How It's Gotta Be

Terrible pacing, terrible directing, terrible plot direction, holy crap I could go on.

I'm usually in support of The Walking Dead, I don't think I've outright hated any episodes up to this point. I would read other peoples reviews on episodes saying, "TWD has lost its way and is now a mess" and I would honestly just shrug it off, I was still enjoying the episodes, even the weaker ones.

But this episode is an honest spit to the face to anyone who was still holding on the ride that is The Walking Dead. It has one of the most mind numbing plots I've seen from a TV show.

The particular scene that made me have this epiphany was when Carl had just stopped speaking with Negan and began to limp around the fields of Alexandria throwing smoke bombs. Why was he limping? Who knows. From the looks of it, he jumped off the ladder a little too high and sprained his ankle. Looks like the characters are losing brain cells just as much as us viewers. Carl then limps VERY SLOWLY without any urgency to... To well.. I guess the show didn't explain what he was doing either. Isn't there grenades being blown up all around you Carl? Aren't the Saviors about to ram down the walls to come kill you? Why are you moving so slowly?

However a particular scene that followed really did put it bluntly on where the creative juices are flowing. Carl decides he wants to take a break from limping to safety and takes a breather against a house (yeah I have no idea either); and as if it was coordinated my Michael Bay a large bass sound begins to ramp up in the background. Carl, who seemed to have heard it as well, then begins to immediately sprint away from the house as it explodes in the background.

Sigh..

And don't even get me started on the stupid extreme close up compilation of the characters faces.

It's so lazy. There's no creative spark in these episodes anymore. It's muddled mess of cliché idea's stitched together to create the absolutely horrid pacing that has been shown in this episode. Right now I'm trying to work out why this episode exists, what it aims to serve in the long run, because I have no idea what this plot is building into anymore and it just seems to be finding new ways to force plot ideas and create an everlasting show. It's like pulling candy taffy. The longer you pull, the thinner the substance, and TWD doesn't have much of it left.

It's hard to review the walking dead as a tv program anymore as even dont amc dont treat it like one. Cutting the budget of episodes and firing stars just to save money over renegotiating a contract is harming the show and stopping it from reaching its full potential. The past 2 years the show has been in demand of a bigger budget to complement successfully its bigger wold are but the budget is too low and the show is dying. I can't defend the past season as I can't lie to myself anymore. The show is going to die as amc has done the biggest disservice the its most crucial walking dead storyline and not even top cast and crew can stop them on their one way path to self destruction. Amc will be more than happy to blame this on Scott m gimple so please don't help them.

True, could have been better, but its not THAT bad.

And wow that hate on Carl.. Cant believe it..

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.

Rick and Carl talk about the war with the saviors.