Margaux and I welcome back The Walking Dead for a new, hopefully better, season.
Trevor: I miss the days when the return of The Walking Dead felt like an event. I had honestly forgotten this show was coming back – for its hundredth episode, no less – until Saturday. But I guess three straight bad seasons will do that to a viewer (I still stick up for season five). “Mercy” was an episode that I had some issues with, but we’ve definitely seen worse. We’ll get to that, of course, but my first question for you is: how did you feel about the time jump?
Margaux: My answer to that is actually another question, do you think it’s a time jump or a dream? A possible alternate ending that never comes true. Because in order to address that “time jump” (why are only Rick and Judith older? Do Coral and Michonne drink from the same well as Tuck Everlasting?), we have to talk about the third Rick because we cut between all of them in “Mercy.” We have rah-rah speech giving Rick, beardy Rick, and rainbow Snapchat filter Rick. The last Rick is shot almost entirely in close up, and you really can’t tell where the hell he is and why he’s crying and sweating so much.
Trevor: Well, that’s a good question. I think I read an interview where Scott Gimple referred to the time jump as such, but this team has been known to obfuscate (remember Dumpstergate). So that puts The Walking Dead in kind of an impossible position. Dream sequences, especially prolonged ones, are almost uniformly garbage. There’s no narrative momentum or tension in a dream sequence because we know nothing is really happening (save for Inception and A Nightmare on Elm Street). On the flip side, if it’s a flash-forward, well, there goes any worrying about Rick, Carl, Michonne, or Judith. Man, that’s not a great start in my opinion, but I will give the show credit for trying out weird, arty things, even if they don’t always work. Making 100 episodes of the highest-rated show on cable affords you some leeway, I suppose.
Margaux: This was a good episode for The Walking Dead; of course there were problems, but the pacing was such that you didn’t have enough time to dwell on those cringer moments. If we take “Mercy” on good faith, I hope it signals that they’ve finally, one hundred episodes later (minus the near perfect first six), learned that TWD shouldn’t give itself the narrative time to not live up to its own expectations. It’s greatest strength is keeping the viewer in the dark instead of trying to “build” (slash over explain) to a moment that they’ll inevitably fail at; whether it be a fail in spectacle for the audience or the characters themselves failing. In short, I’m glad they at least made good on the promise of “all out war.” I know it sounds like I’m giving them credit for doing the bare minimum, and I am, but when they do do that, they actually can have a pretty entertaining 46 minutes.
Trevor: You make some good points, and I’m going to try to be as open-minded as possible; I just reread my notes and last night’s Trevor did not like this episode. So I suppose I’ll just try to focus on what I did like, at least to start: I’m glad Carol is back in the action. I’m glad Morgan finally wised up and realized you can’t reason with these people. And I’m glad to see Rick pumping up his people (with a speech straight out of the Negan playbook). Andrew Lincoln is at his best when he gets to be really intense, and whenever Rick has a personal vendetta (like against Gareth or the Governor), he gets to tap into that, becoming a watchable, compelling leading man.
Margaux: By all means, if you hated the episode, please let ‘er rip. Lord knows I spent basically all of last season screaming in all caps about shit writing and the snails pace plot to the point where I quit the show, only to be here now. Oh well. It’s nice to not be the No Lady!
Speaking of the Governor, their plan to take down the Saviors/Negan is totally out of his playbook. Lead a human AND zombie mob to the gates of your enemy? That’s so Governor!
Trevor: One thing I always enjoy on TWD is when they put aside whatever petty argument they have and work as a group. They’re pretty good at it; remember their tense, brutal raid on a Savior compound. And I think welding corrugated tin to the sides of their cars was a smart move. It’s smart for them to strike first, and it’s good character work (I especially liked Rick taking a Polaraoid picture of Negan, the way Negan does with his victims).
But once they actually arrived at Sanctuary, I had some real issues. Why wouldn’t they just have a sniper take Negan out? He was right there, exposed, for several minutes. Is Tara’s new affectation going to be “eating licorice”? If so, I hate it. Also, why is the show still telling us that Maggie is pregnant? I know time moves slower in the show than in real life (I think we’re supposed to be 18 months into the apocalypse), but she is demonstrably not pregnant, and I think she’s heading for a miscarriage (I hope that’s not the case, her baby would be a nice way to keep Glenn’s memory alive). And lastly – I know ranting isn’t good reviewing – I wonder how the show is going to explain Gabriel inevitably not killing Negan. You don’t need to address all that, I just wanted to air (most of) my grievances.
Margaux: Going to do my best to respond to as many of your complaints, because various points throughout the episode had the same problems.
Cold blooded killer Rick really is the best Rick, so him turning into Negan (as we’ve said before, it’d be great if they turned Rick into the villain) even in such a minor way as to take a creepy fucking Polaroid of Negan at his lowest point was effectively serial killer-esque. And Rick projecting his good cop side by giving Negan a countdown to surrender, but starts shooting at 7 was kind of badass and Negan-like. On the flip side of “why not use a sniper,” why waste all that ammo just shooting out the window of Sanctuary?
Trevor: Exactly! And then later, Ezekiel gives Rick a big smile and nod. “We expended 1,000 rounds of ammunition, killed no one, and lost Gabriel. Truly ours is the noble path.”
Margaux: Tara and her fucking Red Vine are gross, how long was she was eating that fucking thing? ENJOY THE CAVITIES ASSHOLE. When Rick alluded to maternity leave, I was like, “but who’s-oh yeah, Maggie.” If you have to verbally remind your audience every episode your character is pregnant, you should rethink that whole plot point. And, my GOD, what is with Negan’s childlike obsession with bodily functions? Pee pee pants city? Shittin’ pants? HE’S SUPPOSED TO BE SCARY! ED KEMPER (OR ANY OTHER TERRIFYING SERIAL KILLER) NEVER SAID ANYTHING LIKE THIS AS A MEANS OF INTIMIDATION.
Trevor: I know Negan is a hard character to write for cable because he can’t say “fuck” the way he does in the graphic novels, but I think the show has rounded the bend with the character and turned him into a strutting peacock with a third-grader’s vocabulary. Which is a shame, because I think Jeffrey Dean Morgan is a great actor, who has done solid work with Negan in the past. But I resent the show building this villain up for so long, then immediately crapping the bed. We’ve said it before, and I know we’ll say it again: he works better when we see less of him. Telling Gabriel “You’re about to shit your pants” is neither funny nor scary.
HOWEVER, the idea of a bottle episode with Negan and Gabriel is tantalizing. (I swear, I’m Charlie Brown with the football with this fuckin’ show.) Morgan and Seth Gilliam are both solid, and it would be great to give them a chance to, you know, act. Oh, and on the subject of Gabriel, I will say that the show has done some nice character triage with him. We are no longer rooting for him to die.
Margaux: I mean, I was kind of rooting for Father G to die when he attempted to save true Benedict Arnold, Gregory. Also another time where Negan totally shit the bed on being scary, revealing Gregory as your ace in the hole IS NOT A REVEAL. He’s a bitch and no one likes him, do your fucking homework. Jesus christ.
Trevor: True, that’s really poor planning. “Everyone is sure to step in line behind this person they all hate and are in active rebellion against.” I do like how strongly the Hilltop supports Maggie, though. I’m sure it will lead to an eye-rolling romance between her and Jesus, so I’ll enjoy it when I can.
Margaux: Coral’s minor arc in “Mercy” was like one of those “want to feel old” memes; want to feel old: Coral can drive and is entrusted with being the point person in case of attacks. Huge step up from begrudging babysitter. Speaking of, they’ve given up on making Judith a baby anymore and now she’s like, four? That was not a baby, that’s all I know. Conversely, I forgot Enid was still JSS-ing, but if her and Jerry start buddying up, I’m gonna scream. Do you think there’s going to a season of The Walking Dead that’s like Degrassi: The Next Generation where all the kids of the main cast are now running shit?
Margaux: Lastly, I’d like to submit a note about the “harvest festival” they’re planning in the beardy Rick timeline, it’s way to Wicker Man with the construction of the owl and all. It hearkened back to the that hairdresser with the psychopath kids and abusive husband who made shitty owl sculptures out of old car parts of whatever. That’s what made me think it might be alternate ending/dream/Jacob’s Ladder scenario. And just like that, my freeform ramble comes full circle.
Trevor: If the idyllic beard future turns out to be some cannibal enclave in the vein of Terminus, I will be absolutely stoked. And as for Carl, I actually like the idea of him staying around to run Alexandria (Michonne telling him “It’s your show now” was a nice moment). A hat on every head and a tub of pudding on every roof!
I think “Mercy” had more negative aspects than positive, but this isn’t the worst episode of the show I’ve ever seen. I can pretty much guarantee it won’t even be the worst of the season. It dangled some interesting storylines, and if it leads to the bottle episode I want, I’ll be just fine with it. Do you want to talk stars?
Margaux: Yeah, let’s blow this up and ride away on our hog. Despite gaps in logic and planning, the pacing and effective cutting between stories helped keep “Mercy” on the path to deliver on its promise of all out war. Making good on promises should count for something.
3.5/5
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