What I Watched Today

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

The Walking Dead

When we last left, Beta was leading the zombies to the hospital where everyone was holed up, and they chanted, we are the world, but not like in the Coke commercial. Eugene, Ezekiel, and Yumiko had gone off on a mission to meet Eugene’s radio buddy Stephanie. Along the way, the picked up Princess. We’re told, The Whisperer War: The Final Showdown starts now.

Inside, everyone runs around gathering supplies and weapons. Gabriel slams into Dianne. He peeks outside and sees the zombie hoard gathering. He tells the kids they’re safe, but they’re worried about the zombies having lots more than they have. He waggles his fingers, and says, see his fingers? They’re not much to look at, but together, they make a mighty weapon. That’s who they are. Alexandria, Hilltop, Oceanside, what’s left of the Kingdom… He shows them his thumb, and says, and the others. We see Carol, Daryl, and Kelly run inside a building, killing zombies on the way.  Gabriel says, those who might find help – we see Yumiko, Princess, Eugene, and Ezekiel – or come here and help – we see Virgil (who trapped Michonne on an island a while ago) – together we’ll fight – we see Aaron and Alden in the woods – and that’s how we’ll survive… We see Maggie in the woods. She finds a buried tackle box with a letter inside. The letter tells her to come back. Rick is gone. Jesus, Enid, and Tara are all dead. Gabriel says, together.

The Whisperers chant, we are ready; we are here. Beta rocks his mask, and they chant, we are here; this is the end of the world. Beta says, begin. They turn and head closer to the hospital. A crane shot shows us there are… a lot of them. Like, a whole lot.

Eugene sits on the ground. His bicycle is out of commission, and Ezekiel says he doesn’t know about the chain. Eugene checks himself out in a car window, and says, don’t bother; it’s too late. He’s run the calculations, and the time it will take to get there is too long. Yumiko says they’ll figure something out, but he says, unless they can slow the passage of time, there’s nothing else to figure out. The rendezvous time was set in stone, and they’re not there. She won’t be either. He says he’s sorry. After all they hoped, and went through to hold onto said hope, he believes it’s time to go eye to eye with reality. It’s time to head back home. Ezekiel says they’re not going back. They said they’d do this, and  they’re going to do this. In his moment of doubt, Eugene didn’t let him waver, so he’s not letting Eugene waver now. His journey must be complete for all of them, and the ones left behind. Ezekiel says Eugene has to try. He’s gotten this far in his journey and his life. What do they want to remember? That they did everything they could, even if it means he has to carry Eugene. Eugene sniffles, and Ezekiel holds out his hand. He helps Eugene up, but Eugene says, it won’t change anything. Princess says she didn’t think she’d ever see other people again, and look at her now. Yumiko says, they’ll know when they get there tomorrow. They have tomorrow to deal with tomorrow’s problems.   

Daryl puts wires around the banisters to boobytrap them. He and Carol have a conversation that I can barely understand. I can’t believe the two people who rarely talk, and when they do, you have to strain to hear them, are the ones getting a spin-off. It didn’t sound that important, but still.

Gabriel says, the plan is for the horde to be led away, but not to Oceanside as planned. When it’s clear, they’ll meet at rendezvous point B. He asks if Luke is ready, and Luke says, technically. The final pieces need to connect to the wagon in order for them to do the Pied Piper thing and get the zombies over the cliff. But they need to get from point A to point B to plug it in. Someone has to go through the horde. Gabriel says they have four crews, two people each. Jerry says it’s crucial that the equipment makes it to the wagon. Lydia says she’ll help; she can make it. A woman from Oceanside says they’re in, but only if Lydia isn’t going. They understand the people there forgave her, but Oceanside isn’t ready. Gabriel says Lydia’s role is there anyway, and Captain Obvious Daryl says, they’re not all going to make it.

Dianne says Carol keeps thinking she could have helped them, but she couldn’t. Carol says she knows; she’s sorry. She puts knife in her sleeve. Lydia tells Carol that she doesn’t hate her for what she did, and Carol says she should. It didn’t fix anything. Lydia says, it did for her; a little at least. It sounds awful, but it’s the truth. The truth is, she didn’t love her mother, so thanks. She’d like it if she and Carol could still talk about whatever. She starts to leave, but Carol calls her back. Carol says Lydia needs to find her own way, and Lydia says she’s not looking for another mom. That’s not what this is. She could use a friend, and so could Carol.

The group going out covers themselves in guts. Negan tells Daryl, he ain’t going. He’s at the top of every skin’s kill list. The idea is to get through it, and after the sh*tload of attention he’s gotten, he’s the last person anyone wants next to them. Daryl says if he wants to be a part of it, he has to put his ass on the line like everyone else. Gabriel says, it’s time, and opens the vestibule door, as Judith stands next to him. The group files into the vestibule. Judith closes the door, and Daryl puts his hand on the window. She puts her hand against his on the other side. Kelly puts on a skin mask, and Jerry opens the door. Zombies come in, ignoring them. It gets tight quickly, and I almost want to freak out myself. Daryl and the others shuffle out, as the zombies are shuffling in. Soon enough, the zombies begin to shuffle back out when they realize there’s nowhere else to go. The group allow themselves to be pushed along.

Gabriel watches through binoculars. The group blends into the crowd, which has to be in the thousands. Magna looks like she’s going to freak or throw up. Jerry puts a hand on her shoulder. Daryl keeps looking around, and sees a Whisperer with a knife, who immediately gets shot by an arrow. The zombies feed on the downed Whisperer.

Gabriel continues to watch, and Dianne says, there, in the center. She aims her bow and arrow, but someone else shoots the Whisperer who is heading for Magna. The zombies feed again, and Beta is like, hmm… He looks up, but doesn’t see anyone in the windows. Nothing phases this dude, and he tells a passing Whisperer, tight together. They begin to chant, together. Beta looks around. It’s like Woodstock.

Gabriel says he can’t find them in the horde, and Dianne asks what she should do. Another woman with a bow says she got one, and Gabriel tells her to be certain before she shoots. A crash is heard downstairs, and Judith takes a look. She sees a zombie (or a Whisperer) crawling up the stairs, which is creepy enough, but it’s got a knife in its eyeball. She runs back, and says, they’re coming up.

Gabriel says they all know what to do. He tells Dianne to be in the first group, and the children and Rosita are to go to the office. Negan tells Lydia, they know how this ends, but she says, that’s not true. She doesn’t, and neither does he. He says her being there won’t change anything about the sh*tstorm going down. She can slip out, go down, and dance her way through the dead. She says so could he, but he says she told him herself, he ain’t no hero. She says, he could be, and he says, he guesses that’s why he’s doing what he’s doing now. He hands her a mask, and he grabs a rope that’s tied around a pillar, using it to go down the elevator shaft.

The outside group intersperses themselves among the horde. This is a very slow moving crowd. Worse than the line at Trader Joe’s last June. Luke, Magna, and Jerry go through the woods, and come across a small group of zombies. Carol shuffles into the crowd, exchanging glances with one of the women from Oceanside. Oceansider Beatrice has a knife, and a Whisperer sees it, slamming it out of her hand. Carol quickly slices the Whisperer open. The Whisperer falls, but grabs Beatrice by the foot, and slices her across the calf. Ow. Beatrice cries out, and the zombies get a two-for-one meal. Beatrice calls Carol’s name, and Carol stops for a moment, but keeps going. Even I agree, there’s no point. It’s pretty gruesome, with lots of blood gushing out of severed limbs, and the traditional zombies eating intestines. I’m guessing they’re trying to throw a lot in since it was supposed to be the finale. Carol goes off to the side where there’s less traffic, comes eye to eye with Lydia, who’s in a skin mask, but still wearing her backpack. They go past Daryl.

At the hospital, Gabriel radios Daryl, who tells him something about the wires on the stairway. Gabriel says his prayers are with them, but Daryl says, don’t need ‘em. Oh, bleepity-bleep-bleep. Dog starts barking, and I’d forgotten about him. I swear to God, I will never watch this show again if Dog gets it. The doorway is barricaded with furniture, but the Whisperers use an ax to try and get through. Judith aims her bow and arrow.

A Whisperer passes Beta, saying, almost here. Beta is still wondering, WTF? We hear music in the distance, and the horde turns and moves toward it. Luke drives a wagon, carrying loudspeakers that are blasting Burning Down the House. The rest of the group walks alongside and behind the wagon.

Back at the hospital, the Whisperers are almost in, when Daryl’s boobytrap goes off.  

Jerry slowly leads the horde on a dirt road through the woods. Daryl seems amused. Someone yells, they’re coming, and Carol and Lydia shoot their arrows. Daryl gets out his crossbow. Whisperers come out of the woods; some of them are shot, some are nailed by boobytraps. A wheel comes off the wagon, and Daryl tells everyone to go. They take off, along with the horses, and some Whisperers destroy the wagon.

Daryl radios Gabriel, and says they lost the wagon. He tells the others, it’s not a good plan, but it’s all he’s got. They go back, and hunt the skins; take them out one by one. If they don’t, all their people will die. Magna wonders how they’re going to lead the zombies away, Lydia says she knows how; her mother taught her. Luke says they have to be lead off a cliff, but they have no wagon to lead them over the edge. It’s suicide. Daryl says, they’ll deal with that later. They’ve got to go now.

Gabriel backs up, huge gun in his hands. Everyone is gone, except Judith, and he tells her that she should go. She asks if he’s not coming, and he says someone needs to stop them. She asks if Rosita knows, and he says, tell her, Eres mi media naranja… Judith says, you’re my half orange? and he says, she’ll know. Judith leaves, and the Whisperers finally get the door open. Gabriel shoots one, but decides to save bullets, and starts whacking them with both ends of the weapon. He’s no match for two of them, who get him down. A third raises an ax above Gabriel, but someone comes in from behind and goes crazy on the lot of them. Behind the crazy guy is Maggie, who helps Gabriel up. He hugs her, and Aaron looks at the surprise guest killer, who’s wearing some kind of Power Rangers outfit.

In the horde, Daryl and the others are killing off Whisperers, and Beta is sure now that something is going on, looking around more quickly than usual. A Whisperer shuffles past him, saying, go back. He takes out a sword, but a masked Negan says, hey sh*thead, from behind him. Beta flies toward Negan, throwing whoever out of the way. he throws a zombie (or a Whisperer; it’s unclear) at Negan, who falls down. Negan throws the zombie off of him, but Beta is over him with his weapon. Daryl comes up behind Beta, and slams two knives into Beta’s eyeballs. Beta’s life with Alpha flashes before him. He hears, we are nothing; we are free; we embrace death. The zombies move in around him. Daryl helps Negan up. Beta’s mask is removed, and he seems like he’s in ecstasy as he’s pulled to the ground by the zombies. Negan says, sh*t. Does Daryl know who that a-hole was? Daryl says, Nobody. Dammit. Dammit! Are we never to know?   

The horde wanders toward the cliff, and Carol says she’ll do it, bypassing Lydia. I think, but wait. Carol can’t die. She has a spin-off coming. Carol gets close to the edge of the cliff, and stands there. The horde catches up, and a hand grabs Carol, pulling her back, as the zombies keep going, and walk off the cliff. Lydia pulls Carol into a hole, and Carol says she told Lydia to go. Lydia says, Carol told her to find her own way. They cry, and hold one another. Zombies walk past, and tumble down into the ravine. Carol thanks her, and they watch as the lemmings zombies continue to drop over the side. Lydia tosses her mask, and it goes over with the zombies. This is a pretty good throw, since it must have had to zigzag through the crowd.  

It takes less time than you’d think for all those zombies to plummet into the abyss, but the show only has another few minutes. Lydia and Carol look out over the canyon, and the sun breaks through the clouds.

In a clearing, everyone regroups. Gabrielle kisses Rosita, and Maggie says hello to everyone. She sees Judith, and kneels down. Judith hugs her. Magna bandages Kelly. Carol and Lydia come back, and Jerry says, is it…? and Lydia says, it is. Carol says, thanks to her. Jerry says, thanks all around. He can’t believe they pulled it off. Lydia says Negan is still there, and he says, for now. She hugs him, and Carol hugs Jerry. Carol asks Daryl if they’re good, and he says, yeah. It’s over. She says, it is, and he says she got what she wanted. She says, not really, and he asks if she still loves him. She says, yeah, and he nods, and says, yeah. They hug – lots of hugging going on – and Daryl says she could go to New Mexico. She says, maybe someday. They still have things to do there.   

A hand claws at the dry leaves in the woods. A woman stands up, and stumbles forward. It’s Connie, covered head to toe in dirt. She falls. A horse approaches, and the rider looks down. It’s Virgil.

Eugene, Princess, Ezekiel, and Magna –  the ones who should really have the spin-off – get to the meeting spot. Princess asks if they have a secret code or something, and Eugene shouts that it’s Eugene Porter there. Princess noses around, and Eugene goes to the door.

Princess and Eugene sit looking dejected. Ezekiel says they can stay in one of the cars. Maybe in the morning… Eugene says, she’s not there anymore; if she ever was. Yumiko says, no regrets, and Eugene says they’re not turning back. There are people out there – maybe not in this trainyard or in a mile radius – but they’re going to keep on trekking until they find them. The reason they assimilated was to make what built stronger with like-minded folks. Assimilate they can. Princess says Eugene is one horny dude.

They all laugh, and stadium lights come on. We hear, weapons down; hands in the air. Suddenly, they’re surrounded by people in stormtrooper uniforms, with guns pointed at them.

TWD will be back in early 2021. Next week – Fear the Walking Dead – Rick gets some play, and we find out more about Al and those circles.

The Walking Dead: The World Beyond

I enjoyed this show, and definitely want to see more. It’s kind of the YA version of The Walking Dead, but I love YA novels, so I can easily get behind this.

Iris and Hope are sisters, living in one of three existing colonies of survivors. Theirs is called the Omaha or Campus Colony, as it’s housed in Nebraska State University. They refer to an incident ten years ago as the night the sky fell, when their mother was killed. Later, their father Leo went to work for a government organization called the Civic Republic, trying to find a cure for zombieism. FYI, zombies in this part of the franchise are called empties. The organization has something to do with those three circles Al discovered in Fear the Walking Dead, so I’m sure more will be revealed as time goes on.

Iris is the more conservative of the two, participating in Monument Day – a day to celebrate those who survived and found safety, and are monuments to the past – and schmoozing with Elizabeth, a lieutenant colonel who heads the military and works with the Civic Republic. Hope is more rebellious, getting nailed for having a distillery on campus, and pretty much telling Elizabeth to f*** off. Iris is also going to a therapist, since she has nightmares, and when she wakes up, has anxiety about everything she has to do. I can identify with the latter, which sounds like me most mornings. She also has guilt over getting separated from Hope when their mom was killed, since Hope saw everything. The doctor pinpoints that Iris feels guilty over not doing enough when she and Hope got separated, and she now feels she has to do everything for everybody. She suggests Iris talk to her sister, and let go of what she’s been holding on to for her.

Between both Iris and Hope’s flashbacks, the night the sky fell is pieced together, and we see the aftermath of a plane crash, where their parents tried to steer them past falling wreckage and the dead coming back as zombies. When Leo stopped to help a pregnant woman, he and Iris became separated from Hope and their mother. Later, their mother tried to get the same pregnant woman to share a car with her so she could find the rest of her family. The woman shot their mother (it seemed to be more accidental than intentional), and in turn, Hope shot her.

It’s normal life, sort of.  As Iris tells us, they still live behind walls, but the dead still have the world. Leo has made security force officer Felix the sisters’ legal guardian while he’s gone, and has been sending them secret messages. Another officer, Felix’s sidekick Huck, has been teaching Hope how to fight the dead. During the first episode, the girls receive a message from Leo saying his safety is not assured. Overhearing Hope talking to Iris about her distrust for the Civic Republic, Elizabeth assures them that all is well. She gives them a map to the facility where she says their father is teaching other scientists and working toward a cure, telling them she could get in trouble for doing it. But then they receive yet one more message from their father – It’s gone bad. Keeping my head down. I’ll find help. Don’t tell the Council. Don’t tell Felix. Iris then also becomes suspicious of the Civic Republic. It doesn’t help when she discovers her therapist has turned into a zombie, which was kind of sad, but at least the doctor had the good sense to put serious bars on the entrance to her apartment, so she couldn’t have Iris as a snack when Iris showed up for her appointment. The girls decide to go on a mission to help their father, along with the assistance of two classmates, Elton and Silas, both nerdy outsiders. This reminded somewhat of A Wrinkle in Time, one of my all-time favorite YA novels. When Elton shows them a photo of his mother, we see it’s the pregnant woman from long ago. I also see an awkward conversation in the future.

It’s a 1100 mile trip to NY, and why they decide to go on foot, I’m not sure, but they leave Felix a note and head out. When Felix finds the note, he tells Huck, they’ll never make it; they’ll die. He and Huck decide to follow them. On the outside, it’s both beautiful and creepy. Elton, who is like a cheerier Eugene, says, let’s see what discoveries await us, shall we? just before Iris has to kill her first zombie.

Back at the colony, Elizabeth is destroying the whole place and killing everyone. Why? We don’t know yet. One of her soldiers tells Elizabeth that they couldn’t find her, and Elizabeth says, good. Who? We don’t know yet.

While this was basically just the set up, I think TWB shows a lot of promise. It’s certainly more upbeat, which is a refreshing change. Hopefully, Rick doesn’t show up.

👩🏽‍🚀 Over and Out…

While I enjoyed it, it was tough to get back into Sunday night Dead mode. I decided to forego Talking Dead to watch Lovecraft Country, which gets eerier every week. I hope I don’t dream about those strange twins from bizarro Little Rascals world, who kept doing Twyla Tharp choreography. Until we meet on Deck, stay safe, stay informed, and stay not walking off the cliff with the zombies.