The Walking Dead Season 6 Episode 4 Review: Here's Not Here
Sean McKenna
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I’m not surprised that Glenn’s true fate was put on hold for at least an extra week after all the talk that perhaps it was Nicholas’ guts that were seen coming out on The Walking Dead Season 6 Episode 3.
I wish that wasn’t the case, that we had gotten more of a definitive answer, but it seems we’ll just have to wait on that, as annoying as that may be.
Instead, The Walking Dead Season 6 Episode 4 slowed down what’s been a frenetic and fast paced first three episodes to travel back in time and focus on Morgan as he was trained by Master Splinter a man named Eastman.
Morgan is a great character, and it’s obvious he’s a come a long way since we saw him on The Walking Dead Season 1 Episode 1 or even when he was rather crazy on The Walking Dead Season 3 Episode 12.
“Here’s Not Here” gave us more insight into what’s made him become a master ninja with that staff and why he’s become such a man of peace.
But we didn’t need 90-minutes to do that.
And on some level, I’m not sure we even needed an flashback installment to give us exactly how he was able to change at all. Sometimes, you don’t need to fill in every blank.
Granted, the it was a far better and more meaningful look back than, say, when we got to see the Governor's flashback on The Walking Dead Season 4 Episode 6.
But it was pretty much what you expected it to be as Morgan’s passion to clear and kill was slowly but surely turned into belief that all life is precious and killing is not the way to go, considering that's pretty much what we've seen from him more recently.
It was a shift for his character, who had hit a certain rock bottom, and he was able to find his way back again. He now has a second chance, and it’s been exciting that he has been finally able to catch up and join Rick’s group.
As for Eastman, he was a solid addition as Morgan’s guide back to the living. Not only did he prove himself to be worthy of training his new padawan, but we learned about his dark past and what happened when an evil man killed his entire family.
He too went through a similar experience to Morgan losing his family. But killing never found him peace, and for now, it seems as if Morgan has truly taken that to heart.
It was rather frustrating that Eastman wound up getting bit, especially because it seemed like it could have been avoided, even with Morgan zoning out. I was hoping he might get a chance to last or reappear down the road, but he made his mark and helped Morgan.
On this show, that was clearly what Eastman was meant to do, and he did it well.
The performances from Lennie James as Morgan and John Carroll Lynch as Eastman were fantastic. They played off each other very nicely, and you could see the various emotional moments that each actor was able to hit during the installment.
And the way everything was capped off showing that Morgan didn’t kill that Wolf member was a nice reveal. On the one hand, it was good to see he’s been able to keep following his code. On the other, we (and definitely he) know it’s a dangerous move.
That decision is probably going to wind up causing more problems later on, much like when Rick was almost killed by those Wolf members Morgan let go. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
This was a good episode, but it didn’t need to be 90 minutes. And we certainly didn’t need to know what Morgan had been up to before he showed up in Alexandria, though again, James and Lynch brought that something extra to where you did care about what was going on with their characters. Even the discussion of life and death in the zombie apocalypse was rather poignant for Morgan and the series as a whole.
But while I appreciated the setup, especially for Morgan’s character, I also couldn’t help but think about what was going on during the present time period, like what’s Rick going to do trapped in the RV or what’s Alexandria going to do after the massive attack – or the major talking point, what really happened to Glenn.
Maybe if this episode was placed in a different spot during The Walking Dead Season 6 it might have played even stronger for me, but like Morgan at the end, I’m just ready to move forward. It's time to get back to the present.
Did you enjoy the break to focus on Morgan? Should Morgan have killed the Wolf? Do you wish this episode revealed Glenn’s true fate? Sound off below, and as always, be sure to watch The Walking Dead online!
Note: The Walking Dead Season 6 Episode 5, "Now," airs Nov. 8 at 9 p.m.
Sean McKenna was a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. He retired in May of 2017. Follow him on Twitter.
