East – Following the death of Denise, Daryl sets out looking for Dwight with a score to finally settle. Meanwhile, Rick and Morgan start their own search for Carol following her sudden departure, only to find her in a new world of trouble.
While there’s no doubting the main objective of East is setting up for next week’s extended finale, it does so via some interesting small group stories. Across the wider group, there’s plenty of good foreshadowing towards the conflict everyone (character and audience alike) thinks is coming. Despite Rick believing they are more prepared than ever, the script carefully plants seeds of vulnerability. As they speculate on Carol’s getaway, Abraham acknowledges that their perimeter has blind spots. Then there are multiple concerns about too many members sallying out at once; reducing their defensive strength. This plays into the classic weakness of Alexandria (as exploited by The Wolves) in that it’s just too big to defend effectively, especially with the dwindling community numbers; it’s Edoras rather than Helm’s deep. When you combine that with the documented military-like organization and coordination of The Saviours (this week, Carol’s mouthy confronter uses the military terminology “klicks” for kilometres), the walls of Alexandria just get smaller and smaller. The encountered Saviours also seem alarmingly keyed-up on the layout of Alexandria, implying that several recon missions have already taken place, and that they have all they need to exploit the Safe Zone’s weaknesses. The idea of final moments is played well in keeping with the general theme of placing many characters in positions of peril throughout the episode, especially concerning our resident couples. Both Maggie & Glen, Michone & Rick, and even the parting Tobin and Carol get some wonderfully tender scenes with the obvious tease being their last moments together before something really really bad happens to one of them. Such topics are a minefield of cheese and corniness but full credit to Channing Powell’s script for keeping them lighter and focusing on enjoying the connection between each pair rather than painting an “X” on anyone’s back. Glen and Maggie get the finest moment for the simple but brilliantly effective shot of Glen watching Maggie fade into distance through the car side mirror.
As for the runaways themselves, its Carol’s chase that proves the most enjoyable. It gives Melissa McBride an excellent encore to her performance in Same Boat as once again, she’s confronted with hostile Saviours and forced into a kill or be killed position. Like before, it’s the way she blurs the lines between the different sides of her personality that really make this gripping. We know some of her dramatics are the classic Carol rope-a-dope (she even works the cross again) yet some is genuine from her fear of having to kill again, but you can’t exactly place where one begins and the other ends, which naturally draws you in closer in wanting to find out.
The pre-credits tease of the confrontation is a great touch from director Michael E. Satrazemis as it ultimately toys with our expectations how the showdown actually plays out. Also, did anyone else flash to Chris Pine’s bar fight in 2009's Star Trek when it was 5 against Carol, “So go get some more guys then it will be an even fight”? The pursuit by Rick and Morgan also sees the pair chew through some good material. The main topic is the idea that no matter how bleak the situation there is always a choice over killing, or so Morgan would have Rick believe. He makes some good observations by comparing Rick’s past and present choices to spread reasonable doubt over Rick’s current “take no chances” philosophy, including some confessions. This could be some curious foreshadowing to Rick’s coming confrontations with Negan. In recent seasons, Rick has gotten through his darkest moments by becoming the monster deep inside him. Yet now he’s about to face someone that’s a bigger, more sadistic monster than he could ever become. If he squares up Negan monster-to-monster, he’ll only lose so he’ll need to find a different path in order to beat him, which Morgan could be pointing him towards.
The Daryl Vs Dwight story suffers from being more plot-focused than allowing character emotions to be explored as Daryl goes back to the tracks in search of Dwight. It’s interesting how it ultimately splits this splinter group down the middle over the desire for vengeance or the need to caution. Is the chance of avenging Denise worth endangering their lives and the security of the larger group? You have the contrast of a stubborn and single-minded Daryl against Glen being the voice of reason with Rosita and Michone as the swing votes in between.
Throughout the episode, Glen really shows his value in the later role with significance for the group more than just a “go-to-town guy”. Combine that with the stakes of his and Maggie’s relationship, and it definitely feels like the show is placing him in the crosshairs, and comics fans will be all too aware of an event that could be coming (hell, even most non-readers it’s been so talked about). Yet last week’s episode served as the perfect example of why that so easily could just be a huge bluff. So as many times before, we should treat the comic source material of The Walking Dead like Terminator chronology (no…. Genisys… or Salvation) in that, “The future’s not set”
The episode parts on some great cliffhangers to start next week off with a bang. Maggie’s new hair is a fun comic Easter Egg, as is Carl finding the Lucile carved pistol. Rick and Morgan said it best in that they didn’t end anything, they started it and this episodes sets up nicely for those consequences to knock them out of the park. Dwight has been built up well as a villain red shirt if required (we’re going to enjoy watching that piggy squeal), but we can be sure at least one or two main cast names will be checking out too. It’s the finale countdown.