The Walking Dead "Self Help" Review

This week instead of slumming it with Beth we get to hang out with Abraham and his crew on a all new The Walking Dead. (MILD SPOILERS!!)

Synopsis: Abraham was intent on leaving the church to head to D.C., and it looks like he encounters trouble along the way. Glenn doesn't appear to be in top form either. The group will have to push through to survive the challenges they face and each other.

High Points

• Finally a focus on Abraham, Rosita, and Eugene
• Flashbacks to Abraham's past
• Intense look at walker killing from Eugene's POV
• Some Cable Nudity (SEX!)
• Eugene is a perv and no one is surprises
• Zombies are really bad at wet t-shirt contests
• The truth comes out
• Great performances from Cudlitz (Abraham) and McDermitt (Eugene)
• Fantastic comic book parallels

Abraham is no Keanu Reeves

Low Points

• A slug would make it to DC faster than "The Group" will
• The scenes at night were so dark that it was hard to see what was happening
• Kind of slow

Verdict: Abraham and his crew have been on The Walking Dead for almost a full season  now. They have had very little focus upon who they are or how they came to join Rick's group. So it was great that this week saw that crew so well represented. Abraham's personality and history are spot on with his comic counterparts as are Eugene and Rosita's characterizations. With the focus upon them this was really an emotional episode for Abraham. The ep did a fantastic job at splicing in Abraham's flashbacks into the current story to make the biggest emotional jab land beautifully. Reminded me a lot of Michonne's flashback episode last season. Overall I give "Self Help" a 8.0 out of 10. It didn't move the story along a lot, but it did drop one long awaited comic book bombshell. Also had SEX!

Gotta love Cable

The Walking Dead "Slabtown" Review

Beth chills out at a hospital and hums in a brand new The Walking Dead. (SPOILERS!)

High Points

• Everybody Hates Chris! (Actor Tyler James Williams as Noah)
• Amputations are fun
• Beth helps kill that shithead cop Gorman
• Short but enjoyable Walker kill montage
• Noah crawled through a river of shit, but didn't come out clean on the other side.

The way you feel when you realize it's an all Beth episode.

Low Points

• Everybody Hates Beth! (All the characters you like are not here this week!)
• Oral sex must be reciprocated at this "hospital" (Give a favor show gratitude, it's only fair)
• Extremely slow pacing
• Power structure in hospital sucks
• Obligatory Jesus reference to justify actions (I gotta start doing that)
• This storyline for some reason is not over

Verdict: Can someone explain to me how Beth got her own episode? I have no personal vendetta against Emily Kinney, the actress who plays Beth, but she must have blackmail on or nude photos of show runners Scott Gimple and Robert Kirkman because there is no other reason that her character could get an entire episode dedicated to her story. That being said "Slabtown" could have been worse (At least she didn't sing, right?). Beth woke up in a strange hospital with a strange power structure and met some new shitty people and one cool dude (Noah!). The set up allowed for Beth to showcase that she has become resourceful and a good shot (cause every character must be a certified badass I guess). Now the main problem I had was this ep. was that it was filler.  It did noting to advance the storyline about going to DC. At least the final moment offered at least a semi-interesting wrinkle to Beth's tale though. But still I hope that this side story will be all wrapped up next week. Overall "Slabtown" is by far this season's weakest offering and gets a 6 out of 10. Like I said before, could have been worse.

That elevator made me miss "Well Zombie"

The Greater Good!: Want to watch a much better version of this story? Watch Hot Fuzz. Clip contains SPOILERS!.