What I Watched Today
(rambling, random thoughts & annoyingly detailed recaps from real time TV watching)
The Walking Dead
Mid-season finale.
A cluster of zombies make a lot of noise. Lance steps in zombie goo, ruining his Pierre Cardin shoes.
19 HOURS AND ONE ACT OF GOD AGO. Maggie leaves Hilltop with Herschel, Elijah, and Marco. She asks if Herschel has everything, and he says he’s not a baby anymore. He doesn’t want to go. Maggie tells him, it’s only temporary, and he says he wants to help. She says she knows, but not this time. She asks, how far? and Elijah says, four miles south. They can get there before dark. Maggie tells Herschel, they’ll be back before he knows it. She takes his hand, and they all walk into the woods.
Lance flips his coin, and tells a trooper to call it. The trooper says, tails, and Lance says, over there, pointing to one of a few groups of soldiers. The trooper asks if they’re going to be given an assignment, and Lance says, you’ll know soon enough.
Max is sitting on the bed reading, when Eugene wakes up. She says she thought he was still asleep, and he says he was. He thought they had a lovely night, and she says, they did. He asks what she’s reading, and she says, stuff on physics. He says, just so she knows, she’s the most remarkable human he’s ever met; beautiful in every way. She thanks him, and kisses him. She says she has to get ready for work, and he asks if she has any hesitation about what he asked her to do. She says, no. She said she’d do it. It’s just… He says, she can tell him, and she says she can’t stop thinking about what happens after. This place pushes everyone to keep it the same, and she’s worried it’s going to push them until they all break.
Daryl breaks down a door, and goes into a house with Gabriel, Aaron, and some troopers. Away from the others, Aaron says, they’re not splitting up, and Gabriel says, they’ll get through and get home. Aaron says, they’re in this until it’s over, and Daryl says, when they get a break, they’ll take it, and head north. A trooper finds them, and asks what all the chit-chat is. Daryl says, they need a break, and Gabriel says, there’s a rumor that a place in Charleston is trading weapons. He asks if they’ve checked there, when zombies suddenly start busting in from the next room. One clings on the trooper, who freaks out. Daryl pokes it through the head, and the trooper smashes it to a pulp, because it’s easy once they’re deactivated. Lance radios, asking where they are, and the trooper tells Lance that they’re 13 miles past the last outpost. They have one more location to clear. He tells the others, let’s move. Gabriel says, Lance is checking on them. They need to watch their backs. Daryl agrees.
Maggie and Herschel walk through the woods, followed by Elijah and Marco. She tells them, sounds like it’s getting closer, and Eli says, it is. Herschel is worried about Maggie, but she tells him that she’s okay. He says, no, she’s not, and she bends down so she can look him in the eye. She says, everything she’s done, and still does, is so they have choices. He might not like the place they’re going to, but she promises it’s the right choice… for now. Lydia meets them with some others, and they follow her.
At the camp, Leah suits up for battle like Mrs. Peel from The Avengers, all in black, leather, and weapons. Lance says, it’s exciting, doesn’t she think? Things are coming together. She’ll get the scalp of the woman who killed her family, and he gets to do his job without interference. Everybody wins. Well… not everybody. The cicadas get crazy loud in the trees, and Lance says, he’ll need to see it when she’s dead, giving Leah a radio. Leah says, when she’s dead, he will, and Lance tells the troopers to come. He smiles.
Lydia leads the others to a tangle of branches on the ground, and signal knocks in the middle of it with a stick. She pulls on one of the branches, and says, this thing is stuck. Elijah helps her, and they open a trap door. Inside are Negan, Annie, and what’s left of the Warlord group. They come out of the hidey hole.
Annie asks if Maggie is sure Lance is coming, and Maggie says she spotted him outside the walls. Negan tells her, they’re grateful for her help. He has no problem watching the kid, but Annie is pregnant. There’s no way he’s going to sit in that Whisperer wormhole so they can save that sh*thole of a home that’s not worth saving. Annie protests, but Maggie says, he’s right. Maybe the place isn’t worth saving, but the people are. She started the fight with Lance, and it won’t end until she ends it. Negan has no doubt she will, but also has no doubt that a-hole Lance has her firmly in his crosshairs, so he’s coming with her. Maggie says she’ll finish it, and Annie says she can help, but Maggie says Annie needs to stay with Herschel and the others; keep them safe until it’s over. Negan says, Herschel doesn’t exactly trust him, but Maggie says, she’s starting to. He saved Herschel at Riverbend, and whatever else happens, and whatever has happened, she’ll never forget that. Negan says, wow. She has big balls. He’s got her and her boy. Maggie tells Annie, when she feels it’s time… Anne says, he’ll be waiting when she gets back; she promises. The cicadas get vocal again, and Negan says, oh sh*t. If that ain’t a sign from the man upstairs. The cicadas form a cloud above the trees.
Over the radio, Lance asks if the troopers have secured the location. Head trooper Romano says, they’re cleaning it, and Lance tells him, finish and head back. Romano copies, and tells Daryl, one last sweep, then home. Daryl says he’ll lead, and they walk out to a clearing, and into an old parking lot full of rusted out cars and buses. Daryl, Gabriel, and Aaron separate from the troopers, and start shooting at them. The troopers shoot back, and Gabriel gets hit. Aaron gets hit in his bad arm, which is really his good arm, since it has a mace for a hand. Daryl hits a trooper with the butt of his gun, grabs another gun, and backs around a bus. Gabriel grabs Romano and kicks his ass but good. He shoots more troopers, and is a surprisingly good shot. Zombies start coming, and everyone shoots at them. You have to pick your battles.
Romano is crawling away, when Daryl comes around the corner, followed by Aaron and Gabriel. Gabriel puts a tourniquet on Aaron’s arm, and Daryl stops Romano with his foot. He flips Romano over, and asks, where’s Lance? Romano says, screw you, and sees zombies coming from out of the woods. Daryl says, his choice, and Romano says, maybe ten miles out. He said he wanted to clear the field. Daryl shoots him, and Gabriel says, clear the field means leave only allies behind. Daryl says, Maggie, and Lance radios Romano, but Daryl picks up and says, he ain’t here anymore. Lance tells his troopers, move now. Daryl, Aaron, and Gabriel head out.
In her office, Pamela reads from what’s probably a speech. When this world fell, they gathered the scattered pieces. It wasn’t easy. They faltered, but found a reason to live when everything outside the walls was dead. Max is sitting at her desk, and Pamela asks if she’s okay; she seems far away. Max says, she’s good; she’s right here. Pamela says, if Max is having a bad day, Max can tell her. It’s hard always having to be strong and not showing emotion. Max says she’s really okay, but before she forgets, the Founders Day budget has a $50k surplus. She’d like to suggest something if Pamela is open to it – a scholarship fund for less fortunate families. She’s made up a proposal. Pamela says she loves Max’s out-of-the-box thinking, but anything extra has to be put back into the event; it’s their biggest day of the year. Max says she understands, and tells Pamela not to forget her 5 o’clock dinner. Pamela says she doesn’t know what she’d do without Max, and asks if she’s coming. Max says she’ll be right behind Pamela, and Pamela leaves. Max goes to work, looking through the files.
Maggie and her group take out their weapons.
Max goes through the files, pulling some out. While she’s looking at the papers in one of them, Sebastian startles her. He apologizes, and she asks if there’s something she can help him with. He asks if his mom is pissed at him. He keeps asking, but gets nothing. Max says, it’s been a hectic afternoon, and he says he needs to talk with his mother. She says, Pamela is at a work dinner, but she can get word to her. Sebastian says, why doesn’t Max get word to her. Her only child. It’s such bullsh*t. Max says she’s sorry, but she was on her way out, and he says she never stops working. She even takes work home. Max drops some of the files, and Sebastian moves to help her, but she scoops them up quickly. She tells him that she’s clumsy after too much coffee, and he says, the poor man’s drug. He leaves, and she puts the files under her coat.
The cicadas get wildly loud, and Leah goes into a house with her men. They look around, going to a closed door, and the house explodes. In the woods, Maggie says, they’ll see if they can recover any weapons, follow their trail back to the camp, and end it. A shot rings out, and Marco falls to the ground. Leah comes out of the still burning house, and they run. Poor Marco. Leah follows, slow and steady like Michael Myers.
LOUD CICADAS. Lance looks pissed as the troopers go through the bombed out house. Outside, he steps in zombie goo. He asks, how many? and a trooper says, three. Leah radios, and Lance asks, what was that? She says she drew them out. She’s doing it her way. He says, his men were killed, and she says, collateral damage. A trooper tells Lance that he’s got the others fanned out. They’ll find them. Lance says, they goddam better.
Walking through the woods, Gabriel says, the troopers must be close. They’ve got walkers too. Daryl sees spikes in a tree, and Gabriel says, they set traps for them, but Daryl says, those ain’t for them. They come to the camp, and Aaron looks through whatever stuff is left. Daryl sees a piece of materiel on a tree, and says, Leah. He thinks they should split up; they’ll cover more ground. Lydia and Elijah fight off a zombie, and Elijah asks Maggie if she’s sure it was Leah. Maggie says, yes, and tells them to go. She’ll lead the others away. She won’t risk them. Lydia says, when it’s safe, they’ll meet up with the others, but Maggie tells them to go.
Maggie is alone, and Leah walks through the woods, gun drawn.
Back at the Commonwealth, Kelly signs, and Connie says, Tyler Davis, and the woman Rosita tried to help were on the list. She counted 200 more. Max looks at one of the papers, and says, it looks like codes or coordinates. Magna says, if they’re hiding it, maybe Connie should write about that, but Connie says, not yet. She needs proof. For something this big, they need the key to crack the code. Until they have that, she’ll have to write about Sebastian’s heist, and hang it around Pamela’s neck. Kelly says, when the people find out Pamela’s not on their side, they’re going to question everything. There’s a knock at the door, startling everyone, and Magna says she thought they could use some help. She told him to come. Ezekiel says he’s sorry he’s late, and Magna says, they needed more people. Ezekiel says he has a whole network ready and willing to ride at dawn. Connie says, we’re doing this? and Max says, let’s ride.
Daryl goes through the woods.
In Maggie’s part of the woods, the zombies make noise, competing with the cicadas. Then it gets quiet. A zombie comes out, and Maggie unsheathes her knife, waiting until it’s right up on her before stabbing it in the head. She sheaths the knife again, and continues on. (The closed captions say, dramatic chord strike – hahaha!) Maggie shoots at Leah, who dodges around the trees. Maggie gets off a couple more shots, and moves slowly forward. Leah gets a bullet in the leg, but still comes up behind Maggie.
Maggie opens her eyes, and she’s tied to a chair, Leah sitting across from her with a gun. Leah says she’s waited for this moment a long time, and Maggie says she knows what Leah wants. She wanted it herself for a long time. Leah can’t kill her; it’s too easy. If Leah had wanted to do that, she’d have done it. She wants Maggie to suffer; to feel everything she felt, all the pain, Somewhere inside, Leah thinks it will take her pain away, but it won’t. Leah says, Maggie is wrong. She doesn’t just want to hurt Maggie. By the time she’s done, everyone Maggie loves will be dead.
In the woods, Lance finds a piece of cloth left by Leah. They keep going.
Maggie guesses that would make her and Leah even. Leah could take her family the way she took Leah’s. Leah says, it’s nature’s way of taking care of things. Maggie says, it’s not nature or fate; it’s us. Maggie killed Leah’s people. That’s what she wanted. This is what Leah wants. Leah draws her gun, and Maggie says, go ahead. She wants to do it. Go on. Leah hesitates, and as Maggie is talking, she’s getting out of the bonds on her wrists. She jumps up, and hits Leah. They struggle over the gun, and Maggie knocks it out of Leah’s hand, and whacks her a few times, but then Leah gets Maggie down. Maggie bounces back up, but Leah slices her in the leg. They throw each other around like a scene from Kill Bill, and Leah gets Maggie down again, punching the sh*t out of her. She starts to strangle Maggie, and there’s a gunshot. Leah falls on top Maggie, and Daryl is there. Woot!
Lance is lurking outside with the troopers, and Daryl shoots at him, grazing his face. Daryl grabs Maggie, and they run. An angry Lance stomps into the house, sees Leah dead, and notices the open window Daryl and Maggie jetted from. He says, now we take it all.
Maggie and Daryl walk through a field, meeting Gabriel and Aaron. Another day at the office. Negan gets everyone aboveground. Max puts the files back, and sits at her desk. Pamela comes in, and tosses the newspaper on Max’s desk. The headline reads: Pamela Milton is Lying to You.
The Welcome to Alexandria sign is draped over by a Commonwealth flag. A trooper closes the gate. The people inside are rounded up, and Lance fingers his coin, then flips it.
Next time, the fight to the finish; the final chapter. Mercer says it’s his job to protect the people, but Negan says he was sent here anyway.
👍🏻 Final Flip…
What’s happening with the Commonwealth.
https://ew.com/tv/walking-dead-midseason-finale-acts-of-god-angela-kang/
And does it coordinate with the CRM?
https://screenrant.com/walking-dead-commonwealth-crm-name-list-coordinates/
🌊 Under Water Dead…
This actually looks pretty good. And I did like Das Boot.
https://bleedingcool.com/tv/dead-in-the-water-amc-releases-fear-the-walking-dead-spinoff-trailer/
🐣 In Your Easter Basket…
No break this time around. FWD is back April 17th.
👰🏼 Spicing Down the Aisle…
I’ve always been impressed with his parents’ marriage, and wish him well. They’re a beautiful couple.
https://www.eonline.com/news/1325731/brooklyn-beckham-marries-nicola-peltz-in-star-studded-ceremony
🍭 Sweet Dreams…
Meet me here tomorrow for some soap and some Sailing. Until then, stay safe, stay gracious, and stay knowing that making things even won’t take the pain away.
What I Watched - TV With Theresa 