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'Since when did the dead use frickin' doorknobs?' asks Jerry. Anyone else think, um, Jenny Jones in the very first episode? 😉😄 Though viruses mutate; clearly this ability disappeared pretty quickly.
The possibility of future mutations adds yet another dimension of scariness - more to come, in Isle of the Dead and the Richonne and Daryl spin-offs?
The theme-park village looked like an ideal setting for Kingdom 2.0 at first glance, and Jerry said about them making a new home there seemed feasible. I loved Jerry in this episode - he dealt with Aaron's somewhat stubborn determination so perfectly, up to and including not giving him a 'told you so' about their wagon not making a very good off-road vehicle.
Saint Aaron was back, though, when he gave Lydia such great advice as far as Elijah is concerned. Echoes of last episode, in which Carol told her that you have to take happiness where you can.
I liked so much about this episode, but felt there were two scenes missing:
I needed to see how the four of them (three and a half if you take into consideration Jerry's injury) killed all those Walkers between them, especially as at least some of these were the Variants of the title, who have regained their initial skills of climbing and using rocks as tools. There were masses of them ~ I was geared up to see a big battle, but suddenly it was morning and they were all dead. How?
Wenever saw how Pamela Milton discovered that the workers-turned-Walkers in the grey boiler suits had been killed by Shira and Calhoun on the instructions of Lance, rather than by Eugene and Max. Presumably one of them gave up the information, but we don't know this. Do correct me if I'm wrong, and I missed it!
Talking of which, meanwhile back at the Commonwealth...
'The prick had it coming'
I have no doubt that Lance will survive being locked into a cell with Walker Seb and soon-to-be Walker Calhoun. I suspect his eventual demise will be a lot more satisfying ~ public, and orchestrated by one of our gang!
Occurred to me that last week's 'A New Deal' was one of those pivotal episodes when an action (i.e, what Eugene and Max did with that tape) affects everything and everyone, and influences all future events. The theme of 'Variant' was, I thought, the definition of what makes a 'good man', as per the illuminating conversation between Princess and Mercer...
... and Max quoting her father when refusing to sign the document that would have secured her freedom: 'Speak truth no matter what the cost.' Nice one, Max and Mr Mercer Snr! So Mercer is getting it from all sides - perhaps he should listen to both his sister and his girlfriend. I imagine he will...
This, of course, ties into the theme of redemption ~ Eugene doing what was good and brave instead of cowardly. He's become a lion at last; Abraham would have been proud.
Other good stuff:
When Eugene refused point blank to leave the Commonwealth without Max, Rosita did not argue or get emotional about it, but understood that his stance was immovable, so went off to deal with the situation as it was, not as she wanted it to be. Rosita rocks. More and more all the time.
Princess, full stop. Loved how she called bullshit on Mercer - he said he was doing 'everything in his power' to protect Eugene and she replied 'but not everything..'. Then there was the statement that the interrogation room 'smells like armpits and ass' 😂. The pink jacket is back ~ like Judith and Daryl putting The Hat and The Waistcoat back on, this felt symbolic!
Whole scene here:
When Lance cried out that the trouble started when the Hilltop and Alexandria people arrived, I heard an echo of Spencer Monroe who, more than once, was heard to say that everything went wrong when Rick and co arrived. Depends whose side you're on, Lance. Didn't end well for Spencer....
In TWD world every scene, every piece of dialogue is relevant, and Daryl and Carol arranging to meet up for lunch so that Carol could tell him more about her 'side thing' was no different - thank goodness she was waiting in the diner wondering why he didn't turn up, eh?
Still can't get used to Daryl and Rosita being dutiful Commonwealth cops, but of course it puts them in a good place to find out what's going on - though when Colonel Vickers walked past and ticked Daryl off for being late, I silently shouted out, 'You don't speak to Daryl Dixon, Slayer of Whisperers, Master of Dog and Protector of Children, in that way!'
The Daryl-doughnut-cop-stereotype scene will be included in many a 'Best of Daryl Dixon' article in months to come, I am sure. Classic moment. Want to see it again? His face...😂😂
Not to mention the wonderful putting down of Silly Sebastian, who was boasting about the way 'I handle myself with rotters.' Not a word that Daryl could have got called out for, but the way he said it spoke volumes. 'Oh yeah, yeah, it's good stuff' 😂😂 .
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...Sebastian totally missing that at this stage in the zombie apocalypse world, dealing with Walkers is just part of a day's work, and anyone who can't do the head-knife thing at a moment's notice is already dead - unless they've been completely shielded from the monsters by Mummy.
His plan in which Rosita and Daryl must risk their lives was so sick, in a world where, Commonwealth apart, bank notes have become just pieces of useless paper. Something of no intrinsic value at all - like how Slimeball Sebastian views people's lives. I hope Pamela will soon find out what he's been doing, and what became of poor April, whose last moment of hope before the needless snuffing out of her life was a few exchanges with Rosita in the dark.
Not to mention how he waved away the deaths of others he sent to do the same job, like they were just collateral damage. Pamela seems fairly decent - I hope I'm not wrong.
(Incidentally, I love Rosita's Spanish lilt when she says her own name :)
So Carol and Mercer arrive to save the day after the malfunctioning alarm alerts the Walkers, and the party has to 'gut up and go' (love that!) once again...
... though this time it is not to reach a van to get them and their friends out of the city in which they're trapped, or to save themselves and those they love from the herd in Alexandria...
...but to collect a bag of old bank notes so that Sebastian Milton can live in luxury. Mercer was top stuff again in this, and now he's fully aware of the rotten core, surely he will take an active part in cutting it out - eventually. I was surprised when he took out Alves and Castle, though. Seemed like it was a heat of the moment decision, born of utter disgust and fury.
Back at the Commonwealth when counting up his spoils, the faces of Daryl, Rosita and Mercer said more than any words - Seb's not very good at reading the room, is he? Or maybe he just doesn't care; he considers himself above everyone else, after all.
While this was happening, Carol was busy doing one of the many things she does best, i.e., being her sweet self in order to find out information, such as whether or not Hornsby was involved in Seb's plan ... that one word, 'Finally', when she revealed that they'd retrieved the cash, gave away his involvement in the scheme.
*
Meanwhile, back at Riverbend, Toby Carlson's insane rampage continues, as he and his men kill anyone who won't give up the location of the weapons they haven't got.
Lots of good Negan moments - that nice little 'Hey kiddo', when he saw Lydia again, the revelation of his new relationship status, and the scenes with Hershel. That conversation between the two of them, when Hershel asked him if he was a bad man and he said that he used to be - there's always remained the question of whether or not he really is a reformed character, but maybe it's been answered now.
Many of us have thought that Negan would, at some point, save Hershel's life, but I didn't expect it to happen this early (though indeed there are only 10 episodes left!) - I wonder if he will do it again, more dramatically, in such a way that Maggie and Hershel will (sort of) forgive him. There's a way to go with that, yet.
The conversation with Maggie and Annie was an important one, what with Annie being pregnant - I wonder if it will go some way to help Maggie move past you-know-what.
Every episode there is one important, profound and sometimes prescient piece of dialogue, and this week it came from Lydia, when Gabriel told Negan that where they live now is different.
'No it isn't. They just want to swallow up other communities. They're like the Whisperers. They just wear different masks.'
*
As for Carlson, there's nothing like seeing a loathsome worm get the death he deserves, though I was surprised to see him leave us so soon. A refreshing surprise to see that it was Aaron the Idealist who took the shot, without any hesitation whatsoever. Worth another watch!
As they know Riverbend is no longer safe, I imagine they will gather their supplies and go off to Hilltop with Maggie - including Negan and Annie? I can see her and Maggie becoming friends ('we bonded over how to raise a child in a devastated post-apocalyptic world - Negan Junior was brought up on mashed turnips'), though I wonder, somehow, if Annie will last the course. Don't know why, just a feeling. Like losing her would be Negan's final penance.
Next week shows Aaron and Gabriel not being believed about whatever story they cook up between them ... and, finally, we find out what that 'six months later' scene from 11x09 No Other Way is all about.
Then there's the Wicked Witch of the East, of course ... Leah. Your guess is as good as mine.
Looks like Mercer is taking off the pumpkin-coloured spacesuit
One of those lovely moving-all-the-storylines-along-nicely episodes, with loads of stuff to mull over! A friend on Twitter told me that some viewers are getting frustrated with the pace of the Maggie-Negan thing, but I think it's a necessarily slow development; the resolution will mean much more if the suspense/path has been gradual. As for the Reapers, as soon as we saw their faces they became less frightening, but that's the nature of the beast—the unknown is always more terrifying. It will all pan out beautifully and the story arc will work its own magic, I am sure, because the writers and story editors of TWD are just the best. Ditto the Carol and Daryl thing that so many are waiting for - a journey, not a destination!
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Promises Broken ... some in the Commonwealth, Daryl's to Leah, Leah's to Pope, but I believe the most important was that made by Gabriel to Maggie, i.e., that if he saw any Reapers on his scouting mission he would kill them. That he was unable to kill a fellow man of the cloth will, I think, have dire repercussions somewhere down the line. Something about the way in which Mancea asked God to guide him, then said 'Thank you' as he looked in Gabriel's direction. Did he see him?
Then there's the promise that Maggie and Negan shook on, but she hasn't broken that one yet. When Elijah asked her if Negan has changed, it seemed like she thought he had, but made a cautious reply to keep herself on guard. Maybe also because she needs to maintain her hatred of him or she would feel she'd betrayed her son, and Glenn's memory.
The trailer for this episode implied that they might be about to reach a new understanding, but this is TWD and this is Negan—nothing is ever going to be as you think.
When Maggie was visibly upset (great bit of acting by her) at him saying that if he could go back and do things differently he would have killed them all, you can understand her shock, but I think he was showing respect for her, in a twisted kind of way, by being honest. Showing himself, cards on the table, no smoke and mirrors, warts and all, because, as he said, that is the only way things will work. It doesn't mean he's going to kill them all now; Season 7/8 were many years ago and a different world. Now it's up to Maggie to decide whether or not she can accept his honesty.
I totally love
Negan at the moment... great little scene here: 'This is not fun' 'Not with that attitude'. Then the
Whisperer Masterclass. Every skill comes in useful in the
apocalypse, and none more so, at times, than learning how to utilise a herd of
Walkers as an effective weapon!
More than ever before, we were shown his side of the age-old rift with this question: 'How did Aaron get Gracie?'.
Remember Rick killing a man presumed to be Gracie's father in 8x02 TheDamned? Also, as Negan pointed out, the Saviors massacred in their sleep in 6x12 NotTomorrow Yet had friends, girlfriends, just the same as Glenn, Abraham and everyone else. Negan wished he'd killed them all so that no more of his people would die. Same as anyone, about their community. One thing he's not doing that he should, though—he needs to show Maggie that he understand how she feels. How he knows what it's like to lose the person you love. Show just a bit of compassion for the fact that Hershel Jnr will never know his father.
🧟🧟🧟
So to the Commonwealth, and it doesn't look like our four are getting help for Alexandria any time soon. There is so much afoot that we're not seeing yet—no clues about about what's really going on with the clearly very scared Tomi who insisted that 'you have to know your place' before being hauled off by the white space suit chaps - for what? The 2 x Stephanie situation is equally as baffling—though Real Stephanie is obviously concerned that Eugene is okay.
I wasn't convinced by Pamela Milton's son Sebastian—I thought his reaction to Eugene and Fake Stephanie made him more like a pantomime character than we usually see on TWD. Comedy zombie apocalypse. Twelve or so years in, surely he would have noticed Walkers so close to him (hearing them? Smelling them?), and been grateful for being saved, and his girlfriend looked like she'd never seen one before, though granted if they've been hidden away somewhere like the place in World Beyond, or wherever Rick is, she might have been sheltered from them. Sebastian is potentially a great character, but I think he needs making a bit more ... realistic.
As for Eugene in the cell, I don't believe for one minute that he's about to give up Alexandria. He's way too sharp for that these days; he'll have something up his sleeve. The cowardly cleverness that persuaded Abraham to act as his protector has evolved, in a good way; now, as was evident in the Season 8 finale, he is capable of working out detailed strategy—patiently, quietly and effectively.
And I still think he's got the Stephanie thing sussed out. But it looks like he might need Yumiko to do that favour for Cheesy Video Guy.
It's possible that Ezekiel's got something going on, too—the delight with which he returned from seeing the doctor seemed somehow faked, for the sake of the guards. Btw, I like the friendship between him and Princess very much. They seem to gel really well. :)
🏹🏹🏹
Back at Meridian, Daryl is making friends and Leah is pissing off Pope by backing up the inept soldiers, who clearly don't have Daryl's tracking skills. Pope accused her of doing so to make them like her, but I thought it was solely for Daryl's benefit.
Though she kind of blew it all later, when she and Daryl were on the hunt and they talked about the Reapers' taking of Meridian; she appeared to think it okay to kill people and steal their home and food. If Daryl had known she was like that before, I doubt he would have been with her at all, attraction or no attraction.
In this world, what you will or won't do to keep your people safe and fed is what separates the good guys from the bad guys.
Later, when she found the family and let the father and son go, then was unable to put the mother out of her misery, I thought that was more because of her memory of the boy she adopted, rather than genuine compassion for the people concerned.
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So the grave wasn't for Alden as I feared last week (phew), and Elijah wants to be the one to kill Pope, no doubt even more so after we saw what was clearly his sister, now a Walker. Dodgy moment there, followed by a lovely one as Maggie took his hand. Elijah seems far too switched on to have blown it by letting his emotion ruin the plan, though.
Episode sevens usually do a grand job of setting the scene for the part-season finale, and this was no exception. The final scene promised great things to come for next week - a bit of déjà vu from 10x15 The Tower, too!
btw, I was wondering if Elijah's sister was the same Walker as the Michonne lookalike in 4x09 After. If not, they look very alike. Look at the cheekbones.
