[rating=6.00] “Always Accountable”
It’s not a new theme to the show, but it comes as a well-timed coincidence that the current international dialogue in the wake of multiple tragedies runs parallel to those in this week’s episode of The Walking Dead. Namely, the necessity of safety in the zombie-strewn world survivors are left with. This is done with the show’s trademark subtlety (re: none), and the return of the “logic and reason be damned” approach to how to isolate characters in ways that don’t necessarily further the plot (although, to be fair, this episode does lay some serious groundwork), but explores character nuance by rationing them in smaller groups.
To get to this point, Daryl is leading Abraham and Sasha, after a seemingly successful zombie-herding exercise that started several episodes back, they are then shot at by a group survivors that seem to have Stormtrooper-grade aim, along with a few stray zombies, which inexplicably separates the three of them. While Daryl spends most of his time in a charred, burnt out bayou, Abraham and Sasha veer off into an insurance office to call out one-another on their respective sanity and muse over the will to survive amidst the apocalypse, within the walls of Alexandria or not.
While the Abraham and Sasha scenario plays out in a paint-by-numbers fashion, complete with their very own walker behind a glass office wall. Fittingly, who had left some kind of parting thoughts about the world, though one that’s never given a direct spotlight to jump out as anything past the miscellaneous scrawlings about auto policy coverage that covered the whiteboards. They flirt and discuss their roles in what semblance of civilization they’ve run across, all while taking their time reassessing their situation, for some reason not terribly concerned that they were just shot at, despite the flimsily written excuse that their attackers were looking for someone else. Oh, Abraham also has a cathartic moment with a zombie wherein he decides he wants to survive. And is rewarded with a rocket launcher, some cigars and a new jacket for his troubles.
Daryl, meanwhile, is taken hostage by a trio of survivors, which gives way to an ominous, waist-down introduction to a group of survivors that come searching for them in a monster truck, most likely the first sighting of The Saviors, whose leader, Negan, was the show’s major casting announcement for this season’s finale. As the four alternately develop and lose Stockholm Syndrome, they too discuss the perils of life and the importance for safety, at the cost of their freedom. The monster truck dwellers, like those that opened fire at the episodes beginning, also simply shrug and give up, again passed off with a lazily written line about “the willing” from one of the (assumed) Saviors.
In the meantime, Daryl tries to sway them to his community, echoing his sentiment to Rick in the premiere, resisting Ricktatorship 2.0’s request to stop looking for recruits, as well as no longer taking in outsiders (also something we’re hearing echoed on the international level right now). It’s one of the show’s more compelling conversations, and one that’s not only frustratingly underdeveloped, but lost amidst an irritating wishy-washiness by all characters involved who leave, then come back, then leave again, then come back, all while still wandering the fucking forest like we’ve been doing FOR YEARS NOW.
And, true to the show’s cramming in a cliffhanger ending in the final seconds, we hear a voice calling for help on Daryl’s walkie-talkie. Who is on the other end? At the rate this season has been going, we’ll find out in 3-5 weeks.
