REVIEW: The Walking Dead, Something They Need

This week thankfully focuses on a structured, logical approach to taking down Negan with Rick and the gang heading to Oceanside in the hopes of acquiring allies and/or weapons.

If you can’t remember Oceanside, don’t worry as they were in one episode all the way back at the start of the season. And it doesn’t seem to matter anyway, as their leader refuses to fight. Rick’s alternative plan? Take their guns. All of them.

I see this as a clever parallel, as now it is Rick who is forcing people to give him things compared to Negan. It’s always nice to see reminders that Rick isn’t always a good person, but we sympathise with him purely because he’s the person we’ve been with since the beginning.

The taking over of Oceanside was good, and it’s good to see our core group forming together in a swift take-over plan.

In other news, Sasha isn’t dead and is granted a couple of scenes here and there, all primarily with Negan. Obviously these are good purely because Negan is great and one of my favourites, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan is just about managing to keep the character fresh and interesting.

The only thing that puts me off is knowing how certain scenes and lines will play out due to knowledge of the comics. However, it does make these scenes inviting seeing how things have been adapted onto screen, especially Negan killing in front of Sasha while promising her that they ‘aren’t monsters’.

I’m glad to see Xander Berkeley still around as Gregory, and I feel like his prominence the past few weeks has been worthwhile, albeit annoying due to his character’s personality.

Interactions between him and Maggie are now calmer, but still with the undertone of tension and, depending how you see it, humour. This is all fun and makes me look forward to seeing Gregory, despite his failure as a leader.

On the whole, this week’s instalment was enjoyable, with a good ending, hinting at a very key part of the war with Negan. And so it begins... next week.