Month: November 2015

The Walking Dead, Season 6

Episode 8, Start To Finish

Summary:

The mid season finally, Start To Finish is here and kicks off with Jessie’s son drawing in his room – still to scared to come downstairs. He’s left a cookie on a plate and the ants are invading – just like the undead are about to do.

We quickly cut to commercial and when we come back the steeple is falling and the undead begin rushing into town. All hell breaks lose as Team Rick and the other Alexandria survivors fight for their lives.

Maggie is swarmed and ust makes it up a ladder before the horde pulls her down. As she is lying on the top of roof she barely made it to she see’s Glenn’s balloons floating overhead.

Outside the wall Glenn tells Enid they need to get to the west wall – that is how they will get in. Enid basically tells him it does’t matter, this is how it will always be. The undead will come.
Glenn tells her they have people in there, his pregnant wife is in there. He tells her they can make it different before they make a break for the west wall.

While everyone else if fighting for their lives the shy doctor is locked in the basement with the injured Wolf while Morgan & Carol hide out upstairs. Carol wants to kill the wolf but Morgan doesn’t want to let her. There is a brief fight and Carol goes down. The distraction is just what the wolf needed to knock Morgan out and take his knife. The shy doctor begs the wolf to just let them die. He’s about to kill the doctor when Team Tara shows up – and promptly hand over their guns. The wolf takes Tara’s gun and flees out the door with the doctor.

Inside the house Michonne finds that Deanna has been bitten. Her time is limited. Rick tells Jessie that once the horde settles down they will congregate and he’ll make a run for the armory. Once there he will try and pull the horde away.

While Rick & Jessie are discussing how they are going to survive her son is trying to kill Carl, and bringing the horde down on the process. Instead of telling his father what really happened Carl tells Jessie & Rick they were looking for tools when the horde attacked – then he draws on the kid and tell him to give him the gun or he is going to shoot him.

When Rick goes upstairs he finds Deanna hanging on Judith’s crib and almost puts a machete into the back of her head before she tells him “It’s still me!” I almost think it would have been kinder if he just killed her.

Downstairs the horde is starting to push through. Rick comes back just in time to lose the first floor. Everyone flees back up the stairs as Rick tries to slow the press of undead down with a sofa. Rick goes back to the early days. They are going to cover themselves in zombie guts and walk to the armory. Michonne offers to end Deanna’s life, but she isn’t ready. She has her pistol and will end it when its time. Team rick covers themselves in sheets and then douses their bodies with zombie guts – just in time for Jessie’s youngest son to stumble in and freak out while his mom tell hims to pretend to be brave. Team Rick covers themselves in zombie gore and begins to make their trek out of the house. Upstairs Deanna uses her last moments to use up her last several rounds.

The mid season finally leaves us hanging on multiple fronts. Glenn and Enid climb over the wall and see Maggie trapped on the lookout post along the wall while Team Rick is trying to make their way through the zombie horde covered in undead guts just as Jessie’s youngest starts saying “Mom, Mom,” over and over again.

Things I loved about this episode…

• The ants invading Jessie’s house because of the cookie her son left on the plate. Switch ants for zombies and we are the cookies.
• Eugene getting saved. I thought he was about to bite it.
• Jessie saving Rick and the others in front of her house.
• Carl telling Jessie’s son that his dad was an A-Hole.
• Eugene – “Lock picking is within my skill set.”

Things that I didn’t like about this episode…

• The look of shock and fear on Jessie’s son’s face when Team Rick comes rushing up the stairs.
• Michonne finding the bite mark on Deanna when she is trying to patch her up.
• Carl letting Jessie’s son live. I know I said the same thing once about Carol – and that would have been bad in the long run – but I still think that you only give people a small amount of leeway during the ZA. If they pull a gun on you – its fair to kill them.
• Jessie telling her youngest son to pretend to be brave. It was just so sad. That kid looked prettified.
• Why the hell would Team Tara give up their guns to the wolf? Come on, just shoot the bastard and save your girlfriend Tara!

Firsts…

• The first time Alexandria has a mass breach.
• The first time we see Rick use his undead scent masking knowledge to good use since the first time he realized it in Season 1.

 

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Undead-Earth.com Books:

Would you walk into a gym and load the bar with 500lbs of weight if you’ve worked in an office for the last ten years? Probably not – you’d start with 50lbs and work your way up over time.

Or you would get hurt.

Guns are no different. Start with smaller calibers or target rounds for your shotguns, and work your way up.

Or you could just ignore my advice and record yourself getting hurt and make all the other responsible gun owners look bad.

The Walking Dead, Season 6

Episode 7, Heads Up

Summary:

Heads Up starts with some awesome good news. Glenn is ALIVE!!!!

The first thing we see is him climbing under the dumpster before stabbing enough zombies to wall himself in. I don’t care how corny it is, I’m just glad he’s alive. He crawls out and Enid is there to give him some water, but then refuses to meet him face to face, she’s hiding from him, telling him she should go. When he tries to get to her she bolts – which makes me think even more that she is a Wolf in reality. She loses Glenn – but he finds the note the man wrote to his wife before getting killed at the fence.

Enid thinks she’s free – right up until Glenn grabs her from behind and tells he she has to go back to town with him. Because it is what Maggie would have done. Enid pulls a gun on Glenn and we all have a moment of fear when we think he might get killed after all – but then he grabs the gun. She is pissed, but she is following him back to town. They find a helium container and chat while Enid fills up some balloons. Glenn does his best to help Enid but she isn’t quite ready to let anyone in yet. Or to tell anyone what she really is.

Glenn & Enid reach the edge of town only to find it surrounded by walkers. She tells him the world is dying. Glenn tells her the walls are still up – they still have a phone to go back to.

And every few minutes they cut to the building that was rammed. It it slowly crumbling – which I believe is going to turn out very poorly for the town when it falls and brings down a part of the wall.

Back in town Rick is patrolling the wall, making sure everything is secure.

He finds Maggie on a watch tower – waiting for Glenn to give her a sign. She knows that if he’s alive he’ll try and come back for her. In the next scene Rick is teaching his new step son how to shoot (I’m assuming he’s going to end up with Jessie). This of course isn’t going to turn out well. Rick gives the kid a gun to carry around so he can get used to the fell – and the kid immediately goes and steels some rounds from the armory.

Rick, Carol, and Michonne meet with Morgan. They want to know why he didn’t kill the Wolves when he had a chance. He tells them he knows people can change. Everyone seems skeptical – even Michonne.

Team Rick is coming up with a plan to get the walkers off the fence.

In town Spencer decides to be really dumb and try and scale a rope to get outside the wall. His rope breaks and Team Rick just barely gets him up the fence before the undead get to eat some prime grade A Spencer.

A little bit later Carol watches as Morgan sneaks off with the town doctor and hands Judith off to Jessie so she can go investigate. Morgan finds her unlocking the door and she confronts him – wanting to know what he’s got in the cellar.

Then we get an uber creepy shot of Carol walking and Jessie’s son coming up behind him, pulling out his loaded pistol from his waist band.

The end of the episode is a mix of joy and sadness. Maggie sees the balloons that Glenn cut loose just before the unstable building collapses and brings down a section of wall.

Things I loved about this episode…

• Glenn is Alive!!!
• Morgan telling Team Rick that: “All life is precious.”
• Eugene when he’s being pushed on why he’s not paying attention at machete class. – “There are people in my close proximity with open toed shoes.”
• Glenn finding Enid and telling her he’s going to bring her back because that is what Maggie would have done.

Things that I didn’t like about this episode…

• Glenn almost died in a dead in. He’s seems way to willing to walk into the gated off area.
• Glenn trying to help Enid even when it’s clear she doesn’t want it. Didn’t he almost just get killed trying to help the guy he should have just ended?
• How easily Jessie’s son raided the armory. Didn’t wolves just try to steal all their guns and ammo? Maybe they could put some locks on the doors or put a few guards on the armory who aren’t multitasking.
• Spencer risking his life on a rope and a grappling hook to get over the wall.

Firsts…

• We see the combat classes for the survivors in Alexandria.
• Seeing a Fitbit Charge HR Tracker advertisement revolving around being chased by walkers.

 

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Undead-Earth.com Books:

What I think this guy did was set a very large reactive target on the ground, shoot it with his rifle, and then get surprised when all the loose rock and dirt around his reactive target turned into shrapnel.

Regardless of what preceded that chunk of rock coming at the shooter there are some important lessons here.

• Start small and work up. Whether that is starting with a .41o shotgun and working your way up to a 12G or a small reactive target and working your way up to bigger booms.
• Think about what your doing. Am I putting a small explosive device on the ground where there is a ton of loose rocks, shale, or broken glass. Yeah, because that could turn out bad.

The Walking Dead, Season 6

Episode 6, Always Accountable

Summary:

Always Accountable kicks off showing us what happened to Daryl, Sasha and Abraham as they are leading the second major horde away.

As they turn to cut through a small town they are ambushed by a well armed group of men with military rifles. Daryl drops his bike but makes it back up just in time to flee. Sasha and Abraham fare slightly better. They get out of the immediate shootout and come back to light up their chase car – and the people inside it.

Daryl doesn’t fare quite so well. He makes it out of the shootout only to find himself with a wounded  left arm and his bike doesn’t appear to be running. He hides his bike under some brush and starts to stalk whatever is in the woods with him.

He finds two girls before getting clocked and knocked out. It’s not clear who’s got him, they seem to think he’s a wolf – but they are kind of being nice to him. They apparently came to town to find Patty – but when they get to their fuel depot they find walkers inside the fence. Whoever they came for appears to be lost.

As the small group mourns the loss of their friend Daryl uses their moment of distraction to grab their bag and run – only to find out he stole the younger girls Insulin.

Daryl of course goes back – and as soon as he does the small party is ambushed by whomever was chasing the three who found Daryl from the beginning. The woods seem to be filled with rednecks. Thankfully Daryl is the most bad ass redneck of them all. He tricks one of their stalkers into getting bit – which leads to a forest amputation. But it does pull the others off as they tend to their wounded, which lets Daryl and his new group of friends flee a little further. The little group he’s with has roots in the area – and things go south when they find a little cabin that they used to stay in when they were younger. There are two walkers melted to the ground under the greenhouse glass – which then breaks when the young girl goes to put flowers on her dead family – and gets bitten. The party of four is now three. Just when you think Daryl’s made friends they turn on him – they are going to go back to the marauder group they were trying to escape. They take his bike but leave him be – just in time for him to find a tanker truck of gas in the woods.

Abraham and Sasha find some signs of Daryl and decide to hold tight – to wait to let him find them. They hide in an office building with a great view of a walker while they wait to find Daryl. Sasha sleeps with the radio next to her – but so far all she’s hearing is static. They decide to wait out the night – and the next day while scouting Abraham finds a case with what appears to be an RPG-11 – in a U.S. Hummer.

Daryl, Abraham, and Sasha meet back up in the town when Daryl drives his fuel truck in

Things I loved about this episode…

• The opening firefight. Who doesn’t love a good shootout.
• The fact that as soon as Daryl sees the Insulin you know he has to go back. Because he’s Daryl.
• The rotten zombie tearing through the fence post and leaving behind his launcher.
• Abraham’s come on speech to Sasha. He’s so smooth.

Things that I didn’t like about this episode…

• Daryl letting himself get clocked. You can’t sneak up on a Redneck Jedi.
• Sasha & Abraham leaving the biter behind the glass. Just kill it and reduce the risk that it breaks free while your not paying attention.
• Why the hell is Abraham wrestling with the zombie with the rocket launcher? Just kill it and take the rocket damn it.

Firsts…

• The first time we see Daryl drop a bike?

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Undead-Earth.com Books:

How many times do we have to watch this video? Yes, its different people, but it is the same story.

Step 1…Hand someone who shouldn’t have it a very large bore weapon.

Step 2…Start filming.

Step 3…See if they break their nose or need stitches on their forehead, or worse.

Step 4…Get called out for Bad Gun Handling.

The Walking Dead, Season 6

Episode 5, Now

Summary:

The timeline is finally back in the Here and Now!

The attack on the town is over. The survivors are cleaning up.

At least until Rick comes running up the street with a massive horde pressing in behind him. It’s time to find out if Alexandria’s walls were built to withstand the horde. Rick gives the survivors a pep talk that rapidly turns dark. The survivors aren’t used to having walkers at their gates.

The townspeople aren’t as hard as Rick’s people. Some of them raid the town larder – ready to eat their fill and damn the long term consequences. Thankfully one of their own shames the others into putting the food down.

When we come back from commercial Maggie is packing up, getting ready to go find Glenn. Aaron sees her getting ready and knows what she is going to do. He confronts her to tell her knows a safer way out than her fence noise makers – and he’ll help her. He takes her to a sewer that leads out of town. Aaron and Maggie pull down a ladder only to be attacked by mud walkers. And Aaron got a gash on his head in the process. Maggie wants him to go back but he won’t. They reach the end of the tunnel only to find they are still too close to the outside wall and the horde. Aaron wants to try and run for it but Maggie won’t let him. She’s pregnant and feels guilty that she let Glenn go by himself. Maybe she could have changed what happened. She realizes she might never know for sure what happened.

At the same time Carl realizes that Enid is gone. He thinks she went over the fence before the horde showed up, and is not stuck out there. They kind of leave this hanging – we don’t yet know what happened to Enid.

Back in the medical suite the nervous doctor is freaking out – struggling with the responsibility that has been thrust on her. Tara tells her to keep her chin up – and I think we see the start of a love affair? Maybe Tara’s pep talk did some good. She read something and then pulls some puss from her patient, and his vitals appear to improve.

One of the last things we see is Rick & Jessie talking. At first I thought Jessie was going to shoot him down again but then it ends up in a kiss. I’m glad she finally gave in to Rick’s hotness.

The episode ends with Deanna at the fence, banging on it. As she walks away we see what might be a gap in the wall? I’m not sure what it was but they panned over it like it was important – so I’m thinking we’ll see it again.

Things I loved about this episode…

• The way Jessie drags the body out of her house so nonchalantly and goes to bury it, at least until Rick stops her. (They don’t bury murderers inside the fence.)
• Tara gets kissed. It was very sweet. I’m happy Tara found someone.

Things that I didn’t like about this episode…

• Glenn didn’t show up at the gates with Rick. He can’t be dead dead can he?
• Jessie turning her back to the door after she kills the Suicide Walker in the house. Really? There could be others in there.
• There appears to be a lot of overweight people in Alexandria? Wouldn’t the loss of fast food and plentiful sugar have changed that?
• Maggie deciding not to go looking for Glenn. To me this means Glenn is dead for real.

Firsts…

• The first time the residents of Alexandria actually have to face an undead horde at their gates.
• The first time we find out that Maggie and Glenn didn’t use protection – she’s pregnant.
• Deanna’s first zombie kill.

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Undead-Earth.com Books:

I hope that was a bad guy. Because  I doubt he survived that.

Come on. Someone put a folding stock and a tactical flashlight on that 12g.

I highly doubt the owner of that 12G didn’t know what the outcome of letting this guy put the gun up to his face was going to be. If you look carefully I’m pretty sure I see blood.

Great way to make someone want to go shooting with you again.

The Walking Dead, Season 6

Episode 4, Here’s Not Here

Summary:

My prediction for Here’s Not Here is that Glen is alive. (While I think it will be feeding the internet trolls, I’m hoping the sliding under the dumpster theory pans out for him. After Rick & Daryl & Carol, he’s my next favorite. But I do think there will be a price for his survival. And that makes me think Rick is going down tonight. I guess we’ll find out.

So right off the bat I’m mildly upset. It appears Here’s Not Here is going to center around Morgan – whom I love as a character – but goddamnit I want to know if Glen is dead and Rick is going to get the RV started!!!

The episode kicks off with Morgan remembering the pain and agony of losing his son to his zombie wife. We then cut to him killing walkers in the woods before piling them up to be burnt.

Which then brings more walkers in. I think he’s mildly manic at this point and is taking out his “revenge” on the undead for losing his son. Of note, he still believes in carrying guns at this point, even though he is only using it as a club. He then kills two young men who are following him before realizing they aren’t walkers.

Morgan paints the letter “A” on several trees as well other crazy messages before moving on to a new area. As he’s walking through the woods he finds a small cabin in the woods and is knocked unconscious by an affable fellow named Eastman who conveniently has a cage in his living room to keep Morgan secure. Eastman also appears to have some skills with the short staff.

As Eastman kills a few walkers and tries to make goat cheese without much success we learn that Eastman was a forensic psychiatrist who would previously evaluate criminals in regards to there ongoing risks to society. Morgan is still in the thralls of his PTSD, suffering from the shock and trauma of losing everything he had. Eastman stays calm and just keeps Morgan talking. Morgan tells Eastman he kills people, anyone who comes near him. Eastman then asks Morgan if he’s saved anyone – which brings a brief but powerful pause. He saved Rick.

Morgan is still raging. He wants to kill Eastman even though the guy has been helping him, or at least trying to. The cheese maker tells Morgan the cell door has been unlocked all along and he can stay or go, but he won’t let himself be killed. Morgan pushes the cell door open and begins to act like he’s going to walk before turning to attack Eastman.

There is a brief fight and for a moment it looks like Morgan is going to kill Eastman before the larger, heavier Eastman prevails. Eastman tells Morgan he has two choices again, the door or the couch. Morgan goes back into the cage and closes the door.

The next day Eastman tries to get Morgan to go with him. When Morgan won’t he instead asks if he’ll just keep the goat safe. Of course while Eastman is out Morgan is forced to kill some walkers who have come in for some fresh goat. Morgan then takes one of the bodies away from the homestead – possibly to burn – and we learn that Eastman is more into burying the dead. There is a field where he buries the walkers and puts up their names if he can. This then becomes the first time Morgan and Eastman work together.

We then got a short montage of Eastman and Morgan training as Morgan becomes human again before learning a bit more of Eastman’s back story and why he embraces Aikido so strongly.

The next scene starts with Eastman telling Morgan they need more supplies before they can start to go look for other survivors. Morgan tells him he knows where they can find those supplies. Which brings us full circle – back to the camp where the episode began. Seeing the death and talking to Eastman brings the sadness back for Morgan – until Eastman makes him run through his Aikido forms again.

Then the kid who Morgan strangled shows up as a walker and Morgan freezes. Which gets Eastman bitten when he pushed Morgan out of the way.

For a moment we think Morgan might be reverting. He moves through the woods and kills a walker before coming upon a man and a woman. For just a split second Morgan appears to be on the verge of killing them – before letting them go and returning to Eastman’s home. Unfortunately the goat is being eaten and Eastman is struggling to bury their latest walker kill.

Morgan gives him the license and tells him to sit down. As Morgan is working among the graves we see the wooden sign for the man who murdered Eastman’s family. It turns out he actually did bring his families killer out to the cabin – and did let the man starve to death in the cage. Only it didn’t bring him any peace. He said he didn’t find any peace until he decided never to kill again. When he drove back into civilization to turn himself in he found the world had already ended.

As Eastman is dying he tells Morgan he could stay in the cabin – there is food and power – but he shouldn’t. He should go out and find people. Being alone is no way to be. Eastman then goes to get his gun so he can end it before he turns.

The last thing we see is Morgan leaving the cabin behind, clutching Eastman’s rabbit’s foot. Morgan is on his way to finding people. He’s ready to not be alone any longer. Which kicks us back to the here and now. This whole time Morgan was telling one of the wolves how he came to find peace. Only the wolf lets Morgan know he’s going to keep on killing if he survives. He has his own code. Morgan leaves him in the basemen and locks him up. (I’m sure that won’t come back to haunt him.)

The very last thing we hear as Morgan is leaving the basement is someone screaming – “Open the gate.”

Things I loved about this episode…

• Watching Morgan’s descent into crazy. It was quite powerfully done.
• “Please don’t shoot my goat – I’m still learning to make cheese.” – Eastman
• “The doors been open all along.” – Eastman
• The psychology behind Morgan going back into the cage and shutting the door before Eastman pushes it back open – only for Morgan to kick it shut again. Morgan’s not quite ready to come back to the world yet.
• “I fixed your spear.” – Eastman handing Morgan his spear – now with the tip cut off so it is a clean, non bloody – short staff.
• Eastman telling Morgan the story about the prisoner Crichton and why he has a cage in his cabin. “I have come to believe that all life is precious. That is why we’re having oatmeal burgers.” – Eastman.

Things that I didn’t like about this episode…

• That they leave us hanging as to whether Glenn is really dead and whether Rick is going to get the RV started.
• Where is Morgan going to the bathroom in the cage?
• Eastman is just to trusting of Morgan on those first few nights. Come on, the guy just tried to kill you and you are willing to just let him loose in your house.
• Eastman getting bit while saving Morgan and his long slow death.
• Come on Morgan – you’re leaving a wolf alive in the basement? Some people just have to die.

Firsts…

• First appearance of Eastman.
• Fist time we learn where Morgan learned Aikido as well as why he became anti-killing.
• Learning where Morgan got his rabbit’s foot.  (It was the rabbit’s foot that Eastman’s daughter gave him the day before he discovered Aikido.)

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