It is really hard to top "Too Far Gone", perhaps no Walking Dead episode ever will. However, instead of trying to do so with a big action scene or tons of intensity, the show took the route of a character-focused episode. They really put Carl (formerly a "problem character") and Michonne under the microscope. Their move paid off thanks to some superb writing, solid acting, and fantastic symbolism. It was also really good being back on the road again: there's just a certain vibe that comes with it. I might get a bit of backlash for loving the episode as much as I did, but I don't care all that much: this episode was phenomenal. As far as slow and character-driven episodes go, this is one of the best that Walking Dead has done....
In the early scenes between Carl and Rick, a few things became apparent. First and most obviously, Rick could barely move. We've seen him in rough shape before, but nothing like this. What I appreciated most about their first scene together, however, was when Rick is about to say "it's going to be OK". He can't bring himself to say that last word though, because he knows it isn't true. To use the line from Pulp Fiction, things are pretty far from "OK". This was a superbly written and very subtle moment. This helped lead to one of the themes of the episode: thing can't be the way the used to be. While it was explicitly stated at the end of the episode by Rick, this fact was shown in a few different ways throughout. My favorite was when Carl went into the bedroom with the video games. he begins "geeking out" so to speak, looking at all of the cool games and assorted items. However, he snaps back into "apocalypse mode" and uses the TV chord to secure the door. Symbolism like this was EVERYWHERE in this episode, which is what made it really special. While the video games were one of the most notable and noticeable, here's one you may not have caught: when Carl kills the walkers that he drew away along with the extra one that ambushed him, he falls down. He shoots the walkers that fall on top of him almost EXACTLY how Rick did in the episode "18 Miles Out" (one of my personal favorites). I was giddy like a little child when I saw that because it was simply incredible that they put it in there. Scott Gimple, who wrote "18 Miles Out", used to be the only one that did stuff like this, but now that he is showrunner we see it quite often. They started to get a little sloppy with it execution-wise in the 2 Governor episodes, but they are back at the top of their game now. That is the reason Walking Dead may finally enter the upper echelon of shows: the action, acting, and production values were always phenomenal, but now the writing is reaching the same quality. All of the best shows like Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, and not True Detective do that, and it was present this week. There was even a bit of humor thrown in here to mix things up (112 oz. of pudding!). Also, while this is considered a "slow episode", I really didn't feel like the pace was "bogged down" at any point. Everything flowed nicely throughout. Another thing I have been noticing is that they are following the comics very closely now while at the same time putting their own spin on things. Many of this week's scenes were direct quotes and even shot-for-shot with the comic. Hopefully they can keep all of this up. If that happens, then The Walking Dead will have finally put together a complete season of quality episodes....
Sure, this episode didn't move the plot forward leaps and bounds, it only united 2 of the split groups, and so on. However, not only did the emotional impact of the prison need to be felt, making this episode necessary, but it was an incredible episode as well. None of it felt like the dreaded "filler material" we began to see immediately in the second half of last year. Those slamming the episode must not like the comics either, because there is an emotional and contemplative break before the group moves on to bigger things. Sure, I would have liked to see other groups, but I don't see that as a negative because they used their time well this week. Also, if they go where I think they are going with the show, then don't worry about not having enough action: it will be coming, and in brutal ways that TV has rarely if ever seen before. The first half of the season was probably the best the show has ever been, and they were still on cleanup duty for how badly the last showrunner messed up the end of season 3. Just be patient. For now, this episode featured some of the best writing we've seen on the show, lots of symbolism, creative methods of showing the characters' mental state, and finally bringing Carl to appreciate his father in a convincing and realistic way, this episode will go down as one of the best character-focused episode the show has ever done....
OVERALL SCORE: 9.4 out of 10 FULL REVIEW AT http://www.ign.com/blogs/ao66/
