6.10 The Next World Traditionally, The Walking Dead hasn’t had this kind of relaxation. You might get a few chuckles during an episode from an Abraham one-liner or something, but rarely does The Walking Dead attempt to be funny. Typically, the show takes a break by digging into some kind of personal drama, taking the foot off the gas in lieu of relaxing with some character humour, but this week’s episode actually has some fairly funny moments from a character that I don’t know that we’ve ever seen really crack a joke. That’s right, gang; Rick Grimes and Daryl Dixon have differing tastes in music, and Daryl hates Rick’s choice of travelling songs. It’s actually a really weird scene, because I’ve rarely seen someone on the show go out of their way to make a joke that isn’t some kind of action-movie quip. Maybe Eugene or Abraham might be considered “comic relief” characters on this show, but Rick Grimes? He’s brooding or crazy or violent, not needling a friend with some odd musical choices for their road trip (the episode opens with the greatest rock song of all time, Boston’s More Than A Feeling, the road trip song is Action Packed by Ronnie Dee, and it’s definitely the Old 97s later in the episode when the song is, ahem, better). Carl is also roaming around in the wilderness this week, with the show having made the intelligent decision to jump ahead several months to have Carl recovered from a traumatic brain injury and walking around like nothing ever happened. I have no qualms about cutting past Carl’s presumably extensive recovery period, because there’s nothing really entertaining about that, and there’s no real joy in watching Alexandria rebuild. The most fun comes from Daryl and Rick’s interactions with Paul/Jesus, while Carl and Michonne provide the occasional bit of sweetness with their budding relationship. Unfortunately, the episode itself looks to be a bit of a mess. After last week’s skillful craftsmanship, this week’s episode from Kari Skogland suffers by comparison. It can be visually muddled at times, and parts of the Carl/Michonne/Spencer B plot are left deliberately muddled to preserve a surprise twist that, upon examination, makes little sense. I’m not quite sure just how the zombie of Deanna A) came back to life as a zombie and B) left the city and the Rick-guided killing field that it became last week, but I guess these kind of things can be ignored for dramatic purposes While there is a lot to recommend in the episode, particularly everything involving Rick, there’s a sense of fogginess that’s distracting. Things seem to be edited in a choppy manner this week, and the deliberate obscuring of the Deanna zombie is really annoying in retrospect, making the Carl/Enid conflict unnecessary. It also robs Spencer of some of his agency, which is another disappointing development. Yes, it sets up a cute moment for Carl and Michonne, but it wasn’t a necessary. We know they’re family; we don’t need a walk in the woods to spell it out for us. Read Ron’s review of the previous episode, No Way Out, here. US Correspondent Ron Hogan is glad to hear the Old 97s on The Walking Dead. The song is called “If My Heart Was A Car” from the album Hitchhike to Rhome. Find more by Ron daily at Shaktronics and PopFi.
