Quote:
Originally Posted by PadresFan104
I really hate the episodes that try to get us closer to the characters and their internal struggles, etc. I want suspense, surprise and movement towards a valid end-point for the gang of misfits we've been following. This weeks episode put me to sleep.
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I am not sure I could disagree more.
I love it when the show focuses on one or two characters and let's us inside them. That's when the show really shines, in my opinion. What episode did that better than the one where Carol had to kill the little girl? None. And that's probably the strongest episode the show has had to date.
Carol and Darryl are two of the best characters on the show. Melissa McBride is fantastic. She and the writers have done amazing work with her character considering where she began - a marginal, bit player, a batter wife with little or no action - to what she's become today. Fantastic stuff and a big part of why I like the show. I love good zombie action as much as (no, probably more) than the next guy, but without good characters and caring about the individuals at risk, it's just blood, gore and noise signifying nothing. You need to care about the people, have some investment in them in order to really make the threats and surprises have some actual suspense to them.
And the thing about this show - I think I've said this a lot - is that there is no "valid endpoint." Beyond them all dying, it doesn't exist. I suppose it could be "find a cure," but I really don't think that's in the cards. The show is about surviving in this world and what that survival does to the people in it. That's why you need episodes like this and others that go inside and show just what it's doing.
The van falling was poorly executed. I absolutely loved the lemming zombies, a really great touch, but, I agree, they either should have kept falling, or Darryl and Carol should have moved a bit quicker to get out of there. Some of what happened was a bit clumsy.
Overall, I liked the episode.