The Walking Dead "Crossed" Review (Season 5.7)

The following review contains spoilers for the Walking Dead season 5 Episode "Crossed"

The Walking Dead Sets The Stage

We made it through a string of episodes dealing with each individual group trying to move forward after Terminus. “Crossed” tied everything together in a neat package, one that is sure to be quickly undone in the mid season finale. It’s been mentioned in our reviews throughout the season but never is it more clear than in this episode how much better the show is when they focus on everyone instead of using entire episodes to focus on a small group. Sunday’s scenes involving Glenn and company (Abraham is a bit too shaken right now to be seen as their leader) would have been fleshed out into a full episode in season 4. They didn't add much to “Crossed” but they sure felt like they were setting up something for next week and that was the point. This entire episode was one big set up for the mid season finale and it was well executed.

Tension and Trust Rule The Night

[caption id=attachment_1368" align="alignleft" width="300] Rick comes up with a pretty detailed plan on how to rescue Beth and Carol but he is met with some resistance. Rick lets majority rule but he seems to be getting pretty cocky, could something be ready to send him back to Earth?[/caption]

The tension was paper thin in “Crossed” and it came from so many different directions. Director Billy Gierhart, who hasn't directed an episode since the mid season 3 finale “Made to Suffer”, returned with quite the impact. While you can say “Crossed” was rather predictable in the end, it had you guessing and feeling nervous all along. It was easy to think Daryl would survive the fight with the Grady cop and it was easy to think the other male cop was going to pull a fast one on Sasha but there was a cloud of concern that lingered from the beginning. I wasn’t 100% sure Daryl would survive that scene and I really wanted the Grady cop to be sincere. Everything may have had the most likely outcome but it wasn't obvious and the emotional ride made for good television and an entertaining hour.

The best aspect of this episode, which also gave more much needed importance to “Slabtown”, was the question of who can and cannot be trusted from Grady. Terminus brought with it a very direct and brutal form of terror. Dawn and the rest of Grady Memorial Hospital bring a more psychological approach to the table. The cops had one story, Dawn had another, the doctor told Beth which medicine to give to Carol but we saw previously how he previously lied in order to take out the other doctor. I don’t think there’s one thing that can safely be predicted about next week’s episode (except maybe death, there will probably be some death) and “Crossed” was the perfect set up, the perfect ride through smoke and mirrors as we’re left with many questions to stew over with bated breath for the upcoming week.

Crossed Final Takeaways

Daryl has always been one bad dude but he must have felt he was lagging behind Rick and even Carol because his move of ripping a walker’s head clear off and bashing his foe with it could have come straight from the comics. It tip toed the line between realism and campiness but regardless of which side it leaned, it was just plain awesome.

[caption id=attachment_1369" align="alignright" width="300] Maggie steps up and lays down the law to Abraham who is still reeling from Eugene's revelation. Rosita also continues to show a bit of fierceness making it feel like she's more than just eye candy.[/caption]

The Grady patient who creates a distraction for Beth, who is trying to grab medicine for Carol, was the weekly “was that really necessary?” moment. It was fine for the most part, but the “oh I’m suddenly fine now” trope as he watched Beth walk by was a head shaker.

It's just plain fun to watch Seth Gilliam portray Gabriel. His scenes, while brief, created a whole different layer to contemplate going in to next week. The music was creepy and he looked to be going a bit crazy as he watched his church be dismantled. He’s clearly struggling mightily in the new world but Gilliam makes it entertaining to watch.

Conclusion

I really could go on and on about this episode, it wasn’t the best of the season but it did its job as well as you could hope. Everything we witnessed in the previous six episodes came back into focus and every sub plot was touched on. There’s so many possible paths the next episode could take that the week long wait will be excruciating but this is when the Walking Dead is at its best. It’s fun to speculate but with so many questions to answer, it’s best to just sit back and watch the mayhem unfold and mayhem is exactly what we’ll get.

What did you think of the latest Walking Dead episode? Be sure to let us know in the comments below and give us your rating of "Crossed"!