season 10’s bonus episodes is working well for the AMC series. The adversities the main characters are currently facing are reminiscent of the ones Rick’s group had to endure in the early seasons.
The Walking Dead season 10, episode 19 “One More” focused on Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) and Aaron (Ross Marquand), who were out on their own looking for supplies. During their long and mostly fruitless search, they stumbled upon the hideout of Mays, a new character played by Robert Patrick. He tried (and failed) to force one to kill the other in an effort to make them understand that people only care about themselves. In a shocking scene, Gabriel convinced Mays otherwise – and then killed him.
“One More” served as an interesting reminder of what The Walking Dead used to be, back before Rick’s group settled into places like Alexandria or the Kingdom. During the episode, viewers watched as the two exhausted and hungry characters desperately and unsuccessfully scavenged for food. The severity of their situation forced them into arguments, as both had differing opinions on what their next course of action should be. Scavenging and finding barely enough to scrape by were the sorts of issues Rick (Andrew Lincoln), Shane (Jon Bernthal), and the others had to deal with in the early seasons, and they were essential because they helped make the characters feel like people who were really living in a post-apocalyptic world.
There’s also the feeling of hopelessness and the psychological toll that would come with living in such a dark and dreadful place. The Walking Dead helped capture this aspect of the apocalypse through some of the hardships it gave its characters. One example is from the season 3 episode, “Hounded,” in which Rick was reeling from the death of Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies). His mind was so deeply affected that he imagined receiving phone calls from the many people he had lost, including Lori herself. Morgan (Lennie James) is another character whose experiences have left him in deep, mental turmoil. In both season 3’s “Clear” and season 6’s “Here’s Not Here,” the character was seen struggling with PSTD due to his son Duane’s death.
The Walking Dead has been getting back to that in its extra season 10 episodes, especially with “One More.” This outing delivered some particularly suspenseful scenes with Gabriel, Aaron, and Mays. The latter's madness was evident when he emotionally tortured them and tried in vain to make the two kill each other. Mays, with all his flaws, certainly felt like a product of the zombie apocalypse and a fitting antagonist for the two. The problems that Mays and the episode as a whole took viewers back to the way things way were, and considering how much of a hit the series was in the beginning, that can only be a good thing.