When ‘The Walking Dead’ remembers it’s ‘The Walking Dead’ the show can emotionally destroy you, the fourth episode of season eight ‘Some Guy’ did just that Sunday night. ‘Some Guy’ was a personal tale of Ezekiel as his whole world comes crashing down.
There will be spoilers about tonight’s episode of ‘The Walking Dead’ after the break, you’ve been warned.
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room before we critique the episode. Negan did not appear again! Jeffrey Dean Morgan as a Negan is a very charismatic character, Negan is the Darth Vader of ‘The Walking Dead’ Universe. Fans crave his screen time, and the lack thereof is killing the show.
As the world grows in ‘The Walking Dead,’ the series needs to do a better job at incorporating as many characters as possible in an episode. These one-off adventures are great for fans of Ezekiel but are god awful for the viewers that are dying to see Negan, Rick, Daryl, Maggie, and or whoever it is that you love on the show.
‘Game of Thrones’ is a well-produced show because HBO does a great job cramming as many characters as possible into a single episode. The story may unfold slower, but you please a broader audience.
Okay, let’s get back to ‘Some Guy’ and the deconstruction of Ezekiel’s character. In the episode, Ezekiel loses everything and is forced to rethink every choice he’s made since the outbreak of zombies. Not everything in the episode is fully explained, which lets the viewer have an individual experience as they watch and reflect on the episode. With ‘Some Guy’ you can go as deep and meaningful as you care to go. I recommend going as deep as possible.
What does it mean to be a leader?
Is Ezekiel a fraud?
What does Shiva’s death represent?
When you can have a long-winded debate with your friend about a character on a show, that show is doing something right. ‘Some Guy’ is just another example of why ‘The Walking Dead’ is a well-produced show. These are the episodes that fans will talk about in the future. As a reader of the comic, I knew that Shiva dies a valiant brutal death. Yet, when I was confronted with it in the episode, I was more heartbroken than when I read it in the comic. Translating comic book moments to the screen has been a flaw in the series, but not tonight. RIP Shiva!
Another sign of a good episode is being left with the right amount of questions. With ‘Some Guy’ the main question is where does Ezekiel go from here, and how does he rebound from this extreme loss. The drama is there, and as a fan of the series, I’m eager to see how it unfolds.
Can we give some props to Cooper Andrews as Jerry, his role tonight was minor, but he’s the Hugo “Hurley” Reyes of ‘The Walking Dead.’ The show needs an extended conversation between Negan and Jerry, just saying.
It looks like Negan finally returns next week, and it couldn’t happen soon enough, as the season has become bland with only one side of the story.
What did you think of Sunday night’s episode? Sound off in the comment section below.
