Daryl Dixon – Simon’s Incoherent Blog

The Walking Dead: Season 9, Episode 4 – The Obliged

“We’re the same. All or nothing. You’re trapped, same as me, you’re connected to the dead, same as me. We are the same, and you can’t stand that we’re the same.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

This felt very much like a continuation of the previous episode – it probably didn’t help that I watched them back to back, but the tone and the content was so nearly identical I had to check to see if it was the same writer – no, this ep was down to Rosemary Rodriguez after Corey Reed’s stint last week. Continue reading “The Walking Dead: Season 9, Episode 4 – The Obliged”

The Walking Dead: Season 9, Episode 2 – The Bridge

“I get what you’re trying to do here, and it’s the right thing. But maybe for some of them – they’re just not ready for it.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

Showrunner Angela Kang took a backseat after last week’s underwhelming season opener for veteran (and lengthily named) scripter David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick this week. And the result was an episode that, while ostensibly more low key, felt a lot more satisfying. Yes, there were still multiple narratives, but these ones were more satisfyingly intertwined than last time. The pacing was better too; rather than starting with the action then tailing off to the talking, this one built up the other way round. Continue reading “The Walking Dead: Season 9, Episode 2 – The Bridge”

The Walking Dead: Season 8, Episode 11 – Dead or Alive or…

“… some kinda shit in between!”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

After last week’s unexpected blip of a genuinely good episode, this week The Walking Dead was back to “well, that was… ok I guess”. This was courtesy of a script by newcomer Eddie Guzelian that went back to the show’s well-tapped vein of war movies and Westerns, but I have to say the one genre I wasn’t really expecting to see was… comedy road movie? Continue reading “The Walking Dead: Season 8, Episode 11 – Dead or Alive or…”

The Walking Dead: Season 8, Episode 3 – Monsters

“I know who you are. I saw it in the mirror through the open door. And it wasn’t any kind of blast from the past. I guess we’re not the same guys we used to be, huh? Cause you’re a monster.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

This week on The Walking Dead, it was… more of the same. Lots of gunfire, some angsting over moral dilemmas, a fair chunk of crowd-pleasing gore, and… that’s about it. You can probably guess the measure of my enthusiasm for this episode by the fact it’s taken me over a week to be bothered writing about it.

Continue reading “The Walking Dead: Season 8, Episode 3 – Monsters”

The Walking Dead: Season 7, Episode 3 – The Cell

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“Whatever he’s done to you, there’s more. There’s always more.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

After last week’s side trip to the Kingdom, this week’s Walking Dead got back to Negan, but not to Rick and the gang. Instead, this was an interesting glimpse into Savior HQ, showing just how Negan runs things. As last week, it had a tight focus mainly on two characters. Fans may have been delighted to see an ep where Daryl was centre stage; but really, the story was as much, if not more, about Negan’s faithful lieutenant Dwight. In the process, seeing things from the perspective of one of the ‘bad guys’, we came to understand more about how Negan stays in charge. Continue reading “The Walking Dead: Season 7, Episode 3 – The Cell”

The Walking Dead: Season 6, Episode 6 – Always Accountable

“If you have a roof over your head… if you have food, you have walls – you have choices. And without Walkers, and bullets, and shit hitting the fan, you’re accountable for them. You’re always accountable.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

Still wondering if Glenn’s really dead? Well, I’m afraid you’ll have to wonder at least one week longer, as this week’s Walking Dead caught us up with yet another narrative strand in the gang’s long, long day. This time, we found out what happened to Abraham, Sasha and Daryl while all the other bad shit was going down back at the town; and as ever, the script (by Heather Bellson this week) gave us a satisfying balance of undead action and character development. Continue reading “The Walking Dead: Season 6, Episode 6 – Always Accountable”

The Walking Dead: Season 5, Episode 16 – Conquer

“Rick just wants his family to live. He wants all of you to live. Who he is, is who you’re going to be. If you’re lucky.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

So, I wasn’t quite accurate last week when I referred to this season finale of The Walking Dead as “double length”. AMC’s bold assertion of a “90 minute season finale” actually referred to the timeslot in which it was broadcast, with its attendant commercials. In actual fact, this ep ran for nearly 65 minutes, about half again as long as the usual 42ish. The show’s done this before, but not since the season two opener; here, though, it wasn’t to provide big budget Walker spectacle but to give some quite complex character drama room to breathe, which it did very well. Continue reading “The Walking Dead: Season 5, Episode 16 – Conquer”

The Walking Dead: Season 5, Episode 10 – Them

“We do what we need to do. And then we get to live… We are the walking dead.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

After the previous rather experimental season opener, the follow up was a much more conventional affair. That didn’t mean there wasn’t plenty to enjoy – depending on what it is you enjoy about The Walking Dead. If what you’re after is zombie action, violence and gore, but you don’t care much for character development, you were probably shit out of luck with this one.

Continue reading “The Walking Dead: Season 5, Episode 10 – Them”

The Walking Dead: Season 5, Episode 7–Crossed

“We all owe Carol.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

This week’s Walking Dead had a welcome return for Rick and the rest of the gang at the church, as the three narratives we’ve been following for the last four episodes finally came together, much as I’d expected, in readiness for the big mid-season finale. After three eps which focused very heavily on particular characters while gradually driving the plot forward, this week had a lot more action as Daryl and Noah led the increasingly hardass Rick on a rescue mission for the captive Beth and Carol.

Continue reading “The Walking Dead: Season 5, Episode 7–Crossed”

The Walking Dead: Season 5, Episode 6–Consumed

“You’re not who you were, and neither am I. I don’t know if I believe in God any more, or Heaven, but if I’m going to Hell, I’m making damn sure I hold it off as long as I can.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

This week’s The Walking Dead found us rejoining the plot thread involving the show’s two fan favourite characters with the rhyming names, Carol and Daryl; though the ep as a whole was properly devoted to her rather than him. And that’s a good thing. No disrespect to Beth or Abraham, who’ve been the focus of the last two eps, but Carol’s a fan favourite for a reason – her character arc has been probably the most powerful of the show, played with quiet dignity and intensity by Melissa McBride. Some extremely good writing this week from Matthew Negrete and Corey Reed gave her plenty of meat to chew on this week, and the result was another quietly devastating episode to rank with last season’s The Grove.

Continue reading “The Walking Dead: Season 5, Episode 6–Consumed”