It's a bit surprising that The Walking Dead would put an entire episode on the shoulders of two characters that have played relatively minor roles on the series so far.

Ultimately, it was mostly Tara's journey to discovery a new community with ties to Negan, but Heath did get to play a small part.

It's certainly good to see the series trying to give characters outside of the main crew of Rick and company some time to shine, but where The Walking Dead Season 6 Episode 5 felt more like a waste of time, The Walking Dead Season 7 Episode 6 brought something new to the table.

There was a real sense of mystery surrounding some of the new characters and community Tara came across. And the fact that it was a society of only women, which was eventually answered as to why, was intriguing.

At the same time, a change of scenery from the constant trees and woods the survivors normally traipse through for some crashing waves and a beach was rather refreshing.

Plus, it revealed that a community under Negan's thumb can actually run away and thrive somewhere else without his oppression. That was a question I had wondered about with regard to the inhabitants of Alexandria.

Granted, this seaside community shoots all visitors on site, so Tara got lucky that she was even initially allowed to stick around.

In fact, the episode did make you wonder if any other survivor had come across this community, if they would have been able to live or even view the experience the same way Tara did. Can you imagine how someone like Rick would have approached it? Maggie?

At the same time, there was a certain innocence Tara still had by not having encountered the full wrath of Negan. And she's usually such a positive and upbeat character that you can't help but want to root for her or give her a fist bump when something good happens.

But I was surprised how open and honest she was about her crew and the killing of Negan's outpost. It was like she was laying all her cards on the table before this new group had a chance to say anything about themselves. I guess she threw caution to the wind in hopes of surviving and in working together.

It seemed obvious that would backfire on her, but when the leader agreed to send someone back with Tara, I actually did think that Tara's openness did help.

It was a decent twist that they were still going to kill Tara, but seriously, for that group, why go through all the trouble and not just kill her back in the community? Why risk everything so she believes that she was going home?

It was also good to see that the group had someone who was willing to help and not so eager to just kill. She brought up an interesting topic about people being evil, and she even helped Tara survive a couple times.

I hope we see her again, but probably with her luck, she will return just to get eaten by a walker...

Though the most annoying part of the hour had to be the fake-out death of Heath. Not only was it frustrating to think he was getting killed off after barely getting to know him, but then when his "walker" appeared, it was someone else with his hairstyle. So stupid and unnecessary.

Tara's journey to get home (how far of a walk was that and how much time passed?) felt more like an epilogue for the episode, but I guess it was so she could find out about Denise. Her reaction was much more subdued than I thought it would be.

Maybe she might shift her thoughts on it all down the road?

This was an episode that I don't think would have worked without someone like Tara. I'm sure that some will find this as a filler episode, and it did drag at some moments, but there were some stakes, and it introduced something new and interesting.

Who knows how many other communities are out there?

Did you enjoy following Tara's story? Will we see the community again? Sound off below, and be sure to watch The Walking Dead online at TV Fanatic!

Quotables from Week Ending November 18, 2016

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Sean McKenna was a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. He retired in May of 2017. Follow him on Twitter.