The Walking Dead Season – 7 Episode 6 – “Swear”

With season 7 of The Walking Dead well under way, we find ourselves in the few episodes which I wish never came. The episodes that could best be described as “fillers”. Last week’s episode focusing around Maggie and the Hilltop was a bit…meh, and the thought from me was that this week’s episode would be a little bit more punchier. However I was wrong.

Don’t get me wrong though, it wasn’t a completely terrible episode, but the focus on Tara was a little bemusing to me – for me, it’s the kind of episode that will lead up to a character death. Like in season 2 when there was an episode that focused on Dale and his arguing for the humane option with the guy they rescued when everyone else wanted to kill him – leading to Dale’s death. I can’t help but think the focus on a relatively minor character in Tara could be that it will lead up to her death in a soon to happen episode, but the way this season is panning out, it is more likely that it was just an episode to focus on someone else again after the couple of more story driven episodes.

I liken these filler episodes to be almost like a side-quest in an RPG, OK to get through to get a little more context, but not exactly needed to drive the story forward. I could be proven wrong eventually with events from this episode proving significant later on but I continue to digress.

The episode, as mentioned was focused on Tara – starting with her washing up on a beach unconscious after an unknown event occurring and before a little girl could kill her thinking she was a “bobber” (a washed up walker) she was stopped by an older girl – Cyndie, who saved her and dragged her up the beach. We then find that she and Heath were on their supply run which took place before the events of the season so far. So they are currently in-the-dark over the actions of the Saviors and the subsequent submission of the Alexandrian’s to them – as well as the death of Denise, Tara’s girlfriend.

As the episode progressed, we found that Tara and Heath were on a supply run that had gained very little, when they came across an encampment on a bridge, after pulling a backpack that was caught in a large pile of sand, the whole pile fell with walkers tumbling out in large numbers – so large that both Tara and Heath were overwhelmed somewhat.

The episode then went back to the present moment, with Tara still unconscious in the shade, and Cyndie returning to leave her some water, a small package and a makeshift spear. Tara, playing possum, then took the water and checked out the fish, before following Cyndie back to her camp – which is only populated by women and girls – sneaking around about as effectively as I would in the camp before an alarm is raised and she is chased, shot at and eventually cornered.

The flashbacks to what happened on the bridge continue over the course of the episode and we find that Tara and Heath were separated on the bridge with Tara tumbling over the side into the river while Heath appeared to be completely overwhelmed…

To return to the overall plot of this side-quest, erm filler, erm episode, Tara was inexplicably saved again by Cyndie when cornered by the women of Oceanside (which was the name of the settlement) who were ready to execute her on sight, if not for Tara’s talking – for me, cementing her place in The Walking Dead as the Xander character. What do I mean by that? Xander from Buffy The Vampire Slayer, being the comic-relief and essentially the Chandler-from-Friends of Buffy, as in the sarcastic humorous person who tries to break serious situations with humor – that is what Tara is, and her position as this type of character sealed in this episode. Little quips to the ladies surrounding her, being caught in a lie about being a worker on a fishing boat called a larder, when a larder is just a place to store food – stating again that she was sure a larder was a type of fishing boat.

These little things may seem irrelevant and I suppose to a degree they are – but then this episode was pretty irrelevant apart from the revelation about why Oceanside was a community of only women. They had been a community based elsewhere before, and tried to fight the Saviors – their punishment was that every male over the age of 10 was lined up and shot, leaving the community to be female only and showing why they were so hostile to anybody they came across.

That was one of the only real things to come from this, apart from the possibility of another community who could potentially join a future war with the Saviors. Eventually Tara hatched a plan to try and work together with the women, lead them back to Alexandria and start to potentially work together – however on their way, she broke off and ran, again when cornered being saved by Cyndie, who told her she would help her back to the bridge that she had left Heath. They arrived, and Tara worked her way through the walkers with Cyndie’s help looking for Heath – providing a moment from this episode which was pretty stupid – much like last week’s couple of stupid moments! All of the walkers on the bridge where yellow and sand-stained. All apart from one that is, one who was black and had dreadlocks – leading you to think that this walker was Heath – until she got closer and found it was just a random female walker who resembled Heath from behind. The stupid thing of this being that all the walkers were sand-stained, apart from one who just happened to be Heath’s zombie-doppelganger. Like the roller-blades from last week – what are the chances??

Still, Tara left the bridge to find that Heath must have driven away after their skirmish, with Tara picking up a hotel room card with “PPP” on it – which has sparked various rumors online such as it being a bit of techy-nerd talk “Point-to-Point Protocol” or a Deadpool syle 4th wall nod to Alanna Masterson’s (Tara) earlier acting career when she starred in 2011’s Peach Plum Pear to being an even more insidious link to My Little Pony with the character Pinkie Pie making “Pinkie Pie Promises” – if this is the link, then may God have mercy on us all.

I jest obviously, however the only person who knows the link at the moment is show-runner, Scott Gimple who is remaining tight-lipped.

Tara however, eventually made her way back to Alexandria on foot, picking up a little Doctor bobble-head in the process for Denise, but finding out about her death when she returned. This prompted Rosita to ask her if she found any leads on any guns or ammunition, to which Tara said no – keeping a promise (a Pinkie Pie Promise??) to Cyndie, that she swore to not tell her people about the Oceanside community.

This was very much a “meh” and “filler” episode, again an episode that when I watch the season back will most likely skip. Alanna Masterson was solid as Tara however and as I mentioned, she really does fill the “Xander” role in The Walking Dead – but it’s a role that I’m not sure is exactly needed. Hopefully next week’s installment will provide a good penultimate episode to this half of the season before the mid-season finale of Episode 8.

REVIEW OVERVIEW
Overall
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Hi! I'm Richard (aka Toolbox 24) one of the writing team at Real Game Media. Gaming for as long as I can remember and being hooked from a young age from the Commodore 64 up to the current gen. Hobbies include gaming (obviously), music, driving (finally), good TV and movies. Enjoy the site and remember to follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
the-walking-dead-season-7-episode-6-swearThis episode focusing on Tara was a definite filler, but when there is so much story to tell I can't help but wonder if this will lead onto something bigger - as a stand-alone episode it left me very disappointed. About an hour after watching it I thought I should watch this week's episode of The Walking Dead forgetting that I had already watched it. I'm not in a slide to dementia, it was just not a very "Walking Dead" episode. Fingers crossed for next week.