Evolution: Review for The Walking Dead 908

Evolution:
Review for The Walking Dead 908
by R.C. Murphy

Listen hard, folks. You can hear spoilers on the wind. And in this review.

At long last we’re getting a look at the Whisperers. They’ve tormented Rosita and Eugene for several episodes now, but it’s impossible to know where, exactly, the voices are coming from when they’re surrounded by walkers and any of the undead could be a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It’s easy to underestimate the Whisperers based on weird premise alone. But the show wastes no time proving how deadly this new threat can be. What’s the one resource available in seemingly endless quantities in the zombie apocalypse? The undead. Whoever finds a way to tap into that resource and make it work for them, not against them, may just be the ones to survive to see if there is a way to ever truly recover civilization from what seems to be the end.

Given how well the Whisperers control the walker hordes in this episode alone, they’re well on their way to becoming the only ones to see if there’s really a future for any of them.

While Daryl, Aaron, and Jesus work on a way to keep one step ahead of what they think are nothing but erratic walker hordes, Michonne and the new arrivals make it to Hilltop’s gate. It’s a cold greeting from every last citizen. Guess Alexandria isn’t the only community to institute harsher security techniques. Hilltop all but rolls up the driveway when a scout spots the incoming visitors. Inside, things don’t warm up much. Everyone keeps Michonne at arm’s length, and the newcomers are told to sit and wait for Jesus to return. Even Carol is a tad standoffish with her long-time friend. She gives Connie a warmer greeting, going so far as to use her very basic ASL (American Sign Language) skills to introduce herself. Are they all mourning still and unable to face Rick’s widow or has Michonne’s retreat into Alexandria cut her off from the few emotional support outlets she has left?

Matt Lintz as Henry, Jackson Pace as Gage, Kelley Mack as Addy, Joe Ando-Hirsh as Rodney – The Walking Dead _ Season 9, Episode 8 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC

Someone who needs to build himself a support system sooner rather than later is Henry. He’s not finding his rhythm at the blacksmith shop just yet. His dreams of Enid waiting around for him to grow chin hairs are dashed upon learning she’s dating Alden. There’s only a handful of kids his age in Hilltop. And, unfortunately, they’re typical teenagers. Just once, I’d like a production team to show that teens can hang out without giving themselves alcohol poisoning and abusing others, but guess I’ll have to wait. Henry, of course, winds up in trouble for his drunken night out after puking on Tara’s boots. His fate is likewise left in Jesus’ hands.

Too late for the rescue team, Rosita wakes from her exhausted sleep to warn the others that there’s serious danger outside, not just commonplace walkers. The rescuers get the same message a few hours later after sunset when a trembling Eugene fills them in on the horde which has made several passes by the barn to look for him. Jesus and the guys brush it off. There’s no way Eugene saw the same horde two or three times in the same day unless he went looking for it, right? Wrong. Daryl learns this the hard way when he completely fails to draw the horde away with fire crackers and Dog’s barking. He has no time at all to catch up with the guys, who are cornered and trying to find a way around or through a stone and iron fence.

Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon, Tom Payne as Paul ‘Jesus’ Rovia, Danai Gurira as Michonne, Ross Marquand as Aaron – The Walking Dead _ Season 9, Episode 8 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC

The final scenes with the Whisperers remind us that TWD is indeed a horror show. While it’s a tad annoying to lose so much of the action in fog, the suspense going into the fights saves them from being boring. Jesus’ murder does lack something. I’m not quite sure it hit the right emotional note. Instead this just feels like TWD burying more gays after making sure the characters don’t do anything remotely gay for two seasons.

TWD is taking its customary winter break for the rest of 2018. We will catch up with our favorite survivors, and learn how they plan to deal with Alpha, Beta, and the other Whisperers, on February 10th.


Stradivarius: Review for The Walking Dead 907

Stradivarius:
Review for The Walking Dead 907
by R.C. Murphy

Shh. Do you hear that? It’s spoilers whispering from the review below. Be careful!

Danai Gurira as Michonne – The Walking Dead _ Season 9, Episode 7 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC

Seems like everyone’s on their way to Hilltop in one way or another during this episode. Despite Michonne’s new isolationism kick, she’s going to have to reach outside her protective bubble in order to ensure her people will remain safe. Carol is already well on her way to taking care of her people’s future by driving Henry to Hilltop so he can become a blacksmith. On the way they make a pit stop for possible reinforcement first. Other citizens from Alexandria make the trek to the community, as well. Some whose arrival is quite unexpected.

Hilltop isn’t the place it was back when the bridge blew up. There’s been some major changes. They’ve expanded the farm, taking up countless acres outside the main fence in order to have enough to provide food for everyone and grow the herbs they need to treat the sick. There’s a small standing army with new recruits coming in weekly. Tara, of all people, has stepped up to become an assistant the community’s leader. And that leader? Is not Maggie. Yes, folks, the rumors are true. Maggie gets an off-screen goodbye. But it’s not goodbye for good. Showrunner Angela Kang says she plans for Maggie to return in more than just letters in the future. For now Jesus runs the community. Okay, let’s be honest, Tara’s running the show and Jesus has his foot halfway out the door again because he’s too restless to do the job as needed. So restless, he’s secretly training Aaron to fight instead of taking care of business matters.

The change-ups at Hilltop don’t sway Michonne from her plan to take Yumiko and her people to about the halfway point before giving their care over to Siddiq and D.J. for the remainder of the trip. She’s only there to check out the group’s story about leaving their supplies and bolting after their friend died. The story seems to be true, judging from the rampant destruction at their storage container. Not even accidentally killing an irreplaceable musical instrument convinces Michonne to do the right thing and see them to the gates herself. It takes Hilltop messengers with the news about Jesus finding Rosita in bad condition to change her mind about a visit to see some of her old friends.

Another visitor with reservations is Carol’s last-ditch help to protect Henry, Daryl. After putting herself in danger to fetch him from his self-imposed exile, it’s obvious just showing up won’t be enough to pull the guy out of his prolonged, and self-harm-ridden, mourning cycle. Nothing she says truly sinks in. Daryl is afraid to face a world without his friend, so he keeps avoiding it. The guy has a booby trapped camp and a nameless dog, and the unrelenting need to stay by the river just in case he finds Rick’s body. But time has come for him to rejoin the world. Oddly enough, it’s not Carol who gets Daryl moving, but Henry and misadventure with walkers. She’s excited anyway. At least Daryl won’t be alone anymore. He wastes no time once back amongst people and is one of the first to volunteer to find Eugene after being told about Rosita’s message before she passed out.

Will they find Eugene before these whispering walkers do? As much as I don’t like the guy, no one should be left to die alone and scared in the woods. Hopefully they get to him and figure out what’s up with the undead’s odd behavior with minimal bloodshed.


Who Are You Now?: Review for The Walking Dead 906

Who Are You Now?:
Review for The Walking Dead 906
by R.C. Murphy

Don’t leap ahead without knowing there’s episode spoilers in this review. There. You’ve been warned.

Let’s do the time warp again! Usually when the production team introduces a time jump of any significant period, the fans wind up feeling a tad cheated. For instance, we missed Hershel being born thanks to the last time jump, and that’s really something that should have been celebrated given how poorly the pregnancy was handled in the first place. But for this particular skip in time, we’re brought in at a pretty good place. Not to mention the new additions to the cast, who are knocking it out of the park from the get-go. Cailey Fleming, playing an older Judith Grimes, is a scene stealer, for sure. I sincerely hope she gets to hang around for quite some time. Her exuberance is a breath of fresh air for a show that was getting old and stale.

Danai Gurira as Michonne, Dan Folger as Luke, Nadia Hilker as Magna – The Walking Dead _ Season 9, Episode 6 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC

Speaking of newcomers, there’s a new survivor group in Alexandria. Meet Magna, Yumiko, Luke, Connie, and Kelly. Judith saved their bacon at the end of the previous episode and continues to do so now. She’s the one to finally put her foot down to get Magna and her people, particularly the injured Yumiko, somewhere safe. Watching a group of adults constantly one-upped on the humanity charts by a child is something to behold, and Judith does it quite often. She even gets a dig in on Negan when he smarts off while helping with her math homework. Her strong spirit moves only so many people. Michonne isn’t as easily swayed by her daughter’s iron will. Matter of fact, she’s pretty cold about Judith’s desire to help from the instant she sets eyes on the newbies. The community intervenes, led by Gabriel, and agrees to hold a vote over their fate. It’s a sham trial. Michonne already made up her mind and knew all the right ways to push her closed gates agenda on the voters. The minute she’s tired of pretending to care, Michonne exposes Magna as an ex-con who is still in possession of a knife, therefore rendering her untrustworthy.

Magna’s betrayal doesn’t go unpunished. Her group turns on her instantly, with Connie being the voice of reason, telling them all to not make it personal. To just take the help they get and go. And to particularly not go after Michonne with yet another knife Magna somehow found. The woman must be secretly related to Magneto, I swear. It’d explain her name. As expected, Magna still strikes out on her own after dark to settle things. She’s stopped in her tracks on Michonne’s porch by a heartwarming sight. Inside, Michonne’s youngest child, a boy, runs up and hugs her like he’s missed her for weeks, but it’s probably only been minutes. A child’s love is just that big, sometimes. In this case, it’s so powerful that Magna surrenders the knife, admitting to wrongdoings in the path that haunt her. If anyone can understand, it’s Michonne. This turn in behavior spurs Michonne into action. The next morning, the group’s eviction day after the failed vote, she cuts them off and offers to take them to Hilltop to find more permanent lodging.

While Michonne keeps her cool as much as possible in public, privately she’s a complete wreck. Several times in the episode her mind swerves off-track, sending her into conversations with the dead (or presumed dead) who cannot and will never answer. How often does she “accidentally” find herself at the charred husk of the bridge speaking to her husband? Obviously often enough that Judith knows about these one-sided conversations. In one scene toward the episode’s end, we learn so, so much about the family dynamic left behind after Rick’s departure and how neither of the Grimes women have been allowed to mourn properly. Judith tries to work her problems out by helping, rekindling the philanthropic efforts of her father and brother. Michonne? Her emotions are stuck simmering in a pot on the backburner, millimeters from boiling over. It’s not healthy. She’s going to snap one day soon.

Melissa McBride as Carol Peletier – The Walking Dead _ Season 9, Episode 6 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC

The only thing snapping in the Kingdom is the old pipes. Now a teenager, Henry does his best to patch things up, but he’s woefully uneducated when it comes to making these kinds of repairs. After a tense conversation with Ezekiel, refereed by Carol, they all agree to send Henry to Hilltop to learn from Earl the blacksmith. With Carol as escort, the pair take off. But first, a detour. In one of Carol’s rare bad decision moments, their side trek takes them too close to the now abandoned Sanctuary where some former occupants still reside. All they want is supplies. Life without a home means no growing their own food and being forced to revert to scavenging. This time they picked the wrong target. Henry wants to fight them, but Carol keeps him from getting killed and hands over whatever they ask for. Until later when she goes back alone to inform Jed and his crew that they pissed off the wrong parent. By inform I mean she lights them on fire. Sometimes Ruthless Carol still sneaks out. She’s determined to never lose another child to the apocalypse. Nor a friend. Before they reach Hilltop, Carol finishes the detour and picks up Daryl. Wonder if he brought any of that fish he caught.

Josh McDermitt as Dr. Eugene Porter, Christian Serratos as Rosita Espinosa;  – The Walking Dead _ Season 9, Episode 6 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC

In a bid to open communication lines (and maybe find the long-lost Anne?), Gabriel goes back to work on an old radio. Problem is, the signal isn’t that great. Solution? An amplifier stationed a few miles down the road to boost the signal. Gabriel barely gets the idea out of his head before his new lover, Rosita, jumps at the chance to help. She nabs Eugene on the way out of town to provide technical aid. Probably a mistake in some ways considering he spends the entire trip trying to prove he’s a better partner choice for her than Gabriel. Even after the zombies hit the fan, he tries yet again to express his feelings for her. I’ve never been so annoyed by this man, I swear to Bob. For goodness sake, he fell ten-ish feet, has a messed up knee, and there’s walkers on their tail, but sure, let’s finally admit to a decade-long crush. The pair wind up sliding into a ditch and covering themselves in mud to hide from the walkers.

That’s when things get extra weird. The walkers . . . talk.

Guess we’re finally going to meet the Whisperers. Gotta say, their first appearance is pretty creepy. Looking forward to seeing how this story line progresses.


What Comes After: Review for The Walking Dead 905

What Comes After:
Review for The Walking Dead 905
by R.C. Murphy

There’s spoilers in this review. Proceed with caution.

Well. Talk about something completely different. We’ve seen similar storytelling techniques from this production team before, but Rick’s trip back and forth from the Great Beyond or wherever to reality takes the surreal dream stuff to a whole new level. For what they wanted to do for Rick’s final season, it works wonderfully. It even gave them a reason to bring Shane back for a little bit. Jon Bernthal really grew into his acting skills during his time away. His couple minutes back in Shane’s shoes outshined some of his better moments from the first seasons.

All Rick’s visits with the dead are also more than a little heartbreaking.

BTS, Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes, Scott Wilson as Hershel Greene – The Walking Dead _ Season 9, Episode 5 – Photo Credit: Jackson Lee Davis/AMC

As many of you know, the world lost an amazing man, Scott Wilson, not that long ago. He’d opted to keep his illness a secret and worked until he couldn’t anymore. This appearance as Hershel is one of the last projects he worked on, despite the severity of the illness. For as fun as the Shane scene is for Jon’s performance, this final goodbye from Hershel, and Scott, is a hundred times as tragic. Not only is their conversation one of men who’ve suffered great losses, but it’s a secret final farewell no one knew they were witnessing while on set that day.

The majority of Rick’s visions take him back to the hospital where he woke from the coma. Oddly enough, his new wound is in a similar location as the gunshot that took him out before the undead rose. The visions do not, unfortunately, take him to his family as he hopes. I kinda hoped, too. But I think with the visitors we do get, it’s good. A visit from Carl and Glenn would have made it amazing, though. The episode would have felt more like a goodbye with that small tweak to the cameo lineup.

While Rick struggles to stay on his horse in order to draw the walkers to the bridge, Maggie uses her well-earned anger to march straight through Alexandria’s gates, past Michonne, and right into Negan’s cell. Says something about Maggie’s determination when not even Michonne can talk sense to her, doesn’t it? When faced with Maggie’s logic, Michonne can’t look her in the eye and tell her that she is wrong, that continuing with the insane eye-for-an-eye logic only leaves behind a world of suffering. No. Because if she were in Maggie’s shoes, if Negan were the one to put Carl in the ground? Negan would’ve been dead before sunset the following day, no matter what.

So now everything’s going Maggie’s way. She’s in the room with the man who murdered her husband. Does she follow through with her threat by bashing Negan’s skull in with a crowbar? Nah. Her attempts to grandstand and make herself feel good about the impending murder are undermined by Negan’s visceral reaction to the very idea of being freed from his prison. Sure, it’s the hard, painful way, but anyway is up when one has spent so much time in near solitude. At last Rick’s way of doing things makes sense to Maggie. I’m sure he’d be elated to hear she’s moved on from her murderous rage after all this time, but he’s too busy, ya know, bleeding out and occasionally dying while zombies shamble closer and closer.

The others eventually catch wind that something’s not right near the camp. It’s far too late to do any real good, though. Daryl’s plan to collapse the bridge with the undead doesn’t work, leaving Rick the only person between a horde and a free pass to the nearest community. Daryl keeps Rick alive from a distance long enough for Rick to hatch a dangerous plan. Using some mysteriously handy TNT, Rick shoots it and blows the bridge sky high. Flaming walkers pour into the rushing river below. Rick is nowhere to be seen.

Downstream, Anne’s rustbucket RV breaks down, leaving her no choice but to arrange the pickup from the helicopter right there, awfully close to the camp. The bridge explosion startles her. What washes down the river moments later is far scarier. Thankfully most of the walkers are dead or too damaged to go after her. There’s something else in the sea of scorched dead—hope. Switching her plan at the last moment, Anne pleads with the helicopter to take herself and one other, a “B” who is strong, but injured, and she owes him a debt. The last we see of Rick Grimes and Anne, they’re flying off in the well-equipped mystery helicopter.

To add yet another twist, instead of waiting an episode to do a time jump, the production uses Rick’s departure shot to rapidly age the landscape. Now it’s several years later and new survivors are in the field where the helicopter took off from. They’re in trouble. Yet they need not worry. A pint-sized hero lurks in the woods. And she’s got a pretty snazzy hat, too.

I look forward to Judith causing even more chaos than Carl. She’s totally the only sheriff they need in Alexandria.


The Obliged: Review for The Walking Dead 904

The Obliged:
Review for The Walking Dead 904
by R.C. Murphy

Watch out, there’s a horde ahead! A horde of episode spoilers, that is.

Sometimes a dream just isn’t obtainable. Could be because said dream cannot be done with the means at hand. Other times Nature puts Her foot down and reminds one of their place in the world. In the case of Rick’s precious bridge, both forces wind up closing down construction. First, over half of the workforce walks out. Then the former Saviors rob the Kingdom and there’s a firefight with numerous casualties. All that bad news comes after the biggest blow of all—the newly risen river will wash away the bridge supports long before the remaining laborers can finish repairs. Everyone from the camp has a near-death, or actual death, experience during this doomed build. Sometimes escaping one near-death situation leads one right into the path of another, though.

And sometimes that path is cut by the people whom you trust the most.

This particular trip started back when Maggie made it clear that Negan’s survival was the final nail in the coffin of her open cooperation with Alexandria, particularly their leader, Rick. She’s had nearly two years since then to subvert certain fail-safe systems put in place to keep her activities in check. Her most important weapon being Rick’s good pal Daryl. Maggie’s second most important weapon is her rage. It keeps her focused on her mission, despite Jesus’ best efforts. While Maggie rides toward Alexandria, Rick is led astray by Daryl. Their inevitable physical encounter over Negan’s fate isn’t all that satisfying when it’s cut short by the pair falling into a pit. While it’s not his original plan, Daryl still gets the job done, delaying Rick long enough for Maggie to get to Alexandria.

The price for Maggie’s “justice” comes at the episode’s end, when shortly after scrambling from the pit, Rick opts to lead the walkers away from the main road on horseback instead of cutting off Maggie’s mission. At a crossroads with heavy debris, Rick accidentally leads one horde into another, spooking his horse. Our hero is impaled, and we’re left to wonder if this is finally it for Rick. We know he’s leaving, just not how he’s leaving. The production team has said it’s not death, but things aren’t looking too promising for Rick’s continued survival at this point.

What does Maggie hope to get out of her scheme? Will she even follow through? Guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Then there’s Michonne, who is barely hanging in there by the skin of her teeth. While the bridge crew works, she remains in Alexandria to make sure everything runs as it should. Unfortunately, not even the mental drain from being everyone’s stern voice of reason is enough to exhaust Michonne, allowing her a good night’s rest. To blow off steam, she does what any woman would do; she decapitates zombies in the middle of the night. One of her daytime chores puts her in charge of forcing Negan to eat during his hunger strike. They make a deal. All she has to do is chat with a lonely man for a little while. Negan digs his mental hooks deep during the conversation. The theme for Michonne’s story arc in this episode is how her life is so similar to Negan’s. There’s even a moment early in the episode where after finding a lynched zombie, Michonne’s attacked and forced to use a baseball bat to defend herself. The hunger strike ends when she admits they have similarities, however her outlook on the future is far, far better than his. We glimpse where Negan’s head is really at during the end of their second conversation when Michonne reveals that Lucille is still in the field where the final battle took place.

In the junkyard, Gabriel does his best to make what are surely his final moments with Anne as pleasant as possible. If one ignores the fact that she’s about to turn him into a walker as payment for transportation on some creepy sounding guy’s helicopter. The lord must have blessed that man’s tongue. All Gabriel’s talk about forgiveness gets to Anne. Instead of turning him, she knocks him out and runs. The only trace of her left behind is a note pinned into Gabriel’s coat.

Looks like we’re saying goodbye to quite a few characters. Either that or this universe is about to expand again.


Warning Signs: Review for The Walking Dead 903

Warning Signs:
Review for The Walking Dead 903
by R.C. Murphy

Yup. You guessed it. There’s spoilers in this review.

Rick’s little experiment crumbles around him, yet he still somehow holds out hope that everyone can and will live together. Like one speech from only one community leader absolving murderers and thieves of their sins is enough to make their victims magically forgive. It’s painfully obvious that others in power positions do not agree with Rick. Matter of fact, the only ones on his side by the end of the episode are Carol and presumably Ezekiel. But even Carol has her doubts about letting the former Saviors into their trust bubble. She takes them case by case, but the others don’t have the luxury of being able to compartmentalize thoughts and emotions with Carol’s skill long enough to work past the knee-jerk, “these are bad people,” reaction. Rick wants so badly for the Saviors to be redeemed in the eyes of society. Why? Why risk everything for these people? Because he is those people. Rick has seen and done just as many awful things. In another person’s narrative, Rick is a power-hungry monster who has left nothing but destroyed communities in his wake. Maggie and Daryl’s decision during this episode’s climax will send Rick into a spiral where he’s forced to assess his sins.

In order to put that self-assessment off for as long as possible, Rick takes to lollygagging around Alexandria. Well, after he and Michonne finish “discussing” the idea of having a baby together. He makes a doctor’s appointment for Judith, takes his favorite ladies out for a picnic, and goofs off instead of returning to the bridge worksite. In typical TWD fashion, they’re making Rick as happy as possible before yanking the rug out from under the character. It’s quite a task, keeping Rick happy. And it never lasts for long.

The assassinations send the former Saviors into a panic. As a group, they’ve been banned from carrying firearms, putting them at a distinct disadvantage against a serial killer using something similar to a crossbow. Cooperation between communities fails completely. By episode’s end, Sanctuary’s citizens walk out en masse, citing fear for their safety as their main concern. They’re right to be afraid, but are too late to save those with the largest targets on their heads. Those Oceanside ladies sure did work a great con, by the way. They were way, way down on my suspect list, though it is not out of character for that particular group to look at how Maggie solved her problem and emulate it. Can Maggie take them at their word now? Was Arat the final name on their revenge list or will they somehow remember another Savior who wronged them and start the cycle again? I’ve no doubt that this is not the last death of this nature. I do doubt that Maggie will get her revenge as easily as she seems to think it’ll happen.

At this rate Michonne won’t ever get a chance to pass her new laws, what with everyone running around playing assassin and all.

One subplot finally getting some traction is Anne and the mysterious helicopter. Spooked by accusations of being the serial killer, Anne returns to her old home to recover a walkie talkie linked to whoever operates said helicopter. The conversation the two have is in code, but the meaning is clear. In order for the mystery man to follow through with their plan, she has to make some form of payment. A human payment. Love-distracted Gabriel falls right into the trap by failing to agree to run off with Anne to a newer, better place. Either she’s going to ditch him and find other payment, or hand him over to the mystery man.

Peace has already reached its limits and Rick hasn’t made nearly as much progress as he wanted. Pushing society to development faster than it can handle keeps backfiring. Yet he drives on like there’s a fever burning his veins and the only cure is everyone living in perfect harmony. Sure, he says he’s bettering the world for everyone, and in Carl’s honor, but his decisions come from deeply selfish roots. That alone is why the wheels will totally come off Rick’s wagon over the next few weeks.


The Bridge: Review for The Walking Dead 902

The Bridge:
Review for The Walking Dead 902
by R.C. Murphy

Yup. There’s spoilers in the following review. You’ve been warned.

For once, the main plot is pretty straight forward on this show. Okay, there’s been a few single group or subject episodes, but the Cool Thing for quite some time has been to pack in as much drama as possible, from as many sources as possible, to overwhelm viewers in order to make an episode feel like it meant something instead of letting interpersonal relationships in a smaller group do the same thing. When the writing team steps back and lets the characters push the tension again—instead of like during All Out War where we clearly saw where they meddled to make the plot work—it’s a slow-paced episode, yet still fully highlights how much drama there is left to milk from the Rick/Savior story line. Infighting from a small, encamped group brings us back to the good ol’ days of squirrel flinging. Who doesn’t like that?

In the episode, the communities have banded together to repair the storm-damaged bridge which detoured the group heading back from D.C. with supplies. They’re over a month in and from all outward appearances, it looks like the various groups are doing well in their makeshift camp beside the river. Everyone’s got someone to smile at in the morning—even Jerry! It doesn’t take long for the shiny veneer to wear thin once Eugene runs down his ever-growing list of problems.

Problem one: Food. Extra labor means extra calories needed to keep the workforce on their feet. Sanctuary still isn’t pulling edible vegetables from their fields. Alexandria has never really recovered from Negan’s last raids, so their pantry is more dust than anything fit for human consumption once they pulled food for the project. Oceanside can only provide so much. Which leaves Hilltop once again footing the bill to keep the masses fed. That may not happen unless they can find the missing fuel from Sanctuary, since all they’ve got other than the tractor is an imprisoned blacksmith and a broken plow. Water looks like another hard spot for the work crew. Keeping fresh, yet purified water on-hand in quantities fit for hard labor can’t be easy with the camp setup.

Problem two: Missing former Saviors. About half a dozen gone without a trace. Even before Alden makes it back with a report that Sanctuary hasn’t seen the men, nor have their families, I knew something smelled fishy. That last scene with Justin confirms what I thought—a serial killer is taking out the ex-Saviors one by one. Yeah, it’s a totally predictable thing to happen, but the intrigue it brings to the show will be great. The added pressure on the reformed baddies to socialize, plus exhaustion from labor, plus concern about their well-being leads to a series of fights throughout the episode, and one near-fatal communication error.

Problem three: Gravity waits for no man. The levee put in place to divert water for the bridge project is failing rapidly. According to Eugene, the only way to make sure they finish on time is to work nonstop. That means not waiting for the walker herds—named using a similar method to hurricanes, I believe—to pass on their own so they can detonate TNT and stay on schedule. Due to tensions with Sanctuary workers, and the incident which cost Aaron his arm, that schedule is pretty much useless. Yet Rick still brags to Negan about having hope at the end of the day. That’s gotta be the exhaustion talking.

Away from the worksite, Michonne takes it upon herself to source the food necessary to get the bridge built. The response is cold at first. Maggie is tired of bleeding supplies needed for her people and getting little to nothing in return. Not only that, but unless the ethanol magically shows up, she has to finally make a decision about Earl’s punishment for attempted homicide or they’ll have no way to get the next round of crops in the ground. It’s the perfect opportunity for Michonne to pitch the idea for standardized laws once again. This time Maggie is listening, not overwhelmed by her anger. But Michonne alone can’t get Earl out of jail. It takes a long, hard conversation about his drinking for Maggie to see that Earl, like her father Hershel, just needs the chance to show his good without the booze doing the talking for him. If Hershel hadn’t gotten another chance, many of the survivors we’ve come to love wouldn’t be with us anymore.

The episode is fashioned as a bragging session from Rick to Negan. It’s so, so tacky for Rick to keep going to this guy, using him like his personal diary. “Dear Negan, Today a guy’s arm was cut off because I somehow magically trusted a man, who got in a fist fight over a kid’s job, to keep some lumberjacks from being eaten alive.” If Negan does break out and kill everyone, Rick’s asked for it by continuously poking the bear when he should have dropped him in an oubliette and walked away.


A New Beginning: Review for The Walking Dead 901

A New Beginning:
Review for The Walking Dead 901
by R.C. Murphy

You know the drill. There’s a ton of spoilers in this review, so proceed accordingly.

Despite the show being back on the air during its normal time frame, it feels like we were away from Rick and the gang for way too long. Or maybe it’s just that 2018 feels like 10 years packed in a single year’s box, held together with cheap packing tape. The Walking Dead gives fans a good way to vanish from the real world for a little while, as it always has. But did the production team manage to grab the waning attention of fans burnt out by the exhausting All Out War story line?

I’m honestly not sure this premiere is strong enough on its own to do that, and it’s a little worrying considering what all we know for sure is coming down the pipeline as far as actor departures from the show.

The bulk of this episode deals with an idea the producers introduced at SDCC this summer: Reclaiming old technology in order to ensure a future for their communities. In the opening montage, it’s clear that Sanctuary’s corn crop failed. The factory’s dirt is sour. All they can do with the produce is turn it into biofuel, and the yield isn’t nearly enough to keep everyone driving out to source supplies to fully replenish Negan’s former home sweet home nearly 2 years after the war ended. To speed up the process of healing the ground, they need a better, faster way to plow. There’s also a few other things they need, so everyone’s off to Washington D.C. to raid the Smithsonian. Makes perfect sense. How many scouting teams would’ve had the time or energy to take things like covered wagons before now? Aside from some minor walker damage, everything in the museum is intact.

The plan to get it all out, not so much.

This episode, like so many before it, is plagued with basic logic errors so great, one cannot help but yell at the television. There’s a vast difference in writing a tense scene in which a beloved character has a close call, and writing a series of foolish calls that are obviously wrong while still (still!) presenting the person giving the orders as the best possible leader for these people. This problem continues into the next set of problems while getting their loot home. How on earth did they create this relay network, yet when it comes to actually planning and executing what should be a moderately easy mission, they do things like fail to make sure all the bridges are secure? The latter oversight cost Ken his life. Always know your exits. It’s a basic lesson all women, police, and military learn.

Perhaps it’s because of all the bad calls that the power struggle is more pronounced this season. The first problem comes from everyone’s need to put an outside in charge of Sanctuary to keep the dissidents in line. Daryl wants out. Being in the building triggers his PTSD, but he stops just shy of admitting as much to Rick. Carol, however, hears and understands why Daryl needs to get away from there. Not sure she’s going to have much better luck, not with guys like Justin lurking on the fringes with his passive aggressive quips, and the constant reminders that someone in the community actively wants Negan back. The second problem comes to light curtesy of the unchecked, crumbling bridge. Turns out Hilltop has it good. Really good. They’re flush with people, produce, and ideas. And for this entire time, they’ve been loaning out supplies right and left to keep everyone afloat. Yet everyone defers to Rick. He gets the praise. Maggie, in a moment I wish to frame and mount on a wall, point-blank tells Rick that the power dynamic will change because she knows her worth, and that of the people under her care. Rick, to his credit, acknowledges it and doesn’t seem all that torn up to have a little pushback. The third problem is proof that Maggie needs the spine of steel we saw in her conversation with Rick because someone’s out for her head. I’ll give you one guess who it is. Gregory was never going to let the election results stand, and Maggie should have known he’d take a funeral as a chance to plot against her. In another show of power, Maggie hangs Gregory in the middle of town using one of the most painful methods ever. It’d take a brave fool to go toe to toe with her anytime soon.

A quick note to wrap up . . . . Can we have a spin-off romantic comedy with Carol and Ezekiel? Seriously, all I want is to see these two happily joking with each other until the end of time. No cameos. No walkers. Just a blissful couple in an empty world being adorable. It’s been a rough year. We deserve this one nice thing.


Walking Dead Stars to Visit PaleyFest NY

Walking Dead Stars to Visit PaleyFest NY
by R. C. Murphy

With the TWD premiere fast approaching, the cast and production team is in full promotional mode. The icing on the cake before this year’s season 9 premiere on Sunday, October 7th on AMC has to be TWD’s place amongst the handful of shows chosen to feature in this year’s two week celebration of the television format at PaleyFest NY.

On October 6th at 3 PM, The Walking Dead will hit the festival stage with stars Norman Reedus, Melissa McBride, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and showrunner Angela Kang. Other guests may still be added to the lineup for the panel portion of the festivities. The panel will be moderated by EW‘s Dalton Ross. Fans in attendance will also be treated to an early premiere of the first episode from season 9.

As of this moment, the main theater for this TWD event is sold out. Don’t despair if you’re still planning to attend. PaleyFest does offer a significantly cheaper ticket to watch panels in an overflow theater with a video feed of the event.

This year’s PaleyFest NY lineup includes: Outlander, Drunk History, David Tennant, Documentary Now!, Sunday Morning, Murphy Brown, Shark Tank, The Good Fight, The Conners, and Top Chef. There is also a four-hour workshop on October 13th for festival attendees who wish to learn more and want to eventually work in television.

About PaleyFest:

Named for William S. Paley, founder of CBS and The Paley Center for Media, PaleyFest is a must-see pop cultural event produced by the Paley Center that brings fans together with the stars and creators of their favorite shows for panel discussions with audience Q&A. PaleyFest takes place both in LA & NY. The next PaleyFest LA takes place spring 2019.

PaleyFest NY 2018 runs from October 5th through the 18th.


Who’s the Boss?

Who’s the Boss?
by R.C. Murphy

Thanks to the stinger at the end of TWD’s season eight, fans knew going into season nine that there would be quite a bit of drama around how, exactly, this newfound peace will be lead and nurtured to last into future generations. In order to make it work, they brought Maggie to the forefront to take over as leader for Hillside. It’s the perfect arrangement, putting the farmer’s daughter in charge of the farming community, and Maggie has the backbone to see that her people not only pull their own weight, but are showed the respect they deserve. “But we’ll see that Maggie is just, you know, she’s not gonna just fall in line with everything Rick’s doing because she has to take care of her own people now. She’s got her own agendas and she’s gonna follow them,” showrunner Angela Kang explained during The Walking Dead Season Nine Preview Special.

Too bad Rick disregarded that respect when he alone made the decision to keep Negan imprisoned in Alexandria.

As seen in a recent teaser, Negan doesn’t plan to sit quietly in a corner to rot under Rick’s watchful eyes. His monologue is manifestation of the fear eating at Maggie since the second Rick gave Negan the role as prisoner of war. The guy will never lay down and stop plotting to save himself. Matter of fact, Rick, Maggie, and their folks built the exact thing Negan strived for—a cooperating network of communities with a constantly flowing supply chain. The main difference is, there’s no preferential treatment in this new society. No room to grow into a management position and lord over everyone. For Negan, that’s a flaw he’ll gladly fix once he finds a way out of Rick’s little prison.

Teaser:

It won’t be an easy fight if Negan does get out. Probably. Maybe. In a clip from one trailer, there’s a call for help from the Saviors, with a reply echoing the group’s standard response when asked who they were. So obviously someone out there is still feeling loyal. But are they enough to upset the applecart this far down the road thanks to the time jump? Hilltop looks pretty secure in the few glances we’ve gotten from the various trailers/teasers. If Alexandria got the same sort of treatment, it might be enough to hold Negan in and his still loyal followers out. But none of that matters if Negan works his magic from the inside, playing with people’s heads. Not to mention, Negan has the added bonus of looking for gaps in everyone’s armor while they deal with the Whisperers.

A little quick casting news, since we’re here discussing Hilltop anyway. The production team announced the addition of two new characters straight from the comics (with a few changes to fit the story). Joining the bustling community for season nine is Brett Butler as Tammy Rose, and John Finn has been cast as Earl, Hilltop’s blacksmith.

The Walking Dead returns to AMC on October 7th.