BY CHELSEA HOGG
Sunday nights at 9 on AMC brought a whole new meaning to suspense and thrills with this week’s mid-season return of The Walking Dead.
For those who have not seen it, now is the time to stop reading to avoid potential spoilers for the mid-season return.
The Walking Dead makes it a priority to keep viewers on the edge of their seats while we often see our favourite characters get picked off one by one.
In this episode we begin with where we left off last, walking among the walkers themselves in hopes of finding refuge.
Carol and Morgan have been fighting over whether the Wolf member should die for the rest of the group’s safety.
This quickly changes after the Wolf member gets bitten and is then shot by Carol and changes into a walker because it is Morgan who decides to put him out.
This episode shows the contrast between our inner good as well as our survival instinct.
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Carol demonstrates that to keep those you love and trust alive, some people who threaten need to be killed.
Morgan’s character demonstrates how we should show mercy for most everyone.
I like how they pin both views against each other because you can see the effects they both have and the consequences they both carry.
In this episode we see Jesse’s entire family die right in front of us just seconds apart.
This hits home for a lot of people who were rooting for them but I think they made a great choice.
The Walking Dead along with other AMC and HBO hits, are notorious for killing off the characters viewers love the most without any mercy in how they go.
I enjoy how this show isn’t afraid to get rid of a beloved character, but there are some that could end up costing the show ratings in the end.
For example, they should have killed off the Wolf member, his character development was just beginning to be interesting and intriguing.
He could have had such potential to be a character worth getting to know in the end yet they wasted no time getting rid of him so early in his life span on the show.
The setting for this episode has a dark and melancholy tone, as most of them do, but this one was mostly about the elimination of the threats around the group.
A scene that stood out was the one where a large group of walkers are led to a lake that had been filled with gas and propane and was then set on fire resulting in a large horde being burned to death.
This scene alone was incredibly shot and was a great way to exterminate the rest of the walkers that stood in their sanctuary.
One flaw with this shot was the lack of reality with Daryl being the one to work on this.
In the beginning of the episode, we see Daryl, Sasha and Abraham in an altercation with Negan’s group.
In the comics, Negan’s group lace their weapons such as knives and machetes with walker blood so that in case anybody they don’t like ends up escaping with minor stab wounds or scratches, they are still at risk of changing over.
Daryl is stabbed by Negan’s crony and at the time of the fire, Daryl would have been changing and deteriorating quickly.
The only way this is possible is if Daryl is somehow not at risk at all.
The most heartwrenching scene was one of the most well done and well executed.
Carl gets shot by Ron after Ron watches his entire family die right in front of him.
As Ron is holding up the gun, he is stabbed in the abdomen from the back by Michone’s katana.
Ron then fires the gun and it hits Carl in the face, which results in Carl losing his right eye, which was heartbreaking but beautifully done.
The prosthetic used over Carl’s eye acted as a barrier so that you cannot see his real eye.
It was coated in scab blood as well as fake blood to give the effect of a fresh gunshot wound.
This scene was totally unexpected for those who do not read the comics and was greatly anticipated for by those who do.
At the end of the episode, Carl is seen fighting for his life in a hospital bed as his father Rick decides to let off some steam and go outside and start engaging in a killing spree on the walkers.
The psychology behind this scene was very deep.
He wasn’t off in a corner crying and dwelling, he went out with a stone cold face and started stabbing any walkers he saw.
This was an emotional episode with great depth into the character’s minds.
They are not afraid to show how characters get their quirks as well as how they grow.
The events in this episode alone are enough to change the course of the show.
It was a thrill to watch and I recommend watching it.