What I Watched Today

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

 

 

The Walking Dead

When last we left, teens and tweens everywhere were crying into their Skittles because Carl got bit. They’re thinking he might make a cute zombie though.

Rick prays that mercy prevails over his realm. I think this is a dream. There are kids running around, and Jerry is there. Everyone is all happy, and things look normal. In the here and now, Michonne and Rick dig what I assume is a grave. He tells her to go, and we flash back to Carl fighting off a zombie. This time we actually see him get bitten. It gets shot from behind, and Siddiq asks if he’s okay. He says he is. Siddiq and Carl drop down to the sewer tunnel.

Back home, Carl checks out his wound, and the bite holes in his shirt. He waits for Rick with a guard, who gives him a note from Michonne, saying she had to see for herself. Carl writes letters to everyone. He and Siddiq go back through the tunnel. Carl sets up a cot there. He rocks Judith on the porch, and they do some finger-painting. He takes a Polaroid selfie of the two of them. Carl and Siddiq share a candy bar. I guess this is his bucket list? Such as it is during the apocalypse.

Carl does some planting, and waves to Michonne as she drives by. He enjoys the sunshine.

Across from the Sanctuary, Morgan tries to get a bead on Negan. The Saviors shoot at the zombies outside, and Morgan tells someone on the radio, it’s not now. He says the Saviors are trying to make a path, using the zombie bodies as a block. Suddenly, the room Morgan is in, is being riddled with bullets. He stops, drops, and rolls out the door.

Morgan is outside, and sees the zombies wandering to the opera music. He bangs on the fence, distracting them. They come his way. Some Saviors pop out, but he’s able to slip away while they’re busy with the zombies. A Savior caravan goes by, and Morgan jets out of the forest as soon as they’re gone.

Elsewhere in the forest, Carol tells her Kingdom group about a place the Saviors don’t know about, and tells them to hide there until she comes back. Henry says he’s going too. They killed his brother, and he’s not going to let them kill her too. He wants a gun, but she says that’s not happening, and heads toward the Kingdom.

Carl shows Rick his wound and sweats bullets. Daryl holds Judith. Carl says, sorry, like he dented the car. He says if he doesn’t make it, he wanted to make sure he said goodbye, and gives Rick the letters. There’s shooting outside, and Rick says it’s them. Carl tells Rick about bringing Siddiq back, and that he’s the one from the gas station. It wasn’t the Saviors; it just happened. He got bit.

Gavin tells Ezekiel that Negan is going to kill him, and there’s nothing he can do to stop it. Ezekiel says he buried his people, and what happens to him matters not. Gavin says he liked him. He accepted things for how they were, and didn’t get any big ideas, but then Rick planted one, and here they are. Ezekiel says he made a choice he can live with; now it’s Gavin’s turn to do the same.

Morgan sneaks around the Kingdom. He runs into Carol, who’s also sneaking around. Morgan thinks they can take them one by one, but she thinks it’s better to avoid them until they can’t. He says they have Ezekiel, and she says they have to take them now.

Michonne tends to Carl. Siddiq has some OTC inflammatory that will help with the fever. It did for his mom and dad. Rick’s son should have them. Rick asks if he was a doctor, and Siddiq says he was a resident… before. Rick asks if he’s Siddiq. Carl says he wasn’t going to make it alone, and needed them. That’s why he brought him back. He starts coughing, and Rick gives him the medication.

Michonne tells Dwight to make it stop. He’s one of them. She begs him. Rosita says if Hilltop is safe, they should go there. Dwight says they’re looking right now. Their best chance is to stay until they’re gone. They’re almost done. It wasn’t about destroying the place; they don’t have the ammo for that. After they’re gone, that’s when they go. Rosita says they wait then. He asks if she thinks Hilltop the best plan, and she asks if he has another one. He says, all of them together, and Daryl finishes, it will be their worst nightmare.

Two Saviors are putting out fires (literally), while Morgan and Carol watch. He says they have to go through the courtyard, exposed; this is it. He taps one guy on the shoulder, and knocks him out with his staff. Carol knocks out the other. Carol thinks they should just do it. Two more Saviors run out, and they knock them out too. Morgan impales them with the pointy end. He and Carol go inside.

Gavin tells everyone to hustle. He asks Ezekiel if it’s going bad; if it’s going to turn into something else. Ezekiel says he’s the author of this nightmare. I’ll have to remember that one.

Michonne strokes Carl’s face. He says she’s supposed to be resting, but she tells him that she’s not tired. He says it’s going to stop; it’s not supposed to be like this. She’s having a hard time keeping it together.

Dwight thinks it sounds like it’s letting up. Rosita says it looks like he was right – about everything. Daryl decides to take a look, and hands Judith off to Rick.

Morgan and Carol sneak around some more. They start to go inside another building, but Morgan hears something. He looks around the corner of the porch, and sees some Saviors unloading a car. He silently goes down the steps, and kills all three of them, but another pops out of the building with a gun. Carol shoots him before he can shoot Morgan. Morgan takes one of their guns, and they go inside.

Ezekiel is packed into a pickup truck, and Gavin says it’s his last ride; try to make him comfortable. He tells Ezekiel that you try, and hope, and want things to finally settle, but no. it always comes down to this. It always has to get dark and ugly and inhuman. He doesn’t like it. Ezekiel says it’s not too late to walk back from something decided. Gavin says Ezekiel did, and look what it’s got him. Gavin gets on the radio, and calls Peter, but gets no response. He starts to get nervous, and calls Gomez, and also gets no response. Ezekiel tells him again that it’s not too late. They hear gunfire, and Gavin says to get Ezekiel inside now. Morgan and Carol creep around one of the trailers.

A tear rolls down Rick’s cheek. In his mind, he sees a cookout. Eugene jokes with Judith, who is around five. Rick and Michonne continue to dig.

The gunfire stops. Michonne says they can get to Hilltop. Rick says Carl won’t make it. He has to stay with him. She says they’ll both stay. He asks her to take Judith; she needs to be there. He starts to cry, and Daryl says he’ll take her and keep her safe. He’s got this. Rick wants to let her say goodbye, and brings her to Carl. Carl tells her that his hat was dad’s before it was his; now it’s hers. It always kept dad with him, and helped him. Maybe it will help her too. He tells her before mom died, she said he’d beat this horror, but he didn’t. She will though; he knows it. She starts howling, and Rick gives her to Daryl. Daryl says Carl saved them all. Everyone starts to leave.

Siddiq says Carl helped him, and he’s going to honor his memory. Carl brought him there and gave him a chance. Siddiq can never repay him, but can honor him by showing his people, friends, and family that what he did wasn’t for nothing. It mattered and meant something, and because it did, he’s going to honor Carl. Carl smiles, and shakes Siddiq’s hand. He tells Saddiq congratulations; he’s stuck with them. Siddiq leaves to join the others.

Commercial break. They need to stop trying to make Red Machete happen. It’s not going to happen.

Gavin tells everyone what to do. They’re ending this whatever the hell it is. He smacks Ezekiel, and says it is too late. He’s the author, and Ezekiel is the dead man. He lives, and Ezekiel dies; it’s the way it is. Ezekiel says the compromises he made were done to save lives. He realizes the compromises Gavin is making are to save only his, but no more. There’s an explosion, and everything is pretty dark. The Saviors start shooting. Gavin holds up his hand, signaling them to stop. He tells Morgan and Carol to give up, or Ezekiel is dead. Carol and Morgan come out, machine guns blazing. Gavin is so startled, he forgets all about Ezekiel, who dives for cover.  Gavin gets hit in the leg, and drops his gun. Morgan has turned into a serious badass. We already knew Carol was. Ezekiel grabs Gavin’s gun, and now he’s a badass too. One of the Saviors gets Morgan down to the floor, and starts punching the crap out of him. With some bizarre burrowing skills, Morgan puts his hand into the guy’s wound, and practically disembowels – no, I spoke too soon – he disembowels him. Yep, he’s pulling the guy’s intestines out right out. Wow. I did not see that one coming.

Gavin gets up and tries to run (yeah, I’d be scared too), and Morgan shoots at him. He gets away, and Morgan picks up his staff/pokey stick. Ezekiel says they should leave, but Morgan tells him they don’t need to go, and heads after Gavin.

Violin music plays (I’m not kidding) as Rick and Michonne make Carl comfortable. He doesn’t want Michonne to be sad or angry. She’ll have to be strong for Rick and Judith, and for herself. She says she will, and he tells her not to carry this; not this one. He calls her his best friend. She says he’s hers too, and smiles through her tears. She kisses his hand. Rick says they need to get him out of there.

Gavin stumbles around like a blind bat out of hell, while Morgan walks steadily behind him like Michael Meyers in any one of the Halloween films.

The town is burning. Michonne and Rick walk out, with Carl between them. Rick says he can make it. They take Carl to the church, which is relatively unscathed by the fire.

Morgan drags his staff along the ground, like Freddy Krueger’s knife fingers, and Gavin shakes. He sees Morgan’s shadow. This is great. Morgan opens the door to Gavin’s hiding place, and he tumbles out.

Carl thanks Michonne and Rick for getting him there. He tells Rick about when they were back in the prison. When they got outside, there was a kid a little older than him with a gun. He was starting to put it down, and Carl shot him. He was giving up, and Carl just shot him. Carl thinks about him and what he did, and how easy it was to just kill him.

Morgan kicks Gavin. Gavin says Morgan is a sick man; he kept his word. Morgan’s not having it, and walks around him. Gavin says they can go back to Hilltop. Ezekiel and Carol arrive on the scene. Gavin says they think they can beat Negan. They can’t, but it can go back to how it was. Morgan says, no.

Rick tells Carl that what he lost, what happened, all those things he had to do; he was just a boy. Carl says Rick saw what he did, and how easy it got.

Gavin asks if Morgan killed all those men because of the kid. Morgan has his staff a few inches from Gavin’s nose. Gavin tells him killing him won’t make any of it go away. He’ll still wake up in the same sh*t tomorrow. Morgan drags him to his feet.

Carl says that’s why Rick changed. He brought them in, and they all lived together; frenemies. Rick put away his gun. He saw how Rick changed, so Carl could be who he is now. How he stopped fighting. It was right and still is. It can be like that again. He can still be like that again.

Ezekiel tells Morgan to cease this revenge. It’s the coward’s way. They don’t have to kill him. Let him see what he’s wrought, and let it be his to live with.

Carl says Rick can’t be who he was. He’s different now. He can’t kill all of them. There has to be something after. For Rick. For them.

Carol tells Morgan to stop. He doesn’t want to do this, and doesn’t have to. He’s the one who told her that they can be better than them. She can see he doesn’t want to do this. Morgan says he has to. Gavin looks petrified. Suddenly, there’s a hole in his neck, and blood starts pouring out. He drops to the ground, and Henry stands behind him with a pokey stick like Morgan has. Morgan looks slightly freaked.

Carl doesn’t know how it could be, but he’s seen it. We see it too, as he describes it. Rick has a beard, longer and greyer. Michonne is happy, and Judith is older, listening to songs he used to… before. Alexandria is bigger. There are new houses, crops, and people working. Everybody is living together, and everybody is helping everybody else. Rick can still be who he was. That’s how it could be. Rick says it was all for him from the start. Everything he did was for Carl and Judith; it still is. Nothing is going to change that. Carl says he wants this for Rick. Rick says he’ll make it real. He promises.

Ezekiel tells Henry that it’s all right. Henry says he had to. Carol scolds him, saying it’s not what he was supposed to do; it wasn’t for him. Ezekiel says all will be resolved, and hugs him.

Rick tells Carl that he’s sorry he couldn’t protect him. A father’s job is to protect his son. Carl says it’s just to love. Carl isn’t looking too good, and reaches for his gun. Michonne starts to say, it should be – and Carl says, he knows. It should be someone you love, but you should do it yourself if you still can. He has to do this. He tells her that he loves her, and she says she loves him too. He tells Rick that he loves him, and Rick says he loves Carl so much. Everyone is crying except me, since I stopped investing a long time ago. It’s a beautiful tableau though, with the light coming through the broken stained glass window, and the three of them in semi-darkness.

Rick and Michonne are outside, and we hear the gunshot.

Michonne and Rick dig. We see Carl’s idyllic world. Judith tells Negan good morning as he picks tomatoes.

Rick sits under a tree. Panes of stained glass hang from its branches.

Next time, Simon thinks they should cut their losses, Negan says to do the job, and Simon approaches the Heapsters.

🎶 Side knowledge: During the opening scenes, the song At the Bottom of Things by Bright Eyes was playing. Loved. It.

🍑 I’m half paying attention to The Real Housewives of Atlanta, where they’re infecting Barcelona with American reality TV. The amusing highlight of the evening – besides my husband asking if everyone was Nene, since that’s the only name he knows – was when the women were leaving their hotel. Apparently, it wasn’t up to the standard these peaches are used to, and a few of them were saying, “Goodbye, mildew,” on their way out the door. For a moment, I thought mildew was someone’s name.

👹 Ash Vs the Evil Dead had its season premiere tonight. Ash opened a hardware store/sex emporium in his home town, but his retirement from chasing deadites was not to be. The book was back, via an idiot on an Antiques Roadshow type program reading out loud from it. Why does everybody always read out loud from age-old spells? It’s really a bad idea. Ash had a wife and a daughter he knew nothing about (nor did we), but the wife didn’t matter, since she got her head sliced off with a cymbal in the high school band room. It looks like Ash’s daughter, Brandy, will be coming along for the ride this season, as well as Kelly’s boyfriend sidekick whatever-he-is, Dalton, who is also the descendant of an ancient order of knights who fight evil.

🔫 AMC has a new show coming up on Monday called McMafia. I’m wondering if it’s about an Irish mafia guy, or if the mafia is a franchise now.

👀 It Takes a While, But They Get to the Song…