The newest episode of the Walking Dead started off as a bit of a mixed bag for me, and then turned into something quite special.
The Walking Dead is now a long running show, and in some ways it can feel like they’re not always trying. They’ll keep pumping out new episodes until the show wraps up and then there will be more spin offs, which I’m sure will start with a buzz and then just go into the same groove the main show feels like its been in for while.
Fans love the cast of characters and have grown a lot of trust that the shows will give us those characters along with their mix of action, walkers and character based storytelling. Because they know their most loyal fans will tune in regardless I do get a sense that they are going slower into the main plot of each episode rather then feeling the need to do something to hook us. This isn’t always a bad thing, but it’s not always a good thing either.
This week’s episode focussed just on Aaron and Father Gabriel, and after about 10 minutes of watching it, it dawned on me that I didn’t really know what the episode was about. The characters had a map and were heading somewhere, but that is usually the case in an episode of The Walking Dead. There’s always some interchangeable task or mission which isn’t that important and is just an excuse for the characters to venture out into unknown areas and run into walkers or dangerous people who want to kill them or take their supplies.
This episode was exactly that and I have sometimes felt that by the end of an episode that the characters are in the exact same place as when the episode started.
However, the episode surprised me by doing something that I feel will make this episode stand out and last in my memory longer then many others of recent years. Father Gabriel and Aaron came across a place where we firstly got a twist on the usual scare jump when Aaron let out quite a scream only for it to be not at a walker, but at a boar. This with the discovery of an expensive bottle of booze and the character’s stopped to enjoy their new found dining experience.
The exchange the characters had was standard Walking Dead affair where we gained new insight into their pasts and attitudes, and got to see them enjoy playing cards. For once a sense of normality and back to reality was in the show which is rare within a show all about surviving zombies.
It was fun to experience these characters not always stressed or grumpy and dealing with life or death situations and really delve a bit more into who they are as people away from the horrors of the apocalypse.
This of course was short lived, as after drinking heavily Gabriel woke up to find Aaron missing and he was joined by the episode’s guest star Robert Patrick. Fans will recognise Patrick from countless genre shows and movies, most famously as the T-1000 in the Terminator franchise.
Holding Gabriel at gun point he made it clear that the boar and booze combo were his and that he didn’t appreciate thieves. This lead to his bringing Aaron in tied to a chair and missing his fake metal arm which has a mace on the end.
And it was from here that the episode become one of the better episodes the show has done in a long time as Robert Patrick’s character ‘Mays’ pitted Gabriel and Aaron against each other in a game of Russian roulette. This isn’t a new concept in a film or TV show, but they did do it very well here with a couple of twists to the formula. Firstly that Mays gave the pair the option to point the gun just at themselves or to point the gun at each other when they fired. This really showed the characters to have integrity and care for one another, and they really resisted the characters doing the more obvious and turning on each other.
The second thing that I don’t believe I’ve seen in a Russian roulette scene before is that they became aware when the gun had a bullet in the chamber by the sound it made when cocked. Maybe it’s not the same for all guns, but if this is what actually happens it does kinda kill some of the fun of other Russian roulette scenes as the sound completely flags when the bullet will be fired.
In the instance of this episode though it made for great tension as Aaron knew that he would either have to shoot himself or wrestle with the option to turn the gun and point at his friend. With a gun on them both from Mays, it was probably the better idea to point the gun at himself as they must have believed that Mays intended to kill them both anyway, so if he had aimed at Father Gabriel he would have just have to suffer killing his friend in his final moments.
As it was Mays was actually the one to stop Aaron from pulling the trigger on himself as he couldn’t believe that the pair weren’t just selfish thieves. With a bit of convincing form the pair that they come from a community where people help each other Mays was turned to see the light and agreed to let them go.
This was until the episode’s most shocking moment when Father Gabriel grabbed Aaron’s metal arm and used the mace end of it the cave May’s skull in. This shocked Aaron as much as the audience as for the father to do such an act really says something about what the world has made the character into.
Of course this came from the place that earlier in the episode Mays had claimed that he had killed his brother’s family, and that Gabriel didn’t feel he could be trusted back in their community. We then got an unexpected twist again as they realised that Mays had been overhearing the conversation the night before and upon investigation, they found that May’s brother, also played by Robert Patrick was chained up as a prisoner in front of the dead bodies of his family.
When I saw this I was like ‘ah so this is how they’ll keep Robert Patrick in the show’ only for Patrick to grab a gun from Gabriel and shoot himself. This is no doubt as he was now beyond grief stricken and god knows how long he had been chained up and kept prisoner. This was a disappointing end to the story here as Patrick would have been a good addition to the cast and whilst it was a shock to see the bad Mays killed, it was more of a shock in a way that felt a waste to have him there as a second character who is killed without saying a word.
Conclusion
It was a good episode and the slow build with standard zombie fare at the start followed by good character development and the thrilling roulette scene made this a strong episode. It also progressed the character of father Gabriel in particular and I’m sure with looked that Aaron gave him after killing Mays that the trust between them will now be diminished for future episodes. Roll on next week!
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