The Walking Dead S8E13: Do Not Send Us Astray

The second half of season eight has been moving along nicely, delivering solid episodes followed by very good episodes most weeks. With Do Not Send Us Astray, we have the first of this half that is truly not up to par. Twice in my notes for the episode I wrote, “bad writing”, once I wrote, “tired clichés” in reference to the dialogue, and once I wrote, “Oh, okay, that prison episode all over again.” That’s about as succinct of a summary as I can give, but let’s hit some of the details.

A recurring element to this episode was Morgan’s handling of allowing Henry to kill Gavin (episode 9). It was clear when it happened that this flipped a switch in Morgan’s psyche, and we see that play out in this episode. At least three times he sees Gavin, throat bloodied and pierced, standing in front of him saying “You know what it is”. I’ve written before about the psychological state of Morgan. It seems the only thing consistent with his mental stability is that it is constantly unstable. That presents it’s own challenges, but it’s far from problematic for a character that has pretty much only known mental instability. Here’s what is problematic; what is Gavin talking about? As a vision from Morgan’s mind, he keeps repeating the phrase “You know what it is”. Does he? Personally, I’m drawing a blank. Is it the guilt he should feel for reverting to killing again? For letting Henry follow the path of death and not mentoring him like he did with another boy from the Kingdom? What is IT? And what is Morgan supposed to know? It’s clear Morgan needs a break from this life to clear his mind. Sure would be nice if AMC had another zombie show for this character to escape to and start fresh while also trimming the fat from TWD’s cast…

The frustrations in this episode don’t end there. Imagine every cliché line from any revenge flick; it was probably in this episode. Imagine what a villain with a surprising handle on the English language might say; it was probably in this episode. Imagine every sentimental phrase about how things could have been; it’s probably in this episode. This episode has characters with seven and eight seasons of history and depth spewing cookie-cutter phrases you might expect from a blockbuster action flick hanging on the action rather than a good story. The doctor (wherever she’s been this whole time) grilling Siddiq like she’s his mom. Maggie’s chat with Simon over the radio where apparently she’s decided now to refer to herself as, “Maggie. Maggie Rhee. The Widow”. Carol’s shoe-horned flicker of romance with Tobyn before he dies. So many eyerolls I was looking for the Advil by the end of this episode.

Overall, two main events in this episode will be what everyone remembers, and both were very poorly handled. First, the bit where people die at night, turn, and feast on everyone as they sleep. No, I’m not describing an episode from season four in the prison. As the audience knows, the saviors had tainted their weapons with walker blood to cause exactly this scenario. What we didn’t know what that literally the entire Hilltop community would sleep in the same building, with doors wide open for easy access. It probably makes sense that they’re all together. They were just attacked, after all. But leaving the doors wide open? This makes an earlier scene with Rick and Michonne, where he’s removing boards from windows to let air in, seem like nothing but a setup for this. And after considering the dialogue in that scene, it undoubtedly was a setup. Additionally, plenty of the people injured had potentially fatal wounds, yet they were left overnight with nobody watching over them. You would think a community with experience at the prison would have learned their lesson.

The second event this episode will be remembered for is the attack on Hilltop. In this there is a bit of good, but mostly bad. In the comics, this is THE battle that concludes the war. Negan and Rick go head-to-head in the comics and the saviors are smarter about their movements. With Simon leading them however, they get sucked into a logjam where their numbers count for nothing. Then for some reason they decide to walk into the open in front of a dark building (right on cue, see below) where they know the people are hiding. They are predictably shot to pieces, but are able to escape with enough for a future return attack. My issue with this is the degree of significance this battle ended up having. Sure, some Hilltoppers were lost, but they gained a handful of savior captives that stayed rather than escaping. Hear me out; I don’t need a one-to-one adaptation of the comic with a momentous event like this. I’m intrigued by the saviors that stayed, and that Jadis now has Negan. But without Negan there, and with this not being the conclusion of the war, I need more than a poorly executed weapons gimmick and some saviors flipping sides. Knowing what this battle can be aids in my disappointment of what it turned out to be.

For whatever reason, bad episodes tend to overcome my ability to draw any spiritual parallels or biblical message from the show. There was however one moment where a cue of darkness in Hilltop was used to lure the saviors into a trap. I had the thought, however fleeting, that it’s interesting to use darkness in this way. Darkness is often associated with evil, not just in the Bible but in a majority of legends and mythologies. I don’t think the showrunners intended to use this imagery to subvert a common association of darkness, but imagine if they had intended to use a tool/image of evil to lure in evil in order to defeat it… Now all of the sudden you could show the captive saviors escaping into a cloud of darkness while those that stay remain in the light of Hilltop, all to show that evil moves toward and lives in darkness. Now new imagery is available to Dwight, showing him arrayed in glimpses of light among the darkness of the sanctuary if you wish to continue that symbolism. All of this would have added depth to an episode that really needed it.

Elsewhere, Henry wins the award for most frustrating child doing the dumbest thing possible. And that’s saying a lot for this show. And Tara and Daryl have completely switched sides on the position of Dwight’s loyalty. They’ll both soon discover that the arrow he shot Tara with was not tainted and that will be enough to restrain Daryl’s desire to kill him, again.

My Grade: D

I think I’ve made it pretty clear that this episode was a stinker. When I can take ten minutes and come up with a use of imagery that operates on what this episode is already doing, and adds a deeper context to the actions of individuals and themes of the show, it’s a sign that this was a big swing and a miss. Fitting, since Lucille is now in exile with Negan.