“Bury Me Here” is the best Morgan-centered episode of The Walking Dead since “Clear.” That might be damning with faint praise, because “Clear” was almost four long season ago. (I liked “Here’s Not Here” more than most, but in retrospect it’s easier to dislike the episode, because it set Morgan down a path that would turn him into the most unlikable character on TV.) Our biggest gripe here at GAMbIT regarding TWD‘s seventh season has been that it’s too scattered for its own good, trying to weave its multiple storylines into a cohesive whole but more often than not making them feel rushed and underdeveloped. That’s probably why I like the more intimate, character-based episodes more. Last week’s “Say Yes” was a step in the right direction, and if the show is building to some big everyone vs. Saviors climax – which it clearly is – it’s smarter to give the characters some breathing room and raise the emotional stakes.
A big reason “Bury Me Here” is so successful is that it shows the first signs that Morgan, and by extension the show itself, is aware of what people think of him. His confidence and beliefs quickly turned to arrogance; it’s never enough for Morgan to be right, others must be wrong. Every scene with him became predictable, and predictably frustrating. He would tell someone – Rick, Carol, take your pick – that killing wasn’t necessary, even while the world around him took pains to tell him that it was. “Bury Me Here” feels like a rebuttal to all of The Walking Dead‘s previous Morgan episodes, but it never veers into fan service territory. Richard, who quickly became the MVP of the episode as well as an audience surrogate, sums it up nicely to Morgan: “I think you’re a good man. But the day is coming where you can’t be that good.”
Morgan has been living in a fantasy world, and like anyone harboring delusions, it’s been maddening to watch, especially repeated week after week. “Bury Me Here” challenges that fantasy, but more than that, it challenges the central tenets by which Morgan lives his life, and Morgan finds that he is not equal to the challenge. In a lot of ways, this is a very interior episode, but it also allows Lennie James to show a broader range of emotions as Morgan (typically he has one speed: condescending). James does a nice job with Morgan’s self-doubt, frustration, and, ultimately, rage.
The episode is almost stolen, however, by two side characters, Richard and Gavin. Richard has long since been my favorite citizen of the Kingdom (eat a dick, Jerry), and Karl Makinen does a great job of evolving him from week to week. Here we see that he still plans to single-handedly start a war with the Saviors, and is prepared to die in order to do so; after his plan to frame Carol fell through, he didn’t give up but went back to the drawing board, making sure that the Kingdom’s delivery was light by one cantaloupe (it’s at this point I wondered if Ezekiel is responsible for cantaloupes alone, before the episode confirmed that, yes, he absolutely is). And Jayson Warner Smith imbues Gavin with more humanity and relatability than any other Savior (including Negan), and his world-weariness matches Makinen’s nicely. It doesn’t hurt that Gavin is always paired up with Jared, who by virtue of being a hotheaded cartoon really lets Smith’s low-key performance shine. He also gets one of the episode’s best lines; “It’s As or Fs,” he tells Ezekiel, when the cantaloupe delivery is lacking. (Cantaloupe sucks; if I were Negan I’d be making Ezekiel actively destroy them.) Then, in a nice power move, he comes back the next day for the missing cantaloupe.
And that brings us to the most powerful, and surprising, scene of “Bury Me Here,” where Morgan, seemingly unprompted, lunges at Richard and chokes him to death in front of the Saviors. Morgan has killed before, but this is closer to murder. It’s also a nice turning point for the character. Morgan realizes that the Saviors can’t be reasoned with – they came back armed, all to get one lousy melon – and Richard’s plan of gaining their trust before destroying them was a smart one. And Richard gets his wish; his death will start the war. James does such a nice job in this scene that you’re unsure if he’s mad at Richard for pushing him to this point, or mad at the Saviors for pushing Richard, or mad at the world for ending.
Carol finally learns the truth about Glenn and Abraham, way earlier than I thought she would (I imagined a tearful confession from Daryl). Morgan uses the truth to manipulate her into joining him, but more than that it’s because more than anyone, Carol knows the necessity of killing. And now, so does Morgan. The scales have been lifted from his eyes, and he seethes to Carol, “I’m going to kill them, kill them one by one.”
The Walking Dead‘s seventh season hasn’t been altogether successful, because it’s spent a lot of time either fucking around or moving places around for a big battle that we already knew was going to happen. But no matter. Episodes like “Bury Me Here” can have a redemptive quality, and while it’s not good enough on its own to change my mind about the season as a whole, I find myself plenty impressed that the best episode of season 7B was about Morgan. Who saw that coming?
A Few Thoughts
- I didn’t talk much about Carol, but good lord can Melissa McBride act. If the Emmys took this show at all seriously, which they don’t and arguably shouldn’t, McBride would have a shelf full of them.
- I have my problems with Ezekiel as a character, but that tiger is pretty fucking cool.
- Bear McCreary’s music was pretty solid this episode, even if it was overly reminiscent of Brian Reitzell’s work on Hannibal.
4.25/5
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