The Walking Dead season 8 episode 12 spoiler review: The best standalone instalment for a long while

*Spoilers for The Walking Dead season 8 follow*

(AMC Studios)

“There’s got to be something after”

The idea of survival runs deep in the veins of the latest episode of The Walking Dead season 8 with several characters seeming to question the point of their existence in the wake of the show's most recent events. In a world where there’s always someone to overcome - danger lurking around the corner, living or deceased - is pushing on really their best option? Not only does this week see our characters voice these concerns, it provides them with an answer: yes, it is.

Because this week sees our group gain several advantages, and it comes as a surprise just how relieving this is. The most intriguing of all comes in the form of a brand new character played by the delectable screen presence of TV drama stalwart Jayne Atkinson (24, House of Cards' Secretary of State Cathy Durant). She plays Georgie, a suited, well-kept bespectacled creation who collides with Maggie, Michonne, Rosita and Enid in scenes screaming out for Carol to complete the greatest assemblage of female characters in a single TV show.

Maggie is rightfully wary of new groups - wouldn't you be? - despite them seeming eager to extend a hand, but Michonne - inspired by the selfless action which left Carl with a fatal walker bite - encourages her to do just this. The benevolent Georgie is the walking embodiment of hope, bearing “essential knowledge” that she wishes to trade with Maggie. Through her, we learn a lot in a small space of time - chiefly that there are not very many civilisations remaining near where out characters reside. Also, it seems she's been watching in the wings for some time: “The worst has been outpacing the best lately,” she tells Hilltop's new leader, “but it won’t for very long.”

As Georgie hands over “The Key to a Future’ - a book comprised of handwritten plans for, among other things, refining grain, creating lumber and sewage systems - it seems Carl’s dreams may yet manifest. "It's been an evolving document since the coffee shop,” Georgie tells Maggie, hitting home just how far it’s been since coffee shops were actually a thing in this world. Not only are we provided with hope but a well fleshed out addition who feels immediately assimilated into the universe which - if comic book fans are to be believed - just got a whole lot bigger. Her addition gives off the sense that this episode could one day become a game-changing outing when reflected upon.

This episode also managed the feat of convincing you that the seemingly unbeatable villain was going to meet his end, thanks to some destructive acting from Andrew Lincoln who was clearly handed these scenes as a reward for all the emotion he displayed shooting Carl's death scenes. He fires machine guns, recklessly ignoring the walkers around him, lobs axes and even gets to swing a flaming Lucille… and yet Negan still escapes his clutches in scenes that are sure to infuriate people. If the show's big bad can get out of a burning building filled with walkers and a T-100 incarnation of Rick Grimes, he can probably survive whatever Jadis has in store for him.

It feels things are clicking into place, and with the destruction of Alexandria and the series' first crossover approaching, this episode felt like the last of the shackles of the previous era falling to the floor. It feels like the first cog of Scott Gimple's tenure as the franchise world-builder is now whirring, the groove of the show's future now ascertained - all the better for occurring within an episode that adeptly humanises the characters thanks to their concerns with what comes next. “Will he come back from this?” Maggie asks Rosita as a grieving Rick drives off. Of course he will; they all will - and not only when they die.

'The Key' was the best standalone episode outside of a premiere and finale in a very long time.

The Walking Dead season 8 continues on AMC every Sunday with the UK premiere arriving the next evening on FOX as well as being available to stream on NOW TV.

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