Movies & TV / Reviews
The Walking Dead 9.02 Review – ‘The Bridge’
Loading...This week on The Walking Dead, building bridges is harder than it sounds, both literally and figuratively.
The plot: A month into repairs on the bridge that had fallen apart last week, things are going well but there are rising tensions all around. At the bridge camp, Daryl and other like-minded folks are clashing with the workers from Sanctuary, specifically a jerk named Justin with whom he gets into multiple fistfights. Sanctuary folk (Sanctuarians?) are so disgruntled that at least 6 of them have “walked off,” in fact, and a shipment of fuel owed to Hilltop never showed up. This has Maggie playing hardball with the food surplus she’s been providing. No fuel means no tractor means fewer crops–at least, it does while her blacksmith Earl is still in jail and can’t repair the old-fashioned plow they got from the museum. Michonne tries to cajole Maggie into not only giving them the food but also into talking about making some common laws, but Maggie’s a hold out until Jesus gets her to let Tammy see her husband finally, and then Maggie herself has a chat with him. In the end, Maggie softens, knowing that some people can be redeemed, but the key word is “some.” Back at the bridge, a walker herd is intended to be herded away from the bridge, but when Justin fails to do his part, they come right for the workers, and Aaron ends up losing half his left arm as a result. Justin is sent home, but attacked by an unseen but familiar face on the way. Meanwhile, Anne/Jadis and Gabriel are hooking up and it’s weird, Carol and Ezekiel get low-key engaged and it’s adorable, and Rick is having storytime with Negan and it’s exactly as full of beards and posturing as you’d think. Also the helicopter is back!
First up, thank you Wednesday for filling in last week! Great review of a great episode. I’m happy to be back to TWD and into Season 9 this week.
Just like last week, new and better beginnings is writ large in this episode, but since TWD has never meet a theme it didn’t want to plaster all over itself, that’s not too shocking. Just like last half-season was all about mercy overcoming wrath, this one is all about the new beginning. That said, I feel like TWD’s writing, acting, and direction are better at handling those themes even when they are made very blatant than most shows. For one thing, they find natural reasons for people to be talking about them–it makes sense that all of the big conversations use these words. It’s literally what they’re talking about, and with good cause, and it’s also a natural use of language–one person says something a certain way, and that becomes the way the rest of them talk about it. Michonne used the phrase “a new beginning,” so it makes sense for her and Rick to keep using it, and that then spreads to Aaron and Maggie, and so forth.
At Hilltop, however, Maggie has something of a different idea about what that new beginning should be. With her decision to hang Gregory for his repeated crimes and general inability to no be a self-interested backstabbing little shit (guys, I’m really glad he’s dead), Maggie has decided to send a very firm message. Her words at the hanging about how at Hilltop, “the punishment suits the crime” were for more than just a warning to other would-be disgruntled denizens, but for Michonne and Rick. She’s still pissed that Negan has been allowed to live. I daresay it’s a message she wants to get out there, too, because it carries the implication that if a larger conflict starts and you’re like-minded on the subject of Negan, Hilltop is the place for you. However, embracing corporal punishment is a complicated thing, and Maggie is smart, moral, and good-hearted enough that she doesn’t want to kill just anyone, and to recognize that doing so would also be a bad idea. Part of why she’s still holding Earl in the cell and not letting anyone in is no doubt so she can figure out just what limits she wants to set. Now that it’s been introduced, inconsistency can be as dangerous as anything else. But what punishment for Earl will make her look neither too weak and forgiving, nor too firm and harsh?
Beyond just the reminder of her father’s drinking problems, and the reminder that her own husband is dead (I’m pretty sure at least some of her tears at overhearing Tammy and Earl’s reunion were due to that), I think deep down this is why she’s coming around on the idea of common laws for the greater good. With the community network they have, after all, there’s no reason to lay the burden of determining these things on any single leader. But, yes, it does also mean surrendering some autonomy, something they clearly each value. Basically, rebuilding a larger society ain’t easy, yo.
But what better way to bring people together than with a group project? Always worked in high school, right? (*crickets*) Yeah, it works about the same here. Which is to say, it gets done, and some people come together to do the work and do it well, but there are always some jerks and some slackers who are there to leech off everyone else, coast by, and still get a B. I’m looking at you, Justin! Seriously, I’m so glad that Henry didn’t take any crap from this guy and just gave it right back. I mean, Henry’s already killed a Savior with a spear to the throat. Maybe someone would’ve done well to tell Justin that. He’s not the only one screwing up, though he’s the only one who’s a jerk about it. There’s the guy who lets a huge honking log just roll off the pile and nearly kill someone, who is only saved by Aaron’s poor left arm. I’m pretty sure he was also a Savior, at least, and it’s surprising to me that he doesn’t seem to catch any flack for his carelessness.
I’m interested to see more on the Saviors side of things in this tense situation that’s going on. Justin’s a jerk, sure, but it’s hard to know what the general attitude is. Some people are Negan loyalists, it seems, but how serious are they about that? How many are there? Is the majority opinion that the Sanctuarians (yep, I’m making it a thing now) are relieved to have been allowed to live and be welcomed into this community? How strong is the divide within Sanctuary itself? We know that there were the Saviors and the people working under them in the points system, after all, and I would imagine those two groups may feel differently about how things are going now. I understand why everyone is tense about that group, but the other side of it is still largely unknown. All we do is that Daryl wanted out and he’s clearly had his fill of guys like Justin, at the very least. How much of that was Daryl’s PTSD from his brief but intense imprisonment, and how much has been well-earned by the people he was in charge of?
And then there’s Rick. This is peak Rick right here: firm, compassionate, optimistic but informed, keen-eyed and decisive and charismatic–and of course, hiding some deep scars under it all. Scars that Negan is more than happy to scratch at, naturally, by bringing up that Carl is dead and Rick can’t show him this new world that he’s building. The one thing he wanted to give to Carl, the thing that drove him, is gone, and no matter what Rick does to try and cover up and recover from that loss, he never will. Since we know his days are numbered, in a way I feel like that will be a relief for him, no longer needing to live with that loss and, we can hope, getting to see his son again on the other side.
Other notes:
– I LOVE the new credits. I wasn’t expecting a new style at all, but for all that they are very visually different from the previous ones, they still carry the same kind of feeling that the old ones did, and it’s a great nod to the graphic novel origins of the show as well. I love the visuals of a broken and haunted world that is nonetheless being reborn and rebuilding itself on top of the grave of the world that was. Plus, it’s a great way to signal that really IS a new era in the story. Which, since we know Rick is not much longer for this world, it very much is.
– The helicopter is back again! At the end of last season, we saw Anne/Jadis somehow call that copter out, but miss her chance to grab a ride on it to…who knows where. She’s spotted it again this time, but will she tell anyone?
– Anne and Gabriel flirting, and hooking up, is weird. I get that he’s Episcopalian but it is still just weird seeing someone with a priest collar having his pants unzipped by another person. Maybe my latent Catholic roots are showing.
– I do, however, thinks it’s hilarious that Gabriel’s flirting game is talking about frog mating calls!
– Looks like Maggie may have an out from the show that doesn’t involve dying. Jesus sees letters from Georgie, the woman who last season gave them the “Key to the Future” book, and asks if Maggie is reconsidering Georgie’s offer to join her. She’s not right now, but maybe that will change? It would be refreshing for someone to be able to leave without it being a death sentence. Or a one-way ticker to Fear the Walking Dead.
– Aw, man. I just realized Morgan will never see Rick again, and that makes me sad.
– Aaron being a proud papa (I assume to the orphaned baby Grace) was adorable and I feel so bad for him, but I’m glad he’s alive. And is it just me or are there maybe some vibes between him and Daryl? What do you think? Just good friends and Daryl’s unstated (maybe non-existent) preferences will remain unstated? I’m good either way, I think, but I’m curious what others think.
– Who do you think punched out Justin at the end there? Another Savior? Someone else? He knew them, but that’s all we know. Are the “walk off” Saviors going rogue, or are they being picked off?
– Carol and Ezekiel warm my heart. I hope neither of them dies and I definitely hope to hear his proposal speech later!
