There have been a lot of complaints about The Walking Dead meandering lazily or spinning its wheels while nothing much happens. I steadfastly disagree with this normally, especially when the episodes are focused on one storyline. It’s rare for an episode to touch on all four ongoing stories and still be boring beyond belief, but “Crossed” does just that.
The worst offender this week is the Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) and Company storyline, where half the characters LITERALLY don’t move anywhere physically or psychologically, while the other half fetches water. The sooner they either dump this story or get them back with the group, the better. They are anchors dragging any forward movement to a halt. So we’ll just say that and move on.
Back at the church, Carl (Chandler Riggs) freaks out Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) by confronting him with the fundamentals of the new world, prompting an ill-advised escape attempt which, at the moment, seems kind of pointless. Plus he gets a nail in his foot for good measure. Hope he’s had his tetanus shot. That’s kind of a sad way to go out, if they take his character that direction. I guess this will give us a chance for more quality Carl and Michonne (Danai Gurira) time, which almost always pays off.
Inside the hospital, there’s also not a lot of movement, although Beth (Emily Kinney) is tasked with secretly keeping Carol (Melissa McBride) alive. We’re also shown just how tenuous Lerner’s (Christine Woods) hold is on the other police officers. In fact, it’s so tenuous I really don’t understand why she’s even in charge. There’s something strange about her position there that I’m really hoping is something real and not just weak plotting.
Speaking of weak plotting, it’s never a good idea to build up to the exciting mid-season finale by taking one of your most popular characters and putting them in a coma!
What the hell, Walking Dead? Are you just messing with us, now?
The main thrust of the episode, however, is with Rick (Andrew Lincoln), Daryl (Norman Reedus), Tyreese (Chad L. Coleman), and Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green) and their rescue mission. Unfortunately, the show seems determined to rehash themes from earlier seasons with Rick playing the coldly-pragmatic Shane role, while Tyreese plays sentimental-for-lost-world-morality Old Rick.
Granted, Rick’s plan of directly infiltrating and assaulting the hospital in order to rescue Beth and Carol could go south quickly and turn into a bloodbath, but I don’t think there’s anyone watching who would ever think that taking hostages for an exchange would work. It goes counter to everything we’ve seen and the characters have learned over this season and last.
However, given how this season has been so focused on Rick’s transformation into a killer trying to retain his humanity, it makes sense that they would wrap the first half of the season with this conflict.
But as we see, things aren’t going as planned and it looks like the deck is stacked against peaceful resolutions. There’s an almost sadistic quality to this approach, as the makers seem intent on burning out every bit of sympathy and sentimental morality in every character, forcing them all through that crucible where they either become cold-blooded heroes, cold-blooded monsters, or they just break.
And I’m a little worried about Tyreese. The moral gatekeepers don’t have a great survival track record on this show.