This week, Carol is popping uppers and seeing things and people that aren’t there. Aaron and Negan had an adventure while Rosita gave Eugene the business. My name is Kent, and I ask 5 weekly questions and then people answer them. 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, etc.
1. I think the most obvious question is simple. Should Carol have taken the shot at Alpha? Should Daryl have interjected? Also, why didn’t Alpha kill Carol after that?
Bob: I suppose so, she really wants vengeance. I didn’t really see Daryl as interjecting. He seemed to follow-up on the interjection. (Daryl’s actions were very much a Daryl Dixon move. Physically stopping it but also talking a bit. Very much a season 7 through present Daryl move.)
Raylene: I think it was inevitable that she would take that shot. Daryl was obviously trying to protect her from the pike. I think Alpha has plans to slowly undo Carol. (Alpha knows that she is in Carol’s head and plans on residing there for awhile, I think.)
Chris: Absolutely. The Whisperers depend on her so much, they’d fall apart without her. We all know that huge hoard will be sent to Alexandria eventually, and this was probably their best chance to kill her. Alpha not killing Carol was shocking, but when she said. “Mother to Mother,” that was coooold. (The mother to mother line was absolutely solid. That was the best opportunity for weeks, if not months, to cut the head off the snake.)
Kent: Should she have taken the shot? Hell no. In case people weren’t paying attention, the Whisperers came prepared for a fight with their weapons. So what if you take out Alpha? Yes, you do take out the leader, but Beta would have vowed revenge. Not only that, but Michonne, Daryl, Carol, Laura, and the other 3 weren’t all making it out of there alive. Even if one of the 3 made it out alive, which is doubtful in reality, you have basically crippled your defense big time. Most likely, the whole group dies. Aaron, Negan, Gabe, Judith, Eugene, Rosita, etc aren’t enough to hold up the defense, so they all die. So no, you don’t take that shot unless you are good with all of the consequences based on that scenario. Daryl was wise to interject.
Alpha was foolish not to kill or maim Carol while she had the opportunity. We can say that this was Carol’s best opportunity while simultaneously being Alpha’s best opportunity. She had the numbers and the weapons advantage Was Michonne going to somehow miss every bullet while running? Same for Daryl? Alpha should have killed Carol and this lack of action will prove to be her demise.
2. Gamma implied that it wasn’t Alpha sending the waves of walkers. Why did she say that? What is the truth here?
Bob: Alpha isn’t sending the waves but what a great battle tactic it would have been! It would be natural for anyone to assume the walkers were being sent by the Whisperers. Gamma didn’t imply it, she stated it clearly. It’s that satellite. There was even a scene where the walkers see and hear the satellite break into the atmosphere. (Wouldn’t the walkers have gotten distracted in the 1-3 day journey though?)
Raylene: I’m going on a limb and say it wasn’t Alphas doing. (I’m sawing off that limb.)
Chris: I think she was lying. It has to be her doing right? She seems to enjoy psychological torment. I guess the satellite crash could have caused it, but it will be so much better if it’s Alpha. (At least one person agrees with me that it had to be Alpha. I didn’t feel like being on an island alone on this one.)
Kent: I am probably on the wrong side of this one, but I feel like it was Alpha’s doing. She has no reason to tell the truth to these rule-breakers. I get it, the satellite is a perfectly logical, reasonable explanation. I will also say that this took place how long after the satellite, a day minimum, and possibly longer. We saw that this walker assault then lasts 2 days. While the initial noise would have garnered all kinds of interest from the walkers, we also know how easily distracted they are. So they didn’t get distracted on this long voyage? I am calling BS. Alpha ordering it is a better story and far more practical, from my perspective.
3. Negan saved Aaron multiple times this week. The tension was incredibly high. Did this experience soften Aaron’s stance on Negan at all? Do you foresee this as being Aaron’s biggest season yet?
Bob: Aaron may be softening. I think he will stick up for Negan sometime in the future. I enjoyed Negan’s menacing looks, it brought me right back to the past. (Yeah, it has been far too long since we heard that tone in his voice and that look. The show needed it. I like the idea of Aaron sticking up for Negan. That would be interesting.)
Raylene: Nah Aaron still hates him and perhaps he gets introduced to Lucille once Negan has her because Aaron will run his mouth. (I can see that happening. Something big is happening for Aaron, I feel.)
Chris: The Aaron/Negan scenes were my favorite. I think, in the end, Aaron might have softened his stance. I loved when he stumbled in the house and Negan is just sitting there watching. I kept wondering if he was going to let Aaron die. It feels like they are finally setting Aaron up as a main character, which means he’ll probably die soon….. (Aaron is getting a lot of focus early on, which does make sense. He’s a very good character and Ross is a helluva an actor. If there is going to be a casualty on the “good guy’s” side, then Aaron makes a ton of sense.)
Kent: Aside from Carol’s sleep-deprived delirium bits, this was my favorite dynamic of this episode. Another solid episode, by the way. We got a bit of Negan back. His journey is hopefully, far from complete. If Maggie ruins my Negan fun, I will refer to her as Tara moving forward. What was especially nice was how this was really the first in-depth interaction between Aaron and Negan. We have gone 4 seasons and this is finally happening. Have we had Carol and Negan yet? Negan needed someone aside from Gabe, Judith, and Michonne to work with.
4. Rosita gave Eugene the business about never being romantically connected and then Eugene had his heartfelt response. How did you feel about how this played out? Also, do you think Siddiq makes it out of this season alive?
Bob: Siddiq will make it. This scene just felt out of place. (Thank you! It felt very out of place for this particular episode. I am guessing that Eugene will be making a new friend very soon, so maybe they had to expedite this scene, perhaps.)
Raylene: I feel Eugene eventually will get over this. If he doesn’t get his head correct then no he won’t make it. (Eugene will get over it because he has no choice, really. But hopefully he will make a new friend and then Rosita can realize that Eugene was the best option all along.)
Chris: I probably shouldn’t, but I feel bad for Eugene. He clearly loves her and just wants her to love him so badly. It took him a long time to realize something very obvious to anyone else. I have a feeling Siddiq’s story will get worse. I read a theory online, that maybe Alpha forced him to behead everyone. I think that would be a great way to go. Oh, and yes, I think he’s a goner. (While I love the theory, I don’t know if Siddiq could have even done more than one beheading. I would like to see how it would play out though.)
Kent: I feel bad for Eugene. You all knew that I would. There is a certain group of guys that get it and can in some capacity, relate to the situation. I certainly expect him to have some short words with her this season as she maybe tries to make amends. But now that he is detached, he is going to be detached for a long time, I think. He has to protect himself and that is the most likely way for him to do that. Siddiq is going to make it out of the season, but he is going to kill someone in the group accidentally. That would create some drama. Maybe that is why they are building up Dante. He’s becoming a very likable guy.
5. This was definitely a Carol heavy episode. What did you think that they did well with her character this week, or anything negative if you prefer? Any thoughts on her dreams or hallucinations are welcome here.
Bob: This was a spooky episode – that being said her drug usage has caused everyone to doubt what she really saw. (Yeah, she has lost her ZA street cred.)
Raylene: By this time in the game where was she finding no doze? I also like how they had the others doubting her seeing The Whisperers but the last scene shot proves she isn’t crazy. (Well it proved that she did see someone, but she was still crazy, unless getting money from Daryl while Henry is at the table isn’t crazy. I am glad that we did see a hint of truth though.)
Chris: I liked (for the most part) what they did with Carol this week. I loved the part where she had this in-depth conversation with Daryl, only to find that it never happened. My only issue was that the pill-popping kind of came out of nowhere. (I wish that we had seen or heard from Carol about sleep issues in the past. I don’t recall it if they did allude to. Yes, everybody has some sleep issues in the ZA, but some characters have been more talkative about it.)
Kent: I admit that I honestly bought into Daryl telling her the story about his dad. Maybe name dropping Merle threw me off. I loved the what is and what isn’t real aspect of it all. That is a nice aspect of some horror that I love. The cover of the book was my favorite part of the whole episode. It worked on so many levels.
Final Thoughts – I’ll give you a few options. 1) Ask me anything on your mind regarding TWD. 2) If you had to compare the dynamic between Carol and Alpha to any 2 other characters (not just TWD), who would you choose? 3) Were you aware that there were still Highwaymen alive prior to this episode?
Bob: Governor v Rick and Herschel’s head. (Ohhhhhh, I had a list of Rick options in my head, but the addition of Herschel’s head really ties the room together.)
Raylene: Will Lydia try to kill Alpha to save the group. No, I didn’t think they were around. (I think that Negan or Carol is going to have a companion for the Alpha infiltration and that would be Lydia. Either character makes sense. Negan brought Alpha’s daughter back to her because he was shunned by the other group. Or you could say that Carol brings back Lydia to try to prevent any further bloodshed.)
Chris: 1. If you have to pick one character to die by the end of the season, who would it be and why? Options are Eugene, Gabriel, And Siddiq. (Gabriel. Eugene is still too important to the show and the things that his character does in the comics would be difficult to pass off to anybody else. That leaves Siddiq and Gabe and I think Siddiq accidentally kills someone. Gabe would fit the bill for a few reasons. 1. His character has the second dumbest death in the comics, only behind Carol’s death. 2. I feel that the PTSD has to come with very serious consequences, and this would be a big death. 3. It creates a dynamic that Gabe would be dead, Rosita wouldn’t want Siddiq around her or the baby, and this could create some further drama between Eugene and Rosita. It all just works.)
2. Castor Troy and Sean Archer. Not only the revenge factor, but even the skin masks!!!!! (Anytime we can get a Face/Off and Nic Cage reference in a blog, I am all for it. I also feel like this was the last time that I really enjoyed Travolta as an actor.)
3. I thought they were all dead. But I thought the Dothraki were pretty much all dead, and we all know how that worked out. (Within the next three episodes, we will see that there are like 20 Highwaymen because they mass multiplied. And they will be the ones that force Michonne to leave the show.)
Kent: 1. I’m not going to ask myself a question this week. I’m sick of my stupid questions.
2. I will with Nancy Thompson and Freddy Krueger. Nancy became so sleep deprive and would do whatever to stay awake while Freddy had residence in her head. She was afraid to dream. There are also some parental issues in play. And Freddy’s face could pass for a walker’s.
3. Chris totally beat me to the Game of Thrones jokes. I loved it when Michonne shut Margo down at the meeting. Margo has gots ta go from the show. Here’s a fun fact for all of you. I looked up Margo, and she has appeared in this episode and season premiere. So why does this character even exist? I’m not even sure if I recall a female in the Highwaymen. Did somebody from Fear The Walking Dead help out with this character?
Finally, this episode was titled “Ghosts” and that makes me want to listen to Ghost while looking through my Ghost goodie bag that I have. This video is pretty awesome and not appropriate for some viewers. Fair warning.