The reason I've never bought in to the slow pace of the show is that it lacks depth. They try to build that depth with the slow pace, but it just slows things down. This is why I was glad when they suddenly started matching the pace of the comics in the latter half of season 5. The show survives on shock value. This is why I instantly hailed last week's episode's death as being a landmark television accomplishment. But the more I think about it, the less I like it. It was just a cheap shock.

Now, here's where this week's episode differs. It is the first Walking Dead episode to achieve a perfect slow-burn. The writing was good but was made incredible by the stellar performance of guest star John Carrol Lynch. It was complimented perfectly by beautiful cinematography. The cinematography reminded me of that from the episode "what's happened and what's going on". That episode had little substance, so it was wasted.

A lot of people are going to hate this episode; it is a departure from the action-packed opening episodes and the show's general tendency towards mindless action and flat drama. They will find it boring and be disappointed they got no resolution to the big cliffhanger. But if you can truly appreciate a brilliant pair of actors performing a well- rounded script with gorgeous cinematography, you will find yourself regarding this as one of the series' best.

If not, don't worry, I'm sure we'll be back to a mindless gore-fest very soon. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy a good mindless gore-fest. That's why I still watch this show. But this episode transcended the show's very nature and became something special.