The Walking Dead Review: The Well (Season 7 Episode 2)
After a harrowing season premiere, The Walking Dead Season 7 Episode 2, “The Well,” is a much-needed lighter episode, catching up with Morgan and Carol and introducing the Kingdom and new series regular, King Ezekiel (Khary Payton).
The Negan-less hour does give fans a bit of a breather, but it’s pretty slow, plot-wise.
We start to get to know yet another idyllic community, with the gardens and the guarded walls and the happy people who feel safe and love their leader. We’ve seen this before, and, if history is doomed to repeat itself, we’ll probably see the Kingdom fall by the end of Season 7.
The Kingdom’s leader, Ezekiel, is a just little over-the-top, at least until he drops the act for a serious conversation with Carol.
Moving forward, knowing why he behaves the way he does will probably make his whole kingly persona more entertaining and less “you’ve got to be shitting me,” as Carol so eloquently put it.
Carol, meanwhile, is still determined to go off on her own.
Not every fan enjoyed her shift from Badass Carol to Guilty, Loner Carol in the second half of Season 6, but it doesn’t look like she’s going to be going back to her old ways any time soon.
At first, it was interesting to see the show explore a character who has proven to be strong and capable get torn down by guilt over everything they have done to survive.
But in “The Well,” there’s a feeling of “what now?” She goes to live in a house near the Kingdom alone. Apparently Ezekiel and maybe Morgan will come visit her, but… what now?
It’s hard to get a sense of what exactly Carol’s loner arc is building toward, if it’s even building toward anything. Is it setting up an inner struggle she’s going to have when the group eventually, inevitably, goes to war against Negan and the Saviors?
Or is this just the way she is now?
As previously mentioned, this episode is just an introduction to the Kingdom, and it doesn’t really explicitly set up what we’re going to see in the Kingdom-centric episodes of Season 7.
Hopefully there will be more to it than Carol and Morgan doing their part to help the Kingdom, getting to know the people there and helping to defend them against the Saviors.
We’ve seen all that before. If we’re going to get to know a new community and its people, let’s hope it’s worth the time.
OTHER THOUGHTS:
- Aren’t the people at the Kingdom worried the Saviors will viciously retaliate when (if?) they realize the pigs are tainted by Walker rot?
- No matter what actually happens in an episode, you can always count on composer Bear McCreary’s score to be excellent. I was particularly a fan of the very fitting medieval royal court kind of vibe when Morgan was taking Carol to meet Ezekiel.
- Ben, the young man who Ezekiel wants Morgan to train, is definitely going to die later this season, right? Morgan bonded with him, he borrowed the book, he’s raising his younger brother… he’s a goner.
What did you think of “The Well”? Share with us in the comments below!
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The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9/8c on AMC.
Katie Houlis
Katie is a recent college graduate who spent most of her free time at school binge-watching shows like Battlestar Galactica, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Fringe, and Hannibal. She has watched every single episode of Lost at least ten times each (yes, even “Stranger In A Strange Land”). Current favorites include a bunch of comedies, lots of superhero shows, and a few shows with quite a bit of murder in them.