The Walking Dead: Out of and Into Character

Here we go again, TWD. I see what you did: lull me into a false sense of security with last week’s episode; it had real emotion, realistic reactions, actions that had far-reaching consequences, and (my favorite) graphic walker-related violence. So now, when I watch this week’s episode, it’s like when you go into the fridge, grab the iced coffee (you don’t know my life), drink a big ass gulp BUT wait, that’s not iced coffee! That’s ice tea. Which is aight, I guess. It wasn’t a bad episode. I guess. It served a purpose: every episode can’t be lakes of fire and one-eyed boys, some have to be Rick and Daryl playing Dukes of Hazards in the rural south with a white dude named Jesus. I guess.

“If it had done a freeze frame of Daryl chasing Jesus with a voice-over saying, “now how these boys gonna get outta this one” it would’ve felt right at home.” ~ Will Evans Abrupt tonal shift and all that. The writers risk our emotional fatigue if every episode is the dam at quarry breaking loose or the human butcher shop that was Terminus. See we get a week off to watch the lovable antics of another scruffy white dude, a ragamuffin really. A likable ne’er-do-well with a penchant for thievery and lying with a smile. So not only does Daryl get ran for his shit again, but this time Rick is there and hapless (a surprising change of character) and gets his pockets picked like an extra in Oliver Twist. Okay. Sure. But that’s where the convenient time lapse gets shady AF for me. Between this episode …