The Walking Dead Season 8 Premiere: 6 Ups And 2 Downs From 'Mercy'

1. The Jarring Time Shifts

As promised, we do find out more about the time jump teased in the trailers during this episode. We open the episode with the cane and old Rick, and it creates a tantalising sense of mystery as to what exactly has happened. There's also a shot of Rick, not from the same time period, looking clearly distressed. Again it's rather intriguing, but it would've been better if the episode had left it there.

It's clear, however, that they're going to make a really big deal of this time jump before it properly happens, and we revisit the same few shots - the cane by the bed, an older Rick waking up, the shot of the flowers, a clearly upset Rick - multiple times across the episode, with it playing out further on one of those occasions (Judith is old enough to talk, so it's a fair amount of time).

It's not that it isn't an interesting route for the show to go in, since it suggests one or two possible futures that break free of the typical Walking Dead cycle, but it could be showing a little too much too soon. Worse, though, is that these sojourns keep coming in an episode that is otherwise full of tension and anger, and only serve to disrupt that. Had they just had it at the start, then it would've been a good hint at what's to come, but instead they overplay their hand and take you out of the current story too often.

Likewise, the way the end of the episode loops back round to Rick and co rallying the troops, a moment we'd already seen, doesn't quite end the episode on its strongest possible note, though it is at least an uplifting one.

Overall, though, this feels like a massive step up from Season 7, and a true return to form for The Walking Dead.

What did you think of Mercy? Share your thoughts down in the comments.