The Walking Dead: Acheron: Part I (11x01)

Man, the degree to which I Do Not Care is kind of bumming me out. I'm trying to be excited to see what this final season of the show will bring, but I keep thinking about how this sucker is going to stretch over two years of airing and I'm already tired! Let's take a look.

Cons:

Maggie's plot thread is the one where I found myself not caring the hardest. Basically, she and Daryl and Negan and some other randos are on a mission to find food, because Alexandria is low on supplies. They have to go through a creepy tunnel full of dead bodies-slash-Walkers that keep waking up to accost them as they approach. They're silent because their throats have been slit, so that's adding a creepiness factor to the proceedings, for sure.

A lot of this plot is just silent shots of people walking, killing Walkers, being scared, the screen is so dark I can barely see what the heck is going on... I don't care... then we get a spike of interest with Negan confronting Maggie, and then that stupid cliffhanger where it looks like Negan leaves Maggie behind to die.

So like. I've always been anti-redemption-arc for Negan. It always rings so false to me. Like, seriously, you guys are going to overlook what he did? Having Maggie back just highlights how ridiculous it is. But Maggie is annoying the hell out of me too, with her sketchy attitude. It's just messy and obviously Maggie's right and Negan should fucking die, but like... I don't really like Maggie either, so it's tricky.

We've also got the bad guys who defeated Maggie's former community. I am so sick of these mysterious groups of baddies who act insane and provide a new threat to the heroes. I wish more of the conflict could be from understandable conflicts between people who have similar goals and priorities but human differences in how they want to approach that. Why does it have to be so weird?

The people interrogating the other gang is also weird and I don't understand why people can't be normal humans, but it's less annoying because at least there's some cool mystery there.

Pros:

Much more successful is the plot with Eugene, Yumiko, Ezekiel, and Princess. I'm really surprised by how much I felt myself drawn in by this premise. I think it's that the suggestion of "civilization", of a big culture with real resources, is different and fresh enough to be intriguing. It's like the helicopter that Rick was taken away in, or whatever. Not sure what it all means, but I'm game to find out.

I liked the interrogation scene, all of them being really honest but of course obscuring the fact of Alexandria and Hilltop. They're still dangling that carrot, the suggestion that perhaps Eugene will get to meet the woman he spoke to on the radio, which is exciting. And the alliance between these three people who don't necessarily have the most in common, and then Princess, this brand new factor who could be an asset or a liability at any moment... it's fun to watch.

I particularly loved the scene where Princess revealed all the information she'd managed to glean about their captors. That was a funny moment and also potentially led to their escape - except that Yumiko's sister might be here!

We see some hints that "reprocessing" involves torture, and that people have perhaps been here for months, being continually questioned and effectively tortured. I don't know what the end goal of these people might be, but my guess is maybe they wear them down until they lose their minds/have trouble remembering their past lives, so they will have no choice but to be totally loyal to their new community. It's disturbing, and I'm definitely interested in finding out more!

So there you have it. I am glad that I find one of the plot threads interesting, because to be honest, Maggie and Negan are just a bore for me. I guess we'll find out just how far everything will go until the end!

7/10