The first half of 'The Walking Dead's' Season 6 was rather inconsistent. The season started off brilliantly, with four superb episodes in a row. And then the season took a significant dip in quality with "Now", then improved step by step with the next three episodes before returning to disappointment with "Start to Finish". Luckily the episode starting off the second half saw a season and show return to form with one of its best episodes in a while in "No Way Out".
So after being blown away by "No Way Out", it was hard not to expect a lot of great things from the next episode "The Next World" (so this episode). Although this has a good deal to admire and it is still a more than worthwhile episode on its own terms, it was quite a big step down in comparison and had big potential to be even better. After such nail-biting intensity, it was interesting and appreciated to have a change of pace with a calmer and lighter episode. It mostly comes off well, but it is not completely successful.
It does have imperfections with the writing, which doesn't have the tautness seen in the episodes where 'The Walking Dead' is on top form. Some of it veers on awkward too, that may have been intentional but it went too far at times. Especially that for Denise and Eugene, the latter faring worst.
Not all the story works, some of it goes overboard on the silliness and the lapses in sense can frustrate, all cited in other reviews. Spencer's role to me didn't gel quite as well with the rest of the story/characters and didn't really serve much point.
Having said all of that, the production values in "The Next World", as usual with 'The Walking Dead' at this point, are top notch. The grit and audaciousness has not been lost. The music fits nicely and the direction lets the atmosphere and humour breathe while not losing the momentum too much. Most of the dialogue thought is thoughtful and the lighter tone was appreciated, and there are humorous moments light and dark that are genuinely amusing.
Most of the story also works quite well, the pace didn't feel meandering or anything despite the atmosphere being the complete opposite of the previous episode (quite a lot calmer). Personally didn't feel like it was too much of a filler episode and did feel that "The Next World" did a great job with the character relationships, not only are they interesting but there is a sense of advancement in story and characterisation and they also made sense. Most successful were Rick and Daryl, which had a lot of lovely moments, and Rick and Michonne, a lot of potential here. The acting is very good throughout, with the best performances coming from Andrew Lincoln and Norman Reedus, both excellent. As is Danai Gurira.
All in all, could have been a lot more but more than worthwhile still. 7/10