Monthly Archives: June 2017

Folks, I’ll be honest with you.  This is one freaky episode. Probably the most disturbing hour of television I’ve ever seen.  I’ve certainly never seen anything like it. It was a trip, a journey, an odyssey, it was a living, breathing work of art. I shouldn’t have watched it before I went to bed, that’s for sure. As usual, with these Twin Peaks episodes, I just took stream of consciousness notes of what I was seeing and thinking. Enjoy

Evil Cooper and Ray
Driving down the highway
EC detects tracking devices on car
Somehow diverts the signal
EC lies to Ray
Says Dahlia still alive
Headed to The Farm
“You have something I want Ray”
“I got it memorized. All those numbers”
Ray wants a lot of money for those numbers
“Let’s get off this highway, Ray”
Lost Highway
Mulholland Drive
On a dirt road now
Leading where?
Ray’s gotta take a leak
Sure
EC finds the gun in the glove
Gonna kill Ray?
“Ray I want that information”
Ray has a gun too
EC has an empty gun!
“Tricked you, fucker”
Ray shoots EC
Lights flashing
Who are those guys?
Spectral people
They attack EC
They look like homeless men

They rip EC’s guts out
Cover his face with his own blood
Ray looks on in horror
Ewwwwww
Bob’s face can be seen in EC’s guts
Ray gets in the car and drives away
The homeless guys dance around and then disappear
EC seems to disappear too
Is that it for Evil Cooper?

Half moon
“Phillip! It’s Ray. I think he’s dead”
“I saw something in Cooper. It may be the key to what’s this is all about”

Ladies and gentleman
The Roadhouse presents
The Nine Inch Nails
“She’s Gone. She’s Gone. She’s Gone Away”

Back to the field
Evil Cooper sits up!
Can he die?

July 16 1945
White Sands New Mexico
529am
Countdown
Ooooooo

An atomic bomb goes off
Hmmmmmmmm
The music is good
That is frightening
Amazing mushroom cloud
Camera zooms into the cloud
Particle field
Orange light
Very 2001 like
Nuclear debris
Altered States
Fireworks
I’m going to have nightmares tonight
Those violins are great
Where are we going?
What is being born?
Constant explosions

A gas station
Smoke
The station house lights flicker
Flashing
The smoke grows
People
Lots of them’
Those homeless creatures?
Stop motion effect
Flashing lights
Crazy scratchy sound effects
The people disappear
The images flutter
People inside the station
Jesus

A figure floats in space
Not outer space
Blackness
It starts spewing something
Some sort of living white ooze
There’s Bob’s face again
surrounded in black ooze
Eggs?
many eggs inside the ooze
Flames
Explosions
a gold sphere comes out of the flames

traveling through red showers
now an ocean
dark and ominous
An island?
a fortress?
A tall rock?
A house on the top of the rock
white house? Structure?
Metallic structure
A tiny window
let’s go inside
blackness
black and white living room
a well dressed woman listens to music playing on a phonograph
a black piece of furniture shaped like a bell
some kind of knocking
coming from the bell?

The Giant
he dressed in a smoking jacket
He looks perplexed as he often does
He presses something on the bell and the knocking stops
He looks at the woman and then turns and leaves
He starts to climb a staircase
He walks into a big empty room
There’s another bell like structure
he walks up to a movie screen
a picture appears
It’s the atomic explosion we saw earlier

The weird gas station
the white ooze
Bob
Freezes on Bob
The Giant starts to levitate
Rising
The well dressed woman walks into the large empty room
the organ music is wonderful
like an old silent film
She sees the image of Bob on the screen
The Giant is floating above her
The Giant’s head is emanating something
golden light particles
creating some type of pattern above his head
Energy?
It’s taking shape

The gold sphere
it float down to the woman
She takes it in her hands
Stares at it
Laura Palmer’s face is inside it
The woman kisses her through the sphere
She lifts it up and it floats away
Goes inside a floating golden horn
The screen has an image of earth
The sphere is shot out of the horn towards the image of earth

1945
1956
August 5
New Mexico Desert
an egg hatches
Yuck
What the
What kind of creature is that?
A frog with cockroach wings?
crawling along the sand like a lizard
Eraserhead

The gas station
A young couple out for a walk
“Did you like that song?”
“I found a penny! Heads up! That means its good luck”
A very wholesome couple

A man floats in the sky and lands in the desert
Another man appears as ell
These are like those homeless creatures
A car driving down the highway
An older couple
The run across that homeless guy
static coming off of him
he approaches the car
“Got a light?”
he’s holding cigarette
The couple are freaked out
They wisely take off!
Drive away as fast as possible

The young couple
He’s from town and she lives outside of town
Reminds me of Blue Velvet
He was supposed to get married
But that’s over
“That’s good”
he asks for a kiss
She lets him
so sweet
“I’ll see you”
She goes into her house

That old homeless guy
He sees a radio station
He walks towards it
Man is he creepy looking
covered in soot, dirt

“When the twilight is gone and those songbirds are singing”
The song plays
“While I Pray”
The DJ inside
A mechanic works on a car
A woman closes at the diner
The girl sits in her bed
in love
The homeless guy enters the radio station
“Got a light”
The receptionist is scared
he puts his hand on her head

He crushes her skull
Bloody
he heads towards the DJ in his booth
“Got a light?”
He crushes the DJ’s skull
The sing gets knocked off the turntable
static on the radio
The homeless guy takes the mic and starts talking over the airwaves

 “This is the water and this is the well. Drink full and descend. The horse is the white of the eyes and dark within”
The woman in the diner drops dead
The mechanic drops dead
That creepy frog like cockroach lizard crawls in the sand
The young girl just seems to fall asleep
that ugly creature takes flight and enters the young girls room!
Yuck!
The young girl opens her mouth
and that creature crawls in!!!!!!!
Mother have mercy!
She swallows it!

Homeless guy burrows his fingers into the DJs skull
blood pours out onto the floor
He exits the radio station
walks into the blackness of the desert
That guy never got a light

A horse is heard braying
The young girl lies sleeping
her eyes moving as if in dreams

“Bukowski is a deal breaker”. My friend Charlotte said this when Jake Otto made a gift of his copy of Bukowski’s book ‘Burning In Water, Drowning In Flame’. Apparently, Alicia felt the same way, at least at first.

A very strong episode in the ongoing strong third season. It was a smart move to get The Clark family unit back together and centralize the action on them. Also, bringing back Daniel Salazar and teaming him up with Strand was smart. I really felt bad about how The Rosarito Hotel was lost though. It seemed like a great place to build a community (I love hotels). I blame Madison for that. Turning on the lights brought Travis yes and doom. Alright, bygones. Let’s talk about this episode.

FLAMES

The opening scene was amazing. The old couple Nick saw dancing a couple episodes ago are in their home. The old man awakes to see his wife up. She turns and walks to him. She starts making walker growls. She must have died in her sleep and turned. He grabs her and she goes for his neck. But her teeth are in a glass by the bed. He starts dancing with her and singing. He reaches for a gun and puts it to his head. He pulls the trigger and the bullet kills them both. As they fall they knock over the lamp and a fire starts. This was a very scary and moving scene and a great way to open an episode.

NICK

“Save the water…let it burn.” Jeremiah

Nick tries to clean up the burned house that the old couple lived in. Jeremiah comes along and Nick hands him a photo of the couple that he found of them when they were very young. The couple were part of the original people that started the community and were good friends with the Ottos. Jeremiah finds the gun in the debris and calls it ‘beautiful’. Nick begs to differ. Jeremiah explains the craftsmanship is what is beautiful. Jeremiah also let’s Nick know he sees the dilemma he’s in. “Your mama wants you to stay and your lady wants to leave.”

These are good scenes. Nick learns that the house was the first to be built on the property and was the Ottos original home before the 2nd Mrs. Otto came along and wanted a bigger, grander home. He also learns why Jeremiah gives Troy so much leeway. He feels guilty about not being there for him when he was a child due to his alcoholism. I’m like Jeremiah. I hope he turns out to be a good guy.

Luciana wants to leave. She doesn’t like it there. I mean, these are the people that killed most of her friends at the end of season two. Still, you have a new family here and a safe place for now. Where does she want to go? Nick plans a romantic evening in the old couple’s home that he’s renovating. She can see that he wants to stay and so she gets up in the middle of the night and sneaks off. Nick awakes in the morning to find her gone. Jeremiah comes by and hands him the Colt gun that he found earlier. He has cleaned it up for him and it looks beautiful.

ALICIA

“We are strangers in an empty place, we are kings in our little empire.” Jakes notation in the Bukowski book.

Alicia goes up to the big house to see Jake and apologize for being a jerk with him earlier and tell him she was sorry about the old couple. Before you know it they’re all over each other! We all saw this coming right? When Jake offers her the Bukowski book after sex instead of a cigarette Alicia tells him thanks but no thanks. She used to be into artistic things before but since the Apocalypse what’s the point. Later on, Jake takes her to a pond and tries to explain to her that even in the Apocalypse, you need to appreciate art and be open to the moment and enjoy what life still ahs to offer. We see Alicia jump off a ridge and into the pond and she feels exhilarated and laughs. Enjoy it while you can, Alicia.

MADISON

“The more we understand this family, the safer we are.” Madison

Madison goes off with troy and his squad to find the previous team that went looking for who shot at the chopper. Madison tells the concerned Nick and Alicia that she’s going not only to contribute to the community but also to find those who killed Travis. One of the men let her know that he thought she was in over her head and not prepared to deal with the new realities of the world. Madison shut him down hard. She’s an old pro at killing walkers, my friend.

On the road they come across an overturned prison bus and a group of prisoner and guard walkers. They could easily just drive past this but Troy sees an opportunity for ‘sport’. So they amble down the road and start killing walkers. Madison is holding her won but gets in a sticky situation and the guy that was bad mouthing her earlier helps her out with his bow and arrow (no Daryl that’s for sure). He sees enough to apologize to her about doubting her skills.

They find the missing group and it’s not pretty. They been killed and burned in a pile. The group leader, Bill, is sitting on a hill, reciting some lines over and over, “As I was going up the stair/ I met a man who wasn’t there/ He wasn’t there again today/ Oh how I wish he’d go away”. There is a crow sitting on his shoulder and it’s eating at his brain which is exposed in the back of his skull. Yikes! This is pretty gruesome. Madison puts him out of his misery but then they turn to see who is to blame for all this. A group of native Indians led by a man called Walker. Walker tells them that they are trespassing on their land and that the Broke Jaw Ranch is also their land and that they all must leave or else they’ll be fed to the crows just as ole Bill was. They allow them to leave but not with their weapons, vehicles or shoes.

On the trail back to the ranch Madison and Troy have a confrontation and Madison eggs him on by bringing his momma into the conversation. Ouch. She wins the argument though and Troy allows them to rest until sun up. Madison wakes from her sleep later on to find that Troy has a knife at her throat. She doesn’t scare though and he resists killing her. One of the others sees this happen and Madison sees that. Maybe this will help her later, if it comes between following her or Troy.

DANIEL AND STRAND

“Let’s see how you get out of this one.” Daniel

Strand has gotten himself in a pickle. He has Daniel thinking that Ofelia is waiting for him at The Rosarita Hotel. So he’s driving him there knowing damn well she isn’t there and that he isn’t welcomed there any longer. Daniel does not trust him on bit. Once they get to the hotel, at night, of course, the gates are wide open. Not good and Strand knows it. They drive in and enter the hotel. It has been overrun by walkers. Daniel calls him on his lie and Strand confesses that they were there but Ofelia took off on her own. Daniel runs out, gets in the car and drives away leaving Strand to fend for himself. Damn, that’s cold.

SIDE BITES

We all know Troy is nuts but can we be sure that Jake isn’t crazy as well? And Alicia may have to be the one to put him down eventually.

Madison has gotten really tough! You can see that she’s planning to take over the community. She’s setting herself up as reasonable and capable and showing up Troy for the unstable psycho that he is.

I love that Alicia was hungover from ‘bible study’.

The lines that Bill kept reciting were from a William Hughes Mearns poem from the late 1800s called “Antigonish. It was about hauntings in the town of Antigonish in Nova Scotia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antigonish_(poem)

The season finale saw something click in each of the characters (except Mike). For Jimmy, Kim, Chuck, Hector and Howard, the season had been building to a breaking point and each one met theirs in different ways.

COLD OPEN

The cold open was short and sweet. Another flashback, going way back this time to young Chuck reading The Adventures of Mabel to little brother Jimmy in a tent in their backyard. Little Jimmy impatient to know what’s going to happen and older brother telling him to be patient and continue reading.

KIM

Kim is in the hospital getting a cast put on her arm. Jimmy comes in looking very worried. They drive to where the accident happened and Jimmy tries picking up all the papers while Kim sits in the car.

Jimmy and Kim relax at home. Jimmy is looking after her, fixing her food and pouring her Gatorade cause she needs those electrolytes.

“You’re not feeding me, Jimmy. There are lines we do not cross.” Kim tells him.

Jimmy says they should sublet the office. Kim asks if he’s ok with that.
“Considering everything that’s happened I don’t give a shit about the office.”

Jimmy blames himself for Kim overextending herself and almost getting herself killed. But Kim owns it. “You didn’t make me get in that car. I’m an adult. I made my own choices.”

Jimmy puts his hand on her shoulder and tells her he’s going to fix things.
Kim kisses his hand in the tenderest moment I think they’ve shared.

Francesca brings Kim work from the office, there’s a meeting coming up to open a new Mesa Verde branch. Billy Gatwood has sent her flowers and steaks! Francesca has made some calls and tells Kim that they can still meet with the regulator concerning Gatwood Oil on Monday and get in before the end of the quarter. Kim starts to look at the work in front of her, getting back on that merry go round when she just stops. She has a look like she was in the ‘fog of war’. A switch turned.

“I’m going to need you to cancel Gatwood and push everything else.”

Then she has Francesca take her to Blockbuster where she proceeds to rent 10 videos while Francesca tells Billy Gatwood on her cell that Kim can’t finish the work for him due to the accident. Maybe Kim has decided that work isn’t everything, that she needs to enjoy life first. What will this mean for her? Will she keep Mesa Verde at least?

HECTOR

Hector shows up at Nacho’s dad’s place of business.
“Where’s papi?”
Nacho walks him through the operation and assures him that he will handle everything. But then Hector spots him and walks over.
“Relax. We’re friends.” Then he counts out 3 piles of money.
“Please, get out of my store” Nacho’s dad says very quietly.
Nacho does everything he can to convince his dad to go along. He reminds him about his wife and the twins and even his mother’s family in Mexico. Reluctantly his dad picks up the three stacks of money. But Hector is not happy.

“He’s old fashioned. He’ll come around” Nacho tells him. But Hector isn’t convinced.“I don’t trust him”

Later that night Nacho waits in his car, gun on the seat beside him. Hector pulls into the parking lot. He’s going to kill him! He doesn’t have a clean shot. Before he can go inside to finish him the rest of Hector’s guys show up. “Good. You got my message” they say to him. Nacho is completely in the dark. Hector comes out.

Mark Margolis as Hector Salamanca – Better Call Saul _ Season 3, Episode 10 – Photo Credit: Michele K. Short/AMC/Sony Pictures Television

“They’re coming”

Gus Fring arrives with Don Bolsa. “Don Eladio wanted me to speak with you face to face”, Don Bolsa tells him. He tries to assure Hector that even though they’re going to move everything through Fring that it means no disrespect to Hector. Hector loses it.

“The boss can suck me!”

Hector has a seizure. He takes his pills but of course they do no good. He collapses. Fring tries to perform CPR. Nacho does nothing except let a little smile slip out. Hector dropped the rest of the pills on the ground. Nacho picks up the pill container. When the ambulance shows up they ask if he was taking any medication. Hector hands her the pills, the real ones I assume. Fring looks at him. He knows.

JIMMY

Seeing what happened to Kim Jimmy tries to make amends and goes to see Mrs. Landry. He brings her some pastries, some balloons and toys for her cats. But she’s not happy. The ladies are still mad at her. Jimmy meets with the ladies at the mall trying to reconcile things. But it’s not going to happen.

Jimmy comes home and sees Kim on the couch.
“How’s relaxation 2003 coming along?”

Kim has just been watching videos all day and is prepared to watch To Kill A Mockingbird again if Jimmy wants even though she watched it that morning. Jimmy tells her about Mrs. Landry and the mess he made, And then a realization comes over him. He knows what to do but he doesn’t want to do it.

The next morning Jimmy shows up at the Sandpiper home to lead chair yoga. Erin from Main and Davis shows up and demands to speak to Jimmy. They have a big argument over what Jimmy did to manipulate Mrs. Landry into settling. But Jimmy still has his mic on so everyone can hear them. Of course Jimmy did it to mend things between Mrs. Landry and her friends even though they will all now hate him. That’s the end of his elder law days.

Jimmy and Kim and Francesca pack up the office and load up a truck. The office is no more. But Kim is optimistic. They’ll find a way. She seems happier than ever and even more committed to be with Jimmy.

CHUCK

Meanwhile, Chuck faces off with Howard and the rest of the firm at HHM. Chuck lays out the firm’s options, all of which are bad. But they could just let bygones be bygones and move on as before with Chuck as a partner and continuing to practice law. Howard clears the room. Howard won’t have it. He explains to Chuck that he feels betrayed by him. He had always supported him and deferred to his judgment but his personal vendettas had gotten out of hand and he put himself above the firm. He hands him a check for $3 million. The first of three installments. “The firm can’t afford that.” Chuck says. “I’m covering it mostly from my own private funds and some loans.” Howard tells him. He calls Chuck’s bluff. A switch turned for Howard. He decided he and the firm would be better off without him.

He then gathers the entire firm in the lobby and announces that Chuck is leaving HMM. He asks Chuck if he has anything to say but Chuck remains silent, perhaps in shock. They applaud him out of the building. Chuck’s career is over. His legacy in tatters.

Jimmy goes to see Chuck. He wants to make sure he’s alright. He’s on his ‘make amends’ tour and at the end of the day he’s always loved his brother. Chuck lets him in. Jimmy sees the frig plugged in, lights are on, music is playing. The windows are open and sunlight coming in. Jimmy is stunned.

“I always told you I’d get better you just never believed me.” Chuck tells him.

Jimmy tells him that he would have done things differently given the chance.
“Why have regrets at all? What’s the point? Look at you. You’re in such pain. Why bother? You’re just going to go on hurting people. If you’re not going to change your behavior, and you won’t, why apologize?” Chuck tells him.

“I don’t want to hurt your feelings but the truth is you’ve never mattered all that much to me.” Chuck tells him void of all emotion. Ouch.

Jimmy just walks out. He stops and turns, thinks about saying something and then changes his mind and leaves. Nothing left to say.

Chuck wakes up in the middle of the night from tossing and turning. Perhaps his conscience getting to him about what he said to Jimmy. He pops a pill and makes a note in his journal. Then he gets up and goes downstairs and shuts off all the breakers in the house, the house goes black. He lays in bed in complete darkness. A switch has turned in him as well.

The next day Chuck notices that the power meters are still turning even though he’s turned off all the breakers. He calls the electric company to have someone come and check to see if something is still on in the house but they can’t send anyone out for several days. He goes around looking for what may still be on, flipping switches off and on. He removes all the light bulbs from their sockets but the meter is still running. He cancels his appointment with Dr. Cruz and then unplugs the phone from the jack. The meter is still moving. He moves around the house, feeling the walls, trying to feel the source of the electricity. He starts ripping the walls apart. This is a scene right out of The Conversation (1974). He rips the house apart and just when he thinks he pulled out the wire causing all the trouble he checks the meter and it’s still running. Only one thing left to do. Take a baseball bat to the meter. All the switches have turned off in Chuck.

As the episode ends we see Chuck sitting in what’s left of his house. He’s kicking his desk. Why? There’s a camping lantern on the desk. He keeps kicking the desk eventually knocking the lamp off the desk and setting the house on fire.

SIDE SAUL

Jimmy said at his disbarment trial that those lanterns would dangerous and could start a fire.

In the cold open the boys are outside in the tent and reading by the light of a lantern just like the one Chuck had in his house

Francesca go her job back at the DMV and Jimmy said when they get a new office she would be the first one they call which did not seem to thrill Francesca. Oh if she only knew her future would bind her to Jimmy.

Chuck’s suicide is going to have a big impact on everyone next season. Perhaps this is why Jimmy stops going by McGill finally?

I love that Steal Away by Robbie Dupree is playing in the background in the mall. I love that song.

Well, that was an excellent season. I think the stage is set for Jimmy to go full Saul next year. How will Kim adjust to that? How long will she hang around? Does she always stay with him? That might be interesting. And we never saw what happened to Gene! I guess that will have to wait until the cold open of Season 4.

“Forgive me.” Daniel

Welcome back, Daniel Salazar! And welcome back Ruben Blades! Both the character and the actor will make this show even better and I’m happy that they’ve returned. Daniel is alive but he is still guilt ridden about his former life and for failing his daughter, Ofelia. He seeks judgment for his sins. Can he find redemption?

I also love the all Spanish episode we got last night. FTWD seems to be taking some risks and experimenting with new things this year. The show really feels like it’s coming into its own this season.

DANIEL

“I’m not a good man. I’ve done terrible things. I’m afraid it’s time…to pay my debts.” Daniel

When we first see Daniel he looks like a walker. He’s dragging one leg, he looks a mess.
He gets attacked and can barely manage to crawl under a car but he can’t protect himself. Fortunately, Efrain (Jesse Barrego) comes along and saves him. Efrain is somewhat of a holy man among the ruins. He sees killing the walkers as acts of mercy and he blesses them with water and then drives a nail in their heads. Efrain puts Daniel in his bike and peddles through a group of walkers to his hideout where there is a fountain that water comes out of each Tuesday at 5pm. Efrain takes the water around to people who need it. Efrain then takes Daniel to Lola (Lisandra Tena) and some friends and they tend to Daniel’s burnt leg. Oh Lord! When they scrape of the infected skin with a razor I may have screamed louder than Daniel does!

Efrain takes Daniel under his wing and I wasn’t quite sure if he was to be trusted or not. But it turns out he is and Daniel is grateful. He even gives him a haircut! I forgot that Daniel was a barber. Daniel assumes that Efrain was a priest before the apocalypse and he gives his confession to him. Efrain can see that he carries a heavy weight. Daniel tells him about his time in El Salvador and that he had killed 96 people but Efrain feels something more gnaws at him. Daniel tells him what happened at Celia’s farm and that he was not in his right mind. When he came to his senses the place was on fire. He thought he heard his daughter’s voice and he managed to survive but he fears that his daughter did not and that he is to blame. He asks for forgiveness.

Daniel sneaks out in the middle of the night and immediately runs into walkers in the reservoir. He handles one but comes across a giant of a walker. He hits him with his crutch but he was too big. Daniel kneels down and seems to accept that he will be killed and that he may deserve to die. But just then a bolt of lightening strikes the walker in the head! Great effect! Daniel is knocked out and floats down the reservoir where gets collected in a sewage pipe by people at the dam.

THE DAM(NED)

“This may be the apocalypse, but it’s not communism.” Dante

Daniel washes into the dam and is quickly looked after by Lola who turns out to be a supervisor in water treatment and in cahoots with Efrain, diverting water to the fountain. Water has become a huge commodity and Dante has taken control of the dam and sells the water to the masses. Lola gives Daniel a job which draws the attention of the chief security office/goon. At lunch this goon tries to mess with Daniel. He sticks his finger into Daniel’s spam! Daniel goes into automatic and attacks this guy, knocking the gun from his hand, his old military training springing back to mind. Dante notices this and Daniel doesn’t lie when asked where he’s from. Dante looks into the inside of Daniel’s lower lip. He has a tattoo – “SN” – ‘Sombra Negro”. It signifies he was part of El Salvadorian death squads. Dante can use a man like Daniel and asks him to work for him, specifically to seek out those who have been stealing the water.

Daniel goes out with the goon patrol and they find the place where Efrain has been staying. They don’t find him but Daniel notices that it’s almost 5pm and the water will be coming through the fountain. Daniel diverts their attention to Efrain’s hiding place.

When Daniel comes back to the dam he notices that Strand has arrived looking for Dante. This is what we saw last week. Daniel visits Strand in his cell and gives him the canteen. Strand tells Daniel that Ofelia is alive and waiting for him at a hotel in Rosarito. He just needs to get him out of there, get a car and they could be there in less than a day. But Daniel doesn’t believe him. He’s gonna let him rot in that cell.

Lola is furious with Daniel but he says he did it to protect the fountain and her. When Dante sends for Daniel to torture Efrain, to get him to name the others involved in stealing water, Daniel is faced with a tough decision. Lola is also in the room and terrified. Daniel leans in close and says, “Forgive me”.

“Again, brother?” Efrain says. Daniel explains that if he talks they will kill him and Lola but if he doesn’t he promises to kill him quickly. Efrain understands and then takes some vicious beating from Daniel. Lola breaks and puts an end to the violence by giving herself up.

The next thing you know everyone is up on the dam and in line to be tossed off, including Strand. Dante tosses off one of the janitors that worked for Lola and then calls Lola over. Daniel walks her over to Dante. Now I’m wondering what Daniel is going to do. Does he go through with this? Does he feel he is damned? I’m really not sure. But Daniel goes into action. He shoots all Dante’s goons and Dante. He cuts Lola loose and hands her the gun. He kneels down in front of her.

“Forgive me” he says. She takes his hand. He is spared once again.

Phew! That was a very intense episode and a very satisfying one.

SIDE BITES

It’s funny as Daniel was killing Dante and his goons I thought he should have counted out loud, “97…98…99…100!!!” And then I realized why the episode was titled 100. OK.

Jesse Barrego has been around a long time! I remember him from the TV show Fame from the mid 80s and he was also in one of my favorite films Lone Star (1996) written and directed by John Sayles.

Where is Ofelia!  Everyone has been asking this all season! But it looks like we’ll see her soon.  I imagine Daniel will set off looking for her and take Strand along for the ride since he was the last one to see her alive.  That should be a fun! Talk about odd couples!

In the penultimate episode of the season our characters are turning on each other and failing themselves. The slow descent to their individual fates has started to accelerate.

JIMMY

“I sold my soul for B-I-N-G-O! Jimmy

Jimmy goes to visit Mrs. Landry, who is the class representative of the Sandpiper class action suit. He brings her ‘cat cookies’ which were store bought though he claims to have made them. He even takes them out of their packaging and places them on a paper plate and wraps some foil around them. He’s good.

His ulterior motive was finding out about the Sandpiper class action suit. She lets him look through all the legal papers she’s been sent and which she doesn’t comprehend. He sees that they’ve been made an offer but Mrs. Landry says that Davis and Main and HHM are telling her to wait for a bigger offer and that it may be years yet before a settlement can be reached. Jimmy can’t wait that long. He sees that they’ve offered $17 million and his cut (20% of the common fund) would be 1.6 million!

Jimmy surprises Howard in the parking lot of HHM to tell him tat it’s time to settle Sandpiper. He tries to convince him to move now and that waiting for a bigger offer is not fair to the clients. Howard sees through this though and knows Jimmy is just looking for his cut.

“It’s like talking to Gollum. You’re transparent and pathetic. You want a handout? Here. (Offers him some cash) Next time why don’t you bring a tin cup, it would be more honest.”

Jimmy tries a different tact. He shows up at the mall in full work out outfit and headband. He puts into motion a terrible scheme to turn Mrs. Landry’s friends against her to try and force her hand into accepting the Sandpiper offer. It’s terribly cruel.

He even goes so far as rigging bingo to make Mrs. Landry win to create even more animosity between her and her girlfriends. When she wins using the card Jimmy gave her special she goes up to get her winnings and nobody claps for her. It is so painful. She runs out and Jimmy follows her. She tells him that everyone has turned on her and she doesn’t know why. This is when he tells her it may be about the settlement and maybe they need the money. She asks him for advice and he tells her to ‘follow her heart’. The actress playing Mrs. Landry is so sweet, too. This may be the worst thing that Jimmy has done yet.

MIKE

“I don’t know what you do but Mr. Fring must think you’re quite good at it.”
Lydia

Mike meets with Lydia at the very large and modern Madrigal office. Mike is to be hired, temporarily, as a ‘logistics consultant’ by Madrigal via Gus Fring in order to launder his money. Mike suggest ‘security consultant’ and Lydia goes with it.

“I’m concerned about what happens when you put my real name in your books.” Mike says, balking at handing her his driver’s license and social security card.

Lydia assures her that he would be only one of over 100 thousand employees worldwide and that her real name is on the books. This doesn’t ease Mike’s concerns.

“You seem to be risking a lot for a drug dealer.” Mike says.
“If that’s all you think he is then you don’t know Gustavo Fring.” Lydia responds.

When Mike signs the employee application it’s with great effort and so much apprehension. He’s not just signing a piece of paper, he’s selling his soul and he knows it.

NACHO

“Everything moves through the Chilean” Don Bola

Gus and Hector meet to get on a conference call with Don Eladio’s people. They’re told that they prefer using Gus’ people to ship their drugs but that Hector’s territory will always be his. Hector doesn’t like it. Hector gets so worked up he has a seizure. He reaches for his pills as Nacho looks on anxiously but he recovers and doesn’t need to take one.

“Fuck Eladio! Fuck Bola! And fuck you!” Hector shouts a she leaves.

Nacho meets with his father to give him the heads up about Hector wanting to use his legit business to smuggle drugs from Mexico. He tells him to do what he asks and not do anything stupid. His father is so disappointed and asks him to leave his house. It’s a heartbreaking scene.

CHUCK

“This is MY firm. I built it. Your father was working in a 2 room office when I joined him, and you, I tutored for the bar exam. You’re not kicking me out.” Chuck

Over at HHM their malpractice insurance company wants to double their premiums thanks to Jimmy. Chuck threatens to take them to court if they don’t change their minds and just like that the meeting is over. Howard, however, is concerned. He suggests that he retire which Chuck rejects.

“What if I told you it’s more than a suggestion?”

Chuck attempts to show him that he’s better. He turns on the lights and grabs a lamp and with a wincing look of pain on his face he tells Howard that he’s better.

“This is not what better looks like.” Howard tells him. “I can’t be partnered with a man whose judgment I no longer trust.”

When Howard gets a letter from Chuck he believes it to be his letter of resignation but it turns out to be a notification that he’s going to sue HHM. Howard goes over to Chuck’s house where he is surprised that the lights are on and Chuck is cooking even using an electric blender! But it’s all for show. Chuck is looking to be bought out for 8 million which he knows HHM can’t cover.

“If you think I’m trouble now as your partner? Imagine me as your enemy” Chuck tells him.

KIM

Kim meets with Billy Gatwood, owner of Gatwood Oil and friend of Mesa Verde CEO, Kevin. His operation has extended into Mexico territory and they want to tax him. She comes up with a solution to offer to pay them for ‘damages’ in lieu of taxes. Billy likes the idea but he needs this to be resolved in two weeks, the end of the quarter. Kim says she can do it but you feel a sick feeling in your gut that she is overextended, especially when he car gets stuck in the dirt and when she managers to get it moving it almost lurches into an oil platform. She’s barely hanging in there.

At the end of the episode, Kim is busily trying to put proposal notebooks together for the Gatwick Oil meeting and she’s running very late. Jimmy comes in holding a bottle of Zafiro. He’s excited because Sandpiper settled! He wants to celebrate but Kim is really stressed out. Jimmy is so insensitive to Kim’s situation. She’s happy for him but she’s under the gun. Jimmy notices that she pulled another all nighter. She’s been burning both ends of the candle all season just dealing with Mesa Verde. So when she’s driving and going over her proposal out loud it’s no surprise that she falls asleep and crashes her car. It’s a quick cut from her driving to the crash balloon popping in her face. It’s a scary effect and anyone who has fallen asleep while driving for even a second will recognize how scary that feeling is. Kim is pretty badly hurt and all her papers are flying everywhere. Does this end her business with both Gatwood Oil and Mesa Verde? Plus how badly is she hurt? She was holding her arm. Poor Kim.

SIDE SAUL

The Zafiro anejo is the same bottle that Gus brought Don Eladio in season four that contained the poison that took out the entire cartel by the pool.

I will assume we will see what happened to ‘Gene’ in the season finale. If you remember, Gene (Jimmy, Saul) past out on the Cinnabon floor in the season opener.

I’m going to guess that Hector is going to meet with nacho’s dad and he will refuse Hector and that is when Hector has the seizure that will put him in the wheelchair (ding ding!)

How will Jimmy deal with Kim’s accident? Will Kim blame Jimmy? She only took on the extra work to help out paying the rent on the offices.

Will we see Jimmy and Chuck have one more scene next week? Will it be reconciliatory or even more devastating?

“Our country is ablaze. If only our ancestors could see the chaos of modern America.” Jeremiah Otto

The clever opening of this episode was terrific. It opens with a grainy video. One you would see late at night on some local cable channel. It shows Jeremiah Otto (Dayton Callie) talking about 9/11 and warning people of ‘foreign nationals’ and that the ‘great American experiment has failed’. Jeremiah put out a 4 part video telling people how to prepare for ‘TEOTWAKI’ which stands for ‘The End Of The World As We Know It”.
We see his wife and two young sons (Jake and Troy) by his side. “If you’re going to plan for a future plan for a better one!” So the Broke Jaw Ranch is what came from his preparations.

MADISON

Killing people is not complicated, it’s simple.  Madison

The community hold a service for “Charlotte’ Jake’s co-pilot on the chopper who also happened to be Jeremiah’s goddaughter.  Madison took the opportunity to offer her condolences and also eulogize Travis. “He was our compass” she says. She is determined to make it work here even though some of the others are giving the Clarks the stink eye. When she returns to the housing Jeremiah provided them (bunk beds) she finds Troy tucked in to Nick’s bed waiting for her. He is smitten alright but Madison seems to know how to deal with him.  She gets him to leave without incident but as he exits she throws in “That was made this morning, Troy”. Troy obediently follows her instruction and makes the bed.

Madison goes to Jeremiah and Jake to complain about Troy and asking for help getting the others in the compound to accept her and her family.  Jeremiah tells her that they need to earn their trust on their own and tells Jake to show her the 4 part video that we saw a part of in the opening. Jake assures her that he will make sure that Troy doesn’t bother them and she sits down to watch the videos. She also finds a video of outtakes that show that Jeremiah’s wife was erratic, an alcoholic and Jeremiah yelling at the kids.  He walks in as she’s watching this and explains that he and his wife both had booze issues and that she passed away before the apocalypse happened. He explains this is why he’s more lenient on Troy, the younger son.

“We will build something better than before. It won’t be easy Madison, do you think your family’s up to it?” Jeremiah
“Absolutely.” Madison replies.

She further tries to ingratiate herself to the community by volunteering to join a search party. It seems that the team that was sent to one of their other outposts (How many do they have?) never returned.

ALICIA

Alicia gets the best scenes in this episode as far as I’m concerned. As they are in line to get their breakfast, a young girl named Gretchen invites her to join their bible study group that evening. Alicia tries to get out of the invite graciously.

“We’re Jewish” Alicia
“Great! We’ll do Old Testament!” Gretchen

Nice try, Alicia. But when Gretchen leads Alicia down into a bunker where the rest of the bible study kids are she and the audience is pleasantly surprised to find that this was just a meeting of teen age kids getting high with home made bongs and booze. The bible study leader is Geoff, a severed walker head they keep in a birdcage. It triggered flashbacks to the other TWD show and the Governor’s museum of walker heads. Geoff’s mouth is still moving and making walker sounds.

“Geoff has a question for you. What’s it like out there?” Gretchen says.

Alicia thrills them with her description of the outside world and how she’s actually killed a person. She warns them about Troy.

“You can’t rely on the Troys of the world,” she says. “Sometimes you have to handle your own shit.”

She’s their new hero. And mine!

NICK

Nick can’t help being Nick. He wants to go. Luciana (who’s recovering nicely, thank you) also wants to go. But even though Nick doesn’t like the place or trust anyone, he trusts his mom. At least, for the time being. She also tells him to stay away from Troy. So what happens? Troy invites him along for some night hunting and sure enough Nick hops in the car and off they go.

Of course, while out in the woods Troy and Nick are really hunting each other and Nick gets the jump on Troy. He pulls out a gun and fires at Troy! I thought for a second that he actually had killed him but no, just playing around. Then the boys tussle and have a roll in the dirt.

“I think we can be friends now.” Troy says laughingly. It makes some sense. These are two messed up kids around the same age. Of course, they’re going to bond. I don’t think Luciana is going to like this one bit.

STRAND

Meanwhile, Strand has a plan. He sets out to find an old business associate of his and Thomas’ from before the apocalypse started. He arrives at a dam where hundreds of people are lines up for water. He’s looking for a man named Dante and he finds him. They reminisce about the old days over a few drinks. But then Dante wants to show him something. On the dam. Once out there, Dante’s henchmen have a guy sitting on the railing. Apparently, this guy displeased Dante. So they throw him off the dam and he lands on a huge pile of bodies or I should saw, walkers, who immediately start devouring this poor fellow. To his utter surprise, it seems Strand is next! It turns out Dante may have been an associate but he wasn’t a happy one and now He is in charge and Strand will do what He says. Strand gets tossed into a cell. Someone tosses him a canteen of water. And lo and behold, that someone is Daniel Salazar!

“I told you I’d be your guardian angel”

SIDE BITES

Now is Daniel an angel?  A figment of Strand’s imagination?  Is he that dehydrated? My feeling is no, Daniel is alive!

Did you notice Madison choosing to sit next to Troy instead of Nick and Alicia? Then she placed a napkin on Troy’s knee? She is one smart cookie. She is not only flirting with Troy but acting like his absent mom. Also kinda creepy.

Who shot at the chopper? And why? A rival survivalist group?

Where is Ofelia? I thought she was going to get captured by border patrol militia as well. Perhaps she’s with this other group that was shooting at the chopper.

Season 3 started with a bang! FTWD hit the ground running and it felt almost like a reset of sorts. I very much like the direction the show is taking even though we lost a major character right off the bat. It was shocking! I was stunned but I understand why it had to happen and it really sets the table for how the other characters will be affected by it and really the trajectory of the whole show.

Season 3 started with a bang! FTWD hit the ground running and it felt almost like a reset of sorts. I very much like the direction the show is taking even though we lost a major character right off the bat. It was shocking! I was stunned but I understand why it had to happen and it really sets the table for how the other characters will be affected by it and really the trajectory of the whole show.

EPISODE 1 – EYE OF THE BEHOLDER

The militia that wiped out Luciana’s people at the end of last season is front and center as we start season three. Travis, Madison and Alicia have also been captured by the militia but Travis is separated from the women because he looks Mexican (Maori, you bastards!). He gets put in the basement where he discovers Nick and the wounded Luciana. The militia is experimenting with the darker skinned prisoners. They are killing them and timing how soon they turn.

Creepy young militia leader Troy (Daniel Sharman) calls it ‘science’ but its pure racism through and through.  Troy is a sadist and the new big bad. But he does have a sweet spot for Madison. Lucky girl!

Travis and Nick meet a friendly in the basement and they plan an escape. They get out of the basement but Travis lags behind to slow down the militia men allowing Nick and Luciana to climb down into the sewer.  Their new friend doesn’t fare so well.  He gets shot and for good measure, he gets his throat slit and dumped in the sewer so he can turn and then turn on Nick and Luciana. Luciana tries to convince Nick to leave her behind because she’s holding him up but he refuses. “Nunca!” Never would he leave her!  They eventually find a way out of the sewer but they find hundreds of walkers waiting for them. They follow them into the sewer. Great!

Troy was going to go easy on Travis in order to win points with Madison but after the escape attempt Troy decides to toss Travis in “the pit’.  The pit is a deep ditch filled with walkers! Travis has to fight like he’s never fought before! He uses cement blocks and metal rods and some good old fashioned foot stomping’!

Cliff Curtis as Travis Manawa – Fear the Walking Dead _ Season 3, Episode 1 – Photo Credit: Michael Desmond/AMC

Madison and Alicia plan an escape of their own. They overtake Troy when he walks back into his office. Alicia sneaks out while Madison grabs a spoon and shoves it in Troy’s right eye! She threatens to scoop it out if he doesn’t help her escape.  Alicia tries to sneak away and runs across a grate where she sees Nick and Luciana fighting cohort now turned walker.  She drops her knife down the grate and Luciana manages to grab it and stab the walker in the back of the skull!  Alicia gets captured. Madison finds herself surrounded once outside. Troy’s brother, Jake (Sam Underwood), talks her down and assures her that he will help her find her family.  He seems to be a decent guy and unaware of what his brother was up to.  Then Alicia comes over, always an afterthought.

The episode ends with one of the militia men getting attacked through an air vent and getting sucked into the wall. These seem to be the walkers Nick let into the facility through the sewer.

SIDE BITES

This is a really good beginning! Lots of action and we get introduced to these two brothers who are going to figure prominently this season.  Travis finally shows some bravado!

EPISODE 2 – THE NEW FRONTIER

The second episode picks up right away. Madison thanks Travis for saving Nick and says she’s sorry to him for Chris.  They share a short tender moment as they prepare to move out. “I’m with you” Travis tells her. But the moment gets interrupted by a swarm of walkers coming out of the buildings.  Soon they are surrounded and separated (Again!) Madison and Nick fighting together while Travis picks up the weak Luciana and carries her to a chopper with Alicia close behind. Troy, of all people, comes to Madison and Nick’s rescue and they jump in the back of his truck. She looks over at Travis as if to say, “Sorry!” Jake is flying the chopper that Travis and company are in.  They make their escape and head to the compound that the brothers run with their father.

Then, tragedy strikes! The chopper starts taking fire! Travis gets hit in the neck! Whaaaaaaat??? He unfastens his seat belt and opens the door. Alicia tries to stop him but Travis knows he’s a goner and he throws himself out of the chopper!

Some have been saying he’s not dead, that he’s hiding under ‘a dumpster’ but I don’t think so. Travis is gone.  Just when he started showing real bravado, too.

The chopper lands and Jake and his co-pilot and Alicia and Luciana try to reach the compound on foot. While standing guard that night his co-pilot, apparently a woman Jake knew from childhood is attacked and killed by walkers.  Jake has trouble using his rifle and luckily, Alicia comes to his rescue.

Two things here: 1) Jake doesn’t seem to have much experience with guns or walkers. 2) Alicia and Jake gonna get together.

Meanwhile, the truck convoy does make it to the compound but, when they find out that the chopper has not, they make Madison and Nick wait outside the gates. Eventually the patriarch of the place, Jeremiah Otto (Dayton Callie) comes out to greet them. He asks Madison is Travis is the sort that would want to try and take control of the chopper.  Madison assures him that he wouldn’t do that, that they were together and he would want to reach the compound.  Jeremiah allows them in but he’s a little annoyed that they aren’t more grateful.  Nick doesn’t like it but Madison urges him to stay calm and trust her. She also lets him know that she secretly swiped a hand gun in case anything should occur.

The next day Alicia and Jake carry Luciana into the compound.  Luciana is close to death so Troy is more than ready to do the honors and take her out.  Nick pretends that he would like to do it and instead turns the gun on Troy.  Madison makes him give it up and thankfully, Jeremiah allows Luciana to be looked after by their medical team.  Alicia tells Madison about Travis and she is devastated.

Nick is all for leaving the place, which is called ‘Broke Jaw Ranch’ but Madison is thinking long term.  She tells Nick and Alicia that they will stay there and make it their home even if they have to take it over (shades of Rick Grimes here).

We also get to see what Strand has been up to. The hotel continues to be overrun by people trying to get in. They almost lose control when Elena and Hector are attacked through the fence. Strand then tells everyone he is a doctor and that they will let everyone in and he will treat them.  This calms the crowd and he manages to tend to the minor needs that most of them had.  But when a pregnant woman is about to give birth and he is called into action Strand balks.  He has no choice though and he manages to help deliver a healthy baby. Elena and Hector though are worried what will happen if people find out they’ve been lying about Strand being a doctor and ask him to leave. Luckily, he is asked to make one last house call on a patient that has been refusing to eat.  He takes a plate of food into the person’s room and finds out it’s the mother of the bride. She looks awful.  She apologizes for shooting him before and gives him a little present, a small box.  It was probably meant for the bride and groom. Strand opens it and looks very happy. But she isn’t and walks out on the balcony and jumps. Strand takes his leave and heads for the hotel garage.  Apparently, a set of car keys was in the box! Strand takes off for who knows where

SIDE BITES

Troy’s eye is healing pretty fast.

Jake seems to be the good son but that could also mean ‘weak’ son.

Love Dayton Callie! Remember he and Kim Dickens were on Deadwood together.  They have a nice chemistry. Is he a bad guy or not? I’m not sure yet but he’s a good actor and I like where this is heading.