The Walking Dead Review – Episode 813: Do Not Send Us Astray

TV Description: Trouble arises when unexpected visitors arrive at the Hilltop and the community is thrust into action; heartbreaking discoveries are made.

[Warning: Spoilers Ahead and Some Swears]

PREVIOUSLY ON THE WALKING DEAD

Negan begins his trip with his Saviors to the Hilltop with their walker gut infected weapons. Rick ambushes and separates Negan from the main group and the two have a faceoff in an abandoned building. Simon takes over the Savior attack and continues the march towards Hilltop. Meanwhile Maggie meets a new group of survivors who give them plans for structures needed to build a long lasting community.

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After the horrible realization after last week’s episode, I was rather unhappy to watch this episode. Well, any episodes after that last one. But I love the franchise as a whole and so I must review. What I got this week was… not that bad. It wasn’t awesome, it had its problems, but there were some great parts in it. But yeah, those problems just hurt. I am really getting pissed off that each episode has to have a great moment only to be overwritten by a really bad one. So let’s get right into it.

The First Battle at Hilltop

There’s little screen time showing the prep for the big battle, which I was fine with because they got through what needed to be said quick and easy. When night descends is when the tension starts to rise. Simon is in the charge, they got the infected weapons, and the Hilltop looks prepared. The buildup is great, with Simon rejecting the prisoners and apparently throwing a wrench into Maggie “The Widow” Rhee’s plans. I could feel the tension in the air as the battle seems about to begin, with arguments and attempts at negotiation failing and the threat of both sides attacking the other. So when the battle started I grinning in excitement.

Overall it was a pretty good battle, though it had its share of problems. Maggie plays some smart moves that I really approve of because it shows that she’s really learned how to be a smart tactician. From nail boards in the road, letting the gates open only to quickly bring up a bus to stop the Saviors from fully getting in to using flashes of light and attacks from outside the gates, she uses a lot of clever moves to fight back against the Saviors. It wasn’t just Maggie though that played some good moves, Negan’s plan to use infected weapons and arrows hurt people worked exactly as intended (though we’ll discuss the full success of this later).

However, the lighting of this nighttime shootout was a bit of problem for me. At first the lighting above the television was what I first attributed to me not seeing what was on screen, but after changing the brightness in the room I could tell it was also the lighting of the set. I mean, it is a nighttime scene so we can expect things to be dark, but even with that it felt too dark and I couldn’t tell what happened at certain scenes. Now again, Maggie’s use of the darkness and flashes of light was brilliant and I found that to remove some of my disappointment in the use of darkness, but even with that I still felt the set could have been lit or shot better to show what happened.

The biggest problem I had in this part though was Simon not having ANY protection for his people, especially his archers. Yes, we did see Rick throw away another perfectly good rifle in favor of his Colt Python and Maggie once more running into battle when she’s around half-way through her pregnancy, but Simon recently saw how rebellion used metal walls on their cars to defend themselves. With that example, I was expecting Simon or Negan to order some walls on their own vehicles to protect themselves. But no, they left their men in the open to be shot at by bullets while they used bows and arrows. It’s no wonder half of them were wiped out (this was confirmed by Talking Dead after the episode aired). Now their use of infected melee weapons was well done, they got a stab in and tried to get away. The end result of all of this was a great bit of action, but with some plotholes and not as good presentation of what could have happened.

Aftermath of the Battle

Victorious in their battle against Simon, the Hilltop is left to lick their wounds and recover themselves. Some people have died in the battle and Maggie feels guilt for their losses, even when the people of Hilltop tell her that she’s still leading them better than Gregory ever had before. In a sense I can agree with them, especially since Maggie is feeling concerned for the deaths of those under her. However, with the amount of resources used in the fight their chances to survive a next attack are slim, which hurts Maggie’s leadership skills. But you know what, her tactics were good and wiped out a lot of Saviors so I’m not going to bother over that problem because she still did her job well.

Who isn’t doing well though (no surprise) is Daryl. Once more we have to hear him complain about Dwight, on how he shot an arrow at Tara’s arm in the fight, saying they should never have trusted him. Tara though, after her last encounter with Dwight, disagrees and reminds Daryl of her time with the Governor. That was a fantastic reminder to Daryl and the audience, showing that just because he’s with bad people doesn’t mean Dwight is bad. In fact she admits she’s feeling well, unlike others hit by the Saviors, thinking Dwight just did it to keep his cover. And even if it was intentional that he hit her, Tara understands why he would do it and lets it go.

Speaking of not doing well, all the survivors hit by the Saviors, including side characters such as Tobin from Alexandria, are sick. And yet nobody questions it. This was the biggest problem I had with the episode. I mean, how can anyone not question why the Saviors, who have more guns, more soldiers, and a bullet maker, shoot arrows at them? I just can’t believe it. People I’ve talked to about this told me they would have questioned why the Saviors were using arrows instead of bullets when they got a bullet maker. It’s such an odd thing that not to question that it borders on pure idiocy. Damn it, why does this season keep giving us bad writing?! DAMN IT!

Despite this failure of logic and reason I can say there is a great scene between Carol and Tobin in this part. I felt really unease as Carol tells the truth to Tobin on that she lied about her feelings towards him when they first met, how she did it just to blend in and help her group out. With Tobin one of the people sick after the attack it’s especially hard on him, yet it almost feels relieving to watch Carol let the truth out. This bit of character interaction wasn’t really needed, but I felt it was a nice touch to add and clear some grounds up. Now they’re both out of secrets and they can be friends. Or so we think.

House of the Undead

Now this was a scary time in the episode. I knew this was coming, I read the comics, but seeing it on screen was something else entirely. This was horrifying, this was frightening, and lots of people died in gruesome ways. True, a majority of them were extras (including that doctor who was super damn bitchy to Siddiq when he was trying to help), but even then I felt scared for the cast. When I saw Tobin give a sudden final breath before dying, I knew there was trouble coming. I wish there were some people who weren’t sick awake on the walls to keep an eye out for trouble, but I guess… bad writing? Whatever, it still very tense and worrying to watch Tobin bite people in their sleep and see others hit by the Saviors start to reanimate.

When the walkers arise there is just chaos, with screams and bites and disorder all over Hilltop. Some of the scenes felt a bit cluttered with all the actors in a crapped location, but even with that I felt it could have been worse. I loved how Carol was the one to put undead Tobin down, something I feel I should have seen coming with their talk the previous day. When as many people not bit are saved and the walkers dealt with is when they then question why there were walkers, eventually leading them to realize the saviors infected their weapons. As I mentioned before, should have talked about that long ago. But now they realize what the Saviors will go to in order to end Rick’s rebellion.

Now while this is going on Henry, in a fit of complete stupidity, takes a rifle and goes to question the Saviors prisoners to find out who killed his brother. I knew where this was going and it was no surprise that in the end Henry was disarmed and the prisoners escape the Hilltop. Looking back at his actions now, Henry acted like I feel a kid would act: unexperienced and selfish. I still don’t like the writing for it and Henry’s stupidity for not thinking of the possibilities, but because of this I’m going to fully hate him on this issue, just dislike him a bit.

Not all of the Saviors left though. Alden stays behind with a few others to protect the Hilltop, deciding that Simon left them for dead and there is no point going back to people like him. That was cool to see him do this, knowing he could still die if he stayed, but he did so anyways. But the troubles aren’t over yet as Carol and Morgan discover that Henry is missing as well. With so many losses and the escape of the prisoners, things are not looking good for the rebellion.

Overall Analysis

Now while not a terrible episode, it still has enough problems for me to not fully like it. The fact that none of Hilltop questions why the Saviors are using bows and arrows when they have more guns, more bullets, and a bullet maker kills a lot of love for this episode. That plus Daryl being a jackass took some points off this episode. Beyond that though the action was great, the walker house was heart-pounding, and there some interesting character scenes, making this a pretty good episode. I’ll give this episode a 7 out of 10.