The Walking Dead S6 E8: Start to Finish

Well, that half-season ended abruptly. As the cast makes its way through the zombie herd in their gross disguises, the one kid notices something offscreen. He tries to get his mother’s attention and then we cut to black. We’ll have to wait until after the holidays to find out what was happening. Steve is familiar with the Walking Dead comics and assures me it will be a game changer.

It was an intriguing end. There were a few stylistic touches I liked this episode. I liked the ending shot of the cast wandering silently among the zombies, like people at the world’s most uncomfortable party of socially awkward people. The Tiny Tim “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” was amusing.

I have to give a shout-out to Maggie, scrambling on that ladder to get on top of that platform and away from the zombies. We knew she was a badass but to do all that while pregnant was really impressive.

Elsewhere, we see people making the same mistakes once again. Glenn is wasting time with Enid. He almost got killed last time he tried to work with a basketcase who didn’t want to live and now he’s risking it again? Carol and Morgan tried to settle their philosophical differences over killing and he knocked her out with a really nasty-sounding body slam. Of course, the minute that happens, events prove Carol right as the Wolf takes Denise hostage.  

I didn’t mind Deanna all that much. She tried her best with what she had and it’s not like everyone in that world is equipped to be a badass. She reacted to her impending death with a “Well, shit,” as one does. The scene with her hunched over Judith’s crib, when for a second I thought she had turned and was attacking the baby, was a horrifying fake-out. I did like her chat with Michonne as this may inspire Michonne to be more of a leader (God knows she’s highly qualified). But if anyone on the show thinks Alexandria can survive as a community in that setting, I think they’re lying to themselves. That place is overrun. It’s all over.

The debate that the fans could have after this half-season is how much of what has happened is the fault of Rick and his followers. Yes, his scheme to herd the zombies at the quarry may have averted something even worse from happening. But from the perspective of the townspeople, they were living relatively normal lives in Alexandria until the new people showed up, and then the plan at the quarry failed, split their forces and left them vulnerable to the Wolf attack. Meanwhile, nobody saw the real threat of that tower collapsing and zombies inundating the town. The show goes to great pains to note that Rick is more competent than some of the weaker-willed people the group stumbles across, to the point where a few people have died immediately after questioning his orders. I know Rick is equipped to survive but it would be good for someone on the show to recognize that he can make mistakes.

And so we begin to wander again to the next fortified setting. The gang has holed up on a farm, in a prison and in a gated community. Where will they go next?