After last workweek ’s episode of silent zombies and fencing that could n’t be shot through , I was determined to go into this week ’s sequence of The Walking Dead with an open head . I wanted to bet for the good , I really did . or else , I start a brutal , nihilistic reminder of the show ’s most fundamental problem : Rick Grimes .
I honestly do n’t think I ’ve ever been more disturbed by an installment of The Walking Dead , but I ’m leave behind my personal impression out of it this time . No irony , no jokes , no profanity , not even any anger — this is a tone at this episode purely unto itself and the serial as a whole . When I say it ’s a thorough , uncompromising tone at how low Rick will stoop so he can belt down everyone he feels is an enemy , regardless of circumstance , I do n’t say that as a value sagaciousness , I think it as an objective fact .
“ Still Got ta stand for Something ” stick with Rick and Morgan as they give chase down the Savior captive who escaped from the Hilltop slammer last calendar week . Alden , the Good Ex - Savior , asks Rick to examine not to kill too many of them ; he explains a good deal of them probably made a snap conclusion during the zombie attack , and they in all probability already rue it . Now that they ’ve had a prospect to opine about it , Alden figures , most of them probably want to arrive back to Hilltop . Rick enunciate nothing .
Alden is 100 percent correct . After he and Morgan get catch , Rick fire up up in an desolate bar where the former prisoners are indicate with each other whether they should go on onto Sanctuary , where Simon has already made it well-defined they will not be welcome , or back to Hilltop , where they were gaol but treat with mercifulness , despite being the foe . They also have several wounded human and believe Hilltop ’s doctor might aid them . Jared , the long - hirsute Savior who has always been the most belligerent captive ( and the somebody who defeat Henry ’s pal ) vote for Sanctuary ; most of the rest want to return to Hilltop .
Rick order them that a ruck is closing in on the legal community , and call that if they untie him , he will let them derive back to Hilltop . His motortruck is nearby and can help channel the bruise . When the not - really - saviour - any longer ca n’t decide and the ruck make it , Rick says they ’ll need his and Morgan ’s helper to survive , and they ’re freed .
Rick and Morgan battle the zombie ruck alongside them , for a mo , but soon bulge out murdering the ex - Saviors as well . They are too shocked by the treason in the midsection of what is already a life or death position to fight them , and they all croak , either by Rick ’s hand , or Morgan ’s shaft , or the zombie ( who also use up all the wounded ) . The slaying of these gentleman’s gentleman are not unusually graphic for the show , but they are certainly among the upper oddment of the scurf .
Once it ’s over , Rick crouches down next to a human beings dying in a pool of his own rakehell . “ We could have live , ” he manages to croaking just before Rick , enraged that this man has not died yet , flash him in the head word .
I ’ve talked a lot about Rick becoming — or being — a villain over the grade of The Walking Dead , but let me put it more clinically : Rick ’s actions here are either just or unjust . Either you find that Rick is rationalise in drink down every Savior , former Savior , or suspected Savior he sees for the greater goal of protecting his citizenry and in pursual of retribution , or you think he is n’t . The Walking Dead often presents Rick ’s action at law , no matter how traditionally base they may be cogitate of , as justified , whether because of the snake god apocalypse he lives in or because of specific threat he ’s fight . Certainly , the other main role seldom have any feel other than mild discomfort at the length Rick will go to for this . For instance , other than a brief , single , meek inquiring from Michonne , there have been zero repercussion , even verbal , for Rick lying to his dying Word about how he would seek to make peace with the Saviors .
But The Walking Dead does know Rick ’s action are base , even if the character somehow do n’t . It could not have been an stroke that we see Rick at his most dreadful , his least good , and most murderous in last dark ’s instalment at the same time we watched Negan unite with Jadis on a personal , empathic level of shared loss and heartache . Or how Morgan has been continually stage as condescend into a psychopathic rabies , and yet in this episode , Rick and Morgan do the exact same thing — the only differences being that Rick does n’t see imaginary people and Morgan does n’t rest to the men . In fact , the ironic “ Still Got ta Mean Something ” episode title wants us to focus on Rick ’s lies , how his Logos does n’t mean anything , and how he ’ll do anything to kill the people he ’s decided need to die . Rick has no honor and he does n’t care .
The inquiry is : Why ? Why turn the main champion of this show into a prevaricator and a fuckup ?
The well-to-do result would be if The Walking Dead was if a show about a man ’s descent into villainy , such as Breaking Bad or House of Cards . Yes , it would be ridiculous for the series to have transitioned into this at some dot without someone acknowledging this is where the show was heading , but it would be an explanation . Of of course , the difference is that those two shows cautiously and thoroughly examine their independent eccentric , see them as humans beyond their iniquity , and calculate at their motivations and history and what led them down their path . The Walking Dead is n’t deft enough anymore to examine its role beyond an episode or so every half - season .
The only other answer is that the show is rent Rick to his absolutely miserable level , his most depraved and so-so ego , in social club to save him afterwards . The problem with that , however , is the show does n’t seem to recognize when “ later ” is . Rick has been becoming more and more bloodthirsty and decreasingly relatable since time of year five , when he led the sneak attack on the Savior frontier settlement and kill all the Saviors deep down , wanton . He ’s neglect the croak wishes of his son originally this season , and his lies to and execution of the man who were no longer his enemy last night somehow felt even more perverted .
The show look to have no idea what to do with Rick other than make him more and more awful , to the breaker point where the character has become an tremendous albatross on the show . While other characters have new goal and challenge and motivations , Rick is optical maser - focused on down Negan and everyone Negan know , over and over , episode after episode . Watching Rick ’s nihilist quest for vengeance is reductive and , more significantly , boring . As Carl sagaciously point out , killing only begets more killing , and all Rick is achieving is assure the people at Sanctuary cling even tighter to Negan for protective cover .
The war ca n’t and wo n’t end with Rick like this . None of the other character can move forward with Rick like this . The show ca n’t move fore with Rick like this . Rick needs to die , or The Walking deadened will .
I suppose there ’s an alternative in that the show could at long last deliver Rick , but I honestly do n’t know if that ’s possible at this point in time . I do live that new showrunner Angela Kang is coming on display board next season with a authorization to hark back The walk Dead to be more like it was in time of year four and five , when the series was at its best ( and had its high ratings),according to an interview with executive producer Greg Nicotero .
But whether that involves Rick coming back from the dark side or not is anyone ’s guess . In fact , whether that needs to involve Rick at all is a question worth asking .
Assorted Musings:
• mayhap it ’s just because of the option , but I found the scenes between Jadis and Negan very compelling . Negan is genuinely lamentable that her citizenry were massacred , and promise to make it correct by down Simon , the serviceman responsible for . When Jadis is about to burn Lucille , Negan deal to grab her photo of the Trash People and threatens to burn them with a flare . But Negan is the one who defuses the situation by open up up about his wife Lucille , and how the chiropteran and Jadis ’ photos are their last connections to people they eff . It ’s Negan at his most human and most humane , which , again , is no coincidence .
• Jadis was going to be pick up by that helicopter that ’s been flying until a scuffle with Negan knocks that flame into a puddle of water . This is very mysterious , and I genuinely wonder why Jadis opt to exist in refuse if she had a free ticket out of there .
• That harebrained cart with the zombie stake on the front that Jadis wheeled out both baffles and please me .
• rick out Henry dog after the get away prisoner and did n’t catch any and Carol saved him about 12 seconds before he was eaten by zombi .
• When Rick repay to Hilltop , having clearly murdered all the escape captive , he haltingly tells Michonne he ’s sorry , because he knows he ’s done something wrong . “ You do n’t have to be , ” she replies . Michonne , severally disagree .
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