Margaux and I don’t agree completely about last night’s The Walking Dead, but we both think it shows promise.
Trevor: If you’re anything like me, you were very surprised at the end of “Swear” – not by anything that happened in the episode, necessarily, but by the revelation that there are only two episodes left in 2016. I swear, I thought there must be way more episodes, probably because almost nothing has happened in this first batch.
Margaux: Not sure when The Walking Dead became a less funny version of Seinfeld, but I actually enjoyed “Swear”. Probably because we finally got back to the characters I’ve been bitching about since episode 2. Speaking of which, “Swear” should’ve been the second episode. Especially with the Negan revelation near the end, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
Trevor: There were things I liked and things I didn’t here. What I liked: the all-female encampment that Tara stumbled upon. I wish they had been that way by choice, because then we would have had another version of the Vuvalini from Mad Max: Fury Road, but I found it interesting nonetheless. What I didn’t like: I don’t think Tara and Heath are strong enough characters to anchor an overlong episode, and as a result I found my interest waning more than I’d have liked.
Margaux: In my notes I called the all-lady oceanside summer camp Mad Max; there was a little Waterworld in there too with the little girl Rachel, who identifies too strongly with the community’s motto of “no new friends” (RIP Drake in this universe). But I only half agree with your statement about Tara and Heath not being strong enough characters to carry this episode on its own. “Swear” actually did a lot to inject a fraction hope into this more-than-usual “everything sucks and is horrible” season and that’s thanks to Tara. I don’t think her scene with Heath in the trailer, when Heath gets all nihilistic, worked whatsoever. And him, seemingly ditching her, didn’t do anything to improve their dynamic; why is Heath suddenly so sullen? I mean, other than all the murder they just did. See? Having this episode as far in as they do only gives you more time to forget things, especially about B/C-level players.
All it did was expose how thinly written a character Heath is; TWD cannot help themselves when it comes to their male, black characters. To give the show credit, they handle minority women, and women in general, really well, which is why this episode worked so well for me. When TWD doesn’t have toxic masculinity to reinforce, they can actually get to the business of telling a fucking story, which is what “Swear” did. I’m not saying it’s the best story, but it was a nice break.
Trevor: That’s a good point, and maybe with a different viewpoint I would have enjoyed it more. I don’t know, “Swear” just felt like a lot of running around that could have happened off screen. Tara and Heath get separated, Tara finds shelter, escapes, goes back to Alexandria…I guess I’m not sure why it needed to take up 70 minutes. I guess it’s laying the groundwork for Alexandria to team up with the oceanside village, who conveniently have a lot of guns that Negan didn’t confiscate. Which will probably be the midseason finale; characters in fiction generally don’t make promises and wind up keeping them.
(That being said, I do agree with your point about how the show handles its women. It’s got a pretty good track record.)
I will say this: Beatrice and Cathy turning on Tara was a nice switcheroo, and Tara got her way out of it so quickly that it really impressed me. And watching her flip off that crazy little girl was the most I’ve ever liked her.
Margaux: Right? Cringe-worthy fist bump and all, “Swear” really endeared Tara and it ends up making you like her, or at the very least, respect her. She’s self-aware, and smart, plus her lying about working on a fishing boat, um, excuse me larder, genuinely made me laugh – and I almost never say that about TWD.
I liked Tara flipping off that baby psychopath, but I secretly wanted her and Cindie to team up. I thought the young lady who played Cindie was one of the best parts, goofy sand zombie escape and all. She was like the female Glenn, constantly saving Tara’s ass. And although Tara seems to keep her promise to Cindie to never tell anyone about their camp, even in the face of Rosita’s bald desperation, I’d like to think that Cindie would show up before Alexandria performs hostile takeover part 400.
I mean, there was a moment during Tara’s dinner interview with Natanya (sounds like the name of someone who’ll totally Catfish you out of thousands of dollars) and she kind of brags about how they murdered one (she comes to find out) of Negan’s compounds…ummm, is she INSANE? What kind of dinner table convo is this? You thought your Thanksgiving was bad, get a load of this! Couldn’t tell if Tara is just painfully honest, stupid, or if she was using this to glean any additional Savior info from them. At first, I did think Tara accidentally had stumbled into a Negan satellite camp, which would of been funny and rendered Carl and Jesus’s side-venture woefully pointless. Just jump off a bridge and float there, duh!
Trevor: Tara did get to show more personality in “Swear” – her awkward joking while a dozen guns were pointed at her was endearing – and I’m hoping the episode is setting up Tara to play a bigger role in the season going forward. I’m still not as sold on the episode as you are, even though I don’t necessarily disagree with anything you’re saying. I know that’s shitty criticism (“I agree, but no”), but that’s the best I can come to explaining it. Whatever, I contain multitudes.
I will say one thing I loved was that bridge full of walkers covered in cement. Pale, shambling wretches are something straight out of Guillermo del Toro, and it made for a nice image. Overall, actually, I think “Swear” looked really pretty, which I guess is really neither here nor there.
Margaux: I get that not a lot happened, but the same could be said for this season on the whole. I felt “Swear” was refreshing and different. But can we stop pretending that we don’t know what’s going to happen to Heath? He’s the lead on the Fox reboot of 24, so we know that dude is hella dead on TWD.
Trevor: I knew he must have had something else lined up! And I knew I recognized the guy from those 24 commercials. I agree with you wholeheartedly there, but I think they left his fate ambiguous in case 24 doesn’t work out and Heath could come back Merle-style a few seasons later.
Margaux: Ha! There is a strong chance that reboot goes the same way most reboots do: cancelled. It’d also be funny if Heath came back all racist, just like Merle!
Trevor: You wanna talk stars? I didn’t love this episode, but I didn’t hate it either, so I’m pretty malleable here.
Margaux: I finally felt sad for someone, even though I can’t quite remember how Doctor Denise died (something, something, Wolves, something, something, stupid), when Tara tells Natanya she “has a girlfriend to get back to” nothing has evoked this 😐 face more. The amount of tension when Tara jauntily walks up to the gates and her face immediately deflates when she sees Eugene, sucked. It’s like when you don’t check your email for two days and you come back and everything is on fire.
Star wise, this is the first time I didn’t draw dicks on my watch notes or check my phone, for that reason alone “Swear” deserves a 4 out of 5. But I could be talked into a 3.5.
Trevor: A 4 is a B, and that’s roughly what I was considering, so that’s fine with me. I’ll agree with you that this is the first episode in a while that seemed as though the show was intentionally setting something up, instead of just lucking into it.
Margaux: I’m sure they lucked into that too.
“Not sure when The Walking Dead became a less funny version of Seinfeld”
4/5
“Great”
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