The Walking Dead Review: “Secrets”

As we near the “mid-season finale,” tensions grow, secrets spread, and Sophie remains among the missing.

Title: “Secrets”

Cast and Crew

Directed by David Boyd
Written by Angela Kang, from the graphic series by Robert Kirkman

Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes
Sarah Wayne Callies as Lori Grimes
Jon Bernthal as Shane
Laurie Holden as Andrea
Jeffrey DeMunn as Dale
Steven Yeun as Glenn
Norman Reedus as Darryl
Scott Wilson as Herschel Greene
Lauren Cohan as Maggie Greene
IronE Singleton as T-Dog
Melissa Suzanne McBride as Carol Peletier
Emily Kinney as Beth Green
Hane McNeill as Patricia
James Allen McCune as Jimmy
Chandler Riggs as Carl Grimes

Additional cast and crew information may be found here.

Premise

Glenn becomes the repository of secrets as tensions grow between the two groups, Shane and Andrea find some common ground, and more people learn the barn’s secret.

High Point

1. The downhome feedin’ time segment will stick with me, whether I want it to or not. It’s exactly the kind of disturbed normalcy of which this season needs more.

2. We have some strong character-driven moments this week, as various characters confront each other.

Low Points

1. We have some strong character-driven moments– but the shocking revelations have too few lingering effects on relationships. I recognize things would be a tad more strained during a zombie apocalypse, but that’s where real drama an be developed, as opposed to forced soap-opera shenanigans.

2. I understand that the drug store run serves a plot purpose, but I find it puzzling that the Greenes have left so much behind. Given their vehicles and Herschel’s experience, wouldn’t they have gathered everything even remotely useful by this point?

The Scores:

Originality: 3/6

Effects: 6/6 We get some old-school horrific zombie moments this week; the show still knows how to use its key strength.

Story: 4/6 The show walks a fine line between survival drama and soap opera, and the writers aren’t always successful. The actions of Lori’s character, with some uncertain version of a morning-after pill, provides more fodder for those concerned about The Walking Dead‘s handling of sex and gender.

Acting: 5/6 The actors get to show their talents this week; Dale’s encounter with Shane worked particularly well. Laurie Holden tries, but the writers have yet to find Andrea’s character.

However, she actually has something like a character developing, which is not true of everyone in the show.

Emotional Response: 4/6 The second half features good “boo,” but some unconvincing “boo hoo.”

Production: 5/6.

Overall: 4/6

In total, “Secrets” receives 31/42

2 replies on “The Walking Dead Review: “Secrets””

  1. Good review but you missed the lowest point of all. Do we even care at this point what happens to Sophie The Plot Device To Get People Away From The Farm And Into Zombie Action? We’ve got a lost kid, a member of our beloved extended family group, lost in the woods on day X – hey, let’s do the laundry! Or set up a firing range and all learn how to shoot guns!

    The only gun that matters here is Chekhov’s gun and I’m not talking about the Russian guy in Star Trek. If you set up a lost kid stroyline in your season opener, then you have an obligation to have every adult in her family to do everything possible for as long as it takes to get the kid back as their TOP PRIORITY. And yeah, I can see we’ve got some big shocking reveal on the horizon that I don’t know about yet, but still – be true to what the characters would really do in the meantime! For God’s sake, especially the mom!

    Dump this fatal faux pas, and this has been a pretty good half-season of TWD, getting better by the ep after a pretty slow start.

  2. While the Sophie storyline has been dragged, I’m willing to accept that, in a Zombie Apocalypse World, people would search in small numbers. Her mother, however, seems inordinately quiet about helping, but characterization, especially of women, has not been the show’s strongest point.

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