TV Shows — The Bloodlust

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Dead Digest: The Walking Dead (SSN 7, EP 11)

Episode 11: Hostiles and Calamities

Aww snap, we all knew this was coming. Negan’s return to the series after winter break sure as hell didn’t disappoint. This episode focused entirely on Negan’s home base and the events immediately following Daryl’s daring escape and Eugene being taken prisoner. So Dwight (he of the half flash-fried face and scraggily blonde hair), found the “Go Now” note that his “ex-wife” Sherrie DID IN FACT give Daryl. Dwight then sets off in his best Daryl cosplay garb to go looking for Sherrie.

Of course what plays out is a heart breaking trip back to his and his wife’s former home before everything went to hell. Sherrie left him a note apologizing for making him become the Negan-worshipping monster he now is. She knows she’ll die out there in the wilds, but that is preferable to her than their current lives of servitude to an evil dictator. Their home was always supposed to be the meeting place if they got separated. Though she doubted her man would remember that and actually show up, he did. HE DID!!

And he even brought the pretzels and beer they promised they’d have!! Because even though he’s an idiot, damn Dwight still has a shred of humanity left in there. And I do mean a shred...

Eugene gets a crash course in the Negan lifestyle from a “friendly” lady with a neck tattoo, who hilariously refers to him as, “Haircut." Negan wants Eugene to know that he is getting the rare VIP treatment due to the smartypants services he has to offer. Our boy reverts to his original defense persona from all those seasons ago when we first met him, which is claiming to be a Doctor studying the human genome project and biological warfare. Hey, if it kept him alive the first time why not try it again?! Haircut now gets a private studio apartment and non-sexual hangout time with the wives! A couple of those wives are damn crafty too. They befriend Haircut and convince him to make a suicide potion for another wife. Well, that’s a big damn lie and Eugene sees through it, eventually. The ladies want the poison for Negan of course. Haircut isn’t willing to go there. Probably smart, though a cowardly decision. And why does he come to that conclusion, you may ask? Turns out Dwight sets up the compound’s weirdo medical doctor as having had an affair with Sherrie and helping her and Daryl escape. WTF Dwight?!? That’s low. Doc “confesses” else he gets the dreaded iron. And what does Negan do? He turns the man into a crispy critter. No hesitation, he throws the guy straight into the incinerator. Thus setting a gross and nightmarish precedent for all the little “Negans” in attendance.

Top 4 Moments of the Night

  1. Doctor feelgood getting the Hansel & Gretel treatment by going head-first into the oven. Even though we don’t “see” it, I loved the brutality and the shock of this moment. A not so subtle reminder that Ngean is NOT A NICE PERSON.
  2. Eugene getting to show off his big ol' brain. He puts on some cool science experiments for the ladies, helps Negan solve the issue of keeping his guard dog walkers from rotting so quickly, and manages to tell that convincing backstory fable again to keep his ass alive.
  3. Dwight and Sherrie. Their marriage and love story is officially at an end. But he still covers for her and says she died out there. AND we see they both secretly kept their wedding rings! Ugh, I hate you Dwight! But then you make me feel compassion for you! Stop messing with my head!
  4. Okay, not so much a moment, but I like that we have so many settings and different characters to put them in. This should prevent characters/subplots from getting stale since we can jump around a bit.

Dead Digest: The Walking Dead (SSN 7, EP 10)

Episode 10 - "New Best Friends"

Praise the horror gods!! Pollyanna McIntosh, (Offspring, The Woman, various other good scary movies) has arrived as Jadis, the leader of the mysterious Scavengers clan. These are the people who did in fact kidnap Father Gabriel and steal everything out of the pantry last week. Hooray for the redemption of Father Gabriel! "The Scavengers" is a way cooler name than “the hoodie people” which is what I was referring to them as last week. “We take, we don’t bother” is the motto of this tight-knight gang of dumpster divers. I actually totally love this group. They have their own lingo, cult-like hive mind, clever hand gestures, and a serious hoarding problem. Literally, these people live in well-organized heaps of trash and it’s pretty damn brilliant. (Do you think Jadis is her real name? Or did she just pick it because of the witch from “The Chronicles of Narnia”??) Regardless, Jadis has Rick fight their mascot, Winslow-the-absolutely-fucking-terrifying-porcupine/walker, to prove he is worthy of their help. Since Rick is 100% awesome, he’s now won the aide of the Scavengers to fight the Saviors. Jadis just wants lots of guns and cans of food in return. Only one problem, where the hell is Rick & the fam going to get an arsenal of firearms?!? Stay tuned.

Brave knight, Richard of The Kingdom, proves he’s willing to pay any price to get Ezekiel to fight the Saviors. Luckily, Daryl thinks using Carol as human bait/sacrifice is a bad idea. Despite Morgan lying and saying Carol isn’t at the Kingdom, Daryl finds her anyway. Naturally, the two’s reunion was beautiful. Morgan isn’t the only liar-liar-pants on fire either. Daryl lies and says that everyone back home is fine. Wow, couldn’t be further from the truth. People are dead at Negan’s hand, Mr. Dixon himself was kidnaped and tortured by them, and war is freakin' imminent and on the horizon. But sometimes you fib to the people you love to keep them safe and happy, because Carol admits she was losing her damn mind. And if she knew what the Saviors have been up, she would have led the charge against them and dissolved the remaining shreds of her humanity. I love Carol and I do sympathize with all she’s been through but...I’m kind of mad at her. Rick & the gang didn’t get to take a vacation from the harsh reality of their lives. In fact, stuff has gotten A LOT worse for them. No breaks to go read novels in a cute cabin while Jerry (Ezekiel’s fabulous bodyguard) makes you cobbler, and you just get to have some real “me” time and find yourself. Carol’s sabbatical has got to end soon. We can only hope that maybe this break will give her room on the middle path between passion and keeping her sanity. Because frankly, it’s not fair if she’s gotten to have this time away and doesn’t end up learning and growing as a person after it.

In other news, Morgan is still a pacifist.

Top 4 Moments of the Night:

  1. Sorry it’s the obvious answer, but Winslow. The Scavenger’s made a creepy death pit and filled it with a spiked monster. That just wins.
  2. Daryl and Shiva the tiger shared a bonding moment. Adorable.
  3. Rick giving Michonne the trash-sculpture cat from the Scavenger’s collection. They’re a cute couple, I love them.
  4. Week 2 and still NO NEGAN. The showrunners are demonstrating tremendous restraint by withholding him from us for yet another episode. The tension is BUILDING.

Dead Digest: The Walking Dead (SSN 7, EP 9)

Episode 9 - "Rock in the Road"

The long, cold winter is finally over. And with the thaw comes rotted corpses and the grungy humans who kill them. How fitting that we open the mid-season with Father Gabriel standing watch over the flock reading his bible! Awww! Not too surprising, that tender moment turns out to be short lived. Next thing we know it, Padre is stealing weapons, rations, and a car. What the actual fuck is this? After Gabriel was such a team player in recent episodes, and now he and the mysterious stalker in the hoodie are making a break for it. Better have a damn good reason for this Gabriel.

Meanwhile, Rick and the crew are off trying to get Gregory, the lame-o “leader” of Hill Top to join forces against The Saviors. The slimy politician won’t consent, but little Enid rallies the civilians to take action! Huzzah! Apparently Jesus knows everyone, so he takes our heroes on a quest to meet King Ezekiel. We all love Ezekiel, and part of the package deal we get with him is the lovely Tiger, and Jerry the hilarious bodyguard! Neither disappoint. Morgan is such a class act, he doesn’t let the Super Friends know Carol is still hiding out there. Daryl is going to stay at the Kingdom for safe keeping since he’s on the lam from Negan. I’m assuming it won’t be long till Carol and Daryl are reunited...some of the King’s men want to join the fight with Alexandria, but our beloved King isn’t so sure. Remember, the people outside of his Knight’s circle don’t know about The Saviors and their deal. I think we’re gonna need Negan to do something horrible to the Kingdom to get the damn point across. We all can agree it’s just a matter of time till the deal goes south anyway. I’m just hoping Jerry will be safe.

The group now has a long distance radio and some rad explosives! Jesus stole the radio so the gang can listen in on Negan and his shenanigans. They get dynatime, RPG’s, and some other cool junk from a fancy Negan booby-trap. Apparently Rosita is some kind of demolition expert?? I don’t recall this fact, but I’ll allow it. In the process, Michonne and Rick mow down a slew of Walkers with two cars and a glorified clothes line. Frankly…it’s awesome. Back at good ole Alexandria, The Saviors (minus Negan) come looking for Daryl. They don’t find him, but they break people’s housewares and behave like assholes anyway. And what about that ending?? Seems that Father Gabriel may be up to something, but what?! He leaves clues for the group to meet at that boat Rick and Aaron found a while back. Once they arrive, our heroes become surrounded by a whole passel of Hoodie people! What the hell is this about? Obviously the creeper following them around is part of this bigger entity. Who are these crude looking (mostly) women and men?! And more importantly, can we use them to fight The Saviors?

Top 4 Moments of the Episode

  1. It should be fairly obvi, gotta go with Michonne and Rick finding an inventive new way to kill a huge mob of dead people.
  2. Letting Aaron and Eric have a damn moment. I wish these two got more screen time like their hetero counterparts. But I was happy to see them having a good, albeit, short scene together. Eric got the hell beat out of him by The Saviors. He doesn’t think they should go to war. Eric’s also hurt that his husband is keeping secrets and plans from him. Their convo didn’t end well. Looks like there could be some hard choices for Aaron up ahead.
  3. The notable absence of Negan. We hear his voice on the radio, but not a peek at the man himself. Smart decision there. I miss him, and the best way to keep me missing him is to stretch out his return. At least for an episode.
  4. Morgan stuff. He had to admit to Rick that he killed someone, which is something he is against doing. AND he lied to them, saying Carol was gone. That’s another very un-Morgan like thing to do. He isn’t on board with killing Negan, but I’m starting to wonder how long that will last. Especially since they just told him hella people he knew and cared about are dead now (RIP Glen!)

Dead Digest: The Walking Dead (SSN 7, EP 8)

Episode 8 - "Hearts Still Beating"

WHERE TO BEGIN. I can’t do this Dead Digest as my usual recap. There is just too much going on. Too much WONDER. To say I was pleased with tonight’s mid-seasonal finale would be a vast understatement. It didn’t go how I thought it would, and I am so totally happy with that.

  • For starters, Daryl is safe. Well, safer. He’s on the lam after that little love note last week helped him escape the compound. He met up with Jesus and killed the heavy-set gentleman who was supposed to be on watch. Negan is gonna be hella mad when he finds out his handy-dandy bargaining chip has escaped. Luckily, Rick & the gang all have alibis. But I’m still recommending Daryl lay low for a while now that he’s “safe” at The Hill Top. Yeah, I know, it’s not going to happen.

  • Spencer is dead. I knew that would be coming soon. I never liked that preppy, spoiled weasel. His only redeeming factor was that he made Rosita kinda happy. Negan gutting that loser was gross AND satisfying. He massively underestimated Negan. Negan is smart. A diabolical genius who doesn’t take too kindly to the fake nonsense Spenser was spewing. Good riddance. Oh, and Rick stabbing zombie Spencer in the head was even better. Take that you alcoholic mama’s boy.

  • Michonne. She is so beautiful, and oh so wise. I could probably just watch her read the phone book for 90 minutes and be totally happy. I get it; she had to see the compound of The Saviors with her own two eyes. Waltzing through the front gate for an assassination attempt is not going to work. Even if you are an epic badass like she is. Most importantly, this realization led her to that gorgeous monologue she shared with Rick. They’re a family, a team, a unit, and they can only fight this evil as a united front using their combined super powers. Or something to that extent. Whatever, it was a touching moment. Father Gabriel has been saying this for like, several damn episodes now and no one was listening. Except me.

Running up to Negan + shooting him in the head = BAD. Blindly living in servitude to Negan = BAD.

  • Rosita still had to try and shoot Negan with Eugene’s homemade bullet for some stupid reason. This will come as a shock to absolutely no one, but that plan didn’t work. Lucille took the hit for her man, and he got REALLY angry. Denise the inventory lady is dead now. Eugene manned up though and confessed that he can craft ammunition and was carted off as property of The Saviors. I think he’s going to be ok though, he’s too useful to them.

  • Carol, it was lovely to see you! Too bad you’re still being an emo child, sulkily reading books and pouting on the outskirts of The Kingdom. Morgan was his regular Zen/chill self as always. One of King Ezekiel’s knights was trying to get our pair on board to attack The Savior. He knows he needs them to help get the king on board with the crusade. Yeah, they were none too pleased with that notion. Which brings us to

  • The sweet, uplifting, and hopeful ending. We see Rick and all the key players meeting up at The Hilltop! And the teaser for the show picking up again in February is clearly setting up these three communities as uniting to take Negan down. But how will they tumble this despot?!? They’re really going to have to put their brains together to solve this pickle. Not to mention, who is this mysterious hooded figure watching everyone from afar? Is it a man or woman? Are those electrical wires really effective as shoelaces?! And more importantly, is this person friend or foe?

Okay, I need to stop now. It’s late, and my cat won’t go to bed until I do so I need to wrap this up. Now begins the long, cold winter were myself and the other Walking Dead fans go through the stages of grief until our beloved show returns.

P.S. I still think Negan’s downfall ultimately will be at his own hand. Also, why didn’t Carl get grounded for sneaking into that truck and killing men with a machine gun? I hope his punishment was to clean up Spencer and his guts off the asphalt.