The Walking Dead is back on our screens and we’re sent crashing back down to the reality of the world they’re living in now, following the fresh “alive” world of Fear The Walking Dead.
For me, it was a good episode to start the new season, but there was something that annoyed me slightly through the episode, which I’ll get into in a minute. As a recap, the last season ended as Morgan joined up with the group in Alexandria and the first thing he saw was Rick shooting one of the residents in the head, following a hearing, which made us wonder how Morgan would react to this and the rest of the residents.
The episode is split up into present time and past, which is where I got a little annoyed, and that’s because they follow the same trends that AMC have done in the past and that is when switching between timelines they use a black and white effect to show we’re looking back or forward. Now I do understand that if they hadn’t done this, we would get confused very fast to what is going on since nothing would line up, but the full episode does this, unlike where we have seen them do it on Breaking Bad and the opening of Better Call Saul when they give us short 5 minute clips.
Looking past this one niggle of mine, it was a good episode. It was based around them coming up with a solution and following it through after discovering quarry full of Walkers. Rick and Morgan had taken the body of the resident that Rick shot at the end of last season to be buried in the woods (Because killers won’t be buried inside the community) and they stumble upon a large quarry with hundreds of Walkers. Rick realizes that the Walkers will soon escape and the way out will lead them straight to Alexandria. So he devises a plan to lead them away from the town. The people of the town then set away at creating barriers and walls to direct the Walkers where they want them. The plan goes well, with Daryl slowly driving his bike ahead of them down the road, but in true Walking Dead fashion, something goes wrong leaving us on a cliff hanger to what will happen next week as the camera pans up to show us how many Walkers there are heading the wrong way.
I’m sure this episode could have been done in chronological order but I’m not sure if it would have had the same dramatic effect they wanted to deliver. There are a few other moments in the episode I feel need a mention, as they should be significant to how the season folds out. One being, we have a few new characters introduced who were part of the community but were absent for last season as they were on a scouting mission. Also, after a secret meeting between a few members, where there were plans being made to take the town back from Rick, they all seemed to get back on the same page and work together once they see that Rick’s way seems to be the right way to do things now. Glenn also starts to create a bond with one of the members that tried to kill him last season, showing him how they don’t have to be enemies. And finally, Eugene is awesome. Some will disagree and say he’s a useless character still, but he seems to give us that little bit of what we’re missing in a comic relief type character with his one liners, and his love for his “Tennessee Top hat”.
Next week should be quite eventful following this episode, as we should find out who has “put a spanner in the works” of Rick’s plan, whether it’s the group that’s been teased to us all last season called “The Wolves” or whether its someone else from the town who has a grudge with Rick.
[rating=4]
Kris Wall
Horror, Drama | USA, 2015 | 18 | Fox UK | Aired: 12th October 2015 (UK) |Dir.Nic Nicertero | Andrew Lincoln,Norman Reedus, Steven Yeun,Lennie James, Melissa McBride, Danai Gurira
