Become

Another pointless episode.

The story went absolutely nowhere. Once again, MASSIVE plot holes. An endless number of contradictions. I really don't understand where this series is going.

Episodes 4 & 5 were needless at this point save for the death of 1 character, which in true & typical TWD form, was stretched out to an entire episodes worth of pointless storytelling and unnecessary (and confusing) backstory.

I'm so sick and tired of this formula..here we are building up to the big reveal, the big finale at the end, wherein no questions will be fully answered and likely even more confusion afoot.

While this episode was shot like an atypical Walking Dead episode, the entire time in the forefront of my mind is the absolute knowledge that this is another sham episode, which it absolutely was.

In true fashion, I wont give any spoilers. But this is getting beyond ridiculous at this point. I'll save the real critique for the series review.

Entertainment Value 6.5/10 Overall Rating 6/10

Its the same thing we have seen literally a dozen times over. Probably a lot more. I'd fire half the production team, srarting with Bert & Bertie.

Everything to this point is some feminist agenda. Anyone who can't see this, watching every episode so far, you are either too deaf, dumb & blind or too jaded to all the BS in hollywood today.

I don't 'fear the walking dead', i fear the team responsible for that abomination is going to be responsible for the final episode here.

That should be enough to terrify anyone.

First of all, the melodrama and the romance in this show are becoming way too goofy and bordering on being a soap opera. The last episode was the best episode, and I assume the finale won't top that either. But that episode knew how to do romance without it being goofy and cringey. This episode however, I don't know, I feel like it's too much.

Now the main focus of this episode is Jadis and the writers try their hardest to make us care about her and have sympathy for her. My question is, does anyone actually care though? As far as I remember, Jadis has been an obnoxious character with a bad haircut, and no amount of flashbacks, exposition, and sad music can make me feel sad for this character. Now some people might actually care now that they did some flashbacks in this episode, and with her speeches. But I would be shocked if anyone even thought her arc would go like this and even cared about her before this episode.

Not that focusing the episode on her was bad or wrong or anything that I gave a lower rating, I'll get into that later. I'm just not sure why the writers decided to do this. Though I understand that it's nice to have a villain with good motivation who thinks is doing the right thing. But the thing is, that she knew every step of the way that she wasn't really on the righteous side or doing a moral thing.

Nevertheless, I don't really have a problem with the writers trying to humanize her and give her some time to shine since she's one of the really old characters from the main show. I just think they went overboard with all the "And then she tells a sad story and we play sad music over it". The flashbacks with the you know who character (trying not to spoil) also did nothing for me. My opinion about Jadis is the same after watching this episode as it was before it, the only that changed was "Oh, I guess now we know why she did what she did."

I understand what they tried to do with this episode. Some shows do this where they dedicate an episode to someone you (most of the time) hated, and show you the other side of that character and show how tragic their past was and you change your mind about them, and it's kind of a nice twist where a hated character becomes tragic and beloved. This was not it. The last episode was phenomenally written. Everything worked perfectly and you actually cared about everything that happened there and the romance worked. This episode? Not so much.

Apart from that, like I said, the last episode did a good job of the romance stuff. But this episode just made the romance so goofy and over the top and unrealistic. It's like I'm not even watching a zombie show anymore.

All that aside, my biggest problem is that we're basically 80% or something in, and we still don't know about the CRM, and Beale hasn't had a proper characterization other than a cliché one-dimensional military general character. They're supposed to be the big baddie of this show, and we're already gonna wrap their story up in just one episode when we haven't even seen anything of them yet? Thorne's character is also underdeveloped and I'm actually not sure how they're gonna pull off this story if not by rushing everything in the last episode just like every other 6-episode mini-series we've had in the past couple of years from Disney Plus for example.

It doesn't feel like there's only one episode left. With the way the story moves, it feels like it's at least an 8-episode show and we still have 3 more episodes left. The pacing of the story in the first 3 episodes felt like your regular 16-episode season of The Walking Dead. So I'm not really sure how they're gonna wrap up a story that's only begun in just one episode with no other seasons.

Also, this episode felt like it had a lesser budget because of the tight locations they had, not much CGI, and not too many characters. I guess they blew all the budget on those helicopter shots and CGI stuff from the first 3 episodes. Not that I'm complaining though or that the episode looked bad, it's just an observation.

So overall this episode is not bad in any way, but still not on par with the writing of the previous episode, and I'm not sure how this story is gonna be wrapped. Hopefully not rushed and disappointing.

Now i'm 90% Sure that this script is written By AI and the problem is, i don't think an AI is actually that dumb, so what the hell is going on?, Dodging Bullets, and a crazy amount of plot convinces, the plot don't make any sense ,With a sprinkle of terrible Mid 90s CGI, The Story is so shallow and unfocused, I'm literally speechless How could This turd come from the same studio that made the main show ,that was also flawed at many times, but had it's Charm and magic, Now i wish rick died on the that bridge, that would have been a legendary death for once a great character, instead of this ...

Ugh, really. The full force of the authoritarian organisation that can track and bother to kill anyone who knows where they are cos apparently no one can see helicopters and follow their flight path to a massive city operating a bigger and better military than existed before the zombie apocalypse. It's hard to know where to start with that concept. It's just ridiculous.

But anyway, good old one-person-army-Jadis, who I actually forgot who she was till one flash back showing her to be garbage patch lady, but anyway, one-person-force of nature 'Jadis', a character who has time to sculpt stupid hair cuts, and even Rick has to note it in character, who totally believes in the CRM, decides to go off on her own (do they allow that in the CRM? Didn't seem like they did for Rick) without telling anyone...., for reasons that simply don't add up. But wait she's left a note in her bedroom, back at the fort, cos the CRM are going to bother reading through her diary and collection of recipes when she doesn't come back, instead of biffing the lot into the skip so someone else can have her nice room with a corner window. Doesn't-add-up!!!

Nice to see Gabriel again suffering with his milky eye contact lens.

Nothing really came of it but, familiar face and all that.

So setting up the finishing arc for the show, break into the fort and steal the hand written note, and return home to their kids who could quite possibly be dead cos it's a mad zombie world out there but hey, you can leave them with strangers for 5 years, cos its not like most people don't survive that long......

Really there should be heads hung in shame for this show. This is the best they could write in the 5 year break?? Preposterous.

In flashbacks, Jadis - going by her real name of Anne - visits Gabriel once a year, privately admitting that while she's dedicated to the CRM's mission, she is conflicted about the lengths that the CRM goes to. Gabriel insists that Anne is still a good person, proven by her inability to kill Gabriel. In the present, making a stop to rest on their way to Alexandria, Rick and Michonne encounters and fight off a family of bandits and spend the night in Yellowstone National Park where Jadis, having deduced their survival, finds them. Jadis unsuccessfully tries to kill them and is badly wounded. She runs away and the couple goes after her in a car chase. Jadis then pulls the bandits into it, with Rick and Michonne being unable to kill Jadis due to her dossier that threatens Alexandria's safety.

Jadis reveals that Rick was slated to receive the Echelon Briefing and move up in the CRM and reaches a deal where Rick will return to the CRM while Michonne can go home, but they double-cross each other and Jadis is fatally bitten by a walker in the melee. Jadis explains that after losing her people, she dedicated herself to a cause that seemed like it would last. Deciding to die as Anne rather than as Jadis, she tells them where to find the dossier at Cascadia Base and gives Rick a wedding ring that Gabriel had found for him. At her request, Rick shoots Anne. Rick gives Michonne the wedding ring and they formally exchange vows. He and Michonne then decide to take Jadis' helicopter and return to the CRM to find the dossier and stop them once and for all. Realizing that Anne is dead after she fails to show up for their yearly meeting, a heartbroken Gabriel crafts a makeshift grave marker for her.

Before we delve into the narrative and technical aspects of the episode, I want to praise the great romantic moments between Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne (Danai Gurira), which directly remind me of the early seasons of The Walking Dead. These light and dynamic moments between the protagonists serve to make us more attached to the characters so that we fear for their lives when things start to get intense. The beginning of the episode, with the couple's road trip reconnecting after being apart for so long, is definitely a treat for the franchise's fans, and I'm enjoying how every episode includes these moments.

The script here manages to recapture what made the original series work, bringing back the dilemma of whether or not to help strangers and the danger this thin line can represent for the protagonists' lives. Although the scene of Rick helping strangers only to be betrayed has a cool concept that harkens back to Rick's essence, it also has mediocre execution, with poorly choreographed hand-to-hand combat scenes that are nothing like the action sequences we had in previous episodes. One possibility is that they saved the budget for the grand action scenes likely to occur in the final episode, but even so, it doesn't justify the horror of these hand-to-hand combat scenes with these strangers. To avoid sounding too critical of the action sequences, I really liked the car chase. The way the scene was filmed with excellent camera work resulted in a breathtaking scene.

The real highlight of the episode is Jadis, portrayed by the excellent Pollyanna McIntosh. Since her introduction to this universe, we've always enjoyed the character and her ironic way of dealing with situations, especially in The Walking Dead. In World Beyond, the character underwent a shift and became a bit more serious and imposing. Now in The Ones Who Live, Jadis is at her peak, bringing a much greater sense of danger than Major General Beale, who was marketed as the series' main antagonist. The danger she brings here is not just for Rick and Michonne but also for practically all the characters we know in Alexandria, which further increases the fear of what she is capable of.

Since the series began airing, the showrunner, Scott M. Gimple, has been building a lot of anticipation by saying a familiar figure would return. I don't think anyone expected that this familiar figure would be Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam). The character's return here is used to enhance Jadis through flashbacks, showing that the two kept in constant contact even after the bridge explosion and her joining the CRM (Civic Republic Military). Although the use and editing of these flashbacks aren't stellar, they still function in attempting to humanize the character. However, bringing Gabriel back here didn't seem like the best decision because his relationship arc with Jadis felt entirely out of place.

Perhaps the best way to use these flashbacks to enhance the character would have been to show a bit more of her journey within the CRM and her dynamic with Rick. What we saw in World Beyond and in the third episode of The Ones Who Live was very little compared to the grandeur the character presents. But even so, I liked the character's conclusion and how the entire tension of the sequence was handled. I previously thought that the files she left at her house about Alexandria were a lie just to threaten Rick and keep him within the CRM system, but in reality, the community is indeed in great danger. Her death puts Rick and Michonne on an almost suicidal mission to return and destroy the evidence left by Jadis.

Moreover, the cat-and-mouse game between the antagonist and the protagonists works. We have a good car chase, great choreography, some interesting zombies, and a minimum of creativity with settings to make the escape relatively fun and fast-paced, if not exactly tense or horrifying as Michael E. Satrazemis seems to attempt. The audience can be bothered with some of Jadis's endless speeches, but the character's antagonism works within this episode, in another chapter of survival for Rick and Michonne. Beyond the sweet and sappy ending with the marriage proposal, we're left concerned about the mission presented to bring down the CRM in, apparently, just one episode, which seems too little. There are three possible outcomes: the miniseries gets renewed (no surprise); the story continues in another spin-off; or the conclusion will be extremely rushed, by far the worst possibility and also the most unlikely. In any case, we are curious to see the unfolding of the CRM invasion and the plan to overthrow a military army with the "truth." Will the exposure of secrets really cause an implosion?