A routine mission ends with a surprise

Well, that was exhilarating. For most of “One More”, it looks like we’re just going to do another review on the whole “Is it still worth saving people? Is there still beauty in the world? ”Shtick Living Dead has done it hundreds of times before. (This may not even be an exaggeration at this point.) Guest actor Robert Patrick is there, playing a threatening guy who has taken Gabriel and Aaron prisoner and is forcing them to play Russian roulette, with one caveat: they can point the gun at themselves or the other man and pull the trigger. He wants them to continue until one of them is dead, assuming that one ends up shooting the other, because of a misconception that this will prove a point about how only bad people are left, or whatever. But Gabriel and Aaron refuse to budge. “You weren’t always like this; none of us was, ”one says to the man, kindly. “We are good people!” the other insists, vowing that if he just lowers the gun, they can take him to join their community, and he will see that there is still good in the world. Each of them points the gun at their own heads and pulls the trigger, repeatedly, until, finally, just before Aaron kills himself, the man stops this. Patrick’s mysterious loner drops the gun and unties Aaron. “Meyers. My name is Meyers, ”he says. Our duo has just won a new travel companion, and the community will meet a new face.

And then.

What is shocking about Gabriel’s brutal murder of Meyers – at the very moment when peace was established, the priest taps Aaron’s club on the guy’s neck, killing him instantly and spilling blood on his friend – it’s not just the man of God killing. After all, we saw Gabriel kill before, most notably in “The World Before, ”When he murdered Dante after the doctor revealed to be a whisper secret agent who killed Siddiq and almost killed Rosita. But this could still be explained through personal motivation: Siddiq was not just a friend, he was the father of Gabriel’s daughter. It was understandable that Gabriel lost his temper and gave in to the desire for revenge.

No, what made this such a welcome and surprising twist was how it goes against everything the episode It appeared to be, until then. Most of the time in recent seasons, Living Dead it plays like a show that has said everything it has to say, and now we’re just watching the events unfold until the end of next season. “One More” unfolds as a typical installment, although reduced to just two characters. Gabriel and Aaron are hunting for places that Maggie marked on a map as potentially containing food or other goods, checking them out one by one on their two-week journey. ANDeach location is in the end it turned out to be another hollow waste of time, from the burnt remains they explore in the opening minutes to the store where Gabriel sees the bodies of previously desperate survivors on the roof, searching in vain for rescue with a giant “Save us” painted on the floor. So, when the two of them stumble over a boar and a bottle of whiskey, they – and we – settle down for a night of union, while playing cards and debating whether drunk mankind is or not. good or bad. And yes, Gabriel confesses to having a pessimistic view of humanity, which we saw him reveal more and more in the past season. “Bad people are no exception to the rule,” he says, and it seems that Meyers’ arrival is perfectly timed to, once again, keep the show going that good people are where you find them, and there is always another one. chance to be virtuous, help people, do the right thing, blah blah blah.

And for the most part, this is exactly how it happens. Marquand and Gilliam do a good job here, making what could have been a series of tired, breathless buzzwords sound vital and serious (maybe it helps, literally having a gun to your head, to actually sell this stuff). This is an arc that we have seen the series make repeatedly, for better and for worse, and although it was not the most exciting version of it, the two actors have good chemistry and were made for a certain episode. Even Gabriel’s monologue, about the lesson he learned from an older priest about how to really minister is just “talking to people … being with them in the moment”, it worked well, thanks to Gilliam’s performance and a decent script by Erik Mountain and Jim Barnes.

And then Gabriel beats Meyers to death, and we have to rethink everything we’ve just seen. That is effective precisely because the show played a long game with Gabriel, revealing hints of darkness here and there – moments when his pity slips, and the relentless nature he has developed since he was captured by the rescuers comes to the fore. It works not because Gabriel was just saying a bunch of nonsense that he doesn’t really believe in, but because he really believe that. Gabriel really has a commitment to God, he really believes in his vocation, in the existence of the good and in the fundamental values ​​of the religion that has shaped his life. This is what makes it so scary when he executes Meyers: For Gabriel, there is no conflict between his words and actions. “We couldn’t bring it with us. He killed his own family, ”he says to Aaron, as if his actions were so logical that they required no explanation. That’s why Aaron sees Gabriel the way he does – because Gabriel’s relationship with God has taken him to a place where the priest has no problem playing God. That’s what you do, when bad people are the rule.

I was disappointed with how the series didn’t bother to use these bonus episodes as a chance to try; play around with format, structure and storytelling in ways that can generate some excitement and attract audience interest again. But if you’re going to stick with the same basic models, then sending one of our central characters down that dark path is a strong, attractive and somber choice in a way that seems much more unpredictable than the series normally is over the past few seasons. You get the feeling that we no longer know what Gabriel is going to do – and that’s more than they say about Living Dead.

Missed observations

• Some of your exchanges have been terribly strange when it comes to philosophizing post-COVID, especially that “Will we ever be able to go back to how things were?” speech.
• This week in zombie social detachment: I appreciated the stylistic choice to cut the flowers whenever they were dividing the heads of the open walkers. It may have been born out of practical decision-making, but it turned out to be a slightly poetic work on the part of director Laura Belsey.
• Also, very attentive to all the hikers in that field at the opening to lie at least six feet away from each other.
• There were some good and crude effects this week. The walker who tore his own back when he was attached to the mast was the best, but Aaron and Gabriel plucking that prisoner’s arms inside the store was also pleasantly awful, even if the blood received a little CGI at times.
• Of course, Meyers uses the Bible as toilet paper.
• Aaron’s scream when he sees a boar is not so funny, Gabriel.
• Ah, the symbolism of the twins. Always a reliable well to take advantage of.