The Walking Dead: Rock in the Road

First Aired February 12th, 2017.

Rick (played by Andrew Lincoln) rallies everyone to prepare to fight Negan (played by Jeffery Dean Morgan) and the Saviors. However, Gregory (played by Xander Berkeley) refuses to help or allow the Hilltop residents to participate, but the residents are willing to fight.

Jesus (played by Tom Payne) brings the group to the Kingdom to recruit King Ezekiel (played by Khary Payton) and his people. They are reunited with Morgan (played by Lennie James) who has been residing there. He tells them Carol (played by Melissa McBride) was there but left to be on her own. Ezekiel is intrigued by Rick’s plans to fight but defers to Morgan: who thinks capturing Negan is a good alternative to war that would kill people on both sides. Rick counters with an inspirational speech and Ezekiel decides to think things over and give a decision the next day. Carol runs into Benjamin (played by Logan Miller), a young soldier from the Kingdom in the woods, and she chides both his clumsy skills and carrying supplies for strangers. Benjamin uses this encounter to convince Ezekiel to help Rick and the others because they will fight regardless and it would be better to join the fight than wait to be saved. In the end, Ezekiel decides that uneasy peace with the Saviors is better than risking his people’s lives—but several of his soldiers are more than willing to join Rick.

There’s no hesitation when it comes to getting ready for the fight (well for most of the characters). At least with Ezekiel, there is a genuine motivation to protect his people from further suffering or loss of life. Meanwhile, the cowardly Gregory continues to hit new lows with every appearance, and he still doesn’t bother to learn people’s names! But it’s great to see so many citizens of Hilltop and the Kingdom want to fight, even though most of them are nameless faces in the crowd. Putting aside Morgan’s no violence aspect, his idea about Negan is solid, as the Saviors leader: take him down it weakens them—but he needs to be killed. Many of the Saviors are also inherently violent and won’t surrender or leave willingly, so a fight is inevitable. But timing is everything, and it shouldn’t take more than four, maybe five, episodes for this war to kick into high gear. Dragging the process out over the next half of this season wouldn’t be so much building suspense as testing viewer’s patience.

Ezekiel does offer Daryl (played by Norman Reedus) shelter, as he is still a wanted fugitive of the Saviors. Rick convinces Daryl to stay so he can continue to try to change Ezekiel’s mind. While driving back to Alexandria, the group uses a radio Jesus stole to monitor the Saviors communications and stumble upon another outpost. They also find a trap made of explosives and Rosita (played by Christian Serratos) works to disarm them to use as weapons. They work fast after hearing Negan order a search party for Daryl. Rick orders everyone to use cars to make a barricade to trap an oncoming herd of walkers to keep them on the highway, in case they need to use them later. When the herd traps several people, Rick and Michonne (played by Danai Gurira) use cars with a steel cable to cut down several of them and drive off with the others. They arrive just before a group of Saviors searching for Daryl, but upon finding nothing they leave without incident.

Ezekiel may not have the stomach for fighting, but at least he has good hospitality. Daryl being sidelined into the Kingdom to hide from the Saviors isn’t good, he just broke out of a prison: now he’s being kept somewhere else. Logically, it makes sense, but Daryl is a character you want to see preparing to fight and kicking ass while he does. The scene of everyone collecting explosives was great, it was like a teaser of the epic battle to come. Throwing in the walker herd and the race to beat the Saviors made it suspenseful to boot, and one of the most original ways to kill walkers that we’ve seen in awhile. This kind of stuff is great, but again, two or three episodes from now we’ll all be thinking “enough buildup let’s get to the action.”

The pantry is found raided, and it seems Father Gabriel (played by Seth Gilliam) drove off with supplies. But Rick thinks there’s another explanation. Rick finds a hidden note from Gabriel which leads them to the houseboat Rick had once visited for supplies. However, when they arrive there is an armed group of survivors who surround them. Considering Gabriel’s history, it’s not a stretch to consider he ran off to save his own ass. It’s unlikely a new hostile group is going to be introduced with the war with the Saviors on the horizon. These people are going to help Rick and the others. Which is great for them, but the list of characters is already big. I don’t know if there’s room for many more.

Quotes/Thoughts

“What the hell, man? You’re either with us or you ain’t. You’re sitting over there talking out of both sides of your mouth.”

One scene of Carol is better than none, but it’s still not enough. I want to see more!

“We made it. We can make it. We’re the ones who live.”

Negan’s eulogy over the radio for a fallen Savior was both touching and hilarious. The man is a wordsmith.

If you enjoyed Manny’s review, you can find the rest of his work right HERE on Sci-Fi Bloggers. You can also follow him on Twitter @KN_Manny.

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