The Walking Dead Review: Not Tomorrow Yet (Season 6 Episode 12)

The Walking Dead has never shied away from brutality, from the harsh and downright disturbing realities of the world post-zombie apocalypse. This week’s episode, titled “Not Tomorrow Yet,” takes moral ambiguity to a whole new level.

It’s Us versus Them this week as Rick and his team prepare to do what needs to be done to ensure their survival in Alexandria, moving forward. Throughout the episode, Rick continually reminds the team that they are doing what they must in order to eat — that The Saviors would have, eventually, found them and come for Alexandria, too, if they didn’t follow through with their end of the deal Maggie made with Hilltop.

However, no matter how much we and the group understand the necessity of these actions, it is still so, so difficult to accept the fact that they will be slaughtering living people — humans, not walkers — while they sleep, without any direct provocation. These actions are entirely preventative and, man, are they brutal to witness.

Although The Walking Dead has certainly hit us with some seriously traumatizing moments in the past (Sophia walking out of the barn in Season 2 certainly springs to mind), this episode is arguably one of the more difficult to watch for the simple fact that it isn’t just one shocking moment in an hour long episode — this entire episode carries that weight and when the sequence of killings begins, it is difficult not to look away from the screen while our heroes struggle to do what they must. It is heartbreaking, it is disturbing, and we feel it.

Because, as hard as the episode is to watch, it is hard because it’s so well handled. We feel what the group feels when they take the lives of these men while they sleep. We try so hard to put ourselves in their shoes, to think of what we may have done, but it is impossible to fathom that level of desperation — to imagine living in such a brutal world. Glenn is certainly not wrong when he says that what they have done will haunt them for the rest of their lives, because, at the end of the day, when all is said and done, these are good people. Of course they are going to be tormented by this decision.

What makes it worse is that it seems that it is all for nothing. The alarm is sounded, and when the group finally manages to fight their way through the compound, it’s only to discover that they haven’t killed everyone — that there are others, hidden out of sight. Negan, as we all know, is among them.

It is not uncommon for us, as human beings, to fear the unknown. By its very nature, what is unknown is unpredictable and is, therefore, often considered ominous, frightening, and threatening. The fact that we have yet to even hear Negan’s voice just makes him this untouchable force to be reckoned with. You can not fight something that isn’t there, and you can not kill an idea — Rick can’t kill what Negan stands for or the faith these Saviors have in him so long as they believe him to be invulnerable (because, as of now, he is).

It appears as though, in the second half of the season, The Walking Dead is handling the suspense leading up to the reveal of their new villain extremely well (as opposed to the first half, wherein they sort of dropped the ball when it came to Glenn’s death fake-out).

And now we are all left on the edge of our seats, eagerly awaiting Negan’s big entrance.

What did you think of this weeks tense episode? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

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The Walking Dead airs Sundays 9/8 c on AMC.