The Walking Dead: New Best Friends (7x10)

I'm a little frustrated with this show nowadays, for a lot of reasons. I think it comes down to a matter of preference, in some ways, which makes my opinion difficult to talk about cogently. Let's give it a try.

Cons:

So, Rick and the crew meet up with a bunch of weird sombre people with a leader named "Jadis" who talks all weird and formal. These people seem like they're in a cult or something. They have Gabriel, but they haven't hurt him. They test Rick by throwing him off of a cliff-like thing into a dump below, where he fights off a Walker with spikes coming out of it. Having proven himself worthy, Rick is able to strike a deal with Jadis. Jadis' people will help Rick and the others fight the Saviors, and they will get to take a lot of the loot afterwards.

I read a review of this episode that pointed out something to me: this season of The Walking Dead feels more like a comic book, or rather a graphic novel, than anything we've yet seen. We've got Negan, a comic book villain if I ever saw one. And we've got things like Shiva the tiger and Ezekiel the weird Shakespearean king, and now this new group, with a leader called Jadis. It's all very... cheesy. And in some ways that could really work to the show's advantage, because often the grim realism stuff falls flat as well. But personally, I'm just not in to the over-the-top comic vibe, or at least I'm not with this show. So all these new cartoonish elements are not doing it for me.

On an individual level, I'm also annoyed by whatever's going on with Rosita. She's being really bitter and rude to everybody for no good reason. Last week, Sasha was the target of her wrath. This week, it's Tara for some reason. Like, what's the explanation for this?

And Gabriel. We have this whole conversation where Gabriel and Rick talk about what great friends they are now, and Gabriel is so grateful to Rick for knowing that he wouldn't just take Alexandria's supplies and run. This scene had some of the worst dialogue this show has ever had, and that is saying a LOT. Gabriel is a character I've never cared much for, and besides, we've already done the whole "Gabriel gains acceptance" plot thread. I'm not eager to keep it going.

The other plot thread featured the reunion of Daryl and Carol. Thank you Jesus. I was a fan for the most part, but I do have a few problems here as well:

Shiva is stupid. The CGI is bad. Seriously. Why. It's a damn tiger.

Carol's motivations feel flimsy. We hear her repeat her speech about how if she kills more people, it will destroy her remaining humanity. But, because she cares about people, she'll inevitably need to kill to protect them. Instead, she just leaves. It feels like the kind of thing that was written into the story just to give Carol a meatier plot thread. I mean, Rick, Michonne, Maggie, Daryl... they've all lost people too, and they've all had to do horrible things to survive. I'm just not quite convinced by Carol's isolationist attitude. It feels contrived to me.

Pros:

On a plot level, I am happy that we how have Jadis and crew on Rick's side. Hilltop + Alexandria + some people from the Kingdom (maybe) + this new group means we finally have the numbers. The whole first half of the season was spent hopping from place to place, setting up all of these elements with infuriating slowness. The introduction of yet another group is aggravating in some ways, but it means we finally have the numbers, and maybe things can escalate into some actual results real soon.

I mean, Carol's motivations don't make sense, but it's hard to care about that when you have DARYL AND CAROL REUNITING. They hug twice, you guys. Twice. In one episode. I just cannot even. Daryl does the whole protective, angry thing when he learns that Richard plans on using Carol for bait to get the saviors. He freaks out, tells him not to touch Carol, and that if anything happens to her, Daryl will kill Richard. And then when he finds her in her cottage, they hug, and Daryl's voice cracks when he asks Carol: "why'd you go?" and they eat food together, and it's just so beautiful.

Carol asks Daryl if everybody else is okay, and Daryl makes the interesting choice to lie to Carol. He doesn't tell her about Glenn and Abraham, and the others that they've lost. I almost put this under the "cons" section, but I'll admit, I kind of like this idea. It's not that I think Daryl is right to lie to Carol. But Carol has just finished explaining that she'll lose her humanity if she kills anybody else, and that she will kill people to protect her loved ones. And Daryl, a guy who keeps his opinions to himself but also doesn't seem to care what people think about him, decides to lie. He lies not to protect Carol from grief, but to protect her from losing herself. It's not the right decision, but it's an understandable one. I'm excited to see what happens when Carol learns the truth.

I guess that's all I really have to say here. I'm not sure what to think about The Walking Dead nowadays. It hurts a little to admit, but maybe it's time for them to bow out. I think an eighth season has already been confirmed... let's hope it's the last.

6.5/10