Hello, all! Welcome to our second week back with The Walking
Dead. I’m taking over the main recap for John this week, instead of just doing
the normal A Dash of Dissent, so let’s get right into it. No Carl, Rick, or
Michonne this week, but we get basically everyone else—are you not entertained?
Let’s go through each survivor group to catch up with what’s
going on:
+ Daryl and Beth are paired together, and we learn through
her voiceover narration that she was beginning to write in a journal again the
night before, inspired by her father Hershel’s advice, “If you don’t have hope,
what’s the point of living?” We all know how that turned out, though—Hershel is
dead, and Beth’s hope that “We can live here for the rest of our lives” is shot
now that the prison is ruined. But Beth and Daryl are sticking together and
keeping moving, and they’ve already escaped a walker trying to chomp on Beth’s
neck, so that’s good.
+ Tyreese is stuck with the two blonde girls who came to his
rescue, the disaffected and maybe sociopath Lizzie and her sister Mika, the
more needing-of-approval one, and he also has Judith, Rick’s baby daughter.
Yes, for everyone who guessed that baby carrier covered in blood didn’t mean
she was really dead, you were right; the show didn’t commit to her death. (The
comics did, but you’re not getting that same risk here, something PDC-er Travis
and I argued about last night on Twitter. But anyway.) Lizzie, because she is
growing up to be insane, tries to quiet Judith’s sobs by covering her mouth and
nose with her hand, but the walkers find them anyway. But then, they’re saved
by … Carol! Who just happened to be around the prison when the Governor’s
attempted takeover went down, and she followed everyone into the woods. Remember
that Tyreese still doesn’t know that Carol killed his girlfriend, and perhaps
that will eventually matter. But for now, Carol is back in the group, against
Rick’s wishes, and I’m sure that will be relevant in the future, too.
+ Also, Tyreese has a good future in being an
elementary-school teacher: “You each do things your own way, but you both get
it done,” he says as praise to Lizzie and Mika. Thanks, Mr. Tyreese! And, in
other news, some random white guy who gets bitten while Tyreese is trying to
save his people informs Carol and the kids that “there’s a place up the tracks …
it’s safe.” Hmm.
+ And finally, let’s get to separated lovers Maggie and
Glenn. Maggie is in a group with Tyreese’s sister Sasha and Bob, the recovering
alcoholic/D’Angelo Barksdale, who tries to make some moves on Sasha that she pretty
swiftly shuts down. Maggie is in a panic trying to find Glenn, and when they
find the school bus that was evacuating survivors from the prison, they’re
shocked to realize everyone inside has been turned into walkers. (Sasha letting
each walker out one by one so Maggie can make sure they’re not Glenn before
killing them was a good idea, but of course it went to shit fast.) Anyway, Glenn’s
not inside, but we’ve all the seen the commercials that show Glenn being still alive, so then the episodes
moves over to …
+ Glenn, who wakes up in a prison watch tower, covered in
blood, after being unconscious since the beginning of the Governor’s attack.
After avoiding the crowd of walkers trying to reach him from below the tower,
he retreats to his living space inside the prison, collects some supplies and
mementos, including a picture of Maggie, and suits up in riot gear to fight his
way through the walker horde outside. (I was weirdly attracted to Glenn while
he was in that outfit, and I have no qualms saying that.) While leaving,
though, Glenn runs into the police-academy-sister of the Governor’s lover, and
solicits her to come with him; from her he learns that Hershel is dead, a
realization that staggers him. Also affecting? Glenn’s blunt, honest, “She’s my
wife,” declaration of why he needs to find Maggie so badly. Oh, Glenn.
+ But before Glenn can find Maggie, he and the girl whose
name I still can’t remember (Lily, maybe?) get found by three new people in a
truck, and if you don’t want to know anything about them, STOP READING.
SPOILERS AHEAD.
SPOILERS ARE COMING
RIGHT NOW
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
OK, you had your chance to turn around. Deal.
Basically the low down on the new people is this: the huge
guy with the hilarious mustache is Abraham; the saucy Latina in the baseball
cap is Rosita; and the dude with the gross mullet is Eugene. They’re survivors
from Houston, and they join up with Rick's group on the way to Washington, D.C., where there might be information on a cure for the walkers. Eventually they end up in Alexandria, a survivors’ community that becomes the next semi-permanent
location for Rick and Co. Some of them are to be trusted and some aren’t, which
is usually the norm in this universe, right? So that’s not a surprise.
I am surprised, though, that the TV show, after languishing
for two seasons in the prison, is so rapidly moving the group along to their
next location, Alexandria. I remember the time between the prison and
Alexandria being pretty sizable in the comic books, so it’s interesting to me
that we’re not getting more on-the-road episodes. To be sure, grouping everyone
in Alexandria will have everyone in a central location again, which might be
better for the narrative. But I wouldn’t have minded more
battling-through-Georgia-wilderness episodes, especially if they included Glenn
in riot gear. Just. Saying.
See you all next week for the episode “Claimed,” when we
learn more about Abraham, Rosita, and Eugene, and maybe our survivors meet up
with each other. And hopefully no one dies, but someone probably will that you
forgot was alive in the first place. Until then!
Unforgiving Allegiance: John's Notes on 'Inmates'
Well, Rocky about said it all didn't she, so, thankfully, you don't have to listen to me rehash everything you just read. I really only have two things to say about this episode.
1. Lizzie and Mika are the new Ben and Billy, right? If so just seeing those two on screen is going to have an added level of tragedy with each scene.
2. ABRAHAM!!! Michael Cudlitz played one of my favorite characters on one of my favorite mini-series of all time. Sgt. "Bull" Randleman on HBO's Band of Brothers. For anyone that's seen BoB you'll be familiar with Cudlitz and be warmed by the feeling that Abraham from TWD comic series could pass as a direct descendant of Randleman, a hero of the Battle of the Bulge.
Unforgiving Allegiance: John's Notes on 'Inmates'
Well, Rocky about said it all didn't she, so, thankfully, you don't have to listen to me rehash everything you just read. I really only have two things to say about this episode.
1. Lizzie and Mika are the new Ben and Billy, right? If so just seeing those two on screen is going to have an added level of tragedy with each scene.
2. ABRAHAM!!! Michael Cudlitz played one of my favorite characters on one of my favorite mini-series of all time. Sgt. "Bull" Randleman on HBO's Band of Brothers. For anyone that's seen BoB you'll be familiar with Cudlitz and be warmed by the feeling that Abraham from TWD comic series could pass as a direct descendant of Randleman, a hero of the Battle of the Bulge.
