NB Major spoilers

Gabriel and Aaron are one of the teams sent out to search for supplies. What they find is the ethical red line neither man has crossed, and Mays (Robert Patrick) a man trapped on the other side of it.

The Walking Dead gets nowhere near enough credit for how good it is at short stories and this is a perfect example of that. This could, comfortably, be a three handed play and like the rest of season 10c so far the show leans into the COVID restrictions and finds something new there instead of something it can no longer do. There’s a real sense of space, of isolation. And also jeopardy. The men have been out for a fortnight and found nothing. That means if they turn around they’ll have been a month away without anything to show for it. Aaron, who misses his daughter, is all for that. Gabriel, who misses his daughter too but has faith, is not.

One more.

And they hit the motherlode. A retail supply warehouse crammed full of supplies gives a chance for one of the show’s rare moments of comedy. Gabriel hooting with laughter at Aaron’s high-pitched scream in particular is lovely and may actually be the first time we’ve ever seen him laugh. Likewise, Ross Marquand’s Aaron has been so buckled under tragedy for years it’s nice to see him cut loose. Also to see the relationship between these two men evolve. Both are now fathers, both have been marked by their time in the apocalypse (Aaron down a hand, Gabriel an eye) and both have done what needs to be done.

And they’re both dads. And they’re both tired. And they just want to go home. Heroism this week is in refusing to listen to that instinct. Because not only do they get a warehouse of goods but we get to see them drunk, happy and refreshingly honest. All of which leads up to Gabriel’s monologue about his priest mentor and about how he learned to care for people. This hit me where I live, it could honestly have described the priest I knew as a child who was functionally my grandfather. Compassion mixed with pragmatism, humour with realism. It’s a standout moment in a standout episode that leads to Aaron’s surprising, and accurate comment that Gabriel needs to start preaching again.

The third act confirms that as we meet Mays. Played by genre stalwart Robert Patrick the older man is scarred, embittered and the ‘owner’ of their warehouse. He captures Aaron, ties both of them up and forces them to play a brutal version of Russian roulette. In another standout, the two men talk him down, convince him that the apocalypse has changed everyone and the murders of his family were just part of what he had to do. It’s convincing, touching, hopeful even…

And then Gabriel clubs him to death.

The sustained shot of Aaron, spattered with Mays’ blood, frozen in horror is stark. The discovery of Mays’ twin brother (Patrick again) shackled by the decomposing bodies of his families upstairs is tragic, even gothic. He kills himself rather than live with what he saw and the shot echoes around their newly hollow kingdom. We see them mark the location. We see them leave. We see them try one more place. Because while some lines can’t be crossed, others can only be avoided by never giving up.

Verdict: Close up, brutal, intelligent and tragic this is a top ten episode for the show. Outstanding work all round. 10/10

Alasdair Stuart