The Walking Dead: 9 Things "Conquer" Got Right (And 1 It Didn't)
1. The Trial Of Rick Grimes
Conquer was an odd blend of brilliant and terrible writing. As usual, the strengths were in the plotting, and the weakness was in the dialogue. Abraham's There's a vast ocean of shit that you people don't know shit about was a characteristically terrible bit of speech that nobody would ever say and sounded ridiculous when said out loud. But then the rest of the dialogue in that unofficial trial was...actually pretty excellent. The forum was the climax of the finale, which everything else Glenn scrapping, Daryl and Aaron bumping into Morgan, Gabriel and Sasha's confrontation was building up to. On paper, saying that the centrepiece of a show's season finale sounds totally boring and tedious. And yet, that entire scene was a brilliant piece of TV. Rick Grimes has slowly been pulled apart in this season, and this episode was when the entire cast did the very last bit of character demolition. The discussion between the Grimes faithful and the Alexandria folk did well to further delineate the divisions, the problems with the characters, and the difference between the outsiders and the sheltered pasta folk. It wasn't the most action-packed finale, but it didn't need to be. This was one of the best-written bits of character drama The Walking Dead has ever managed, and that makes what's coming next all the more exciting.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
