[5.9/10] I like Princess as a character, and I have since she showed up. I’m intrigued by the advent of this stormtrooper group, especially the hints we get about who they are and what they’re protecting. And I think Paola Lazara gives a good performance here, especially considering she is the anchor of the episode and the character necessarily comes with a lot of tics.
But good god, I am so so so so so tired of the “It was all in the character’s head” twist. It became played out at least a decade ago, and unless someone has a genuinely new spin on it, I wish storytellers would just retire it, because it’s lost all cultural currency and impact. It drains “Splinter” of any emotional impact, since the hoops the show has to jump through to make the situation work just leave a ton of interactions feeling awkward or speech-y.
The best I can say is that maybe the show wants the audience to know early, considering we never see Yumiko, and I started having my suspicions there. It’s a little bit better if the show isn’t trying to pull the wool over the audience’s eyes. But it doesn’t play that way. It plays like it’s supposed to be a dramatic reveal, for both Princess and the viewer, and it made me roll my eyes hard rather than give the “whoa!” reaction the show seemed to be going for.
At the same time, the delivery and execution of Princess’s backstory felt pretty rote. There’s power in the idea of someone with a history of parental abuse, anxiety coping mechanisms, and trouble feeling secure in friendships and found families because of it. But “Splinter” only plays the loudest, most obvious tropes in that regard, and it does a disservice to both the character and the idea.
The theme is also pretty trite here -- the usual “You can trust people, don’t give into despair, there’s good folks out there worth fighting for” which we’ve done dozens of times and dozens of ways on The Walking Dead. Hell, we’ve even done it in the form of hallucinations before. There’s not much new to it, which isn’t this episode’s fault, but makes the central message feel just as tired as the Durden-esque twist is.
That said, I’m still intrigued as to what the deal with the stormtroopers is, and I still think there’s a lot of potential in Princess as a character, so hopefully this is just a temporary bump in the road and the show realizes the potential of both going forward.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2021-03-22T20:55:04Z
[5.9/10] I like Princess as a character, and I have since she showed up. I’m intrigued by the advent of this stormtrooper group, especially the hints we get about who they are and what they’re protecting. And I think Paola Lazara gives a good performance here, especially considering she is the anchor of the episode and the character necessarily comes with a lot of tics.
But good god, I am so so so so so tired of the “It was all in the character’s head” twist. It became played out at least a decade ago, and unless someone has a genuinely new spin on it, I wish storytellers would just retire it, because it’s lost all cultural currency and impact. It drains “Splinter” of any emotional impact, since the hoops the show has to jump through to make the situation work just leave a ton of interactions feeling awkward or speech-y.
The best I can say is that maybe the show wants the audience to know early, considering we never see Yumiko, and I started having my suspicions there. It’s a little bit better if the show isn’t trying to pull the wool over the audience’s eyes. But it doesn’t play that way. It plays like it’s supposed to be a dramatic reveal, for both Princess and the viewer, and it made me roll my eyes hard rather than give the “whoa!” reaction the show seemed to be going for.
At the same time, the delivery and execution of Princess’s backstory felt pretty rote. There’s power in the idea of someone with a history of parental abuse, anxiety coping mechanisms, and trouble feeling secure in friendships and found families because of it. But “Splinter” only plays the loudest, most obvious tropes in that regard, and it does a disservice to both the character and the idea.
The theme is also pretty trite here -- the usual “You can trust people, don’t give into despair, there’s good folks out there worth fighting for” which we’ve done dozens of times and dozens of ways on The Walking Dead. Hell, we’ve even done it in the form of hallucinations before. There’s not much new to it, which isn’t this episode’s fault, but makes the central message feel just as tired as the Durden-esque twist is.
That said, I’m still intrigued as to what the deal with the stormtroopers is, and I still think there’s a lot of potential in Princess as a character, so hopefully this is just a temporary bump in the road and the show realizes the potential of both going forward.