‘Dead’ has ‘Mercy’ for viewers, is back to good TV
This is not last year’s sad and slow Walking Dead.
If there’s one thing we can glean from the explosive but cagey Season 8 premiere (and 100th episode) of AMC’s zombie apocalypse series Sunday, it’s that the show is actively trying to shrug off it’s creative problems from last year and perhaps win back some viewers after a ratings decline.
“Mercy” is nowhere near the best episode The Walking Dead has ever aired, but it’s an effective season premiere that manages to add some energy into the aging series and at least partially hit the reset button. It rights a few of the wrongs of Season 7, focusing on our heroes, allowing them agency and keeping them together. That Team Rick actually has numbers and good strategy on its side is only an added bonus.
The premiere is a promising start to the season, but it will be hard for the series to follow through with equally gripping and smart episodes going forward. The new season is an “allout war” between Rick and Negan, and it seems we’re nowhere close to the conclusion of that war yet, even if Rick won a battle.
WE HAPPY FEW
But the episode’s first few scenes have the benefit of rallying the citizens of Alexandria, the Kingdom and the Hilltop and the audience members who need to be persuaded back onto the show. Rick, Maggie “they say you can wage war through the second tri- mester” Green and King Ezekiel do their St. Crispin’s Day best with speeches as the troops ready for battle with the Saviors.
The team kicks off the day’s battle plan, and a regiment rolls up at the Savior compound to confront Negan. There’s a lot of back and forth, because Negan loves nothing more than the sound of his own voice, and he reveals that Gregory did indeed flee to the Saviors last season. He tries to persuade the Hilltoppers to desert, but Jesus affirms what we all already knew: They’re following Maggie’s leadership now.
WE BAND OF BROTHERS
Once the battle gets started, “Mercy” really takes off.
One of the most disappointing aspects of the Season 7 finale was how poorly the final battle sequence was shot. In contrast, the siege of the Savior compound is thrilling to watch, smartly edited so that it is easy to follow despite all the moving parts. The troops assault the windows of the compound while Daryl/Carol/Morgan/Tara orchestrate a herd of walkers to follow in an attack.
Despite Rick’s best efforts, Negan is able to duck out of the way of the hailstorm of bullets, and the team is forced to retreat ( but not before, for some wild reason, Rick takes a Polaroid of Negan’s hiding spot).
Father Gabriel stays behind to try to rescue Gregory, who (of course) double-crosses him and takes off with Gabriel’s car. The priest is left with few options, as the herd advances, so he jumps into a trailer that just so happens to have Negan inside it. Now, I’d like to be the first to say Gabriel is holding a gun, and Negan is just standing there making lewd comments and smiling, so we can all save ourselves some time if Gabriel takes care of the series’ worst villain.
It’s unlikely that will happen, and the episode leaves those two stuck in the trailer together.