Tag Archives: Walking Dead World Beyond

Oct26

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

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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.

Oct23

October 22, 2020 – Nina Gives Nelle a Decent Burial, Remote Charm, New Season, NJ Lawsuit, NY Divorce, Dead News, Fashionable Country, Appreciate Bats & Some Cranberries

Posted on by
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What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Carly is resting, and Sonny asks, what’s up with Josslyn? She doesn’t look good, and said Nelle stole something from her. Carly says she’ll talk to Josslyn, and gets up. Sonny says, this is probably it. Nelle came back to get it. Carly sees what I’m guessing is a bloody kidney in his hands. She screams. And wakes up. She wonders why this is happening.

Chase tells Willow, she, Michael, and Wiley make a wonderful family. He’s glad she’s happy. She thanks him, and he says it’s all he ever wanted for her. He hopes Michael does better by her than he did. He starts to walk away, and she asks him to wait. She wants to tell him something about her and Michael, but he says whatever it is, it’s better if she doesn’t.

Jax asks if he can talk to Michael, and Michael says, if it’s something about Aurora, he doesn’t have much to contribute yet. Jax says they can talk about whatever he wants, but keep him distracted. He looks over at Nina talking to Valentin. Nina tells Valentin, it wasn’t easy to shut him out and start over, but he left her no choice. He says if she means that, she wouldn’t care who he sleeps with, but she obviously does. Maybe she’s not as over him as she thinks. She says if by over him he means indifferent, she never claimed to be, but she’s determined to move on. He says, then let him do the same. Or did she expect him to wait around indefinitely?

Carly finds Jason in the kitchen, and asks him to pour her a cup of coffee. She could use the caffeine. He asks, what happened? and she says she hasn’t been sleeping well, so she took a nap. Big mistake. She dreamed about Nelle – again. She can’t keep going like this.

Nikolas walks in, and Ava says, good; he’s home. She has something important to discuss. He closes the door, and says he does too. Something he should have told her a long time ago. She says she’s sure it can wait a little longer, but he tells her, for once in her life, lower her guard enough to listen. She asks what makes him think she’s interested in anything that comes out of his mouth. He thought she liked his mouth, and she says she’d like to slap it. So unless he’s about to confess… He says that’s exactly what he’s doing. He hasn’t been honest with her. About him, and about them.

Ava says, speak, and he says he’s been thinking for a while about how things are going. Not just with them; there’s the whole family to consider. She tells him, spit it out, and he says she’s not making it easy. She says clearly he hasn’t thought out what he needs to say, and he suggests she let him say it, instead of being smug, cynical, and ready with a cutting remark. She says he knew how she was when he married her, and he says, a conniving, treacherous opportunist. She says she can never live down her bad choices. She’s selfish and ruthless; never mind his history. He says he knows who he is, but he’s just starting to get to know the real Ava, the woman behind the façade. He’s realized that in their marriage of convenience, he has inconvenient feelings.

Nina says she doesn’t want Valentin to wait for her. There’s no chance for them. He says he doesn’t believe that. Jax is a rebound, and she’s his plus one; his companion, a trophy. She says Valentin knows nothing, and he says he knows she and Jax like each other. He knows they have certain things in common, and knows it’s a safe relationship, because both of their hearts are otherwise engaged. Jax loves Carly, and she loves… She says, no. She’s not threatened by Jax’s connection to Carly.

Jax tells Michael that Valentin wants Nina back. He can’t say he blames him; she’s an incredible woman. Michael says she seems happy with Jax, and Jax says he’s happy with her. But when you’ve been married to someone, you develop an understanding of each other that doesn’t go away just because the marriage ends. Michael hopes he’s right.

Chase tells Willow, he set all of this in motion. He did what he did, and she ended up with Wiley and Michael, and he’s truly happy for her, but he’s no longer a part of her life. Not the way he used to be. So whatever she was going to say… She flashes back to Michael saying there’s nothing selfish about being in love; it’s what he wants for her, but he considers their marriage a success. She tells him, she does too. She tells Chase, it’s not what he thinks, but he says, it doesn’t matter. Whatever she was going to say, it’s best she holds onto it. Michael walks up to them.

Jason asks if Carly wants to talk about it, and she says she keeps having nightmares. The details are different, but they’re horrible and all about Nelle. Even though she’s dead, she’s not. He says Carly just had to sit through a police interrogation about Nelle; it makes sense that she’d be dreaming about her. She says the interrogation was frustrating because the detective accused her of pushing Nelle. Jason says, but she didn’t, so there’s no case. She  tells him, that’s what Diane said, and he says he can see why she’s still worried. She says she is, but not because of the cops. It’s because Nina is giving Nelle a proper burial this afternoon at Woodlawn Cemetery. She says she’s doing it for Wiley, so he can visit his mother’s grave, but that’s BS. She’s doing it for herself.

Carly says, Nina had a breakdown a few years back. She kidnapped Avery, and wound up in Shadybrook, but she was able to get the help she needed, and turned her life around. But Nelle didn’t, and Nina can’t let it go. He asks if she thinks Nina feels guilty because she got saved and Nelle didn’t, but Carly doesn’t know. She doesn’t care about Nina’s motives. She cares that Nelle is going to be buried in the same cemetery as Morgan and Mike. She cares that Nelle is going to have a headstone in Port Charles, where she caused so much misery. If Nina wants to do something, pay to have her buried in Florida. I get distracted momentarily by the bowl of moss, and Jason says, who cares about Nina? Why does Nelle bother Carly so much? She says it doesn’t make any sense, but he says, tell him anyway. She says she knows Nelle’s dead, but it seems like Nelle isn’t done with her.

Nina tells Valentin that she admires the way Jax and Carly co-parent, and she’d like to think they could do that with Charlotte. Show her the best of them without the fallout from the relationship they both messed up. He admits he’s responsible for the lion’s share of the damage. He wants to be there for Charlotte, and wants Nina to stay in her life. She says it would make things easier if he’d stop needling her about Jax. He agrees, but wants her to extend the same courtesy to him. She says she doesn’t needle him, and he says she did when he walked in with Brook. She says, that wasn’t needling; she’s appalled. She’s not jealous, and he should know that. Brook isn’t in the right frame of mind to decide if she wants to sleep with him. She’s recovering from a brutal attack. He says he didn’t take advantage of Brook, and she says, Brook is traumatized. Jax asks if everything is okay, and Valentin calls him Jasper, saying, they were just talking about Nelle. Jax says he despises Nelle, but Nina wants to give her a proper burial. Valentin says, she what?

Michael apologizes for barging into the conversation, but Chase says, no big deal. It’s not like when Brook walked in with Valentin. His jaw was on the floor. Michael says, Brook was with Valentin? and Chase says he’s not gossiping. They were pretty open about it. Brook spent the night with Valentin. Michael wonders what she was thinking, and says, Ned isn’t going to like this. Good thing she isn’t living at the house. It’s going to be World War III. Chase asks if he should be looking forward to Brook sleeping on his couch for the foreseeable future. Michael asks if Brook would accept money from him, but Chase says, she’d rather walk on glass. Willow says its good Brook has Chase to help her. He says she means it’s good he’s a sucker, but she says he’s not, and Brook wouldn’t take advantage if he was. She’s not a user like… Chase says, like Janelle.

Ava asks Nikolas what that means exactly, inconvenient feelings? He says it’s not supposed to happen in a relationship like theirs, and she asks him to be more vague. He says he wishes he had done it differently. He wishes he’d returned to his family as soon as he got back. He wishes he’d contacted her without the subterfuge, and that they hadn’t started out at each other’s throats. Being with her is more good than bad. She says, Ava Jerome, more good than bad; that’s a phrase fit for an epitaph. He says he’s falling for her. No, it’s already happened. He’s fallen for her.

Carly tells Jason, maybe it’s PTSD. Nelle has been after her for so long, she can’t let her guard down. He asks why she’s doubting herself. If she thinks something is off, it probably is. She has great instincts. She says, not with Nelle. When Nelle first came to town, she fell for Nelle, hook, line, and sinker. She played right into Nelle’s hands. Jason says she was grateful about Josslyn, and she says, too grateful to see what was in front of her. She didn’t recognize the girl from Frank’s apartment. She couldn’t go back and fix Nelle’s life, which is what Nelle wanted. When she caught up to Nelle in the clearing, Nelle blamed her for everything; every choice, every horrible thing that happened to her. She begged Nelle to turn herself in for Wiley’s sake, but she refused. She was fighting to hold on, and Nelle was fighting for her life. Nelle came at her, scratching and clawing. She feels like there’s something she’s supposed to remember. Like how you can’t remember a name, but it’s on the tip of your tongue. He tells her, don’t push it. It will come to her. She says, or she could confront it.

Valentin asks why Nina is paying for Nelle’s burial. She says, not that it’s any of his business, but Nelle left a son behind. He might want to visit her grave. Valentin asks why he’d want to do that. If Michael is honest with him about the pain Nelle inflicted, why would he want anything to do with her? He’s glad he didn’t know Helena was his mother while she was alive. Nina says he can’t compare Nelle to Helena, and he says, how about the pain Madeline inflicted? Nina isn’t going to romanticize her mother; why romanticize Nelle? She says, it’s none of his business. She doesn’t want to be late for the graveside service that she paid for. She flounces out, and Valentin asks if Jax isn’t going with her.

Chase tells Michael, Janelle is being buried today, and Michael says Nina called and asked if they wanted to attend. When Wiley is an adult, and he wants to visit, that’s up to him, but he has no reason to. Willow says she feels the same way. Nelle was incredibly damaged, but she caused a lot of hurt, and she hurt Willow. All Willow wants to do is leave the past behind and focus on Wiley. Chase said he felt like that at first, but now he thinks he needs to face Janelle one last time.

Ava walks up to Nikolas, and says, so he’s fallen for her. He says, without meaning to. Against his will, and against good advice from people he respects. She says, so this isn’t the first time he’s spoken of these inconvenient feelings. He says he needed a sounding board. Someone to talk to about it, while he tried to talk himself out of it. She says, yet here he is. He says, here we are. They’ve come a long way since she burned his grandmother’s portrait and threatened to shoot him. She says he has no idea how close she came to pulling the trigger, and he says, why shoot him when she could blackmail him into marriage? She says, her sentiments exactly, and drains her martini. He says, it’s different for him, so he has to believe it’s different for her too. Is she in it with him? Yes or no? It’s not just him, is it? She feels it too? She flashes back to when she found the piece of check with his signature on it, and says she feels annoyed and insulted that he expects her to fall for his declaration. He says, it’s the truth, and she says his relationship with the truth is somewhat casual. He asks why he’d leave himself open to being vulnerable if it wasn’t true, and she says, to get her to lower her guard. He says telling her his feelings doesn’t get him closer to his inheritance; it gets him closer to her. She says he’s been working on her for months, trying to wear down her resistance. He asks if that’s what happened at the cabin. She says, yes, and makes a beeline for the door. He gets in front of her, and says, tell him that she didn’t want him as much as he wanted her that night. Tell him it wasn’t real for both of them. She asks if it’s as real as it is when he’s with Elizabeth.

Jax sits down and tells Valentin, it pains him to say this, but he agrees. It would be better for Wiley if Nelle was in an unmarked grave. Valentin assumes he pitched that argument to Nina and it fell on deaf ears. It’s all wrapped up in her head with the loss of her child. Speaking of which, he’s aware what Jax is doing, encouraging her to keep up the search. If he’s doing that, he’d better be damn sure there’s a child out there to find.

Michael asks if Willow is okay, then says, forget that. It wasn’t a question as much as a demand for reassurance. He wants her to tell him she’s okay, and obviously she’s not. She says she doesn’t know what she is. She hates Nelle and always will, and it’s beyond ironic that everything good in her life comes from something Nelle did. He says Willow had every reason to use her pain as an excuse to hurt others, but she didn’t. She says, maybe because at her darkest moments, she had people to support her, and Nelle didn’t. He asks if one of them was Chase, and she says, Chase was there for her, until he wasn’t.

A pastor says a prayer at Nelle’s gravesite. Fastest. Headstone. Placement. Ever. Chase arrives, as Nina says, amen.

Jax says he’s not like Valentin. He’s not hiring someone to pose as Nina’s child. He’s going to help her as much or as little as he wants. Valentin says, and when the search hits a dead end, and Nina is devastated, what then? Jax says, what’s the alternative? Is he supposed to shield her from disappointment? He’s not in charge of her life. Valentin says, aren’t we enlightened? Someone’s done a lot of work on themselves. He wonders if Jax would be so objective if it was Carly about to break her own heart.

Michael tells Willow, there was a moment where Chase was the same Chase he’d always been. She says she felt it too. Before Michael came over, Chase said he was glad she was going to adopt Wiley. She knows he was sincere and he really wants her to be happy. It’s like there are two Chases. The one who loves her, and the one who threw her away. Michael says he can see how much Chase regrets it, and how much he still loves her and wants her back.

Sonny comes home, and apologizes for keeping Jason waiting. His got held up. His dad had Diane draw up a will after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. He didn’t have a lot, just some personal stuff, and this. He hands Jason a picture and says, a race horse. One quarter share of a thoroughbred, and now it’s his. They laugh, and Jason says, Mike never told him? Sonny says, Mike might have been concerned he’d think Mike was gambling again. Maybe he forgot. Another thing Alzheimer’s took from him. Jason says, Mike loved horses, and Sonny says, he doesn’t know if the horse ever won a race, or if Mike even cared. He didn’t buy it for an investment; he bought it for part of a dream.

Michael says he was being intrusive, but Willow says she’s not offended by what he said. She doesn’t think it matters if Chase wants her back or not.

Valentin asks Jax how far he would go to protect Carly. What boundaries would he cross, or rather what boundaries wouldn’t he cross? Jax asks how many times Valentin has had this conversation with Nina. That is the angle, isn’t it? Playing up his relationship with Carly, so Nina feels more insecure? Valentin says he’s not the only one who sees Jax’s relationship with Carly for what it really is.

Nina thanks the pastor, and tells Chase that she’s glad he changed his mind. He says, if he hadn’t met Janelle, he’d probably still be a cop in coastal Maine. He’s not grateful, and she never did him any good, but in the end, he benefitted. He’s there to acknowledge that, and put her behind him once and for all. Nina says, Nelle had so many gifts, she could have accomplished a lot if just one person was looking out for her. He says, if Nina really believes she could have been the one to save Janelle, then she fooled Nina in death like she fooled him in life. Nina asks if he doesn’t think Nelle’s life would have been different if someone had intervened, but he says, Janelle had plenty of chances to turn her life around. She had plenty of people willing to help. Carly, for one, and Michael. If she’d just put down her vendetta, and tried to become the person she pretended to be, they wouldn’t be standing there right now. But Janelle was broken. She couldn’t accept kindness or support, much less love. Nina says she can’t help but think about it differently. She has a history of making horrible, disastrous choices, and turned herself around, but she had the privilege of having friends and family who cared about her. Nelle didn’t have anyone. Not one person. Maybe he’s right. Nina thought she could save her, but in the end, all she could do is give her a decent burial, and hope that she rests in peace.

Jax says he and Carly have a child together, and Valentin says, it must be difficult to watch him build a life with another woman. Jax says, not as difficult as it is for Valentin to see him building a life with Nina. Valentin says, he’d be more comfortable with Nina’s choice if he believed Jax cared about her half as much as he does. It’s obvious Jax isn’t entirely over Carly, and Valentin doesn’t think he ever will be.

Willow tells Michael, it’s hard for her to imagine getting back together with Chase, and not seeing the betrayal every time she looks at him. She can imagine getting excited over a special dinner, but it wouldn’t be real; she’d just be playing a part. Pretending he never cheated. And pretending would hurt more than accepting they’re over.

Sonny tells Jason, he’s having Diane locate the other shareholders. He wants to buy them out. If the horse still wants to race, he’ll let him, but if not, he’ll find him a pretty pasture. Jason says, Mike would like that. Sonny says he thinks Mike would, but more than that, he keeps doing it over and over, wondering what Mike would want him to do. He’s gone. Sonny loves him and grieves, but has people there who need him. He has to let his dad go, and focus on the present.

Nikolas says, Elizabeth has nothing to do with this, and Ava says she’s seen how Nikolas looks at her; how he watches her. How he grovels for her attention, her approval, and God knows what else. Elizabeth has always been his ideal, hasn’t she? It was Elizabeth who he was hoping was waiting for him when he got back. He says, Elizabeth is his oldest friend. The romance they had was over years ago. She says, look her in the eye and tell her that he hasn’t dreamed of leaving her for Elizabeth.

Nikolas says, it’s true. He thought of starting over with Elizabeth. Ava says, then spare them more of this farce, but he says, it was just a fantasy. Elizabeth is his past. She says, and she’s his future. He says, that depends. Is he hers? Does she return his feelings? Yes or no? She says she refuses to play this game. He says, she doesn’t have to; he got his answer. She says, believe what he likes, and he says he’ll say it as many times as it takes. She tells him, save his breath. Actions speak louder than words. He asks what he can do to prove himself. Name it. She says if he wants to prove his feelings, divorce her.

Jax says he’s been clear on Carly’s place in his life, and Valentin says, he’s holding nothing back? There’s nothing in his history with Carly that Nina can’t know? Jax flashes back to being on the cliff with Carly when Nelle fell, and telling her that she can tell the truth or save herself/ He tells Valentin, if he ever feels the need to settle his conscience, he won’t be talking to Valentin about it. He leaves, and Valentin wonders what he’s hiding.

Michael says he doesn’t want to make Willow uncomfortable, so no is an acceptable answer to what he’s going to say. She says, okay… and he says he doesn’t know a lot about wine. As CEO, he’s going to have a lot of business dinners, and he needs to study up. While they’re still married, would she like to study with him? He could have a broker send over a selection, maybe once a week. Cook could make dinner. They could make it themselves, but Cook would never let them in the kitchen. He doesn’t want to do something too close to what she and Chase enjoyed, but she says she’s not going to give up wine for the rest of her life because she used to drink it with Chase. She’d love to study wine with him. It sounds like fun. They clink glasses, and she says he’s making the annulment more difficult. The more she’s around him, the more she realizes what to expect from a relationship; someone she can trust, solve problems with, and study wine with. She doesn’t want what she had with Chase. She wants this. While thy’re still married, she’s going to honor that for as long as it lasts. He says he is too. 

Sonny asks Jason if there’s any word on Brando. Jason says, Brando went to work for Cyrus this morning. He should be safe for a while. Cyrus won’t test him too soon. Sonny says, eventually, Cyrus is going to want Brando to prove his loyalty, and Jason says, then Brando knows what to expect. Sonny says, what if Cyrus orders Brando to kill Jason? and Jason says he thinks the motorcycle sabotaging was a one-off. He doesn’t have to try for a while. At lest not in public. Sonny asks if Jason thinks Cyrus would risk a war with what he’s got going on at the hospital, and Jason says, he got rid of the long time staffers. He cut Elizabeth’s hours, and put Epiphany on administrative duties. Sonny says, so no one would notice Cyrus is moving product through the hospital. Sonny asks what Jason thinks the end game is, and Jason says, if Cyrus controls the mayor’s office, the cops, and the hospital, he gets Sonny isolated. He takes out Sonny, and he owns Port Charles. Sonny asks if Jason thinks it’s that simple, and Jason says, no. You have to control a lot of people, and in an organization like that, you need secrecy and loyalty. Cyrus has neither. Sonny says, the more Cyrus wastes his time, the more Brando moves closer. Jason says, what if Cyrus openly breaks the truce? Sonny says, then they take him out. It could get messy, but they have too much to lose; too many people in the line of fire.

Nina kneels at Nelle’s grave, and says she doesn’t know what to say. Sorry seems inadequate, and anything more than that seems like a lie. The people Nelle hurt didn’t deserve it, but she didn’t deserve the kind of life she had. Nina wishes things could have been different for Nelle. She hears footsteps, and looks up. It’s Carly.

Tomorrow, Curtis asks Jax if it was his call to continue the search, Alexis asks if someone wants to join her, Cyrus says Julian will find his offer impossible to turn down, and Carly says she’s where she’s supposed to be.

👒 Tonight, Bravo gave us the gift that keeps on giving. Ashley from Southern Charm made an appearance to watch the season 5 finale, along with Kathryn. Well, not exactly with Kathryn. Since it was remote, we could see both of them, but they couldn’t see or hear each other. Believe me, it was better that way. Starting off, Ashley said she was terrified, and Kathryn said it was going to be funny. Kathryn said she was going to be watching all by herself… sort of, and Ashley said, what do you mean Kathryn will be watching? She seemed more amused than embarrassed, and said once you’re a villain, there’s nothing you can do to redeem self. Apparently, she forgot Kathryn, since that’s pretty much what happened with her. Ashley told us, the opening music got her heart rate up. It was a horrific time for her, and she could feel the anxiety; whereas Kathryn said it was a new beginning for her; she’d come full circle with her relationships.

We found out Kathryn never finished Patricia’s book, The Art of Southern Charm. I have to confess, I haven’t either, but I really just bought it for the pictures of Chauncy. Kathryn also informed us that Craig’s finger was permanently crooked from the butter knife incident. She said she and Craig both had houses that were a wreck, but at least she had the excuse of having children. Yep. I have pets is my excuse. Ashley said Craig was one of her favorites, but she was still waiting for her pillow. I’m guessing she’ll be waiting a long time. She said Shep had been the kindest to her, but made it clear that she loathed Naomie, saying she’d rather watch Kathryn, and hated Austen too. She made fun of the way Austen talked, which was extremely mature of her, made fun of the majority of the cast, called them bitches, and said she hated them. Kathryn’s attitude was just the opposite. She laughed at herself, and gave us various details that weren’t on camera.

The episode featured Patricia’s Christmas party, where Ashley called Kathryn an egg donor. In a completely Twilight Zone moment, Ashley said that Thomas had told her to wear a red dress, and Kathryn said she bet Thomas told Ashley to wear a red dress. ♫ Do-do-do-do do-do-do-do ♫ When Cameron said the party was like the Titanic, Ashley felt compelled to inform us that it sank. No surprise to me, Ashley said JD (bleh) was her favorite. She harped a lot on Naomie being a bitch, and how abusive she was to poor Craig. As Captain Lee would say, Craig wrote Naomie a check his ass couldn’t cash. Neither one of them communicated well, and I like Craig, but she had a reason to be unhappy.   

The takeaway point was  that Ashley is definitely still bitter, and still proving she’s a nurse, as she showed us her credentials. She also talked to herself in third person, like, run Ashley! She’s still clueless too. When, during the episode, she told Kathryn that she was living the life Kathryn wanted, she confirmed her original assessment, telling us that Kathryn still did. I find that highly doubtful. At the end, she insisted she wanted nothing but the best for Kathryn, even though she talked sh*t about her. On the other hand, Kathryn laughed her way through it, and said she was glad to say goodbye to that chapter. I don’t know what the hell was in her head with that monkey emoji, but sometimes decent people can be thoughtless. I like Kathryn, also want nothing but the best for her, but won’t be talking sh*t.

This was followed by How They Got Here 2020, which basically gave a quick review of seasons past. The new season begins next Thursday, October 29th.

🍹 Returning Charm…

A couple of newbies and the Covid affect.

https://tvdeets.com/bravo-reboots-southern-charm-for-season-7-browse-cast-photos-and-check-out-the-trailer

⚖️ With Friends Like That…

I remember this woman zero. You’d think with a name like Elvira, she would have stayed in my head.

https://pagesix.com/2020/10/17/rhonj-pal-accused-in-lawsuit-of-keeping-boys-bar-mitzvah-money/

🗽 It Was Bound To Happen…

They didn’t exactly seem happy.

https://pagesix.com/2020/10/20/former-rhony-star-jules-wainsteins-divorce-from-michael-finalized/

⚰️ News Of the Dead…

Lennie James directed last Sunday’s episode of Fear the Walking Dead. Which explains why Morgan was only in it for two seconds.

https://www.tvguide.com/news/fear-the-walking-dead-lennie-james-directorial-debut-interview/

What goes on in World Beyond.

https://www.tvguide.com/news/features/the-walking-dead-world-beyond-set-visit/

👗 Award Winning Fashion…

The best looks at the CMT Awards. At least according to Parade.

https://parade.com/1107627/paulettecohn/cmt-awards-2020-red-carpet-fashion-photos/

🦇 Go Batty…

It’s Bat Appreciation Month. Show them you care.

https://www.discovery.com/nature/batty-for-bats-pictures

👼🏽 Say a Little Prayer…

I actually have to get up early tomorrow for an online seminar, and schedule changes aren’t high on my list of fun. So until we meet at GH and Tea, stay safe, stay self-possessed, and stay not expecting a pillow from Craig.

Oct19

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

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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.

Oct12

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.

Oct5

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

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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.

Aug22

August 21, 2020 – Julian Pushes Back, 3rd Time’s the Charm, Volunteer Carpet, Sam Returns, Parker’s Lifetime, Snake Talk, Bryan’s Next Move, Peeking At Charlie, Teddi’s Mansion, Virally Filmed, 29th Dance, Lilly’s Latest, Dead News, Three For the Show, 12+1 Quotes & Roll

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What I Watched Today

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

 

General Hospital

😳 Oops. My bad. After the insane week I’ve had, I had a hard time reading my own shorthand yesterday and attributed Nelle and Brook’s final words backward. Sorry about that. I did question myself at the time, and should have known Brook would never back down to Nelle. The correct version is in today’s post. Moving forward…

Lucy welcomes us back, and says, once again, the 2020 General Hospital Nurses Ball telethon, a spectacular event to raise money for frontline workers’ special safety equipment. It’s a great honor to introduce everyone’s favorite nurse at GH, Epiphany Johnson. Epiphany comes out, and explains that hospitals are a collaboration. They aren’t made up of just doctors and nurses, but orderlies, lab technicians, cleaners and other workers. Together they provide essential services. These are incredibly stressful jobs, and take their toll on service providers and their families. The viewer donations let them know that the community they support, supports them back. Lucy says the telethon is a way to say thank you to all the medical personnel and first responders, who are heroes, along with their families, and who do so much for them. While the viewers are making donations, they’ll be entertained with amazing acts still to come.

In the bathroom, Ava tells Nina, the Cassadine men do have a way of getting under their skin. Nina says, which brings her back to Nikolas. Is he trying to make Ava jealous by making a fuss over Elizabeth? Even if they’re married in name only, flirting, especially with a married woman, is just tacky. Ava says, and also profitable. If Nikolas sleeps with another woman, he’ll break the infidelity clause, and she’ll wind up with 90% of the Cassadine estate. Nikolas can shower tributes on Elizabeth to his heart’s content, and if he woos her into bed, Ava gets the payoff she deserves. Inside one of the stalls, Elizabeth listens.

Carly tells Jax that Josslyn called. He wonders if there’s something wrong, but she says she thinks Josslyn was just checking in. She might be looking for a congratulatory present. Jax asks if Carly knows Josslyn has been angling for a car, and Carly says she does. She’ll let him handle that. Before he leaves, Jax tells Nikolas, the scholarship for the nursing students in Elizabeth’s name was generous, but maybe he should have thought about it a little more. Franco says, Jax has a point. Next time a wave of generosity washes over him, he may want to shower it onto his wife.

Michael explains the Quartermaine relationships to Willow, telling her, Tracy married Luke. Michael thought it was a fraudulent marriage, but he can’t keep track. They definitely turned out to be life partners though. She asks if unconventional marriages are a thing for the Quartermaines, and he says they wouldn’t have it any other way.

Monica sits back down on the couch, and says, still sleeping; disaster averted. Julian comes up behind her, and chloroforms her, knocking her out. Wiley sleeps peacefully with Mr. Hopsicle.

Brook tells Nelle that she can’t wait until Nelle is hauled off in handcuffs in front of everyone there, and all the people viewing at home. Nelle says the police won’t believe Brook; they’ll say she’s harassing Nelle. Brook says, she’ll call Michael, and he can call the police, but Nelle smacks the phone out of Brook’s hand. Brook says, no worries. Mac is there; he can arrest her himself. Brook heads for the door, and Nelle says she’s sorry. She picks up the shears, and asks Brook to pretend that she didn’t see or hear anything. Brook turns around, and stupidly walks back to Nelle, and says she messed with her last Quartermaine. Nelle slashes at Brook, and we see blood on the shears. Why? Why do they always do that? Like Tuco said in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, if you’re going to shoot, shoot; don’t talk.

Michael sees that Brook called, but didn’t leave a message. Willow says maybe Brook wanted to make peace with him, but he say she doesn’t need to. He didn’t like the idea that she sold her shares, but so did other members of his family. At least she didn’t know she sold them to Valentin. She says he’s less worried than Ned seems to be, and he says he hates the idea of Valentin being in charge, and intends to force him out eventually, but in the short term, Valentin is a smart businessman. He doesn’t think ELQ will suffer. Willow says he doesn’t think of it as a betrayal, so maybe he should tell Brook. He tries calling.

Nelle stands over an unconscious Brook, and says she should have been nicer, more sympathetic. Her mistake. Now Nelle’s plan to have Wiley vanish has gone south. She needs to go. Brook lies on the floor in a pool of blood, next to her ringing phone. Nelle slips out.

Monica is knocked out, and Julian says, sorry. He turns off the TV, and his phone dings. He sees a text from Nelle that says, the timetable has been moved up. We need to move now. Is it done? He closes the doors to the living room, and trots up the stairs.

Michael gives Willow a bottle of water, and raises his own, saying, to Wiley, and his amazing new life. He’s safe from Nelle because of her. Willow says, because of us, and Diane. He says, to Wiley and Diane. Carly watches, and smiles. Michael smiles at Willow, and little hearts start to pop out of his eyes.

Lucy asks Amy if she’s found Jordan. Maybe she’s warming up, since she’s the next act. Amy says she couldn’t find Jordan, so she asked Curtis, who said she was called away on a case. Lucy says, no; that doesn’t work. Jordan is the Police Commissioner. She doesn’t have to solve every case. She can delegate to other police people. Lucy can’t delegate an act. Amy says she called the PCPD and the hospital, but no one has seen her. Lucy will have to cut her number. Lucy says it can’t just be her out there; she needs acts. Acts and asking for money. They need alternate activities. It’s like the NFL draft, but she doesn’t have an act to draft. Amy tells Lucy not to panic; she can panic later. She asks if Lucy wants to shut the Ball down, and Lucy asks if Amy is losing her mind. She tells Amy to find Epiphany and Deanna, and warm up. She’ll stall. She’ll do a tap dance. She doesn’t know how to tap dance. She hates tap dancing. She’ll just stall.

Anna tells Valentin that his song was beautiful, and he says, at least someone appreciates it. She says false modesty doesn’t look good on him. It was wonderful, and he knows it, as was his pledge. He asks if she’s going to chastise him for burnishing his public image. She says, isn’t he? and he says, that’s part of it. He hears congratulations are in order. She must be thrilled for Peter and Maxie. Being a parent changes everything. It makes you better. It did with him and Charlotte, and her and Robin. Maybe it will with Peter. She says, of course (🍷) it will. He hopes so, and says, some mistakes are impossible to fix.

Nina tells Ava, Franco is her friend. She hopes Ava isn’t playing with his marriage. Ava says she’s doing no such thing. She’s heard rumors that under that angelic façade, Elizabeth is chronically unfaithful. If she chooses to break her vows to her husband, Franco should know the truth. Nina sees one flaw in Ava’s big plan. The way she and Nikolas were looking at each other, either she’s getting good at pretending to love him, or something changed in the last few days. Ava says Nina is projecting her issues with Valentin onto her. They leave, and Elizabeth comes out.

Michael tells Willow, they’re supposed to take a tally, and give Lucy the paperwork. What if after that, they sneak out? She says, abandon their post? He says they’ve done more than enough. They can go home, and check on Wiley. She says he’s making her an offer she can’t refuse. She glances at Sonny, and says, did she really just say that? They leave to finish up.

Lucy says hello to all their gorgeous, generous, amazing donors. They’re doing a great job, and she hopes they realize how important it is to the frontline workers who help them every day. When they work together, they do something more than raising money. They’re building a community, and showing the medical personnel and first responders that they support them. Any amount is great. Keep pitching in, and they’ll keep entertaining. They’re in for a special treat.

Nelle dashes through the corridors in the MetroCourt, and around runs outside. Julian sends a text that says, it’s done.

As Monica sleeps, Julian comes downstairs with Wiley, and leaves with him.

Michael and Willow arrive home, and Michael says, sorry the evening crashed and burned. She says, it didn’t. She had a good time. He says, until Chase and Sasha. She says, they were fantastic (I guess we don’t get to see that), and he says, someday it won’t hurt so much. Until then, they can make some popcorn, and watch the funniest movie ever made. She says he doesn’t have to cheer her up, and he says he’s cheering himself up. They sit on the stairs.

Sonny says, Michael and Willow aren’t coming back? and Carly says, they probably went to check on Wiley; they’re such good parents. Sonny says he’s glad it wasn’t her idea; Chase and Sasha pretending to be involved so Michael and Willow would get married. Face it. It’s exactly the kind of plan that’s up her alley. She says, back in the day, 100%. She’d be seeing all of their hearts breaking and feel guilty. Instead, she’s grateful Michael and Willow got custody of Wiley, and Wiley got the best stepmother on the planet. Sonny says he knows there’s too much going on, and Carly asks if he wants to check in with Turning Woods, but he says, no. They’ll call if there’s any change. The best thing he can do for his dad is to stay and support the people who have given him such amazing care.

Olivia tells Ned, she’s trying to call Brook, but there’s no answer. He says, his problem daughter? No surprise. He tells Olivia to save the lecture for now, but she says she’s just expressing her opinion. He says, on this topic, they’re one and the same, and she says he’s scaring the hell of her. She’s heard stories about his grandfather, and his intentions were good, but his methods were toxic. She says this with love, but he’s turning more into Edward every day. He says, that’s not true, and she says, prove it. Find his daughter, and talk to her.

We see Brook lying on the floor, unconscious.

Ned asks if Dustin and Lulu have seen Brook, but Dusting says, not for a while. She might be warming up. They’ll go check. Ned thanks them.

Robert asks Olivia if she’s got a minute, and she asks if he’s okay. He says he has good news. The commissioner at the Bureau said he can get her in to see Dante. Olivia gets super excited, and asks, when? Where is he? Robert says, he’s at a facility in Geneva. No civilians are allowed, so he’ll go with her. The supervisor is waiting for his boss to return, and there’s a narrow window. They have to hurry. He’d like to leave now if they could. She throws her arms around him, and thanks him. Ned watches.

Willow says, popcorn and the funniest movie ever? and Michael says, if only to cheer him up. Feel free not be cheered, since it’s only about him. He asks what she’d like to see, and she asks him, promise not to laugh, but he says, that’s the point. She says it’s a kid movie, with silly humor, and he tells her, cue it up, and he’ll check on Wiley. They go into the living room, and see Monica asleep. Michael tries to wake her, but she stays out.

Julian waits at the pier, and says, sorry, Wiley; you deserve better than this. Unfortunately, your crazy birth mother has other plans. Why is he going along with it? He’s the world’s biggest coward. He should have told Sonny that he knew all along, but Sonny can kill someone. He’s run out of options. He flashes back to telling Ava, go ahead. Tell him what an idiot he is for getting mixed up with Nelle. Ava asks what on earth was he thinking, and why hasn’t he killed her yet? He says he wouldn’t be there if she didn’t have him over a barrel. Ava says if he thinks Nelle will release him when it’s over, he’s a damn fool. On the pier, Julian says, maybe not.

Lulu says, if she’s not backstage, Brook probably bailed, but Dustin says, she might have stage fright, but she wouldn’t run away. They go into the makeshift dressing room, and see Brook on the floor. Dustin runs to check her pulse, and Lulu says, oh my God. Dustin tells her, call 911, and tells Brook to wake up.

Lucy tells the viewers that the Nurses Ball is still so passionately committed to HIV and AIDS. Sonny and Nikolas’s generous donations will be going to those charities. She wants to introduce a woman committed to both causes, and welcomes Anna. Anna thanks the viewers for their donations. She’s been answering the phones, and got to speak to some of them; they’ve been lovely. She’s grateful for their generosity. The Nurses Ball has a special place in her heart, and not just because she received a lovely marriage proposal on this very stage a year ago from Dr. Hamilton Finn (I always forget he has a first name). She says, it’s special because so many lives have been touched by HIV and AIDS. She’s the mother of an HIV survivor. She was diagnosed at a time when the prognosis wasn’t as optimistic; a time when prejudice and fear were more rampant. Her daughter Robin, and countless others, are alive today because of medical research. Perhaps that’s why Robin became a doctor herself. This leads her to tell them how important the telethon is. She served as Police Commissioner, and saw how closely first responders and medical staff work together. Their work is vitally important. The police, doctors, the ambulance crew, the hospital cleaners; no one does their job alone. They need each other, and we desperately need them. So give what you can. Any donation, whatever size. I have a friend who was diagnosed with HIV many years ago, like Robin, and he’s doing fine today.

Elizabeth tells Franco, Nikolas isn’t the problem, Ava is. She’s playing emotional chess with Nikolas, and they’re the pawns.

Robert tells Olivia he has to go back inside. Anna is going to have a fit because he wasn’t there during her speech. Olivia says, tell her the truth. He found a way for her to see her son; Anna will understand. He says he’ll be waiting, and she says she doesn’t know how  to thank him. He leaves, and Ned comes out. He says, amazing. They have a fight and she runs to Robert because he says the right things. Olivia says it has nothing to do with their marriage. Robert found a way for her to see Dante. Ned says, that’s great news, and Olivia says, he’s at a facility in Geneva. Robert knows the guy in charge. Ned says he’ll change his schedule, and they’ll go, but Olivia says Robert has to sneak her in as it is. Only one person can go. Ned says, okay, and Lulu comes running in. She says, Brook has been attacked.  

Michael begs Monica to please wake up. Monica opens her eyes, and asks if everything is all right. He says she scared him half to death. Is she okay? She says she must have dozed off, and Michael says she was sleeping pretty heavily. Where’s Wiley? She says she doesn’t remember. The phone rang, and she’d left it in the foyer. She came back in, and heard Wiley. Michael asks if Wiley was downstairs or did she hear him on the monitor? Willow says she’ll check the nursery.

Nelle goes to meet Julian, and asks where Wiley is. He says Wiley is safe in his car, and she asks if he’s saying he’s giving her a set of wheels. That’s totally nice, but unnecessary. Just put Wiley in her car, and they can get going.

Elizabeth tells Franco, Ava is encouraging Nikolas to cheat, so she can get the Cassadine fortune. Franco says she has it backward. Nikolas is the one who’s playing them.

Lucy thanks everyone, saying the Nurses Ball was a resounding success; just amazing. She’d like to thank the volunteers who jumped in at the last minute, and gave generously of their time, and  the amazing performers backstage who pitched in and made this happen. She thanks her rack of gowns on stage with her, and goes behind the rack, coming out in a volunteer T-shirt and jeans. She says the most deserving of all is their amazing audience. It’s her great pleasure to introduce the intrepid nurses of GH. Epiphany, Amy, Deanna, and an unidentified flying nurse sing. I’ve had zero luck with finding the titles of songs I don’t recognize, but if I can find a list, I’ll post them. They sing in front of a grid with candles everywhere on it, and I think, that’s impressive for something done on the fly.

Backstage, Lucy smiles at her success.

Brook is taken out on a stretcher, while Mac gathers evidence. He asks if Dustin and Lulu saw anybody. Did anyone look like they were fleeing the scene? Lulu says, they didn’t see anyone. Ned tells Brook to hang in there. He won’t leave her side. He’ll be right there. They leave, and Finn goes with them. Mac tells Lulu and Dustin, if they remember any detail, no matter how small, call him.

Michael asks what Monica was doing before she fell sleep. Was Wiley downstairs, or in the nursery? She says she doesn’t remember, and Willow runs down the stairs. She tells them, Wiley’s not in his room, and Monica says, what?

Nelle says, all right, hubby; it’s been fun, but it’s time go. Julian says, sorry, but she’s not going anywhere. She asks what he’s talking about, and he says she pushed him too far. Now he’s pushing back. He takes out a gun.

To be continued…

On Monday, Portia has an update on Brook, Nina tells Jax not to hate her for what she’s going to say, Julian tells Nelle that someone has to stop her, and Sonny says someone is going to tell him right now.

🚔 Even He Was Surprised…

The skinny on Taggert’s return from the dead.

https://www.soapsindepth.com/posts/general-hospital/real-andrews-reveals-secrets-of-taggert-return

👕 Hey, You’re Wearing My Shirt…

Not too much diversity in Nurses Ball fashion this year.

https://www.soapsindepth.com/gallery/general-hospital/nurses-ball-2020-red-carpet-photos

👢 Back and Badass As Ever…

That was quick. I barely noticed she was gone.

https://www.soapsindepth.com/posts/general-hospital/kelly-monaco-opens-up-about-her-return-to-general-hospital

📺 Gig Of a Lifetime…

GH’s Parker returns to the small screen.

https://www.soapsindepth.com/posts/general-hospital/ashley-jones-alicia-leigh-willis-star-in-double-kidnapped

🛥 The Deck You Say…

Hannah has the final word. And a prescription.

https://people.com/tv/below-deck-med-hannah-ferrier-speaks-out-fired-over-valium/

🦍 Breaking Ivan…

Bryan Cranston does it all.

https://film.avclub.com/bryan-cranston-on-working-with-a-cgi-gorilla-and-20-yea-1844756037

🧛🏻 Chrismasland Be Damned…

A sneak peek at what’s next for Charlie Manx.

https://www.bbcamerica.com/shows/nos4a2/video-extras/nos4a2-finale-sneak-peek-christmasland-is-crumbling

🛕 Stepping Out From Daddy’s Shadow…

Apparently cushy jobs accountability coaching pays off.

https://realityblurb.com/2020/08/17/photos-rhobhs-teddi-mellencamp-buys-6-49-million-home-in-encino-see-inside-the-massive-mansion-plus-its-over-the-top-movie-theater-and-backyard-oasis/

https://realityblurb.com/2020/08/20/photos-teddi-mellencamp-enlists-mauricio-umansky-to-sell-her-5-9-million-hollywood-hills-home-see-inside-the-rhobh-stars-modern-estate/

🖥 Pandemically Filming…

Andy talks about the new Housewife normal.

https://www.eonline.com/news/1179839/andy-cohen-reveals-what-its-like-filming-real-housewives-amid-coronavirus

💃🏾 Dancing Into Season 29…

All you need to know about DWTS.

https://people.com/tv/dancing-with-the-stars-reveals-season-29-premiere-date-and-competing-pro-dancers/

💋 Remember Her…?

I tried to forget.

https://extratv.com/2020/08/11/lilly-ghalichi-and-dara-mir-headed-for-divorce-again-after-reconciliation/

⚰️ Beyond Dead…

Sunday August 30th, starting at 6 pm, AMC will also be showing the first episode of each season of The Walking Dead. I still think the very first episode was the best one. Rick’s WTF? face can’t be topped.

https://www.nme.com/blogs/tv-blogs/walking-dead-world-beyond-release-date-cast-everything-know-far-2540839

🏩 Throupling…

I’ll bet she talked through the whole thing.

https://extratv.com/2020/08/21/scheana-shay-says-she-was-in-a-throuple-with-john-mayer-and-another-reality-star/

📯 Quotes of the Week

I didn’t know you could scream that loud after smoking cigarettes. – Cynthia Decker, Pillow Talk: 90 Day Fiancé, referring to Angela screaming at Michael

Tough times never last. Tough people do. – Robert Schuller

Remember to be gentle with yourself and others. We are all children of chance and none can say why some fields will blossom while others lay brown beneath the August sun. – Kent Nerburn

How to sell books in 2020: Put them near the toilet paper. – NY Times

An invisible thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but it will never break. May you be open to each thread that comes into your life – the golden ones and the coarse ones – and may you weave them into a brilliant and beautiful life. – Unknown

We are all ordinary. We are all boring. We are all spectacular. We are all shy. We are all bold. We are all heroes. We are all helpless. It just depends on the day. – Brad Meltzer

Do one thing every day that scares you. – Eleanor Roosevelt

The noisiest thing in the world is someone trying to be quiet. – me

People tend to be generous when sharing their nonsense, fear, and ignorance. And while they seem quite eager to feed you their negativity, please remember that sometimes the diet we need to be on is a spiritual and emotional one. Be cautious with what you feed your mind and soul. Fuel yourself with positivity and let that fuel propel you into positive action. – Steve Maraboli

Luckily for me, I have all my best ideas drunk. – Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Birds of Prey

It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. – Confucius

Immature love says: ‘I love you because I need you.’ Mature love says ‘I need you because I love you.’ – Erich Fromm

Do not fear failure but rather fear not trying. – Roy T. Bennett

🏍 Moving Forward…

Next week has to be better, right? Right? Enjoy your weekend, or pretend it’s the weekend, depending. Until Monday, stay safe, stay supportive of the front line, and stay away from psychopaths with fabric shears.

Feb8

February 7, 2020 – Nelle Changes Her Game, Shah Catch-Up, Reunion Teases, Dead Conjecture, Five Plus Six Quotes & More Bad

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What I Watched Today

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

 

🌬 Apparently ABC thinks they’re my mother. They break in to tell me I should dress warm if I go out tonight.

General Hospital

Ava finds Nikolas at the hospital. He asks what she’s doing there, and she asks how his mother is. He says, much better. His sister is in with her. Ava says, thank God, and hugs him. He says she’s put on her show; she can go now. Ava asks if he doesn’t want the world to know how much he means to her.

Nina sips a martini at the MetroCourt. Valentin comes along, and says, a fully stocked bar, and no Ava? His world no longer makes sense. Nina says she and Ava have buried their respective hatchets, and he says he noticed. He also noticed Ava is trying to drive a wedge between them. She says that’s all on him. He asks if they can talk, and she says, about what? He wants to know exactly what he’s done. He tried to give her what she wanted most in the world. He regrets his methods, and causing her pain of course (🍷), but does he regret doing whatever was in his power to make her happy? He doesn’t.

Lulu tells Laura, she’s only known Dustin a couple of months, and he’s risked his life to save both her mother and daughter. What if he hadn’t been there? Laura says she’s grateful, and Lulu should be too. Lulu says she’s 100% grateful, and Laura says, really? Then explain why Dustin saving her life is making her so tense.

Brook sits at Kelly’s, writing a song. She says, not bad, even if she says so herself. Dustin walks by, and she says, Captain America. Isn’t he supposed to be carrying a shield? He says, only if they’re under attack by dark forces. Otherwise, it gets in the way of him teaching Shakespeare. She says, that’s right. In reality, he’s a humble teacher. He says the thought that’s why she broke up with him; he had no superpowers. She says that makes her sound shallow, and he says she’s making him sound dull. She admits she might have been wrong. His turn. He admits she might have been wrong too.

Ned asks if Michael has seen The Invader. Hero mob target rises; Michael Corinthos impacts the Quartermaine dynasty. It doesn’t read like the end of a news cycle, but more like the start of a problem.

Lucas flashes back to a hazy memory of Brad telling him that Wiley is Michael’s son. Brad asks, what is it? and Lucas says, in the car before the accident. Brad was building up to a confession.

Nina asks if it ever occurred to Valentin that she’s no longer interested in the kind of love he has to offer. She needs  more than his misguided romantic gestures of love. They need to move on from each other. She walks away, and Martin joins Valentin. He says he believes that was Valentin’s ex-wife. What’s got her worked up? Valentin says she’s trying to pretend she doesn’t love him.

Nikolas tells Ava that if she gets any more adoring, people will suspect she’s insincere. She says she is sincere. She’s concerned about Laura. Laura has been good to her, and she respects Laura a great deal. She asks Nikolas to give Laura a list she’s made up of the best rehabs; she already made the calls. He thanks her, and she says just because she doesn’t have a heart for him, doesn’t mean she doesn’t have one. He wants her to leave, and says, take his kingdom; take his horse. She says she has those things. Now give the public a convincing kiss goodbye. He leans toward her, and whispers, go away. Go far, go fast, go for good. She kisses him, and he says he’ll see her at home. She walks to the elevator, pondering the kiss.

Brook tells Dustin, it’s a song she’ll never be allowed to sing. He looks at it, and says, her lyrics are better now than… She says, when she got to sing them? He says they’re too good to stay on the page, but she says, they might have to until she gets out of her contract. Anything she sings, writes, or produces belongs to that sleazeball producer. He asks if there’s no way out, and she says her dad is going to intervene; they’ll see. He hopes it happens, and she asks how he can wish her good after she ditched him. He says she’s a musician. Singing is part of her DNA. He stopped writing, but just because it’s not right for him doesn’t mean it’s not good for her. When he watched her sing, he realized it was just a hobby for him. He loved it, and it was fun, but it’s not his passion like it’s hers. Music is her life.

Lucas says he remembers he was angry at Brad. He’d asked Brad a question. He doesn’t remember what it was, but he feels like it was important. Brad has to remember. Brad says, before the accident, he was falling apart. He put his fears and anxiety in perspective when he thought Lucas was going to die. He’s sorry, but he doesn’t know what he said. Julian says it was the most terrifying night of his life. Reliving the fear and worry can’t be good. Lucas needs to focus on his recovery. Lucas says Julian is right. Being alive and awake and going home to Brad and Wiley is all that matters. Willow comes in, and says, Wiley would completely agree. Lucas says he was just thinking about her.

Ned tells Michael, the idea their profits could get caught in an underworld crossfire tends to spook their business partners. Michael says that’s why he’s always been transparent about himself, and how he runs ELQ. It’s completely above board. Ned says that’s what he’s been telling their insurers and prospective partners. Michael asks what else he’s telling them, and Ned says that Michael is the Quartermaine to lead them into the future, and he’s proud to stand at Michael’s side. Michael says he appreciates Ned’s vote of confidence, and Ned says, grandfather told them they’d rise together or fall together. He prized family loyalty. Michael says, even when he was pitting them against each other. Ned says, he was a complex man, with a complex ethical code. Michael says, about the work Ned has been doing… Ned says he’s been happy to help out, but now Michael wants him to step back? Michael says he was going to suggest the opposite. Stay and show the business world that there are two Quartermaines minding the shop. Nelle walks in, and says Michael brought her there so he could kill her.

Lulu tells Laura that she thinks it’s wonderful how Dustin rushes in to help with no thought about himself. Laura says, but it scares her. Lulu says, it does. After what she went through with Dante, she doesn’t think she has it in her to fall in love with another hero.

Brook tells Dustin, it’s a dirty trick, proving nice guys can be… He says, nice? She says she has to meet her dad and Linc. She wishes Dustin could  take out the villain for her, but he says his tights are in the wash. She thanks him for what he said, and he tells her, anytime. About her voice… She tells him, don’t ruin it now, but he says he always thought of that as her superpower. She hopes so, and tells him to give holier-than-thou her best.

Brad tells Willow, it’s not a good time. Lucas needs to rest. She promises she won’t stress him out, and Lucas says he thinks it’s harder on Brad than him. He was unconscious, but Brad had to deal with that, the hospital, and taking care of Wiley. Brad says, the whole family pitched in; Lucas’s mom and sister, and Julian. Willow says, and Michael has been amazing. Wiley adores him. Lucas says, Michael is so good with kids. He’ll make a fantastic father someday. Willow says, Michael loves Wiley as if Wiley was his own. Brad and Julian look at each other.

Ned says he doesn’t know if Michael is trying to kill Nelle, but turnabout is fair play. Michael wonders what his scheme must be, and Nelle says, the boathouse is cold and damp. He says, it has central heating, and she says she can hear the water, and she has men peeking in; there’s no privacy. He says she should be used to it after Pentenville, and Ned says, the groundskeepers are just doing their job. Nelle says she wants proper living arrangements, and Michael says she’s right. The boathouse isn’t suitable. He’ll send for her bags – and place them at the side of the road. She says she’ll go stay with Brad; it’s cozy, hanging out there with him and Wiley. Michael says, it might be crowded now that Lucas is awake.

Martin says until the issue with the codicil is resolved, he’s making sure Nikolas doesn’t get his hands on any of the Cassadine money. Valentin says at least they know where it is, and that Nikolas can’t move it around, and Martin says, for the moment. He can’t keep the DNA test at bey. Valentin wonders, why wait? If they do the test, the codicil will be rendered useless. Martin says, it might be counter-productive, no matter what the result. If Valentin gives them his DNA, he’s conceding the codicil is legitimate. Valentin says, it’s one of Helena’s games. Cassadine blood is in his veins, and if he has to spill some of it, so be it.

Nelle says, how wonderful for Brad, and Michael says he thinks so. Brad has a soft spot for Nelle, but there’s no way in hell Lucas is going to let her near Wiley. He says he can have her things sent to a motel of her choice, bur she thinks he’s being hasty. If he throws her out, how is he going to access her shares? He asks if she wants to negotiate, and she says, it depends on how much it’s worth to him and his family to be done with her once and for all.

Willow says she’s sending Lucas some photos. She took one every day so he wouldn’t miss anything. Julian says that was nice of her, and Lucas thanks her, saying he probably won’t remember anything after Thanksgiving. He knows it’s not uncommon to lose time, but can’t help thinking there’s something else he forgot. Brad tells him, the doctors said not to push it, and Lucas says, it’s fine. He has all the photos, so it’s like he never missed anything.

Lulu says, it’s wrong for her to resent Dustin being brave, and Laura says she’s a woman who feared for her husband’s life every day of her marriage, but this is different. Dante was a cop; Dustin is an English teacher who was in the right place at the right time. Lulu says, three times, and Laura says, even so. She doesn’t think he was looking to make it happen. Lulu says, she’s right. Laura is always right. Laura says, not always, and Lulu says she has to get Nikolas. He’s been hanging around, waiting to visit. Laura wonders what’s stopping him, and Lulu says she told him that Laura could just have one visitor at the time. Laura says, she lied? and Lulu says, of course (🍷). After what he put them through, it was the least she could do. Laura tells her, falling in love is always a risk, but only she can decide when she’s ready to take it.

Nina goes to the gallery, and says she’s glad Ava is at work. It would be awkward to try and see her at Windymere. Ava asks why Nina wants to see her at all, and Nina says Ava made it a point to show up at Crimson. She thought she’d return the favor. Ava says, it’s a little unexpected, and Nina says she’s not sure if they’ll ever be friends in the traditional sense, but non-traditionally, they’re comrades in arms; Sisters united against the Cassadine men. Ava says she loves where this is headed, and Nina says she disgraced one at the altar, and Ava dragooned one into marriage. They never saw it coming. Who says revenge isn’t sweet? Ava says, not her.

Nikolas asks how Laura is feeling, and she says she’s always up for a visit from her kids. He says, it’s nice to know someone in the family is speaking to him. She says, his sister just did, but he says she texted him, and then left without looking at him. She says he has to be patient with Lulu. Her daughter almost died trying to prove her secret bodyguard existed. He says he never saw that coming, but she says he never really thought about Charlotte. He only thought about one thing – revenge; the rest of them didn’t matter. He asks how she can say that, and she says she’s his mother. She can’t love him and indulge his fantasies at the same time. The obsessive need for revenge is a Cassadine trait. If he’s not careful, he’ll end up being as hateful and bitter as the Cassadines who came before him. He tells her Spencer said something like that before cutting him out of his life.

Brad says he’ll check with Michael about Wiley, and steps out of the room. Julian’s phone rings, and he says, it’s work; he has to take it. He sees Brad in the hallway, and asks, what the hell is going on? Brad asks if he doesn’t see it’s over. Lucas doesn’t remember the truth about Wiley. Julian says, not now, but that doesn’t mean he won’t. Brad tells him, the doctors said it’s highly unlikely. Julian says, Brad sees a man who doesn’t remember; he sees a ticking time bomb. Everything Willow says is a potential trigger, and the more she talks to Lucas, the more chances the bomb will go off and destroy the both of them.

Valentin asks Martin how the impending acquisition is going. Martin says, well. As far as he can tell, the next target will soon be in position.

Brook meets Ned at the MetroCourt, and he says she’s late. They needed time to go over their strategy. Brook says she thought the strategy was to just let him do the talking. Ned says Linc will do what he can to bush Brook’s buttons, but if she loses her temper, she’ll lose everything. Brook says she’s supposed to act like it means nothing, but Linc is literally holding her voice hostage. She gets it; she’ll follow Ned’s lead. Ned tells her not to let Linc get under her skin. Linc comes out of the elevator, and Ned says, show time. Ned thanks Linc for meeting him, and Linc says he can’t tell Ned how much he’s looking forward to working with Eddie Maine.

Laura tells Nikolas, Spencer is hurting. He also has a knack for grand gestures. She expects Spencer will shut Nikolas out for a while, but doesn’t believe he’ll hang on to his anger forever. Nikolas asks if Laura would speak to Spencer, but Laura says, to urge Spencer to take Nikolas back into his life before he’s ready would be disrespectful of his feelings. She stood by Spencer when he mourned Nikolas, and she’ll stand by him as he comes to terms with what Nikolas has done. Nikolas says he thought not being dead would be good news. He never thought his retuning would be more painful than him staying away.

Lulu thanks Dustin for waiting at Kelly’s. He says he thought they were meeting at the hospital, and she says they were. But if he ever wants everyone to know his business, just whisper it at GH in an empty hallway. By the time he gets to the end of the hallway, all the nurses will have formed an opinion. He gets it, and asks what they’re talking about. She says, us.

Dustin asks if it’s something he’s done or hasn’t done, and Lulu says, since they’ve been seeing each other, there have been an unusual number of… Dustin says, incidents? She asks what he means, and he says in addition to her mother and Curtis walking in on them… Lulu tells him to never bring that up again, and he says, Charlotte jumped int the harbor, and there was a bar fight. Does she always attract this sort off… She says, incident? He says he doesn’t think she caused them, but what’s a guy got to do to get a quiet night home?

Lucas says, it sounds like Willow did a lot, and she says she pitched in. Brad hired her as Wiley’s nanny, but it didn’t end well. He asks, why not? Wiley loves her, and Brad trusts her. She says, Brad has been fragile since the accident; emotionally unpredictable and moody. Lucas says, more than before the accident? and she says she thinks so. Honestly, she’s deeply concerned, but maybe now the worst is behind them, and Brad will find his footing now that he knows Lucas is okay. If they need anything, she’s there to help. Lucas thanks her.

Michael says, if Nelle agrees to the terms, he’ll arrange a money transfer immediately after she signs. Then she can live wherever she wants, provided that when her parole is complete, she never comes back to Port Charles. She asks how much he’s offering, and looks at the paperwork.

Linc says, Brook is under contract, and Ned says, it’s a sweet deal for Linc. He has her doing 99% of the work, while he takes 99% of the payout. Linc says he’s making 100% of it happen. If not for him, she wouldn’t have a deal at all. Ned suggests he test that, and release her. Let her find out for herself. Linc says he can’t do that in good conscience. When Brook’s feelings get hurt, she lashes out. Ned asks if that’s how he describes her reaction to his sexual assault. Linc says he didn’t assault her or anyone else. He’s an affectionate guy; ask anyone. He’s never had a problem with it being misconstrued; it was a friendly gesture. Brook is obviously having a hard time keeping quiet, and Ned tries to hold her back. Ned says, touching someone intimately without consent. It happens all the time these days, but as they say, time’s up. Do what’s best for everyone involved. Ned slides a check toward Linc, saying it’s the projected revenue of Brook’s next three albums, and the cost incurred. He’ll get all of the reward with doing none of the work. Linc says he’s not interested. Brook can cut an album for him, or stay quiet. If she sings a single note, it’s his.

Nikolas tells Laura, as soon as she’s well enough, he’s moving her and Doc into Windymere. She says, absolutely not, but Nikolas says, one mob shooting is more than enough. He wants to make sure she’s protected. She says she has a security detail, but he says, it’s not the same. She asks if he’s discussed it with the lady of the manor, and he tells her, Ava has no say in what happens at Windymere. She asks if he’d care to put that theory to the test. It’s hard to believe Ava handed over the codicil without laying claim to something. What is the arrangement costing him?

Ava tells Nina, a romance-free marriage is practical. She got what she wanted, Nikolas got what he wanted, and if they both follow the rules of the post-nup, everything will stay in place. Nina asks, what rules? and Ava says, like with any business arrangement, there are consequences if they don’t abide by the contract. Nina asks what she means, and Ava says, cheating. If one of them commits adultery, they forfeit what they’ve got. Nina says, no sex outside marriage is pretty standard. At least they have each other. Ava says, who said anything about sex inside the marriage?

Willow asks if Lucas is sure about this, and he says he thinks it’s the best decision for everyone involved. And it will be a huge favor. Brad comes back in. He feels better to see Lucas happy, awake, and talking. Lucas says, it’s going to be a while before he’s 100%, and Brad will be taking care of him, Wiley, and working. Julian says there are a lot of people who love Lucas. Brad won’t be alone, and they can help until Lucas is back on his feet. Lucas says he knows, but instead of a revolving door of concerned family and friends, he has a better solution. Until he’s back on his feet, he’s hired Willow to keep taking care of Wiley.

Lulu asks Dustin how a bottle of merlot, popcorn, and a mutually agreed upon movie sound? They’ll be no more than three feet from her sofa. He says, no gangsters, or creeps, or kids jumping into open water? Lulu says they can always hang out at he docks and pick a fight with a longshoreman. It’s up to him. He kisses her, and says he thinks a movie at her place is the right kind of quiet.

Brook says she either sings for Linc or stays quiet? Quiet isn’t her thing. She’ll go on record about the sexual harassment. Linc says he looks forward to winning the libel suit. The judge will order her to make even more albums for him. She says, next time he puts his hand on her ass, she’ll cut it off. Ha-ha! That reminds me of the time I told my boss, if he wanted to keep his hand, he’d be taking it out of my back pocket. Brook walks away, and Ned says he comes from a family that has an army of lawyers. One phone call, and they’ll eat Linc alive in ways he can’t imagine. Then he’ll sit back and watch with his daughter, or Linc can take the check. Choose wisely. Ned gets up, and tells Linc, it’s a one-time offer, and goes to join Brook.

Nina tells Ava, let her get this straight. There’s no sex outside the marriage, and no sex inside the marriage. Ava says she can hold out as long as Nikolas can. Nina doesn’t know about that. Ava and Nikolas are both attractive, healthy people with needs. Ava says, exactly. Nikolas is a passionate man, and this this game of chicken ends when he gives into his urges. One indiscretion, and she wins. Nina asks how long Ava thinks it will take, and Ava says she has the feeling it will be sooner rather than later. Much sooner.

Nikolas tells Laura, don’t worry; they have an agreement. Laura says, that’s what worries her. She can’t bear the thought of Nikolas spending his life trapped in a loveless marriage. He says, believe him. He has no intention of staying married to Ava for the rest of his life.

Nelle says, it’s the same offer she tore up earlier, but Michael says there are added incentives. She says she’s not a CEO, but she knows a goldmine when it’s in her hand, and this isn’t it. He says, no more games. What does she want? She says, apparently more than he’s willing to give her. She’ll find a buyer who’ll treat her with the respect she deserves. She walks out, and makes a call.

Martin’s phone rings, and Nelle asks if he remembers the item they were talking about selling. She’s ready to entertain offers. Does he know what she’s looking for? He says, a life changing number, and she asks if he can deliver. He believes so, and says he’ll be in touch. He goes over to Linc, and says Linc was saying Brook would do anything, give anything, to get out of her contract? He’ll be in touch.

Valentin’s phone rings, and Martin asks if he remembers the acquisition Valentin wanted him to expedite? They’re about to go shopping. Valentin says, wonderful. He’s looking forward to joining their family.

On Monday, Anna needs to know about Finn’s conversation with Sam, Spinelli is moving back to Port Charles, Neil tells Alexis that they want her to testify, Carly asks if Brando knew who she was when he saved her, and Sonny tells Jason they were totally exposed.

🌴 Drama On Sunset…

I can’t believe it’s been over a year.

https://www.etonline.com/shahs-of-sunsets-mike-shouhed-addresses-all-the-reza-farahan-drama-and-his-new-relationship-141123

Catching up. Tommy and Baby Shams’s matching PJs are too much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQNhxsTeErs

🛥 Tastes Like Reunion…

A Reunion tease.

https://www.eonline.com/ap/news/1120440/below-deck-s-captain-lee-walks-off-set-while-it-s-the-men-vs-women-in-tense-reunion-trailer

Captain Lee calls ‘em like he sees ‘em.

https://www.bravotv.com/below-deck/season-7/videos/captain-lee-rosbach-calls-out-the-deplorable-behavior-of-the-below-deck

A precap of the Reunion, as well as a video of the Captain and Kate dishing about the season and yachting in general on Reality Check. Stay tuned for Adam and Jenna (Below Deck Sailing Yacht) afterward.

https://people.com/tv/below-deck-reunion-captain-lee-rosbach-walk-off/

And the most important thing – what are they wearing?

https://www.bravotv.com/below-deck/season-7/videos/the-below-deck-season-7-reunion-looks-revealed

⚰️ Walking Into a New Season…

According to the comics.

https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/1238866/Walking-Dead-Do-the-Whisperers-get-defeated-in-The-Walking-Dead-Alpha-Negan-comics

Nerd speculation and the trailer.

https://nerdist.com/article/the-walking-dead-cave-death/

Theories.

https://www.inquisitr.com/5879955/the-walking-dead-michonne-exit/

And Beyond.

https://www.amc.com/shows/the-walking-dead-world-beyond

🖨 Quotes of the Week

If you have a boy, you only have to worry about one penis. If you have a girl, you have to worry about them all. – Herb (Ryan Stiles), Two and a Half Men

Maybe you think you’ll be entitled to more happiness later by forgoing all of it now, but it doesn’t work that way. – Ann Brashares

In a surprise twist, I made more than I could eat. – Doug (Kevin James), King of Queens

Faith is realizing that you always get what you need. – Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

It’s not a scrapbook; it’s a freezer. – Paul (Paul Reiser), Mad About You

If I’m wrong, educate me, don’t belittle me. – unknown, from YourTango article on how public shaming can be harmful

Don’t wait for the right moment to start, start and make each moment right. – Roy T. Bennett

I’m an underachiever, not an idiot. – Jake, (Angus T. Jones), Two and a Half Men

I don’t want to hear the specials. If they’re so special, put ’em on the menu. – Jerry Seinfeld

Life gives us choices. You either grab on with both hands and just go for it, or you sit on the sidelines. – Christine Feehan

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

🥀 No Hearts & Flowers Here…

See you Sunday on Sunset. And don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.