The Walking Dead S8E11: Dead or Alive or
A LOT happened this episode. More than what might originally appear. A turn is made with Gabriel’s character as he ventures from abundant faith to vacant faith. Daryl successfully leads his group to Hilltop and everyone is now together in one location save Rick and Michonne. Negan gets his bullet-maker, Eugene, to restart production. And Negan reveals his next plan of attack; walker tainted weapons.
With Dead or Alive or, The Walking Dead ventured to show us the battle between science and religion as it zoomed in on the relationship between Gabriel and Dr. Carson. Gabriel is suffering the side effects of infection and slowly becoming the literal embodiment of a blind man that sees more than everyone around him due to his faith. Throughout the show he struggles to see with his eyes and leans more and more on his other senses, and on his faith. Coupled with that are coincidences and turns of luck that challenge even Dr. Carson’s empirical nature and cause him to begin to wonder if something larger is at work in Gabriel.
For the most part this served as a cookie-cutter interaction between the two sides. There wasn’t much arguing between the two, not much depth offered by either, and not much more from Gabriel besides general proclamations of moving forward in faith. In other words, the scenes between these two don’t feel very “lived in”, and they operate very much like a scripted dialogue between two seemingly opposing philosophies. There is however some decent symbolism happening in these scenes. To open the show, Gabriel and Dr. Carson are sitting in a vehicle trying to read a map as a walker crawls up behind them, a symbol of death nipping at their heels in the form of the walkers and of the saviors chasing them down after their escape. Gabriel hears metal clanging off in the woods – those who have an ear to hear, let them hear (Mk. 4:9 among many others). In the cabin they find the former tenant dead in the bedroom with a plastic bag around his head – a symbol of the loss of faith contrasted with Gabriel’s abounding faith at the time. In a piggy bank, where treasure is typically stored (Mt. 6:19), Gabriel finds a map and car keys to guide and take them to safety. Finally when Gabriel stumbles onto some antibiotics he simply says “I’m not saying a word”, implying this is a sign that Gabriel’s faith is being rewarded and Dr. Carson must admit something bigger is working among them.
To close their scenes together it appears that Dr. Carson has bought into the idea of being led by faith. Or at least he starts to. The Saviors catch up with them and as they’re being loaded into a truck. Carson finds an opportunity to steal a gun and try to break free. Encouraged by Gabriel’s pushing him to come to faith and act accordingly, Carson grabs the gun, but is shot down himself before he can even fire a shot. Again, more symbolism – “those who live by the sword, die by the sword” (Mt. 26:52). Carson’s death leaves Gabriel stunned and without answer. As he says later, he thought he knew what he was supposed to do. He thought leading Dr. Carson to Maggie was his God-given mission. If that mission failed, what does that mean about God?
Right here is where I might break off into a sermon on Romans 9 and talk about how just because God’s word didn’t play out the way the Jews thought it should, doesn’t mean the word of God has failed (Rom. 9:6). Gabriel thought he knew how he was being used, and was shocked when his notion of providence didn’t play out right. But, this isn’t a sermon. Just know, that discussion on our ideas of the word of God being fulfilled is there under the surface.
I could also talk about Carson’s actions mimicking those of people claiming to act in faith but just removing their brain from the equation and acting foolishly… anyway, back to the review…
Two other major events occurred this episode that might only appear as major events to the comic readers. First, Daryl got everyone to Hilltop, despite Tara’s best efforts to kill Dwight in the process. I thought Tara’s actions were a bit outside of believability. If Daryl and Rosita can trust Dwight, I don’t know why a one-week relationship with someone Dwight killed would cause Tara to go rogue on him. Getting everyone to Hilltop is important because this is where the final showdown occurs between Rick and Negan. I’m encouraged that we are already here, three episodes into the second half of the season. It appears they might come to that showdown by the end of season 8, and it might be sooner rather than later that we learn if the show will stay true to this theme of mercy overcoming wrath.
Secondly, Negan, inspired by something Eugene says, reveals his next weapon of choice against Rick’s people; walker tainted weapons. This will take the form of arrows and other projectiles that have been dipped in walker blood, with the intent of only harming the victims enough to let the blood cross into their body and infect them so they eventually die and turn. In the comics, if I recall (correct me if not), this is the move that convinces Dwight to turn against Negan. He sees this as an unnecessary form of torture, and taking the battle too far past the alleged desire to save people.
Rating: C+
I do like this episode, but small shortcomings take it just under a good grade for me. I think discussions between Carson and Gabriel could’ve been more substantive. Maybe you could argue they’re running for their lives in a zombie apocalypse and aren’t worried about fleshing out the intricacies of naturalism vs. religion. I get that, but it’s also a tv show, so the time can be made for such depth and I wish it would have been included. Also, Gabriel now joins Morgan as a character turning the corner on his arc to the point where he’s coming full circle back to where we found him. This can be done in a serialized show, but it’s hard to pull off without appearing as though you have nowhere new to go with this character and you’re just rehashing old material. So that’s a small concern.
