‘The Walking Dead’ Season 8, Episode 3: Cut to Black

Thought experiments are common cognitive tools in philosophy, the natural sciences, and science fiction. They hold a kind of middle ground between scientific experiments and arguments. The idea is that we have a lot of instinctive knowledge derived from experience that we can access when scientific experiments are not possible. Because the goal of an experiment is to discover factual knowledge about the world, while literature functions to display real people behaving in a real way in a real world, the split has seemed natural enough, unarguable even. S8E3 is a thought experiment. Here in the real world, soldiers come home disabled by PTSD and alienated citizens compete to get the highest score in mass killings of innocents. Real problems in urgent need of real solutions. The stakes are high. If our morality is a natural outgrowth of our evolution as a species, it might be discoverable, arguable by self-aware, intelligent thinkers. As a heuristic, consider the difficulty of urinating with your pants on. Now compare that felt inhibition to another problem: say, shooting someone who has surrendered, someone with their hands up. In the thought experiment (Daryl shoots Todd), do you "experience" the same sort of inhibition that you "experience" trying to urinate while fully clothed? If most people feel that inhibition, especially while arguing that it is logical or necessary to defend self, family, or innocents with lethal force, what conclusion do you draw? Does it matter?

How much is the show dictated by whatever comes next in the original comics? For example, what happens to Negan in the comics? Do they ever run out of ammo and gasoline in the comics?

"Rick’s standoff gets cut short when Daryl guns Morales down, a brutal but necessary measure." Daryl has to be the most un-conflicted character on TWD. He'll do whatever it takes. Remember how his brother Merle got out of being handcuffed to the roof in Season 1? Merle did whatever it took. Maybe Daryl wasn't as unconflicted then as Merle was. But now - well, maybe that's what speeding a few weeks in Negan's company will do to you.

Not since Henry James assaulted H. G. Wells have we witnessed such prolonged antagonism against a genre of fiction. A deeply personal humiliation may arguably lay at the core of James's aggressive self-defense. Wells--an unknown nobody-- witnessed and reviewed for the Pall Mall Gazette the disastrous opening night of Guy Domville, and by the time James recovered from his deep depression, Wells was an established literary phenomenon. You could look it up, but how does that relate to NYTimes and TWD? Passers-by in the comments easily brush aside the legitimacy of the many supposed awful faults of the show, although retaining as a by-product the conclusion that the show is truly awful. Unfortunately, many also pick up a style of criticism that is purely subjective, not grounded in the logic of the themes or the action of the plot. Like the fore-shortened lament of Eric's death, compared to what: Amy's? Lori's? T-Dog's? Beth's? Bob's? Noah's? Let's compare it to the amount of time Carol spent on hubby Ed's head with the pick axe in Season 1. It's not a perfect show. It has its ups and downs. But give us a break! You've taken confirmation bias to a level Mercier and Sperber could not have foreseen. The twentieth century began with Wells and ended with the demise of the humanities as a positive force in the education of citizens in a free society. Could be the fault Russian troll bots, I guess, but I don't think so.

Truly awful boring season so far. Fear the Walking Dead is much better. I watch the latter and can go through the former in 15-20 min. skipping the gun battles and the ridiculous dialog from the "king".

Your column is exactly what I was thinking while watching the latest episode. So tiring. The new wrinkle...let's not kill them, capture them. No one mentions who is going to feed them? Also, Rick is now feeling bad about killing. Sadly, TWD needs to end it's run. There were some great moments but it's over.

"The episode cuts to black with [Ezekiel's] fate still hanging in the balance, the latest in a long series of manipulative cliffhangers designed to goose easy, short-term suspense." Even if Ezekiel is alive, he's buried under a pile of dead Kingdom members, who will soon...well, you know.

I felt bad for the Savior kid that Rick promised compassion. He probably was just in over his head and could've provided needed Intel. I also fret for Jerry. I loved Cal at Hilltop giving Gregory the bird and snitching that he ate the little girls pancakes. Burning question: Why does this reviewer constantly call Jesus "Paul"?

It's hard to avoid the feeling that this show is trying to break up with me in the time honored fashion of getting me to move out. Last season was more depressing than usual, but I still liked and cared about the characters. In just three episodes, the show has undone seven years of commitment. if it was this easy to beat the Saviors, why did we have to go through last season? It seems ridiculous. Daryl has become a deceitful killing machine, which is hard to believe, and I'm no longer engaged by any of the characters except possibly Ezekiel when he's speechifying. The violence isn't remotely interesting, visually or philosophically, and the debates about what to do with captives feel like a plot point but not like these characters talking. At least Carl and Michonne have been spared the degradation that the other characters have suffered so far this season. Seven years will allow the show two or three more episodes to get its act together, but I'm barely tolerating it at this point. Which walker got to its heart?

After 3 episodes, there’s NO STORY. Just lots of battles. A little moralizing about what to do with the enemy. But we have no idea where anybody is or what they’re trying to do besides kill bad guys. We keep hearing about a great plan. The shows might be more exciting if we knew what it was, then saw them be clever in trying to achieve it or at least saw the obstacles in its path. That’s how good action films work. But we have no idea how many of these outposts there are. Or how many more extras can be cast to be shot by Team Rick. What’s winning? Killing all Saviors? Then Paul’s wrong. Just killing Negan? It’s all so vague and confusing. I only know the bad guys because I don’t recognize them. It’s time for Rick to finally kill Negan, then deal with the aftermath. Some of this moralizing might have more impact then, especially if Rick starts to be perceived as a bad guy by this big new world he’s learning about.

I have watched and persevered through all of the Walking Dead - and this is arguably the worst episode I have ever seen.

This is the first season I'm feeling a lack of interest in the show. Strange writing and directing. Something about it feels very much like a soap opera. Slow moving time, one day dragging on and on. The strange close ups at the end of Ep. 2, with music in the background. Laughably melodramatic when I caught the end of the replay. Characters hashing over the same topics again and again. There isn't much storytelling going on. Will give it a couple more Sundays to see where it goes. Not a fan of the flashbacks either, can't see the purpose of them most of the time. In fact, time is very disjointed. We should have had an update on the Gabriel/Negan story in the trailer by now- if time is passing, which it seems to be. How the show is being handled is just plain weird, not taking advantage of the great characters and good actors. Carol and Darryl are back, but they're being treated like minor characters! Where is Michonne, not in the battles at all? She is nothing if not a warrior! Agree with some of the comments about the reviewer, too. Seems like he's not getting it a lot of the time. Finally, I predict Eric was killed off so that Aaron and Jesus (not Paul) can get together.

The zombies rolling down the hill were terrific. I don't watch TWD for sublime moral tension or profound character development. And I really like Ezekial. You can take just so many scruffy, grim survivors gnawing on the same trite dilemma for so long. I like the tiger, too. I think it's about as much fun as it always has been. And I have an old-lady crush on Darryl.

Make no bones about it, I became dispassionate about this show seasons ago. (I actually liked last seasons character driven, low zombie, arc.) But I must ask you, as a critic, how are you watching this show? But hypothesis, much like the zombie hordes who tune in at home, or in other words, wrongly. Why so enraged by cliffhangers? That’s not a cliff hangar. That is one episode curing up the next. One battle will lead to another. We do not need to worry or fret over Ezekiel’s health at the moment. And the writers aren’t trying to fake you out or given themselves room. They are setting up that our heroes have gotten themselves into a situation and next week must work to get out of it. No more. No less. Some other inconsistencies. Gabriel is “vanished” while Negan is “at large.” They are together tho. In a weird trailer. In the middle of a horde. Their arc is not dominant right now. This is all a big “meanwhile...” passage. Why fret a minor protagonist but accept it for the major antagonist? (Wanna talk vanished: Michonne? Carl?) Finally, you seem fully engaged in the Morgan/Jesus, Maggie/Gregory, Maggie/Jesus debates. You seem to see the logic of both sides. Yet you decisively turn away from Darryl’s execution. Why? It is the same debate playing out through action. And indeed it shocks Rick into maybe considering his position. And Rick working though this debate is the crux of this show. One last (truly) final nit: who on the planet other than you calls Jesus, Paul?

Sigh. Maggie should never have let Gregory back in. Does anyone think he will not betray Hilltop the first chance he gets? This is not about mercy, it's about people living with the consequences of their actions. Likewise, Jesus should never have unilaterally decided to let the soldiers at the outpost put down their arms, surrender and be promised life. Sorry, but they should have killed them in battle. It was a battle they would have won with a little patience. Again, does anyone think that these prisoners roped together would not kill their captors, given the chance? They chose Negan's way and they have to suffer the consequences. I get irritated when they have characters do stupid things. And this was stupid.

Awful. How did TWD get so thoroughly inept? Compare the endless bullet battle scenes the last two weeks- confusing, boring, clumsily shot and edited, to some of the great battle scenes staged by Game of Thrones. There you will see the difference between show runners with vision and the talent to back it up and smug ratings grabbers whose past success now appears to have been an anomaly...

Ignore Kirkman's comic front-running the plot, and just mutate the virus. The walkers are no longer ambulatory, the living are spared, and the show comes to a dignified end.

Lots of senseless expenditure of precious ammunition. Lots of cuts from location to location with no sense of who was where and why. No intelligence gathering beyond M2 Brownings and then killing the one compliant Savior. No tension build in what should have been a very tense episode.

I can't take it. Another week of screaming at the TV. Maggie - big mistake. Have you learned nothing? Eric/Aaron - really? Couldn't they have at least put fake tears on him? Darryl - good move x 2 Paul/Jesus - have you also learned nothing? Morgan - great. A breakdown. Ezekiel - we were screaming.. don't turn your back on that building..are you crazy? And Carol - is she falling for Ezekiel? Stick with Darryl.

I don't think there is any "imperative to punish." The execution of Saviors is justified by those in favor of it as the elimination of a potential threat. The Tara/Jesus dilemna in episode 1 played that dilemna out nicely.

The character is called Jesus. He’s never called Paul, even if that is his given name.

Wow!, good to see The NY Times reviewer finally... eh...you know... actually review the show as opposed to summarizing it, something any unfortunate viewer can do by him or herself. Agree that the scenes between Aaron and Eric felt perfunctory, but that might have been cause of the bad acting, especially on the guy who plays Aaron instead of any latent heterosexism on the part of the writers. Couldn't disagree more with the King Ezekiel character and his tired CGI tiger who is only hungry for bad guys. That is part of the comic book element that the creators of the show would have left out back when they actually cared about the show as opposed to just doing a "job." Their caring about the show once upon a time is the reason Rick thankfully still has two good arms. As for the fight between Jesus and Morgan that was the worst part of the show. I am so tired of characters going back and forth from peaceniks to violent maniacs as a dramatic device. You would think after a few years of surviving a post apocalyptic world these characters would have come to terms with what they are willing to do to stay alive. If the show doesn't know what to do with so many characters, it could start killing some of them off. In any case, one has to be a willing mass murder in order to have hair and beard as well-groomed as Jesus' in a post-apocalyptic world. Heck, in any world!

Good analysis, and I've got to agree. I'm hoping the next episode wraps up the battle with the Saviors, but I fear it'll drag on for much of the season. I know how it's supposed to play out in the comics (won't spoil it), but I can't see all of what still has to happen fitting into one episode, certainly not the way they've been doing it so far. I didn't have a gripe with the short fade-out for Eric. He was a very minor character, up until now he'd had about four scenes with real dialogue, and I thought they spent an adequate amount of time on Aaron's grief. I didn't think handing the baby off to him and letting him leave on his own was a great idea, since he's so grief-stricken he might not be concerned enough with survival himself. I also thought Daryl shooting the surrendered Savior was over-the-top in heartlessness. It got to Rick too, that his 'word' had been rendered untrustworthy, and that mercy seems out of reach for his group now. And while it's been a great ride overall, I think this show is running out of steam fast, and I'm hoping they get to a point where they can wrap it up with an ending we can all live with.

Bring back the zombies. Make them develop somehow, or introduce a cure and see how people respond to the reduced threat. Introduce a new element: government begins to re-emerge somewhere. The show has been over-dominated by male nemeses and heroes for several seasons; constant gun fights and show-downs are wearing thin. I am sad the zombies have been retired and have no role beyond occasionally mauling someone.