As many of you know
it’s already possible to watch the new episode. I’m calling it as I see it below. There’s no hate in here, but there are some strong opinions. They’re my opinions and I’m allowed to have them and to express them. Anyone who feels the need to send me hate messages or attempt to start some dumb arguments because of the text below will be reported and blocked, so let’s just not click the send button to begin wih, OK? OK!
I decided to watch to
give this whole “Carol and Ezekiel”-thing a chance. Not worth it. Something I
never thought I’d say: Not even Melissa can sell this. It seems forced and I
can’t tell if Carol’s the one who’s uncomfortable with being close to Ezekiel
or if it’s Melissa. Now don’t get me wrong, Melissa and Khary are friends and
I’m not saying she’s uncomfortable shooting those scenes with him – not at all
– what I’m saying is I’m not sure if she’s comfortable with the story because
she’s not managing to sell it. It makes me sad to see someone so amazing at what she does struggle to sell something. I really tried to like
it, I really did; I tried being happy for Carol, but I can’t because I don’t
see any connection between them at all. You can’t force those kinds of
connections even between the best of actors (and trying to force it only leads to uncomfortable looking moments and moments of over-acting, something this episode unfortunately proved). While Khary and Melissa have an
adorable friendship, they have no sexual chemistry at all. Meanwhile, they threw in a few Caryl scenes (they
apparently still think the 85-90% of the fandom who want to see Daryl and Carol
together will be fine with just a few moments here and there while she’s
awkwardly making out with Ezekiel…). The moments between them had everything
every other moment between them has had, and everything that the moments between Carol and
Ezekiel needed for it to be believable. If the people how run this show knew
what was good for them, Ezekiel wouldn’t have made it out of that situation
alive. A grieving Carol who had something with him during the time jump would
have been more believable and easer for Melissa to sell, instead we’re having to see the attempted (and failed) forced
connection between them in action.
While on the topic, the episode (in the writing – the story that was told – everything canon) made it very clear that Daryl and Carol still care more about each other than they care about anyone else in that world. Carol left the Kingdom to take over the Sanctuary for Daryl, and Daryl in turn was willing to stay at the Sanctuary to help Carol (even though she turned down that offer knowing he was doing it for her and not himself). They would do anything for each other and will prioritize each other above anyone else… even the man who one of them apparently would consider marrying. Because that makes sense… ????????
Ignoring these
people/this situation, the episode was “meh”. All this talk about how amazing
and new it’s going to be was more exaggerated than ever. The only really
interesting thing I saw was the early interaction between Jesus and Aaron, but
considering the spoilers I don’t see any point in thinking twice about that. There are some really cute Richonne moments, oh and Daryl has learned
how to talk again. It’s a freaking miracle… unfortunately he has nothing interesting to say. The Hilltop story started out interesting, and as happy as I am to not have to deal with “Shitory” anymore, I lost interest in the Hilltop again before the episode was over.
tldr: Still no (0…
ZERO) sexual chemistry between Carol and Ezekiel, still insane chemistry
between Daryl and Carol. If you don’t want to see Melissa look like she wants
to be literally anywhere else while kissing Ezekiel, don’t watch.
tldr to the
non-shippers: It’s overall a “meh” episode. If you’ve got something better to watch, don’t prioritize TWD 9×01.
Can we all just take a moment to appreciate Daryl’s “WTF”-reaction to Ezekiel asking Carol to marry him? Because I’m pretty sure this is the same face the majority of the viewers made.
?
?
?
(BTW, I’m also pretty sure “I don’t know” is the new code for “because I’m madly in love with you but you’re taking forever”.)
