Monday 27 November 2017

Review: The King, The Widow and Rick #TWD S8:6 #TheWalkingDead

Reviews:
The Big Scary U
Some Guy 
Monsters 
Daryl Dixon character study 


And so they return... Rick marches/limps along the road like a wounded, worn out soldier, Daryl takes his hissy fit back to Alexandria, Aaron takes baby Gracie back to Hilltop, and the Kingdom mourn their dead.  Rick's not-quite-instant-messaging system lets them all know what's going on, and reminds them that 'our path has led us to who we are'.   If I was him I'd have been pretty pissed at being left out there all alone in Walker/Saviour/Scavenger-strewn Virginia.  Come on, Daryl, this isn't who you are.  We love you best, but we love Rick too. 


Jesus feeds The Saviours
At the Hilltop, Jesus distributes loaves and fishes (and the odd turnip) to the Saviours, while Gregory suggests the gallows might be a better solution for them.  Given that I accidentally saw a picture from the comics of Gregory hanging from one of these contraptions, I cannot help but think his words might come back to haunt him, especially when he gets shoved in with them.  Maggie's a farm girl, remember, and knows all about sheep and wolves and stuff, unlike their 'hippy-dippy, kung-fu fighting friend'.  Which is why she, especially, should be questioning how come she still has a completely flat stomach, four months into her pregnancy.



'If you fight for us, we'll teach you how to speak in complete sentences.  Deal?'

Meanwhile, back at the junkyard, Jadis is doing a spot of naked sculpture when some of her Scavengers turn up with Rick, who tells them of the Saviours' misfortune, and wants to strike a deal with them.  But he talks too much.... incidentally, has anyone else noticed that Kingdom Diane and Junkyard Tamiel are the same person?

Kingdom Diane
Junkyard Tamiel

It's great to see Michonne and Rosita back in action, albeit not at their best, as they discover yet another Saviours' hideaway, but the baddies' plans are foiled by a head on collision with Daryl and Tara in a truck, on their way to the Sanctuary to 'finish it'.  One cannot help but suspect this might not all go as smoothly as planned.  We may have seen the more human side of Negan last week, but let us not forget he is the man who beat Abraham and Glenn's heads in with a baseball bat, and laughed while he did it.  He's still a psychopath.  It's my prediction that Daryl and Tara, who have vowed to kill Dwighty-Boy between them, may themselves be saved by that very victim of Negan's iron.  

Rosita searches for stray RPGs
   

Back in the woods outside Alexandria, Carl is bored and goes off looking for Walkers to bait.  Just like old times, really, and good to see a bit of casual zombie despatching back in the series, especially for those who don't like the gun fights.  Here he comes across Siddiq, who he met in Episode 1; Carl introduces himself as 'Coral' and they say a load of profound stuff to each other, including Carl saying that his mum told him to always do what was right, even if it was the hardest thing to do.  Lori was nobody's favourite character, least of all mine, but I have to say I found her death scene from Season 3 pretty damn heartbreaking, and I cry real tears every time I see it.



Carl and his new buddy work on honouring Siddiq's mom by killing some Walkers and thus freeing their trapped souls, until it gets out of hand, but at least Carl's indestructable hat remains in place.

More echoes from the past as Carol tells Benjamin's little brother, Henry, what happens when kids play in the woods (they end up in Hershel's barn, fully Walker-fied), but Henry needs to avenge his brother's death.  Hope we get to see him kill the revolting Jared Saviour ~ it's got to be either him or Morgan, hasn't it? (btw, where IS Morgan?)  And I'm not too convinced by the Friendly Saviour, who tells Jesus he was just mindin' his own business, puttin' up a fence, when he got caught up in it all...



Later, there's a stepping up of the chemistry between Carol and Ezekiel, as he tells her that she is the only person who makes him feel real.  But what will we call them?  Cazekiel? Carekiel?  Ezekierol?  I was thinking that Carol would end up leading the Kingdom, because she does, after all, totally rock, but maybe they could be King and Queen?  Except Carol should be the King.  Ezekiel can be the drama queen.....

Cazekiel getting real

And so Aaron and Enid go back to Alexandria to fight, and Rick sits naked in a big container thing in the Junkyard.  As soon as I saw her feet, I thought, hang on a minute, Jadis is wearing Rick's boots ~ this does not bode well.

Two more to go ~ I have no more predictions but would love to hear anyone else's!

Those boots, long ago, when they still had toes....



16 comments:

  1. I loved this episode because it had the old gang- Michonne, Rosita, Carl, Rick, Maggie, Darryl & Carole all in one episode.
    Maggie Prego bump not showing by now is comical & distracting.
    Loved zombie escapades with Carl, but bummed Rick got caught.
    Nice to see Carl.

    Coral...!
    Great write Terry, love this blog cause it ties everything in so well & love previous references!!

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    1. That's why I loved it too, Machel - and yes, why isn't SOMEONE saying, um, Maggie's supposed to be at least 4 months pregnant by now, shouldn't it be showing???? Yes, I'm worried for Rick....

      Thanks for your comment, so glad you liked the post - I took notes this time to make sure I didn't miss anything :)

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    2. I hope he makes it!!! Right?! Darryl would never forgive himself. Wouldn't mind to see Rick & Michonne again soon. Great Carol is back!! She rocks. Hope Darryl is the one to save Rick

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    3. Yes - he should be! And they'll both be okay.... I think Dylan's comment is right, though, below - they need to get rid of another main character to keep us on the edge. But please, not Rick, Daryl, Michonne, Carol or Aaron.... and not Carl, because Rick couldn't take it! Also, we only have the Atlanta 4 left, we can't lose another. Thanks for commenting :)

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  2. I was so excited when the door slid back and Carl and Michonne appeared! Yay!! Loved the bit with Rosita and the rocket launcher haha, although they were lucky Daryl arrived to save the day.
    Gregory got what he deserved - go Maggie!! Also, is she EVER going to look pregnant??
    Not my favourite episode as it ended without me biting a nail, closing my eyes, or gasping loud enough to scare the cat. Can't wait to see Rick running butt naked through the next episode though ;)

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    1. Not biting a nail for Rick????!!!! I know, it's ridiculous about Maggie's flat stomach. I imagine she will suddenly pop out in the second 8 eps! I loved this episode, because I love when you see so many POVs, and can see (although they can't) that it's all going to tie in... sometimes disastrously. Also love when they do a whole half season that only takes place over a few days, like they did with the first half of S6. So clever, how you see all aspects.

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  3. I've invested so much time in this series that I can't bring myself to stop watching for fear of missing something major. I just hope people get their just desserts sooner rather than later.

    As for Carol...gotta love her!

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    1. Come on, it's a long game, Drea!!!! I do know what you mean, though - after half of S6, the whole of S7, and this half of S8, I'd kind of like to move on from Negan and the Saviours.

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    2. Yes, absolutely...it was a great story line but there's scope for so much more, either deal with it or move on in some way, even if it's away from Negan for the time being and have him pop up again unexpectedly at a later date. The series has such a huge following, it would be awful for it to fizzle out as so many have done before

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    3. It's all about advertising and investors, isn't it... if they're sensible, which one presumes they are, I imagine they will do polls and take note of public opinion. Like on soap operas, when they regularly do assessments to find out which characters are unpopular, and write them out. I would imagine they've got a way to go before HBO pull the plug, as it's been the most successful show ever, but I would imagine they have a team who watches social media to see what the fans are saying. Hope so, anyway! It's one reason why I always tweet my posts to the site, in the hope that they'll get read by whoever runs their Twitter page (some lowly PR girl, I should think!). I don't have much time for the people who say that it's been crap since Frank Darabont left (after Season 2!), or who tweet about how boring it is - it isn't boring, and if they don't like it, why not just watch something else, rather than watch it and tweet about it being crap - don't understand that at all! But what keeps it great is the characters we love, and that's what they need to watch, I think - if they become caricatures of what they were at first, or have cliched dialogue, that's when it could go south. But I still love it, anyway.... I'm like one of those mad old birds who still watch Dallas over and over!!!

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  4. Yes and I should imagine after the viewing figures have dropped they will want to know why. I can't say that for me it's boring, it just seems to be floundering a little and the storylines are slow. For example, the first episode of this series...I hated the flitting between real life and fantasy. It certainly hasn't been crap after Season 2. That's when it really got going for me but for the love of God, Rick...get your shit together! I'm like a rabbit in headlights and I can't stop watching it in the hope that Jesus will realise what an idiot he's being, Gregory will get his just deserts and Negan will bow down to Daryl...

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  5. At the risk of enducing everyone's wrath here, I'm struggling to keep watching this season. Four or five episodes of all out war and we're no closer to resolving things than we were during the first second of this season. And too many characters are making too many dumb decisions--starting with Gabriel trying to rescue Gregory in episode one, and capped by Rick's stupid decision to return to those junkyard people. They betrayed him, almost got Carl killed, what the hell was he trying to achieve going to them? I hate those people too, they make me reach for the remote control and consider switching the tv off. And don't get me started on Jesus, the guy needs to be tied up alongside those Saviors he's trying to spare. The storylines are slow and characters are acting, well, out of character.

    And I don't fear for them anymore. I'm not concerned that Rick might get shot or Daryl bitten, because that'll never happen. The lesser cast get killed off at regular intervals, but the main cast are immortal, it seems, and it dilutes a lot of the tension and excitement.

    I'll keep watching, I guess, but season eight is the poorest yet. It desperately needs something fresh or utterly traumatic to happen before it flatlines completely. I desperately need Vikings to start back up again to give me something to look forward to.

    :-)

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    1. I think the dialogue has gone down the pan a bit, Dylan; I was watching some of S2 yesterday, and it was much more 'real' then.

      As for the no nearer to resolving - it's a long game! If the Negan problem had been over in one battle there would not have been time for all the side stories, like Dwight, Gregory, etc. I love how they're showing the same couple of days from lots of different POVs, like they did in S6, when the first 9 episodes took place over 3 days. But of course Gabriel would have tried to rescue Gregory - he's a man of God who is trying to make up for the wrong he did. I thought that was totally in character. Jesus, not so much; at first he was a sharp, fighting guy, and now they've suddenly turned him into something else. But we were seeing a softer side of him, gradually, throughout S7. I watch them all more than once, and see the subtleties, I have to admit!

      I don't think it matters that we're never in danger of seeing the main characters die. We never thought Glenn or Abraham would, did we? And this is what happens in fiction - the main characters pull through by the skin of their teeth, mostly. Or maybe one of them WILL die, but it can't be Rick, because he is the main character. It's about how they grow and change, not about who gets killed. And the explosions. Love the explosions.

      I do think it's time for the Negan storyline to end, I have to say. I think it's time it moved on to something else. Considering your comments, maybe it's just that the show isn't for you anymore, as you dislike the things that most people love? I don't think it needs more trauma right now. I think it needs a calming down and coming together of the main group again.

      I agree re the awful Junkyard people, I was most disappointed when I read that Jadis was going to become a regular character. Hate them. I agree it was stupid that Rick went back to them, but he still needs numbers, and he's worked himself up into the mindset of 'stupid brave' when he thinks he can achieve anything. I suspect Jadis will take him to Negan. And he will escape by the skin of his teeth.... but there you go!

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    2. I concur! This is everything I am feeling but I know I'll be watching again next week.

      (On the plus side, Vikings is back with a double episode)

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    3. Saving Vikings!!!! Til it's all been on - so no spoilers, Drea and Dylan!!!

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  6. Nicely done, Terry. Keeps me going mid week. My prediction? I'm going to be pounding my fists on the floor waiting for the next series. It's still Daryl for me btw x

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