For our review of last episode of The Walking Dead, click here.
Synopsis: Daryl’s daring rescue mission forces Alpha to unleash a group of her own to retrieve what belongs to her, even if the price is paid in blood; the Kingdom’s plans to reunite the communities are put in jeopardy. (IMDB)
Writers: Eddie Guzelian and David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick
Director: Liesl Tommy
Rating: TV-MA
Running Time: 41mins
Airs: Sundays at 9pm on AMC (Canada/United States)
More good than bad for the first time in a while.
The episode started with Daryl, Connie, Henry, and Lydia escaping from the whisper camp. Going back to Hilltop would put it in danger so of course Henry offered to run away with Lydia though Daryl wouldn’t allow it (and it’s a stupid idea). It also seemed like they were lost. Meanwhile, Beta was on their trail. Lydia told the others about Beta but of course Daryl wasn’t worried.
They sought refuge in a building where Connie and her group had been before. She and Daryl would disagree about whether or not to keep Lydia with them. Lydia confronted Henry and called him out on all the questionable things he had done for her. Daryl would interrupt their eventual make-out session. As soon as Henry and Lydia stopped fighting the feelings they had for one another, walkers and presumably whispers showed up.
Their plan to separate the whispers from the walkers worked and a battle ensued from there. Lydia, who Daryl had locked in a closet, couldn’t handle what was happening so she had to get out and go to Henry who got injured while fighting. Meanwhile, it was all leading up to a showdown between Daryl and Beta which did not disappoint though ended too soon with Beta supposedly facing his demise.
The Kingdom was preparing for the fair but a mysterious group (their symbols have been appearing in the last few episodes) holding the surrounding roads hostage threatened to put it in jeopardy. Their plan was to try and take their roads back as the Kingdom needed the fair to survive. Carol believed that they could employ a more diplomatic solution though the others would disagree with that approach (for obvious reasons). They decided to go with a diplomatic solution until things would inevitably go south.
This group was only interested in speaking with Ezekiel and were also not interested in any alternative solutions. Once they got this group to listen, they were still not interested in their offer to protect the roads for the fair and to participate in it. Carol would offer them a chance to see a movie (they got a new projector bulb in the last episode). Meanwhile, Hilltop were suffering from problems on the surrounding roads. They would eventually find themselves under attack by a walkers. It appeared that Carol’s offer to the mysterious group (who called themselves “The Highwaymen”) worked as they showed up just in time to save the Hilltop delegation.
The episode ended with the fair. Hilltop made it but Daryl and Henry were still missing. Daryl came around about keeping Lydia around as they all set out for Alexandria. Meanwhile, Beta obviously survived his fight with Daryl and was now a lot angrier.
Overall, Chokepoint was a better episode of The Walking Dead which positioned all the characters towards the Kingdom’s fair. Alexandria is still missing from the proceedings though this will inevitably change over the final episodes of the season. The Henry-Lydia relationship is still a little sketchy but despite this, everything here worked more often than not. While the trajectory of the season may be inevitable, the episode still had plenty of excitement to be had. We don’t need a new group but they appear to not be staying around for too long. The fight scene between Daryl and Beta was one of the best sequences the series has done in a while so they of course had to cut it short. Beta is a great foil so it was nice to see him survive to inevitably fight him again. Hopefully the remainder of the season can deliver a satisfying finale, however expectations as always, are not very high.
Score: 7.5/10
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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.