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The Walking Dead: Start to Finish

"Someday this pain will be useful to you."

Poor Sam. He had a mental break, ants were literally and figuratively eating his cookies, and nobody noticed because they were all too busy trying to stay alive themselves.

The crayon drawing Sam did showed the Carol scenario: Sam tied to a tree in the woods, with walkers approaching. But with some charity for Carol, I don't think her cookie-related death threats were what broke Sam, although it certainly couldn't have helped. I think it was (1) his father's execution, followed by (2) the Wolf attack, followed by the coup de grace, walking out into (3) the megaherd. What can they possibly do to get Sam out of there alive? Duct tape his mouth and hands? I doubt anyone has duct tape handy. Knock him unconscious? That will draw attention from the megaherd, won't it?

How many of them will die because of Sam's breakdown? (And if it's anyone, could it please be Gabriel?) I wonder if maybe Sam will die, since kids do tend to die on this show. Plus Sam's owl sculpture, which has been mentioned numerous times and was proudly displayed on the front porch, got destroyed during this episode.

Jessie should have noticed that Sam had mentally left the building, but she had just experienced all the same traumas he did, and the best she could do was tell Sam to pretend to be brave. Seriously, though, what could she have done about it? Frankly, I thought Ron was going to be the problem. I even thought for a moment Ron was about to go all mass murdering shooter. But Carl, in an interesting display of maturity, not only defused Ron, he also covered for him. Maybe Ron will behave now. Possibly too late, though, since the fight with Carl was what let the walkers into the house. Worst timing ever award.

All eight episodes of season six have for the most part centered around this megaherd superthreat. Will this be the end of Alexandria? The loss of Deanna, who was the keeper of the flame of Alexandria's future, suggests that it might be. Deanna certainly went out with class, though. Running into the walker herd to rescue Rick and getting bitten, telling Michonne to figure out what Michonne herself wants out of life and to go for it, and in the end, shooting walkers instead of herself. Thank you, director and producers and writers, for not showing Deanna's actual death.

Tara said Alexandria had a price. They're certainly paying it.

We do still have Glenn and Maggie, who could also be considered keepers of the flame of optimism. Even after what happened with Nicholas, Glenn was still trying to save other people, which is why we love him. This time it was Enid. Glenn, I'm so glad you're not dead. Even if they're planning to kill you at the end of this season, which everyone suspects. We didn't get a Glenn/Maggie reunion, darn it, but he did see her on the guard platform. But with all the walkers between them, Maggie might as well be stuck on another planet.


We all knew that Carol's apocalypse philosophy conflicts with Morgan's, and they finally came to blows after Morgan brought Doctor Denise over to treat the Wolf guy. And now Wolf guy has gotten away and taken Denise. That was so your fault, Morgan. Gee, I think I just came down on Carol's side, because Carol was Freaking Right this time. If the Wolf kills Denise, or even if he decides the Wolves need a doctor of their own, how many deaths will Denise's absence cause?

Everything just stopped after Sam said, "Mom! Mom!", drawing attention to himself while half the cast was wading through a sea of walkers. Practically everyone is in mortal danger, and Daryl, Sasha and Abraham never arrived. This might have been a cliffhanger. An effective cliffhanger at that, since I kept yelling "Nooo!" at the screen.

Notes from Talking Dead

Guests were Tovah Feldshuh (Deanna), Robert Kirkman (creator of The Walking Dead), and Jason Alexander. Tovah said Deanna started as a politician and went out like a samurai, that she chose to kill walkers instead of herself for the greater good of her people. She said she loved doing the show and said nice things about Scott Gimple and Andrew Lincoln, and that she and Lincoln used to do push-ups together before filming a scene. And then she got up, in her little black dress, and did push-ups for the audience. I'd say this woman is in shape.

Jason Alexander said that, as much as he loves kids, Sam should die. The young actor who plays Sam, Major Dodson, tweeted to Chris Hardwick during the commercial break that he would meet Chris for coffee and cookies the next time he's in Los Angeles, but Jason Alexander was not invited. Laugh out loud. I also laughed about what Seth Gilliam said about his first time working with a huge number of walkers: "It was kind of like Black Friday, except everyone was a walker."

It's infuriating that they seem to be showing Walking Dead previews during Into the Badlands, which I am not watching (if you are, what do you think of Into the Badlands?), but we did see an episode nine preview during Talking Dead, and it was something of a spoiler. If you want to see it, it's available here. Chris Hardwick read a note from Scott Gimple that said episode nine, which will air on February 14, is one of the biggest they've ever done.

Two more things: Kirkman confirmed that it was Eugene on the walkie asking for help awhile back. And Chris Hardwick called the sheet covered with walker blood and guts a "meat drape."

Bits and pieces:

-- When Deanna was semi-conscious and draped over Judith's crib, I thought for a second that Judith had been eaten. Thankfully, no. And hey, note that Judith wasn't crying when the gang went out into the megaherd. She's not little ass-kicker for nothing.

-- I liked the connection between Deanna and Michonne. They've both lost nearly everyone. There hasn't been enough Michonne this season.

-- I thought the white sheets made the Rick/Jessie group look like choir members, maybe after a church-related massacre. Especially since they were all holding hands, and walking with a minister.

-- Why "Tiptoe through the Tulips"? Because later, they were tiptoeing through the walkers? Or because there isn't a lot of choice in music out there during a zombie apocalypse?

-- Why was Eugene reading a "World History" textbook? Another clue, along with the episode title, that Alexandria is done?

-- The Wolf guy was still talking word salad. I honestly had no idea what he meant.

-- The next episode airs February 14, 2016.

Quotes:

Deanna: (seeing the bite on her side) "Well, shit."

Carl: "Look, man. I get it. My dad killed your dad. But you need to know something. Your dad was an asshole."
Best Carl line ever.

Deanna: "I didn't run over to help you out there because I like you, or because I think you're a good man, a good father, or that you can grow one hell of a beard. I ran over to help because you are one of us. That's the right answer."

Carol: "I will kill you to kill him because I don't want anyone else to die."
No, no contradiction there at all. But actually, I'll say again that Carol was right this time.

What would you rate this finale? How many owl sculptures 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. The problem with people on this show that I keep noticing (which was very prevalent in this particular episode) is that everyone wants to make a big point at the worst possible times.

    Deanna just has to prove she and Rick are equals, and ends up getting bitten and wounded when she can't keep up with him. Of course, if she hadn't gotten herself wounded, Rick might have just stayed there to fight and die.

    Denise just had to wait patiently with the captive Wolf and suddenly prove that she believes he is worthy of redemption, instead of just going upstairs with the two warriors.

    Morgan just has to prove that you don't have to kill, despite how stupid it is harboring a deranged lunatic while everything is in utter chaos. Morgan seriously needs to learn Batman's lesson: "I'm not going to kill you, but I don't have to save you either."

    Carol just has to prove that killing is the only way, when her stubborn interference is what allows said deranged lunatic to escape and endanger her friends.

    Tara and Rosita have to prove that they aren't willing to risk an innocent life, by handing their weapons over to the lunatic, so instead of killing just one (mostly useless) person, he could potentially kill them all. This may have been the height of stupidity.

    It's getting harder and harder to ignore. I do wholeheartedly agree that that was the best Carl line ever, though. Best Carl moment ever, in fact.

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  2. Extremely relevant point Logan.

    I find myself, all too often, losing my interest entirely while two people are talking about "something important".

    I'm not really sure why I watch it anymore actually. I guess it's just a habit that's hard to break. I would so much love to see a series about the apocalypse where in there's some sort of fight-back-story.

    Not like FearTWD which is just the same story, essentially, only with different people.
    I had hoped that show would have shown us more of the collapse of the society but instead we just got to follow a bunch of people and some of the died.

    Same thing here really. New people means new deaths.

    Now, one could argue that the herd...uhm...herding is a fight-back-thing - or at least a manage-the-problem-thing - but I just....I would think that there would be SOME sort of plan. Somewhere. Like World War Z, you know?

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  3. I really felt for Sam until this episode because I probably would have been hiding in my room too, but seriously, shut up, kid! I noticed when they showed Sam's perspective that there was a din making it difficult to hear what people were saying around him, just like Nicholas in the dumpster scene. That doesn't bode well for him and the others with him.

    I never thought I would be angry at a character for not killing, but seriously Morgan?! It was almost funny when the Wolf kept backing up Carol saying things like "I will escape." Carol seemed concussed so I'm betting she would have won the fight if she were at full strength.

    I'm not sure how it worked in the original airing, but downloaded the episode on iTunes and that included the preview scene after the credits. Then when they showed it on Talking Dead I felt cheated for not getting to see a new preview.

    Deanna was such a champ in this episode. When I saw the bite I actually said "Well, shit" right before she did. =)

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