This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/30/arts/television/the-walking-dead-season-7-episode-2-the-kingdom-carol-morgan.html
The article has changed 2 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
Previous version
1
Next version
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| ‘The Walking Dead’ Season 7, Episode 2: Greetings From the Kingdom | ‘The Walking Dead’ Season 7, Episode 2: Greetings From the Kingdom |
| (3 days later) | |
| Sorry about all the violence and death last week, “Walking Dead” fans. Here, have a tiger. | Sorry about all the violence and death last week, “Walking Dead” fans. Here, have a tiger. |
| Or maybe a song. Or how about a nice pork chop? (Actually, skip the pork chop.) These were just a few of the delights on offer on Sunday when, after last week’s night of horror, we landed in a brighter, more idyllic land. | Or maybe a song. Or how about a nice pork chop? (Actually, skip the pork chop.) These were just a few of the delights on offer on Sunday when, after last week’s night of horror, we landed in a brighter, more idyllic land. |
| This was the Kingdom, a place of flourishing gardens, abundant cobbler and Renaissance Faire dialogue, overseen by the beneficent and dreadlocked King Ezekiel. We learn later that the Arthurian airs were just that — a put-on. But upon the initial encounter with the bombastic amateur thespian I imagine most of us had reactions similar to Carol’s: This place is a joke. How do I get out of here? | This was the Kingdom, a place of flourishing gardens, abundant cobbler and Renaissance Faire dialogue, overseen by the beneficent and dreadlocked King Ezekiel. We learn later that the Arthurian airs were just that — a put-on. But upon the initial encounter with the bombastic amateur thespian I imagine most of us had reactions similar to Carol’s: This place is a joke. How do I get out of here? |
| We’ll get into Ezekiel’s stagecraft in a minute. The larger point with the Kingdom is, here is another way. | We’ll get into Ezekiel’s stagecraft in a minute. The larger point with the Kingdom is, here is another way. |
| We’ve known that “The Walking Dead” was moving into a new phase, one defined less by the peregrinations and shifting fortunes of Rick and company, and more by the relationships between competing colonies, each with its own version of civilization. Sunday’s episode represented a notable expansion not only of the players and cast of this story, but also of philosophy. | We’ve known that “The Walking Dead” was moving into a new phase, one defined less by the peregrinations and shifting fortunes of Rick and company, and more by the relationships between competing colonies, each with its own version of civilization. Sunday’s episode represented a notable expansion not only of the players and cast of this story, but also of philosophy. |
| Whatever you think about the fairy tale aspects of the Kingdom, it seems to be a settlement based in hope and, perhaps, a belief in the fundamental goodness of humankind, which distinguishes it from roughly 100 percent of the groups that Rick and the gang have encountered this far. From the Nero-esque Governor to those ravenous Terminus lunatics to Officer Dawn’s actual police state to the predatory Wolves to the despicable Saviors, “The Walking Dead” has so far equated post-apocalyptic polity with toxicity. Even the fatally oblivious Alexandrians based their decency in denial, leading to vulnerability within — think Pete the serial abuser — and without — think Season 6. | Whatever you think about the fairy tale aspects of the Kingdom, it seems to be a settlement based in hope and, perhaps, a belief in the fundamental goodness of humankind, which distinguishes it from roughly 100 percent of the groups that Rick and the gang have encountered this far. From the Nero-esque Governor to those ravenous Terminus lunatics to Officer Dawn’s actual police state to the predatory Wolves to the despicable Saviors, “The Walking Dead” has so far equated post-apocalyptic polity with toxicity. Even the fatally oblivious Alexandrians based their decency in denial, leading to vulnerability within — think Pete the serial abuser — and without — think Season 6. |
| The Kingdom seems to favor a quasi-Marxist program of meeting needs by tapping its members abilities, with spiritual overtones. “Drink from the well, replenish the well,” Ezekiel says, dropping the episode title. Sunday’s hour was about pondering whether Carol could believe in decency anymore, or commit to it enough to risk having to defend it at some point. (You’ll recall that she left her friends in Alexandria because she didn’t want to kill anymore, speaking of fairy tales. The quicker the show abandons this silly pretense, which was apparently a device for getting us to the Kingdom, the better.) | The Kingdom seems to favor a quasi-Marxist program of meeting needs by tapping its members abilities, with spiritual overtones. “Drink from the well, replenish the well,” Ezekiel says, dropping the episode title. Sunday’s hour was about pondering whether Carol could believe in decency anymore, or commit to it enough to risk having to defend it at some point. (You’ll recall that she left her friends in Alexandria because she didn’t want to kill anymore, speaking of fairy tales. The quicker the show abandons this silly pretense, which was apparently a device for getting us to the Kingdom, the better.) |
| But first, viewers put off by last week’s violence — those who returned on Sunday, anyway — had something special waiting for them: a sliced walker whose face opened like an old mailbox. It was part of an impressionistic sequence that illustrated Carol’s struggle to reconnect to her humanity, the walkers shifting between their pre- and post-death selves as riders wielded swords with ruthless grace. | But first, viewers put off by last week’s violence — those who returned on Sunday, anyway — had something special waiting for them: a sliced walker whose face opened like an old mailbox. It was part of an impressionistic sequence that illustrated Carol’s struggle to reconnect to her humanity, the walkers shifting between their pre- and post-death selves as riders wielded swords with ruthless grace. |
| At least I think that’s what it was supposed to illustrate. Like many “Walking Dead” set pieces, the line between meaningful moment and “check it out bro” visual effects was as hazy as Carol’s perspective. If nothing else, it provided another wallow in fetishized gore for hot-takers to parse. | At least I think that’s what it was supposed to illustrate. Like many “Walking Dead” set pieces, the line between meaningful moment and “check it out bro” visual effects was as hazy as Carol’s perspective. If nothing else, it provided another wallow in fetishized gore for hot-takers to parse. |
| From there, we got an introduction to the Kingdom, including Ezekiel’s shtick; Richard the surly pig herder; Morgan training gentle Benjamin — a reader not a fighter — in the soulful art of aikido; and the Kingdom Tabernacle Choir tackling the work of freshly minted Nobel laureates. (That choral montage was a little much, plus I’ve always preferred the Waylon Jennings version.) | From there, we got an introduction to the Kingdom, including Ezekiel’s shtick; Richard the surly pig herder; Morgan training gentle Benjamin — a reader not a fighter — in the soulful art of aikido; and the Kingdom Tabernacle Choir tackling the work of freshly minted Nobel laureates. (That choral montage was a little much, plus I’ve always preferred the Waylon Jennings version.) |
| While a fragile détente has been established between Carol and Morgan, he’s not going to be able to keep her around, she tells him. Despite the comforts on display, as soon as Carol starts to heal she starts making plans, dusting off the old little bird act as she regains her strength and swipes laundry in preparation for her departure. | While a fragile détente has been established between Carol and Morgan, he’s not going to be able to keep her around, she tells him. Despite the comforts on display, as soon as Carol starts to heal she starts making plans, dusting off the old little bird act as she regains her strength and swipes laundry in preparation for her departure. |
| The hiccup comes, in thudding symbolic fashion, when she attempts to pluck an apple from the garden of Kingdom knowledge. That’s when she has another audience with Ezekiel and learns that, contrary to her dismissive initial impression, his whole “fair maiden” trip is no more authentic than her delicate hausfrau routine. It turns out that Ezekiel is a former zookeeper and all the affectations — the stentorian oration, the kingly guise, the tiger — evolved from his followers’ need for someone larger than life to believe in. | The hiccup comes, in thudding symbolic fashion, when she attempts to pluck an apple from the garden of Kingdom knowledge. That’s when she has another audience with Ezekiel and learns that, contrary to her dismissive initial impression, his whole “fair maiden” trip is no more authentic than her delicate hausfrau routine. It turns out that Ezekiel is a former zookeeper and all the affectations — the stentorian oration, the kingly guise, the tiger — evolved from his followers’ need for someone larger than life to believe in. |
| “Who am I to burst their bubble?” he asks Carol. “They needed someone to follow, so I acted the part.” | “Who am I to burst their bubble?” he asks Carol. “They needed someone to follow, so I acted the part.” |
| There’s a point in Ezekiel’s fairy tale trappings, I think, about how fear turns people into children. It deranges them and provokes regression, and makes them crave easily understood symbols, whether you’re talking about a man with a tiger or a man with a phallic baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire. | There’s a point in Ezekiel’s fairy tale trappings, I think, about how fear turns people into children. It deranges them and provokes regression, and makes them crave easily understood symbols, whether you’re talking about a man with a tiger or a man with a phallic baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire. |
| But while I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to look at that tiger without laughing, I wouldn’t mind a break from the unremitting bleakness of the “Walking Dead” worldview. A week after Negan’s ghastly home-run derby, especially, Ezekiel’s ideas about “hope, heroism, grace and love” sound pretty good. | But while I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to look at that tiger without laughing, I wouldn’t mind a break from the unremitting bleakness of the “Walking Dead” worldview. A week after Negan’s ghastly home-run derby, especially, Ezekiel’s ideas about “hope, heroism, grace and love” sound pretty good. |
| They ended with a compromise: Carol would live on her own within the realm, but close enough for the occasional symbolic pomegranate delivery from Ezekiel. That’s how the episode ended, with the tiger king trying again to tempt Carol into taking a bite. | |
| What do we think that’s all about? I assume Ezekiel’s interest in Carol and Morgan stems from their fighting skills, demonstrated in last season’s clashes with the Saviors. (As we saw with the pig handoff, the Kingdom has its own issues with the group.) For Carol, does the pomegranate represent merely a commitment to comfort, hope and yet another group she’ll one day be forced to defend? | |
| Or is there something we don’t yet understand about Ezekiel? We know he’s keeping secrets about his dealings with the Saviors. What else could he be withholding? | Or is there something we don’t yet understand about Ezekiel? We know he’s keeping secrets about his dealings with the Saviors. What else could he be withholding? |
| • Any physicians out there who can shed light on the health effects of eating pork raised on zombie flesh? It’s a specialized field of study, I’m guessing. | • Any physicians out there who can shed light on the health effects of eating pork raised on zombie flesh? It’s a specialized field of study, I’m guessing. |
| • So what’s happening at Alexandria these days anyway? Is Father Gabriel still holding down the fort, do we think? | • So what’s happening at Alexandria these days anyway? Is Father Gabriel still holding down the fort, do we think? |
| • What say you? Is Ezekiel trustworthy? Are you cool with a C.G.I. tiger dipping in and out of this show? What’s your favorite recipe for lunch cobbler? Please share your thoughts in the comments. | • What say you? Is Ezekiel trustworthy? Are you cool with a C.G.I. tiger dipping in and out of this show? What’s your favorite recipe for lunch cobbler? Please share your thoughts in the comments. |
Previous version
1
Next version