The Walking Dead – ‘Monsters’

They’re 3-for-3. The Walking Dead continues its fantastic eighth season with ‘Monsters,’ a title that really surmises the themes of the episode (and potentially this upcoming season, if not the entire show) rather well.

We once again pick up from where last week finished, and continue to follow multiple groups of characters at once (have the writers finally realised that focusing on only a couple of characters a week brings the show’s pacing to a standstill?). Rick confronts Morales, who has him at gunpoint, while Aaron tries to save his dying boyfriend Eric. Meanwhile Ezekiel leads Carol and others on an offensive charge, and Jesus tries to calm Morgan down.

After a shock return, Morales doesn’t last that long, getting shot in the head by Daryl’s trusty crossbow pretty quickly. Despite barely being in the show, Morales’ death is given weight, especially coming after Rick tries to convince him that he wouldn’t have killed him if he had the chance. This opens up some tension between Daryl and Rick, which develops further when Daryl once again kills someone Rick promised wouldn’t die (this time a random Saviour). Andrew Lincoln perfectly conveys Rick trying to come to terms with his violent past and a more idealistic mind-set.

Xander Berkeley goes full Xander Berkeley here, and it’s great

Similar themes come to pass in the Tara/Jesus/Morgan story. Tara wants the Saviours dead, but is willing to wait for Maggie’s decision. Morgan is hungry for blood, and isn’t happy with Jesus’ plan to keep the Saviours who surrendered as hostages. When a Walker horde attacks, some of the Saviours try and escape, and Morgan hunts them down. After killing one of them, he turns on Jesus for trying to stop him, and an impressive fight ensues. Watching Morgan return to the deranged and violent persona he adopted after his son died is interesting, with the writers treating murder like an addiction for the character. Once he slipped up, he can’t stop. I hope the writers find an interesting way to resolve this conflict, rather than having the character constantly flitting between being murder-obsessed and life-obsessed.

This group eventually return to Hilltop, following a particularly humorous scene with Gregory trying to return to his home despite betraying them. His pleas eventually reach Maggie, who allows him to enter. Xander Berkeley goes full Xander Berkeley here, and it’s great. The pure hypocrisy of the character is frustrating, but Berkeley’s performance is so funny you can’t help but laugh.

Meanwhile, King Ezekiel doesn’t plan on losing anyone, and finishes his mission without any deaths at all. This contrasts really nicely with the death that surrounds the episode (a bit more on that in a moment), as well with that twist ending, where a sniper suddenly mows down a significant number of Ezekiel’s men. I can’t wait to see how the King copes with this in next week’s episode, and hopefully getting to see Carol kick some serious butt.

This a is a stark contrast to last season’s abysmally slow pacing

Finally, Aaron tries to save Eric’s life. After taking him out of the trenches, he leaves him against a tree to recover, before returning to help with the fight as well. However, when the battle is over, he discovers Eric has gone. After calling for him, he sees him in the distance, having turned into a Walker. While I may not have been fully invested in the pair’s relationship, it doesn’t matter, because I’m invested in Aaron as a character, and Ross Marquand’s performance is fantastic, really making me feel for his character even more.

How long can they keep all this action up? We’re 3 episodes in and the pace hasn’t let up. This a is a stark contrast to last season’s abysmally slow pacing, yet the show is still finding time for character development. The theme of war as a focus for the season has also worked to its benefit, adding context and raising the stakes.

In a death-packed episode, The Walking Dead continues its strong run. Last series may have been the tortoise, but this is one is shaping up to be the hare – 5/5 stars.