New Best Friends

Daryl is having trouble dealing with the fact that Ezekiel has chosen to step back and remain neutral in the upcoming conflict with the Saviors. He is more encouraged by the attitude of Richard, who wants to join the fight. Still, Daryl is disturbed by Richard's callous attitude. The man is more than willing to recklessly put lives on the line. This is demonstrated when Richard tries to set up a scenario in which several Saviors will be killed, and then a path will lead more of them to Carol, who is still living in a cabin in the nearby woods. Richard wants Carol to die, because she will become a martyr that will spur Ezekiel into angry retaliation against the Saviors. Daryl refuses to allow that scenario play out, and tells Richard that if anything happens to Carol, he will kill him.

Daryl then manages to find and talk to Carol. After seeing how emotionally damaged the woman has become from being involved in so much violence, Daryl makes a difficult choice. He chooses to lie to her about the Savior's victims, not letting her know of Glenn and Abraham's brutal murders. Having accomplished as much as he can at the Kingdom, Daryl returns to the Hilltop.

Meanwhile, the Survivors is surrounded by the Scavengers, who have Gabriel hostage. Rick attempts to convince the group to help fight against the Saviors. Jadis, the Scavenger leader, tests Rick by having him go up against a Walker that has been "weaponized" by protruding iron spikes. Rick wins the fight, and Jadis is convinced that Rick is serious about the fight. She agrees to help as long as they get guns, one-third of the Saviors' supplies, and a portion of the goods that Gabriel had moved from the Alexandria pantry.

"New Best Friends" is a compelling episode that follows Rick and the group as they encounter a new community called the Scavengers and try to convince them to join their fight against the Saviors. The episode is notable for its exploration of trust and cooperation, as Rick must navigate the complex politics of the Scavengers in order to gain their support.

One of the most memorable scenes in the episode is when Rick is forced to fight a spiked walker in a gladiator-style arena as a test of his strength and skill. This moment is a testament to Rick's determination and leadership, as he proves himself to be a formidable ally and a force to be reckoned with. The tension builds as Rick and the group negotiate with the Scavengers and try to gain their trust, leading to a dramatic and unexpected twist that has far-reaching consequences.

The episode is also notable for its exploration of the Scavengers' culture and way of life, particularly their use of scavenged goods and their isolation from the outside world. This serves as a stark contrast to Rick and his group, who have formed alliances with other communities in order to survive.

Now, we are back to The Walking Dead that everyone knows and loves. Several different moving parts all coming together for one cohesive story. Plus, this half of the season certainly seems to be giving us plenty of fan service. To me, that's the best thing that could happen.

We picked up as The Saviors were getting their usual supply run from The Kingdom. Of course, things never go exactly as planned and Richard acted up against one of the other Negan wannabe. Richard, who seems to fit in much better with Alexandrians, took Daryl out to his secret area where he has a Savior trap set up. If it weren't for the fact that the trap was set up to eventually sacrifice Carol, then I think Daryl and Richard could have made a solid team. But everyone knows how much Daryl cares about Carol. He was never going to let something like that happen.

This gave us another fan-service reunion that was very much deserved. There's so much pain and sadness in their relationship, so it's no wonder Daryl chose not to tell Carol about the deaths of Glenn and Abraham. But I tend to hate the "secrets" storyline in TV shows. We all know she's going to find out sooner or later and it won't end well. I just hope we get a little more Carol in the back half of this season. The show is better with her alongside Daryl & crew.

Onto the Mad Max-like new group we were introduced to, known as the junkyard group or The Scavengers (for now). I understand the thought that this season has brought in a few too many groups and moving parts, but Pollyanna McIntosh as Jadis felt like a much different leader than we have seen. Presenting a relaxed but nonetheless exacting agreement with Rick, she may be my favorite leader out of the three communities besides Alexandria. I'll be very interested to see if she keeps her end of the bargain.

So the return of Father Gabriel (still don't like that guy), Carol & Daryl reuniting, a new community, and a whole lot of Rick smiling made for this episode to be another win for TWD. We get a little bit more Negan and a little less Rick next week. The march to war continues.

+Jadis

+That reunion

+Gladiator walker

8.5/10

After being very pleasantly surprised by the previous episode "Rock in the Road", which restored some hope that was very much needed and too overdue, part of me was really hoping that what was good in that episode would carry over here in "New Best Friends", that it would mean that Season 7 was continuing to finally go somewhere. The last thing wanted was that episode being a fluke and that the quality would slip back down again.

Sadly that is something that in my view "New Best Friends" does. It is definitely not one of the worst episodes of Season 7 or of 'The Walking Dead' overall (both before and especially since), neither is it one of the best on both counts. As far as the previous Season 7 episodes go, it doesn't feel like filler like "Swear" did, doesn't have Negan over-dominating in a caricaturish manner like "Service" had, doesn't do as bad a job at doing not enough with a lot of content over an extended running time and ending up over-stretching it like "Sing Me a Song" did, but the problems "New Best Friends" has is closest to some of the ones seen in "Sing Me a Song" and "Go Getters".

"New Best Friends" does have things that it does well. Most of it is made well, with a good deal of atmosphere and the grit and claustrophobia was effective without being too gimmicky. The music is haunting and not overbearing. Much of the acting is very good, especially from Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride.

While a lot more could have been done with the content, "New Best Friends" at least didn't feel too much like a filler episode. Carrying on from the events from before, it continues to move the pieces around (something that only started to happen in "Sing Me a Song") that took too long to be laid out and did leave me intrigued for what was to come. Actually found the Daryl and Carol subplot more interesting than the main one, admittedly it is soapy at times but it is also very moving and really liked the chemistry between Daryl and Carol and the former's sympathetic side. The ending was fun.

However, somehow tonally "New Best Friends" felt on the muddled side. Did appreciate that it was continuing to move away from the dark, uncompromising brutality seen in much of the season's first half, but everything with the group and other group of survivors could have done with a lot more tension and tautness. It also goes too overboard on the absurdity and on the wrong side of bizarre, with too many forced contrivances. The writing is not long winded, but can feel forced and could have been tighter.

Most of the time the production values were fine, but the junkyard setting is incredibly cheap looking with over-obvious and amateurish use of green screen, and some of the editing later on seemed a little rushed. The Jadis group have only been introduced but much of me cannot make up my mind of whether they are intriguing or if they are too annoying or weird here, to me they lean towards the latter from the look of them for example. While most of the acting was good, Jadis does not have much distinction here, too calm to the point of blandness and with not much of the cunning and sly side she'd have in later episodes, and Pollyanna McIntosh doesn't look comfortable yet.

In conclusion, not an easy episode to rate and review. 5/10

It has often amazed me, how people behind great shows, brilliant shows, at times make the most abhorrently stupid choices concerning their storytelling. The Walking Dead has been a stellar show, top of the shelf television from day one, and along come The Scavengers.

I can forgive the idea, in its infancy, but how a group of such talented directors, writers, producers and actors ALL decided that THIS was the way to go, is absolutely beyond me!

I learned today that The Scavengers are a group unique to the show, as in not from the comics, and it makes me wonder if the comics are really all that, and the people behind the show are just amateurs the lot. If you don't know by now specifically what grinds my gears about this new addition to the show, then you haven't noticed, and I'm happy for you. But picture this:

A meeting, of the show-runners, they need a new group to spice up the show, and they've used up the source material. An idea is pitched; Garbage people. Fine, I'm in. Another idea is pitched, then another, and then, somewhere in the room, some moron opens their mouth "hey, how about if they, like, talked weird, you know, because, like, post apocalyptic stuff?".

Like I said, I can forgive a bad pitch. But this insane idea; that adults, who lived their whole lives speaking normally, would digress into this ineffective, unproductive and downright moronic way of communicating, just by living in a dump surrounded by zombies for a couple of years, made it all the way to the screen. Nobody second guessed it, everyone signed off on it, that is what absolutely blows my mind. Back to the meeting: "It's totally plausible that people living isolated for years will start to speak differently, maybe they just skip a word here and there, it'll make them edgy, exciting". Yes, except it's not plausible, at all, it's not edgy, it's just downright idiotic. It's the sort of idea that works in a Hunger Games novel, in a Riverdale episode maybe. How does the same episode have such a brilliant, mature scene between Darryl and Carrol? Perhaps because the The Walking Dead, zombies aside, is a mature show, for mature people, a show that takes the world it exists in seriously, that takes human nature seriously and, most importantly, takes its viewers seriously.

An otherwise great episode gets a 1/10 from me, just for dragging the show down in the mud with the other mediocre, pandering, teenage melodrama fare that's circulating the streaming services these days, and for a script that should have gone down in flames long before reaching production. Go ahead, Jadis, show Rick the up up up, and then just kill me already..

While seeking Father Gabriel out, Rick and his group stumble upon the dangerous gang of Jadis. They have a hard time but Rick succeeds to have their support fighting the Saviors, provide they give weapons and supplies to them. Meanwhile Richard discloses to Daryl his plan to force King Ezekiel to team up with the Alexandrians and the Hilltop to fight the Saviors, But Daryl does not agree. Then he meets Carol at her house.

After "Rock in the Road", "New Best Friends" is a deceptive episode of "The Walking Dead". This weird new gang led by Jadis seems to be dangerous without having weapons. But Rick seems to be interested in associate with them and they might be a serious problem in the future. Carol has become an inconsistent character and it is hard to understand why people from The Kingdom are so concerned to help her. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "New Best Friends"