What I Watched Today
(rambling, random thoughts & annoyingly detailed recaps from real time TV watching)
The Walking Dead
The people Carlson kicked off the roof are beginning to reanimate. Carlson radios Lance, who asks the status. Carlson says, the location is secured, and Lance breathes a sigh of relief. The shipment? Carlson says they’re searching floor by floor; the residents have been cooperative. Lance is surprised, saying, the people have regressed so far is like getting mad at a rat who can’t tell right from wrong. Carlson tells him that a small taste of law and order made them remember. A trooper tells Carlson, we have two down be the east exit, and Carlson runs inside.
Maggie hears screaming, and sneaks down the hall, followed by Aaron, Lydia and Elijah. They hear gunfire, and slip quietly toward it.
Daryl meets Carol on his way to work, and says he’d been looking for her. She tells him that she’s been doing more of her side thing, and he asks if she’s heard anything about home. She says, not exactly… and trooper boss lady asks if Daryl is going to be joining them. He asks if Carol wants to have lunch, and she says, noon at the diner? He says, it’s a date, and goes in. Inside, the troopers are given their assignments, and Rosita and Daryl are paired for Sector D. They leaves with troopers Alves and Castle, and pass where Sabastian is hanging out with his friends. Sebastian brags that people have problems when they panic, but when he’s around the rotters, his heartrate goes down. He says, Daryl has seen how he handles himself, and Daryl says, good stuff, applauding, but Sebastian isn’t really sure how to respond. They go outside, and Alves says, a swarm was spotted by the north perimeter. Daryl wonders why the plans changed, and Alves suggests they’re being tested on what they can do outside the walls. He tells them that their sectors are covered, and says, let’s go. Daryl and Rosita go with him.
Maggie and the others go into an apartment. They hear shooting and yelling, and Maggie suddenly has a gun to her head. Annie tells her, one more step, and you die. Drop your weapons. Elijah then comes up behind Annie, and holds a gun to her head, and Lydia says, you first. Maggie says, they’re here to help, and Negan joins them. He pats Elijah on the shoulder, and says, let’s everybody put our sh*t back in our pants and zip up. He tells Lydia, hey kiddo, and she asks what he’s doing here. He stands next to Annie, and says, we live here. Aaron says, they have Gabriel, but Negan says, they don’t. He tells them, come on, and they follow him. He goes to a closet, and moves the clothes aside. There’s an opening, and he goes through, explaining that Ian walled up the doors in some of the apartments. Gabriel is there with some others from the building, and he hugs Maggie. Maggie asks if the people there hijacked the convoy, but Annie says, no. Aaron asks if she’s sure, and she says she’s sick of people asking. Negan says, him too, why doesn’t Aaron just come out and call her a liar? Aaron says, their boss has a wall of skulls, and he’s calling bullsh*t. If they didn’t do it, who did? Maggie says, it doesn’t matter. They have to get these people out of here. They hear a trooper saying they’ll sweep each floor and see who’s left. Annie says, they’re not leaving their people; they leave together. They pair up, and Negan tells Annie to go with Maggie.
Rosita and Daryl walk through the woods with the troopers, and Rosita asks, how much longer? Alves says, not long, and they get to a hill overlooking a valley where there are houses. He says, there it is, and Daryl asks, where’s everybody else? Alves says, there is no one else, and Rosita says, they expect only four of them to take all the zombies out? Sebastian appears, and says, no, she and Daryl are going to go through them. He and Cooper grew up together. Cooper lived down in the valley, and his dad was a bank president. He was also a prepper, and his office had a panic room where he kept drugs and cash – lots of it. Sebastian needs them to get it for him. Rosita says, this is a joke, right? but Sebastian says, no. His bitch mother cut off his line of credit, so he has to think of creative ways to support his lifestyle. The troopers can’t shoot their guns without the ammo being tracked. Cooper gave him the code… Daryl says, they’re not doing it, but Sebastian says, they’ll slime themselves up with guts, walk through the swarm, and get his cash. Daryl says, or what? and he and Rosita start to walk away. Sebastian asks how their kids are doing, and Daryl grabs him, putting a knife to his throat. Alves tells Daryl, drop it, or they’re both dead, but Rosita has drawn her gun, and says, not before she blows junior’s head off. Daryl says, if Sebastian threatens their kids again, he’ll gut him. Sebastian acts like it was the furthest thing from his mind, and tells Daryl that he was just saying he could make their lives easier. Alves says, or more difficult, and Rosita says, they do this and that’s it? Sebastian says, totally, and Daryl lets him go, taking the code from his hand.
Daryl and Rosita walk through the zombies, who come up to their faces, snarling. We see it from their perspective through their helmets, and it’s pretty creepy.
They go inside, Daryl shining a flashlight around. They see the keypad, and Rosita says they’ll need power for the lock. Two zombies toddle out, and she stabs both of them in the head. She says, it can’t be more than a few days since they turned. They hear a live human banging on the other side of a door, and a woman says, hey. She tells them that she was with another group, and Rosita says, they’re with the Commonwealth army. She says, she’s sorry. The money is in here, but she’s the only one left. Daryl says, Sebastian has done this before, and the woman begs them not to leave her. Rosita asks what she did, and she says she was in debt, and one day man showed up, saying he could get her out of it. She had two kids… She has two kids. Rosita asks how many people were sent in her group, and she says, twelve. Only three made it inside. They got the generator on, but then the two guys turned on each other. She ran in, and the door locked. She’s been trapped in there since. Rosita asks her name, and she says, April. Rosita introduces herself.
Negan says, they’ll make this work, okay? Lydia says, he left without saying a word, and he says, he left because he gave a sh*t. He left because it’s what everyone needed. Aaron asks how he met these people, and… What is Anna to him? He shows Aaron a wedding ring, and says, crazy, right? Aaron says, Negan being here fits, and Gabriel insists the Commonwealth is different, but Lydia says, she’d hoped it was, but it isn’t. They just want to swallow up communities. They’re like the Whisperers; they just wear different masks. Annie radios, and tells Negan that the troopers are on the fifth floor, but they’re going to spread out. He asks if Maggie is still with her, and she tells him to stop worrying. She’ll see him soon. Negan looks outside, and says, sh*t.
A trooper tells Herschel to sit and stay. He gets on the radio and tells the sarge that he found a kid hiding in a truck. Negan clocks him before he can say anymore; then kills him.
Annie eats some ginger, and tells Maggie, she’s twelve weeks, give or take, and yeah it’s his. Not that he’d want her telling Maggie. Negan radios Annie, and says they found Maggie’s son. Maggie grabs the radio, and says, what? Negan says, they had a stowaway they didn’t know about. Maggie says she’s coming, but he tells her, stay with Annie. Her son is safe; stay focused. Maggie says, if anything happens to him… and Negan says, it will have to happen to me first. They hear more gunfire, and Annie tells Maggie, he’s in good hands. Maggie says, he’s in the hands of the man who killed his father. They hear a trooper say, he’s outside five; it’s clear. Annie says she knows who he is and he what did. He told her. Maggie says, and she’s still with him? and Annie says, none of them have clean hands. She’s seen what people do to survive. Sometimes it’s been done to her, and sometimes she did it to them. She’s not proud of it; she can just try to be better. Like him. Maggie says, he doesn’t get to forget, and Annie says, he hasn’t. What matters to her is who he is now, someone who will do what he can to protect her boy.
Herschel says, his mom told him to stay away from Negan, and Negan says, his mom’s a smart lady. Herschel asks why his mom doesn’t like Negan, and Negan says, because of something that happened a long time ago. Herschel says, something bad? and Negan says, yeah. Herschel asks if he’s a bad man, and Negan says, he was. I want to cry, this scene is so touching. Negan says, look, kid, and Heschel picks up a gun. He says his mom told him that a bad man killed his dad. It was him, wasn’t it? Negan says, yeah, and crouches down so he’s on Herschel’s level. He says, what he took away from Herschel and his mom, there’s nothing he can say or do to make that better. He knows Herschel wants to pull the trigger, and he doesn’t blame Herschel, but if he does – everyone gathers, watching from the other room – the bad people will know where they’re hiding. Maybe he deserves to die for what he did to Herschel’s family, but these people here don’t. Herschel looks at them, and lowers the gun. Lydia approaches, and takes it from him, and he runs to them.
Daryl tries to get the generator going, and flips switches like he knows what he’s doing. He does something with pliers, and sparks shoot out. The lights blink on and off, and zombies come at Daryl. They keep coming, and he keeps fighting them. Finally, he dispatches the last one, and goes back to work. The lights come on.
Rosita asks if April is still with them, and puts in the code. The door opens, and April hugs Rosita, thanking her. Daryl joins them, and April shows him the safe. He uses a crowbar to open it, and an alarm goes off. Rosita pushes buttons, but it only gets louder. April starts to freak out, saying, the zombies are going to be drawn to the house. Rosita pulls the alarm off the wall, but it’s still attached by a wire, and April yells for her to hurry. Rosita finally smashes it, and it stops. Daryl pulls out the safe, and he and Rosita stuff money into a bag. April tells them, they’re coming; hurry. They block door with a dresser, and wait.
Daryl says, they’ll go out how they came in; no sudden moves. They put zombie guts on April, and there’s banging and growling outside for a while. When it settles down, they move the dresser back, and open the door. Mercer is there, and asks if he was going to let them in. Daryl asks how he knew they were there, and Carly walks in. She says, when Daryl didn’t show for lunch, she found out where he was. Mercer asks if Daryl is looting houses now, and Rosita says, Sebastian threatened their kids. April tells Mercer that she was promised a cut of the money, but she’s the only one left. The lights blink, and Mercer asks Carol how many rounds she has. She says, maybe ten, and he says, there are more walkers than that. Daryl says, gut up.
They go out among the dead, moving slowly. April’s eyes are like saucers, and I know that one is going to freak for sure. Mercer keeps his gun drawn, and sure enough, one gets hooked on the uniform April is wearing. She panics, and stabs it. Apparently this is a dead (no pun intended) giveaway, and the zombies grab at her. There’s slicing and dicing and shooting, and Mercer is a master with the butt of his gun. All is quiet, but Rosita sees it’s too late for April, and stabs her in the forehead. Mercer opens the door to the outside.
Maggie and Annie hear gunfire at the end of the hall, and a man saying, no, please. The man is shot, and Carlson says, these people… He tells his soldiers, if they refuse to give you something useful, pop them in the in head and move on. They find the guns in the next hour or they burn the place to the ground. Maggie and Annie come out of an apartment, and Maggie radios Gabriel and Aaron. She asks if Elijah is with them, and Aaron says he is. She says she has a plan.
Troopers kick in the door to the apartment with the secret exit, and throw stuff around. A trooper goes to the closet, but the clothes have been pushed back together again. Carlson says, anything? and he says, nothing. They leave, but Carlson lingers. Negan and the others wait behind the opening. Carlson picks up a whiskey bottle, and examines it. He sees something on the floor, and whistles for his men. Negan is a couple of feet away, gun drawn, and Carlson is about to slide the clothing over, when he hears something. He says, it’s that goddam priest again, and he and his soldiers go to the roof. They find Aaron and Gabriel, and Aaron throws his gun down. Carlson slams the roof door shut, and says he’s had enough of this sh*t. What were they thinking, turning on him and the Commonwealth? For what? A tenement warlord and his followers? He thought they were smarter than that. The others come out to the roof, and Carlson calls for back-up, but his soldiers have their hands full with Elijah and his ninja moves. Carlson laughs, and says, the wisdom to know the difference, right? Things got out of hand, and they need to take a breath. Maggie and Annie join them, and Carlson says, they need to talk things… Daryl shoots him off of the roof edge, and he falls down the to the people he’s pushed off, who are now zombies. Aaron and Gabriel look down and watch, as the zombies crawl over Carlson, and have a feast. I love a fitting end.
Mercer, Carol, and Daryl go back up the hill, where Alves and Castle are waiting. Mercer says, they could have used some help, but Alves says they don’t answer to Mercer. Did they get the money? Mercer gives it to him, and Carol asks, how many others were sent to get it? Alves says, thirty or forty, he’s not sure, and in a surprise move, Mercer shoots Alves and Castle. Daryl looks at him like, respect, and I laaaugh. Mercer says, they’ll have to pay Sebastian. If they don’t, Sebastian will come after them, and it’s a fight they’re not going to win. He picks up the bags, and says he’ll carry them through the gate. They won’t search him.
Daryl, Rosita, and Mercer sit at a table, and Sebastian comes in. He says, there they are. So? Daryl points to the bag, and Sebastian practically skips over to the table. He looks inside, and he dances in a circle, and says, well done. Where are…? Mercer says, Alves and Castle didn’t make it. Sebastian takes out a packet of bills, and puts it on the table, telling Daryl, your cut. Congratulations. They did it. He’s glad they’re friends again. He smiles and leaves. Daryl looks at Mercer.
Lance radios Open Range (i.e. Carlson), but gets nothing but static. He sits at his desk, looking like he has a headache. There’s a knock at the door, and Carol comes in. He says, it’s late, and asks where she’s been. She says, helping friends out of a jam. They were on a mission for the governor’s son. He’s been finding desperate people, and sending them through swarms to get to a stash of cash. Most didn’t make it out. Lance says, he sent her friends? and she says, yeah. He asks if they made it back, and she says, barely. He says, good. Did they get the money? She says they did, and he says, finally, and sighs. Carol asks why the other people were sent; what did they do? He says, they put themselves in bad situations, either because of stupid choices or their unwillingness to play by the rules. He tried to throw them a lifeline. This place works because everyone plays their part. If they can’t or won’t, it hurts everyone. That’s when the system breaks down, and we can’t let that happen. He asks if Carol knows what he’s saying, and she says, if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. He says he knew she’d get it, and she says she’ll let him get back to work. He says, it’s nice to be able to talk to someone who sees the big picture; not many can. She smiles, and leaves, looking like Jamie Lee Curtis, Lance picks up the radio again.
Negan looks at Herschel, and walks over to him. He says, he and Herschel have unfinished business, don’t they? Tell you what. Herschel goes back with his mom, and helps rebuild their home. When he’s grown up a bit, come find him, and Negan promises they’ll settle it. Another great scene between these two. Negan walks off, and Maggie asks Herschel what Negan said to him, but Herschel stays silent. Maggie asks what Aaron and Gabriel are going do. They can’t go back to the Commonwealth. Aaron says, Lance is going to want to know what happened, and Gabriel says, the more immediate need is the people here. It’s only a matter of time. He wonders, if Ian didn’t steal the weapons, who did?
Two weeks ago. We see the dead troopers next to the arms shipment. One is still alive, crawling down the road, leaving a trail of blood. She yells, please, no, but a woman reaches from behind, pulling the trooper’s head up, and slitting her throat. Blood gushes out. We see the murderer is Leah.
Next time, Lance wonders if the warlords weren’t strangers to Aaron and Gabriel; Max says they can change this place; and Daryl asks Maggie to trust him. Eugene wants max to steal files
🛠 What the Dickens…
More on the returning FWD and Madison.
🤯 Everybody Has One…
I actually forget all about Rick until I read one of these articles.
https://screenrant.com/fear-walking-dead-madison-rick-grimes-crm-brainwash-theory/
⚰️ Only the Best…
Checking my temperature… Yep, still bitter about Z Nation being canceled, even after several years.
🏆 You Know You Want It…
The winners. Oh, wait, the award receivers.
https://www.avclub.com/oscars-2022-complete-winners-list-1848710035
And the more important fashion.
https://www.avclub.com/oscars-2022-red-carpet-arrivals-gallery-1848709842
✨ Stars Fading, But I Linger On…
Save room for some soap and what’s on Deck tomorrow. Until then, stay safe, stay pragmatic, and stay having the wisdom to know the difference.
What I Watched - TV With Theresa 