The Walking Dead Season 7, Episode 3: The Cell

Sorry this review's so late. I was going to post it earlier in the week, but a certain even on November 8th kind of took the wind out of me. All of a sudden writing about a stupid TV show just didn't seem very important.

This week on The Walking Dead we take yet another side trip, as we finally get to see the inner workings of Negan's headquarters, the Sanctuary.

According to the producers, The Cell was intended to be the second episode of the season. Apparently they decided the audience needed a bit of a break after the brutal season premiere, so they moved it back a week and aired the relatively light-hearted The Well in its place.

I'm hoping we'll return to Alexandria next week, so we can finally see how Rick & Co. are coping with the death of Glenn and Abraham, and what, if anything, they plan to do about it. I get that introducing new settings like The Kingdom and The Sanctuary are important to future plotlines, but is it really necessary to devote ENTIRE episodes to each of these places? Haven't The Walking Dead writers ever heard of cross-cutting? Who writes, this show, Tolkien? Show us what's going on in Alexandria, then cut to Carol in The Kingdom, then switch to Negan in the Sanctuary, and back to Alexandria again. It ain't that tough to figure out.

This was a Daryl-centric episode, showing us how he's dealing with the fact that his outburst in the premiere ended up getting Glenn killed. Unfortunately the matter or his crippling guilt over the event was poorly written and handled. We see Daryl defy his torturers all through the episode, but it's not until the final minutes that we actually find out why he refuses to yield— to honor the memory of Glenn. 

For years now, fans of actor Norman Reedus have been chanting, "If Daryl dies, we riot!" threatening to stop watching the show en masse if their favorite redneck zombie hunter is ever killed off.

After seeing this episode, I have to ask "why?" Why do fans care so much about Daryl? What the hell do they see in him? Do they love his lone wolf, bad boy image? Or are they infatuated with Renaissance Man Norman Reedus?

Whatever the reason for all the Daryl love, this episode proved he's currently the least interesting of the core characters. He had a few story arcs early on— he overcame feelings or worthlessness and became a valued member of Rick's inner circle, and he developed a brotherly (I hope) relationship with Beth. But those plotlines were years ago. His character development hasn't progressed an inch for a couple seasons now. He's just sort of... there.

If you don't believe there's nothing to Daryl's character, then try this experiment. Explain him to someone without mentioning his angel wing vest, his motorcycle, his brother Merle or his ever present crossbow. I'll be over here waiting while you give it a go.

See? There's nothing left to say! I suppose you might be able to describe him as brave and loyal, but you could say the same thing about most dogs.

At this point you could remove him from the show completely, and it wouldn't change a thing (I can almost hear the Dixon's Vixens, as Daryl's fans call themselves, sharpening their knives as I type this). As proof, of that, The Cell is ostensibly a Daryl episode, but he ends up getting pushed aside as Dwight takes center stage. I'd go so far as to say that at this point, Dwight is far more interesting than Daryl.

This episode also gave us our first post-premiere look at Negan, with very mixed results. In his first two appearances, he was absolutely terrifying. He seemed both charming and deadly at the same time— an unpredictable force of nature.

Suddenly in this episode he's far less sinister and much more cartoonish, as he goes on about his "super hot" wives. 

I'm going to chalk this up to the writing and source material. Now that I think back, this is exactly the way the comic unfolded. Comic Book Negan was petrifying in his first appearance, and became gradually less so the more we saw him.

SPOILERS!

The Plot:

As the episode opens, we see Dwight going about a typical day in the Sanctuary, Negan's main compound. He cuts in lines, confiscates food and enjoys the perks of being Negan's right hand man. He watches two low-ranking men risk their lives tying up walkers to form a zombified fence around the compound.

Dwight makes a dog food sandwich, opens a cell and tosses it in to his nemesis Daryl, who's curled up naked in the corner. Daryl hungrily devours the sandwich as Dwight closes the door. A horribly annoying song called Easy Street blares over and over in the Daryl's cell, which is some insidious Guantanamo-level psychological torture right there.

The next day Dwight opens the door and throws some clothes in, telling Daryl to get dressed. He takes him to see Dr. Carson for a checkup. Dwight's girlfriend Sherry, who we met in Always Accountable, sees Daryl and recognizes him.  Dwight sees a pregnancy test on the counter, and realizes its Sherry's. Apparently Negan took Sherry away from Dwight, and made her one of his "wives." Dwight tells Sherry to shut up, and takes Daryl outside. He shows him the protective wall of walkers, and says he can be one of them, or one of Negan's men.

Later Negan compliments Dwight on his progress with Operation Demoralize Daryl. He offers Dwight a night with Sherry as a reward, but he declines. A call comes in, saying a member of the Sanctuary has escaped. Daryl tells Negan he'll go after the escapee. 

Dwight, who's appropriated Daryl's vest, crossbow and motorcycle, rides through the deserted countryside, searching for the escapee. I'm starting to think maybe he wants to be Daryl. He comes upon a circle of walkers who've toppled off an overpass and splattered onto the pavement below. Although broken and shattered, the zombies reach for Dwight as he walks his bike through them. Suddenly one falls from above, hitting him and his bike. He's knocked backwards and lands next to a walker, and struggles to kill it before it bites him.

Meanwhile, another Savior feeds Daryl while Dwight's out. He leaves, forgetting to lock the cell door (intentionally?). Daryl escapes and runs through the endless corridors, looking for a way out. He's stopped by Sherry, who warns him to return to his cell, as Negan can always find new and even worse forms of punishment. Daryl ignores her and exits the building. He finds a row of motorcycles, but none have keys. Suddenly he's surrounded by Saviors. 

Negan appears, and asks each of the Saviors his name. They all reply "Negan." He tells Daryl that the unlocked door was a test, and he failed. Negan says Daryl has three choices— work for him as a guard zombie, work for him as a slave, or work for him as a devoted follower. He leaves, as the Saviors beat the living crap out of Daryl to help him think it over.

Out in the wild, an injured Dwight pushes his wrecked bike down the road. Miraculously he catches up with the Sanctuary escapee, who I'm going to call Ike. He tells Ike he's taking him back in. Ike refuses to go, saying he'd rather die. Dwight says that can be arranged, and shoots him in the back.

Dwight returns to the Sanctuary (how?), and encounters Sherry. He asks if Negan is good to her, and she says yes. She tells Dwight that he did the right thing by offering her to Negan, as it saved both their lives. Dwight opens Daryl's cell and feeds him another dog food sandwich. He says Daryl's lucky, as he should be dead by now, but Negan's taken a liking to him. He also says it's Daryl's fault that Glenn was killed. He drops a photo of Glenn's dead body on the floor next to Daryl and leaves. Daryl begins crying.

The next day Dwight brings Daryl to a fully furnished apartment. Negan's there, and infodumps Dwight's backstory to him. He says that Dwight worked for him, tried to escape and was caught. Sherry offered to become Negan's wife if he'd spare Dwight's life. Negan said he agreed, but that Dwight would still need to be punished. Dwight got "the iron," which explains the horrific burn scars on his face.

Negan tells Daryl that he could have a room like this and a coveted place at Negan's side if he answers one simple question— "Who are you?" Daryl replies with his own name. Negan says he's made his choice then. Dwight throws Daryl back in the cell. Daryl tells Dwight that he got Glenn killed, and that's why he'll never break.

Later, Dwight gazes at the walker fence again. He sees Ike, the escapee he caught earlier, now working for Negan as a zombie.

Thoughts: 

• It seemed odd that we never saw a single establishing shot of the Sanctuary. How big is the place? How heavily fortified is it? Just where's Daryl being held? Apparently it's none of our concern.

We got one of The Kingdom last week, and the Hilltop last season. Did they blow this week's budget on music rights, and couldn't afford an FX shot of the Sanctuary?

• There's some musical confusion at the beginning of the episode. We're treated to a montage of Dwight gadding about the Sanctuary, as the song Town Called Malice by The Jam plays on the soundtrack. It's obvious from the way the scene's shot that only we in the audience can hear the song. It isn't audible in the reality of the characters.

A few minutes later we see Daryl in his cell, as the song Easy Street blares loudly and incessantly on the soundtrack. But suddenly Daryl can hear the song too, as we realize it's being used to psychologically torture him. It took me a few minutes to realize that the song was being deliberately played by the characters. Confusing!

It might have helped if there'd been a few minutes worth of space between these two scenes.

• By the way, the Easy Street song is from a band called Collapsable Hearts Club (and yes, they either knowingly or mistakenly spelled "collapsible" wrong). It's a relentlessly upbeat and peppy little ditty, and you'll never hear a more insidious ear worm in your life. It was stuck in my head for two or three days after the episode aired.

The song is an unreleased track from the band, who were reportedly genuinely puzzled as to how The Walking Dead producers found it. Jim Biano, founder of the band, said he thought it was hilarious that his little song would be used as a torture device in the episode.

Since The Cell aired, the song's reportedly rocketed to the top of the charts on Spotify and YouTube.

Unfortunately, since the song is only a few months old, technically it shouldn't exist in The Walking Dead universe. In the world of the show, the zombie apocalypse started seven or eight years ago, meaning there probably aren't too many bands out there writing new material.

For the record, here are the song's lyrics:

We're on easy street

And it feels so sweet

Cause the world is 'bout a treat

When you're on easy street 

And we're breaking out the good champagne

We're sitting pretty on the gravy train

And when we sing every sweet refrain repeats

Right here on easy street

[Chorus]
It's our moment in the sun

And it's only just begun

It's time to have a little fun

We're inviting you to come and see why you should be
On easy street

Yeah, we got a front row seat

Oh, to a life that can't be beat

Right here on easy street

[Chorus]

It's our moment in the sun

And it's only just begunIt's time to have a little fun

And we're inviting you to come and see why you should be

On easy street

Yeah, we got a front row seat

Oh, to a life that can't be beat

Right here on easy street'Cause the world is 'bout a treat

When you're on easy street

• Confused as to who the hell this Sherry woman is, who keeps talking to Daryl? I don't blame you— I've seen every episode and I barely remembered her.

As I mentioned earlier, she popped up with Daryl and her diabetic sister Tina in Always Accountable. The trio encountered Daryl in the woods, stole his bike and weapons and left him for dead.

• Last season we were introduced to Dr. Carson, who lived in the Hilltop community. Apparently the Sanctuary has its own Dr. Carson as well, who's a completely different person. Confusing!

This sort of happened in the comics as well, as Harlan Carson was the Hilltop's doctor, while his brother Carson (who never got a first name) lived in the Sanctuary and worked as Negan's assistant.

• This episode, which introduces the Sanctuary, is a huge departure from the comic.

See, in the comic we got to see the inner workings of the Sanctuary when Carl, or all characters, stowed away on a supply truck and was discovered by Negan. He was apparently taken with the lad, and gave him a grand tour of the place before returning him to Rick.

It appears the writers are grafting this storyline onto Daryl for some reason. Probably because they can't think of anything else to do with him.

This is going to cause problems down the line, because in the comic, this meeting between Carl and Negan lays the foundation for their student/mentor relationship many episodes from now.

• Dwight ventures into the wilderness to bring back an escapee from the Sanctuary. Along the way, he's badly hurt, to the point where he can barely hobble along. His bike is also ruined. 

And yet despite all those obstacles, he somehow manages to drag the escapee's dead body all the way back to the Sanctuary, where it becomes a guard walker. Nope! I ain't buying it!

Did he fix the motorcycle, then tie the walker to the back and drag it to the Sanctuary? Did he wait till the dead escapee turned and then stay just out of its reach, slowly luring it back? Did he wire its mouth shut and sling it over his back like a fireman? 

• In this episode we find out that Dwight tried to escape the Sanctuary, but ended up returning when he found life outside the walls too hard. Negan punished Dwight for his effrontery by pressing a red hot iron onto the side of his face. Yowch!

If you look closely, there's actually a little homage to this event in the opening credits. When Jeffrey Dean Morgan's name appears, there's a brief shot of an iron resting in an open furnace. Fun!

The Walking Dead Season 6, Episode 14: Twice As Far

Sigh... it's an old, old song I've sung many times before. After three or four  very strong and action-filled episodes, The Walking Dead follows them up with slow-moving filler and side quests as it waits around for the season finale.

I'm getting really tired of TV series that are written around their mid season breaks. It reminds me of the way comic books are written these days. 

Way back in the before time, comic book writers let their stories dictate their length. Short stories were told in one issue. Longer stories were told over the course of three or four issues. The world made sense.

But a few years ago things began to change. Comic publishers started reprinting stories in trade paperbacks. It was decided at some point that five issues was the perfect length for one of these trades. Overnight, comic writers began "writing for the trade," stretching and padding their stories into five issues, whether there was enough content or not, just so they could fit into the trade paperback format.

And that's exactly what's happening on The Walking Dead, and all serialized TV shows in general. They're being "written for the trade." Storylines are now designed so there're two finales— one in the middle of the season, and one at the end, whether it flows naturally or not. Never mind if there's not enough story to fill the episodes prior to the finales. Just stretch and pad what content you have until it fits!

Twice As Far is definitely a result of this padding. Yes, a character dies, but other than that nothing much of interest happens, the storyline isn't furthered in any significant way, and it's obvious this is filler episode, one you could probably skip if you're binge-watching. Feh! 

MASSIVE SPOILERS FROM HERE ON! YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!

The Plot:

Exciting things are happening in Alexandria. Olivia organizes the food inventory. Carol sits on her porch, brooding over her crucifix. Morgan finishes building his jail cell. Exciting! 

Rick asks Morgan what the hell he's doing. He says he built the cell so Rick would have a place to incarcerate any future murderous psychopaths, instead of killing them. Based on the size of the cell, Morgan must not expect to ever house more than one prisoner at a time.

Dr. Denise Cloyd tells Rosita and Daryl about an apothecary she found on a map. She says it may not have been looted, and could be filled with badly needed medicine. She insists on going with them. They reluctantly agree to take her along. They drive for a while until they encounter a fallen tree in the road, and walk the rest of the way. They find the apothecary and enter.

Elsewhere, Abraham and Eugene investigate an abandoned foundry. Eugene says bullets have become a precious commodity, and he believes he can make new ones. A walker approaches and Eugene insists on killing it himself, to prove he's adapted to the world or something. He fumbles with the zombie a while until Abraham steps in and kills it. Eugene throws a tantrum, and Abraham tells him he's on his own and leaves, proving both these grown men are really six years old.

Meanwhile at the apothecary, the group hits the jackpot as they find it stocked full of drugs. As Daryl and Rosita pack up the supplies, Dr. Cloyd finds a keychain labeled "Dennis." She wanders into the back room, finding an immobile walker and the remains of a dead baby in a bloody sink. Or at least I think that's what she sees. Honestly it's hard to tell. Whatever she sees freaks her out and she runs outside. Rosita says they tried to tell her she wasn't ready for life outside the walls.

As they walk back to the truck, Daryl sees the keychain and asks Dr. Cloyd about her late twin brother Dennis. She says he had a dangerous combination of fearlessness and anger. Daryl says he sounds like his own brother. Denise sees a cooler in a walker-filled car and for some reason decides it must be full of unimaginable treasure, and has to have it. She opens the door, grabs the cooler, and somehow ends up with the walker on top of her. Rosita moves in to kill it, but Denise finally gets the upper hand and stabs it in the head, I guess to prove she could do it.

She opens the cooler and finds it's full of sodas. Rosita says she's stupid for risking her life like that. Denise starts ranting about how Daryl and Rosita are stronger than she'll ever be or something, as an arrow suddenly goes through the back of her head and out her eye. Yikes!

Several Saviors then appear, with Eugene as their hostage. The leader of this group of Saviors is Dwight, the skinny guy who stole Daryl's crossbow and motorcycle several episodes back. A lot's apparently happened to Dwight since then, as the entire left side of his face is now horribly scarred. Looks like Negan wasn't pleased that he ran off.

Daryl recognizes Dwight and says he should have killed him when he had the chance. Dwight agrees, and orders Daryl to take them back to Alexandria, or he'll start killing them. A terrified Eugene sees Abraham skulking nearby, behind some oil barrels. He creates a distraction by calling out Abraham's presence, then bites Dwight in the crotch. Abraham fires on the Saviors, as Daryl and Rosita kill several more and take their guns. The gunfire attracts a group of walkers, and Dwight, who's managed to free himself from Eugene's jaws, orders a retreat. Daryl gets his crossbow back. He starts to chase the Saviors, but Rosita calls him off, as Eugene's been shot.

Cut to Eugene waking up in the Alexandria infirmary. He tells Abraham he wasn't selling him out, just creating an opening. Abraham apologizes for doubting Eugene's survival skills. Abraham then goes to Sasha's house and says life's too short in this world, and she invites him inside. Daryl buries Dr. Cloyd as Carol watches, looking thoughtful.

The next day Tobin finds a letter from Carol explaining she's leaving because "she can't love anyone because she can't kill for anyone," whatever the hell that means. She says not to come looking for her, advice that will no doubt be ignored next week.

ONE LAST SPOILER WARNING! I'M NOT KIDDING! PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Thoughts:

• Wow, this week we get a rare Rosita-centric episode. Actually I think this is the first ever episode to give her more than a couple of lines. She was a fairly major character for years in the comic, and has been criminally underused on the show ever since she was introduced.

Of course this sudden spotlight on her all but guarantees she'll likely die in the season finale...

• Morgan finishes building his jail cell, and given the amount of screen time it's received, it's sure to become an important set in seasons to come.

Oddly enough, the cell door features a working lock. How the hell'd Morgan manage to construct that? A couple weeks ago we saw him welding bars together, which is perfectly within the realm of possibility. But a lock? I don't see how he could make something like that by himself, and I doubt there are many jail supply stores around the Alexandria area.

• During their little spat, Eugene tells Abraham he had full control of the situation. Abraham scoffs at him, saying, "You'd have better luck picking up a turd by the clean end!" 

Oh, Abraham. I'm going to miss you after Negan kills you.

• Speaking of Abraham and Eugene, here's a small sampling of the sparkling repartee in their big scene:

Abraham: You about ready to spill the pintos on what the hell it is we're doing here? 

Eugene: We're gonna manufacture bullets here. I've been chewing the cud on this for a few days now. The Hilltop's dry, our supply's finite. So not only are bullets vital for defense, but per the law of supply and demand, a full cartridge is now the coin of the land. 

Abraham: Making bullets from scratch. 

Eugene: Spent casings, but the innards are all us. And by us, I mean me. 

Abraham: And you think you can do that... here? With just this? 

Eugene: Well, the digs will require a thorough scrubbing. We'll have to scare up a hella ton of lead, but, yes. I most definitely almost certainly think I can do that here. 

Abraham: That, my friend, is some damn fine genuine outside-the-box thinking. 

OK, their semi-formal, faux witty dialogue is kind of amusing, but… no human being talks that way. They sound like aliens who've just assumed human form, who think that's how people actually talk and are trying to fit in. 

• So Daryl has no problem with the gears on a motorcycle, but can't get the hang of a stick-shift truck?

• On their mission, Daryl, Rosita and Dr. Cloyd find a tree in the middle of the road and are forced to walk the rest of the way. Rosita wants to take a shortcut along a set of railroad tracks that go through the woods. Daryl says, "Go whichever way you want. I ain't takin' no tracks." 

Who could blame him after the events of Season 5 ? I'd be leery of tracks too after the whole Terminus incident.

• As soon as Dr. Cloyd started talking about her alcoholic parents and her twin brother Dennis, I knew she this was her last show. It's the old Walking Dead Backstory Curse, which states that the minute the show starts to flesh out an underdeveloped character, they're doomed to die. They haven't used it much the past couple of seasons, but it was in full effect in this episode.

• Dr. Cloyd gets a surprise arrow through the eye as she's ranting about something to Daryl and Rosita. She even tries to finish her sentence ("wake… up") before collapsing! 

For some reason I don't quite understand, the writers altered this scene from the way it happened in the comic. See, in the comic, Abraham and Eugene went out on a scouting mission and discovered a foundry that could be used to manufacture bullets, just like they did in this episode. On the way home, Abraham gets shot in the head with an arrow by the Saviors, right before they attacked Alexandria.

I'm not sure why the show changed this incident, but I assume it's because they've got something bigger planned for Abraham (like a meeting with Negan). 

• Don't feel too bad for Dr. Cloyd. Even if she hadn't died here, she was still doomed. In the comic she was bitten on the arm by a walker, but refused treatment so she could save the life of her boyfriend Heath (she wasn't gay in the comic). She died of her injury shortly afterward and was put down by Michonne before she could reanimate.

• One last thing about Dr. Cloyd's death. A couple of years ago, Walking Dead fans complained that the series was killing off all its black characters, as it was seemingly only allowed one person of color at a time.

With Dr. Cloyd's death, people are actually complaining that the series is similarly killing off all its gay characters. 

Jesus Jetskiing Christ! Don't people have enough problems without deliberately looking for new things to fuel their outrage?

I guess all these complainers conveniently forgot that Tara's still on the show. And Aaron. And Eric. Gay characters, one and all. And if the show follows the comic, the recently introduced Jesus is gay as well. By my count that makes at least four gay characters left. So why all the outrage? Does belonging to a minority group mean a character should be shrouded in walker-proof armor?

• A few episodes ago in Knots Untie we met Dr. Carson, an obstetrician who lived in the Hilltop colony. The episode took great pains to awkwardly introduce him to the audience, only for him to disappear immediately afterward.

Welp, now we know why they went to all that trouble. Alexandria's one and only doctor was just killed off, so Maggie will need an obstetrician. She'll now have to travel to the Hilltop, and will likely end up staying there and becoming their new leader— just like in the comic.

• Immediately after Dr. Cloyd is killed, Dwight and a group of Saviors surround Daryl and Rosita. We've seen Dwight before— he had a run- in with Daryl back in Always Accountable in which he captured him and appropriated all his gear.

Dwight's gained a nasty looking burn scar since we last saw him, no doubt a sample of Negan's brutal form of punishment. His scar looks much less gruesome here than it does in the comic, which is disappointing. 

In the comic it appears his left eyelid is gone, so he's constantly squirting Visine into his eye to keep it from drying out. I'm betting that simulating a lidless eye would involve some green screen and CGI and would probably cost too much on a weekly basis. So instead we get Medium Rare Dwight instead of Well Done Dwight.

• Dwight tells Daryl he hasn't quite gotten the hang of his stolen crossbow yet, because it "kicks like a bitch." Is that true? Do crossbows really kick? I've never shot one, but I've shot a bow before, and I don't remember there ever being a noticeable kick to it.

• Dwight implies that the Saviors know where Alexandria is. I'm assuming they've just now learned of its location (from a certain person at the Hilltop), or else they'd have invaded long before now.

• Eugene, who's being held hostage by the Saviors, saves the day when he leans over and bites Dwight hard, right on the dick. It seems iffy that he'd be able to clamp his teeth onto anything through Dwight's denim jeans, but I'll give the show this one.

• This episode marks the FOURTH time someone from Rick's crew has murder-death-killed a group of Saviors. If the writers are trying to play up the Saviors as a threat, this is not the way to go about it. At this point they look about as dangerous as the Little Rascals. I'm sure that'll all change once Negan finally shows up in the season finale, but still.

The Saviors are bad news, there's no doubt about that. But at this point they've only managed to kill one of Rick's people, while his crew has killed thirty or forty of Negan's. At this point when Negan finally appears and starts killing Alexandrians, it's almost going to look justified.

• Back in Alexandria we see Sasha on a guard tower, standing watch over Alexandria. Given the fact that Dr. Cloyd just got a surprise arrow through her eye, is it really a good idea for Sasha to be standing there all exposed like that? Shouldn't they have some sort of shield to peer through?

• At the end of the episode, Carol decides she can't stay in Alexandria another minute and has to go on walkabout or something to do some half-baked soul searching. Yawn. The old "I Can't Stay/Don't Come Looking For Me" subplot. How many times have we seen that before?

Carol's leaving seems less like character development here and more like the writers trying to figure out something for her to do. And are they having her leave again so she can play Calvary and rescue everyone again, like she did at Terminus?

The Walking Dead Season 5, Episode 6: Consumed

Not a lot happens in this week's episode. It's long on mood and short on plot and dialog, as it fills in the missing piece of the puzzle started when the characters split up at the church in Four Walls And A Roof.

It was nice though to see some of the characters exploring an urban setting. Let's face it, they've been killing walkers in the woods for a long, long, long time, so it was nice to see them kill walkers in the big city for a change. I'm guessing we don't get to see ruined cities very often because they're expensive to simulate. Walking around in the woods is cheap, if not free.

That said, it's a big disappointing to me that this episode takes us right back where we started. In the exact same spot, in fact, that Rick explored way back in the very first episode. Hard to believe that after five seasons the characters have only managed to travel twenty miles or so from Atlanta.

The promos for next week say there're only two more episodes this year. Groooaaaan. Does that mean they're taking another months-long break mid-season? I hate when they split seasons in half like that.

SPOILERS!

The Plot:
This week we follow badass super couple Daryl and Carol as they travel to Atlanta in search of Beth. They wander the post apocalyptic urban landscape for most of the episode, looking for clues as to her location. 

They're robbed of their weapons by Noah, the young orderly who escaped from Grady Memorial Hospital, where Beth is still being held against her will. They catch up with Noah later on and get their weapons back. When they threaten him, he tells them where they can find Beth. Carol runs toward the hospital but is hit by one of the ambulances. The Grady cops get out, put her on a stretcher and speed off toward the hospital. 

Daryl and Noah steal a truck and presumably head back to the church for reinforcements.

Thoughts:• I'm not sure, but I think I might have picked up a possible fire/burning metaphor in this episode. Carol has several flashbacks in which she sees smoke in the distance (from the prison and later Terminus). We see her burning the infected bodies of Karen and the other guy in the prison. She tells Daryl that both her old and new selves have been "burned away." Daryl tells her that they're not ashes. Subtle! 

• In a flashback we see Carol shortly after Rick banished her from the group. After driving around aimlessly for a while, she spends the night in a law firm.

A law firm? Personally I might have gone for a grocery or convenience store, or maybe even a private residence. 

On the other hand, perhaps she has the right idea after all. Maybe she figured no one in their right mind would think to hide in a law firm and therefore it would be clear of walkers.

• Daryl and Carol make their way into downtown Atlanta in search of Beth. The shot of the post-apocalyptic city is virtually identical to the one in the first episode, in which Rick rode a horse down the deserted highway. The abandoned cars and trains are even in the same places!

• Books also play a big part in this episode. Daryl and Carol hole up for the night in a woman's shelter. It's the very same shelter in which Carol and Sophia stayed before the Fall.

On a desk in their room we see a book titled Treating Survivors Of Childhood Abuse. This is significant for both characters, as Carol was a battered wife, and Daryl's admitted that as a child his father regularly beat him.

Later we get a very fleeting glimpse of a copy of The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer stuffed inside Carol's duffel bag. Sharp-eyed viewers will remember that Hershel gave this book to Mika and Lizzie back in the prison.

Another possible significance: In the book, Tom Sawyer is presumed dead by the townsfolk and appears at his own funeral.
•  Inside the shelter, Daryl and Carol lay side by side on the bottom half of a bunk bed. Nothing happens though, as they simply lie there and talk.

There is a sizable group of fans out there that desperately want to see these two characters hook up. I bet their collective heads were exploding during this scene.

• It's pretty obvious that Carol used to live in Atlanta, or at least one of its suburbs. So why doesn't she sound like it? Where's the Southern drawl, like the one Rick has? Apparently she was born elsewhere and moved to the Big Peach later.

• Daryl takes a pack of Morley cigarettes from Noah and smokes one.

Morley is a fake brand of smokes used in many, many movies and TV series. The Cigarette Smoking Man from The X-FIles smoked Morleys as well. Maybe The Walking Dead takes place in the same universe! They need to get to DC after all! I bet Mulder could figure out what caused the zombie plague!

• As Daryl and Carol make their way through the streets of Atlanta, they pass an abandoned tank. This is almost certainly meant to be the same tank that Rick hid inside, way back in the very first episode.

• Welcome to Coincidence Theater! A few episodes ago Beth met Noah at Grady Memorial Hospital. Noah managed to escape, while Beth was recaptured. Daryl and Carol make their way to Atlanta, somehow hoping to find Beth in the middle of the vast city. They just so happen to run into Noah, who robs them of their weapons. Later they run into Noah again, and get their weapons back. Next thing you know Carol's hit by one of the cars from the hospital and taken there for treatment.

I get that they've got to keep the story moving along, but I think the Coince-O-Meter just exploded!

• Daryl and Carol spot a van with a cross painted on its back window, hanging halfway off an elevated highway. They investigate it, hoping to find clues to Beth's whereabouts.

This entire sequence is a goldmine of stupid actions and unlikely occurrences.

First of all, Daryl climbs inside the van, which is perched precariously on the overpass. A few seconds later Carol decides it would make sense for her to enter as well, as they both tromp around inside. Fortunately it doesn't tip over the edge.

They're then surrounded by walkers. Weaponless and trapped, they come to the conclusion that their only hope is to strap themselves in as the van is pushed off the overpass. We see it plummet nose down, then a second later we cut to it somehow landing hard on all four tires. How that particular bit of physics-defying acrobatics was achieved is left to our imaginations.

This is all just slightly less ridiculous than some of Indiana Jones' escapes.

About thirty seconds after the van crashes, walkers start raining down on the roof from above. It seems like that should have happened instantly. They were pushing the van over the edge, right? So they should have followed it down immediately. Surely they don't have the brain power to hesitate before a yawning abyss? 

• A nice touch: Daryl uses his arrows very sparingly, and retrieves them whenever possible. After Noah steals his crossbow, Daryl finds a walker pinned to a wall by one of his arrows. Obviously Noah's been through the area, and being an inexperienced zombie hunter, he's carelessly wasting his arrows.

• After Carol is hit by the Gradies, they stuff her in their ambulance and speed away to the hospital. This neatly explains why she appeared at the end of the Slabtown episode a couple of weeks ago. I thought maybe she was faking her injury to gain access to the hospital like a post-apocalyptic Trojan horse, but apparently not.

And it's pretty much a certainty now that Noah is Daryl's mystery companion from the end of Four Walls And A Roof. Did not see that coming. I assumed it was Morgan, who we last saw following Rick's group in No Sanctuary.• Lastly, this has nothing to do with the plot or anything, but for the third week in a row The Walking Dead has trounced Sunday Night Football in the ratings. As a NON sports fan, this makes me very happy.

Celebrity Metamorphoses

Welcome to a new feature here at Bob Canada's BlogWorld, in which we spotlight various actors who, for one reason or another, have decided to metamorphose themselves into a different celebrity.

Here we see a new direct-to-DVD cover featuring actor Edward Furlong, of Terminator 2 fame. Always nice to see Ed working again.*

It's also great to see that his Five Year Plan to morph himself into Daryl Dixon of The Walking Dead is coming along nicely. It looks like his transformation is about 3/4 complete. Congratulations, Ed! Keep up the good work!

*About that DVD cover: Is it really necessary for Meatloaf to use his last name in the credits? Is he afraid we're going to confuse him with all the other thespians named "Meatloaf?"