Episode 11.10 titled "New Haunts" is entirely focused on the Commonwealth storyline. The premise for episode 10: The heroes experience Halloween in the Commonwealth; Daryl and Rosita undergo military training led by Mercer; Carol investigates Ezekiel's medical condition. I think the editing and pacing was perfect in this episode, probably among the best of the season as both perspective kept things tense and there were also some nice transitions. So was the writing, Magali Lozano penned the script for 11.10 and the overall writing is brilliant, the dialogue and the characters, everything feels natural and just perfect. Overseen by Angela Kang, the writing for this episode is consistent of the previous episode. The episode uses the big budget wisely, making it brilliant both technically and visually with an impressive production, with new sets and new actors bringing brought in. Laila Robins makes her long awaited and anticipated introduction as Pamela Milton, the governor of the Commonwealth.
Jon Amiel directed 11.10 "New Haunts" and though he is new to the show, Amiel is extremely talented and it shows in the episode he got to direct, his work is excellent and made a great episode with lots of mesmerizing scenes. The cinematography is truly breathtaking and incredible, the way it was shot and so on, just brilliant. The sets were detailed and perfect, it's nice to see more of Commonwealth and I think they did a fantastic job with recreating it from graphic novel form to TV. Art and production design is brilliant. Superb sound design and a musical score both gripping and dramatic. It's one of many things on the technical side of things that the show is doing a phenomenal job at.
As this was a direct follow-up to the previous episode which ended with a time jump. Commonwealth is the focus and with it comes some great drama, zombie action and set pieces you'll find incredible. It's also nice how the episode feel like an ensemble drama again, there are lots of characters that we follow, old and new, everyone has something to do. I think my favorite characters this episode were Norman Reedus as Daryl, Michael James Shaw as Mercer and Teo Rapp-Olsson as Sebastian Milton. But the best performances goes to Melissa McBride, Khary Payton and Norman Reedus. I really like the casting for Sebastian Milton and Pamela Milton, they are truly accurate and so are Mercer to their comic book version.
"New Haunts" has lots of things that fans of The Walking Dead will like. But it isn't something mind-blowing and the reason for that is how much build up and world building there are in this episode, I liked how the show and writers are taking a more slower pace with this story arc which was the final arc in the graphic novel, there it ended up feeling rushed but the tv show is taking it's sweet time and it have ended up being a more well thought out arc, with the Commonwealth being something you can truly see happening in a Zombie Apocalypse. I didn't really see any flaws with this episode, it had plenty of action and never felt forced, an episode like this is needed with drama shows. I can't wait for the next episode, this was brilliant.
30 out of 61 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink