The Walking Dead: Diverged (10x21)

I don't really know about this one. I liked it, but I found myself frustrated by it as well.

Cons:

For one thing, on a big-picture scale, what the heck is this season building to? Nothing, I guess. Everything's disjointed. Next week is the finale, and it's a Negan-centric episode. We've barely checked in with Negan for weeks. Which means, unless they pull something miraculous off in the one hour they have remaining, that we're going to be going into the hiatus before the final season with all of these threads still dangling. Maggie and the new characters she brought with her? We barely know them. Princess, Ezekiel, Eugene, and Yumiko? Who knows where they're at. Carol and Daryl's growing distance? Impossible to say. There is just so much material here, and none of it is building to anything at all.

And then to narrow in on this episode specifically, I want to praise a lot about it, but I will admit that The Walking Dead has a subtlety issue, in that it's... not subtle. I think some of the moments here could have spoken for themselves, rather than having everything spelled out for us. Most specifically with Carol and Jerry's conversation at the end. 'Twas just a bit too on the nose.

Also on a small note, it was weird to me that Carol was supposed to feel like she was in the way and not useful in Alexandria as everyone else gets to work and makes things happen, but then there were basically no glimpses of the community or any of the people in it. Where were they all? Was this a COVID restriction thing, about the numbers of people who can be on set at one time? Alexandria looked like a ghost town. I thought it was supposed to be bursting at the seams with refugees from Hilltop and from Maggie's community.

Finally, and this goes back to some bigger picture concerns, I don't like how much this felt like a setup for the Carol and Daryl spinoff, instead of an integral part of the show itself. It all goes back to how much it doesn't feel like they have a bigger plan. It's bumming me out.

Pros:

If only this were in the middle of the season, and not the penultimate episode. If only this were a break from the chaos, a quieter, more character-focused pause in the middle of mounting tension. If only, if only.

When I look at it in isolation, there's a lot I like about this installment, just on its own merits. The performances are strong, and I think this show has a weakness in its dialogue, so a long quiet episode without many words is actually a great strength in this case. Carol and Dog teaming up to take on a rat, Carol's determination to make soup, and all the ways in which she kept failing to accomplish that, all took on a real mixture of gravity and comedy. We're watching someone in the middle of a really shitty, emotional day. It's kind of a spiral, but it's also not a situation where we're worried Carol is going to do something she can't take back. Dog anchors her. She's looking after him for Daryl.

And speaking of Daryl, he spends the episode alone, which is how he often likes to be, searching for a way to repair his bike. Not much happens, other than a few close calls with Walkers, which highlights the dangers of solitude in this world. But also... Daryl needed that time away from Carol. Away from everyone.

Their relationship fascinates me. I wasn't thrilled with some of the developments in the last installment. I definitely feel the drag of repetition with this show, as I often discuss. But that weird sort of place where you've just said some really harsh words to someone you love very much? That precipice, where you know things might never be the same, but hey, you're still going to watch their dog for them when they're gone? That's so real. I love how the two of them operate. There is nothing that could permanently destroy their relationship. They've been through too much. But that doesn't make it any less painful to go through this strained time.

This is a short review, but there simply wasn't all that much going on in terms of plot to discuss, so I think I'll stop there. This was good in isolation, although not astonishingly good. I'm side-eyeing next week's finale pretty hard... how are they going to pull this off?

8/10