The Walking Dead: 7 Things "Them" Got Right (And 3 It Didn't)

6. Non-Verbal Storytelling

Considering one of the most consistent problems The Walking Dead has had in its five seasons so far is the script writing, this week's episode should be commended for letting the character shut the hell up. In fact, for almost the first full five minutes of €œThem€ there's no dialogue at all, with the creators doing a pretty good job of providing some non-verbal storytelling. After the mid-season premiere managed to skip over a whole bunch of exposition with a montage of chatter, it was cool of them to pump the breaks and remember the quiet moments can be just as effective at portraying story beats and characters. The group looking in the woods for water didn't need any bantery back-and-forth. In fact, the quiet desperation throughout the episode was perfectly matched by the, well, quiet that pervaded most of the forty minutes. Plus it makes in-universe sense, since they were all hella thirsty and probably didn't want to go flapping their chops, lest they expedite their dehydration.