Lamb “Sparkle” 1984

Id put off watching this as I had a sneaking suspicion it wouldn’t be very good… turns out my instincts were correct. The first episode showing what Rick had been doing for the last 8 years was decent. I had hoped it would literally show what happened from the bridge onwards, what happened after he was picked up by the helicopter, getting better and then more in depth about his escapes. But instead just showed very briefly has journey of finally relenting. The first episode was by far my favourite out of all of them. Then came Michonne’s “journey” not that it was much of a journey. Introducing some people she became friends with only to kill them off anyway. The part where Rick and Michonne FINALLY find each other after 8 years was well done, then the quick thinking and instructions given to Michonne. Unfortunately what followed left me cold. I appreciated the conflict Rick had, but then his mind was changed pretty damn quickly, which honestly reminded me of the de-programming in the Barbie movie! Five out of six of the episodes were to me, nothing but sap, and cliches. How many times must be see them kiss? How many times must they reaffirm their love? Too much talking!! Not enough doing!! Then, they literally disband the entire CRM in less than 20 mins!? Honestly should have been more time dedicated to that plot point. I also appreciated Jadis/Annes character and thought it was played really well. I’m aware that Andrew and Danai had a lot of involvement in the writing process, but I really feel that the Michonne and Rick of the original TV show were lost in way too much sap. We KNOW they love each other, we get it. But the original spark wasn’t there. This relied way too much of tag lines. “Love never dies” for example. Another point that I found amusing was the over use of how special everyone professed Rick to be. By all the major players. Thousands of people made into commanders and yet no one was as important as Rick. I get these are our protagonists but they’re only special to us because we have watched them for years. As a whole I appreciate what they were trying to do, but I honestly couldn’t wait for it to be over in the end. I’m sure Andrew Lincoln specifically will be pleased it’s over. The reunion with the kids at the end I also found really strange. A reunion in some random field. We didn’t get to see Rick and Michonne walking back into the community? That would have been better. It felt rushed and once again cliche, not in keeping with the soul of the show. I’m hoping that ‘The book of Carol’ will be better?