This week, the group gets on a bridge and can’t cross it while being watched by Ginny and then they eventually decide that they need help from Ginny. My name is Kent, and for Fear The Walking Dead, I only ask 5 questions and some final thoughts to make this blog a little more compact your reading pleasure. Any comments in BOLD are written by me. I hope you enjoy and if you or someone you know may want to do this blog, contact me, leave a comment, whatever. The contact info is at the bottom of this blog.
1. This week’s callback to TWD was a bridge. The whole bridge fiasco was a bit much. Did the group do the only reasonable thing or should they have tried something else once they realized the condition of the bridge?
Bob: Uhm, I have an idea. Back the truck off the bridge. They could have backed it up and created a protective barrier to keep the walkers out. No one thinks on the fly…. (Listen, Bob, it is soooo easy for you sitting safely at home to think with an ounce of common sense, but under duress, could YOU have come up with such a complicated strategy as your “back it up and create a protective barrier” idea? Yeah, it really makes you think, huh? It’s like these people are children, except the children were smarter than the adults.)
Raylene: That’s a tough decision perhaps have everyone already across the bring once they discovered it, leaving only a handful to protect the tanker draining the fuel. (Listen up, Raylene, if that is your real name. You think it is soooo easy to sit back in your recliner and craft these brilliant strategies like “have most of the group cross the bridge and only leaving a few to drain the tanker and protect” strategy. You think you are sooo smart.)
Kent: Now, I have no degree in engineering, but they said that backing the truck up would somehow worsen the bridge. If somebody can explain how having less weight would damage it more, I’d like to know the reasoning. Basically, I would have used a combination of Bob and Raylene’s ideas. I’d like to think that most would have done that.
2. Does anybody want to try to explain how Ginny just KNEW the right moment to show up at the bridge when things were at their worst?
Bob: I think she has this group on constant surveillance. I also believe she knew the condition of the bridge and may have even caused it to be in poor repair. (Okay, I like the idea that Ginny had the bridge compromised. She’s cheating worse than the New England Patriots!)
Raylene: Supposedly she was close enough to observe them without detection.(Right, nobody spotted the observers.)
Kent: This whole thing irked me. I get it, surveillance is the reason. It’s just funny because the group isn’t much of a threat, in Ginny’s eyes, supposedly. Which is it? The impeccable timing. So they are being watched, but is Ginny in that group? Being the leader of the Pioneers, I would think that she has more important business elsewhere. She is coming off so desperate despite having such a huge advantage.
3. Janis was found. Tom was trying to prove some point on the bridge that seems pretty inexplicable to me. All of the Janis and Tom stuff, just what the heck is happening here? What purpose does it serve?
Bob: I think the TJ Hooker duo was really just for this episode. Tom is over the top. (Tom was such a lame character. But thanks to the TJ Hooker reference, good call, I can show this funny video with William Shatner.)
Raylene: Tom was dumb you could’ve still filmed on the other side of the bridge. Seems like they wanted to prove Ginny’s way is wrong. (Wait, wait,….wait. So you are trying to tell us that Tom could have crossed the bridge and filmed this, had the same impact, and still lived? That’s crazy talk!)
Kent: I guess I could thank Tom for the laughs of being the dumbest character in a long time. I’m really not in the mood to be overly negative, but this show is making it tough for me to be overly positive.
4. Grace didn’t want to have the talk with Morgan. John wants to marry June. Wes wants to paint with Alicia. Which story will turn out the worst?
Bob: Grace lives, JJ’s marriage is on hold but Wes… Who will wescue Wes from the Walking Dead Writers? (Some of this writing is worse than professional wrestling. This is Furry Nights level of writing. Furry Nights is a hilarious film on Amazon Prime for free, currently.)
Raylene: I say something happens to John or June they’ve had too many happy reunions. (They really have, but I just feel like they are both safe. I eagerly anticipate my FAIL.)
Kent: In TWD tradition, they zig when you anticipate the zag. Let’s test this theory out. Grace will live because her demise has been built up all season. John and June will have something horrible happen to one of them which will delay the wedding, or maybe a death. They have been way too happy, but Glenn and Maggie were allowed a marriage. (Secretly, I think that the marriage happens because a death now won’t be as impactful as it could be in a season or two, and killing them would be just another sour taste in the mouth of the viewers, which they can’t afford at the moment.) Wes or Alicia will either lose their painting hand, their vision, or they suddenly won’t be able to find paint.
5. Strand seemed to think that they had no choice and Dwight warned them properly of the proverbial deal with the devil. If you were a leader for the group, would you have reached out for assistance from the Pioneers? (Also, note in the preview for next week that it appears that the group decides to just clear the area out anyway like they should have simply done to begin with.)
Bob: AGREED on clearing out! They keep showing no one wants to step up and be that person that takes responsibility. Here is an idea, go open a gate, make a lot of noise, and then flank the compound as the dead leave. (I don’t even have the mental wherewithal to continue to mock the stupidity of the writing this week. Do the obvious thing, as Bob said.)
Raylene: I thought they gave up way to easy there had to be a way to filter them out and kill them. (Hmmm, well if it’s this obvious to us, I don’t get why this wasn’t a more discusses option.)
Kent: Rather than ranting, let’s just look at this objectively. Why would Ginny help the only thing that may stand in her way of carrying out her version of manifest destiny? If she knows that they are in bad shape and close to death, you let them die. You wouldn’t help. She should be smart enough to stop employing people that hate her. Instead, we are led to believe that she wants to be the second coming of Negan. But Negan ran things significantly differently. From the perspective of our main group, I get that Strand wants to make a deal, and he has a way of convincing people to side with him. I can see Alicia possibly buying into it because she is still weak. Al’s curiosity may be a temptation. Dwight knew better and bailed and nobody joined him. But can somebody explain to me why the following people would ever agree to this: Morgan, John, June, Charlie, Daniel, Grace, Sarah, Wendell, Rabbi, Wes, Janis, or Annie? I’m not going to apologize for how much analysis I am about to unleash. Feel free to skip to the Final Thoughts section.
Morgan – The default leader in a leaderless group once Alicia let loose. Morgan knows how things went with Negan, so he straight up knows better. He also knows that he has a big enough group to handle “clearing the area. Fail!
John & June – John is a bit more pliable, but he knows that June likes to run. They also know that Ginny could use one against the other. For example, threaten to harm June to make John do something that he is against. I think both are fully aware that this is a dangerous scenario for them. Also, John is a damn good fighter. FAIL!
Charlie – She ran away from the safe group in hopes of finding something better. Under no circumstances is she suddenly cool with giving up. She’d have left with Dwight or Daniel. Fail!
Daniel – This one surprised me more than anybody else. Daniel can definitely survive on his own, no problem. I feel like he would have been happy to just take Charlie and walk away. Under no circumstances would he do this nonsense again. Let’s not forget how bad things went in season 2 for Daniel while living under someone else’s rule. FAIL!
Grace – One could argue that she is pro anything that elongates her life and that she is happy to back Morgan. She also seems like a person who would rather die than to sell her soul. Fail!
Sarah & Wendell – Neither of these 2 has ever given any indication that they would follow somebody else’s rules. Both are tough as nails. Why would they be okay with this? Fail!
Rabbi – He left his semi-safe existence to join this group in the prospect of finding something better. Once again, did fine living on his own. Fail!
Wes – Doing just fine in the ZA until the group came around and pissed off Logan’s crew. He was able to survive just fine before, so why not leave with Dwight? Fail!
Janis – She escaped the Pioneers just to join up again? Seriously? Not much of a fight from her. Fail!
Annie – Annie’s whole role and existence so far has been to keep the kids safe. She put up such a fight to join the group but now he’s suddenly cool with giving up? FAIL!
Final Thoughts – Are you relieved that this season is almost over? Make any bold predictions that you want to for the season finale. GMA (Glenn Memorial Award for the most inane scene) nominees are also welcome.
Bob: GMA is not moving the truck off the bridge, or testing the bridge first. Or securing the bridge. I am glad they brought the bridge back. My bold prediction is we see an old character we haven’t seen in a while. (I am trying to think of a good character. I can only think of one. Tobias, the kid from season 1 who knew things. He is still out there!)
Raylene: Yes, this season has been very lackluster to me. The whole bridge scene that would’ve fallen in sooner than it did. Even with the tanker not as full it still had a lot of weight sitting on it. I say skidmark RKO Ginny off of her horse. (Why you gotta make fat jokes at the tanker’s expense? At least I have an excuse for this video.)
Kent: I’m relieved because some weeks have felt more like a chore than a time to relax. I think the whole final scene was the GMA for me, but you could argue the whole episode, which is freakin’ impressive!!! The bridge deserves its own statue for greatness, like ambulance scene levels of greatness. My prediction is that Daniel gets got. Also, Tess and Janis. Also, Max. 4 deaths, go place your life saving on this at your nearest casino.