What I Watched Today

(rambling, random thoughts & annoyingly detailed recaps from real time TV watching)

 

 

The Walking Dead

King Ezekiel says they’re coming – bloodthirsty rogues and cutthroats, bent on their destruction – yet he smiles. The Kingdom tromps trough the woods. Ezekiel notes that Carol smiles. They keep walking, Ezekiel leading them like a bloodhound. They hear whistling, and raise their hands as they’re approached by Saviors. Carol says they have the numbers, but we have the strategy. Suddenly, there’s a gun battle, with the Saviors being the losers. Ezekiel says it brings hope to the heart, maybe unwisely. Keep to their plan and training, and the fates may smile and allow this dream. They won’t lose, not one of their ranks. Ezekiel walks among the dead Saviors. He tells Carol, not one. Shiva growls.

Morales tells Rick, guns down. He remarks that this whole time it was him. Rick tells him the fight is out there; it’s just him in there. Morales says he knows who Rick is, and it wasn’t any blast from the past to see him. They both came from there to here. He calls Rick a monster. He called the Saviors back because Rick is a prize, Morales asks why he’s there? Why is there always a guy willing to rush in; why? What’s Rick looking for? He says Rick has nothing to say, even though he’s not giving Rick a chance to say anything, and just keeps barraging him with questions. Morales says it doesn’t matter. What’s left is coming to get him. Whether they get him to Negan or not, his sh*t is going to be settled. He calls Rick “peaches,” and I wonder if that’s Rick’s stripper name.

Outside, the battle goes on. God forgive me, someone falls, and I laugh. Some Saviors run back inside. Lots of shooting is still happening, and a little feeding as the dead rise.

Aaron gets Eric to a tree out of the line of fire. Aaron says there’s an exit wound, so that’s good. He’ll get Eric to the Kingdom’s doctor. He tells Eric he’s sorry. Eric asks if he’s the one who shot him. Aaron says pulled Eric into it when he didn’t want to fight. Eric says, until he did. He tells Aaron to go and help the others; they need him. Aaron starts to cry. Eric says Aaron knows he loves him, and tells Aaron to get back to the fight; they can win this thing. Aaron says we will, and tells Eric he loves him and always has. He leaves, giving Eric a gun.

On the road, Jesus’s group walks on, with the Savior prisoners tied together by a rope. One of the soldiers tells Tara they’ll take the Savior prisoners back to Maggie; she’ll know what to do with them. Tara says she knows what they did. Walking next to Morgan, Jared starts whistling, and Morgan pokes him with the staff. I’d do that on a good day if he started that whistling next to me. Jesus says it’s not far to Hilltop; they’ve made the decision. Morgan insists nothing has been decided, and Jesus says nothing is permanent, but they’re taking the Saviors to Hilltop. Morgan says he knows how dangerous this is, and who these people are. Jesus tells him no matter what they’ve done, they’re people. He and Morgan have killed, but they don’t execute. Morgan says, not here.

Rick asks Morales if his family is there, but Morales says they didn’t make it to Birmingham. Rick says he’s sorry; he’s lost people too – Lori, Shane, Andrea, Glenn. Negan killed Glenn; forced him to his knees and bashed in his head in front of his pregnant wife; Maggie is his widow. He asks if Morales is Negan too. Morales says he lost his family, and lost his mind, waiting to become nothing, and the Saviors found him. They thought he was worth a damn and worth bringing back, so yeah, he’s Negan. To make it this far for this long, there has to be something. Morales says they’re the same; two a-holes, doing whatever they have to, to keep going. The only difference is that he’s the one holding the gun. That makes him luckier. If it was Rick holding the gun, his brains would already be on the floor. Rick tells Morales that he doesn’t know that. He wouldn’t want to, and would do the best he could to try and find another way. Morales thinks he can talk all he wants, but they’re all dead. Somewhere along the way, Officer Friendly died with them, just like he did.

Rick says, no, and Daryl shoots Morales in the back with his crossbow before Rick can protest. Rick says Daryl didn’t know who it was, but Daryl says, it don’t matter. He asks if Rick found guns, and Rick says the guns aren’t there. They gotta get out before –

Too late. They’re here.

Jared says there’s something different about Morgan. It’s his armor, like it shrunk. He realizes it’s Benjamin’s armor, and asks why Morgan would wear it, since the kid didn’t do sh*t for him. Morgan points the staff at Jared, but their altercation is interrupted by zombies rolling down the hill next to them, and landing in the road. There’s a wide variety, some barely more than skeletons. More zombies roll down, and a bunch of Saviors start running, but it’s awkward when you’re tied together.

Some of the Saviors run into the woods. Morgan tails them. One of them falls, Morgan catches up, and shoots another one. Jesus stops him from shooting any more. Morgan tells him the Saviors are never going to change, and Jesus says they’ll find another way; Maggie will. Morgan says she’ll want them dead after what they’ve done. Jesus says they’ll have to live with them after. They have to find a way to peace. He puts his hand on Morgan’s shoulder, and Morgan knocks Jesus back. They fight.

Ezekiel reminds his band that those they extinguished are just part of the compound. But their first victory will allow their second, and their second will deliver their third.

Daryl and Rick run through the building, getting shot at periodically. There’s a mini gun battle in the hallway.

Jesus and Morgan kick each other’s asses. Morgan tries to hit Jesus with his staff, but Jesus is pretty nimble, and does some amazing bobbing and weaving. Morgan finally gets a good whack in, but then Jesus drop kicks him. Morgan comes close to stabbing him with the pointy end of the staff.

Daryl says he’s out. Rick sees a fire extinguisher across the hall, and shoots it. The white stuff sprays all over the place, and while the Saviors are trying to get their bearings, Rick and Daryl grab the Savior’s guns, and jet the hell out.

Morgan and Jesus continue fighting. Ain’t nobody got time for this. They struggle over the staff, and Jesus gets the staff. He tosses it back to Morgan, and in gratitude, Morgan points it at Jesus’s throat. The rest of the group gets closer, and Morgan backs off. He says he’s not right, but that doesn’t make him wrong, which sounds like the title of a Tyler Perry movie. Morgan says he can’t be a part of this. Tara says he is right. Morgan picks up a gun, and strides off, looking at the bodies.

At Hilltop, Enid looks out and says, it’s him. Gregory bangs on the door, saying he needs help; he’s been through hell, and he knows they can hear him. Maggie opens gate a little bit, and asks what he’s doing with Gabriel’s car? Gregory says he doesn’t know Gabriel, and the car was there. He says he lives there, adding that some of them didn’t just show up, which is probably the wrong thing to say to Maggie right now. She says he sold out, and he says he tried to save lives; it was Negan who made him say horrible things. He went to the Saviors, furthering diplomacy. Some people would call it heroic. Maggie says he was looking out for himself, and tried to betray them. Gregory tells her that he caused no harm; Negan already knew everything. Maggie tells him goodbye, and he says okay, he was scared. He knew they couldn’t win a fight against Negan, but didn’t want to be seen as complicit. He sees now that he can’t be reasoned with.

She starts to walk away, and he says he made a mistake, and he’s sorry. They’re all just human beings with faults, flaws, and fears. Is this who she is? Has she no mercy, humanity, or charity? He asks her to open the gate, and open her heart. Don’t leave a human out to die. Maggie turns around, and says, let him in. He’s not worth killing, not yet anyway. Gregory says he’s a believer now. Cal calls down that Jesus is here. Gregory tells her not to let him in with the Saviors; she’ll put their safety in jeopardy. She says, Gregory, go! like he’s a dog.

Maggie wonders what they’ll do with the Saviors, and Jesus says there are empty trailers out back that they can be locked in. He says they surrendered. They can’t let them go, but they can’t kill them.

Back at the outpost, the shooting is over, but the dead who have turned are feeding. Daryl starts killing the new zombies off, and Rick takes Polaroids. Wtf? They load their wounded into a truck, and clean up as best they can. What’s with Rick taking photos? Did Instagram survive the apocalypse? He writes a note.

Aaron goes back to the tree, but Eric is gone. He sees the gun on the ground, and calls out to him. There’s a lot of blood at the base of the tree. He looks across the road, and sees Eric ambling toward his new people, the undead. Aaron cries, and one of the group takes his arm, saying, it’s not him. He leads Aaron away.

Rick brings out the baby. Aaron says he’ll take her to Hilltop, where she’ll be safe. He and Eric were going there to update Maggie. Yep, babysitting a newborn ought to take his mind off his troubles. Rick gives him the baby, saying her name is Gracie. (Last week, on Talking Dead, Andrew Lincoln had said the baby would be fine.)

Rick sees Daryl, and they’re about to confer, when someone shoots at them. They duck and hide. Rick calls out, saying they’re alone, and he knows the shooter is too. There’s not enough room behind the tree for more than one. He says a herd is coming – just sayin’. They can make a deal. Drop the gun and come out. Tell them what they need to know, take the car, and live. Todd’s voice asks why he should trust them. Rick says he gives Todd his word. There’s isn’t much that’s worth anything anymore, but a man’s word should mean something. Todd comes limping out, and asks what they want to know. Rick asks about the guns. Todd says the guns aren’t there. They had them for a while, and they were sent to another outpost yesterday. Rick asks which one, and Todd says McGavin (I think), west of there. He asks if he can go now, and Daryl shoots him. Geez.

Ezekiel is still smiling. Everyone is accounted for, and he smiles even more broadly. He tells Carol, not one. She tells them to sweep the compound. Ezekiel says, we or they; one or the other. She heads toward the buildings, and Ezekiel suddenly yells, scatter! Gunfire comes from the tower window.

The Kingdom people drop like flies. Several of them block King Ezekiel from getting hit, at the expense of their own lives.

Next time, Ezekiel says they face a dire challenge; they will fight and they will bleed – lives hang in the balance. Carol is captured.

👓 Jordan Woods-Robinson, who played Eric, is also a member of Blue Man Group.

👱 Didn’t want this, but I’m starting to understand what’s on the menu now. We can hide like these people, we can keep trying to serve The Saviors, and I can watch you get randomly beaten every so often, or else we can fight. So, here we are. And being with you, well it makes abject terror tolerable. – Eric to Aaron

🍑 The Real Housewives of Atlanta started its new season tonight, along with Married to Medicine, but I decided to take a break from these shrews women. My real life, such as it is, has been extra busy lately, so if I watch these, it will be in a half-assed way, like while I’m doing three other things. I did catch most of Atlanta tonight. Kenya claimed to have gotten her fairytale ending, having gotten married over the break, and showed off her gorgeous ring, as well as pictures of the ceremony. Are they divorced yet? Phaedra got fired over the litigious accusations she made about Kandi last season. We’re still stuck with Porsha though. She now has a podcast, where she says she’s unplugged and unedited. If she considers herself plugged and edited on this show, I can’t imagine. I did a double-take when, after being told men could father children at any age, Porsha thought the children might come out looking old. Seriously, is this an act? No one can be this stupid, right? Right? NeNe now has a store that carries clothing for “women who eat, and women who don’t eat.” Cynthia is fifty, single, and alone. Don’t cry for me, Argentina. She’s fabulous and has a home on a lake that looks like it’s out of a magazine. Sheree hasn’t been interesting since her who gonna check me, boo? days. She said she doesn’t want to have bad energy around her, and I have some advice. Leave. Now. Kandi is busy with the baby and the OLG restaurant. And her new show, Xscape: Still Kickin’ It, that premiered after Atlanta. It’s a limited (I think six part) gig, so catch it while you can.

Back in the Day…

And Now…