Well, that wasn’t so bad.
It just didn’t need to be a 90-minute episode. I appreciated Negan’s attempts
to mess with Coral and intimidate him at the same time. I thought the kid’s performance
of “You Are My Sunshine” was ridiculous. At least they didn’t go with something
really maudlin and trite like “Mama’s Gonna Buy You a Mockingbird.” Coral’s eye
socket looked really odd. It didn’t gross me out at all but it just looked like
they put black makeup over it.
I guess “Sing Me a Song”
was just setting a scene, emphasizing Negan’s cruelty. He keeps those women
captive (it looked like a scene from Melrose
Place). How dare any of them cheat on the man with 17 wives? He turns that
guy’s face into grilled cheese. He even insults Olivia with a fat joke and
makes her cry, just because. It seems like the point of the long running time
was just “more.”
The Walking Dead does need to establish Negan as a figure of Jim Jones-like charisma
who can command the loyalty and fear of the other Saviors. He also needs to
provide some kind of rewards and kindness to his followers. Otherwise, they can
easily depose him. Lucille is just a bat with barbed wire; anybody can make
one. It has to be his charisma that controls people.
I am eager to see if the
show juxtaposes Negan’s leadership and charisma with Rick’s because they have
some more in common than they might admit. One thing that frustrates me with
Rick’s leadership is how when the show wants to question it, they put the
questions in the mouth of Spencer. Since Spencer is kind of annoying, any
legitimate criticism he might have is easy to shut down, and that’s lazy
writing because Spencer does raise valid criticism. His whole family did die
and might have lived if Rick and the gang hadn’t come to Alexandria. There is a
substantive debate to be had over whether or not killing the Saviors just made
Negan’s dominance worse and got Glenn and Abraham killed. The writers need to
put these arguments in the mouth of another character because with Spencer, it’s
easy for people to ignore.
I was creeped out but
ultimately amused by Negan holding Judith (while Chandler Riggs just kind of
sat there, apparently unaware the camera was on him). It reminded me of when
Doctor Doom would menacingly hold the kids of the Fantastic Four.
Next week we get another
extra-long episode. Enough. I can see
the premier and mid-season finale being over 60 minutes but I think four of
eight episodes so far have been long. The content didn’t justify it. Extra-long
episodes should be saved for something truly momentous and throwing them out
all the time devalues the impact. Edit.
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