One of the most baffling things about “The Walking Dead” is its whiplash tonal shifts. One week, it’s an action-adventure show, then it’s a horror movie, then it’s a buddy comedy, a slow-boil pulp romance or torture porn. It’s usually least effective when attempting to make a philosophical point. Though “The Well” is shaky in its first few acts, the episode redeems itself in the end, presenting one of the deepest characters the show has ever put forth.
One wonders if the show could benefit from a “Game of Thrones”-style focus on multiple locations. Had that show’s sadist torture subplot been shoehorned into an entire hour, it would have been unbearable. Since it was spread over several episodes and several seasons, it was still repugnant, but easier to digest. The problem with having an entire “Walking Dead” episode of torture and gore followed by this week’s happy dose of sunshine is that the pieces don’t appear to fit in the same puzzle. It is possible to have episodes with moments of action and horror and happiness and sadness and romance and comedy every week. You don’t have to press the Pop-o-Matic Bubble in the writers’ room and stay with one genre for an entire script.
This season, RedEye will chart the Walking Dead (characters making positive moves), the Stumbling Dead (characters who took a step back) and the Dead Dead (R.I.P.). We’ll also hand out BRAAAAAAAAAAINS to the episode MVP and NO BRAAAAAAAAAAINS to the person who blew it the hardest.
WALKING DEAD
Carol: We’ve seen this act from Carol before. When meeting new people, she pretends to be fragile and meek. Upon meeting King Ezekiel, she bats her eyelashes and appears awestruck. That camouflage is an incredible skill in this world where danger lurks with every new meeting. Strangely, she never gets around to talking to Morgan or Ezekiel about why she had her mental breakdown last season. She went from a shrewd, savage survivalist to a panic-ridden paperweight. Now, she’s mostly functional again (for reasons unexplained) and choosing to live in a tiny cottage somewhere between Alexandria and The Kingdom. Unfortunately, Carol (like Daryl) is one of those fan favorite characters who’s too good at killing for the writers to allow her to be a part of the group all the time. She needs to be arbitrarily sidelined so she can ride to the rescue when all seems lost. Enjoy your hiatus, Carol.
Morgan: Lennie James is such a good actor that it’s a shame he’s been forced to play either a crazy rage-monster or a pacifist mope on this show. Thankfully, the writers are allowing Morgan to come around to the idea that shades of gray exist in this world. In his conversation with Ben, he appears to admit that being the president of the “Every Life is Precious” fan club has its drawbacks. We’re living in a world where anyone can be executed by a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire. Maybe it’s time to check that impulse. Morgan quickly gains the trust of King Ezekiel and gets some very privileged information about the king’s plans and double-crosses. In a more well-paced show, that could have been drawn out over a few episodes, but we’ll accept it in the aid of expediency. Let’s hope Morgan’s tutelage of Ben goes well.
The Kingdom Dwellers: Let’s talk about The Kingdom for a moment. If we may channel Stefon from “Saturday Night Live,” this place has everything: a tiger on a chain, horses, pomegranates, a theatrical king with dreadlocks, body armor, wind chimes, gardens, movie nights, broccoli, outdoor classrooms, cobbler for every meal and a glee club that sings Bob Dylan songs. In stark contrast to the previous episode, this one features tons of warm lighting and birds singing happily in the sunshine. Those might be the first birds we’ve heard in this entire series. Everything seems idyllic for the folks in The Kingdom, except for the whole arrangement with The Saviors. Still, that seems a minor inconvenience for the luxuries of this small town.
Shiva: As previously mentioned, there’s a tiger on the show now. Ezekiel had a great story about his connection to her. It’s nice when the show provides that backstory instead of simply having a tiger on the show because tigers are cool. Given how expensive it must be to generate her with computers, we probably won’t see much of her on the show, but we can hope to see some epic fight scenes with her down the road.
Jerry: If Hurley from “Lost” were in the apocalypse, he would be Jerry. Ezekiel’s right-hand man seems incredibly jolly and laid-back. More of this guy, less of people blowing snot bubbles while covered in their friends’ splattered brains, please.
STUMBLING DEAD
Gavin and The Saviors: Congratulations! You’re about to eat tainted pork! Please save an extra helping for Negan.
Ben: Young Benjamin looks to be marked for death. Ezekiel told Morgan he needs Ben to survive. Morgan mentioned how his father died and how he likes to read and how difficult it is to raise (his younger brother?) Dutch. That’s the apocalypse equivalent of announcing that you’re one month from retiring from the police force. They’ve given him just enough backstory that we’ll be mildly sad if/when he dies. You can usually identify the cannon fodder on a show like this because they come out of nowhere and immediately cling to one character. People like Ben are just pawns to elicit emotion from more important people like Morgan and Ezekiel. He also borrowed a book. The only way Morgan is getting that back is covered in Ben’s blood. Stay alert, young man!
Dutch: He appears to be Ben’s younger brother and he’s a total jerk about eating his last bit of broccoli. He’s also suffering from this show’s curse of dumb child haircuts. He looks like Boxey from the 1978 “Battlestar Galactica” series. Google it. Has there ever been a child on this show with hair shorter than Carol? Is there some sort of TV production tax break for employing boys who all resemble Dorothy Hamill in the 1976 Olympics? Google that, too.
DEAD DEAD
A horse: While Carol was drifting in and out of consciousness, she woke up to see a horse end up on the zombie buffet. Uncool.
The pigs: They got a last meal, but unfortunately, it was a reanimated corpse. Hope The Saviors enjoy their barbecue.
BRAAAAAAAAAAINS
King Ezekiel: Here is a much-needed breath of fresh air on this show. From the moment of his introduction, he stands out. His flowery language and courtly manner are the polar opposite of Negan. He is kind, he is wise, he is hospitable. He trusts Morgan and Carol perhaps too much, but it’s clear he sees value in them. How nice to have a character smart enough to leverage hospitality into loyalty. Unlike The Governor, King Ezekiel sees leadership as an honor that comes at a cost. He tells Morgan, “Some see secrets as a privilege of ruling. They are burdens, not part of the reward. They are the cost.” Let’s give it up for a character who can see his own situation clearly, articulate it and work to move through it like an adult.
Ezekiel’s best scene comes near the end when left alone with Carol. Despite a heavy-handed Garden of Eden metaphor (Carol takes the fruit and prepares to leave “paradise”), the show pauses for a moment of brilliant character development. Ezekiel drops his courtly speech and starts talking like a common man. This is all an act he maintains to give his people something to believe in. He cares about his people and wants to shield them from the horrors of the outside world. He tells Carol, “Where there’s life, there’s hope, heroism, grace and love.” It’s a shame this show doesn’t share the same philosophy.
How did Ezekiel learn how to play this larger-than-life leadership role so fully? He was an actor in community theater when he wasn’t working at the zoo. Brilliant. Specific. Believable. Here’s someone taking a pre-apocalypse skill and using it to make the world a better place, despite the roaming death horde chewing through the planet.
Ezekiel is smart, he is humble, he is funny and he is good (or at least, he appears to be). This show would do well to highlight characters like him and their struggle against impossible odds, rather than wallowing in the indulgent, random, shock-value murder porn of characters like Negan. Like the much-missed Deanna or Herschel, Ezekiel provides the perspective that it’s not enough simply to survive in this world. You must survive for a purpose bigger than yourself. If you asked Rick why he’s surviving, he’d just scream, “Corrralll!” and “Juuudiiith!” Ezekiel can articulate his purpose and that makes him a joy to watch. It also probably means he’ll be dead by the end of the season, but we take what we can get on this show.
NO BRAAAAAAAAAAINS
Richard: While Ezekiel’s lieutenant is practical and even canny with his desire to give the pigs a “belly full of rot” before feeding them to The Saviors, he needs to work on his temper. He blatantly antagonizes one of The Saviors and gets into a fight. The last time we saw something like that, Negan clubbed Glenn to death for Daryl’s outburst. You’d think Ezekiel would have a tighter leash on this guy. Stay cool, Richard. Let the King lead the way.
3 stars (out of 4)
