What I Watched Today

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

Fear the Walking Dead

John Sr. and June listen to A Hazy Shade of Winter on the phonograph They have dinner, and John uses an exercise bike. He uses the radio, asking if anybody is out there. He polishes his gun. He and June play board games. There’s a chalk board where it says, Day 26; Days until opening 339. John gets on the radio, and says, they’re six feet under, but very much alive. They have plenty of food. They don’t know their exact location, but doesn’t think far from the coast. They play games and drink. John uses the radio again, saying they leave it on in the daylight; or what they think is daylight. If anybody is out there, give them a holler. Because it’s not too late. It’s never too late. He and June clink cups. The days change to 69 there, and 296 until opening.

John wakes, hearing a rumble. Everything shakes, and a bookcase holding battles falls. Behind it, there’s a hole in the wall. June runs out, and they both looks at it, wondering what it is. John looks deeper, and she asks if he sees anything. He says, it’s another room. He breaks the wall open, and goes inside. He opens a gate, and goes into a room where there’s an examining table with straps, and tubes going into jars. There’s blood on the table. He and June look around with flashlights, and June asks, what is this place? They see blood all over, and John says, it’s where Teddy killed all those women. This is where it all started. They could never find it, and it was under their feet the whole time. June says, Teddy can’t hurt anyone again. Forget the room, and pretend it doesn’t exist. He says, it’s not too late. It’s never too late.

June suggests they close the room up, but John says, no; leave it open for now. He has questions. He’s been looking for 40 years. Teddy confessed to 23 women, and kept doing the same thing since he went to prison, embalming them, so they’d never have a new beginning. She says, they stopped him, but he says, only for a spell. June says, going over it isn’t going to help anyone, but he says, it might. He didn’t find them all. He knew Teddy killed 23, but they only found 22 bodies. Teddy finally admitted he killed the last victim. That’s what cracked the whole thing open, but they never found the body. He looked her mama in the eye, and said he’d find and bury her baby. He couldn’t keep his promise then, but maybe he can now. June says, even if he figures it out, he can’t leave. Some plaster comes down from the ceiling, and he says they may not have a choice. He asks how the suits are coming, and she says she’s still making them airtight. They need a go-between; not just to protect them out there, but so they don’t drag anything back in. He asks why they’d come back, and she says they don’t know what kind of radiation is out there. He tells her to keep working, and he’ll buy time in case they can’t go out. He saw some 2x4s. He’s sorry. He knows he’s not the Dorie she thought she’d be spending her days with. She says she’s happy to be where she is, and hopes he feels the same, and he says he’s a guy who was alone for decades. He gets the wood, but stops by the room. He looks at the instruments, and sees a notebook. He nails up the boards to the ceiling, and says, that should do it. She says, lights out? and he says, yeah; another one off the board. He asks, where’s the hooch? and she says, it got smashed along with the preserves, but there’s plenty of Tang left. He says, that’s all right, as we all would, and she tells him, goodnight. She pulls the divider curtain over, and he says, goodnight.

John lies awake, listening to the groaning of the structure. He turns away from the hole in the wall, but then sits up and goes inside. He reaches for a box, hesitating to open it. He finds a news clipping inside, with a necklace attached. He says he’ll keep his promise. He calls to June, but she’s sleeping. He wakes her, and goes to where the access to the outside is. He goes up the ladder stairs, and bangs on the door, asking if anyone is up there. There’s silence, but then a voice startles him and he falls back to the floor. He sees the suits and masks, and puts one on. He goes out, and sees a wasteland. He pulls himself out, looks around. He asks if anybody is out there, and sees a skeleton. He wonders if this is the beginning Teddy had in mind. He sees a zombie, and picks up a knife, and says, Dakota, you poor girl, and stabs its head. He sees a woman, and says she shouldn’t be out there with no protection. She disappears, and he turns to find her right behind him, her mouth stitched shut. She struggles to speak, finally breaking the stitches apart. She grabs him, but a shot rings out, and she falls. June is halfway out of the hatch holding a gun, and asks, what’s going on? He says June shot her, and June says, who? What is he talking about? He looks on the ground, and only sees a zombie. He sees two more on their way, and June says, get inside. He also sees three people in protective gear with guns.

June tells John that she needs to check him over. It’s not just about him or the contaminant or whatever is out there. he could have been bit. He says he wasn’t, and she looks, saying, it was just a scratch. Why was he out there by himself? He says he heard her, and she asks, who? He says, the girl he never found. She says she doesn’t understand, and he says she was calling to him. He heard a voice, so he went up, and there she was, plain as day. June asks if he’s sure he didn’t hit his head, and he says he knows what he saw, dammit. He put Dakota out of her torment. What Teddy did to the state of the state ain’t pretty. She says, if they go out, they need to make the trip together out there. He promises he won’t do it again, and looks around the kitchen area. She asks what he’s looking for, and he says she thinks a drink might take the edge off. She says, they lost all the whiskey, and he tells her that Teddy stashed liquor around the place. Teddy liked to have a good time when he wasn’t causing a bad one for someone else. June asks if he’s been drinking without her knowing, and asks how much? He says he wasn’t keeping track, and she asks if he was drinking before. He says, he was alone a lot, and she says he needs to tell her exactly how much he was drinking. He says, a half a bottle a day of whatever he could find. She asks what about down there? and he says, here and there. He thought there was enough to get them through. She says, he’s shaking. When was the last time he had a drink? He says, the day before last, before the ceiling collapsed. There’s more banging, and dust comes down. He says, it’s a helluva time to go cold turkey, and wonders if it’s the masked folks; they don’t sound dead. She says, this is why she didn’t want him on the radio. He doesn’t know who’s listening. A voice on the radio says, open the door, and let them in. They know they’re in there. John says, they can’t just ignore it, but June says, he’s in no position to fight them, and it’s only going to get worse; fever, sweats, and he might see more than he did up there.

June hammers at the entrance, and John hears A Hazy Shade of Winter coming from the secret room. He turns on the light, and goes in. He sees the woman on the table. She tells him, please, he’s going come back, and he asks, is it now? She says, he’s here, and he takes her hand. He asks what he has to do for her to leave him alone, and she says, keep your promise. Find me. June says, John? and he quicky turns, drawing his gun. She asks what he’s doing in there, and he sees an empty table. He says he couldn’t sleep because of the hammering, and she asks why he’s in there. It can’t be helping. He says he needs something to occupy his mind. He didn’t solve it before, but maybe he can now. She asks if he’s still seeing things, and they hear pounding from outside. He asks if she’s checked the radio, and she tells him, it’ll hold. He says, no one was meant to be down there. She says, he saw up there. Getting through the fallout is not an easy journey, and with his condition, they might not make it far. Even if they did, the radiation would kill them. She tells him that some people find detoxing easer if they go through it under sedation. He asks if it will put him to sleep, and she says, for a couple of days; through the worst of it. He says he’s sure he’ll be fine, and she says she knows it’s hard being down there; being reminded of what Teddy did. He says, that’s not what this is, and she asks, then why does he want to run out to a world that’s going to kill him ten different ways? She knows he thinks he saw her, but June doesn’t think she’s the one who’s not at peace; he’s the one not at peace. He’s not going to fix it by leaving. He says, she’s right, and she says she thinks she knows something else that might help.  

She hammers over the hole, and tells him, go to sleep. He says, that’s a tall order, and she changes the days on the blackboard. She shuts off the lights, and John tosses and turns. He sees dust coming down from the ceiling, and the woman is there. She says, look what he’s doing to her, and John says, stop. He looks at the hold, and she says, find me. She disappears, and he sits up. June is sleeping, but hears him ripping the boards down, and tells him, don’t do that. He says he has to, and she says, he’ll bring the whole place down. He says he has to get her to stop. The answer is in there. Then he’ll be able to think straight. He pulls all the boards off, and she stabs him with a syringe. He asks what she’s doing, and she says, what she should have done. Part of the room collapses on the both of them.

A voice on the radio says, that place ain’t going to hold up. He know they’re listening. It’s their final warning. John calls to June, and sees the syringe in his arm. The woman says, June is still breathing; she’s not. It’s not about June; it’s about what Teddy did to her. He says he’s not going to leave June, and the woman says, no one is going to get in. Teddy built this place to withstand a nuclear blast. Teddy said, that’s why no one would hear her scream. She says, Help me, then help her, and he looks through the clippings in the box. He asks where Teddy took her from, and she says she doesn’t know. He asks if he took her from the diner parking lot after her shift? They turned the place over, but if he took her from somewhere else, that’s where her body would have been. June calls to John, and he says, she’s awake. The woman says, June can take care of herself; she can’t. He asks if she was wearing this necklace, showing her the necklace attached to the newspaper clipping. She says she only wore it when she saw her boyfriend; she told him that she was on her way. John wonders if that’s where Teddy nabbed her, and she says, maybe. He says, then maybe that’s where he dumped her. He looks at a map on the wall, and says, her boyfriend lived here; across from this abandoned lot. He remembers going there to talk to him. She says, then that’s where she is. She tells him, if people out there are still alive, maybe it’s not as dangerous as June says it is. He questions June, asking if it’s really as dangerous out there as she says, and she says, she doesn’t know. He asks what she means. Where did the numbers come from? He thought she said she got them out of a book. She says she did what she had to, and the woman says, June is lying. He asks if June found them in there or not? and she says she was being safe; cut her lose. He says, not until she tells him the truth. She says she made them up, and he says, why? She says she doesn’t want go out, and he shouldn’t either. She was lying to him, but not about the radiation. She knows what it’s supposed to look like in there, but not what it’s supposed to look like out there. She doesn’t know what anything looks like. He says, none of them do. He has to leave. She doesn’t have to. She asks where he’s going, and he says to keep a promise. She says, do not go out there, but he says he knows where Teddy dumped her. He can put her to rest. She says, there’s nothing left up there, but the woman says, she’s out there. Find me. John says he’ll come back for June. Just let him free her; then he’ll free June. She says he almost died last time. If the people on the radio don’t kill him, the dead will. He says, they’re already living six feet underground. He’s not sure what the difference is.

Outside, John sees nothing but desolation. He looks at the map. He says, which way? Where are you when I need you? He keeps walking.

Inside, June hears banging from outside, and dust comes down.

John hears banging, and sees people trying to get into the entrance to the hideout. He hides behind a car, and the woman asks what he’s doing. He says she’s not real, and she asks how he knows they are. He says, June is real, and he can’t leave her. She says they’ll come after him, and he says, June is still alive; he can save her. The woman says he can’t even save himself. He shoots at them, and they run for cover. He hits one, and they shoot back. His hand is shaking badly, but he steadies it. One of the men reloads, and John shoots again. It’s quiet, but then he sees one of them trying to get in the hideout, and says, no. June hears someone coming in, and sees the guy in the gear. Outside, John trips on his way to the entrance, and sees the women Teddy killed walking toward him. He asks the woman why she’s doing this. They didn’t stop Teddy; he still destroyed everything. The woman says he has to help her or he’ll just be another dead body in the ground, and she’ll be just like them. He says she’s not real. He sees how the women were when they were alive, and sees himself looking at the clippings. The women walk toward him, and turn into zombies.

Inside, the dude in protective gear sees June. She grabs a board. Outside, John slumps, and grabs a knife he sees on the ground. He closes his eyes, and says, they’re not real. When he opens them, he sees a group of full-on zombies coming toward him. He gets up, and gets to work stabbing heads.    

The intruder points his gun at June, and cocks it, but he’s shot in the back. He falls, and John is there. He asks if June is okay, and she says, yeah. Him? He says, yeah. She’s right. There’s nothing much up there. He frees her from the rubble, and sees an arm. It’s the woman’s body, and he says, Teddy must have still had her there, got too spooked, and buried her in the wall. June says, he kept his promise. She’s at rest. He says, not yet, and puts the necklace on her.

John and June are dressed in their June-made gear, and John says he knows June doesn’t want to go up. She says she’s afraid there’s not much choice. He says they’ll help each other see which way is up, and she nods. They go to the stairs, and suddenly a ton of dirt falls in on them.  

John opens his eyes, and June says, he’s awake. He’s been out for days. He collapsed, and had the DTs. She was afraid he wasn’t going to wake up. He asks where they are, and she says, not underground. She opens the blinds to let the light in, and he asks, how? She says, someone heard his radio messages. They only survived because they had masks on when the dirt collapsed on them. The only reason she’s alive is he talked her into leaving. He says he wanted to help her see which way was up, and she says, it’s pretty clear it’s not what they thought it would be. She opens the door, and Victor comes in. He says, good morning, and she says, Victor wanted to know as soon as John was up. John asks how Victor survived, and Victor says, better than him, but that will change now that they’re here. John says, does Victor think they’re going to join him after what he did to Morgan at the sub? Victor says, he did what he did, but he’s here, and Morgan is out there. John says, that doesn’t make it right, and Victor says, it does make staying here they’re only choice. June says he’s right. John can’t go out in his condition; in the condition anything is. He asks if Victor has any idea who the people in the masks are, and Victor says he’s been asking  himself the same question. They can answer it together, providing John’s sense of direction is good. He pours the three of them a shot, and says, to new beginnings; to doing whatever’s next. John hands it back, and says, no thanks. He’s off the sauce right now. Victor says, maybe later. He assumes John has many questions, but for now, rest. The grand tour is still to come. He leaves, and John tells June, they can’t stay. He’d rather face whatever’s out there. John joins June at the window, and they look down to the horde of zombies in the parking lot. She says, leaving’s not an option, and John says, he should have taken that drink.  

A man in protective gear stabs a zombie in the head. He’s at the entrance to the underground hideout, and digs at the opening. We see it’s Morgan, and he calls to June. He says he heard them on the radio, and needs them to tell him if they’re down there. On the radio, Victor says, they’re not, and Morgan says, where are they? Victor says, they’re with him, and they’re safe, which is more than Morgan had to offer. Morgan says, listen to him. Victor needs to tell him where they are. Victor says, he’s such a bore. How about if they do this every night, and it will put him to sleep? He’s done listening to Morgan; everybody is. Everybody tried it Morgan’s way, and look what happened; death and destruction. Face the truth. He failed. He’s a failure. Morgan says, they’re here because of what Victor did, but Victor says he doesn’t see it that way. Now it’s his turn to do what Morgan couldn’t. He’s going to rebuild the world, and help everyone who Morgan let down. The ones he sees fit anyway. All while Morgan watches from the outside. Morgan says he hopes Victor does, and Victor says he didn’t think Morgan would give up that easy, but Morgan says he’s not finished; he’s not going to stop. Victor should rebuild the world and help people, but if Morgan hears that’s not what he’s doing, if Victor hurts anybody Morgan cares about, he swears to god… Victor says, what? and Morgan says he’ll come for Victor, and do what Victor tried to do to him on that submarine. Only he won’t miss. Victor looks at the radio, and nods, and Morgan travels on with his super pokey stick.

Next time, Emile’s head in a box, Josiah wants Sarah to help him find Morgan, and Sarah drives her car off a cliff.   

The Walking Dead: The World Beyond

Iris, Percy, Will, Felix, and Elton were traveling together on a path through the woods. Iris told Elton, by this time tomorrow, they’d be talking to Hope. Will said he thought they were close, and Elton said it wouldn’t be long before the music flooded the area with zombies. Will said they needed an exit strategy, and Felix suggested he stay back, but Will wasn’t leaving him alone. Percy said, they’d go in, make contact, and get out. If it looked dicey, they’d just split. Felix told them to stay low, and keep to the shadows. He and Will stayed behind while Iris, Percy, and Elton ran for the decontamination site where Silas was working.  

They followed the music until they saw Silas. Elton went on ahead, and Percy told Iris to wait, but she didn’t listen. All three of them approached Silas, who was startled to see them, and wondered what they were doing there. Elton said he was glad Silas was okay, and tried to give him a bro hug, but it ended up being kind of half-assed. Percy said it was good to see Silas, and Iris just smiled.

After hearing what happened at the Campus Colony, Silas asked if they were all dead. Iris said they were, and they took Hope. Percy said the CRM had been playing them the whole time. Silas was sure Hope was safe. They treated him okay there, so maybe Hope and Leo were okay. Iris said, if they were right, it was genocide. If they were right, the CRM was guilty, and they weren’t wrong; not this time. Percy brought out a map, showing Silas a terminal on the outskirts of the CRM that was used for biohazard waste. They made a plan where Silas would ask to use Dennis’s car and card to get into the CRM, and open a door at 2 pm. Iris and Felix would talk Leo and Hope into coming with them, and all of them would head for the a CRM affiliated facility in Portland. Silas said, what if he couldn’t do it? They’d just starting trusting him. Iris said it was the only chance they had, and she thought Dennis would help. Percy said Dennis was one of them, but Silas said Dennis wasn’t like Huck, but he didn’t think Dennis would be okay with it. Percy said the CRM was the reason the only family Silas had was dead, and Iris said they couldn’t do it without him.  

Huck looked at a newspaper article titled, CRM Requests Emergency Delay of Civilian Oversight, where apparently the military was being slow to hand over governmental power as was promised. Dennis brought Huck coffee, and she thanked him for trusting her. He said they were still married, and he used to know what she  was thinking, but now he just had to trust her. Huck said everything was different now after Omaha; they were back to square one. He said there was and always would be friction between the military and politicians. She told him they’d bought into what the CRM was doing.

Iris wondered if Silas would help them, since they’d exiled him, but Elton said he exiled himself, and he’d come around. Silas told Iris, it was a lot, and she said they had to get Hope and her dad out of there; Silas too. They needed him. She begged him to help, and he agreed. He’d be at the terminal at 2 pm. Iris said, if anything happened to her and Felix, just go. Don’t worry about them; take care of himself. Iris gave him drawing of the four of them; him, her, Hope, and Elton.

Leo told Hope that raising hell had finally paid off, and he was going to look for Iris and Felix. CRM guards shot him in the back, and we saw it was just a dream. Hope hunted Leo down at a meeting with some professors, and Lila said they’d been discussing Hope’s yeast theory. She introduced leading researcher Amanda Segal, who said they’d ID’d three strains that might speed up the necrotic condition. She thought it would lead to neutralizing the dead. Hope remembered her dream, and pulled her dad aside. She told Leo about seeing Iris.  

Iris and company told Indira and Asha about her and Felix’s plan to turn themselves in and rescue Hope and Leo. Asha suggested Indira turning them in, and Indira said it would look less suspicious when they escaped. She thought it was dangerous though, since Hope hadn’t seemed eager to leave, but Will said that was before she knew the truth. They had a plan to head west when things blew over. Indira told them things didn’t blow over with the CRM, and asked if Felix was sure he wanted to do this, since he had so much to lose. Felix said it was the CRM’s turn to lose, and he was going to make damn sure they did. Percy wanted to go with them, but Iris said he couldn’t risk it. She’d see him on the other side. Percy asked Elton what was up with Asha, but Elton said there was no point in anything since they were moving on.

Indira drove the group in a wagon, but found Percy following them on horseback, wearing Elton’s jacket. He said he could pick pockets or locks, and begged to come. Iris wondered if it was about helping them or killing Huck, but Percy insisted that he didn’t want Huck dead if it meant putting others at risk. Whatever he had to do, he’d do it to get her out safe. It was a hard no from Felix, who said they couldn’t risk it. Indira said it was too late; they were coming. We saw headlights behind them.

Huck went through stuff in Elizabeth’s office, and found data sheets that she didn’t look too happy about. She left the office, and Elizabeth’s assistant said Huck’s mother was looking for her. Iris, Felix, and Percy (now Elton) were being contained, and Elizabeth stopped by to visit. Iris was indignant that they were being kept there, and said she wanted to see her father. Elizabeth said it was a process. Afterwards, she met with Huck, and asked if Huck still didn’t consider Iris and Felix a threat. Huck said they wouldn’t be happy to find out who she is, but when they realized Hope was there and they had no home to go back to, it would put things in perspective. Elizabeth told Huck to keep a close eye on them; trust needed to be earned. She said she knew Huck had been nosing around her office, and Huck said she was trying to find out Elizabeth’s dinner plans.

Leo told Hope that the CRM wasn’t a prison, and Hope said, it was, but it was also a future. Not the CRM itself, but the researchers and research. Hope and Leo were brought to see Iris and the others.  

Silas explained to Dennis that there were some empties he wanted to clear out. He asked if he could borrow Dennis’s truck to take them to the dumpsite, and Dennis gave him the keys, telling Silas that he’d been doing good work. It was going to be tougher when the rain came in come summer and new recruits were there, but it would all be old hat by then.   

Huck told Elizabeth that she was exhausted from the weight of everything, and was sorry she’d questioned her. Being undercover had taken more out of her than she thought; lying to everyone, all day, every day. Elizabeth said she could only imagine. She knew she favored the tough side of tough love, but when Huck had her own child, she’d want to make them stronger so they could do the hard things. She talked about summers pre-apocalypse when Huck was a kid, but Huck didn’t remember them. Elizabeth said Huck was so gentle and trusting, she couldn’t bear the thought of anyone else destroying that in her.

Felix and iris told Leo and Hope the plan, and Percy said if anyone noticed, he’d hang back and cover them. Leo said they could all be killed, but Felix said the CRM wanted Hope and Leo working for the future. If they were caught, they could use it as leverage for their safety. Iris said it was their best and only chance to be family again on their terms. Hope said it was about making choices, and right now it was the only chance they had. Leo said he wanted to say goodbye to Lila. Maybe she’d want to come; she was the only persona outside of them who he could trust. He had to talk to her first.   

Asha told Elton that her mom wasn’t thrilled about Percy coming along, and Elton said he wasn’t thrilled about it either. Asha admitted that it was Indira, not her, who was sick; she’d lied to him. It wouldn’t be good if people knew Indira was ill. There were people who had different ideas about how the Perimeter should be run, and if Brody, or anyone, found out about Indira’s private agreement with the CRM, they could use it against her. Elton asked if Indira was going to be okay, and Asha said, as long as she got what she needed. Maybe there was no avoiding it being a mess. She said, it was nice meeting him, and he said, likewise.

Silas drove Dennis’s truck into the facility, while idiot Leo was on his way to talk to Lila. Huck stopped him, saying she needed to talk to him; it was a matter of life or death. Silas went to waste processing, and saw the clock said 1:46. Leo told Huck that she had one minute, and she showed him copies of the data sheets she’d found. She said the military had brought the zombies to the Campus Colony. She didn’t know how it fit in in; she knew they’d been used for research. They needed to find out what was going on and who was involved, so they could stop it.    

Iris, Felix, and Percy got ready to make a break for it. Elton and Will waited in the woods. Suddenly, Silas was surrounded by guards, telling him to get out of the truck. He stands there with his hands up, the guards pointing their guns at him.

Next time, Jadis and Huck meet not for the first time, Iris says they have to find out what the CRM is up to, stop them from doing it again, and burn the place to the ground.

BONUS ROUND: After the preview, we saw Lila with her newest test subject – Percy. Lila was impressed that he was a soldier, and said they had to keep him sedated while she established his vitals. She knew it was her last chance to get this right. Jadis came in Elizabeth was called away on urgent business, and they’d be answer to her in the meantime.    

👬🏽 Quit While You’re Ahead…

It’s the old twin brother soap opera trick.

https://screenrant.com/fear-walking-dead-emile-josiah-laroux-bounty-hunter-mistake/

🎶 Turn It Off…

Grace had her reasons.

https://screenrant.com/fear-walking-dead-grace-song-not-listen-reason/

🚁 A Little Bit Of Jadis In Your Life…

So is Rick still single?

https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/news/the-walking-dead-jadis-returns-world-beyond-easter-egg-new-name-father-gabriel-stokes/

https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/news/the-walking-dead-jadis-returns-crossover-twd-world-beyond-season-2-episode-5-spoilers/

👻 Then and Tomorrow…

Who you gonna call?

🎃 Happy Halloween…

Whatever your Halloween proclivities, even if none at all, I hope it was a happy and safe one. See you tomorrow for some soap and OG Deck. Until then, stay safe, stay keeping the hootch in a safe place if you’re underground, and stay not stealing all the good stuff out of your kids’ trick-or-treat bag.