First New Bonus Episode Brings Maggie Home

The 17th episode of season 10 of The walking dead does not shyly play with the purpose of its existence. Right from the start, the first thing we see is Maggie Rhee, returning to Hilltop, the place where she ran for several years, accompanied by Judith Grimes. Maggie’s return not only dictates the arc of this episode, but sets up what appears to be the next major threat to our heroes – and potentially the last real villains they’ll face, given how close we are to the last season and the end of the playoffs. Yes, to the list of threats dubbed as Wolves, Saviors and Whisperers, we can add another group of still breathing antagonists: the Reapers. Maybe Maggie’s return wasn’t so welcome after all.

It was a particularly unwanted appearance if you’re not a fan of watching Lauren Cohan walk in slow motion, because boy, they hit that visual button a few times throughout “Home Sweet Home.” Certainly, it was important to give some weight to the return of the oldest character on the show aside from Carol and Daryl, and overall the episode did a good job of ensuring that Maggie’s reintroduction feels both won and deliberate, giving her a beautiful heart to heart with Daryl and even an unexpected bond on brotherhood with Kelly. (While the latter may have been just as beneficial to the viewer when it came to learning who Kelly was and where she was, given how little of her we saw last season, in especially in the back half.) Maggie’s story was predictable – she and her son Herschel traveled, losing touch with Georgia and eventually finding themselves with a beautiful community before an attack forced them back in that direction, with new friends Cole and Elijah – yet her reunion with Daryl was undeniably touching, just as her realization that Carol was responsible for Negan’s freedom made it a chilling exchange. But while the relentless pace of her walk away from Hilltop was a good way to signify how she took the destruction of her old house as a punch, it also led us to the next danger very soon – the one that came under. a rain of bullets.

If anything, the episode stumbled in rushing to reintroduce a new threat so quickly, rather than giving us a chance to step back into this world and take stock where everyone else left off. The walking dead often gives the impression that it’s not safe to spend too much time without putting our heroes at risk in the woods against a human garden threat, and this was the latest proof that the series is always afraid to take risks. risks, even if given six more episodes to basically do whatever he wants. I was hoping for a little more experimentation; instead, the Reaper’s introduction actually had the unintended effect of making it seem more like a standard episode; we could have used a little more to “spend time” with these people. Especially when the Reapers, thus far, essentially pose as a militarized version of the Saviors, or any other dangerous group we’ve come across.

Speaking of awkward presentations, the series decided to quickly undermine what could have been an intriguing new character. Don’t get me wrong: I kind of admire the decision to take the question mark wearing a mask, Elijah (Okea Eme-Akwari), and immediately reveal him to be nothing but a young man. scared, hiding his trauma and fears behind his mysterious costume. And there is potential to explore what drove the guy down that path, in much the same way the series decided to withhold any disastrous encounter with the Reapers that sent Maggie and her few remaining companions back to Alexandria in first place. But he came across as uneven and jarring – all of a sudden, the character we saw doing nothing but kicking ass without batting an eyelid (metaphorically) is too scared to move and needs a pep talk from. Kelly? (A pretty bad pep talk, too.) It’s not that it doesn’t necessarily follow the character; it’s that we don’t know it at all, let alone well enough for it to be so meaningful in any way. The series will have to spend some time peeling off its protective layers before all of this means much.

Part of what made the episode a little lackluster is that it’s all based on a question we already know the answer to – “Are you coming home, Maggie?” – so structuring as if the result were doubtful, some scenes felt more like on the water than necessary. Especially when there are so many rich things to play with: Maggie’s realization that Negan is free and part of the community, the arc of her journey that brought her back here, the friction with Carol… all of it. is promising. If nothing else, Maggie’s return is a reminder of just how rich the series could be in character studies after 10 seasons. Hopefully the remaining bonus episodes will do something more with the freedom they have to experiment.

I will say that one of the most interesting aspects of “Home Sweet Home” was how The walking dead dealt with the new COVID-19 reality. When these bonus episodes were first announced, showrunner Angela Kang admitted that the large zombie horde-filled sequences the series is known for are simply not achievable in an era when people have to stay six feet away. one of the other. And apart from the speaking roles, everyone seemed to keep their distance; when Maggie and her company enter the parking lot to clean up a group of walkers, the orchestration of episode director David Boyd has managed to artfully involve groups of undead without showing them, via the use of shadows, half-opened container doors, etc. It was a nifty, low-budget workaround to what will no doubt be a pressing issue for the show until everyone is vaccinated.

Wandering observations

• Negan’s “Well, shit” after Maggie walked past him in the pre-credits streak was perhaps the best possible way to reintroduce her into everything that happened in his absence.
• I liked how the Reaper was basically presented as a horror movie villain, first showing his wide open eyes hidden in the undergrowth, then making him walk like a stealthy Jason Voorhees, knocking down Maggie and throwing Daryl against a tree.
• Confession time: I rewound it a good half-dozen times, and I never could understand Mr. Military Reaper Guy’s last words. Does it sound like “Pope ball chip”? Commentators, any insight would be appreciated.
• Elijah must constantly be on the verge of passing out from heatstroke in this outfit, right?
• The last song played on the approach to Alexandria is “You want it darkerBy Anita Lester.