impact on the coming episodes.

What it really comes down to at that point is the mid-season return played itself as somewhat of an artsy clips show where we watched returning characters speak to each other in riddles.  “It’s much better now.”  “You had to pay your dues.”

Does this mean the whole season will be this way?  No.  Does this make this a terrible episode?  On its own, no.  As part of the whole and as a mid-season premiere, it really wasn’t the best story to tell.  Tyreese’s death could and should have come later.  Or another character should have been along for the ride, and learned from Tyreese’s revelations.

And maybe this speaks to the focus of the show overall.  The Walking Dead is, first and foremost, a genre zombie show.  The drama is great but should come secondary.  The creators of South Park could easily remake their “W.T.F.” episode to include George A. Romero watching a zombie show that looks like The Young and the Restless and it would have been just as accurate.

Still, I’m looking forward to the episodes going forward.  What is all this Wolves talk?  Who burned the houses?  Why is there a truckload of torsos?  Where is Morgan and is he mad?

What are your thoughts on the episode?  Agree?  Disagree?  Leave a comment below.

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