by Thom Yee

Images courtesy of AMC and Fox International Channels.

5×14: “Spend”

Just when you think everyone’s safe… they go and kill the guy nobody really cares too much about! A lot of things happened in “Spend” and there’s a lot to unpack, so I’ll try not to go off on too many irrelevant tangents. Like I normally do.

“Spend” opens with a measure of hope and a look towards the future with Noah speaking to Reg, Deanna’s husband, about learning architecture (okay, so it literally opens with a small character moment for Father Gabriel, but I hate that guy and will address him later). So far most of the learned skills in our group have centred much more around hunter-gatherer tasks, so it’s refreshing to see one of our heroes learning something that’s still important, but not quite as directly practical as insert knife here. Continue reading →

by Thom Yee

Images courtesy of AMC and Fox International Channels.

5×13: “Forget”

The Walking Dead is a show that’s had character and pacing problems ever since the showrunners decided to keep Shane around for so long past his due date, and that’s a trend that reached its crescendo last season when the Governor’s extended story was allowed to truncate the seasonal arc. While that may be an example of weak storytelling (no matter how valuable it may have been to learn more about the Governor), it’s also an example of how difficult it can be to write for a seasonal structure where a midseason break calls for two different climaxes. Even though the narrative through line should be strong enough to carry the entire season, it’s still tough to match up two different climaxes when they’re separated by eight episodes of material. Continue reading →

by Thom Yee

Images courtesy of AMC and Fox International Channels.

5×12: “Remember”

Subtlety? Discretion? Strategy? Characters acting sensibly? What’s happened to The Walking Dead?

While not a lot happened in this week’s episode, there was a lot going on on more personal levels as our heroes decompressed and relaxed just a little a bit into the seemingly very real possibility of normalcy. Particularly towards the earlier parts, the episode really felt like a great, big, comforting bear hug from your therapist, like the moment when the hardened, emotionally distant protagonist who’s clearly been through a lot finally feels comfortable crying in front of people. Continue reading →

by Thom Yee

Images courtesy of AMC and Fox International Channels.

5×11: “The Distance”

For a long time now, The Walking Dead has had a huge problem with developing a certain type of character — voices of dissent. From Dale to Andrea to Tyreese, anyone who might have had a valid opposing point and who was clearly operating as the group’s conscience in the face of unrelenting death and violence invariably ended up becoming incredibly annoying even as our heroes slowly became the monsters others should fear. It’s a change perhaps best highlighted early this season with the group’s massacre of the remaining Terminites, but one that’s been been glimpsed as early as season two’s “Nebraska” when Rick shot Dave and Tony in that bar. Right or wrong, our surviving group members have moved further and further away from the virtuous beings they would rather be and have, by now, gone pretty far down the path of straight-up murder as first resort, mostly because the Dale’s and Andrea’s and Tyreese’s tend to die out, and with them their morality. Continue reading →