The Walking Dead Episode 8 Coda

 Photo: Emily Kinney, from 2014's San Diego Comic Con.  From her Wikipedia page.

I didn't have much to say about last week's episode, so...I didn't say much.  It felt like a transition episode.  Having said that...

--I expected Beth to get it, but I was also surprised because I read somewhere recently that Emily Kinney had just gotten a promotion to full-time status.  You know, her name on the screen with the main actors, not afterwards with the other supporting actors.

--I'm going to miss her a lot because she was the only kind, gentle character.  I mean, the only one.

--Sad to also see Emily Kinney cry on Talking Dead afterwards.  A lot.  Good to see that the show means as much to the actors as it does to the fans.  I don't say this much about celebrities, but Emily Kinney comes across as someone who's most probably a very nice person in real life, too.

--Though Holden Caulfield pointed out that people who cry a lot may also be a harsh, terrible person.

--But I'm guessing that's not true in her case.

--Overall I was more surprised with Rick purposely hitting Bob with the car.  And then telling his corpse to shut up.  I mean, damn.

--What did the guy say on Talking Dead that shocked the hell out of Robert Kirkman and Chris Hardwicke?  It got censored out, and it seemed long.  Takes a lot to throw off a comedian who talks a thousand miles an hour, but that's what happened to Hardwicke.  Anyway, I rewound it and tried to figure out what he said, but I couldn't.  I have a guess, but...If someone can leave a comment and let me know (and use asterisks, etc. if necessary), I'd be much obliged.

--I figured Beth was done because her character had finished her arc.  She went from emotionally shutting down in Season 2 in the prison, to being incredibly positive and kind, to becoming more harsh and in survival mode now.  I mean, there wasn't much of an arc left for her character.  When that happens--and when their death would mean more to the show than being left alive--then their time is up.  The fallout from Darryl and Maggie will dominate for awhile.

--Though, correct me if I'm wrong, but Maggie seems to have largely forgotten about Beth for awhile.

--Robert Kirkman comes across as someone who is all business.  A little like that autistic-like guy with the mullet who lied about being able to save the world.

--Here's to hoping Emily Kinney gets another job real soon.  Some, like Jon Bernthal (Shane) do, and some, like the woman who played Lori, don't.  But I hope Kinney does.

--Surprised to see that the aforementioned liar and the priest made it through this episode.

--Though I'm also pulling for Father Gabriel.  And for a silly reason: Seth Gilliam, who plays him, was an extremely nice, energetic and friendly guy at the Comic Con.  He's been a good actor for a long time, notably in The Wire and a few other things on HBO.  And I just saw him yesterday when I happened to come across a few segments of Starship Troopers.  He looked exactly the same, just much younger.

--Speaking of such things, I also came across a younger Norman Reedus today when I watched Robert Redford's very good The Conspirator, about the U.S.'s puppet show trial of Mary Surratt, a woman who housed the conspirators behind the assassination of Lincoln, and the attempt on Seward.

--Well, that's it until February, 2015.  Thanks for reading this blog.  See you then.

--Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!!!

The Walking Dead Episode 6 Consuming

Really quick, as the hour is getting late:

--Lots of fire in this episode.  Theme alert!  Rising from the ashes.  Re-birth.  And Daryl and Carol are being consumed from within, partly by past abuse.

--So Daryl is reading a book about childhood abuse?  We know his father abused he and his brother regularly, but this new Daryl is ready for self-therapy and coming to terms.  The old Daryl wouldn't have been.

--Remember the previous episode's title: "Self-help."

--Another amazing thing is that there's enough positive thought and self-worth to think that one is worth coming to terms with such a thing even though they can die any moment.  Odd dichotomy.

--No, Carol was not really aiming for Noah's leg.

--And seriously wounding the leg of a guy who's already got a wounded leg is, in fact, killing him.

--No, I'm not sad Daryl and Carol didn't hook up.  Everyone would refer to them as "Daryl and Carol," which would get annoying, fast.  Especially if it was said fast.  And they don't have that kind of chemistry.  They're more like siblings, or close friends.

--Noah and Beth don't have that, either.  He has it more for her than she does for him.

--And I also don't see the Daryl / Beth thing.  And I don't see Rick with anybody at all.

--Really, this isn't that kind of show.  It's not a soap opera.  Well, Season One sort of was.  But that was really, really frustrating to me.  Ugh.

--Legal pads created in 1888.  Umm...Okay.

--Old Judge N172s, amongst the oldest set of baseball cards, came out heavily in 1888.  In poor condition, they're worth about $100 apiece.  In case anyone was wondering what to get me for Xmas.

--Chris Hardwicke makes me feel like I talk in slow motion.  And I talk very, very fast.

--Carol got hit by the only car in motion in all of Atlanta.  Possibly in all of Georgia.

--And Daryl got held back by a guy who couldn't hold back a small child.  Hmmm...

--When did burning bodies become a warm gesture of understanding?

--Poll #3: Nope, too many zombies.  Falling in the van was the way to go.

--But it was predictable.  The second they got in there, you knew they were riding it down.

--Noah couldn't get further away in two days?  There was no evidence in his character that he would've gotten pissed and stayed around to go back for her.  For them to suddenly say so...I don't know.  I would've needed to see more of that in their previous episode.

--I'm with Carol: I would've taken him down.  One does not steal weapons from people, and then leave them surrounded by many camping-out zombies, without expecting some retribution.

--Daryl showed a tremendous amount of understanding and compassion when he prevented her from shooting him.  And then Carol did the same later.  Without knowing his situation previously, I would not have thought him worthy either time.

--Good thing, though, or they would not have had proof that Beth was nearby.

--These aren't the same three people who were said to be on this episode at the end of last week's Talking Dead.  Only the guy who played Noah actually showed up.  The other two were last-second replacements.  What happened?   

The Walking Dead Episode 5 Self-help

Yup, posting this a week late, right before I post this week's episode's comments.  Trying my best here!  Just a little behind...

--Everyone knew Eugene was full of it.  No surprise there.  I haven't read the comics, but you didn't need to be to see this one coming.

--And I'm also not surprised to Abraham's life-purpose was to bring Eugene to D.C.  You knew he was over-compensating for whatever tragic thing happened to him, and you had to know it involved his family, because a) isn't that what happened to everyone else? and b) he never spoke of them.  He was way too militaristically gung-ho; you knew he had nothing else.

--Gale Ann Hurd hasn't gotten as much attention outside the industry as she should.  I mean, she's been producing since at least The Terminator, and she was married to James Cameron.

--Odd Rain Man moment with Eugene creeping on them in the library.

--The episode title was "Self-help," but it could've been "Self-serving."  But that wasn't the section of the library, of course.

--Sodden, super-soaked walkers.

--I think they're recycling a ton of walkers between episodes.  One of the firehose walkers looked exactly like the walker who got the machete in the face in "Consuming," Episode 6.  That was some really bad CGI, by the way.

--Criticism: The CGI has been consistently and badly glaring recently.  Whatever they'd been doing seasons past, they've got to go back to that.

--Poll #1: Was Eugene justified?  Well, I don't know.  Lots of people died protecting him and his lies.

--I needed to watch Talking Dead to know the grocery store bad guys were part of Abraham's traveling band and that they'd raped his family.  That explains the soupcan beatings.

--So Abraham's family gets raped, watches him go berserk and kill a few guys with an assist by Campbell Soup, and then leaves him, just to get annihilated by walkers.  I mean, DAMN.

--Michael Cudlitz has a really odd laugh.

--Eugene / Rain Man is not a bad comparison.  Yeah, they're definitely very similar, definitely very similar.

--Poll #2: Still go to D.C.?  Yeah, I think so.  If anything's to be done, it'll be by the federal government--if the government is still functioning at all.  But that's worth knowing.

--What a waste of water.  In a zombie apocalypse, and for real.  Ebola's spreading in Africa because of a lack of running water, and we're wasting hundreds of gallons of it on this show alone.  I'm not saying shows and movies can't be made with water, just as I know people will still water their lawns when there's a drought elsewhere in the world and tons of people are dying.  I'm just sayin'.  DAMN.

--Poll #3: Eugene's mullet--Hot or Not?  Ummm....Not.

--Supremely awkward moment on Talking Dead: Chris Hardwicke's below-the-belt reference of Cudlitz's red hair.  Hardwicke couldn't hyper-babble about something else fast enough.

--Josh McDermott needs a new fashion designer.  And that's me sayin' this.

--

The Walking Dead Episode 4 Slabtown

Photo: Emily Kinney as Beth in "Slabtown."  From the episode's Wikipedia page.  (Does Kinney look 29 to you?  She is.)

I'm very late getting this entry in--like, almost a week, as the next episode airs in a few hours--so let's get right to it.  And sorry about the delay.

--The hospital is a Marxist Utopia (or, actually, dystopia): Your only worth is what you produce.  Production = worth.  Of course, the hospital is a bastardization of Marx's ideas.  He thought production could also be something abstract, like leadership, or good friendship.  But mostly he preferred physical production.  It's easier to quantify.

--Poll #1: Better leader: Dawn or Gareth?  We don't know enough yet about Dawn to say, but in terms of those they led, I have to say Gareth may have been better.  For everyone else alive, outside of those he led?  Maybe not.  Though they're both dangers to others outside their camp, Dawn at least helped you stay alive.  (These polls, by the way, come from the Talking Dead show afterwards.)

--Who was creepier, Dawn or Gorman?  I'll go with Gorman, though Dawn was more dangerous.  That's my own question, BTW.

--What's Ana Gastmeyer been doing these last many years?

--Poll #2: Yes, in a zombie apocalypse, doctors would be too important to kill.  Though, as we saw in this episode, doctors would be amongst the first to be killed by other doctors.

--Speaking of that, Beth better not tell anyone she has a little medical experience.  (Hershel was a vet, remember?)

--Anyone but me remember Emily Kinney from one episode of last year's The Following?  She was one of the silent followers and got shot dead real fast.

--I'm no prude, but wouldn't Darryl be a little too old for Beth?

--Speaking of Beth's age--which I think on the show is supposed to be early 20s?--the real age of Emily Kinney, who plays her, is 29.  Hard to believe, but true.  She's one of those women who will look 30 when she's 40, and so on.  I'll bet she got carded until she was in her mid-20s.  Maybe she still does, at 29.

--I haven't been carded in a few years now.  I did for a long, long time after I turned 21.  Especially if I was clean-shaven.  No, seriously.  I did.

--And--on the Talking Dead, at least--Kinney turns her head (and blonde ponytail) whiplash fast.  Reminded me of the little girl in the Verizon commercial and the little dog at the end of Coming to America.

--No, I'm not comparing the very pretty Emily Kinney to a little, furry, fluffy dog.  I'm just sayin'.

--Just researched it.  According to her Wikipedia page, Kinney was 25 when she first played 16-year old Beth Greene on this series.  It's possible in the life of the show that Beth is just barely in her early-20s, while Emily Kinney is just barely in her 20s at all.  Now that's messed up.

--I could also play a guy who's 9 years younger than I actually am.

--Or, not.

--Poll #3: Did Carol let herself be caught?  The option never occurred to me until it was offered up on the talkshow afterward, so I'm going to say No.  And I'm guessing she doesn't have any weapons.  I mean, wouldn't they search her, especially if they believe she's unconscious?

--I'm guessing Darryl, in last week's episode, was leading out Noah, who'll tell the Ricktatorship about Beth and the hospital.  And then they'll infiltrate the hospital to get Beth.  And find Carol?

--And all this after the next episode, which is about the D.C. group.

--Being a guest on the Talking Dead is not always the kiss of death--as Beth / Emily Kinney showed--but since two guys from the D.C. group are on the next episode, I'm guessing that at least one of them will get it.

--And I'm guessing it's the "genius," who I think will turn out not to be.

--Or, not.