If you would like to read our review of last episode, click here.
Synopsis: The communities join forces to restore a bridge that will facilitate communication and trade; someone is gravely injured at the construction site. (IMDB)
Writer: David Leslie Johnson
Director: Daisy von Scherler Mayer
Rating: TV-MA
Running Time: 45mins
Airs: Sundays at 9pm on AMC (Canada/United States)
And the endless spiral that is The Walking Dead continues. Leave it to a certain character to always put it all in perspective.
Here’s Negan. The episode started with Rick catching up with an off-screen Negan, filling him in on what’s been happening so far. Rick was hopeful about what has happened and where things were going. This episode, titled The Bridge, was about repairing the bridge that had collapsed in the last episode. It was indeed an important bridge for the community so a tent city was set up for the workers, who were mostly from the Sanctuary. Saviors were apparently disappearing but they had to hurry before the stream comes in.
The Saviors were having difficulties with their new situation and one of the Saviors, a man named Justin (Zach McGowan) decided to fight back against Daryl. Rick was still being naive about the situation. A rock explosion got the attention of a herd of Walkers that they were trying to divert away from the site. Things of course did not quite go according to plan when some of the Walkers reached the lumber yard. Aaron had his arm crushed by a log while the others fought the Walkers. Enid was the new doctor in training and amputated Aaron’s arm. Justin was responsible for the rogue Walkers so Daryl dealt with him as he saw fit. Rick recognized Justin from his time as a cop and kicked him out of the camp under threat of something worse than what Daryl did to him. Aaron survived the amputation and was still hopeful but the whole incident was a wakeup call for Rick.
In related news, Ezekiel may be getting ready to head back to the Kingdom but he wasn’t giving up on him and Carol. Anne (Jadis) was still looking for acceptance. She and Gabriel had a moment and were growing closer. Carol wanted to try on Ezekiel’s ring though she didn’t want the spectacle that came with it.
The latest supposed shipment of ethanol to the Hilltop from the Sanctuary was missing. As far as Maggie was concerned, nothing was moving. The other plow they recovered needed a blacksmith to fix and Earl (John Finn), the man who attacked her last week, was still locked up. Michonne had come for provisions for the Sanctuary but the Hilltop were keeping their surplus until they receive their ethanol shipment. Meanwhile, Earl’s wife Tammy (Brett Butler) was growing restless about her husband’s captivity.
Jesus was conflicted about Maggie’s leadership. Maggie was still corresponding with Georgie but had no interest in joining her. Though it’s apparently been a month, Jesus convinced Maggie to let Tammy see Earl. Maggie spoke with Earl alone about his and Tammy’s sob story. Earl wondered why she didn’t hang him. Maggie turned a corner from there and was now open to a common law system, she decided to get the Sanctuary their promised provisions, and she decided to free Earl and to have him work off his debt.
The episode ended by going back to Rick and Negan where Rick explained how despite what happened, everyone came together by the end. Negan was never going to see what they’ve done. Though he was more interested in when it would inevitably all go bad. Negan questioned Rick’s motivation and who all of it was really for to which Negan believed to be him. Meanwhile, Anne saw a helicopter in the sky and Justin faced some unknown fate at the hands of an offscreen character.
Overall, this was still a decent episode that continued what the premiere started but still faced some of the pitfalls of the previous season. Why would they let Justin be in charge of anything? It also introduced a possible exit strategy for Maggie with Georgie. It was a nice moment to see Maggie change and Rick start to see what was happening but it may be too late for Rick. Some may still rally around him but he is on a different wavelength than everybody else which may very well be his downfall. Nobody’s is going to go for their proposed common laws. There was some excitement in the episode with Aaron losing an arm though who really cares? The same could be said for Gabriel and Anne (Jadis). Ultimately, who better than Negan to put things in perspective by saying that everything was going to fail anyway. What will define this season is how it picks itself up from this. However considering the last few seasons, it’s unlikely that it will be any different this time.
Score: 7/10
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The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.
