Tag: Zombies

Another week down, another week late.  Sorry everyone.  I’ve been slacking pretty hard lately.  And during a good season, too.  I’m going to try to get back on track for the remaining episodes.  Can’t be falling too far behind with such a short amount of time left in the season.

Hates:
1. I realize that Daryl and Carol were driving their car with the lights off, but I find it hard to believe the lead car wouldn’t have seen a car following them.  They drove a long way and there was no one else on the road.  Daryl stayed back a little ways, but not that far.  I feel like they would have been noticed.

2. All the talk about starting over.  We get it.  Blank slate and all that.  Roughly half the dialogue in this episode seemed to deal with this.  We get it.  There was no need to hammer it as hard as they did.  Daryl’s “The reason I said we’ve got to start over is because we gotta,” line was particularly eye-roll worthy.  You know what I don’t want any more of?  Vague, faux-philosophical talk about starting over or how little anyone can know anyone else.  It all just feels like empty, space-filling talk.

3. Carol being a smart survivor, yet using her three remaining bullets against zombies in close quarters.  That is not a good use of resources.

4. I loved the silence of the falling van, but watching it land on its wheels was laughable.  I know, I know.  “It’s a show about zombies, how can you expect realism?”  Because I do.  It may be a show about zombies, but it’s set in our world.  The normal rules of our world still apply.  And in our world, a van that falls nose-first off a bypass does not do a complete flip and land on its wheels.
It was a cool scene and the raining zombies (hallelujah) were cool, but watching that van land on its wheels was ludicrous.

LOVES:
1. When the car headed north on I-85, I loved that the northern route was clear, while I-85 south was jam-packed with cars.

It led to this question: in the event of a zombie uprising, where would you go?  Would you go south where the weather is warmer, or would you go north, where the zombies would freeze in the cold?  Surviving in the cold would be harder, but you know you wouldn’t have to deal with zombies for roughly 30% of the year.
For the record, I already have a place picked out, but I’m not telling anyone here.  Don’t want it to be too crowded, you see.

2. The scene in the shelter was terrific.  My heart broke a little when we saw the shadow of the child behind the door.  I loved Daryl taking care of both zombies and burning them while Carol was asleep.  This entire episode showed the depth of their friendship, but this scene really stood out.
Carol’s face when she saw Daryl burning the bodies was terrific.  Just a subtle change in her expression.  Melissa McBride and Norman Reedus did great work in this episode.  Reedus is normally pretty one-note, so he doesn’t usually impress me too much, but McBride is consistently one of the best parts of the show.

3. Every time I see a pillar of smoke, I can’t help but think about The Darkness Out of Carthage.  It’s a terrific visual that always gives off a feeling of dread.  (Also, you should buy The Darkness Out of Carthage, because it’s amazing.)

4. I’m a big fan of the “throw the burning notebook to distract the zombies” trick.  For a minute, I thought that notebook contained all of Daryl’s poetry.
Speaking of Daryl and his love of the arts…
“Looks like a dog sat in paint and wiped his ass all over the place,” was the perfect way to describe that painting.  I think Daryl missed his calling as an art critic.

5. Seeing the Georgia Dome in the background of a couple shots.  Haven’t seen that much destruction come to that building since the 2010 NFL playoffs.

6. A zombie getting a machete in his face.  It looked like something out of Zombi.  The head looked like it had the consistency of a rotted pumpkin.  A rotted, blood-spurting pumpkin.  When the skin starts rotting, does the skull start rotting also?

7. Back in my recap of the first episode, I made mention of Carol’s face looking much cleaner after the group caught up with her.  “How did she get her face all clean?” I asked.  They showed her wiping her face off with her poncho in this episode.  Well played, writers.  I still don’t think she could have wiped her face clean with clothes stained in zombie blood, but I like that they showed this.  It made me smile a little.

8.  In the scene where Daryl and Carol are waiting in the car and a hand bangs on the window, I thought it was telling that they sighed with relief when they found out that it was “just a zombie”.  Zombies are vile creatures that can kill you with a single bite.  And yet that zombie was way less of a threat than the people in the car they were following.  It’s a common theme of all post-apocalyptic stories: more often than not, the true threat is our fellow man.  No matter what is banging on our window, we’re the real monsters.

Final thoughts:
There were some moments I didn’t care for, but, overall, I really liked this episode.  I love the rapport – often non-verbal – that Daryl and Carol have.  (If you want to read a great take on the nature of their relationship, you really need to read Lisa’s recap of this episode.  She’s a terrific writer, and she absolutely knocks this out of the park.)
I really like the way this episode has gone.  Yes, we have spent a lot of time away from Rick and company, but I like that.  I prefer these episodes where we focus on another group the entire time, rather than spending 10 minutes per episode getting caught up with non-Rick characters.

I’m a week late with this.  Sorry.  I was out of town for work, and it just threw my whole schedule off.  Orlando was lovely, but I neglected my duties.  Sorry everyone.

Let’s just go with Hates and Loves, yeah?

Hates:
1. I still don’t understand the whole, “Glenn and Maggie have to go with Abraham.”  I know that was the deal, but I don’t understand why that was the deal.  Just so they would have more people in their Eugene Security Party?  It was never really explained.

2. Abraham insisting on driving 70 mph down a road in a bus.  There are zombies and broken-down cars everywhere.  I know you’re anxious to get to Washington, but just slow down a little bit.  The people in this show have a nasty habit of driving too fast and flipping their cars.

3. The scene with Eugene humming really got on my nerves, and it went on entirely too long.

4. While the scene of Eugene dismembering zombies via fire hose looked cool, it seemed unnecessary.  I think they could have taken care of the zombies by themselves, and they would have been able to save that water to drink.  It was an ill-advised wet t-shirt contest.

5. Having two vehicles break down in a single episode was a bit much.

Loves:
1. Eugene’s admission when he gets caught watching Abraham & Rosita having sex.  “Cards on the table, I was watching them…I enjoy the female form and I consider this to be a victimless crime.”  It was weird and skeezy, but it made me laugh.
We should also not be surprised that a man with a mullet was watching people have sex.

2. I’m glad that Eugene finally admitted to the group that he’s a fraud.  After trying to sabotage them along the way, it’s good that it’s finally out in the open.
It helps to explain Abraham’s drive to get him to Washington.  He wanted to believe in Eugene because that mission was the only thing keeping him alive.  Maybe he saw the cracks in Eugene’s story, but he didn’t want to believe Eugene was lying.  Watching Abraham drop to his knees was heartbreaking.

3. Watching the hope draining from Maggie’s face after Eugene’s admission was terrific.  Great non-vocal acting.

4. Eugene dropped to the ground like Apollo Creed.

Final thoughts:
I didn’t care for this episode immediately after it ended, but, after thinking about it a little more, I really liked this.  It got Eugene’s lies out in the open, and also helped explain Abraham’s motivation.  It wasn’t a great episode, but it was a pretty good episode.  Looking forward to seeing where they go from here with this group.

The first three episodes of this season sure were great, weren’t they?  They sure were.  Can’t have too many of those episodes in a row, can we?  Let’s get bogged down for an episode.

I know everyone has been wondering where Beth has been, so I figured we’d get caught up with her at some point.  I was hoping it would be through a series of small reveals here and there.  Maybe we’d catch some glimpses, and she would make her grand escape at the midseason finale.  Oh, how wrong I was.

We didn’t need a full episode of Beth.  I have nothing against Beth.  I think she has a lovely singing voice and I like her taste in music.  But she has never been a character I thought could carry an entire episode.  It looks like I was right.

A question: Carol coming in at the end.  What timeline is this?  Is this present day Carol?  My original theory was that Daryl and Carol met up with the recently escaped Noah, who made mention of Beth and told them how they could break her out.  (That theory continues that Daryl brought Noah back with him to the camp in order to convince the others to help with Beth’s break-out while Carol faked an injury to help break out Beth from the inside.)
However, after thinking about it, I’m not sure if that’s accurate.  How long ago was Beth captured?  And how long has she been at the hospital?  Even if they drugged her for a while, I can’t imagine she has been at the hospital for longer than a week (even that might be generous: the entire episode seems to take place over the course of a day or two).  Which would make the unconscious Carol she comes across an on-her-own Carol, not a recently-reunited-with-the-group Carol.

I guess we’ll find out soon.  Or maybe it’ll take a while.  Just please not another episode that focuses only on Beth.  We were doing so well this season.  Let’s not muck it up now.

Hates:

1. On the “previously on The Walking Dead” section, they showed how Daryl and Beth got separated.  I forgot how dumb that whole thing was.  Daryl casually opened the door to a horde of zombies.  No checking the door beforehand or anything.  So stupid and out-of-character.

2. Gorman the rapist.  Dr. Edwards seems like a decent human being.  I have a hard time believing he would allow Gorman to go around raping at will and never do anything about it.  Same goes for Dawn.  No, she doesn’t seem like she’s open to suggestions, but it does seem like she’s trying to keep everyone safe, even if she’s going about it all wrong.  Gorman openly questions her authority, yet he is able to continue with his normal life (this makes him a more rapey Starscream).  I know we don’t know much about these characters, but the little we do know seems to suggest that they wouldn’t be fine with a man raping with impunity.

3. Let’s talk about Dawn for a second, because I’ve seen some backlash at the anti-Dawn sentiment (some of it coming from my sister in horror, the great LC Fremont).  I wasn’t offended by Dawn’s behavior, but I certainly don’t like her as a character, and that has nothing to do with her being a woman.  It has everything to do with her being the absolute voice of authority while also being pretty ignorant.  Man or woman, her leadership style leaves much to be desired.  Again, we only get a glimpse of her character.  Maybe I wouldn’t feel that way if I saw how she was when they were making the hospital safe.  Rick is doing pretty good work now, but there have been a number of times where he looked terrible, and would look even worse if we just dropped in on him for a single episode.
Let’s take a look at her biggest use of failed logic:
“After they rescue us, we’re going to help put the world back together.”  All her decisions – every single one – are made based on the assumption that they’re eventually going to be saved.  That’s a fool’s assumption.
Dawn is a bad leader.  That would be the case even if her name were David.

4. Why are Dawn and Gorman still wearing police uniforms?  Like, the entire uniform?  I guess it’s to project an air of authority, but it just comes off as extremely annoying.  It’s the apocalypse and you’re in a hospital.  Just wear scrubs.  They’re way more comfortable.

5. They keep saying stuff like, “Keep working off what you owe and you’ll be out of here in no time.”  Is there a chart showing this trade-off?  “Cleaning a wound is worth a plate of food.”  Something like that.  There needs to be some sort of bartering chart, otherwise the entire system is broken.  (Surprise surprise: the entire system is broken.)

6. Fremont pointed this out, but it’s worth repeating here.  They said there’s no way out.  But there’s a way in, right?  How is there not a way out if there’s a way in?

Loves:

1. Throwing dead bodies down the elevator shaft.  A terrible job that was handled with all the ho-humness of taking out the trash.  The body falling gave off a whiff of Titanic’s infamous propellerman, which made me chuckle, but it was still a pretty rough image.  It was even worse when Beth and Noah made their way to the bottom and found limbs and bodies everywhere.
Noah should have yelled, “I don’t care what you smell,” when getting Beth to descent the chute, though.

2. Dr. Edwards trying to piss off Dawn by keeping his office messy.  “We all have ways of making her pay.”  Even during the apocalypse people are still finding their own happiness wherever they can.

3. “Every sacrifice we make must be for the greater good.”

4. Lots of zombie throat-biting in this season.  If there were a box to check that requested more throat-biting, I would always check that box.  Always.

5. Beth turning into zombie Rambo and killing everything in sight.  She was suddenly a crack-shot.  Normally that would get on my nerves, but she smashed a zombie’s head with her foot.  If you do that, your killing spree gets a thumbs up from me.

6. Beth’s smile as she saw Noah escaping.  Even though she knew she was going back to the hospital (and would be punished for her escape attempt), she could still be happy for Noah.

Final thoughts:

Not a terrible episode, but not nearly as good as this season has been up to this point.  Let’s hope they correct the ship and don’t spend too much more time on Beth.  Let’s get her out of there and back with the rest of the group.

Fun fact: Erik Jensen (the actor who played Dr. Edwards) played Yankee great Thurman Munson in the series The Bronx is Burning.  According to former teammate Fritz Peterson, Munson had penis “like a beer can”.  That doesn’t have anything to do with The Walking Dead, but it’s a fact I have kicking around my head and I thought I’d share it with you.  You’re welcome.