Paul Levinson's Infinite Regress

reviewing 3 Body Problem; Bosch; Citadel; Criminal Minds; Dark Matter; Fauda; For All Mankind; Foundation; Hijack; House of the Dragon; Luther; Outer Range; Outlander; Presumed Innocent; Reacher; Severance; Silo; Slow Horses; Star Trek: Strange New Worlds; Surface; The: Ark, Diplomat, Last of Us, Lazarus Project, Orville, Way Home; True Detective; You +books, films, music, podcasts, politics

George Santayana had irrational faith in reason - I have irrational faith in TV.

Monday, November 24, 2014

The Walking Dead 5.6-7: Slow

The past two episodes of The Walking Dead (5.6 and 5.7) have been, well, a little slow and lackluster - certainly in comparison to what happened with Eugene and then Beth before that.

Carol and Daryl in 5.6 were good to see together, as was Carol's back story, but neither broke any new ground. And although the priest was an interesting character on 5.7, that's about it - he's interesting.

About the most significant development in the two episodes is the evolution of Daryl. By 5.7, he's a voice a reason, restraining Rick at crucial moments. This is an important trajectory indeed, seeing where Daryl started, just a hair's breadth from his racist and violent brother.

Whether Carol and Daryl will ever get together as more than in their current brother and sister relationship remains an open question. I'd like to see that happen, because it would be good for both characters.

Carl, Maggie, and Glenn finally got a little good screen time, but not enough. Michonne has been barely visible this first half of season five. It was good to learn a little more about Rosita, but she's still a long ways from being a major character.

Is The Walking Dead running out of steam? I haven't read the comics, so I don't know what's ahead on that score, but as a television series it's beginning to feel like it needs something more. I'm hoping that next week and the episodes ahead this season can provide that.