Reviews
“The Walking Dead” Review – First of Final 8 Episodes Brings Carnage, Car Chases, and Brisk Narrative Pacing
The time has finally come. The final eight-episode run of AMCs “The Walking Dead” has kicked off with the Greg Nicotero-directed “Lockdown.” Picking up directly after the events of Episode 16, our survivors are on the run from a tyrannical Hornsby (Josh Hamilton) and his vicious militia. Inside the walls of the Commonwealth, the rest of the gang witness the downfall of the Milton family’s power in light of allegations against Sebastian Milton (Teo Rapp-Olsson). With the series finale creeping up on the horizon, “Lockdown” pushes full throttle with its pacing as it sets its sights on the highly-anticipated conclusion.
“Lockdown” delivers a healthy-dosage of action sequences paired with proper character-centric scenes. Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Daryl (Norman Reedus) execute a pretty gnarly car-chase, featuring camera movement and stunt-work that feels exhilarating and intensive, on a scale that reminds you of the genre-dipping “The Walking Dead” is capable of. The wide and fast-moving framing during this chase gives proper exposure and attention to the impressive set-design deployed to make the environments of the show look dilapidated.
While the series as a whole looks vastly different cast-wise and narratively than its iconic beginnings, “Lockdown” still rewards long-running fans of the series with callbacks and references to the long path we’ve traveled. The episode begins with a somber montage of Rick’s quest for survival throughout the seasons, narrated by what appears to be Judith Grimes (Cailey Fleming) much later in the narrative (perhaps taking Carl’s role in the comic series’ ending). While it borders on being gimmicky, the attempt to emphasize the finality of these last episodes definitely works. As fans, we’ve come so far to arrive at this home stretch.
Other instances of callbacks include a line about Daryl proclaiming to Maggie (Lauren Cohan) that Glenn would want him to protect her any chance he gets (in reference to him having to slay his lover-turned-antagonist Leah to save Maggie in episode 16). Little moments like these reinforce the impact and importance of the events we’ve spent over 10 years witnessing. During his pursuit of Commonwealth soldiers, Negan makes use of a Whisperer mask, blending in with a horde to sneak up on his prey. Once again, moments like this reward longtime viewers and add to the realism of the main characters’ development. The main crew will do whatever it takes to adapt and survive, even if it means taking on former-enemy strategies.
With its vast, and ever-expanding cast of characters, the show often misses out on more focused character dynamics. “Lockdown” lets Negan team-up with Carol (Melissa McBride) to investigate Sebastian Milton’s disappearance. In a much more controlled (and not life-or-death) environment within the Commonwealth’s walls, the comedic banter of Negan is able to come through much stronger. It’s clear Carol only regards Negan as an ally in the communal fight for survival, and certainly not an actual friend. Negan disregards any hostility stemming from Carol and lets his foul-mouth fly.
He even tries to pluck some sympathy from her by mentioning his new (and pregnant) wife Annie (Medina Senghore). Negan, despite his horrendous history within the show, continues to be one of the most consistently written characters in the series. He has properly adjusted to his place amongst the survivors, but has certainly not sacrificed his personality and ego. Jeffrey Dean Morgan continues to elevate the character, making him one of the strongest of the current cast.
As with most of the series’ recent episodes, for every solid narrative decision, there’s often a few negatives that set-back the overall quality of each installment. The journalism storyline involving Magna (Nadia Hilker), Connie (Lauren Ridloff), Kelly (Angel Theory), and Yumiko (Eleanor Matsuura) continues to pale in comparison with the literal life-and-death stakes of the show’s other happenings. It just isn’t an interesting or serious-enough storyline to truly captivate viewers. Luckily, this storyline takes up minimal screen time, allowing the rest of the characters to move the narrative along at a steady, and intensive pace.
Another element of the episode that rings hollow is the manner in which the citizens of the Commonwealth protest the Miltons’ leadership. Something about the design of the signs and direction of these “protest” scenes just lacks any sort of depth. Perhaps there’s a sense of tackiness and even a low-budget aspect of these scenes that make them stand out like a sore thumb. Although, when the Commonwealth soldiers do intervene and threaten the safety of the citizens, things feel much more tense and cinematically in-line with the tone of the show.
As with most of my coverage on the world of “The Walking Dead,” it’s impossible not to praise the always-extraordinary special effects makeup work seen within this episode. With Nicotero at the helm as director, it’s almost always a given that there’ll be stand-out grisly sequences. “Lockdown” checks those boxes with several ghoulish “Walking Dead” style treats. Horror fans will certainly notice a sewer-dwelling walker that bears quite a resemblance to iconic slasher Freddy Krueger. This burnt, Elm Street-sizzled walker isn’t the first time the show has paid tribute to classic horror characters. Another standout sequence sees an unfortunate member of the Commonwealth completely (and slowly) torn in half, as Mercer holds onto the pleading torso. Nicotero doesn’t shy away from the aftermath, lingering the camera on the blood-splattered feeding frenzy. No other zombie show executes the carnage of the undead quite like “TWD.”
While “Lockdown” features a few points of weakness, the fast-paced plot advancement alongside its great action set-pieces, walker moments, and exciting character dynamics result in one of the stronger episodic offerings of “The Walking Dead’s” final season. Hopefully, this momentum can continue and bring fans to a satisfying conclusion for this beloved story of survival.
Reviews
“AHS: Delicate” Review – “Little Gold Man” Mixes Oscar Fever & Baby Fever into the Perfect Product
‘AHS: Delicate’ enters early labor with a fun, frenzied episode that finds the perfect tone and goes for broke as its water breaks.
“I’ll figure it out. Women always do.”
American Horror Story is no stranger to remixing real-life history with ludicrous, heightened Murphy-isms, whether it’s AHS: 1984’s incorporation of Richard Ramirez, AHS: Cult’s use of Valerie Solanas, or AHS: Coven’s prominent role for the Axeman of New Orleans. Accordingly, it’s very much par for the course for AHS: Delicate to riff on other pop culture touchstones and infinitely warp them to its wicked whims. That being said, it takes real guts to do a postmodern feminist version of Rosemary’s Baby and then actually put Mia Farrow – while she’s filming Rosemary’s Baby, no less – into the narrative. This is the type of gonzo bullshit that I want out of American Horror Story! Sharon Tate even shows up for a minute because why the hell not? Make no mistake, this is completely absurd, but the right kind of campy absurdity that’s consistently been in American Horror Story’s wheelhouse since its inception. It’s a wild introduction that sets up an Oscar-centric AHS: Delicate episode for success. “Little Gold Man” is a chaotic episode that’s worth its weight in gold and starts to bring this contentious season home.
It’d be one thing if “Little Gold Man” just featured a brief detour to 1967 so that this season of pregnancy horror could cross off Rosemary’s Baby from its checklist. AHS: Delicate gets more ambitious with its revisionist history and goes so far as to say that Mia Farrow and Anna Victoria Alcott are similarly plagued. “Little Gold Man” intentionally gives Frank Sinatra dialogue that’s basically verbatim from Dex Harding Sr., which indicates that this demonic curse has been ruffling Hollywood’s feathers for the better part of a century. Anna Victoria Alcott’s Oscar-nominated feature film, The Auteur, is evidently no different than Rosemary’s Baby. It’s merely Satanic forces’ latest attempt to cultivate the “perfect product.” “Little Gold Man” even implies that the only reason that Mia Farrow didn’t go on to make waves at the 1969 Academy Awards and ends up with her twisted lot in life is because she couldn’t properly commit to Siobhan’s scheme, unlike Anna.
This is easily one of American Horror Story’s more ridiculous cold opens, but there’s a lot of love for the horror genre and Hollywood that pumps through its veins. If Hollywood needs to be a part of AHS: Delicate’s story then this is actually the perfect connective tissue. On that note, Claire DeJean plays Sharon Tate in “Little Gold Man” and does fine work with the brief scene. However, it would have been a nice, subtle nod of continuity if AHS: Delicate brought back Rachel Roberts who previously portrayed Tate in AHS: Cult. “Little Gold Man” still makes its point and to echo a famous line from Jennifer Lynch’s father’s television masterpiece: “It is happening again.”
“Little Gold Man” is rich in sequences where Anna just rides the waves of success and enjoys her blossoming fame. She feels empowered and begins to finally take control of her life, rather than let it push her around and get under her skin like a gestating fetus. Anna’s success coincides with a colossal exposition dump from Tavi Gevinson’s Cora, a character who’s been absent for so long that we were all seemingly meant to forget that she was ever someone who was supposed to be significant. Cora has apparently been the one pulling many of Anna’s strings all along as she goes Single White Female, rather than Anna having a case of Repulsion. It’s an explanation that oddly works and feeds into the episode’s more general message of dreams becoming nightmares. Cora continuing to stay aligned with Dr. Hill because she has student loans is also somehow, tragically the perfect explanation for her abhorrent behavior. It’s not the most outlandish series of events in an episode that also briefly gives Anna alligator legs and makes Emma Roberts and Kim Kardashian kiss.
“Little Gold Man” often feels like it hits the fast-forward button as it delivers more answers, much in the same vein as last week’s “Ava Hestia.” These episodes are two sides of the same coin and it’s surely no coincidence that they’re both directed by Jennifer Lynch. This season has benefitted from being entirely written by Halley Feiffer – a first for the series – but it’s unfortunate that Lynch couldn’t direct every episode of AHS: Delicate instead of just four out of nine entries. That’s not to say that a version of this season that was unilaterally directed by Lynch would have been without its issues. However, it’s likely that there’d be a better sense of synergy across the season with fewer redundancies. She’s responsible for the best episodes of AHS: Delicate and it’s a disappointment that she won’t be the one who closes the season out in next week’s finale.
To this point, “Little Gold Man” utilizes immaculate pacing that helps this episode breeze by. Anna’s Oscar nomination and the awards ceremony are in the same episode, whereas it feels like “Part 1” of the season would have spaced these events out over four or five episodes. This frenzied tempo works in “Little Gold Man’s” favor as AHS: Delicate speed-runs to its finish instead of getting lost in laborious plotting and unnecessary storytelling. This is how the entire season should have been. Although it’s also worth pointing out that this is by far the shortest episode of American Horror Story to date at only 34 minutes. It’s a shame that the season’s strongest entries have also been the ones with the least amount of content. There could have been a whole other act to “Little Gold Man,” or at the least, a substantially longer cold open that got more out of its Mia Farrow mayhem.
“Little Gold Man” is an American Horror Story episode that does everything right, but is still forced to contend with three-quarters of a subpar season. “Part 2” of AHS: Delicate actually helps the season’s first five episodes shine brighter in retrospect and this will definitely be a season that benefits from one long binge that doesn’t have a six-month break in the middle. Unfortunately, anyone who’s already watched it once will likely not feel compelled to experience these labor pains a second time over. With one episode to go and Anna’s potential demon offspring ready to greet the world, AHS: Delicate is poised to deliver one hell of a finale.
Although, to paraphrase Frank Sinatra, “How do you expect to be a good conclusion if this is what you’re chasing?”
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