Rick’s vision for the future is threatened by a mysterious disappearance that divides the work camp where the communities are building a bridge.

The Walking Dead has a focus this season. That focus is to see how you actually build a community. For eight seasons, the series has delivered a series about how one survives in a zombie apocalypse. But, with not threat seen beyond zombie hordes, and multiple communities, were do you go? How do you rebuild society? And, as is emphasized in this episode, will your closest friends believe in it?

Murder is afoot as a body turns up and everyone is a suspect. It’s an interesting direction for the series and it’s resolved in one episode. The murder isn’t so much the interesting part, it’s what it leads to and what actions certain characters take. The season could have easily played that out with a few individuals dying in every episode but things are resolved here and it leads to a final few moments that’ll see that are original group is truly split in their beliefs.

Rick has a vision and Michonne is doing her best to work on making it happen. They see a community working together and living under a set of codified rules. Their belief is that the issues they’re seeing is because too much is left up to the moment. There’s too many inconsistencies. No one knows what’s expected. With a constitution of some sort, folks will understand and law and order will prevail.

Others see the issue as one of not rooting out the bad influences. They see that justice hasn’t been handed out and due to that folks think it’s ok to do what they want. That is the cause of the division and conflict.

Which is right? There’s no real answer here and the show looks to explore that concept for a bit.

There’s also this weird reveal about Jadis/Anne who it turns out is talking to a mysterious individual. That people are in two groups “A” and “B” and we don’t know what that means. It’s something that’s been teased out for some time and we’re seeing it happen. It involves folks in the helicopter but that’s about as far as we know. We’ll find out as it’s clear there’s more insidious things at hand.

But really, this season is about Rick’s exit. Instead of shocking viewers, they’ve let it be known and there’s only two more episodes left with him. Where will things go that sees his good-bye? We’re seeing hints of that here as to the possibilities and we’ll know soon enough. The season has been an interesting one for folks who enjoy the concept of building a society. It’s focused on the drama and human interaction even more so and is giving us a show set in an apocalyptic world more so than a zombie world that we’ve seen.

But, more importantly, it’s deviating more and more from the comics and giving us a different experience for once. An experience that is taking the themes we’ve seen and diving into them even more so. Is it for the better? It’s hard to say but these early episodes are setting something things up for what should be a season that challenges us philosophically as much as it does emotionally.

Overall Rating: 7.5

The communities join forces to restore a bridge that will facilitate communication and trade; someone is gravely injured at the construction site.

The Walking Dead has a focus this season. That focus is to see how you actually build a community. For eight seasons, the series has delivered a series about how one survives in a zombie apocalypse. But, with not threat seen beyond zombie hordes, and multiple communities, were do you go? How do you rebuild society?

This episode touches upon that in multiple ways. There’s further discussions about putting together a compact to codify the rights of individuals and rules for the communities. There’s also a focus on building infrastructure like a bridge. That bridge is also the not too thinly veiled metaphor of building a bridge between so many things, communities, individuals, the past and future.

But, through all of that positive, there’s tension underneath. There’s order but people are restless as can be expected. That leads to mistakes and fighting and individuals getting a hurt. That includes one long loved character losing an arm. There’s also couples coming together in various ways. But, what’s interesting is how much of the focus is still on the individuals of this world and how they’re dealing with it all. This is a drama first and zombie/horror story second.

But, even with that focus, we get some action. There’s some solid moments with a zombie horde attack that ups the action and gives us some gruesome moments that should make fans of gore happy. There’s some tense moments and those moments lead to the individual’s injury mentioned above. It’s decent but some of the action, the zombies felt a bit sparse and thus the danger not as present. Add in the amount of force shown, it doesn’t quite have the same feel as before.

The Walking Dead has a very different focus and that’s community building. I’m sure many will dislike this but the show has always been about what comes next after society’s collapse. We’ve gotten to the point where we get to see how you put society back together and not just survive. It’s a fascinating exploration for me though your mileage will vary.

Overall Rating: 7.5

Rick and his group make a risky run into Washington, D.C. to search for artifacts they will need to build the civilization he and Carl envisioned.

The Walking Dead has returned and we’ve been promised that everything has changed. And while much has, much feels the same, and that’s not a bad thing.

The war is over and the work to build the peace has begun. Dubbed “A New Beginning,” the episode is focused more on where everyone is in their lives and the politics running behind the scenes. The show again reminds us it’s not about scares and the dead, it’s about the living and attempts to rebuild the world.

Split between multiple locations now, the episode bounces around showing us where everyone is and the new order. Hilltop, Sanctuary, the Kingdom, Oceanside, and Alexandria are all covered and we get an idea as to how things are running. The answer is, pretty good but could be better. The scares of the episode focus on the group’s attempt to get materials to help build their society. This takes them into Washington, D.C. and the treasure hidden in the museums within. But, that’s not the only hurdle, there’s also issues with mother nature who’s not cooperating. But, unhappiness runs throughout so many as leadership is questioned and some don’t want their current roles.

What’s interesting is the discussion of rules and the law. Time has passed and there’s order but there’s still not a formal order. Does society need a charter or constitution? Is there a better way? We get some sense of that with the episode’s finale which focuses on the rule of law in an emotional and shocking (if you haven’t read the comics) way.

The episode is an interesting one packing in a lot and doing so in ways where things aren’t always clear or smooth. There’s a goal here and it’s generally met. We know the villains, we know where things stand, and we know some of the hurdles that are coming. We also know the relationships between the characters and how that’s evolved since the last season ended.

But, beyond the battles of the previous season the pacing and feel of the show hasn’t changed all that much. There’s still a focus on the relationships. The pace is rather slow. It’s a drama based in the world of zombies not a zombie show with zombies. There’s a focus here and the episode does a good job of setting things up for the season but this isn’t a fast paced hour (really almost an hour and thirty minutes). The show might claim it’s a new beginning but in reality, it’s a lot of what we’ve seen before just with some new dynamics.

Overall Rating: 7.0