Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC
This has been a stellar season for The Walking Dead thus far, keeping its pace even after that A+ top-notch season premiere. Of course, all good things must come to an end and so it stands to reason that there would probably be a dud somewhere along the line — and tonight’s episode I think was that dud. While “Crossed” certainly had its typical great Walking Dead standout moments, the episode for the most part felt more like “filler” and did very little to advance the overall plot or storyline.
The Good
Probably one of the best scenes in the episode was at the beginning after Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Co. had left the church and they stopped to come up with a plan of attack. Rick is all for just plowing into Grady Memorial, slit the throat of every security cop that they encounter, and just “do whatever it takes.” Ummm, Rick, isn’t that what you did at Terminus? And what happened there? You all ended up locked in a train car, and if it weren’t for Carol and that mega-horde, you’d all be dead now.
Even after Tyreese (Chad Coleman) steps in and offers an alternate plan where they take a couple of the security cops and use them for a trade, Rick still doesn’t budge. However, in a very surprising move, Daryl (Norman Reedus) mans up and takes Tyreese’s side, which I think really surprised Rick (and it surprised me too!). I liked this because it demonstrated that Carol (Melissa McBride) was right when she said last week that Daryl was now a man, and not only that but he’s grown some gigantic brass balls. Daryl clearly sees the sole purpose of the mission and that is to get Beth and Carol out of Grady Memorial alive, and going in guns-a-blazing Rick Grimes style is a sure-fire way of getting them killed. Kudos to Daryl for standing up to the almighty Rick Grimes.
Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC
Another great thing about this episode is the stunning depiction it gave of just how bad everything had gotten and the new lows the government stooped to in the midst of the apocalypse. Was everyone else as creeped out as I was by that bombed FEMA trailer and all those burned, melted bodies? In case you didn’t get the memo, our own government did this. Whether they bombed the area out of panic or they did it to obliterate any survivors, it was a very haunting scene and served as a big comment on our federal government who is here to supposedly protect us.
The Bad
Now, I really love how we got a check-in with Abraham’s group, and I loved even more how Maggie (Lauren Cohan) actually got to step up, be all bad-ass and actually serve a purpose (which she hasn’t really done since the end of last season). I actually cracked up watching her sit the big carrot-top asshole right down on his ass. However, this episode just didn’t seem the right time for it.
“Crossed” was about the build-up to the rescue attempt and standoff and about the rest of the group holding down the fort at the church. The check-ins with Abe and Co. felt contrived and served only as unwanted interruptions to the overall flow of the episode. At the end of the day, I think the underlying problem is the cast has grown to be so large, and with so many storylines going at once, it’s very hard to keep everything going without making the episode feel somewhat disjointed. In my eyes the solution is to either seriously downsize the cast (Yikes! No! No!) or have everyone come back together again in a common location. I personally am betting on the latter, but am not sure we’ll get there before the end of the season.
The Ugly
Sasha, Sasha, And more Sasha. I understand that they are trying to showcase the Sasha (Sonoqua Martin-Green) character — possibly even turn her into a comic-book Andrea — but man, this is not the way to do it.
First, there’s the fixating about Bob. Now, I get that they were close towards the very end, but how long were they actually together before Bob died? If my memory serves me correctly, I think it was no more than 3 or 4 days. Yes, if my boyfriend had died and even if we had been a couple for only a few days, I would have grieved. But, I don’t think there’s a big enough of an emotional connection to be on the level of a grieving widow.
Then, there’s that ending. How much you want to bet Sgt. Lambsen’s first name was not even “Bob”? He more than likely overheard her talking about Bob and saw it as opportunity to play on Sasha’s emotions in order to gain the upper hand. And, of course the rest of Rick’s group isn’t any smarter because they left her alone with Lambsen even though they (at the very least Tyreese) knew how shaky her state of mind was. All in all, a pretty ridiculous storyline.
Putting all of this together, I think this episode would have been better-served as part of a 2-hour mid-season finale. The Walking Dead hasn’t done one of those in a very long time, and I think this would have been the perfect opportunity. Being a part of the larger mid-season finale would have made it flowed better, and it certainly would have made it feel less like “filler.”
However, I’m not worried, no biggie. Next week is the mid-season finale, and I am fairly confident that it will live up to all the hype and be one that we’ll be talking about for a good, long while. And, then this mediocre episode that came right before it will become nothing more than a distant memory.
The Walking Dead mid-season finale airs next Sunday at 9/8c on AMC.
Some random thoughts and observations
