Tales of The Walking Dead “Amy/Dr. Everett” was written by Ahmadu Garba (Happy, The Sinner, Dr Death) and was directed by Haifaa al-Mansour, whose othter credits include Mary Shelley, The L Word: Generation Q, and The Sinner. The nice thing about this series is that there are so few actors to credit! In this case Anthony Edwards plays Dr. Everett (type casting?) and Poppy Liu plays Amy. This episode finally felt like it belonged in The Walking Dead universe. It was a little predictable, but still enjoyable, largely due to the terrific performances by Edwards and Liu.
I loved the way the episode starts out as a wildlife documentary – I really did question for a second if I was on the right channel! LOL! We soon get a close up of subject 21, wearing a tracking collar, and are told he’s the reason Dr Everett can get so close to them…. Everett finds some beheaded bodies, and we learn that people take the heads as trophies – so that’s a new one. Not long after that, Everett, using a drone, spots Amy in trouble all alone surrounded by walkers – who she calls chompers. Everett eventually intercedes, but it’s clear to us and Amy that he’s really saving subject 21 from her.
Amy isn’t well and follows Everett back to his tree house when he won’t just help her. She manages to infiltrate his defenses and end up at his front door. He lets her in, discovers she’s been poisoning herself, and saves her. Of course, eating poisonous berries seems like a total rookie mistake and makes you wonder how we lost so many people early on in
The Walking Dead, but somehow, she’s still alive!?
Like all the other episodes, this one is also about two opposites in conflict with each other. I wonder if this entire series was a writing exercise in some course somewhere… Amy doesn’t understand how Everett doesn’t see the chompers as a problem and dangerous, and Everett can’t understand Amy’s attachment to her group. He’s clearly gone a bit feral.
The two part ways so that Everett can go find subject 21 and so that Amy can go find her friends. Everett doesn’t find his subject, but Amy does and is waiting for him back at his house when he gets back. The two make a deal to go together. On the way, Everett tries to convince Amy to stay with him and help in his research. She tries to convince him to join her community, saying that they’ll do whatever he suggests as far as conservation goes. I did think that it was interesting – in an environmental action kind of way – that the animals on the other side of the “divide” were bigger and better than those left behind because they hadn’t had any human interference.
Everett finally reveals that subject 21 was another scientist in his group. He contracted cancer and gave Everett his coat – made of walker skins – in order to stay safe. He encouraged Everett to study him after he died. The half decomposed woman circled by police tape is another pretty cool effect.
The two find members of Amy’s group being attacked. One is already dead and of course the other is being attacked by subject 21. Amy goes to help her friend and hilariously subject 21 rolls down the hill and onto a bit of dead wood that drifts out in the water and starts aways from the land. Everett totally freaks out, injuring himself as he rushes to save subject 21. He convinces Amy to help pull subject 21 to shore after lassoing him, only to have him eaten by a giant alligator!!! It was hilariously just like a scene out of Jaws! It was a creature feature all along!
Amy tries to convince Everett to come with her to her community, but Everett points to the circling vultures, telling her that her community is already dead – they are in the path of a converging herd. Amy doesn’t believe him, and as she rejoins her friends, it looks like he’s wrong… but of course, he’s not. Was anyone surprised when he found Amy turned and chooses her to wear the tracking collar and become his next subject – 22? I also found it hilarious when he ear tagged another one of the chompers…
So this week’s episode really was a creature feature, continuing the theme of doing a different “type” of horror movie each week. We also maintain the pared down cast, focusing on two polar opposites and what happens when they cross paths. I’m not sure that the writing was that much better in this episode, but I thought a lot of the effects were, and the acting was top notch this week. What did you think of the episode? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
