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?