Don't be fooled by the fools rating this episode 10/10. This episode was good, but nothing spectacular.
Why was it good? Well, all the characters were in it (at last) which is a blessing since for countless episodes we have been restricted to only a single half of the group. This episode nicely encapsulated all characters and gave us a glimpse into how they are coping.
We saw how broken Daryl, Sasha and Maggie are and how they are each going about in their own different ways to figure things out and move on. Daryl is being his typical silent-self until he goes off into the woods, lights up a cigarette, and takes Carol's advice by letting out his emotions and mourning for Beth; Sasha is becoming a blood-thirsty slayer who is eager to kill anything in sight (she nearly attacks Michonne!); and Maggie has become entirely apathetic and is unable to find solace even in her partner, Glenn.
This episode also likened our characters to the walkers. I'm speaking in particular not about what Rick says in his little group therapy speech, but instead of the scene very early on in the episode in which we can see the whole of our group in the foreground and the walking dead in the background: it was hard to tell the difference. This single scene did a brilliant job of portraying to the viewer just how bad things have become. The group itself is struggling to differentiate from the walkers as they themselves are becoming weak, sluggish, and hungry.
We also saw some dogs and witnessed Rick's near-bite experience. Both of which were shocking yet exhilarating at the same time.
So why was this episode not so good? Well, it's just the same s*it, but a different episode. Things are desperate. The survivors are in mourning. The survivors are struggling. Food and water are hard to come by. Walkers are everywhere. Blah, blah, blah. We need something fresh here - and no - the dogs and the random 'friend' at the end of the episode do not redeem this episode for being utterly repetitive. Whilst it does make me much more eager for next week's episode, I do not feel that those thirty seconds at the end made up for the sluggishness of this entire episode.
Was this episode better than last week's? I would say so. But not by much, because from a thematic standpoint, the two episodes are identical.
Luckily for us viewers, we are almost guaranteed a much more interesting episode next week as we're introduced to a new face. A friend...or perhaps a foe?
Why was it good? Well, all the characters were in it (at last) which is a blessing since for countless episodes we have been restricted to only a single half of the group. This episode nicely encapsulated all characters and gave us a glimpse into how they are coping.
We saw how broken Daryl, Sasha and Maggie are and how they are each going about in their own different ways to figure things out and move on. Daryl is being his typical silent-self until he goes off into the woods, lights up a cigarette, and takes Carol's advice by letting out his emotions and mourning for Beth; Sasha is becoming a blood-thirsty slayer who is eager to kill anything in sight (she nearly attacks Michonne!); and Maggie has become entirely apathetic and is unable to find solace even in her partner, Glenn.
This episode also likened our characters to the walkers. I'm speaking in particular not about what Rick says in his little group therapy speech, but instead of the scene very early on in the episode in which we can see the whole of our group in the foreground and the walking dead in the background: it was hard to tell the difference. This single scene did a brilliant job of portraying to the viewer just how bad things have become. The group itself is struggling to differentiate from the walkers as they themselves are becoming weak, sluggish, and hungry.
We also saw some dogs and witnessed Rick's near-bite experience. Both of which were shocking yet exhilarating at the same time.
So why was this episode not so good? Well, it's just the same s*it, but a different episode. Things are desperate. The survivors are in mourning. The survivors are struggling. Food and water are hard to come by. Walkers are everywhere. Blah, blah, blah. We need something fresh here - and no - the dogs and the random 'friend' at the end of the episode do not redeem this episode for being utterly repetitive. Whilst it does make me much more eager for next week's episode, I do not feel that those thirty seconds at the end made up for the sluggishness of this entire episode.
Was this episode better than last week's? I would say so. But not by much, because from a thematic standpoint, the two episodes are identical.
Luckily for us viewers, we are almost guaranteed a much more interesting episode next week as we're introduced to a new face. A friend...or perhaps a foe?