The Walking Dead Review: Episode 807 – Time for After

TV Description: Negan has to enlist the help of his lieutenants in solving a huge issue facing the Sanctuary; Rick and the group continue to enact the plan.

[Warning: Spoilers Ahead]

PREVIOUSLY ON THE WALKING DEAD

Rick goes to the Scavengers at the garbage dump to ask for their help once more after showing them the evidence of Negan’s defeat. They reject his offer though and lock him up for execution. Meanwhile Carl meets up with the stranger on the road, who is named Siddiq, and invites him back to Alexandria. Maggie has all the captured Saviors and Gregory locked up at the Hilltop. Michonne and Rosita discover a hidden weapon made by the Saviors and with Tara and Daryl destroy it. Now all four are preparing to deliver the finale blow to the Saviors.

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Once again I’m in a mix on this week’s Walking Dead episode. I saw some really good scenes with characters like Eugene and Dwight, but also some really dumb scenes with Rick with a mix of frustration towards Daryl and the how the story went. This episode definitely has its share of errors, but I could still enjoy some of it.

So let’s start with my favorite part of this episode, Eugene. Fans are divided on him right now, with some calling him annoying, some saying he’ll come back to Rick’s side, and others saying he’s a full-on Savior. I personally think that’s just in a funk right now. What do I mean by that? I’m saying he doesn’t know where his loyalties lie. While he says he’s focusing on personal survival the most right now, he’s definitely not who he was when he was first introduced. From the second half of season 5 to his capture in the mid-season finale of season 7 we see him start to become more bold and selfless. For instance, he could half left Tara to die on his ride with Glenn, Noah, Aiden, and Nicholas, but he goes out of his safe zone, carries her on his back to safety while dealing with any walkers, then distracts a group of them to help Glenn, Noah, and Nicholas. Let’s also not forget his chomping down on Dwight’s nuts to save Daryl and Rosita, along with him giving himself up so nobody at Alexandria dies after Rosita fails to shoot Negan, and of course him giving Sasha those pills to give her a peaceful death. These show that Eugene doesn’t just think of himself anymore, but also worries for others.

Here’s the thing though: Eugene witnessed first-hand Negan’s cruelty and willingness to kill anyone who presents a problem to him or his people. That, combined with the luxuries of the sanctuary, have made Eugene more concerned about himself and the position he has as one of Negan’s lieutenants. But in this episode we see him struggling on what his motives are and for whom. He likes having authority and having the rare chance of playing vintage video games and messing with whatever tech is about, but when the dead finally break into the sanctuary the look on his face as people die before him is filled with fury. He was so angry over what Rick and the group had done to the Saviors and the workers of the sanctuary that he unveiled his greatest piece of knowledge to Negan and helped craft enough bullets to mow down the massive horde that had broken in. Now why he hadn’t revealed this information earlier, especially when Negan knew of this talent, is something that really bothers me, but even so I was very happy with Josh McDermitt’s performance this episode. The last scene with Eugene really nails my thoughts on down as I watched him try to chug a large bottle of wine in order to get rid of the conflicting feelings he’s had during his time with the Saviors.

Dwight compliment Eugene well in this episode, especially as he reminds Eugene how time in the Saviors can change a person in very bad ways, ways that often have no return point. Dwight has become the new Daryl to me, thinking of others and their wellbeing often before his while being cautious and a badass. Out of all the people going against Negan, Dwight is one of the most on track when it comes to “The Plan.” In instances where Eugene (who now knows of Dwight’s deception) is in a perfect spot to be killed by Dwight, he never does it. All he wants is to finish off Negan and try to get the Saviors on a better path. Even in a moment where Eugene almost gets the horde away from the sanctuary with a hand-made musical, remote controlled plane (which is really damn cool), Dwight, who started with a gun to Eugene’s head, instead shoots down the plane. While Daryl has become more ruthless and selfish, Dwight has become more careful and selfless. This eventually rewards him with Eugene not telling Negan of the betrayal. It’s smart character development, just what the show needs.

Sadly we also get what The Walking Dead doesn’t need in this episode: Getting out of danger easily. As I complained about in the previous episode, I hate how stupid Rick was just walking up to the Heapsters without any backup and telling them to fight for him or he and people would kill them all. I just knew some bullshit was going to happen this episode on Rick getting free and I was right: After an almost nude sketch session with some of the Heapsters he’s taken to become another Winslow walker, spiked metal head and all. However he breaks free with hands tied up, beats two of the Heapsters with a staff with a walker head on it, and pins Jadus next to the animated head while demanding to be let free. They of course let him go and decide to follow him to find out if the Saviors are defeated. This painful to watch because after the incredible third season finale of Fear the Walking Dead, with its sudden deaths and insane ending where we have no idea what happened to everyone, I’m back to characters getting into and escaping danger with unrealistic luck. There was no danger in any of Rick’s scenes since I knew he was going to live on, but the creators could have made these scenes with Rick and the Heapsters more tense if they wrote and directed these parts better. It almost made me happy to see Rick find out that the Saviors eliminated all the walkers they lured to the sanctuary.

And then we come to the part of the episode I knew was coming for several episodes, the part that I knew was going to bite Rick in the ass: Daryl’s own plan. While he was successful at making a hole for the walkers to breach through, his actions also made Eugene go overboard and make all those bullets to destroy the walkers. Now before that actually happens we do get a few good scenes from Michonne and Rosita, with them saying they want to back out, that Rick’s plan is going well and they don’t need to push it forward. There was great acting out of both Danai Gurira (Michonne) and Christian Serratos (Rosita) in this part of the episode and the lesson they imparted was just right, especially with Daryl’s undaunted desire for revenge. Morgan replaces them in this attack, sniping anybody who tries to stop Daryl from crashing his truck into the walls. He, Morgan, and Tara all make it out after the crash, but as I’ve mentioned this attack does not go well and sets up the next episode, where the Saviors return to the offensive against a now weakened rebellion.

Overall Analysis

My main thoughts on this episode conclude that it could have been worse. We had some great acting and some good action, but like some of the other episodes this season we have scenes that are just plain bad. There were a lot fewer here than in other episodes this season, but we still got some that just feel worse than usual. Thankfully Josh McDermitt as Eugene and Austin Amelio as Dwight made this episode quite enjoyable for me and made up for Rick’s stupid escape this episode and Daryl’s plan actually screwing the rebellion over instead of helping it. Some of the prop uses in this episode felt more noteworthy than in other episodes, but that also be me hyping over the hand-made remote controlled plane (made from an RC toy motor, bathroom drapes, a sound speaker, propeller, and an iPod). Combined with everything else in this episode, it wasn’t bad, but it had some noticeable problems.

Next episode, which is the mid-season finale of season 8, promises us a few scenes that people will be talking about for a long while. To most, that’s indicating we’ll lose some big characters this episode and in this case we have a lot of possible candidates for the bucket list, including: Morgan, Tara, Jadus, Gabriel, Daryl, and Judith. Any one of them have the possibility of dying next episode, but I find that Daryl and Judith are the biggest candidates to die with how this episode is advertised. Judith seems more likely to me because of the hints of Gracie, the baby taken from the Savior compound, being the child from Rick’s weird flashback or flashforward moment in the season premiere. Daryl could also go though because of his character going against his original motives; from caring and being strong willed to revenge driven and risking the lives of others for that revenge, Daryl is doing some really bad stuff that doesn’t fit his character. If he does go, it’s more that he brought about his own death than anything else. We shall see soon though.

Before that mid-season finale though, expect a review of Arthur Christmas! Take care, happy holidays, and for fans of The Walking Dead, prepare yourselves for death!