A. Zombie Reviews . . . Z Nation S1E2 – “Fracking Zombies” By A. Zombie
We’re back with the ragtag group of survivors from SyFy’s Z Nation. At the end of the last episode, a bunch of folks who ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time were tasked with bringing the oh-so-charming Murphy to California so they can make more of the zombie vaccine floating in his veins. Pretty straight forward. If the plot got too complicated, viewers might think they tuned into the wrong channel. Can’t have that from the masters of cheesy late-night movies.
They need to find something to do with Citizen Z. His character essentially sits around twiddling his thumbs until it’s time to drag the plot along to the next step. He’s all alone. Has enough supplies to last at least ten years. And he’s losing his marbles. Somehow poor writing and direction turned what could’ve been a rather interesting look at isolation in the apocalypse turned into a wild dog chase. Or rather, a wild zombie dog chase. Citizen Z’s fellow NSA personnel didn’t stay dead—of course. At least one made it to his back door, along with a stray dog. Apparently the zombie dog materializes out of thin air around this time. The graphics for the dead dog weren’t bad. But once the “action” started, they’d ruined the effect. The dogs never really engage each other while fighting. There’s no real danger for Citizen Z as he sits perched atop a shipping crate. During the climax of the fight, it cuts out and comes back later to a blacked-out Citizen Z next to a mutilated zombie dog, denying viewers even a taste of action from the character. You know, the one who sits around doing nothing all day. Talk about compelling television.
The rest of the characters aren’t doing much better. Garnett, Warren, and the rest escorting Murphy run out of gas. There just so happens to be a guy they pick up who knows where to fill up their vehicles. Lucky them. Of course, the place is overrun by undead. And they can’t use guns because of the gas. And there’s a mysterious noise drawing zombies closer. Oh and don’t forget, the helpful new guy has this weird thing with Cassandra. See where this is going? Massive failure all around. The characters are too dumb to work out a plan to distract the zombies. They almost get blown up in the process, losing not only the gas they’d come for, but one of their vehicles as well. It’s like watching three-year-olds trying to put together a three-thousand piece puzzle. Eventually they end up mashing the pieces together, even though they don’t fit, and call it a masterpiece.
There was one interesting zombie gag. Early in the episode, the group must cross a zombie-infested bridge. In the process, one of the undead end up stuck in the wheel well of their truck. It’s one of the most detailed scenes in the show so far and one of the few practical effects not completely ruined by added computer-generated gore. The makeup for the frozen zombie was another highlight. Maybe I’ll watch episode three on mute and see if that makes me like it more.
Whoa! There’s show spoilers in this review. Proceed with caution.
This episode was all about first impressions. Our brave survivors don’t put on their best face when Alexandria opens its gates to them. Rick cringes and glares. Daryl dangles a skewered possum like a prized buck. The rest look like abused dogs waiting for their new owners to yell and kick them. Things go from awkward to worse when Rick decides he’s not going to abide by the host’s rules and saunters into town. He acts like he’s doing them a favor by agreeing to come. Shows no weakness, despite the fact that his people were days from starving to death and the people aiding them know it.
The community itself is everything the group wanted it to be. There’s solar panels providing electricity. Running water and water heaters—everyone took their time enjoying simple pleasures like showers and brushing their teeth properly. Everyone except Daryl, who never settles anywhere lest someone attempt to domesticate him. The fences protecting them are solid. They’re giving away huge, furnished houses to whoever walks in the gate. The streets are clear enough for children to play without worry. Neighbors are seemingly kind. Alexandria is a slice of the past transported to an ugly reality.
And that makes them weak.
Everyone spots the flaws in the game plan within the community. None of the citizens watch the fences anymore. There’s walkers outside, but they leave them to roam—something which makes Rick and Carl so jumpy, they end up clearing out a small pocket of undead just to feel better about their safety. Of course, if they’d stayed inside, there wouldn’t be a problem. Carl never listens. He learned it from his father. Another huge flaw in the way Alexandria is run comes from the scouting crew, led by Aidan Monroe. He’s a civilian playing military games. All this time, he’s thought he’s top dog when it comes to making supply runs. His way of coping with the loss of four community members is juvenile—stringing up the walker who killed their friend and torturing him as a ritual blessing before they head out on a trip. Glenn, Tara, and Noah put a stop to that. Something Aidan takes offense to and starts a fight the moment they’re back behind the community’s walls. After Rick breaks it up, the town’s leader, Deanna, asks him to become their constable—with Michonne at his side.
Deanna Monroe might finally be the one person left alive who can out maneuver Rick in the survival game. Where he has brute strength to get his way, she’s only got her mind. Before the undead rose, Deanna was a congresswoman. Her skills as a politician make her incredibly good at reading people and manipulating them. Everyone except Daryl. He confuses her as much as he confuses himself. Once she learns what makes Rick tick, she may be able to talk sense into him. Or she could be a sociopath like Philip Blake—someone who rules their community not because they had to, but because they wanted to and ensured everyone who had a say wanted them to have the position as well. In that case, she could talk any member of Rick’s crew into betraying him.
Is Rick’s paranoia affecting how the fans see every new person on the show? It seems we should give some of them the benefit of the doubt. Not all of us are as self-assured as Rick. He fully believes if they find Alexandria’s citizens lacking, they’ll just take over and run things his way. Can the Ricktatorship sustain a community like this? He failed at the quarry, the CDC, the farm, the prison . . . so many potential homes lost. Some of those losses were preventable, others doomed from the start. This may end up another notch on Rick’s gun belt, another chance for normalcy lost because humans can’t overcome their need to have more.
Warning, precious. There’s episode spoilers in that dank, dark cave.
Over the course of five seasons, we’ve learned one terrible truth—you can’t trust the living. Most of the most dangerous encounters were with the living. Every time Rick took a chance and gave someone the benefit of the doubt, it backfired. Even his best friend turned feral once the walkers rose. Everyone wants to take care of numero uno. Rick and the others strive to take care of mankind. It’s a tall order and one doomed to fail. In the process of trying to save everyone, Rick has stuck his nose in some dangerous bear caves. Is it any wonder a man like Philip reacted as he did to Rick’s my-way-or-highway attitude? Aaron isn’t the Governor, thankfully. If he were, the second Rick greeted him with drawn weapons and a punch to the face, he would’ve ordered them all gunned down. Which is what Rick expects. His paranoia has saved them so far, but what if it costs them a chance to live normally again?
That’s exactly what Michonne wants to prevent. She’s said numerous times, they need to find a place to settle down. Her revenge plot is played out now that Philip is dead. The only people left to save are the ones she watches shambling down the road, praying the next turn will bring a town with enough food to make it one more day. Michonne doesn’t display her emotions often, but over and over in this episode she snaps at Rick to make him see reason. The least they can do is check out the community. Maggie agrees. They’re the only ones asking, “What if….” What if Aaron tells the truth? What if their days on the road are finally over? What if they pass up this opportunity and find desolation between the barn they’re camped in and Washington?
Aaron has most of the answers. Rick never really listens to what he says. There’s no cup and ball game going on as far as I can tell. Aaron was up front about the “audition” process to become a member of their community—a practice Rick employed during their time at the prison. Yes, he dodged answering where the community is located. Would you tell armed, desperate strangers where your family lived? Yeah, no. But his hesitation sends Rick into a tailspin. Even when Aaron offers Judith food from his pack, Rick second-guesses his motivation. That alone spoke volumes. Aaron saw Rick in a different light, likely wondering what these people have been through to even contemplate someone killing a baby. He knows they aren’t bad people. “Just because we’re good people, doesn’t mean we won’t kill you,” Rick told him.
In the end, reason wins out. The group piles into the vehicles Aaron and his partner left nearby. Rick, in his paranoid insanity, decides to take an alternate path—nearly losing more than half the group, including his children, on the walker-choked highway. At one point, there was so much blood on the windshield, Glenn couldn’t see to drive. Even with a possible home in sight, Rick almost lost the opportunity for his crew by pushing Aaron to reveal the location. Once again, Glenn was forced to push his own concerns aside to talk Rick off the crazy ledge. It didn’t stop Rick from stashing a gun in the forest outside Alexandria—guess everyone needs a security blanket.
We heard signs of life behind the walls of the community. Is this the good sign Rick waited for? Can the intrepid survivors stop looking over their shoulders for a while? Hopefully this isn’t another Woodbury.
Warning, there’s a horde of episode spoilers below.
None of the crew will make it out of Georgia if they don’t find supplies. There’s been a drought over summer. None of the creeks they’d used to find water before exist now. Digging would only provide enough water for maybe two people—using more energy than they can spare. They have no food. There’s no handy side-of-the-road towns to pick over for green beans and fruit cocktail. Even when they hit a spot in the road filled with cars, there’s not much left that’d keep them walking toward their goal. Abraham’s big find was a bottle of booze, which he intends to drink despite dehydration. This last stint of life on the road has kicked the crew in the shins every chance it gets. When a pack of wild dogs attacks, it’s the first time we’ve seen a live domestic animal since the pigs at the prison. It’s also when we find out just how determined these people are to survive. A dinner of dog meat isn’t something many can stomach, but they had to or admit they’d given up the fight to live. There’s a couple characters who look like they’ve already thrown in the towel on that fight.
Over the three weeks since Atlanta—where they said their final goodbye to Beth—Maggie has done her best to hang in there. But long days in the heat without water and food paired with the trauma of her loss have taken their toll. Carl manages to lift her spirits a little, handing her a pretty jewelry box. In stark contrast, Gabriel attempts something similar and is shut down. To Maggie he’s a coward who hid when the people counting on his help came for aid. That cowardice goes against everything her father taught her and what she tried to instill in her sister before her murder. It also tempts her. Seeing the weakness in Gabriel makes Maggie disgusted at herself. She’s not sure she can go on without seeing her sister every day. They’d been so close to finding each other—Maggie missed her by minutes. How can she go on when her family’s journey has ended? Glenn tells her, “Keep fighting.”
Fighting is what Sasha does best. It’s what Tyreese did best, as well. This family trait of extreme violence to cope with strong emotions is a handicap the group cannot afford at the moment. They’re exhausted, in no condition to walk the remaining sixty miles to Washington, let alone take on a herd of walkers who’ve been harmlessly stalking them for miles. It doesn’t stop Sasha from messing up a non-violent plan to get the walkers out of the way—pushing them down an embankment near a bridge—and attacking. Michonne has to shove Sasha onto the ground to make her stop fighting. While yes, Sasha’s bloodlust and drive to fight the world did net the crew a canine dinner that night, it will also cost them later down the road if she can’t learn how to channel her feelings into something more productive—like finding food they can carry that won’t bleed over the last of the bullets. Sasha likewise isn’t sure is she can go on without her family.
Daryl stands as proof that one can go on after losing their entire family. He made it through Merle’s disappearance, reappearance, turn as a kinda-don’t-hate-him guy, and his death…s. Coping with that loss wasn’t a solo endeavor. He had his chosen family and they needed him to keep them safe. Beth needed him. Judith needed him. And he failed one of them. Just like he failed his brother. Just like his family failed him. Daryl is caught in a cycle of disappointment and loss—one that stretches years before the walkers came and shook things up. He’s hit a breaking point. Not even ever-vigilant Carol can derail the trauma train hijacking Daryl’s brain. He’s resorted to sneaking off and burning himself in order to feel anything past the numbness. Carol gave him permission to feel his losses. It wasn’t enough. He didn’t feel safe expressing his emotions with witnesses. Not until he gives just a peek to Maggie because he understands the pain in her chest and the sleepless nights. He’s already wondered, “How can I keep going?” In the end, Beth—the seemingly weakest of them all—inspires two people who’ve never floundered this much in their sense of self before. She saves them, as hokey as that sounds.
Rick did the thing. He said the show’s name in dialog. It was a moving speech. It might even keep the troops going. But what’ll keep them going even better is something they’ve been denied for too long—hope. A helpful stranger says he has good news, but how many times must they be burned by the same promise before they learn their lesson? Or is Aaron telling the truth?
By the end of episode 508, things didn’t look good for Rick and company. They’d finally joined their forces together again—even though that meant the mission to D.C. was a bust—and tragedy strikes. The next episode picks up some time after they’ve moved on from Atlanta once again. Seems like the big city is nothing but bad luck for the gang. Can they break the downward cycle and regroup or will their losses continue to build?
Warning: Episode spoilers lurk below calm waters.
This was by far the best episode the show has released since the main group left the prison. It was also one of the most unique in the way it was written and edited. The opening should’ve gone straight to that first, unexplained shot of the shovel, though. Fans know what happened, the catch-up killed what could’ve been a great opening—even if viewers didn’t understand what they were seeing until everything was explained at the end of the episode. Unfortunately, while the episode itself was well written and acted, the main plot point—finding yet another safe haven—has become woefully predictable. I knew what was on the other side of the wall at Noah’s community long before they jumped over. Just had to listen for the flies. They’re never a good sign on this show. How many times can the crew get knocked down before they develop serious mental issues from trying to cope with more than any person should.
We didn’t see much from Maggie, but Glenn’s struggle to keep going was all too clear. He’s unusually quiet and withdrawn. His sister-in-law is dead. So is his father-in-law. Hell, he and Maggie have no one left breathing to call family outside the survivor group. Over and over, Glenn and Rick touched on their reactions when Dawn and Beth were killed. They wanted her dead. It didn’t matter who ended up with the blood on their hands. There’s only so much a man can take. Glenn may be at his breaking point. But then who will hold Maggie together?
This episode was all about Tyreese. We learned about a childhood spent inundated with the horrors of the world—very Clockwork Orange—with his father the one pushing young Ty to face it like a man. This tidbit of information shaped everything that happened after the twin walker took a chunk out of his arm. The hallucinations ranged from auditory—the radio playing news stories based on what he’s seen since the undead rose—to visual, bringing in the dead who’ve shaped the man. Slightly terrifying to think Philip (The Governor) and Martin (from TERMINUS) had anything to do with how brave Tyreese was at the end. Even more terrifying was when Lizzie and Mika first popped up before the opening credits. If we’d known then what the random visuals meant, I don’t think many viewers would’ve kept watching. It was worth the watch to see Bob again, to hear his advice one last time. Interesting that in his final moments, Tyreese would seek out Bob, who was so unlike himself and how he planned to handle his death. Ty wanted to go out swinging. Bob embraced the transition with no regrets. But Tyreese had been taught his entire life to never turn away, never give up. As his condition deteriorated, the hallucinations from those he’d cared for—Lizzie, Mika, Bob, and Beth—told him it was okay to not be a part of the world as it’s become. The others—Phillip and Martin—mock him for his subconscious desire to get it over with already. “You have to pay the bill,” Phillip told him. Ty’s final line was, “Turn it off.” Was he talking about the pain, the horrific world around them? Could be both. His final moments were some of the roughest to sit through, a testament to Chad Coleman’s incredible performance.
In the wake of yet another loss, it’s become all too clear that what they’re doing isn’t working. Rick agrees with Michonne’s insistence that they take a page from Eugene’s playbook and take up the quest to Washington D.C. again. They need a home. Rick needs somewhere safe to raise his kids. They don’t have the supplies necessary to fortify their own safe haven. It’s one-hundred miles to Washington, will all of them make it?
You Can Run, but . . .
Review of “The Walking Dead” 508 – “Coda”
By RC Murphy
Here we are! Weeks of slow build up brought us to an unforgettable mid-season finale. Was it the perfect way to tide viewers over until episodes resume in February? Not in the way previous seasons have kept us chomping at the bit to find out what’s happening next. They set a high standard after the season four mid-season finale and its fiery blood bath. The show’s producers would’ve had to set no limits to hit that high a note again.
Warning! Episode spoilers a plenty are waiting below.
The episode starts right after the last left off, with Bob Lamson handcuffed and running away from Rick and his rescue team. Taking matters into his own hands, Rick chases down Lamson in a police cruiser, rams into him, and doesn’t calm down until the barrel of his gun is aimed at the fallen officer. Lamson attempts to sweet talk Rick, say they can go back and make the plan work. Rick’s response, “Can’t go back, Bob,” says a lot about the mentality of everyone in this season. They’ve all crossed lines they can’t come back from. The people they once were are long gone. Lamson may have been a decent guy, but after the walkers came, his moral code was dropped in the mud. But his moral code is still cleaner than Rick’s. And splattered on the pavement after Rick was done pulling information from the injured officer.
Lamson may have been able to maintain a sense of civility within the hospital—and its backward rules when it comes to the wards the cops order around like slaves. Dawn walks right on by as her officers physically and emotionally abuse their wards, never batting an eyelash so long as they leave her alone. Yet we’re supposed to believe her when she says the things she does are for the greater good, that she’s doing it to help people who’ve ended up in situations like Beth. Her definition of help differs greatly from what’s in the dictionary. Dawn helped by telling her to risk her safety and steal medicine to maybe-save Carol, covering up Gorman’s murder to use as blackmail, making Beth act as her maid, and lastly, ordering a young woman to push a police officer down an elevator shaft. At every turn, Dawn put Beth at risk, all in the name of paying off some debt for health care or covering up a justified murder. Nothing Dawn says can be trusted. She got where she is by manipulation and cold-hearted calculation. Two skills she puts to work during the climax for the episode.
At last, Gabriel may understand why his fellow survivors are so efficient at killing when a threat comes their way. After his escape, he made his way to the school where the Terminus folks made camp the night they enjoyed a little Bob-B-Q. Too bad for him, they aren’t very good housekeepers and left their leftovers on the grill. After seeing first-hand what the Terminus people did, he heads back to the church . . . with a gang of walkers in tow. Carl and Michonne take care of the mess, trapping the walkers inside. Gabriel is ready to pull his weight, telling Michonne, “I can’t run anymore.” He could’ve also been talking about the hole in his foot, but I like to believe the good Father will be a solid part of the crew from here on out.
G.R.E.A.T.M. pull up to the church just in time to help. Everyone piles into the fire truck, taking Maggie to Atlanta to help save Beth. Unfortunately, even with the wheels, they’re too late to do any good.
The climax for the episode plays out like an old western—two forces meeting on a road, one leader doing the talking for each side while everyone else is twitchy from nerves. The trade-offs go smoothly. Daryl rushes forward to claim Carol and her go bag. Rick walks the remaining officer forward to trade for Beth. The moment Beth is back with the crew, things go south. Dawn has another stipulation—Noah must return to the hospital. Beth had taken his place in their system. Without either Dawn would have to do her own chores. We can’t have that. Fed up with the manipulation and lies, Beth takes matters into her own hands. Or rather, her own cast, where she’d hidden a pair of scissors before the trade-off. It was the one time Beth didn’t hem and haw about taking action. She saw an opportunity and took it, cutting one head off the hydra working within the hospital. Dawn didn’t go down without a fight. She manages to fire off a single round from her gun. Beth’s bravest act is her final one. A single shot to the head will ensure she doesn’t come back as a walker. It’s a small mercy at the end of a painful few weeks for the young woman.
The reactions to Beth’s death have a bigger impact than the moment Dawn pulled the trigger. Daryl is absolutely broken and takes the kill shot to take out Dawn. Carol carefully pulls him back before the tentative peace the deaths brought is broken. The Greene family have always functioned as part of the heart for the group. Beth’s light kept many of them going during the prison days, her gentle songs and the way she cared for the young ones in their group giving them hope for a future led by the kids she aided. Now it’s just Maggie. She really is alone this time. No big what-if hanging over Beth’s fate. Can she recover from this loss? Can any of them? Losing the innocent members of their strange family takes a toll, chips away a little more of their civility. Another loss like this and they may end up more walker than man.
Don’t skip the final scene! Yes, there is a short bit after the credits. Does this mean we’ll see much more of Morgan in the future? I hope so. It’s time to shake things up and bring back some energy to the story now that we’re not mired in the hospital drama anymore.
We’re one episode away from the mid-season finale. So far the plot has crept toward an outcome completely hidden to the viewers. There’s no big bad guy for the various factions within the survivor’s group to fight. The one main mission for the season was based on a lie. We’ve now got a new mission: Save Carol and Beth. But can that take us through the next two episodes and give fans what they look forward to every mid-season break?
Watch your step! There’s spoilers creeping around under here.
Our intrepid heroes split yet again, leaving Michonne and Carl to look after Judith and Gabriel. The Father is jumpy, touchy about the work being done to fortify the church so it’s a safer place for them to hole up. His regret over the murders done by his fellow survivors eats at him. Michonne and Carl tag team Gabriel. They stress the need to learn how to defend himself. How to move on emotionally after being forced to kill—walker or human. Gabriel saved them by allowing them to camp in his church. This is the only way they know how to repay the kindness, by teaching him how to survive after they leave if he doesn’t travel with them. The pressure from them to grow past his comfort levels forces Gabriel to do something utterly stupid. He escapes through the floor boards and under the church, injuring himself in the process. How far can a limping, pacifistic, guilt-ridden man make it? Is he running from people he sees as cold-blooded killers or from the memories of how he soiled his hands by refusing to aid his parishioners?
There is a new faction within the survivor crew – G.R.E.A.T.M. is the team name Tara cooked up for the group who had been escorting the liar Eugene to D.C. for his mythical walker cure. They’re not a very well-oiled machine at the moment. Abraham put himself in time-out after decking Eugene, his temper steaming hotter than the Georgia highway he’s kneeling on. Rosita attempts to talk sense into him. Fails. Fails to the point where Maggie draws her gun and forces Abraham to kneel again. Maggie is done with his hissy fits and the hiccups in their plan. She’d agreed to go to help. To give her life some purpose after losing her entire family, except Glenn. Without the mission, the entire group is lost. Tara tries to keep the peace, but can’t do anything in the face of Abraham and Maggie’s anger. Glenn eventually steps up and starts weaving a plan, using his people skills to show everyone that the fighting will get them nowhere and they can’t camp out in the middle of a highway forever. He brings them together. By the time Glenn, Rosita, and Tara make it back from a trip to find water—scoring a couple fish for dinner along the way—Eugene is awake and Abraham’s relief that he didn’t kill yet another living being sloughs the foul mood from his shoulders. They may be able to work as a cohesive unit, but where will they go if D.C. is out of the picture?
Rick’s group down in Atlanta seem like they may have a solid plan to get Beth and Carol back. Or maybe not. Tyreese has come a long way since the days when he could not and would not even do so much as kill a walker. However, the thought of barging into a secure building crawling with well-armed police makes him think twice. Not only about the casualties from the opposing side, but civilians and their own crew members. He comes up with a better plan—catch two of Dawn’s officers and force a trade, yours for ours. When Rick moves to reject the safer idea, Daryl intervenes. He’s not taking any chances retrieving the two people he’s come to care about the most because of one of Rick’s rash gotta-get-revenge ideas. The plan goes off without a hitch. Or so I’d like to say. Being what it is, things went downhill quickly as soon as backup arrived to aid the cops lured out by Noah. There’s a shoot-out and violent hide-and-go-seek scene. It ends when Daryl rips the head off a walker and bashes a guy’s head with it. There’s a sit down with the officers in custody. One man, Bob Lamson, appears to be the best bet for making the plan work. He gives Rick some solid advice . . . and then uses Sasha’s obvious emotional weakness against her. Lamson lures her off to the other side of the warehouse and rams her into a window so he can escape. So much for having a plan.
The main walkers for this episode were far different than anything we’ve seen from KNB EFX for the show before. Most of Atlanta was hit by napalm during the initial walker invasion. The unlucky folks who’d been outside the hospital for evacuation were hit in the process. After they died, they came back as animated hunks of bubble gum. Or at least that’s what they looked like with their flesh melting over the asphalt. Wouldn’t want to step in that and try to scrape it off my shoe.
Inside the hospital, things are the same as always. Jerk cops ordering their wards around, and turning that onto Dawn when they feel they aren’t getting their way. One officer orders Dawn to take Carol off the machines and stop treatment, stating it’s a waste of resources. Dawn agrees, and then turns around to use Beth to save Carol. Because any sane office of the law will ask a scared, injured girl to pretend she’s a doctor and potentially kill a woman trying to save her without proper medical training. Yup. That’s one-hundred percent believable.
The next episode if the much-awaited mid-season finale. What’s waiting for viewers? Hopefully something to punch up the energy for the remainder of the season.
We’re two episodes out from the mid-season finale. Which leaves the show not a lot of time to tighten ranks and leave us with one of their unforgettable mid-season finale episodes. Going off the last three episodes, the energy the show needs to build in order to give fans what they’ve looked forward to is a tall order. Since Beth’s solo episode, the story has been dragging behind like a walker’s partially severed foot.
Whoa! Below are a bunch of episode spoilers. Turn back if you haven’t watched, yet.
The main problem with the show right now is too many characters and the need for intensive character development in order to make potential plot progress happen in a believable manner. What that means for the viewers is smaller cast sizes for each episode to give certain people their time to shine. We’ve done this with Beth, Daryl, and now Carol.
Throughout this episode, we catch snatches of what happened to Carol after Rick asked her to leave the prison, and a couple from before. Do we need more Carol backstory? Not really. She’s grown the most as a character, aside from Carl. Most of what’s changed Carol was right there on the screen. What we didn’t witness first-had still resonates in the way Melissa McBride carries herself in this role. Tossing in two-second flashbacks every time the show comes back from commercial is unnecessary. Did they forget that Carol is one of the main characters? We know her pretty well, even while she was gone. Not one single fan I spoke to during the time Carol wasn’t on screen said she was gone for good. They all knew she’d come back to help Rick and company.
Our only other lead in this episode was Daryl— a character who’s also shown significant emotional growth, especially over the time since his brother’s death. But he’s also someone the fans know well. They understand Daryl on a level bordering on psychic. Norman Reedus paints every emotion on his character’s face. There’s a lot of mystery about Daryl, but not when it comes to where his head is at. Yes, it was nice to have an episode where Carol and Daryl play catch up with each other, but there has to be a plot to go with it.
We’ve been chasing Beth for far too long. The entire episode cannot be a game of hide-and-go-seek. This story line drags the energy for the show down to a level where it’s hard to focus on what’s going on because everything has reached predictable levels. Daryl won’t give up until he finds Beth. Carol won’t let him go off on his own. They’re in a huge city. There’s magically a trail of breadcrumbs for them to find where Beth is hidden.
Oh yeah, and Noah. Noah hasn’t made it very far—convenient for our heroes, who haven’t had a very good day. And Noah makes it worse by robbing them. Only he still doesn’t make it far, even after arming himself. Why would anyone who knows the kind of depravity living amongst the hospital populace stay within easy reach? He has most of the means to get away. Find a car and he’d be free to make pit stops to grab food and water. Noah stays out of fear, yes, but he was so gun-ho get away with Beth. Did he stay for her and not want to admit it? For an episode based solely on character development, Noah and his motivations were left at the wayside in favor of information we already knew about two popular characters.
Doesn’t bode well for viewer expectations down the line.
Last week, we caught up with the long-lost Beth. This week, we’re on the road with Abraham and the gang determined to see Eugene safely to D.C. so he can work on the virus that may very well eliminate every walker across the globe. To say their trip is a tad rocky in this episode is a gross understatement.
A part of me feels like there were some character tweaks to make this episode in particular hit a certain vibe—not a pleasant one, either. Abraham’s anger has never been hidden, but the extent of his emotional baggage hasn’t been on the screen in this way before. It’s difficult to balance what we know of the man with what we’re shown in this episode. We get glimpses of his past throughout, relating to the early days after the outbreak and his attempts to keep Ellen, his wife, and two children safe. The ease with which he kills stems not from a long military service, but from understanding that sometimes people must die. Others may judge him—his wife was so terrified she took the kids and ran to their deaths—but at least he knows he’s done his part to keep his people safe. There’s a fine line Abraham walks. More than once we saw Rosita, who’s been with him for almost the entire trip from Texas to Georgia, take a step back from his anger. She’s romantically involved with Abraham and looks to him as their leader, but at one point she has to put her foot down before Abraham marches them into a herd of walkers so thick, one can’t see the road through all the decaying flesh.
That’s after they managed to kill every vehicle they rode in for longer than a mile. What is with people after the apocalypse having horrible luck with transportation which doesn’t require manpower? Yes, Eugene sabotaged the bus, but there’s been a string of bad timing with cars running out of gas or crashing throughout the show. Remember Lori and the walker pushing his face through the safety glass? Yuck! It’s like once the dead rose, everyone forgot how to operate cars. Convenient for the writers—it keeps their locations isolated to a specific area and gives them a chance to add in more fight scenes with walkers. Awful for the characters who end up with concussions and who knows what else from all these crashes.
Tara is finding her footing within the group. Unfortunately her footing puts her in the path of Eugene’s weirdness. For most of the episode, I yelled at her to get away from him. She’s naïve and kind. Lately, Eugene has been written like a sociopath. He understands emotions, but they don’t connect with him on more than a surface level. He’s got one concern: his safety. Tara, meanwhile, wants to make sure everyone is okay and happy. That’s a tall order considering the mess they get into after the bus flips in the middle of the freeway.
Speaking of, what sort of sense does it make to walk forward into uncharted territory, given that your ride and supplies catch fire on the road, instead of backtracking to a known safe location? Fifteen miles out from the church, the glass Eugene dumped in the gas tank causes the bus to flip and the engine to catch fire. Despite losing everything except the bag of weapons, Abraham orders everyone to continue on their set path. He’s running from something, which isn’t clear until the end of the episode. What I want to know is, how the heck did they happen to find a walker-free place to sleep in by sunset given there was nothing but forest stretching down the road they traveled? The same sort of plot gap happens toward the end when we though the gang were good to go with the fire engine and suddenly they’re walking toward at least two thousand walkers. Uh, what?
I’d like to take a moment to gloat. All this time, I’ve said Eugene wasn’t what he seemed and guess who was right? Yup, this reviewer. Eugene made the best of a bad situation. He knew he couldn’t hope to make it longer than a day without clinging onto someone and convincing them to help him. He’d done the math, Washington D.C. should be the safest place within the undead-infested United States. But he was in Texas, and that’s a long way to travel alone when one cannot defend themselves. Luckily enough, he stumbled across Abraham at exactly the right moment. A minute or two later, Eugene would’ve stumbled across a woman and two children who’d been eaten by walkers, and a man beside them with the top of his head blown off. Abraham feels he owes Eugene for saving him from suicide. The need to balance the debt pushed him for so long, when Eugene finally told the truth—that he’s not a scientist capable of destroying the walkers with a virus—Abraham snapped. The last we saw of Eugene, he was T.K.O.ed with everyone hovering over him. Honestly? That’s what he gets for getting everyone’s hopes up. Numerous people died to get him to D.C. and it was all a lie.
This episode was still a tad slow, save the last few minutes when the truth hit the fan. If this trend sticks, the show may have a hard time ramping up for what is always an epic mid-season finale. For now, we play the wait-and-see game.
No bones about it, this season has been rough to watch. The emotions are raw, unfiltered. Every walker confrontation is filmed up close and personal, drawing viewers in. Tension between Rick’s group and the Terminus survivors is so thick, an elephant could tap dance on it. Three episodes in and we’re already terrified to get too attached to any character. For good reasons, as we’ll see in a little bit.
Spoiler warning! This is not a joke. Below is a whole slew of episode spoilers.
The opening scene with Gareth and Bob is flat-out freaky. Gareth has snapped the last sanity string holding up his humanity. He’s no better and no worse than the undead—eating to survive, no matter the source. There’s no hope of normalcy left for the Terminus group. Gareth understands all too well that they can’t go back to who/what they were before. All they can do is move forward, make allies. Those who join will aid them in their hunting needs. The people who refuse become dinner. For Gareth, life has become all too simple and clean.
Unfortunately his last meal before his talk with Bob wasn’t as clean as he’d hoped.
Now it’s clear why Bob had been outside the church weeping—he was bitten in the food bank’s basement, just when his life was becoming settled again. Unfortunate for him then, but a boon when he realizes he’s been turned into dinner for Gareth and company. Despite being ambushed and injured, unable to defend himself, Bob still fought against the Terminus crew. His fight didn’t end when they dumped him on the church’s front yard. Bob’s physical fight ended when his leg was devoured. His mission from then on out was to keep his friends and loved ones going until his time came to join Hershel, Andrea, Dale, T-Dog, and numerous others who had become part of the steel backbone keeping Rick’s haggard group on their feet. “Nightmares shouldn’t change who you are.” Bob slipped, fell into alcoholism when things got rough, but dug himself out—with a little help. Since then he’d been fully onboard, helping Rick keep everything and everyone together. His centered, playful way of approaching life will be missed.
Gabriel takes the brunt of everyone’s anger after they realize, not only has Bob vanished, but so has Carol and Daryl. After all the pressure he’s put under, he snaps and tells his tale. On the night the undead reached the area, he locked the church’s door—same as he did every night. Only, when his congregation came knocking, Gabriel hid and left them to the walkers drawn by their cries for sanctuary and damnation of Gabriel’s soul. He truly feels he’s going to hell for taking care of number one instead of opening the church to dozens of people he couldn’t possibly home and provide food for. After his breakdown in front of Rick, Gabriel falls into himself until the aftermath of a gruesome confrontation. Even then, he’s given up on himself and can’t muster enough to care and argue with Maggie after his decree, “This is the Lord’s house,” and she replies, “No. It’s just four walls and a roof.”
The tension in Rick’s group hits a high note in this episode. Abraham is done waiting and scrounging for supplies. He wants to get on the road to D.C. and finish his mission to deliver Eugene safely to the epidemic center. He sees Bob’s bitten condition as a threat. The second Bob was out of earshot, Abraham orders his people to pack and move out. Rick attempts to talk reason, and fails. Glenn, who spent a good chunk of time fighting alongside Abraham before the main group reunited, finally steps in and trades his and Maggie’s assistance in the mission for twelve hours of Abraham’s time to settle things at the church. What does Eugene think about all this? He wants to stay with Rick. Is it the quality of leadership? Rick’s ruthlessness that’s seen them relatively safe thus far? Or is he hiding a deeper truth than the one he’s sold Abraham on? I’m still inclined to believe Eugene is lying to Abraham for the protection and there’s no miraculous walker-killing virus.
We can’t wrap this up without going over one heck of a showdown between Rick’s group and the Terminus survivors at the church. What looks like an ambush on the weaker members of the group ends up being wholesale slaughter for Gareth and company—like fish in a barrel, and Rick dropped in a stick of dynamite. Gareth doesn’t bother to hide his admiration of the ruthlessness. Rick doesn’t bother to hide it, either, as he hacks Gareth apart with a machete. The rest of the Terminus survivors are dispatched in similarly brutal ways. The silver lining? Michonne has her sword back. The downside? This take-no-prisoners attitude makes some of the group uneasy. If Rick had just shot Gareth and his people, it would have been easier to accept the quick, clean death. Hacking and bludgeoning someone to death takes time. It is a drawn out, painful, and messy demise. Messy not just in the blood and brains spread everywhere, but the emotions such brutality dredges up.
The episode ended on a cliffhanger of sorts. Daryl, who missed out on all the gory fun, creeps out of the woods. Without Carol by his side. And talks to someone who we can’t see with obvious distress on his face. There may have been ample yelling at the screen when we realized that was how they planned to leave things until next week. You can’t do this to us, guys! Where is Carol?
They need to find something to do with Citizen Z. His character essentially sits around twiddling his thumbs until it’s time to drag the plot along to the next step. He’s all alone. Has enough supplies to last at least ten years. And he’s losing his marbles. Somehow poor writing and direction turned what could’ve been a rather interesting look at isolation in the apocalypse turned into a wild dog chase. Or rather, a wild zombie dog chase. Citizen Z’s fellow NSA personnel didn’t stay dead—of course. At least one made it to his back door, along with a stray dog. Apparently the zombie dog materializes out of thin air around this time. The graphics for the dead dog weren’t bad. But once the “action” started, they’d ruined the effect. The dogs never really engage each other while fighting. There’s no real danger for Citizen Z as he sits perched atop a shipping crate. During the climax of the fight, it cuts out and comes back later to a blacked-out Citizen Z next to a mutilated zombie dog, denying viewers even a taste of action from the character. You know, the one who sits around doing nothing all day. Talk about compelling television.
The rest of the characters aren’t doing much better. Garnett, Warren, and the rest escorting Murphy run out of gas. There just so happens to be a guy they pick up who knows where to fill up their vehicles. Lucky them. Of course, the place is overrun by undead. And they can’t use guns because of the gas. And there’s a mysterious noise drawing zombies closer. Oh and don’t forget, the helpful new guy has this weird thing with Cassandra. See where this is going? Massive failure all around. The characters are too dumb to work out a plan to distract the zombies. They almost get blown up in the process, losing not only the gas they’d come for, but one of their vehicles as well. It’s like watching three-year-olds trying to put together a three-thousand piece puzzle. Eventually they end up mashing the pieces together, even though they don’t fit, and call it a masterpiece.
Our intrepid heroes split yet again, leaving Michonne and Carl to look after Judith and Gabriel. The Father is jumpy, touchy about the work being done to fortify the church so it’s a safer place for them to hole up. His regret over the murders done by his fellow survivors eats at him. Michonne and Carl tag team Gabriel. They stress the need to learn how to defend himself. How to move on emotionally after being forced to kill—walker or human. Gabriel saved them by allowing them to camp in his church. This is the only way they know how to repay the kindness, by teaching him how to survive after they leave if he doesn’t travel with them. The pressure from them to grow past his comfort levels forces Gabriel to do something utterly stupid. He escapes through the floor boards and under the church, injuring himself in the process. How far can a limping, pacifistic, guilt-ridden man make it? Is he running from people he sees as cold-blooded killers or from the memories of how he soiled his hands by refusing to aid his parishioners?
There is a new faction within the survivor crew – G.R.E.A.T.M. is the team name Tara cooked up for the group who had been escorting the liar Eugene to D.C. for his mythical walker cure. They’re not a very well-oiled machine at the moment. Abraham put himself in time-out after decking Eugene, his temper steaming hotter than the Georgia highway he’s kneeling on. Rosita attempts to talk sense into him. Fails. Fails to the point where Maggie draws her gun and forces Abraham to kneel again. Maggie is done with his hissy fits and the hiccups in their plan. She’d agreed to go to help. To give her life some purpose after losing her entire family, except Glenn. Without the mission, the entire group is lost. Tara tries to keep the peace, but can’t do anything in the face of Abraham and Maggie’s anger. Glenn eventually steps up and starts weaving a plan, using his people skills to show everyone that the fighting will get them nowhere and they can’t camp out in the middle of a highway forever. He brings them together. By the time Glenn, Rosita, and Tara make it back from a trip to find water—scoring a couple fish for dinner along the way—Eugene is awake and Abraham’s relief that he didn’t kill yet another living being sloughs the foul mood from his shoulders. They may be able to work as a cohesive unit, but where will they go if D.C. is out of the picture?
Rick’s group down in Atlanta seem like they may have a solid plan to get Beth and Carol back. Or maybe not. Tyreese has come a long way since the days when he could not and would not even do so much as kill a walker. However, the thought of barging into a secure building crawling with well-armed police makes him think twice. Not only about the casualties from the opposing side, but civilians and their own crew members. He comes up with a better plan—catch two of Dawn’s officers and force a trade, yours for ours. When Rick moves to reject the safer idea, Daryl intervenes. He’s not taking any chances retrieving the two people he’s come to care about the most because of one of Rick’s rash gotta-get-revenge ideas. The plan goes off without a hitch. Or so I’d like to say. Being what it is, things went downhill quickly as soon as backup arrived to aid the cops lured out by Noah. There’s a shoot-out and violent hide-and-go-seek scene. It ends when Daryl rips the head off a walker and bashes a guy’s head with it. There’s a sit down with the officers in custody. One man, Bob Lamson, appears to be the best bet for making the plan work. He gives Rick some solid advice . . . and then uses Sasha’s obvious emotional weakness against her. Lamson lures her off to the other side of the warehouse and rams her into a window so he can escape. So much for having a plan.
