Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon CREDIT: GENE PAGE/AMC
Shambling back onto television after a two month break, The Walking Dead faced one of its toughest challenges yet. While the first half of series six had contained much that was memorable, the overall pace was as sluggish and meandering as the walker herd bearing down on the "safe zone" fortress-town of Alexandria.
Especially exasperating was the show's pretense that it had bumped off Glenn (Steven Yeun) only to ultimately reveal his "death" had been a cheap feint (He was alive ! Under a dust bin!). Amid discontented murmurings from fans, showrunner Scott Gimple promised the zombie drama would return with a bang as the walker attack on Alexandria played out and the motives of the mysterious new biker gang in the woods were explored.
True to Gimple's word, The Walking Dead resumed with an action-filled episode, brimming with death and mayhem and concluding with what felt suspiciously like a glimmer of optimism. No doubt this flutter of positivity will be snuffed out at first opportunity – but for now Walking Dead viewers can enjoy the novelty of Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) looking to the future with hope. Amid all the week's triumphs and reversals, a renewed Rick was surely the greatest surprise of all.
Glenn's apparent demise and surprise return were widely perceived as an unbecoming stab at controversy. So, while the violent death of Jessie as Rick and the survivors tiptoed through the walker horde, made for grisly viewing it was nonetheless satisfying to witness a major character dispatched to the beyond. The gruesomeness was ratcheted all the way as Jessie (Alexandra Breckenridge) refused to abandon son Sam, whose terror had drawn the attention of walkers. Seeing his own son, Carl (Chandler Riggs), panic and refuse to let go of Jessie, Rick hacked his new girlfriend's arm off. This proved too much for Jessie's other boy, Ron (Austin Abrams). He shot at Rick but, cut down by Michonne (Danai Gurira), accidentally put a bullet through Carl's eye. It was a heart-in-mouth sequence, during which the audience genuinely didn't know who would be left standing.
Morgan's dirty little secret in the basement was one of the more intriguing threads through the season's first half. With the imprisoned wolf finally free and on the run with hostage Denise (Merritt Wever) the ante had been raised dramatically. However, the storyline petered out as the villain was maimed by walkers, having displayed a flash of conscience in turning back to save his captive. The big pay-off in which Morgan (Lennie James) chopped down the wolf, now in walker form, was a bloody yet unmistakably damp squib.
The enigmatic motorcycle gang confronting Daryl, Sasha and Abraham were revealed to be the standard psychotic outlaws. Their leader was about to cheerfully cut down Sasha and Abraham when Daryl (Norman Reedus) popped up with the RPG launcher his companions had stumbled upon several episodes back. One heat-seeking blast later the followers of the (still mysterious) Negan were reduced to ash and smoking biker boots. It was a nice pay-off, with the show's super-dry humour laid on thick. Trust The Walking Dead to make death by surface-to-air-missile feel like a wry flourish.
With Jessie, Sam and Ron dead and Carl barely hanging on, something snapped in Sheriff Grimes, who abandoned the relative safety of the infirmary for a walker killing-spree. An apparently suicidal gesture was shown to be a tide-turning gambit, with Rick mowing down the dead legions in a whirlwind of fury. Soon his companions were shoulder to shoulder with him, lopping off body parts with aplomb.
All season, The Walking Dead had prioritised kitchen-sink melodrama over high-kicking fireworks. As Rick and friends carried the fight to the walkers, it was thrilling to see the series roused from its slumber and pretending it be an Eighties action movie. Jugulars spurted, skulls were crushed, sinew ripped from bone. With the mayhem slickly marshalled by director Greg Nicotero (whose day job is executive producer in charge of walker make-up and prosthetics) this was a pay-off to savour.
The Walking Dead revels in the dowdiness of its post-apocalyptic setting. With its grey and smokey palette, the show has been consistently at pains to suck all the glamour out of the end-of-the-world premise. So when it reaches for visual spectacle the effect is doubly impressive because it is so rare. That was unquestionably the case as Daryl, Sasha and Abraham (and their surface-to-air missiles) charged to the rescue, leading the walkers to their doom by creating a lake of burning petrol. The scene in which the mesmerised dead were drawn to the blazing water was a masterpiece of visual storytelling. When it wants to, The Walking Dead can be as hauntingly beautiful as anything else on television.
Since arriving in the Safe Zone, Rick had made it clear that he regarded the natives as wusses ill-equipped for the challenges of a world overrun with walkers. But after locals helped repulse the herd, he saw potential. "I was wrong when I said they couldn't learn," he whispered at the bedside of his unconscious son. "I saw today that they could… it's possible, it's all possible." Carl's hand twitched, indicating Grimes Jr would make it after all. Was this The Walking Dead's idea of a happy ending?
The Walking Dead returns in the UK on Fox on Monday 15 February at 9pm
Source : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2016/02/12/can-alexandria-survive-plus-what-weve-learnt-from-the-walking-de/
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