The Walking Dead: Always Accountable (6x06)

Yay, Daryl! I missed him. Unfortunately, this episode wasn't as good as one might have hoped. I'm pressed for time, so let's jump right in.

Cons:

The pacing of this episode just felt a little... off to me. It sort of dragged. There wasn't enough solid focus on one character for the slow pace to work, like in Morgan's episode a few weeks back. And there wasn't enough switching things up between the characters for my attention to be suitably grabbed all the way through.

The plot of the episode is pretty basic - Daryl, Sasha and Abraham get separated on their way back to Alexandria due to a group of strangers shooting at them. Daryl gets kidnapped by a couple of new characters who appear to be on the run from the folks with guns. All of this would be compelling, but the new characters were not at all interesting. I wish I had had something more to grab on to with these guys, but as it stands I just couldn't feel invested.

After the initial excitement of the beginning of the episode, most of our time was spent with Daryl. But there were a few cutaways to Abraham and Sasha, and these really dragged the plot down. Sasha wants to wait for Daryl to find them, so they camp out in an abandoned house. Abraham contemplates just staying put and starting a life in the house, and he actually hits on Sasha. All of this was so weird and off-putting. Every time the screen switched to Abraham and Sasha, my interest started to wander. And what's with the grenade launcher? Seriously? How the hell did he manage to find that thing?

Pros:

The episode started off with a really strong scene. The sudden gunshots and Daryl's mad dash through the woods were all really intense. The episode also had a fantastic ending - Daryl manages to find a working vehicle and catch up with Sasha and Abraham. As the three of them start driving back to Alexandria, they try to hail Rick on the walkie-talkie. An unfamiliar voice answers, saying only one thing: "help." What does this mean? Are the Alexandrians in trouble again, or did Rick drop his walkie somewhere outside the walls? Whatever the answer, this certainly grabs my attention. I'm glad that this episode was able to start and end with some strong moments, even if things got mushy in the middle.

I did appreciate the Daryl focus - his character development on this show is second only to Carol's in terms of a gradual, believable growth into a fan favorite. He actually wanted to recruit his kidnappers, thinking that he might be able to help them out and grow Alexandria's numbers. He's not a blind, trusting idiot, but he does genuinely want to see the best in people when he can. Also, acting props to Norman Reedus, who did a great job with all his mad running through the woods and away from danger. I really felt the intensity!

While the new characters were a bit of a bore, I am a bit intrigued by the new threat we have going on here. This group of people apparently protect anybody who is willing to pay the price, and that price can be anything from getting raped to having any and all of your loot taken from you. This is intense - I have a feeling we'll be seeing these baddies again, and I think they could be quite interesting.

There you have it. Not a great episode, but it certainly could have been a lot worse. Over all, this season is only suffering when it comes to pacing. There's a lot of starting and stopping, where one episode is sort of a slow crawl, and the next is sharp and quick. Hopefully the back half of the season will smooth out a bit.

6/10