What They Say:
Still – An enlightening mission springs from a request from one of the group members.
Content:
The nature of this half of the season has definitely been very pleasing for me as we’re away from the prison and getting a variety of character stories while everyone tries to survive. I liked the prison storyline itself, especially with the comics version of it since it did so many big and surprising things, but there’s also that sense of safety to it that keeps it from really taking chances. Some shows can handle being static in location in a world like this but others need to move, to change and grow and explore. The show had tension to be sure, but now we’ve got a kind of tension we haven’t had for awhile and a lot of uncertainty that just makes it both frightening and engaging to watch. And we’ve also gotten some good character material by finally getting exposed to Michonne’s past and seeing how she and Carl are really becoming a solid team but also surprisingly good and true friends in a way that one wouldn’t expect.
With this episode, the focus turns back to Daryl and Beth, which I certainly won’t complain about considering what kind of scary cold open we get as they’re on the run looking for some form of safety at the moment. It’s a couple minutes longer than most of the cold opens, but it makes for a chilling scene as they spend a long night hiding in the trunk of a car on the street as a thunder and lightning storm rolls through – along with a good number of walkers as well. It’s the kind of survival tactic that would normally have you screaming not to do it, but it works here with what they’re facing. And through it, we again see the silent way that the two of them are working together, the understanding that’s there, but also the hopelessness that’s starting to set in as well. Hell, the first four minutes is stronger in some ways than a lot of full episodes of other shows and could launch off into its own film.
While there is this hopelessness, it takes an unusual turn as Beth decides that after what’s likely several near death scenarios, she wants a drink. With the way her father wouldn’t allow it, she’s interested in it now and through a couple of awkward moments, finally gets Daryl to kind of agree to it. Which puts them in an unexpected location as while moving through the woods, they stumble onto an open golf course, albeit a very rundown one at this point. The place has a pretty disturbing air about it once they make it into the main hall of it since people had hung themselves to escape what was coming, but that just means they’ve been hanging as walkers (or hangers) for a probably close to a couple of years now. It may seem silly to go after alcohol like this considering what they’re facing, but the place provides a chance to find some interesting and potentially useful supplies, especially since it may not have been ransacked in the same way as other locations by survivors.
And it gets us out of the woods for a bit.
A really welcome moment is that even while going through such a dangerous place, we get them coming across the shop within the place and Beth grabs some clothes. Most of the characters are generally wearing drab stuff for obvious reasons, more so no since they’ve been on the run and trying to survive, but the very human moment of just picking up a nice shirt and a sweater blouse by Beth really strikes a good chord. But we also get a very human moment from DAryl just after that when more walkers start shuffling after them due to a sound and he kind of just loses it in a way. Not exactly with the way he did at the end of the prison, but all his frustrations and anger comes out in a big way and he just lets it run its course. He’s usually so completely in control for the most part that it’s surprising to Beth in a way, but doesn’t dissuade her from her end goal of having a drink. The two haven’t talked much and while I wouldn’t call it a speech, she definitely says what’s needed.
It takes a kind of comical turn in a way when Beth finds some Pink Schnappes and is excited to try it in a very restrained way, but the reality of it kind of hits Daryl and he realizes he can let her first drinking experience be that stuff. So he takes her off to one of those hidden in the woods kind of homes that he and Michonne had discovered while ranging the local area where he had found some moonshine previously. It brings a kind of life to him in doing this for her and with her and it’s a kind of great little bonding moment between them, restrained as Daryl is. The place is one that is kind of familiar in a way to Daryl and we get a few glimpses into his own past as he talks about his father in a very, very circular way as he describes the place they’re in and how he grew up in one just like it. He definitely looks like he fits in it which is a bit disconcerting since we’re so used to the Daryl that exists post-turn as opposed to who he was before, something he generally has no interest in discussing.
What becomes kind of weirdly fun is that the two of them end up in a bit of a drinking game doing the whole “I never…” thing. Beth manages to get a few things out of him but, being as young as she is, she ends up trying to get more out of him than he’s comfortable with and it turns it awkward. And that just gets pretty intense quick, which is fantastic in its own way because we see how Daryl keeps losing his cool since he has so many issues with his past that she’s dragging up when he’s already feeling vulnerable. But he also uses his intensity and strength to push her into things in order to deal with it. But it also gets to the core of the problem as she essentially attacks him with words to try and deal with everything that happened. There are a lot of people that have rubbed against Daryl in some bad ways since we first met him, but it’s hard to imagine anyone but Beth being able to deal with him this way, to get him to finally admit what’s really getting to him. To see him really humanized here is long needed, to get it out that he feels like he’s failed everyone just makes him a character that people will want to engage with even more now.
In Summary:
The Walking Dead is using this half of the season well to take the characters that we’ve known and really start peeling back the layers since the safety net they thought they had, which wasn’t really there to begin with, has been torn away. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the stories we had so far with Carl and Michonne and what Rick has had to grapple with as well in coming back from such a huge loss. But the story here with Beth and Daryl is just perfect when you really step back and look at it. Beth may be a bit prophetic here towards the end, but there’s that sense that many have about it as well. She’s been a bit character at best for much of the series so far since her introduction, but now she truly has stepped up in the way many characters in this story have to. And when she does, she drags Daryl into the light with her and we all make out winners with a show like this. Fantastic stuff.
Grade: A-
