• Home
  • Movies
  • Music
  • TV
  • Video Games
  • Wrestling
  • Topics
  • Latest Comments on Cult of Whatever
Search
Cult of Whatever logo
  • Movies
    Featured
    • The Living Daylights: Timothy Dalton as James Bond

      The Living Daylights is still awesome, thirty-five years later

      By Matthew Martin
      | March 28, 2022
      Movie Blogs
    Recent
    • The Muppet Christmas Carol: Michael Caine as Scrooge

      The Muppet’s Christmas Carol remains the gold standard for the book

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 20, 2022
    • Nightmare Before Christmas 1993 1

      2022’s Christmas Movie Watchlist!

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 18, 2022
    • Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio Poster

      REVIEW: GDT’s Pinocchio is my favorite film of the year!

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 14, 2022
    • Troll: Ine Marie Wilmann as Nora

      REVIEWS: TROLL and TROLL HUNTER -A giant creature double feature!

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 5, 2022
    • Harry with The Hendersons

      Harry and the Hendersons is still awesome, thirty-five years later

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 1, 2022
    • Fantastic Four Poster

      The five best “rogues galleries” in superherodom! (part 3)

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 28, 2022
  • Music
    Random
    • Ghoul Dungeon Bas

      Spooky Rock Jukebox: Halloween Playlist 2019

      By Ethan
      | October 24, 2019
      Music Blogs
    Recent
    • The Beatles: Get Back

      What GET BACK reveals about the Beatles

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 15, 2021
    • Simon And Garfunkel at Feyenoord Stadium in Rotterdam1982

      The Boxer is a song about being conned

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 4, 2021
    • Lady Gaga: Chromatica Album Cover

      Lady Gaga’s discography is totally out of order

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 3, 2021
    • Michael Jackson Thriller Album Cover

      Thirty years ago music fans said “Nevermind” to Michael Jackson

      By Matthew Martin
      | March 21, 2021
    • Queen II Album Cover

      On Queen’s The Miracle, and the importance of track ordering

      By Matthew Martin
      | February 16, 2021
    • Linda Paul Mccartney 1976

      50 years ago, McCartney dropped “Lennon” and went solo…

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 5, 2020
  • TV
    Featured
    • Big Sky S03e05: Kylie Bunbury, J. Anthony Pena and Katheryn Winnick as Cassie Dewell, Mo Poppernak and Jenny Hoyt

      Big Sky S03E05 Review: Flesh and Blood - Glamping!

      By Salome G
      | October 22, 2022
      TV Blogs
    Recent
    • Big Sky S03e10: Gang

      Big Sky S03E10 Review: A Thin Layer of Rock – Break time…

      By Salome G
      | December 11, 2022
    • Rick And Morty: S01e03

      Is Beth from Rick and Morty a bigger sociopath than Rick?

      By Jason Collins
      | December 7, 2022
    • Big Sky S03e09: Dedee Pfeiffer and Cree as Denise and Emily

      Big Sky S03E09: Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire – Stalling

      By Salome G
      | December 1, 2022
    • The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special: Dave Bautista and Pom Klementieff as Drax and Mantis

      REVIEW: The GOTG Holiday Special is a sweet prelude to next year’s finale

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 27, 2022
    • The Midnight Club S01: The Gang

      The Midnight Club S1 Review – A series of unfortunate events

      By Salome G
      | November 24, 2022
    • Big Sky S03e08: Reba McEntire as Sunny Barnes

      Big Sky S03E08 Review: Duck Hunting – I love a weirdo.

      By Salome G
      | November 19, 2022
  • Video Games
    Featured
    • Arkham Knight

      Batman: Arkham Knight - A fitting end to a trilogy

      By Tom Farr
      | July 18, 2015
      Video Game Reviews
    Recent
    • Splatoon 3 Screenshot

      A trio of Nintendo Switch reviews!

      By Matthew Martin
      | September 28, 2022
    • Nintendo Switch Logo

      Looking ahead to the Switch 2: Predictions and Wants

      By Matthew Martin
      | August 15, 2022
    • Legend Of Zelda

      Can a Legend of Zelda movie work?

      By Matthew Martin
      | April 6, 2022
    • Super Mario 64

      Which system had the better launch: A battle of four Nintendo consoles

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 1, 2021
    • Luigi's Mansion

      Happy twentieth to Nintendo’s underrated gem, the Gamecube

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 18, 2021
    • Metroid Dread

      Metroid Dread – Post Game analysis and sequel needs

      By Matthew Martin
      | October 29, 2021
  • Wrestling
    Featured
    • AEW All Out 2022: Keith Lee. Anthony Bowens, Max Caster and Billy Gunn

      AEW All Out 2022 - Review and (wild) Speculation!

      By Matthew Martin
      | September 5, 2022
      AEW
    Recent
    • WWE WrestleMania 38: Cody Rhodes vs. Seth Rollins

      Was 2022 the wildest year in wrestling history?

      By Matthew Martin
      | January 4, 2023
    • AEW Full Gear 2022: Young Bucks and Kenny Omega Elite Entrance

      AEW Full Gear 2022 – A needed reset at the end of a tough year

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 22, 2022
    • WWE Survivor Series 1997: Bret Hart

      The Montreal Screwjob – Twenty Five Years Later

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 8, 2022
    • AEW Grand Slam 2022: Jungle Boy and Rey Fenix

      AEW GRANDSLAM 2022 showcased the present and future of the promotion

      By Matthew Martin
      | September 25, 2022
    • AEW All Out 2022: CM Punk

      AEW All Out Fall Out: All the CM Punk drama that’s fit to print!

      By Matthew Martin
      | September 5, 2022
    • AEW Dark: Ricky Starks (22/09/20)

      The future of the AEW World Championship

      By Matthew Martin
      | August 14, 2022
  • Topics
    • site logo
    Latest
    • Was 2022 the wildest year in wrestling history?
    • The Muppet's Christmas Carol remains the gold standard for the book
    • 2022's Christmas Movie Watchlist!
    • REVIEW: GDT's Pinocchio is my favorite film of the year!
    • Big Sky S03E10 Review: A Thin Layer of Rock - Break time...
    • Is Beth from Rick and Morty a bigger sociopath than Rick?

    The Walking Dead S07E10: New Best Friends – More episodes like this please!

    By Kevin Boyle
    | February 20, 2017
    TV Blogs

    The show finally remembers that it has characters rather than walking plot devices, except for Gabriel

    A strange feeling hit me at about the halfway mark of New Best friends. It was an almost forgotten feeling that, at first, I couldn’t place. Then it hit me: I was enjoying The Walking Dead again, crazy but true, this was a great episode that reminded me of all the reasons that I watched the show in the first place. The fact that it mostly relegated the Saviours, had no Carl and Enid, and no Negan whatsoever were added bonuses. Plus the tiger is back, any show that can shoehorn in a metaphor tiger can’t be all bad.

    So what made this episode better than the sludge that season seven has had to offer so far? It’s easy: it told the story it wanted to while keeping the main threads of the Negan plot active but not enough to overwhelm. It felt like an episode instead of a link in the chain that’s strangling all of my enjoyment that season seven has become. Most importantly it had great character moments: from Carol and Daryl’s reunion, Rick’s skills of diplomacy which nearly made me give a crap about Gabriel, nearly, and Morgan capably carrying his thematic baggage, which is becoming a little too heavy for him.

    Walking Dead S07e10 Gabriel

    So with great privilege let me get my shit list out of the way, which may be the shortest it has been since the introduction of the Kingdom. As I mentioned last week I’m not Father Gabriel’s biggest fan. While he is supposedly a popular, and interesting character in the comics very little of that seems to have been transferred to this version. Try as it might, New Best Friends can’t change how clumsily functional Gabriel has become. He’s like a weathervane measuring how much we should support, or be afraid of Rick and the gang, which means that a capable actor like Seth Gilliam (another wasted alumni of The Wire) has been relegated to the role of Greek chorus, with added flop-sweat. Which means that his conversation with Rick doesn’t land with the emotional weight of the other great character moments in the episode. It can’t because Gabriel and Rick have barely shared the screen in about a season and a half; which means that the confirmation of the good ground on which they stand with each other is because the script says so, not because it makes any kind of sense in the long run.

    Enough negativity let’s talk about the good points. It will entirely depend on personal preference when deciding whether the A plot: Daryl, Carol and the Kingdom, and the B plot: Rick’s diplomatic badassery, was the best part of the episode. Each story played to strengths that The Walking Dead hasn’t played to that much.

    Daryl’s presence in the Kingdom, while short-lived, provided a shrewd commentary on the Kingdom’s position in the coming battle against the Saviours. Daryl, as the outsider, is there to question the reluctance of Morgan and Ezekiel to enter into the fray. While Daryl’s approach may not be the subtlest it does strike a chord with Morgan by the end of the episode. There isn’t anything out of place here, no threads dangling, something that is shown by the opening scene and how it informs the rest of the episode. The unease with between Ezekiel’s subjects and the Saviours, the threats that could so easily be carried out, and of course the loss of Morgan’s weapon, all go a long way to making Morgan think twice about his current position. The fact that Daryl is waiting for him, so he can point out the flaws in Morgan’s position makes this point all the clearer.

    Walking Dead S07e10 Morgan

    Daryl can’t believe that Morgan won’t do what is necessary, that the morality that Morgan is hanging onto is only dragging him down. Then the episode takes a left turn and puts Daryl into Morgan’s situation. When given the chance to provoke a confrontation with the Saviours Daryl refuses the idea when Carol becomes the bait. Daryl implores Morgan to do what is necessary and is then given a taste of his own medicine. This is further confirmed by Daryl’s decision not to tell Carol about the deaths of Glenn and Abraham, as well as other residents of Alexandria. Both Daryl and Morgan know that Carol would be a huge asset, after all no one has forgotten Terminus, but out of love, and respect for how broken Carol feels after transforming into a walking weapon, Daryl keeps her out of the fight. This is mature storytelling that builds on the shows best relationships while setting up smaller, but more important, and relatable conflicts between these characters for future episodes.

    Walking Dead S07e10 Carol Daryl 2

    Now to the fun part: Rick and the gang are taken captive by yet another settlement. Except these people are really bloody strange, something the performances, and directing exaggerate. This sequence, with Rick’s dealings, and the weirdness of the people he is dealing with giving the show a much needed dose of the absurd. Not to mention the fact that Rick’s fight with Winslow was the best action sequence the show has done in some time. The Walking Dead is supposed to be a show with high stakes. That being said, no one would have thought that Rick would be killed in this test. He’s the main character, and it wouldn’t make narrative sense for him to die here and lose the uneasy alliance. Yet the scene was still tense due to the claustrophobic close-ups, the protruding spikes which added another level of danger, and the fact that Rick’s way out of the situation wasn’t immediately clear. It’s like the Terminator, or Lord of the Rings: we all know that Sarah Connor, and Frodo are going to ultimately win, but if the threat is convincing, like this threat was to Rick, then the viewer can empathise with that sense of danger.

    Walking Dead S07e10 Rick

    8/10 – Can we please have more episodes like New Best Friends. Episodes that have a smaller scale, but lead to big consequences is the kind of thing that made The Walking Dead so good in the first place. Also any episode that can give a good reason for Negan’s absence immediately gets an extra point.

    Share this article:

    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit

    Tags

    The Walking Dead

    COMMENTS

    Please read our Commenting Policy before you join in with the discussion.

    Note: If you have email notifications enabled, please check your email spam folders to ensure emails are not missed.

    Subscribe
    Connect withD
    I allow to create an account
    When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
    DisagreeAgree
    Notify of
    guest

    Connect withD
    I allow to create an account
    When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
    DisagreeAgree
    guest

    0 Comments
    Inline Feedbacks
    View all comments

    You might also like

    • The Walking Dead S07E09: Rock in the Road – A middling return is one of the best episodes of the season

      By Kevin Boyle
      | February 13, 2017
    • The Walking Dead S07E08: Hearts Still Beating – Plots that go nowhere weigh down a good mid-season finale

      By Kevin Boyle
      | December 12, 2016
    • The Walking Dead S07E07: Sing Me a Song – Why didn’t they do this all along?

      By Kevin Boyle
      | December 6, 2016
    • The Walking Dead S07E06: Swear – Another detour from the main story but this time it’s actually good

      By Kevin Boyle
      | November 28, 2016
    • The Walking Dead S07E05: Go Getters – A visit to the Hilltop can’t stop this poor run of form

      By Kevin Boyle
      | November 21, 2016
    • The Walking Dead S07E04: Service – Alexandria is at Negan’s Service in a dull extended episode

      By Kevin Boyle
      | November 14, 2016
    • The Walking Dead S07E03: The Cell – Back to misery, but at least there’s a point.

      By Kevin Boyle
      | November 8, 2016
    • The Walking Dead S07E02: The Well – TWD embraces the contradictions by going overboard with the good.

      By Kevin Boyle
      | October 31, 2016
    • The Walking Dead S07E01: The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be – It’s a new era with the same old problems in this frustrating season opener

      By Kevin Boyle
      | October 24, 2016

    FIND THE TOPICS YOU WANT...

    TV Topics

    Recommended for you

    • Big Sky S03E10 Review: A Thin Layer of Rock – Break time…

      By Salome G
      | December 11, 2022
    • Is Beth from Rick and Morty a bigger sociopath than Rick?

      By Jason Collins
      | December 7, 2022
    • REVIEW: The GOTG Holiday Special is a sweet prelude to next year’s finale

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 27, 2022
    • The Midnight Club S1 Review – A series of unfortunate events

      By Salome G
      | November 24, 2022
    • Doctor Who 2022 October Special Review: The Power of the Doctor – Lackluster

      By Jason Collins
      | October 25, 2022
    • Can the Doctor regenerate into a previous incarnation?

      By Jason Collins
      | October 23, 2022
    • Is the Tardis more sentient plant or machine?

      By Jason Collins
      | October 10, 2022
    • Star Trek Strange New Worlds – Season two wishlist!

      By Matthew Martin
      | September 14, 2022
    • Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Every episode ranked! (Part 5/5)

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 30, 2022
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Affiliate Disclosure
    • Cookie Policy and Settings
    • Terms of Use
    • Photo Credits
    • RSS
    All Cult of Whatever articles, logos, illustrations and graphics are copyright CultOfWhatever.com. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. © 2021 CultOfWhatever. All Rights Reserved.
    • facebook
    • twitter
    wpDiscuz