Season 11, Episode 8, “For the Blood”

Why doesn’t “For the Blood” work? It contains just about everything you could expect from a thrilling episode of The walking dead– a surprise death, a sudden betrayal, Daryl sticking his giant knife through a guy’s head – and yet none of this turns out very satisfactorily. Rhythm is off, changes often disrupt action abruptly… This mainly seems to be an execution case that has not lived up to its potential.

But it’s also worth considering whether the creative team thought the giant fireworks display meets the mass stake.The machine the Reapers activated at the end of the episode was going to look cooler, or at least more menacing, than it was. In this viewer, it mostly elicited laughter; the thing seems to be randomly pulling wooden stakes from a 10×16 foot square, in the general sense of a large open courtyard. Could a lot of walkers fall? Probably. Does it generally seem like our heroes could have just been hiding, from the framing? Absolutely. Again: an execution problem.

Much like in “Promises Broken” last week, this episode has a tripartite structure, as we bounce between the storm in Alexandria, Maggie’s crew amassing the herd of walkers and attacking the Reapers commune, then the Reapers themselves- same, although at the end of the second two have more or less synchronized. Each of these tales has some promising elements to it, and some bring it to life, but it still leaves the distinct feel of awkward storytelling. And just like last week undercooked episode, director Sharat Raju fails to put them together effectively. (He also crossed out Michonne’s farewell, so maybe he’s just better at dream logic than in action.)

But in the case of Alexandria, part of the blame also falls on a script that throws a few bullets into the air and only engages on one of them. Aaron divides everyone into three groups – fighting the fire, fixing the wall, and keeping everyone in the house safe – then the episode continues to follow only the third group. (What a coincidence that we were confined to one preexisting place.) Which, given that this is essentially only Judith gives pep talk to the other kids while Virgil gives her one, makes for quite disjointed television. Yes, walkers do get in, but it’s strictly by the numbers, just like Judith and G’s “cliffhanger” milquetoast.rsteel trapped below.

Maggie and the others’ tale only really comes to life when they barge into the compound. (Yeah, they killed the Reaper named Wells, but it was as superficial as it was telegraphed.) Gabriel brought people out of his perch like a sniper. for the same reason that Maggie stole the car and smashed the door worked: this was performed with minimum setup and maximum gain. In an action streak with heavy build-up for almost every other beat, they stood out.

Really, Maggie and Negan’s best use was simply as visual aids for Daryl. See your friends pull a Whisperers maneuver ad then breaking up with the group was the shot in the story to arm its embedding within the Reapers necessary; he had no choice but to break ranks and support his friends, and in doing so, the episode passed all hints and can’t wait to get to the good stuff. And that was fine – rather than pulling out “I’ll take over this job” nonsense with Emo Hair Reaper, he sticks his knife in the guy’s head. Choice made.

And of the things that worked here, none was better than the unexpected death of the last big bad, Pope. (RIP) After naming him as the Next Big Threat, the show sent him off with the brutal effectiveness of a walker attack. Mea culpa: Last week I said there was no way the show would feature it again, and I’ve never been happier to eat my words. Just by performing the “God Chose Us” fanatic, a key is thrown into an otherwise predictable story, putting Leah in charge and leaving it unclear what will happen between our protagonists and the Reapers. Will the latter want revenge? Undoubtedly. But Leah isn’t foolishly vengeful – there are a plethora of options in play now, all more promising than anything before.

If only it had been conducted in a less stilted way. The framing and editing were off — we’re behind people’s backs and jump around their geographic locations on the roof – so what could have landed with real force instead of just hitting with the impact of a brisk shrug. A welcome, of course, in terms of plot, but no emotional resonance. For this we will on Leah’s heel: one good betrayal deserves another, and leaving Daryl to his people felt both deserved and powerful. “You would do anything to protect your family,” she reminds him. “Me too.” Her ambivalence wasn’t about being a Grim Reaper, it was about Pope. Daryl didn’t really understandTo, until now.

This would actually have been a much better stopping point / cliffhanger than the set of “let’s explode a bunch of sticks in the general direction of Maggie and Negan, who sit still for no good reason other than lazily trying to generate tension. . “I understand this is one of three ‘mid-season finals’ we’ll have in this final season (thanks to its division into Parts 1 and 2), but goose’s anxiety smells so awkwardly. the despair. “They are retreating! Negan is elated. “But why?” Maggie answers. They might as well have said, “I have a bad commission.hang around about it,” looked directly at the camera and swallowed.

So we end this episode arc as it started – Alexandria in a bad state, Maggie and company desperate to bring back food, and very little has changed between the two except for a few deaths that hadn’t happened. don’t really matter to us, and the long overdue Connie returns in the best episode of the season. With Pope’s death, however, the series has something going for it – a bit more unpredictability. Surprise us, Walking Dead.

Stray observations

• Wells’ death really seemed to shake something up in Leah. “What was he, bait ?!” Maybe that’s when Daryl realized he could bet that she wanted Pope to go missing.
• I didn’t mention Rosita’s brief “hero” moment.–run out of the house to kill a group of walkers—but like much of the episode it was filmed in such so steep and uninspired that it didn’t sound very exciting.
• Pope: “Why am I keeping you? Daryl: “You said God chose me.” For his last appearance, at least Richie Coster had some well-written exchanges with Norman Reedus.
• Am I the only one who doesn’t understand why, in the middle of a hurricane, the walkers would not only stand up, but circle the house and attack? Wind, noise and movement would they not be a little more annoying? (Yes Yes, it would.)
• I liked the anti-personnel mines.
• “It’s hard to see someone you care about change. You don’t say, soon-to be-betrayal-Daryl Leah.
• thank you for watchingg and reading along, all. Sorry, it wasn’t a better episode to take a break from, but I hope to see you all here again next year. (We all stick around, whether it’s hell or the great walker the water at this point, right? You don’t get eight episodes in the final decade-plus TV season and then say, “No, I don’t need to see how it’s aIt ends. “)