Warning: Full spoilers for the episode follow…
Walking Dead star Michael Cudlitz returned to the fold this week to direct his former castmates in “Stradivarius,” a decent-enough bridging episode that kept the new information flowing while also setting the story up for a big confrontation out in the woods for next week’s midseason finale.
“Stradivarius” suffered from the same small struggles that “The Obliged” faced back before Rick got near-fatally wounded by his panicked rearing horse. It was sort of half an episode. Meaning, it was the cocking of the gun but not the pulling of the trigger. And because the story had to end before things got good, a bunch of chit chat was added to fill the time. Fortunately, due to the huge time jump, there was a lot to talk about. We still had more to learn about the newbies (and how much they loved them some “Bernie” – hoo, boy) and we had all the Hilltop goings-on to catch up on.