The Dead cease Walking for a few months, and hopefully all [REDACTED]-related complaints cease along with it
![The Dead cease Walking for a few months, and hopefully all [REDACTED]-related complaints cease along with it](https://img.pastemagazine.com/wp-content/avuploads/2015/11/14211330/cfmyif3dvozmkrl9npc8.jpg)
Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Sunday, November 29. All times are Eastern.
Top pick
The Walking Dead (AMC, 9 p.m.): It’s been a bumpy season of The Walking Dead, as the usual zombie mayhem and people making bad decisions around said zombie mayhem has been hurt by a couple of factors. There’s been a decompressed timeline that’s offset some of the show’s usual pacing, and of course the whole mess about whether or not [REDACTED] was alive or dead this whole time. Those two things haven’t bothered Zack Handlen terribly much as he’s been enjoying this season for the most part, especially the Morgan spotlight midway through. However, after six-plus years of watching the survivors continue to survive, another sort of apathy is starting to set in:
Cliffhangers aren’t new to the show, but at its worst, season six has felt like a lot of empty space between shocking moments. Time that could’ve been spent to make the Alexandrians worth caring about is spent instead repeating the same themes we’ve heard time and again: the world has changed, everything’s awful, you have to keep moving, life goes on, etc. It’s not dire (given how many positive grades I’ve given out, I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t enjoying a lot of this), but over time, it becomes less and less satisfying to watch. … This is, at its worst, less a cohesive narrative than a series of inelegantly choreographed distractions; a shelf full of bookends without anything held between them.
Well, it’s the midseason finale tonight, so we’ll have to see if the creative team’s ability to give us a reason to come back after a few months is intact. Maybe last week’s church collapse will upend things in the right way? Or maybe it’s batter up for a certain antagonist of the comics?
Also noted
Once Upon A Time (ABC, 8 p.m.): “We witness a charged confrontation between the forces of light and dark that sends our heroes on a collision course with destiny.” That sounds pretty exciting to Gwen Ihnat! Especially because evidently now Hook is the Dark One, and the Captain Swan shipping levels are off the charts.
Flesh And Bone (Starz, 8 p.m.): Claire’s troubled world continues to get more troubled as she tries to push her brother Bryan out, and at the same time gets drawn further into the world of strip clubs. With any luck, those things will start to add up and make Molly Eichel finally believe that Claire’s the most interesting part of the stories she’s nominally at the center of.
The Leftovers (HBO, 9 p.m.): In this age of peak TV, where every show is clamoring for your attention, what a treat it is to have a show like The Leftovers that doesn’t give a damn whether or not you like it. And as it heads toward the finish line, it’s embracing its Lost heritage in a way that Joshua Alston respects the hell out of, even if he’s not sure whether or not it’s all working:
This is a show expressly designed to provoke, and it does that so successfully that not even all of the people who don’t fucking hate it will get the same satisfaction from every episode. … [“International Assassin”] is an incredibly thoughtful and generous hour of television, packed with enough nuances and easter eggs to keep superfans freeze-framing for years to come. But it’s ultimately a scenic detour, however breathtaking, and like the final season of Lost, the argument against it comes down whether it’s a detour worth taking.
The Good Wife (CBS, 9:30 p.m.): “Eli and Ruth worry about the nature of Alicia’s relationship with Jason and how it could impact Peter’s presidential campaign.” That’s not something Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya is worrying about, given her conclusion last week that Jason’s only purpose on the show seems to be the deployment of “flirty smiles.” Then again, maybe Eli and Ruth know about Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s upcoming gig on the aforementioned Walking Dead and are terrified he’s about to start swinging a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire around during a press conference.