Has the game ever been changed more than this? >>>
Saturday, May 30
The Walking Dead S06E03 "Thank You" REVIEW
The Walking Dead S06E03 “Thank You” REVIEW
Airing in the UK on: FOX, Mondays, 9pm
Writer: Angela Kang
Director: Michael Slovis
Essential Plot Points:
- Back at the herd, Rick and the others race towards Alexandria to try and stop the horn, and then the herd. Rick orders Daryl to stay with the front end of the herd and tells the others he’s going to get the RV and use it to round the stragglers back up. He orders Glenn and Michonne to take the Alexandrians back home and then takes them to one side. He makes it clear not all of them will make it back but someone has to. Heath overhears him.
- At that moment, one of the Alexandrians is murdered by a Walker and euthanised by Michonne. As his horrified friends look on, Rick looks the man’s still warm body and sets off.
- The horn stops as Glenn and Michonne lead their team towards Alexandria. They find a group of walkers in their path and kill them, ordering the Alexandrians to stay back. They ignore these orders and a few seconds letter one, Sturgess, wounds another and runs off. A third, David, is bitten on the shoulder. A fourth, Annie, has already injured her ankle and the surviving team members find their progress slowed to a crawl.
- At the front of the herd, Daryl is starting to panic about what’s happening in Alexandria. This being Daryl, he does so in the calmest, most monosyllabic way possible. He tells Sasha and Abraham that he’s heading back and, when they implore him to stay, seems to consider it. Then he says, “I got faith in you, ” and peels off.
- Meanwhile, Glenn and Michonne’s ragtag fugitive fleet have made it to a small town. Heath, with barely contained disgust, confirms the town is the location of Aiden and Nicholas’s catastrophic supply run. He pushes the other man to act as their guide and Nicholas, clearly traumatised, agrees.
- Things get worse. Firstly because none of the cars in town work. Secondly because they find Sturgess being feasted on by walkers and thirdly because the outer environs of the herd, that they’ve barely kept ahead of, arrive in town. Hiding in a nearby petstore, they try and regroup. Glenn suggests starting a fire to attract the walkers away from Alexandria and Nicholas suggests a nearby feed store.
- Glenn reluctantly agrees to let Nicholas come with him, and takes a moment. He examines the watch Hershel gave him and calls Rick, explaining the plan. He signs off with, “Good luck, dumbass.” Echoing the first words the two men ever exchanged.
- Rick in the meantime fights off three Walkers, injuring himself on a machete protruding from one. Which is either bad, very very bad or an alternate route to Rick’s experiences as an amputee in the comics.
- Annie and Scott both offer to be left behind to help the group speed up. Heath refuses them and confronts Michonne. The young man admits that he overhead Rick and Michonne verbally destroys him, pointing out everything Rick’s been through that the others haven’t.
- Glenn and Nicholas find a walker pinned beneath a car and Nicholas realises it’s one of his team, left behind on the disastrous supply run. As he kills him, they hear gunfire from Alexandria and race towards it.
- Nearby, Rick reaches the RV and rolls out.
- Back at the petstore, Michonne’s team try and wait out the Walkers. David hands Michonne a last will, written to his wife Betsy. Earlier, he’d told Michonne that Betsy and he had fallen in love and got married when David had been rescued by Alexandrians.
- Michonne writes “YOU’RE GETTING HOME” on her arm and hands David back the will. As she does so, the gunfire from Alexandria attracts the Walkers outside and Michonne tells her people to wait for them to clear before heading out.
- Things get worse. Two Walkers in the back room sense them and begin pounding on the door. The noise attracts the attention of the Walkers outside. Michonne and her people fight their way out, losing Annie in the process.
- And worse. Glenn and Nicholas find the feed store has already burnt down. Nicholas, barely holding it together, struggles to think of another target as the two men are cornered by the herd.
- And worse. Michonne’s people are cornered nearby and climb a locked gate to escape. Heath, first over, shoots the walkers clawing at Michonne and saves her life. David is torn apart in front of them, as a powerless Heath looks on in horror.
- AND WORSE. Glenn and Nicholas are horrifically outnumbered and have nowhere to go but onto a dumpster. Surrounded by walkers, Glenn frantically tries to formulate a plan. Nicholas finally loses his mind, turns to Glenn, says, “Thank you,” and shoots himself in the head. As he collapses, he takes Glenn with him. Glenn screams as the Walkers close in and rip the two men apart.
- Yeah.
- Michonne, Heath and Scott make it to a creek which will slow the herd down. Heath stares at his blood-soaked reflection, barely recognising himself.
- Nearby, Rick stops the RV at the edge of the woods and signals Glenn. He gets no response and calls Daryl, assuring him the breakaway herd will be back their way shortly. Sasha bitterly congratulates them both, as Rick remains unaware that Daryl has gone off mission. Rick delivers a rousing speech telling his people to hold fast and signs off. Starting to break down, he looks on the verge of saying something more…
- …And then the Wolves Morgan let live last week almost kill Rick. He shoots the two men, sees more sneaking around the RV and empties an assault rifle through the side of the RV, killing them.
- Daryl hears the gunfire and accelerates, apparently to help.
- Michonne, Heath and Scott reach the outskirts of Alexandria and get their first hint of the damage.
- Rick, searching the bodies, finds baby food. The Wolves may have his daughter. Visibly shaking with terror and adrenalin, tries the engine. It won’t start. And then, the breakaway herd emerges…
Review:
This entire episode is a series of no-win scenarios. Some are big, some are small and the most important one isn’t even about the episode but the series itself. All of them are horrifying, none of them are easy and none of them break the right way. Yet, somehow, Kang’s script still manages to find some moral ambiguity in the choices the characters make.
Look at every single character choice in this episode and you see the same thing; people trying to do the right thing and often coming up short through no fault of their own. Scott leads the Alexandrians into a fight not for glory but to help the very people who most of his friends still think are one step away from being a threat. Nicholas volunteers to help because he wants to make amends for what he’s done. Heath fights for the injured because he’s convinced no one else will. Michonne gives a dead man a moment’s reassurance because she wants him to get one last moment with the woman he loves. Daryl goes off message not because he wants to, but because he can’t live with the thought of leaving Carol to stand alone. Rick tells Glenn and Michonne that the Alexandrians won’t all make it not because he’s cruel, but because he’s been here before.
Glenn trusts Nicholas because he defines himself by not being as hardened as his friends.
In order, here’s how those decisions play out; Scott gets himself injured and three people killed. Nicholas gets himself killed and, odds are, Glenn too. Michonne has to watch David die in a way even more horrific than what was already coming. Daryl realises that if they’re going to survive he has to trust, and risk, everything left that matters to him. Rick may be about to lose his hand and his daughter but, just maybe, get some humanity back.
And Glenn may be dead.
All these moments play out with the same gentle, battered compassion and desperate humanity that’s defined this extraordinary season to date. Everyone impresses here but this is very definitely a four=hander between Michonne, Glenn, Daryl and Nicholas. The three originals all have moments of absolute horror here as they find themselves faced with their impossible choices. Daryl comes back to the fold, Michonne is forced to literally and metaphorically wipe the memory of David from her and Glenn finds his refusal to leave people behind may be the last thing he ever does. Two of them move past their decisions, one stands by his. What level of price he pays for that remains to be seen.
Then there’s Nicholas, whose arc ends here in the only way it ever could. Michael Traynor’s done great work in the show from day one and he ends on a real high note here. Nicholas’s story is a tragedy, and one this show is uniquely equipped to handle. He’s not a good man, or a bad one, but one unable to adapt to a world where the consequences of everything are fatal. Fans will, and are, of course blaming Nicholas for killing one of the show’s longest standing characters but even if he has, there’s thematic completion there. Nicholas wasn’t equipped for this world, Glenn refused to leave him behind, he died as a result.
Or did he?
Because there is a chance, a good one, that Glenn isn’t dead. Stephen Yuen didn’t appear on The Talking Dead after the show’s US broadcast, the other cast did not Twitter eulogies as they have in the past and there’s something… off… about how the scene is shot. Yes we see Glenn screaming in apparent horror and pain as he hits the floor. Yes we see guts being torn from what looks like his body and yes there’s sad, “This character is dead now” music playing as the scene pulls back.
But.
Showrunner Scott Gimple has admitted that Glenn will be a part of future episodes in some form. The scene is shot in such a way that the intestines appear to be being pulled from the top of his chest where intestines, well… aren’t. Plus there are no founts of blood pouring from his mouth. And the slightly coy way the scene’s shot. And the fact Nicholas falls on top of Glenn. And the call back to his first line in the show and the clear similarities between Rick and the tank then and Glenn and the dumpster now.
And that, more than anything else, is the no win scenario this episode faces.
Make no mistake, Kang’s script is another absolute belter in what is so far the best season this show has ever had. But there are only two ways it can break and neither of them are good. Either Glenn, one of the longest-running characters in the show, is dead, or he isn’t. If he’s dead then not only will it leave a massive hole but the cruel possibility of zombie Glenn shambles into view. If he isn’t, then Glenn’s still around but the show will have gone to a well it really, truly cannot go to again. The scene is presented as Glenn’s end and if it isn’t then this can never, ever be done again. Fans have long memories, hold grudges for decades and you flirt with that at your peril. Just ask M Night Shyamalan.
But that’s all in the future. For now we have Schrodinger’s Glenn: Rick in incredible amounts of trouble and yet another great episode under the show’s belt.
Good:
- “Get back safe.” Said to Team Victim as Rick is looting the still warm body of their friend. BEST LEADER EVER.
- “We’re gonna catch up with something.” “We’re gonna catch up with a LOT of things. And we’re gonna end them.” Dani Gurira does incredible work this episode. Michonne speaks like she fights. Every syllable has a purpose and every syllable has weight.
- “You wanna go, we ain’t gonna stop you. But without you they could stop US.” Sasha’s moment is clearly coming this season, but this is pretty good for starters.
- “We don’t leave people behind. NOT US.” Heath is a great addition to the cast and his pitbull refusal to back down is exactly what’s keeping him alive. Plus, the arc he has here is very much the opposite of Nicholas’s. Nicholas is faced with his past and is crushed by it. Heath is faced by his future and is defined by it, accepting the conflict between violence and compassion that Rick and his team struggle to balance constantly.
- “Have you ever been covered in so much blood that you didn’t know if it was yours or Walker’s or your friends? THEN YOU DON’T KNOW.” This entire speech is amazing but the delivery on this line is stunningly good. I’ve seen this episode compared to a war movie elsewhere and that’s very accurate, with Michonne in particular as the hardened veteran trying to keep as many of her people alive as possible.
- The show now has three black, male leads who are very much alive all at once. This, for a series that has been justifiably criticised for the revolving door approach to its black cast is a very good thing indeed.
The Bad:
- In what way can Glenn’s death can satisfy anyone? On the other hand, who won’t be on tenterhooks to find out what happened?
The Random:
- Rick is in a lot of trouble with that hand, especially if there’s zombie blood on it. Robert Kirkman’s talked about how Rick losing a hand is something he regrets doing in the comic and we’d thought it wasn’t going to come up in the show. That looks to no longer be the case. Or, at the very least, Rick’s going to be very unwell for a while. Perfect time for a change in the balance of power at Alexandria maybe? And the worst possible time for a war…
- Jay Huguley, who does great work here, is a familiar face for genre fans. He was Dr Peter Marks in Alias, Jimmy Ledoux in True Detective and Ray Whitehill in Star-Crossed.
- Shot of the episode is this. The two diverging paths represented literally and metaphorically, Daryl’s brave decision to come back rendered at distance and not commented on, just how he’d prefer it. The direction throughout is great, again, but Slovis nails this in particular.
Review by Alasdair Stuart
The Walking Dead S06E03 “Thank You” REVIEW
The Walking Dead S06E03 “Thank You” REVIEW
Airing in the UK on: FOX, Mondays, 9pm
Writer: Angela Kang
Director: Michael Slovis
Essential Plot Points:
- Back at the herd, Rick and the others race towards Alexandria to try and stop the horn, and then the herd. Rick orders Daryl to stay with the front end of the herd and tells the others he’s going to get the RV and use it to round the stragglers back up. He orders Glenn and Michonne to take the Alexandrians back home and then takes them to one side. He makes it clear not all of them will make it back but someone has to. Heath overhears him.
- At that moment, one of the Alexandrians is murdered by a Walker and euthanised by Michonne. As his horrified friends look on, Rick looks the man’s still warm body and sets off.
- The horn stops as Glenn and Michonne lead their team towards Alexandria. They find a group of walkers in their path and kill them, ordering the Alexandrians to stay back. They ignore these orders and a few seconds letter one, Sturgess, wounds another and runs off. A third, David, is bitten on the shoulder. A fourth, Annie, has already injured her ankle and the surviving team members find their progress slowed to a crawl.
- At the front of the herd, Daryl is starting to panic about what’s happening in Alexandria. This being Daryl, he does so in the calmest, most monosyllabic way possible. He tells Sasha and Abraham that he’s heading back and, when they implore him to stay, seems to consider it. Then he says, “I got faith in you, ” and peels off.
- Meanwhile, Glenn and Michonne’s ragtag fugitive fleet have made it to a small town. Heath, with barely contained disgust, confirms the town is the location of Aiden and Nicholas’s catastrophic supply run. He pushes the other man to act as their guide and Nicholas, clearly traumatised, agrees.
- Things get worse. Firstly because none of the cars in town work. Secondly because they find Sturgess being feasted on by walkers and thirdly because the outer environs of the herd, that they’ve barely kept ahead of, arrive in town. Hiding in a nearby petstore, they try and regroup. Glenn suggests starting a fire to attract the walkers away from Alexandria and Nicholas suggests a nearby feed store.
- Glenn reluctantly agrees to let Nicholas come with him, and takes a moment. He examines the watch Hershel gave him and calls Rick, explaining the plan. He signs off with, “Good luck, dumbass.” Echoing the first words the two men ever exchanged.
- Rick in the meantime fights off three Walkers, injuring himself on a machete protruding from one. Which is either bad, very very bad or an alternate route to Rick’s experiences as an amputee in the comics.
- Annie and Scott both offer to be left behind to help the group speed up. Heath refuses them and confronts Michonne. The young man admits that he overhead Rick and Michonne verbally destroys him, pointing out everything Rick’s been through that the others haven’t.
- Glenn and Nicholas find a walker pinned beneath a car and Nicholas realises it’s one of his team, left behind on the disastrous supply run. As he kills him, they hear gunfire from Alexandria and race towards it.
- Nearby, Rick reaches the RV and rolls out.
- Back at the petstore, Michonne’s team try and wait out the Walkers. David hands Michonne a last will, written to his wife Betsy. Earlier, he’d told Michonne that Betsy and he had fallen in love and got married when David had been rescued by Alexandrians.
- Michonne writes “YOU’RE GETTING HOME” on her arm and hands David back the will. As she does so, the gunfire from Alexandria attracts the Walkers outside and Michonne tells her people to wait for them to clear before heading out.
- Things get worse. Two Walkers in the back room sense them and begin pounding on the door. The noise attracts the attention of the Walkers outside. Michonne and her people fight their way out, losing Annie in the process.
- And worse. Glenn and Nicholas find the feed store has already burnt down. Nicholas, barely holding it together, struggles to think of another target as the two men are cornered by the herd.
- And worse. Michonne’s people are cornered nearby and climb a locked gate to escape. Heath, first over, shoots the walkers clawing at Michonne and saves her life. David is torn apart in front of them, as a powerless Heath looks on in horror.
- AND WORSE. Glenn and Nicholas are horrifically outnumbered and have nowhere to go but onto a dumpster. Surrounded by walkers, Glenn frantically tries to formulate a plan. Nicholas finally loses his mind, turns to Glenn, says, “Thank you,” and shoots himself in the head. As he collapses, he takes Glenn with him. Glenn screams as the Walkers close in and rip the two men apart.
- Yeah.
- Michonne, Heath and Scott make it to a creek which will slow the herd down. Heath stares at his blood-soaked reflection, barely recognising himself.
- Nearby, Rick stops the RV at the edge of the woods and signals Glenn. He gets no response and calls Daryl, assuring him the breakaway herd will be back their way shortly. Sasha bitterly congratulates them both, as Rick remains unaware that Daryl has gone off mission. Rick delivers a rousing speech telling his people to hold fast and signs off. Starting to break down, he looks on the verge of saying something more…
- …And then the Wolves Morgan let live last week almost kill Rick. He shoots the two men, sees more sneaking around the RV and empties an assault rifle through the side of the RV, killing them.
- Daryl hears the gunfire and accelerates, apparently to help.
- Michonne, Heath and Scott reach the outskirts of Alexandria and get their first hint of the damage.
- Rick, searching the bodies, finds baby food. The Wolves may have his daughter. Visibly shaking with terror and adrenalin, tries the engine. It won’t start. And then, the breakaway herd emerges…
Review:
This entire episode is a series of no-win scenarios. Some are big, some are small and the most important one isn’t even about the episode but the series itself. All of them are horrifying, none of them are easy and none of them break the right way. Yet, somehow, Kang’s script still manages to find some moral ambiguity in the choices the characters make.
Look at every single character choice in this episode and you see the same thing; people trying to do the right thing and often coming up short through no fault of their own. Scott leads the Alexandrians into a fight not for glory but to help the very people who most of his friends still think are one step away from being a threat. Nicholas volunteers to help because he wants to make amends for what he’s done. Heath fights for the injured because he’s convinced no one else will. Michonne gives a dead man a moment’s reassurance because she wants him to get one last moment with the woman he loves. Daryl goes off message not because he wants to, but because he can’t live with the thought of leaving Carol to stand alone. Rick tells Glenn and Michonne that the Alexandrians won’t all make it not because he’s cruel, but because he’s been here before.
Glenn trusts Nicholas because he defines himself by not being as hardened as his friends.
In order, here’s how those decisions play out; Scott gets himself injured and three people killed. Nicholas gets himself killed and, odds are, Glenn too. Michonne has to watch David die in a way even more horrific than what was already coming. Daryl realises that if they’re going to survive he has to trust, and risk, everything left that matters to him. Rick may be about to lose his hand and his daughter but, just maybe, get some humanity back.
And Glenn may be dead.
All these moments play out with the same gentle, battered compassion and desperate humanity that’s defined this extraordinary season to date. Everyone impresses here but this is very definitely a four=hander between Michonne, Glenn, Daryl and Nicholas. The three originals all have moments of absolute horror here as they find themselves faced with their impossible choices. Daryl comes back to the fold, Michonne is forced to literally and metaphorically wipe the memory of David from her and Glenn finds his refusal to leave people behind may be the last thing he ever does. Two of them move past their decisions, one stands by his. What level of price he pays for that remains to be seen.
Then there’s Nicholas, whose arc ends here in the only way it ever could. Michael Traynor’s done great work in the show from day one and he ends on a real high note here. Nicholas’s story is a tragedy, and one this show is uniquely equipped to handle. He’s not a good man, or a bad one, but one unable to adapt to a world where the consequences of everything are fatal. Fans will, and are, of course blaming Nicholas for killing one of the show’s longest standing characters but even if he has, there’s thematic completion there. Nicholas wasn’t equipped for this world, Glenn refused to leave him behind, he died as a result.
Or did he?
Because there is a chance, a good one, that Glenn isn’t dead. Stephen Yuen didn’t appear on The Talking Dead after the show’s US broadcast, the other cast did not Twitter eulogies as they have in the past and there’s something… off… about how the scene is shot. Yes we see Glenn screaming in apparent horror and pain as he hits the floor. Yes we see guts being torn from what looks like his body and yes there’s sad, “This character is dead now” music playing as the scene pulls back.
But.
Showrunner Scott Gimple has admitted that Glenn will be a part of future episodes in some form. The scene is shot in such a way that the intestines appear to be being pulled from the top of his chest where intestines, well… aren’t. Plus there are no founts of blood pouring from his mouth. And the slightly coy way the scene’s shot. And the fact Nicholas falls on top of Glenn. And the call back to his first line in the show and the clear similarities between Rick and the tank then and Glenn and the dumpster now.
And that, more than anything else, is the no win scenario this episode faces.
Make no mistake, Kang’s script is another absolute belter in what is so far the best season this show has ever had. But there are only two ways it can break and neither of them are good. Either Glenn, one of the longest-running characters in the show, is dead, or he isn’t. If he’s dead then not only will it leave a massive hole but the cruel possibility of zombie Glenn shambles into view. If he isn’t, then Glenn’s still around but the show will have gone to a well it really, truly cannot go to again. The scene is presented as Glenn’s end and if it isn’t then this can never, ever be done again. Fans have long memories, hold grudges for decades and you flirt with that at your peril. Just ask M Night Shyamalan.
But that’s all in the future. For now we have Schrodinger’s Glenn: Rick in incredible amounts of trouble and yet another great episode under the show’s belt.
Good:
- “Get back safe.” Said to Team Victim as Rick is looting the still warm body of their friend. BEST LEADER EVER.
- “We’re gonna catch up with something.” “We’re gonna catch up with a LOT of things. And we’re gonna end them.” Dani Gurira does incredible work this episode. Michonne speaks like she fights. Every syllable has a purpose and every syllable has weight.
- “You wanna go, we ain’t gonna stop you. But without you they could stop US.” Sasha’s moment is clearly coming this season, but this is pretty good for starters.
- “We don’t leave people behind. NOT US.” Heath is a great addition to the cast and his pitbull refusal to back down is exactly what’s keeping him alive. Plus, the arc he has here is very much the opposite of Nicholas’s. Nicholas is faced with his past and is crushed by it. Heath is faced by his future and is defined by it, accepting the conflict between violence and compassion that Rick and his team struggle to balance constantly.
- “Have you ever been covered in so much blood that you didn’t know if it was yours or Walker’s or your friends? THEN YOU DON’T KNOW.” This entire speech is amazing but the delivery on this line is stunningly good. I’ve seen this episode compared to a war movie elsewhere and that’s very accurate, with Michonne in particular as the hardened veteran trying to keep as many of her people alive as possible.
- The show now has three black, male leads who are very much alive all at once. This, for a series that has been justifiably criticised for the revolving door approach to its black cast is a very good thing indeed.
The Bad:
- In what way can Glenn’s death can satisfy anyone? On the other hand, who won’t be on tenterhooks to find out what happened?
The Random:
- Rick is in a lot of trouble with that hand, especially if there’s zombie blood on it. Robert Kirkman’s talked about how Rick losing a hand is something he regrets doing in the comic and we’d thought it wasn’t going to come up in the show. That looks to no longer be the case. Or, at the very least, Rick’s going to be very unwell for a while. Perfect time for a change in the balance of power at Alexandria maybe? And the worst possible time for a war…
- Jay Huguley, who does great work here, is a familiar face for genre fans. He was Dr Peter Marks in Alias, Jimmy Ledoux in True Detective and Ray Whitehill in Star-Crossed.
- Shot of the episode is this. The two diverging paths represented literally and metaphorically, Daryl’s brave decision to come back rendered at distance and not commented on, just how he’d prefer it. The direction throughout is great, again, but Slovis nails this in particular.
Review by Alasdair Stuart
The Walking Dead S06E01 "First Time Again" REVIEW
The Walking Dead S06E01 “First Time Again”
Airing in the UK on: FOX, Mondays, 9pm
Writers: Scott M Gimple & Matthew Negrete
Director: Greg Nicotero
Essential Plot Points:
- In the present, we see Rick briefing a team of people, some new, some familiar. They’re standing on the lip of a quarry where hundreds of Walkers are corralled. As they watch, one of the trucks holding them in place slips and falls…
- In the past, and in lovely black and white, we see the immediate aftermath of Rick’s execution of Pete and Morgan’s arrival at Alexandria.
- Morgan is remarkably relaxed about being essentially imprisoned. He’s also painfully aware of how brittle Rick is and steps in when Rick confronts Gabriel about burying Pete’s body inside the town. On Deanna’s suggestion they take it out of town to be buried.
- Elsewhere, Nicholas is surprised to find Glenn covering for him despite his attempts to end the life of the world’s toughest pizza delivery boy last season.
- In the present, we see more of the attempt to lead the Walkers away. The Alexandrians have built barricades to keep the horde on track. They’re led out of the quarry by Darryl on his bike and Sasha and Abraham in a car. The parade of the dead is huge, and will only keep moving if they move just a little faster than the leading edge.
- In the past, we see Rick and Morgan bury Pete. Rick hears something and follows the noise to the quarry, followed by Morgan. They’re interrupted by Pete’s son Ron who is pursued by Walkers. Rick saves him and the three return to Alexandria to warn the residents.
- There, Rick develops a plan to lead the Walkers away. Carter, an Alexandrian resident, violently objects but is talked around by Morgan. They plan to lead the zombies down one road in particular, building a curved wall to “push” them miles past the town, led by Sasha and Darryl.
- In the present, Rick, Michonne and Morgan arrive at the curve and use flare pistols to keep the horde moving. Nearby, Glenn, Nicholas and new arrival Heath are told to destroy a small Walker pocket trapped in a store. They discover the store’s shutters are down and blow the windows out, drawing the Walkers to them. The fight gets messy and Glenn is saved by Nicholas, despite telling him not to get involved.
- In the past, we see the plan put into action and various characters struggling with the realities of their new life. Rick advocates not looking for anyone else. Darryl feels differently and says so. Glenn, Maggie, Nicholas and Tara make peace and Abraham quietly begins to drink himself into oblivion. Carter contemplates violent revolution and is overheard by Eugene. Rick, Morgan and Michonne arrive and Rick, instead of killing Carter, asks him to help. Later, Rick and Morgan talk and Morgan attempts to reassure his not quite friend that the man who spared Carter’s life was the man he always knew. Rick responds that people like Carter couldn’t survive in this world anyway.
- In the present, Glenn’s team meet up with Rick’s and they get form up around the Horde, making sure they don’t wander off the road. Carter, admitting he was wrong, shakes hands with Rick. He volunteers to run off to secure the front of the horde and Rick agrees.
- Then everything goes to hell. Carter is mauled by a walker. Rick arrives, kills it and tries to calm the dying man whose screams are attracting the horde on the road. Unable to silence him, Rick finally murders Carter just as the others arrive. He tells them what happened and while they accept it, neither Morgan nor Michone seem happy.
- Then everything really goes to Hell. A car horn triggers, the noise dragging the Walkers towards it. The horn is coming from Alexandria and now thousands of walkers are heading for the town…
Review:
Bloody hell.
Nicotero’s direction is amazing. Not just because of the classy black and white either, although that’s a lovely touch. There’s a welcome spring of experimentation in genre TV at the moment and it’s especially nice to see this structure used in the same week Doctor Who had so much fun breaking the fourth wall. Both shows trust their audiences, both shows play with their expectations a little and both absolutely nail complex structures and interesting, challenging visual ideas.
Plus the black and white is just amazingly pretty. Honestly, I’d watch an entire season shot this way. (Didn’t they actually repeat an entire season in black and white in the US a while back? Maybe that’s where they got the idea?)
No, Nicotero really excels because he gets out of the damn way. Look at the Glenn, Heath and Nicholas versus the tractor store zombies fight. There’s minimal fuss, nothing showy, just three guys fighting an undead horde of indeterminate size. You winced, when Glenn is jumped because Nicotero parks the camera right over his shoulder.
The episode’s full of moments like that and Nicotero revels in showing us the ridiculous size of the zombie horde. The shot of Rick, Michonne and Morgan behind the RV, with only a thing line of aluminium siding between them and absolute death was amazing. Likewise the recurrent, absurd yet horrifying, image of Darryl in the slowest motion motorcycle chase in human history.
That’s reflected in the writing too. The five seasons in hell these characters have endured has changed them all and there are some moments of real gentleness here. The opening sequence, as various people check in on each other is especially sweet and spins some lovely character beats out into the episode itself. Glenn, in particular, and his harsh but fair refusal to let Nicholas off the hook, is especially great. Steven Yeun has always been one of the best actors in this cast and he turns in seriously impressive work here.
But, inevitably, the bulk of the episode’s emotional heavy lifting is between Rick and Morgan. Andrew Lincoln and Lennie James are two of the most phenomenal actors of their generation and every scene they have here proves it, largely because they do so little. There’s a sense, not of two alpha predators circling one another, but of two frightened, wounded animals trying to work out if they need to fight. Rick is traumatised, spiky, always ready to put someone down and not quite as hardened as he thinks he is. Morgan is quiet, polite, clearly desperately sad and absolutely prepared to put Rick down if he needs to. It’s like Shane and Rick without the chest beating and it’s revelatory work from the actors and writers alike.
It’s also one of the best-written examples of emotionally intimate male friendship you’ll see in genre TV. These two men are survivors, both rendered down to their component parts countless times and yet somehow still here. Their approaches are almost completely different but they have an intensely strong bond through shared trauma. Morgan’s right, Rick’s still in there. And the man Rick truly is isn’t buried that deeply beneath the man he’s become.
Except this is The Walking Dead and nothing’s ever simple, or easy.
Firstly, the quarry zombies are one of the subtlest, cruellest ideas the show has ever had. Rick is proven absolutely correct; Alexandria isn’t even a little safe. The only reason the town hasn’t been overrun is sheer blind chance. That’s one of the nastiest twists of the knife the show’s ever done and it’s clearly why everyone gets on board as fast as they do.
Well, I say everyone.
Ethan Embry’s Carter makes a lot of very good points. He’s like the opposite of the character most shows throw exposition at; Carter knows exactly what’s going on, is mystified as to why and wants to plan just a little bit more thanks.
What makes him significant is not only his death but how it’ll be perceived. Carter’s not a brave man, just an unlucky one. His reconciliation with Rick is genuine and his loss is all the more tragic for it, especially given how it’ll be perceived. Rick’s authority isn’t secure by any means and the show subtly keys us into this. If Michonne and Morgan aren’t okay with him killing Carter for very good reasons, God only knows what the town will think.
That extra problem, of perception rather than action, is one that could only happen in a stable location like Alexandria. More than anything else this episode, it’s an indicator of how far the show, and the characters, have come.
That’s the genius of “First Time Again’. It shows us how much the characters have changed, how much they want to change and how fragile their world still is. The episode inevitably focuses on Rick and Morgan, but we get moments with everyone else that show just much they’ve opened up in Alexandria. Whether they’ll survive what looks like the near certain destruction of the town remains to be seen. Damn this week-long wait!
The Good:
- “People out there, gotta take care of themselves. Just like us.” The “Rick processes his feelings” arc this season looks to be far more nuanced than it’s been in the past. He’s a good man, albeit a horrifically psychologically scarred one, and he’s turning inwards. He’s got a town, he’s got his family and that’s all he needs. Or at least all he thinks he needs.
- “Look if you’re still looking to get buck wild with the breath impaired…” Abraham, spirit of tact.
- “It’ll hold.” “Well that’s good, you know, considering where we’re standing.” The entire Rick, Michonne and Morgan at the barricade conversation is amazing, especially the protein bar joke. But this line in particular, a joke so dry it’s basically granular, is the standout.
- “Morgan, maybe we just leave him here.” “…That’s not who you are. I know.” “Hey…you DON’T.” The constant back and forth between Rick and Morgan, two men who’ve had to completely rebuild their lives at least twice, each, is amazingly good. This is Rick being offered understanding and friendship and the last time that happened was Shane, or Hershel. No wonder he turns Morgan down.
- “This was supposed to be a dress rehearsal.” “I was supposed to be delivering pizzas, man.” NEVER CHANGE, Glenn. NEVER. And please stay away from baseball bats.
- “Going out, finding more people, that IS taking care of ourselves.” Darryl, careful, considered, utterly terrifying conscience of Rick.
- “Darryl’s been teaching me how to shoot.” “I think you got the hang of it.” The episode, hell the series, is at its best in these quiet moments of careful humour. Rick and Carol bantering about how she’s a Bringer Of Death To All Who Oppose Her is lovely.
- “You can try to work with us. You can try to survive. Will you do that?” Rick is still absolutely terrifying and clearly ever so slightly hatstand. He’s also still a decent man. This line, and the clear, absolute terror Ethan Embry as Carter sells the entire scene with, is brilliant.
- “Somebody like that, they’re gonna die no matter what.” This entire conversation, and Rick’s monologue, looks set to be a lynchpin for the season. It’s such a sweet moment and it’s undercut with this cold, hard, brutal view of the world. Even this is development for the man who last season was executing potential threats without batting a blood-soaked eyelid.
- “I know its how it is. I do.” “Yeah. I do too.” Now this is interesting. Morgan’s zen warrior, compassionate approach is clearly going to be opposing Rick’s survival based pragmatism. But this scene is all about Michonne, a woman whose literally and metaphorically come in from the wastelands to stand with these people. The fact she isn’t cool with what’s happened is a huge indicator of trouble to come.
The Bad:
- Nothing. Seriously. This is an amazingly good piece of TV.
- Okay you want some bad points, here they and we had to dig for them all because this episode is so damn good.
- Surely both Carter and Rick’s plans could be implemented? If the quarry horde is the only reason Alexandria hasn’t been overrun, wouldn’t it make sense to corral some zombies there and periodically clear the quarry out of them and all the ones they’ve attracted?
- Of course that may well be the plan. Assuming Alexandria’s still there next week…
- Minimal Carlpoppa this week, but what we get is very sweet and leads to yet another ridiculously pretty black and white moment.
- Minimal Carol the Deathbringer this week too, although what we get is hilarious. Her. “Gosh, this is terrifying,” moment in the town meeting is good but her exchange with Morgan is even better. I hope those two, and Daryl, get more scenes together.
And The Random:
- Corey Hawkins impresses straight out of the gate as Heath. It’s unsurprising too, given he’s been turning in impressive work for a while. He’s fun in the sort-of-Taken-on-a-plane Non-Stop, had a brief appearance in Iron Man 3 and did excellent work as Doctor Dre in Straight Outta Compton. Now all we need is for the show to forget the “one in, one out” rule it’s often had with regards to black male characters…
- Oh Carter we hardly knew you. Aside from the whining and complaining and mid-level incompetence. Ethan Embry wins, possibly forever, the title of The Walking Dead Cast Member Who Appeared In A Brilliant Cult Movie. Embry was in Empire Records, along with Liv Tyler, Rory Cochrane, Renee Zellweger and Tobey Maguire’s shoulder. Seriously. The film cut two entire characters, one of whom was played by Maguire. His shoulder is briefly visible in one scene and in fairness it has incredible presence. The story of one of the last independent record stores on the best, and worst, day of its life, Empire Records is a chaotic, sugar-rush covered joy. It’s crammed full of amazing people doing great work and is as sweet natured and mildly attention defective as Embry’s character, Mark. And yes, you could watch it and be smug about how indie record stores are all but dead now. But you know what? Don’t. It’s a joyous movie, the characters are clearly all fine and we mustn’t dwell. It’s always Rex Manning day somewhere…
- Shot of the week could be any of the images we get of the horde or the quarry. But for sheer scale this nails it.
- The Walker that peels itself as it pulls out of the quarry is the most gleefully disgusting thing the show has done to date. Well done, folks.
Reviewed by Alasdair Stuart
The Walking Dead S06E01 “First Time Again” REVIEW
The Walking Dead S06E01 “First Time Again”
Airing in the UK on: FOX, Mondays, 9pm
Writers: Scott M Gimple & Matthew Negrete
Director: Greg Nicotero
Essential Plot Points:
- In the present, we see Rick briefing a team of people, some new, some familiar. They’re standing on the lip of a quarry where hundreds of Walkers are corralled. As they watch, one of the trucks holding them in place slips and falls…
- In the past, and in lovely black and white, we see the immediate aftermath of Rick’s execution of Pete and Morgan’s arrival at Alexandria.
- Morgan is remarkably relaxed about being essentially imprisoned. He’s also painfully aware of how brittle Rick is and steps in when Rick confronts Gabriel about burying Pete’s body inside the town. On Deanna’s suggestion they take it out of town to be buried.
- Elsewhere, Nicholas is surprised to find Glenn covering for him despite his attempts to end the life of the world’s toughest pizza delivery boy last season.
- In the present, we see more of the attempt to lead the Walkers away. The Alexandrians have built barricades to keep the horde on track. They’re led out of the quarry by Darryl on his bike and Sasha and Abraham in a car. The parade of the dead is huge, and will only keep moving if they move just a little faster than the leading edge.
- In the past, we see Rick and Morgan bury Pete. Rick hears something and follows the noise to the quarry, followed by Morgan. They’re interrupted by Pete’s son Ron who is pursued by Walkers. Rick saves him and the three return to Alexandria to warn the residents.
- There, Rick develops a plan to lead the Walkers away. Carter, an Alexandrian resident, violently objects but is talked around by Morgan. They plan to lead the zombies down one road in particular, building a curved wall to “push” them miles past the town, led by Sasha and Darryl.
- In the present, Rick, Michonne and Morgan arrive at the curve and use flare pistols to keep the horde moving. Nearby, Glenn, Nicholas and new arrival Heath are told to destroy a small Walker pocket trapped in a store. They discover the store’s shutters are down and blow the windows out, drawing the Walkers to them. The fight gets messy and Glenn is saved by Nicholas, despite telling him not to get involved.
- In the past, we see the plan put into action and various characters struggling with the realities of their new life. Rick advocates not looking for anyone else. Darryl feels differently and says so. Glenn, Maggie, Nicholas and Tara make peace and Abraham quietly begins to drink himself into oblivion. Carter contemplates violent revolution and is overheard by Eugene. Rick, Morgan and Michonne arrive and Rick, instead of killing Carter, asks him to help. Later, Rick and Morgan talk and Morgan attempts to reassure his not quite friend that the man who spared Carter’s life was the man he always knew. Rick responds that people like Carter couldn’t survive in this world anyway.
- In the present, Glenn’s team meet up with Rick’s and they get form up around the Horde, making sure they don’t wander off the road. Carter, admitting he was wrong, shakes hands with Rick. He volunteers to run off to secure the front of the horde and Rick agrees.
- Then everything goes to hell. Carter is mauled by a walker. Rick arrives, kills it and tries to calm the dying man whose screams are attracting the horde on the road. Unable to silence him, Rick finally murders Carter just as the others arrive. He tells them what happened and while they accept it, neither Morgan nor Michone seem happy.
- Then everything really goes to Hell. A car horn triggers, the noise dragging the Walkers towards it. The horn is coming from Alexandria and now thousands of walkers are heading for the town…
Review:
Bloody hell.
Nicotero’s direction is amazing. Not just because of the classy black and white either, although that’s a lovely touch. There’s a welcome spring of experimentation in genre TV at the moment and it’s especially nice to see this structure used in the same week Doctor Who had so much fun breaking the fourth wall. Both shows trust their audiences, both shows play with their expectations a little and both absolutely nail complex structures and interesting, challenging visual ideas.
Plus the black and white is just amazingly pretty. Honestly, I’d watch an entire season shot this way. (Didn’t they actually repeat an entire season in black and white in the US a while back? Maybe that’s where they got the idea?)
No, Nicotero really excels because he gets out of the damn way. Look at the Glenn, Heath and Nicholas versus the tractor store zombies fight. There’s minimal fuss, nothing showy, just three guys fighting an undead horde of indeterminate size. You winced, when Glenn is jumped because Nicotero parks the camera right over his shoulder.
The episode’s full of moments like that and Nicotero revels in showing us the ridiculous size of the zombie horde. The shot of Rick, Michonne and Morgan behind the RV, with only a thing line of aluminium siding between them and absolute death was amazing. Likewise the recurrent, absurd yet horrifying, image of Darryl in the slowest motion motorcycle chase in human history.
That’s reflected in the writing too. The five seasons in hell these characters have endured has changed them all and there are some moments of real gentleness here. The opening sequence, as various people check in on each other is especially sweet and spins some lovely character beats out into the episode itself. Glenn, in particular, and his harsh but fair refusal to let Nicholas off the hook, is especially great. Steven Yeun has always been one of the best actors in this cast and he turns in seriously impressive work here.
But, inevitably, the bulk of the episode’s emotional heavy lifting is between Rick and Morgan. Andrew Lincoln and Lennie James are two of the most phenomenal actors of their generation and every scene they have here proves it, largely because they do so little. There’s a sense, not of two alpha predators circling one another, but of two frightened, wounded animals trying to work out if they need to fight. Rick is traumatised, spiky, always ready to put someone down and not quite as hardened as he thinks he is. Morgan is quiet, polite, clearly desperately sad and absolutely prepared to put Rick down if he needs to. It’s like Shane and Rick without the chest beating and it’s revelatory work from the actors and writers alike.
It’s also one of the best-written examples of emotionally intimate male friendship you’ll see in genre TV. These two men are survivors, both rendered down to their component parts countless times and yet somehow still here. Their approaches are almost completely different but they have an intensely strong bond through shared trauma. Morgan’s right, Rick’s still in there. And the man Rick truly is isn’t buried that deeply beneath the man he’s become.
Except this is The Walking Dead and nothing’s ever simple, or easy.
Firstly, the quarry zombies are one of the subtlest, cruellest ideas the show has ever had. Rick is proven absolutely correct; Alexandria isn’t even a little safe. The only reason the town hasn’t been overrun is sheer blind chance. That’s one of the nastiest twists of the knife the show’s ever done and it’s clearly why everyone gets on board as fast as they do.
Well, I say everyone.
Ethan Embry’s Carter makes a lot of very good points. He’s like the opposite of the character most shows throw exposition at; Carter knows exactly what’s going on, is mystified as to why and wants to plan just a little bit more thanks.
What makes him significant is not only his death but how it’ll be perceived. Carter’s not a brave man, just an unlucky one. His reconciliation with Rick is genuine and his loss is all the more tragic for it, especially given how it’ll be perceived. Rick’s authority isn’t secure by any means and the show subtly keys us into this. If Michonne and Morgan aren’t okay with him killing Carter for very good reasons, God only knows what the town will think.
That extra problem, of perception rather than action, is one that could only happen in a stable location like Alexandria. More than anything else this episode, it’s an indicator of how far the show, and the characters, have come.
That’s the genius of “First Time Again’. It shows us how much the characters have changed, how much they want to change and how fragile their world still is. The episode inevitably focuses on Rick and Morgan, but we get moments with everyone else that show just much they’ve opened up in Alexandria. Whether they’ll survive what looks like the near certain destruction of the town remains to be seen. Damn this week-long wait!
The Good:
- “People out there, gotta take care of themselves. Just like us.” The “Rick processes his feelings” arc this season looks to be far more nuanced than it’s been in the past. He’s a good man, albeit a horrifically psychologically scarred one, and he’s turning inwards. He’s got a town, he’s got his family and that’s all he needs. Or at least all he thinks he needs.
- “Look if you’re still looking to get buck wild with the breath impaired…” Abraham, spirit of tact.
- “It’ll hold.” “Well that’s good, you know, considering where we’re standing.” The entire Rick, Michonne and Morgan at the barricade conversation is amazing, especially the protein bar joke. But this line in particular, a joke so dry it’s basically granular, is the standout.
- “Morgan, maybe we just leave him here.” “…That’s not who you are. I know.” “Hey…you DON’T.” The constant back and forth between Rick and Morgan, two men who’ve had to completely rebuild their lives at least twice, each, is amazingly good. This is Rick being offered understanding and friendship and the last time that happened was Shane, or Hershel. No wonder he turns Morgan down.
- “This was supposed to be a dress rehearsal.” “I was supposed to be delivering pizzas, man.” NEVER CHANGE, Glenn. NEVER. And please stay away from baseball bats.
- “Going out, finding more people, that IS taking care of ourselves.” Darryl, careful, considered, utterly terrifying conscience of Rick.
- “Darryl’s been teaching me how to shoot.” “I think you got the hang of it.” The episode, hell the series, is at its best in these quiet moments of careful humour. Rick and Carol bantering about how she’s a Bringer Of Death To All Who Oppose Her is lovely.
- “You can try to work with us. You can try to survive. Will you do that?” Rick is still absolutely terrifying and clearly ever so slightly hatstand. He’s also still a decent man. This line, and the clear, absolute terror Ethan Embry as Carter sells the entire scene with, is brilliant.
- “Somebody like that, they’re gonna die no matter what.” This entire conversation, and Rick’s monologue, looks set to be a lynchpin for the season. It’s such a sweet moment and it’s undercut with this cold, hard, brutal view of the world. Even this is development for the man who last season was executing potential threats without batting a blood-soaked eyelid.
- “I know its how it is. I do.” “Yeah. I do too.” Now this is interesting. Morgan’s zen warrior, compassionate approach is clearly going to be opposing Rick’s survival based pragmatism. But this scene is all about Michonne, a woman whose literally and metaphorically come in from the wastelands to stand with these people. The fact she isn’t cool with what’s happened is a huge indicator of trouble to come.
The Bad:
- Nothing. Seriously. This is an amazingly good piece of TV.
- Okay you want some bad points, here they and we had to dig for them all because this episode is so damn good.
- Surely both Carter and Rick’s plans could be implemented? If the quarry horde is the only reason Alexandria hasn’t been overrun, wouldn’t it make sense to corral some zombies there and periodically clear the quarry out of them and all the ones they’ve attracted?
- Of course that may well be the plan. Assuming Alexandria’s still there next week…
- Minimal Carlpoppa this week, but what we get is very sweet and leads to yet another ridiculously pretty black and white moment.
- Minimal Carol the Deathbringer this week too, although what we get is hilarious. Her. “Gosh, this is terrifying,” moment in the town meeting is good but her exchange with Morgan is even better. I hope those two, and Daryl, get more scenes together.
And The Random:
- Corey Hawkins impresses straight out of the gate as Heath. It’s unsurprising too, given he’s been turning in impressive work for a while. He’s fun in the sort-of-Taken-on-a-plane Non-Stop, had a brief appearance in Iron Man 3 and did excellent work as Doctor Dre in Straight Outta Compton. Now all we need is for the show to forget the “one in, one out” rule it’s often had with regards to black male characters…
- Oh Carter we hardly knew you. Aside from the whining and complaining and mid-level incompetence. Ethan Embry wins, possibly forever, the title of The Walking Dead Cast Member Who Appeared In A Brilliant Cult Movie. Embry was in Empire Records, along with Liv Tyler, Rory Cochrane, Renee Zellweger and Tobey Maguire’s shoulder. Seriously. The film cut two entire characters, one of whom was played by Maguire. His shoulder is briefly visible in one scene and in fairness it has incredible presence. The story of one of the last independent record stores on the best, and worst, day of its life, Empire Records is a chaotic, sugar-rush covered joy. It’s crammed full of amazing people doing great work and is as sweet natured and mildly attention defective as Embry’s character, Mark. And yes, you could watch it and be smug about how indie record stores are all but dead now. But you know what? Don’t. It’s a joyous movie, the characters are clearly all fine and we mustn’t dwell. It’s always Rex Manning day somewhere…
- Shot of the week could be any of the images we get of the horde or the quarry. But for sheer scale this nails it.
- The Walker that peels itself as it pulls out of the quarry is the most gleefully disgusting thing the show has done to date. Well done, folks.
Reviewed by Alasdair Stuart