Change Your Image
reptor19
Reviews
The Walking Dead: The Key (2018)
Action packed episode with a hint to the future
Some comic book spoilers ahead as well.
Looking at this episode I can only infer what is always has been true for TWD for the past seasons is that they are trying to improve and built upon plot holes that are present in the comic books and this one is one those episodes, in a major way.
SPOILERS! My biggest guess right now is that TWD wants to show us that there are bigger much stronger communities out there and they will show us glimpses on how they are what they are now. The New World Oder shows us a great community which is much bigger and more sophisticated than Aleksandria, Hilltop, Kingdom (AHK) and Saviours will ever be. In this episode we see that maybe this why that community is so great. Because they reach out to other promising communities and offer them knowledge. Furthermore, this will also explain how AHK are flourishing so much after the Negan War as we see in the comics.
This ties in perfectly with the consequences of Carl's death, as what we learn from Carl is that there must be something after the fighting, after the war. Killing isnt the only option. Although Rick is completely bling do this at the moment and the only one who is close to understanding this is Michonne.
So far Enid is the counterpart for Sophia in the comics and given that they are both alive (she and Carl) in the comics, the situation is very different in the series since Enid now needs to to live with Carl not by her side, but now she can only see blood in her eyes. Only revenge. So essentially her purpose (and Rick's purpose) to show us that reaching a peaceful solution is almost impossible.
Building on that - it really feels to me that this season Negan will survive as in the comics but not like in the comics we will get a proper reason to why Rick spares him. This is why I gave the episode 8/10 because they need to start showing us glimpses of some sort of mercy from Rick. Yes we did get the shot where is wounded by the tree (and yes maybe he will die) but it will be infuriating to see him spare Negan at the last minute just because he will remember what Carl said to him. We need to see this change sooner than later because people will get pissed!
The fighting and action in the episode is great in my opinion. Rick gets into a car crash when chasing Negan so it is a good excuse to why him aim is bad when he shoots at Negan.
Something that I liked as well is the story arc for Simon. It is another great example of a character not from the comics which is a great inclusion to the series as we see his character change through the episodes where he slowly loses trust in Negan (so far as to kill an entire community). This also shows us the Negan is maybe a ruthless leader, with horrible "lesson giving" techniques BUT there are even worse than him.
A word on the saviors overall - in my honest opinion they are portrayed way better in the TV series than in the comics as Negan trully believes he is saving people. To be fair, many people do survive thanks to him. Although it more like living under tyrant than in a democracy, but it is life nonetheless (like in that episode where Rick meets that guy from season one that survived thanks to the Saviours, only to be killed by Daryl. Daryl doesn't save people...).
Keep it going TWD I want to see more episodes like this. And please stop with the close ups on the eyes! It is annoying and doesn't serve any purpose!
Arrow: Collision Course (2018)
Solid episode overall
This season had it ups and downs but I don't believe this one is bad, I think it is pretty great.
The way that the tensions is building this season between the teams is very much to my liking. People often call the new team Losers/Cry babies but I can't agree on that. Ever since they found out that team Arrow were spying on them, they had every right to hate the OG team. What is more the Rene betrayed Oliver's trust is way,way worse than spying on the new members (ever since they already had one bad apple in the team). So maybe they are a bit of a cry babies but spying on you can do that to you.
Dinah is pissed at Laurel, which is arguably very understandable. Seeing you loved one taken away from you, for the second time, but a criminal that has already done horrific things - will push anyone to a rage bender. And also don't forget she had already went down that bad road before Oliver pulled her back.
It is very hard to execute a narrative where 2 former teams and fighting each other, not everything is executed perfectly but as a whole the plot is convincing enough. Many viewers like hating on the new guys "since they don't understand how the world really works" but this is the whole point to it! They are new, they are still learning how to do what needs to be done. Something that Oliver even today doesn't fully understand. So yes sometimes emotions will get the better of you, even if you are a pro. And it is not that team Newbie just want Laurel dead, Terrific and Wild Dog don't like the way that Dinah is going this is why they are with her, to restrain her. Plus the anger they feel for team Arrow blinds their decisions. It is not all black and white for them either, and pulling the trick on Dig's hand was a hard choice to make but it was an understandable one.
A little on the Laurel and Quintin story - It's pretty good as well. I think that if we did get to see Black Canary turning into this good hero, some of us hoping she would, is bland and not surprising at all. It is way too comic-bookie to do it that way. Even if she does become good, it will not be after a few episode. It will take some time and more character development. Quinitin is ushering the way for her to do just that.
About Diaz - He kinda was the mastermind of this whole season even if he doesn't appear that often. That was the whole idea of the first half. After the Civil War dies off a bit we will see him back at it. We don't need to see Diaz on screen to understand he is the big evil, we see his Henchmen at work all the time each episode. The captain, the attorney and who ever else he got in his pocket.
I do hope to see more episode following in the footsteps of this one to see where the bickery between the team leads them, what Diaz is planning and what will become of Laurel. Hey Roy Harper is coming back so can't wait to see what he does!
The Walking Dead: Honor (2018)
Mostly better then the rest of the season
Well, I do feel that this episode is way better then the rest of the season. There are no real plot holes since there no much to tell: Carl dies, Morgan and the gang save the king.
It was executed perfectly in my opinion because we do feel how Morgan is so close to losing his mind but then he is reminded of his actions when the boy kills that gang leader that attacked the Kingdom. I think the show would benefit greatly if Morgan will (finally) find that middle ground where he knows that killing is wrong but in the same times knows when to pull the trigger. I somewhat in fear that Morgan will die or be written off somehow since there isn't much that can't be done with him at this point. Even if he will see the error in his new ways, what next? We will see him once again battling with those demons? C'mon,we already saw it in like all past seasons... So im very curious where he will go next.
Now to Carl...As a comic book reader I think that this death (much like Andrea back in the day) are very important and meaningful to the road ahead of us. I also think that all the hate that is brought on the writers for killing off Carl isn't justified. I mean, if there was a conflict with the show runners and the actor then yeah it is really sad that it had to go down that road.
But since this show wants to set it apart from the comics (in a way) - for example explaining why did Rick all of a sudden spares Negan's life - then this episode is a great example of how to execute a MAJOR change perfectly. I don't remember so much hate for the writers when Andrea was killed, and she is such a major character in the comics, so I do believe that some perspective here is needed.
Overall - good episode but could have been better. To many cl0ose ups on Rick's eyes. It is getting tiresome. The times wasted on silly shots and reruns of Carl's visions could have been put toward showing how the rest of the group says goodbye to Carl. For me this was the biggest disappointment here.
The editing is just bad this season. Too many close ups, really long episodes without any major consequences/character development. This must be improved going forward. However, Carl's death and the King's save missions were performed very well.