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| (Photo Credit: AMC) |
The Walking Dead
Season 7, Episode 12
By Garrett Yoshitomi
We’re into the meaty middle of season 7B,
which unfortunately (although somewhat predictably) means we’re due for a
filler episode or two. As far as Walking
Dead filler goes, “Say Yes” isn’t terrible. It tells a compelling enough
standalone story, and utilizes a fun, unique setting for the majority of its
action sequences. It’s not as satisfying as last week’s Eugene-centric episode,
“Hostiles and Calamities,” but it gets the job done, and even manages to
connect back with the main storyline towards the end. Ultimately, there isn’t
anything incredibly special about this episode- how you feel about it will
largely depend on how much you like the Rick-Michonne pairing. But, being that
they are two of the show’s most popular characters, I imagine most fans are
fine with the additional screen time getting tossed their way.
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| (Photo Credit: AMC) |
In
a show that can be as bleak and depressing as The Walking Dead, a nice, safe romantic subplot, like Richonne, is
a welcome commodity. With Glenn and Abraham’s deaths, Rick and Michonne is
really the last pairing of established characters that we’re going to get. Most
fans, including myself, boarded the S.S. Richonne back in season 4B, but with
the introduction of Jessie in season five, it was fair to question whether that
ship would ever set sail. It wasn’t the cleanest introduction, since chronologically
Rick and Michonne first hooked up the episode after Jessie died (although there
was about two months of “show time” in between these two episodes), but it’s
been a pretty solidly written romance since then, and Andrew Lincoln and Danai
Gurira have a believable chemistry that’s fun to watch. This episode doesn’t
necessarily offer us anything we haven’t seen before on this couple (although
Yvette Nichole Brown’s marriage theory on Talking
Dead is quite interesting), but it’s still an enjoyable adventure for a duo
that doesn’t always get showcased in action scenes enough.
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| (Photo Credit: AMC) |
For those of you waiting for that Rosita
redemption arc, I’m sorry to say that that ship might have sailed. Rosita’s
likeability has been in a sharp downward spiral for most of this season, as she
disregards the well-being of the group in order to exact her revenge against
Negan. It’s not a terrible trajectory for a character by any means, but I think
this feeling of hell-bent vengeance misses the mark with Rosita because it’s
coming, almost literally, out of nowhere. For the longest time, Rosita was nothing
more than a piece of scenery- going through significant stretches of seasons
five and six without really doing anything (during this time she had six
episodes of no dialogue). It feels kind of jarring for her to suddenly be
placed dead center into such a pivotal storyline, without any real character
development beforehand. Yes, it’s true that her relationship with Abraham
serves as something of a catalyst for her current state of rage. But, couldn’t
the same be said about Sasha? The same Sasha who has an established history of
exhibiting violent tendencies in response to the death of her loved ones?
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| (Photo Credit: AMC) |
I’ve been holding off on talking about
all of the recent special effects fiascos because I, unlike some fans, haven’t
been bothered all that much by four or five seconds of bad green screen. But, despite
The Walking Dead’s typically stellar
effects work, these moments of embarrassingly substandard CGI are getting
increasingly harder to overlook. The
Walking Dead is at a crossroads. In
2016, it was easily the most watched show on cable, with one
of the slimmest budgets, and the most
sought after ad space for any non-football programming on television. But, ever
since the season seven premiere, ratings have been in a freefall, sinking
to their lowest point since way back in season three, and staying there.
(To give you an idea of how long ago season three was- Merle, Andrea, and Lori
were all alive back then.) Now sure, even with this decline in viewership, The Walking Dead is still a ratings
juggernaut, with a loyal fan base that most shows would kill for. But, the
fallout from the much-maligned season six finale is very real, and even the
expected ratings
bump from this year’s mid-season premiere was modest and lasted just two
episodes. This is all to say, that The
Walking Dead really can’t afford to make these kind of sloppy mistakes- not
when its merits, as a show, are constantly being judged with each episode.
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| (Photo Credit: AMC) |
And just like that, we’re halfway through
season 7B. It seems like only yesterday we were watching the gang unsuccessfully
berate Gregory into joining their fight against The Saviors. And, while the
going’s been rather slow, since then, for Rick and the gang, it’s only a matter
of time before The Scavengers, or possibly The Kingdom, join the fight, and the
war against Negan really starts heating up. A fuzzy outline of an endgame for
this season is slowly starting to take form, but it’s likely to be thrown off
course by Rosita’s shenanigans, for better or for worse. Next week’s preview hints
at a return to The Kingdom, as well as an appearance from Carol. The Kingdom is
by far the most interesting new settlement we’ve visited, although so far, they
haven’t quite lived up to this billing. I’m interested to see how they tie-in
to the rest of the season, and what Carol’s next steps look like.
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