The world just got a whole lot bigger on The Walking Dead. My review of "Knots Untie" is after the jump.
The show is continuing in the new direction that it began last week and I am absolutely loving it. The show got incredibly stagnant just focusing on the main group and it started to run out of ideas on what to do next. By opening up its world to include other towns and creating larger communities, the show is going to be able to explore new ideas as the world finally begins to build itself up again in a land that has been dominated by the undead for far too long.
First off, I would like to comment on the fact that no one freaked out about discovering Rick and Michonne's relationship all of a sudden, not even Carl. This is a really nice development as such drama would have dragged out the show and made it really annoying. We do not need the relationship drama. If anything, the show feels a bit more authentic by portraying more of an honest depiction of relationships among a community. It did not resort to hysterics to mine empty drama to rely on and it adds some nice levity and character development along with the violence and tension. It was a very nice choice on behalf of the showrunners.
Whenever a new community is introduced on the show, we as viewers become quite weary because it always resorts to "leader is bad, time for battle" territory as it has in the past with the Governor and Terminus. However, this time it does not appear to be going that way. There are no obviously secretive or suspicious dealings going on. It is the first representation of an outside group that does not come off as sketchy or cartoonishly evil. This is another great change for the show as the politics involved with building a community of towns in the post apocalypse is going to have a great deal of interesting content to add to the proceedings. Not only is it going to raise stakes whenever something bad happens, it is also going to be a lot of fun to watch how our characters are finally able to meet new people and start building their lives again. We got a hint of that with Maggie and Glenn addressing their child and finally able to see it in an ultrasound pic. The final scene of the episode with the group bonding over the photo was a really sweet moment in a show that ultimately became victim to its overbearing darkness. Again, this is a wonderful direction for the show.
As for the "something bad", we got another name drop for Neagan, a prolific character from the comic book origins of the show. As I previously mentioned, bad groups with charismatic leaders is nothing new for the show, but this time it feels a bit different in execution. Since we are skipping the whole "are they bad or not" segment of introducing a new group, we can go immediately into the exploration of why this leader is the way he is. It is going to allow the show to have a bit more fun with a straight up villain and the new multiple community angle is going to keep the confrontations fresh. Jeffery Dean Morgan is going to star as the infamous Neagan and I am convinced that when he finally makes an appearance, it is going to be a strong one.
The show has continued to go in the right direction and I have a new found excitement for it. That is something I have not felt about the show since the early seasons, despite sticking with it this whole time. Well, it feels like my patience, everyone's patience, is going to pay off. We are getting a brand new Walking Dead and it is going to be a fun and action packed one with plenty of new areas to explore. I cannot wait to see more.
Grade: A-.
The Walking Dead airs every Sunday night on AMC.
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