The Walking Dead The Cell review S7, Ep. 3

Last season, The Walking Dead writers got too cute in stretching out the reveal of Glenn’s fate. A slew of character spotlight episodes stretched out so long that it diminished the impact of losing such a beloved character. Ultimately, the extended delay spoiled some of the fun of the payoff. Season 7 is getting close to that same path, but The Cell marked another strong character study episode providing another week’s reprieve.

I loved the introduction of The Kingdom and Ezekiel last week, but after the season premiere, I’m ready for the check in on the grieving Grimes gang.

Instead, we get a Daryl focused episode. Ordinarily, that’d be fine. Daryl has always proven to be an immensely resourceful and capable character even in the face of overwhelming odds. In Negan’s clutches, those odds got progressively worse. If I never hear Easy Street again I’ll be happier than Daryl in a warm bed.

Not that Daryl really could have figured he’d be able to so easily escape. But this is Daryl and he needs to get hit over the head repeatedly to get a clue. That’s part of his charm.

In the end, Daryl still couldn’t go along to get along. Even after being stripped naked in a cell, fed dog food sandwiches and getting pummeled by Negan’s men, Daryl wouldn’t give in. Norman Reedus didn’t have a ton  of dialogue this episode, but he conveyed Daryl’s wavering spirit and ultimate resolve to remain steadfast beautifully.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan continues to kill it as Negan. He manages to be both wildly charismatic and crazy scary. Morgan is playing Negan so unhinged that he’s hard to like. That’s important for a character so loathsome, but so completely enjoyable to hate. Negan doesn’t need some tragic back story. He’s pure evil and the writers are doing a great job of never losing sight of that no matter how well Morgan chews the scenery.

One of The Cell’s main objectives was to paint Dwight as a more sympathetic character. This was handled in a more sophisticated manner than we’ve seen from most characters who fit more nicely in black or white categories. Dwight is more of a murky grey.

It’s easy to see why Dwight is so conflicted though. To save his wife Sherry (Christine Evangelista), Dwight allows Negan to marry her. But Negan had to break Dwight further just to make an example and took an iron to his face. That explains why Dwight and the other Saviors are so quick to take a knee when Negan walks by. There’s certainly the sense that Dwight is going to ultimately strike back against Negan, but what will it take to finally make him snap?

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC