Easy Street 2: Yars' Revenge
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
First things first: You can play Yars' Revenge right here. It's dope.
Now, onto "Hostiles and Calamities." AKA Season 7's third in-depth tour of The Sanctuary. Yup, every time someone new from Alexandria arrives in Neganville, we get more "here's how things work round here" story. It's repetitive to say the least. Also, given that most of us are assuming this season will end with a big all-out war between the Saviors and Rick's Alliance (whenever the show decides the time is right for everyone to get their s*** together), a lot of this was more wheel-spinning.
That doesn't mean there wasn't some interesting stuff to mine from this chapter though. I actually really liked the Dwight material for the most part. The Dwight/Sherri story is a really emotional one, and something that could be utilized in an even better way than what's currently going on. The only thing that sort of steps on its pant-leg a bit is that Dwight, when we're not seeing him on his own and pining for his old life and love, is a total murderous prick. It's good to build sympathy for an "evil" complex character, but you have to fan those flames a little better.
Here, in this week's episode, it seemed like Dwight was finally ready to turn that corner. But with Sherri now gone, with her having left so that he'd no longer have to be conflicted, he went full-tilt bastard and got the Sanctuary's doctor -- who all of a sudden decided to get super opinionated and esoteric this week -- thrown into a roaring fire. It was a sickening choice made to both protect Sherri (I mean, did Negan really buy that she got ripped apart by walkers?) and take that final step into total Savior servitude. That doesn't mean Dwight still can't come back. Hell, it'd be a disappointment if we spent this much time with his drama and nothing came of it, but for right now it sure seems like he's "free" from anything that was drawing him back into his old life.
Now, speaking of someone who may eventually turn on Negan, or who may be playing the long game with him - Eugene.
Ahh, Eugene. You miserable mush.
Okay, so let's pretend Eugene is going the "fake it to make it" route. He's now in super-survival mode, which for him means regressing back into his old liar persona where he pretends to be a top-level scientist for the Human Genome Project. Fine. I hope it pays off. I hope he somehow undercuts Negan in a meaningful way or sabotages the Saviors efforts in a manner that helps Rick get the big win. If it happens, that's wonderful, but Eugene is still way overdue for this payoff. I've been waiting for him to grow a spine for several seasons now. There's been ample opportunity for him to arc and provide us with a heroic moment. You know, one that fits his personality.
But it never came. We're now in an, at best, "better late than never" situation. We just watched Eugene whimper and wine and say absolutely nothing to protect Rosita back in the midseason finale. Negan was going to brutally kill her and Eugene just stood there and didn't make a peep about being the one who made the bullet. That would have been the time to turn. To stand up for his friend, even if it meant sacrificing himself. But that didn't happen. And it was pure luck -- or, you know, Negan's whim -- that Rosita didn't die. So now... does it matter when Eugene takes a stand? If he ever does? Remember, Eugene doesn't even know that Rick's now dead set on fighting back. He's assuming that no one's coming to save him or stop Negan.
I think the more interesting road to travel here is embracing Eugene's non-arc. He's still just a gross coward. He still wants to live, and fears dying, so much that he'd sell out everyone who's ever helped him. Yes, this goes against a lot of his journey so far -- and his friendship with Tara and Rosita and a few others -- but, again, we just saw him do nothing to help anyone in the face of danger last November. Maybe it's more interesting, right now, to watch someone actually get indoctrinated into the Saviors. To see someone actually give in to the creature comforts and delegated power. I think I'm of the mind that we just spent a full hour watching Eugene more or less succumb to Negan's charm and good graces and I'd feel let down if that was all a ruse. Another trick designed to blind us to Eugene's inevitable turn.
"Hostiles and Calamities" took us along a couple if really interesting character paths, but then just sort of left us dangling. Dangling in a way where we now wonder "Will any outcome here really feel all that satisfying?" I suppose one element that makes a strong case for Eugene being another "Negan" now was the scene where he pushed his way through that line and demanded supplies and then stormed off with an armful of sundries and a sock monkey. All set to They Might Be Giants' "Everything Right is Wrong Again." Then again, that could have been Pickle Boy making a huge scene to sell the full act.
Something I'm glad was addressed this week was the idea of Negan's wives plotting to kill him. One huge flaw in Negan's entire construct is that it doesn't account for wild card murder attempts. Like Rosita's. The show has laid out a landscape where, apparently, this rarely happens despite every interaction with the Saviors being a tense powder keg ready to explode in mass violence. Somehow Rosita's ploy to kill Negan was an outlying action and not something that, logically, should be pretty commonplace. Even within the Sanctuary itself. So it was nice to see that at least someone within Negan's own circle was trying to off him. Because all it would take really was someone willing to die and Negan would be history. Then again, Carl was willing to die and he wouldn't shoot Negan when he had a machine gun pointed right at him. Because the show just didn't have him pull the trigger.
The Verdict
The Walking Dead took us back into The Sanctuary for two semi-interesting stories involving characters ebb tide'ing back on their arcs and embracing the Saviors' warm bosom of bullying and bartering. Of course, the show being the show, we also now have to wonder how much of what we're seeing is real and that gets to be a drain. Is Dwight now fully Negan's number two or is he plotting to betray his master? Is Eugene acting like a fool (or more of a fool than usual) because he's hatching a plot to bring down the system? It's hard to know exactly when to take someone's story at face value.
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire