With the series at a point where a lot of setup is required for the next big turn of events, it was inevitable that there would be an episode that would amount to slow but steady exposition.  And those familiar with the source material were likely waiting for an episode like this to come around.  Unfortunately, this is also a Daryl-centric installment, and one in which he is in an unexpectedly weak position.  Daryl fans are unlikely to be pleased.

 

The entire episode can be summed up rather easily: Negan has Daryl tortured in the hopes of having one of Rick’s strongest allies broken and under his thumb.  It means a lot of scenes where Daryl is eating dog food sandwiches and being forced to listen to horrible pop music at unbearable levels.  Rather predictably, Daryl doesn’t break in quite the way Negan would like, but there’s no mistaking that Daryl is in a dark place.  He may, in fact, get to the point where he tries to push Negan into killing him.


Meanwhile, we also get to see things from Dwight’s perspective.  Not only does this help to give the audience a clearer picture of life at Sanctuary, and the extent of Negan’s control over his people, but it serves as a signal that Dwight is going to be a much more prominent and important character in the future.  For readers of the source material, this was a completely expected turn of events, but those who have only seen Dwight as a somewhat cowardly figure up to this point might not be as amenable to his increased screen time.

It would be fair to say, as well, that the very end of the episode didn’t help.  It’s great that the writers did their best to incorporate some important information about Dwight’s facial scars and Negan’s reasoning for pressing a hot iron on the man’s face, but this is one of those “show don’t tell” moments.  Jeffrey Dean Morgan does everything possible to deliver the story in a convincing manner, but it still comes across as clunky exposition that could have been handled differently.



In fact, the episode had Daryl interacting with Dwight and his ex-wife so often that it could have been revealed slowly over the course of the episode.  It was hinted that there was more to the story, for sure, but why leave it to a long monologue that just reminds the audience that Negan has had much better strutting moments lately?  It also adds to the terror a bit if the truth about Sanctuary is revealed in little whispered moments vs. Negan dumping his philosophy on everyone in a single load.





There’s also the questionable choice of waiting so long to return to the main cast and delve into the aftermath of the season premiere.  It’s probably fair to say that the cast needed some down time in terms of production to recover from the trauma of the filming experience, but there’s no rule that says episodes have to be aired in the same order they’re filmed!  Instead this feels like teasing out the process for the audience, not unlike Glenn’s supposed death in the sixth season.  Frankly, the audience is tiring of such antics and the series is popular enough that the writers don’t need to resort to such tactics to maintain interest.



So the irony of this episode is that in isolation, it serves a fairly important purpose in fleshing out the kind of society Negan has built in the name of survival, the kind of person Dwight actually is, and the precarious situation for Daryl.  It’s flawed in those respects, but it still works well enough.  It’s the larger context of how the start to the season has been plotted out that begs a lot of criticism, and with the fallout of the premiere coming in an extended episode with the next installment, one can only hope the wait was worth it.