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EPISODE 5: Go Getters
THE HOOK: The Hilltop gets an unexpected visit and an all too clear message.
The following contains MAJOR SPOILERS, so I don’t recommend reading this if you haven’t watched this episode
THE LOWDOWN: Pretty sure some people are going to feel like tonight’s episode lands in the “filler” column, but there was some noteworthy progress just the same. On the ridiculous side though, I have to say opening with Carl playing darts is just plain wrong. What could be more wrong? Carl and Enid roller skating. I get it. They were having a moment. That said, if there’s two things that surely don’t mix, its roller skates and zombies. That’s a “no” vote from me.
Slow as it may have been, it’s good to catch up with Maggie. She’s a wreck and she looks like hell on wheels, but she’s focused and I’m happy to see it. As I mentioned before, I didn’t read this far into the comics, but I do know Maggie becomes the leader of The Hilltop, so this episode clearly foreshadows that transition. It can’t come quick enough either, Gregory’s a moron, and I thought for sure he was toast tonight, but the slimy ones have a way of eluding death on this show. For now.
I don’t really get the relevance behind The Saviors’ enemy at the gate musical number. The people at this community aren’t exactly fighters, so that many walkers could’ve easily wiped them out. Add to that, Simon tells Gregory that they were going to take care of the walkers, which would imply they were there watching, but we know that can’t be true because if they had, they’d have seen Maggie and Sasha put the kybosh on their plan. The whole thing just makes me shake my head. Also, Simon hasn’t been to The Hilltop, and I’m guessing neither has Negan by the sounds of things, which makes me wonder about the origin of their deal. It feels like Negan was playing boogieman before Rick and his crew forced his hand, which just doesn’t fit his character at all. Based on what we’ve seen, I would think Negan himself would have been at all first time negotiation meetings, but I guess not.
THE WALKING DEAD Season 7’s fifth episode did sneak in a couple cool surprises to jolt the adrenaline. One, Carl’s gone completely rogue (which translates into him losing his damn mind), planning a “kill Negan” suicide mission—yeah…that’s going to work out well. Jesus (who is a whole lot less cool than I remember him being last season) is along for the ride in hopes of locating Negan’s base for Sasha—not to knit pick, but how damn big is the landscape dividing all these bases? How can a place like Negan’s be a secret? I mean, one second, Rick and his crew feel like they’re the only ones out there. Then, we have all these other groups just popping up out of the woodwork, with huge home bases. Again, I’ll just shake my head and go with it. Solid enough building block episode, but I’m itching for some action.
ZOMBIE KILL OF THE WEEK: Nothing like running over a heard of zombies with a four wheel tractor.
BLOOD AND GORE: There was a lot of knife stabbing to the face tonight, some cool tractor action and even a couple one eyed car slams.
COOLEST SCENE: I really liked it when Jesus gets into the back of the truck and starts pouring out the scotch, then, “Oh hey, Carl, what’s up?” There’s a duo I never thought I’d see.
FINAL VERDICT:
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