The Walking Dead season 8 episode 4 review: Ezekiel – the man behind the crown

Last time on The Walking Dead we saw Rick’s side of the war falling apart as he ended up leaving Negan’s compound without any of his guns. We also saw the end of Aaron and Eric (when he lost Eric to a bullet) and we were left with the cliffhanger of Ezekiel maybe being killed by Negan’s men (but probably not since like 5 of his soldiers jumped on him like human shields as the bullets were flying).

Is Ezekiel alive?

After seeing Ezekiel’s initial war speech back in the Kingdom before heading off to battle it’s easy to see why his people were willing to be blown to bits to save him… and they were blown to bits, and he was saved. He is one of the very few who survived this attack and having to watch his people turn into walkers after knowing he is responsible for leading them to the slaughter was heartbreaking especially when he knows he has to kill them all to survive.

With a busted up leg he is unable to escape, but one of his men also survived and gets him out of trouble… that is until they are killed and Ezekiel is captured by one Negan’s men. This guy was so awful that when we saw one of Ezekiel’s men (Jerry) cut him in half with an ax we actually cheered! What was interesting was seeing Ezekiel broken down so much that he actually started to buy into some of the garbage that this captor was feeding him about being a fraud. Jerry helps to remind him why he is the King and why everyone wants him to be the King, but it doesn’t come without sacrifice…. the loss of Shiva and her sacrifice to help Ezekiel.

Carol’s mission

Carol got herself into the compound and she did some serious damage in there as she took out a few of Negan’s men, but the real prize she is after are the guns. Is she going to be able to get her hands on them? Well she’s sure as heck gonna try and watching her as a one woman wrecking machine was pretty amazing. When she gets herself caught in a position she can’t get out of she tries to make a deal with Negan’s men saying that she will lead them to where the rest of  her people are, but it’s just a distraction to find a way out of the situation – which she does with the help of some walkers. When she ends up in a situation where she has to make a choice to save Ezekiel or get the guns, she chooses Ezekiel and the guns get away from them. Luckily, Rick and Daryl hot on their trail and after a pretty exciting car/motorcycle chase, they are able to stop the truck and get the guns.

CarterMatt’s overall thoughts

While we thoroughly enjoyed seeing Carol the bad ass tonight, Khary Payton deserves some serious praise for this performance. He was charismatic, tortured, inspired and broken. We’ve always liked the Ezekiel larger than life character, but it was nice to see the man behind the crown and all the different layers that go with that, including learning that he was a zookeeper in his previous life. Also we have said this before, but there is a really amazing connection between Carol and Ezekiel that we just love. We aren’t saying that it’s romantic or that we are shipping them, but we have loved seeing how inspired Carol has become since being with him and how much more open Ezekiel has become since meeting her.

What did you think of tonight’s episode of The Walking Dead? Leave us a comment in the box below with your thoughts and what you hope to see happen this season. If you want to know what’s coming up next time on The Walking Dead then head on over to the link here where you can check out a preview for the next new episode.

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