The Walking Dead: What Comes After (9x05)

Oh boy. That happened.

Cons:

I'm not necessarily complaining about the content of Rick's hallucinations. Obviously it was sweet to see him talk with Shane, Hershel, Sasha... that's all great. But there are two problems. One, why those people? Was it just about who they could get to come and film in the episode? Why Shane, and not Lori? Why Sasha, and not Glenn? Why no Carl? It just felt odd that we'd get these little moments, and they weren't necessarily the the ones that you would think would be Rick's most meaningful relationships. The second problem is... it's predictable. We all knew this was Rick's last episode, and while I'm pleased with the twist they did on that, we still fall back on the predictable aspect of having Rick remember his past and slowly come to terms with his demise. Like I said last week, it would be nice if we could have something shocking every once in a while.

Specifically, I question the moment with Sasha. I don't really recall Sasha and Rick being all that close? It felt odd that she'd pop up to be his... spirit guide? Or whatever? Of all the little hallucination moments, that one just didn't feel appropriate or earned to me.

Another thing that's not necessarily a huge problem, but that I've got my eye on: I'm reallllly not sure I'm going to be in to this whole Judith as a young bad-ass routine. It's going to be a hard sell for me to care about her, after so many seasons of basically ignoring this poor kid. Time jumps are a big risk, and while I would say that this show definitely needs some reinvigorating, I'm not convinced this is the way to go about it. Especially since they've given us an influx of random characters there at the end, and I don't really need to learn about a bunch of random new faces at this juncture. We have enough going on with the large ensemble cast that I barely care about. We don't need more.

Pros:

But I have to admit... this was a much better episode than I was expecting to get. Let's start with everything else, and turn to Rick last.

We see Maggie finally get what she has been wanting - an opportunity to be alone in a room with Negan. She wants to kill him, but what she finds is a broken man, begging for death, so she decides to let him live. This makes sense. As much as it might have been cathartic for me, the viewer, to see Negan die, this was the right move for Maggie. I like that Michonne let her go in there, just hoping that she'd make the right choice, and somehow she did. I wondered if Negan was just acting broken in order to produce this exact result, but the sight of him going obediently back into his cage without struggle seems to enforce the fact that he's really far gone. I wonder how Negan reacts to the news of Rick's "death"? With the time jump, are we going to be able to see that?

Jadis is never going to be my favorite character, but obviously I am now super interested in where that helicopter is going and how this is all going to resolve. If this is the end for Rick, are we not going to see Jadis again either? I can't believe I'm saying this, but I hope not! I don't care much for her as a character, but the mystery she represents is incredibly intriguing.

So, Rick spends the episode wandering around, badly injured, hallucinating his loved ones, both alive and dead. At the end, as a huge Walker hoard begins to cross the newly constructed bridge, Rick's family shows up - Michonne, Maggie, Carol, and Daryl. All of them are there in time to see Rick take aim at some dynamite that had been left on the bridge. He blows it up, and, ostensibly blows himself up, in order to take out the hoard.

There's just a lot to talk about here. How about that scene with Shane? Man, Shane was the worst. I missed him so much. I like that they didn't go sugar-sweet with this moment. Rick killed Shane, after all, and Shane is Judith's biological father. They definitely addressed that, and they didn't try to brush past it. This moment was just two assholes talking about what assholes they are, and it was so true to their characters.

Hershel broke my heart. They talked about Maggie, Rick apologized for Beth and Glenn, and Hershel just tells him that Maggie is strong, and her son will make her even stronger. I'm all about it. It was so nice to see him. Unlike with Sasha, I feel like this moment was earned, with Rick needing some sort of absolution from a man he looked up to.

The last hallucination is such a brilliant, dirty trick. Rick is facing down an impossible hoard. He's lost a lot of blood, he's helpless. And then we hear Daryl's voice calling out: "Rick!" and everyone's there. Michonne, Maggie, Daryl, Carol, and countless others, rushing past him to take out the Walkers and clear some space. Michonne comes up to him and tells him to keep fighting, that she fell in love with him because he's a fighter. Rick says "this isn't real." Michonne says: "yes it is... wake up." Ouch. Ouch, ouch, ouch. I mean, it makes perfect sense that this was another of Rick's hallucinations, but the moment when you realize that is just so heartbreaking. He's spent the whole episode looking for his family, and then in this moment with Michonne, he knows he's found it.

There's this part of me that wants to complain about Daryl, Carol, Michonne, and Maggie all showing up at just the right moment to see Rick "die." It's a little cheesy, a little too convenient. But honestly, whatever. This hurts so good. Daryl keeps shooting Walkers as they get too close to Rick, even though he probably knows it's pointless. The look on his face when the bridge blows is just pure desolation. And then he just turns and walks away, unable to handle the reality of it. By contrast, Michonne screams and tries to run forward, with Maggie and Carol, both also distraught, holding her back. It's fitting that it would be these four people to be with Rick in the end, or as close as they could be, at any rate. They would have done anything to save him, and Rick knew that.

Rick blowing up the bridge will save people from the hoard, but it also means that the progress that had been made on the bridge will need to be re-done. We're getting a time jump, so some of the sticky political stuff will undeniably have resolved itself by the time we jump back in to the story. It'll be interesting to see if Rick ended up as a martyr, if his death actually did hold things together in a way that even he couldn't do while alive. I keep saying "his death" because even though he's still alive, and we know that, the characters in this world are going to have to operate under the assumption that he's gone forever.

I didn't think there was any way this episode could surprise me. Rick had to die. What other exit strategy is there? And yet somehow they did the unexpected. What they've provided is a way for Rick to be semi-permanently separated from everyone else, whisked off to somewhere where, theoretically, they have things a lot more figured out. At the very least, they have fuel for a helicopter, and the medical acumen to help a grievously injured man. In some way shape or form, Rick can come back to this show, even if it's just a finale cameo. That's so much better than I was expecting, and I'm thrilled!

I'm feeling cautious about this whole time jump business, but I think it's possible for them to pull it off. I want to see how the gang is doing now that we've jumped ahead. How has Rick's death affected the individual people, and the overarching society? We'll find out!

9/10