Trevor is off this week to enjoy the long weekend, so we’re all alone and I can finally tell you what I really think of last night’s The Walking Dead. It may shock some to know that I didn’t totally hate “New Best Friends”, mainly because we got more Carol and she is the secret sauce that elevates this show from maudlin drama to possible-golden-era-of-TV drama. Also, two words: trash monster. Even though “New Best Friends” is a solid course correction (did someone send Gimple some of our reviews?), it kind of fell apart there at the end. Such is life on The Walking Dead though.
We start with the world’s longest cold open that reestablishes, for the umpteenth time, that the Saviors are giant dickheads. What they accidentally succeed in proving is, Negan is more interesting the less we see of him, the reaction of how communities interpret the threat of Negan and the Saviors is what drives the story forward. And just when you start to think, ‘hey, Richard seems like he gets what’s really going on here’, he immediately crumbles under the pressure when reveals his bonehead plan to elicit an attack from the Saviors to Daryl. Although he’s right, Carol can more than hold her own, he has to admit that when you say it all out loud, it sounds fucked up. Framing a woman, who is minding her own business and has no idea what’s going on with the Saviors, for an assault she didn’t commit all so you can prove to a dude with a tiger, who’s literally playing community theater part, that he’s wrong to underestimate Negan. Yeah, no way can I see that going wrong whatsoever.
Two side notes before we move on. 1.) We’ve yet to see Morgan read a room properly and I’m sure he’ll die before we ever do, and he is hardly a sensei. 2.) Stop trying to make a Jerry a thing so you can murder him later and have an emotional payoff.
We meet back up with last week’s cliffhanger and best as I can tell, Rick, Michonne, Aaron, Rosita, and Gabriel have been kidnapped by an apocalyptic cult whose members names all sound like they’re in Die Antwoord. The Mad Max-ian cult all file in and surround Rick and Co like they’ve recently watched the world’s last copy of Signs, and inform them they took Father G and all their food because Rick and Aaron took supplies from the stocked houseboat in the season finale, first. An official confirmation that the muddy boots of last season is a collective of Ikea furniture names. But like any good video game, you have to go through the Big Boss to move on to the next level, and eventually get what you really want.
Who knew Father Gabriel pulling a knife on Gronkulla (or whatever her name was), would be the perfect segue for Rick to broker a meeting of the leader minds atop trash mountain. But no sooner than you can say, ‘I fink u freeky’, Rick is pushed off the edge and into the gauntlet to fight an adorably named, incredibly spiky zombie/monster, Winslow. I’ve been excited to see this creature in action since I caught a glimpse of it in the trailer, but I was never worried for Rick’s safety. A tricky situation? To be sure. Andrew Lincoln works hard to sell it has as a Sisyphean feat, but lest we forget, Rick once ripped out a man’s throat with his teeth, I’m pretty sure he’s got this.
Rick proves his mettle to Jadis, whose ombre is shockingly on point for end times, and strikes a shifty sounding deal where the crux of it is, “Guns. Soon”. Sure, Rick kind of accomplished turning would-be-enemies in sort-of-friends, but gee, Tara? You wouldn’t happen to know where a bunch of guns would be lying about, would you? That plot came back around quicker than anticipated, didn’t it? It’s probably because they’re going to get the down-by-the-beach community to join their fight soon. Only makes sense, they’re going need the numbers. It’s nice to see Rosita is still in full rampage mode, her subtle disdain in being wrong about Father Gabriel’s disappearance was hilarious.
I really wish “New Best Friends” would’ve ended on Daryl and Carol’s touching reunion. There was an underlying fanservice to it, but it was sweet and not overwrought with saccharine emotion. It was kind of Daryl to spare Carol the knowledge of what happened with Negan and the Saviors, he recognizes she’s finally found her peace, and he knows without saying out loud, that this was hard fought and can only be temporary at best, he wants to his best to help protect it. And maybe because if Carol is going to come back, Daryl wants it be because she wants to, not because it reaffirms Carols worse fears, over and over. I wish the scene would’ve ended with Daryl moving in, and it becoming an Odd Couple situation, instead of what we got, yet alas they can’t leave well enough alone.
They just had to push it and have this forced, repetitive scene between Daryl and Morgan. It had all the pointlessness of, ‘here’s not here’. But Daryl going to Hilltop doesn’t make much sense, the Saviors are (obviously) looking for him, and we’ve seen that The Kingdom is the only community they don’t just roll up on unannounced. So why would Daryl leave himself open like that? Put Sasha and Maggie possibly at risk? Okay, Richard and Morgan are super lame, but couldn’t Daryl use his tiger whispering skills to win Ezekiel over to their side?
Trevor and Eugene return next week.
Final Score:
3.5/5
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