The Walking Dead
Episode Title: “Coda”
Channel: AMC
Director: Ernest
Dickerson
Writers: Angela
Kang
Genre: Drama,
Horror, Thriller
Runtime: 44
min
Rated: TV-MA
Original Air Date: November 30,
20
I don't think it's going to be possible
to talk about “Coda” without discussing a spoiler or two, so be
warned, the rest of this review may contain spoilers for those who
haven't yet seen the episode, proceed with caution.
This is the mid-season finale for The
Walking Dead and it has been
teased for a couple of weeks now that something big was going to
happen. Before getting to that though, lets discuss the rest of the
episode. The episode began with Rick dealing with the ramifications
of Sasha's decision to trust one of their prisoners, and he ends
Lamson in brutal fashion. We also see Father Gabriel poking around
at the school that Gareth and his cannibals used as a base of
operations after the fall of Terminus. I don't remember the name of
his love interest from earlier in the season, but I'm assuming that
the bible he found was her's. If not, then the significance must've
been in the many times read passage from Corinthians that he found.
Then, like the liability that he is, he leads a large group of
walkers back to the church. This forces Michonne and Carl to let him
in and in the process lose the church to the walkers. Luckily,
Abraham and his group arrive just in time, in their super quiet, no
one heard it coming, fire engine and blocked off the entrance to the
church. They decide to head off to Atlanta to help get Beth and
Carol back, Maggie finally remembers that she has a sister.
Dawn,
who has been claiming that she does everything she can to keep the
peace, got into a altercation with one of her officers earlier in the
show, and enlisted Dawn's help chucking the guy down an elevator
shaft. I guess this was supposed to indicate to the audience that
she was loosing her grip on things, without having seen enough of the
character though I don't think we'd every seen her in control, so it
just seemed like the next thing to go wrong.
The
first meeting with representatives from Grady goes well. Rick meets
them on the roof of a parking garage with sniper cover, and they
agree to the prisoner transfer. His next move makes little sense, as
he agrees to go to the hospital for the transfer. Aside from the
fact that this gives his adversaries home-field advantage, this also
means that they need to figure out a way to get Carol, who was hit by
a car the day before down five flights of stairs and to safety. It
seemed like a bad decision to have things happen this way.
Ultimately the fact that the deal doesn't happen the way they'd
discussed falls on Dawn's shoulders, she demanded Noah's return to
their 'care,' and with little in the way of an argument he agrees.
Next
comes the moment we've been looking forward to, and dreading. Beth
seems to, in quite a premeditated fashion, decide that now's the time
to stand up to Dawn. I'm not sure if Dawn's demand that Noah stay
was the catalyst, but it should be noted that Beth armed herself
before the transfer took place. Beth stabs Dawn, non-fatally it
would seem, Dawn shoots Beth in the head, and after a quick look at
all the shocked faces standing around, Daryl shoots Dawn in the head.
Once the shell casings hit the floor the remaining cops tell Rick's
group that their business is done, right before offering them a place
at the hospital. It was another strange script choice, as I'm not
sure that anyone in Grady would've really felt comfortable having
such a well armed and capable group living in the same building as
them. The whole confrontation felt rushed when it didn't need to,
there were several filler moments that could have been cut out,
leaving time for the stuff that actually mattered. For instance, the
conversation between Tyreese and Sasha did not need to happen when it
did, how about instead we get to see Carol waking up, and her reunion
with Beth? Having at least one member of the group spend some time
with Beth before her demise might've added to the impact of her
death. Or, let Abraham's group arrive earlier, that way Maggie
could've been there for the shooting. A brief look of relief,
followed by terror as events unfolded could have been quite emotional
There
was a lot of tension in these scenes, but looking back only some of
that tension was due to the way it was written and shot. Knowing
that something devastating was coming made the scenes feel heavier
than I think they managed to actually write them. Beth's death was a
big deal, but ultimately nothing was gained by the last five episodes
or so. The show trades Beth for Noah, but surprisingly not one
person at Grady Memorial decided to leave with Rick's group when
given the opportunity. There are still bad cops at Grady, about whom
Rick is apparently going to do nothing. Maggie's reaction when she
sees Daryl carrying Beth's body out of the hospital (Abraham's group
arrives at precisely the most convenient moment, again) seemed
appropriate, until you consider that she hasn't seemed to care one
bit about Beth since she went missing.
Conclusion:
“Coda” was not a totally unsatisfying way to leave the show for
the winter break, but it wasn't executed as well as it could have
been. Perhaps most frustrating is that with everything going on,
nothing happened. Normally story arcs that take this many episodes
to materialize end in at least some kind of return for the group,
however short-lived.
Rating:
7.25/10
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