“The Next World” is exactly what you’d want out of an episode in a series that has been running for almost six seasons. It was a breath of half fresh/half putrid, rotting, decaying air. And yet surprise of “The Next World” coming from a rather large time jump is the absolute worst way to have given The Walking Dead this sort of episode. TWD is all too happy to show us all the gruesome zombie head smashing and “tense” gun battles between groups of rival factions, but when it comes to the hard work – the long, slow, rewarding reveal of episodes worth of plotting into a big, character driven payoff – it falls completely on its decrepit, festering face.
Our breath of half putrid air comes from “The Next World” finally throwing our characters into some sort of quality of life. The levity that, according to TWD, is only allowed when there is some sort of civilized normalcy was on full display. Rick and Daryl are not worried about going out on a supplies run (Michonne needs her toothpaste) as Rick blares some country from the car radio and Daryl stops on the return trip to get some sodas so that Denise can send Tara off right. Carl and Enid jaunt off into the woods outside of the walls to be rebellious teens and read comic books. Even unsure of himself Spencer roams the woods with a shovel in hopes of finding his zombified mom in order to give her a proper burial. In a way, “The Next World” is exactly what I have been craving ever since Rick and company arrived at the farm.
But “The Next World” all too conveniently leave out what is, perhaps, the most important part of this whole settling into a quality of life routine: how it was attained. For the first time there was a large (?) time jump between two episodes within the same season. Again, this would normally be a most welcome occurrence, except that it jumps over all the hard work of Alexandria not only settling back into a routine but also banding together as one community, beginning expansion, and being unfettered by outside groups. To literally go from hundreds of zombie corpses littering the streets to hunky-dory suburbia is a pretty big stretch, especially since this show has never had a time in which some petty us vs. them mentality wasn’t the focal point. Within this time jump, however, not only has expansion begun but everyone has reached such a level of comfort with each other that there are no cares in the world – even if the supply truck you stumbled upon gets stolen but some random guy who introduces himself as Paul Rovia/Jesus.
TWD has always been pretty bad about building up to anything, instead using a tactic of hammering the same nail deeper and deeper until everyone becomes too annoyed with what’s going on, forcing a complete annihilation to the setting of such annoyance and putting everyone back on the road. So, perhaps, not building up to this point in the story and just completely jumping to the apex of this moment works in everyone’s best interest – though it doesn’t excuse the disappointment by not trying. The lack of build up to this level of comfort in Alexandria doesn’t allow the audience to go along this road with the characters, which means its jarring nature throws everyone off and hints that it won’t last long, especially for TWD. In addition, when new dangers present themselves it lessens the impact on the audience since we weren’t allowed to go on the journey that the characters did.
Force-feeding the audience to readjust their expectations for an episode or two wouldn’t be that big of a deal, either, if not for the huge reveal of Rick and Michonne being a couple. While, arguably, Rick was the closest to Michonne in the group, it is still a pretty big pill to swallow after Rick seemingly lost the woman he was falling in love with in the previous episode. Not only that but because there is no hard understanding of how much time has passed, the audience isn’t quite sure how long they have been “together.” It certainly seemed like a long enough time to be playing husband and wife, but then at the same time their hook up at the end of the episode did not feel exactly comfortable between them, as though they were still trying to figure each other out. And, again, the fact the audience doesn’t get to go on this journey with Rick and Michonne makes their relationship seem all too superficial.
Perhaps the main takeaway from the episode was the introduction of the aforementioned Paul Rovia. His “hijinks” of stealing the truck, getting out of knots, and hand to hand combat skills brought a new energy to the show. While TWD is not known for the forays into comedy, Rovia was certainly introduced as a sort of comic relief/spirit lightener – nothing said this more than him escaping his capture to find a naked, post-coital Michonne and Rick in bed. Whether his light energy lasts or was just meant for this episode remains to be seen. Hopefully it lasts.
Because of the time jump, everything in “The Next World” – the levity, the comfort, the relationship – has a fragile, temporary air. The audience has already been conditioned to the temporary state of settlement, and fast forwarding through the easing into quality of life only makes everything in “The Next World” feel more aberration than the norm. Even though “The Next World” felt like what the show should have become over six seasons it’s an incomplete present, one to which the audience was not privy. The refusal to do the heavy lifting to get the characters to this moment in time is an unsurprising disappointment, but TWD has always cared more about the eventual, shuffling doom that will befall one community after another. Now that we’ve been given our all too rare Happy Meal it’s time for us to discover the burger to be undercooked, the fries to be cold, and the toy to break after one use.