Season 2, Episode 11
“You just want to go around in circles again?”
There only so many ways that I can express my disappointment with The Walking Dead, especially when it keeps making the same mistakes week after week. Even when the episodes are good, as last week's was, I find myself talking about the show's persistent problems and how quality episodes seem to overcome them. The problem with this approach is that sometimes critics can fall into the frustrating trap of criticizing a show for something that it's not trying to be, which is both unfair to the show and frustrating to the critic. But I'm not confused about what TWD wants to be, and I don't think the show is either. So makes it frustrating is episodes like “Judge, Jury, Executioner”, which has some good ideas – and even some good scenes – but manages to bungle the execution in some form or fashion.
I think we're all pretty much in agreement at this point that Shane has developed into the Big Bad of the show's second season, the dark force that's going to wreck the group and will eventually have to be put down so that everybody else can move on to a more productive post-apocalyptic lifestyle. And while this has been a good idea in theory, it hasn't really proven all that dynamic on screen, as Shane's transition to bad guy was pretty sudden after he killed Otis, and he hasn't done much since then expect sort of rage wildly about to anyone who would listen. Therefore, the central premise to tonight's episode – that Rick has come around to Shane's way of thinking and is ready to kill Randall to protect the group – is a welcome change on that front, as we finally get a sense of just how dangerous of an influence that he has become. The problem with this however is that this leads to everybody's least favorite kind of Walking Dead episode, the one where people mostly just talk about things.
Now, like many of the things that the show has the characters mull over/argue about, there is a good idea here, the question of whether or not they should kill a man to save there own well-being, and what that says for their loss of humanity. However, as with most debates on the show, the writing doesn't really get past the surface issue, and most of the ideas end up seeming a bit pat. To give credit where's it due, the show did do a good job of writing for Dale's part, as he was constantly forced to refine his argument and approach it from different angles depending on who he was trying to convince, and that gave it a feeling of well-roundedness, to the extent that for a brief while I was convinced that he would win out in the moral tug-of-war with Rick and Shane.
That he didn't win out was something of a surprise, given that for most of it's run the show has tried to remain somewhat optimistic, or has at least been afraid of going too dark with the characters lest it turn away audiences. That Dale ended up dying by episodes end was less of a shock, even if I'm surprised at the timing of it. Once Dale began to kick up dust about the way the group was turning, it was clear that eventually he would have to be killed off in order for the group and the show to go to new places, else it be stuck in a perpetual loop of “Dale disagrees with everything everybody else is doing.”
It was even a good capper for Carl's story, even if Carl's story wasn't all that great to begin with. Tonight we saw him do three things: become worrisomely invested in Randall's fate, become a cold-hearted dick to Carol about the existence to heaven, and then find a gun, go out into the wilderness, and tease a zombie. Together, all three of these were supposed to combine to show that Carl's undergoing a change for a worse, but I think only the last one really worked. In reality, we only needed one of these things to happen in order to show that Carl is changing, but the show overloaded on it to the point where it all feels manufactured, since it appears that Carl's now develop three different personalties. One's morbid and creepy; the second is a pessimistic little shit; and the third is dangerously unchecked id; none of them seem really compatible with the other.
It was Carl's little trek through the woods that I enjoyed the most, because it was the most subtle, and it's also the best at showing Carl's change as a more gradual thing. (The other two happened too suddenly to really work.) Plus, having Carl recognize the consequences of his actions through Dale's death is a moment that feels earned, and will have a legitimate and believable effect on the character. Or at least it would if I didn't feels as if the show is actually more interested in exploring the child's recently found sense of morbidity, given that that was the reason that Rick was unable to kill Randall. (And what a cop-out that was, to have Dale lose the argument but still have Randall survive thanks to Carl.)
Or course, that wasn't all that there was to the episode, as we also had to make time for Carol to get pissy with everyone for how they've treated her, and Herschel to give his blessing on Glen and Maggie's relationship, and uh, some random shots of T-Dog standing around yet not saying anything. I'm sure that's all important stuff guys. And I bring this up because light of last week's episode, which was so strong thanks to the show jettisoning a good chunk of the cast for an hour, that that might be something that the show want to do more in the future. Maybe if that had happened here the debate over Randall's fare could have become more fleshed out, or the changes in Carl's behavior wouldn't have come off as so sudden and erratic.
Now, like many of the things that the show has the characters mull over/argue about, there is a good idea here, the question of whether or not they should kill a man to save there own well-being, and what that says for their loss of humanity. However, as with most debates on the show, the writing doesn't really get past the surface issue, and most of the ideas end up seeming a bit pat. To give credit where's it due, the show did do a good job of writing for Dale's part, as he was constantly forced to refine his argument and approach it from different angles depending on who he was trying to convince, and that gave it a feeling of well-roundedness, to the extent that for a brief while I was convinced that he would win out in the moral tug-of-war with Rick and Shane.
That he didn't win out was something of a surprise, given that for most of it's run the show has tried to remain somewhat optimistic, or has at least been afraid of going too dark with the characters lest it turn away audiences. That Dale ended up dying by episodes end was less of a shock, even if I'm surprised at the timing of it. Once Dale began to kick up dust about the way the group was turning, it was clear that eventually he would have to be killed off in order for the group and the show to go to new places, else it be stuck in a perpetual loop of “Dale disagrees with everything everybody else is doing.”
It was even a good capper for Carl's story, even if Carl's story wasn't all that great to begin with. Tonight we saw him do three things: become worrisomely invested in Randall's fate, become a cold-hearted dick to Carol about the existence to heaven, and then find a gun, go out into the wilderness, and tease a zombie. Together, all three of these were supposed to combine to show that Carl's undergoing a change for a worse, but I think only the last one really worked. In reality, we only needed one of these things to happen in order to show that Carl is changing, but the show overloaded on it to the point where it all feels manufactured, since it appears that Carl's now develop three different personalties. One's morbid and creepy; the second is a pessimistic little shit; and the third is dangerously unchecked id; none of them seem really compatible with the other.
It was Carl's little trek through the woods that I enjoyed the most, because it was the most subtle, and it's also the best at showing Carl's change as a more gradual thing. (The other two happened too suddenly to really work.) Plus, having Carl recognize the consequences of his actions through Dale's death is a moment that feels earned, and will have a legitimate and believable effect on the character. Or at least it would if I didn't feels as if the show is actually more interested in exploring the child's recently found sense of morbidity, given that that was the reason that Rick was unable to kill Randall. (And what a cop-out that was, to have Dale lose the argument but still have Randall survive thanks to Carl.)
Or course, that wasn't all that there was to the episode, as we also had to make time for Carol to get pissy with everyone for how they've treated her, and Herschel to give his blessing on Glen and Maggie's relationship, and uh, some random shots of T-Dog standing around yet not saying anything. I'm sure that's all important stuff guys. And I bring this up because light of last week's episode, which was so strong thanks to the show jettisoning a good chunk of the cast for an hour, that that might be something that the show want to do more in the future. Maybe if that had happened here the debate over Randall's fare could have become more fleshed out, or the changes in Carl's behavior wouldn't have come off as so sudden and erratic.
No comments:
Post a Comment