"Mom ... Mom?"
It reminds me of when I was sick as a kid, and I used to yell to my mom from bed. Sam clearly doesn’t fully comprehend the danger of his words, as I did not fully comprehend the value adults place on a good night’s sleep.
Maybe it'll end in Sam getting eaten. After all, Jessie has been initiated into the world of “The Walking Dead” in every way but the most important one -- the death of a beloved family member. (Let’s not count her dear departed husband, because he was an “a--hole”.)
This season has been familiar to us in many ways, particularly in that we’ve watched the native Alexandrians learn about the world as it is now.
Prior, they’d been sheltered by Deanna -- a mistake she realized toward the end.
The Alexandrians learned another trick of the zombie trade in the midseason finale, “Start to Finish”, that covering oneself in entrails to hide the human scent is a quick way out of a tough situation. Now, they’re fully part of the clan, and Rick will treat them that way -- at least what’s left of them.
This episode left our cast in a similar state as at the Season 4 battle at the prison. Our heroes are split up in groups, at varying levels of peril, and we can only assume that the second half of the season will work toward bringing them back together. One bigger, happy family.
Just to recap: Rick, Carl, Father Gabriel and Michonne are with Jessie and her kids; Carol and Morgan are knocked out and left with Tara, Rosita and Eugene; Denise is held hostage by the lone wolf; Maggie is alone on a platform with walkers below; Glenn and Enid are watching her, close by; Daryl, Abraham and Sasha are still off with their own plotline.
This is familiar territory as well, but I do hand it to "TWD" for its clever character combinations. Characters are placed together in a seemingly random but completely intentional way, with an emphasis on the tension they create.
It would be easier for the Wolf to just kill Denise if she posed a threat, but she's harmless, making her the only possible pairing for him. Glenn wants desperately to get back to his pregnant wife, while Enid wants to run away and be an angsty teen on her own. Carol will stop at nothing to keep her people safe, while Morgan will stop anyone from killing.
The only one that was harder to buy was Carl and Ron, because they made the tension too obvious. Everything Carl said to Ron seemed to set him off. Everything about the gun training session seemed to lead to a showdown -- and not for a second did we believe we were losing Carl this week.
This is also familiar territory. Certain characters are so untouchable, at this point, that no amount of danger they’re put in could convince me they won’t make it. Specifically, Rick, Carl, Carol, Michonne, Daryl, Maggie and Glenn.
It must be tough for the writers and showrunners to marry their need to kill off principle characters every so often with what they know about the audience. And as much as Deanna was a likeable character, I doubt anyone’s losing sleep over her tonight.
If you were saddened by the loss of Deanna, my advice is from some of her final words: Dolor hic tibi proderit olim.
Thanks for reading and tweeting along with me this season. It was great fun, start to finish.
Rating: 4/4 katanas. Because Michonne and her katana were most formidable, as was the majority of the episode.
Afterthoughts:
- style="font-weight: 400;">Covering each other in zombie entrails was a nice throwback.
- style="font-weight: 400;">Poor Judith. I wonder if the show will go on long enough for us to see her grow up in this world.
- style="font-weight: 400;">This seemed like one of the bigger casts of zombie extras we’ve seen.
- style="font-weight: 400;">I was surprised that Glenn already knew Maggie was pregnant. I was expecting him to return and them to have a big moment. (I’m usually glad when my expectations have been thwarted.)
- style="font-weight: 400;">Eugene has, again, proven to be almost completely useless, except he can pick locks...
Quotables:
- style="font-weight: 400;">“This is how it happens, and it always happens”
- style="font-weight: 400;">“That’s how you lose people, even after they’re gone.” (I think these two were almost back-to-back, but nonetheless, some good writing in this episode.)
- style="font-weight: 400;">“Pretend that you’re somebody who’s not scared.”
- style="font-weight: 400;">“I don’t trust you but I never thought you were lying.”
- style="font-weight: 400;">“Nothing’s unfair anymore.”
- style="font-weight: 400;">“I got to do what I wanted, right up to the end.”
- style="font-weight: 400;">“Your dad was an asshole.”
- style="font-weight: 400;">“Dolor hic tibi proderit olim.” / “Someday this pain will be useful to you.”
Lingering questions
- style="font-weight: 400;">What will become of our entrail-cloaked heroes?
- style="font-weight: 400;">Will Carol and Morgan set differences aside for the greater good?
- style="font-weight: 400;">If Alexandria survives, who will take over where Deanna left off?
