Series Issues: The Walking Dead 6×14 – Twice as Far

Spoilers will be on the side of the road impaled on metal spikes.

If you haven’t seen this week’s episode, The Walking Dead 6×14: Twice as Far, I would strongly suggest watching it before you read this. In case you just got here, this is not a recap. I’m doing this “jumping right into it assuming you already watch the whole thing” as of late.

First of all, let’s try to guess which of all the characters in Alexandria should never go out on a supply run. No, not Maggie plus one. Our brave pregnant lady already went out, got captured and went natural-born-killer on a bunch of Saviours. Unwise, but already done. Nope, I think if I’d have to guess which Alexandrian should remain far behind the front lines it would be Denise, the only doctor in town. That’s of course completely obvious so there’s no chance that she would ever join a scavenging run.

Goddamit.

Yeah, our esteemed Doctor who has been developing a love interest went outside. I don’t know who to blame here. I mean, anybody could’ve stopped Denise. A week ago, I’d say probably not Eugene but that just changed in this episode. Yes, Denise went out and was killed by none other than Dwight. Same guy that stole motorcycle and crossbow from Daryl a while back. Denise goes out via crossbow bolt.

I also don’t like the fact that we’ve been building this character, serving one very essential role as the doctor and also having a love interest with Tara. On one hand, I understand we can’t make a character immortal just because she’s a lesbian. On the other hand, we do have immortal characters that we know we can’t just kill off randomly because they’re popular, so they get to outlive situations were anybody else would perish.

Running parallel to this ill-fated supply run, Abraham and Eugene have gone out on their own mission. Eugene is convinced that fabricating bullets could really make them the top dog in post-apocalyptical resources. Not the worst idea I’ve heard. The other issue is that Eugene is trying to convince Abraham he’s more independent, which is hard when Eugene is attacked by liquid-metal-covered walker and can’t quite get the job done. When Abraham has to kill it for him, Eugene is mad enough at him that Abraham decides to walk away and leave him to his fate.

As it happens, Dwight has somehow captured Eugene as well when he ambushes Daryl and Rosita. For some reason Dwight’s face is half burned off. There’s a backstory coming for sure. Eugene then does what seems to be a very Eugene thing to do and gives away Abraham’s position. Except that it’s a diversion and to complete the mayhem he opts to bite Dwight between his legs. Not making this up.

A mixed episode. We get a weird kind of cliffhanger as we learn that Carol, who has been moping around, decides to leave Alexandria via a voiceover as Toby reads her goodbye letter. I’m going to opt for the highs and lows to fill in the blanks.

Highs/Lows/HeadsUpBoltHeadedForYourHead:

Denise. I know we’re going for random here. Seems we were just building this character up. We could chalk it up to WD randomness but it does feel like unnecessary. That being said, did she had a death wish? She puts herself in danger several times during this episode. She was your doctor. Anybody who’s playing couch-survivor knows that you protect your healer. Bottom line is that Denise should’ve never been out there.
Eugene. The guy who thinks he’s the smartest in the room finally wises up. Welcome to stage two, Eugene. No, you were not here for a while – but you’re definitely here now.
Rosita. A badass on her own right, she finally gets her own storyline. She’s obviously regretting Spencer, but whether or not he’ll warm up to her or she will just knock him out is to be seen. I’m hoping she doesn’t end up dying to Negan just to give Abraham some vengeance fodder. If that happens it will be a waste of a good character.
Dwight. Well, well, well. Did Dwight got burned capturing Eugene? Or was it in a different adventure for Negan? Did Negan do that to him? We’re just planting seeds for a backstory, which is why once you see him you know he’s going to survive a couple of episodes so that we can find out.
Ok, can’t delay this one anymore. Daryl recovers his goddamn CROSSBOW. About darn time!
And finally, Carol. It does seem the showrunners like to have her as a lone gun. Does that mean we’re setting her up for another Carol-to-the-rescue moments?

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