The Walking Dead Mid-Season Finale: 4 Ups & 4 Downs From 'Hearts Still Beating'

2. Still Too Long

The Walking Dead Rosita
Gene Page/AMC

For an episode that has a lot going on, it's strange that it should still feel too long. Yet that's exactly the case here, and not for the first time this season. It's another instalment extended to an hour in length (not including ads), and another that fails to justify it's extra runtime.

The problems tie in with those mentioned in the previous entry, which is the past insistence on not intercutting storylines until the last couple of weeks. Had they spread things out over the season, then this could've been a regular length episode (they'd still probably have made it 60 minutes though), and worked a lot better. There's still fat to be trimmed here (Gregory adds nothing, for example), scenes that go on too long (the pool game, the lingering happy shots at the end), and the sooner the show realises this in regard to extended episodes the better.

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NCTJ-qualified journalist. Most definitely not a racing driver. Drink too much tea; eat too much peanut butter; watch too much TV. Sadly only the latter paying off so far. A mix of wise-old man in a young man's body with a child-like wonder about him and a great otherworldly sensibility.