by Thom Yee

The Walking Dead images courtesy of AMC.

6×06: “Always Accountable”

It may have taken a full five seasons, but it was last season’s final episode that finally sold me on The Walking Dead as a television series. It was the sudden appearance of Morgan, saving Daryl and Aaron with a serenity and a respect for life and humanity, that finally convinced me that the show was, at least this one time, capable of selling some of the higher-minded thematic ideals it’s been trying (and too often failing) to play with throughout its run. And yes, I’m starting this recap talking about a character that doesn’t even appear in the episode.

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by Thom Yee

The Walking Dead images courtesy of AMC.

6×05: “Now”

Party’s over, everyone.  We now return to your regularly scheduled The Walking Dead.

I don’t think anybody could reasonably expect the type of pacing we’ve seen since the beginning of this season to continue indefinitely, and it was more than reasonable to expect a breather episode sometime around now, but all of the forward momentum we’d gained from the first three episodes of season six really just ground to a full-stop hault in “Now”, and it’s that comparative storytelling inertia that made it hard to care or latch on to any of the stories being told this week. Continue reading →

by Thom Yee

The Walking Dead images courtesy of AMC.

6×04: “Here’s Not Here”

Boring!

It was clear from the moment that Morgan showed back up in our television-viewing lives to save Daryl and Aaron from that zombie-horde trap in last season’s finale that he’d been through a lot since the last time we saw him. The character had gone from crazy, bitter, vengeful, and barely there after the death of his son at the hands of the zombified wife he had, till that point, been unable to put down, to some sort of staff-wielding, peace-loving Zen master, spouting lines like, “all life is precious”. At the time it was a breath of fresh air, not only for the character, but for this continually downtrodden show that we’ve been watching for the past five years, but that was before seeing things like the Wolves attack on Alexandria and how every one of the people that Morgan left alive tended to come back and hurt or kill (or at least try to hurt or kill) our heroes. Continue reading →

by Thom Yee

The Walking Dead images courtesy of AMC.

6×03: “Thank You”

I don’t think it takes that much thought to reach the conclusion that being eaten alive until you die (and obviously we’re talking about being eaten in pieces, not just swallowed whole) probably isn’t a great way to go. A lot of people died this week on The Walking Dead… not as many as last week, but a little more personally… and a lot less quickly. Obviously we’ve seen people bitten, eviscerated, and dismembered by walkers before on this show, but with how detailed these onscreen deaths are becoming as the show’s effects budget increases alongside its ratings, it’s getting tough to sit through these prolonged death scenes and not think about the value of mercy killing. When you’re in a situation where almost all of you made it to the other side of the fence, don’t just watch the one unlucky member of your group that didn’t make it die. Shoot him in the head or something, he’s being eaten alive! That’s gotta hurt! Continue reading →

by Thom Yee

The Walking Dead images courtesy of AMC.

6×02: “JSS”

So four important things are happening this week here in Edmonton, Canada. First, it’s time to get out and vote in the Canadian federal election on Monday, second, the new Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer also debuts on Monday (an event that’s important for the world), third, it’s Back to the Future day on Wednesday (and, lest we forget, Michael J. Fox was born here in Edmonton), and fourth, this week we can talk about one of if not the best episodes of The Walking Dead. Guess which one of those four things I’m probably going to skip. Hint: you’re reading about the last one right now, the second can be watched from home in less than five minutes while lying on the couch, and the third is one of my favourite movies of all time. Oh, and spoilers, “JSS” is one of if not the best episodes of The Walking Dead ever, ever. Continue reading →

Why I’m watching… The Walking Dead season 6

by Thom Yee

If I’m right, and I usually am when it comes to prognosticating on a TV show that I’ve already read well ahead of in its counterpart/inspiration comicbook series, then this might be the last season of The Walking Dead that’s… like… this. Alexandria may have been a big shift for Rick and co., offering the first real, lasting, modern-living respite our heroes have ever had, but if our heroes wind up staying here on the TV show as long they do in the comic, then we’ve only begun to see where this story is headed. In addition to the internal strife that will probably be forming between Rick and Morgan this season, it looks like we’re also on a collision course with the mysterious Wolves that have been skulking around the edges of this show all last season, something that may lead to our first confrontation with the biggest big bad in the entire series. Think the Governor, only bigger, meaner, with no sense of morality, and directly responsible for the brutal, sadistic beating to death of a beloved long-time character. Continue reading →