The Walking Dead

I'm convinced Beth is imprisoned in some sort of postapocalyptic breeding commune.

I've never thought Denise Crosby was that great of an actress, so I'm not sure how I feel about this.

punkysdilemma wrote:I'm convinced Beth is imprisoned in some sort of postapocalyptic breeding commune.  

This is also what I'm assuming has happened. I do think that Terminus could be that breeding commune.

After the episode on Sunday, I did a Tumblr post on who might kick it in the season finale. I have no spoilers, haven't even read the graphic novels, so it's all pure speculation. Because I'm fairly certain people will die. They always do in the season finale.

I did happy-cry twice in the episode. First, when Glenn comes across the first sign from Maggie and he just guns it down the track. And secondly, when he and Maggie finally come face to face. Lots of tears.

And Abraham's group is really growing on me. I loved that Rosita called Glenn out on being an ass in regards to Tara. I like that Eugene guided them to the other side of the tracks to wait for Glenn and Tara. And I liked that Abraham has his mission, but will listen to reason.

The only major downer was seeing Daryl revert to a pre-ZA him, which he didn't even do when he was tromping through the woods with Merle last season.

Oh, that and the group just walking into Terminus and not being suspicious. Guys, that lady has evil coming off her in waves. Have better instincts! (Really, is there any chance that these people aren't evil?)

dionneshea wrote:

punkysdilemma wrote:I'm convinced Beth is imprisoned in some sort of postapocalyptic breeding commune.  

This is also what I'm assuming has happened. I do think that Terminus could be that breeding commune.

Very 28 Days Later. Of course the first twenty minutes of this show are basically taken from 28 Days Later.

WHY ARE THERE NO OTHER PEOPLE AROUND? DID SHE COOK THEM?


I'm not surprised at Daryl's regression. He really didn't do anything that bad, and at this point, he thinks that his entire family is kidnapped or dead. Even when he was off with Merle, he still thought the group was OK, even if he wasn't with them.

Soooo... with that pile of skeletons around, it does confirm they are cannibals, yes?

That was intense. I think the scene when Joe's gang caught them was actually far scarier than the end chase scene. I couldn't even watch the stuff with Carl and that creeper, it was so awful. I honestly thought that Daryl was going to die in that scene. And then with the biting and the stomping and Rick just going batshit. Good riddance. Never has a commercial been more needed just to gather my wits about me.

I'd like to commend Rick and company for actually doing some reconnaissance before wandering blindly into Terminus (I'm looking at you, Glenn). For all the good it ended up doing. Gareth is a full-on psychopath, you could tell from his face.

However, the one reunion that I wanted the most was the Grimes family and we didn't get there. I guess it's for the best, what with all the reunited people imprisoned in a train car, which is no place for Judith, but I do think those Grimes boys really need to know that she's okay.

And while I'm usually not a huge fan of them, I really liked the use of the flashbacks seeing Hershel (and Patrick) again and showing how Rick went from sheriff to farmer just as he's going from farmer to mercenary. And I loved the note they ended on. Rick is going to fuck those people up.

I liked this episode. I do think this season has suffered from being mostly Rick-less. I did find the opener more frightening than the ending, although I do think they practiced restraint with the attempted rape scene, which I appreciate given the earlier face-ripping-off scene.

Poor Daryl is such a softy. He just wants everyone to be his friend.

I bet Carol and Tyreese end up saving the day, somehow. Carol obviously will kill anyone who threatens her people, up to and including her own people. Should be interesting to see how she feels about Rick, given that she has his baby and killed her adopted daughter to protect Rick's baby, after he banished her for being an alleged danger to his babies. I think that should provide a serious emotional wrinkle, at some point.

I think the cannibals eat Bob or Tara.

The whole attempted rape, neck-bite scene was nuts. The opening shot of a bloody Rick was freakily evocative, and yet I was still surprised to see that play out so much like the scene in the comics. I was glad we didn't see Daryl get beaten to death.

The ominous vibe at Terminus felt very familiar; it reminded me of a certain storyline in the Telltale TWD game, and then of course we saw that pile of bones.

Loved the bromance!
Hate terminus people :)

Did you notice that the Terminus people avoided using names once shit went down? Reminded me of the beginning of the season, when Rick told Carl to stop naming the pigs.

Ooh I didn't notice that, I was too busy comparing the train tracks and snipers to Ricks lesson on trap setting. Loved this season so much and although there are a lot of haters , for me it has been the best ever.

Yeah, from reading some reviewers and some of the comments on the reviews, I know there have been many people who haven't liked this season, but a lot of those seem to be people who hate-watch the show for some reason. I've thought this season was one of the best yet and while it was pretty obvious pretty quickly that Rick et al. were being guided somewhere in Terminus, I thought this episode was very effective.

I think that a lot of this season has been Gimple and Company trying to lay some emotional and character ground work for the characters that both builds on some work that Darabont and Mazarra did, but took it in better places as well. I feel better connected to all of the characters at this point, and having Herschel back last night just cemented all of that. I miss his presence on the show a lot more that I realized and that made me appreciate the actor and the writing that had been done for him. I think they've gotten Rick to a much more interesting place and last night's action made him a much more realized character and seemed to cement the idea that he can't go back to who was pre-apocalypse and that he's now ok with that. As long as he can protect his family, he doesn't care what he has to do to do it.

I'm pretty excited about next season and looking forward to seeing where they take the group next.

I almost missed the pile of skeletons until my husband pointed it out. Yup, cannibals. Oy. Like our merry band didn't have enough to worry about with the undead trying to eat them.

I'm going to have to go back and watch again to look for stuff I missed. When they were walking into the train car, what was on the ground? Empty powdered milk containers? That creepy candle room was SO CREEPY.

I couldn't really hear what Rick was saying when they were running through the candle room. "They're shooting at our feet!", I think.

My friend's husband posited an interesting theory:

Spoiler:

I'm so grossed out that I even typed that.

I was a little disappointed that the encounter with the "Claimed" guys was over so soon in the beginning of the episode, but I thought they did a great job, especially with the stuff involving Chandler Riggs. I loved everything with him and Michonne. At that age (even now, who am I kidding), I would have done anything for a loving mother figure in the apocalypse, especially after watching my dad tear out someone's throat.

BrightEyes wrote:I'm going to have to go back and watch again to look for stuff I missed. When they were walking into the train car, what was on the ground? Empty powdered milk containers?

I assumed the milk was something like how they feed escargot on pure cornmeal for awhile to clean out the gut before you eat 'em.

BrightEyes wrote:I couldn't really hear what Rick was saying when they were running through the candle room. "They're shooting at our feet!", I think.

Yeah, he was saying that they weren't trying to shoot them dead, just shooting at their feet. The shooters were herding them to the area with the 'A' containers.

As for your friend's husband's theory, I think that too. It wouldn't do any good to kill them outright and take piece by piece because they would turn and/or rot.

I love the vibe Rick and Michonne have - I know Michonne told Carl that story about her boyfriend getting high and being useless in the attack that killed their baby to show him that both she and Rick have done things that could be seen as monstrous, but it also served as a contrast to Rick's behavior. You have one father who didn't put his baby's safety before his desire to get high and here is a father who literally went for the jugular to save his son.

I also loved that Daryl, Michonne, and Carl immediately backed Rick up when he slapped the plate out of the creepy guy's hands and put a gun to his face - no hesitation at all.

As for the season, the second half was a bit rocky for me.  I found The Grove to be one of my favorite episodes in the whole series, so it had that going for it. I did end up missing Rick a lot during that long stretch that he wasn't around. The Daryl/Beth storyline was excruciatingly boring for me - Beth does nothing for me (even though I LOVE Hershel and Maggie) and I think Daryl needs someone stronger, like Rick or Michonne, to bounce off of. That whole thing became a drag and there was just so much of it. Those few minutes Daryl had with Rick in which the brother line was said did more for his storyline than the whole episode and a half of Daryl and Beth.

Seriously, though, why burn down a perfectly good shelter, you boring drunks?

As for the season, the second half was a bit rocky for me. I found The Grove to be one of my favorite episodes in the whole series, so it had that going for it. I did end up missing Rick a lot during that long stretch that he wasn't around. The Daryl/Beth storyline was excruciatingly boring for me - Beth does nothing for me (even though I LOVE Hershel and Maggie) and I think Daryl needs someone stronger, like Rick or Michonne, to bounce off of. That whole thing became a drag and there was just so much of it. Those few minutes Daryl had with Rick in which the brother line was said did more for his storyline than the whole episode and a half of Daryl and Beth.

Yeah, I agree. I adore Daryl, but the Beth-Daryl pairing did nothing for me. Her youthful exuberance/optimism really brought nothing out of him that was interesting. Like you said, three minutes with Rick was better than 1.5 episodes or whatever they had. That said, I find the entire Green family boring.

So apparently the next bad after terminus will be negan...

http://moviepilot.com/posts/2014/05/16/the-walking-dead-s-father-gabriel-everything-you-need-to-know-1418903?lt_source=external,manual#!N9Zei

Interesting !

THAT POST-CREDITS SCENE, THOUGH!!!!

!!!!!

I'm trying to calm myself down, but I was NOT expecting that. Yay!

Now, a little more coherently...
- Kickass Carol is fucking kickass. I LOVE that in their two person dynamic, Tyreese is the pacifist caregiver who won't kill people if he doesn't have to and Carol is the person who will kill if someone looks at her wrong.
- You DON'T mess with the prison crew. All of the weapons they amassed just with what was on their person.
- Daryl has faith that Beth is still alive. Not even entertaining the thought that she's dead which is a 180 from the start of 4B.
- I was crying when Clan Grimes was reunited. Oh, Rick. You crazy, but you're a daddy first and foremost.
- Also loved that Carol was welcomed with open arms by both Daryl and Rick. And as much as I don't see a romantic dynamic between Carol and Daryl anymore (though maybe I'm proven wrong as the season goes on), that's his bestie and I got a little verklempt.
- OMG the post-credits scene. OMG!!!!!!!! I don't want to spoil it in case someone reading this hasn't seen it yet. Because it shouldn't be spoiled.

Carol! Amazeballs.

The Daryl/Carol reunion made me go 'aww' outloud. He just ran to her...no hesitation. And the crying. That was more moving to me than the Grimes reunion, but I LOVE them so much.

dionneshea wrote:THAT POST-CREDITS SCENE, THOUGH!!!!

!!!!!

I'm trying to calm myself down, but I was NOT expecting that. Yay!

Now, a little more coherently...
- Kickass Carol is fucking kickass. I LOVE that in their two person dynamic, Tyreese is the pacifist caregiver who won't kill people if he doesn't have to and Carol is the person who will kill if someone looks at her wrong.
- You DON'T mess with the prison crew. All of the weapons they amassed just with what was on their person.
- Daryl has faith that Beth is still alive. Not even entertaining the thought that she's dead which is a 180 from the start of 4B.
- I was crying when Clan Grimes was reunited. Oh, Rick. You crazy, but you're a daddy first and foremost.
- Also loved that Carol was welcomed with open arms by both Daryl and Rick. And as much as I don't see a romantic dynamic between Carol and Daryl anymore (though maybe I'm proven wrong as the season goes on), that's his bestie and I got a little verklempt.
- OMG the post-credits scene. OMG!!!!!!!! I don't want to spoil it in case someone reading this hasn't seen it yet. Because it shouldn't be spoiled.

Yes. YES!

This episode was so, so hard for me to watch. I'm not squeamish at all, usually, but the trough and the butchers' outfits and the guy's hands around Judith's neck? I had to look away.

Points from Greg Nicotero and Scott Gimple on the Talking Dead:
-The first guy in line at the trough was Hippie Sam from episode 4 (when Rick exiles Carol) last season
-The face-tattoo guy from the train car was one of the murderer/rapists who took over Terminus in the first place (why they would keep him alive, I don't know.)
-The guy being "worked on" by the butchers was Alex, Rick and co's tour guide who had Glenn's watch last episode...and he was also Gareth's brother/Mary's son. Ugh.
-Rick would have welcomed Carol back into the group, but the "awkwardness is gone" now that she fucking kicked ass, took names, and rescued them all.

I love Carol. I could write a decent-length paper about her character evolution, and a lot of that has to do with Melissa McBride. She can go from razor-sharp to vulnerable to exhausted to hopeful in about five seconds. She's great.

And I did very much enjoy the reunion of Clan Grimes, in part because Judith looked so nonplussed about the whole thing.
But the reunion of Carol and Daryl got me. I cried. I think it would be great if they were together, but even if they're just BFFs, they had such love and devotion on their faces when they held each other.

Also, THAT END SCENE. YESSSSSSS.

I have to admit, in my guesses for how things would play out, "Carol One-Woman Armies her way into Terminus and saves everyone" was not one of them.  Pleasantly happy to be wrong on that score.

And we should have a moment of silence for a beloved character who didn't make it out of Terminus. Farewell, Michonne's Katana. You will be missed.

My DVR cut off at the end scene, but luckily I record Talking Dead as well. Whew.

I missed this show so much.

RiverThames wrote:
And we should have a moment of silence for a beloved character who didn't make it out of Terminus.  Farewell, Michonne's Katana.  You will be missed.

I was actually thinking about that when Carol grabbed Daryl's crossbow. I was like, "Find the katana! And Rick's Colt!" God, this show. You even get attached to inanimate objects. (Probably because at least they have a chance at surviving.)

One small thing I forgot to mention last night because I was so excited - I love that in the middle of everything, Glenn still says that they have to rescue the others trapped in the train cars. They have no obligation to do so, but it's the human thing to do and Glenn insists on it. Which is why Glenn will always be battling everyone else (Rick, Michonne, Carol, Daryl, and Beth) as my favourite character. And will probably always win.

For real, I was thinking, who cares if Terminus is overrun with burning cannibal walkers, GO BACK AND GET THE KATANA.

And I was completely on board with Rick going back to exterminate them. The last time he suffered evil to live; the Governor; that thoroughly bit him on the ass. Can't say the man doesn't learn from his mistakes.

While The new Carol is awesome, and obviously being decisively ruthless is the recipe for success in the end times, I felt her redemptive rescue was a little too pat. What was that, a laser-guided bottle rocket?

I think even inanimate objects know not to piss off Carol.

I love Glenn and his humanity, too. I really hope he doesn't get killed off any time soon, but I have my doubts on that.