This episode centered on Siddiq and that’s not always a good thing. I always complain that there are too many characters on the show and that they need to be thinned out. I finally got my wish.

First though, Carole brought her prisoner back to Alexandria which infuriated Gabriel. They had to kick Lydia out of the cell to through this guy in. It looks like he won’t talk and then Lydia suggest using sugar instead of threats. Carole puts in her Homemaker Carol face and brings the prisoner homemade bread and various jams. At first, it looks like it’s gonna work until he spits it back in her face. He is never going to talk. Carol very calmly stands, outs her wedding ring on and starts beating the prisoner. Once Gabriel and Daryl pull her off, Siddiq and Dante come in and treat the prisoner. The prisoner looks at Siddiq and says “I know you” and Siddiq freaks out and Dante tells him to go outside.

Carol talks to Lydia and convinces her yo come gown to let the prisoner see her. Alpha has told her people that she killed Lydia so seeing her alive would shatter them. But by the time they return to the cell, the prisoner starts having seizures and dies. Dante discovers that he was given hemlock and suggests it was Siddiqs fault because he packed the medical bag.

Saddiq feels like he’s losing it. He has a long scene with Rosita where he opens up to get snd she comforts him snd gives him support. We’ve seen very few scenes of these two though we know they had a relationship and a child but this is the first time we see the attraction.

Poor Siddiq visits the old lady he’s been looking after that has whatever has been going around the community. And when he discovers Dante digging a grave and seeing that it’s the old lady he loses it. He sits by the man made lake they made and decided to end it. It made sense. I was expecting it. But the Rosita jumped in after him and saved him. She gives him a pep talk and he pulls himself together. He even has a ‘eureka’ moment and realizes that people are getting sick via the water filtration system.

He goes back to his room and Dante comes to visit. Saddiq has a new found energy. He seems like he’s about to recommit to bring better and helping people. And that’s when he realizes something. He knows Dante from somewhere else. He recognizes his voice. Dante was in the barn with him when Alpha was chopping heads. He was the Whisperer holding Saddiq down. Holy crap! Just as Saddiq realizes it Dante stabs him! Farewell, Saddiq! I did not expect it!

Meanwhile, on the borderline between Whisperer territory and Alexandria, Aaron and Gamma have been developing a flow moving trust. Alpha wants Gamma to get info from Aaron but Gamma has been drawn to Aaron’s decency and talking about how good they have it in Alexandria.

Carol convinces Lydia to take off with her and they get on horseback and end up in the bridge with Aaron and Gamma. Gamma seed Lydia and freaks out! Lydia realizes that Carol has used her to gain an advantage over Alpha and runs off on her own. Carol effed up!

5 Things I Think I Know

Dante is a twisted Mofo! But Rositas gonna take him out.

Carol has to make it up to Lydia but will end up captured by Alpha

Negan is gonna save Carol but not until the Mid Season premiere and hell do it without blowing his cover with The Whisperers.

Where’s Michonne been? Her and Judith gonna go on a killing spree in the mid season finale

Daryl is going to profess his love to Connie (in sign language of course)

NEW JERSEY 1985 THE DOOMSDAY CLOCK IS AT ONE MINUTE TO MIDNIGHT (TICK TOCK)

This was a Looking Glass-centric episode, also known as Wade Tillman wonderfully paid by Tim Blake Nelson. The first scene was effin awesome! We some a young wade coming to a New Jersey seaside town to spread the word of God to these sinful heathens when he encounters a young girl who leads him into the Fun House, making him think he was going to get lucky but steals his clothes and runs out, Before he can chase her a terrible thing happens. A sound shatters the fun house mirrors and causes him to bleed from the ears. He wanders out to discover hundreds of people are dead. The camera keeps pulling back and back and back all the way to New York City where we see a giant squid laying across the NYC skyscrapers and thousands are dead. Wade was there! And he has been traumatized by it.

This is why he is so obsessed with the study of squids and why he lives in a bunker and why he wears a mask. As Lori said in Episode 3, “people wear a mask to hide from the pain”. We see that Wade is in a lot of pain. He is estranged from his wife who he is still friendly with and who helps him with some free scientific assistance. It seems she still cares about him but his own issues have driven a wedge between them. The pills that Angela asked him to identify, he is told by his ex, is a drug called Nostalgia. It is a drug that are memories in pill form that can sometimes lead to psychosis. It is also a custom made drug so those pills contain Will’s memories.

We see Wade runs a company called Clarity Consumer Research. We see him do some market research studies on a come back to New York promo that even has Michael Imperioli saying “You know how we like our squid now? With some lemon juice and little marinara”. But Wade tells the group that people hated the promo. He reminds them that people are still traumatized by what happened when three million people died. “That was a long time ago, people have moved on”, he’s told. “Well, they’re not moving on to New York” he tells them.

“Hey Mirror Guy!” Lori to Wade

Lori calls Wade into her office and we get some background on Wade. “You were in New York on 11/2”, she reads. “You were near the psychic blast. Still have trouble sleeping?” Wade tells her that he sleeps just fine in a way that says that you know he is lying. He joined the force right after White Night which means he got to start wearing his mask, a reflective aluminum that protects him from future psychic blasts. His baseball cap also is lined with the same material. Lori also lets him know that she’s bugged the cactus on his desk and asks him what the pills are. He doesn’t know yet and he wouldn’t have told her if he did.

We see that Wade wears his mask all the time. When he’s at home he watches a porn film that has the Masked Avenger having anal sex with another costumed avenger. “Don’t look at me” the Masked Avenger tells him. “Why not? I know you’re beautiful under there.” Wade identifies with this. He is so vulnerable.

He also runs a help group for people who suffer trauma that stems from the events of 11/2. He tries to be strong. He tells them that when that ‘abomination’ transported into New York City it united the world and it prevented an almost certain nuclear war. A new person walks in. It’s Paula Malcomson! He leads the goup in their mantra and then runs into Renee (Malsomson) in the parking lot. She strikes up a conversation with Wade and they go for a drink. They flirt and Wade actually smiles. They call themselves cabs and have a little make out session outside the bar. “You’re right. I’m still inside the tunnel” Wade tells her. She gets in the truck that comes to pick her up and as it drives away a head of lettuce falls out the back. Wade follows it to a warehouse. He calls for back up. He searches the truck and finds gun. He ventures inside and sees a group of Kavalry teleporting basketballs. He tries to arrest them all which seemed like a crazy idea! It was. It was a set up. She lured him there. The gun was loaded with blanks.

Wade is taken to a room with a wall of video screens. He is joined by a Kavalry member whose voice he recognizes. “Are you even going to try to disguise your voice, Senator?” he asks. Sure enough it’s Senator Keene. Keene tells him that he came down to take charge of the Kavalry to keep more cops from getting killed. He controlled the Kavalry and his buddy Judd controlled the cops. “That ain’t true” Wade says. “Is anything true, detective?” Keene says. He then shows him a video. A shocking truth

Wade watches a video made by Adrian Veidt on 11/1/1985. The day before that giant squid gets teleported into New York City. He addresses the newly elected president Robert Redford. Though Redford won his election in 1992 and he first watched this video the day after he was sworn in in 1993, Veidt recorded the video years before. Veidt tells him that the squid that teleported into NYC was not from outer soace but sent by him. It was all a hoax intended to save the world which it did. Veidt is hoping with Redford’s help, to create a utopia, a gentler kinder world. He then says that over the next few hours he will further explain to Redford what he has in mind. We don’t see the rest of the video but we assume that wade watches it all.

The next morning, Wade puts on his mask and goes to work. Angela comes to his deask and Wade tells her that the pills are Nostalgia and that he wants to help her. Angela then tells him about Will and in turn has told Lori because of that damn cactus. “I’m sorry”, he tells her. Lori comes out of Judd’s office with her gun raised and places Angela under arrest but before they can cuff her she swallows a bunch of those pills.

Wade comes home to find the replacement security kit at his door. He throws it in the trash but goes back for it which means he hasn’t completely let go of his anxieties, He goes in the house and soon after a van pulls up and several Kavalry members with shot guns pile out and head for Wade’s door.

VEIDT TAKES FLIGHT

Meanwhile, Veidt and his clone servants have prepared for the final eperiment to take place. Veidt gets in his ‘space suit’ is attached to a long rop, gets in the catapult and is shot into the air! And just as many expected, he punctures the sky and ends up floating in space! He lands on what appears to be one of the moons of Julpiter! What we also see there are hundreds of Mr. Philips’ and Ms. Crookshanks’. Veidt proceeds to use these bodies, breaking limbs, if necessary, to create a distress signal. When the satellite passes by, someone on earth will see the message, “HELP ME, D”.

Who is D? His old friend Dan Drieberg? The Nite Owl? Suddenly, the rop is pulled and he is dragged back to his prison. His jailer on horseback, wearing a mask is very angry. He looks like Mr. Philips, perhaps the original. He indicates that Veidt will pay a price for his insolence. What might that be?

SIDE TOCKS

The episode makes good use of Wham’s Careless Whisper.

That image of the giant squid was amazing!

Wade is a sad man. Now that he knows the truth about the event that traumatized him what will he become now? Stronger or more pitiful?

Renee talks about seeing the Steven Spierlberg film about the events of 11/2 called Pale Horse which seems to be the film he made instead of Schindler’s List but uses the imagery of the little girl in the red coat walking around in the aftermath.

5 Things I Think I Know

1 Angela is going to learn so much reliving Will’s memories!

2 Will obviously meant for her to take them.

3 Judd was Kavalry all along!

4 Who is Veidt’s captor? He wears a mask too! He’s just the jailer. Lady Trieu is the one who put him in that prison.

5 Now that Paula Malcomsen (Deadwood, Ray Donavon) has made an appearance I expect her to play a major role. She’ll come to Looking Glass’ aid!

“I’m ready for my goddam skin suit” Negan

This was a fun episode. Seeing Negan and Beta together reminded me of Charles Gordon and Robert DeNiro In Midnight Run. They make a terrific comedy duo!

Negan has been captured by The Whisperers only Negan is a talker. Man, can he talk! And it is annoying the hell out of Beta who damn near takes his head off with a knife in both hands! Alpha stops him of course and tells him to teach him their ways. But Beta doesn’t trust him. He shouldn’t. Beta is against it but Alpha gets in his face and asks him if HE wants to be in charge. “Never!”, Beta tells her and then ‘bends the knee’. Negan gets a kick out of that.

There’s a nice montage of Beta showing Negan how to skin a walker and then digging a hole to cook up a wild boar that Negan has hunted down. But when the boar is done Beta won’t let him have any. No matter, the rank and file Whisperers have taken a shine to Negan and one of them shares his pork with him.

They go on a walk amongst the dead and Negan’s trying to convince Beta that he wants to join their merry band but Beta wants him gone so he ends up killing the guy that shared his food and leaves Negan to fend off the horde.

He should have been toast but he’s Negan! When he shows up back at camp alive and well Alpha is impressed. Negan bends the knee and Alpha leans in close to him and gives the Whisperer hi sign; forefinger to closed lips and a quiet “shhhhhhhhhh’.

Meanwhile Eugene has never been so popular! First, a sick Rosita calls him and asks when he’s coming back to Alex’s Dora. Does she miss him? He hopes. But then the radio goes haywire and by the time he fixes it and calls her back she’s in the infirmary. This illness looks like it’s turning into a problem. But Eugene connects with another woman on the line. They talk for a long time but are very careful not to overstate. Eugene doesn’t want you lose this new connection though. He agrees that they can talk as line at as. Arranged meeting place. Could she be Gamma?

Then there’s Daryl and Carol. Carol is not in her right mind. Daryl knows it but goes along with her plan to cross into Whisperer territory yet again! Carol says she just wants to observe them and perhaps discover where they’ve hidden their huge walker herd. But Carol st  er is on a noisy tee we if snd they are quickly surrounded by walkers and Whisperers. Daryl kills a walker and then smears himself with walker guts (that old chestnut) to go undetected. When he hooks up with Carol again she has captured a Whisperer! She brought hand ties with her meaning that was her plan all along. Daryl is angry but what can he do? She’s his bestie!

SIDE BITES

Carol asks Daryl about Connie. He shrugs it off. “It’s not that way”. Carol says “why not?”
That’s what I say, too. He and a Carol are just best friends. He and Connie have sparks.

Saddiq is losing time now. His PTSD is getting worse

What is this new virus going around? Are we going to have another outbreak like from Season Four in the prison?

No Michonne or Judith in this one. Expect a healthy dose of both in the next episode.
5 Things I Think I Know

1 Negan will ally with Gamma

2 the Whisperers like Negan. They will take his side over Alpha

3 Look, there are way too many characters! Ezekiel must die!

4 or I will accept Michonne taking Ezekiel to the Commonwealth where they may be able to

cure him.

5 Looks like Rosita misses Eugene. They’re going to end up together just like in the comic.

“Where does God go when he dies? He goes to Hell” Lori Blake

This episode brings back one of the original Watchmen, Silk Spectre, who is now an FBI agent who’s specialty is taking down vigilantes who wear masks. She calls herself Lori Blake now. It’s interesting that she took the name of her real father, The Comedian, Edward Blake, she’s even adapted his cynicism.

There are blue telephone booths where you can make a call to Mars and leave a message for Dr. Manhattan. Is he listening? Does he care? Probably not, nevertheless, Lori keeps calling. The episode opens with one of these calls and keeps going back to tis call throughout. It’s a nice storytelling device and gives the episode an eerie spine to hang the rest of the story to.

“Hey, it’s me. I’ve got a joke. It’s about a bricklayer.”, she begins. The joke is about a bricklayer who’s teaching his daughter his trade. But once he’s finished his project there is one brick leftover. He proceeds to tear the bbq apart in a rage until the daughter says she has a better idea. The daughter throws the brick in the air and then…….she forgets the rest of the joke. She decides to tell another.

As she tells the joke we see her enter a bank and attempt to rob it. It’s a ruse to lure a masked vigilante called Mr. Shadow to show up to stop the robbery. When the jig is up he tries to make a run for it but Lori shoots him in the back. One of her fellow agents asks he how she knew that he was wearing kevlar but she doesn’t answer. She didn’t she was fine with killing him. A definite deep seated anger in her about people that wear masks.

“ Why are you arresting him! He’s a hero!” a guy in the crowd shouts at her.
She looks at the guy with disdain and says, “No he’s not. He’s a joke”
She sounds just like her dad.

She comes home, tells Alexa or whoever it is now, to play Devo and she feeds her pet owl who she calls “Who” a nice white mouse. She takes out her silver briefcase and opens it but before we can see what’s inside there’s a knock on the door. It’s Senator Joe Keene. He’s requested that she be assigned to go to Oklahoma to investigate the death of Judd Crawford and quell this 7th Kavalry uprising. He’s worried that they will start a war that will destroy his image, after all, he was the one that came up with the idea of cops wearing masks and it’s been working so well other states want to do the same thing. Lori sees through him. He’s really worried that it will hurt his chances of becoming the next president.
“A president has a lot of power. He can pardon anyone he wants. He could even get your owl out of his cage” Keene tells her. He doesn’t mean ‘Who’ either. He means her ex, Dan Drieberg, The Nite Owl.
So, of course, she agrees.

AT the FBI briefing of the investigation she meets a young agent who’s responsible for working the slide projector. He inserts a slide that shows a page from Rorshack’s journal which the 7th Kavalsry have twisted to support their agenda. The FBI chief dismisses it and yells at the guy, “Nobody cares about Rorshack!” When Lori says she wants to go to Tulsa by herself the chief objects so Lori says she’ll take the young slide projector runner, Agent Petey.

On the plane headed to Tulsa, they get a good view of The Millennium Clock. Petey recites a line from the Shelly poem ‘Ozymandias’; “Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair.”. Petey says that Lady Trieu said this line in her commemoration speech for the project and that it was meant as a shout out to Adrian Veidt aka Ozymandias. Petey tries to get Lori to talk about Veidt but she won’t have it. She thinks he’s just a fan boy seeking an autograph. He tells her that before he ran slide projectors for the FBI he had a PHD in history and knows a lot about her and her old boyfriend, Dr. Manhattan. She says she knew Veidt and doesn’t like him much either.

On the ground, Lori seeks out Looking Glass (Tim Blake Nelson) and he confirms that Angela is Sister Night and it was she that beat the info out of the Kavalry prisoner that led to the attack on the farm in episode one. She finds out that Judd’s funeral is that day and Angela is giving the eulogy. “Oh, in that case I better put on something darker”, she says. Lori’s dark humor is evident throughout. This is a very bitter person.

She introduces herself to Angela at the cemetary and wants to get together for a coffee. Angela takes her card reluctantly. “Anti-vigilante Task Force”, she reads. “You know what the difference between a vigilante in a mask and a cop in a mask is?” Lori asks Angela. “No” Angela answers. “Neither do I” Lori says. Angela tosses her card on the card.

Angela and Judd told each other what they wanted the other to say at their funeral and apparently Judd wanted her to sing The Last Round Up, an old Gene Autrey song. Meanwhile, a Kavalry follower comes up throug a tunnel inside a mausoleum and puts on a suicide vest. He walks up to the funeral and demands that the senator come with him. The cops made sure to confiscate everyone’s guns except Lori has an ankle gun and she shoots the Kavalry suicide bomber in the head. Unfortunatley, his vest bomb is triggered. Angela grabs the guy and drags him into the empty grave and pushed Judd’s coffin on top of him. The bomb goes off and Judd’s body is blown to bits!

Meanwhile, Veidt is doing experiments with Mr. Phillips, some sort of time travel experiment. But it fails, Mr. Phillips ends up frozen in a suit of armor. Veidt decides he needs a thicker cover and goes buffalo hunting but is shot at by someone. He is in a prison of some kind and this person is his warden. Who is powerful enough to keep Ozymandias as a prisoner?

Lori confronts Angela in the mausoleum where the Kavalry terrorists came up through. Angela is still playing coy but Lori seems to know what’s up. She ain’t no dummy. But Angela is not intimidated. Lori tells Angela that they find a secret compartment in Judd’s closet with a bust but nothing else. Angela must have taken the KKK outfit and hidden it. Lori also knows that a wheelchair was at the scene of Judd’s hanging. Angela continues to play dumb

Lori retires to the hotel. We finally see what was in her silver briefcase; An Esquire magazing with a cover of Dr. Manhattan and Lori and a huge blue dildo, Dr. Manhattan size, I suppose. But instead of using the dildo she decides to knock on Agent Petey’s door and she ends up in his bed. I’m sure he was thrilled.

We end the episode with Lori’s phone call to Mars and ends with her joke about the brick layer’s daughter. She toosess the brick in the air and it lands on God’s head and kills him. And where does God end up when he dies? He goes to hell. The call ends and Lori exits the blue phone booth and all of a sudden a car falls out of the sky and down in front of her. It’s Angela’s car. Lori looks up in the sky and sees a giant red ball. Could this have been a sign from Dr. Manhattan? Lori thinks so. She starts laughing uncontrolably.

SIDE TOCKS

Lori seems to have nothing but disdain for her previous life. She’s adopted her biological father’s persona.

She tells Angela “I eat good guys for breakfast”

What happened to her? What happened with her relationship with Dan? The Nite Owl? What soured her on being a masked avenger?

Andy Warhol did a painting of the Watchmen (Dr, Manhattan, Nite Owl, Silk Spectre, The Comedian)
Lori has it on her wall in her apartment

This was an awesome episode!

5 Things I Think I Know

1 First off, I have no idea where this is headed

2 Lori will team up with Sister Night at some point and wear her Silk Spectre outfit again

3 Judd’s wife and Lori are related somehow.

4 Judd will turn out to be Angela’s father. That’s why he changed to a good guy.

5 It was Lori that put her boyfriend, The Nite Owl in prison

This episode was jam packed with story and action. But the most impressive secnes were with negan and his long awaited reunion with his Lucille. This episode has some tough moments which reminds you of how dark the show can still go and willing to go.

Samantha Morton as Alpha, Thora Birch as Gamma – The Walking Dead _ Season 10, Episode 5 – Photo Credit: Jace Downs/AMC

Aaron discovers Gamma has been killing walkers, opening them up and spilling them into the river, trying to contaminate it. While Gamma was killing one walker she flashbacks to what she did to her own sister, sacrificing her to save Alpha and seemingly having regrets about it. She slices her hand open and Aaron comes along and throws her some gauze because Aaron is always prepared with first aid. She runs off and tells Alpha what happen who sees that developing that relationship could be useful.

Supplies have been going missing and Yumiko has her suspicions that Magna is behing it. Magna is still acting weird. Kelly goes out hunting and her hearing is worsening and she gets in trouble and is injured trying to get away from some walkers. Daryl, Connie, magna and Dog go looking for her. When they find her, she needs first aid (Where’s Aaron?) and Kelly tells Magna to fess up. They have been creating an emergency get away stach of supplies. Daryl is pissed and so is Connie who didn’t know about it. Connie asks Daryl to say that they found the supplies but not who hid them. He syas he understands and signs the symbol for ‘family’. Connie communicates to him that she and he are family and makes the same sign. Awwwww. She really does like him and he trusts her which is a lot for Daryl.

Meanwhile, Yumiko and Magna have it out again and magna lets her know that she resents Yumiko from pre-apocalypse times and Yumiko decides that Magna needs to find a couch to crash on.

Ezekiel has been moping around but it’s not just from missing Carol. He reveals to Saddiq that he has thyroid cancer. He shows him a big bulge in his neck. He had family that had the same thing and beat it but that was pre- zombie apocalypse when you could treat it with chemo and other drugs. He knows that this is a death sentence. Saddiq calls Alexandria and tries to get carol on the radio so that Ezekiel can talk to her and let her know but he hangs up the call before talking to her.

NEGAN AND BRANDON

“We’re both Negan!” Brandon

Daryl and Saddiq went looking for Negan but couldn’t find him but someone did! Brandon! His parents were Saviors who died in the war between Ricj Grimes and The Saviors. He now lives in Alexandria but he’s heard the tales of Negan and he is full on star struck. Negan puts up with it but is clearly annoyed.

Zombie Kill Of The Week! Negan uses barbed wire to slice off a walkers head and then stomps on it for good measure! Then Brandon presents Negan with a gift; a new Lucille!

“You like it, right?” Brandon asks.
“Does pig shit stink?” Negan answers.

They hear some screaming and come to the rescue of a young woman and her young son. We get another gruesome Negan kill using a door! “Classic Negan!” yells Brandon. Negan tells Brandon to go home, back to Alexandria. When Brandon doesn’t take the hint, Negan makes it more clear. He doesn’t want or need his company. He takes the young boy under his wing and he bonds with the young boy by teaching him then art of “nut tapping”. It’s a great scene and you see a different side of Negan, albeit, he is still very much Negan. He tells the boy that he will take him and his mother to a place that will take them in and where they’ll be safe. But first they need some wood for a fire for the night and they’ll head out in the morning.

But when Negan returns with the wood he finds that Brandon has returned and has killed the mother and her son. He’s proud of it! He thought that Negan was testing him when he told him to go back to Alexandria. He says this is just what Negan would have done, right? And look at all the good stuff they got now! Negan is pissed! He picks up a rock and just as Brandon yells out “We are Negan!” Negan smashes his head in and proceeds to pound it to a pulp. Negan’s past sure casme back to haunt him. He has changed a lot in the last seven years. He isn’t the same guy that led the Saviors but by the end of the episode we see him in his leather jacket and Lucille on his shoulder. “Little piggy, little piggy! Let me in!” This is what he said the first time he came to visit Alexandria. He summons a group of walkers which he proceeds to take out one by one with Lucille until one of them throws him down. It’s Beta.

“All right you big ass freak, let’s do this” Negan says to Beta.

SIDE BITES

It was interesting to see that this young man was such a Negan fan. After all this time! He even did the whistle! Negan acted like a rock star stuck in an elevator with a super fan.

Man, Ezekiel continues to have a run of bad luck. This is the first instance on the show that one of the characters must deal with getting cancer in the apocalypse. Should be interesting to see what kind of creative treatments they come up with.

I’m not so much interested in the Yumiko-Magna relationship. Hopefully, they don’t spend too much time on this.

5 THINGS I THINK I KNOW

1 Gamma and Aaron will become friends
2 Aaron will be captured by the whisperers
3 Negan will save Aaron
4 Negan will kill Beta
5 Carol will kill Alpha

“Nothing Ever Ends” Adrian Veidt

Look, you will need to have patience in these first few episodes as information gets doled out seemingly willy nilly but I assure you things will come into focus and you will be amazed.

The opening segment shows a German officer in WWI who draws up a propaganda flyer targeted at black soldiers. It says that they are unwanted in their own country and that Germany has no such prejudice against them. The soldier from the first episode who gets his little boy to safety, saved one of these fliers from the war and writes on the back of it “Watch Over This Boy” and stuffs it in the little boy’s jacket. That little boy is now 105 year old Louis Gosset Jr., his name is Will and he is holding that flyer when Angela finds him by the tree where Judd has been hung. He claims he did it but Angela doesn’t believe him and neither should we right? Instead of arresting Will she takes him to the bakery.

“He had skeletons in his closet” Will

We already know that Judd is not what he seems from the first episode. He was doing cocaine during family dinner! He din’t like Black Oklahoma because they didn’t have enough spirit. If Judd is to Watchmen the Series as The Comedian was to Watchmen the Graphic novel and Film then Judd does have some skeletons and they will surprise Angela.

During the course of the episode Angela goes through her stages of grief and eventually starts thinking, was Judd not who I thought he was. We see a flashback to White Night, the night that the Seventh Calvary targeted 40 cops and attacked at the same time. Angela and Judd survive. Every cop resigned out of fear which is why cops now wear masks and Angela became Sister Night. Judd and Angela bonded after that and became like father and daughter it seems.

Angela tries to figure out who Will is and goes to a memorial where she interacts with a digitized Louis Henry Gates who is now Secretary of State. She takes Will’s DNA from the coffee cup he was drinking from and submits it to find out more about him.

When Angela goes to comfort Judd’s wife, Jane (Frances Fisher) she finds a full house of people including young Senator Joe Keen Jr. (James Wolk) who has presidential aspirations. Angela faints seemingly from grief but it was just a feint to snoop around the hosue and boy, did she find something. Talk about a skeleton in his closet! She finds a KKK outfit, complete with police badge attached. She confronts Will about it, asking if he planted it there. He’s in a wheelchair, which he points out to her, couldn’t have been him. While she’s arguing with him she gets a call with the results of the DNA test. Another bombshell! Will is her grandfather! She decides to finally officially arrest him and takes him out to her car. But before she can get in a spacecraft of some kind comes along, drops a big magnet on the car and whisks it aay with Will in it. What the hell!!! Who was that? Doesn’t seem likely that this was Seventh Calvary, they don’t seem that technologically advanced. Angela is left staring up at the sky in disbelief. The audience stared at their TV screens in disbelief as well.

In other news, we get more bizarre scenes at Veidt manor. We get to watch Veidt’s play “The Watchmaker’s Son” performed by his odd but loyal servants Mr. Phillips and Ms. Crookshanks. It tells the story of how Jon Osterman became Doctor Manhattan. He forgets his watch in the de-atomizing chamber and is zapped1 In this play, Veidt uses an old fashioned detonator and sets poor Mr. Phillips on fire! Tears from Ms. Crookshanks and down from the rafters floats down Doctor Manhattan who we discover is also played by Mr. Phillips? Yes, our suspicions were confirmed. Phillips and Crookshanks are robots or cyborgs or Lord knows what.

SIDE TOCKS

So looks like Angela’s kids are actually her old partner’s children. He and his wife were killed on White Night and she took them in.

The wonderful character actor Jim Beaver (Breaking Bad, Deadwood) makes an appearance as Angela’s adapted son, Topher’s easily bought off grandfather.

We get to see an episode of American Hero Story! This one is about Hooded Justice and it’s pretty damn awesome (and violent).

In a scene of vigilante anger Red Scare leads the cops on an assault on an all white trailer park with a giant statue of Richard Nixon. Nobody is in charge now that Judd is gone.

5 THINGS I THINK I KNOW

1 Judd was a double agent!

2 We will see a Westworld crossover!

3 Holy shit! Judd’s not dead! Veidt made a robot eouble!

4 Who whisked Will away? Had to be Veift, right?

5 The baby that young Will saved in the first episode is Angela’s great grandmother.

There were several story threads running through this episode which I’m sure will get their own episodes before the season is through. This week it’s Hilltop’s turn to have a walker problem. Another strong episode. New show runner Angela Kang has got the show back on track with good story telling and good character development. I still miss Rick, though.

EZEKIEL (No longer King)

A huge tree falls and crashes through the walls of Hilltop. Walkers started pouring through!!!
This triggers Ezekiel to have a meltdown. He gets so down that he contemplates suicide! Good thing Michonne finds him before he jumps off that cliff. This is where that kiss comes in that caused so much controversy when the promo was released at Comic Con. It turns out this wasn’t really a romantic kiss. Michonne conects with him over the loss of Carol and Kingdom and at this vulberable moment he kisses her. So calm down, people! She hasn’t betrayed Rick!

MAGNA/YUMIKO

Magna, Yumiko, Luke, Connie and Kely assemble like the Avengers outside the walls to fight off walkers. For some reason, when it comes time to retreat, Magna refuses to leave. Yumiko finally drags her away and we later find out that Yumiko used to be Magna’s lawyer, presumably how they met

LYDIA / NEGAN

In Alexandria, everyone is paranoid about The Whisperers which means Lydia is getting even more nasty looks and harassment. She’s about had it. Negan seems to be her only friend. They can relate to each other, both being unwanted outsiders. They are each some kind of trophy from past battles. How do you not see them and remember the horrible things that happened before? How can you move on? Lydia triggered the most horrific moment in the whole show, granted she didn’t actually do the deed. Her mom did and her mom is still a threat. I get it. Daryl tries to bond with her but she’s not feeling it.

When a trio of Alexandrian punks actually attack Lydia, Negan comes to the rescue and accidentally kills one of them. Immediately the council debate giving Negan the death penalty. Aaron, whose life Negan saved last week, votes to hang him! Daryl votes against, beleiving Lydia who says it was an accident. The swing vote comes down to father Gabriel who needs to sleep on it. But Negan doesn’t wait around for the verdict. He escapes1 Lydia claims to have let him go but she says that so that they lock her up in Negan’s cell. At least it will be safer for her.

Now that The Negan has been released what will he do? Looks like in the the next episode we’ll find out.

SIDE BITES

We get a steamy love scene between Magna and Yumiko! It’s unbeleivable to me that there hasn’t been more hanky panky happening in the apocalypse. I can only think of two other scenes in the whole 10 years (Glenn and Maggie -Season 2 – Abraham-Rosita – Season 4)

I loved seeing Michonne and Judith fighting side by side, each with their size appropriate katanas! Michonne is confiding in Judith too, discussing problems openly with her and hearing her take. Judith is being groomed to be the future leader. What carl should have been!!!

Saddiq keeps having PTDS attacks. He needs to seek help! Father Gabriel!!

5 THINGS I THINK I KNOW

1.  Yumiko was Magda’s lawyer in an assault and battery case pre-apocalypse.

2 Luke’s love interest must die!

3 Negan will infiltrate The Whisperers camp as a double agent, befriend Beta.

4 Lydia will face off against Gamma

5 We’re finally going to get Negan flashbacks!