The Walking Dead: 4 Things "Spend" Got Right (And 6 It Didn't)

1. The Coming Battle

If the beginning of this series was about testing the characters in a handful of different, tense scenarios, and the second half is building to some sort of brutal climax, then this is the episode where we tread water a little. That doesn't always have to be a bad thing, with some of the sub-plots throughout €œSpend€ doing some nice little world building for Alexandria and character development. Mostly, though, it had the feel of slowly moving all the pieces on a chess board into place. Rick didn't have to appear all that much in this episode, because his position on this new settlement (ie he doesn't trust them) has already been made clear, and to a degree proven right by Nicholas trying to leave the rest of his team to the walkers. The final scene was a bit on the nose, with Father Gabriel continuing to go full caricature in railing against the group's Old Testament evil to town leader Deanna, but it did well to illustrate the divide between Rick's gang and the Alexandria lot. The season finale is almost certainly going to be when the two finally come to blows. Besides that last scene, they've set it up well. The group have seemingly infiltrated every part of the city: Rick as cop, Abraham working on the wall. They're not gonna go without a fight.