TV Review: The Walking Dead – “Omega”

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

One of the best things the writers have accomplished this season on The Walking Dead is not putting the characters in unbelievably stupid and idiotic situations. Unfortunately, that happened a few times in “Omega” but it was not enough to write off the episode as a total loss. There were some good moments too, centered again around Daryl, whose character has indeed risen from the grave to actually have an impact on the show.

After Luke and Alden go missing, Magna and her gang (Yumiko, Connie, and Kelly) decide it’s a wonderful idea to go looking for them. At night. With zombies out there, and people disguised as zombies. As bad ideas go this is right up there but the blame lies solely with the writers here. Seriously, there is no way in hell you would go out at night searching for anyone under these circumstances. Waiting until the morning makes much more sense but dumb ruled the day here and besides, what could go wrong?

Lydia sheds some light on her personal history, how she got to where she was and how her mother became the Alpha of the Whisperers. As far as backstories go it wasn’t bad, although it wasn’t something very surprising in terms of how people behaved shortly after things began going to hell, early in the zombie outbreak. Seeing things unfold and unravel through Lydia’s eyes, much younger eyes at the time is informative and disturbing. I’m still not quite sure why Alpha is so evil, maybe this will be explained later, but things happened really fast and it was all bad.

Speaking of things happening fast, Lydia went from spying for the Whisperers to a sympathetic victim with interesting bits of information, all in one episode. I’m still on the fence as this just happened too fast for my liking but it did allow for some good moments with Henry and the new star of the show, Daryl. First, the writers gave Daryl actual dialogue and now they are turning him into an intelligent and important member of the gang. He has some great moments with both Lydia and Henry, making keen observations and sniffing out B.S in a way that you wonder just where has he been the last few seasons? Whatever the reason, it’s good to see Norman Reedus have some decent material to work with and here’s hoping the writers continue this trend.

The episode ends with a large group of Whispers, led by Alpha, showing up at the outer walls of Hilltop looking for Lydia. I’m not sure if this is a diversion, if more Whisperers are moving in from all sides, or if Alpha is sincere in only wanting Lydia back. After what Lydia spilled about her mom though, I can’t imagine she’s in a big hurry to join the flock again. Or has everything been an act?

While “Omega” did fall into the trap of getting characters to do really stupid things again, something that hasn’t happened much this season, it was still an ok episode that revealed much more than I thought it would. I’m sure things will pick up going forward and I’m curious to see what happened to Negan after his failed walkabout.

Three and a half stars out of five