Rendition

The first poor quality episode of the new series. Once again we split off with an individual character for a side story and unfortunately I don't find Darryl interesting enough to carry a whole episode on his own. The problem with this one is that the new situation in which he finds himself is inherently dull. I couldn't even remember the female character from her previous appearance in the series and she's totally uninteresting to me at this point. Once again there's another new group but the leader seems kind of dull and lacking in presence and the long winded monologues and paired-off conversations are really tiresome at this point.

Episode 11.04 titled Rendition isn't directly a follow-up to the previous episode, but we get to see Daryl's perspective after running away with Dog, the group are scattered and on the run from The Reapers which are the new antagonist group. Daryl and Dog get captured by the Reapers; they are taken to the Meridian and reconnect with a familiar figure from their past. There's also a couple of new characters, the notable is of course the leader, Pope whom are played fantastically by Ritchie Coster. As we get to see more of the Reapers and get to know who they are, it's nice to see who they are behind their masks. Thus making them more human. Plus what they believe in, nice to get answers other than the subtle details we got in the previous episode.

Frederick E. O. Toye returns to the show with the follow-up to "Hunted" which he did an amazing job with. Direction, camera work and well he succeeded again with making a visually appealing episode. Many shots like there were in "Hunted" are breathtaking. The cinematography is perfect, the production design is brilliant. The dialogue and overall writing was pretty great and I found the writing for The Reapers to be quite brilliant. This is a group original to the show and Angela Kang did a terrific job with them, making them interesting and unique, a nice addition to TWD Universe. There's also tension and suspension throughout the episode. The overall pacing was perfect.

Ritchie Coster's performance as Pope was incredible and so far one of the best this season, I can't wait to see more of him and the character he's playing. He's a nice addition to the show. Coster delivers a monologue so perfect, so wonderfully acted and leaves a mark as a character worth watching. Though Ritchie Coster clearly steals the show, Norman Reedus' performance is something to talk about. There isn't anything mind blowing about his performance, but the subtle things might go past someone else as Norman Reedus acts so well and says more in silence, Daryl is one of those quiet people and Norman Reedus captures the emotions perfectly. Lynn Collins' performance was also pretty good, nailing the dramatic and emotional part of the performance.

Rendition is not a filler episode as it drives the story forward immensely but only for Daryl as he's the only actor from the main cast that's in this episode, non the less a great episode. There's plenty of character development for Daryl, but the major thing is of course the world building in this episode, with The Reapers and who they are. We get to see a new location, the Meridian, which now serves as the base of The Reapers. The storytelling was on point and nicely executed.

So, here we go again. A lunatic, misguided big bad with crazy followers. They'll be mean, probably kill off a character we like and then our friends will kill most of them. How many times have we seen this now? A fallen world surely presents more fertile story-telling ground than this?

Secondly, once again we have split up the cast into two or more plot lines. Why? Cost maybe? Production issues? All this does is frustrate the narrative. By now, we all know that mid-season finales and season finales are usually the best episodes and the whole cast is brought to the fore. I see next week, we switch to the other plot line.

Like everyone else, I suspect I'll plod along to the last episode. Maybe 7 seasons would have been enough.

Oh boy the soundtrack of the Pope is incredible. Bear McCreary is a legend.

Really enjoyed the introduction of the reapers and their leader. The Pope seems like a competent actor. Really liked this.

This season has been very very solid so far. Can't believe I'm actually looking forward to walking dead episodes again. Feels so good. Lets keep this up!

There's no more grocery stores, dairies, farms, etc. You would think people would be more interested in agriculture and staying alive than forming cults and making masks.

The leader of this episode's band has perfect glasses after all this time; I can't keep mine clean for two weeks now.

Maggie's group is down to two, three, folks; how are they supposed to bring back sufficient supplies to feed Alexandria and fight their way through this group? I will finish the series but it isn't what it was.