The Walking Dead: The Obliged (9x04)

Last week's episode added real tension and explored the complexities of various political and moral arguments. This week's episode was... a little bit disappointing.

Cons:

We're back to the unnecessary speechifying. Everybody talks for way too long and sounds way too sage and... scripted. Negan and Michonne especially. I wish that the conversations on this show would flow more naturally, but for whatever reason, it seems like the writers are too eager to try their hand at purple prose.

Also, last week made it seem like Maggie and Daryl were off to murder Negan immediately, but instead we have yet another example of The Walking Dead pulling back on its promises and doing something less exciting. If we're doing this thing, let's just do this thing, then. Instead it's Rick and Daryl talking about it while stuck in a hole, it's Michonne and Negan having long talks back at Alexandria, it's more waiting around.

Okay. The elephant in the room is that Rick is leaving the show after next week. When he gets impaled at the end of the episode, it's annoying for a couple of reasons. For one, if he dies next week, we're going to get yet another long drawn out sappy death that takes way too much time and slowly saps all of the tension out of the death. Like what happened with Carl, and countless others. As angry as I was when Beth died seasons ago, I long for another character death like that one, that comes straight out of nowhere and is genuinely shocking. Instead, we're going to get this prolonged episode where Rick has flashbacks of his history on the show, we see familiar faces, and finally he dies. Or, if they want to pull a shocker, he'll somehow live but go away. That seems very unlikely, but what do I know?

I was ready to absolutely love all of the stuff between Daryl and Rick in this episode, and for the most part I did. That said, there was this one moment when Daryl is dangling in the pit and Rick says "take my hand, brother," that kind of confused me. They were playing it as if Daryl was, in some way, reluctant to take Rick's hand, like he needed Rick to reassure him. That's stupid - the two were having an argument, sure, but they were both still trying to get out and get free!

Ann and Gabriel at the dump - I still can't get in to their relationship. I was annoyed because I'm actually intrigued about that darn helicopter and what Ann/Jadis is up to, but instead of actually getting further answers, we spend this plot thread with Jadis deciding to kill Gabriel, then changing her mind, and nothing really moves forward.

Pros:

All of that said, let's turn to a couple of good things. First of all, since we're gearing up to say goodbye to Rick, I'm really liking all of the focus on Michonne, as we start to learn what her character looks like in a post-Rick-Grimes setting, as she takes the mantle of leadership on for herself. We see another one of those montages with Michonne leading the community, playing with Judith, spending time with Rick... you know, just your standard irony montage. We also see lots of clips of Michonne reading books and taking notes, clearly working on her plans to create a system of government. It's cool to see, and it feeds in to end-game stuff that this show desperately needs.

The conversations between Michonne and Negan were a little bit overdone, as I mentioned, but that doesn't mean there was nothing good to glean from them. I like that Negan keeps trying to get to Michonne, to make her talk with him, to agree that they're not so different. In the end, it's not clear how much of this Negan actually means, and how much is a ploy to get to Lucille. His obsession with that bat is actually pretty chilling, given all of the horrible acts he has committed with it. The comparisons between Michonne and Negan might be a little heavy-handed, though. We see Michonne beat in a Walker's head with a bat, and then stare at it as the symbolism washes over her. Sure, okay. I can give that a pass.

Daryl and Rick are family, and watching family disagree and hurt each other is always difficult. I admire the performances in their scenes because no matter how much they find themselves on opposite sides of this important debate, they are still brothers. I loved the part where Daryl talked about how he would die for Rick, and he would have died for Carl, but that doesn't mean he's right about Negan. Ultimately, I'm on Rick's side about the right thing to do, even if at the time he totally should have killed Negan. The moment has passed. What's done is done, and now they need to move forward. I think that's right. But Rick has tied his feelings about keeping Negan alive and doing the right thing so strongly to Carl. It's all about honoring Carl's memory, to the point that the larger context isn't really important to him anymore. On the flip side of that, Maggie's single-minded determination to kill Negan isn't about what's best for Hilltop or for the communities in general. It's about Glenn. And I get it. I get both of them. It makes perfect sense. They're both right, and they're both wrong.

Sometimes The Walking Dead is like a video game with really, really long cut scenes. By this I mean that the zombie encounters always feel like a moment separate from the story. The Walkers really aren't the threat, they aren't the tension, and they haven't been in a very long time. However, I am continually impressed with the ways in which this show manages to make Walkers scary, even if just for a moment. There's always some new scenario, some new challenge to overcome. This week we see Rick and Daryl trapped in a deep hole. That's bad enough. As they try to climb out, Walkers are coming up to the edge and falling down into the hole, and then grasping at their ankles as they try and climb up. That's actually really scary!

This show can move at a really glacial pace sometimes, which is frustrating, but at least we got some forward motion with the Saviors vs. Others thing. The Saviors come back and they're armed. Carol tries to diffuse the situation, to no avail. Next week, with Rick wandering around grievously injured, we're going to have to see how this all plays out. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. This tenuous peace, whatever is left of it, probably won't survive the loss of Rick Grimes. This could get real bloody, real fast.

7/10