As much as Rick and company get their heads down and work things out to take on Negan, it doesn’t quite work. As they say – the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. Carl is now willing to stand up to his dad and take a stand if he needs to and he’s certainly looking like the future of the show. It gives us some time to really appreciate the man Carl has become and when Michonne (Danai Gurira) calls him a leader, it’s recognition for his maturity and focus, as well as her growing love for him as part of a family with Rick. There are a few nice walker cameos and throwaway lines that die-hard fans will have picked up and enjoyed also. We see how different their approaches are in regards to Siddiq (Avi Nash) and while Rick is usually right, maybe it’s time for Carl to earn a little respect. And Daryl? Well let’s just say Norman Reedus probably had a lot more fun filming this opener than most of what he did last season.īeing the 100 th episode it’s nice to see various callbacks including the Rick and Carl gas station scene which gives us a strong feeling of Carl walking in Rick’s shoes these days. Tara is definitely awesome enough to hang with the cool kids. As interesting as it is sometimes to see Carol and Morgan emotionally challenged, they’re way more fun when they’re unleashing hell on the undead. It’s much better seeing this group back to being proactive and together rather than divided and downtrodden. Picking off guards one by one Team Carol then focus their attention on directing a huge group of walkers towards the Sanctuary. While many join the super group to storm Negan’s base, Carol is away with Tara (Alanna Masterson), Morgan (Lennie James) and Daryl (Norman Reedus) acting on intel from the once loyal Dwight (Austin Amelion) who is SO done with Negan. The fight against Negan takes a lot of planning and careful calculation. It also gives us a chance to see how far so many of them have come since the beginning, especially Carl (Chandler Riggs) who is stepping up and Carol (Melissa McBride) who is hardly recognisable from the woman she once was. Episode 100 is all about seeing those we know and love at their kick-ass best and finally fighting back against their biggest threat. As important as it was to bring Rick to his knees against Negan and give some real stakes to everyone’s survival, it was emotionally draining and ultimately frustrating. The show instantly feels refreshed and rejuvenated for the more positive attitude from the characters and their hopeful outlook on the future. With a few choice words and motivational uproar we’re thrust into the main purpose for this 100th episode – to confuse, disrupt and potentially even kill Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and the Saviors. Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and his group stand beside Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and her Hilltop followers, and the ever-enigmatic King Ezekiel (Khary Payton) brings his gang – and pet tiger Shiva of course – to the party.
Thankfully in ‘ Mercy’ we’re shown from the get-go that our favourites are all back together and on the same page.
With arguably too many episodes a season and so many characters to juggle, they often struggled in season 7 with jumping all over the place and splitting up the core group.
At its best it can be one of the top shows on TV but at its worst it’s a meandering mess. I have a love/hate relationship with The Walking Dead. There’s no ‘who did Negan kill?’ mystery hanging over our heads as we enter season 8 where we finally hit that 100 episode milestone with the season opener ‘ Mercy’. We’re definitely on the slippery slope to Christmas now! The break between seasons seemed to go a lot quicker this time didn’t it? Probably because the writers were nice enough to make sure we weren’t left with a humongous cliffhanger like they did before. Oh and there’s a little zombie apocalypse show called The Walking Dead which has returned too. Alan Sugar is shouting at people on The Apprentice.