‘The Walking Dead’ Recap: ‘Stradivarius’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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It’s a well-known fact, that the horror genre has for some time now, done an incredible job of examining our world and our society by way of powerful social commentary, and through said commentary, we’ve come to learn more about humanity’s ugliest traits via stories that unsettle and terrify us, and The Walking Dead is no exception when it comes to this genre standard. After all, the series has over the course of its nine-year run, dissected a great deal when it comes to our world, and this show’s dedication to analyzing our society is one of the many reasons it resonates with its fans since it’s given the audience plenty to chew upon and discuss the morning after an episode airs.
 
However, if there’s one thing I’ve noticed when it comes to this particular element of the genre, it is that often times, horror’s commentary focuses on the worst parts of mankind, which of course, makes sense. For a story mired in darkness, is in fact, the best place to put something disgusting about our world upon display. But, as the genre evolves, so does its statements on our world and I’ve noticed over the past couple of years, that The Walking Dead is trying to examine the more beautiful elements of our society. Granted, this isn’t always done in subtle fashion since Carl and Rick’s vision for a new world was laid out in direct and grand fashion, but it was a fine starting point, especially when one considers that last night’s episode of the series, ‘Stradivarius’, provided the audience with some positive social commentary when all is said and done.
 
Which, took me by surprise to be perfectly honest, because I am hard pressed to think of any other horror or zombie related stories that try to find the beauty in our world, but this episode pulled it off in magnificent fashion, taking the time to examine how our connection to one another, via community, is what makes our world a fine place to live more often than not and it also took that notion a step further as well, taking the time to explore how shared trauma and pain can sometimes bind us in positive ways we never thought possible, and how that connection can and will remain strong over time and all of these elements were explored by way of two key storylines involving Michonne and her voyage to Hilltop, and by way of an impromptu reunion between Carol and Daryl.
 
In fact, let’s start with that particular storyline first, since it dug into the notion of trauma and friendship since we know that both Carol and Daryl have both been through hell and well, the reason I want to discuss this segment of the story first, is because the episode did such a fine job of examining this in subtle and beautiful fashion. Because outside of Daryl admitting he’s spent a fair chunk of his time in the wild looking for Rick’s body, the trauma these best friends have dealt with wasn’t discussed at length. They simply acknowledged the fact they’ve been through hell together, and they’re stronger because of it and without a single lecture, Carol was able to convince Daryl that it was time to come back to the budding new world, and it was just magical to see the show handle this topic in low key and satisfying fashion. 

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Which is fascinating since Michonne’s journey in this tale, with her newfound ‘friends’ was far more direct in what it had to say, since this is the storyline that explored what community means to all of us and how it binds us and well, it took some time to get to that point, in order to hammer home the fact that Michonne has in essence forgotten all of this. Which is fascinating in its own right since only a few years ago, she was writing a Charter/Constitution for the communities and preparing to unite them all, and it became evident that the pain of losing her love, is what has motivated her isolation on a personal level and a larger scale because she’s terrified of losing anyone else and that matters because her inability to trust people caused more friction with the newcomers, the kind that eventually boiled over in the middle of the night when she thought Luke was planning to harm her and D.J. and Siddiq.
 
But instead, it turns out that Luke was merely cherishing a musical artifact, an original Stradivarius violin and well, this is when the show tipped its hand in regard to the power of community because Luke pointed out in lovely fashion that everything that mankind shares, be it creatively or emotionally, is what binds us, and that holding onto those things is the only way for us to move forward and build a better world and at first, this concept seemed like a foreign language to Michonne since it’s been ages since she heard it. But when the dead came calling, and she ran into the reanimated corpse of Bernie, a man that this group lost, she came to realize that Luke was right, and they’ve all shared in loss, and more importantly good moments in between the bad, and she finally softened her stance and even decided it was time to return to Hilltop, despite the memories it motivates, in part to check on her own since Rosita is there, recovering, but it is obvious that she’s trying at this point to put her bad memories to bed.
 
Yet, while all of this was fascinating and beautiful to watch since all of these thoughtful concepts were handled with class, one cannot forget that there is a real threat brewing behind the scenes for all of the communities and it was eerie to see that the evolved dead were slowly tracking Rosita through the woods, and it’s eerie to know that they are likely keeping an eye on the communities since Michonne’s group noticed briefly that something was watching them from the woods and well, that’s ominous and eerie to say the least and I get the feeling that it won’t be long now before these newly intelligent walkers begin to make their move and wreak havoc amongst the communities. 
 
In the end however, I have to say I’m quite impressed with the fact that this ended up being an outright ‘feel good’ episode for a change. Because this has been a stunningly dark season, and it was nice to see the characters start finding something positive to look toward and also see them work through their issues and their pain. If anything, it motivates hope for the future, and I truly loved the commentary that this episode had to offer as well since it too was hopeful and lovely and well, it’s best we get all of this good going now, because when these evolved walkers attack, I’m certain it will be nothing short of brutal and these beloved characters will need to use the good they’re currently discovering when the dust settles in order to keep the new world going. Until next time. 

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