In the portentous Season 8 premiere of “The Walking Dead” — which kicks off an arc loosely modeled after the “All Out War” issues in Robert Kirkman’s comic book series — disparate clans of warriors organize into stronger coalitions.
Sunday’s episode picks up with the consolidation of power complete, as the ranks of the Rick Grimes-led survivors from Alexandria expand to include Maggie and her comrades from the Hilltop, along with King Ezekiel and his subjects from the Kingdom. In a rousing speech, Rick defines the terms of the conflict to come. He promises a great and terrible reckoning. Many will suffer, some will lose their lives. And the final moments suggest that Gabriel will be the first sacrificial lamb in the new season’s slaughter.
But that’s not where the episode actually begins.
In a bold narrative gambit that feels refreshing after the hints of creative exhaustion in Season 7, this hour hopscotches across time and, possibly, in and out of reality. Opening on Grimes as he surveys some makeshift graves and grapples with all the pain he’s known, the episode then flits forward a few decades to find him infirm, using a cane and sporting a hilariously phony beard that’s clearly been stuck upon his existing one. Elsewhere, in another time and place, Rick cries and sweats as the refracted light from a prism dances across his face.
We don’t know where this wet, bleary-eyed Rick is, although it appears to be in proximity to death’s doorstep. We don’t know if this vision of a peaceful future life with Michonne is a prophecy of events to come or a wishful fantasy. The writers have managed to contrive a new means of generating suspense, leaving the audience with questions other than, “So, who’s dying this week?” here
No comments:
Post a Comment