THE WALKING DEAD 5.11

THE DISTANCE

In an interview about the second half of their fifth season, Andrew Lincoln who portrays the iconic Rick Grimes, stated that the rest of the season will be intense. Those levels are being tested for sure! Last week's episode left us with a new character, Aaron whom introduces himself to the girls (Maggie and Sasha) who bring him back to the barn. No time is wasted, The ladies introduce Aaron and there is a fury of activity, everyone is on high alert, and rightly so. They've been through so much, they've survived Woodbury and The Governor; they've survived Terminus, cannibalism, and crazy cops; they're still grieving over the loss of beloved family members. Would you trust Aaron?

This is exactly what Michonne has been discussing with Rick and Glenn, she knows that they need to stop, and she's right. They've been fighting and surviving for too long. In this episode Rick and Michonne have a lot of great scenes together discussing their different perspectives. Rick wants to keep moving, Michonne wants to find some sanity. Rick doesn't trust Aaron and Michonne wants to. I really think Rick is just trying his hardest to keep his family together and alive. They've gone through so much trauma, he's desperately clinging to his survival instincts. Andrew does an amazing job (as always) in portraying the complexity of Rick and the challenges of leading the group. One scene that really shocked me (and I had totally forgotten in the comics) was Rick punching Aaron. To me, it's understandable, he has so much pent up anger and so much more, and yet here we go again, another stranger (to him) is threatening his family WHAM! His paranoia reaches a new level "They're coming for us!"

Rick interrogates Aaron and it is intense. I've read the comics, from what I remember I believe we can trust Aaron (or at least the community he comes from basically), but you never know what AMC is going to bring to the table. Rick's being extra cautious and Aaron suggests taking one route (that's been cleared) but Rick says they'll take another route. I think it is because his past is leading him, when he's talking to Aaron maybe he's seeing The Governor or the other "bad" characters they've met along the way. Because he's being so cautious though, he's coming off (to me) as being sort of an ass. But, if that's what it takes for his family to survive, then so be it.

They finally decide to go to Alexandria, Aaron's community that he wants to take them to and become a part of. Rick, Michonne, Glenn, and Aaron head out in the car Aaron told them about, while the rest of the group pile in an RV. On the road, Michonne starts a conversation with Aaron since they're sitting together in the back and he tells her to look at his pictures he has of Alexandria (so people will believe them). She looks through the pictures and has a realization "Where are all your people?" She's alarmed and asks Rick "Did you ask the questions?" The alert level elevates slightly, if Michonne's alarmed we should all be worried. So they ask the questions:
How many walkers have you killed?
How many people?
Why?

This scene is short-lived as they PLOW through a herd of Walkers! Glenn floors it, the RV with everyone else turns and escapes. Meanwhile the car that they're in is absolutely covered in blood, "stuff & thangs" they stop the car to see if the RV is behind them, and when they go to start it back up it won't start. There is a flare in the air and Aaron absolutely freaks and escapes. Michonne, Rick, and Glenn head out to fight through the herd with no other options. I can't tell you how irritated I get when the group splits up! The intensity levels are high at this point! Glenn is always the warrior survivor that he is, he fights off walkers on his own after getting separated from Rick and Michonne. When Glenn comes upon Aaron who is defenseless and fighting off a Walker, he has to make that decision to save him or walk away... especially since he was saying for the past few episodes how he's changed, really he hasn't, he's still an amazing character (one of my favorites).

When the four of them are reunited they make their way toward the flare and are reunited with the rest of the group and another new character "Eric", who we know is Aaron's partner. Glenn has a great moment later in the episode that reminds us of earlier days with Dale. Seeing them together seems to ease some of Rick's doubts, but not entirely. Michonne and Rick had another great scene at some point where they discuss what they heard outside of Woodbury and Terminus, Rick knows that he can't be definitive until he is in front of the gates, then he'll decide whether or not to go in. When they arrive at the gates of Alexandria, there's a few seconds where Rick is sitting in the car and you think things are about to get crazy, and then he hears the children playing and the episode ends with them in front of the gates.

Overall, an excellent episode. If you love the Rick'tatorship then you'll be very pleased with The Distance. I always watch Talking Dead after the episodes air (I love this show) and I agree with the host (Chris Hardwick) that you don't want to be the moral compass in the show - the moral compasses die! Reading the comics I'm terrified what's coming along with Alexandria. There was another scene that I thought was interesting too, when Rick takes a moment and hides a gun. Just like he did before Terminus, he's just thinking ahead and preparing. At the end of the episode there is a scene when Carol comes up to Rick and says "Even though you were wrong, you're still right" she means that even though he was wrong about being trapped or ambushed, he was right to be so cautious.

Sneak Peek "Remember"

Links

AMC The Walking Dead - Story Sync
AMC The Walking Dead
IMDb - The Walking Dead

THE WALKING DEAD 5.10

THEM

The tenth installment of the fifth season opens with grieving Maggie, alone in the woods with an approaching Walker. She makes quick work of it before returning to her grieving. However, you can tell she's not well. Next scene is Daryl digging for worms! Then Sasha's tracking for water when she runs into an area with dead frogs, when Daryl and Maggie rejoin her and they're all disappointed that they weren't able to find water. They're all weak, but at least the group is all back together! 

When they run out of gas they take to foot under the blistering sun. There are great personable moments with groups of characters. My favorite is with Maggie and Father Gabriel, when she calls him out; he tries to console Maggie about the death of her family and she tells him basically to screw off, he can't claim to be a man of God and have turned his back like he did on his congregation (great scene). Another scene I liked was with Carol and Daryl. She gives him Beth's knife and states how she thinks Beth saved their lives and how he needs to feel the loss, not hold it in. There are a couple other great moments too between different characters. A scene I didn't like (not that I didn't like it, it's well done) I should explain further that I was probably the only fan that didn't grieve Tyreese's death (yes, it was sad and very well done) just he had gotten under my skin for the last two seasons. Now, his sister is getting under my skin. Michonne told her not to be stupid and she's not only being reckless and stupid, she's being really stubborn about it too. There's a scene where they sort of "face-off" and if I were Michonne I would have bitched slapped her. But, I guess no one has the energy for that.

There is a lot of reflections, things that are in remembrance of Beth or characters lost. The group manages to survive on eating dog, a little booze, a little water, rain, and they found shelter in a barn. Daryl is the one that find the barn on one of his many lone hunts. He puts a cigarette to his hand in order to feel something, to push himself to get it out, or maybe to just feel anything other than the misery he's fighting inside. Either way, when Daryl cries, we all cry! When he returns to the group, there is a note "From A Friend" and it's a bunch of bottled and jugged water in the middle of the road. They discuss that they don't know who it's from and don't know what could be in it. They decide to not take the chance, they haven't had much luck with too many strangers as it is. Then it starts to rain and they're all happy, until the rain gives way to a raging storm - that's when Daryl tells them of the Barn he saw and they take refuge in there.

During their time in the barn Rick tells them how "we are The Walking Dead" (just like in the comics) and Daryl challenges that (way to go Daryl!), he counters "we ain't them" and Rick asks him "we're not" and Daryl just restates "we ain't them" and he takes door duty as the storm intensifies. While on duty he notices a small herd inbound. He takes to the doors as one by one they come to his aide holding the Walkers off while the storm continues to rage to a tornado. The next scene Maggie is waking up facing Judith who's been watching her, she goes and has a moment with Daryl (who fixed the music box Carl had given her). Maggie then goes and tells Sasha to go with her. When they exit the barn, they see the carnage of the Walkers and the result of the storm. She takes her to watch a sunrise and they have a moment. Maggie winds up the music box so that they can share it and it doesn't work... as a stranger enters their scene - Aaron!! Of course the ladies don't trust him as he asks to talk to the person in charge, who he knows to be Rick. Just as he says "I have good news" the music box chimes in with it's song - quite poetic.

Daryl on duty - walkers in-bound... at the door - they all go to try to hold the walkers off.

Overall it was a slow episode with some really great moments. I think this episode had to happen, for so long a lot of people were complaining about Maggie and how she didn't seem to care for her sister, and now we know this isn't true and hasn't been true at all. We have to give the characters their time to grieve and I think it was a great episode to show the additional struggles that the group has to endure. The struggle of exhaustion, dehydration, starvation, depletion, and so much more. This brings what so many love of the series out and foremost, the relationships, the characters and depth, and all the feels - and throw in some great Zombie kills! Overall, a slow episode but nonetheless, still a great one. 

Links

AMC The Walking Dead - Story Sync

Wiki The Walking Dead (Comic Series) - Aaron

THE WALKING DEAD 5.9

THE LONG AWAITED RETURN

The mid-season premiere is finally here! Titled What Happened and What's Going On seems appropriate. The group has been through so much and after this episode, it's far from nearly over. They definitely need time to gather themselves and reconnect. There has been too much loss, if they stop and try to live, it would help them to remember what they are living for. Before the mid-season premiere Norman Reedus had mentioned how he thought this episode was a hallucinogenic one - he was right! The first segment before it cut to the intro and commercial was chalked full of crazy images, it was very well put together in the classic AMC style, showing us those images through out the episode. The mid-season finale was a tough one and BAM, the mid-season premiere was another knock in the gut.

Rick talks to some of the group about honoring Beth's wish to help Noah find his way home. You can tell the group is low on morale, but Rick is able to help them to see this is what they need to do. Rick, Glenn, Michonne, Noah, and Tyreese make their way to Noah's home. On the way Ty has a heart to heart with Noah, telling him his father's theory on keeping your eyes open. Meanwhile, the rest of the group is stationed somewhere and they are able to communicate via Walkie Talkies. Unfortunately, upon their arrival the community is no more, there are no people there, something definitely happened though as they reveal more of the estate. Michonne finds an area that's riddled with the bottom half of walkers, just legs, arms, and butts. Later, when the group is escaping they ram into a truck that has the torsos. I'm thinking this will come into play later.

**SPOILERS**

So, the crazy part of this entire episode was that Tyreese was bitten! He had just given Noah this lecture about how his father always said to keep your eyes open sort of thing, and here he was wigging out over pictures in Noah's house, meanwhile Noah's zombie kid brother comes in behind him and gets a good bite on his forearm! Noah comes in just after taking a model airplane that was dangling from the ceiling and jamming it through his little brother's eye socket. While Noah has left to go get help, Tyreese is dealing with nearly all the past characters that have died: The Governor; Bob; Martin; Lizzy & her sister; and even singing Beth. The group finds Noah and they run to save Tyreese, but they're not able to save him. As much as I hated Tyreese's character this season, it was still hard to watch him go and now his sister has to deal with the loss too. I can see her and Maggie bonding because they both just lost their siblings. An interesting aspect was during Tyreese's hallucinations, he was getting weird feed-back commentary through the radios - much like Rick had (with the phone) after Lori died.

You wielded that hammer better than Thor

R.I.P Tyreese

During their time at the estates, Rick, Michonne, and Glen decide that going to Washington would be good, so they have decided to make their way there. We really didn't get to see the rest of the group, so I imagine the next episode will be reconnecting with the group and making their way through the wastelands. It's going to be interesting to see how the rest of the season plays out. Buckle in, it's always a wild ride!

Episode 10 Sneak Peek "Them"

Favorite Pics of the Week

"Bite Me" He wishes ::wink::

I don't know about anyone else but I was nearly having anxiety issues when Glen picked up the bat and kept carrying it around! Am I the only one??

Thank God TWD is finally back!! Whoot Whoot!!

Links

AMC The Walking Dead Story Sync