The Next World

Alexandria is short of supplies and Rick and Daryl find a truck loaded of supplies in a storeroom. While driving back to Alexandria, they meet a stranger called Jesus that steals the truck from them. Rick and Daryl track him down and find him on the road with a flat tire. Carl and Enid go to the woods just to walk. Michonne sees Spencer sneaking out Alexandria with a shovel and she decides to go with him. Soon she learns what he is looking for.

"The Next World" is a reasonable episode of "The Walking Dead". Good to see that Carl has recovered from the shot on the face. Rick and Michonne together are kind of weird. The best moment is when Spencer finds Deanna. But the attitude toward Jesus is quite silly after retrieving the truck as well as bringing him to Alexandria. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "The Next World"

Note: On 24 April 2016, I saw this show again.

The first half of 'The Walking Dead's' Season 6 was rather inconsistent. The season started off brilliantly, with four superb episodes in a row. And then the season took a significant dip in quality with "Now", then improved step by step with the next three episodes before returning to disappointment with "Start to Finish". Luckily the episode starting off the second half saw a season and show return to form with one of its best episodes in a while in "No Way Out".

So after being blown away by "No Way Out", it was hard not to expect a lot of great things from the next episode "The Next World" (so this episode). Although this has a good deal to admire and it is still a more than worthwhile episode on its own terms, it was quite a big step down in comparison and had big potential to be even better. After such nail-biting intensity, it was interesting and appreciated to have a change of pace with a calmer and lighter episode. It mostly comes off well, but it is not completely successful.

It does have imperfections with the writing, which doesn't have the tautness seen in the episodes where 'The Walking Dead' is on top form. Some of it veers on awkward too, that may have been intentional but it went too far at times. Especially that for Denise and Eugene, the latter faring worst.

Not all the story works, some of it goes overboard on the silliness and the lapses in sense can frustrate, all cited in other reviews. Spencer's role to me didn't gel quite as well with the rest of the story/characters and didn't really serve much point.

Having said all of that, the production values in "The Next World", as usual with 'The Walking Dead' at this point, are top notch. The grit and audaciousness has not been lost. The music fits nicely and the direction lets the atmosphere and humour breathe while not losing the momentum too much. Most of the dialogue thought is thoughtful and the lighter tone was appreciated, and there are humorous moments light and dark that are genuinely amusing.

Most of the story also works quite well, the pace didn't feel meandering or anything despite the atmosphere being the complete opposite of the previous episode (quite a lot calmer). Personally didn't feel like it was too much of a filler episode and did feel that "The Next World" did a great job with the character relationships, not only are they interesting but there is a sense of advancement in story and characterisation and they also made sense. Most successful were Rick and Daryl, which had a lot of lovely moments, and Rick and Michonne, a lot of potential here. The acting is very good throughout, with the best performances coming from Andrew Lincoln and Norman Reedus, both excellent. As is Danai Gurira.

All in all, could have been a lot more but more than worthwhile still. 7/10

After all that happened in the previous episodes, I needed a quiet and calm episode like this! They haven't had a good day since the prison collapsed :(

After one of the most thrilling and easily one of the best episodes of the entire series' run, this week took a step down in its intensity and quality. Not that this was by any means a bad episode, it was just a very slow and calm episode. I mean, after last week's episode, we probably needed something a little lighter, and opening the episode playing 'More Than a Feeling' was a good way to send those vibes to the viewers.

I don't read the comics, so the Rick and Michonne romance was a little strange at first, but as I've started to think about it, it's beginning to make more sense. Seems to me like Michonne is the first woman he's been with that he doesn't have to worry about when she's by herself. So although it's a little weird right now, I'm definitely open to the idea of it going forward. Change can be good, but I'm also aware that every great relationship doesn't have to be a romantic one. We shall see where it goes though.

There were a few other revelations this week as we met the apparently famous comic character Paul Monroe, AKA Jesus. Watching Daryl and Rick go through so much trouble to take him down, tie him up, and then take him to Alexandria was pretty fun and had less of an ominous tone than something like this would usually have. Although, from the last scene, it sure seems like Rick's optimistic idea of taking him in will turn out to have further implications. It's also hilarious to hear that Andrew Lincoln and Norman Reedus watched Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in preparation for their road trip.

One of the surprises of this week was that this episode took place weeks after last week's episode (2 months according to Danai Gurira on Talking Dead). That to me feels like the last episode should have been the mid-season finale to correlate the two month break a little more properly, no matter, both episodes worked. While Michonne and Rick's scene didn't completely resonate with me, Carl and Michonne's scene did. I haven't been the biggest fan of the Carl character, but he's been winning me over of late. Leading Deanna to Spencer was a risky but thoughtful thing to do and a nice reference to what he had to go through with his mother a few seasons ago. So overall, not as exciting as last week's episode, this week showed some of what the rest of the season can offer.

+Carl and Michonne

+Rick and Daryl road trip

+Introduction of Jesus

+Carl helping out Spencer

-Richonne feels a little bit strange

-Time jump was a little bit much

7.6/10

I can tell that there weren't that many actors featured but it still lead to an enjoyable episode that I wouldn't mind watching again any day of the week. This didn't feel like another boring, slow paced episode as this had me invested, interested, and intrigued just based off one new character. Also, Great choice, Rick. Definitely better than Lori👍.

8.9/10.