A horde of 30,000 walkers all built up in a large quarry!? So this is the reason Alexandria has managed to get by without being overrun; a nice, clever explanation to illuminate the mysterious history of the gated community, weaved in skillfully without taking away from the balanced amounts of drama and action that “First Time Again” started the sixth season of The Walking Dead with. And that’s the most valuable skill the cast and crew have seemingly learned over the past six years of this enormously successful show: brevity. Economical scenes and dialogue is an art form for this crew, capturing the same kind of sharpness as the comic and completely justifying the faith we put in them. That talent is clearly evident in the many “flashbacks” we get here, as the primary story leaps forward to what could be months after Morgan arrived in Alexandria.
I’m not so sure that using black and white to distinguish flashbacks from present worked as well as planned, with the stylistic choice often distracting and sometimes frustrating the pacing of the episode, especially since there was just too much jumping back and forth. Regardless, we got to see an elaborate plan pieced together bit by bit from it’s planning stages to it’s execution. The plan: re-route an impossibly large horde of walkers away from Alexandria, thereby – and presumably – dealing with them before they inevitably broke out of the quarry and descended upon the gated community; something the whole episode implies is entirely unacceptable and terrifying, right before it starts to become reality, leaving us with a very ominous cliffhanger.
The character of Carter (Ethan Embry) – part of the group that had been “on a run” for weeks, conveniently for the showrunners – did seem a bit forced and was mostly there to reiterate the uneasiness some Alexandrians feel with Rick taking the role of a town leader. Watching him try and undermine Rick behind his back, even going so far as to almost kill Eugene who overheard his plans for an uprising, felt like a continuation of Pete’s antagonism and could have run into a stale territory had he not served his purpose as the episode’s only character death. Again, he was merely a vessel to showcase the dynamic between Rick and others. Rick putting Carter out of his misery, while necessary, obviously didn’t sit well with Morgan who, at numerous times throughout the episode, would give Rick uneasy looks with the obvious message that Morgan, who takes the philosophy that “all life is precious” after a brief descent into grief-fueled madness, is starting to seriously question the man Rick has become.
Andrew Lincoln gives perhaps his strongest and most balanced performance to date in the many flashbacks between himself and Morgan, who reacquaint with one another and share some really sharp, character building dialogue. Lincoln has, right down to the micro-expressions, been able to portray Rick flawlessly as of late and this talent is mirrored and augmented by Lennie James, with whom he shares an exciting chemistry. The dynamic between the two is setting up some massive dramatic potential for the show, but it could still go either way. Although, the writers did thankfully underplay Morgan’s disapproval of the new Rick and turned into a more nuanced and slow-burning tension, and that makes Morgan a much stronger character than if they jumped into the dichotomy between the two straight away.
Another very interesting dynamic that has a lot of potential is Glenn and Nicholas. Glenn treating Nicholas like a child and condescending his every move seems like a much more suitable fate than just killing him, which would have been understandable given all the fan bloodlust that has surrounded the cowardly Alexandrian since the sad and unnecessary death of Noah. I admit that I wanted Glenn to brutalise Nicholas but it seems the subtle undermining of Nicholas’ agency was the right way to go to both add to Glenn’s character and bring him back from just being a background character (which he was for a few seasons).
A quick note on Carol too. Although everyone’s favourite low-key survivor was given little screen time – but not as little as Carl – she continues to impress with her surprising sense of humour. The whole “I’m just a scared, naive tag-a-long” act is still going on, even towards Morgan, marking who Carol does and doesn’t trust and speaking volumes about how careful and meticulous she has gotten. And though she had the funniest moment in “First Time Again”, the whole episode was brightened by some genuinely hilarious and well-timed moments.
Watching the plan to re-route this horde unfold was really exciting, as well as seeing the detail and care they took in their planning from discovery of the horde – on an excursion to bury Pete away from Alexandria – to actually herding them like cattle through the use of flares, walls, trucks, cars, and gunfire. There were near-misses and close calls along the way but they quickly fizzled, making it all the more terrifying at the very end when that loud horn started blaring – from the direction of Alexandria – and completely messed up the plan.
The Walking Dead continued to up the ante as the sixth season premiered with “First Time Again”, sticking with the great, measured approach to both action and drama that the Season 5 premiere took (with excellent results). There was also that non-linear approach that pops up every now and again as the showrunners continue to dot seasons with experimental formats (like the brilliant “What Happened and What’s Going On”). While this episode would have worked just as well – if not better – with a normal timeline, seeing as we darted back and forth just a little too much, this season has begun in a very strong position, building up to next week’s episode which – from the trailer – looks like absolute carnage is right around the corner; and that’s always a good thing to start a season with.
Review Score: FOUR AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Highlights:
- Succinct dialogue
- Elaborate plan
- Walkers, Walkers, Walkers
- Rick & Morgan
- Glenn & Nicholas
- Humour
Lowlights:
- Carter felt like Pete 2.0
- Timelines jumps too frequent
Stray thoughts
- It’s obvious that Tara is going to die sometime soon. The showrunners are still careless with their foreshadowing – Maggie telling Tara that she is important to her sealed the deal.
- I’ve got a feeling Heath will be around for the entire season, even after most of the Alexandrians (probably) die off. The camera was focusing on him quite a bit; plus Glenn needs a strong buddy now that Noah is gone and Nicholas is
- Having Carter cry “we’re not ready” seconds before Abraham “damn straight, we’ll do it live” was a really succinct way of re-feeding us the divide between Rick’s group and the Alexandria group
- “Do you have any idea who you’re talking to” – Ricktator
Episode MVP: Rick
The Walking Dead screens on FX every Monday at 1:30pm and 8:30pm AEST
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