Though ratings for The Walking Dead have eroded over the past two seasons, I have not been one to sound the alarm bells on the series. Fans need not freak out about the ratings; the show is doing very well relative to everything else on cable television, and the season-ending crossover event with Fear the Walking Dead, which can be seen in theaters, should help boost numbers for the spin-off.
With that said, there’s a reason ratings on the show have dipped, and there’s a reason that Fear the Walking Dead has been a creatively better series of late, and that reason is this: The Walking Dead has been mired in the same storyline now for nearly two-and-a-half seasons. Part of the reason The Walking Dead used to be so much more fun was there was always a new development around the corner; a potential new villain; or a new community. Arcs typically lasted 8 episodes, 16 tops. The Walking Dead, however, has been preoccupied with Negan and The Saviors now for 36 episodes. The series spent half a season working up to the introduction of Negan; a full season watching Negan demoralize the Alexandrians, and now we’re finally in the stretch run of The All Out War.
This all started in November of 2015. It’s hard to remember when this show wasn’t about Negan. It’s hard to remember when there was another threat besides the Saviors. In fact, apart from taking away three beloved characters — Carl, Glenn, and Abraham — the interminable Negan storyline has essentially sidelined another two: Daryl and Carol. The series hasn’t been about building relationships in over two years; it’s been about killing off characters and adding more fuel for revenge. Carl was right: These characters desperately need to get back to who they used to be before Negan came along. For 36 episodes now, The Walking Dead has been about anger, fear, and grief. It’s been a long time since hope or even a sense of humor has entered the equation. This is exactly what happened in the later seasons of another hit show, Sons of Anarchy. which became so preoccupied with shifting alliances and revenge that it completely lost its sense of self.
This is the reason I’m most excited about the Fear the Walking Dead crossover. It’s not necessarily because the two shows may be commingling in future seasons. It’s because The Walking Dead will finally be about something other than Negan and The Saviors. The series is in desperate need of a shake-up, and the only way it can start to change and evolve is to finally get past the All Out War.
We’ve still got four more episodes to get through, however, and this week’s, “The Key,” didn’t advance the story so much as it rearranged the chess pieces. It’s helmed by Greg Nicotero, a brilliant special effects supervisor but not my favorite The Walking Dead director thanks to his obsession with lingering close-up shots of faces, 70’s style camerawork, and an inability to restrain Negan’s schtick, which is in full-blown over-annunciation mode.
The most interesting storyline this week is the jockeying by Simon, who realizes that once Negan finds out he slaughtered the entire Scavenger community he’s a goner. With Dwight back among the Saviors, Simon takes him aside and lobbies him toward a new approach. Simon is no longer interested in “saving” the Alexandrians. He realizes that they’re no longer scared of Negan, and he wants to wipe them all out.
When Rick runs Negan off the road and engages in yet another confrontation with him, Simon sees an opening. He blocks the rest of the Saviors from attempting to rescue Negan and instead takes Dwight aside and feigns a two-man rescue attempt, secretly hoping that Rick has killed Negan so that Simon can take over. Dwight begrudgingly plays along, although Dwight is not interested in being a Savior with either Negan or Simon in charge. Dwight is biding his time, collecting intel, and searching for another opportunity to return to the Alexandrians. He’s happy to overthrow Negan, but he doesn’t see Simon as an improvement.
Elsewhere, the Rick and Negan showdown goes exactly where we expect it to go: nowhere. It’s a lot of jabbering followed by an anti-climactic end to the scuffle. Rick unwisely wastes all of his bullets wildly shooting at Negan, although he does manage to briefly wrestle Lucille away and set the baseball bat ablaze. Negan, however, rescues it before it burns up. In the fracas which covers nearly the entire episode, Rick escapes, and somehow Negan wakes up inside the car of Jadis, who is driving him to an undisclosed location.
Meanwhile, Simon — who believes Negan may be dead — decides to take control of The Saviors and gives them all a big pep talk about slaughtering everyone on The Hilltop. “Let’s do it for Negan!” he says, when what he means is, “God! I hope Negan is dead, because if he finds out I took over The Saviors in his absence, he’s going to feed me to a pack of zombies.” Simon’s days are numbered.
Back at The Hilltop, almost nothing worthy of note happens. The C-storyline feels like one of those added-on sub-plots in Marvel movies designed solely to connect the different movies. In fact, that may be exactly what this is. In Georgie (Jayne Atkinson), The Walking Dead universe may have found its Nick Fury. However, her contribution to this episode is little more than some more food and “knowledge,” i.e., blueprints and schematics for building a civilization, or something that anyone could have picked up at almost any abandoned library in the known world.
Ultimately, however, “The Key” is more wheel-spinning. The series is staving off the inevitable, holding back the final confrontation until the eighth season finale, at which point The Savior storyline will finally end after 40 episodes of The Walking Dead and the show can finally move on to something else.
Additional Notes
— I can’t say I’m really loving the sexual fetishization of a baseball bat by Negan. It’s veering into uncomfortable territory.
— “I look around and think about the people that are gone, the people that are still here. It ain’t right. It ain’t fair,” Daryl says to Rick, echoing the thoughts of more than a few fans of The Walking Dead.
— Rick managed to impart at least one piece of information to Negan in that otherwise pointless showdown: He let Negan know that Simon wiped out all the Scavengers.
— The best possible outcome with Negan is if he offers up Simon to Jadis in exchange for his freedom.
— As I explain in this post, I think there is a larger point to the introduction of Georgie, but she provided very little to this episode, other than allow Michonne to convince Maggie and Enid that they, too, must follow Carl’s lead. They have to fight not for revenge, but for the future.
— Next week’s episode looks like a lot more waiting before The Saviors finally arrive for their showdown at The Hilltop.
