'The Walking Dead' Season 8 Episode 4 Review: 'Just Some Guy'


The Walking Dead aired 'Just Some Guy' last night and it was the fourth episode of season eight. 'Just Some Guy' focused on Ezekiel and his downfall.

The episode starts off with a familiar scene. Ezekiel is once again making his "and yet I smile" motivational speech. However, the scene takes a dark turn as the audience goes from seeing the Kingdom army cheering and surrounding their king to the Kingdom army dead and piled on top of their king. This scene had emotional depth for Ezekiel but failed to deliver an emotional response towards the nameless army.

The special effects crew did a great job with this scene and the episode as a whole. This episode had much better special effects than the previous episodes and I didn't see anything that made me feel disconnected from the show.

It was interesting to see Ezekiel so broken. Ever since his first introduction, he has constantly put on a show for the good of his people. He never broke character around others and this was the first time the audience got to see the real Ezekiel. 

While Ezekiel is lying on the field surrounded by dead bodies, the bodies slowly start to come back as walkers. This scene was a reminder of why I started watching The Walking Dead. The eerie music, the fantastic special effects, the weight and tone, I loved everything about the scene.

Ezekiel is then taken hostage by a Savior for the sole purpose of explaining what was going on in Ezekiel's head. The Savior talks about how Ezekiel isn't really a king, how he is just an actor, etc. This is stuff that the audience should have been able to pick up on and understand, but the writers decided to throw in the Savior for clarification. It wasn't really a negative, just annoying to sit through something so pointless. 

The entire episode was all about how Ezekiel isn't a king, but he is just a man. He is constantly telling his people that it will be ok even when he has no idea if it will. Lying in the field surrounded by dead friends showed Ezekiel that he was just a man. Afterwards, Jerry comes to the rescue and saves Ezekiel from the narrating Savior. Jerry then proceeds to show Ezekiel that even though he may just be pretending, he is also helping everyone around him cope with the traumatic situations they must go through every day. 




Throughout the episode, we switch to seeing Carol, the other big character in this episode. Watching Carol fight is always great, especially now that she isn’t fighting for revenge, she is fighting for survival. You can tell she doesn’t want to kill but she knows she has to. I love how she takes charge and is constantly risking her life for the good of others. Carol is one of the better-developed characters on the show. She is constantly changing and I can always understand why.

Near the end of the episode Carol, Jerry, and Ezekiel are reunited and make their way back to the Kingdom. While they are doing that, Daryl and Rick chase the Saviors who took the gun that killed the Kingdom's army. I didn’t think I’d ever see a car chase on The Walking Dead, but it worked out pretty well and I felt tension throughout the scene. It also felt practical and the stunts were well performed. Daryl and Rick, of course, stop the gun from reaching the Saviors.

Meanwhile, Carol, Ezekiel, and Jerry are still making their way back to the Kingdom. They become surrounded by walkers and Ezekiel tells them to leave him behind because he is injured. He then breaks down and we see Ezekiel at his lowest. Ezekiel expresses that he is not a king and doesn't deserve to be one because he is just a man. Luckily for Ezekiel, Shiva the tiger sacrifices herself and fights off a group of walkers while the trio gets away. 

Shiva looked pretty bad when she first jumped in to save the day. Her movements were unnatural and clumsy, but it could have been much worse with a TV budget. However, the walker extras did a great job of making me believe the tiger was there and attacking them. 

I personally really enjoyed this episode. In the comics, the attack on this particular Savior base was extremely rushed so  I feel like the show did the comics justice. Khary Payton shines as Ezekiel and I wish the writers allowed him to properly do his job rather than having other characters explain how or what he should be feeling. This was a major episode for Ezekiel’s character and will affect how the character acts for the rest of the season. This episode really defined Ezekiel's character and it made me realize why I love The Walking Dead. 


I give this episode 8/10 stars. 

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