Because The Walking Dead season 10 finale has been delayed thanks to the real-world virus, I have decided that to fill the void left in the schedule, to start a re-watch of the series. I live tweeted the episode as if it were playing live in the regular 9pm GMT slot on FOX TV UK. You can see all the tweets here or embedded below.
Picking up exactly where episode 7 ended, the survivors must deal with what they found in that barn. The rest of the episode looks at how they handle what happened and whilst it isn’t the greatest episode, there are some solid character exchanges and developments.
Firstly, Rick (Andrew Lincoln), was the only one to step up and put Sophia down, regardless of how hard a thing that must have been to do. Not only is it someone you knew, someone you promised you’d come back for, but it’s a child! Shane (Jon Bernthal) goes off on his usual angry tirade and Rick has to deal with being the person everyone in the group looks to for leadership when he never asked to be put in that position.
At one point Rick is telling Glenn (Steven Yeun) that he did what he thought was the right thing to do, even though he was wrong. He respected him for that and sticking to his beliefs. Why then can’t Rick own his own mistakes? Leaders will make errors, they are human afterall, but because all the eyes are on them, they feel it harder.
Hershel (Scott Wilson) turns to drink. He realises that he’s lost his wife, that there was no saving her. But with this he has lost all hope. What is the point in life now if there is nothing to be hopeful for? He throws in some racism about his daughter hanging around with Glenn’s sort, but the series as a whole seems to have really toned down the overt racism that it displayed in the first season.
Maggie (Lauren Cohan) meanwhile seems disappointed that Glenn thinks now is the time to move on. She tells him she loves him which throws him for a loop. Beth (Emily Kinney) collapses in shock or grief and so Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) decides she’s going to go and get Rick, Glenn and Hershel and bring them back, even though that’s what Rick and Glenn are doing. It seems the only way they can put Lori into a car which she ends up crashing. Ding dong the witch might be dead!
The episode ends with a similar high to the episode prior. At the bar as the trio are about to head home some strangers appear. Things seem pleasant at first but soon tensions rise when too many questions about where they live and bringing them back. They do reveal that Fort Benning is gone, which Shane will undoubtedly want to see for himself.
Just as things were going so well, they’re not. One of the strangers hops behind the bar and makes a sudden movement so Rick shoots him and his buddy too. No justification is given other than they looked shady, probably were, and were about to shoot first.
It’s testament to the show that even though we are eight seasons ahead, revisiting this episode can still give the tension tingles. But now Rick has killed to save himself from being killed, what sort of person has he become?
Overall Rating: 7
