The Walking Dead: Scars (9x14)

This was one of the best episodes of The Walking Dead in years.

Cons:

Honestly, my biggest complaint here is that I could have used more. Everything worked really well, but could have been even cooler if this had been broken into two episodes. That's shocking to me, because usually the pacing of this show feels very bloated and I wish the episodes or the seasons were a little shorter. One of the somewhat weak aspects of this episode is that we didn't get quite enough time to understand the bond between Michonne and Jocelyn. It was told to us instead of shown to us, and a few more scenes of Jocelyn and the kids safe and happy in Alexandria might have been warranted. Along a similar vein, seeing Daryl and Michonne out by the river looking for Rick was just heart-wrenching, and I wanted even more of their bond over Rick's loss.

The amazing acting of this episode was enough to mostly cover up for the occasionally clunky dialogue, but even this great episode can't escape from the overly speech-ifying effect of The Walking Dead. I think for me the moment that went just a touch further than was warranted was when Judith and Michonne are standing at Carl's grave. They had just had this amazing conversation, and then the scene with Carl's grave felt like it was tacked on, and it drew out the moment a little too much. It would have been more powerful if we'd simply seen Michonne and Judith stop by to pay their respects in silence, or with just a word or two, instead of having another dialogue-heavy moment right after the one they'd already had. But that's probably a bit of a nitpick.

Pros:

There's just so much to talk about. I've been so frustrated with all the secrets this season, but I've got to say I'm pleasantly (and horrifically) surprised by the answer to the question of Michonne's isolationist views, and the matching scars on Daryl and Michonne's backs. I worried that whatever the reveal would end up being, it wouldn't feel extreme enough. That's certainly not the case. We see a pregnant Michonne kill a group of children in order to protect Judith and the still-unborn RJ. It was brutal. It was heartbreaking. It was brilliantly acted and directed. This was a showpiece episode for Danai Gurira, and she knocked it out of the park.

Telling this story half in flash-back was a really smart move. Both stories were compelling, and you could see how Michonne's experiences of six-ish years ago informed her attitude of the present day. Suddenly, a lot of her harshness and over-protectiveness makes sense. It all comes to a head in the scene when Michonne tells Judith what happened with Jocelyn, only to discover that Judith remembers it. That was an excellent subversion of my expectations. This was a great episode for Judith, too - I've talked a lot about how much I hate the "precocious kid" trope, and maybe this episode falls victim to that a little bit, but for the most part, Judith seems like a kid. Sure, she's a bit smarter and more enlightened than you would expect, but she does things that a kid would do - she sees the world in black and white, and she acts impulsively. She's right, they should be helping their friends. But she's wrong to run out on her own, putting herself in such terrible danger. Also, the moment when she said that Michonne is her mom - she chose to be, because "you love me, and I love you..." well, if that didn't make you tear up, you're made of sterner stuff than I.

Another outcome of this episode is that we can understand Michonne's motivations, we can process them alongside her, and we can decide to move on from the past and reincorporate a more community-oriented outlook. Michonne's over-protectiveness makes sense. And Michonne's decision to go to the Kingdom with Judith and the others also makes sense. She's made real progress, and I'm proud of her.

This was a Michonne-centric episode, as it should have been, but other characters had a real chance to shine as well. In particular... Daryl. His devotion to Rick is honestly incredibly moving. We already knew that he stayed out in the woods instead of coming home to Alexandria because he was looking for Rick. He wants closure, for himself, for Michonne, for all of them. The trust between Michonne and Daryl is so powerful. I love that when Henry, Connie, Lydia, and Daryl all show up at Alexandria, Michonne lets them in because of her trust in Daryl. She has become ruthless about protecting her people, but Daryl is an obvious exception to her rules.

I liked the little moment we saw with Judith and Daryl, as it's clear that these two have a bond, but circumstances and trauma have left them without a close relationship. We're seeing how far Daryl is willing to go to protect Henry, and while I'm sure he's developed real affection for the kid, it's mostly because of Carol that he's willing to go to such lengths. Similarly, his love for Judith is in large part due to his love for Rick and Michonne. If this show was a little bit better than it is, I'd want to explore the power of symbol as it relates to Judith - this little girl has the weight of loss on her. She remains this symbol for Rick and Carl, someone for people to love not necessarily just for her own sake, but because of the family that she's lost, and probably can't remember all that well.

A few smaller things to call out in this excellent episode:

I thought Negan and Michonne's conversation was incredibly fascinating. I was pretty wary of the Negan story in this season, but with a few exceptions, I'm pleased with the material we've gotten. It was surprising and powerful to learn that Negan has been totally honest with Judith about his past. Negan tells her stories about Rick and Carl, and also about himself - Judith knows what this man has done. She knows about Glenn and Abraham. And she still believes in his ability to change. The thing that works about this bond is that I genuinely believe that Negan likes Judith, just like I genuinely believed in his bond with Carl.

The Whisperers were absent this week, but we do get a bit more with Lydia. Michonne lets her in to Alexandria, and then quietly suggests that she could leave and take on all the risk for herself instead of getting other people in danger. This moment was a stark one for Michonne's characterization. We see later in the episode that she was once able to kill kids in order to protect Judith. Here, she'd be willing to toss Lydia to the wolves to protect the rest of her community. Yet, by the end of the episode, as she's been reminded of what Rick and Carl fought for, she's joining up with Lydia and giving the girl a ride to the Kingdom.

I think that's all for now - this review got a little bit long, but this episode was honestly worth a closer look. I loved it a lot!

9/10