jennickels | 17 Feb 2015

I watched Sunday's episode twice. Once late Sunday night, and again with my 12yo last night. It was good both times. Every episode leaves me with so many thoughts. This article over at Funny or Die had some funny points even if I didn't agree with most of them. They were still hilarious.

I'll comment on their list.

1. The worm thing was just kind of sad. I didn't read anything more into it other than they are hungry and thirsty. Daryl just seemed so... I don't know. Nothing matters any more. Actually they were all like that. And can you blame them. That's been their lives for, what, two years now. So, yeah, he found a worm and ate it. It's not like he hasn't eaten weird things before. It made perfect sense for his character.

I was messaging Brenna (my 12yo who was staying the night at a friend's house) over facebook while I was watching the first time and was sort of spoiling certain scenes--very cryptically. Her response to the worm: EW! Daryl is her favorite character, of course.

2. The dogs. The article's author cracked me up with his interpretation of the dog eating scene. I've heard other people were really upset about the scene because doggies! I was kind of laughing at the time because they were more afraid of a pack of feral dogs than flesh eating zombies. Which after their experiences also made perfect sense. I wasn't expecting Sasha to shoot them all, though. But even that cracked me up because everyone else is sitting there freaking out. Then pop pop pop pop. My thought: "dinner is served!" Of course they ate the dogs. Not eating them would have been incredibly stupid.

I didn't notice Glenn, not cared, but I didn't notice Noah wasn't eating. He looked like he was going to be sick just thinking about it. I know he had some and was eating it, although it wasn't shown. That was alsothe moment Gabriel lost his faith (if only for a moment). I also mentioned the dog scene to Brenna (she loves dogs). I only wrote, "doggie dinner!" She told me she'd never be hungry enough to eat a dog. She didn't believe me when I said that yes she would.

3. I did agree partially with the rain assessment. No, they weren't going to quench their thirst with the rain or fill their bottles, but I bet the rain sure felt amazing. It's apparently the middle of summer and hotter than hell. I've been in that situation. When I lived in Missouri, we had a heat wake that lasted for weeks. It was in the 90s and low 100s with very high humidity. I didn't have AC so inside my apartment it was regularly over 100F. I spnt half of the summer sitting in the library to stay cool. It finally rained one day and I stood outside just like the characters, soaking up the rain. It felt like heaven after the miserable heat.

The one thing that made me laugh--how quickly the storm came up. How did they not notice this happening earlier? A storm that big would have darkened the sky long before it started to rain. They would have seen it coming miles away. I swear, I love this show--it's probably my favorite on TV right now, but every episode makes me laugh so hard at these silly little things.

Oh, and the water from a friend scene: I understood why they didn't want to drink the water. They've encountered so many crazy people (Terminus, anyone). Water appearing out of thin air when they are dying of thirst seems very suspicious. But I was surprise they didn't just let Eugene test it for them (which they mentioned on the Talking Dead, too). He was willing to risk it. It surprised me even more that it was Abraham that stopped him. It looked like everyone else was going to let him do it.

4. Ah, Rick's speech. He sure loves to give speeches. Brenna said she loves it when they say the name of the show in the show. Most people don't seem to agree with her. I thought it was an awesome line. My husband and I have been saying it for years: that the title isn't really about the zombies; it's about the people still living. They are the "walking dead," because, really, what kind of living is it if you spend every moment trying to survive with no hope for relief or a future? The show isn't about the zombies. It never was. It's an exploration of the survivors, about humans at their best and worst in the most desperate of times. Did I mention how much I love this show?

5. Oaky, the author's analysis of the tornado scene was completely wrong, but hilarious since he really didn't know about any of it and it does seem ridiculous. But growing up in the Midwest... yes, tornados do that. They have been known to complete destroy a street, but leave one house standing. They flatten a house, but leave the one just yards away without a scratch. They are very unpredictable. I was kind of surprised that there was no damage to the barn because it was pretty rickety, but whatever.

Also, while watching the scene, I thought for a moment that the way it was filmed was just for dramatic effect--showing the intensity of trying to keep the walkers out. For a moment. Then I was like, "that's not just a storm, that's a freaking tornado." Also kind of suprised that every walker was taken out and everyone just went back to sleep. Except Daryl. Has he slept at all in the last few days?

6. Then of course there was that Aaron guy. As soon as I saw him, I thought: can't trust him; he's way too clean. The fact that he knew Rick's name, said he was a "friend," and then the music box just suddenly started playing was beyond creepy. Made me trust him even less. The way things have been going for the group, Maggie and Sasha probably should have just shot him where he stood.

Okay, on to my fangirling.

Um, lot's of Daryl scenes. He is not dealing well with Beth's death. I have a feeling he blames himself in some respects since he couldn't save her after she was kidnapped. And for writing her off as dead (as it appeared everyone had--although he never says that; he tells Rick she was "just gone"). The whole cigarette thing, kind of confirmed it for me: punishment for his failures? Then he completely breaks down. It's all Carol's fault, lol.

Nice segue... My little shipper heart nearly exploded during the Daryl/Carol scene. It's the first time in the history of my TV viewing that I don't actually care if my ship hooks up. I'm not even sure I want them to--I just love them together. Doing anything, talking about anything. They are awesome. My favorite part of the scene actually wasn't the way she pushed his hair away or how she kissed him, but what she told him about letting himself feel the loss of Beth. He needed to do it.

Which was basically the same thing Beth told him when they were on their own. She accused him of not caring, of not letting anything bother him. She made him open up. That's why her death is so devestating. Beth and Carol are the only ones he's ever let in. I think if Carol died he'd leave. He just couldn't handle that.

I liked how Daryl kept trying to brush Carol off because he knew she was going to say something and push him about dealing with Beth.

The stuff was Gabriel was an excellent addition. He's the character I love to hate because he's completely useless. He won't kill, so he won't defend himself so that means everyone else has to look out for him. Even Eugene isn't that useless--Tara taught him how to knife a walker at least. Plus Gabriel keeps bringing trouble. Watching his faith fail was great. And I'm not saying that as an atheist. I just think it was very realistic.

He clung to it for so long. On the Talking Dead, Seth Gilliam mentioned that little by little Gabriel loses the trappings of his faith. The jacket disappears, the the shirt buttons get undone, and finally he burns the collar. Very symbolic. His conversation with Maggie was sad. She lost her faith a long time ago. I think with her father. Whatever had been left died with him. Beth has just reafirmed it. Gabriel seemed to truely want to help her, not just get her to believe again. He seems to care and want to be part of the group. Nobody seems to like him, though. Less than Eugene.

The rain scene was also good for him. On something I read there was a comment about him apologizing to god--they didn't get why he said that, but it made perfect sense to me. His faith slipped. He began to give up. Then, just when they needed it most, it rained. It brought him back to god. He apologized for doubting. Good characterization.

I thought Michonne was going to kick Sasha's ass at the bridge. And I didn't blame her. They had a perfectly good plan and Sasha had to go all stupid. Rick nearly got bit. Abraham got sliced. Sasha almost nailed Michonne with her knife. I wanted to smack her silly myself.

There was so much going on in this episode. On a closing note: the scene with the door in the barn. It's banging and banging and I kept thinking, "god that's annoying." And that the chain wasn't going to hold it if someone, or something, tried to get in. "Oh, Daryl's going to go fix it. Cool." Peaks out the door and what do you know... WALKERS EVERWHERE! How is they walkers keep finding them? In the past they just wander around for the most part. If something captures their attention they follow it. What are the odds that they'd find the barn interesting? Was it the banging door? And where did they all come from? They got rid of the herd following them. Whatever--the scene freaked me the hell out. My eyes went huge and I was like, "fuck." Which was pretty much the reaction Daryl had.

No spoilers for upcoming shows. I haven't read the comics either.

Congrats if you read my very, very, very long rambling reaction to the episode. Here are some random icons for your reward. If you skipped the rambling, here are some random icons just because.