Now – The separating half of the walker super herd reaches Alexandria, leaving them surrounded and sealed in. With many still reeling from the attack by The Wolves, feelings of hopelessness and despair quickly set in. With Aaron’s help Maggie attempts a rescue mission for Glen and Denise struggles with a new patient.
So after weeks of blasting action and a personal backstory, Now does exactly what it implies: it brings us back to the present with most of the cast. There are a few notable absences though, and that’s not including those still outside Alexandria (of course, we don’t catch with Glenn... that would be way too kind). In fact, the likes on Carol, Gabriel, Eugene and Heath all take an unexplained week off simply because the episode has so many others to get around that a few corners had to be cut. This is a little frustrating in its omission. There’s nothing with (and indeed a lot right with) talking a few faces out of the picture but at least write them out rather than just hoping people will forget them; it’s sloppy story construction and The Walking Dead is better that. For those that do feature, there is a lot to enjoy as the siege mentality sets in. There are points when Now feels more like “After”, being more of a consequences outlet for previous episodes than its own story. Yet there is a great central theme on the importance of hope.
As the insurmountable walker ranks reach the walls of Alexandria, the danger quickly shifts from outside to inside. Rick sums it up nicely, “The wall’s gonna hold together... can you?”. Throughout the episode, we see many of the longstanding Alexandria residents battle with hopelessness and come through with stronger resolves as they finally accept that the real world is harsher than their sheltered existence. Jessie becomes the focal point. After having her kitchen based baptism of fire, she’s a step ahead in accepting this reality and as we see her dispatch a random walker without hesitation we understand that she’s a real survivor now. This is best compared to the flashbacks in episode 1, when Rick tried to get Alexandrians to take on some walkers only for them cower away like pugs in bear fight. Now with choice of running stripped away from them, we see several standing up to fight. Deanna has a similar arc but with less satisfying results. Her early state of almost catatonic numbness doesn’t make for amazing viewing but her final scene of finding her bottle is quite the eye opener.
The ideals of the future and longevity feature well. In the most obvious sense, the episode shows just how bad the present becomes when people stop believing they have a future. The “no tomorrow” looting of food stores illustrates this well as the simple choices of a few hungry mouths become the biggest danger they face. Similarly, part of Deanna’s arc examines her dreams of turning their community into a new functioning society as her single brush with reality crushes them entirely. Spencer is also very interesting in presenting more of a moral opportunist within the group. He still has some good qualities as he quells the panic raid on the stores but only to do the same himself. Outwardly, he wants people to believe they will survive but inwardly, he doesn’t believe that himself, and so his attitude is more “It’s the end of the world... I’ll do what I want!”. He wants the others to still follow the rules so he can break them to his advantage. This looks like the beginnings of a much darker storyline for him; possibly involving Deanna too as she knows his truth. One of the more surprising character stories comes from Ron (Jessie & Pete’s eldest son, Rick killed his father). At first, his exchange with Carl seems like Ron has fully inherited the “being a dick” gene from his dad as he threatens to stop him going out after Enid. Yet we discover that, in his own way, his motives are benevolent and in fact he’s arguably more rational than Carl for knowing any escape attempt will only get him killed, “You saved my life and now I’m saving yours”. The later events even suggest a redemption arc for Ron as implied in the episode 1 flashbacks. However, as Rick fulfils his offer of teaching him to shoot, you can’t help wonder Ron’s pulling a little Shane. Is he learning to shoot because there’s someone he wants to kill? Maybe even Rick himself in revenge for his father? Denise’s worries of confidence is too much of a re-treading on her last episode to be as meaningful as it intends but her developing relationship with Tara does intrigue and like Jessie she does help convey the change in the Alexandria residents.
Aaron and Maggie’s arc provides the episode’s only action and though it’s low on quantity there’s some definite quality to it. In a few previous episodes, we’ve seen that the show’s walker make up & effects teams can produce some wonderfully horrible creations from more decomposed zombies in wet conditions and these offerings are no exception. It’s almost vomit-inducing as Maggie’s arm goes straight through the rancid pate like flesh as she tries to push it away, only drawing closer, like a suffocating blob with a head on top. It’s a great twist on a simple walker encounter. Though the emphasis is still on the pair’s emotional journey, it’s surprising but enjoyable to see Aaron confess all about The Wolves finding his bag so quickly. From his previous episode reaction, it looked that would become his big secret but instead his confession gets used to embed some resident confidence in Rick. This is great writing in the way it plays on our expectations and sends Aaron in a different direction. His resulting guilt still becomes his motivation to help Maggie in her attempts to sally out for Glenn. For the most part, this looks and feels a bit routine but genuinely surprises with its later episode reveals as in own her own way Maggie feels just as much guilt as Aaron. There’s some great wording to Maggie’s dialogue over Glenn. Much of her time in episode revolves around her choosing to believe that Glenn is still alive (and let’s face it, we’re all right there with her). In one mid-episode speech, she starts every sentence with “If he’s alive...”. It cleverly shows that she’s smart enough to be aware of his possible demise but mentally strong enough to stay more optimistic than many other characters this week.
The explosive start to the season doesn’t help in comparison but even considered as a singular episode Now is a bit too static for its own good. It covers a lot of ground but can’t help feeling like little more than a polished over hour of setup for 2015's remaining offerings. It has several good moments in isolation and a nice linking theme, but everything just doesn’t come together as effectively as we’ve come to expect. This week comes as a bit of blip but a necessary one that accomplishes enough to ensure it will be beneficial to the future weeks.