The Walking Dead Review: Episode 801 - Mercy

TV Description: Rick and his group, along with the Kingdom and Hilltop, have banded together to bring the fight to Negan and the Saviors.

[Warning: SPOILERS INCOMING!!!]

Read at your own risk!

PREVIOUSLY ON THE WALKING DEAD

Alexandria and Jadus’s survivors are ready to fight off Negan for the first time. But just as things are about to go their way Jadus shows her true colors and almost ends Alexandria’s rebellion against the Saviors. However, Sasha, in a final attempt to stop Negan, takes the suicide pills Eugene gave her, surprising Negan and giving Rick’s group the chance to fight back. Negan captures Carl and Rick though, ready to give Carl a quick execution with Lucille. Just as all hope seems lost though help arrives as Ezekiel with the Kingdom and Maggie with the Hilltop come to the rescue! The Saviors suffer their first defeat and war is on!

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Walking Dead fans, the wait is over! Season 8 has begun and with the 100th episode of the series! The hype has been built, the promos everywhere, this is an absolutely huge premiere episode! And is it awesome as all the hype makes it out to be? Kind of? It’s hard to say. I loved this episode, but there also parts in it that I felt weren’t needed or were done in a confusing way. It’s just hard…

There were a quite a number of callbacks in this episode, with Carl recreating the very first scene in the show, to Carol looking at a graffiti flower, and Rick waking up in a bed with flowers on the dresser next to him. Carl’s scene especially is interesting because he meets a stranger who is asking for food. He doesn’t seem to be a bad guy, but Rick scares this guy away anyway, which causes Carl to disagree with how his father handled it. Later in the episode we see Carl return to the spot he found this stranger and leaves two cans of food for him, unaware this stranger is watching him from the bushes. However, this watching is not in a predatory manner, but more in a wondrous manner as he is surprised this kid came back for him. Who is this new person? Where did he come from? And can be possibly become a new ally to Alexandria? Or is he just a one-time character? I bet we’ll learn soon enough.

Even with these references to the comics and past events, this episode definitely had problems that hurt it. The big thing that makes me at odds with this episode is that there’s a lot of changing in time periods. Like we see an older Rick, then we see the preparation for the first battle with Negan, then back to the present, then back to the past, then old Rick again, it’s just confusing! I mean the old man Rick scenes are hinting that Rick ultimately wins the war, which could spoil the story this season or be just be Rick dreaming of a better future. Then the prepping for the war, which is great to show as it builds up hype, mixes in too much with the present time, though that could mean both times aren’t far apart from one another. All three time periods continually switching with each other can make it all feel jumbled up and confuse the viewers. The older Rick scenes I just don’t feel needed in this episode. I saw them in the comic con trailer this year, but I wasn’t expecting such things until later in the series. As the first scene in the season, I feel iffy.

Despite this though, the plot of this episode in the present time was just what I and many other fans were wishing to see. We see Alexandria, the Hilltop, and the Kingdom united as one, working together to get to Negan’s base of operations to show him that enough is enough. We see the community wipe out the guards that watch the road to Sanctuary, watch Daryl, Carol, Tara, and Morgan lead the massive herd of Walkers seen in the second half of season 7 to Negan, and armor all their vehicles to create an incredible wall of metal for when they reach their destination. Everyone in the new alliance is getting along well and show their determination to defeat Negan.

Except Gregory. The now former leader of the Hilltop went to Negan to tell him of the rebellion after Maggie began to take more control. He thought he could get his people to walk away and abandon Rick, but since he’s not very inspirational or effective as a leader his demands are ignored and Jesus proudly proclaims Maggie as the new leader of the Hilltop. Damn that was badass! And Rick’s plan succeeds as after telling Negan they’re fighting back he destroys the fences protecting the place, which allows the massive herd to invade the fortress. The only problem though is that Gabriel, after attempting to save Gregory’s life because he wants to be a good person, gets left behind as Gregory steals his car and drives off. To make matters even worse, while attempting to find a hiding spot from the walkers he ends up trapped with Negan. I was squealing in fear when I saw Negan revealed himself to Gabriel, I’m just so scared for him! The episode ends with us knowing this is only the start of the chaos this season will have and there’s going to be some problems for Rick.

Overall Analysis:

I left this episode satisfied with the creators in making an episode reasonably worthy of being the 100th in the series. Again, the back the forth between present, prep, and future make this a weird episode, but the main story in the present was definitely worthy of a premiere. We saw lots of action, we saw lots of buildup, we saw great payoffs, we saw a ton of characters in action, and we saw Rick back to his old fighting self. This is what the fans have been needing for so long, ever since Negan broke him down in the season 7 premiere. Now risen up, Rick, Maggie, and Ezekiel will bring about great change in this epic season of war.