Swear

There are many brilliant 'The Walking Dead' episodes. There is a sizeable handful of episodes that are between decent and very good. There were disappointments back when the show was great admittedly, but they were still watchable. Post-Season 6, which was still worth the look if less consistent than the previous five seasons, there have been a fair share of lacklustre or less episodes that didn't do the show justice in any way.

Not many episodes made me feel very torn on what my thoughts were and what rating to give it. "Swear" is one of them. It is one of the lowest rated 'The Walking Dead' episodes, the lowest rated at this stage of the show, and while to me it is understandable as to why it didn't connect with people (to put it lightly) in my view the show has been a lot worse than this. Found "Swear" to be very flawed but nowhere near as bad as led to believe and not deserving of such vitriolic criticism (people even resorted to body shaming which is very shallow and has no place in a review).

Did appreciate "Swear" somewhat for being a change of pace. Most of the previous Season 7 episodes took the uncompromisingly brutal approach, whereas this is of a lighter and calmer (at times quirkier) sort and can see why people thought it refreshing. There were moments that were quietly amusing and others that were charming. There was tension at times, Tara learning of the deaths was a very poignant moment, there was a nice twist and the walkers are quite cool and creepy. The visuals are suitably slick generally.

Although there were reservations over how a not particularly major character, around for quite a few years but never properly in the spotlight, would fare as a lead, it was surprising that this aspect came off better than expected. Tara may not be the most compelling 'The Walking Dead' character, but it was really nice to see her have more to do after so long and with a presence that indicates that she was deserving of having an episode centred around her. Alanna Masterson's performance was appealing.

Was not totally enamoured by everybody else though, nobody's awful but nobody else really stands out. Heath's presence is quite bland and underwritten. While liking and appreciating Tara's development, the rest of the characters were of the functional but not much else kind. The dialogue is still a bit rambling, other episodes have done that worse though, and also awkward, even the intentional awkwardness felt like it was taken too far.

Felt that the story had its moments, but it didn't properly grab me. The pace is on the meandering side, with parts not really going anywhere, and other than the Oceanside introduction and Tara's character development there is not an awful lot of progression so if anybody considers the episode filler and questioning how it fits in with the rest of the show they can't really be blamed. It also felt quite contrived, with moments of over-conveniences happening out of the blue, things not always making sense and character behaviour that frustrates rather than rivets.

In conclusion, not that bad but left me torn. 5/10

I'm not telling that this episode is one of the best episodes in TWD but also it is not the worst , so i think it deserve better rating than this

I don't usually write reviews for the Walking Dead, but I felt like this episode could use a more positive one. I get that "Swear" isn't as good as other episodes of the show and doesn't advance the plot too much, but that's not what it's supposed to do. This episode had some good character development for Tara and introduced the group from Oceanside, which I'm sure will make a return at some point to fight the Saviors. Alanna Masterson always does a good job with what she's given, and this episode was no exception. I think that Tara is a cool side character who is a lot more lighthearted than the rest of the people on the show.

All in all, Swear isn't the best episode of the Walking Dead, but it's certainly not the worst episode either. It's lighter in tone than most episodes and tells a pretty good story too. 7/10

While this episode standalone is decent, an entire episode revolving around Tara, a character who isn't that important or popular, was bound to not really work. I am aware Oceanside becomes more important later on, but this episode would've worked a lot better as a side-plot in another episode that focuses more on the main storyline.

As I've said numerous times before, I appreciate the approach that the showrunners are taking this season in giving each episode its own "identity", but I think this episode proved that the execution isn't always there.

I'm so incredibly torn about this season thus far. I loved the first 4 episodes, and thought the last two were rather mediocre. But the writers are doing what I want them to do. I don't want to know what I'm getting every week. I like the revolving cast and the change of pace between having Negan and walkers be the episode "big bad". For the most part the structure of this season has worked well, but I just don't think we needed a 71 minute episode that revolved around Tara. But nor do I think it should have been 9 episodes since the last time we saw her character.

Nonetheless, I enjoyed the tonal shift tonight. Tara has always been a bright spot in an otherwise gloom and doom group at Alexandria, so having the episode take a lighter approach was needed. And it was about dang time we caught up with her and Heath's supply run. Since we've never gotten any sort of insight into Heath's character, I figured this would be a big episode for him, but instead it was solely focused on Tara's trip to Oceanside.

I don't read the comics, but apparently Oceanside doesn't debut until issue 139, and the show is approximately on 100 or so. The only reason to me they would debut them so early is because they will be a part of the inevitable team-up against The Saviors. Especially considering they were wronged by Negan when him and his group killed all of Oceanside's men and boys. As a whole I didn't think Oceanside was all that special, although those sand walkers were pretty dang cool.

After Tara's run in with Oceanside, she returned to Alexandria to some bad news about the deaths of Denise, Glenn, and Abraham. I really expected her to tell Rosita about Oceanside and all their guns, but I was glad to see she stayed true to her "swear" she made with Cindy. Out of all the people left at Alexandria, Tara may be the one "truly good" person left, and even that's a debatable statement. Overall, this wasn't nearly the eventful episode I was hoping for after last week's snooze fest, but there were a few redeemable aspects.

+Tara lights up the room

+Sand walkers

-No need for a full 71 minutes of this

7.5/10