‘Divided we fall’ seems to be the dominant maxim among the citizens of Alexandria and the Hilltop at the moment, and it’s something ‘Go Getters’ seems almost at pains to emphasise – mainly on the ‘pain’ front.
First you have the Alexandrians, divided among those who have reluctantly accepted their new status quo of servitude to Negan (Rick chief among them), and those who won’t – notably Carl and Michonne.
All of it is serving to push Rick into a corner – and those of you who’ve been watching the show from the beginning will know what to expect when that happens. We have a feeling that angry Rick isn’t too far away.
All the while, we have a fun new dynamic developing: Maggie and Sasha looking out for each other, with Jesus alongside them.
We thought we’d seen all the best methods of dispatching walkers there were to offer, but we get a couple more here: namely with Jesus going kung-fu crazy, and Maggie operating a tractor with a vengeance. At least they’re staying creative.
Which is more than we can say for the traitorous Gregory, who does what he can to give away Sasha and Maggie to placate irate Saviour Simon (Steven Ogg doing a great job as an ersatz Jeffrey Dean Morgan).
If some of these names sound unfamiliar to you, then you’ve likely come across The Walking Dead‘s primary problem: there are far too many characters. As great as Tom Payne is as Jesus, it’s been far too long between episodes since his last appearance.
Same with Simon and Gregory – their portrayers are committed enough, but do you really care about them?
Shows like Game Of Thrones get away with having huge casts because each of their characters has a clear and obvious back story made evident with as little as a few lines of dialogue. Unfortunately, the writing on The Walking Dead simply doesn’t have the requisite depth to compete.
Currently, the only characters we’d put in this category are Rick, Michonne, Daryl, Maggie and Negan. Jesus, Sasha and maybe a couple of others are close, and Dwight shows signs of exhibiting a few more layers, but everyone else seems pretty disposable. Time for a cull, we think.
Then again, maybe we’ve underestimated Carl. For as long as we can remember we’ve complained about how irritating he’s been – and we don’t take any of that back – although judging by this episode he could become the primary instigator in the show becoming a lot more interesting. If this happens then we forgive him.
Other than this little development, ‘Go Getters’ falls squarely into the ‘average’ category. Must do better next week.
