Review: #TheWalkingDead S11x04 RENDITION

 Previously: Review: S11x03 HUNTED

- S 11 x 04  RENDITION - 

Written by Nicole Mirante Matthews

Directed by Frederick E O Toye

So I was wrong last week about Pope being a former fundamentalist preacher ... but on the right track.  I've seen a few tweets saying negative stuff about this episode, chiefly because it featured no Carol and lots of Leah, the Woman We All Loathe, but I think it was absolutely up to the standard of the rest of the season so far.  And come on - it would be much worse if Daryl had had a relationship with someone nice!

Bit of déjà vu going on here...

It's always fascinating to see inside the enemy's lair and find out what they're all about, and this time it's Meridian, discovered by Daryl as he and Dog followed a Reaper back there.  Daryl being Daryl, when he was outside looking for Dog in the daylight he was constantly looking around, assessing his surroundings...

..and even when he was captured he never took his mind off the ball, counting on his fingers how many Reapers they would have to contend with.  As he was flung into the cage I bet he thought, 'not this crap again ... I hope the menu's an improvement on dog food sandwiches...'

Could this be just an excuse for a picture of an unclothed Daryl? 🤔

(An aesthetic point: Leah sports the 'unfortunately I ran out of hair dye six months ago' grey hair look, whereas Carol totally rocks 'glamorous/ethereal post-apocalyptic warrior chic'.  Go Carol, of course 😉😁)

The conversations between Daryl and Leah were a maze of half-truths, lies, hidden agendas, etc.  Seemed like she still hankers after him, whereas with Daryl it's more like she's someone he cared for but is now part of his past - especially now he's realised he never really knew her anyway.  

'I'm sorry you ended up with these people.'

'These people are my family.  They never stopped looking for me.'

So she was a mercenary right from the start - while Daryl was running around looking for Sophia and finding formula for Judith, Leah belonged to a group that brutally attacks others and strings them up for no reason other than wanting what they have - and all because their leader believes they are the Chosen Ones.  

It was clear that he was thinking 'this woman is dangerous and I need to tread real careful here' - he told her he'd never lied to her and wasn't going to start now, then went ahead and did just that, to protect his own family from her band of psychos.  Yes, even the tall skinny guy who never shuts up.

'They were speaking in code because I was an outsider ... one of their soldiers slipped up.  He was gonna go meet three dozen of their soldiers.  That's way more than you got here'.

Maybe Leah has begun to believe the lie she told Pope, i.e. that she chose them over Daryl.  We know from 10x18 Find Me, though, that she only went back with her Reaper family because Daryl had left.  

In contrast, he did not go back for her until Carol told him that her first priority had to be Ezekiel, Henry and the Kingdom.  He's never been one to stay in one place for too long or have his movements restricted, as Leah tried to do, but I believe he saw his life with her as something that he knew wasn't quite right.   

He said that he was 'scared of letting go' - of looking for Rick, of his intense relationship with a woman who'd committed to someone else ... of the past, and all those people with whom he'd been through so much, who respected and cared for him.  Whereas there was no doubt some truth in that, he made his choice.  At the time, he didn't want to let go.

Leah said they would never have worked anyway, because it's impossible to be happy in this new world, but Daryl knows otherwise.  He's seen Glenn and Maggie together.  Rick and Michonne.  Aaron and Eric.  Rosita and Gabriel - the list goes on.  Impossible if you're with a group like the Reapers, yes.  Being with deranged sadists can turn you into the sort of person who thinks waterboarding a man you love(d) is an okay thing to do, even if you weren't already inclined that way.

🏹🏹🏹

Seemed like Daryl managed to convey to Frost, in the cell opposite, what his story was, and Frost went along with it.  I wonder where Elijah is, after we saw him being dragged off last week?  I don't imagine they're all going to escape just yet.  After passing Pope's trial by fire, Daryl will probably have to stay 'undercover' for a while, for his own safety but mostly so that he can avert Reaper eyes from Alexandria.  

My bet is that Daryl will have to bullshit Leah that he is on board with this 'chosen one' thing; her conversation with Pope showed that she was keen to still have him around.

But how far will he have to go, in order not to get thrown back into the flames?  Having witnessed the brutal murder of Bossie, simply for running from the enemy to save himself, Daryl must know he's got to tread more carefully than he ever has before.  He's wise enough to know that Pope is not going to trust him for a while, yet, and will be watching him like a hawk.

After the burning incident, the knowledge of what he is up against was written all over his face. Sort of 'holy shit, am I in trouble here'.

Did you hear the echo from 7x11 Hostiles and Calamities, when Negan threw Dr Emmet Carlson into the furnace...?

As for Pope, a friend said, 'It's going to take the real Negan to get rid of the wannabe Negan.'  Well, he's on his way... and Maggie's not going to hold back on the vengeance after what they've done to her people.  

Won't be next week, though... here's what's coming:

And look at the trailer for World Beyond Season 2!!

(I think we're supposed to think the white faced person/walker with the beard might be Rick... nah!)

TWD Gif Posts (click title)

Greatest Hits

Should have stayed - Glad they're gone 

Happy Birthday, TWD Actors!

TWD Animals 😸

The Story of Daryl and Carol 

Dinner Time 

A Thank You Letter From Judith Grimes 

Girl Power 

Days Gone Bye: A Tribute to Rick Grimes 

They Turned.... 

Review: #TheWalkingDead S10x18 FIND ME #TWD

 Previously:  Review: S10x17 Home Sweet Home

Should be so close, but they're always moving apart...

~ S10 x 18  FIND ME ~ 

Directed by David Boyd

Written by Nicole Mirante Matthews

Wow, that was a hard one to watch... that scene at the end.  

The harshness of that aside, I thought this was an unexpected and fascinating episode, and I've found that I keep thinking about it.  But first, affairs of the heart...

Where does Daryl's heart lie?  When Leah said that he had to decide whether he belonged with her or his 'other family', he put them first —because, although he clearly loved or at least had strong feelings for her, she wasn't his 'brother' Rick, or Carol, Michonne, Judith.... his ties to those people are too strong ever to be broken, or even emotionally loosened. 

'You ain't gonna lose me...I've just got stuff to do.' 

Unfortunately for Leah, she did the crazy thing many people do when they want all of someone who isn't all theirs to have—she asked him to choose.  Never ends well, that one.

So Daryl goes back to his own camp, only to have Carol visit him again, and tell him, in a roundabout way, that she's putting Ezekiel and Henry first, from now on.  The hurt on his face when he said, 'You don't need my permission to move on with your life.  You're telling me I should move on with mine?' said everything.  Despite her being with Ezekiel, she had always kept him in a special place in her heart to which no one else had access, but now she was saying to him that her Kingdom family were more important.  When he'd just chosen her and everyone else over Leah...

Thinking Carol had said, 'I've moved on and so should you', he went back to find Leah—only to discover that it was too late.  Did she leave? The photo of her and Matthew was gone.  Would she have left Dog, though?  Who thinks she's going to resurface?

He was so brutal to Carol at the end, but that was him screaming out; that's what people do when they feel bad about themselves—they lash out at others.  And he's hurt—after all that he'd been through out there, he went home only to have it all go tits up yet again, and see Carol sail off on her boat. Remember, we weren't there in that year or so after 9x16 The Storm and before Season 10, so we never saw how bad it was for him when she left ... but Daryl is never okay when she's gone.  

Remember that other time she took off, at the end of S6 - how could anyone forget the scene when he found her?  

All those awful things he said to her at the end—I believe they came from the guilt he feels about Glenn, about Beth, about Hershel (remember when he cried in 4x12 Still, blaming himself because he'd stopped looking for the Governor?)...

Seeing Maggie again must have brought all that to the fore.  He feels guilty about not being able to find Rick, for knowing he failed Leah. As for Connie, she's one more person he's cared for and (thinks he's) lost, but he uses it to lash out at Carol for all the times she's left, because he's so broken up inside about every damn thing.  

I wondered what would have happened if Carol had said, 'Does anyone ever blame you for Glenn? No, they don't.'  But because of Ed, she's been conditioned to accept punishment and feel bad about herself, rather than to say, 'Hang on a minute.  You did something that was actually a bit worse.'  It was heartbreaking to see her so rejected by him, and so cruelly - even though it was only the 'hit them before they hurt you' thing, that Daryl has been doing since he was a kid.  Walk away from them so they can't walk away from you....

TWD episode titles often seem to have more than one meaning... I thought this one referred to Daryl and Carol asking each other, silently, to 'find me', as well.  

🏹🏹🏹

Inner turmoil apart, I loved this episode. The cinematography was amazing, of course... and it was good to see Daryl something other than asexual; the immediate attraction between him and Leah was so clear, right from the start.  

Maybe she was too like him... and she wasn't with him in Atlanta, at the farm, at the prison, at Terminus, and in that clearing in the woods with Negan.

🏹🏹🏹

Another reason I loved this episode was that, rather than just being told that 'Daryl lived out in the woods on his own for six years catching fish and eating snakes', we find out exactly what DID happen.  Back when he still had two wings on his waistcoat.  And that it was more obvious than before that Carol had taken fairly constant care of him all the time he was out there.

I liked how both of them, at the beginning, looked tired, worn and dirty, and as if they really had been through all they have.  These are tough people. Hard as nails, in some ways.  Strong, resilient....  

...and as @smoking_reedus said on Twitter said yesterday, this isn't a romcom, it's about survival.  It's about devastating pain and loss, while trying to keep yourself alive—anyone expecting hearts and flowers between Daryl and Carol is going to be disappointed.  I truly believe, though, that they'll get through it—maybe not until Season 11, but they will.  

~ They've still got New Mexico ~ 

(But please, please, can we have some happiness for Carol before that???)

TWD Gif Posts (click title)

Greatest Hits

Should have stayed - Glad they're gone 

Happy Birthday, TWD Actors!

TWD Animals 😸

The Story of Daryl and Carol 

Dinner Time 

A Thank You Letter From Judith Grimes 

Girl Power 

Days Gone Bye: A Tribute to Rick Grimes 

They Turned....