Anyone familiar with the source material can see where the story is going, and for some, that will serve as a source of minor annoyance.  I prefer to see it as an interesting exercise in story revision; given the chance, how would Robert Kirkman want to revisit his original vision and set things up more substantially?  All that said, I still wasn’t expecting the Hunters to be handled so quickly, and so I wasn’t expecting Daryl and Carol’s intersection with the scouts for the next story location to come into play at the end.



But more on that in the next episode; this is all about the showdown with the Hunters and revealing the backstory for Father Gabriel.  When they started with the infamous “tainted meat” scene, albeit revised for the purpose of the television narrative, I knew we were in for a ride.  Oddly, it took a while for the anticipated showdown to take place, and the scenes in-between were devoted to setting up the transition to what’s coming.

I was left with the impression that Bob’s death was less about the departure of a cast member and more about what it was going to mean for Sasha and Tyrese, both of whom show some interesting sides of themselves during the long goodbye.  Part of me was thinking that it was good Carol was off with Daryl, because she would have taken care of business immediately!  But there were other distractions that are mildly frustrating, especially since the gang just got back together.

I understand that Abraham is focused on the mission to Washington, but his decision to make ultimatums at this point felt unnecessary.  He got the agreement of the group in the previous episode, so did he really have to push so hard in this instance?  Oddly, I was left wondering why Eugene didn’t speak for himself, and I didn’t quite understand why Glenn and Maggie were caught in the middle.  Considering how useful Abraham was to the final resolution with the Hunters, I was hoping that it was all part of the show they were putting on to lull the Hunters into making a really bad move.




The final dispatch of the Hunters is ridiculously brutal, and I imagine part of that was to get some of the characters to question Rick’s level of violence.  Eliminating the threat of the Hunters was a necessity, but it didn’t have to be as messy as it was.  Even if Rick wanted to save bullets (an odd comment after wasting a lot shooting at nothing earlier in the episode!), there was a lot of hacking and smashing involved.

It might feel as if the series is a bit lacking in direction, but as readers of the source material likely recall, that tension of uncertainty was rather intentional.  Team Grimes was meant to feel adrift and unable to trust after the run-in with the Hunters, and that feeds into how they react when a very different scenario is presented in the near-term.  It also goes a long way towards explaining why the Hunters were tied to a location like Terminus.  After that sanctuary turned out to be anything but, how will the next apparent safe haven be perceived?