The Walking Dead Season 11 Review: 7 Ups & 3 Downs From "Promises Broken"
7. UP: Sharat Raju's Moody Direction
With Promises Broken, Sharat Raju has made a long-awaited return to the director's chair, after he last made a mark on the show by directing Michonne's final episode in season ten.
The episode has an awful lot going on, blending its brief, bloody action with quiet character moments beautifully, and pulls this balancing off by focussing entirely on mood.
Whether it's a small scene in the woods where Negan and Maggie attempt to better understand each other, or Yumiko's struggles to come to terms with the Commonwealth's class system, Raju's direction is both meticulous and evenly paced throughout.
Considering much of the previous episodes' have had issues where pacing is concerned, Promises Broken is a massively refreshing improvement.