11x18 A New Deal

[7.4/10] Remember when The Walking Dead wanted to be prestige television, on part with the likes of fellow AMC shows Breaking Bad and Mad Men? Hell, maybe it still does. But increasingly, it feels like TWD has given up those aspirations and is content to be more of a pulpy, soapy, TNT-style cable drama.

There’s nothing wrong with that. In truth, this show was never particularly good at doing the prestige-style thing that it so often aspired to. Leaning into the cheap thrills at play isn’t the worst idea in the world. And yet, something about an episode like “A New Deal” comes off a bit shallow and easy, despite the theoretically momentous things at play.

I’ll admit, this one could have been called “A Series of Pointless Conversations: The Episode!” The status quo-restoring trade of the Alexandria/Hilltop survivors trading Hornsby as a fall guy in exchange for them getting the supplies to rebuild their original homes is a touch convenient, but you can see the appeal. It provides the writers with an excuse to have a bunch of characters jaw back and forth over whether to stay in the Commonwealth or retreat back to the lives they’d known before.

Most of the conversations we get are a big nothing, full of bland platitudes and characters who end up one place or another because it’s narratively convenient more than because it reflects what we know about the characters and what they want. The discussions themselves aren’t especially compelling either. As I’ve said before, Jeffrey Dean Morgan is a good actor, so him expressing the pull of parenthood that spurs people to make different decisions has some extra life to it. Otherwise, this one is full of wheel-spinning.

The exception is Daryl and Judith. The two have such a history that it’s hard not for there to be something to a conversation between the two of them. All the talk of “We should make it better, you’re just giving up” is tedious, the sort of thing the show’s done a thousand time. But Daryl struggling when impressed into service as a parent, having not had the best example himself, is much better and more unique. Carol giving him advice, and him meeting Judith on her level with honesty and vulnerability, is good stuff amid an ocean of blander, less interesting exchanges.

I also appreciate the big ploy and set piece. This one wears its themes on its sleeves. Sebastian Milton practically announces that he’s the bad guy, in the way few, if any, actual privileged folks would. There’s a pro-wrestling match that features a Hulk Hogan-esque patriotic hero getting the crowd to chant “Com-Mon-Wealth!” a la “U-S-A!”. And there’s big patriotic speeches and fanfare.

Hell, I even like Max’s scheme. The Tommy Wiseau-esque plan to use a tape recorded to catch the bad guy revealing his true feelings is a stock one, but one they set up, and shows Max’s resolve and steel. Her and Eugene playing his villain monologue for the assembled naturally turns the tide, and plays into some class war chaos that’s already been brewing.

It’s fun to see everything go to pot in the otherwise idyllic (or theoretically idyllic) town after so much cloak and dagger. There’s irony (and also convenience) to the fact that Hornsby has his goons kill the lower class workers, who aren’t allowed to participate in the festivities, turning them into zombies who literally eat the rich. The mechanics of who survives and who gets eaten and who’s able to get away doesn’t make much sense if you keep your eyes peeled and follow the action, but that’s par for the course for TWD at this point. The idea is clear: as much as some members of our protagonist group want things to stay better, even a place like the Commonwealth can promise that for very long, and reflects grave moral compromises to present the appearance of stability they offer.

And yet, it’s hard to shake the feeling that none of this is as deep as it could be. There’s a surface level of social and political commentary. But at base, this is just standard pulp with a thin veneer of social critique. You could make a fair argument that this is what TWD has always been. But something in the presentation and approach seems to have changed, to where the show plays like any other laundry-folding cable drama, rather than a series that aspired to the artistry of the big boys. That’s not necessarily a problem -- The Walking Dead rarely, if ever, met that standard -- but it is interesting as the mainline show rounds out its final season.