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The Walking Dead: Always Accountable

"Self-awareness is a beautiful thing."

A Walking Dead character piece. I like this sort of thing.

Daryl has changed. The Daryl of long ago probably wouldn't have gone back with the insulin for Tina, wouldn't have trusted that man (AMC says the character's name was D), wouldn't have been blindsided. It's sad that D and Honey decided they'd rather have the motorcycle and the crossbow. They have no idea what sort of friend they just threw away. Maybe it really is a good idea for Alexandria to stop recruiting completely.

D, Tina and Honey said they'd belonged to the same group from the beginning of the apocalypse, a group so big they didn't even know who all was in it. That's a big group. The three of them didn't have W's carved into their foreheads and didn't seem brainwashed, so it couldn't be the Wolves. (There are comic spoilers all over the internet about whose group it is, by the way, linked to a recent casting spoiler. Please note that the link itself is a spoiler.)

Are they good people or bad people or maybe something in between? Tina did have insulin, which means they take care of their people. And this guy Wade, whoever he was (note that we didn't see anyone's face), cared enough about one of his people to carry out a battlefield amputation. When Daryl asked D the famous three questions, D said he'd never had to kill a human being, and that if he had, there would be no going back. But D was also talking about rules, and having to kneel. Which can't be good.

Daryl, Sasha and Abraham were twenty miles from Alexandria when they abandoned the ginormous horde of walkers, am I right? That means this group is close enough to be a problem. (Of course it's a problem — this is The Walking Dead.) Are D and Honey going back to tell whoever is in charge about what Daryl said about Alexandria? Daryl didn't say exactly where he came from or how to get there, but still.

Hey, burned out woods to take out walkers. Was I right that Rick and his commandos should have tried fire on the quarry horde?

Apparently it's the summer of love, and I have to say the thought of Sasha and Abraham as a couple just makes me smile. I have liked the way he has kept an eye on her while she was drowning in grief and depression, and now that she's coming out the other side, he thought it was time to make his move. Verbally, which was definitely the way to go; I would have felt uncomfortable if he had tried to kiss or touch her, and besides, I think Abraham is too honorable not to break up with Rosita first. It was hard to tell how Sasha felt about it, but she might have been receptive. She has certainly weathered way too much loss in rapid succession and a new love wouldn't hurt. Hey, I'm a romantic. I'm picturing bi-racial redheaded babies now.


I really liked the Abraham moments on the bridge and in the office building, too, especially as they related to his need to control things and his frustration that there were walkers growling away that he couldn't shut up and take out. Abraham has found it hard to accept that he no longer has a mission to get Eugene to D.C., but putting on that uniform was pretty obvious symbolism that he now feels comfortable with Alexandria, having a place to fight for, a new mission that includes creature comforts and possibly a new relationship, even a family. And Sasha had some good moments, too. I particularly liked the calm way she said that the best way to find a tracker was to let the tracker find you. She was right, too.

What happened to that dead guy on the bridge with the grenade launchers? How did he end up speared on that piece of the bridge fence? Any bets on how handy those grenade launchers are going to be in the fall finale?

And who was it on the other end of the walkie at the end of the episode calling, "Help!" At first I thought it was D. But it has to be Glenn. Has to be. Okay, could be Glenn. I still think Glenn is alive and the producers are screwing with the fans.

Notes from Talking Dead:

The guests were Michael Rooker (the late great Merle), Paget Brewster and Doug Benson. Rooker was a hoot; he said Daryl is such a badass that he doesn't even need the bike and the crossbow any more. Since there has been romance in the last two episodes, Rooker was asked who Merle would have been making out with, and he said everyone, that Merle was gender neutral. Doug Benson said that Rick wouldn't have brought the insulin back, and I think he was right.

There is a Walking Dead pop-up book. Hilarious. I sort of want one. Although I'd rather have that model of Dale's RV, which doesn't seem to be on the Shop the Walking Dead site any more.

Bits and pieces:

-- Glenn watch, pun intended: Steven Yeun's spot in the credits is still Hershel's watch. But of course, there was the walkie talkie moment of hope at the end of the episode.

-- Is the megaherd heading toward the headquarters of this new group? I can imagine that would piss them off.

-- Some random bits that I liked about this episode: the cigars, Daryl's biceps, the well done ambush scene at the beginning. And Abraham screaming at the bridge walker face to face.

-- Tina, Honey and D referred to the walkers as "dead ones". Their constant references to "Patty" — was that the Pattrick fuel truck with the Patty something license plate?

-- The walker slowly falling off the bridge was really funny. The grenade launcher dangling after the walker fell was also laugh out loud funny.

-- Things I could do without: battlefield amputation will probably do it (shades of Hershel), plus the walkers in the greenhouse under the melted glass. The skeleton walker covered with moss was also icky, although it wasn't nearly as bad as those two walkers in the sewer last week.

-- The walker trapped behind glass in the office was this week's Most Obvious Symbolism. A part of their life that is always there and out of their control.

Quotes:

Sasha: "I'm in control now."
Abraham: "Me, too."
Sasha: "That's why you want to kill that walker, the one down the street, the guys in the car? 'Cause you're in control?"
Abraham: "'Cause loose ends make my ass itch. If I had not gotten my psyche situated straight, it's because the shit's continually been hitting the fan without respite."
I love the way Abraham talks. Loose ends make my ass itch.

Abraham: "It is the fruit of some off the chart stupidity. Some grade A butt steak idiocy."

Abraham: "We got beer and air conditioning and walls."
Yeah. What more could you want?

Honey: "We're sorry."
Daryl: "You're gonna be."

Episodes like this one balance out the craziness and heaviness of episodes like, say, "Thank You." How would you rate it? How many fruits of off-the-chart stupidity out of four?

Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

3 comments:

  1. I also love the way Abraham talks. It's unique. Well, Eugene kind of talks like that too come to think of it, but maybe he adopted Abraham's style as a way to endear himself to him.

    Abraham/Sasha took me by total surprise. While I like happy things on the show, I'm not sure how I feel about this. Poor Rosita.

    I like how they're showing Sasha as a changed woman after her killing spree days. After being ambushed and separated from Daryl, she was totally calm and smart, letting Daryl find them instead of blundering around the woods chasing him.

    And then Daryl's adventure with Honey, D, and Tina was pretty perfect. To have him be...well, him and go back with the insulin, save them from the mysterious group, and even offer to take them back was such a bright spot in what's been (as many have noted) a pretty dismal season. Yeah, they betrayed him but they didn't kill him (or even try to). It's probably for the best they took off, anyway. I can't see Rick welcoming any new people with open arms at the moment.

    Definitely a nice change of pace for the season AND THAT HAD TO BE GLENN GODDAMNIT.

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  2. I think the person who called for help at the end was D.

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  3. I really hope the person calling for help was Glenn.. but it was probably D. I actually thought I heard whomever it was say "This is Glenn," but that was probably wishful thinking.

    The Abraham/Sasha business makes me nervous and sad for Rosita. How exactly do you dump someone in the apocalypse?

    The woods and the quarry are not the same thing. Walkers are not particularly flammable. Trees are.

    Yes, Patty was the truck. They addressed that in Talking Dead.

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