Of the previous Season 8 episodes for 'The Walking Dead', only "Some Guy" and "The Big Scary U" were above average and even good. All the others were mediocre at best and in the case of about half of them pretty terrible. "How It's Gotta Be" garnered and still gets a mixed critical reception and expectations were also extremely mixed before watching. 'The Walking Dead' was a brilliant show at its best, so that Season 8 disappointed me so much is not because of wanting to hate it, the contrary.
"How It's Gotta Be" is not a complete waste of time. As far as Season 8 episodes go, it could have been a lot worse and it is better than the dreadful previous two episodes. One of the least bad up to this point of the season. As an episode of 'The Walking Dead' goes, "How It's Gotta Be" just doesn't cut the mustard and should have had a lot more bite and gutsiness than it actually had. The potential was there, for some reason the writers chose to ignore it.
A few redeeming qualities can be seen here. There is some nice atmosphere in the lighting and some of the photography. The music is ominous and at times refreshing, fitting well without being over-bearing.
The acting is very game to very good from all, Chandler Riggs has grown in intensity despite Carl not being one of my favourite characters. The confrontation between Carl and Negan was powerfully done and had the tension that the rest of the episode should have had.
Sadly there are too many drawbacks. If anybody liked "How It's Gotta Be", good for you and it's not going to held against you, but the criticisms that the episode and season are not invalid in my view and those that feel that way should be entitled to express those feelings rather than be silenced. While the some of the characters (particularly Carl) and story do move forward, it could have been handled more interestingly. The pacing is rather dull and atmosphere-wise it feels bland. Also thought that "How It's Gotta Be" tried to pack in too many threads and too many characters and does too little with most.
A laudable effort is made to develop Carl, but it comes at the expense of the other characters, most given short shrift or unnecessary. There is also some truly dumb and illogical decision making, Laura and Dwight being a couple of examples and even Carl is not immune from this. The episode also feels predictable and lacking in surprises, with a drawn out ending that makes one feel relief rather than grief, and the whole premise just doesn't make sense compared to the events from the previous episodes. The dialogue is too heavy in rambling talk and the production values have a hasty look.
Overall, not terrible but disappointing. 4/10.
