The Walking Dead Mid-Season 7 Premiere: 6 Ups & 3 Downs From 'Rock In The Road'

1. It Felt A Bit Rushed

There's some good progression in this episode, building up to the climactic scene where Rick and co are surrounded by Oceanside members, and he gives us that only slightly creepy smile.

However, and this is quite rare for The Walking Dead, there was stuff in the build-up that felt rushed. The Kingdom is a particular example of this, for while the conversation with Rick and Ezekiel was great, there wasn't enough time before or after, meaning we didn't get to focus too much on Morgan, and Carol's fleeting appearance was more like a distraction.

Similarly the Saviours came and went, and they'd barely found Gabriel's note before they were then off and surrounded by Oceanside. Other scenes, meanwhile -particularly at Hilltop, though the explosives scene took an age to get going too (but when it did, it really worked) - felt dragged out and superfluous, perhaps resulting the rushed job on the other scenes. It's at least better this way, because it means we're getting escalation, but the show still needs to find a balance in how it tells its stories, which are either snail-paced with nothing happening, or going overly gung-ho.

What did you think of Rock in the Road? Let us know down in the comments.