Monday, February 15, 2016

The Walking Dead: Season 6 Episode 9 - No Way Out


Hello fellow Walker fanatics!  WOW.  Everyone involved has been hyping this episode up since the mid-season finale, but I don't know if anyone was prepared for that!  They referred to it on Talking Dead as one of the best Walking Dead episodes ever, and I don't think it's an exaggeration.  We were on the edge of our seat the entire episode in the V household.  When you have a herd of walkers migrating through your town, you need to expect some casualties.  This episode did a really good job at making us feel like we were going to lose some of our favorites at any given moment.  And while one of the ones we did lose is shocking from a future storyline potential it seems the faves will live on for another day, but what they want through has changed them forever! Season 6 continues to impress for me.  Not much else to say but to dive on in!

Discussion Points

On the Road To Alexandria: Daryl, Abraham and Sasha vs. Negan's Crew
I believe the scene where Daryl and crew ran into Negan's crew was a coda of the mid-season finale.  But, in case anyone missed it they kinda recapped it in the beginning of the episode.  Negan's men appear to be like some serious rivals.  We learned a bit in this interaction.  They don't mess around with people they find.  They took their weapons, they usually kill one of their captives immediately when they find them and they wanted their captives to take them to their home.   

I'm sure many felt the same way that Abraham or Sasha or both were going to bite it here.  The guy was definitely planning to kill them.  I don't think anyone remembered that Abraham got that rocket launcher from the walker a few episodes back.  And even if they did, no one saw it coming when the whole biker gang blew up and badass Daryl strutted through with said launcher!  I put this moment up there with Hurley riding the VW Bus through The Others in the season 3 finale of LOST (spoiler alert??).   The funny thing is, they spent 3 seasons building up the rivalry between the LOSTIES and the OTHERS to make that moment work.  Well, I guess we did have several seasons to build up investment in Daryl, Sasha and Abraham.  But, it was pretty darn awesome!   

Alexandria

There's really no good way to break this story up into subplots.  Every story built on each other and continued to build the tension until the climactic finish.  So let's discuss some of the highlights. 
  • Rick, Carl, Michonne, Judith, Gabriel, Jessie, Sam and Ron continue their "gutsy" (see what I did there?) walk through the walker infested town.  Everyone was holding up pretty well, besides Sam foreshadowingly (look at me making up words) calling for Mom during the mid-season finale.   When they reached a safe place to advance the plan to the next level, Rick talked about going back to the quarry with everyone to get all of their vehicles.   Gabriel offered to watch Judith and we were all like, "ummmm what???"   No words were needed to watch everyone's reaction and pretty much figure out that there was no other choice.  And Gabriel gave words of encouragement saying he will make it to the church and he was meant to do this.  It didn't make Rick feel any better about it.   But, no one felt good about Sam volunteering to stay with his mother for the quarry run.  After Sam kept saying he'll be fine, I already knew something bad was going to happen.  I just didn't know how bad! 
  • Rosita, Eugene, Tara, Morgan and Carol were recovering from their run-in with the wolf.  Bottom line they wanted to save Denise, but knew they had to make sure Carol and Morgan were okay first.  And you know make sure they survive too.  Eugene talked about needing to step up and Rosita was telling him not to try and be a hero.  Carol and Morgan have a talk and no apologies were made.  Well, Morgan did say he didn't want to hurt, but Carol mentioned she should've killed Morgan.   
  • Glenn and Enid made their way into town to the church.  Glenn was looking for a bible glock and giving Enid some words of encouragement about how to live on.  How to be motivated to survive.  You live for those that died.  Glenn had a moment to recap some of our favorites we've lost including Dale, Andrea and Tyreese.  Enid declared she would live on for her parents.  And then pretty much refused to stay behind while Glenn went to rescue Maggie off the guard tower.  
  • The wolf and Denise had an interesting run through town.  The wolf kept ensuring Denise that she's fine (for now) because he needs her alive.  He definitely seemed intrigued by her, but it's tough to say if he felt anything for her besides his own desire to stay alive.  The plan was to go for the guard tower (where Maggie is) and hop the fence.  They didn't quite make it before Denise got caught up with a walker.  The wolf turned around to get her and got himself bit.  Then Denise said if they get back to the infirmary she would save him.  I think most would say they were still uneasy with the wolf even though he showed signs of redemption, but there was hope.  That hope was lost when Carol shot him down.  Denise got to cover in the infirmary with Aaron, Heath and some other townies.  This opened her up for her next doctorly duties. 
  • Rick and crew were continuing their hand in hand walk through town when Sam started remembering crazy Carol's lecture about what the walkers would do to him.  Sam freaked out and started to speak implying that he couldn't go on.  Things escalated quickly.  A walker bit Sam, Jessie started losing it and a walker bit Jessie....Rick started losing it.  Then Jessie wouldn't let go of Carl's hand, so Rick had to take a hatchet to Jessie's arm to save Carl.  Well that pretty much did it for Ron who aimed a gun at Rick and Carl.  Michonne came out of nowhere and poked a hole into Ron, but not before a gunshot went off.  The next we see is Carl with a hole burned right through his eye and he collapses calling for Dad.   WHAAAAAT!?!?!?!??!    It's safe to say we were freaking out in this house.  As Carrie Underwood also said on Talking Dead, the minute Rick picked up Carl and started running with him, I felt comforted to know he was going to make it.  But after taking out Jessie's whole family in one swoop, there was a moment there that I thought they did the impossible.  I think I had heard about Carl going through this in the comics before, but had forgotten (and they did discuss it on Talking Dead).  Anyway, let's pause to say RIP to the Anderson clan.  Jessie was definitely a shocker because that was a good love interest for Rick.  I'm sure the Rick/Michonne shippers will be out in full force now!  Sam definitely never had a chance.  And Ron, well I don't think anyone's going to miss him!   Amazing scene and way to go out though.  
  • Just as Denise got into the infirmary she was called into action as they saw Rick running with Carl to the house.  She started prepping the table.  All Rick could do was just beg for her to save him before going outside with his hatchet and going on a walker rampage.  But, instead of this being a suicide mission, it seemed to be the unifying moment for Rick's crew and the Alexandrians.  They all saw what he was doing and wanted to join in not only to save Rick but to save their town.  Michonne, Heath and Aaron were the first to join the cause (but not before Michonne gave Carl a sweet kiss.  She loves those Grimeses!)   Some other townies were looking out their windows and eventually joined the fight.  Eugene and Carol led the charge out  of their hiding place.  Eugene told Rosita, "No one gets clock out today."  Gabriel handed Judith to a woman in the Church and told the townsfolk that God has answered their calls and that he has given them the ability to save their own town.  Then he joined the fight as well! 
  • Then poor Glenn and Enid saw the guard tower almost collapsing.  He commanded Enid to go to the tower and save Maggie while he distracted the walkers.  He fired shots and lured them away.  Maggie, saw that he was going to sacrifice himself for her and almost lost it.  Glenn fended off as many walkers as he could and then it looked like he was going to survive the first half of the season only to be taken down here.  And yes, we talked about how this conflict would eventually resolve, but it's easy to forget when you're in the thick of it.  No joke, I said "Now would be a good time for Daryl and crew to show up with that truck!"   And then the walkers got gunned down by machine guns by Abraham and Sasha.   Abraham comically asked for them to open the gate.  
  • Daryl caught Glenn up on the plan and they all piled into the truck to take it to the lake/river/whatever body of water is in town.  Daryl dumped some fuel into it, backed the truck away and fired another rocket.   The water went ablaze and began to lure walkers into their final resting place.  The town continued to fight on inspired by what appeared to be a light at the end of the tunnel.   There was a rapid cut showing every person in town slicing up walkers and before we knew it it was daybreak and things were quiet once again.  Walker corpses flooded the streets.  
  • We see a shot of Alexandrians and Rick's crew together, battle worn.   It's night and day between when they first came into the town and the townies appeared as if they'd never be ready to take on the walker plague.  Well, they just had their initiation! 
  • Rick talked to an unconscious Carl in the aftermath talking about how the town came together and now he sees that Deanna's vision is a reality and he wants to help bring that vision of Alexandria to the town and wants Carl to see it.  He got all emotional talking about how he hasn't thought that way since before he was in that coma in the hospital.  The episode ended on a further positive note with Carl's hand gripping Rick's.  Looks like he'll live to fight another day, just down an eye! 
Whew...that was a good one folks!   You always fear things getting overhyped, but this time it certainly lived up to it.  There's going to be a lot of fallout from what went down in this episode, but I'm looking forward to following every step of it.  As always, I look forward to our discussion in the comments.  Hope you enjoyed my ramblings and I'll see you next week! 

12 comments:

MJ said...

What a fabulous episode ! I was like OMG they are killing Sasha and Abraham! OMG they killed Carl. OMG they killed Glenn. Totally forgot they even had the RPG's ! LOL Have to go read your recap now. So excited this show is back.

MJ said...

I was prepared for alot of death - figured they have a whole slew of new red shirts coming with Negen's people and a group called the Hill top people so was not surprised to lose some Alexandrians. Glad Sam and Ron bought it ! LOL And Rick cutting off Jessie's hand was insane ! I mean - I get ron losing it - lost his dad now his brother and mom but you daon't get to shoot Carl and live darn it ! Don't know that I'd have given Gabriel my baby - but they needed to get Judith out of the way so....

Rpg was def awesome. Carol showed great restraint with Morgan. I was half convinced she would have a broken back. nice they mentioned Dale and Hershel. i do feel the Wolf was kinda being changed a little bit by the end - he took a bite to save her afterall. I thought they were going for a different guard tower then Maggies ? She's on an open platform - they seemed to be eyeing an actual tower with a roof ? Ironic that Carol was the one to end the Wolf though. But of course it was Carol's words that set Sam off too. Looked to me like Carl got shot right thru the eye but Nicotero says it winged him. Sure looked like the eye was gone to me ! Nathan Fillian was supposed to do Talking Dead but had to cancel ! He'd have been so good after this episode.

Loved that even Eugene and Gabriel helped. I actually thought they'd kill off Eugene for some reason. Surely all those burned walkers aren't dead ? Fire does not damage the brain per se. So there might be a bunch coming out of this lake at some point. Loved the montage of everyone killing - surprised it did not come up on talking dead.

Mike V. said...

Hey Mj read all your comments. Off today for Presidents' Day so haven't had a chance to comment! I'll catch up tomorrow!

Mike V. said...

Ok finally back!

Looks like you had the same reactions throughout the episode to who they might actually kill. lol It was a good one!

Yeah....it was certainly a tough situation that Gabriel was the only one they could give Judith to if they wanted any shot of making it to the quarry. But, I don't personally know if I would've trusted him either!

Good point on taking the bite to save Denise. IT may have been a different guard tower too, agreed. At one point I thought they were all heading to the same location, but now that I think about it they looked like 2 different spots.

I'm pretty sure Carl won't be using that eye again! I think they were just explaining how it didn't go through his head (and you know get his bran or something. I think they said Nathan will be on next week.

Didn't those people in the woods tell Daryl that they were able to get rid of a herd of walkers with a gas tanker before? I thought we determined that was foreshadowing for how they'd eventually fix the problem in Alexandria? There may be some remnants to deal with, but I think for the most part they took care of the large issue. We'll see!

MJ said...

Def peeps told Daryl that. Nicotero in interview said it was foreshadowing. Read that in comics after Carl lost eye he had depth perception issues. That can mean anything from dropping things which makes noise or having trouble with stabbing walkers

Jason B. said...

Hey Mike! Nice to be commenting on a new post rather than 5+ year old ones haha. And hey MJ, I read a lot of your's and others' comments while I was watching LOST for the first time recently.

Chekhov's gun (or RPG I should say haha). I was sure when Abraham escaped death and got the RPG that it would be used in a pretty big way somehow, I just didn't know how soon. But a few days before the episode aired AMC uploaded the first 4 minutes of it to their YouTube channel, and when I saw that only one guy was sent to the back of the truck with Daryl... I had a feeling that that was how it would go haha. But it still took me by surprise when it happened. Abraham's "nibble on that" killed me lol.

I read the comics, so I knew how the big scene this episode went down in them, but man I was surprised that they went through with all of it on the show. I was worried that they might not have Carl get shot in the eye but I'm so glad they did. And I personally like the way it played out in the show better, mostly because in the comics he was only accidentally shot by a stray bullet from the leader of Alexandria (guy version of Deanna) as he was surrounded by walkers and taken down. Having it be more meaningful in the show is great in my opinion. I also thought that they might have kept Jessie around in the show for a few reasons, which I would've been fine with. But nope, they went all the way haha.

I won't ever spoil things that could still potentially happen on the show, and I'll try to stay low on the comic spoilers that are very different from the show in case anyone ever reads them.

Mike V. said...

MJ - with Daryl knowing about burning walkers...I brought that up in response to you wondering if all the burned walkers were dead. I was basically saying..they should be, but we'll see! Interesting on Carl's depth perception.

Super J - Welcome to TV Addicts Blog! We don't get many of the recent LOST binge watchers to head over here and start commenting so it's nice to have you stop by!

Didn't realize you have read the comics too. That was one thing on my to do list I never got around to. (Game of Thrones? All caught up on book and show...Walking Dead? Nope!) But, I do tend to read about the differences between the show and the comics AFTER they've happened on the show. So, we appreciate the non-spoiler approach you'll take!

Yeah...most definitely the RPG was going to be used...just with the hiatus from November until now..I totally forgot about it! lol That worked in their favor. Abraham's nibble phrase was fantastic, agreed.

That's crazy that the scene went down almost exactly like that in the comics too. It does seem like they keep book and nonbook fans pretty content with their approach to the show.

Jason B. said...

Yeah I decided to read the comics last summer because I already knew pretty much all of the big deaths and some plot points. Mostly my own fault looking stuff up more towards when I started the show haha. But then I started seeing smaller upcoming spoilers that I hadn't heard before and I decided to just read the comics to experience everything I didn't know about myself.

The comics are quite a bit different at times though, and the comic prison arc had me wondering what was gonna happen next throughout most of it. Scott Gimple has brought the show much more in line with the comics, although the first half of this season was heavily remixed in some cool ways. And I never really know who is gonna die because most of the time the deaths are changed as well. And then you also have total character remixes like Carol and Morgan haha. So the show definitely still keeps me on the edge of my seat while watching it.

Mike V. said...

That's what I've heard about the comics. The show is different enough to keep everyone on their toes. The fact that Daryl isn't in the comics already mixes stuff up.

My question has been...is the show outpacing the comics? Like I remember when the show started that Issue 100 was coming out. And I think Negan was introduced in issue 100. So what issue are they up to now and how often do they come out?

I'm sure they wouldn't have a problem coming up with their own material as they probably do enough of that too. Just curious if there's a point where it will catch up (kind of like with Game of Thrones this coming season)

Jason B. said...

When the show started, issue 78 had just come out actually. Issue 78 came out on October 20 of 2010 and the show started October 31. So it started with a 78 issue difference.

Issue 78 was the one right after Pete was executed. The events of 609 took the show to the end of issue 84, and the comics are currently on 151. So right now there's a 67 issue difference, the show has only caught up by 10 issues at this point (however I assume that it's fluctuated higher and lower at different points).

And there's 1 comic issue a month, so only 12 issues a year while there are 16 episodes. But I think that they make enough non comic material on the show that it slows it down enough to not catch up to the comics.

Mike V. said...

Nice...thanks for the info! It's crazy that this should could theoretically go on forever pending contracts for the mainstays are in place and the cast stays happy doing it. But, I feel like at some point they're going to end the show while the comic will continue on. They've even spoke about that before...that they have an ending in mind.

MJ said...

Superj561 - Yikes - I'm sure we said some pretty crazy stuff back then. LOL

Nice to know that they aren't catching up too fast with the books. I only knew 1 book reader and he's way behind in reading them now.