Ants crawling onto a piece of food. As far as metaphors goes it’s pretty on the nose, but it’s apt as far as the situation Alexandria finds itself in: overrun by ravenous hordes.
Even so, the first half of it is weirdly tension-free. Apart from Maggie (Lauren Cohan) just about making it onto a platform in time (ending up in a similar situation to Glenn post-mid-Season 4 in the prison), everyone seems to have made it safely back inside somewhere.
As it turns out, the first slow victim is Deanna (Tovah Feldshuh), having been bitten somewhere along the line. “Well… shit.” Indeed. It’s a strange choice, considering that she was the most fleshed out of all Alexandria’s residents, but then it’s a reasonably affecting moment, and provides a handy pass-the-torch moment for Rick.
Elsewhere, following on from last week, everyone else seems intent on self-destructing. Having proven his capacity for idiocy last week, Ron (Austin Abrams) further cemented his culpability by effectively rendering the house unsafe during an ill-advised punch-up with Carl (Chandler Riggs).
Even so, it gives the gang a chance to zombie-up in a nice callback to the first series, smearing themselves in walker guts in an attempt to sneak by. This time, however, the scene is played differently. It’s far more lingering, and slower.
At no point has the contrast between the living and the dead been less clear, and the scene does a great job of highlighting this. Still, if young Sam (Major Dodson) has his way, the differences will became even less stark. More on that in a few months time.
Combined with Morgan (Lennie James) and Carol (Melissa McBride)’s idiotic scrap that sees the pair of them KO’d, and Daryl (Norman Reedus), Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) finding themselves in another sticky situation (did someone say Negan?), and we have a strangely contrived setup as The Walking Dead sleep-walks its way towards the mid-season finale.
We don’t know how it happened, but after a strong start the show has lost its way again. Hopefully it’ll find it again after the break.
