It is not that The Walking Dead has been not been trying to bring up the standards of the show to match that of its earlier seasons. The strange formatting of the episodes, introducing character cards to divide an episode, interesting editing and cinematography etc. are some of the things that have been tried out. But somehow it is missing out on strengthening the basic foundation that builds up a show; which is the script. However fantastic the basic premise of a show is, continuous holes the logical fabric of the story is definitely frustrating for the viewers.

Whenever there is a hope for the show to get back to form, it ruins the chance with another sloppy episode. The 13^th episode of this season deals with the event towards which the show has been building up and starts rather excitingly but then limps to a conclusion. The Saviors ultimately attack Hilltop and then the after-effects of the battle come into play. The two main acts of action in the episode are connected with some character moments in between, which hardly serve any purpose other than slowing down the pace. Considering the fact that this is still one of the highest watched American TV shows, I wonder whether the show will ever get back to the same form that made us appreciate it once.

If you have not watched the episode then please stop reading now as the next sections will have spoilers. 

In the first act of the episode, the Saviors finally reach Hilltop with their convoy. During a short exchange of words between Maggie and Simon, Maggie threatens to execute the thirty eight Saviors the Hilltop holds as hostage. But Simon proves that he is ruthless enough not to care about these men whom he considers as “damaged goods”. Daryl then surprises the Saviors with an attack from behind with a machine gun mounted on his motorcycle and drops a few of them. It is full scale battle from then onwards with Rick and the others joining in after some time. The Saviors does get to kill and wound some Hilltop people with their zombie blood infected weapons. Simon moves to kill Tara from behind but on seeing this, Dwight shoots her with an arrow. It is possible that Dwight may have not dipped his weapons on zombie blood and thus have saved Tara’s life. Dwight is playing a rather difficult game here trying to keep a balance at both ends. It would be interesting to see how the show handles his future. The Saviors ultimately fall back after a lot of them are dropped and escape in some of their vehicles.

The next act starts with the dust of the battle settling and Hilltop being given some breathing time through the day. We get to see Tobin, who we have hardly seen in this season, injured in the battle and he exchanges a few words with Carol. A distraught Rick who is burying the grief inside himself tries to explain that he could not stop himself from trying to kill Negan the previous day. As the night advances, the infected weapons of the Saviors bring about the intended results and the injured Hilltop residents start turning into zombies inside the mansion. By the time the Rick and the others come awake, a lot many has succumbed to the bites. As the zombies wreck havoc inside the mansion, Henry, the younger brother of the Hilltop fighter who was killed in the last season, goes alone in search of revenge to the prison area holding the Saviors, with an automatic firearm he picked up earlier.

Henry makes the rather foolish mistake of opening the gate and entering inside, threatening to shoot everyone unless his brother’s killer comes forward. It is no point judging the intelligence of a kid but considering he has grown up in an apocalyptic world with constant threats around, it is hard to believe he will act in such foolhardy manner. The inevitable happens as the zombies attack the prisoners, and Henry is ultimately disarmed in the resulting confusion. The prisoners escape, though a few of them stay back and help. Among them is Alden, who has been given some importance lately and will definitely play some significant role in the coming future. The zombies are cleared as the Hilltop fighters wake up and Tobin, who was the first to turn, is brought down by Carol. The Hilltop team then figures out that the reason for the injured turning into zombies must be the weapons of the Saviors. The inversion of feelings about Dwight continues with Daryl now wishing to kill him and Tara going against it. The ending shows the bodies of the dead being buried while Maggie along with Rick stands and stares at the tombstones; Maggie thinking about the “cost” they have to pay in this battle.

A few observations on the episode:

·         The attack scene began well with a few good tactical moves from Maggie Like blocking the entrance, blowing out the headlights etc. But then the Saviors make the rather suicidal move of gathering in a bunch and advancing towards the mansion across open ground. Simon even whistles as if asking to be fired upon and that is exactly what happens. These action sequences could be better directed and made more exciting. The jerky camera work with the focus on one person is not the best way to portray intense action.

·          The show never tells us how many Saviors are there. So it seems that no matter how many of them fall down dead, in the end they never seem to decrease in number.

·         Morgan, probably the most mentally disturbed individual on the show, is hallucinating again. The ghost of Gavin continuously appears to him in all situations, mostly uttering one sentence “You know what it is”. This is probably a reference to the guilt that Morgan feels as he could not stop Henry from killing Gavin earlier. This can be a move to create the background for the character of Morgan to move into “Fear the walking dead” which we know will happen.

·         The silliest part in this episode was the way the zombie attack inside the mansion was shown. There were no guards posted in or out of the mansion and the zombies could move in through open doors and attack the sleeping people quite freely. The cries of the victims and growls of the zombies or even the sound of a zombie falling down an entire staircase could not wake anyone up at first. Even taking into account that people must be dead tired after the battle, there is no reason for an armed guard not being posted. The scenes that could have been terrifying got rather irritating because of the implausibility.

·         In another example of a the show stretching things too far, Henry was able open the prison lock quite freely as if the key was readily available for him. There were no guards posted to keep a watch on the prisoners either. How a zombie could enter the prison area where there is only one entrance also remains a mystery. The whole setup of using Henry to make the prisoners escape raises so many issues that one has to question the quality of writing that gets approved for this show.

·         A few characters were introduced and given time only to be turned into zombies or get eaten by them. Such moments serve no purpose other than making the show rather tedious to watch. The Walking Dead needs to try something fresh to liven up its character moments instead of turning them boring.

·         Siddiq proves to be a hard working doctor but really has a bad sense of timing for delivering religious sermons. Rick rightly shuts him off with one word.

 

The Walking Dead returns with its next episode “Still Gotta Mean Something” on 1^st April

 

 

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