Monthly Archives: March 2017

“You ever think about who you’ve killed” Enid asks Carl
“It’s not just the ones I killed. I think about the ones I didn’t kill, too.” Carl

Barnacle Walkers! The cold open shows a bunch of waterlogged walkers making their way up the beach and a boat smashed up on the shore behind them. They’ll come into play later. We finally hear Tara telling Rick about Oceanside and their large cache of guns. The question is how do they get them without having to kill anyone?

THE HILLTOP

We see Maggie talking to a good looking fella with a ridiculous haircut and a man bun! Oh, I hope this is not Maggie’s next boyfriend.

Maggie goes outside the compound to dig up some plant so Gregory decides this is a good time for a heart to heart. He says they need to show a united front and he agrees to be more open minded. Maggie takes him at his word and asks him to stay with her while she finishes digging up what she needs. Gregory agrees and pulls out his knife. But he starts looking at Maggie funny. The thought crosses his mind that he could take her out right there and he’d stay in charge for good. But he can’t do it. He may be an asshole but he’s not a murderer.

Gregory trying to kill a walker was hilarious! How has he never come across one in all this time? He lets out a yelp when he sees one approaching. Maggie’s offers to do it but Gregory says he’ll handle it. He starts running toward the walker but then suddenly stops and retreats. “Ok. You do it.”, he tells Maggie. While standing by and watching Maggie handle the walker he gets blindsided by another walker. Even though he’s holding a knife he calls out for Maggie’s help. She saves him and helps him up. Gregory almost throws up as a group of people are returning from a mission.

“He hasn’t killed one before. He’s learning.” Maggie tells them.
“That’s not what he told us.”

Later on, back in his office, walker blood still on his face and clothes, Gregory starts drinking tequila, his new booze of choice, he pulls out a map and the directions to The Sanctuary that Simon gave him. He calls for his assistant and tells him to pack a bag because he needs him to drive him somewhere. Weaselly bastard!

OCEANSIDE

“We’re going to need them (Sasha and Rosita). A whole lotta people still gotta die.” Daryl

Rick devises a plan to take the guns without hurting anyone. He lets Tara go in first and try to convince their leader, Natania, to join forces. But she’s not easily swayed. Rick’s assault on the village begins with dynamite explosions meant to scare the women so they can be corralled safely.

The plan works except that Tara gets overtaken by Natonia and Cindy. Natonia confronts Rick with a gun to Tara’s head. Michonne, sitting in a nearby tree in sniper mode cannot get a clean shot but she does spot those ‘barnacle walkers’ headed there way. “Rick! Walkers!” she shouts. Cindy knocks out Natonia, not wanting her to hurt Tara. The women join the Alexandrians in fighting the barnacle walkers and come out victorious without injury. Some of them seem to want to join them to fight The Saviors but Natonia is dead set against it.

“No! We’re not fighting them with you! So take your damn guns and go!” Latoya says defiantly.

They walk off with a whole mess of guns and ammo. Father Gabriel asks Rick, “Do we need all this?” Rick flatly states, “Yes.”  Don’t go soft on me now, padre!

THE SANCTUARY

“You’ve got some beach ball size lady nuts coming in here all kamikaze like that.” Negan

Sasha was captured, of course. She gets a visit from a creepy Savior named David. He takes a liking to Sasha, talking all creepy and ripping her shirt. But before he can rape her, Negan walks in. Negan does not approve of rape. He rams a knife through David’s throat. He leaves Sasha the knife and gives her the option to 1) try to kill him, 2) kill herself or 3) kill ‘rapey Davey before he becomes ‘dead walking rapey Davey’ and she could join ‘the cause’ meaning becoming Negan just as Eugene has.

“The correct select.” Eugene

Later on, Eugene comes by to bring her a blanket and pillow and try to convince her to join Negan as he has.
“What did they do to you?” Sasha asks.
“They’re keeping me safe.” he tells her.

He tells her that he was never as frightened as he was that night in the woods and seeing Abraham and Glenn killed and by joining The Saviors he’ll never have to face that fate. I think Sasha understands but is not persuaded by his argument and tells him to go. After he leaves, old Davey starts to reanimate.

When Negan comes back, Sasha has stabbed dead Davey in the head. “You win” she tells Negan. Negan is pleased with her decision but tells her she still has some things to work on before he can fully trust her.

“Cards on the table. A little birdie told me that Rick and the rest of your people are up to no good. That has to change and you’re going to help me change it.” Negan tells Sasha.

Eugene comes to check on her, hearing that she’s agreed to join them but she pleads with him, through the cell door, that she made a mistake and can’t go through with it. She begs him to bring her a knife, a gun, a razor blade so that she can kill herself rather than let Negan use her as a tool against their friends. Of course, this is a ruse. She thinks if he brings her a weapon she will have one more chance to kill Negan. But Eugene doesn’t bring her a knife or gun, but one of the poison pills he made. He gives it to her and tells her once she takes it she’ll be dead within 30 minutes. Sasha is crushed.

GAME CHANGER

The episode ends with Rick and the gang returning to Alexandria where they find Rosita opening the gate for them. “There’s somebody here”, she tells them and then leads them to the jail cell Morgan built. Inside they find Dwight! Daryl has to be held back from attacking him. “He wants to help.” Rosita tells Rick.

“Is that true?” Rick asks Dwight.
“Yes”
“OK.” Rick then pulls out his gun and points it at Dwight. “Get on your knees!”

Oh, damn! Someone’s pulling a Negan!

SIDE BITES

It makes sense that Dwight is flipping sides. And it’s not a bad trade – Dwight for Eugene. He has nothing to lose now that Sherry is gone. But can he and Daryl ever get along? We’ll see.

Negan, for all his brutality, is very much against his people committing rape. He has a soft spot for kids, too. Was he once a decent person? Are we going to get a Negan back story episode? Will we find out what happened to him that made him so vicious? Maybe next season?

Yeah, that guy with the man bun and the modern haircut. Come on! Do they have a stylist at The Hilltop that we haven’t met yet? How is Jesus keeping his luscious head of hair looking so clean and full? And why can’t they make an appointment for Daryl? Oh, he’d be darling in a man bun!

Rachel Rocks! Well done, little lady!

5 THINGS I THINK I KNOW

1 Gregory told Negan about Rick’s plans to fight back. He’s the ‘little birdie’.

2 Sasha is going to take that pill and die before Negan arrives at the gates of Alexandria.

3 Rick is going to send Dwight back as a spy.

4 I’m thinking Aaron’s boyfriend gets killed. Aaron, have you met Jesus?

5 The Saviors and Alexandria will engage in battle! They will have to retreat when they See The Kingdom, led by King Ezekiel and Carol come to the rescue!

And End Scene

I’m hoping the season finale delivers the goods! Based on the preview, it looks like we’re finally going to see a battle!

Sasha and Rosita or ‘Sashita’ take their act on the road! They are so desperate to kill Negan and avenge their lover, Abraham’s death, that they are willing to put aside their differences to get the job done. Meanwhile, Negan’s second in command, Simon, shows up at The Hilltop again to look for Daryl and take the other Dr, Carson back to The Sanctuary since Negan cremated their Dr. Carson a couple of episodes ago. This is really a quiet episode, the calm before the storm, as I expect the final two episodes of the season will be full of excitement.

THE COLD OPEN

The opening backtracks in time, showing how Maggie and Sasha are training the army. We also see a very sullen Daryl, who won’t even look at Maggie as she brings him food. We see Jesus making a map of The Sanctuary for Sasha, so Sasha had already decided to go on her own to assassinate Negan. Then we see Sasha at Abraham’s grave and Rosita approaching her which brings us back to the end of last week’s episode.

THE HILLTOP

Jesus urges Sasha not to go to try and kill Negan. When he sees that she was determined to go, he then urges her to tell Maggie. Sasha tells Enid she can’t come with them and tells her to look after Maggie. Then all hell breaks loose! The Saviors are here! Enid rushes to hide Maggie and Daryl under the house. Being in close quarters, Maggie forces Daryl to look at her. He starts crying and saying he was sorry. He blames himself for getting Glenn killed (it was his fault!). Maggie assures him that she doesn’t blame him and that he is one of the good things in this world. They hug and she says, “We have to win. Help me win!”

Gregory is running out of booze! That seems to be all he’s really concerned about. He’s also worried about losing control of The Hilltop to Maggie. He almost gives her up to Simon but stops short of it but Simon does give him the address of The Sanctuary and tells him to come see him if her ever feels threatened by someone at The Hilltop. The main reason The Saviors stopped by was to retrieve Dr. Carson. Negan killed the other Dr. Carson (they were brothers) so they need a new one. Even Gregory was not happy about this. Simon did leave them with a large crate filled with aspirin. Great trade!

Meanwhile, Sasha and Rosita sneak out the back when The Saviors arrived and started their trek to The Sanctuary.

ROAD TO MURDER

Suffice it to say, Rosita is really pissed at Sasha. They need each other but the wounds run deep. When Rosita sees that Sasha is wearing the necklace she made for Abraham Rosita sees red. They make a good team though! They attack a used car lot filled with zombies and commandeer a car running over a few as they made their escape. They disagree on how to get the job done; Sasha wants to set up in a building outside of The Sanctuary and take the shot from there, leaving them a chance for escape. Rosita wants to infiltrate and make sure they get the job done. While they wait for Negan to pop into range they open up to each other. Rosita talks about all the things she learned from previous boyfriends and that once she learned all she could she ‘bounced’. “The sex was just for fun” she tells Sasha. She felt bad that she never got to tell Abraham that she was happy that he was happy. She asks Sasha if she was happy and Sasha tells her that she was. They seemed to move past the hate and fully support each other with the task at hand.

TIME TO ACT

Sasha gets into place and when she looks through her sights she sees Eugene. She tells Rosita that Eugene seems to be telling people what to do. Rosita just thinks he’s working an angle. The trucks roll in carrying Simon and the new Dr. Carson.  Many Saviors come out to meet them including Mr. Big himself, Negan. I love that Negan throws his arm around Eugene’s shoulder like they were the best of pals! Too many people around Negan to take a shot so they decide they need to go in.

They wait until dark and when Eugene walks out talking to another Savior, Sasha takes out the Savior and tells Eugene they’re they to rescue him.  But Eugene doesn’t want to be rescued. He’s got it good there.  He’s a big dog and Negan loves him! He tells them to go away and he walks back into the building. Rosita is pissed but I have to agree with Eugene on this one. They were not there to rescue him.  They didn’t even know he was there. They were there to kill Negan so what was Eugene supposed to do? Tag a long? No.  He knew they were on a doomed mission and wanted no part of it.  Hell, even they know they weren’t going to make it out.   The next crazy thing was that Sasha decides to go it alone and locks Rosita out of the mission. “They need you”, she tells Rosita and then runs into the building. Seems pretty foolish to me.

Rosita begins her retreat but she seems pretty pissed that Sasha is taking her thunder, not allowing her to be a part of killing Negan. She stops and begins to cry when she looks up and sees the shadow of a man with a crossbow.  How many of you thought it was Daryl? Well you were wrong! It was Dwight!! That’s what I think anyway. Does he help Rosita or take her prisoner?  I think he takes her prisoner.  He is in no position yet to turn on Negan.

SIDE BITES

Jesus and Maggie have a heart to heart and he opens up to her about his boyfriend troubles. TWD’s first gay character? I think so. Let me know if I got that wrong.

Maggie has been pregnant for a while now, right? It seems like months yet she is not showing one single bit! The scene where she is getting a sonogram you see that she’s still sporting six pack abs!

Daryl needs a bath and a haircut! Come on!

Hearing Eugene speaking over the walkie talking was hilarious! He refers to himself as Dr. Eugene Porter. He is so loving being the big shot!

‘Sashita’s’ plan to assassinate Negan was really dumb. I can’t feel much empathy for two strong women making such bad decisions!

5 THINGS I THINK I KNOW

1 Sasha is dead.

2 Eugene will stay Negan and not help Sasha

3 Looks like they stage a full out assault on Oceanside.

4 Maggie will officially dethrone Gregory in the next episode

5 The season final will have a battle but not the big battle.  Saving that for the first 8 episodes of Season 8

I thought it was going to be a ‘Carol’ episode but it turned out to be a ‘Morgan’ episode! There was a little Carol at the beginning and at the end. It was another strong episode that moves the story closer and closer to ‘all out war’.

CAROL COMES A CALLIN’

Carol can’t sleep. She’s restless. She feels something’s wrong.  She heads to The Kingdom for some answers.  She kills some walkers with a street sign while perched in a tree. Pretty nifty. She looks for and finds Morgan and asks him if everyone is ok? Morgan tells her that she honored her wishes and didn’t tell Daryl where she was. Daryl found her on his own and whatever they talked about is between them. He says if she wants to go to Alexandria right then he would take her and she can find out what she needs to know.  But Carol doesn’t want to.

Carol can’t have it both ways.  She can’t want to be left a lone but still be kept in the loop.  You’re either in or out, Carol!

FORESHADOWING

Melissa McBride as Carol Peletier, Logan Miller as Benjamin – The Walking Dead _ Season 7, Episode 14 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC

When Richard and Morgan started talking about Benjamin and how he’s too young to be a father then started discussing how they were fathers and what they lost, you know death is coming. It’s a certainty that when you start getting to know more about a character that their death is eminent.

On their way to meet with The Saviors, the Kingdom find the road blocked with shopping carts which form an arrow. They get out of the truck and move the carts and find that an open grave has been dug with a sign that says ‘Bury Me Here’. The group finds it disturbing but move on, without further discussion, to the meet.

THE LAST STRAW

The Saviors meet with The Kingdom to get the week’s shipment: 12 cantaloupes. But when they open the back of the truck there’s only 11. An example has to be made. The Saviors tell them to give them their guns. No way that’s gonna happen! Both sides raise their guns and point at each other (very John Woo-like) but the leader of The Saviors convince Ezekiel to order his people to hand over their guns. When the hothead kid from The Saviors group points his gun at Richard, Richard straightens up to accept his fate, ‘Go ahead”. But the hothead turns his gun away from Richard and fires, hitting Benjamin in the thigh. They rush Benjamin to Carol’s because she’s closer and he’s bleeding out badly. But by the time they get him there and on a table it’s too late. He dies. This takes a toll on everyone but it hits Morgan especially hard. He refuses to go back with the others and he heads back to the area where they ran into the shopping cart barricade.

Morgan puts it together that it was Richard that made the barricade and buried the grave. He took one of the cantaloupes and hid it! Morgan has a full on breakdown, remembering his son and the time when he was just running around like a crazy person killing everything in his path.

He confronts Richard back at The Kingdom and Richard owns up to it.  He expected to be the one to be killed seeing as he has been the one causing trouble with The Saviors previously.  He feels terrible about Benjamin but he still feels that something needed to happen to get The Kingdom in the fight. He tells Morgan the story of how he lost his wife and daughter. He failed to act in time to stop that and he doesn’t want to make the same mistake again. He says that they now need to do something to prove that they will behave going forward and then they need to strike. Morgan calms down, not saying one word during the entire scene.

The next day they go back to meet The Saviors to hand them the 12^th cantaloupe they promised. Only this time, Morgan is the trouble maker. He attacks Richard and kills him with his bare hands. H explains what Richard did, trying to start a fight with The Saviors but that now The Kingdom understands and will behave from now on. The Saviors leave and Morgan buries Richard in the grave he dug for himself and finds the backpack, Richard’s daughter’s, that he wanted buried with him.

FULL CIRCLE

Morgan shows up at Carol’s doorstep. He finally tells her what happened at Alexandria. Negan killed Abraham and Glenn. Others have died too, Spencer, Olivia. They are all now under Negan’s thumb. He tells her he can’t go back and she says to him the same thing Ezekiel said to her, “You can go and not go.”  And with that Morgan sets up at the cottage and carol treks to The Kingdom.  She finds Ezekiel and Benjamin’s little brother planting new crops. She tells him that they need to fight.  Ezekiel concurs.

And so The Kingdom is on board.

SIDE BITES

Morgan mistakenly calls out his son’s name (Dwayne) when speaking of Benjamin.

This was a big turning point for Morgan.  He is no longer the annoying pacifist. The end of the episode left him sitting on Carol’s porch whittling a pointed edge to one side of his staff.

The episode was written by show runner, Scott Gimple who also wrote the excellent Morgan centric third season episode Clear. This is sort of a sequel to that episode.

Macsen Lintz, the actor who plays Benjamin’s little brother, Henry is actually the real life brother of Madison Lintz, the actress that played Sophia in Seasons 1 & 2.

5 THINGS I THINK I KNOW

1 With Richard and Benjamin gone it leaves only King Ezekiel, Morgan and Carol as the only people we know from this group. One of these three will be killed in the big battle with The Saviors.

2 Next week Sasha and Rosita make their assault on The Sanctuary. They’ll probably just be captured. But one or both will die in the Season Finale.

3 I’m still rooting for a Negan back story episode but now thinking that won’t happen this season.  If anything, maybe we’ll see a hint of it in an extended cold open.

4 A trip to Oceanside for Episode 15?

5 Not enough time to gather all the forces for the finale. But we need to see the heads of each community meet – Rick, Ezekiel, Maggie, Jadis, Oceanside, Carol, Daryl, Morgan.

The Walking Dead is on a roll! Another very good episode! Rick and Michonne on their honeymoon! Killing zombies and scavenging by day while making sweet love at night in that creepy van! Meanwhile, back at Alexandria, Rosita continues her slow descent into stupidity and Tara turns to Judith for advice.

BEST HONEYMOON EVER!

Rick and Michonne are having a grand old time driving through the countryside, camping out and laughing! Man, are they having a ball! Of course, they’re also on a mission to find guns. They hit the jackpot when they run across a school that looked like it was turned into a post apocalypse camp. They are plenty of soldier walkers with rifles strapped to their backs! There is also a carnival complete with rides set up on the grounds. They climb up on top of the roof of the school to get a better look and, you guessed it, the roof collapses and they fall into the building. I thought this was bad but these two lovebirds just laughed and laughed! “We fell through the roof!” Hysterical! Luckily they weren’t injured and better yet they stumbled into a treasure cove of army rations, water and other canned foods. So they light some candles and pig out!

Michonne is so confident that they will overthrow Negan she starts talking about what comes after and telling Rick he should be the one to lead all the communities and shape the future world. He’s not all that interested in that but he would be willing to share the responsibility with her and they could reshape the world together. Lord, they are giddy as school kids! Later on though, we see Rick awake and looking anxious as Michonne slept.

The next day they put their plan in motion to kill all the walkers and take the weapons. Rick assigns 8 walkers for Michonne to dispatch of while he only has to clear one and then commandeer a car to block off the gap in the fence. Michonne kids Rick about having to take on 8 walkers but Rick quips back “You can handle 8!” They are way too cavalier about this. Sure enough once Rick gets to the car there is a soldier walker stuck in the windshield. He tries to pry him out but parts of the soldier keep coming off! Disgusting! Michonne comes over and helps him push the car but they end up getting stuck in the car surrounded by walkers. They’re not laughing anymore.

Luckily, the car has a sun roof and they climb out. They decide to stay and wipe out all the walkers instead of run. They’re a pretty confident duo. They separate and start wiping out the walkers pretty easily until Rick spots that deer that Michonne spotted earlier. He climbs up on the Ferris wheel to try and get a good shot but instead falls. Michonne freaks out! She makes her way over to him and sees a horde of walkers on the ground feasting on what she thinks is Rick. She freezes. She’s in shock. She drops her sword! At this point I am now screaming at the TV! “What are you doing? They’re eating the deer, you idiot!” Before she gets overtaken by walkers, Rick pops out of his hiding place, grabs her sword and tosses it to her. They finish off the remaining walkers and run into each other’s arms! The couple that slay together, stays together!

YOU CAN GO ON WITHOUT ME

The best scene of the episode comes on the ride back to Alexandria. Rick can see that Michonne is pretty shaken up about thinking he was dead. He pulls over to talk. He tells her that he hasn’t been sleeping. He’s been thinking of the friends he lost, thinking of Glenn. “Glenn saved me at the very beginning. I wasn’t able to save him.” He tells her that in the fight ahead they’re going to lose people, lose friends and maybe each other but that they have to go on. “This isn’t about us. It’s about a future.” The honeymoon may be over but these two are stronger than ever!

JADIS AND THE TRASH YARD KNIGHTS

Rick brings Jadis 63 guns but she wants more, twice that number. He asks to keep 10 while they look for more. They negotiate:
Jadis “4”
Rick “10”
Jadis “9!” And you bring back the cat!”
Rick “20 and I keep the cat! Say yes.”

And with that Jadis agrees. These are some weird people.

TARA SPILLS IT! FINALLY!

I’ve been wondering when Tara was going to spill it about Oceanside. It took a heart to heart with Judith to convince her that it was finally the right thing to do. She tells Rick and though we don’t actually see that scene, it’s clearly insinuated. Rick will have to be very careful how to approach this. Those women at Oceanside have itchy trigger fingers!

GET IT TOGETHER ROSITA!

Rosita is still being an idiot. Moping around and being an asshole to everyone. Father Gabriel tries to talk some sense into her but to no avail. Tara tried as well but nothing. Eventually Sasha high tailed it to The Hilltop to find Sasha, who was leaving fresh flowers on Abraham’s grave. Without saying the words, Sasha understood what Rosita had come for. “One thing; I get to take the shot”. Rosita agreed and then pulled out a high powered rifle with scope, recently brought back by Rick and Michonne. They understand that it’s going to be a ‘one way trip’. Idiots.

SIDE BITES

I loved the Sixteen Candles homage!

Since when is ‘Chili Mac n Cheese an aphrodisiac?

The Carnival of Zombies left a lot of open questions: Why did the soldiers still have their rifles slung? Why were some people in handcuffs? What? NO clown zombies?

5 THINGS I THINK I KNOW

1 Sasha and Rosita are dead!

2 Dr. Smarty Pants may be faced with a hard choice: Rosita or Negan? He’s Negan.

3 Seems like they are setting us up to lose either Rick or Michonne but neither one of them is going to die.

4 Episode 15 will be a Negan back story episode! (I’m hoping)

5 The big battle will not happen this season but when it does I hope they don’t blow it! This could be epic! Scott Gimple, do not try to get too cute with this! You blew the Negan introduction! DON”T BLOW THIS!!