The Irresistible Force Meets the Immovable Object.
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
The Walking Dead opened up its eighth season (which also fortuitously synced up with its 100th episode) with an action-packed episode that dropped us right into the center of Rick's cunning plan to take out the Saviors. "Mercy," like all season premieres since Season 4, was directed by Executive Producer Greg Nicotero, who often tries to bring something artistically different to his episodes - for better or worse.
The most staggering thing about "Mercy," despite all the bullets whizzing and cars exploding, was how dry it was overall. I'll always give The Walking Dead points for the moments when it tries to elevate itself over run-of-the-mill horror fare, and it's given us some truly mesmerizing moments over the years, but this assault on the Sanctuary, in an attempt to take out Negan and his group of marauders from all angles, wound up feeling a touch toothless. Sometimes the show just needs violence to be violence and not an artistically cut-up piece of meandering meditation, overly steeped in the gravity and sentiment of the moment.
I think back to big and exciting action moments on the show, vicious displays of savagery like Season 5's "No Sanctuary" and Season 6's "JSS," and this season opener just didn't match up to their urgency. Even the (much shorter) battle in the Season 7 finale felt more satisfying and vital. We've all been waiting a long time for Rick to finally mobilize and retaliate and this payoff, if you will, felt a little strangled.
The way scenes were cut up and the sequence/time of events was toyed with worked to push us away rather than draw us in. Rick's (presumed) daydream of a future life in Alexandria (where Judith's aged eight years and he has seemingly aged 20) was mixed with both his pep talk speech and some teary-eyed moment of regret under a stained-glass sign, all of which made for a Terrence Malick-style collage that could have held emotional weight if this episode wasn't Part 1 of 2 (or 3).
No, "Mercy" didn't resolve anything it its own right. We were left semi-stranded as several story threads still remain in limbo. This was only the first case of Rick's many-tiered plot to win the day. Through meticulous planning, Rick and the rest were able to eliminate lookouts, set a trap for some Savior scouts, and lead the highway herd toward the Sanctuary, and while all that sounds like a lot, nothing really landed this week. It is to be an ongoing event. I suppose Maggie warned us right at the top when she said, "We all know the plan doesn't end this morning."
This wasn't a bad episode, just disappointingly abstract and incomplete. Nothing about it, even though it kicked off what's supposed to by a series-topping war for the wasteland, made me feel like anyone was in real danger - not even the B- or C-level characters. Speaking of which, Gabriel's still such an unformed character, after this long, that there's no real impact involved in him getting stuck with Negan in the end. Also, I know it's from the comics, but the "I hope you got your s***in' pants on, because you are gonna s** your pants" is a terrible line. Stop trying to make "s***in' pants" a thing, Negan. Nobody has pants designated for that.
Now that I've boo-hoo'd a bunch, here's what worked with "Mercy." Rick's brain was working overtime here. This plan is a real good plan. Sure, there are a ton of moving parts and things can (and probably will) go wrong, but Rick's smart enough to know that he's got one shot at this and since his team isn't exactly composed of warriors, they desperately need the element of surprise. As mentioned, the plan's still in motion when we leave the episode, with Rick and Daryl storming some satellite installation and Carol and Ezekiel trying to invade some research facility.
There weren't a lot of full character moments in "Mercy." Most of it was task-related - from timing the herd's pace to stealthily taking out Saviors, to welding armor to the cars. Still, what was there was good. The way Michonne let Carl know he was in charge of guarding Alexandria, the way Rick let Maggie know that once this was all over he'd look to her as the leader, and the way Ezekiel lit up when he saw Carol - it all worked. There was an odd-fitting side plot involving Carl and a vagrant, where the young man wanted to show a bit of kindness that his father couldn't afford, but there was no real accounting for it as part of the larger story. Structure-wise, this could be happening at any time: Before the attack, after the attack, during, etc.
One has to wonder though, could this be the reason Rick's all red-eyed in those brief interludes? Nothing about this situation feels right. Carl wants to be trusting and give the poor stranger some food, but everything feels dangerous in this world. Especially when it appears to be so NOT dangerous. Rick's actions will have consequences, but we just can't crack the code yet. His mourning pairs up with his idealistic dreams of Future Rick, but no one's the focus there. We don't get a full look at Dream Carl, but Dream Michonne and Dream Judith are accounted for. Is this mystery hobo the key to Rick's future misery?
The Verdict
The Walking Dead roared back with a season premiere filled with a lot of guns, bombs, and impaling - but also an overabundance of obliqueness that worked to distance the viewer emotionally from the conflict. This was a good set-up episode, but because we were only given the initial stages of this conflict, the stakes fell a bit flat. The true weight and consequences are coming, but we have to wait.
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