TV Review: THE WALKING DEAD: Season 7, Episode 12: Say Yes [AMC]

The Walking Dead: Say Yes Review

The Walking Dead, season 7, episode 12, ‘Say Yes,’ was an exercise in getting away from it all. While the ideals & temperament of the respective escapees were somewhat polarized, however, I’d regard the more escapist of the two threads to also be the darker of the two threads.

The episode started in a good place, for Michonne (Danai Gurira). Quality time on the road, with Rick (Andrew Lincoln), gave them plenty to do with (and to) each other – bringing out some of her old feral self. That explained her silly grin; but Rick’s been grinning on a whole other level, lately. Before anyone mentions that road tripping alone with Michonne could have that affect, I should point out that starting an episode of  The Walking Dead with optimism often bodes ill.

Case-in-point: Tara (Alanna Masterson) came with something for the Rosita (Christian Serratos) scar, but the scar said no. Scar didn’t want healing. Scar wanted to repay its creators, with open wounds. Scar wanted this done in as wide a scale as possible. Scar wanted guns – and now.

At this point, Tara should’ve been wanting Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) to consider an exorcism for Rosita; but she settled for just getting out of Scarsita’s way.

From there, however, the episode seemed to dovetail, between the fortunes of the Beard & Locks, on one end, and Scar, on the other. Frustration bred frustrations, for Scarsita’s scavenger hunt; while falling through a ceiling wasn’t enough to dampen the fun Beard y Locks was having – despite having a plot device deer leading the pair to that point.

As cynical as I felt, thinking something bad had to happen to Beard y Locks, Scar finding its way to that Gabriel intervention left me thinking that fortunes were very much in the right order. As I recall, Rosita’s stupid thing – involving her last gun, only bullet, and Negan – had nothing to do with Gabriel; but, hey, let’s say Scar was doing the talking. I’ve seen my fair share of revisionist rationalizations, but the Gabe confrontation gets the Moonstruck snap-out-of-it award, this week.

To his credit, Gabe dealt a softer blow, to Scar’s roll; and the fact that he was able to knock some (but only some) sense into Rosita – with humble words & a smile – solidified something of a place for his character, at long last. Looks like Alexandria had its exorcist, after all.

It might also have a shrink. Tara dishing on the Oceanside Femme Force,  to toddler Judith, said something about her need to do more with that secret. That, and maybe Rick’s need for nanny cams (especially since the two were bonding over choke hazard trinkets). A special shout out to Judith’s set handlers, as well. If I had time, I’d caption her reactions; but her off-camera fixating served the scene pretty well (better than it does for most dogs & cats – and that’s saying something).

Back at Beard y Locks, however, the first signs of trouble amounted to Rick being a bad influence. Somehow, the beard was having too much fun, and really didn’t want the couples road trip to end. This spoke to a much larger issue, regarding a post-Negan communal order. A vacuum Michonne saw Rick as being better suited to fill than he, himself, did.

Well, the bad influence beard shut that discussion down, right quick, with more filling of Michonne as a way to change the subject (I don’t know about you, but I was referring to an offer of more MRE).

Between the bad-luck-banter, and a protracted game of wack-a-Walker, it would be appropriate to say that Rick & Michonne were having way too much fun – but I’m not going to.

Somewhere between a Walker firing an assault rifle at them (accidentally, mind you), and Rick getting caught in digital deer’s headlights, some (more) gravity came to their little adventure. The kind of gravity that gets to the bottom line – which, in this case, meant Rick confronting Michonne with the hard fact about them all being expendable.

Okay, show of hands – who actually fell for the Rick fall fake-out? Be honest.

That deer had plot device stamped behind one ear. The kind that seemed blissfully blasé about grazing next to campers, and amidst Walkers, during a hack-n-slash – so what happened was bound to happen. Let’s just say it was the thought that counted, and move on. I’m always happy to see Michonne get her weapon back (” …both of them”).

More tough (but fun) negotiation with Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh) brought things pretty much back to normal; but normal just couldn’t cut it, for some. Tara looked to be poking at a hornet’s nest, scratching her Oceanside itch; but there were still demons to exorcise.

Sometimes the Mountain has to go to Muhammad, but when Scar made it to Hilltop, it went straight for where Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green) has been stashing her own brand of crazy.

Harkening back to Sasha’s crazy-fatalist days, I always figured it was in the eyes. Well, those eyes spoke volumes at a proposal Scar didn’t even have to articulate. Sasha didn’t bury her crazy all that deep, it seems.

So that, then, appeared to be the promised fly in the ointment – all that Beard y Lock fun setting up a Scar-Eyes plot to have the last laugh.

There may be enough flies in the room for every kind of ointment the season can come up with, I’m thinking. If so, then this kind of ruins any future fun, that the showrunners might have in mind; but I’d appreciate further efforts, all the same….

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