Had heard nothing but great things about 'The Walking Dead' from friends and IMDb reviewers. It took a while to get round to watching, both from being busy and also not being sure whether it would be my cup of tea. Finally getting round to it a few years ago and slowly working my way through it, having had a very long to watch and review list, 'The Walking Dead' turned out to be very much my cup of tea and as good as the hype made it out to be, have found it extremely addictive.
Season 4, as far as previous episodes go, has been very promising on the whole, "Internship" and "Too Far Gone" being exceptional. It still shocks me at how an intelligent, well-made (so much so that it is easy to mistake it for a film) show about zombies could be made when so many films have tried and failed abysmally to do so. "Still" though disappointed somewhat while still having a number of good things. It is not as strong reminder of most previous episodes of how Seasons 1-5 of 'The Walking Dead' to me were absolutely brilliant and seeing the show in its full glory days (Season 6 was uneven, Season 7 was a huge disappointment and am still debating whether to watch Season 8). It excels brilliantly in the character development, which is some of the best of the season, but underwhelms in the storytelling.
Certainly "Still" has a number of good things. It, like all the episodes before it, is superbly made. It has gritty and audacious production design, effects that are well crafted and have soul rather than being overused and abused and photography of almost cinematic quality. The music is haunting and affecting, having presence but not being intrusive.
There are moments of thought provoking writing and emotion. The beginning does intrigue and wrenches the gut, very creepy, and the conclusion has power. There is some great character development in "Still" even when focusing on fewer characters.
In this regard, "Still" is one of the best of Season 4, with the development for Beth and Daryl being some of the season's most grounded, engaging and interesting. Emily Kinney, in perhaps her best performance this season, and Norman Reedus give quite wonderful performances.
However, something was missing. 'The Walking Dead' can be good with the quieter and more deliberate approach to the storytelling, personally do not watch the show just for zombie-killing and action (from the very start there has always been much more to the show than that), there are some very good character-driven episodes that are light on action so that is not the problem. For me and others, "Still" is not as good as other episodes at executing this approach well.
After such an unsettling opening sequence, it was somewhat disappointing for the story to be so slight structurally and not particularly eventful outside of the interaction. There was tension in the interaction, but elsewhere the adrenaline and guts were missing and there could have been more tension, for early seasons 'The Walking Dead' this was quite tame.
In terms of moving the story/arc forward, "Still" is one of the weaker Season 4 episodes, and of the show up to this point, the character development advances the story doesn't really go anywhere and it is understandable why fans criticise it as a filler episode.
Overall, a very divisive episode that is not that bad and has a lot of fine things, but not up to top 'The Walking Dead' standard. 7/10 Bethany Cox
Season 4, as far as previous episodes go, has been very promising on the whole, "Internship" and "Too Far Gone" being exceptional. It still shocks me at how an intelligent, well-made (so much so that it is easy to mistake it for a film) show about zombies could be made when so many films have tried and failed abysmally to do so. "Still" though disappointed somewhat while still having a number of good things. It is not as strong reminder of most previous episodes of how Seasons 1-5 of 'The Walking Dead' to me were absolutely brilliant and seeing the show in its full glory days (Season 6 was uneven, Season 7 was a huge disappointment and am still debating whether to watch Season 8). It excels brilliantly in the character development, which is some of the best of the season, but underwhelms in the storytelling.
Certainly "Still" has a number of good things. It, like all the episodes before it, is superbly made. It has gritty and audacious production design, effects that are well crafted and have soul rather than being overused and abused and photography of almost cinematic quality. The music is haunting and affecting, having presence but not being intrusive.
There are moments of thought provoking writing and emotion. The beginning does intrigue and wrenches the gut, very creepy, and the conclusion has power. There is some great character development in "Still" even when focusing on fewer characters.
In this regard, "Still" is one of the best of Season 4, with the development for Beth and Daryl being some of the season's most grounded, engaging and interesting. Emily Kinney, in perhaps her best performance this season, and Norman Reedus give quite wonderful performances.
However, something was missing. 'The Walking Dead' can be good with the quieter and more deliberate approach to the storytelling, personally do not watch the show just for zombie-killing and action (from the very start there has always been much more to the show than that), there are some very good character-driven episodes that are light on action so that is not the problem. For me and others, "Still" is not as good as other episodes at executing this approach well.
After such an unsettling opening sequence, it was somewhat disappointing for the story to be so slight structurally and not particularly eventful outside of the interaction. There was tension in the interaction, but elsewhere the adrenaline and guts were missing and there could have been more tension, for early seasons 'The Walking Dead' this was quite tame.
In terms of moving the story/arc forward, "Still" is one of the weaker Season 4 episodes, and of the show up to this point, the character development advances the story doesn't really go anywhere and it is understandable why fans criticise it as a filler episode.
Overall, a very divisive episode that is not that bad and has a lot of fine things, but not up to top 'The Walking Dead' standard. 7/10 Bethany Cox