The Walking Dead: Ep 804 – Some Guy
The War on Negan so far has been a relatively successful endeavor for the coalition led by Rick, Maggie and Ezekiel. While they’ve encountered a few losses and some setbacks things appear to be headed in the right direction. That is until the last few frames of last week’s episode faded to black and that’s where we pick things up this week.
Ezekiel’s words of inspiration, it appears are no match for a hail of bullets. While valor is an important component to winning any war a super weapon trumps everything else. The Saviors have a new weapon capable of cutting down hundreds at a time and Ezekiel’s squad learn of its capabilities the hard way. Wounded and surrounded by the fallen members of the Kingdom things quickly go from bad to worse for the king when those very same comrades become zombified and turn their attention towards him.
Few characters escape The Walking Dead unscathed and Some Guy is Ezekiel’s baptism of fire. The eternal optimism and bravado that once flowed from the former actor are replaced by a broken body and an even more damaged spirit. His assertion that none of his people will see harm during the assault on the Saviors is proven to be fatally incorrect. Now at the mercy of one of Negan’s many followers, a hobbled Ezekiel is humbled.
The Kingdom has its own secret weapon. Carol using equal parts guile and guerilla tactics evens the playing field a little. Carol doing what Carol does best is just one of the highlights of a strong episode featuring a car chase, hand to hand combat, toxic waste walkers (yes, you read that correctly) and a solid performance by Khary Payton. The actor playing an actor playing a king has a standout performance in Some Guy. Running the gamut of emotions including pride, anguish and fear Payton gives us glimpses of the man who leads the Kingdom and the true face behind the man who would be king.
An interesting aspect of Some Guy is the lengths people will go to follow a leader they believe in. Are they just like walkers mindlessly lurching forward or are they fully aware of the person and or cause they’re throwing their support behind. Following the aftermath of Some Guy, it will be interesting to see if the episode’s lead can rehabilitate sufficiently to continue to make a difference in the war and if his followers will be right there behind him.
