THE WALKING DEAD “Crossed” Review

How will Rick handle the news about Beth and Carol’s incarceration in a hospital? Read on to find out.

The official description from AMC:

Between holding down the church and going on a rescue mission, our group is spread pretty thin. Is this going to be the breaking point?

The fifth season of The Walking Dead has hit both high and low notes, producing one of the best openings in the shows history. Unfortunately the quality has dropped dramatically since, as though the series has remained good, it’s rather average in comparison to previous seasons. “Crossed” however shows a sign of improvement, as though it’s not quite at the level the opening story was, it’s definitely a move in the right direction.

The group has been pretty splintered as of late, with Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Carol (Melissa McBride) having been on a quest to find Beth (Emily Kinney), Beth herself being removed from the group, and Abraham’s (Michael Cudlitz) group heading on a misdirected mission to Washington. This has caused a rather stinted flow in proceedings, but finally things start coming together again. Having returned to the group with new arrival Noah (Tyler James Williams), Daryl leads Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and company to the hospital which Beth is being held in. Meanwhile Beth tries to help Carol, and Abraham tries to make sense of Eugene’s (Josh McDermitt) lie. This makes it hard to say there isn’t much going on in this episode, but ironically I feel things may be too far the other way, with the transition between sequences being a lot to take in. Nevertheless, there’s plenty of action within, with brilliant character development and a gripping narrative.

It’s been awhile since we’ve had the full cast in the same episode, with lead actor Andrew Lincoln having been absent for the last three. “Crossed” however sees the entire group involved, as though still separated to a certain extent, they all play their part. Unfortunately the splintered state means that the actors don’t get the chance to show their true potential, as bar Andrew Lincoln and Norman Reedus, the majority gave rather average performances. One actress that did stand out was Emily Kinney, who despite not being able to carry the “Slabtown” episode, gives one of her best performances ever. Additionally Michael Cudlitz build on his strong performance in “Self Help”, giving an almost emotionless performance, of a broken man. It was however Lincoln’s performance that as ever stole the show, with his cold stare being as chilling as ever.

The Walking Dead may only have one more episode before its mid-season interval, but that doesn’t mean that there’s not enough time to build-up to something spectacular. Despite this, “Coda” has a lot to live up to, with the opening episodes still being the feature moments of this season. Highly recommended.