“Twice As Far” starts the three-episode race to the end of season 6 and we finally get to see Negan’s Saviours take a chuck out of Rick’s group in retaliation for their aggressive assault on their base two episodes ago. Last week’s excellent bottle episode with Maggie and Carol notched up even more kills to The Saviours, which continues the conflicting question of Rick and his group being the villains this time around. The result of dozens of Saviours being slaughtered in their sleep comes back here, and it hits one of the most innocent members of Alexandria, tragically killing someone off when we only just started to grow fond of them.
That person was, of course, Denise, who was given a sizable amount of screen time (always a red flag) as the episode was split between two groups. Team one – Daryl, Rosita, and Denise – were out to look for some medication at Denise’s request, a mission and request that had deeper meaning for Denise then was originally revealed, shedding some more light on her character and making her much more sympathetic right before a returning Dwight – one of Negan’s men who stole Daryl’s crossbow – put a bolt right through her eye, apparently by accident.
Team two on the other hand gave us a really enjoyable – and overdue – chunk of time with Abraham and Eugene, pairing them up for a run, on which we got some golden nuggets of dialogue mixing humour and tackling the issue of trust between the two which hasn’t been addressed since Abe straight clocked Eugene in the face pre-Alexandria.
Like Father Gabriel in the past few episodes, this run was much about showcasing Eugene and how far he has come since joining Alexandria, first getting in on the fight during “No Way Out” and then showing his value as an absolute genius, coming up with the idea of manufacturing bullets as commodities in this world-gone-to-shit. Things didn’t quite remain as smooth as that though, as Eugene and Abraham did exchange quite a few nasty comments, resulting in Abe leaving Eugene to fend for himself, which in turn led to Eugene being captured by Dwight, hence bringing all three groups together at Denise’s (and Dwight’s penis’) expense.
Dwight’s unexpected (not to coming book readers) return brings an interesting dimension of guilt of Daryl’s character, which will obviously play some role in the next two episodes and sets us up for a big confrontation that’s not looking so pretty now that the Saviours have finally notched up a kill in retaliation for Rick and co. slaughtering their men.
Carol’s season-long arc continues as we get another storyline with feelings of guilt embedded into it. She leaves Alexandria at the end of the episode, and though it feels like a giant leap in her psychology, it makes things a bit more interesting, tying it back to her original exile from the prison after she killed and burned people to protect the group (although holding that against her would just seem hypocritical of anyone now). The close up of Morgan at the end suggests that we will see the dynamic between him and Carol – one of the strongest elements of this season – continue, making it likely that Morgan will head out to try and find Carol.
Much happened in this episode to flesh out the drama before we head to the finale, continuing the very strong run this backend of Season 6 has had.
Review Score: FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Highlights:
- Strong exit for Denise
- Daryl’s guilt starting to boil
- Eugene vs Abraham
- Eugene biting Dwight’s penis
Lowlights:
- Letting your only doctor out just because she insists seems a bit stupid?
- Carol leaving felt like a giant leap for her character without proper context.
Stray Observations:
- It’s interesting that Denise took the comic book death of a more central character; could they be pointing towards more character development for Tara?
- I hope Morgan going after Carol gives him something to do other than say “all life is precious” in so many words every single scene he has.
- Where is this Abraham, Sasha, Rosita triangle going? I get that The Walking Dead are now tackling relationships and the possibility of settling down, but this has just been sloppy so far.
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