If you would like to read our review of last episode of The Walking Dead, click here.
Synopsis: The Survivors encounter unfamiliar faces outside the safety of their community’s walls and must decide whether or not this new group can be trusted. (IMDB)
Writer: Eddie Guzelian
Director: Larry Teng
Rating: TV-MA
Running Time: 45mins
Airs: Sundays at 9pm on AMC (Canada/United States)
The more the things change, the more they say the same.
There’s a 6 year time jump and the episode started with Michonne setting the stage. Everyone looks different. Things are dark and the path ahead isn’t as clear. However, some are still hopeful. Michonne’s speech was right where Rick had “died”. She had been talking to Rick a lot, looking for guidance.
Rosita, Eugene, and Aaron were looking for Judith in the woods though we know she was busy with the group she saved at the end of the last episode. They were unsure about this new group but Judith (Cailey Fleming) convinced them to help. The new group named Magna (Nadia Hilker), Yumiko (Eleanor Matsuura), Luke (Dan Fogler), Connie (Lauren Ridloff), and Kelly (Angel Theory) got blindfolded and brought to Alexandria. The new arrivals caught the attention of the other residents. Michonne didn’t like their arrival, however, their fate was put to the council where they faced countless questions. Michonne was tough, revealing Magna to be a former prisoner with something to hide before seemingly walking off in disgust.
Gabriel was obsessed with finding others with his radios. He wanted to work on boosting their signal but Michonne was a tough person to convince. However, Rosita decided on taking Eugene and going around Michonne. Also, he and Rosita appear to be in some sort of relationship which is just weird. Judith kept up with her studies, including swords and math. Negan gave her some unsolicited help. Meanwhile, Rosita and Eugene’s mission got interrupted by a herd of Walkers.
Magna wanted to fight to stay but the others thought otherwise. The people of Alexandria were not those who should be taken lightly. Though it looked like Megna was going against her group by attacking Michonne and her new baby, she gave her another hidden knife. Michonne told Judith that Rick and Carl would have been proud of her and that she’d understand one day her treatment of the new arrivals. Judith was forgetting Rick and Carl and hoped that Michonne wasn’t. Then, Michonne remembered her kid. Meanwhile, Rosita and Eugene were trying to escape the herd.
Carol married Ezekiel and was now the queen of the Kingdom that was also falling apart. The two have taken in Henry (Matt Lintz) and Ezekiel continued to be protective of him. Meanwhile, the Hilltop hasn’t been the same since Maggie’s absence (thanks to Lauren Cohan’s absence for the remainder of the season). Carol and Henry’s trip to the Hilltop got interrupted by a group of Jed-led Saviors that lured them into a trap. They wanted their stuff but were willing to let them live after Carol spared Jed previously. Henry struggled to stay quiet until Carol’s wedding ring was the last straw. He ultimately succumb to the numbers game. Henry didn’t understand why Carol gave up so easily, however, she made sure they’d burn for what they did. It was clear that Carol had other plans for them, picking up Daryl along the way.
As the new group was leaving Alexandria, Michonne changed her mind and offered to take them to the Hilltop. Meanwhile, Rosita and Eugene coated themselves in mud to hide from the herd while whispers could be heard.
Overall, this was a decent episode that helped set up the new landscape post-Rick. Everyone was pretty much in the same position that they were before except something or things happened at the Hilltop and the Sanctuary during the time jump that can explain why certain characters are they way they are now. Hopefully we will get an explanation over the next few episodes. There were a lot of dull moments in the episode as far as Alexandria was concerned. The time jump mid-season did not exactly help things as we have to start from 0 once again. New Judith is okay, Henry is still kind of annoying, and the jury is still out on the new group as this episode was more concerned with everyone else. This was only the start of this new path so it will be sort of interesting to see where this season will go and with two episodes left until the midseason finale, something’s going to go down *whispers*. I promise to begrudgingly be there for all of it.
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.
