The Walking Dead Review: The Key (Season 8 Episode 12)

The Walking Dead Season 8 Episode 12 “The Key” is another good episode which proves that the second half of Season 8 is a lot stronger than the first half.

It’s the first episode in a very long time which actually moves the season and the series toward something, but it’s still plagued by stupidity.

There are three main storylines on “The Key.”  One is a car chase and cat-and-mouse game between Rick and Negan. Second is Dwight and Simon concocting plans without Negan, and third is a strange meeting at Hilltop with three strangers.

The Rick and Negan scenes are utterly ridiculous. We see the start of a car chase, but then, the scene is cut short and the next thing we see is Negan’s car flipped on its side. Rick leaps out of his car and runs toward Negan.

Perhaps it was too expensive to film the crash, but it was weird to see Rick just nudge Negan’s car one moment and then suddenly, it was flipped on its side.

Negan runs into a dilapidated old building and Rick shoots blindly at him. The shooting is what makes this scene laughable. Rick has used a gun more than anyone on The Walking Dead, and he cannot get a clean shot to save his life.

I never thought that Negan would die on this episode, but it is refreshing to see him get a little beat up. I also love how Rick just keeps coming at him. He doesn’t care about dying—as long as Negan dies first.

It’s also fun to see Rick wield around Lucille.

The walkers (or Eaters as the sign says) adds an element of suspense to the scene, although I was confident both Negan and Rick would survive. The fighting scene would have been a lot duller without the dead.

While Rick and Negan are battling it out, Simon and Dwight are out looking for Negan. Simon expresses his concerns about the way Negan is running things. We know that Simon disagreed with Negan and that’s why he killed all the garbage people.

Dwight doesn’t say much to Simon, just in case Simon is just trying to trick him. But Dwight realizes that maybe Simon is telling him the truth and that he really does want to leave the Alexandrians alone and start again someplace new.

It sounds like a good deal. The Alexandrians won’t trust Dwight for a long time, and without Negan, Dwight could be happy with the Saviours starting a new life elsewhere.

When Dwight and Simon find the others, Simon has changed his tune and decides that the Saviors have to “erase” the Alexandrians. You know, “for Negan.”

Ughhhhhh.

Will Dwight be able to warn them? Or will Dwight just leave on his own?

The most interesting part of the episode occurs at Hilltop. While on patrol, Maggie and Rosita see a white flag off in the distance, outside their gate.

Michonne, Maggie, Rosita, and Enid go to meet the mysterious survivors who offer to exchange knowledge with them for records.

It all seems very strange and a little preposterous that these three women have survived the zombie apocalypse by trading knowledge. They seem pleasant enough and actually add a bit of humor.

After Michonne convinces Maggie not to steal the women’s food (much to Enid’s dismay), the older woman gives Maggie a handwritten copy of a book called A Key to the Future. It’s a guide on how to build resources in a medieval world.

It’s an extremely valuable book and it offers us a glimpse of what The Walking Dead’s end game could look like. As Michonne says to Enid, they will fight the Saviors, but they have to think of after.

Overall, “The Key” is a good episode. It’s a little ridiculous, but mildly entertaining. It’s also nice to see Negan knocked down a peg and for The Walking Dead to show that it is thinking about after.

What did you think of this episode of The Walking Dead? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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

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