The Distance

This week's installment of The Walking Dead was a considerable improvement over the last -- though that wasn't a high bar to clear. This week, the writers were able to trust that their point would come across, enough that they didn't feel the need to insert a Rick speech into the episode specifically stating that point (and the name of the show). The message this time: once you've lost all hope, it's nigh impossible to believe in hope again.

What was interesting about this setup is that one by one, over the course of the episode, most of the other characters revealed that somewhere within them, they were still nursing a sliver of hope. It was particularly interesting to see this from Michonne and Maggie, who have probably lost more than just about anyone else in the group. (Carol is certainly up there, though.) And it was particularly interesting to see that Rick was without hope, as he probably still has more to live for (in his two children) that just about anyone else in the group.

If Aaron truly is on the up and up, then there's a good deal more I want to learn about him in the future. I want to better understand the psychology of a person who is willing to go out into the apocalypse, leaving the safety of his home behind, to approach strangers more than likely to have a reaction like Rick's. We did get that tidbit of back story about his overbearing mother who constantly told him to "man up," but I think that barely begins to explain the level of bravery/crazy I perceive there.

I am getting weary of the same old gimmicks being repeated for getting our heroes into trouble, though. I guarantee you, if I'm driving in the apocalypse, I'm keeping my eyes on the damn road! (Or if I think I can't do that, then I'm refusing to drive.) I suppose it did lead to the admittedly awesome flare gun Zombie Kill of the Week, but it all felt like a needlessly manufactured jeopardy the characters brought down on themselves.

Improvement though it was, there was a lot of repetition this week too. Rick doubts, someone else doesn't. Repeat. It got to a point where it became abundantly clear that, combining this week's episode and last week's, you could have gotten one good episode out of them that didn't start to bore before the final credits. (Though that episode would have been made of maybe 3/4 of this episode and 1/4 or less of last week's.) I'd say "The Distance" gets a B.