Michonne is basically just tired mom the whole time. The rest of the episode’s plots are equally bad. Unless there’s going to be a twist Aaron/Negan romance plot, I really just don’t get this whole scene. He’s the character the heroes should just finish off and never do.
If we’re supposed to suspect Negan, we already do. If we’re supposed to find him sympathetic, we don’t. The only sort of ‘resolution’ comes from Negan saving the blinded Aaron instead of letting him die after the two exchange some trite barbs about masculinity and Negan barely stops short of “No True American”. Forcing the two together gave us mace-fist-attachment which makes Aaron all the more dreamy, but the story falls flat. Gabriel is consistently making some poor leadership choices and I don’t get why no one else seems to have figured that out. The monsters who walk among the dead that we’re supposed to fear flex their power for a few frames, flash some guns, and move an unimpressive fence of tall sticks.Īaron and Neegan’s conversation around Eric’s death felt out of place. The entirety of the second episode devoted to The Whisperer’s background and they have maybe five minutes on screen? They’re barely mentioned directly. The city gets a bit pinched in and there ends that story. This episode was supposed to be about the consequences of crossing the borders. When the B plot is the only one actually moving forward, there’s a problem. In the end, I think that’s really where this episode could have learned from its predecessor. Samantha Morton continues to impress even if Alpha’s scenes fail to bring half as much terror as they’re supposed to. The weighty, fractured flow of the episode works well for some of its plots, but makes it hard to take everything else seriously.
The flow of time is stuttered and uncomfortable, punctuated by a kitchen timer’s buzzing. He’s Jiminy Cricket with a heavy drawl and excellent skills as a marksman.įor the many things “Ghosts” falls short on, and there are many, it does manage to create an eerieness that’s hard to shake. Daryl plays more an extension of her moral conscience than foil.
For how little happens elsewhere, Carol’s narrative keeps the episode moving forward.
#The walking dead s09e13 discussion full
She attempts to assassinate Alpha, she hallucinates a whole conversation with Daryl, and manages to escape from a rabbit snare to kill a whisperer and a whole gym full of zombies. Her supply of speed is running out and sleeplessness is getting the best of her. I’m not sure if I’m just overly in love with her or her plotline remains the only one the writers are still trying to be creative with, but Carol is struggling to stay ashore. Once again, Melissa McBride saves an episode. Given how well episode two was crafted and the clever use of time across the season so far, episode three is rather disappointing. The resolution offered, especially in the Negan/Aaron plotline, is shallow and arbitrary.
Without any immediate personal stakes, the fear-fueled stories appear less like exhausted confessions and confrontations and more a dose of overdue exposition. We’ve watched them live in this state for ten seasons now. It’s hard to find any of the caution and exhausted frustration the characters feel as something unexpected or soon-to-be resolved. Paranoia sits at the heart of the episode, but its presence is rather stale in a world gone numb to its own violence. What it does deliver on, however, sets up some exciting possibilities about how next week will finally escalate the narrative. The third episode of the tenth season is surprisingly light on substance for the heavy title it carries. It’s a clever workaround to get characters talking. When the post-apocalypse makes alcohol-fueled truth bombs unlikely, you use sleep deprivation to achieve the same effect. Hour 1 spans to hour 40+ as a horde of walkers bear down on Alexandria and our tired heroes are forced to express some truths. “Ghosts” looks like a 24 homage from the cold open.