User Reviews

I don't usually write reviews for the Walking Dead, but I felt like this episode could use a more positive one. I get that "Swear" isn't as good as other episodes of the show and doesn't advance the plot too much, but that's not what it's supposed to do. This episode had some good character development for Tara and introduced the group from Oceanside, which I'm sure will make a return at some point to fight the Saviors. Alanna Masterson always does a good job with what she's given, and this episode was no exception. I think that Tara is a cool side character who is a lot more lighthearted than the rest of the people on the show.

All in all, Swear isn't the best episode of the Walking Dead, but it's certainly not the worst episode either. It's lighter in tone than most episodes and tells a pretty good story too. 7/10

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

Tara and Heath are scavenging and they are attacked by walkers. Tara falls off a bridge and is carried away to the ocean. The teenager Cyndie rescues Tara and let her on the beach with water and fish. However Tara follows her and stumbles upon a mysterious community composed of women only. She sneaks around but is captured and brought to the presence of their leader Natania. What will happen to Tara?

"Swear" is a filler episode with the long journey of Tara after Rick's group killing the Saviors at the power station; therefore she is not aware of the last tragic events and the looting of Alexandria. The good point of the story is the return of the walkers that are forgotten in the lead story that looks more to "Mad Max" franchise with fight of gangs than to "The Walking Dead" with zombies. The plot is full of action but with one minor character only and it is also good to see how Tara keeps her promising to Cyndie. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Swear"

There are many brilliant 'The Walking Dead' episodes. There is a sizeable handful of episodes that are between decent and very good. There were disappointments back when the show was great admittedly, but they were still watchable. Post-Season 6, which was still worth the look if less consistent than the previous five seasons, there have been a fair share of lacklustre or less episodes that didn't do the show justice in any way.

Not many episodes made me feel very torn on what my thoughts were and what rating to give it. "Swear" is one of them. It is one of the lowest rated 'The Walking Dead' episodes, the lowest rated at this stage of the show, and while to me it is understandable as to why it didn't connect with people (to put it lightly) in my view the show has been a lot worse than this. Found "Swear" to be very flawed but nowhere near as bad as led to believe and not deserving of such vitriolic criticism (people even resorted to body shaming which is very shallow and has no place in a review).

Did appreciate "Swear" somewhat for being a change of pace. Most of the previous Season 7 episodes took the uncompromisingly brutal approach, whereas this is of a lighter and calmer (at times quirkier) sort and can see why people thought it refreshing. There were moments that were quietly amusing and others that were charming. There was tension at times, Tara learning of the deaths was a very poignant moment, there was a nice twist and the walkers are quite cool and creepy. The visuals are suitably slick generally.

Although there were reservations over how a not particularly major character, around for quite a few years but never properly in the spotlight, would fare as a lead, it was surprising that this aspect came off better than expected. Tara may not be the most compelling 'The Walking Dead' character, but it was really nice to see her have more to do after so long and with a presence that indicates that she was deserving of having an episode centred around her. Alanna Masterson's performance was appealing.

Was not totally enamoured by everybody else though, nobody's awful but nobody else really stands out. Heath's presence is quite bland and underwritten. While liking and appreciating Tara's development, the rest of the characters were of the functional but not much else kind. The dialogue is still a bit rambling, other episodes have done that worse though, and also awkward, even the intentional awkwardness felt like it was taken too far.

Felt that the story had its moments, but it didn't properly grab me. The pace is on the meandering side, with parts not really going anywhere, and other than the Oceanside introduction and Tara's character development there is not an awful lot of progression so if anybody considers the episode filler and questioning how it fits in with the rest of the show they can't really be blamed. It also felt quite contrived, with moments of over-conveniences happening out of the blue, things not always making sense and character behaviour that frustrates rather than rivets.

In conclusion, not that bad but left me torn. 5/10

Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy! Terrible acting, terrible directing, terrible editing, etc, etc. There is not one redeemable quality in this episode. The character development of Tara is way too late and TBH unnecessary. The writers and producers should be developing the main story arc, the characters and most of all Negan. Instead we get this extended length episode about Tara finding some hidden camp that had been decimated by The Saviors. That would have been a redeemable quality IF the director had focused on that part of the story and not the "sand zombies" that can't seem to bite anyone.

I'm not sure what's going on but ever since Scott Gimple, Greg Nicotero and Gale Hurd took over the show has been slowly losing its way and I've lost interest in this series. What happened to them saying that Season 7 will "blow you away" or "the best season yet". BS! TWD had one over the top season premier and now seems to be stretching the pain and suffering of the survivors too long without giving any hope to the viewers that things will get better. As someone who's read TWD comics I can tell you that I didn't feel this hopeless watching these characters slowly being taken apart by Negan's followers. The TV show interpretation is miserable and not easy to watch.

If i was an EP on this show I'd fire every writer and start over.

This episode fits so well with the narrative of this season and it's sad to me that people don't see how. This season focuses on the saviors. The extent of their control over the area. It'd be completely ridiculous to have every episode be some fight between rick and the saviors. It'd also be ridiculous to have the battle with the saviors climax after 4 episodes and then be over. And you all know it. Instead we get to see where the saviors have put their control. I've been really wanting to know who else is out there and what's going on in the world around our group, and I've seen ppl talk about this since the beginning asking for more scope of the areas around them and how the world is fairing outside of our group, and they finally give it to us in a well crafted way that fits in with the story arc and you guys still find something to whine about. We see the different camps set up in the area and how they are fairing, their relation to the saviors. It all builds up for making an army to match theirs. And it's BRILLIANT in my opinion.

And the highest rated review on here at the time of me posting this is a 1 star-er who spends most of his review talking about Tara's weight as if that has anything to do with anything at all. She shouldn't have to starve herself to death for a role where she plays someone who's starving to death. Are you kidding me? Its her role that she's been playing for years, and maybe she tried to lose weight for it and couldn't, and that has no effect on her acting at all. Why do you even care? The fact that someone even noticed her weight gain and took the time to call her unprofessional for it is hilarious. unprofessional is the suggestion that directors are gonna force a girl to lose weight for a role she already does beautifully. She's a great actress, and yes she is a main character. She has been with us since the governor.

I'm not telling that this episode is one of the best episodes in TWD but also it is not the worst , so i think it deserve better rating than this

Seriously considering abandoning this series which has become a torture device: you endure it, hopping it will reach a climax eventually. I am unsure if they changed directors/producers mid way, maybe an aneurysm occurred... but now it is just too much nothingness while waiting for something to happen.

This season we had episodes entirely focused on Carol, Daryl, Maggie and now Tara?? I had even gladly forgotten about her and the other guy I don't even care to know his name.

Worse is that the only hope I had for this season was Negan but, for me, even his character was already burnt in two episodes: no longer scary or mean, just plain stupid, excessively ironic and chatty.

While this episode standalone is decent, an entire episode revolving around Tara, a character who isn't that important or popular, was bound to not really work. I am aware Oceanside becomes more important later on, but this episode would've worked a lot better as a side-plot in another episode that focuses more on the main storyline.

Rewatching this episode of TWD, despite what a lot of the others think this isn't a filler episode. This introduced a whole new community and they play a vital part in the fight back. There are good action scenes, and as for Tara's comment about liking running, it's called sarcasm!

Contrary to the absurdly low 5.8 IMDb rating, this was actually a very good episode. I for one like Tara, and it was good to be able to focus on a character who we don't actually see or know very much of. She was vastly underwritten in the past 1/2 season or so, and I'm glad the writers finally devoted some screen time to her. I've seen many reviews of not just this episode, but also S7 in general, accusing it of being boring and saying they're going to stop watching. Not as good as some previous seasons? True, but to say that this is the worst TWD has ever been is ridiculous. The first half of S6 was far worse; actually it was rubbish to be honest (Glenn's 'death', the mediocre mid-season finale, that atrocious episode about Morgan etc) so it's completely unreasonable to treat S7 as people are doing. Overall, no real issue with this episode. Actually really enjoyed it - 9/10

Don't understand why the hate and low ratings for this episode. It's quite an engaging chapter and good to focus on a secondary character.

For this episode there should be a -rating. Is this the worst episode to date? Not following the comics I am not sure what "supposed" to happen. But this episode is the definition of "milking the cow" for money. It ridiculous and flawed almost to the point of me bursting out in laughter halfway through.

So this camp that supposedly lost all their men to the saviors and starting killing everything in their path to survive, suddenly lets Tara not only in, but then lets her escape? Also these "top" fighters who misses their shots from behind?

I'm not one to hate fillers JUST because they are fillers. But this episode was so bad that I almost want to quit watching just because of it. And lets not make fillers out characters no one gives a S*** about. I had almost forgotten she was part of the show. Would honestly be more satisfying if she was slaughtered in the episode for some good horror. Don't care what happened to Heath either.

Last seasons ending was very disappointing, this was made up for with a very good opening for season 7. However the first few episodes season 7 has been just bad. Bad bad bad.

Tara and Heath get separated during a supply run, and the former is found by a woman named Cyndie. Tara is spared, even though Cyndie's people have a policy to "kill on sight." Tara follows her to the Oceanside community, a place consisting entirely of women and young children. Tara is held captive by the Oceanside people and nearly executed, but is spared because she spared one of their own. She offers to leave their settlement, but Natania, the leader, worries that she knows too much.

At dinner, Tara talks about her group and briefly brings up the Saviors. It appears that they are letting her go, but then Tara is shot at. She learns that the residents were once members of another community, which was extorted by the Saviors. The Saviors killed all of the men in the settlement after they'd attempted to resist. The women fled, started their own community, and have never looked back.

Cyndie helps Tara to escape, but makes her swear never to tell anyone about her community. Tara reaches Alexandria, where she learns of Denise's death. She keeps her promise to Cyndie.

The episode is notable for its exploration of morality and ethics, as Tara grapples with the decision of whether to reveal the existence of the new group to Rick and the others. The episode also explores themes of trust and loyalty, as Tara forms a bond with one of the members of the new group, only to have it tested by the group's secrets.

One of the most memorable scenes in the episode is when Tara discovers the community's strict policy of killing anyone who discovers their existence. This moment forces Tara to confront the moral complexities of her situation and decide where her loyalties lie. The episode also provides insight into Tara's character, highlighting her compassion and empathy as she tries to find a peaceful solution to the conflict between her group and the new community.

The episode is also notable for its exploration of the new community's culture and way of life, particularly their use of elaborate traps and their mistrust of outsiders. This serves as a stark contrast to Rick and his group, who have formed alliances with other communities in order to survive.