The Rick and Michonne Show

Last night's new Walking Dead, "Say Yes", was another welcome respite from the Negan plot in which the show reverted to playing what might be called one of its greatest hits; a few people figuring out how to fight zombies and get supplies in clever ways in response to zombie threats that manifest in continually surprising ways. It also felt like the long overdue first time we had a chance to spend quality time with Rick and Michonne as a couple. I didn't really believe some of the characters would have taken some of the risks they did but overall I thought this was a solid episode.

Spoilers after the screenshot.

I love it when the makeup artists take the time to get creative and make a particularly disgusting zombie. This dead lady that Rosita (Christian Serratos) runs into looks like an authentically bloated corpse. It looks like an illustration from Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Naturally they couldn't have Rosita dispatch it with a quick head stab so she had a slightly uncharacteristic moment of clumsiness slashing its throat but this zombie was so beautifully gross I'd have been disappointed if it were just swiftly batted down.

Kudos to Christian Serratos for starving herself to get an authentic post-apocalyptic look. I hope it's not the actress' anorexia, which, if so, is horrible and I hope she gets better, but in terms of the show, this is really how everyone should look. Just look how happy Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne (Danai Gurira) are to find freeze dried army rations:

When two people can sleep with each other after eating a combination of chili and mac and cheese, you know it's love.

It was great to see these two alone together for the whole episode, working as a mutually supportive team while also keeping each other on their toes. I didn't really believe they would react to falling through the roof with giggles but mostly I loved the setup of the mysterious army carnival and the different obstacles the two had to overcome to get those guns. Both characters were good but the story was particularly a good showcase for Danai Gurira who is fetchingly coy with Rick while they're digging into the rations, steely when she's subtly concerned that Rick is delaying their return to Alexandria, and then effectively devastated when she thinks he's been killed.

I guess next week we'll finally get Negan out of the way so maybe next season we'll be able to have a lot more episodes like this one. Though so many plot threads have been introduced it's hard to imagine them tying them all up next week.