'My mercy prevails over my wrath' ~ Review: #TheWalkingDead Finale S8:16 WRATH #TWDFamily

Last week: Review: S8:15 WORTH


Lumps in the throat everywhere, with that very first scene of Rick and little Carl, many years ago .... I've been so looking forward to this episode, and it was worth the wait. 😃

A round of applause for everyone who sussed out that Eugene was secretly working against Negan (though maybe not from the start; I think he just couldn't see all his old friends killed, in the end) - I admit to not being among that number at first, but of course Gabriel's unintentional dodgy bullet had to be there for a reason.  As for the Last Battle ~ Negan's whistle never fails to be terrifying, especially when you can't see where it's coming from, and the sight of the Saviours appearing over the hill reminded me of Vikings, Braveheart, all those battle scenes in which the enemy appears over a hill in far greater numbers than expected ~ but as soon as the camera panned to Eugene's face I thought, ah yes, yes, he's done the bullet thing!

I couldn't imagine how Negan's end was going to come, but Morgan talking earlier on about Rick going back on his word should have been a clue... Rick lulled Negan into a false sense of security, pressing his buttons by talking about Carl, and then... slash!!!  And at last we saw what really happened under the swinging stained glass, and what he meant by 'my mercy prevails over my wrath'.

Negan should have done his research before he came out; Rick did similar when killed Shane in S2:12 Better Angels.  Just like he stood in front of Negan, looking as though he was going to collapse/cry/beg, he let Shane think he was weak, and pretended he wanted them both to back off.  (The scene below is so worth watching again, by the way!)

So we finally had the promised wrap-up of many storylines, but this is The Walking Dead ~ there can be no happy ending without a sinister threat lurking down the road, and this time Rick might need to watch out for his own family.  Will Maggie really turn against him? If so, I'm totally on Team Richonne.  The proposed fate for Negan, ie, sitting in a cell for the rest of his life, watching the rebuilding of Rick's new Utopia, is a far more suitable punishment than a quick death.

...but is Maggie right?  This is Negan we're talking about, not any old prisoner; he's streets ahead of most in cunning, intelligence and manipulation, and I can imagine him persuading someone to let him out, sometime.  He may pretend to have changed ... pondering on this made me think of Crighton Dallas Wilton in S6:4 Here's Not Here; I still think Negan is a complete psychopath who will say and do anything to get what he wants, and wonder if Maggie, like Morgan's cheesemaker chum Eastman, will be the only person to see through him. 

Either way, I hope the writers don't overplay this.  Daryl going along with Maggie I can understand, as he hasn't been his lovely self since he (thinks he) caused the death of Glenn (and feels he owes Maggie), but I don't quite get the inclusion of Jesus in the secretly mutinous trio.  Isn't Jesus the peacemaker?  That evil nod he gave as she outlined her plans was a new expression for him.  Although I've never cared much for Maggie, it's totally feasible that she feels the way she does ~ hell, millions of us want to avenge the death of Glenn! ~ but it's going to have to be subtly done to work.  Don't want any sudden changes of character, with previously decent people taking on Negan/Governor-like qualities.

'It's not over until Negan's dead!'

But back to the finale ~ looks like Siddiq has been accepted into the fold now, and Rick probably sees that in honouring his new pal's mom, Carl was also honouring Lori, but... nah.  Still doesn't seem right without Rick looking for Coooorrrrl all the time....

 'Daryl could have washed them before he handed them over...'

I'm super pleased that Dwight got away, and hope he will carry on into future series, and assume Jadis-Anne will become a fully paid-up member of the gang.  You never know, maybe we will, one day, get to see the super-mega-zombie masher in action again.....

.... and talking of useful bits of kit, I suspected that an escape would be made from Hilltop via Sasha's log store tunnel, and that Oceanside would show up in the nick of time, so no surprises there.  Also predictable (but not in a bad way) was that Morgan would need to go off on his own, now to be seen in Fear The Walking Dead, I've since discovered!  So I might have to start watching that; I wasn't that impressed by Season 1 but have been told it gets better.

I hope our people are not all going to split up too much ~ looks like Carol's staying at the Kingdom (cue cosying up with Ezekiel?), Richonne and Gabriel appear to be at Alexandria, but I hope Tara, Eduardo and Rosita were only dropping off the glass and don't stay too long at the Sanctuary ~ which is in good hands, now that Tanya and Frankie have exchanged Negan-Wife LBDs for Hilltop Chic.  

 'Never mind the poison pills, can you make us some workshirts and jeans?'

 😲😲😲😲😲

My prediction is that Maggie will get together with Alden; such initial overt hostility is usually an indication that clothes will be shed and love will follow.  And she was pretty crappy to Glenn at first, if you remember!

Still feel so sad about Glenn, it's just not right that he's dead; I want this!

...with Abraham and pregnant Sasha in the background...

 
I loved Rick's speech at the end, an echo of the one he gave in episode 1 of the season, and the reminder that the real enemy is that massive herd down the hill ~ or, for Rick, is it going to be nearer to home?  Now the wait until Season 9 ~ I've read that Heath may be back, which I'm pleased about, and that Maggie may not be around for much longer ~ apparently, S9 will deviate from the comic book story.  Okay.  One more thing: please, writers, now that the wings are back on the right person, can we have the old Daryl back?   Come on, Dixon, Rick's your brother....

ps, saw Jerry in this film Den of Thieves the other night, it's a terrific film!

'Starting over is about killing every one of you' Review: WORTH #TheWalkingDead S8:15 #TWDFamily

Last week: Review: Still Gotta Mean Something

OMG, as they say ~ and, having looked forward so much to the comeuppance of Simon, it was almost an anti-climax compared with what's coming!  Didn't you just love the Negan whistle from behind the big black bin?  And Simon was still chattering away even after he'd turned.  Shame to see Steven Ogg go, though; I loved the character and he's such a good actor.

So Gregory 'wandered off into the wilderness with his dick in his hand' and a diagram showing all that mis-information that Negan had fed Dwight ~ yes, we were right, TWD Family (thank you, Shelley!), it was Laura Saviour in Negan's car.  I did think, when Negan outlined The Plan, that it seemed like he was being a bit too specific about times, etc, but I didn't guess it was a trick.  Clearly I do not have what it takes to run the Sanctuary.

And so to Eugene.  I was a bit baffled by Daryl and Rosita's slow saunter as they escorted him; given that they feared he would already have been missed, I expected more urgency, or at least some hiding in shop doorways/looking for a vehicle.  And yes, Rosita had his sicked up, garlic-laced macaroni cheese all over her shirt, but she was still fairly slow off the mark when he made a run for it, and that big, lumbering goon is hardly difficult to chase.  

'The real reason I'm staying at the Sanctuary?  They got this lady who tints eyebrows.'

 
There's no covering up his treachery with excuses of being scared anymore, and he didn't even try; by the end of the episode, he almost out-Neganned Negan in his determination to make enough bullets to kill everyone.  Remember when Rosita said, back in S5:5 Self Help, that people had died trying to get him to Washington?  He could name them all but showed no remorse; Eugene's only ever been looking out for Eugene.  Negan is his Abraham replacement, that's all; his protector.  His sticky end will be cheered even more loudly than Simon's... then again, I could be wrong; Twitter friend Andrew thinks Eugene might turn out good in the end, and be secretly working against Negan.  It's a nice thought!

 Even back then, he knew what he was doing...

 
Talking of Walkers, I have a question to ask Aaron.  Why, instead of staggering towards that small pack in the woods to kill them with a stick/your bare hands, didn't you just run?  I've occasionally had cause to wonder this, the most curious example being when Tyreese came across those two guys fighting them on the road to Terminus in S4:10 Inmates.  The last one to get bitten was the chap who told him, Carol, Mica and Lizzie to 'stay on the tracks'.  Next time you're watching it, observe how easily he and his friend could have just... run away. 

 'Stay on the tracks, you'll get to this great place.  Nice mock railway carriage aparments, and as much meat as you can eat.'

But back to Aaron ~ I'm guessing he'll persuade Cyndie, Beatrice & co to fight the men who killed their men (even though we now know it was Simon who orchestrated that particular massacre, but it's all the same gang, right?).

 

😲😲😲😲😲

Something I liked about this penultimate episode is the way we were reminded about Rick's normality, in Carl's letter, the contents of which were finally revealed ~ and didn't they bring a tear to your eye?  The memories of his pre-Walker childhood and his hopes that Rick will take Judith on those walks, too, then seeing her with Michonne; made me almost miss Lori, too. 

So we started the episode seeing Rick's basic persona as the good guy, husband and father, and ended with Negan showing less of the 'humanity' we've seen of late, and more of the psycho within.  When Michonne read Carl's words to him—'Start over ~ you still can'—he only became more determined to kill every one of you; seems he was only keeping them alive because he thought he could get them to work for him.  They were a potential resource, that's all.

No, Negan, Rick didn't make all this happen.  The Saviours would have reached Alexandria eventually, whatever happened, and 'killed one of them, right off the bat', to demonstrate their authority, and probably more, too.   It wasn't the first shoot-out at the outpost that started it all; it was Daryl, Sasha and Abraham coming up against the bikers on the road, when Daryl had to kill them to save Sasha and Abraham. 

'What a bunch of assholes'

...and you can watch Negan killing Dr Carson II again, if you like!

So what are our hopes for some kind of happy ending at the end of the season finale next week?  I'm really, really hoping it's not going to be Season 6 all over again, with everything going tits up.  Possibilities:

• Gabriel will do something clever with one of the bullets (we've already seen that he knows how), and possibly even sacrifice himself for the greater good. 
• Aaron will charge in with Oceanside.
• Sherrie come back and help Dwighty-Boy escape, and deliver details of the true plan.  (I hope so.  I want him to survive)
• Jadis will appear with the helicopter in the nick of time.  

Or maybe Carl's letter will do some good, after all....remember his fantasy future, in which Negan was working in the garden?

Incidentally, I think it's time Daryl and Rosita got it together.  He's drop dead gorgeous and the numero uno new world warrior, while Rosita is beautiful, smart and totally fab.  There aren't many women worthy of Daryl, but Rosita is. 

Can't wait for next week.  I feel nervous already! 

And here's the trailer....

So many reflections of the past ~ Review #TheWalkingDead S8:14 STILL GOTTA MEAN SOMETHING

Last week: Review Do Not Send Us Astray

Well, I hope no one failed to notice that Carol found the missing Henry in a place almost identical to Sophia's final hideaway.... if not, you should go back and watch S2:1 What Lies Ahead immediately!

'...keep the sun on your right shoulder...'

The 'tears in my eyes' award goes to Rick telling Michonne he loved her, and vice versa; it's not something you often hear on TWD.  One of the things I totally rate about the show is that romantic shenanigans do not feature highly; this means that on the rare occasions we see a bit of love stuff, it has such an impact.  I'm such a Richonne fan, and yes, losing André affected her in the same way as Carl's death has him: she just fought through it.  Oh, and writers, we want to know what was in Carl's letter ~ I thought we were going to hear it, read out in his voice!  Or maybe that's for the finale.

 

So many reminders of the lost children this week ... when Rick asked Morgan why he saved him in S1:1 Days Gone Bye, I knew it was going to be all about Duane...  there's something about Morgan's 'I don't die' stance that makes me think that when the end comes (and I hope it won't be for many more seasons), he and Rick will still be together, as they were at the beginning.

I think this season is getting better and better.  I am not one of those 'waving the banner for women' people, in particular, but a theme I noticed in this episode was conversations in which the women were emotional but still practical, while the men were just emotional: when Carol talked to both Morgan and Ezekiel, when Michonne talked to Rick, when Tara talked to Daryl....the guys were off on their personal missions (or just skulking around at Hilltop, in Ezekiel's case), while Maggie, Rosita and Diane were in the office talking about bullets.  

So many reflections of the past and so much to think about in this episode ~ the helicopter!  Ideas, anyone?  As for the Jadis and Negan scenario, yes, yes yes, it's all very sad that his wife was called Lucille, but let us not forget that her namesake is a weapon used to beat in the skulls of total angels like Glenn.  Sorry, Negan, I'm not moved, however hunky you are!  btw, I did like Jadis's unexpected super-clean hideaway, complete with pull-along suitcase. 😉

Good ol' Mr 90°!!

 

...and good old Alden for telling Rick where to find the escaped Saviours... loved it when Rick repeated the 'there's not a lot that means much these days, but a man's word has gotta mean something' speech that he gave the guy in the yellow trousers before Daryl shot him in S8:3 Monsters, but this time didn't intend to keep to it, either: 'I lied'.  

Maybe he lied this time because he doesn't feel there is much to fight for now....  I'm sure Michonne will talk some sense into him.

Didn't you love the look on Morgan's face when Evil Jared was chewed up by Walkers, following the shutting of the handy concertina-type sliding door?  One more down, just Simon and Negan to go.... 

Sorted! 

Meanwhile, back at the Sanctuary, the smiling snake Eugene comes out to collect his bullet making materials.  Rosita, you should have shot him, right there. 

 And finally.... who did Negan pick up on his way back?  I think it was Dwight, having wondered if it was Gregory, then Simon.  Any thoughts?

Days Gone Bye....

This time, she went and found him herself :)

UK2 is live! #NewRelease #Dystopian #FridayReads

UK2

Find it on Amazon and on Goodreads.

(Books #1 & 2 on special offer for one week ~ see below)

Tipping Point , Book #1, is now at the permanently low price of 99p (Amazon UK)

 Lindisfarne, Book #2, is on sale at 99p/99c 

from March 31st ~ April 6th

UK2

'Two decades of social media had prepared them well for UK2.' 

The pace steps up in this final instalment of the Project Renova trilogy, as the survivors' way of life comes under threat.

Two years after the viral outbreak, representatives from UK Central arrive at Lindisfarne to tell the islanders about the shiny new city being created down south.  UK2 governor Verlander's plan is simple: all independent communities are to be dissolved, their inhabitants to reside in approved colonies.  Alas, those who relocate soon suspect that the promises of a bright tomorrow are nothing but smoke and mirrors, as great opportunities turn into broken dreams, and dangerous journeys provide the only hope of freedom.

Meanwhile, far away in the southern hemisphere, a new terror is gathering momentum...

'I walked through that grey afternoon, past fields that nobody had tended for nearly three years, past broken down, rusty old vehicles, buildings with smashed windows.  I was walking alone at the end of the world, but I was a happy man.  I was free, at last.'

***

Although this is the promised end of the trilogy, I haven't finished with all these characters and this world yet.  There will be more!  There are some side stories I want to write, and I'm planning another novel set far into the future, too.
  

Review: DO NOT SEND US ASTRAY #TheWalkingDead S8:13 #TWDFamily

Last week: Review: The Key

This was an old-school episode!  It reminded us how terrifying and dangerous the Walkers still are, especially when newly-turned.  It's all too easy, these days, to think, 'Look, there's another one, yep, Michonne's decapitated it without breaking her stride', but in S8:13 we saw them back in all their gruesome glory, starting off with dear Tobin, who I really liked, and who I was just thinking looked 100% more attractive with a beard.  Carol having to put him down was too, too sad.  I should have known that the soul-searching conversation could only be followed by death....

😭 😭😭😭😭

Now, Morgan ~ is the fighting getting too much for him, and is he starting to lose it or just temporarily doing a Rick?  Ghost Gavin reminds him of all the nutty stuff he used to write on walls/stones in his pre-Eastman/aikido days.  'You know what it is', 'You were supposed to' (kill his zombie wife's brain before she sank her jaws into his son), etc, but is Morgan seeing Gavin, who was fairly decent as Saviours go, because he feels bad about him being killed, in particular?  Is it a Ghost Shane situation, like in S3:8 Made To Suffer?

Ghost Shane, who grew both hair and beard after his death

Maybe the apparition will help Morgan make the right decision somewhere along the line, like Ghost Lori silently did for Rick in the fabulous S3:15 This Sorrowful Life.  Or maybe Morgan's just losing it....

"Do not sacrifice Michonne to The Governor.  One day she will feed you raw turnips.  But even they will be better than my Sunday morning pancakes."

Thinking about it, I wonder if the main reason for the drop off in viewing figures of Seasons 7 & 8 is the lack of variation in the storyline.  Yes, it comes from from many angles (and I love how this is done, seeing all the different points of view; it makes the whole thing so much more interesting and rounded out), but two whole seasons have been centred around one thing: the Saviours war.  Compare it to S6, when there was the quarry, the Wolves, the first Saviours threats, the discovery of the Hilltop.  Or S4: the virus in the prison, the return of the governor, all the different stories on the road, and finally Terminus.  S5: escaping Terminus, finding Gabriel, defeating Gareth & co, the road to Washington (!), Beth and the hospital, Noah and Tyreese's death, and finally Alexandria.  But I still love it, whatever! 😉

Anyway, back to the terrific moments of this episode, of which there were many, starting with the arrival of Daryl:

...and that long, eerie silence when the Hilltop went dark.  Really good suspense stuff, loved it.  Well done, battle strategist Maggie!  When the Saviours left I was thinking, finally, a win for the good guys ~ surely this is starting to even up the numbers by now?  But then the wounded awoke, and feasted on those sorghum farmers.  Then again, maybe the formerly imprisoned Saviours (Evil Jared excepted) will come out on our side?  As Alden the Friendly Saviour (who it seems I misjudged in previous posts) said, they now know how little their lives mean to Negan and Simon.  

Simon, may your words come back to haunt you..... and your boss won't be pleased.  People are a resource, remember? 

As for Our Fearless Leader, I totally get why he can hardly even look at Siddiq.  It will be a long time before I give a stuff if he lives or dies, and I imagine Rick feels the same.  

Best dialogue award goes to the conversation between Tara and Daryl, with Daryl saying that if he'd stayed with Merle right from the start, he'd be in a gang like the Saviours now; then again, as he said, he and Tara are where they are because they saw through the bad guys like The Governor, as did Merle in the end, of course.  I like the 'Do Dwight's good deeds make up for his bad?' zig-zag tussle between them.  I agree with Tara ~ I am sure Dwight is totally reformed.  Whether she will stay alive for long enough to say 'I told you so' to Daryl is another matter.

The moment when Tara realised that 'Brian' was not one of the good guys

Next week is looking pretty damn awesome, what with Rick leading the assault and Negan tied up in Jadis's lair ~ I notice she's let him keep his clothes on!   Will Glenn's grave be the last thing the Big Guy sees, as per Maggie's wishes?  They're all starting to look so battle-worn now, as they weigh up the cost of all this, but maybe none more than Maggie.  I wonder if any of them are thinking, should we just have kept giving the Saviours half our stuff?  Think of all those who have died: Carl, Glenn, Abraham, Sasha, Spencer, Olivia, Tobin, Dr Carson, Francine, Daniel, Andy, Eric, Bruce, and so many more.....

I'll finish this with a word of advice for Henry: you know those big fences with lots of gaps in them between the bits of wire?  And those locked gates that keep all the prisoners inside?  You don't, like, have to unlock that gate in order to talk to them or threaten to shoot someone.  You can just, you know, do it all through the gaps....