As I've said numerous times before, I appreciate the approach that the showrunners are taking this season in giving each episode its own "identity", but I think this episode proved that the execution isn't always there.
I'm so incredibly torn about this season thus far. I loved the first 4 episodes, and thought the last two were rather mediocre. But the writers are doing what I want them to do. I don't want to know what I'm getting every week. I like the revolving cast and the change of pace between having Negan and walkers be the episode "big bad". For the most part the structure of this season has worked well, but I just don't think we needed a 71 minute episode that revolved around Tara. But nor do I think it should have been 9 episodes since the last time we saw her character.
Nonetheless, I enjoyed the tonal shift tonight. Tara has always been a bright spot in an otherwise gloom and doom group at Alexandria, so having the episode take a lighter approach was needed. And it was about dang time we caught up with her and Heath's supply run. Since we've never gotten any sort of insight into Heath's character, I figured this would be a big episode for him, but instead it was solely focused on Tara's trip to Oceanside.
I don't read the comics, but apparently Oceanside doesn't debut until issue 139, and the show is approximately on 100 or so. The only reason to me they would debut them so early is because they will be a part of the inevitable team-up against The Saviors. Especially considering they were wronged by Negan when him and his group killed all of Oceanside's men and boys. As a whole I didn't think Oceanside was all that special, although those sand walkers were pretty dang cool.
After Tara's run in with Oceanside, she returned to Alexandria to some bad news about the deaths of Denise, Glenn, and Abraham. I really expected her to tell Rosita about Oceanside and all their guns, but I was glad to see she stayed true to her "swear" she made with Cindy. Out of all the people left at Alexandria, Tara may be the one "truly good" person left, and even that's a debatable statement. Overall, this wasn't nearly the eventful episode I was hoping for after last week's snooze fest, but there were a few redeemable aspects.
+Tara lights up the room
+Sand walkers
-No need for a full 71 minutes of this
7.5/10
I'm so incredibly torn about this season thus far. I loved the first 4 episodes, and thought the last two were rather mediocre. But the writers are doing what I want them to do. I don't want to know what I'm getting every week. I like the revolving cast and the change of pace between having Negan and walkers be the episode "big bad". For the most part the structure of this season has worked well, but I just don't think we needed a 71 minute episode that revolved around Tara. But nor do I think it should have been 9 episodes since the last time we saw her character.
Nonetheless, I enjoyed the tonal shift tonight. Tara has always been a bright spot in an otherwise gloom and doom group at Alexandria, so having the episode take a lighter approach was needed. And it was about dang time we caught up with her and Heath's supply run. Since we've never gotten any sort of insight into Heath's character, I figured this would be a big episode for him, but instead it was solely focused on Tara's trip to Oceanside.
I don't read the comics, but apparently Oceanside doesn't debut until issue 139, and the show is approximately on 100 or so. The only reason to me they would debut them so early is because they will be a part of the inevitable team-up against The Saviors. Especially considering they were wronged by Negan when him and his group killed all of Oceanside's men and boys. As a whole I didn't think Oceanside was all that special, although those sand walkers were pretty dang cool.
After Tara's run in with Oceanside, she returned to Alexandria to some bad news about the deaths of Denise, Glenn, and Abraham. I really expected her to tell Rosita about Oceanside and all their guns, but I was glad to see she stayed true to her "swear" she made with Cindy. Out of all the people left at Alexandria, Tara may be the one "truly good" person left, and even that's a debatable statement. Overall, this wasn't nearly the eventful episode I was hoping for after last week's snooze fest, but there were a few redeemable aspects.
+Tara lights up the room
+Sand walkers
-No need for a full 71 minutes of this
7.5/10