The Walking Dead Review: The World Before (Season 10 Episode 8)

The seeds of doubt creep into the idea of rebuilding and starting over on The Walking Dead Season 10 Episode 8, “The World Before,” as Alpha’s manipulation and fear starts to infect Alexandria.

The episode plays with the concept of whether or not society can move on from the walkers and be something resembling law and order, and if chaos can overthrow democracy, a rather timely message. It also comes years into proving these settlements can and do work, but shows that while something may last for some time, it may not last forever.

That the episode does this, and does this well, but still suffers from bad character choices and stalling to run out the clock, makes what could have been a great midseason finale a rather dire set-up for what’s to come. The issue falls on keeping the Whisperer conflict around when the show is more interested in fear as an idea rather than fear as a tangible thing.

Carol chasing off after Alpha at the very end feels like a moment from seasons past, where characters do things with little to no reason behind them. It’s especially frustrating when it’s into a cave, where there could be anything in there. It’s especially disappointing when everyone runs in there with her, only Daryl careful enough to sneak in.

It’s a moment that comes as tunnel vision for these characters, like they haven’t learned anything after so many years and traps. At least they find the Whisperer horde, which is something, but it’s a literal stumbling into the horde rather than discovering them. But this just creates the question of why Alpha leads them in there: is it to spring a trap, or because she has no other place to run to?

After spending sizeable pieces of the episode tracking them down, for the horde to be the very final moment of the episode, with no payoff, does leave some disappointment. The Whisperer threat is an exciting part of the show, but it can feel, at times, as though the show is more interested in the philosophy they cause rather than the damage they can do.

Because of this, the Whisperers can feel largely absent for stretches of the show, where the real threat is the thought of them and the panic they can cause. This is certainly a conundrum, as that has been by far the more interesting factor of The Walking Dead. But at the same time, this enemy feels like they have run their course.

At the same time, however, the episode does a marvelous job at causing a weariness, an exhaustion, to set into both Rosita and Gabriel, where kindness is replaced with justice. Gabriel’s decision to take down Dante reads like an atonement of sin, for allowing such a rabid menace inside their gates.

Gabriel assumes responsibility during that scene, where he blurs the line between mercy and cruelty, and it’s no longer certain where Gabriel lands anymore as a man of God. Both Rosita and Gabriel find themselves questioning safety and what their lives mean to others, which causes a question of whether both will be less courteous and trusting going forward.

Virgil, as a new character, brings a new level of intrigue. Kevin Carroll (who is excellent on HBO’s The Leftovers) makes for a potentially wonderful addition to the cast, and with the promise of weapons and a fortified island, perhaps Virgil is key to where The Walking Dead, as a television show, goes next with its story. It’s not clear, at least so far, if this is the same place Eugene talked to on the radio on The Walking Dead Season 10 Episode 6, “Bonds,” or perhaps the source of the helicopter that takes Rick.

The idea of trust, and that the Whisperers are tearing it to pieces so that the communities will never open their doors to strangers again, is a brilliant concept, and one the episode does wonders with. Contrasting the Gabriel and Rosita side of the story to Michonne, where trust is built into her going with Virgil, makes it clear that trust is earned, and that that cannot be taken away entirely.

The Walking Dead Season 10 Episode 8, “The World Before,” follows through on the psychological horror that the Whisperers cause, but stumbles with stretching out the physical threat when all signs pointed to at least some form of a conclusion. Perhaps the answers lie in Michonne and Virgil and the island they’re speeding off to.

There are burning moments of clarity on the show, but they are still tangled in not being able to let go. While the show has never sped through story, this episode in particular leads to settling, rather than pushing forward. Perhaps what comes next will be much faster and reward the slower burn this episode brings. But for now, it leaves a feeling of wanting a little more.

 

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

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