The Walking Dead: Service

If you read my blog post from last week, you knew how much I hated the Daryl episode entitled “The Cell.” Well, I thought this was even worse than last week. In fact, this was probably the worst episode since the Morgan backstory. After a strong start, The Walking Dead is on the verge of running off the rails. The fact that it ran ninety minutes made it all the worse. I realize there is a certain level of shell shock regarding the Glenn and Abraham execution, but Rick’s group had been nomadic since the beginning of the show, travelling from place to place. They found Alexandria, and thought, oh this might be a decent place to settle down at. Look, it’s got walls and relative safety. The people seem decent. However, all that is gone under Negan’s brutal, totalitarian regime. They are no longer safe. Negan can kill any of them at any time. They have fewer people, and now they don’t have any guns to protect themselves or fight back. It’s a hopeless situation. So why stay? Exactly. Why in the world would this group remain in Alexandria? Death is a better alternative than their present situation. Yet, we’re supposed to suspend disbelief that this group would just bend over and take it. It’s ridiculous. I have never been this down on the show, and can only hope they find their way



Negan



With all that’s going wrong with the show, Negan remains a strong character. Dwight, on the other hand, is a completely inconsistent character. I kept reading about how sympathetic he was supposed to be in the last episode. But he’s hardly that. He’s a whiny, mealy-mouthed nothing of a character. Negan, on the other hand, is a mean nasty bastard, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan does a great job of portraying this. Having said that, it’s also completely illogical that Negan would suppress Alexandria in that way. That’s an open invitation to rebellion or for the residents to flee, both scenarios going against his stated goal of having the people of Alexandria produce for him. A dictatorship can be brutal, but it can’t be so onerous that the people would no way in hell be part of it. Death is a better alternative.



Rick



Rick has become completely useless. His leadership skills have eroded to zero, and he’s a shell of himself. This isn’t the character I have come to root for, and before long I and many other viewers will stop caring about him. I actually found Spencer to be sympathetic, even though he’s a selfish character, when he got in Rick’s face. Get it together, Rick.



I have no idea why they went ninety minutes. I thought the episode was boring and annoying. I lost interest about an hour into it and found myself doing other things, which is the first time I’ve done that for a Walking Dead episode. After this, I look forward to watching Carol, King Ezekiel, and the Kingdom. Sadly, it has become the most interesting aspect of this once great show.