The Walking Dead: Ep. 706 Go Swear
A curious thing washes up on the beach in this week’s episode of the The Walking Dead. The opening moments of Swear find Tara unconscious and mysteriously washed up on a beach. To make matters worse she’s at the mercy of a young girl who carries a blood lust for killing walkers and anyone else that stumbles into her community.
Community? Yes, community and Swear introduces viewers to another one in The Walking Dead universe. This one has echoes of Paradise Island minus the Amazon princess or mythological creatures and harbors some secrets of its own. Tara’s new hosts are far from hospitable and with their suspicions piqued make things very uncomfortable for her. As time passes Tara and her hosts discover that they have more in common with each other than they realize, including a shared enemy.
Just how Tara ended up on the shores of the new community isn’t made clear until later on in the episode. To get to that point viewers are sent back in time to Tara and Heath politely disagreeing on the merits of their scavenger hunt and the fallout of last season’s attack on the Savior outpost. Their discussion takes them to a bridge with abandoned vehicles, some tents and a sand dune from hell. Things go quickly from not bad at all to completely worse and the duo’s loyalty to each other is called into question.
Swear brought some levity back into the series with Tara’s dry sense of humor. The chuckles, while not plentiful, were welcome particularly since Abe’s departure has robbed The Walking Dead of some of its comedic relief. The episode featured some interesting revelations, twists, foreshadowing and even some fisticuffs to make for an enjoyable 50 minutes. Swear and episodes like it are great for showcasing some of the secondary characters and taking a break from all that is Negan.
While it would have been great to jump right into the action from last week’s episode and to follow Carl and Jesus having this break in the main narrative serves a couple of purposes. It fleshes out some of the world building established so far this season without adding filler to the main characters’ arcs. The backstory for this new community has some chilling connections to what is going on with Rick and the group and plants a seed on what may be in store for them down the line. As mentioned before the other benefit to having an episode like this is to feature some of the other players on the show. Alanna Masterson’s acting range is on display in Swear and its unfortunate we don’t get to see more from her on a weekly basis.
Swear ties up a few loose ends, introduces some interesting new characters and adds some mystery to The Walking Dead narrative. It’s a strong, unspectacular episode that brings back some of the humanity that may have been missing so far this season.
