Monday, March 7, 2016

The Walking Dead: Season 6 Episode 12 - Not Tomorrow Yet


Hello friends of The Walking Dead!  Season 6 continues on and is getting more and more intense this week.  The war against Negan has begun and Team Rick has struck first.  The Alexandrians faced a tough decision and all but one reluctantly agreed to take the fight to them.  The results were pretty horrific to watch, but made for good television! Let's dive into the discussion.

Discussion Points

  • The episode opened with a large focus on Carol.  They showed her baking cookies (still pulling off her suzy homemaker role in the town), but also bloodying herself up taking out walkers to get some acorns for her acorn/beets cookies.   Carol took cookies to everyone in town and eventually brought one to the local Alexandrian, Tobin. (finally had to look up his name because he was given a meatier role)   It appears in the couple month time jump the duo have kicked up flirtation to another level.  And later on in the episode they even share a little smooch.  Tobin even refers to Carol as the mother to most of the people in Alexandria.  That's a scary thought...  
  • Oh right, Carol was holding one more cookie in the beginning of the episode and we find out that it was for Sam which she left at his grave.  We'll never forget those Carol and Sam cookie stories! 
  • Apparently, Carol has also covered up Morgan's wolf dealings and Denise kidnapping from Rick and everyone who wasn't involved.  They are all sworn to secrecy.  I'm not sure I understood her reasoning to Rosita that they can't tell Rick because it would expose what Denise did.  What did she do?  Try to save the wolf?  She WAS fighting for survival at the time and Carol killed the wolf before she could do anything anyway.  
  • Rick and the RV crew returned to town and called a church meeting.  He updated everyone on the plan that the town must vote on.  They had to take out Negan and crew to get fed and to prevent a situation where Negan would bring the fight to them at Alexandria like the Wolves.  Everyone was in, except Morgan obviously.  He thought that threats alone could be a way to start a negotiation.  Rick argued they had the upper hand while Negan wasn't really aware of them.  Morgan got outvoted.  They drew up a plan to arrive to Negan's settlement and kill EVERYONE in their sleep right before dawn.  This, of course, had the whole attack crew contemplating and reflecting on how far they've come in this zombie world. 
  • Carol reviewed her kill list.  Lots of initials and names on there of humans that Carol killed.  R, J, D, L, Terminus Lady, Candle woman, Ws.  They mentioned all the names on Talking Dead, but I was pretty tired and didn't recall them all.  L is definitely Lizzie.  But the key here was the circled 18 indicating she has killed 18 living people and it's taken its toll on her. 
  • Glenn and Heath later reflect on the fact that both have avoided killing the living so far.  And they described how neither of them are looking forward to it, but know it needs to be done. 
  • Maggie and Glenn have a debate on if Maggie should go.  Even Carol debates it with Rick.  But, Maggie refuses to stay behind even though she is with child. It was her plan that she worked out with Gregory and feels she needs to be a part of it. 
  • Last week's episode attempted to show us that there was more to Abraham and Rosita's "fling" than just a fling.  And now we know why.  Abraham was looking to break things off hard and fast to go after Sasha.  He even told Rosita that he thought she was the last woman in the world and now he knows she isn't.  Ouch!   But, the kicker was Eugene watching the whole thing in the "Virginia is for Lovers" t-shirt eating one of Carol's cookies. 
  • Denise and Tara have their moment of saying goodbye.  Tara tells Denise she loves her, but we find out she just said it to cover up that she's done things like she's about to do before.  (The story didn't really add up for me, but okay.)  Denise withheld her response waiting for Tara to come back to tell her.  That's never good.  Tara and Heath are supposed to go on a 2 week run after the Negan mission as well. 
  • So the assault plan hangs on presenting Negan's guards with Gregory's head.  They hacked up 3 walkers who sorta resembled Gregory and then presented them for review.  Rick bashed the winner's nose in because the noses didn't match and then came up with a story of how it got that way.  This was equally hysterical and horrifying. 
  • The guards were actually pretty funny dudes and could've been entertaining to see more of.  But, something tells me their language might be a common thread of Negan's crew.  Things moved pretty quickly after Andy presented the head.  The guards analyzed the head and made the head talk a little bit like anyone would do.  Then they went and got their hilltop prisoner to give back to Andy.  While this went down Rick and crew stealthily descended on the door and took out both guards.  
  • Then everyone: Rick, Michonne, Daryl, Abraham, Sasha, Glenn, Heath, Aaron, Rosita went in while Tara, Gabriel and Jesus stayed outside in a car.  And Maggie and Carol stayed behind (per Carol's request) on watch.  
  • Rick was the first to take out a man in his sleep.  It was rough to watch all of this.  Defenseless murder.  But, when Glenn took out his and Heath's 2 they showed some polaroids of what these people had done to either humans or walker corpses and it looked pretty horrific.  Maybe that helped justify that striking first was the right move.  
  • Of course, as all things do, things went south when one of the people woke up and attacked.  Eventually the alarm sounded and the silent attack ended.  Machine guns went loud and eventually Rick and Crew got the upper hand and took them all out.   I know I glossed over it all, but this whole assault was an impressive sequence! 
  • When the alarm sounded, Maggie wanted to go in and help and Carol refused to let her.  They sat there and debated for awhile and then we never saw how the scenario ended. 
  • One of Negan's crew almost got away and Gabriel (who seems to be falling into everyone's good graces now) was able to take him out.  But, the best part was that he was quoting scripture while doing it.  Definitely got a Pulp Fiction Samuel L. Jackson vibe from it (even if Jackson's quote actually didn't come from the bible).  There was also a funny exchange earlier between Gabriel and Rick on why he's still wearing the Priest getup.  The punchline being that he would be hard to see in the dark.  
  • When the sun rose, Rick and crew were patting each other's backs and getting back in their vehicles.  Glenn tried to stop Heath from going on the 2 week run (he did end up killing humans in self defense when the machine guns went loud).  Heath indicated he still planned to go.  
  • And then, as we all expected, things started to go south.  One of Negan's crew was still alive and tried to escape on motorcycle.  Daryl was able to shoot him off the cycle.  Then the voice came over his walkie.  A woman telling Rick and Crew to drop their weapons.   Rick retorted telling them to come out to talk.   The woman said that they will not come out but will talk.  And then we find out the worst part.   They have Carol and Maggie.  NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! 
And the fight begins.  There was no way that plan was going to go off without a hitch!  But Carol and Maggie?  Can they come out of this unscathed?  I don't know.  With all of that time focused on Carol in the episode, it's not looking good for her.  Tara and Denise not both saying "I Love You" until they get back together.  Lots of familiar tropes at play here.  Misdirection perhaps?  It might be a little too obvious to say it, but SOMETHING is about to go down!  

This was a pretty fantastic episode and we have 4 more this season.  I can't believe we might still have 3 more before we even meet Negan.  But, I will hand things over now from me to the comments thread.  Look forward to discussing further.  Hope you enjoyed my ramblings and I'll see you next week! 

18 comments:

MJ said...

Just some random thoughts after the show last night.

How is it that I had not realized that Glen had never killed a living person ? Really ? Even in Woodbury after he had been hostage ? Thought once he got freed he fought the Woodburians. And Abraham - worst breakup ever !! They really need somone else to start making their plans other then Rick. How bone-headed is it to just go attack a group of people - who you are being told are very fortified - without doing any scouting what-so-ever !?!

Obviously they are trying to foreshadow alot of people as possibly dying. Carol in particular - she's been strange this whole season. I did not understand her reasons for not telling Rick what Morgan did - how does that help or protect that doctor ? Tara and her doctor (never remember her name) are obviously also being heavily looked at so we think one of them are dying. And why was Carol so upset about Maggie coming along ? Story convenience I know to have them both be seperated from the group but really Carol is one of their better fighters and should have been in there. Unless she is tired of killing - hence her little journal.

Ok - will read your recap now.

MJ said...

So - why are dingleberries brown ? LOL They have some sick writers ! Glad it wasn't just me who did not understand Carol;s point in not telling Rick. Oh Morgan - get hip to the fact that you aren't out livin in the woods so you can't be like your cheeseman already !

K ws Karen - tyreese's girlfriend. L was Lizzy. D was david - no idea who that was but listed with Karen so he was at the prison I guess. R is Ryan - Lizzy and mika's dad. Candlewoman/Terminus is Mary and others. W is the wolves.

I also thought of Pulp Fiction by the way. And I knew this was not over even though they all thought they had won. Which is why they should have watched and cased the place for a few days.

Looking at the comings I was surprised to see an actress I knew - had not read that Alicia Witt (think that is her name - red headed woman) was going to be on this show. Most recently she was on Justified but I've seen her in other things.

I also find it hard to believe that we aren't getting Negen til the finale - but ya never know. Definitely so much foreshadowing that i have to believe none of it will come to pass so that we are shocked by who does get killed trying to save Carol and Maggie and our group.

Mike V. said...

@MJ

Alicia Witt - I was going to bring that up too, but decided to save it for next week! lol

Ohhhh David and Karen ----right there were 2 people she burned and killed in the prison. Don't remember Ryan. It was just those few first initials I forgot what they were. But I definitely knew what Ws was. lol

The dingleberries thing was hysterical. Abraham has so many good one-liners.

Carol's justification on not telling anyone about Morgan made about as much sense as Jack's reasoning to lie to the world about the plane crash when the Oceanic 6 made it off the island. lol Or at least the audience's collective reaction to his reasoning. I really didn't care too much about the reason and just enjoyed the ride...pretty much the same with Carol.

Deaths - yeah I have a feeling you're right (from previous posts) that we may lose one or 2 of the originals this year. It feels like it's about time to raise the stakes in this game. They keep building up new cast members that could carry the show so losing someone like Carol or Glenn could be in the cards. I still say Daryl is untouchable, but maybe not as much has he was a year or 2 years ago. Really...I guess Rick and Carl are the only untouchables. (and Rick more than Carl)

Good point on Glenn...when he was captured I thought for sure he killed someone. Unless maybe he meant in self defense? But how often was even Rick pro-active in killing people unprovoked before this season? So he must've meant PERIOD. Of course, I'm not going to go back and rewatch (or even read old blog posts) to prove that quote was right. I'm sure there's a site out there that knows for sure. or we can google it.

Carol's concern over Maggie...I just assumed she was concerned because Maggie was pregnant. They didn't flat out say it, which was weird, but I thought that was the reason.

MJ said...

Yahoo tv had an interview with Melissa McBride and she talks about how the things she has had to do have changed her and how hard it was when she had a child. She (Carol) wants Maggie to realize that she has to change who she is now. It was a very good interview actually. Covered all the changes we've seen in Carol and how borken she is.

They can't kill Carl - who the heck would look after Judith ! LOL It's all he does any more.

Everyone says Rick is untouchable but I don't believe that any more. This show could continue with any one of them gone. fans might not be happy - but they'd watch any way.

Mike V. said...

lol on Carl - too true.

All good points on Carol that Melissa brought up. Makes sense that she'd want Maggie to change her ways. So...her being pregnant is the reason, but it's a little more in depth than that. lol

True on Rick....but I think it's more based on the one rule of the comic too....Rick is our way into this world (or at least he was when he was in a coma and came to in a changed universe) and he will be the guy until the end. Maybe that won't always be true in the comic.

But, I just can't imagine the show killing him off. It happens very rarely in television. I mean...Game of Thrones did it, but they had a text to base it off of. The Vampire Diaries did it....and now no one watches the show and it's on Fridays. lol (sorry for the spoiler if you didn't know. I still haven't seen the episode and don't care anymore.)

You're right though...we'd still watch if they killed Rick.

MJ said...

VD - gave that up years ago. LOL

The only reason I can think of of having Rick be hands off in the killing game is that they show might be afraid to get too far off the source material that could cause problems later on. Since unlike GofT there is still source material being created in a timely manner.

Jason B. said...

That motorcycle was Daryl's, remember it being stolen from him in the first half of the season?

And yeah, Glenn definitely hadn't killed anyone yet. As he said, he had been lucky. There were times when he was willing to, such as the season 3 finale when him and Maggie had machine guns and were shooting indirectly at The Governor's group as they retreated. But if it had become a true fight he would've killed. And then he really, really wanted to kill Nicholas in the season 5 finale but couldn't bring himself to do it.

It was hard to watch him have to do it, especially the manner in which they were killing. Even Rick looked uneasy! And Tara killed her first person as well, her actress confirmed that on Talking Dead.

Leslie said...

I didn’t get Carol’s reasoning either. Seems like that would be her best way to get rid of Morgan.

You said it just right, the thing with the heads and Rick punching the one they chose was “equally hysterical and horrifying”!!

Agree that it was pretty stupid that they went on this attack without scoping things out first!! Pretty chilling to see them kill these people in their sleep! Of course, the one guy’s polaroids over his bed were pretty chilling, too! Was that Daryl’s motorcycle? I thought I heard him ask the guy where he got it???

Besides Carol and Tara, I was wondering if something could happen to Michonne. Just another loss for Rick to survive……or not.

Leslie said...

Just saw the comment above mine confirming that WAS Daryl's motorcycle.

Mike V. said...

TVD - I knew you did, but I still didn't know if you wanted to know they killed off Elena!! lol (the actress wanted off the show...I mean she was the protagonist!!)

TWD -

Agree on the killing Rick thoughts MJ.

DUHHHH...not sure how I didn't pick up on the cycle...thanks Super J. I was wondering why Daryl asked where did you get that? lol Hmmm...so that dude he ran into in the woods may have been part of Negan's crew, captured by Negan's crew or something else??

Good points with Glenn. It's tough to remember it all...and I don't rewatch this show like I used to do with LOST in between seasons. :) (and game of thrones now) Definitely was hard to watch any of them do it. It's one thing in self defense and another when they're sleeping. I think I missed Tara's kill..or just forget. But I'm sure she did it!

@Leslie - Thanks for confirming my analysis on Rick and the head! lol Yeah...it was a pretty sloppy move on Rick's part to do this. Granted...they executed the plan pretty awesomely...just underestimated their opponent which we all assumed would have to happen!

Yeah...MJ suggested Michonne in last week's thread too. You just never know!

Jason B. said...

I'll have to re-watch to hear Carol's explanation again, I don't really remember it in full. But I don't think she wants to get rid of Morgan at this point, she's come to realize that he was right when he told her that she doesn't like killing. I'm sure that she still disagrees with him with his "all life is precious" philosophy, but she may understand more what he means. I really hope Carol will be okay, and my guess is that she will because why have that scene with Tobin if she's never gonna see him again haha? I think Maggie will be okay too, but we'll have to see.

Jason B. said...

Oh and yeah, as far as that guy in the woods, if you watch episode 6 again it'll probably make a bit more sense now, or maybe even wait until the end of the season and then watch it again. The group was The Saviors, and that guy and the girls were trying to escape from Negan. Given that the motorcycle is there, they either got caught or for some reason decided to just go back.

Mike V. said...

Thanks J - your explanation reminded me of the whole episode so I don't need to go back! (plus I had to delete them for DVR space lol)

As for Carol...it was her explanation of people finding out about what Denise did that doesn't add up for us. Why would anyone care that Denise offered to help the wolf under duress? Well...I guess she did try to help him when Morgan asked too. But still...I don't think anyone would kick her out because of it.

I think the fact that she did kiss Tobin makes it even more likely she could get offed. Carol has a shot at happiness?? On the Walking Dead? Time to die!! LOL

I would think Maggie is the safest because there still are some lines you can't cross and killing a pregnant woman might be one of them. I could totally be wrong about that!

Jason B. said...

Yeah, I'll have to watch that again haha. That does sound weird, Denise didn't do anything that should be frowned upon. Rick sure wouldn't care since she saved Carl's life. If I think of something else I'll let you know, but yeah that doesn't sound like a reasonable explanation.

MJ said...

After reading the article on Yahoo TV with Melissa McBride I think Carol actually envies Morgan a little. Carol does what needs to be done but it's starting to take a toll on her. So she's trying to stop Maggie from having that issue in future, and she likes that someone can be hopeful (Morgan) even if she herself cannot. As for Denise Carol apparently thinks she was helping the Wolf - and I guess she was. So from her perspective that should be a hidden fact I guess. Carol saw her leading the bitten Wolf towards the infirmary after all.

Melissa McBride interview
https://www.yahoo.com/tv/39-the-walking-dead-39-postmortem-melissa-1379954988523574.html

yeah - Carol is starting to question who she has become and the way she got there. Not a good thing on this show.

The guy and girl who took Daryls bike were def escapees from Negen or Hilltop. When Daryl first meets them they state that they only took what they earned (or something similar) cause they think Daryl is from Negen's group. And they state they are tired of getting on their knees.

Jason B. said...

Ahh okay, yeah after reading that article I think that Carol's excuse for not telling Rick is meant to sound weird. And that's because it wasn't her true reason. Melissa kinda dodged the question when asked if that was the only reason that Carol didn't want to tell Rick, but she did still say that Carol has a certain respect for Morgan and talked about that.

She saw that the wolf was helping Denise before she shot him, and that definitely got to her as well as many things that Morgan has said to her. So she made up the Denise excuse to protect Morgan, maybe she just didn't want to admit her true reasoning to Rosita.

Mike V. said...

I did consider that as well...that maybe Carol isn't being entirely truthful to Rosita with her reasoning.

Thanks for the link as well MJ!

MJ said...

The more I think about Carol's arc this season the more afraid I am that she is going to be the one who dies.