Monthly Archives: November 2018

“This wasn’t a usual herd. they were whispering to each other” Eugene

“If they can learn to talk maybe they can learn strategy” Jesus

Well as far as mid season finales go this one was pretty tame until the last 15 minutes and then shit got real and then real sad. We lost another regular and it was completely unexpected. The Jesus-Aaron romance was over before it even got started!

COLD OPEN

Daryl, Aaron and Jesus observe a herd of walkers. They’re just milling around. They’ve never seen walkers do this before. Daryl tosses a ringing clock into the field to direct the herd and they move on. We see one of the walkers slowly turn its head toward the sound but not move. Mmmmmmm.

HILLTOP

“I didn’t make the choices I made because I thought they’d be easy. At least they’re alive so they can hate me for it” Michonne

Machine and Sadiq arrive at Hilltop with Magna and her people. They are not greeted warmly. They have to leave their weapons at the gate and enter unarmed. Tara is steely eyed when she greets Michonne. What happened between these two common cities that has caused such distrust?

“I know what you went through, and I get why this is hard for you. But we’ve all lost something. You and me we both lost children and we kept going for each other. We’ve always been a family.” Carol to Machine

Michonne and Carol have an awkward reunion. What happened between them that has caused such a rift? Michonne and Carol have a little talk. Whatever happened in the last six years has made Michonne want to cut of all contact with the other communities. Carol wants her to let Alexandria participate in the upcoming ‘Fair ’but Michonne will not agree. They seem happy to see each other but obviously a lot has happened between them that we do not yet know. The Kingdom is having serious problems it seems. I’m not sure what this ‘Fair’ is – perhaps a time for all communities to get together and exchange goods? Michonne wants no part of it.

Sadiq tries to convince Michonne to make amends with Hilltop but she is not willing. Rosita awakes from her slumber to warn Sadiq and Michonne that they don’t know what they’re up against with this new bunch of walkers.

HENRY

“I’m gonna make you proud” Henry

You already have” Carol

Carol has brought Henry to Hilltop to apprentice as a blacksmith. He has a crush on Enid but Enid and Alden look to be an item now much to Henry’s dismay.

The other teenagers of hilltop take in Henry and show him how they party, They show him a ditch where they’ve captured a walker and plan to play with it like a toy. The young woman walks away, not not the game they’e playing. Henry isn’t into it either. He jumps into the pit and kills the walker which makes the other young boys angry. Henry ends up getting thrown in the pokey for being drunk and disorderly and throwing up on Tara’s boots!

The old blacksmith Earl Sutton has a heart to heart with Henry and decides to give him a second chance.

NEGAN

“You know I read something fascinating the other day. You know what a smell is? It’s when odor molecules activate neurons in your nasal passages. So every time you come in here and change my bed pan and smell my shit, something that was actually in my ass goes right up your nose.” Negan to Father Gabriel

Father Gabriel is having a mediation session with Negan. A futile exercise. Negan seems to like “Gabey’ but he sure loves to needle him. The padre of course, is on edge lately because his girlfriend, Rosita, is hurt and far away in Hilltop. Negan teases him about hearing all kinds of gossip from his prison window, he even heard Rosita talking about somebody not necessarily the padre. But even Father Gabriel gets fed up with Negan’s BS.

“It’s bad enough I gotta to clean up your shit I shouldn’t have to listen to it too.” Father Gabriel

Later that night we see Negan throwing a ball against his cell wall and catching it just like Steve McQueen in The Great Escape.Negan is the new ‘Cooler King”! When the ball bounces out of his cell, Negan gets depressed until he tries something. Negan kicks his prison gate open – it wasn’t even locked. Perhaps Father Gabey wa so upset earlier he forgot to lock the door behind him. He picks up the ball, smiles an tosses the ball over his shoulder and smiles. He’s free! What will he do? Where will he go?

THE FOG

“You are where you don’t belong” Whispering Zombie to Jesus

Daryl, Aaron and Jesus find Eugene hiding in a barn. He’s scared out of his mind! He no sooner tells them that these walkers are talking and circling back to find them then the herd comes back again. Daryl and dog try to divert them but these walkers aren’t falling for the same old tricks! The gang gets trapped behind an iron rod fence as the walkers creep towards them in the dense fog. Creepy as hell. Aaron and Jesus fight valiantly and Daryl comes along as well but if Michonne and Magna and friends had not showed up they would have been toast!

As they pry an escape through the fence Jesus holds off the herd in gymnastic combat style until he swings at one walker who ducks and evades his attack coming up behind Jesus and stabbing him through the back! They got Jesus! Daryl kills the walker and upon further investment funds that this walker is wearing a disguise! Daryl cuts off the mask and reveals a normal human underneath! Ladies and gentleman! The Whisperers have arrived!

SIDE BITES

The graveyard sequence was one of the best of the show. It was pure horror movie with graveyards and fog and slo mo Jesus!

Jesus smashing that walker’s head against the tombstone was awesome!

I’ve tried to defend father Gabriel for a long time but I am growing weary with his sad face.

Will Daryl ever find love? Maybe with Rumiko, the newbie who also has a way with arrows?

5 THINGS I THINK I KNOW

1 Tara becomes the new leader of Hilltop which will bring her in direct conflict with Michonne.

2 Aaron, devastated by the death of Jesus will become reckless in his quest for vengeance.

3 The Whisperers will prove to be an aggressive adversary

4 Negan will join up with The Whisperers.

5 Many more deaths in the back 8 episodes – I predict Aaron!

OK, folks, we’ll see you in February! It should be an exciting 8 episodes! I’m looking forward to seeing what these Whisperers are all about! And finding out about Michonne and Dary’ls scars!!

A lot of info coming out in these first post- Rick episodes! We’re still getting to know the newbies but also getting the blanks filled in about what has happened to our regulars in the last six years.

The cold open is one the best and creepiest the show has done. We see Rosita scrambling through the forest, as if being chased. She’s bloody and scared and keeps hearing voices. Eugene is not with her! What happened to him? Are these walkers really chasing her? She runs out of steam and passes out! Opening credits!

One thing I forgot to mention about last weeks episode was the big scar in the shape of an X on Michonne’s back. In this episode, we see that Daryl has a similar scar on the same part of his back along with multiple other scars that look like he had been whipped. Did they meet up with another villainous group during those six years? How many others have these scars in their backs?  Does this have anything to do with the seemingly bad blood between Michonne and Maggie and why Michonne hasn’t seemed to have left Alexandria in a long time and don’t go to The Hilltop? Will we get any of these answers in the mid-season finale? I’m thinking, no.

THE HILLTOP

Maggie is gone. Jesus got a letter from her and she and Little Hershel are well, don’t worry. They’re with Georgie! Wherever she is. Meanwhile, Jesus has been voted the new leader, a role he is not eager to take. Tara has taken on the job of his second in command which, for now, means she’s taking care of everything.

There’s a great scene between a Jesus and Aaron where Aaron surprises Jesus by knocking him off his horse and doing combat. It reminded me of Cato and Inspector Clouseau going at it in the Pink Panther films! Jesus is trading him but could there be more than combat training on their minds?

Before any shenanigans could happen they find Rosita. She tells them she left Eugene in a barn but she first remember where. They take her back to Hilltop then plan to go back out to search for Eugene.

DARYL THE WOODSMAN (AND DOG)

“Look, I know you still think I’m lookin’ for him. Never found a body. Ever. After a while it just got easier to stay out.” Daryl

Carol and Henry find Daryl and he takes them to his camp. he seems rather annoyed that they’re there. He has a pet dog he calls ‘Dog’ who brings him the hand of a walker he’s found. Good boy! Carol wants Daryl to go to Hilltop to look after Henry who wants to learn to be a smith. Daryl is not keen on the idea. He likes being alone. He’s still looking for Rick. They never found a body. So sad! Carol gives him a haircut and I mean that literally, she only cut a few hairs.

Henry is not impresses with this vagabond that his mom speaks so highly of. Later that night, however, they have a bit of an adventure, rescuing Dog from some walkers stuck in the mud. Of course, Carol was in the shadows with her bow and arrow just in case they needed some help. They have a heart to heart and Henry tells Daryl that his mom misses him and worries about him. In the morning, Daryl agrees to go to Hilltop and mentor the young squire.

THE ROAD TO HILLTOP

“I know what it’s like to worry about your family. Carry the burden of protecting them. To feel guilt when they suffer.” Michonne

Michonne won’t let Magna and the newbies stay at Alexandria but has agreed to escort them to Hilltop. She may admit that she likes them but she still doesn’t trust them. She also refuses to go all the way to Hilltop. It seems that her and Maggie had some sort of falling out. Sadiq tells her that Maggie has left to work with Georgie so she shouldn’t stay away from Hilltop. I wonder what the falling out was over and if it has anything to do with those mysterious scars on her back?

They take the newbies back to their camp and find that all of their friends had been killed and now walkers. They gather what they can of their belongings and continue on. Machine confiscates their weapons though and won’t let them have them back. Trust is a tough nut to crack. We find that Luke has been collecting musical instruments. He believes that part of rebuilding civilization is art, music. This leads to a tense moment that turns out to be funny and tragic! In the middle of the night Michonne hears something. I was thinking it was going to turn out to be Eugene but she finds Luke hovering over something. She takes out her katana and tells him to turn around and when he does she sees he’s holding something so she strikes! Turns out he was holding a violin and she has sliced it in two. It was the stradivarius. Bummer.

In the morning they wake to find a herd of walkers coming their way. Machine lets them have their weapons back and they all handle themselves well, except Luke, who grabs his bag of instruments instead. Unfortunately, one of the walkers is Magna’s boyfriend who was easily spotted due to the paisley shirt he always would wear to annoy her. Michonne handled killing him with sensitivity by not just slicing his head into but gently stabbing him in the back of the neck. Magna was a sobbing mess. Michonne was very sympathetic because she understands that kind of loss.

Once they got back on the road they are approached by two men in horseback wearing Kingdom-style armor. One of them looked like the Man of La Mancha and he told them that they had found one of their people, Rosita and she was safe at The Hilltop.

Carol, Daryl and Henry arrive at Hilltop ahead of Michonne. It was a very warm reunion for everyone. But as soon as they arrive daryl rides off with Jesus and Aaron to look for Eugene.

Looks like next week’s mid-season finale is going to be a nail biter! TWD has gotten scary again!

SIDE BITES

Michael Cudlitz (Abraham) made his directorial debut with this episode. He did an excellent job! Andrew Lincoln also plans to come back to direct future episodes!

Did anyone catch C. Thomas Howell in this episode? he was the Man of La Mancha guy that greets Michonne and company on the road and tells them about Rosita.

If anyone watch Talking Dead after the episode you saw a very stoned out of his mind Gary Fogler (Luke). He was hilarious and Michael Cudlitz could not stop laughing!

Special surprise guest on Talking Dead was Madison Lintz who played Sophia! Sophia is all grown up! She shared the couch with her brother Matt Lintz who now plays Henry.

5 THINGS I THINK I KNOW

1 Michonne will arrive at a Hilltop and we will find out what the bad blood between her and Maggie is.

2 Enid and Henry sitting in a tree! Oh it’s happening!

3 Well now that Connie is staying at Hilltop and not Alexandria  thinking she can become Tara’s new love interest

4 I think Daryl and Luke will be a great comic pairing!

5 Special unknown guest of Talking Dead next week means one thing; someone’s gonna die! I’m thinking it will be Aaron!

So much to say! This episode was more like the first episode of a new show. Rick is gone but it looks like Michonne is still seriously grieving. The show leaps ahead six years and from what I can tell they have been peaceful years. Alexandria looks like a whole new place with a windmill and new buildings.
Oh, and Michonne has a son! His name is RJ aka Rick Grimes Jr.! Wow!

Judith is 10 now and she wears Rick/Carl’s hat, Rick’s gun and a mini katana. Everyone looks after her like a golden goose. She is, after all, Rick Grimes’ daughter. She’s gone out and saved a group of strangers and brought them back to Alexandria. This is something Carl would have and did do in the past. Michonne is not happy about this. She’s the leader now, though they have a Community Council, she’s still the final word on anything. The newbies are an interesting crew: Magna (Nadia Hilker), the leader, Luke (Dan Fogler), the new comic relief, Connie (Lauren Ridloff) and Kelly (Angel Theory) are a pair of sisters. They communicate with sign language as Connie is deaf. They are brought before the council and make their case for being allowed to stay and we get to know a little about each of them in the process. Michonne is against it at first but relents in the end. She doesn’t trust them but does she have reason not to?

We see an older Grace who calls Aaron ‘daddy’. Judith likes to hang out with Negan in the afternoons while she does her math homework. He’s very sweet with her and she treats him like a kind bear join the zoo she likes to visit. She’s sassy but I don’t find her too precocious.

I wasn’t prepared to see father Gabriel making out with Rosita. What the hell? The padre has gotten more action than anyone else in the apocalypse! You can see Eugene is unhappy about this because he’s in love with Rosita. Who wouldn’t be? So we have a good old fashioned romantic triangle brewing though I never expected it to be between this trio. Father Gabriel sends Eugene and Rosita on a mission to set up a relay for the radio to try and strengthen the signal. This is when they get taken by surprise by a herd of walkers. There seem to be a lot more herds of walkers roaming the countryside than ever before!

Eugene was prepared to sacrifice himself to save Rosita and almost professed his love but instead they both hide by the side of the road and cover themselves with mud while the herd passes. Things get really creepy when they overhear one of the walkers speak! “Don’t let them get away!” My guess is these aren’t walkers but actually the new big bad, The Whisperers which is taken from the comics. They disguise themselves as walkers and lord knows what awful things they are up to.

THE KINGDOM

Meanwhile, life looks pretty serene at the Kingdom. Long, grey haired Carol is happily married to King Ezekiel and raising Henry as they own son. Henry is as ornery as ever! he dares back sass the King!

While on the road back home Carol and Henry get hijacked by a group of Saviors, the same ones that confronted Carol 6 years back at Tent City. They take their supplies and even take Carol’s wedding ring! Henry can’t believe that Carol would allow them to do this without a fight! But don’t worry, later that night, Carol sneaks up on these Saviors, gets her ring back and sets them all on fire! It’s good to see that she hasn’t tapered off!

SIDE BITES

I love Carol’s new long white hair. Very sexy!

Michonne has a hot new hairdo too!

Daryl is now living in the woods all by himself. Rick’s death must have hit him hard.

Machine talks to Rick when she’s alone. Rick used to talk to Lori on an old telephone after she was killed in Season Three.

Matt Lintz who plays Henry is the brother of Madison Lintz who played Sophia and Macsen Lintz who played young Henry.

5 THINGS I THINK I KNOW

1 The new people probably know about the Whisperers, perhaps had run into them before.

2 Magna will become Michonne’s “Daryl”

3 Connie and Saddiq will become a cute couple!

4 Eugene and Rosita become a couple in the comics but its hard to see on the show unless Father Gabriel gets knocked off.

5 I have a feeling we will keep having helicopter sightings.

“It feels like it’s ending.” Rick Grimes

Well, I called it! The helicopter came in and swooped up our hero like a deus ex machine and flew him to safety! We think. We don’t know who these people are or what they plan to do with Rick. What we do know, courtesy of Scott M. Gimple, is that Andrew Lincoln has agreed to do a trio of Rick Grimes films that will reveal what happened to him. Could these ‘others’ be working on a cure? Could Rick Grimes fly in at the end of the series (when that time comes) and bring the cure? Wouldn’t that be something?

I was dreading how TWD was going to deal with losing Rick Grimes. It looked bad at the end of last week’s episode but Rick pulled himself off that rebar and mounted that white steed! He managed to stay alert just barely enough to keep from being bit and eaten, all the while, having a fever dream and being listed by the ghosts of seasons past.

“I’m looking for my family” Rick

First up was Shane. So great to see Jon Bernthal back and seeing those two back in uniform and in their old cruiser having lunch. But they speak to each other with full knowledge of all that has happened through the present. Shane even goes there regarding Judith:

“Oh is that what you’re doing? Looking for your family, huh? See that’s not entirely the truth. One could argue it’s my family that you’re looking for, right? How is my baby girl, by the way? She’s got my eyes, doesn’t she?”

They have great chemistry in the scene and Shane takes credit for making Rick an asshole, the kind of asshole that was needed to survive.

Next up he is visited by a clean shaven Hershel. They meet in the barn and Hershel calls him over to look at this beautiful sunset. They share a deeply felt hug. We’ve all missed Hershel. Rick apologizes for losing Beth and Glenn and for the pain he’s caused Maggie but Hershel tells him that Maggie is strong and he doesn’t need to worry about her. It was bittersweet to see the late Scott Wilson in his last performance. He was always such a calming presence and the epitome of humanity. Rest in peace, Scott Wilson.

“I’m tired, Hershel. My family… maybe I can find them here.” Rick
“No rick, you have to wake up.” Hershel

Then Rick finds himself in the hospital again, the one he was in at the very beginning when he woke up from that coma. He walks down the hall towards the double doors with the warning “Don’t Open – Dead Outside”. He opens the door and walks through and finds himself walking through a massive pile of bodies, bodies of all those he loved. Sasha pops up and offers comforting words.

“They’re all dead” Rick
“Yes and it’s ok.” Sasha
“How can this be ok?” Rick

Sasha tells him that he did his part and that everyone did their part. They gave each other strength and passed it on. She was like an angel in this scene, giving Rick some peace of mind.

“Little things do end. But it’s never the end of everything. Because we don’t die. It’s not about you, or me, or any one of us. It’s about all of us.” Sasha

MAGGIE

“I came to kill Negan. And you’re already worse than dead. That settles it.” Maggie

Maggie arrives at Alexandria to get her justice. Michonne meets her at the door of Negan’s cell. She tries to stop her but Maggie convinces her to let her pass. It’s a short but powerful scene. Negan isn’t surprised to see her and wonders why it took her so long. He does what Negan does best, taunts her by talking about how much pleasure he got from bashing Glenn’s head in. Maggie keeps yelling at him to get on his knees. Soon he is telling her to do it.

She drags him out of the cell and throws him against the wall. He is reduced to a blubbering pathetic fool. He wants her to put him out of his misery so he can be with his wife, Lucille. She realizes that he’s not worth killing. He’ll suffer more staying in that cell. When she comes out, her and Michonne are alerted to a problem at the bridge. Off they go for the grand finale.

THE BRIDGE

“I found them.” Rick Grimes

After his vision with Sasha, Rick falls off his horse and finds himself back at Tent City. There are a bunch of walkers there that were part of The Kingdom which indicates that some people were killed in the Carol – Saviors stand off that we saw the beginning of last week. He shoots a few but then the rest of the herd arrives. he makes his way to the bridge. The herd follows. He falls. It looks like the end. Then the cavalry arrives! Daryl and the others start killing those bad walkers while Michonne reaches Rick.

“It’s not over. We don’t die.” Michonne

She tells him that he is a fighter and he needs to fight. Rick realizes that he’s found his family and it’s Michonne, Daryl, Maggie, Eugene, carol, it’s all the people that he’s with. He then realizes something else. “This isn’t real”.

“Yes it is”, Michonne tells him and kisses him. “Now wake up”

No cavalry arrived. He’s on that bridge with hundreds of walkers. The bridge is holding! Just as he’s about to get bit an arrow shoots through the air! It’s Daryl! And it’s Maggie and Michonne and Carol and everyone else! They rush to help Rick but Rick doesn’t want them too. There’s too many walkers and if they cross that bridge they’ll head straight for The Hilltop.

Daryl keeps shooting arrows, killing walkers and buying Rick some time. Then the walkers knock over a crate of dynamite. Rick knows what he has to do. He raises his gun and fires. The bridge blows up and Rick with it. He saved his family.

The pain on Michonne’s face is gut wrenching as Maggie and Carol hold her. Seeing Daryl cry is always sad. He just turns and walks away, stunned.

THE HELICOPTER

“I’m trying to save a friend who saved me.” Jadis

Jades had promised the helicopter that she had an ‘A’, meaning to turn over Father Gabriel but she couldn’t do it. She was planning on overtaking the helicopter by force but as she waited in the clearing she could see the smoke from the explosion on the bridge. She sees the river filled with dead walkers drifting by and then a miracle happened. She sees a barely alive Rick on the river bank. She gets on her walkie talkie and tells them she has a ‘B’! What ‘A’ and ‘B’ mean we don’t know but the helicopter people make the deal to pick her up and her ‘B’. Next thing you know Rick is up in the air, flying to who knows where. Jades is telling him he’s going to live! The helicopter flies out of sight.

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

The scene change indicates some time has passed. We see some new people fending off attacking walkers. They’re surrounded until shots are fired and a path is cleared for them. They run into the woods and see a little girl. They ask her for her name. She picks up a big brown hair from the ground and puts it on. It’s Rick’s hat, The same hat that Carl wore for so many years.

“I’m Judith. Judith Grimes”

A new era begins.

SIDE BITES

The show is making a six year time jump!

Great use of a belt by Rick to pull himself up and off that rebar!

I love the call back scene of Rick riding into Atlanta – this time followed by a herd of walkers.

“She’s got the blade but you got the fire” Negan to Maggie

This episode marks the final episode for Jadis and Maggie. We’ll see Jadis in the Rick Grimes movies. When we see Maggie again will depend on how well her new ABC show does.

5 THINGS I THINK I KNOW

1 I don’t know what to expect! And that’s a good thing!

2 Negan makes friends with Judith.

3 The Whisperers are coming! Disguised as walkers!

4 Negan will finally be released from his cell in the Mid Season finale!

5 Already looking forward to Rick’s return for the final episodes of the show which I’m thinking will be around 2021