Month: March 2016

Apparently the internets have been going crazy with comments and opinions about last weeks episode where Team Rick makes their assault on the Saviors.

The basic comments I’ve read and heard revolve around the fact that it was cold blooded murder and that Team Rick has “lost” their moral high ground, that killing people in their sleep isn’t the path they should have taken.

There is no doubt in my mind that the assault will leave scars on the team, especially Glenn. The fact that it will and did leave scars tells me they haven’t actually lost their way. It wasn’t a frenzy of blood lust. It was a calculated move to protect themselves.

I think it was my brother who said “unprovoked attack”. I reminded him that I would agree that Team Rick had lost their morals except for the fact that the Saviors already had Daryl, Abraham and Sasha and gun point and told them several critical things..

• We normally just kill one of your right off the bat.
• There is always more.
• When your eating sh*t best take a bite and chew.
• They then draw on Abraham and are about to kill him.

This is when Daryl saves the day with an RPG.  

The fact that the Saviors already showed their cards completely justifies what Team Rick did. There is no gray zone here. The Saviors are willing to kill and steal.

End of Story.

Internet debate over. (Drops keyboard on ground and walks away.)

 

I’m not sure what it says about me that my first thought was – genius.

You walk in a little late.

All you see is blood on the floor and no one is in sight.

My vote would be to run like hell.

This picture is scary on so many levels.

Those boots with black socks?

Crossed handguns while wearing graduation gear?

None of this was a wise choice.

Guns aren’t toys, don’t treat them like they are and work books never go with black socks.

Accept these two rules of life and everyone will be happier and safer.

The Walking Dead, Season 6

Episode 12, Not Tomorrow Yet

Summary:

Not Tomorrow Yet kicks off with Carol picking up acorns (and killing a walker) so she can make cookies for everyone. All while pleasant music is playing in the background. Carol goes around giving cookies to kids and to who just might be her new love interest.

Then the RV rolls up. They’ve got enough food for another month but the cost is going to be a small war. Carol’s happy mood is ruined. Rick is calling an all hands meeting in the church, he’s got to tell everyone in town how he’s about to feed them. He takes the pulpit to tell them about Maggie’s deal.

The townspeople take the news very seriously. Morgan wants to talk to the Saviors, to give them the option to back off. Rick doesn’t agree. Rick agrees to discuss with the rest of the town’s people whether talking or attacking the Saviors is the best path forward. No one else agrees with Morgan. The motion is carried. The Saviors have to die.

In a brief aside Maggie tells Glenn she has to go with them, it was her deal. He’s not happy but he doesn’t argue. Then we cut back to Carol, writing some cipher in her notebook before she goes for a walk, unable to sleep. She ends up on the porch on the porch, and they talk. He’s afraid of her, of what she can do, but he is also clearly attracted to it. Which ends up in Carol leaning in for a kiss.

We then cut over to Abraham telling Rosita he’s packing – to leave. She freaks out, and wants to know why he’s leaving. Which brings Abraham to say something horrible. “When I met you, I thought you were the last woman on earth. You’re not.”

While all this is going on Team Rick is debriefing the one guy from “The Hilltop” who has been inside Negan’s compound. He doesn’t have a lot of info, but it’s enough for Rick and Daryl to form a plan.

The assault team heads out in the RV and a few trunks, and then honks their horns in case there were any unfriendlies around. Rick is sending people out to do some recon before they start their night assault.

Glenn and another go out to find a Gregory look alike zombie which kicks off a small discussion about them killing humans. Neither of them have had to kill another non-walker. Glenn acknowledges that he is nervous too.

When everyone gets back from their recon Rick debriefs them. They roll out at midnight and if anything doesn’t look right they run and try another night.

When we come back from the commercial the plan is set in motion. Andy from Hilltop drives up with “The Gregory Head” and several Saviors come out to see if it’s real. One of the Saviors is immediately convinced but the other one is slightly more skeptical. (Which makes me wonder how the other dude would even know what Gregory looked like?)

It passes and the Saviors agree to get their Hilltop Captor. Daryl makes short work of the one guy outside and they prepare to ambush the door when they bring out the captive. Michone takes out Savior #2 and they are in the door.

Team Rick is headed for the arsenal, moving through what looked like abandoned hallways. They find a room with at last one sleeping guard in it and Rick does him quick and quiet like with his knife. Glenn and his combat buddy move on to the next room which has two man more sleeping Saviors in it.

Glenn goes in first, and does his enemy, but his combat buddy hesitates. Glenn does it for him, saving him the mental anguish of knowing he slaughtered a sleeping person. Glenn maybe doesn’t feel so bad when he finds a wall of Polaroids of what looked to be people the Saviors have killed.

The action then cuts away to Tara. She’s tells Gabriel and Jesus she lied to her girlfriend that morning because she was caught off guard and ended up telling Denise she loved her because she didn’t want to admit to having been on raids in the past.  Gabriel and Jesus tell her its okay, she now has something to fight for.

We then get back to the action. Abraham gets cut by a Savior before the man pulls the fire alarm. I have a feeling that all hell is about to break out. Maggie and Carol hear the alarm and start a fight over whether Maggie is going to go rushing into battle.

Another commercial later and Tara, Jesus, and Gabriel are also rushing into the fight. Inside Rick, Michonne and Daryl are running down the halls, shooting. Everyone has ammo and there is a lot of shooting.

Glenn & his combat buddy find the armory after a scary firefight and end up in the armory just in time to return fire through the door. We all get a good scare when one of the guys on the floor lifts his gun and we hear a shot – that came from Jesus saving Glenn’s ass.

Outside Gabriel walks up to a wounded Savior who tells him blood is coming – which worries me. I have this feeling that Team Rick just attacked what is in essence a small Savior output with no idea they were poking a bear.

Come morning it looks like they’ve cleared the Savior compound.

Meanwhile Morgan is in his basement welding what looks like a jail together.

Just when you think everyone has gone well one of the Saviors makes a run for it on a bike. They bring him down only to have someone on his mic tell Team Rick to put their guns down. The Savior’s have Maggie & Carol and they are taking them. We see a bit of their journey away but don’t know what happened back at Negan’s compound. Now we have to wait until next week to find out.

Things I loved about this episode…

• The juxtaposition of Carol’s pleasant day and cookie baking with the zombie apocalypse going on around them.
• Tara telling Denise that she loves her. Denise tells her she’ll say it back when Tara comes back.
• Glenn admitting that he’s nervous about fighting humans as well. It was such a real and touching moment.
• Rick breaking the nose of their “Gregory Head” and the other guy from Hilltop telling Rick, “the Saviors have nothing on you.”

Things that I didn’t like about this episode…

• Abraham telling Rosita: “”When I met you, I thought you were the last woman on earth. You’re not.” He’s letting his fear control him.
• Carol smoking. I know it’s a stress thing but you can smell cigarettes from a mile away and it will slow her down.

Firsts…

• The first time someone makes acorn and beet cookies.

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Undead-Earth.com Books:

The Walking Dead, Season 6

Episode 11, Knots Untie

Summary:

I know most of you saw Knots Untie last week – unfortunately I did not. I was traveling for work and was shocked to find out the hotel I was in didn’t have AMC!!! (Bad Planet Hollywood! – Bad Planet Hollywood!). Well, I’m home now and finally watching Knots Untie.

The episode kicks off with Sasha an Abraham taking a leisurely stroll on patrol. Abraham is happy, at least until Sasha tells him she’s swapping out her shift with Eugene – which sees to hurt Abraham’s feelings.

Come nightfall Maggie is working on the garden, trying to increase the tomato yield so they don’t have to stretch their rations so far. As they are talking they see Daryl and crew rushing into the house just as Carl puts a gun to Jesus’s head. Carl doesn’t pull the trigger, which kicks off a meeting of the minds.

Which is when Jesus drops the bomb – there are other settlements out there – and there is commerce going on. At least if he’s telling the truth.

Come morning everyone is loading up, ready to find out if Jesus is telling the truth. Once on the road they find a car that slid off the road, its fenders full of walkers. Jesus looks legitimately scared, he thinks some of his people are in trouble, and he claims they don’t have a lot of fighters.

Rick and team find some survivors, including a doctor. The doc immediately makes friends with Maggie & Glenn – he’s got prenatal vitamins.

Rick gets the mobile home stuck in the mud, but its okay, they’ve reached “The Hilltop”.

Jesus’s people stop them at the wall – with spears. The people of The Hilltop ran out of ammo months ago. Jesus tells his people to open the gates, Team Rick gets to keep their weapons.

Once inside things look like an old fashioned colonial settlement, complete with a forge. Which is kinds of what it was. It was a 1930’s estate which had been running as a living history museum – which made it the perfect place for people to head to when they lost power and everything else.

Once inside the estate’s house we meet Gregory, and he’s a bit snippy, cutting Rick off and telling him to clean up before they meet.

After Team Rick gets cleaned up Rick sends Maggie to talk to Gregory, and he calls her by the wrong name then tells her it was close enough. What a d*ck. He then tells Maggie that Team Rick has nothing that The Hilltop wants, all while hitting on Maggie and belittling her. She puts a stop to it, but Gregory thinks he has the upper hand and won’t get his head out of his ass.

Jesus convinces Team Rick to hang out for a few days so he can talk sense into Gregory just before a trade group shows up. Gregory had sent a payment to Negan which was apparently rejected. Gregory’s man tells him that Negan has a message for him – just before stabbing him.

Team Rick tackles the knife wielder and then things go crazy for a minute. Abraham almost gets choked out, Daryl breaks another dudes arm, and then the knife wielding dude gets the upper hand on Rick.

Just long enough for Michonne to distract him so Rick can put his buck knife into the man’s throat, killing him.

Other townsfolk show up with spears and Jesus stops it from becoming a larger fight. He tells Rick that everything isn’t as simple as it seems, and asks him for some time to explain. This kicks off an explanation from Jesus. Negan’s men take 50% of everything that The Hilltop produces. They call themselves The Saviors. Team Rick offers Jesus a deal. They will kill Negan in exchange for a cow and some other goods.

Gregory is alive, and he thinks that he has Maggie over a barrel. She pushes a hard bargain, she wants the half that Negan was taking, or they won’t go take out Negan. The look in her face when she tells Gregory she does has leverage is awesome.

The episode ends with the people of The Hilltop loading up Team Rick’s RV with goods.

Things I loved about this episode…

• Carl putting the gun to Jesus’s head.
• Rick explaining to Carl that him and Michonne just happened – JUST.
• Abraham – “When you were pouring the Bisquick, were you trying to make pancakes?” The look on Glenn’s face was priceless.
• Rick asking “What?” after killing the guy who knifed Gregory – all while covered in the dudes blood.
• Maggie handling Gregory during the negotiations.

Things that I didn’t like about this episode…

• Sasha breaking Abraham’s heart by switching patrols, and forcing him back into Rosita’s arms.
• Team Rick splitting up to find Jesus’s friends. Always go in pairs at least, but they let Abraham go it alone.
• Rick taking it when Gregory cuts him off. It’s such a power play and sets a bad example for future negotiations.
• Gregory treating Maggie like crap. I wanted to reach through the TV and strangle him.
• Would the people of The Hillside give Team rick 50% of the supplies up front? Before they kill Negan?

Firsts…

• The first time we see Jesus get snuck up on? (Carl with the gun to his head.)
• The first time we get to see Maggie’s baby. (And they were using a Siemens Sequoia ultrasound machine! Which Siemens was idiotic to stop producing before they had a replacement for in the SC2000 – great job Klaus!)

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Undead-Earth.com Books:

Wow, that was very energetic. So would this happen if you shot it?

I love this quote. Give the man who first said it my regards, wherever he is…

This is bad.

Very bad.

You make all us responsible gun owners look crazy.

Guns aren’t toys. Treat every gun like its loaded and never let a child handle a firearm without training and direct, responsible supervision.

This is just nuts.