*Yes, this contains spoilers from the midseason finale!*
"Shut up."
Ruthless Rick Grimes is such a great character. After all these people have been through, you can only imagine the kind of toll it would take on the person who needs to call the shots and live with the decisions that have been made. He's changed drastically since the first season and the opening scene in "Coda" does such an awesome job showing this. The shots also handled his lack of remorse very well. The shadow of the revolver on the dude as he lays there in fear? Terrific. It's disappointing Rick doesn't have that much time in this episode, but when he is around, it's gripping stuff. And when the dust finally settles, odds are you'll be thinking about whether his violent plan was the right one.
The other highlight was Gabriel's journey. It's far too often that shows move forward and the weight of certain decisions remain in the past, so having him travel to Gareth's camp site was a nice way to take us down memory lane. It didn't feel heavy-handed and thankfully didn't include any kind of forced flashbacks ("remember when this happened?!"); it was a natural way to remind us just how messed up this season has been and understand why Gabriel made his decision. Yeah, his decision is totally foolish, but it's easy to get why he did it. Watching him get a brief taste of his own medicine was excellent, too. As if he didn't feel guilty enough, he now fully understands what those people went through right before they were ripped apart. Luckily, this didn't become its own side plot and the way it brings back the other characters makes perfect sense. There's an, "oh, how convenient!" kind of moment, but it was still quite cool. Plus, who doesn't love seeing Michonne let loose? The CGI wasn't as strong in a few parts, but it's still good fun. Oh, and that shot with the machete was especially great.
If you liked the time spent at the hospital, odds are you're going to like this midseason finale much more than I did. That said, I can't help but feel like it's weak compared to everything else that's going on. The brief scuffle was handled surprisingly well, but the other material came across as familiar instead of bringing new and fascinating drama to the show. Did we really spend all of that time there and now we're just leaving the place? There was a lot of time spent getting to know this setting and its cast, but it was never enough to make a really strong connection. Because of that, it's surprising we won't see any of them as we move forward and it just seems like a pretty abrupt way to resolve this conflict. You can't help but wonder how that time could have been used to spotlight the characters we really care about. I think the performances are perfectly fine (Christine Woods handled the material well, but it's too similar to dilemmas we've seen before), but my emotional connection just wasn't there and the scenes lacked energy. The shots felt static at times. There's some extended shots on characters when they're deep in thought, but it's almost like they're just kind of bored. So, when the big twist came, not only did it feel a bit forced to me -- I kind of get why she did that, but it felt anticlimactic because my heart just wasn't connected to those two -- but it also didn't hit me like so many of the other deaths have. The moment itself didn't drop my jaw or leave me breathless, but the follow-up was handled extremely well. Watching Norman Reedus breakdown like that is rough and the score did a great job making the reveal with Maggie way more powerful. The death itself? Wasn't the biggest fan. The way it impacted others? Good stuff.
Minor gripes (they don't impact the score): The officers couldn't see the snipers? From the shot, it looked like they weren't exactly hard to spot. Also, the moment between Tyreese and Sasha didn't pack the kind of emotional punch it could have. Instead of really tugging at my heartstrings and making me care more about these individuals, it kind of felt like it was just informing us about their current moral compass. Lastly, did anyone else find it a bit odd that Dawn's pistol was holstered when Beth approached her and she was able to react that quickly after being stabbed? I have zero experience with holsters, but that seemed like a pretty swift reaction, especially compared to when she drew her firearm earlier on in the episode.
"Coda" had such a strong start and the big moment's follow-up was superb, but so much of it just didn't leave an impact -- you could really tell it reached a point where they were saving the very compelling material for the final minutes. When it comes to a midseason finale, you expect the whole experience to be gripping. Whether it's slaughtering zombies or two characters conversing, you expect it to go all-out and always keep you engaged. Unfortunately, a fair amount of this episode just felt okay. There's several strong performances and it does have its highlights, but I can't overlook how some of it felt like it was filling time until they reached the big twist. Now that we're leaving one location behind, I really hope the gang will work their way towards the Alexandria Safe-Zone.