Daryl comes face to face with the final villains of The Walking Dead
Someone from his past returns to complicate plans as Daryl (and Dog) meet the Reapers up close and personal
TV Reviews The Walking Dead
One of the best things about “Rendition,” the latest episode of The Walking Dead, is just how little actually happens. To anyone who has stuck with the show through thick and thin (and boy, these last few seasons have been awfully thin at times), it’s a welcome reminder that the series used to effortlessly toss out installments like this—episodes where the point is less what happens than how it happens, otherwise known as good storytelling. And while the show’s long-in-the-tooth history may blunt some of the effectiveness of the introduction to what is almost certainly the final Big Bad we’ll ever meet—simply because we’ve seen variations on this theme before—it’s nonetheless a potent and effective way to meet the Reapers, and their obviously unstable leader, Pope. When the episode ends with Pope kicking his soldier into the fire, for one of the most gruesome onscreen deaths I’ve ever seen on this show (and that’s really saying something), it not only felt satisfying; it felt inevitable, in a good way.
It can be tough to parse out why some plots like this—stories where it feels like you’re steadily marching to an inevitable end, and there’s only one way it can turn out—work better than others, since the ability to predict everything that’s coming can also very easily be an indicator that the thing you’re watching is absolute garbage. Again, it all comes down to execution: As opposed to just cranking out a rote installment, “Rendition” lets us sit with Daryl. And sit. And sit. It earns that exhausted ending, where our hero stands by and watches the disturbed head honcho of the group that massacred Maggie’s community turn on one of his own people. It felt right. Director Frederick E.O. Toye leans into the minimalism, letting Daryl’s impassiveness do all the talking. When he looks over at Leah in the final seconds, rarely has such an unmoving expression so effectively conveyed a message of, “Cool group of people you got here, Leah.”
That shared history goes a long way toward explaining why this episode worked. Daryl and Leah’s relationship, so uninteresting as a standalone story in “Find Me,” finally pays some dividends, as the two meet again on opposite sides of a conflict, and Daryl successfully tricks her into thinking he wasn’t actually part of Maggie’s crew. (I’m desperately curious to know whether they would have attempted a version of this without the benefit of those bonus episodes; would “Rendition” have been split into half flashbacks, half present day? Would they have simply eliminated the personal connection that brings Daryl into the Reapers’ fold?) Forcing Daryl to play dumb, and combine several half-truths and lies together as a way to try and keep his people safe, worked far better than it would have without Leah’s presence to keep him invested in the situation above and beyond his survival and the safety of Alexandria.
As a result, the story beats all worked better than they would have without the tangle of his past flame. Being waterboarded, yelling at Frost in a manner that would convey his cover story without giving away the gambit, and enduring Pope’s dicey onboarding process—all of it was more effective, thanks to our knowledge of Daryl’s sense that he let Leah down way back when, abandoning her and only returning when it was too late. “I got scared,” he tells her by way of explanation for his actions. “Of what?” “Letting go.” That’s true, and it’s much easier to believe lies that are preceded by truth.
Pope, in turn, felt less ham-fisted than he might’ve without Leah there to preface his posturing with all her talk of family. Yes, his whole monologue was still a game of wait-for-the-heel-turn (In case you’re wondering: “That’s when I knew… we were the chosen ones,” is the moment he exposed his crazy), and he lacks either the unpredictable menace of Samantha Morton’s Alpha or Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s high-camp villainy in Negan’s bad-guy days, but the Reapers as a whole got a large boost of intensity with that murdering of one of their own in the fire. (Waterboarding Daryl and forcing him to escape a burning room with Leah didn’t hurt, either.) I’m still not convinced he’s going to come anywhere near the ranks of this show’s best villains (the Governor remains the high-water mark), but at least it’s not as big a letdown as I feared.
The religious angle has potential, and it was shot in a way that implied some real unsettling implications—especially that invocation of last rites that felt like a scene from a haunted house—which is another testament to this episode’s overall effectiveness. Nicole Marante-Matthews’ script kept returning to the idea of belief and salvation in menacing. ways: “God is here. He’s angry. I’m angry,” Pope first says, before returning to the topic during his talk with Daryl and driving home the messianic view that drives the Reapers. This was a solid introduction to this new threat, and while Daryl is clearly playing the waiting game, his connection to Leah adds a depth and uncertainty to it that helps keep it from being overly simplistic. This episode was straightforward enough; happily, its implications are anything but.
Stray observations
- It made for an interesting twist at the beginning, to make it seem like Daryl was on the hunt for the Reapers, only to gradually reveal he was just trying to escape.
- The moment when the Reaper tossed Dog was the obvious “oh no!” it was clearly intended to be.
- Leah tells Daryl he has no right to judge, and in the moment, she’s not wrong in the slightest. Anyone still alive has had to make too many tough choices to be in a position to condemn her in that moment. At least, until Pope kicks his loyal little buddy into the fire.
- Frost’s not looking too healthy in that other cell.
- I do like the fact that Pope has more faith than Gabriel at this point.
- There was a split second when Pope first appeared that I was convinced it was good old Terry O’Quinn, a.k.a. John Locke from Lost. Ritchie Coster is a fine actor, but so far, the character doesn’t quite measure up to the series’ pantheon of impressive creeps.
- Lynn Collins as Leah, however, did fine work; she really kept Leah’s true feelings close to the vest—I have no idea where her loyalties will fall.
23 Comments
these last few seasons have been awfully thin at times
Really? I put watching this show on pause a few seasons ago (when Rick was still in it) because I thought it was getting a bit thin then. Seems there’s little incentive to resume watching with so many other better shows on.
If anything, pick it up now. Season 11 is the strongest season in many seasons.
One thing to note- the guy the Reapers captured is named Frost, not Elijah. We didn’t see what happened to Elijah after the attack.
You’re absolutely right, zrex. It’s been fixed.
“Pope kicking his soldier into the fire, for one of the most gruesome onscreen deaths I’ve ever seen on this show”One of being the key words, Glens death was brutal with the eye popping out of his skull.ONE PUNCH, please name the better shows because I am always looking for more.
It’s about time somebody hosed off Daryl.He hasn’t looked that clean in years.
I’m surprised a hose was effective. I would have reached for a sandblaster.
I’ve been pretty impressed with this season. The Reapers are, unless I’m mistaken, the first group of villains created for the show only and never featured in the comics. Pope as a big bad is already pretty terrifying because we know his power level is by default much higher than Negan, Alpha, or Beta, since the dude is some blackwater merc with decades worth of kills. And he’s a religious fanatic with a cult of other mercs who will do whatever he says.
I also like the music theme used for them, it has an undercurrent that sounds like the Predator theme. Definitely feels like although these guys may not be as all-powerful with numbers as past villains were, they’ll be the most challenging to actually beat. Daryl serving the same role Negan did with his whisperers arc in S10 is whatever, and doing another variation on religious cults isn’t super original, but I’m still way more into this than I was Season 8 or 9.
“The Reapers are, unless I’m mistaken, the first group of villains created for the show only and never featured in the comics.”Ashamed to know this, but there have been others. Terminus Cannibals (similar group in comics, but story was different), The Wolves, The Claimers, Bad Atlanta Cops and the Garbage People (temporarily).
I agree! Good points all. I think Season 11 is very strong.
I’ve said it before, but again this show feels like they have no idea they’re coming to an end. An entire episode devoted to understanding the Reapers that don’t exist in the comics. It’s understandable. But personally, it felt underwhelming. After the Whisperers, the Reapers just feel like small potatoes in comparison. Like they showed up way too late to this party. Maybe they never planned on this story in the earlier seasons. But season 3 or 4, after the Governor, would be where they fit. A team of ex-soldiers turned mercs before the end of the world. Now just a religious fanatics trained special forces type of group in a post apocalyptic world. Meh. Maybe would’ve been a nicer smaller arc if they were also fighting the Saviors. Oh well. It is what it is. It definitely would’ve made for a better internal conflict when they first introduced Father Gabriel, then using Daryl. I kind of wished it was Gabriel that was caught than Daryl. His harsher view on how to believe in God and dispense his own judgment would’ve made for much better dialogue and conflict. Because I kind of laughed when Daryl was in the position of being asked to join. This ain’t his first dance of being persuaded of joining another team. The Saviors did a much better job of breaking him and making consider joining them for his sake than Pope is trying. Daryl knows how to play this game now. And it was kind of funny because it just felt like Daryl was fighting more not to roll his eyes on Pope and the Reapers than trying convince them he’s not their enemy.But it was a still a snail pace episode in terms of overall story arc for the final season. But maybe one that was necessary since they have less than a season to develop and flesh out a group of enemies that never existed in the comics. Now I’m one week ahead when it comes to episodes. And at least the next episode had many plots finally move on and story progression.
AMC has announced that even thought the main show is ending, theyre going to be doing spin offs in that world for TEN MORE YEARS. So that may be why they act like nothing’s ending. Because it kind of isnt.
Also, “Will Daryl join the Reapers?” is basically “Will Negan join the Whisperers?” but even less believable because it’s Darryl instead of Negan.
“the most gruesome onscreen deaths” The whole shows premise. It isn’t about the survivors, its about the most gruesome deaths. No need for actual story or character building, just show 1 or 2 disgusting deaths an episode and that’ll sate the viewers.
I’m having trouble connecting Pope’s religious fervor to competent leadership. He just seems like a guy that would get people killed, despite Leah’s insistentence that he’s the guy the kept them alive when they were in the military and when they went freelance.
I’m pretty sure that wasn’t Elijah in the other cell. I think that was Frost, the last survivor of Maggie’s three new red shirts from episode 1.
Kinda feels like this final arc is going to be wasted setting up Leah and Darryl so they can go off and do spin-off stuff together.Not that I even buy Darryl/Carol as a “spinoff” when they’ve been mains since the first season of this show. It’s basically Creed breaking up and reforming without Scott Stapp.
Pope killing one of his own men really didn’t work for me. We spent the whole episode hearing about how these guys have been brothers in arms for years, even before the apocalypse, but they’re all just going to stand there and watch their friend horribly burn to death? Immediately none of them really feel like actual people.
There is no Daryl, but D.A.R.Y.L.
The Man From D.A.R.Y.L.?
No, it was D.A.R.Y.L. until D.A.R.Y.L. had contract disputes and walked. Then it became D.A.R.Y.L.’s F.A.M.I.L.Y., then it became The HO.G.A.N. Family with the angelic S.A.N.D.Y. Duncan.
Oh, gee, yet one more crazy leader of a crazy group of people that are going after our heroes. Who would have guessed it when there are so many other plot lines that could be used. At least this is the last group.
Setting the cell on fire was an unexpected touch. But the whole “bad guy offs one of his own minions to prove how bad/mentally unstable he is” thing has been so overdone it’s just a cliche. It would have been more of a surprise if he hadn’t killed that footsoldier at the end.