Crossed

Following a series of episodes that each followed just one small subset of the characters, The Walking Dead changed it up this week with an episode that pushed along four separate story lines simultaneously. Unfortunately, there was a bit of marking time, prepping for next week's mid-season finale. That sort of put a cap on how good things could get. Still, some of the stories managed to be effective.

But let's start with the ones that weren't. Watching Abraham kneel on the road for an entire hour just made my knees hurt. It was nice to see the longer-running characters in this group step up and have interesting scenes, at least. Maggie definitely took charge, while Glenn demonstrated that the group can still use their survival skills for something good even with the dream of DC gone. But really, this group of characters pretty much went nowhere and did nothing all episode. Whether you can get on board with giving Abraham time and space for his breakdown or not, it just didn't make for very compelling television when intercut with all the other stories.

Beth running around the hospital trying to save Carol's life was an interesting plot thread, but really, really tough to swallow. It was hard to believe how much freedom of movement Beth had after her escape attempt -- even if the writers tried to hang a lantern on it by having Beth ask Dawn why she was helping her. (Dawn's explanation was a non-explanation.) It was hard to believe that Beth would trust the doctor for any medical advice after she knows he deliberately had her kill a patient. (And if you think, "well, he was only killing another potential doctor," then I'd respond: it was hard to believe the doctor wasn't more curious about this woman Beth wanted to save so badly.) I do like the defiance in Beth, I just found it hard to accept any of the other characters' behavior in this story.

Back at the church, I'm interested at just how reprehensible the writers are willing to make the character of Gabriel. He's a person incapable of defending himself and possessing no survival skills -- which right there is enough to set the show's audience against you. (Just ask Eugene.) We learned that Gabriel holds himself accountable for the deaths of several people (and not undeservedly so). And now he's running away and leaving a vulnerability in the defenses that could get the rest of the gang killed. I'm curious now just what the writers are trying to accomplish with this character. They've taken him so far down the road that I'm not sure he can be redeemed. But we never actually liked the guy, so it's not like we're going to care if he becomes zombie chow. Perhaps there's nothing more to it than the desire to show that yes, stupid people are in the apocalypse too. And, I suppose, the need to manufacture some jeopardy for Michonne, Carl, and Judith?

The most effective story surrounded the assault on Atlanta. A few specific moments really carried a lot of drama. One was when Daryl stopped Rick from killing their cop hostage. It was definitely a sign of the new "there are no limits" Rick that Daryl -- hardly the most level-headed of the group -- had to be the voice of reason/humanity here. And speaking of humanity, Tyreese spent all episode trying to reach Sasha and get her to let go of her anger. She finally did, and let down her guard in the process too. I suspect when Tyreese returns to find her bleeding on the ground, all the calm he's carefully cultivated this season is going to fly out the (cracked) window in a HULK SMASH of white-hot rage.

I didn't really expect this episode to be more than a set-up for the coming cliffhanger. Still, it's hard to really love it. I'd give it a B.