Once again, the writers of The Walking Dead strike a very fine balance between small, interesting character moments and big, thrilling action as “JSS” proves to be one of the most violent and tense episodes to date. On the surface you had one big – and very brutal – siege on Alexandria by The Wolves, and diving a bit deeper you had a philosophical tug-of-war between Morgan and Carol who both had very big moments in this excellent, memorable episode.
The Walking Dead has always and consistently been about who we become in a stark, post-apocalyptic world and how our personalities and circumstances shape that. We’ve seen it with Shane, we see it all the time with Rick, and we’ve especially seen it with Carol. It’s a theme in just about every episode, and while it could easily – and sometimes does – get a bit stale, the cast and crew behind this network juggernaut are still finding ways to keep things interesting.
The cold opening of “JSS” was curious and very well paced, showing the journey Enid took from the death of her parents up until arriving in Alexandria. The fact that she ate a raw turtle – in a really graphic scene – re-focused in on how desperate things can become when you have no one in this world, but one question that isn’t really answered is just how desperate did she get? There have been a number of fan theories surrounding Enid, with the most popular being that she’s a spy for The Wolves and little dots throughout the episode certainly teased just that. First, when The Wolves attacked she was sitting with Carl and started to say that blind spots were how “we”…and then Carl cut her off; second, Carol saw a bright red “A” painted on her house steps, implying that they had been marked from the inside.
Though the episode takes it’s name from Enid’s personal survival trinket – that is, writing JSS (just survive somehow) everywhere – the mysterious young girl was hardly the focus of the episode, with so much carnage brought to Alexandria by The Wolves.
The first 15 minutes or so established everyday life in Alexandria, particularly showing Carol fitting in with her Housewives of Alexandria act and chastising one of the other women for smoking inside. Not even 5 minutes later, that same woman was being hacked to pieces right outside of Carol’s house as everyone’s favourite rogue survivor/cookie maker watched in horror. From that moment on “JSS” sticks with the action and see it through for a harrowing, tense episode that is amongst the most gruesome things I have ever seen on this scale of television.
Bodies are hacked apart by deranged savages, The Wolves think they are ‘freeing’ the people of Alexandria but their actions are excessive and quite sickening. Alexandria is turned into a bloody war zone of death and survival tactics, bringing out the inner badass of Carol that we got to see in the excellent season 5 premiere. Watching her return to this state, using smart, careful, and calculated offensive tactics against the wolves all by herself was exciting and it once again cemented her position as a kill-or-be-killed, take-no-prisoners type.
On the other hand, you have Morgan who showed up halfway after being sent back to the town by Rick – who has no idea of what’s going down. Morgan has essentially taken up the role that was left off when Tyreese died, offering up a ‘new way’ of surviving, one that values all life and is still, all things considered, naive. He openly chastises Carol for killing The Wolves, insisting that “you don’t need to kill people” to Carol and “you don’t like it”.
Both views were frustrating at times – Morgan letting five wolves escape; Carol shooting a captured Wolf in the head before he could give any intel – but they were kept steady and provided two different solutions to the absolute mayhem that was going on. Also, rather than have Morgan come across as too preachy, the writers did the smart thing and gradually cross his philosophy with Carol’s towards the end as he was forced – seemingly – to kill that creepy pack leader from season 5’s finale. Meanwhile, Melissa McBride did a superb job at teasing the emotions out of Carol who breaks down at the end while handling the cigarette pack that belonged to one of her fellow housewives. Morgan’s words – “you don’t like it” – seem to have gotten to Carol as she revisits a vulnerability we haven’t seen from her for years.
Aside from Morgan and Carol, smaller character moments were hit or miss here; Maggie and Deanna share a great chemistry on screen and the Alexandria boss remains a solid thinker as she rightfully stays on the edges of the battle. Though once Maggie is separated from Deanna she becomes little more than an extra and kind of just disappears during the battle – despite her being just as capable as anyone.
Merritt Weaver as Denise was tasked with replacing Pete as the town’s surgeon on pretty much the worst day possible, and she wasn’t able to save a mortally wounded Holly despite verbal encouragement from Tara and Eugene. These scenes broke up the more in-the-moment action, but they were more frustrating than I think the writers intended, distracting from all the chaos going on by tracking the journey of a character we aren’t familiar or sympathetic with.
Jessie also got a really nice moment here, acting as the mother hen protecting her children as she went full killer on one of The Wolves, opening up some interesting possibilities between her and her son Ron, who witnessed his mother go to town on a woman’s neck with a pair of scissors. Will Ron finally see that Rick isn’t the danger?
The mystery of the horn-blower was given a nice and concise explanation; Spencer stopped an 18-wheeler from breaking into Alexandria but shooting the hell out of it, which had the unintended consequence of crashing the truck into the gate and setting off the very loud, very dooming horn which, unbeknownst to Alexandria, is bringing in a huge horde of walkers.
Next week seems to catch back up with Rick, Glenn and the others while they attempt damage control on an impossibly large horde. It seems this season wants to continue the intense and spectacular action, and if it’s anything like what the writer’s did with “JSS” we are definitely in for a great episode.
Review Score: FOUR AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Highlights
- Carol’s philosophical tug-of-war with Morgan
- Huge amounts of gore
- Jessie protects her children
- Horn blower given a good, digestible explanation
- Carol the badass
- Morgan vs pack leader
Lowlights:
- Ron is annoying
- Carol not smart enough to take a prisoner
Stray Thoughts:
- One of The Wolves said ‘we didn’t choose’, but that doesn’t explain why they are so savage with their kills
- If theories are correct and Enid is a spy for The Wolves, explaining her involvement with such a violent and sadistic group while maintaining her relationship with Carl (which they spent time setting up) is going to be tricky.
Episode MVP: Carol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HygatRim4fg
The Walking Dead screens on FX every Monday at 1:30pm and 8:30pm AEST
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