Walking Dead S06E15 Preview: ‘East’
By Nir Regev
The Walking Dead lulled viewers into familiar territory last week with a motivation speech. Only to flip the whole board to the ground when Dwight arrived. One arrow’s course altered an entire episode in an exceptional way.
Walking Speech
It was every Facebook newsfeed ever for a few minutes there with the good doctor’s motivation speech. Eerily reminiscent of those photo memes with the feel-good quotes stamped on them. Then it happened. An arrow from nowhere hit, and chaos ensued. In the best of ways, as this scene was classic Walking Dead.
For any other show this would have been another feel-good moment where the characters see the error of their ways and start believing in just being stronger. Resolving their differences. Simply becoming better people because of one pep talk. Whatever motivational cliche you wanna throw out there, but not today folks.
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Motivational Overload
Viewers are desensitized these days from motivational overload. As the legendary George Carlin once said “Something else I don’t understand, motivation tapes. Motivation books. Suddenly everybody needs to be motivated? It’s a fairly simply thing, you either want to do something or you don’t.”
Dwight returned as a friendly reminder of decisions and consequences. We briefly saw what appeared to be Eugene sacrificing Abe to save himself… Only to use the moment to do the unthinkable. Daryl has his crossbow back and it looks like he’s looking to finish off loose ends. Rather than last week’s trailer alluding to Daryl going after Carol to save her, he might be going for revenge against Dwight instead.
The Rick Grimes Decision
Rick Grimes once told the Terminus group who asked to be spared “You’d just do it to someone else.” Here we see what could happen when issues lay lingering. Rick once went to the brink to avoid a confrontation with his one time best friend Shane. Eventually realizing it was unavoidable when prompted with a decision. Instead of striking preemptively as he did against Negan’s group he waited to react. A burden he carried for multiple seasons.
It’s not necessarily always the right course of action to act immediately of course. As the Wolf for example displayed a change of heart and rescued Dr. Denise. However, part of the reason it was such a memorable occasion to both the characters and Walking Dead viewers was because of its rarity. That’s why characters like The Governor rarely took the risk of tomorrow when it could be solved today. A line of thinking that carries risk and danger, but waiting around carries similar risk as well. The agony of knowing the problem is not solved, eating away.
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Walking Dead S06E15 Preview Trailer: Letting Go
Maybe it’s time for the group to let go. At least for now. It doesn’t sound like Carol wants to be ‘rescued’ at this point of time. If she wants to be part of the group again she knows her way back. Carol knows the inherent risk of the outside world beyond the walls of Alexandria. It appears to be a challenge she’s willing to take.
Alexandria is certainly reeling from losing their only doctor. Who character-wise was most interesting on a personal level when she seemed to not know what she was doing. A doctor represents an authority figure that is expected to be an expert and know the right move at every juncture.
Yet, here was a medical practitioner lost, and just getting by. The contrast gave the Dr. Denise character a real shine and complexity. Patients yielding with utmost confidence without the knowledge of the reality of the matter. Once Denise rapidly became well acquainted with her newly discovered medical abilities on The Walking Dead… Some of the edge was lost. Viewers were once again confident everything would be fine, instead of questioning the result.
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