AMC’s The Walking Dead has an uncanny knack for manipulating its audience, but this year’s hyper-violent season premiere went too far. So far that we canceled our ongoing series The Walking Dead Quitter’s Club, and co-author Bryan Bishop swore off the show entirely.
Now, Nick Statt is trying to change his mind. Instead of tearing the show down, he’ll be finding something to highlight. It might be a subtle change in character, a great action scene, or a new development in a narrative arc. But every week, he’ll be seeking out things that remind us of the very best of The Walking Dead — the moments that might just give viewers a reason to come back.
Welcome to The Walking Dead Redemption Club.
Dear Bryan,
Last week’s episode brought us back to Alexandria and, as I feared, the narrative threads of season seven are starting to fray. The Walking Dead tends to bounce back from its big premiere and finale moments by taking things slow, chopping up its narrative into big, location-based chunks and dragging the viewer around its many destinations in 45-minute increments. Sometimes it works, like Carol’s time in The Kingdom, but more often it falls flat, like last week’s slow-burn visit from Negan.
Tonight’s excursion is a welcome change, if only because we’re seeing interesting moments of dissent at both Alexandria and the Hilltop. Yes, yes, it sounds like Stockholm syndrome at work — I’m praising the show for actually pushing two narrative threads simultaneously, instead of just one! But The Walking Dead has never tried to be as complex as Game of Thrones or other sprawling cable dramas. At the end of the day, this season is transparently building toward a war between Rick and Negan, and this week’s episode makes clear that the eventual battle might start far sooner than we think.
Gene Page / AMC
Maggie mystery? What Maggie mystery?
The first shot of “Go Getters” features Maggie waking up, realizing her baby is still alive, and immediately pushing Gregory to let her and Sasha stay at the Hilltop Colony. Not only does this clear up last week’s pseudo-mystery, in which Rick lied to Negan by claiming Maggie had passed away, but it removes the threat of a drawn-out reveal.