The Walking Dead: 6 Things "Crossed" Got Right (And 4 It Didn't)

1. Actions Speak Louder Than Words

At this point it's hard to remember this ever being the case, but for a while there the spinning of wheels was The Walking Dead's forte. That's almost entirely down to the period in the second season where the episode order doubled in size whilst the budget was halved, necessitating that the pace drop equally considerably and a lot of time being spent on characters talking about what they could or should do, having arguments about those hypotheticals, but never actually acting upon them. This season, meanwhile, has been almost entirely about doing instead of saying, showing instead of telling. Crossed opens with the group already preparing to storm the hospital to rescue Beth and Carol. Last week's episode ended with Daryl and Noah headed back with the plan in mind, and this week's opened with that plan already in action. No need to see the bit where they explained the situation to Rick. Ain't not time for exposition. Actions speak louder than words, and this was a particularly action-packed episode, with the initial bait-and-switch where they took the cops hostage with Noah's help being a stand-out, along with Daryl's wrestling match with the one who got away. Just because zombies move slow doesn't mean the show should. The simmering tension of previous weeks has been building to something, and Crossed showed the beginnings of all that paying off.