Tag Archives: science fiction

November 15, 2020 – A Fire In Tank Town, Percy Creates the Louvre For Iris & Lovely

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What I Watched Today

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

Fear the Walking Dead

A woman named Page runs through the woods. We hear horses following. She falls near a zombie downed by a tree. Ginny rides up with John and Ranger Hill. Ginny says it doesn’t have to be the end for her. Page asks what she did, and Ginny calls Hill over. He takes a can of spray paint out of her backpack, and Ginny says she’s been marking the trees. Page says she’s marking which ones to fell, and Ginny says, like this one? pointing to the one on top of the zombie. It says, The End Is The Beginning on it, and Ginny says they’ve found it a lot in the woods, and other places. What the hell does it mean? How long has Page been working with them? She tells Page, Jasper lost his way, and asks Hill if they didn’t bury Jasper around there. They’ve been chopping the lumber she’s using to build a future, and she’d do anything to protect it. Page smiles, but Ginny says she doesn’t recall saying anything worth smiling about. Page says Ginny is scared, and Ginny asks if she looks scared. Page says she does. Ginny asks Hill if Marcus is finished back at Lawton, so she can get the answer she needs. Page grabs Hill’s gun, and says, it’s not about them, but it’s about what Ginny is building. Their future. Ginny says, what about it? and Page shoots herself. Hill asks what they’re going to do with her. A zombie is already gnawing on Page’s arm, and Ginny says, see what she’s got. Cut her stomach open, and see what she ate. There may be a clue. Then bury her where Jasper’s leg is.

We hear voices on an unattended radio. June stands in the back of a truck, and motions two zombies toward her, stabbing them in the heads when they get close enough. She closes up the truck, and Sarah says June is good at making new friends. Malcolm is on a table, surrounded by medical equipment, and June asks when was the last time he ate. He says, a couple of days. June examines him, and tells Sarah her findings. Sarah looks something up, and says, ruptured appendix. He should have been there yesterday. June says, it has to come out, and he asks if she’s done this before. She says, there’s nothing to worry about, and gives Sarah some surgical gloves. June says she’s seen dozens of emergency appendectomies; he’ll be fine. He asks if Sarah is a nurse, and she says, truck driver; a marine before that. She was booted out of boot camp. She told them stick it sideways. He wants to wait for the doctor, but Sarah says, he’s not so good anymore; he’s dead. June gives him some booze, and he says, it’s terrible. Sarah says she’s working on it. June tells him that she’s giving him a shot to make him calm and sleepy. Everything is going to be okay. Sarah says, he’s stable, and June says, let’s do it. They hear a zombie outside, but June says she needs Sarah to stay there. June cuts into Malcolm’s side, and looks at the instructions Sarah is holding. The monitor begins beeping like crazy, and June says he’s going in shock from the infection. He flatlines, and June gets on top of him to begin CPR, telling Sarah to get the adrenaline. She says, come on, Malcolm, and continues, but Sarah says, it’s not her fault. It’s over. June won’t stop pumping on Malcolm’s chest, and Sarah unplugs the monitor. June still keeps going, and Malcolm turns and wakes, throwing her to the ground, him tumbling on top of her. He’s totally crazed, and Sarah stabs him in the head.

June buries Malcolm, and Sarah hands her a flask. June takes a swig, and coughs, saying, she’d hate to taste the bad stuff. Sarah says, it doesn’t matter. Like her brother always says, as long as it gets you to the same place at the end. They pass the flask back and forth. June asks where Wendell went, and Sarah says, wherever June was. June asks how long they’ve been away, and June says, 29 hours. They have to be at Paradise Ridge in three. June says they can’t keep this up, but Sarah says she’s got No-Doze. June says they’re stretched too thin, and there are too many people too far apart. They keep doing too little too late. Sarah says everything June is asking, to build a hospital, Ginny won’t go for it. She already asked, didn’t she? June says Ginny told her it was too dangerous for people to travel. Sarah says, too dangerous for Ginny. Speaking of which, where’s Terry; he’s late. John comes on the radio, and asks if they’re still near marker 68. Terry is sleeping one off, so he volunteered. He tells them, sit tight. He’ll be there in five. June can ride with him.

In the car, June tells John that she lost Malcolm. She told him it was going to be okay and she lost him. When Ginny put her in charge, she thought she’d actually be saving lives. John says they could leave. She asks what he’s talking about, and he says, the cabin is 100 miles from Paradise Ridge. If they’re careful, they can make it on the gas they’ve got, although they might have to hoof it for the last 10 to 14 miles. She says they can’t leave, but he says, Janis and Cameron had a whole plan before Cameron died. Janis tried to give it to him so he and June could escape, but he didn’t take it. She says she wants to save people and make a difference. How can she save anyone by running? John says she can save him. He can’t stay there. He has the feeling if he does, he’s not going to last long. June says, whatever happened, he doesn’t need to protect her. They could get as far away as possible, and Ginny will hunt them down. He says, not if she can’t find them. They’ll be there before she knows they’re gone. June says they can’t leave everyone behind, but he says he wants this for them. Wouldn’t she? Come with him. They hear someone on the radio say, get their asses to Tank Town. There’s been an accident. It’s bad. June tells John, no one will know they’re  gone if they don’t show up. He suggests they go, and put some cans of gas in the car. they can have gas to spare to look for supplies. I wonder why Ginny is so unoriginal with town names.   

They pull up, and see people blackened with soot, some still coming out from under the bridge. June tells Sarah to start assessing who needs help. She asks Luci, what happened? and Luci says, a well blew. They were digging a new one, and everyone got hurt who was working there. There are open flames near the tank. She says they have to go back in, and Sarah tells June, they have to get them out. June asks if they can walk, but Luci says, no. That’s why they’re still there. Another car comes, and Luci says, sh*t. Ginny gets out, and I say, sh*t. Luci says, workers are still in there, and June says she’ll do what she can. Luci tells Ginny, she’s not stopping them, but Ginny says, she wouldn’t dream of it. She came to make sure to keep everyone alive. Luci says, it was safe; they did everything by the book. Ginny tells a Ranger to question the people outside, and tells John to go up above. Make sure oil is the only thing raining down on them. John tells June that Ginny is only helping people for her own ends, but June says she’s going to help those people come out. Then they’ll go away together. They have a brief kiss, and she goes to the truck.

Sarah drives them in, and Luci tells her, be careful. The soil might be unstable. June asks, what happened? and Luci says they had to drill a new well. Sarah asks if she knows why, but Luci says, no. Oil spurts up and is pouring down everywhere. Luci says they don’t want get stuck in it. Keep their eyes on the wind. If it changes direction, they might have to get out. June says, don’t breath it in, and don’t look up. Sarah asks if she’s done this before, and June says, it’s kind of how they met.

They get out, and Ginny asks how long this could go on. Luci says, for months, actually years. Ginny wants them to stop the oil flow, but Luci says they’ll get the workers out first. Ginny looks up, and says, they’re resident philanthropist has been at work. We see a water tower with The End Is The Beginning written on it. Ginny says, it wasn’t there this morning. That’s not an accident; someone meant to do this. She’s not leaving until she finds out who. June says she won’t be finding out anything if they’re not alive, and yells for stretchers. She asks a guy lying on the ground if he’s okay, and Ginny asks his name. June says, he might have a perforated eardrum, and has someone move him. She sees Wes, and asks if he can walk, and Ginny asks where the bunks are. She has to narrow down the field somehow. June calls for bandages, and tells Wes he did great. There’s shrapnel in his stomach, and they have to stop the bleeding. A zombie toddles in, and June fights with it. Ginny shoots it, and looks at scratches on June’s arm, saying, it looks like she arm wrestled with a polecat. We see razor blades attached to the zombie’s fingers, and June says, someone put those on there. Ginny asks what Wes isn’t telling them. This is what she’s there to find out. June asks why she makes it so hard, but Ginny says, everything she does is to protect people. June gives a nearby woman a flask, and says, to take the edge off. The woman takes a swig, and says, it’s terrible. Ginny tells someone to get the woman in the truck, but she says she doesn’t know anything. She tells June, she’s not doing so hot, and June says, load her up. Luci tells the woman, she’ll be fine, and June tells Wes to do his best to stay still. Ginny says they need answers, but June says he’ll die if they move him. Luci says, Wes didn’t do it, and Ginny says, maybe; maybe not. She calls to one of the Rangers to show them what he found in Wes’s bunk. The Ranger dumps out some spray paint cans, and Ginny say she wants to know why he’s spreading destructive ideas around the community. She tells June and Luci that they’re going to help her figure it out.

Ginny asks how long he’s been doing this, and Wes says he doesn’t know what she’s talking about. She asks why he has paint, and he says he likes to paint. She says, here’s the deal. Tell her what she wants to know, and he’ll stop hurting. June says, he needs to be sedated; get him in the truck. Ginny asks why he likes paint, and Wes says he just does. She presses on his wound, and he cries out. She asks where his brother is, and he says, dead. She asks if his brother was with the rebels, but Wes says he doesn’t know. She pushes on his wound again, and he yells. Ginny says, come on. Answer the question. June sticks in the syringe, giving him the sedative. She tells Ginny that she’s going to kill him, and Ginny says, all right. Get him in the truck, but she’s not letting him out of her sight until he answers every question. Is that clear? Ginny looks unhinged, which we’ve never seen before.

June tells Ginny, don’t even look at him until he’s patched up. Ginny says she doesn’t let people die for no reason. They both want the same thing. June says she wants to help these people, and she can’t even help her husband. They open the truck to find everyone has turned into zombies. I guess June won’t be helping them either. June stabs their heads, and Ginny shoots. Sarah gets Wes into the truck, and June tries to lure the zombies away. Luci calls to June, and closes the truck. June says she’ll be right behind. Ginny continues to shoot at the zombies, and the tank that’s on fire blows up. It’s a domino effect, and everything blows and burns.  

Ginny lies unconscious. She opens her eyes, and a zombie next to her gets up. June wakes up near them, and the zombie is on top of Ginny. She smashes it’s head with something, but still gets bit on the hand. She says, no, no, no, and cries. Karma anybody? Couldn’t happen to a nicer person. I’d actually like to see zombie Ginny.

On the radio, Hill asks if Ginny is okay. Ginny says, no, and he says they’re trying to get entry. She tells him, try harder. Where the hell is he? He says, the whole place went up. It’s going to take time. She says she doesn’t have any more time, and smashes the radio. She takes off her belt and makes a tourniquet. She pours alcohol on the wound. June grabs an ax lying nearby, and Ginny says she can do it with that. June says, yeah, but she’s not going to. Ginny asks what she said, and June says, Ginny heard her. Those people died because of her. She made them wait while she asked questions. Ginny says she’ll do it herself. Give her the ax. June won’t give it to her, and Ginny goes all Joan Crawford, repeating, give me the ax. Ginny knocks June down, but June fights back. She sits on Ginny, and picks up the ax. Sarah radios, and Ginny asks June to help her. June says, some dogs you need to know when to put out to pasture. Sarah needs help with Wes, and June gives her instructions. Ginny says she was trying to save everyone from something effecting all of them. June thinks this rag tag group is going to help, but they don’t know what they’re doing. Page blew her own head off rather than answer some questions. They care more about themselves than their women. June may not like her, but they need her. She’s the only thing standing between them and what’s out there. June says Ginny is the problem; she always has been. Ginny asks what June wants. She’ll get it for her; anything. June says she wants to wake up and have her husband back. Sarah comes on the radio, and says they goddam did it. Wes is stable. Get her ass out there. Ginny says June helped people after all. One thing she’s begging June for… Dakota, her sister. June needs to make sure Dakota is all right and taken care of. Everything she’s done, she did because she wanted Dakota safe. That’s all she wanted. Maybe June will have better luck. She does love Dakota; she did love her. June has no idea what it’s like to care so much about someone, and not able to help. June says she does, and puts the grain alcohol on the ax. Ginny asks what she’s doing, and June says, something she may regret. Ginny yells, and we hear a chop.

Ginny comes to, and June tells her, don’t move. There are two things that can calm a rising wound; gun powder and hot metal. Today is Ginny’s lucky day. Ginny says, that’s not what it feels like. June asks what Ginny knows about these people. Who did this? Ginny says they should talk; they’ll talk. June says they will. Ginny was right. There is something she wants. Ginny asks, what is it? John comes through the wreckage, and he and June hug. He sees Ginny, and radios for a stretcher.

Ginny is in the car, and Hill asks what she wants him to tell her sister. She says she needs to talk to her. She needs to hear Dakota’s voice. He radios for someone to find Dakota. June asks Luci if Wes is okay, and Wes says he’s in one piece. Sarah says they can’t say the same for Captain Hook, and asks June, what happened? June says she saved Ginny’s life, and Wes asks why’d she do that? Luci says she was wondering the same thing, and Sarah says, that makes three of them. June says she’s giving them a hospital, but Luci says they can’t trust her. Good people died; their people. They have to matter. June says they have to make it matter. They can watch their backs. They’d be calling the shots, not Ginny. They get to choose where to put the hospital, and who works there. Sarah says they’re force isn’t exactly John Hopkins, and June says she made Ginny give them another medic. Or at least someone who should have been one. A car pulls up, and Wendall says, got room for him? Sarah runs out, and hugs him. I get a little teary.

John tells June, they’ll be clearing out soon, and June says they’re going to be given a hospital. She can’t leave. She doesn’t want to leave. He doesn’t understand. Every time she’s run, it leads to something worse. She wants to lead; she doesn’t want to run. He says he can’t stay, and June says, they might need him too. Ginny goes past in her car, and John says Ginny pulled the wool over June’s eyes like she did with him. June says, it’s them, here, now; and John says, maybe she can do it.  Sarah tells June, they’re going scouting, and Wendall says they have no gas to burn anymore. June asks if John will follow behind, and he says, of course. She runs to the truck.

John follows the truck until they get to a fork in the road. He goes the other way.

Next time – the mid-season finale – Dakota tells Victor, now is the time to do something; Morgan says, it doesn’t have to go this way; Alicia gets into trouble; and Ginny asks Victor who’s side he’s on.

The Walking Dead: World Beyond

Huck had a weird ass acid trippy dream involving a bar with a jukebox. She woke up, cleaned her gun, and went out hunting for whatever she could find. She rifled through a zombie’s clothes, taking what was usable, and found a Marine pin, which she took as well. A truck came by, and she hid until she saw it was Felix. He took her back to where they were holed up, and she passed out clothes. Tony showed Elton some magic, and it was all good. For a minute.

Huck gifted Felix with a full bottle of Mountain Dew, and he said he would never stop missing it. He drank it like water back in the day. She told him, as long as they kept to the side streets, they should be good, but he said they didn’t have enough fuel to get to New York. Tony said he had a lead on where they could get some more, and showed them a military map. He said it looked to be useless, but looks were deceiving. He took out some sheets of plastic, and explained he’d used them in illusions. When they put the plastic on the map, and shined a light on it, it oil drops were revealed. Tony said, that’s where the hidden CRM fuel caches were. It was all gas they needed. Percy told them it was where the helicopters touched down to refuel. Tony asked Felix when they were going to drop him off, but Felix didn’t know yet. He told Tony that the girls’ father was in a secret research facility. 

We got some of Huck’s backstory when she flashed back to the same bar her dream took place in. She was there in a blindfold playing darts, and hit the target in the center. She flirted with a guy there, who said they had each other’s backs. Suddenly, there was breaking news on the TV that a 6th hospital was on lockdown.

Percy found Iris using the plastic sheets on another map, and asks if she found anything. She told him to get Hope, and said it was the map the colonel gave her. She pointed to something, saying, there it was; a double helix. Now they knew where their father was. Everyone was happy. For a minute.  

The kids found some liquor, and partied upstairs. Felix wanted to put a stop to that, but Tony told him, let them be teenagers. Huck excused herself, saying she was tired. Her trip had brought back memories. Tony and Felix shared a flask.  

Elton said the booze was like a warm sack of nails hugging his insides, and Hope said, let’s party. They pulled some couches over, and Percy suggested they play Truth or Dare. Elton didn’t know what that was, but he was in. Iris chose truth, and Percy asked, if she could do anything she wanted, what would it be. She said she’d hit the Louvre, and Percy said he’d been hoping for an answer with a less tranquilizing effect, but she said, a girl can dream. Percy made a toast to dreaming.  

Felix drank with Tony, and wondered if he was helping or putting everyone in more danger. Tony said they couldn’t predict the future. He was a man of many lives before he became Percy’s legal guardian. He got money from the state, and thought he’d hit pay dirt, but it wasn’t a day before he knew he’d give his life for Percy’s. Who knew? They heard the kids laughing, and Felix said, who knew?  

It was Hope’s turn, and she also chose truth. Percy asked what was the worst thing she’d ever done, and she said she locked the faculty bathroom after spiking the teachers’ coffee with laxatives. Percy didn’t think it was the truth, and said, you can’t con a con man. Silas told him to stop, but Hope said he was right. The worst thing she’d ever done was agree to play this stupid game. She left, and Elton followed her. He hugged her, and she told him that he was drunk, and she needed to be alone.

On the roof, Huck pondered the Marine pin, and remembered being back in the military, along with the guy from the bar. The sergeant told them they were being deployed to the city. They were to locate civilians, escort them to safety, and eliminate the hostile targets they encountered. Everyone yelled, kill! They shot a bunch of zombies, one of the Marines asking, what the hell were those things? Huck said they had been people, and a shot in the head shot seemed to take them down. Huck and her friend heard live people in a building, but it was dark, so they had to put on special goggles that made the live people show up in red. They shot the zombies, and Huck told the people they were safe.     

Hope found Huck on the roof, and Huck told her that she shouldn’t be up there drunk, or there at all. She asked what was eating at Hope. Something had been up since the blaze, and it wasn’t something small. Hope said she’d killed someone the night the sky fell. She didn’t know who the woman was, but the woman was scared Hope’s mom was going to take her truck, and freaked out. Hope started to cry, saying, it was all her fault. She told Huck, the woman dropped the gun, and she picked up, pointing it at her, and it went off. The woman was pregnant, and Hope killed her. She was Elton’s mom. Huck told Hope that she was just a kid, and the woman had killed her mom in front of her. Hope said Iris knew, but didn’t know it was Elton’s mom. Huck told her, she shouldn’t. They couldn’t change what was done, but they could carry the truth for others. They had the strength to do it. She said, welcome to the party, kid. The night managed to get darker, but she promised the light would come.

When they got to the fuel cache, Tony told them there was gas enough for whatever they wanted. Hope told Huck that she’d finished his mother’s book, and thought she was smart and kind. She thinks his mother just freaked out because of what was happening, and thought Elton would forgive what happened, but Huck told her to choose the finer thing. Hope said they’d be stuck living lie, but Huck said no one knew it was a lie. The others got to live, while the two of them would pay, but the others would live because of them.

Huck flashed back to getting orders from Central Command; Sunset Protocol. They were to kill all targets in the grid, and put down anything walking. Friendly or unfriendly; civilian or hostile; living or dead.

Still on the roof, Huck heard a noise, and thought it was Hope. She went inside to find a guy holding a gun to Hope’s head. Downstairs, Tony and Felix were checking the place out. Tony said his philosophy had been keep moving, keep conning, keep surviving. He’d been living on the streets, surviving on anything, when he met a girl who showed him there was more, but it’s different now. Felix said, maybe it didn’t have to be. They went into a room filled with pipes, and found the fuel. Tony said, jackpot.

The guy told Huck to stand back, and she said she was a statue. She saw a wound on his leg, and he said, they were the helicopters. He asked how many more there were, but Huck said she and Hope were just scavenging; they weren’t them. He said they had the same symbol on their jackets, and asked who they were. The place was belonged to his group, and they took it, so his group took it back. Huck said it wasn’t them, and he said he woke up, and his brother had turned. Huck told him that he wasn’t going to last much longer with that leg. She said their names were Hope and Huck, and they were just passing through. She asked his name, and he said, Walter. Huck told him that she could help him, but he had to let her friend go first. Then he could train the gun on her. Hope was just a kid; focus on her. Walter let Hope go, and he asked how she could save him. It was impossible. She said, trust her. They could do it. He let Hope go.

In Huck’s mind, her friend said a Central Command order was like a order from God. What if it was the only way they could stop it from spreading?

Walter said they shouldn’t be there. Maybe none of them should be. It wasn’t personal. Huck said if he shot her, he’d be taking his own life. She could help him. She’d seen people survive after the infection.

Huck remembered the sergeant saying he had verification on Sunset Protocol. He didn’t like it any more than they did, but it was absolutely necessary. Any Marine that failed to comply with orders would be taken into custody, and brought up on charges.

Walter said, it wasn’t supposed to go this way. Huck took his gun from him, and told him it was okay. Huck flashed back to seeing live people behind a fence, including children, frightened and crying. She kicked the light switch, and shot all of the Marines, including her friend. In the present, Huck shot Walter, and Hope said Huck told him that she could save him. Huck told her, sometimes, you have to forgive yourself. The others joined them, and Huck said she saved Hope. She suggested they get the hell out of there, and Tony looked at a CRM notebook Walter was carrying. He said it was something to work with.

Iris checked out the notebook, and said Hope was more bummed than she usually was. She felt like they were changing, and Hope said she felt like it was just a start. Tony announced that he and Felix talked it over, and he and Percy decided to extend the terms of their agreement. They were going to stick around and help find the girls’ dad. After that, who knows? Let the chips fall where they may. Felix said they were getting on the road at first light. Percy told Iris to come to the truck in an hour. She asked, for what? but he told her to just come. Silas kept an eye on all of this. Elton told Hope that he was sorry about what happened. It meant everything that she was still alive and with them. He did a disappearing card trick, and said he wouldn’t want lose her like the queen of hearts. Show someone the impossible, and suddenly everything seems possible. She thanked him for sharing his mother’s book, and said, she was an amazing woman. Elton said she was, and maybe she still is. Who knows? Everything is possible. Hope agreed.

Hope told Huck that she was right. If she’d told Elton, she would have just been doing it for herself. The truth would crush him. Huck said Hope was a good person, and Hope showed her a necklace, saying she took this from Elton’s mom. Did Huck still think she was a good person? Huck said she knew it, and the necklace proved it. It was a reminder, something she wore every day, to remember something bad she’d done. A reminder to keep living to do good. It was the only way to make the bad mean something.

Iris looked inside the truck, and Percy had made it like a room in the Louvre. At least as much as you can make a truck look like that. He had posters of artworks hanging up, and a larger reproduction of the Mona Lisa with a light on it. There were candles all around, and books on art. Iris fell asleep reading one, and when she woke, went back inside to find Percy. What she found instead was Tony with his face bashed in, and Silas’s wrench nearby. She called to Felix and Hope, and they saw a trail of blood leading to another body. Elsewhere, Silas was drunk and passed out.  

Next time, Felix says Silas was found passed out covered in blood, Iris says Tony and Percy must have had enemies, Elton tells Silas they’re going to leave him, and we see Silas tied to a tree while a zombie approaches.  

⛴ Until the Ship Sails…

I have to get up early, so that’s all, folks. I’ve tried that staying up all night stuff, but then I crash by noon. Until we meet on Deck, stay safe, stay unflinching, and stay living to do good, and making the bad mean something.

November 8, 2020 – Dwight Almost Makes a Change, the Travelers Hitch a Ride, an Explanation, Final Question & Early

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What I Watched Today

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

Fear the Walking Dead

Shari looks at an infinity symbol she’s written on her letters to Dwight, while he makes breakfast for dinner. Candles are lit everywhere. He tells her, the bubonic plague couldn’t even keep them apart. She says she forgot a lot of places she wrote from, and he says it kept him going. In a way, they were connected. No matter where he was, or what he was doing, he wanted to make sure he was the man she fell in love with, so she’d have nothing to feel sorry about. They kiss. Dwight hears voices on the radio, and realizes he forgot to check in. He says, sorry about that, and tells Hill that they’d had to clear a herd. Hill says Ginny wants them to head back, but Dwight says there are some spots on the map they’d like to check off. He thinks it will be worth their while. Hill says, it had better be, and tells him to be back in 48 hours. Shari asks if Dwight wants to look for Al, and he says he’ll go when the sun comes up; he doesn’t want Shari mixed up in this. He says they could run away, but she says Ginny hunts people down. He says, not if she thinks they’re dead, but Shari is worried Ginny would still find them. He says, there’s got to be a place she won’t. They got back to each other. If they can do that, they can do damn near anything. Shari says, sorry. She can’t run away with him. She gets up.

Dwight hears something, and it’s not Shari. He takes his pick ax, approaches the door, and asks, who’s in there? He hears banging, and calls to Shari. He goes closer to the door, and someone comes in wearing a mask like in those home invasion movies. Dwight turns around to find more of them, when they grab him, and a cover is put on his head.

Dwight has zip ties on his wrists, and the hood is removed. He asks where he is, but none of the masked people say anything. He yells for Shari, and tries to attack one of the masked people. He’s pretty good at this, since he knocks the guy down, and gets his gun. He says, tell him where his wife is, and the guy says nothing. Dwight looks up, and  the wall is lined with snipers. A masked woman says, it’s okay, and takes Dwight’s gun. She takes off her mask, and it’s Shari. Dwight asks, what’s going on? Who the hell are these people? She says she wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for them, and tells them to lower their guns. She tells Dwight, they’re outcasts, people Ginny didn’t think were good enough, people she was going to kill. Shari calls for a meeting, and Dwight asks why she didn’t tell him. She says she didn’t think he’d want to be a part of it, and he says, of what? A now unmasked Oswald says, there’s no telling what Virginia is going to do next. Dwight says he doesn’t know, but Oswald says he doesn’t buy it. Shari says he’s telling the truth, but Oswald whips out a video of Dwight and Al communicating with Virginia. He says, that’s the only explanation, and Dwight asks why they care where Ginny is going to be. Oswald shows Dwight a video of Al telling him, whatever they say, don’t do it. Oswald says they needed assurance of his cooperation, and Dwight says he and Al work for Ginny, but that doesn’t mean they enjoy it. He asks where Al is, and Oswald says if he doesn’t tell them where Ginny is going to be, they’ll be scrubbing his friend’s brains off the tile for weeks. He starts to count down.

Another masked guy arrives, and asks what the hell they’re doing. Oswald says, getting answers, and the guy says, not like that. He takes off his mask, and Dwight says, I’ll be damned. Shari asks if they know each other, and Rollie (an ex-henchman of Logan’s) says, remember the guy he told her saved his life? Twice actually. He tells Oswald that he was working for Ginny once too; let him go. Whatever they’re trying get out of him can wait. They have to roll out now; it’s their only chance. Dwight asks what’s happening, and Rollie says, a Hail Mary. Shari says they might have a shot to bring them down, but they need to blow up the van. Al joins them, and says they can’t blow it up. It’s designed to be impenetrable; they won’t do sh*t. If they want to take Ginny down, they don’t destroy something like that. They steal it.

The group waits on horses Shari takes Dwight’s hand. They all put their masks over their faces as the van approaches. As it passes, they take off behind it. Inside, the driver radios that he refueled, and he’s heading back. He sees the riders in his rearview mirror. One rides up to the van, and cuts the wire for the radio. The driver says, sh*t. Dwight asks if he’s really doing this, and Al tells him, ride like hell. The driver says, not today, and opens up the widow for the guns, but the riders get close, so it shoots over them. The bullets run out, and Dwight gets close enough to climb on. The driver floors it, then makes a sharp turn, but Dwight hangs on. The driver turns the other way, and Dwight climbs higher, getting to the top. The driver jerks the van around some more, but Dwight is tenacious (would that make him Tenacious D?). The driver sees the riders coming, and cocks his gun. Dwight is in the cab, and says the driver is out of bullets; they’re not. He smacks the gun out of the driver’s hand, and as the driver reaches for it, Dwight kicks his ass right out of the van. He gets control of the steering, and manages to stop.

Everyone has gathered at the van, and Dwight says, he got away. He saw the driver’s face, and he’s going straight to Virginia. Morgan rides up on a horse, dragging the driver behind him. Dwight says, Morgan, and Rollie asks if Dwight saved his life too, but Dwight says, the opposite actually. Morgan asks if hey lost something. He laughs, and looks at the driver, saying, he thinks he found it. 

Al says Morgan realizes she has to interview him again. She asks what he wants when they’re settled, and Dwight says he thought Morgan was dead. Morgan says, Dwight knows he doesn’t die. He’s letting Ginny believe he’s dead. Dwight asks how he survived, and Morgan says, some woman saved him. He’s not sure who. Al asks if he’s been out riding like the Lone Ranger. He says he kept them in the dark to protect them. Things changed since that night in the gulch. Dwight says, no sh*t, and Morgan asks how long since he found Shari. Dwight says, a little over a week. Ginny had nothing to do with it. Morgan says he’s happy for Dwight, and Dwight says he couldn’t have found her without Al. Morgan asks how long Shari has been with these folks, and she says, a few months. They were kicked out of where they were. Al says it’s a better situation than the one they left behind, and Morgan asks if Dwight knows where everyone else is, but Dwight says he’s been on the road. Morgan asks if they know where Grace is, but Al says, sorry. Morgan says, they’ll find her. They’ll find everybody.  

There’s a German Shepherd behind a fence where Shari’s group is staying, and Al asks what the dog’s story is. Rollie says they found the dog near a wildlife sanctuary. They tossed him scraps, and he’s been with them since then. He thinks the dog has wolf in him. He tells Dwight, they may have had differences in the past, but after what Dwight did today, he’d go so far as to consider Dwight a friend. Shari asks what Morgan is doing out on his own, and he says he’s looking for somebody. He thought she might be with them, but he’s glad he found them. He’s building something. He found somewhere Ginny can’t find, and need people like them to help make it what it can be. Shari says they don’t need a place. They’ve got everything they need to take out Ginny. Morgan doesn’t think now is the time to strike, but Rollie says, it’s the perfect time. Ginny has no idea they have firepower. Morgan says, that doesn’t mean they need to use it. Shari says she was told Morgan believes all life is precious. This is different. If one can control so many others… Morgan says, he’s been through this war too long, and seen the end of too many lives; so has her husband. They have friends that are still inside. If they strike, and it doesn’t go their way, they’re putting all of them in danger. Al says they want to make sure to get their people out first. Morgan says, not until they have somewhere to go. He’s got a place he’s getting ready. He’s going there tomorrow. Whether they come or not, all he’s asking is that they don’t make a move until the right time. Please.

Dwight has a smoke, and Shari asks if he wants to go with them. He says Morgan and Al are like family. They’re a big part of the reason he is who he is now. She asks if Morgan wasn’t how he ended up inside Ginny’s walls, and he says they wanted a place to disappear. They should give it a shot. They can get Ginny when the time is right. Shari asks when that will be. She appreciates what Morgan is trying to do, but they have a plan; right here, right now. The only way to have what they want is to take her out. She tells Dwight, if he wants to, go with Morgan, but she’s not leaving until Virginia is dead. He ponders, then says he’s not leaving without her.

In some kind of cave, the driver is bound to a chair with a hood over his head. Loud music is playing. Dwight, Shari, and Oswald come in wearing their masks. They take his hood off, and Dwight asks where Virginia is going. He’d better not say again that he doesn’t know. Dwight thinks he has a lot of guts, but he needs more. Dwight dumps a bucket of literal guts on him, and the driver says, what the hell? Does Dwight think that will make him talk? Dwight says, no, but he might. Rollie comes in with the dog, baring his teeth and growling on the end of his leash. Dwight asks where Virginia is going to be next, and the driver says, if Dwight kills him, he’s got nothing. Dwight says he’s got one happy dog. The driver asks, what did she do to you a-holes? and asks Shari if the cat’s got her tongue. Dwight says, don’t talk to her. He removes his mask, and says he will kill him. The driver says he sees why Dwight wears a mask. Dwight says the driver has seen his face now. He can’t let him go back, unless he helps them deal with Virginia. Where is Virginia going to be? The driver says Dwight is the a-hole with the chess pieces. What happened? He saw Dwight at the truck stop. Dwight grabs his neck, and  the dog is practically in the driver’s lap, snarling and snapping. Dwight kicks the driver’s chair out from under him. Morgan comes in, and asks, what’s happening here? Dwight says he’s asking questions, but it seems the driver doesn’t have the answers he’s looking for. Dwight and Morgan leave. 

Outside, Morgan tells Dwight, he’s got to wait, but Dwight says they might not get another chance. Morgan says he’ll put people they know in danger. Why go there in first place? He’s got a place waiting. Dwight says, Morgan tells him that he’s got a place where it’s safe; where he’ll help protect them. He’s heard it before. Why is this place, this building, any different? Morgan says, he’s different. He does things different. Dwight says he’s sorry, but Shari is right. Nothing will be different until Virginia is gone. Morgan says he can’t let Dwight do this, but Dwight says he is doing it. If Grace was asking Morgan to do the same thing… Morgan considers that for a moment, and says, sh*t. Dwight walks away.

Back at the tank, Shari asks if Dwight wants to talk about it. He says, no, and Rollie asks if he wants the dog back out. Dwight says, there are other ways to get the guy to talk, and Rollie asks, what ways? Dwight says, ways that will make him wish they were still using the dog. Shari says they don’t need to find out where Ginny is going to be. They can make her come to them. Rollie says, she’ll smell that coming a mile away, but Shari says, not if it’s coming from her own people. Isn’t time for Dwight’s next check in? Dwight says it is, and gets on the radio. He asks if Hill copies, and Hill says he’s late. Dwight says they found a place where there are still living people, and Hill asks, how many? Dwight says, over 100. They want to make sure Ginny makes the first overture. Hill tells him, stay put. They’ll be there by nightfall. Dwight tells Shari, soon enough, it will all be behind them. I tell him, famous last words.

Dwight says he’ll show Shari how to do the guns; sometimes it sticks. He asks, what’s wrong? and she wonders if he was really going to let the dog kill that guy. Dwight says he had to let the guy think that’s what he was going to do. She asks if he had to do that before, at the Sanctuary. He says, they can’t take any chances on screwing this up, including Morgan and Al. They might have to stand by until he’s done. She says, she thought he told her they were like family, and he says they’re like family; she is his family. He’s not going to let anyone get in the way of what he has to do. She asks what he has to do, and he says, when Ginny gets there, he’s killing her himself.

Morgan says, Al lied about the van, and she says, if worse comes to worse, she can take out the steering column. She hopes she can get the tank out of range. Otherwise it might blow up. Morgan says, screw up their people and pay the cost. Dwight knew if he tried something, there would be consequences. It might not work, and he’s going to make it worse. He tried it Dwight’s way. This time, they’re doing it his way. Al says, it’s not his call. It’s theirs. Rollie opens the gate, and stands there with her crew. Morgan sets aside his ax, and raises his hands, saying, okay. Al raises hers, and they all go out. Shari looks sad.

Rollie opens up one of the buildings, and says, the driver is out cold. Dwight asks if they searched him. Morgan says he’s sorry, and asks if Dwight is too. Dwight says, no, he’s not, but they both want the same things. Maybe Ginny does too. They all have their own lives, and their own rules, so there’s a fight. Somebody’s got to lose. He asks if Shari is okay, and Shari tells the guard, make sure he stays in there too. She tells Dwight, she can’t have him be part of this. It’s the only way. She won’t let him be the person he used to be. He goes inside with Morgan and Al, and Shari walks off.

They pull the van into the woods. Rollie tells everyone to get into position now. They should be here in 10 minutes.

Dwight pouts, Al bites at the ties on her wrists. Dwight says, Morgan was right. Taking Ginny out now is not the right time. He wanted to be with Shari so bad, he thought this was what she needed. Morgan says, Shari has to figure out what she needs for herself. Morgan says he spent so long thinking his way was the only way, he didn’t realize the trouble he was causing them. He didn’t realize he had to change until it was almost too late. Dwight says Shari is in the dirt with them, and Morgan asks what he’s doing to make sure she doesn’t have to go through what they did.

Rollie radios that they’re heading toward the gates. Shari cries quietly. Several cars come up the road, and form a line across it.

Dwight gets himself free. Rollie tells Shari they’ve got company, and she asks, who? Dwight opens the passenger door, and she asks what he’s doing. He says the same thing she was trying to do for him. Don’t be a fool.

Ginny isn’t with them, and Dwight tells Shari, don’t do this. Don’t kill her own people. She’s about to end up dead too. Wait a while. Work with them. It’s not going to work the way she said. Shari says, somebody has to do something, and Rollie radios, it’s now or never. Dwight tells her, she said she didn’t want him to turn into someone he hated. He doesn’t want that for her either. On the radio, Hill says, if Al and Dwight are listening, there had better be a damn good reason for this. Shari puts her hand on the lever to open up the guns, but her hand shakes. The cars leaves, and she smacks Dwight. She says he had to make it hard, and gets out of the van.  

Shari cries in her room. Dwight knocks at the door, but she says, not now. Dwight hesitantly comes downstairs. He site, then kneels in front of her. He asks what Ginny did to her, and she says, it’s not about Ginny. It never was. She gets up, and Dwight says, it’s about Negan. She says she could have done something a hundred times, but she didn’t. He says, this isn’t then. They can’t change the past; not him or her. He wanted to be with her more than anyone, but not like this. People are trying to change them into something they weren’t. He’s not standing around and watching it happen again. She says, then he needs to leave. She needs this. There’s the truth. That’s who she is, but he’s right; they can’t change who they are. At least he can’t because – she takes his face in her hands – he actually reminds her of who they used to be, before all of this. So go. She tells him louder, go. He leaves, and she cries.

Dwight leaves the building, and approaches the dog. The dog growls at him, but he puts his hand on the fence, and the dog licks it. He opens the gate, and lets the dog out. Great, now I have another dog to worry about. Dwight takes a last look.

Dwight meets Morgan and Al, who tells him that Shari and the others took off with the driver. Al asks how she is, and Dwight says, not good. He doesn’t think she’s going to be for a while. Morgan tells him, come with them, and he says he’d really to take out Ginny. Morgan says they will, but they’re going to need more than the van. Al says Dwight found his way back to Shari; she’ll find her way back to him. Dwight says he needs Al’s hat and jacket. He puts it on a zombie, and puts his own on another one. They put hoods on the zombies, and Morgan beats the crap out of the zombies’ heads. They lead the zombies away, and Morgan asks if Dwight is sure they’ll find them. Dwight says, they patrol every day. Al says, she’s got some people she wants Morgan to meet, and the three of them drive off.  

Al and Dwight open a truck, where Nora and the others have been waiting. Morgan asks, what’s going on? and Al says, they’re looking for a place to settle down. She thinks she’s found one for them, with help from a friend. Nora asks if they can trust him, and Al says she thinks so. Morgan says, he has to warn them, the place they’re going needs work. The people come out of the truck, and Dwight gets inside. Above the door, he draws an infinity symbol and an arrow. Morgan leads Everyone down the road on his horse.  

Next time, John suggests he and June leave, June performs surgery, and Ginny says, it doesn’t have to be the end.

The Walking Dead: World Beyond

Hope spoke in a voiceover, as we saw shadow puppets go from a happy world to an apocalypse. She told us, it had been a world with pets and homes, jobs and weekends, then everything changed. People died and returned; neither living or dead. The love they’d felt had been erased. The memory replaced by a hunger that was never satisfied. Everything they’d counted on couldn’t save them. Roads crumbled, cities fell, and to those born right before, the end of world was their beginning.

Iris, Hope, Silas, and Elton found the guy stalking them in the woods. Felix had gone looking for them, caught up, and questioned the guy. He said his name was Percy, and he’d just been taking a leak. Hope said, and he suddenly decided to rob them? but he swore he hadn’t, and had nothing on him. Felix said there were no signs of anyone else being with him, and they invited Percy to eat with them. Percy explained that he’d teamed up with a pair of nice enough guys named Mike and Tony. They gave a biker vibe, and bickered like an old married couple, but they ended up robbing his ass. They said they were from a settlement that seemed friendly to newcomers, so they found a place to camp, and went to sleep. When he woke up, they were gone, and so was his stuff. He said they were headed for an abandoned town called Andersonville, and he was going to get back what was his. Felix said he should be grateful for his life, and move on. Percy said it wasn’t a vigilante deal or the principle, but some things can’t be replaced. Elton said he understood that.

Percy told them, early on after the apocalypse, he was looking for a place to camp in the snow. He heard zombies coming, and thought, the world was so screwed up, why fight so hard to live in it? He got on a car roof, closed his eyes, and braced himself for the end, but nothing happened. He opened his eyes, and saw 200 bison crossing the overpass he was on. It was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. The real is surreal. Hope realized the timeframe wasn’t right, and thought he’d stolen the car. He said telling them he had a car, was like telling someone he had buried treasure, and not expecting them to look for it. He’d been in a truck carrying refined fuel, when it was stolen from him. Iris suggested they help him get his truck, then he could drive them where they needed to go. Felix thought it was too risky, and Huck suggested they get back-up, but Iris said they had no time. Percy said when his truck was hijacked, he hadn’t seen any guns. Felix relented, and said they’d go at dawn.

Elton told Hope about his mom, saying, she was the coolest. She saw death and decay as no better or worse than any life cycle. He was working on finishing his mom’s manuscript about nature, and said he wanted to pass the book along when he was done. Iris explained to Percy that she and Hope were going to save their father, and he thought she was lucky still having someone to save. Silas told Felix that he didn’t like Percy, and didn’t understand how anyone could.

They got to Andersonville, when a truck pulled in. Percy said it was his truck, and Felix thought they should do a smash and grab. Silas thought they shouldn’t do this. The truck stopped, but there was no movement, and Felix and Percy went to check it out. Percy said the driver was dead, and Felix wanted them to go back to the campsite, but that was a no. Felix agreed to help him, and Elton and Hope went around to the front of the building to find a door that wasn’t boarded up. Felix told  them to stay there, and I wondered why he continued to give orders when no one ever listens. He met Percy inside, while Iris paced. She told Silas she was going in, and he said she’d promised Felix she wouldn’t, like that meant something. She asked how they were going to save her dad if they were always waiting for people to save them, and Silas said he wouldn’t stop her. I would go zero places by myself in the apocalypse.

Iris found an entrance, and a random mannequin scared the hell out of her. She almost shot Percy, then a zombie popped its hand through a gate, and scared the hell out of me.

Elton told Hope that her dad had encouraged him to finish the manuscript. Her father hadn’t known his mom, but admired her research. Hope looked at the picture of Elton’s mother, the same woman she’d killed the night the sky fell. The thunder continued off and on, and I wished it would rain already, since that’s been going on since last week.

Felix checked out the building, killing random zombies, while Percy and Iris searched upstairs. Percy rifled through some pants pockets, and found car keys. The weird part is, I didn’t catch any explanation as to why the driver didn’t have keys or why they weren’t in the truck. As they started to leave, Percy looked in a room, and saw his stuff. He gave Iris the keys, and told her, find Felix and start the car. He was getting his stuff back. She left, but on her way downstairs, heard him argue with someone for a moment, then heard a gunshot. She debated with herself on the stairs, but went back up. Felix heard zombies, and got ready. It finally started to rain, and while Silas was staring at the door, the truck driver got up. Iris found an empty room where Percy had been, and the driver was apparently not a zombie as we all thought. He grabbed everyone’s stuff, jumped in the truck, and took off. Hope looked around, but found nothing except a zombie in the bathtub. Silas ran in to get Hope and Elton. Hope ran after the truck.

Iris saw Percy also headed for the truck. They locked eyes, and Percy ran, going out one of the windows. Iris followed, but fell into a dumpster. Percy jumped into the back of the truck as it drove away. Hope told Iris that help was coming, but a zombie popped out of the garbage. Iris got ready to spike it in the head, but then another one popped up behind her. Silas and Elton dealt with a bunch of zombies, while Felix got the dumpster gate down, rescuing Iris. Percy came back, and the driver told everyone to get in the truck. They left just in time, since it was going to be zombie city in a moment.    

Felix said, no good deed goes unpunished, and Percy – who called the zombies has-beens – introduced his Uncle Tony aka the driver. Felix asked if they should feel grateful that all Tony and Percy had changed their minds, and Tony said, out there, this was as good as it got. Tony did magic tricks, and told them he’d worked in Vegas as an illusionist and ventriloquist. Percy explained that his mom had split, and Tony raised him. Tony said Percy was a quick study; he was grifting kids in the sandbox. Iris was seriously bummed, and wandered off to be moody. Percy followed her, and she said he didn’t have to pretend that he cared now. She’d thought she had good instincts. Percy said she did; she came back to help him. He’d done this grift before, and every single person had taken the keys and run. She saw him as someone worth saving. That’s why he came back. She’s who he wanted to be now, and it was on him to prove he could be more like her.

Hope wanted to read Elton’s mom’s book, and he said he thought he must have been the last person who knew her. Now someone else would. At this point, I wondered if she was really dead. Tony tinkered with the truck, when Felix said he wanted to talk. Tony said he intended to make good on the ride, and asked about the emblem on Felix’s jacket. Felix said it was a university emblem from where they lived, and Tony told him not to bullsh*t bullsh*tter, especially one from Vegas. He thought whoever Felix was involved with didn’t mess around. He saw helicopters with the same emblem, periodically flying by. He said they’d incorporated avoiding these a-holes in their routine. He asked Felix, if they were in a bind, could his patch get them out, and Felix said, of course it could. Tony said he’d take them tomorrow, but first, a little acting.   

Silas told Felix, some people made starting over look easy. Iris told Hope, she wished she knew what was a lie, and what was real. Hope said Percy and Tony weren’t much different from them. They all had parts they wanted to hide. Tony and Percy did shadow puppetry like at the beginning, about the end of the world. It started out happy, then got sad, but ended with hope.

Next time, the group gets ahold of a military map, Percy says there’s fuel for the taking, and Iris is held hostage.  

After the preview, there was an extra scene. We saw a female scientist looking over Hope and Iris’s father’s notes, including personal correspondence from the girls. She received a call from Elizabeth, and promised Elizabeth that the doctor wouldn’t be a problem when the group arrived. After she hung up, we heard zombie noises, presumably from the ones she’s experimenting on. See below for more on this.

⚰️ Dead End…

A detailed explanation of the end after the end.

https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/news/the-walking-dead-world-beyond-post-credits-scene-explained-crm-106-shadow-puppets/

😢 What Is Goodbye…

Saying farewell to a class act.

https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Trebek-brought-consensus-class-to-a-nation-in-15711891.php

🌱 Back To the Beginning…

Once again, it’s Monday, or another day, depending on whether or not you’re still paying attention. No matter what, I’ll see you on Deck tomorrow. For now, stay safe, stay exceptional, and stay away from people wearing masks. Unless you’re one of them. Or unless it’s Halloween.

November 1, 2020 – Ginny Makes an Example, Felix Throws In, the Spy We Loved & Forever

Standard

What I Watched Today

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

Fear the Walking Dead

John writes to June, I’ve been thinking about my dad a lot lately. Maybe it’s being away from you – my heart, my everything – that my thoughts drift to my family. We weren’t together nearly as long as I would have liked, and I suppose I could say the same thing now. He packs a bag, and puts the letter in. He goes out into a little town. The neighbors are friendly. They smile and wave. He goes into an establishment that flies a flag with a key on it, and gets his guns. They’re still important to me, things I care about to this day. He goes to a guardhouse next to the Lawton sign, and relieves the man on duty. The letter continues, one thing I was told that I’ve carried particularly close, is that people deserve to live in a world where they know which way is up, or have someone else who knows if they can’t. I suppose that’s the reason I became a cop, and the same reason I became a cop again when Ginny asked me to. I eased into the role because I had reservations. Understandable, given the way things played out the last time I wore a badge. This feels different. Life here isn’t as I imagined. In the guardhouse, he reads the letter over. People give up some freedoms, but I’m starting to believe it’s worth the cost. They haven’t lost a soul in the 246 days I’ve been here. It’s a comfort, knowing I played a part in that. It’s not the world my dad dreamed of, but the people know which way is up. I hope you can find out for yourself. Maybe one day we can be together here. He knocks at a door, calling to someone named Cameron, saying Cameron missed his shift. There’s no answer, so he goes around to the back. He sees a man stuck on a barbed wire fence, being eaten by two zombies. John kills them, and the newly zombiefied guy, presumably, Cameron. The letter concludes, until then, sending you all my love, always.

Morgan goes to a storage space, and picks up a hoodie. He ponders it for a while. He gets in his truck, and shows it to a bloodhound, saying Daniel left it for them. The dog smells it, and Morgan asks if the dog will bark now, when they get closer. He asks if he should take the dog to the last place he saw him. He looks in the windshield mirror, and wonders if he’ll be recognized, and drives out.

At Cameron’s place, a small crowd has gathered. Ginny, says, don’t move him. She tells John, he knows how it can take its toll, especially if it’s one of theirs. The best thing is to go home. He says he’s trying to secure the scene, and she says, understood, but they should round the people up. Cameron warned her about his drinking. He must have gotten too close. John says, one way to find out is to look into it, but she says he can’t exactly investigate. He says he can collect the body. The last thing they want is anyone else getting hurt. She appreciates that he takes his duties seriously. It hasn’t gone unnoticed. He thanks her, and she and her Rangers leave. John looks around near the fence, where the guy , and picks up an earring.  

A car comes by, and Victor gets out. He and John hug. John sees a key on Victor’s lapel, and asks how he ended up with the hardware. Victor says, the same way John did. They do what they can to get by. He’s going to a meeting of the settlement council. John tells him about finding Cameron dead in the barbed wire, and says Ginny thinks it’s an accident. Victor says, and John? John says he’d be lying if he said he didn’t have doubts. Victor asks if he can do anything, and John says, no, but if that changes, he’ll let Victor know.

John goes over to Janice, who’s scrubbing some clothes on a washboard. She says she doesn’t have a letter, but John says that’s not what he’s there for. He wants to talk about Cameron. They were close, right? She says she did his laundry. She asks if he knows what happened, and he says Cameron was tangled in the fence, but he doesn’t know how or why. He shows her the earring, and asks if it looks familiar. He found it near the body. She says, it’s not hers, and he says he knows, but since she does laundry… She says she’s never seen it, and asks, what’s going on? He says he doesn’t know, but until he does, be careful. She’s the closest thing he’s got to family.

John goes to see Ginny, and tells her that he went back to Cameron’s. He says he doesn’t think Cameron stumbled. He doesn’t think Cameron was drunk. There was a bottle of moonshine in his house, and he hadn’t touched a drop. What if he was pushed? She says, by who? and he shows her the earring, saying he found it in the dirt. He bets whoever has the matching one is the person they’re looking for. She looks at it, and says, a man in the first place she lived murdered a friend over a can of tuna. The town elders made a show of it to keep everyone in line. They tied him to a stake outside the walls, and blasted music to draw the dead. He was picked clean to the bone, like a turkey on Thanksgiving. He says he doesn’t want that. She’s talking punishment. She says he doesn’t even know if a crime was committed, and he says, and he won’t, unless he looks further. She says she’d appreciate it if he kept it quiet. A place is only as safe as the people feel it is. He says, making people feel safe is good, but actually making them safe is better. She says he’s right. She’ll put on more patrols until they figure out what’s what.

Rabbi Jacob speaks at Cameron’s grave. He says, in Hebrew tzedakah means charity. We need to do what is right. Cameron answered the call, making their lives safer until his last breath. His life is a reminder that they should dedicated their lives to tzedakah, to be worthy of the world they inhabit, and goodness will prevail. They all put handfuls of dirt on the grave. John hands Dakota a piece of candy, saying he’s off of them until he gets his tooth sorted out. He asks if she knew Cameron, and she says, only that he was on Ranger detail outside of the gate, and Ginny had been having a hard time with him. Ginny comes by, and tells Dakota to go home.

John sees Janis being handcuffed, and trots over. The officer says she was trying to sneak to the fence. Ginny asks if Janis was trying to run off again, and tells John to check her bag. He dumps it out, and we see a few supplies. Ginny looks through them, and picks up an earring that matches the one John found. She says, how about that?

John visits Janis in her cell, and she says she lied to him when she said it wasn’t her earring. He shows her a sketch pad, and says he found this in Cameron’s house under the mattress. He was pretty talented. He flips to a sketch of the back of a woman, sleeping in bed, and asks if it’s her. She doesn’t say anything, and he says he can’t help if she doesn’t talk to him. She says he can’t help her even if she does. Ginny has had it out for her since she and Tom refused to kiss her ass. She had Tom killed. If Ginny decides it’s so, than it is. He says, no. She wants people to feel safe; that won’t happen. Janis says she wasn’t lying when she told him the earring wasn’t hers. She thinks Ginny planted them. John tells her, be straight. What’s going on? She says she and Cameron were together, but they hid it. They were afraid Ginny would use it against them, and try to split them up. They piled up supplies, and figured in a few more days, they could leave this place for good. She didn’t want be there without him. Cameron wasn’t perfect, but he listened and cared. She was lonely, and so was he, and they found each other. They thought they may as well be lonely together. It sure sounds crazy it, doesn’t it? The guy at the desk calls to John, saying, Ginny needs to see him. He tells Janis, if he can, he’ll set this straight. She says she knows he will.

Ginny tells John, the strawberry yield was good. It makes her think they’re on the right track – in more ways than one. He bites into some toast and jam, and she tells him that he should have someone look at his tooth. She thanks him, saying, if they hadn’t had that talk, she never would have doubled up Ranger rounds, and Cameron’s killer would be half way to Mississippi. John tells her, Janis says it’s not her earring, and Ginny says Janis was trying to run away during the funeral. He says he knows how it looks, but he didn’t even properly inspect the body. She asks if he’s going to dust for prints. She knows what he wants to believe, and asks if it’s intuition or that he doesn’t want to lose his carrier pigeon. He asks if she read his letters, and she says, every single one. Cameron made sure of it. She tells him not to worry. The things he said show he believes in this place. He’s invested in what happens. Janis is an example that needs be made. She tells him, go home, get some rest, and be proud of the work he’s done there. She is. She thinks his daddy would be too. I get angry, since she’s using his dad as a manipulation tactic, and someone did that to me once.

When John goes outside, Dakota asks if he was a cop. He says he was, and she asks if he ever killed anyone. He says he did, but he didn’t mean to. She tells him, don’t listen to her. He’s doing the right thing. She’s protecting someone. He asks, who? but Dakota doesn’t know. He needs to keep on it. Ginny pops out, and tells Dakota to get back in the house.

John lies awake in bed. He finally gets up, and goes to Cameron’s grave, digging down to the body. He looks it over, covering his nose and mouth. He sees Cameron’s throat has been slit. A zombie tumbles in, and John puts Cameron’s body between him and it. Another falls in, and John struggles to keep their mouths away from him. He pushes them off long enough for him to grab the shovel, and he kills them with it. He looks in Cameron’s hand, and takes something out of it. He looks at it, and it’s a piece of a knife. He hoists himself out of the grave.  

John tells Victor, Cameron’s throat was cut. It was plain as day. He stands near the grave, where a couple of guys deal with what’s left of Cameron and the two zombies. Victor says, Cameron got chewed up in there, and John nearly got chewed up with him. John says, not by choice, and Victor says, even if Ginny wanted to get to the bottom of it, the evidence has been chewed up and spit out. Showing Victor the knife piece, John says he found this in Cameron’s hand; it must have broken off. Victor says, Janis couldn’t have gotten a knife out of lockdown without anyone knowing, and John wonders who would have access to the sign-out list.  

Victor waits while John looks through drawers. He tells John, the next shift starts at five, and who would be dumb enough to bring the murder weapon back? John says he’ll see who checked it out, and flips through a ledger. Victor says it’s his ass if Ginny find out. John says, hand-carved bone, and Victor asks when it was checked out. John says, the page is missing. Someone doesn’t want him to find it. He’s going to find the rest of the knife. It’s got to be there, or just outside the gate. Victor says, what then? and John says, people only safe feel if they know what’s going on. Victor asks if he thinks Ginny is going to sit by, and John says, she won’t have a choice. Even her sister thinks she’s protecting someone. Victor tells him, think long and hard before he commits to this course of action. If he goes down this path, there’s no going back.

John goes to Janice’s cell, and she says he shouldn’t be there. He says he thought it would give them a chance to talk. Ginny is protecting someone. He doesn’t know who or why, maybe a ranger, but there’s no way Janice could have gotten her hands on the weapon he found. She tells him, stop. He says he can get her out. Ginny comes in with Victor and some others, and she says she wasn’t expecting him. Victor says he sees John got his message, and thanks him for coming. He tells Ginny, they’ll need a witness, and John says, for what? Ginny says, her confession. Janice says she knows she said she was innocent, but she did it; she killed Cameron. She lied to him. She was there the night Cameron died. They were planning on running away, but he said he couldn’t go; what they had wasn’t worth it. She was hurt and angry, and the fight spilled outside. She got out of control, and pushed him into the fence, then watched the dead tear him apart. Ginny thanks her for unburdening herself, and hopes she makes peace with it. John says, she confessed; it has to count for something. Ginny says she knows he’s invested, but people need to feel safe, and she has to make sure they do. She’ll give them time alone to say their goodbyes. Victor locks eyes with John before he leaves.

John asks Janis why she’s making it easy. Ginny isn’t going to take mercy on her. Janis says, it’s okay. She has no one in her life. Tom, Cameron, there’s nothing more for her, but there is for him. She tells him, look under the floorboard in Cameron’s place, there’s a can of gas for the generator and a spare key; Tom has a dirt bike. She gives him the directions to where it is, and tells him, take it. Get out of here. The place is rotten. It spoils everything it touches. Sooner or later, there’s going to be something he doesn’t want to do. He tells her not to give up, but she says she’s not. She’s setting them free. He says, it’s not just her life, but the truth. She says, it’s okay. Let her go.

John looks at a map, and drinks. There’s a knock at the door, and Jacob comes in. He says he thought John might need company. John guesses Jacob heard about Janice, and Jacob says, she’s set to be executed at daybreak. He spoke to her as her officially sanctioned spiritual advisor. She’s a brave women facing a cowardly act. John says he always followed the rules; the rules made sense to him. Jacob asks if he’s thinking of running away, and John says Janice wants him to. She told him, find June, and get the hell out of there, but he’s not going to do it. Jacob asks what he is going to do, and John says, get Janice out. Jacob says, there are only a few Rangers on duty during shift change, and John says his dad had a case when he was knee-high. The term didn’t exist then, but it was a serial killer. They found him living in a compound with a bunch of people he’d brainwashed, who thought he was the second coming. He was nothing but a two-bit mortician, spouting about death and new beginnings; nonsense that he made sound profound. The entire force, his dad included, combed the place. The guy was guilty, but they couldn’t pin it on him. His dad found a purse from a missing woman squirreled away in a back closet. It was enough evidence to put the SOB away for the rest of his life. Jacob says it sounds like his father was a her, and John says he planted the purse. He knew the man was guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt, and broke the rules to set things right. He felt like the people living in the world knew which way was up. The people who knew were happy to get a dangerous guy off the street, and saved the women he would have hurt, but they never looked at him the same way. They weren’t certain they could trust anything he did now. His parents’ marriage fell apart. His dad moved north, and he started drinking. He did the right thing, and it cost him something hard. Jacob says, it’s going to cost John, but he seems to know that. John says he’s not worried about himself, and he trusts Ginny won’t hurt June. She needs people who know medicine, but he know he’ll never see June again. When his dad disappeared, it was hard on him. His dad had to do what he did, and he knows there are people alive who wouldn’t have been, whose lives his dad saved, even if it cost him the one he was living. It’s the choice he’s making. Jacob says they could find another way. He could talk to Ginny; buy them more time. John says, there’s none to buy, and asks Jacob to make sure June gets the letter he’s written, so she knows why he had to do this. They hug, and John thanks Jacob. Jacob says, who knows? John may yet see her again. John says, let’s hope so. Jacob leaves, and John puts his head in his hands and cries.

John packs a bag, puts the map inside, and blows out the candles. He goes to Janis’s cell, and sees it’s empty. He says, no, no, no, no, and goes out the gate. He hears music coming from a boombox, and sees zombies feeding. He shoots them, and finds a body that been totally mutilated. He looks up at the radio and sees zombie Janis on the ground, a noose half in her mouth, and her hands tied. He comes closer to her, and his face shows a thousand emotions. He shoots her, and then shoots the radio.   

John pounds a cross into the ground in the cemetery, and hangs the plaque with Janis’s name on it.

John strides into town, gun in hand. Jacob comes out, and John says, they moved up the execution. Jacob says he knows, and John asks if Jacob told her. Jacob says, someone told him, and Victor comes out. John asks Jacob if he told Victor, but Victor says, he didn’t have to. He knows John. John asks if Victor arranged for Janis’s confession, and Victor says it was Janis’s idea. John asks if Victor told Ginny what he was going to do, and Victor says he told Ginny that Janis was a flight risk. John hits Victor a good one in the head. Victor falls down, and John walks away, but Victor gets up, and they fight. They’re both on the ground, and John says Victor killed her. He keeps punching Victor in the head, and reaches for the gun nearby, but Jacob grabs it up. Victor says Janis was going take the fall, and he kept John from going with her. John says, they could have gotten away, but Victor says, Ginny would have hunted him down killed them both. Jacob suggests Victor get cleaned up, and John says, Janis was right. This place destroys everything.

Ginny stands on a porch in front of a crowd of townspeople. She says they’re all after same thing. Not just Lawton, but all the settlements in the franchise. They want to feel safe from the danger lurking beyond the place they call home. Cameron’s murder tested their stability, and they won because of one man’s pursuit of the truth. John stands next to her, looking a little sad and unkempt. She says, with men like him on watch, their enterprise is rife with promise. He was there for them in their hour of need, and she asks him to accept this small token of gratitude. She pins a key to his lapel, and says, the key to the future; their future. She quietly tells him, congratulations, Ranger boy. He’ll find the honor will afford him many privileges. He looks at Dakota, then looks down sadly.

John can’t sleep, which is understandable. There’s a knock at the door. It’s June, and he asks what she’s doing there. She says, Ginny didn’t tell him? Ginny transferred her. She’s based out of Lawton now. He wonders why, and she kisses him. She asks, what is it? and he says, nothing, Junebug. He tells her to unpack, and he’ll clean up. He’s glad to see her. She goes inside, and he turns, and closes the door.

In the bathroom, John pokes at his tooth, and pulls it out himself with a pair of plyers. You may now flinch as I did. He lets it slide down the drain. He looks long and hard at himself in the mirror. A song plays, and we hear, I won’t cry as long as I have you…

Morgan drives, and tells the dog, they’re almost there. He puts up the window, and the dog lies down on the floor. Morgan says he’s not going to lie. This is the last place in the world he wants to go, but if that’s what it takes, right? He laughs, and a car comes out of the blue, T-boning him. He asks if the dog is okay, and he is (thank God – I can’t believe I have another dog to worry about now). He sees the other car has stopped, steam coming from the engine. He rubs his shoulder, and tells the dog to stay there. He gets, bringing his battle ax with him.

A guy tumbles out of the car, and Morgan asks if it was an accident. Now would be a good time to say he’s sorry. The guy asks, where’s Emile? and Morgan says, Virginia knows where he is. The guys asks, who’s Virginia? and Morgan sees that another guy is on his other side. The new guy says he just wants the key, but Morgan says he doesn’t know what they’re talking about. He tells them, stay back; he doesn’t want to hurt anyone. The second guy has come closer, and they move in for an attack, but Morgan slices into the second guy, disemboweling him, as I say, ooh, then OH. His intestines literally fall out. The first guy gets Morgan in a headlock, and we see a key on a chain around Morgan’s neck. Morgan slices that guy open too.

Morgan looks at the key, and says, what the hell do you unlock?

Next time, masked people, Al tells Dwight that it’s not his call, Dwight tells Shari that it will all be behind them, and Dwight is trapped and surrounded.

The Walking Dead: World Beyond

Huck told everyone, what was on the other side was rougher than what they’d seen before. Felix got Elton on the side to confer, but Elton said he hadn’t told Felix he was in. Felix said Elton hadn’t said he wasn’t in either. He told Elton, the Mississippi would be the last chance to get everyone home safe, and he’d need Elton’s help to do it. Elton asked why Felix thought anyone would listen to him, and Felix said Elton cared about them, like he did. Felix told Huck that Elton was with them, but she thought maybe they should head to Plan B. The best way was for one of them to go with the girls, and the other with the boys. They stopped at a dock, where there was a lone boat, and Elton said it had probably been used as an escape route, and this boat was the last one. Iris suggested they get creative, and build their own. She saw a hull, and thought they could do a remodel. Silas thought it could work, and Felix was like, damn!

They looked through a supply warehouse, where we got Elton’s backstory. Elton flashed back to being with his dad and pregnant mom in his dad’s office at the Natural History Museum, where his dad was apparently a paleontologist. He told Elton about the end of the dinosaurs, and said it was never too early for science. Elton also felt his little sister move, and named her Esmerelda. His mother said they’d talk about it. She had to leave for a meeting, and said she’d heard there was a lot of police activity near the hospital. Elton’s father told her to stay safe, and after she left, he showed Elton how to dust a fossil. They began to hear a lot of sirens outside.   

Felix told the kids, they had no engine to fight the current. Elton tried being discouraging, but Iris thought they could get parts from an air conditioner, and make a steamboater. Silas compared it to the dorm furnaces he had to fix.

Hope said the river was the last big thing in their way, and Felix told Huck, the closer they were to finishing the boat, the harder it would be to convince them. Huck said she thought maybe they should let the plan go. Hope eavesdropped, and asked Elton if he was involved. She told Iris and Silas that Elton was working with Felix, and asked Felix what Plan B was, to sabotage the boat? Felix said he was going to have them take the boat downriver, then go back to the university. They didn’t know where they were going, or what they were doing when, or if, they got there. They didn’t even know for sure if their dad was in trouble. He could have sent more messages while they were gone. Hope said he didn’t even believe his own words, and he said he’d made a promise to their father to keep them safe. Iris said they didn’t have time for an argument, and Felix needed to leave his sh*t at the door. Without everyone giving 100%, they wouldn’t make it across the river.

Huck and Hope looked for a fuel source, and Huck said she’d tried to do what was best for everybody. Hope asked who’s side Huck was on. She’d heard Huck tells Felix they should call it off. Huck said she was all for stopping them for a long while, but now she didn’t know. Going cross country was big, and doing sh*t like that was what made them stronger and better. She explained she’d been found floating down the Missouri in a raft with a broken arm. She’d messed up, and wasn’t sure if she was coming or going. The next thing she knew, they were calling her Huck, which she thought was kind of cool. She said she left a lot out, but she hadn’t known if she was going to live or die, and came close to giving up; just letting the water take her away. She had to push every single moment, and the pushes she’d overcome caused her to be stronger and better. Maybe that’s what this would be for them. Maybe even Felix. Hope thought Huck should tell him, but Huck said it wasn’t her place. Maybe Felix had to figure it out for himself in his own way.

Felix tried talking to Hope, who said she was pissed at herself for thinking she could turn him. She and Iris never got a brother, since he never acted like one. They weren’t his sisters; they were his problems. She’d trusted him more than anyone, and he should have told their dad not to. She guessed it was time for her to grow up.

Silas said the nail polish box at the warehouse could help them with the fuel situation. It started to storm, and Iris asked if Felix thought her dad was really safe. He said he did. He had to be, and so did Will. He should have gone, but their dad asked him to stay behind, and Will took his place, but Felix wasn’t there to protect him. Silas and Elton dumped all the polish into containers. Elton said people knew death was inevitable, but was so horrible a concept, they tried to put it off for a while. Fear was the body’s reaction to risk, and if they understood risk on a conscious level, there was no need to fear. He flashed back to being with his dad, who told young Elton he was going to find them a safe home. He was locking door, and gave Elton a giant tooth fossil that he said was special, and would keep anyone safe who was holding it. It sounded like chaos outside, with a lot of screaming and shooting. He put Elton in a crate, and closed the lid.

Iris told Felix, something was weird, and asked if his skin was tingling. Felix pushed her down, and lightning struck. A bunch of zombies toddled out of a nearby bar.

Iris and Felix ran back to the makeshift boat. Iris told Huck the empties were coming, and they couldn’t risk the rising water washing the boat away. Hope suggested they get in when the sh*t hit the fan. Elton and Silas ran back, but Elton tripped and fell, spilling the nail polish. He swore it wasn’t on purpose. Silas helped him up, and when they got to the boat, iris poured the polish into the engine, and got it going. Flames shot up, and then it died. The zombies from the bar were headed their way, and Felix put fishing line across the trees a bunch of times to slow them up. Iris said a belt had come off, and that’s why the engine failed. They needed someone small to go underneath, and Elton was small enough. Elton said he was claustrophobic, and Iris said, please, which sent him back to being in the crate. She told him that he could do it. Felix kept an eye on the zombies, holding a sword as they pushed against the line. Elton recited the planets to himself, along with young Elton in his head. He got the engine started again, but got stuck trying to wriggle back out. Hope and Iris had gone to help Felix, and Elton remembered his dad giving him the fossil. He put the same faith in a paintbrush, using it for magical protection, but Hope and Iris got back in time to pull him out. Good thing, since I don’t think the paintbrush was going to do much for him, and the zombies had broken free. The group pushed the boat, but it was slow going, and the zombies were getting closer. Hope thought they’d better run for it, but Felix joined in, using a piece of lumber as leverage, and the boat moved. The zombies were just a few feet away when the boat was all the way in the water, and they jumped on. Everyone was all proud of themselves.

Felix admitted that he’d was going to turn them around, but said he realized he’d do zero good, and told Hope that she was stubborn as sh*t. Huck thought it might be good for them, and turn them into the people they were supposed to be. Hope said the clues she’d left weren’t just because she hoped he’d turn them around, but that he’d help, and he was there now. Huck told Hope that Felix would keep them safe, and keep Will safe when they found him. She said the best thing was to divide and conquer. Their intel was weak, and she told them she’d be back in 48 hours max, but she was leaving them in good hands until then.

Elton looked at the sky and remembered his last time with both of his parents, and cried. He wrote in the margins of a book that nature had accounted for everything in the human race except self-awareness. Humans can act in ways nature isn’t expecting or ready for. It lets them see a path in the wind, even if for a moment. Sometimes a moment is all you need. Young Elton came out of his hiding place, and went out in the hallway. He saw his dad dead, shot in head, and everything was a mess. He picked up a messenger bag, put the fossil in it, and walked out into the world. As he exited the museum, he picked up a flyer that said Public Evacuation. Hope asked if he was okay, and he told her, the night the sky fell, his father told him not to be scared, and he wasn’t. He said his father was scared, probably more than he’d ever been, but that didn’t stop him from doing what needed to be done. He was brave because he was scared, not in spite of it. Hope wished she could have met his parents, and thought they must have been pretty cool to make a kid like him. He said he sometimes thought his mother was still out there somewhere, and his sister Esmerelda. Hope said that wasn’t so crazy, but looked at his mother’s picture, and remembered shooting her.

As they sat around a campfire, the group heard something. It was a zombie, and Iris said she had this.

Next time, an uninvited guest, a group of robbers, and zombies in garbage.

🍸 A 00Goodbye…

Somewhere at a heavenly bar, a suave sharply-dressed man sits down, and orders a martini, shaken, not stirred.

https://people.com/movies/sean-connery-hollywoods-quintessential-james-bond-dies/

🦅 Gotta Fly Now…

Tomorrow, lots of costumes and a new Deck. Until then, stay safe, stay serene, and stay aware while you’re driving, even in an apocalypse. And don’t forget to vote.

October 25, 2020 – A Chance Meeting Happens, Felix Asks Elton For Help, Pumpkin Watching & Dead

Standard

What I Watched Today

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

Fear the Walking Dead

Morgan checks out the baby, and Rachel looks through the haul. She says they brought back a lot, and he tells her that he brought back clothes and books too. She takes out a jar of homemade jelly, and asks where he got it. He says he knows someone on the inside. They don’t know where he is, and they won’t; not until he’s ready to get everybody else out. He starts to leave, and Rachel asks if he wants to hold the baby. He says his arms aren’t up to it yet, and she says, it will be nice to have a playmate. He goes out the door, and she asks where he’s going.  

Morgan  sharpens a stick, and tells Rachel, people didn’t used to change much, but it feels like he’s been sixteen different somebodies since it happened. He’s going to find Grace, and bring her there. He’s scared he won’t be the man everyone knows, and Rachel says either he changed or he’ll still be the man they know. He checks out the ax that he made for himself, having moved beyond the pokey stick.

Dwight breaks into a boarded up house, and we hear zombie noises. Al comes in behind him, filming, and he tells her, come on. She films and kills zombies at the same time, multitasking. Some things never change. She says, it’s day four, into the microphone, and asks Dwight how long he thinks they’ve been dead. He says, two or three months; let Ginny figure it out. She looks in the guy’s wallet, and says, Arizona. A straggler zombie toddles out, and Dwight says, he can be Alaska, but when he checks the wallet, it’s Montana. Al says she counted fifteen sleeping bags. How many did they get? He says, not enough, and suggests they check upstairs.

Al bangs on a trashcan in some kind of medical office, but nothing happens. She looks in some drawers, and hears someone on the radio, giving coordinates. She looks for a pen and starts jotting them down. While she’s distracted, a fairly fresh-looking female zombie comes up behind Al, and traps her against an examining table. Al tries to reach for her weapon, but can’t get it, and Dwight runs in and stabs the zombie in the head. He asks if Al is okay, and she says the zombie smells like formaldehyde. She thinks someone embalmed her. He wonders what kind of psycho would do that. He radios in; fifteen dead, no living. He says they’re at a funeral home, and there’s nothing worth scavenging. Al wonders how they died, but says they’re not staying. Dwight says, they have no choice, but she says, bullsh*t. He wonders how many they’ve checked, and she thinks a couple hundred. He says, it’s always the same sh*t. What went wrong, and why did they die? If Virginia gave a sh*t, she would have gotten to it before it happened. He tells Al, he said there was nothing worth scavenging, but… He shows her a six-pack.

They have a beer on the back stairs. Al says the beer is skunk, and Dwight asks if she’s thinking about beer lady (i.e. Isabelle); tell him her name. He spits, and says the beer would taste better with a bag of pretzels. They clink bottles, and the radio comes to life. Al grabs for it, but Dwight holds onto it. He asks who hell that is, and what’s drop sight Baker? She says, trust her. The less he knows, the better. He tells her, she says that every time he asks her about beer lady. It’s her, isn’t it? What’s Ground 17? Al asks if his camera is off, and takes the radio. She says, yeah; it’s her. She thinks drop sight Baker is in the city, and says they switch channels a lot, but she’s been trying to track Isabelle’s movements. Dwight asks if Al knows where she might be, and she says she does. He asks why they aren’t heading there, and she tells him Isabelle has protocol. He says, screw protocol, and Al says they have it too. He says, maybe beer lady is having the same conversation. Al can be there when the helicopter lands; meet her, and run away. Al says, if she goes AWOL, Ginny will kill her, and Dwight says, not if Ginny thinks she’s dead. They’ll find a walker who looks like her, a fairly recent one, and he’ll tell Ginny that she bought it. She says she can’t put that on him, and he says, he walked halfway across the country because his wife left a note. If Shari was out there, and Al didn’t push him, he’d kick her ass. She says she’d like to see him try. He says, let’s go find beer lady, and they get in the car.

Dwight sees a zombie on the ground, gurgling, and smashes its head with his boot. He says they’re at drop sight Baker, and checks the zombie’s wallet. He says, Alaska, and shows Al. He thinks it’s a sign. They go inside the building, and The End Is The Beginning is spray painted on the wall. Al says, the world goes to sh*t, and everybody is a philosopher. They investigate, opening a door, and a trio of zombies toddles out. They run through a door that has catwalks and stairs, and see a cage with a rat in it. A zombie drops down from another flight of stairs, and they see a bunch on a landing above that’s blocked with furniture. Dwight says, it’s not going to hold, and they make a run for it, shutting the next door quickly behind them. They turn around to see two live people holding a gun on them. A woman (Nora) asks what they’re doing in the building, and Al says they’re trying to get to the roof. Nora says, if they think whoever is landing on the roof is going to save them, think again. The man says the last guy who went up there got a bullet for his trouble. Nora asks why Al is recording, and tells Al, the guy was a friend of hers. They put Al and Dwight in an office and lock the door.

Dwight tells Al that he doesn’t know them. Does she think it’s beer lady who shot Alaska? She says he has no way of knowing, and Dwight asks how she knows she’s not going to get shot. She says she doesn’t, and Nora and the man come back. Nora asks if that’s what Al does, goes around recording, and Dwight says they hope to stop it from happening for the people still there. Nora tells Al to turn it on. They need her help.

Nora takes them to what looks like a makeshift camp in an office. She says, it’s everyone who’s left. She tends to a sick guy, slumped at his desk. Al takes Dwight to the side, and says, it’s the Bubonic plague. (Like a zombie plague isn’t enough.) She saw it in Algeria. Dwight says they’ll get them some antibiotics, but Al says she can’t do this. They head for the stairs, and Nora asks where they’re going. Dwight follows Al out the door, and asks if she’s going to let them die. Al breaks out a fire ax, and he says, she’s still going? She says he’s the one who convinced her to go, and he says that was before he knew she might get shot. She asks what the alternative is. Keep doing what they’re doing, and call it living? They made a game out of seeing where dead people came from. The last time she felt alive was with her. Even if means taking a risk just for a moment, she’d still choose that over this. He ask how much time they have, and she says, an hour. He tells her that she’d better get going.

Al comes up against a locked door, and says they have to find another way up. Dwight kills a zombie, checks the wallet, and says, Tennessee. Maybe Al is right, and they shouldn’t be doing this. She says it’s a game she played with her brother, using license plates and no dead people. He asks what she’s going to say to beer lady, and Al says, why is beer lady pointing a gun at her? Dwight says, when and if she puts it down, what will Al say? Al asks what he’d say to Shari, and he says he’s made peace with the fact it’s not going happen. She asks, what about Ginny? She said she knew someone who broke bread with Shari. He says, bullsh*t. He thought he heard her, but it was when he was dehydrated and thought he was going to die. They go into an office, and Al knocks on a door. They hear zombie noises on the other side, and go down the hallway to another room. Al knocks on a wall, then punches a hole in it, since it’s nothing but a sheet of plaster. She looks inside, where there’s a maze of pipes. They get in, and climb up the pipes to the next level. They start to crawl, and see loads of rats. Dwight says, they could be infected, and Al says, yeah, but they have to keep moving. Mind you, these are cute pet rats, which is always how they look in film and TV. They never look like subway rats. They bust through another wall.

They see tons of zombies, blocked in by furniture. Dwight says, the plague? And Al says, they died of it; let’s go. They run into a bathroom, and I think, why? You’re not going to find much in the way of weapons, and there’s usually no alternate way out. In this case, I’m wrong. There is another door, and Al asks what’s on Dwight’s neck. He looks at a wound in the mirror, and she says, he’s infected.

Zombies scrabble at the door, and she says she told him not to come. He says he was trying to help her, and got sick. He wants to make it right. He tells her, stay away. He doesn’t want her to get sick, but she says, it doesn’t spread that way, person to person. He asks how long it takes, and she says, two days, usually. He says, maybe there was a rat in his sleeping bag, and she says, maybe. He was trying to do a good thing for her. He says, it’s not over. He’s going to get her up to the roof. He went through so much crazy sh*t, trying to find Shari. It’s the least he can do. She says they need to get him some cipro, fast. They hear something at the door, then gunshots. The door is kicked in, and it’s Nora with dead zombies behind her. She says they’re lucky she didn’t shoot them. Nora tells Al, call her boss;  they need antibodies. Dwight says Nora was right. She won’t do anything, but he’s got a truck full of gas, and can go to a pharmacy. Nora says, Al has been exposed too, but Al says she can take care of herself.   

Nora looks at the crowd of zombies behind the furniture, and says, it was a holiday party. They have to get to the other side of the door. Al asks if Nora worked there. Nora says she did, and Al says, she knew them. Nora says they made it to the fifth floor when they started to get sick, and couldn’t go any further. Dwight says, let them out, and he’ll kill them. They’ll take it nice and slow. Al asks how many bullets Nora has, and Nora says, three. As the zombies come out, Nora stabs one in the head. Al bashes another with a piece of office equipment, and Nora whacks one with the bottom of an office chair. She lingers over it, and looks like she might cry. Al says they need to go, and Nora shakes her head. She says, don’t record. No one should remember them like this. It’s hard to remember what they looked like before. Al takes the chair bottom out of Nora’s hand. Al asks what Nora’s friend’s name is; the one who went to the roof? Nora says, Mark; why? and Al takes out his license, giving it to her. Nora cries, and thanks Al. Nora takes her knife, and heads for the door.    

Nora says, roof access is two flights up. Dwight says Al better get going, and she tells him to hit every pharmacy he can find. He says he will, and Al tells Nora to make sure Dwight is okay. Nora says she will, and Al says Nora still thinks she’s an a-hole, but Nora shakes her head. She says she sold timeshares to people trying to escape their boring lives, while she was too chicken to go to exotic locales. Al is braver than her, or maybe just stupid. They laugh, and Dwight says, if he saw Shari, he thinks he’d just hold her as tight as he could. He hopes Al gets to do that with beer lady. He doesn’t think she’ll shoot Al. Al tries to give him the recorder, but he says he left something on there for her. She goes out to the roof.

The landing pad is empty, and Al looks around. She sits on a cement block, takes out the camera, and looks at the video. Dwight comes on screen, and says she’s taking a leak or something, so he only has a minute, Wherever they end up, wherever they’re going to, crack one open for him. Don’t forget the present. He loves her. She puts the camera away, and sets off a flare. She radios ground 17, and says, reverse course. Isabelle’s voice says, who’s on this channel? and Al says, someone who wants to help her. She says, with what? and Al says, this place is filled with dead, infected with the plague. It’s not safe to land here. Isabelle asks if Al is infected, and Al says she doesn’t know. Maybe. Isabelle says, thanks for warning her, and Al should stay off this channel. Al copies that, and she says, there’s some beer in the supply crate. She hopes it’s not Al’s last. Al thanks her, and watches as the helicopter turns around. Al says, wait. She just wants to say it’s good to hear her voice… because there aren’t many people left. Isabelle copies, and radios her partner, saying, drop sight Baker is burned. Drop sight downtown. Al stands alone on the roof. She opens the supply crate, and takes out the beer. Underneath is a box of cipro. She radios Dwight, who asks why they’re talking. She tells him, stay where you are. She’s coming down to him.

The cipro is passed out to the people still alive. Dwight asks Al, what happened up there? and she says she guesses she didn’t want this to happen again. They hug, and she tells him get himself some cipro. She asks if Nora has been there since the beginning, and Nora says, yeah. She looks at a travel poster of an island, and Al says, it’s not like that anymore. Not that it ever really was. Nora asks what it’s like where Al is from, and Al says she doesn’t want to go there. They’ll find her someplace better. Nora nods, and goes back to the others.

Al and Dwight stand near the rat cage, and Al wonders if the spread from the rats was an accident. Dwight says someone like Ginny could have made the people sick. Al says, if she had to guess, she’d say whoever spray painted  the message in the lobby, and points out an empty can of paint. Dwight says he’d better check in, or Ginny will start asking questions. A woman’s voice comes over the radio, saying, I saw a flare. Is someone in trouble? Dwight grabs the radio from Al, and says, honey, is that you? Shari says, Dwight?

He runs outside, and Shari is in at the end of the alleyway. He runs to her, and stops. She cries, and they kiss. Al and Nora come out. Al smiles.  

Next time, John tells Ginny that they’re making them safe, Ginny tells Dakota to get inside, a funeral, and Victor says if they go down this path, there’s no going back.

The Walking Dead: World Beyond

As the group walked, Iris explained that the research place wasn’t where their dad stayed. Hope thought it was all shady as sh*t, and Elton said  they should feel lucky that the Republic hadn’t taken over the world, but Felix and Hope agreed they didn’t really know that. A storm was approaching, and they found a school hidden behind some overgrowth, and went inside. While she was looking at a yearbook, Iris imagined how things were before the pandemic apocalypse, when the kids were all lively, and roaming the halls. Felix suggested combing the place, and they split into twos: Silas and Iris, Felix and Elton, and Huck and Hope.  

This week, we saw some of Hope’s backstory when she flashed back on talking to her father. She told him she’d waited for him at the principal’s office, but he never showed. He said he was working between classes, and forgot. Then thought if she stayed there all afternoon, she’d think twice about setting off a stink bomb. Then, he forgot again. She said at least he’d done good with Iris, and he said the agency had told them that Hope and Iris shared a crib; they were inseparable. They’d bonded before he and their mother met them. He told Hope that he knew they would protect each other, even if their parents couldn’t protect them. He said she was exceptional. and wished could see herself the way he saw her.

Hope wondered about her dad putting himself in danger for people he didn’t know, but he insisted they were good people. She said if they were, they would tell him where he was going. He told her that his brain said any chance he gets to train people is the only way the world would survive. She told him the world he was trying to save was over. That’s what her brain was telling her. He said, if it was the end, it would be easy, but it wasn’t. They still had a shot, and he was going to take it. She promised not to be a screw up anymore, but he said that wasn’t why he was going. He told her that she wasn’t a screw up; she was just frustrated, and they’d talk when he got back – and he would be back. He said he wasn’t supposed to communicate, but had figured something out. He could be bad too. He told Hope that he loved her.

Huck and Iris noticed that Fall Out Shelter signs in the hallways were either pulled down or hanging off. Felix and Elton saw a streak of blood on the floor, and Elton wondered if it was an empty. Felix said, maybe, but maybe not. He radioed Iris and Silas, but got crickets. Felix and Elton followed the blood. They noticed a couple of zombies banging from the inside of lockers. I thought, geez. Even in the apocalypse, poor nerds get locked in lockers. Elton flashed back to being inside a locker himself, and Felix asked why he had the shakes. Elton made the excuse that he was claustrophobic, and Felix said he thought none of them were ready for this. He didn’t even know if he was ready. He told Elton that his tattoo was to remind him of everything and everyone he had lost. He lost his parents and friend, and the person who taught him how to pick a lock. He couldn’t lose anyone else. He said he needed Elton’s help to convince the others to turn around, and asked him to think about it.

In the gymnasium, Silas told Iris how he was made fun of, and said it wasn’t like that anymore. She asked him to play something for her on his portable CD player, and she was surprised at his choice. It was some kind of classical piece, and Silas said it was his grandma’s favorite. He told Iris that his grandmother took him to ballroom dance lessons at the senior center when he was four, and Iris asked him to show her, but he said he didn’t remember. She made him get up anyway, and they danced, imagining the gym filled with people at a dance. He made his grandmother sound so ancient, I did some quick calculations, and figured his grandma was probably between 40 and 50 when he was four. And probably listening to hip-hop.

Huck and Hope (sounds like a P.I. show) came across a wolf that wasn’t too friendly. They holed up in one of the classrooms, the wolf guarded the door across the hall like it was his/her job. They decided to just go, and the wolf let them pass. I was relieved Huck didn’t have to shoot it. Huck thought it was protecting its young, and that there was a whole other thing going on they didn’t know about. Hope thought maybe she had her dad’s sh*t all wrong, and maybe he was trying to protect her, but she didn’t know from what. They found a pantry, where Huck killed a zombie.

While one zombie clamored at the door, one of the grates inside the gym started to shake. Silas and Iris teased it in, and then ran past it, locking the door. Felix and Elton met Silas and Iris in the basement, and Felix said something was roaming the hallways that he didn’t think was friendly. He told Silas and Iris to stay put.

Zombies had Iris and Silas trapped in the basement, and then broke into the room. The two realized avoidance wasn’t possible, and they’d have to fight. Hope and Huck heard what was going on through the wall (there are a lot of flimsy walls in the apocalypse). Silas said, they always keep coming, and speared one through the head. He flashed back to whoever it was we presume he killed, and briefly to being choked himself. He then proceeded to punch the ever-loving sh*t out of a zombie, which isn’t the usual way, but whatever works. The others ran in, and Elton ran to pull Silas off the twice-dead zombie, but Silas threw him off. Felix yelled, and Silas snapped out of it, looking at his bloody hands, and saying, sorry.

Iris thought she and Hope should have told each other about what happened the night the sky fell. They would have been there for each other. Elton was worried about Silas, and asked Felix how they could turn around. Felix said their best chance was in Mississippi, but he’d need Elton’s help. It’s how they could keep everyone alive.

Iris cleaned Silas up, and he said he was upset about hurting Elton. Iris said it was an accident. He said he knew she’d heard what was said about him, and asked if she thought he killed his dad. Avoiding giving an answer, she said it didn’t matter. Maybe she could have done it herself, and maybe he should have let her, but he saved them twice now. That’s what mattered.

The group reconvened, and Elton took a group photo. Iris wondered, since when did he take pictures of people, and he said, since now, and told them to smile.

Next time, Elton tells Felix, he didn’t say he was in, but Felix says, he didn’t say he wasn’t; the group comes across a collapsed bridge, and gets trapped by zombies.

🎃 It’s Free Streaming, Charlie Brown…

How to watch the Great Pumpkin, between October 30th and November 1st.

The Charlie Brown Halloween Special Will Stream for Free—Here’s How to Watch

🧟‍♀️ Dead Walking…

I’m a zombie myself after this weekend, so I’ll see you on the virtual Deck tomorrow. Until then, stay safe, stay appreciating the little things, and stay away from diseased vermin. Of all types.

October 18, 2020 – Victor Forms an Army, Felix Catches Up & Some Thrills

Standard

What I Watched Today

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

Fear the Walking Dead

What looks like a gang of convicts is led into the yard of a sugar processing plant. One of Ginny’s rangers says he’s not one to give second chances. It seems Virginia is. Who is he to argue? The people form a line, and he tells them that they’re here because they deserve to be in a grave. Think of it as a final chance to dig their way out. He bangs on a solid metal warehouse gate, and cocks his gun. Zombie noises come from inside, and there’s pushing on the gate. The prisoners all have pokey sticks, and one asks why they’re being made to do this. What’s in there? The ranger says, one way to find out. Aim between the eyes, and whatever you do, don’t get too close. He tells them to move forward, and they move closer, holding their spears ready. The ranger says, door, and another ranger pulls on the chain that raises the gate. Disgusting goop drips from bottom, and pools out on the floor. The gate is only a couple of feet up, and the ranger says, raise it, but the other one says, it’s stuck. Zombies start crawling out, and the ranger says, drop it, but a zombie grabs door guy’s leg, and drags him in, along with one of the prisoners that didn’t listen and got too close. The others try poking at them, and the ranger tells a prisoner, don’t just stand there; drop the door, but he says he can’t. The ranger moves him out of the way, and another prisoner gets dragged in. She claws at him, and says, please. He shoots her. The chain breaks, and the ranger is snatched in. One of the prisoners tries to help him, but can’t, and ends up getting dragged in too. When it’s over, one prisoner named Sanja is left standing, and blood mixed with goop flows out of the door.

Just outside Lawson, Victor dumps something in a barrel, and tells Alicia, that’s the last of it. Alicia pours gas on it, and sets it on fire. She tells Victor, they’d better get back before sundown. Al’s van pulls up, and Victor asks if there’s a problem. Ranger Marcus is driving, and says the wind is blowing toward the canteen, and they can’t enjoy lunch. Move it down. Victor says it’s his sh*t. If he doesn’t like it, come out and move it himself. Marcus gets out, and asks if Victor thinks he’s afraid of him, and Victor says Marcus wouldn’t have the tank if not for him. Marcus asks, if Victor is so important, why is he carrying a bucket of sh*t ? Victor says, he’s not, and tosses it near Marcus’s feet. A girl jumps out of the tank, and tells Marcus to leave them alone. He calls her Dakota, and tells her to get away from the fence. Victor wonders what the hell is going on, and Marcus says they’ll let Ginny settle it.

Alicia and Victor are led through town in handcuffs. Victor tells Alicia, he’s sorry, but she says, don’t be. Victor says, he deserves it, but he’d always thought they’d come into town under more auspicious circumstances. Dakota pops out, and tells them Marcus is an a-hole, which made it funnier. They all introduce themselves, and Dakota says she knows who they are. Alicia thanks her again for her help.   

While getting a haircut, Ginny radios someone to send a ranger to the western territories. He’s got to be out there somewhere. Her secretary or whatever asks if she’s ready for them, and she says, send them in. Victor and Alicia come in, and we see it’s Daniel cutting Ginny’s hair. Victor says he didn’t know Daniel was there, and Ginny tells them, have a seat. She hopes they don’t mind; she wasn’t expecting a visit. She adds that they could use some time in the chair themselves. Alicia asks what she did to Daniel, and Ginny says, nothing. He was hellbent on getting his cat, things got ugly, and he wouldn’t stand down. (I do not want to know.) She says, everyone has to contribute, and Victor asks if that’s the fate that awaits them. Ginny says she was hoping for more from them than cleaning out latrines. Alicia says that’s what she assigned them, and Ginny says, Victor assaulted a ranger in broad daylight. That can’t go unpunished. Victor asks where she’s sending them, and she says, somewhere that suits their more natural talents. She asks them to excuse her. She’s got more pressing matters to attend to. She checks her hair, and tells Victor that he’s already squandered one opportunity. Don’t waste this one. She leaves, and Alicia asks what that was about. Victor say he doesn’t know, and tries talking to Daniel in Spanish. Daniel says he doesn’t know what Victor is saying, and in Spanish, Victor says he doesn’t have to pretend. He asks Daniel to look him in the eyes, and say he doesn’t know who he is. He touches Daniel’s arm, and Daniel says he doesn’t know who Victor is. Daniel starts packing up his stuff, and Victor says Daniel told him to remember who he was in there. Can’t Daniel do the same? Daniel stops, and says he doesn’t know who Victor thinks he is, but he doesn’t know who Victor lost, or what’s weighing on him. He takes out a St. Christopher’s medal, telling Victor that he found it on one of the dead. His wife wore one. It helps people bear heavy burdens. He gives it to Victor, and says Victor needs it more than he does.

Victor and Alicia ride in the back of a tank. The driver tells them, get out; they’re here. Victor hopes it’s not what he thinks it is. It’s the sugar plant, and the ranger takes them to the warehouse, and Alicia asks, what’s in there? The ranger says they’ll find out when they clear it. Virginia is building the future. What’s in there is the key to getting it done… if they survive. They see a prisoner running, and he gets shot in the back. The ranger says they don’t take kindly to runners there. He gives Alicia a pokey weapon that’s no more than an armband, and Victor gets a spear. Alicia says she’s they’re going to need something more to make a dent, and the ranger says they’ll send a truck with supplies. If they’re still breathing when he gets back. He leaves, and Alicia says, they trust them? Victor says, for good reason.

Charlie joins them, and Alicia asks what she’s doing there. Charlie says she tried run away – twice. Janice comes along, and Victor guesses he and Alicia aren’t the only ones in the dog house. He asks what Janice did, and she says, what did she do, or what did they catch her doing? Victor asks, who’s in charge? and she says, the rangers keep it clear. Victor asks, what happened? and looks at the gate. We hear zombie noises, and Janice says, they did. Victor asks how many rangers there are, and she says, ten, nine now. He asks, what about the prisoners? Can they be trusted? She says, some, but not all. He asks, why? and she says, they’re not going to clear this place. They need to get the hell out of there.

Charlie explains that there were too many tanks, and they were leaking. They’re full of molasses, and it sticks like nothing else. If the door jams… Sanja is still there, and Victor moves toward the door chain, telling him, stay back. Sanja says he could have tried harder, but he didn’t. He was just the a-hole who watched. He heard about what Victor did. How he stood up to Marcus. He wishes he had the guts. Someone yells, twenty-four; let’s go. The ranger is back with the truck, and says he got them delivered. Victor and Alicia open the back of the truck, and Victor says, you’d think they could provide better weaponry, picking up a makeshift spear. Alicia tells Victor, this isn’t going to work. They need better people; more people. The rangers have guns. He says, the people there couldn’t cut it. Things could go very bad very fast. This can’t be their only move. Alicia wonders what this is really about, and Victor says, they’ve been listening to other people long enough. It’s time for them to start listing to themselves. Charlie finds Dakota in the truck, and is about to pounce on her, and Alicia says, it’s okay. Dakota says she won’t go back. She heard what they were talking about, and she can help. She knows what happens if they take out a ranger. Alicia asks, how? and she says Virginia is her sister. Victor tells her, come with them.

Hidden under a blanket, Dakota goes with Victor, Alicia, and Charlie to a more secluded spot. Victor says, start talking, and she says, they’re not the first people to try. If anyone kills a ranger, Ginny will hunt them down and kill them. If she can’t find them, she’ll hurt and kill people they love. Victor asks if Ginny isn’t going to come looking for Dakota, and she says Ginny will figure out she’s gone by time it’s dark. She wants to get away, and find other people who do. Alicia asks why Dakota thinks she can help, and Dakota says she knows who they are. She saw their tapes. Her sister was obsessed with them. Victor says their reputation precedes them. He asks how they escape, and Dakota says she knows what’s inside the warehouse. They just need to get it. He says, what? and she says, a weapon. He asks, what kind? and she says she doesn’t know, but it’s important enough that Ginny keeps throwing bodies at it. She wants what’s in there. Someone is out there trying kill her, and she wants to use it. He asks, who put it there? How does she know it’s in there? And why are so many dead between it and them? Dakota says, if they can get it, they can overpower the rangers; use it against them. Alicia asks why they should believe her, and Dakota says she hears what goes on, like the deal Victor made. Alicia asks Victor, what deal? and Victor says, sh*t. It’s not what she thinks. Alicia walks and he follows her. He says, Ginny splits people up. He asked her to keep them together. Alicia asks, why do that? She can take care of herself. Victor says he did it for himself… what he needs to do to survive. He can’t do it without help. Not without her. It’s the least she can do. She asks what he means, and he says Daniel told him to remember who he is. She helps him do that. It’s not about right or wrong, but about being someone you can look in eye when this is over. Alicia says, then he doesn’t think they should risk it? He told her they needed to make a decision for themselves. She thinks they should make this one. He asks if she really thinks there’s a way to do it, and she says she does. He says, okay; let’s do it then. It’s going to be dark soon, and Ginny will realize Dakota is missing.

Some of the other prisoners join them, and Victor asks a prisoner if he’s sure, and he says he wants to get out as much as they do. Sanja stands by the gate, and Victor says it’s their last chance to get these things out of the way. Alicia says, it will work, and Victor asks if Sanja is ready. He says, now, and Sanja raises the gate. Inside is a track, like the metal things set up when you wait in line for a ride. The zombies amble out, and Victor and Alicia bang on the metal bars. Sanja looks like he might have a heart attack, and the group stands ready. As the zombies come out, they stab and spear them one by one. Zombies are pouring into the track, and as they’re killed, the group takes turns adding them to a pile. They’re coming faster, and Sanja holds the side of the gate where they’re coming out; it looks like it’s about to burst. Alicia tries closing them off, but one grabs Charlie, dragging her in. Alicia stabs it quickly, and pulls Charlie away, but another zombie tries to pull her back. Dakota comes in from the side, and stabs it, and Alicia asks if Charlie is all right. Charlie says she’s okay, and Dakota shows her the knife, saying she can thank the ranger who had a run-in with Victor. A ranger’s voice says, all right. Get away from her. Two rangers are there, and one comes up to Dakota, asking what the hell she’s doing. She radios Ginny, and says they found her. She tells the group to put their weapons down, and they do. Dakota says she’s not leaving. The woman reaches for her, and Dakota backs up, saying, don’t touch her; she’s not allowed. The ranger says they’ll see what Virginia has to say about that. The gate isn’t holding any longer, and Victor tells everyone to pick up their weapons. He tells Sanja to let go of the gate, and the zombies through. The ranger radios for help. Victor and Alicia stand ready.

The zombies are corralled, and Victor says, they can do this. He tells everyone, spread out, and lifts the latch to the gate. A ranger tries to take grab Dakota, but she runs. Alicia, Victor, and the others use pieces of the broken gate as shields as they kill the zombies. One of the rangers is drug into a cluster of zombies, and that’s the end of him. I laugh, then Dakota pushes the other ranger into the zombies, and I really laugh. Victor loses his weapon, and says he thinks he knows how get something. He and Dakota run to a trailer. Sanja is in the trailer, and asks Victor not to make him go out there. Victor beeps the horn, and asks if they’re moving, but Sanja says, no. Victor keeps beeping, and Sanja says, it doesn’t work. Victor asks for Sanja’s knife, and tells Sanja to follow him. He tells Dakota, don’t move. Sanja says, Victor knows how much trouble they’re going to be in, and Victor says they were in trouble anyway. Sanja says he should have taken the rangers out; why didn’t he? Victor says, good question, and stabs Sanja. He says Sanja said he wishes he had stood up today. Today is the day he gets to be a hero. Victor gets the zombies’ attention, and basically tosses Sanja toward them.  

Inside, Charlie and Alicia take the rangers guns, and shoot the zombies. Victor watches as the zombies tear Sanja apart. Alicia and Charlie make short work of the zombies, and I think, that was fast. Why didn’t they just do that in the first place? Victor says, they did it. Alicia sees a mangled Sanja, and Victor says he tried to stop him. It’s what he wanted. He did it for them. On the radio, they hear Ginny say, don’t let her out of your sight. Victor says there’s not enough time to get what they came for. Dakota joins them, and they go back into the warehouse.  

Victor says, there’s nothing there; there’s no weapon. Dakota says, there has to be. Virginia said so. Alicia says, or they were sent on a wild goose chase to expose them. Dakota says she’s not lying, and Charlie says, they believe her. Victor says, here she comes, and Alicia says, they can’t hold her off. He says, no they can’t, and tells everyone, it’s over. Let’s go. Alicia, Charlie, and Janice follow him back out, with Dakota straggling behind. Ginny asks where her sister is, and Victor says, these people were just acting at his behest; just punish him. She says, why would she do that? He did what no one else could. Alicia says, for what? and Ginny says, the key to survival. Victor says, there’s nothing there, and Ginny says she’s been looking for a true leader. Each and every one of them is the key. This is how they survive. Congratulations. He formed an army. She goes over to Dakota, and says, never leave her side again. The rangers lead them out, and Victor asks Ginny what she wants an army for? Some of them are not her biggest fans. How does she expect them to follow her. She says that’s his job. He can find young soldiers – she shows him a Pioneers key – and this will allow him to use them however he sees fit. When the time comes, and she calls for a big show, he’d best be ready.  She gives him the key, and he puts it in his pocket.   

Daniel cuts Charlie’s hair, and she says he really doesn’t remember the warehouse? Skidmark? None of it? He asks if she’s a friend of Ofelia’s, and she says, no. Victor comes in, and says they’re loading the trucks at the gate. He has her things. She tells him, wait, and takes her banjo out. She plays, and Daniel whistles. He says, The Traveling Wilburys, and she says, yeah. He taught her; she learned it from him. He says, it’s a beautiful song.

Alicia opens the car door. Janice says she’s not coming. Victor wants her to stay there and work in the laundry. He said he had his reasons. She tells Alicia, good luck, and Alicia says, her too. Victor asks for a minute, and Alicia says he has the key to the city. He says it will afford privacy. They almost died. Sanja did, so they could do what they did. It could have gone differently. He should have hesitated. She says because he didn’t put a target on their backs by killing the ranger? and he says he didn’t trust his instincts. He knew what needed to be done, and he couldn’t. Like he told her, she made him remember the person he is. He needs to do the things he needs to do now; for him, for her, for all of them. To do that, he has to forget that person, and he can’t with her by his side. She says she’s seen him do plenty, but he says he doesn’t want to drag her down. He needs to forget who he is, but she doesn’t. He gives her the St. Christopher’s medal, and says, whatever happens, don’t ever forget. He backs away, and the ranger says, let’s go. Alicia walks to the car, and looks back at Victor. She looks at the medal, and gets in the car. It drives away.

As he walks back, Victor wipes a tear away.   

Daniel gets a donkey cart ready, and a ranger tells him, hurry up. He’s got to get going. Victor comes by, and says he felt sorry for Daniel because he didn’t remember, but now he envies Daniel. Victor keeps walking, and the ranger gets in the cart. Daniel whistles as he drives. He suddenly stops, and tells the ranger that he left his good scissors inside. The ranger says he’ll have to make due, but Daniel says it will take him twice as long to work with what he’s got. The ranger tells him, stay there, and goes back into the compound.

Daniel looks around, and gets down. He whistles, and hears a whistle back. He tells donkey, did you hear that? A zombie comes out of the woods, but before it gets to Daniel, someone stabs it in the head from behind. The person wears a cloak that hides their face, and Daniel says, much obliged, friend. If they are a friend. It’s Morgan, and Daniel says he knows who he is. Morgan says he could use Daniel’s help, and Daniel says he looks like he could use a haircut. Morgan says, it’s good to see him. Daniel says he thought Morgan was the him that she was looking for. They shake hands.

Next time, Morgan gets a shave, the end is the beginning, a lot of rats, and Morgan finally gets a better weapon.

The Walking Dead: World Beyond

Iris found out that Hope decided to sacrifice herself, and tried to get her to come back, but Hope refused. She said it had to be her. She’d found an office toward the front that had a siren. She was going to set it off and clear a path.

Silas got some backstory this time. We saw he’d been arrested, after it looked like he’d committed a murder, possibly his grandparents and/or parents. I have the feeling there’s something more to it though. In his flashbacks, we saw Silas and his uncle meeting with Felix, who said because Silas’s uncle had sponsored him, he was going to get a fresh start. His uncle told him, no matter what anyone said, he was a good kid. He later met Iris while he was cleaning her dad’s lab.

Silas told Elton that he didn’t have what it took to kill a zombie, but would hold the bags while Elton did the killing. Silas wandered off and had a zombie encounter, but when he was about to whack it out of existence with a giant wrench, he remembered whatever it was he’d done before, and hesitated. Iris came to his rescue, perpetuating the idea that he was scared.  

Felix and Huck caught up to the group, and Iris explained what Hope had gone to do. Meanwhile, Hope went to the rooftop, but when she started to crank up the siren, the handle broke off. Felix couldn’t believe that Hope left a trail of breadcrumbs, but when he came to find her, she’d gone rogue and kamikaze. Iris said she didn’t think it was just about their dad any longer, and Silas said their mistakes shouldn’t have to follow them, but sometimes did. He thought Iris did something she felt bad about. On the side, he told Iris that he thought if he came with them, he’d be strong, but he wasn’t, and Iris confessed that she didn’t feel strong either. She didn’t care about her sisters mistakes, or Silas’s, and he said she should. She asked what he was afraid of, and he said, himself.

Iris radioed, saying she took the siren apart, but couldn’t put it back together. Iris told Hope that they could do this, like when they were kids. Iris said she’d get the siren going, but when they heard it, they had to haul ass. Elton didn’t understand the phrase haul ass – which I found hard to believe, no matter how sheltered he was – and Iris had to explain it meant run. Hope was able to hand crank the siren, which drew the zombies. The group managed to haul ass, and get out and past them.

Silas flashed back to reading Iris’s copy of The Tyger by William Blake (Tyger, Tyger, burning bright…), and heard her read it in his head as he walked. As Hope ran, zombies followed, but got stuck in some oil, which she set fire to. A zombie grabbed her, and Iris arrived in time to help, but ended up in trouble herself, and Hope returned the favor. Everyone reconvened outside the airport, but one of the humongous piles of tires started to fall against the fencing. Silas held it until the zombie arrival, and another moment while Elton ran in to grab his suitcase, then let it fall, blocking the zombies in. Then they all stood there, looking at the zombies, and I was like, why aren’t you hauling ass?

The kids all refused to go back. Iris said she and Hope wanted to keep their promise to their dad, and suggested he and Huck help them. They were going on with or without them. Huck told Felix there was no turning them around, so keeping them safe was all they could do. Hope and Iris sat on a dock, and Hope said she was tired of being scared. She told Iris about how she’d felt responsible for their mother’s death, and how the pregnant woman had shot their mother, then Iris shot her. She didn’t want what happened to change the way Iris saw her, and Iris said they were kids, the goddam sky was falling, and none of them were ready for it. Iris held Hope she cried, and told her that they’d get through it. They were going to have to.

Felix said Iris and Hope’s dad would want them to be safe, so he and Huck were going to make sure none of them got hurt. Iris asked if that meant he was coming with them, and he said they gave him no choice. Hope said she was sorry for dragging him in, but she was glad he was there. Hope asked why Elton had gone back into the devil’s a-hole for his luggage, and he said his mom’s manuscript was in it. She’d almost been done, and he wanted to finish it. Hope told him it was an a-hole, but badass move. Silas remembered his grandmother telling him that life was good. They made it good.   

A recruit named Slade visited Elizabeth, wanting to know what happened that they killed an entire colony of people. She asked what he’d been told, and he said that they’d neutralized a threat, but with respect, it didn’t seem like a threat. She turned on all the appliances, so there was noise covering what she had to say. She told him they had energy, water, medicine, transportation, a council, school, culture, currency, agriculture, manufacturing, and law. They were the last hope. They inherited a population of over 200,000 to live and create the future. They might not have seemed like a threat, but they were going to be. Slade said he didn’t know if he believed that.  

They ate soup in silence, and there was a knock at the door. Elizabeth told him to answer it, and he opened the door to a couple of soldiers. She told him that he was to be remanded to the health and welfare complex in a labor oriented capacity until he was ready to serve again. He said he didn’t think he’d ever be ready to serve again, and she said then he wouldn’t leave. He asked if she thought about how many died, and she said they were the lights of the world. He said that was a lie, and she told the soldiers to take him out. He said he knew what they did.  

When he was gone, Elizabeth put all the appliances on again, rolled up her sleeves, and cried, dripping tears on her map. 

Next time, Felix wonders how to keep everyone alive, and Hope says it’s about to get bad.  

🧛🏽‍♀️ After Such a Dead Night…

It’s late, and I’m off like a dirty pair of underwear, as my dad would say. Until we reunite on Deck, stay safe, stay altruistic, and stay away from too much sugar. Especially if it’s covering zombies.

October 11, 2020 – Morgan Jones Is Dead, Beyond Isn’t So Easy & Hustling

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What I Watched Today

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

Fear the Walking Dead

We hear a voiceover of Morgan saying, if anyone is listening, what they’re doing isn’t just about doing right. They fought for the future for all of them. If you’re listening, just live.

Someone spray paints The End on a wall.

A dude in a cowboy hat sits near a fire in the woods, and adds tabaco sauce to some beans. (I find out later his name is Emile and he’s a bounty hunter, but they don’t really make this clear, since he never introduces himself.) He hears a noise, and asks if someone is there. A man runs out, and says, help, please. He falls. Emile goes over to him, and he says they’ve been after him for days. Emile asks, who? and he says he’s not really sure. Emile asks what his name is, and he says, Walter. Emile asks Walter if he’s hungry, and brings him by the fire. He tells Walter, eat. He’ll keep an open eye. Walter shoves beans in his mouth, and Emile says, beans were the first staple in the human diet. It’s only fitting we’d being enjoying them during our march toward the inevitable end. Walter wonders why they’re so good, and Emile motions him closer. He says, a chef never reveals his secrets. It’s his brother’s recipe, and his brother would kill him if he revealed it. Walter says, they’re mighty fine tasting beans. Emile’s dog barks, and Walter jumps up. Emile tells him, easy, and Walter says they’ve been on his ass since Laredo. Emile whacks Walter’s head off with a battle ax, and the dog goes over to lick it. Emile says, it’s tabasco. He picks a key up off the ground, puts Walter’s head in a picnic basket, and closes it. Walter’s name is written on the top.

Ginny calls on the radio, saying, you there? Emile asks, who wants to know? and she says she has a job for him. He says he has to wait for a delivery in Galveston, but she says he’ll burn lot of gas. She can make sure he’ll never want for it again. He asks who she’s looking for, and she says, Morgan Jones. He says, dead or alive? But she doesn’t know. He says she will soon, and he writes Morgan’s name on the lid of a box.   

Morgan – who is nearly unrecognizable with a beard – wakes up in a car. A zombie is shuffling around the car, and someone shoots it. Morgan ducks, and some people ride past on horses. He hears zombie noises, and gets out of the car. A zombie comes by, and gets close, but keeps moving. He says he’s right there, and it turns. He whacks it with his staff – or as I like to call it, his pokey stick – but he’s hurt and a little weak. He whacks it some more, making contact with its head, but when the zombie falls, he falls on top of it.  

Morgan climbs up a water tower, and almost falls. He pulls his hobo bag and stick up after he gets to the tower part. Inside is a fully furnished room, where he adds some supplies to his stash. He writes numbers on the inside flap on his bag, puts a couple bottles of water in it, and heads out.

He walks down an empty street, checking cars. He sees a gun in an overturned police car. He checks the clip. He looks inside a thrift store window. He sees zombies are headed his way, and says, sh*t. He runs to get his bag and pokey stick, but falls. He can’t get up, and they’re getting closer. They look at him, but keep going. A man appears, and kills the zombies. He’s about to whack Morgan, who says, wait. The man takes a closer look at Morgan, and says he’s never seen them walk away from a meal.

Inside, the man asks Morgan how long he’s looked like that, and Morgan says, about six weeks; he’s lost track of time. He tells the man that he needs to leave, but he says he was on tour in Afghanistan; he’s seen worse. Morgan says, the person who did this is still looking for him. He doesn’t want to get mixed up in this. The man says the smell is gangrene, and Morgan says he knows what’s going to happen, but the man says it doesn’t have to happen to him. The man says he has something, and digs in his bag. Morgan says he told him, he doesn’t want any… and the man pulls out a bag of pickle chips. He says he got them in a vending machine. His wife would kill him if she knew he was giving them away. Morgan looks like he needs a boost. Morgan says, save them for his wife, but the man puts them on the counter, and says if Morgan changes his mind, they’re right there. He introduces himself as Isaac, and Morgan says, no. He does not want to get to know him. Isaac says he gets it. He asks if the dead always ignore Morgan like they did? Isaac looks outside, and sees a dog. He tells Morgan, stay back. We see Emile in the street out front, and a zombie clamors at the window. Emile asks, who’s in there? Isaac comes to the door, and Emile asks if he’s Mr. Jones. Um… It might have been a good idea for Ginny to describe Morgan. Isaac says, no, and Emile tells him there’s no need to fear. All he wants is a little chat. He cuts an errant zombie’s head off with his battle ax. Morgan tells Isaac, don’t.  

Isaac walks out, and Emile is gutting the zombie. Isaac says he doesn’t want trouble, and Emile says he won’t have any. Isaac says he doesn’t know Mr. Jones, and Emile wonders what Rufus is smelling. He takes a paper out of his bag with a (bad) drawing of Morgan, and asks if Isaac has seen him. Isaac says, dead or alive, and Emile says, if he’s alive, he’s not alone. He’s lost a lot of blood. Isaac asks why he’s looking for Morgan, and Emile says he’s asking the questions. Isaac says he hasn’t seen Morgan, and Emile says the social contract goes both ways. If Isaac helps with his problem, Emile will help Isaac with his. Isaac asks what makes Emile think he has a problem? and Emile says, we all have problems. He flicks the paper, and asks if Isaac knows him. Isaac says he doesn’t think so. Sorry. He doesn’t think he can help. Rufus barks, and scratches at the door, and Emile wonders why his dog is so intrigued. Is anyone else in there with him? Isaac says, nope, and Emile takes a closer look at Isaac. He says, my, my, my. Isaac sure is sweating. They should go inside and cool down. Isaac opens the door, and Rufus barks at a blanket on the floor. Emile says the blanket holds the scent of the man he’s been looking for. Isaac tells Emile that he said he hasn’t seen him. He was attacked by the dead, and holed up there. The ones he didn’t kill wandered off. Emile uses his ax to chop open a chifforobe, but it’s empty. He busts open another one, and Isaac says he’s only going to attract more of them. The guy he’s looking for is probably right down the road.

Emile knocks on the window, and some zombies toddle up. He says if the man he’s looking for is where Isaac says he is, he’ll uphold his end of the social contract. He leaves, and Isaac goes out the back door. He fends off a few zombies, stabbing them in the head, and sees Morgan passed out.

Isaac tends to Morgan’s wound, and says, it’s not okay. Morgan sees they’re back at the tower, and says Isaac can’t be in there. He has to go. Isaac says the bullet is close to Morgan’s pulmonary artery. If it’s fragmented, and Morgan moves the wrong way, he could die. He asks if Morgan stitched himself up. No doctor would have left the bullet. Morgan asks how he found the tower, and Isaac says Morgan’s bag had the coordinates written in it; he took a chance. Morgan asks, why? and Isaac says he needs Morgan’s help. His wife is 8 months pregnant, and having contractions. If the baby comes early, she might need oxygen. Their place was surrounded by zombies, and there are too many to push through. He went looking for a gun, and that’s when he and Morgan met. Morgan asks if he has ammo, since it’s getting harder to come by, and Isaac shows him a handful of bullets. Morgan takes out the gun he found, and says, take it and leave. Isaac loads the gun, but says, it won’t work. It will just draw more of them. Morgan could walk them past the rotters, and they won’t even know they’re there. Morgan says he can’t help them, but Isaac says, sure he can. Morgan gets up, and Isaac asks, what’s wrong? Morgan points to his pokey stick, and asks how Isaac knew his name. Isaac says he saw Morgan’s tape at a truck stop. He wasn’t sure it was Morgan when he saw him outside the thrift shop. Morgan says he doesn’t do that anymore, and Isaac asks, why? Morgan says, he just doesn’t. He needs Isaac to leave him be. Isaac cocks the gun, and says, sorry. He’s running out of time, and doesn’t have a lot of options. Morgan says he’s not going, and suddenly, the tower rocks. A truck pulls away, and the tower falls.  

Morgan opens his eyes to Rufus. Emile says Isaac lied to him. Isaac is busy whacking zombies, and Morgan calls him over. Morgan picks up the gun, and aims it at Emile. Emile calmly kills a zombie, and says Morgan is already dead; they can smell it. Isaac tells Morgan, do it, and Morgan shoots Emile in the arm. Morgan and Isaac jet, or at least go as fast as they can, and jump into Emile’s truck. Emile walks toward them like Michael Meyers, at a slow, steady pace, and Isaac speeds off.

When they’re far enough away, Isaac stops and they get out. Isaac says they’ll have to take the long way around, but Morgan says he’s going back to the tower to salvage what’s left. Isaac tells him to forget that place. It’s done. Why risk going back? Morgan says it’s the only reason he’s still breathing. It was his secret hideout. Isaac says, not that secret. Morgan says if that a-hole had been killed or not, he’d be dead soon anyway. The tower isn’t for him. It’s for… Isaac says, who? and Morgan says Isaac asked if he’d stitched himself up; he didn’t. Someone else did. Isaac asks, who? and Morgan says, he was shot, and barely hanging on. The walkers were about to tear him apart. He heard gunshots, and the walkers dropped, but he passed out. He woke up patched up. Whoever did it, left him this note: You don’t know me, but I heard your message. You need to do the same. You still have things left to do. Isaac says, the message doesn’t matter. Whoever he’s been fixing the place up for, he’s guessing Morgan thought it would keep them safe. It’s not going to do that now; it probably never would have. Where he’s going, it is safe. Whoever Morgan was setting the tower up for will be safe there. Morgan asks why Isaac would do that for him? and Isaac says if Morgan takes care of his family, he’ll take care of Morgan’s. Morgan nods, and says, let’s go. Isaac gets his bag from the truck, and they start walking.

Morgan tells Isaac, her name is Grace. He found out she was pregnant the night he was shot. Isaac asks, what happened to everybody else? Ginny split them up, didn’t she? Morgan points his pokey stick at Isaac, and says there’s something Isaac isn’t telling him. Isaac knew his name; now he knows Ginny’s. Isaac says he gets what Morgan is thinking, and what he’s thinking is bullsh*t. Morgan says Isaac is leading him back to her, but Isaac asks why he’d do that. He ran from her too. He used to be one of her rangers. He should have told Morgan, but he didn’t think he could trust him. Morgan puts his pokey stick down, and Isaac says he wasn’t lying; he did see Morgan on the tape when he was on patrol. They were giving away what Ginny was charging people for. When his wife got pregnant, they realized their kid would pay the price for what Ginny was doing. What Morgan was trying to do seemed better, so he and his wife ran, and decided to do the same. Morgan asks where they’re going, and Isaac says someplace he thinks that can happen. He knows it can, and he can be a part of it. He says Morgan has got to let him take the bullet out. Morgan says, too late, but Isaac says, not true. Why is Morgan leaving it in there? Does he think he deserves it? Morgan keeps walking.

They stand at the top of a hill, and Isaac says, there it is. It looks like a reservoir, and there are zombies wandering all over. Isaac says he tried to lead the rotters away, but it keeps drawing them back. He gives Morgan his bag, and says, give these to his wife; her name is Rachel. Morgan says, this place isn’t safe. What if Ginny finds it? Isaac says, she won’t. She never found it when he was one of her rangers, and even if she does, no one will get past the concrete wall. He tells Morgan to get a move on, and Morgan asks what he’s going to do. Isaac says, there’s another way in through the mountains. It will take a couple of days, and he hopes he gets there before the baby does. Morgan gives him the gun, and says, be careful. Isaac thanks him, and watches as the zombies shuffle along. Morgan gets closer, but they ignore him for the most part. He falls, and I say, oh sh*t. He leans on his pokey stick, and cries out. This time the zombies notice, but Isaac shoots one, and then another. He tells Morgan that he’s right there, and Morgan picks up his staff. Morgan goes nuts on the zombies, spearing one through the mouth, and another in the forehead, and seems to be getting into it. Isaac uses a knife he’s carrying, and smashes some in the head with rocks. All of the zombies have been taken care of, and I think, that was quick.

It’s quiet now. Isaac and Morgan head toward the building, and Morgan gives Isaac the bag. He says he thinks it’s better coming from Isaac. They’re standing in an area that has sparse vegetation, and Morgan asks, where’s the lake? Isaac says he’s standing in it. There used to be water filling the valley as far as you could see, but when the dam gave way, all this was covered. On the map, all you see is a lake. Morgan says, that’s why she’ll never find it. They go inside, and Isaac hugs Rachel. He says he got there as fast as he could, and she asks if he’s okay. He says he is, knowing that she’s okay. She tells him, the contractions are getting closer, and he says he’s here now. He introduces Morgan, and says Morgan helped him get back. He asks how far apart the contractions are, and she says, a few minutes. Get ready. The baby is coming.

It’s dark out. Isaac and Morgan are outside, and Isaac says, it won’t be much longer now. His grandpa used to take him fishing, and tell him crazy stories about how the town was flooded to make a lake. He thought his grandpa was pulling his leg. He came there looking for his grandpa’s fishing cabin, and found this instead. It was there all along, but the world had to end for them to find it. The soil is rich from the silt, and they can rebuild. Morgan says, no, no, no. He survived something most people don’t. He knew what he had to do, and thought the water tower was it, but maybe he was wrong. Maybe it was about getting Isaac back. They hear shots and a dog bark. Isaac tells Rachel, they aren’t there. It’s not the first time Ginny used him to find someone. Morgan tells Isaac, find his people and bring them there. Take care of his family. Isaac says he can’t let it end like this, but Morgan says Emile only fights because people pay him. He has something to fight for. He goes outside.

Emile says, even he can smell Morgan. Morgan can’t fight him. Morgan says, Ginny can have it, as long as he leaves the others alone. Emile says, it’s not a negotiation. Morgan says he’s trying to make it easy; make it count for something. Emile says he makes a good point, and Morgan throws his pokey stick down, and falls to his knees. Emile walks closer, and puts down his gun. He tells Morgan, he won’t even feel this, and moves toward him with the ax. Isaac comes up behind Emile, but Emile realizes, and knocks him down. Emile is about to kill Morgan, but Morgan fights back with his pokey stick. He  tells Isaac, get up and get inside. He can’t die. He needs to reassemble Morgan’s people. Isaac says he can’t. He lifts his shirt, and shows Morgan a bite wound. He says he got bit coming in before; when he went looking for a gun. It’s not about him. Morgan says he got Isaac there, but can’t be who Isaac needs him to be. Isaac says, he changed; so can Morgan. Emile wakes up, and knocks Isaac down again. Morgan and Emile fight, and Emile grabs Morgan’s pokey stick from him. He grips Morgan’s shoulder, putting pressure on Morgan’s wound. I tell Morgan, that guy has to die. Morgan lies on the ground, and Emile picks up his ax. As he’s about to bring the blade down, Morgan blocks it with his pokey stick. He looks at the note on the ground near him, and knocks Emile down, stabbing him with the pokey end of the stick. Alrighty then. Emile says Morgan couldn’t do it then, and he won’t do it now. Morgan takes this challenge, picks up the ax, and does it. He chops Emile’s head off.  

I think, some man’s best friend, since Rufus has been nowhere to be seen during this whole kerfuffle. Morgan tells Isaac, that message. Know what he told them? He told them to live, just live. We hear a baby cry, and Morgan tells Isaac, go meet his kid. Isaac says he thinks Morgan is right, but he’s just going to rest right there.

Rufus wakes Morgan, licking his face. Morgan’s shoulder is bandaged, and he sees the bullet sitting in a bloody dish. Rachel says, Isaac insisted on taking it out. He didn’t think Morgan would mind. She’s holding the baby, and Morgan asks, boy or girl? She says, girl. They have a daughter. Morgan smiles, and she says they named her Morgan. Aww. She says, it was Isaac’s idea. Morgan asks where Isaac is. He should thank him. Rachel looks sad and starts to cry. He nods.

Rachel brings Morgan to a pile of rocks, and Morgan says he wouldn’t be there if wasn’t for Isaac. He sees Emile’s head, mouth moving, and sees the key. A zombie toddles out, and Morgan takes his staff out of Emile’s body. As he walks toward the zombie, he sees the ax, and drops the staff. He whacks the top of the zombie’s head off.  

A small caravan of trucks stops before a line of bodies across the road. Men with guns get out, and one of them calls to Ginny. She gets out, and sees the box that says Morgan Jones on it. She lifts the lid, and it’s Emile’s head. I laaaugh, and she laughs. At least she gets irony. She suddenly stops laughing, and looks around. She says, if you’re there, if you can hear me. I want you to listen and listen good. She thought she needed him dead for this to work, but she doesn’t. She just needed everyone to think he is, which they will. If he tries the tiniest bit to convince anyone otherwise, she’ll add them to this pile – one by one. Does he copy? The radio crackles, and Morgan says, Morgan Jones is dead. She’s dealing with somebody else now.

Morgan watches through binoculars. He’s all spiffed up, waring a cowboy hat, and sitting on a horse.  

A guy continues to spray paint, The End is the… He stops to stab a zombie in the head. Another guy joins him, and says, they should have been here by now. The painter says, there’s got to be more. They can’t stick around. Other guy says, they need that key. They’ll have to wait somewhere else. The painter finishes, and it says, The End is the Beginning. On the side of a blimp.

This season, Ginny says they’re all after the same thing, she wants to make sure people feel safe; Ginny says an example needs to be made; Morgan says, they’ll find everybody; things blow up; and we learn more about the key.

World Beyond

As the four friends dive deeper into zombie country, they learn it’s not going to be like they thought it was. Five minutes out of the gate, Iris has to kill her first zombie, and flashes back to Felix’s training sessions. He explains, if getting them in the brain doesn’t work, sweep its legs. You don’t want to tire yourself out. It’s all about avoidance; keeping a safe distance between life and death. He tells them that they’ll be scared the first time they face one, and should be. They should be scared every time they’re outside the walls.

As soon as Felix read the note Iris left, he and Huck took off after the group. They managed to practice avoidance, but professed their love to one another.  

A lot of the show is done with flashbacks, and we saw some of Elton’s backstory. Before the apocalypse, Elton’s father had been out of work. While using Elton’s computer to look for jobs, he saw Elton’s emails, and confronted Elton about being gay. Elton admitted he was, and his father kicked him out of the house, telling him not to come back. He said he no longer knew Elton, and had no son. Elton talked to Hope about what was going on, and said they’d already been killing themselves, directly and indirectly. Nature had just made a shortcut. His lifespan prediction for them was another 15 years.

The kids saw a column of smoke in the distance, and called it the blaze of glory. It was an ongoing fire, the source of which seemed to be unknown, but the speculation was that it was a huge pile of tires. Elton said it had been attracting zombies for years, and the louder it gets, the more zombies that come. Iris thought they could get through it, which didn’t thrill Hope, who asked why they couldn’t just go around. Iris said if they did, the river would take them 60 miles out of their way. Again, I didn’t understand why they didn’t drive. Even if none of them has learned to drive, I can’t believe between these four overachievers, they couldn’t figure it out. Hope left a large empty can of sliced peaches in the middle of the street when they left. Which surprisingly, no one noticed, and I was pretty sure it was to mark their trail. Felix ended up finding the peach can, and told Huck that it had been stolen from his apartment.  

Felix also got some backstory. We saw him running through stopped cars on the highway, general panic surrounding him, and military planes flying overhead. He ran to his parents’ house, wanting to help them, but they told him to get lost and turned out the lights. While he and Huck were stopped for the night, he went back to the house, where his parents were now zombies, to kill them.

Elton talked about wanting to track the migration of the zombies. As well as being a Eugene Junior, I noticed some Al in him too, as he seems to be the historian of the group, keeping records and taking pictures along the way. He also waxed philosophical a few times. Silas froze, not being able to make his first kill, and the kids holed up for the night in a house where they found a Monopoly game. The coolest thing in this episode was when the group heard a sound coming from a pretty decrepit zombie sitting on a bench. Bees had taken up residence inside, and came pouring out.

I have to mention that the girls’ makeup is perfect, always.

The group was heading for an airfield that would give them a clear path, but had to get through the zombies and fire to get there. They decided to first go through a parking lot using the buses and trucks as cover. As they got closer to the fire, the smoke impaired their vision, and there was zero sunlight. They managed to get through, but realized there was a lot more they were going to have to deal with, and it wasn’t going to be the cakewalk they thought. The takeaway point was that nothing is ever as easy as you think it’s going to be. And these kids were way off.

Next time, we see more flashbacks about Felix’s parents, and Hope decides to provide a distraction so the others can get through.  

🤹🏽‍♀️ So Many Balls in the Air Already…

It’s barely Monday, and already I’m scrambling. Sunday nights have now become a juggling act TV-wise. Halloween will soon be here, and I’m still in flux over how that’s going to go pandemically, and how much candy to get. While in theory, having two pounds of leftover candy sounds great, in practice, I don’t want to gain ten pounds before Thanksgiving. I also still have to finish this week’s article for https://mupoentertainment.com/theresa-krakauskas/. So until we sail the Spanish seas on Deck, stay safe, stay pragmatic, and stay taking Morgan’s advice to just live.

October 4, 2020 – Beta’s Final Battle, a World Beyond Dead & Burn It

Standard

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.

October 2, 2020 – Strike GH, Mess Ups, Roles Forgotten, Another Life To Live, She Can’t Stop, the Dead Are Coming, After the Walk, Choices, October Offerings, If It Does Happen, 7 Pairs of Quotes & Funk It

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What I Watched Today

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

⚾️ In the spirit of the week, MLB came back today, and there was no General Hospital. I’m guessing we’re back to our regularly scheduled programming on Monday, but as 2020 taught us, anything can happen. In the meantime, a little tea, a little Dead, and lists for you to plan ahead.

🤭 Bloop This…

Oopsies from GH.

🏥 Outside the GH Box…

Proof there’s more to life than the hospital. And let’s not forget Demi Moore in 1982’s Parasite.  

🎭 Angelica Who…?

I can’t believe they mentioned Renee Elyse Goldsberry without mentioning Hamilton. It was just a Tony Award.

👀 I Can’t Stop Looking…

NeNe continues on her no-apology tour.

https://pagesix.com/2020/10/01/nene-leakes-addresses-rhoa-exit-in-tamron-hall-interview/

⚰️ Sunday Dead-day…

Take your pick of sneak peeks of The Walking Dead season 10 finale.

https://www.tvguide.com/news/daryl-rallies-the-troops-in-this-the-walking-dead-season-10-finale-sneak-peek/

‘The Walking Dead’ season 10 teasers revealed, finale features jaw-dropping scenes

🌱 Following the Finale…

Sneak peeks at The World Beyond.

https://www.amc.com/shows/the-walking-dead-world-beyond/talk/2020/01/the-walking-dead-world-beyond-premiere-date-revealed

https://www.amc.com/shows/the-walking-dead-world-beyond/videos/the-walking-dead-world-beyond-sneak-peek-season-1-episode-1–47853

🏆 Picks From the People…

Frankly, I think Margot Robbie’s jacket in Birds of Prey should receive a nomination.

https://comicbook.com/movies/news/2020-peoples-choice-awards-nominations-include-birds-of-prey-bloodshot-list/

🎃 For Your Halloween Entertainment Pleasure…

The Sy(we can’t spell)Fy network’s line-up.

https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/syfy-halloween-spooktacular-programming-lineup-2020

A concise list of their 31 Days of Halloween schedule.

For the streamers.

https://the-line-up.com/horror-movies-on-netflix-hulu-amazon-october-2020

AMC brings more than just new Dead to the table.

https://www.amc.com/talk/2019/09/amcs-fearfest-see-the-full-lineup-of-horror-classics-streaming-in-october

⛏ And Just In Case…

If a zombie apocalypse does happen, be prepared.

📞 Quotes of the Week

The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them. – Ida B. Wells

The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any. – Alice Walker

Don’t lose your sense of humor. – my father – it was the only advice he gave me when I left home. I’ve come close.

Above all else, go with a sense of humor. It is needed armor. Joy in one’s heart and some laughter on one’s lip is a sign that the person down deep has a pretty good grasp of life. – Hugh Sidey

I’m currently standing on a pair of pants, a broken vacuum cleaner, and horse feed. – a hoarder’s son on Hoarding: Buried Alive

Life’s not a competition – it’s a collaboration. – Mike Guest

Every time I fail, I assume I will be a stronger person for it.Joan Benoit Samuelson, Olympic marathon runner

When we show our respect for other living things, they respond with respect for us. – wisdom from the Arapaho tribe

Take responsibility of your own happiness, never put it in other people’s hands. – Roy T. Bennett

It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

You can never be overdressed or overeducated. – Oscar Wilde

Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood. – George Orwell

Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and, above all, confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained. – Marie Curie

The GPS says, idiot, go home. – Annie Suwan, Pillow Talk: 90 Day Fiancé

🏋️‍♀️ Preparing For War…

I have to rest up for Sunday night’s onslaught of new walking, talking, and beyond Dead shows. And somehow squeeze in 90 Day Fiancé. Sunday night vacation officially over. Whether your vacation is over, just starting, or you’re on a perpetual vacation for now, stay safe, stay occupied, and stay bringing in ‘da noise, and bringing in ‘da funk.

July 24, 2020 – When Mike Had a Moment, As the Reunion Turns, New Kelly, Dead News, Two Different Cons, Apocalypse Watching, Empire Spin, Loving New York, a Lesson, an Artist, Two Big Fat Quotes & Another

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What I Watched Today

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

 

General Hospital

As the gap continues to close, today’s GH Flashback is from May 13th, 2020. Enjoy a mind refresh here, or if you’re detail oriented, go to:

https://tvwiththeresa.wordpress.com/2020/05/14/may-13-2020-sonny-asks-what-mike-wants-blind-defense-vandernews-impressing-nema-free-happy-hour-upcoming-freedom/

Chase dreamed about Willow, but woke up alone. Willow woke up alone too, at the Quartermaine mansion. She saw her rings on the nightstand, and remembered getting married to Michael. Michael came downstairs for breakfast, and Brook asked if he’d gotten any sleep. He said he felt ready, and she said he’d done what he could for Wiley, and even gotten married. They’re not all so lucky. Michael said it would happen for her too, when she was old and grey. She threw a bagel at him, insisting she would never go grey. She said Willow was sweet, kind, and gorgeous; the perfect wife for him, and the perfect stepmom for Wiley. Ava brought Avery to visit Mike at Turning Woods. Sonny watched from the doorway as Avery showed Mike her drawings. Carly went to the MetroCourt, and told Olivia she was worried about the hearing, and figured she might as well come in. Olivia asked if there was anything she could do, and Carly suggested dropping a house on Nelle, but Olivia said she was fresh out of tornados. Carly said she could use some advice, and asked if Olivia had any words of wisdom regarding mother-in-law-hood. Olivia saw Lulu come in with Dustin, and said, bite your tongue, exercise patience, and slap on a smile. Robert woke up on Laura’s couch, wondering where he was. Laura asked if she should be offended that he didn’t remember.

Michael told Brook that he’d hit the jackpot with Willow, but she had to give up everything, and was in love with Chase. Brook said that was Chase’s fault, but Michael said Willow had to sacrifice a lot. He didn’t want her regretting it. Brook said Chase was a giant tool, but even if he walked on water, Willow was trading up. Michael being loaded was a plus, but he was an amazing guy, and Willow had enough sense to appreciate how fabulous he was. Seeing Willow in the doorway, Brook said, right? Still in bed, Chase scrolled through pictures on his phone of himself and Willow. Mac called and told Chase that he was late, and Chase jumped out of bed, saying he’d be there in ten minutes. Laura gave Robert some coffee, and asked if he wanted to pick up where they’d left off. He asked where that was, and she said, where you’d expect old friends with history and chemistry to be. He put his head in his hands, and she laughed. She said he came to her house drunk. She managed to get him on the couch, settled him in, and went to bed. He said she was a vision of true evilness, and she asked why he came to her doorstep. Carly asked if Olivia wasn’t a fan of Mr. Phillips; that’s how she knew him, since he was Josslyn’s teacher. Lulu and Dustin walked over to the bar, and Lulu said Dustin was there to meet Brook. Dustin said he and Brook were checking out the venue, since they were performing at the Nurses Ball, but he also wanted Olivia’s culinary expertise. Lulu said Rocco needed cupcakes for school, and Dustin volunteered to oversee the baking. Olivia asked what the occasion was, and Lulu said it was Take Your Dad to School Day. Avery continued to show Mike her artwork, and Ava told Sonny that she hoped bringing Avery there was okay. Sonny said Avery never needed permission to see her grandfather, and asked how Mike had been. Ava said it took him a while to warm up, but he’d been smiling ever since. He wasn’t talking much though. Sonny asked if Avery was scared, but Ava said she was fine. Avery had experience from when Ava was in Shadybrook. She didn’t understand, so it didn’t make her sad. She was just spending time with her grandfather, and loving him.

Carly asked to talk to Dustin about Josslyn’s curriculum. Lulu asked Olivia if something was wrong. Olivia said Lulu had barely known Dustin a year, and she was trying to erase Dante from Rocco’s life. Ava asked Sonny if Mike’s good days were becoming fewer and farther between, but Sonny said he’d stopped measuring. He was trying to stay in the moment. He wondered if Mike had coherent thoughts and couldn’t voice them, or if he had no coherent thoughts at all. He said, once in a while, Mike made a precise observation, and Ava said that showed Mike was still in there. She told Sonny that she owed him an apology. Robert said he couldn’t believe Holly was dead, and Laura said she was so sorry. Robert said he was sorry for dragging her out of bed. He knew she and Holly didn’t have the greatest relationship. She said, it was a long time ago, and people important to her cared about Holly, him topping the list. She asked, what happened? Was she ill? He said it would have been easier that way, but she was on a ship that went down in a storm, and it was no ordinary ship. Laura said, of course (🍷) not, and Robert said Holly did contract work for the WSB; another one of her secrets. On the phone with Anna, Mac looked at the report on Holly’s death, and said, there’s nothing here. Chase came in, apologizing for being late, and Mac asked if Chase needed a day off. Even though he was there, he wasn’t, and if he needed to take care of something, do it. Brook told Willow and Michael that she had a meeting, but good luck in court. She didn’t think they’d need it though. The judge would take one look at them, and know Wiley belonged with them. She left, and Michael said Brook had a flair for the dramatic. Willow said she hadn’t noticed, and Michael said everyone was talking them up to each other. Willow said you’d think they defied gravity, and Michael said he already knew she was incredible.

Carly didn’t think Dustin understood how fraught the situation was. It was hard on Olivia, seeing Lulu move forward, and not reserving room for Dante in Rocco’s life. She wasn’t judging; she thought it was the right decision in Lulu’s mind. It was great for Lulu, but she didn’t think Lulu understood how it was affecting Olivia. Maybe Dustin could see it from Olivia’s perspective. If Carly was in her position, her daughter-in-law would have been out on the street with half her hair ripped out. Rocco was bringing a new man to Take Your Dad to School Day, but it’s not like Dante was a deadbeat. He had severe PTSD, and it was hard for Olivia. Lulu told Olivia, no one was erasing Dante. She was sending Dustin in his place to make Rocco happy. He didn’t want to feel left out, and had asked for Dustin. They’d all decided together to make Dustin and honorary uncle, and he’d be wearing a Yankees hat to represent Dante. It’s what Rocco wanted, and what Dante would want too. Robert told Laura, when he and Holly saw each other, it wasn’t always under the friendliest of circumstances. Laura said Holly had broken Robert’s heart, and ran away with a piece of it. Part of him had thought he’d get it back, but now that would never happen. Michael told Willow that it was important they tell the truth to each other. He admitted that if he was going to court without her, he’d be nervous, but going with her, he knew he was going to win. Maybe not today, and it wouldn’t be easy, but he was going to get custody of Wiley. She said she’d heard what he’d said to Brook, and she regretted nothing. Ava apologized to Sonny for having Mike arrested for kidnapping Avery. Sonny said he appreciated it, and appreciated her bringing Avery. They went back in Mike’s room, and Avery showed them a drawing she and her grandpa made; he’d told her what to do, and she did it. Ava asked who the boy riding the bike was, and Mike said, his son. Ava asked if he’d taught his son to ride a bike, and Mike nodded. Avery said her daddy had taught her, and Ava said, all the best dads do that. She had to take Avery to school, and Sonny suggested they put the picture up on Mike’s wall. In the hallway, Avery asked if Ava would ever forget her like her grandpa forgot her daddy, and Ava said, no. Even if it did happen, by then Avery would be grown up with her own family. Avery asked if she’d ever forget Ava, and Ava said, just try.

Dustin thanked Carly for the advice. Brook came in, and Dustin headed back to the bar. Carly asked Brook how the newlyweds were, and Brook said, calm and focused. She couldn’t figure out Chase though; she’d never have pegged him as a cheater. He’d broken Willow’s heart, but was walking around with puppy dog eyes like he was the wronged one. Brook told Carly about Chase arresting her because she’d had the audacity to call him out, and accidentally bopped Sasha in the nose. She’d ripped up the ticket – like any sensible person would – and Chase hauled her to the station. Carly said she needed to go, and Brook wondered if it was something she’d said. Lulu told Olivia, the Dante she knew before everything happened, would want his son to feel safe with a man as good and kind as Dustin. Sonny gave Mike an iPad already loaded with his favorites, and put the earbuds on him. Mike said it was loud, and Sonny said they’d do it some other time. He asked what Mike thought of Avery, and Mike laughed, looking at her artwork. Sonny said he needed to know what Mike wanted; the next time he might not be able to say. Did he want help? Did he want to stay or go? The doctor asked if he could speak to Sonny, and it was back out to the hallway. Chase told Mac that he didn’t need time off, and Mac read from Brook’s police report. Chase said she was combative and belligerent, and Mac said all the Quartermaines were. Chase had arrested Brook three times in three months, and the Civilian Review Board might see it as an abuse of power. Robert told Laura he must have given the wrong address to the Ride Share guy, and she said if he didn’t want it straight, he wouldn’t have come there. He had to grieve Holly, and say goodbye.

Dustin told Olivia that he’d never try to take Dante’s place. He had respect for Dante putting himself on the line for justice. He said he was in a strange position, and Olivia said that’s the way it was. Lulu went to see Laura for advice and calming down. She thought she’d blown her relationship with Rocco’s other grandmother. The doctor told Sonny that Mike had stopped eating. They could give Mike a feeding tube, and keep him as comfortable as possible, but the greater challenge was that it might further disorient Mike. Sonny asked what he recommended, and the doctor said some patients made provision that they don’t want life extending measures, but Mike had left it to Sonny. Sonny said he needed time, and the doctor left Sonny with his thoughts. Michael showed up, and said he wanted to tell Mike that he got married. Sonny told him that they wanted to put a feeding tube in Mike, but he didn’t know what Mike wanted. Michael said he should ask Mike if he could, but Sonny said, what if he couldn’t? Michael said Sonny knew what his dad would want more than anyone, and to trust that. Sonny said he wasn’t ready for Mike to go, and didn’t think Mike was ready. What if he wanted to stick around and see his grandchildren? What if he didn’t want to die? Mac told Chase to make peace with Brook, and Chase told him, if you say so. Robert came into the station, and Mac said, interrogation room – now. He’d thought he put Robert in a Ride Share; what happened? Robert said he washed up on Laura couch. He’d thought work would get his mind off of things, but it didn’t. He was going to take the day off. Mac told him, take a look at this, handing him a folder, saying it was a heavily redacted report from the WSB on Holly’s death. Willow walked in, and went over to Chase’s desk.

Robert said it was black; there was nothing there. He told Mac that he had a headache, and asked what he was missing. Mac told Robert to look at it some more, and Robert would see what he and Anna had. There was more to Holly’s death, and they weren’t convinced the ship went down in an accident. Lulu asked Laura if she was supposed to run her parenting decisions by Olivia, and Laura said, absolutely not; but Olivia was Dante’s mother, and mothers didn’t move on the same way. Sadly, Olivia might be waiting the rest of her life for Dante to recover, and Lulu should have compassion. Olivia told Dustin that she wasn’t going to pretend it was easy. It was hard on Lulu too, but she was happy Lulu had found someone like him; a decent person. It meant a lot, but just so they were clear, she was never going to give up on Dante, and would be hoping, praying, and doing everything in her power to get him back home. He said Rocco and Lulu would never stop hoping either. Brook joined them, and Dustin left with her to look at the ballroom.

Michael asked Sonny how long Mike hadn’t been eating, and Sonny said, a few days. It wasn’t like he was starving on purpose; it was like he’d forgotten how to eat. Mike had been happy with Avery. Sometimes Sonny thought it would be easier to let it be over, but it wasn’t what he wanted. It was what his dad wanted. Mike had a moment with Avery, more like a connection. If keeping him alive for five more months gave him five more moments like that, who was he to say Mike couldn’t have that? Chase asked why Willow was there, and she said there was something she had to tell him that couldn’t wait. She and Michael had gotten married. She didn’t want him to hear elsewhere. She thought it would hurt less coming from her. He asked if it hurting him mattered to her, and she said she thought it always would. Goodbye. He told her, good luck in court. Carly watched their exchange.

🧼 Here Comes Another One…

The soap world has definitely kept fans busy with virtual reunions. This one’s for you, ATWT lovers.

https://www.soapoperadigest.com/content/new-as-the-world-turns-reunion-scheduled

🏝 Kelly 2.0 Is Here…

She’s come a long way from Scary Island.

https://www.cottagesgardens.com/get-to-know-broker-and-former-rhony-star-kelly-killoren-bensimon/

⚰️ Bring Out Your Dead…

Things are coming alive in the world of The Walking Dead. The premiere date of October 4th was announced:

https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/news/the-walking-dead-season-10-finale-premiere-date-announced-comic-con-2020/

A clip from the finale. It looks very promising.

https://comicbook.com/thewalkingdead/news/walking-dead-season-10-finale-clip-comic-con-2020/

There will also be extra episodes to make up for all the hell we’ve been through.

https://comicbook.com/thewalkingdead/news/the-walking-dead-season-10-new-episodes-comic-con/

And Fear the Walking Dead will be returning October 11th.

https://comicbook.com/thewalkingdead/news/fear-the-walking-dead-season-6-comic-con-trailer/

🎟 Comic Conned…

It’s already started, but you can still get in on the virtual fun.

https://www.eonline.com/news/1172203/2020-comic-con-at-home-your-guide-to-getting-the-most-out-of-sdcc-s-first-virtual-event

🛸 Beam Me To My Favorite Chair…

Alien-Con virtually begins July 28th. Since you can enjoy this free event from the comfort of your home, there’s a lot less chance of your getting probed.

https://www.thealiencon.com/

🌋 If You Haven’t Had Enough IRL…

Freak yourself out more with apocalyptic entertainment.

https://www.tvguide.com/news/the-best-apocalypse-tv-shows-and-movies-to-watch/?ftag=NLS-04-10aaa2i

✈️ Cookie Spins Off…

It sounds good, but I’m still mad about Star being canceled.

https://pagesix.com/2020/07/23/taraji-p-henson-to-star-in-empire-spinoff-focused-on-cookie-lyon/

🗽 Only In New York…

Cindy Adams gives a bird’s eye view from the world’s greatest city in this year of upheaval.

https://pagesix.com/2020/07/20/cindy-adams-i-still-%E2%99%A5%E2%80%8Athis-helluva-town/

🤷🏼‍♀️ Who Knew…?

I actually did know about some of these, but you might be using words or phrases you don’t even realize are offensive.

https://redtri.com/racism-words-and-phrases/slide/1

👸🏽 A Pioneer For Princesses…

A woman ahead of her time, whose last pandemic was in 1918.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/disney-animation-pioneer-ruthie-tompson-turns-110-1303663

🎙 Quotes of the Week

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.Teddy Roosevelt, speaking at the Sorbonne in 1910

You have a right to experiment with your life. You will make mistakes. And they are right too. No, I think there was too rigid a pattern. You came out of an education and are supposed to know your vocation. Your vocation is fixed, and maybe ten years later you find you are not a teacher anymore or you’re not a painter anymore. It may happen. It has happened. I mean Gauguin decided at a certain point he wasn’t a banker anymore; he was a painter. And so he walked away from banking. I think we have a right to change course. But society is the one that keeps demanding that we fit in and not disturb things. They would like you to fit in right away so that things work now. – Anaïs Nin

⚾️ Rounding It Out…

It’s Friday again, or another in a long line of when-is-this-pandemiconium-going-to-end? days, depending. But you know the world is still spinning when the Dead series are given premier dates, and the Shahs reunion finally rears its ugly head (part 2 on Sunday – July 26th). So stay safe, stay strong, and stay knowing one day you’ll be griping about your job again.

April 5, 2020 – Beta Leads the Horde Forward, Fear Coming, Jill Says Thanks, Binging, Rudyard’s If & the Shadows

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What I Watched Today

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

 

The Walking Dead

Yumiko asks who the stranger is, and what she wants. The woman says, they’re the ones making a racket. She thought they needed help. She hasn’t seen real people in over a year, and now she meets a bunch of meanies. Ezekiel says they weren’t sure if she was going to attack, and she says, if she wanted to attack, she’d be pointing the gun at them. She demonstrates, and says, pointing it the other way means hello. Even though they can agree she wasn’t attacking, now she’s not so sure. Maybe it’s up to them. Are they going to hurt her? Yumiko says if she keeps pointing the gun at them, she’ll find out. Ezekiel says they have no intention of hurting her. They were just admiring her displays. Are they hers? She asks if they like them. She out them up as decorations. They were a pain in the ass to put together, but they make the place more alive. Now that she’s met actual live people… They are real, right? Yumiko asks if she’s joking, and the woman says she’s never hallucinated before, but there’s a first time for everything. She asks them, what’s the capital of Pennsylvania? Eugene says, Harrisburg, and she says she knew that. Maybe they are a hallucination. Maybe she’s been on own too long. It’s been over a year, and totally sucks. She should be nicer. Talking to real people is making her freak out, so she’s going to shut up. She covers mouth, and Ezekiel asks her name. She says she never liked Juanita, so call her Princess. He asks, why? and she says, queen makes her sound old and pretentious. Ezekiel says it’s a pleasure to meet her, and introduces his friends Eugene and Yumiko. Princess says she can show them around. There’s plenty of space. They can chill out and put their feet up. She asks if they need food. She’s also got a neat place to swim. Eugene says they appreciate the hospitality, but they can’t stay. They’re on an important mission. Princess asks, what’s the story? and Yumiko says, it’s their business. Princess says she can show them the best way through the city, but Yumiko says they don’t know her. Princess says, of course they do; she just introduced herself. A few zombies approach from behind the three, and Princess says, watch how helpful she can be. She wipes them out with her automatic weapon, and the horses jet. She says, damn. Sorry about that.

Ezekiel says, it’s not a total loss. They can find the horses tomorrow. Eugene hates to be the naysayer (even though I don’t notice, later, Chris Hardwick points this out to be a horse pun), but they should just travel by foot. An additional day spent searching will put them outside the window of the meeting time. Yumiko says, too many people are counting on them; they have to start off now. Ezekiel says Princess offered to help. Why not take her up on it? Yumiko says, absolutely not, and Ezekiel asks, what can it hurt? She says, plenty. Princess is selfish and crazy, and they can’t trust her. Ezekiel says he’s not suggesting they follow Princess blindly, but if they know she has transportation… Yumiko says, if she did, she wouldn’t be there alone; it’s a trap. Eugene agrees Princess is a few bananas short of a bunch, but at present, they have limited options. There’s a slim possibility that it will be worth the invitation, so his apologies, but his vote is with the king.

Ezekiel calls Princess over, and she thanks him. She says she feels bad about what happened. She can make it up to them. She has access to transportation; a garage full. She can take them there. Yumiko says if they’re going to follow her, she has to hand over her weapon. Princess says she wants to spend time with living people, but she’s not so sure she wants it to be them. She’s outnumbered. She doesn’t have a death wish, but she’s been living there alone for so long… Fine. They can have it. She gives her gun to Eugene, and says she knows where she can find more. Ezekiel says, she knows of a garage? and she says, all those in the market for a new set of wheels, follow her. Yumiko tells Ezekiel that Princess is selfish and crazy.

The horde follows Beta, who is asking Alpha’s spirit (I guess) where he should go. He stops at an abandoned Alexandria.

What’s left of the Alexandrians, Hilltoppers, Oceanside, and the Kingdom have gathered together at an abandoned hospital tower. They quietly get ready for whatever is coming. Gabriel tells Dianne, it’s her turn to watch. Luke is concerned that everyone is counting on him, but one of the women says he’ll come through. He says, she thinks so? He needs somebody to run an errand, and Carol says, she’ll go.

In the woods, Daryl is on the radio. He says they’re making a plan; there will never be another one like it. It reminds him of the old gang. He asks if Michonne can hear him, but only gets static.

Beta stands on the windmill balcony, observing the horde. A Whisperer says, there’s no sign of them. They left quickly. Another says they’ll search elsewhere, but Beta asks, where? Alden peeks out from a window above. He signs to Aaron, who writes something on his mechanical arm. They both watch Beta, and Alden peeks a little too far out. Beta turns, but the window is empty. Aaron and Alden sign to each other. Beta says they’re going to walk. Aaron mouths, come with me, and he and Alden look out the opposite window.

Lydia pets a cat, and Judith says, sorry about her mom. Lydia says she doesn’t have to be. Judith asks if Lydia misses her, but Lydia says, no. Not everyone gets to have a mom like Judith’s. Judith walks away looking sad. Negan watches, and sighs.

Carol and Kelly meet a guy watching the horses in the woods. He asks if everything is okay, and Carol says they’re running an errand for Luke, and getting some exercise.

Elsewhere in the woods, Judith stabs a zombie in the head. Daryl sees her, and asks what she’s doing. She says she’s fine, and he asks who she’s with. She says, no one, and he tells her, come on; he’ll take her back. She says she wants to stay, but he says, no; let’s go. She says she hates it there, and he asks what she wants to do. She says she wants to do what he does, in case something happens. He says he walks the perimeter, looking to see what’s wrong. If anything does happen, she’s to go somewhere safe, where there’s a radio. There’s no room for mistakes. She says she knows, and he tells her to do what he says, and stay next to him. She promises.

Beta tells a Whisperer, they expect them; the path isn’t clear. The Whisperer says they believe in his wisdom, and follow the Alpha… the Beta. She apologizes, and he takes out a huge knife, but then stops. He says, wait, and listens. He says, show me. Show me the path. He moves forward, and the horde follows. Tons of them. From a hilltop, Aaron and Alden radio Gabriel that the horde is heading toward them, as expected. Gabriel says one of them should stay, and if anything changes, send word.

Princess leads the group, and Eugene asks, how much longer? Princess says they’re almost there, and Yumiko says, it’s a waste of time. Princess says, it will be worth it. Stick close and watch their step. She goes through a gap in a metal fence, and counts in Spanish as she walks. Eugene tells Yumiko, he’s starting to wonder if she’s right, and Yumiko says she is, but she wants to figure out what Princess is up to first. Eugene asks Princess if this is her navigational technique method, or is she meandering about? They come across a dead horse, and Princess says she thinks it’s one of theirs. Yumiko says, walkers? but Princess says, probably stepped on a mine. Eugene asks what she means, and she says, the things you step on that go boom. Ezekiel asks if this is a mine field, and she says, yeah, but a small one. Yumiko asks why she kept that information from them, and Princess says she didn’t want to worry them. She walks there all the time; it’s no big deal. Ezekiel asks if she can get them out, but she says she kind of lost count. Yumiko says if Princess doesn’t get them out safely, she’ll kill Princess herself. Princess says, that’s fair. She drinks down the water in her canteen, and throws it, hitting a mine that explodes. Princess guesses no one has an extra canteen.

Carol tries to hotwire a car, and tells Kelly, she almost had it. Kelly takes over, and is successful. Carly thanks her for coming; she didn’t have to. Kelly says, it’s okay, but Carol says, no; it’s not. If she could go back… Kelly says Connie isn’t dead. Because she’s so tough, she can survive anything. Maybe a part of her won’t accept Connie is gone, and understands why Carol did it. When Kelly started losing her hearing, her sister told her it was her superpower. Now look. Everyone learning sign because of her. She asks if Carol thinks the way she is, is a weakness. She’s heard stories about her from the old days; they all have them. Carol would just go off, and do the thing only she can do. It’s her superpower. She can’t give up everything about herself because bad things happen. Carol has to believe that. Carol smiles.

Lydia pets Dog, and Negan says he doesn’t think she ate anything today. He holds out a bowl of food, but she says she’s good. He says he can’t tell. Is it one of those things, the craziness of moving to an abandoned tower, or is she avoiding him? She says she’s avoiding him, and he says, sh*t. That’s honest. She asks if he wants her to lie to make him feel better. He says, no, and she tells him to give someone else the rat. He says, it’s possum, which is basically a big rat, but he just wanted to say that he liked her mom. She did horrible sh*t, and there’s no excusing any of it, but he liked a lot about her. He wishes he didn’t have to do what he did. If there’s something she wants to say, she should say it. Lydia says, mostly, she wishes Alpha had died too, and leaves.

Princess thinks, then counts. Yumiko says this is exactly the kind of thing she was afraid of happening. Ezekiel says, he’s been afraid of many things, but this one is new. Eugene says, FYI, they’re running out of time on all fronts. A zombie comes out of the woods, and explodes. Eugene says they don’t want to be stuck there when the zombies start popping off, and Ezekiel says, maybe there’s something he can do. Princess says she kind of lost count. She didn’t mean to; she’s sorry. She says, eenie, meenie, no miney, mo, and walks. She stops, and says she’s still here. It should be good from there. They follow her.

Daryl leads Judith through the woods. He tells her, just spot things that don’t belong or don’t feel right. Take a look, and tell him what she sees. She looks around, and he says, living or dead? She says, walker, and he says, stay behind him. Several zombies come by, as they hide behind a tree. Daryl shoots one with an arrow, and it runs. Daryl stabs the others, and he and Judith take off after the other one.

Princess and company come to a street sign that says Fleetwood Drive. Eugene says they passed it earlier, but Princess says, there’s five of them; Street, Drive, Boulevard… – which I understand, having lived in Queens – but Eugene says he most certainly remembers it was Drive. Yumiko says Princess led them around when they could have walked straight there. Maybe she missed a turn? Princess says she was having fun, taking them by the scenic route, and Yumiko says, fun? Going through a mine field? Princess says it was bad, she knows. She’s been there a billion times, and never thought it was a problem – until it was. She wanted to show them the garage, and hoped they’d think it was amazing, and maybe they’d stay and be friends, but she screwed it up. When she was first there by herself, she figured someone would show up. She waited days and months, but it stayed empty. It really didn’t feel much different than before. Maybe it’s her, and she deserves it. All day she heard a voice in her head, saying it’s her. She knows she should have told them the truth, but she didn’t want the voice to be right, so she’s sorry. Eugene says, he has an all too familiar sense of how she feels. He puts a hand on her shoulder (his hand; I realized I have to be specific with this show), and says she made a poor decision to lie to them, because the alternative meant being left alone. No one wants that. Just to clarify, she does have access to wheels, correct?

Daryl sees the shot Whisperer, lying on the ground, and takes aim. The Whisperer takes off her mask, and takes out a knife, although I’m not sure why, since she’s at a total disadvantage. Daryl says, roll over now, and she says she can’t die like this. It ain’t natural. He tells her, drop the knife. She thinks about it for a millisecond, and does as he asks. He asks where her people are at, and she says, a few miles east; headed to the ocean. Daryl asks if they’re with the horde. Is she a scout? She says she was. She went out on own. He asks, why? and she says she had no choice. She loves them, but he’s… She’s not going to stay there. Daryl says, he’s what? and she says, he lost it after what they did to her. Daryl asks if she knows where they are, and she says she doesn’t know, but they’re going to keep coming for them. They’ve taken too much. Please. She wants to walk. He asks again if she knows where they are, and she say she doesn’t. She shoots her, finishing her off. Judith says he didn’t have to do that, and he says she had no information for them. She was going to die, so it’s better to be quick. Judith asks if they’re leaving her, and he says, come on. She says, maybe she has a family, and he says, they’re only a few miles away. They can spot them at the top of the tower. He urges her along, and she looks back as they’re walking. At first, I agreed that he didn’t have to kill her, but if she was going to die anyway, it was the better thing to do. They don’t need one more zombie hanging around.

Beta walks, and says, be my strength. He looks up, then sees a cat run across the road. A zombie gets up close and personal with him, and he laughs. Alden and Aaron walk parallel to the horde, without being seen. Alden says they always thought with Alpha dead, it would be easier, and Aaron says, they have to be sure they don’t lose again. Whatever it takes. He sees the horde is changing direction, and takes out the out the radio. He radios Gabriel, saying, it’s no good. They’ve got to leave now. He and Alden start to run, but they’re surrounded by Whisperers. One puts a gun in Aaron’s face.

Lydia comes back to Negan, and says he doesn’t get to tell her what to do. He says, she’s right. If she thinks hitting him will make her feel better… She says she feels fine, but he says she has to mourn; to say goodbye. Otherwise, it will eat her up inside. Trust him. Alpha was still her mom, and you only get one, so she should hit him. Just try it; let it out. Otherwise, she’ll drift further away from these people, and he knows she doesn’t want to. She asks how he knows what she wants. He’s a selfish a-hole. He killed Alpha so they’ll think he’s a hero, but nothing he does will make him that here. He cares about himself, and now he’s trying to get her to do this. Telling her how he liked her mother. She hated her, and wanted her dead. Screw him, telling her she can’t do that. He says, it’s okay, and she says, it’s not okay. She starts hitting him, and he stands there and takes it. Finally, she collapses, crying, into his arms, and he holds her. Wow. I absolutely love him at this moment.

A garage door opens. Ezekiel, Eugene, Yumiko, and Princess look into the garage, which contains bicycles. Yumiko says, they’re wheels, and Ezekiel says it wasn’t the ride he was picturing. Eugene says, fifteen miles per hour is a significant increase past walking speed. Ezekiel says, to be fair, Princess wasn’t lying. She came through with a garage. He laughs, and Yumiko approaches Princess. Princess says she’s not a bad person. They have every reason not to trust her. It’s hard to take a chance on people in this world, and when they lie… Yumiko knows; it sucks. Princess says she blew it; she knows. She’s sorry. She wishes she’d done better. Her people skills are rusty. Yumiko says, they’ll have to work on that. She came over to see if Princess wants to join them. Princess says, for real? and Yumiko says, as long as she doesn’t lie again. Princess hugs her, and says, yes, and Yumiko says Princess knows the area. Ezekiel laughs some more, and Princess says, if they’ve got time, she has food, clothes, a cool spear, and candy. Can she have her gun back?

Daryl asks Judith, what is it? Judith says she can’t believe Daryl left her in a ditch. What if he was lost, and no one could find him? He asks, where this is coming from? and she says she just wants them to be back together; at home again. Daryl says he radioed Judith’s mom, so she knows not to go home, and to let her know Judith is safe, and where to find them. Judith asks if he talked to Michonne, and he says, no, but he’s going to keep trying. Judith says she talked to her mom after the fire. Maybe she won’t come home. Daryl asks what Michonne said, and Judith tells him, she went to help people she met who needed her. She didn’t want to tell him. He asks, why is that? and she says she knew he’d be mad, but he says he won’t. He promises he can’t, and he can’t lie to her. He doesn’t know what’s going to happen; no one can. What he does know is that there are a whole bunch of people who would do anything for her, and when she’s older, she’ll do anything for them. She’s got a whole lot of family. Nothing can take the place of someone you love being gone, but it doesn’t mean everything that follows will break your heart. She hugs him, and wipes her tears away. He says they’ve got to go. The radio crackles, and Daryl says, Gabriel? Gabriel speaks, but there’s so much static, Daryl can’t understand what Gabriel is saying. Daryl says, he’s breaking up, and Gabriel says, come back… surrounded…

Beta continues to walk. He stops, and says, we walk. The Whisperers say, we walk, in unison. They stand in front of the hospital.

Next time, Daryl says they won’t all make it through, but it’s the only way; Eugene thinks he missed his rendezvous; Kelly puts on a Whisperer mask; Ezekiel says, they must try; Gabriel tells the kids, together, you’re a mighty weapon; and Maggie gets the news in a letter from Carol.

⚰️ Fear the Walking Dead will return this summer.

🩺 Good For Jill…

We should all support medical workers, and those on the new frontlines any way we can, even if it’s just a thank you for their service.

https://pagesix.com/2020/04/04/jill-zarin-supports-medical-workers-with-noshes-for-nurses-program/

👀 Well There’s That…

We finally have the time to binge watch all those shows we’ve been meaning to.

https://pagesix.com/2020/04/04/sean-mcvay-is-finally-watching-game-of-thrones-while-under-quarantine/

📖 Now For Something Completely Different…

Not Monty Python, but different for my blog. While the majority of people are being good about the world being in crisis mode, some aren’t handling it very well. It goes from those speculating that every cough must be the virus, or laying blame anywhere they can. (Hint: Now is not the time.) I can assure you, crystal balls do not really tell the future. No one expected this, everyone is flying by the seat of their pants, and surprisingly, most are doing the best they can. Today, this poem came to mind, so I thought I’d pass it along. If you follow the advice, you’ll not only be a man (or woman), but you’ll end up being a decent human being overall.

💆🏽 If by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

 

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

 

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

 

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

 

🦇 And Don’t Let the Bed Bugs Bite…

Or anything else. I had the pleasure of watching the first few episodes of What We Do In the Shadows this weekend on FX. I hadn’t seen it before, and thought it was a lot of fun. So stay safe out there, be it from human illness or something more otherworldly.