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Saturday, March 5, 2016

The Walking Dead 6x09: No Way Out


People need dramatic examples to shake them out of apathy and Rick can't do that as Rick Grimes. As a man, he's flesh and blood, he can be ignored, he can be destroyed; but as a symbol...as a symbol he can be incorruptible, he can be everlasting!

What symbol are we talking about? No...Not Batman. But that would be awesome! Nah, the symbol is...well...of someone who decides to walk and start maniacally whacking zombies.

OK, that's kind of an odd symbol, maybe Batman Begins wasn't the best reference to use. But the point is Batman inspired a city to be better and now so has Rick Grimes.

All it took for Rick Grimes to become a symbol was his son losing an eye. Once Carl's fate was in jeopardy Rick took matters into his own hands and started offing as many zombies roaming the streets of Alexandria as possible. The citizens took notice and soon everyone banded together to fight the undead. Add in the arrival of Daryl, Abraham and Sasha (and Abraham's rocket launcher) and soon enough the city was saved! It was actually a pretty uplifting moment.

I suppose you could ask why Rick didn't just start fighting the zombies sooner. I think the answer is he had zero faith in the Alexandrians ability to hold up their end of the fighting. It's a fair assessment. I mean, I've WANTED to have faith in the Alexandrians but the show has given me little reason to do so. But now the Alexandrians have redeemed themselves!

Or have they? I suppose we have to ask the question, who has been redeemed? So far, the Alexandrians seemed to only exist to be killed off. Most of them whose name we learned have been offed. This was even prevalent in this episode when three of the dwindling number of Alexandrians we know enough about to even form opinions on were killed.

So you could say “the citizens” of Alexandria redeemed themselves but I ask you, which individual Alexandrian have you changed your mind about? In the end, I'm left not feeling like anybody redeemed themselves or proved their mettle but instead that Rick and company, once again, defeated a zombie horde. Only this time a few other extras were involved.

Other Thoughts:
We started the episode with Daryl, Abraham and Sasha being held up by a bunch bikers claiming (not that kind of claiming) allegiance to a “Negan.” At first I thought that the head biker was being coy and really was Negan himself...but then he blew up.

Daryl with a rocket launcher is one of the greatest things ever. I know it was fan service, but still!

I was surprised the rocket launcher got used so early in this season. I was expecting the show to wait until the season finale to break out that bad boy.

Abraham's “Who's Negan?” is very reminiscent of when he asked, “Who's Deanna?” Intentional?

Don't trust what you saw with Abraham and Sasha. If you're close enough to a blast to get knocked over by it you're probably not walking away unscathed.

There was an awful lot of jibber jabber between Rick and his incognito bunch. I'm surprised no zombies took notice.

Why would taking Judith to the church be safer than the vehicles?

I think it's safe to say that the vibe between Denise and that Wolf can be labeled as “creepy”.

How far is it to the vehicles? Day turned to night and they're still walking!

I would love it if it got back to Carol that by traumatizing Sam she set off a chain reaction resulting in Sam's, Jessie's and Ron's death as well as Carl losing an eye but you know it won't. Heck, even if it did she probably wouldn't care.

The scene in which Sam, Jessie and Ron died had an odd dream-like quality.

When Denise was walking with the Wolf I wanted her to push him into a zombie. He ended up getting bit while saving her and now I wonder if that was intentional?

Carol's blood lust was satiated. She got to kill the Wolf...even though I think he was probably soon dead anyway.

Morgan, when you're in the heat of a zombie battle you probably shouldn't take time to apologize to one of the zombies.

At first I thought Father Gabriel was going to renounce God but, instead, deciding that God works through humans so they must be the ones to do something better fits his character.

Glenn is REALLY good at almost nearly getting bit by zombies but, in the end, not getting bit by zombies.

There must have been a better way to light the gasoline on fire. Seems like a waste of a rocket.

In the end, I am excited about the prospect of Rick and company rebuilding Alexandra and attempting to build some sort of society. We'll just see how long that attempt lasts.

9 comments:

  1. Def wasn't sad to see Jessie and the rest of her shitty family become zombie munchies.

    The final zombie-slaying montage had me cracking up...and I'm not sure I was supposed to be.

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    1. I wouldn't say I laughed at the ending but it definitely didn't have the "Hell yeah!" feel I think they wanted. I was more thinking, "Why haven't they been doing this before!"

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    2. My wife was much more affected by the death of Jessie and her shitty family than I was. It was a cool moment (I kind of expected everything that happened to have happened, just not so fast in sequence like that, so I was mildly shocked), but I wasn't exactly sad to see them go.

      Also, I really wanted there to be dead characters popping up in the final, superfast slaying montage, just to amp up the cheesiness in a "they still live in us!" kind of thing, but I don't think I saw any.

      And yeah, to Dr. Bitz's point, why haven't they been doing this before? They could have been doing this when the hoard was massed at the walls.

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    3. Ain't that a prompt for a family discussion when herself audibly gasps in shock and you, too simultaneously to pull it back anymore, go "yes!" and maybe fist pump.

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  2. Good job, Rick, saving Jessie and the kids from Pete.

    The biker gang blowing up came from nowhere and was awesome.

    One would hazard to guess if the walkers had this tendency to walk straight into fire there really shouldn't be too many around. Like... just put the fires going, and watch.

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    1. Sure, lighting a big fire and keeping it going may be a good way to deal with zombies, but asking them to continually light fires would mean they are actually trying to thin the zombies' numbers which is something these people never seem interested in doing unless the zombies are a direct and immediate threat.

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    2. Yeah, I know I harp on this a lot, but again, finite problem. I get there's a difference between "surviving" and "living", but once the characters reach a point (like Alexandria) where they're not just surviving, they should be actively trying to thin the zombies numbers, just as a matter of course.

      I also get that burning zombies may not automatically kill them, but it'll kill some, and keep the rest moving in a direction (away) that would make it safer to kill them. And charred up zombies that survive the fire are probably easier to kill, too.

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  3. This was probably my favorite episode. Of the season, for sure. Maybe even of the show, ever. Somebody finally recognized that zombies are a finite problem - kill them all, and they're gone (and in the case of this show, put in place safeguards for the safe disposal of people who die naturally). Yes, there's a ton of zombies in Alexandria, but go out there, back-to-back, with melee weapons, and over time, you can wipe them out.

    It would have been less dramatic, but they could have been even more methodical/safe about it - kill a few, then pop inside a house. WHile the zombies are lured to that house, somebody pops out of another kills them from behind. When they turn, the first person in the house comes out and kills the new back of the group, etc.

    Point being, you can flush a town of zombies, and the show finally showed them doing it. And of course, they'll never do it on the show, but that same approach, with a lot of people and coordination, could be done TO THE ENTIRE WORLD.

    Once again, this felt like an odd half-season premiere. I know TWD likes to end things on a big cliffhanger and then use the first episode back to resolve it and setup the arc for the next half season, but I really feel like this should have closed out the half - then we could have returned a few months later to find some time having passed on the show, the town being rebuilt, Rick with a slightly better attitude, Carl adjusting to having a badass eyepatch, etc.

    So you could say “the citizens” of Alexandria redeemed themselves but I ask you, which individual Alexandrian have you changed your mind about?

    Denise? Though I suppose she toughened up pretty quick after her initial introduction. Aaron's been pretty cool from day one, the one Alexandrian who seems to know his shit. Black Dude With Glasses who led the charge to help out Rick after Michonne left? Older Guy Rick Saved From the Collapsing Wall?

    Then again, other than Deanna's remaining dumbass son (who I still think is dumbass), that's pretty much the only Alexandrians I can remember...

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  4. At first I thought that the head biker was being coy and really was Negan himself...but then he blew up.

    I would have thought that as well, but I'd been spoiled by the news of Neegan casting. That said, I'd be perfectly happy if Neegan and his entire group was dealt with in a similar manner as in this episode - blow them all up, then get back to rebuilding a society.

    Daryl with a rocket launcher is one of the greatest things ever. I know it was fan service, but still!

    Sometimes fan service just works. And kudos to not leaving the Chekhov's Rocket Launcher hanging out for too long.

    If you're close enough to a blast to get knocked over by it you're probably not walking away unscathed.

    Next you're going to tell me to stop casually knocking people out for fear of causing lasting brain damage and/or death.

    There was an awful lot of jibber jabber between Rick and his incognito bunch. I'm surprised no zombies took notice.

    Well, I mean, they did eventually...

    Why would taking Judith to the church be safer than the vehicles?

    Well, my understanding is that Rick means the vehicles they left back at the quarry when they embarked on the whole "lure the zombie horde away" plan. So, that's probably a day or two on foot, which makes it unlikely that Judith would A. Survive. B. Not make a ton of noise (not that Judith is represents an unrealistic depiction of a toddler at all. Let's say if my son lived in a zombie apocalypse, we'd all be long dead).

    How far is it to the vehicles? Day turned to night and they're still walking!

    Even assuming I'm right about the vehicles being out of town and a ways away, how big is this frickin' town?!? They went like three houses down in the time it took night to fall.

    I would love it if it got back to Carol that by traumatizing Sam she set off a chain reaction resulting in Sam's, Jessie's and Ron's death as well as Carl losing an eye but you know it won't.

    Me too. That was actually the first thing I said to Kristi - hey, that was all Carol's fault! - but you're right that she probably wouldn't care.

    Carol's blood lust was satiated. She got to kill the Wolf...even though I think he was probably soon dead anyway.

    And, of course, the irony of her killing him while he was actually helping Denise went completely unremarked upon, because Saint Carol can do no wrong.

    At first I thought Father Gabriel was going to renounce God but, instead, deciding that God works through humans so they must be the ones to do something better fits his character.

    This was the first time in a long time that I wasn't annoyed by Father Gabriel.

    I am excited about the prospect of Rick and company rebuilding Alexandra and attempting to build some sort of society. We'll just see how long that attempt lasts.

    Ditto.

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