Reviewed by Owen Bush.

Another week, another cheerful outing of The Walking Dead. This week returned to the formula of separation, for, once again, we focused on another group, whom once again were lost and parted from the main group, and subsequently a stream of events occur that eventually bring them all back together in a cheerful reunion. Well, it’s not all that simple and tedious. Unfortunately, this is another one of ‘those’ episodes, whilst splintering along some intriguing stories that may well feature in the upcoming mid-season finale, this episode stuttered along, even tinkering with some intricately character-motivated moments, this episode still ultimately dragged. It isn’t bad, and sure, I understand Gimple needs to fill a season, slowly building the pace, but once again, TWD had me gripped at moments, and at others, dazed.

It all escalated rather quickly… Daryl cast aside as an shoot-out embarks, Sasha and Abraham left dazzled and bewildered at the eventuality of destruction. Whilst I’ve already pronounced my mediocre feelings on the episode, I must say that’s it’s nice to finally see these characters come into their own, for me, especially Sasha. Truly, she has had some rather spectacular moments as far on TWD, from meaningful and cold, to brutal and deathly, she’s been a character that has excelled expectations from her first introduction. Alas, even with Daryl, who has had his fair share of the limelight, did burst into a new sense of leadership and kindness here, almost reminding us of the love and compassion that was briefly encountered back when Merle saw the night – yes, I’m still sad about that. Abraham has always been a confusion of a character, and rather that clarifying his attitudes, for me, Always Accountable jumbled emotions around as if they were juggling balls and I am left disappointed at his lack of clarity within the group.

Daryl, flung into the world once more, was probably the highlight of the episode (excluding that of that teasingly haunting conclusion which I’ll return to later). His decency, deception, and his true struggle in grasping faith in humanity was a nice little expedition in his character’s traits and flaws. The group around him may not have been the most inviting as an audience – purposefully, of course – but the reintroduction of Daryl’s fragility and vulnerability left me, honestly, quite moved. The obvious negative remark about this would be that, as I seem to say every week, the likelihood of this happening again probably isn’t till the next season, which is a dear shame, because Daryl works as a figurehead in way more professional ways than a bad-ass zombie killing machine.

As previously mentioned, Sasha and Abraham were the other pairing this week, with their moments tending to be less action-based and more inclined to the suggestive traumas of both throughout the seasons. Whilst having sneaky subtle zombie killing sprees, this episode really was, once again, a look at human endeavour, emotion, and consequence of the apocalypse. Sasha seemed ambiguous in her attempts to validate her emotions, she’s a character, alike to Daryl, that I do wish we saw more of, because her emotional inconsistencies allow for a very human perspective of the show, rather that cluttered with killings and shocks.

On the other hand, Abraham is one-of-which who’s still baffling me, his mad scene with the walker may have been an attempt to engage me with his brutality, but it actually drove me away from the character, into a confusion over the fact this seems rather out-of-place and unnecessary. Maybe I haven’t been noticing enough, but I always saw Abraham as more of a collected leader with slight angry intentions, rather than truly unstable like Sasha.

For me, this episode wasn’t special, Always Accountable may have still been mildy enjoyable, but the constant teasing needs to cease and front into the full story-arc this season, for, using the herd as an excuse for smaller plot-arcs is becoming a little tedious. If I’m honest, the conclusion did entice me for the next episode, and I do hope it pays off, because the inconsistency this season is becoming a little distressing. I’m not worried, Gimple always seems to pull it under us, but the structure of the show is becoming all too repetitive.

Verdict : 7/10

Always Accountable is still enjoyable, but the lack of consistency and excessive character singularity is becoming tedious and slow. Sure, I understand of the need for a reminder at the characters we’ve lost focus on along the way, but the show’s past only states this frustrating structure will come around again. Still holding it together with some exploiting moments of truth and a intriguing conclusion, it still felt to a lower standard, let’s hope the next episode picks things up.