Negan's unwelcome visit to Alexandria continues as other members scavenge for supplies; things quickly spin out of control.Negan's unwelcome visit to Alexandria continues as other members scavenge for supplies; things quickly spin out of control.Negan's unwelcome visit to Alexandria continues as other members scavenge for supplies; things quickly spin out of control.
- Dwight
- (credit only)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaMaggie (Lauren Cohan) wears a hat and gloves similar to Glenn (Steven Yeun) & Abraham's (Michael Cudlitz) at the Hilltop Colony.
- GoofsNegan takes one look at the spent casing and immediately determines that it was home made. Unless Eugene is terrible at following the instructions in a reloading manual (available at many gun shops, which they've undoubtedly raided in search of supplies), there is no way he'd be able to tell if the casing came from a factory load, or was reloaded (recycled/home loaded).
- Quotes
Negan: You know, I'm thinking, Spencer. I'm thinking how Rick threatened to kill me, how he clearly hates my guts. But he is out there right now, gathering shit for me to make sure I don't hurt any of the fine people that live here. He is swallowing his hate and getting shit done. That takes guts. And then there's you The guy who waited for Rick to be gone so he could sneak over and talk to me to get me to do his dirty work, so he could take Rick's place. So I got to ask - if you wanna take over, why not just kill Rick yourself and just take over?
Spencer Monroe: What? No, no. I didn't - I don't...
Negan: You know what I'm thinking? 'Cause I have a guess.
[Whispering]
Negan: It's because you got no guts.
Negan: Ohh. How embarrassing. There they are. They were inside you the whole time. You did have guts. I've never been so wrong in my whole life!
- ConnectionsFeatured in Talking Dead: Sing Me a Song (2016)
- SoundtracksThe Program
(uncredited)
Performed by Ben Wise
While "Hearts Still Beating" is not a return to form for 'The Walking Dead' or great, it is still one of Season 7's better episodes and a big improvement over the previous four. After a general slog of a first part to the season, some momentum is gained pace-wise and narratively in "Hearts Still Beating". Which does better than "Sing Me a Song" at moving things forward, that episode did show signs of progression but could have done a lot more with its content which is something that this episode does better.
"Hearts Still Beating" is not perfect. Am in complete agreement with those that have panned the part with Rosita, that was utter idiocy and one of the most intelligence insulting moments of not just Season 7 (and the season had a lot of what the heck moments, this took the biscuit) but of the whole show as well. Spencer is incredibly annoying and overacted, to the extent that what Negan does with him is one of the few times where his point of view is oddly understood.
It is also a bit slow to begin with, some of the dialogue still rambles and Negan does dominate too much in spots.
Though thankfully not as needlessly long-winded and it doesn't sound anywhere near as awkward as it did in "Sing Me a Song". The pacing to me seemed a lot better, more urgency later on, and the focus more balanced with those that were wasted before being interesting here. There is not as much overlong filler as there was in the previous four episodes and episodes afterwards, not too long is spent on irrelevance and things do progress and makes one intrigued on what's to come. There is a return to uncompromising tension and it is great to continue to the multiple storyline structure, with a lot of content without being over-stuffed. Surprisingly the tone of the climax didn't jar, which was actually what was expected considering that it is the kind of ending that after so much tension and hard-hitting rarely comes off well in other films, episodes etc elsewhere.
Visually, "Hearts Still Beating", as usual for 'The Walking Dead' looks great. It is stylishly photographed without trying to do too much, no trying-to-be-too-clever editing to be seen here, or being too static. The music avoids being too bombastic or being too low-key, being suitably haunting. The direction has enough tautness while also being accomodating. The character interaction is natural and has intensity and the performances are all fine (didn't have a problem with Chandler Riggs this time). Andrew Lincoln and Jeffrey Dean Morgan fare best.
All in all, not a masterpiece but an improvement. 7/10
- TheLittleSongbird
- Feb 1, 2021
Details
- Runtime1 hour
- Color
- Sound mix