After nine seasons, The Walking Dead has pretty much sampled every possible horror trope available to its zombiefied universe. The results have been mixed, but it’s always interesting to see the show attempt to spin a fresh twist on an old narrative trick. And while we’ve had multiple examples of the series leading us into believing someone had died, only to reveal an unexpected survival (often with rotten results—looking at you guys, Glen and Rick), I think this might be the first time they’ve indulged in the monster-movie life-and-death switcheroo gambit: That old horror-movie chestnut in which the hero, after a bitter and exhausting battle, finally triumphs over the masked killer/crazed lunatic/supernatural entity/etc., killing them and closing the book on that chapter of the saga…until the camera slowly zooms in on the lifeless body of the villain, the music tenses, suddenly their eyes pop open, and they rise, ready to torment our protagonist anew. It’s a cherished final-scene tradition for many a franchise, not to mention a common means of juicing your slasher movie’s third act.
And wow, does The Walking Dead lean hard into this tried-and-true routine for the ending of “Chokepoint.” Whether you find it a charming embrace of the show’s genre debts or a hackneyed betrayal of the series’ faux-realism probably depends on your fondness for toying with horror’s foundational bag of tricks. When Beta coughs himself awake at the bottom of the elevator shaft Daryl body-slammed him into at the climax of their fight, pulls himself up, and begins to growl in anger and frustration as we cut to the credits, I found it wholly silly—but in an entertaining way. This is the series delivering some hammy theatrics, and thanks to the looming, Michael Myers-esque threat of Beta, the ploy works.
This episode builds on the creative rebound of the past couple of weeks by continuing to take concrete steps toward the Kingdom’s trade fair and rearranging the season’s players. Despite Daryl and Connie’s showdown against the Whisperers (okay, okay, Henry and Lydia were there, too) being the obvious dramatic high point, the introduction of the Highwaymen ended up far and away the most satisfying element, for the simple reason that the show gave us a story that works as a singular tale, self-contained within an episode—you know, like how an episode of TV tends to best function. It had a beginning, a middle, and an end, and it subverted the expectations of a drawn-out battle. This show so often stumbles along, refusing to let its subplots die, that to see it crisply and efficiently tell a damn story feels like a minor revelation, not unlike the recovery of the projector bulb itself.
We learn a new group of bandits, the Highwaymen, have set up shop on the roads in and out of the Kingdom, and are demanding a ransom in exchange for letting people cross safely into the community. But as Carol continues to progress away from the kill-first-ask-questions-later mentality, even being the one to talk others out of a violent confrontation, the meeting takes a happily unexpected turn when she singlehandedly quells a Kingdom-Highwaymen showdown by asking the blackmailers about the last time they’d seen a movie. Angus Sampson is always a welcome presence, and here he gets to play slightly against type by subverting the expectation of a do-or-die thug and accepting the offer to work for the Kingdom. It’s a nice moment when he rides into town, tipping his hat to Ezekiel and Carol, but it’s even better when he and his men ride up during the walker attack on Tara’s convoy from Hilltop, coming to the rescue in no-nonsense fashion.
I’ve been giving the character of Henry a lot of shit this season, and for good reason—he’s excruciating 90 percent of the time. And for most of this episode, that trend continues, especially in the exchange where Lydia and he confess their feelings for one another. The clunky, halting “I care about you” spiel may have been relatively honest, but that didn’t make it any more enjoyable to watch, especially after Lydia delivered another sensible verbal beat-down of Henry’s terrible decision-making skills. “You made my mother look weak,” she says, which unfortunately cues up the romance. But he gets a moment of reprieve later on the balcony, thanks to Lydia. Cassady McClincy has been doing strong work as Alpha’s estranged daughter, all guarded pain and wild-eyed intensity; so when she drops all the pretenses and just gives Henry a smitten, schoolgirl-crush look, it’s impossible not to react with disarmed appreciation, exactly as Henry does.
Plus, it’s easier to look more favorably on someone after they’ve sustained a severe injury. Having Dog save Henry from death wasn’t high on my list of priorities, but the sequence probably played out as well as it could have, given the stakes. We always knew Daryl changing his mind about Lydia was a given—there was no way he was just going to abandon the girl in the woods—but the fight with the Whisperers was a nice show-don’t-tell way of getting us from his resistance to his acceptance, and it made Connie into an unexpected badass. The character is still all over the map (flighty and unpredictable one episode, a steely and determined killing machine the next), but at least the show is trying to justify how she holds her own with someone like Daryl.
The Whisperers’ attack played out well, and with a decent sense of tension, even if director Liesl Tommy didn’t do a particularly good job of establishing the spatial geography of the building or where characters were racing to and from during the fight. It all seemed to swirl together into a nebulous half-built floor plan, so it never became clear where anyone was in relation to each other, which hurt momentum and pacing. Still, Daryl swinging an axe into a Whisperer was a brutally nice touch, and the various kills all landed with force. The Daryl-Beta smackdown had an air of genuine menace—it’s obvious Daryl wasn’t going to die or anything, but Ryan Hurst is such an imposing presence, the possibility of real injury to our hero felt plausible. Then Daryl kicked him down an elevator shaft, and the real horror movie began; it’s just a question of where Beta (And Alpha) will direct their sense of vengeance. To the fair? Or to the remaining souls at Hilltop, during the Kingdom’s trade celebration? Either way, as the last few episodes arrive, it’s not a question of whether the Whisperers will deal a devastating blow to our people, but when.
Stray observations
- This week we learn that the Whisperers refer to walkers as “the guardians”—a sobriquet that makes sense in light of their chosen method of travel.
- Earl got bitten and/or clawed during the attack on the Hilltop convoy, right? I was a little busy noting how Tammy’s baby-safe chest wasn’t as effective as A Quiet Place’s soundproof one, but I’m pretty sure Earl is fucked.
- Also, that road-bound assault showed those stupid teens from Hilltop are at least good for something.
- Carol’s reasoning for why they should talk to the Highwaymen is ironclad: “They sent a letter—a grammatically correct one.”
- So is Daryl seriously proposing the four of them just hit the open road after getting Henry patched up? It makes a weird kind of sense, I suppose, but there’s no way Connie will be joining them. Also, even the implication is absurd: They’re not going anywhere.
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Soylent Green’s The Walking Dead Stray Observations: Whisper In Ya Ear Edition:- I wish the show wouldn’t tease us with the prospect of Henry leaving because he won’t and it’s just not fair to the viewers to get our hopes up.- “Lydia will walk with us again or they will all goarugh graggle draghlh”- The tiger statue in the Kingdom must have been based off of the CGI tiger.- Finally, with the Highwaymen we have the triumphant return of capitalism!- I don’t remember what they’re doing but why would they send their one blacksmith, Grace Under Fire, and a baby out on the road with them?- “We go up there in that tall building because the walkers can’t climb stairs” – Says the man who has seen Walkers go upstairs thousands of times before.- Also, Walkers can go up stairs, it’s just gentle slopes that give them trouble.-This is turning into a real Rick Grimes level plan. Step One: Cut holes in all the barricades that are meant for defense so your enemy has a place to wiggle through.- Pssh. this show is totally jumping the shark if it wants me to suspend disbelief enough to believe that Daryl can read AND write.- What the fuck is with these theme groups? Are these guys the last collection of Civil War reenactors?- Fuck this stupid fucking fair I hope this guy kills everyone because of this stupid fair.- Once again, our heroes have the power of invisibility when they need to sneak into a fortified position that they have never been to before.- “I am gonna laugh at your offer of food and water, Lil’ Lady. But by gum if you’re gonna show me a movin’ picture show that has one of those little monkeys getting a people job or Gods and Generals we will do anythin for yas!”-We have reached the “A-Team Fortress montage” part of the show.- Henry just tipped over a filing cabinet and then stacked a chair on it. Fortifications complete.- There are fifteen people there and they’re not going to just push the log away, they’re going to sit there and chop it up.- EAT THE BABY! EAT THE BABY!!- I already hate the Cowboy Curtis Experience.-I apologize. I once thought Korl and Enid was the epitome of a relationship without any chemistry. However, TWD writers have shown me the error of my ways. They have less romantic chemistry than repeated cuts between a broom and a box of nails.- Daryl’s Rick Styled Plan: Step Two: Shoot the one guy who just became a zombie instead of the seven foot tall guy in the leather duster who you already promised to kill first so they know where you are.- Step Three: Barricade the girl in a room and padlock the door with your dog. Leave the key inside the lock.- Step Four: Be totally unprepared for a shield made out of a door.- “I have two knives. Therefore, I shall continue to tackle you with my shoulders.”- If Daryl was made out of drywall he’d be totally fucked in this fight.- I hope they trade the baby for a goat.- Also: The movie at Kingdom is obviously going to be Gremlins 2
Do…do people LIKE this? Do they encourage you?
Yes and yes.
Reading SoylentGreen’s recap is the only reason I still watch this hackneyed show
Yes, his comments are better than the show. By kilometers (cause miles are just a measure of crazy people).
I have enjoyed Soylent Green’s recaps for years. Definitely the best part of watching this show, and one of the few best running bits left on AVclub in the post-Kinjapocalypse era.
– If Daryl was made out of drywall he’d be totally fucked in this fight.Alright. This one got me.
All it takes is one.
I still watch the show because, well—zombies. They still do a good job creating them along with some munching scenes. And naturally I enjoy seeing the ‘good’ characters get killed considering how annoying they tend to be. Sometimes there’s an interesting idea, but they don’t follow through and it’s surrounded with cringe.Did I mention there’s a lot of cringe on the show? the entire kingdom thing just takes the cake, so I concur with this sentiment 100%‘Fuck this stupid fucking fair I hope this guy kills everyone because of this stupid fair.’
“‘Lydia will walk with us again or they will all goarugh graggle draghlh’”I listened to it three times at increasing volume and never could figure out what he said. I’m glad to discover that’s not only due to hearing loss.
I gave up trying to do that. There’s nothing really to hear in the dialogue anyway. I make up my own Daryl dialogue on the couch most nights.
“Lydia will walk with us or they will all walk with the guardians.”
Once again, if it’s at The Kingdom, it’s certainly spelled “FAIRE”.
Whiskey Cavalier is meh. The Enemy Within is much better.
“They will all walk with the guardians.”
“Step Three: Barricade the girl in a room and padlock the door with your dog. Leave the key inside the lock” because the point was to keep the girl inside and hidden, not the bad guys out. For that it doesn’t matter if the key is in the lock or not, especially since you don’t know who will be coming back for her and can’t risk the key getting lost.
Hehe love it! Especially the bit about the shield door and not shooting Beta for some reason. Mindboggling decisions indeed.. 😉
As soon as they didn’t show Beta dead at the bottom of the elevator shaft it was obvious he was alive.
As soon as Daryl said “kill him first” it was obvious he wouldn’t die.
As soon as they said Ryan Hurst would be Beta, it was obvious he wouldn’t die in his second episode.
Yeah. He can’t die until his fifth season.
Mrs. F. and I felt it sounded like he fell about six feet so we were certain he was going to dramatically climb back out.
It *looked* like the walker might have chomped Earl but I think that was just bad layout (or they changed their minds about it after shooting the scene). He had no visible injuries after and no one is acting concerned let alone saying their goodbyes. I think they’ve used the ‘hid the wound’ trope often enough already that they wouldn’t waste it again on a bit player like him but maybe I’m wrong. Pretty sure if they were taking him out we would have had the melodrama of his wife saying goodbye and deciding what to do with the child now that she’s on her own.
He did seem to scream when he got “bit” on the forearm. But yeah, I was looking for a wound and didn’tdidn’t see one. Plus they referred to how he always gets hurt.
Oh come now. There’s no trope too worn out for TWD not to do seven or eight times.
Wouldn’t it have made a lot more sense to have Lydia identify Beta And The Whispers, rather than lock her inside a closet?
At the very least she could have given a description of Beta. “He’s the one that wears Negan’s old jacket and burgundy scarf. Also, he’s 2′ and 150lbs bigger than any of the zombies.”
Whisperers should have known it is IMPOSSIBLE to sneak up on a deaf woman.Seriously, how did Connie know to duck away from the person behind her?I also love that there’s a high-rise in the middle of nowhere. MacGuffin Flats?
Yes! She suddenly reacted and ducked the knife being thrown from behind her. Is she faking being deaf or something? Whatever happened there did not read at all.
I thought she saw the shadow, I just finished watching it. I could have been mistaken though
i thought it was the light shining off the dagger as the whisperer raised it up she clocked?
I rewinded the scene. Looks like there’s a shadow in front of her, to the left.
Being a teenager doesn’t give Henry the right to put his people in danger! He just met this girl and already sold out his people by telling her about the other communities! He went on their territory ,only thinking of some pathetic crush he had! Daryl sees Lydia as a victim of her mothers abuse whilst Henry sees her as so damaged she’ll be easy to get with instead of thinking about what she went through and the threat his people now face!
I’m guessing the gas can in the stash had some kinda flammable liquid in it. Could’ve poured it down the elevator shaft lit it on fire just to be safe.
Based on the amount of stuff in that warehouse, The Highwaymen have been operating in the area for awhile. How come no one noticed?
Overall another really solid episode. I don’t think it can be overstated how much better this writing and pacing is compared to what we were getting back in the throes of the Negan and Lucille days. Things aren’t perfect of course, but this is very watchable television. I don’t miss Rick, I don’t miss Carl, and I don’t miss Maggie. I think the show is doing a nice job of giving various characters equal time while giving Daryl more of the spotlight. It seems Beta has the potential to be a much less annoying villain than Negan and I even wouldn’t mind finding out more about the highwaymen backstory.
The Walking Dreck: Silent Rage.
The Daryl / Budget Leatherface fight was pretty good, the rest was the usual dreck.
You can’t fault this show, it never stops giving the lols. “When’s the last time you saw a movie?”…
Would it have killed them to give me Daryl saying Yippie Ki Yay during the fight in halfbuilt office building?Maybe they will show Diehard during the fair, but that does bring up the question of what theatre techonology was available when the Zombie outbreak happened. Will they be using a digital projector, a film one, a DVD/Bluray Player? I’m guessing for aesthetics it will be a film projector that way you can have a film break/melt effect during the Whisperers attack.
Can it please be that the only films they have available are by George Romero?
“Ohhh … zombies! Hey everybody, they’re called zombies!”
You win the World Wide Walker Web
It’s going to be something old because they’re obsessed with making everything look like time stopped after Night of the Living Dead.It’ll be John Wayne or something.
I’m hoping for Night of the Living Dead, or possibly, From Dusk til Dawn, but it’s going to be something as cornball as possible that AMC doesn’t have to pay for.
Probably film – IIRC the series technically begins, like, early 2000’s? So before digital became commonplace.
It’s got to be film, right? That’s why they needed the bulb?
even digital projectors have ridiculously expensive bulbs that are a pain to take in/out to be fair, but given the time of the zombie takeover and relative remoteness of their location my guess is that it’ll be 35mm film not digital.
I wasn’t sure, thanks!
DVD and VHS don’t exist in this universe for watching movies.
I get the logo. They are the road pi-rates.
So is Daryl seriously proposing the four of them just hit the open road after getting Henry patched up? It’s the new spinoff where the motley quartet just walk the earth. It’s called:“Ride with The Walking Dead”
I really don’t like overly dramatic stupid teenage bullshit which is all Henry and Lydia are. “I’ve known you for five minutes and you’re literally the only other girl my age in this apocalypse so of course I’m in love with you.” It’s just so stupid. The rest of the episode was fine, bit Henry and Lydia are just excruciating.
errr…why didn’t they just lay low and hide in the building, instead of advertising their presence to everyone? Or better yet, just go back home?
Daryl said he was tired of running so they made their stand in order to kill the Whisperers who were chasing them. Daryl shooting one of the Walkers was part of the plan.
At the blocked road Kelly has a lil monologue about being worried about Connie. Then she asked Tara to give her something to do to take her mind off of it. Um, all around you there are people hauling pieces of tree off the road, and you had to ASK what to do? Pick up some damn tree!
– Earl made a yelping sound and it looked like the walker was about to bite his arm, but the next we see him they’re on the ground wrestling. I’m guessing he’s ok. I mean, as ok as you can be as an ancillary character who got a second dramatic arc near the end of the season.- Hitting the open road – has there been any talk about Reedus going over to Fear? I really doubt they would do that, but it’s possible. The traditional trope is that you need to have an alpha-male leading the plot, but Michonne, Carol, and Tara have that covered. And with the primary antagonist also being female, that leaves Daryl as more of a foil to Beta than anything else. Since he’s made some noises about giving up the search for Rick, there’s not a lot left for him to do in the area, and he might be thinking about a fresh start. I believe Henry would be willing to leave his adopted parents because of Lydia, and Lydia is obviously fine with the prospect of having someone to protect her and not have to wear zombie skin anymore. But I agree Connie would not be on board with that. Part of her group is literal family, and she just met Daryl. Unless she’s smitten with him, she’s not abandoning her family.
If they’re building to the cliffhanger I think they are from the comics they’ll lose what little goodwill they’ve built up recently.
“This is the series delivering some hammy theatrics, and thanks to the looming, Michael Myers-esque threat of Beta, the ploy works.” (ron howard voice) it didn’t.
‘This week we learn that the Whisperers refer to walkers as “the guardians”’Last week, Alpha called them “the hungry ones”.
The Whisperers called the dead “guardians” last episode! That’s why that episode was titled “Guardians”! You just missed it! I’m losing my mind over here!
Thank you!!
Daryl: “Kill him first.”Daryl then kills some random guy with an arrow when Beta was like right beside the guy and could have taken that arrow.