THE WALKING DEAD 6.7

"Heads Up"

***SPOILERS***

The last episode before the mid-season finale starts with a dark screen and Nicholas's last words echoing "Thank you" with that gunshot we all heard in our nightmares for days now. Then we see Nicholas on top of Glenn getting pulled apart as he struggled to crawl under the dumpster!! We see how Glenn survived - that's right people - GLENN'S ALIVE!!! He manages to hold out under the dumpster and when things calm down he crawls back out. When he does, he finds the flare gun's been destroyed. He hears "Heads up!" and it's Enid! She throws him a bottled water before taking off. He follows her and asks her about Alexandria, she tells him to go back, he asks about Maggie, and she doesn't respond. She takes off and Glenn takes off after her; open credits. My prediction was that the comic book character Jesus would save Glenn. I'm just glad that he's alive. We know Jesus and more of the comic book characters are coming soon.

While Rick is walking the perimeter, he tells Morgan that they need to talk, he see's Maggie on the wall watching for Glenn. I think they're both desperate to hear from Glenn, Daryl, Abraham, and Sasha. Maggie's keeping watch and Rick goes to her, they talk, but I don't know why she didn't tell him that she's pregnant, she had the perfect opportunity while she was talking about Judith and how she's starting to favor Lori. Back to Glenn; he comes to the guy that they had left before and found the note to his wife "Betsy". Father Gabriel is posting something and as Rick walks by, Rick tears it down, Carl and Ron Jr. are with him. He's teaching Ron Jr. about the gun, Ron wants to be armed, but Rick's hesitant (rightly so). Morgan goes to the doctor, Rick's walking by and he wants to talk to Morgan. Rick explains to Morgan what happened with the Wolves, Carol and Michonne are in on the meeting too. I think they're trying to get him to understand by not killing the psychopaths, it endangered Rick. "I don't know what's right anymore" Morgan.

The heard is crowding in on the walls of Alexandria, Michonne and Rick discuss strategy for drawing the walkers away "Really?" Michonne. Rick doesn't want to involve the Alexandrian's in any discussions about how to draw the walkers away, while Michonne is trying to get him to understand that they could be useful too; they're not all a liability. Deanna delivers her plans for the future of Alexandria. Rosita's giving machete lessons to people. Eugene is in the group and they discuss his fear of dying, She basically tells him to pull his big-boy panties up; he walks away. Back to Enid, she goes to leave a store she was in, Walkers were outside and Glenn comes up behind her. He doesn't want to leave her and Enid doesn't want to go. She pulls a gun on him.

Glenn is able to get Enid's gun away from her and convinces her to go with him. Back in Alexandria; Rick is trying to add extra support to the inside walls and another Alexandrian helps him out. Maybe Rick will realize the Alexandrian's could help. What do you think? Back to Glenn and Enid, she takes some balloons they had put out, Glenn tells her how there are more balloons, string, and a helium tank. Rick talking to Alexandrian while they work on the wall. Tobin's telling Rick how scary Rick first seemed, he explains to Rick not to give up on them. Enid and Glenn; he asks her who she stayed with back home, she explains how it wasn't her home and she stayed with Olivia. "We don't have to talk" Enid. Olivia in the pantry is distracted by a mess Ron Jr. made to purposefully distract her in the pantry while he goes to the gun room and takes some bullets -- not good!!

Glenn and Enid arrive back and see the walkers outside of Alexandria "My God" Glenn. Glenn stop being the strong moral compass!! We all know what that means!! But, at least he's alive! Would you have been so determined to save Enid? Rick and Tobin come to Spenser who is crossing an insane way - dangling over the herd - Tara jumps into action and starts shooting walkers, Spencer's rope gives, and he's trying to get back over the wall, Rick's trying to pull him over, Tobin comes to help. Tara taking shots and runs out of bullets, Michonne arrives to help her. Morgan comes to aide Rick and the others too. Once Spenser is safe, Rick yells at Tara, she gives him the finger (hilarious). I think he yelled at her because Abraham, Sasha, Daryl, and Glenn haven't returned yet and he doesn't want to lose anymore else. Rick yells at Spenser that if he had an idea to go to him first "Would you have listened to me?" Spenser. 

Morgan returns to the doctor, he's asking for the "W Man", he tells her it's not his wounds and he explains he doesn't want to involve her in something she might not want to get involved in; but, Carol sees them and she follows with Judith in her arms. Carol sees which house they go in to, and she takes Judith to Jesse - Carol & Sam exchange conversation about monsters "The only thing that keeps you from becoming a monster is killing" Carol, she looks alarmed at what she says. She goes in the house and confronts Morgan. Carl patrolling the streets, Ron Jr. with the gun, following behind him. Michonne looks over the plans Deanna has (the watch tower that the truck had run in to is slowly coming apart outside of the walls...) Rick talks to Tara, Deanna thanks Rick for saving her son... Alexandrian's -- everyone see the green balloons floating (Glenn & Enid). Maggie runs to Rick "That's Glenn" Maggie, as the outside watch tower finally starts to fall and begins to knock the wall down -- fade to black.

Overall the episode was great, not only because we finally get to see what happened to Glenn, but it's truly just an amazing show. I can't believe the mid-season finale next week! I believe at this point in the comics Rick is sleeping with Jessie, and when the herd breaks through the walls her and her sons are attacked and killed by walkers (I could be wrong) but, I'm also pretty sure this is the time when Carl is shot and miraculously lives. I can't wait to see what happens, if AMC decides to go this route and if Carl will lose his eye, it will be epic. Can we please get Talking Dead after The Walking Dead again!? I know that this is to help promote Into the Badlands, but I really miss having that counseling session after the show! Glenn had his own commercial, he commented how he was reading everything we (the fans) were saying and how touched he is, and how he'll be on Talking Dead!! How much I love this show and how much they give to the fans is heartwarming. Mid-season finale predictions: do we think Carl is going to get his comic book look? Do you think we'll see any glimpse of Negan? Here's my predictions, because we still need to see who said "help" to Daryl, Abraham, and Sasha. We'll be dealing with the walkers inside the walls, people in the Alexandrian community getting separated and trying to survive the walkers. Carol dealing with Morgan, I think Deanna (not knowing) will go to check out The W Man, and he'll find a way to take her hostage. Ron Jr. will either shoot Carl by accident or on purpose. It'll be a crazy and intense episode on it's own. BUT, I think they'll have an after credit scene where we'll just see the back of Negan with Lucile on his shoulder, or on him somehow hinting that he's in the vicinity and is aware of the situations. Can't wait!!

Sneak Peek "Start to Finish"

Links

AMC - The Walking Dead - Story Sync - Heads Up

THE WALKING DEAD 6.3

Thank You

**MAJOR SPOILERS**

Proceed With Caution

What an episode! The third in the sixth series and they haven't let off the acceleration yet! So much happened in this episode, I know I couldn't get it all, these are episodes you really need to watch for yourself. But please, let's discuss the episode below, your thoughts and predictions. If what happened, really happened, than my heart is completely broken. But, an amazing episode!

Opens with Rick and the group dealing with the herd and the horn blowing. So, we pick up right where we had left them after the premiere episode. Rick's trying to sort out plans, an Alexandrian has doubts, Michonne deals with the Alexandrian telling him basically to shut-up and keep moving; the doubter gets his throat torn out by walker. Don't they know by now, if you doubt Rick, you're going to die!! Heath overhears Rick telling Glenn and Michonne to do whatever it takes to get back, how the Alexandrian's either keep up or they die, but they do whatever it takes to get back. Heath overhears, but then see's a fellow Alexandrian attacked (because they are not experienced enough), so maybe he understands Rick's not just being a dick, he's telling it how it is. Heath's not dumb (at least in the comic's I don't remember him being an idiot).

"If something's in front of you, you kill it" Rick

Rick separates from Glenn and Michonne, Glenn's group is trying their best to keep the Alexandrian's at ease. As they're making their way through the woods, they come across some walkers, Glenn, Heath, and Michonne run into action taking the walkers out. I thought this was a gorgeous shot, looked wonderful! Then, once the rest of the Alexandrian's see it can be done, they go to try to help, but only causes more chaos. Sterges hangs back, takes his gun out to shoot makes a fatal error, ends up shooting an Alexandrian in the leg, who then gets bitten (I believe). Sterges gets scared and runs off as another Alexandrian gets bit from behind! Cut to Daryl, Abraham, and Sasha leading the mega-herd. Daryl's conscious gets the better of him and he decides after talking with Abraham and Sasha and takes off for Alexandria. You can tell Daryl is worried about everyone else.

Glenn and Michonne's group comes to a town, they start checking cars to see if any will start to help those that are hurt. Glenn talks to Michonne and says how he has to get home, you can see the desperation; but, he tells her how he won't leave the Alexandrian's behind. Heath talks to Nick to get a better understanding of what happened before. Nicholas has been in the town before and is given the lead to guide the group out of there (might have been another fatal error). They come to an alley where walkers are chewing-up the guy (Sterges) that had run away earlier. Nicholas zones out, Glenn pulls him back. Then they notice that walkers are starting to surround them. Once Glenn gets Nicholas to focus, they take refuge in a pet store. Michonne and Heath talk strategy, Heath makes a shitty comment, he's projecting what he overheard Rick saying to his crew. Glenn and Michonne discuss who's staying to draw the walkers in-town so the others can escape. Nicholas agrees to go with Glenn, the plan is to start a fire to draw the walkers. Glenn comments that he has to do something first. You can tell, you can just tell! Glenn makes a comment that he has to do something first. He takes out the pocket watch that Hershel gave him, as he uses the Walkie Talkie to talk to Rick. Rick comes up to Walkers and takes them out while he's talking to Glenn, I couldn't tell if he cut his hand or what happened, but now his hand has a wound. Which, if you've read the comics, you know! A great call-back to the second episode of the first season, when Glenn first meets Rick, he calls him "dumb ass" and now, when he's talking to Rick, he calls him by that name again. It's almost as if he knows he may not make it...

When we come back from commercial, Michonne's attempting to patch-up the Alexandrian that was shot in the leg. Annie (another Alexandrian) makes a comment that they should just leave her, that she's slowing them down, then the other guy agrees that they (the injured) should just be left. Michonne again says how no-one is being left behind. Heath makes a comment that if they go, they're all going together and Michonne agrees. Heath still has attitude toward her and leaves the group to go look through the store for things that could help them. Michonne confronts Heath "Hey, you have a problem with me?" Michonne. Dude, don't piss her off! He says how he heard what Rick said. Michonne takes no scruples and school's him, they argue, but at the end of it Michonne makes her point perfectly clear. The Alexandrian's have been sheltered and they haven't been through what Rick's group has, they don't know. Meanwhile, Glenn and Nick are going through town when something from Nick's past comes back to haunt him. They come to a walker that was one of Nick's crew, Nick takes care of the walker as they hear a gunshot coming from the Alexandrian area. Michonne's group notices the walkers drawing toward the gunfire. Cut to Rick running his heart out! He finally gets to the RV, which is part of his plan. Michonne's group is sitting tight until walkers pass. Guy that was bitten gives a note to Michonne to pass to his wife. Which is reflective of Glenn's story too, he's newly married in this world of theirs, and they talked about this on Talking Dead.

Michonne's group silence is broken when they hear noises coming from the back of the store. Michonne investigates and takes care of two walkers that were in there. The walkers outside heard and start making their way toward the store. "They're coming..." Michonne

Michonne's group makes a run for it, the herd in their wake. Annie falls and tells them to go as the walkers surround her and start their feasting. Meanwhile, the building Nick and Glenn were suppose to set fire to has already been burned. Nick zones out again, as Glenn prompts him to come back to reality. Michonnes group are cornered in a dead end alley and they start to hop the fence. It's down to Michonne and the Married guy trying to get over the fence as the walkers are trying to pull them back down. Cut to Glenn and Nick trying to outrun the herd of walkers surrounding them, they too get cornered but are unable to hop the fence because there are more walkers on the other side. They use what ammo they have to shoot some walkers and then take out their knives to fight for survival. Back with Michonne's group, Heath shoots what walkers he can to give Michonne and Married Guy a chance to climb over the chain linked fence. The Married Guy is taken by the walkers and it gives Michonne some freedom to crawl over as they watch him being bitten and torn apart. There really are so many details between the two difference scenes, that I can't possibly get them all here. Now, Michonne's group consists of her, Heath, and the guy that was shot in the leg. Glenn and Nick continue to fight their way out, Glenn climbs up on the dumpster and calls for Nick to follow suit. Nick looks like he's going crazy as he's looking at the walkers. The actor did an amazing job in conveying all the different emotions that this one guy is experiencing. Glenn's trying to bring Nick back, but you can see in Nick's eyes, he's too far gone! Nick cryptically says "Thank you" Nick, as he puts his gun to his head. The next shot is of Glenn yellow "NO!" as the shot shoots and sprays blood all over Glenn's face, and as Nick falls off the dumpster, Glenn falls with him!!! Into the walker herd!!! I think the show wants you to think that the walkers are tearing Glenn's intestines out, but I think it's Nick's. How they fell, Nick would have fallen on top of Glenn. I really hope Glenn didn't go out this way! Glenn can't be dead!! But, how much more of a blow would it be if he survives somehow, just to meet the fate awaiting him from the comics. Then again, the show could have changed things up since we've all been waiting for that epic scene too. Either way, if Glenn really did die this episode, my heart is BROKEN!!

Michonne's group is making their way through the woods, they notice that there is not fire, and Heath tries to tell her that it doesn't mean they didn't make it out. I really hoped and was waiting for Michonne to go back and use her Katana to slice through the herd finding Glenn under the remains of Nick... but alas, instead both her and Heath have a moment of reflection. Cut to Rick driving in the RV, he's trying to get a hold of Glenn, with no answer. No one's answering, when Daryl answers... they converse "We keep going forward for them... if we go back to Alexandria, it will be for us... we keep going forward for them" Rick. Then out of no where Rick's under fire! Daryl hears and turns around but it's not sure in who's direction he's heading now! Rick fights for his life, killing both of the wolves. It was brought up on Talking Dead too, if Morgan had killed the wolves, then Rick wouldn't have had to kill them. What do you think?

When Rick is raiding the bodies of the dead wolves in the RV he pulls a jar of baby food (presumably Judith's) from the dead wolf's jacket pocket. This seems to hit Rick hard, you can see the torment going through his body. I was thinking "Don't lose it Rick!". He sees three more wolves coming up the rear through the rear view mirror. Rick takes an automatic gun from one of the dead wolves and shoots through the RV killing them. Cut to Daryl hauling ass, but I don't know in what direction! Michonne and her group arrive back to Alexandria as they start to take-in the destruction. Daryl arrives back to Abraham and Sasha leading the heard away. Back to Rick, now the damn RV won't start - WHAT! He's losing it, he's definitely starting to lose it, as he hears the herd starting to roll up to where he is. The last shot is of the herd coming out from the woods onto the road where his RV is parked and vulnerable. BTW - he didn't shut the RV door after the wolves entered, did he? Basically, he's a sitting duck!

Therapy session and a great reminder that NO ONE is safe in this world.

90 minute episode next week!

Gimple's note to us in summary: in some ways we will see Glenn again... 

(his words are always cryptic).

Watching the episode again myself - I have faith in Glenn, I think he was able to climb under the dumpster!! What are your thoughts??

Next Week's Sneak Peek: Here's Not Here

Links

AMC - The Walking Dead - Story Sync

THE WALKING DEAD 6.2

"JSS"

**SPOILER WARNING**

You've been warned! 

The second episode in the sixth season of The Walking Dead proves to all of us true die-hard fans, that these last several months waiting in agony for the return, has been well worth the wait! I loved the first episode of the season, and this next installment is complementary. We get to see what happens when there's an attack on Alexandria. The question everyone's been wondering since last week "Who's blowing the horn!" But, I think the silent killer is the back story of Enid, while she's still a mystery, at least we get to see some of her origin story. Plus, Carol the Badass or Hero, is back!!

JSS opens with Enid traveling with her parents in their SUV, and while her parents are trying to figure out where they are going, or fixing the vehicle, they're overtaken. It's a great edit: it goes from Enid letting her parents know that there are Walkers surrounding them, she starts to yell, then to her in the car surrounded by the aftermath. The opening sequence with Enid shows some of her survival after her parents are eaten, until she arrives at Alexandria. Through out her time walking around, she keeps leaving "JSS" everywhere. At one point, for survival, she crosses paths with a tortoise, as she savagely eats it raw, mirroring how the walker ate her parents. The actress who portrays Enid was on Talking Dead and she talked about this process.

We meet the new resident doctor, Dr. Denise. I love the actress who is playing her, so I'm excited to see how the character develops through the show. She's super anxious about being the new doctor, she explains how shes only a psychiatrist, she has minimal training, so she's super anxious. So, I'm excited to see where she goes. But, am I the only one still concerned about Tara? Why is she dizzy and why does she need Tylenol. Granted, she probably is still recovering, but I'm still leery, I think something else is going on with her. Jessie and Ron have a scene where he demonstrates more of his teen angst. I think the actors did a great portrayal of mother and son and really being in that moment. I felt like it was a real situation, the attitudes colliding, the reactions, and results. But, by far my favorite scenes this episode were with Carol. When she's in the pantry with other town women, the entire time I'm thinking "they have no idea who they're talking to". One even makes the statement how she's an honest-to-goodness hero. They might have been talking about her cooking skills, but later we'll see, she is Carol the Hero who saves Alexandria. There's another great scene where Carol tells her neighbor off about smoking, it was great. She's harsh, but they're living in a harsh world. Meanwhile, Maggie is telling Deanna how they can continue to build Alexandria, by planting and being their for the people Deanna's been leading.

An interesting scene is when Carl is out walking Judith in her stroller, he comes across Enid with Ron. But, Carl is interrupted by Father Gabriel who talks to him and says he wants to try. At first, Carl wants nothing to do with him, but Father Gabriel seems sincere in his desire to learn now, everyone goes through their breaking points differently. So, Carl tells him that he'll try and they set-up a meeting time, so Carl and give him the pointers he desperately needs. As he leaves Father Gabriel, he looks back toward Enid who is now hugging Ron, and she looks directly at Carl, it's not like she's hugging him and cares, you can tell she has no affection for Ron, it's more of an obligation or something. Then it cuts to Carol in her kitchen putting one of her casseroles in the oven, she stops to watch her neighbor outside smoking. You can tell she's thinking about what she told her in the pantry, and you just think Carol could totally go out there and take care of business, when out of NOWHERE this huge dude wack the neighbor with a machete!! What?!

Town is being brutally attacked by a group of Wolves. Rick's group that is left in Alexandria jumps into action, they're well prepared, while the other Alexandrian's are struggling with what to do, most of them are being slaughtered by the Wolves. One of their tractor trailers barrels toward the watch tower, busting through it, and the horn blows continuously from the driver dying. At least that question was answered.

Tip #1 Don't put a guy in the watch tower with a sniper that can't shoot!!

Holly was severely injured during the attack and is brought to the new doc, she's really anxious and doesn't want to operate on her, Tara and Eugene talk her into it, explaining how she has to try. Eugene has this real moment where he's explaining to her how she needs to do it because she doesn't want to battle with being a coward, he should know, right? Morgan arrives to take care of the horn and has a brief interaction with Spencer. When he basically asks Spencer if he's going to help, and Spencer hesitates, Morgan tells him to hide. Morgan goes into Alexandria to face the attackers. Carol has already entered her survival mode and argues with Morgan about killing people. Maggie, Deanna, and Spencer are trying to get a handle on what's going on, Maggie leaves them to go help the town after Deanna explains to her that she is of no use in helping and takes refuge in the truck. While the Wolves are chasing people down, one finds Ron and starts chasing him, as Carl saves Ron by shooting the wolf in the leg and eventually killing him. Carl tells Ron to go into the house, he can keep him safe, but when Ron sees that Enid is already there, he refuses and runs away. Jessie had locked herself and her younger son in the closet, but when she hears Ron entering the house, the wolf that was inside scampers off, she goes to warn Ron and ends up brutally killing the wolf with a pair of kitchen scissors. You shouldn't mess with a Momma Bear!

Carol proves to be the towns hero as she goes through taking care of buisness. Morgan saves Father Gabriel, as Morgan is tying up his captor, Carol arrives and shots the wolf in the head. Aaron is also going through the town shooting any wolves he comes into contact with. Morgan has a really difficult time with all the killing. Aaron and Rosita join the fight too, killing any wolves they come into contact with. There is a great scene with Morgan interacting with a group of wolves that surround him. They recognize him, and he starts talking to them in a detached language pattern, he probably can understand their level of crazy, because he's been there. But, he sends them off with their tails between their legs, as he closes the gates to Alexandria.

Are you Team Morgan and want to spare the living at all costs? Or, Team Carol, shoot to kill so they don't come back?

Once it seems all the wolves have retreated or have been killed, Carol is having a moment, you can see her breaking a little, taking the moment to mourn. But, you know right after she'll get up and keep being her fabulous self. Interestingly though, she had disguised herself as a wolf, even painting a bloody W on her forehead. During this moment when she's letting everything sink in, she goes to rub the W off, and as she turns to the left there is the red A on the porch that we've seen through out some episodes. Aaron's going through the town making sure none of the dead turn, when he eventually finds his old backpack, that one of the wolves had, filled with the Alexandria pictures he use to show people, you can see the torment that he led these people there, the wolves. I can't recall how he lost it or where he left it. But, you can definitely see the torment going through him as he realizes the scope.

The rest of the episode is everyone dealing with the immediate aftermath. It's basically Rick's group helping the Alexandrian's deal with what is going on. They've been around the block a few times, where the Alexandrian's have been secluded really. There are some great scenes; Spencer asks Rosita basically how they live with it, and she answers along the lines of "have something worth living for." Maggie and Deanna come to the burnt guard they had seen previously, when the attack first began, and as Maggie ends the walker, she tries to comfort or guide Deanna and says "We're still here", Deanna's retort "Not all of us." Carl is still guarding Judith and their house, he calls for Enid, but finds a not she left "just survive somehow" - the mystery of JSS solved! Which I didn't pick up on until watching Talking Dead and they pointed it out. Morgan comes across the wolf he had the interaction with in the woods last season, they fight. The wolf even comments how Morgan can't kill, and Morgan apologizes before hitting him with his staff.

The episode ends with Morgan walking through the streets of Alexandria, Carol is also patrolling. They don't say anything, they just cross paths, and continue their patrols. Like I said, this episode was amazing, I loved last weeks premiere episode, and I love this one too. It has me super excited about the rest of the season!

Kevin Smith & Jarvis and The Vision, Paul Bettany were tonight's guests. It was a great therapy session after this episode. I love Kevin Smith, he was funny, smart, and he's a real fan, so I could totally relate with his train of reasoning pertaining the show. Mr. Bettany provided the sultry British accent, and his different perspectives were appreciated. They also had the actress who portrays Enid on and she gave some insight into her character. On that note: I was on the fence about the theory that Enid is with The Wolves. Then, tonight during the Play Dead interactions, one of the questions was about the characters' name of the wolf Carol was disguised as. His name was Aphid, which seems too similar to Enid, there just seems to be too many bug references there for my liking, or similarities. What if, all the wolves had bug names, or different packs have themed names. Also! When she's talking to Carl during this episode, and she's explaining to him how Alexandria is too big... it just seemed like maybe she had heard it before, maybe she was repeating what the Alpha or the leader of their pack was saying, she could have been there this entire time scoping things out. During this scene with Carl, she starts to say "that's how we [wolves] were able to..." but, Carl interrupts her!

Is she or isn't she??

Sneak Peek - "Thank You"

Links

AMC - The Walking Dead

AMC - Story Sync

Talking Dead - Play Dead

THE WALKING DEAD 6.1

First Time Again

What an epic and amazing season 6 premiere!

**SPOILER ALERT**

DO NOT continue reading if you don't want to read any spoilers.

If you do and complain about it, a tree-hugging walker will bite your face off.

First Time Again opens with a massive quarry scene! Our group and a group from Alexandria are working together to solve a massive issue; a quarry filled with walkers! This massive undertaking is combined with the aftermath of what happened at then end of season 5. I absolutely am crazy over this episode for a number of reasons. The first, the different shots going from flashbacks in black and white, to more current in the normal Walking Dead colors. It was masterfully wielded and from the characters we love, to the massive scale of the episode, it's definitely one of my favorite episodes to date.

Of course Deanna is more open to Rick now and what they need to do to secure Alexandria. While others are not so sure. In particular, Carter, he's a new character for this episode and he challenges Rick a lot. We all know just to listen to Rick, however these people don't know the life outside of those walls and maybe don't want to know; which Rick represents all of their fears. Don't worry though, Carter doesn't last too long. A great scene that I loved; Carter was holding a private meeting with his suggestion of killing Rick. Eugene overheard and was discovered. This scene was brilliant because we don't expect Rick and some of the crew to show up, but they do. Rick gives Carter a serious reality check quickly and ends the attempted uprising. Later, Rick even says that Carter won't make it, and Carter proves him right, unfortunately.

Another new character, Heath, from the comics. A funny scene is when they arrive back to Alexandria and Eugene is watching the gate. The interaction between the two of them was great and both actors did a wonderful job. You can tell Heath is like "who's this guy and what's his deal?" While Eugene makes a genius comment how he appreciate Heath's hair game - epic! From what I remember in the comics, I like Heath and look forward to seeing him in the AMC Walking Dead universe.

Morgan and Rick throughout the premiere seem like two friends, who stay close because of that saying "you keep your enemies close". At times I think they understand each other and they'll be amazing together, then other times I feel like Morgan might leave again, which I really don't want. I love that Morgan is here and I hope we get to see a lot of action from his character. I love the scene where Morgan asks Michonne about taking a peanut butter protein bar from his place. They both kick-ass, maybe they will have a thing. I know in the comics Michonne isn't shy about sleeping with different characters. But, I also loved Morgan and Rick's scene on the porch while Michonne hangs back. I think Morgan would be a great character to reel Rick in when he needs it.

Another great scene was between Carol and Morgan. As far as we know it's their first real meeting and he comments how he notices how she watches everything. This internally alerts Carol I think, she knows now she has to keep an eye on Morgan too. Carol's doing a wonderful job as Rick's spy in Alexandria; she's playing her part beautifully. Another great scene was when a group effort to build a road block for Rick's plans to draw the walkers away from Alexandria, a few walkers came up on the group working. Rick tried to coax those from Alexandria that need to learn how to take care of a walker, but they weren't able (Carter included). So, Rick's group had to take care of things, and I think it also helped the Alexandrians to understand, finally, that Rick's group isn't so crazy (not for the world they are living in now).

Was I the only one that noticed Tara sort of hiding her arm? At least we finally know her character is seemingly okay. When she's in the bed, the blanket is covering her left arm, and then later she's wearing a long sleeve hoodie or coat. I would think if she had been bit, Rosita would have discovered it since she's the one that has been caring for her. Glen and Nick seem to be dealing with their differences. Last season Nick tried to kill Glen. They both get cleaned up from their romp in the woods, and Glen communicates with Maggie it's her choice if she wants to tell people that Nick tried to kill Glen, but he wants to give him a chance I think. There is a scene where Glen, Heath, and Nick have to clear-out a store. It was a great synergy, you have a member from Rick's group (one of the best), you have Heath who is practically neutral because he hasn't been there but has enough sense because he goes out on runs, and Nick who's trying to redeem himself. The three of them work well together to clear out the store so Rick's plan plays through smoothly without the complication the noise could have caused.

Do you think Jessie and Rick are going to work out? After her interaction with Rick in this episode, I couldn't feel their connection anymore. Again, it could be because she witnessed Rick shoot her husband's face off and killed him. She's also having to mourn for her abusive husband and console two grieving children, one being a teenager with plenty of angst. Rick was trying to tell her son Ron something, and she basically tells Rick to stay far away from her children. Which, if you read the comics you know the three of them don't make it (Jessie and her two sons). It'll make sense because she's resistant for Rick to teach them how to survive, it will come full-circle when she's unprepared and they die because of it. That's why we all say LISTEN TO RICK! Yeah, he shot your husband, but your husband was a dick. I can understand her moral dilemma, but in this world survival is the name of the game, right?

Rick's plan to draw this mega-herd away from Alexandria is in the homestretch and only experienced a few snags, which were dealt with, when a loud menacing horn starts sounding. The walkers start to stray from the path they've set out, and Rick even comments that it sounds like it's coming from Alexandria! The last few shots are of the walkers, massive in numbers, leaving the road where Daryl, Sasha, and Abraham had been leading them down, and going toward the sound of the horn. What could be happening to Alexandria, that they felt this was their only option!? Guess we'll find out next week! I don't know about you, but I'm beyond excited about this season. If the first episode of season six is any indication -- buckle up -- it's going to be a crazy-intense ride (as long as I was on the back of Daryl's bike, I'd be good)!

Sneak Peek - Episode 2 "JSS"

Links

AMC - The Walking Dead

AMC - Story Sync

IMDb.com - The Walking Dead

FEAR: The Good Man

The finale for their premiere season ended with a bang! 

I apologize that this wasn't posted the same night it aired. I try my best to watch the episodes and share. However, life gets in the way sometimes. Just like in The Good Man, life is definitely changing for all of our main cast. What I appreciate from this series was that they weren't afraid to show the military break-down and the interpersonal relationships... and who else loved that there was a special Talking Dead after the episode.

Luckily though, I took notes so I'm going to share with you what I managed to scribble out about the finale episode. My first note reads: group left neighbors exposed when Travis left gate open! This was when the families were leaving the neighborhood after the military withdrew. Maybe if Travis wasn't so preoccupied with letting their captive go, he would have locked the gate and given the people inside a better chance of survival. Although, I guess they'll have to face the music eventually. Basically, when the families were leaving, they opened the perimeter gate as their vehicles drove through, and Travis was the last one out. Why he didn't shut the gate baffled me. But, like they talked about on Talking Dead and as I've mentioned before, they are just being introduced into this world. We've been following The Walking Dead for five (going on six) seasons, we know the deal, unfortunately they do not.

One of my absolute favorite scenes was with Daniel. The episode before he checked out the arena where he learned a lot of people were left by the military relentlessly. Daniel used this to his advantage. He unleashed the herd and walked them to the military outpost where they wanted to get in to get their people back. The scene was perfection! All you see at first is Daniel walking up to the post as the military people yell at him that he's in the wrong area or something, then he says something really smart like "you should be more worried about them", then he whistles or something, as it's revealed a lot of walkers were following him. It was crazy-amazing!! Loved it.

After the compound is attacked and over-run, the group amazing survives, there were some intense scenes. When the group emerges, it's the dawn of a new day and beautifully shot. The entire group reunites with the addition of the sly Strand and they head to his place on the coast where he assures them he has everything they need. I'm still not too sure about this guy, I think he would sacrifice any of the group to save his own hide... he's a survivor. It'll be interesting to see his perspective in the next season and where all their characters go. We're just seeing Travis start to unravel in this world where moral decisions aren't always the right ones. He's met with the consequences of letting the military guy go and he loses it beating his face bloody!

When they get to Strand's mansion, everyone is dealing and sort of just catching their breaths. Madison notices Liza left the house and heading to the shore. She follows her and finds out that during their escape she was compromised. Travis finds them too and has to deal with pulling the trigger. It's a hard thing and in this world, as we know, it's not easy (to say the least). The women thought that having to end them would in result, end himself. So, we'll have to see next season how this will change him. It was great watching Talking Dead after the episode because we sort of got a tease that next season (if he was telling the truth) the group will be on Strand's yacht and we'll see pirates basically!

Overall, I think this episode was probably my favorite and the best. Usually premieres and finales are the best thought, right? If their episodes were more like this one I don't think they would have had that decline in viewers. It just seemed to be really slow in the middle and hopefully next season it'll pick-up like this one. Until next season! 

FEAR: Pilot

Fear the Walking Dead

For most of us The Walking Dead fans, this has been the anticipated event of the summer - Fear the Walking Dead on AMC. My initial thoughts are, I've never lived on the West Coast let alone LA, but I'm thinking things are quite different out there (I'll elaborate later). I figured this episode was introducing us to the family unit we'll be following. However, my initial reaction is that I don't care for the mother or daughter, I liked the boyfriend/father/parental unit, and the zombie apocalypse would suck even more as a junkie apparently. The previews for the rest of the season do look promising in Walking Dead fashion. I did watch The Talking Dead special before the premiere episode and I agree with them, that since we know a lot from watching The Walking Dead, that we can see all the mistakes and can sort of me be like "you shouldn't do that!"
**Spoilers Ahead**
If you do not want to know anymore details about the premiere episode do not continue reading

The pilot opens on the son, Nick (Frank Dillane), as the camera pans out you can collect that he's in a drug-den. He's alone and looking for the people he was with often calling out "Gloria", as he's searching the building you see it's an abandoned church. Nick finds someone who has already been the victim of a walker's appetite. Not understanding exactly what's going on, he continues to search for his friend, when he finds her she's hunched over a body feasting - but Nick doesn't realize this until she gets up, turns around, and the horror unfolds. She has a piece of long metal protruding out of her chest cavity, her eyes are turned, and she makes her way to start feasting on Nick's face as he turns and bolts out of there. In his frantic state he's not looking and it hit by a car, as pedestrians are coming to his aide, the camera pans out to show the stuffy smog filled air of the LA landscape.

Meet The Family Unit: Madison the Mom, Travis the Boyfriend, Alicia the Teenage Angst, and Nick the Addict

Next scene opens on mom and a typical family morning routine, she's gathering laundry and attempting to rush her daughter to be ready for school, as she puts the laundry in the washer she banters with the man in her life as he's fixing the kitchen sink. As they are having an intimate moment the phone rings. The rough life of an addict spans around and you can see the toll on the family as they anticipate the call. My only problem with this scene is why in the hell is their teenage daughter coming out of the bathroom in her towel while her mother's boyfriend (Travis, played by Cliff Curtis) is there? I get it, they're concerned for their family member who has been in and out of clinics to help with his addiction and this early phone call is evidently about him and they want to know what's going on, just didn't seem right to me. But, anyway - they go to the hospital where they are being informed about Nick's condition, and while I understand the mother and her concern, I just thought she could be more thankful and not such a bitch at this point. When Nick see's the boyfriend there the mixed family drama begins. He doesn't want him there and in the already stressful situation erupts. Another problem I have is why is the boyfriend staying with the son? I get it that the mom has obligations... and even later when they finally do decide to call the police about something else Travis is the one who calls, not the mother - just didn't make sense to me. Anyway - it's decided that since Travis is a teacher and the mother is a counselor at the high school and she has certain obligations that day, that she would go to work.

By the time we're at the scene with the kid explaining what's going on to Madison (the mom), we get it. Nick isn't saying anything because he would be labeled crazy and they would put him in the psych unit, which would be 100 times more difficult to escape from! And the kid talking to her didn't want to tell her at first what was going on because people would think he's crazy. A great line that literally made me chuckle out loud was when Madison states "If there's a problem we'd know about it. The authorities would tell us." Keep dreaming cookie. Meanwhile we're also introduced to the daughter (Alicia, played by Alycia Debnam-Carey), it's made very aware that she has a year left of high school and then she wants to get away to Berkeley where she'll be attending college (so she thinks). We're also introduced to her boyfriend, they seem close and later when they make plans and he doesn't show, which is about the time things are slightly escalating - I'm already thinking he's either somewhere trying to survive or he's among the walkers beginning to tear our society apart.

When Travis and Nick start a dialogue, Nick opens up about his experience and his perception of the events told through a junkie's eye. Since Travis is a nice guy and wants to get to the bottom of things, he goes to the church where it all went down. As we know, those of us that are well educated in the universe of The Walking Dead, when walkers are involved, it's best not to go into a building where said walkers were seen and start yelling "anybody here!" This made me chuckle too, thinking how different it would be. I kept anticipating that walker to come stumbling toward him, however the suspense bolts through when Travis finds a surviving junkie who's been hiding and he yells something like "don't kill me!" In the meantime the mother arrives back at the hospital and Nick is asleep. Meanwhile, the patient next to him isn't breathing too well, the whole scene unraveled in my head about the guy dying and turning. But, that would have to wait. Travis is back at the church looking around and finds a huge pile of blood and bits. This is my problem with this scene - once he found this and knew something violent happened there - why didn't anyone call the police?

Back at the hospital the family is there as Travis comes in the mom had slept there with her son, and he brought her a change of clothes. While they go and have their adult talk about how he went to verify what Nick was saying, and the mom telling him he was being manipulated by her addict son, Alicia and Nick have a nice brother-sister moment as they discuss their mom's relationship with her boyfriend (Travis, and apparently he's newly moved in with the family), and she feeds him red Jell-O. He promises to get clean and you can tell Alicia's heard it all before and definitely has her doubts.

As the day progressed and the son is now alone at the hospital, the nurse comes in to tend to his needs and he's able to turn on that charm. He had been in restraints because of the events and he was able to talker the nurse to untying one of his hands, as he's frantically trying to undo himself as she left (to give him privacy) his roommate codes blue and they rush him out. He takes this opportunity to steal the dead man's clothes and things and escapes the hospital. When Madison and Travis (the parental units) arrive back at the hospital, they're confronting the nurse about Nick and she says he's over 18, their only option right now is to call the police because they're too busy with people dying. Madison tells Travis to take her to where it had started - meaning the church Nick was talking about.

Meanwhile, they tried contacting their son's friend Calvin to see if he knew where Nick was or could be. They made it seem like he had once been an addict too, was not on the straight and narrow, but he was willing to help them look for Nick. I didn't expect Calvin to actually be Nick's supplier! When he does meet up with Nick it gets pretty interesting and their relationship is questionable. When they "take a ride" Nick seems relaxed and I knew Calvin had other plans. When they reached a secluded place and he told Nick that he would be safe there and proceeded to his trunk, I knew it! He opened Nick's door and Nick got a glimpse of the gun he was trying to hide. They fight and Calvin ends up shot in the middle of his chest. Realizing he just shot Calvin and he's dead, Nick takes off.

With nowhere else to go and no one else to confide in, Madison and Travis arrive to Nick's aide and when they go to verify what Nick was telling them was true, Calvin's dead body was nowhere to be found. His car was there and you could tell Travis noticed that there was blood on the ground. Nick's questioning his sanity and his mother is trying to help him as they get back in their truck to leave, Travis is backing up and then there's Walker Calvin coming toward them. The parental units get out to investigate, while Nick is pleading for them not to and even tells them that he'll kill them. I couldn't tell, but it looked like Calvin bit Madison's wrist, or tried to at least, she had on long sleeved apparel, so she might be safe (for now). Nick puts the truck in reverse and hits Calvin, but the walker gets back up so Nick runs him over again, slamming on the breaks he sends Calvin flying through the air and smashing down on the pavement to a twisted demise - they're all in shock and dismay when Calvin moves his head and does the walker-chomp with his jaws, no longer able to physically move his body.
END EPISODE

Overall, sure there were some questionable things, but human nature is quite questionable. I also think, as for a pilot it was a great episode, and I'm highly anticipating the rest of the season! In the previews that they aired after the episode there is a character that explains how people can do evil things out of fear - it was a great line! The pilot was 90 minutes, which was a nice treat, but I think it could have been less. However, it did do a great job introducing us to the family unite that we'll be following. Also, we were introduced to Travis' ex-wife and his biological son and their relationship seems complicated as well. Of course in AMC and The Walking Dead fashion, there will be great character development, amazing writing, and awesome cinematic experiences leaving us thirsting for more.

FULL CAST AMC FEAR THE WALKING DEAD

Talking Dead Special

There were great commercials during The Walking Dead Marathon that aired before the premiere of Fear the Walking Dead, where they had three characters from TWD series addressing questions about their characters and what we can look forward to in the next season six! It was great to have Chris back and they were able to get out of Scott (Gimple) confirmation that Daryl will be safe. He even said he would fear for himself if anything happened to Daryl because he felt Norman would take him out - hilarious. Another confirmation was that Rick did in fact shoot Pete - there was some confusion an speculation that Rick could have shot Deanna's husband so they didn't have another walker situation. They also stated that The Walking Dead premiere will be huge and it will also be 90 minutes!! Just some goodies in case you didn't know. I heard the show was up for an award and I hope they win, I for one am a fan of Chris and what the team does!! I hope that they continue for Fear the Walking Dead too.

Links

AMC - Fear the Walking Dead
FearTWD - Story Sync
AMC - The Talking Dead

FEAR on IMDb.com

THE WALKING DEAD 5.8

Mid-Season Finale - CODA **SPOILERS**

Well, what have we learned? If you are going on a season-long rescue mission for a particular character... when the troupe went on the mission to find Sophia, what happened? Yeah, well now they've reached Beth and for a millisecond you think "Yay, everyone's back together" and before you know it Beth wanted to go balls-to-the-wall; which I'll go more into detail later. I'd also like to say, for the mid-season finale it was slow. There were definitely some great scenes but, I felt like most of this episode could have or should have been in the episode before the mid-season finale. Either way, for me this was an extremely sad episode and it was even maddening that the Story Sync wasn't functioning for the first half-hour. But, what-eves... Now we have to wait until February 8th of NEXT YEAR - boo!

This episode starts off with Rick chasing after the escaped cop and literally running him down. However, Rick did give him fair warning. Do I think he did anything wrong, absolutely not. As usual, the group doesn't listen to Rick and then he has to clean up the mess. Why can't the group just listen to Rick? It was a shocking scene when Rick actually hits the cop. I agree with The Talking Dead when they say how "Rick's done". Rick has it right though, he gave him the warning, he gave the cop plenty of times to stop and he didn't - it was a great scene especially when Rick says "Shut up".

There are a couple characters that I'm done with! Father Gabriel; He was stupid to leave the the church, he was even more stupid to lead the school herd back to the church, and he was the biggest douche for endangering Judith. Abraham; after the last episode where he went catatonic he was irritating and his alpha BS attitude really gets under my skin. Tyreese; I've mentioned this through out this season how much Tyreese has changed (not for the better) and how much I fracking hate him now! He's the reason that they didn't listen to Rick and just do a stealth mission, and he's the reason that Sasha let her guard down and the cop escaped. He even said as much to Sasha this episode when he was talking about how he could have killed Martin (when he was alone with him and Judith) but, he didn't (he made another bad decision). I would have gladly have rather one of these a'holes to have died rather then Beth!

When the walkers are at the church and it's just Michonne and Carl to fight off this herd, seeing her grab her weapon again was sweet! They were able to escape and then end up trapping the walkers back in the church. They're waiting outside like "now what" when the walkers start breaking their way out and Carl's like "where do we go?" and then a great scene is when the Firetruck from Glenn's group arrives to block the doors. Michonne informs Maggie that they've found Beth and then they all go to Grady to join the rescue mission.

There was a lot of Beth and Dawn in this episode. I felt that Dawn sincerely liked Beth, she thought she was weak but when she learned that she wasn't Dawn sort of cared for her more. While Beth never let her guard down with Dawn, and rightfully so. There was an intense fight between Dawn and another douche-cop where Beth helps and ultimately saves Dawn. After this, Beth is in the room with Carol (who's still asleep) and Dawn tries to talk to Beth to let her know she's on her side. Right at the end of that scene Carol's waking up.

Perspective

Meanwhile, across town Rick is in negotiations with two cops to exchange the two they have prisoner for the two in their hospital; Carol and Beth. The next thing you know they're being led into the hospital by the two officers and the negotiations between Dawn's group and Rick's begin. They first exchange Carol and one of the other cops and then Beth. Like I said, when Beth reached the other side I let out a breath of relief, I really had been holding my breath because there were so many theories out there that Beth was going to die and I was really hoping that she wouldn't because I really grew to love her character.

Then, when Dawn wanted Noah back, I knew something was going to go down. Even more so when Beth went face-to-face with Dawn I knew it was coming and was yelling "NO!" After, I thought maybe Beth was thinking that Dawn wasn't going to let her go either. You could tell by Dawn's face too that she truly didn't mean her slip-trigger reaction to being stabbed. I have to say though, seeing Daryl cry and carry Beth's body out made the tears run - so sad. And FINALLY, Maggie shows emotion for her sister! How horrible though for Maggie; I think now she wasn't really considering her sister because she still has to deal with her father's death and she really didn't know if Beth was alive or not. Then, to get the news that she's alive only then to go to reunite with her and was too late. I think everything hit Maggie just then as she broke-down - so, so sad.

R.I.P Beth Green

Remaining Questions:

It was asked on Talking Dead how the group will deal with this and will they leave Atlanta now? Kirkman said that if you read the comics then you'll know where they're heading (basically). So, we know they're going still going to head north. I think, from what I've read, watched, and have heard that they'll try to rebuild and they'll come across a community where they'll try. In the comic though it was full of Walkers and they decide to leave (if I remember correctly). Also, the group comes across a new character (which Kirkman also hinted toward) who will lead them to a safer zone (sort-of). I'm dreading this because it's when Negan is introduced... Kirkman was also asked about Daryl and if he'll ever find love (saying it nicely), he just commented that Daryl's A-sexual and introverted. He did discuss the hype around Daryl being gay and it seemed that's what Kirkman originally wanted (perhaps like Jesus in the Comics?) but, since the internet blew-up about it it seems that they diverted and they'll just leave it as a mystery (because he didn't directly answer the question either) - Thanks Robert!!

Favorite Meme From The Week

What I'm Both Looking Forward To And Dreading...

Links

AMC - Talking Dead - Play Dead

AMC - The Walking Dead - Story Sync

The Walking Dead Returns February 8th on AMC