Yahoo News The Walking Dead ep 11 review: good guys go bad
It's telling that this episode of The Walking Dead opens with the sight of Fat Joey's corpse, his head smashed in by Daryl in a manner remarkably similar to how Negan utterly annihilated Glenn and Abraham.
It's a gruesome sight that immediately raises the question: who are the bad guys here again? Sure, Negan is directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of many of Rick's party, but as Eugene later notes: "I imagine we killed 30 or so of his [friends] – turnabout and all that."
'Hostiles and Calamities' is all about shifting loyalties and deciding what is, to quote Negan, "the right team". It's a choice that's becoming increasingly uncertain, even by this show's morally murky standards.
In the wake of Daryl's escape, Dwight is locked in that horrific cell – an experience he's been through once before, after a previous attempt to escape the Sanctuary. He's viciously beaten and later interrogated by Negan, who is terrifying despite being separated from Dwight by a steel door several inches thick.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan's boisterous portrayal of the show's new chief antagonist has sometimes veered into the cartoonish, but the powerful sequence in which he interrogates an imprisoned Dwight – unseen, using only words to intimidate – proves just how menacing he can be when playing a little more subtle.
Overall, Morgan's more restrained and so more unsettling in 'Hostiles and Calamities' than he's been before. The sequence in which he burns his latest victim alive is genuinely horrifying. Again, it's all the more powerful for its restraint – scarier for what we don't see.
But Negan's a clever one, knowing when to offer the carrot and when to offer the stick. Arriving at the Sanctuary, Eugene fears torture and solitude of the kind dished out to Daryl and Dwight, but instead is kept in relative comfort.
Snacks, beers, even video games and feminine company are provided, with three of Negan's wives draping themselves all over him like the brides of Dracula. When the chirpy 'Easy Street' makes a brief return, it no longer feels cruelly ironic.
It becomes clear, pretty quickly, that Eugene is in serious danger of being seduced by Negan. He's weaker than Daryl, who held out against all odds. Heck, he's not even as strong-willed as Carl. "Haircut", though, is at threat of being won over – and not just by the creature comforts he's afforded.
Frequently bullied and underestimated among Rick's group, Eugene finds a sense of purpose at the Sanctuary. Soon, he starts to displays new-found confidence and begins to embrace his role as Negan's new MVP.
By his own admission, Eugene's "not good" – but could he ever turn bad? With Morgan actor Lennie James warning that some character will "go to the dark side that'll take you by surprise", the possibility that Eugene might turn is pretty diverting at first.
At first. But despite a strong start, 'Hostiles and Calamities' doesn't do enough to convince us that standalone episodes of The Walking Dead, concentrating on one character or location at the expense of others, are a good idea.
The first act is fine, but second lags, as Eugene's journey is fattened out with a dull sub-plot in which Negan's wives attempt to have their new chemist cook up some poison – ostensibly so one of them can take their own life, but in fact to be used on their cruel captor.
The audience has no real investment in Negan's wives, and the scenes don't advance Eugene's story either. We already understand by this point that he's in danger of being seduced, so all we're left with is extraneous material which could have easily been excised to allow for an update on Rick and the gang.
No-one seems to be fan of this kind of isolated storytelling – not the fans, not the critics and certainly not the cast – and the sooner The Walking Dead leaves it behind entirely, the better. (Dwight's arc this week certainly didn't deserve half an episode – he starts out tortured and conflicted about his role in Negan's camp and ends up the exact same way.)
Despite over-egging Eugene's transformation, 'Hostiles and Calamities' does at least end on a satisfying note. Inevitable though it may be, it's still a bold move to have the episode deliver on its initial promise and have the character declare himself "utterly, completely, stone-cold Negan".
Opening and closing strong, this is not a bad episode of The Walking Dead by any stretch. But it's an episode impossible to enjoy without reservation, since it's so obvious that, with a few tweaks, it could easily have been a great one.
You can watch the trailer for the next episode here:
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