Getting To The Bottom Of The Bottle: 25 Best Bottle Episodes
By Sundi Rose
Photo: Gene Page/AMC
The Walking Dead – “Swear”
If you wanted to take a postmodern approach to the idea of “bottle episodes,” every episode of The Walking Dead could be a bottle episode. Sometimes the show will spend several episodes on a pair of characters, or weeks in a confined space. Just like with everything The Walking Dead tries to do, some of the attempts are really good, while others are just plain ol’ mediocre.
After seven seasons of constant disaster, torture, and grief, The Walking Dead can grow quite tiring. Even its most devoted fans have felt the effects of its emotional abuse, and anything that breaks from its plodding cynicism is something to celebrate.The Tara-centric episode, “Swear” is one of the more intriguing of the bunch. Not because it’s done particularly well, but because it switches lenses to a character that we’ve only seen through other characters eyes.
It got mixed reviews from critics, and for that matter, fans too. Focusing so heavily on a secondary character felt like a waste to some viewers. But, with a shrug of my shoulders, I say, “What the hell? Let’s give it a go.” The pacing of the show can sometimes feel like a crawl, so getting a different point of view is a relief.