'The Walking Dead' Season 8 Episode 2 Review: 'The Damned'



Walking Dead aired “The Damned” last night. The episode is the second of the eighth season and included fast-paced action, a throwback to the first season, and fresh new ideas. 

Even though the show is now moving quicker than usual, it is still an improvement on the storyline from The Walking Dead comic series. This episode was everything I wanted from the comics. The comics are very fast-paced, which is a major strength. However, I wanted the war with the Saviors to be fleshed out more. The show took a weakness from the comic and satisfied all fans with their additions to the storyline. 

Another one of the strengths of this season is the war mood is much more evident than it was in past seasons.

In season 3, the "war" with the governor didn't feel like a war at all. Half a season was spent talking about war and then there was little payoff. This has been a common theme in the show and this season sets out to change that. 

Season 8 actually feels like a war due to the number of characters, the impact, the fast-paced action, and the scale. There are several groups and battles going on at once, rather than just one group versus another. The huge amount of characters in The Walking Dead used to be a major weakness. There were too many characters for the audience to see, and if a supporting character went missing for half a season it would barely be noticed. What was a weakness is now a strength as a number of characters are what makes the war great. 

One scene that stuck out to me was when a group was battling and a Jerry, a faithful servant, yells out, "protect the king!". Ezekiel responded with, "protect yourself!". I thought this was interesting because the characters from the Kingdom had to realize that the war isn't a fantasy, but real. As Ezekiel so wonderfully puts it, "I have provided a light to move my people forward in the darkness, and they have made my fictions realities." The fantasy was used as a coping mechanism, but now it can be used for motivation to protect what they have. They just have to remember that they are all soldiers, even Ezekiel. 

Morgan was a big focus in this episode and I loved a particular shot where Morgan is surrounded by fenced in walkers as dark music plays and his world looks black. This shot lingered, which worked well, and made me think about how far this character has gone, and how he still has room for a lot more development. His no-kill policy has been thrown out the window and characters are yet again deciding if killing is morally right. 

In this episode, the writers to get the audience to think about whether or not it is moral to kill someone if they surrender or just have tried to kill someone. This fell extremely flat for me because we have seen this choice played out over and over again since the very first season. Audiences don’t need to see the same scenario on repeat with different characters. They especially don’t need repetitiveness from a show that is trying to keep fresh after 8 seasons.

Speaking of keeping the show fresh, I loved how walkers became a strategy in the war. In the previous episodes,  they were used to create diversions and trap people. In this episode, soldiers who were killed just got back up and started killing again! Now they are an entirely new threat, just like they were in the first season. After 8 seasons in The Walking Dead Universe, the characters know how to kill a walker. Killing a walker is now more dangerous because the characters also have the living that are trying to kill them. This made walkers feel like a real threat again.



In this episode, a member of the original group in Atlanta makes a return! When the group in Atlanta decided to seek help at the CDC, Morales left with his family to head towards Birmingham, Alabama in hopes of finding other family members. Somehow he made it to Washington, D.C. and joined the Saviors! I feel this is a bit of the stretch for the show, but since this was a cliffhanger and hasn't been explored, I can't say much about it. 


Overall, the show has been satisfying this season. Season 8 is a noticeable improvement from Season 7 and I'm excited to see how long The Walking Dead can keep the excitement going. 

I would give this episode an 8/10 stars.

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