The Walking Dead Season 7: 3 Ups And 4 Downs From 'The Other Side'

2. A Lack Of Tension

There are a few moments in this episode where it's quite clear the show is aiming for a lot of tension. There's the arrival of the Saviours, Maggie and Daryl hiding from them, the would-be assassination attempt of Negan, and then breaking through the fence to get into the Sanctuary.

I wouldn't say any of those scenes were objectively bad per se, but none of them really carry the necessary threat they need in order to form an exciting or dramatic part of the episode.

Part of this comes from the fact that we know certain characters are safe: after taking him prisoner once, they're not going to get Daryl again. Another is the swerve made it harder to care, because it's hard to be too bothered that they've taken Hilltop's doctor (although it could have a very negative impact on Maggie). And also, with just a couple of episodes to go, we know that they're not going to kill Negan, which lifts some of the life out of Rosita and Sasha's storyline.

In particular the assassination attempt seemed pointless - it gave us a good character interaction, but that feasibly could've happened on the road - and it was always going to come down to one or both of them entering the Sanctuary, something which, after all that setup, is really put off for another week.