Do you eat the same steak at the same restaurant each and every time? Do you have intercourse with your significant other without romance or without spicing it up at times? Or do you like the taste of chicken without any seasoning? If your answer is yes, then this episode of The Walking Dead titled “Rendition” is for you.
I can personally say that I did not like this episode. This is mainly because it has been wash, rinse, and repeat whenever Daryl Dixon encounters a new villain. In fact, I can use the same analogy of how the filler bad guys of this show are introduced. Did we need to see Daryl in this situation again? No.
There are some things I did like in “Rendition” though. The opening minutes had action and the dialogue exchange between Pope and Leah. But this Pope character played by Ritchie Coster, does not interest me at all. Am I supposed to care or take this guy seriously after he killed one of his own men due to what happened on the last episode? No because we already seen this happened in the past. The only positive I can give to the character, is the upcoming comparisons to Breaking Bad’s Walter White in the looks department. Congrats AMC, the Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead crossover finally happened.
And let’s bring up The Reapers. Three episodes in, I am hooked. The moment we got their backstory on this episode is the key indicator of the intimidation factor falling to zero. Honestly, this group is more suited for Fear The Walking Dead than the main show. This group is just filler.
I will also praise the stunt work on that fire scene. But as a viewer, I did not believe a single second that either Daryl and Leah will be killed in that small cabin because there is a Daryl and Carol spinoff happening. No matter how many times Daryl or Carol will be in danger during this season, I cannot suspend my disbelief at all.
This episode would have been more interesting if another character was in Daryl’s shoes in that situation. Maybe Gabriel could have been the one captured. He and Pope would have some great dialogue about their ideologies on religion and the current state of the world. Even have Gabriel talk with Leah too and Then somewhere later in the first half, Daryl and Leah reunite. This reunion did not need to happen this early. This is one episode I will not go back to unless it is for research purposes.
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