The Walking Dead Season 7: 3 Ups & 6 Downs From 'Swear'

Downs...

6. But Not Fun Enough To Carry An Entire Episode

The Walking Dead Tara
Gene Page/AMC

As covered in the previous entry, Tara is pretty good in this episode. She's funny, she's hopeful, she forms a nice bond with one of the newcomers, and shows strength at the end when protecting Oceanside from Alexandria.

The problem is, all of that could've came across, and taken up around 1/3 of the episode. Tara may be likeable, but she's not a character to hang an entire episode on. The show can get away with it when it's someone like Carol or Morgan, but not too many others. She's fun, but had she died in this episode, it'd probably be forgotten by the time the mid-season finale makes its big deaths (I'm guessing, anyway). This episode highlighted how Denise's death had been totally overshadowed, and something similar would befall Tara, a character of similar stature.

Like the character, this story isn't enough to carry a full episode; it's a C-plot, or B-level if you want to be kind. Acting as such, it'd work a lot better. Here, there's way too much of it, and not a lot else.

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Contributor

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.