Rick returns home…but he’s not alone!
By Matt Fowler
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
So.
“Now” was basically the episode I was slightly dreading following the big Glenn fake-out back in “Thank You.” And also, by default, a big reason why I was so open to last week’s Morgan flashback chapter, despite it happening at a time when fans had been worked into a frenzy and were demanding immediate answers.
As I’d mentioned, due to reasons stemming from Robert Kirkman’s own comic pages, I anticipated Glenn being gone for a few episodes and for the situation not to get resolved right away. I pegged it at at least two episodes. And, in my mind, last week’s “Here’s Not Here,” despite not taking place in the present storyline (much), took up one of the “buffer episodes” I’d anticipated. It counted as “time away from Glenn.” So my hope is now, after “Now,” that this will be it. I’m not certain by any means, but it’d be nice if this was the only true in-between chapter.
We all know how Walking Dead works. You get an avalanche of action and death and then everyone has to sort of sit with it for an episode or two. Or four. There’s down time. Season 6 started off in a hurry and then didn’t really let up. So I get that a rest episode was needed. A calm chapter that allowed most of our main players to reel from, and recuperate from, the tragedy. And so that’s what “Now” was. A second breather. During a season that still hasn’t spent quality time with key members of its core cast. Should I assume we’ll see more of Daryl and the others next week? Sure, the show should spend time building up new characters – like Deanna, Spencer, Denise, etc – but it also can’t be so arrogant as to think we’re fine just letting series favorites remain off-screen most of the time.
We want to hear it.
Anyhow, I’m not all about the show immediately addressing the Glenn situation. I don’t need it. I think we all know he’ll be back. Hell, I don’t even dance around the term “fake out” anymore. It’s just sort of accepted now. So let’s look at what was here, in “Now,” and whether or not it worked.
We want to hear it.
First off, I still don’t trust Ron. Not at all. Either he’s going to f*** up on purpose or by accident. He’s bad news. I think I probably feel this way because I never really saw him turn a corner, attitude-wise. Yeah, Carl saved his life a few weeks back, but we never saw that moment hit him in any significant way. Goddamn you, Ron.
Secondly, the episode kicked off in a really odd way. At the tail end of “Here’s Not Here,” we heard Rick scream out about opening the gate. And that’s where we picked up here. Apparently, Rick never got trapped inside that RV. He just ran back home. So the way “Thank You” ended, that overhead shot, was a misrepresentation of the danger. A false cliffhanger. Because it would seem mere seconds later, after we stopped watching, Rick opened the door and just sprinted back.
Then, after all that, we didn’t see Rick get told about the Wolves invading the town and killing a dozen people. Sure, the place was now surrounded by a herd of walkers and there was imminent danger, but a few minutes went by with me wondering if anyone had actually told Rick about the trauma they’d all just gone through within the walls. Rick was barking orders at everyone, offering words of harsh encouragement, and I was like “does he even know what went down here?”
Again, I know there were thousands of zombies gnashing their teeth at the walls, but you still want to see that moment when Rick discovers that actual psycho human beings broke into the town and started slaughtering folks. Especially since the specific ways those crazies got inside would need to be tended to. So the first ten minutes of “Now” felt off.
We want to hear it.
“Now” was a big episode for Deanna, as far as pulling her up and out of her rut. She was already in a bad place following the Season 5 finale and the Wolf invasion only worked to give her even more of a glazed-over gaze. Here, amidst a town full of people who thought they were doomed and that this was probably their last night alive, she rebounded and began to fight back. Emotionally and physically – against a Wolf walker who’d been lurking in town. Though, as fervent as her stabbing skills were, she still needs to learn to go for the head. Meanwhile her remaining son, Spencer, continued to be a weird combination of heroism and pessimism.
Others in town dealt with the walker pressure in their own ways. Tara and Denise made bit of a love connection while Rick also finally made his move on Jessie. Of course, Tara and Rick – who’ve both been through so much now – don’t honestly think that it’s their last night on Earth so there is an element present of them perhaps taking small advantage of those who might be in a much greater state of panic. But we’re only talking kissing here (as far as we know, the cameras didn’t imply anything else).
We want to hear it.
Regarding the Glenn situation however, “Now” had a big challenge to take on. What to do with Maggie? It needed to keep her in the town. In fact, no one could go off looking for Glenn. The show just couldn’t afford another search and rescue mission after so many similar arcs. So the moat of ferocious walkers helped here. It made most everyone stay put. Hell, without them Rick might have even gone out to look for Enid. But now they were stuck. But this is Maggie and Glenn we’re talking about so the walkers weren’t going to stop her.
Until the show decided to wisely use Aaron to deflect the guilt. Blaming himself for the Wolf invasion, Aaron tagged along with Maggie as she tried to leave town via the sewers. But in the end, Maggie gave up not just because they reached an impasse, but because she also knew Aaron was dealing with serious survival guilt s*** and would probably get himself killed looking for Glenn. So the problem was, I’ll say, satisfactorily dealt with. It’s just that nothing about it felt truly organic because we knew they had to come up with a reason for Maggie to, essentially, “give up” her quest for now.
Plus, it was finally revealed that Maggie is, in fact, pregnant. Something viewers may have picked up on back in the premiere when she and Glenn both decided she’d stay behind. There was a quick exchange between them that sounded more than a few baby alarms. And so that bun-in-the-oven surprise also helped explain Maggie’s decision to cut her quest short. And yes, there was also very tense “close call” moment when Maggie got her hand stuck inside the icky, mushy sewer zombie and almost got bit.
Circling back to the fake-out death though, IF we were to buy that it was Glenn getting ripped apart – if that’s what the show wanted us to believe – how weird is it to watch Maggie cling to hope and wipe his name off that wall? I mean, he simply can’t be dead after that.
“Now” was an effective come down episode, but a come down episode nonetheless. And while there were certainly good reasons for Maggie to end her attempt to search for Glenn (for now), we also knew ahead of time that she’d have to stay put since the show could hardly afford another search party arc.
It’s also interesting to spend so much time with other Alexandrians (who could go any minute) when we haven’t even gotten our Daryl-centric episode yet. Or even fleshed-out the already established Rosita better.
