Season 6 has been a very different season of The Walking Dead in many ways, but it’s becoming apparent that it’s kept a very similar structure to Season 5.
Just like last year, had an opening trio of fast-paced, action-packed episodes, followed by another couple that slowed down considerably to varying degrees of effectiveness. It’s not surprising, then, that ‘Always Accountable’ feels like a spiritual successor to last year’s sixth episode, ‘Consumed’, in that it’s an episode that picks up the pace a little while simultaneously dragging its feet.
It’s worth saying from the off that ‘Always Accountable’ is a step up from last week. It’s tighter, faster; more focused on characters we actually care about, and is generally a more compelling hour of telly.
That said, much like last year’s ‘Consumed’, it’s questionable as to whether its existence is truly necessary, or whether it’s an admittedly decent exercise in wheel spinning.
Of the two plotlines this episode, it’s Abraham and Sasha’s that provides the meatiest character material. The two are a strange pair, but ‘Always Accountable’ gets considerable mileage out of that, with an enjoyable odd-couple dynamic that provides a few welcome doses of humour in what’s been a frequently dour season.
Their pairing truly shines, however, in the more contemplative scenes, where their similarities and differences are starkly exposed. Both are dealing with trauma, but while Sasha’s come out the other side, Abraham’s still not quite ready to embrace the normal life Alexandria promises. It’s the deepest exploration we’ve had yet of both characters, and Abraham in particular really benefits from the increased depth this episode affords him.
Too frequently, Abraham can verge on being a cartoon Action Man of sorts, but ‘Always Accountable’ grounds his macho posturing in something that feels more genuine and honest, befitting of Gimple-era The Walking Dead’s more contemplative tone.
Meanwhile, Daryl’s story saw the most action and gore. His storyline, unfortunately, was a little more mixed than Abraham and Sasha’s as it fails to truly add some new and unexpected layers to the fan favourite, who’s been remarkably short-changed thus far this season.
Nonetheless, his predicament with the strangers he meets is good enough, providing a few decent if not particularly shocking twists and turns and an ending that’s ballsy enough to rob Daryl of the items he’s most known for (in The Walking Dead, stealing Daryl’s crossbow is on the same level as a minor character depth).
The survivors themselves are decent, but generally forgettable, and it’s hard to really care all that much when one of them falls victim to a walker in a contrived death scene. Presumably we’ll see them again later on, which places ‘Always Accountable’ in the unfortunate position of playing as set-up for plotlines that won’t reach fruition until 2016.
Ultimately, ‘Always Accountable’ is a solid enough episode, but it fails to pick up the momentum that’s been flagging ever since Morgan’s terrific bottle episode.
The most telling thing about the episode is the fact that the characters end the episode in a broadly similar situation to how they began, albeit further from the herd, with only a few psychological changes and a lost motorbike to account for the events of this episode.
I may not have unreservedly loved the first three episodes of this season, but they did have drive and a constant sense of momentum thanks to the rapid, no-nonsense pacing. Morgan’s episode was a good stopgap, but since then the season’s pace has slowed, with the tension and excitement generated in the first three episodes gradually fading away.
The idea of setting an entire half-season around the walker herd is solid on paper, but in practice it’s led to copious amounts of filler and haphazard structuring as the season has strained and struggled to hold off the inevitable battle with the herd until the mid-season finale.
Even ‘Always Accountable’, as decent as it is on its own, has a vague feeling of filler about it, and it certainly does very little to further the overall herd storyline.
With two episodes left this year, Season 6 has left itself the precarious task of picking up the slack and turning the first half of the season into a generally successful whole.
Can The Walking Dead pull it off? As always, time will tell.
Aired at 9pm on Monday 16 November 2015 on FOX.
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