Well, here we are. As you probably expected, the penultimate episode of
The Walking Dead was quite necessarily) more character-heavy than any other from this half of the season, as the number of groups on the road was whittled down to five (I’m counting Beth as her own group here). Much like
Alone, Us essentially served as a checklist of reasons why staying with a group is probably better for your long-term health.
Us took the concept one step further however, suggesting that unless you want to be beaten bloody and have an arrow put through your head, you must also learn to cooperate with said group. And while this attempt to intermingle theme, character and plot meant that some characters received much more screen time than others,
Us still managed to balance (for the most part) its noticeably hastier plot with a decent number of character moments.
With all the focus on catching up with the supporting cast in recent episodes, it has been an entire month since we last caught up with Rick, Carl and Michonne. Fans of these particular characters will need to wait another week for anything substantial however, as their appearance in
Us was fleeting and, ultimately, a means of advancing the overall plot (achieved with little more than a candy bar wrapper).Nevertheless, it was great to witness a light-hearted moment with the trio, as the writers prepare themselves (and subsequently catch us off guard) with what promises to be a thrilling, if not harrowing finale in next week’s episode.
Hot on their heels of course, are Joe and his Band of Merry Men, which now happens to include Daryl. True to his nature, Daryl doesn’t seem too concerned about making any lifelong friends, yet even he appreciates the concept of safety in numbers. Having introduced Joe’s group in
Claimed as a bunch of faceless, murderous bandits,
Us took pains to not only give these characters faces (well, at least Joe and Len), but to show the audience that much like Merle and Daryl, these social ‘outsiders’ have a code. Four seasons’ worth of character development aside, it is clear that the writers want us to see that Daryl has a lot more in common with these survivors than anyone from the prison; a point that Joe spends most of the episode trying to make Daryl realise (‘nothing sadder than an outdoor cat thinks he’s an indoor cat’). For now, Daryl continues to view Joe’s group with cautious cynicism, which probably wasn’t alleviated by the sight of the pulp that once resembled Len, following the bandit’s run in with Joe’s law. Whether he will still feel this way when the group makes it to Terminus (and whether or not he will actually have a choice) remains to be seen. Just don’t count on getting a definitive answer this season.
In yet another catch up that has been a long time coming, a little more time was devoted to newcomers Abraham, Rosita and Eugene this week. Abraham continues to be the highlight of the group however, walking the fine line between self-righteous badass and indignant comic relief. As was the case in
Claimed, he adds some much needed flair to the current roster of survivors, even if this has so far come at the expense of any meaningful character development. At this stage however, I’m more than happy to go off the knowledge that he is a stern yet moral military man on a mission to ‘save the world’, provided that they find something interesting for him to do. His two loyal companions had a little more to do this week (including some rather hit-or-miss moments of humour from Eugene), but still not enough to reveal exactly who these people are. As is the case with Joe’s group, I fear that this will be a task left to the writers of Season Five.
And then there was the reunion that everyone had been waiting for, for both Maggie and Glenn’s sakes. Seriously though, being apart was proving to be a physical danger to their livelihoods, and it was a relief to finally see them back together. Of course, no reunion could be complete without yet another one of Glenn’s grand schemes to raise the stakes, and this week’s one (which was quite a doozy) saw Glenn and Tara brave a dark, partially collapsed, zombie-infested tunnel with little more than a pistol and a torch. This plan was, of course, terrible, and while I maintained hope that Glenn would have some clever ruse up his sleeve, it was only Eugene’s concern (and some awfully good timing) that prevented Glenn and Tara from being overwhelmed. The situation did however prove that Glenn hadn’t become wholly consumed by greed, as he bravely fought to stand by Tara in what looked to be almost certain death. And what better way to celebrate surviving a treacherous death trap than by having a large camp out within it? Maggie then proceeded to burn Glenn’s only picture of her, in order to signify her determination to never lose him again. To me, that seemed more ominous than heartfelt, which I can only assume was the writers’ intention. With this newly combined group ending this leg of their journey at Terminus however (which resembles nothing from the comics), it’s now anyone’s guess as to what lies in store for them in next week’s episode.
With Season Four drawing to a close, it was up to the writers of
Us to prepare as many characters for the grand finale as they could. And yes, while calling this week’s entry a Rick-focused episode would be disingenuous, the show runners still managed to say a great deal, even with far less time to devote to each character than they had had in previous weeks.
7/10