Monday, March 14, 2016

The Walking Dead: Season 6 Episode 13 - The Same Boat


Hello everyone and welcome back to our continuing discussion of The Walking Dead season 6!  We are inching closer and closer to the introduction of Negan and the intensity is building more with each episode.  This one was an episode driven by female characters on both sides and it was a nail-biter!  Let's dive in:

Discussion Points

Let's get this out of the way right off the bat.  I'm pretty surprised that both Carol and Maggie made it out of this episode alive!  I mean, it's almost like there's no life and death stakes on this show.  KIDDING!  (but it is the first thing I said after the episode ended sarcastically referring to the online uprising about Glenn surviving his trials in the first half of the season)  I don't think the intensity could've been any higher throughout the episode and I dreaded that one of them might not make it out all the way to the end with Carol's final conflict with Paula.  But, it turns out Maggie and Carol are survivors and found a way to deal with their captors (and the scout team) all on their own.  
  • Hats off to Alicia Witt for bringing her A-game to Paula.  The whole crew was good.  Paula, Molls and 'Chelle were all great characters that I could've seen having longer arcs on the show. But that just wasn't in the cards.  
  • There was a point brought up in the episode that we've discussed before but should bring up again.  Who are the true good guys/bad guys?  'Chelle told Maggie that Rick and crew are NOT the good guys.  Obviously, it all deals with perspective.  Negan's crew is a threat to Rick and his crew.  And Rick and his crew are certainly turning into more of a threat to Negan's crew.  Paula's backstory pretty much explained that they all had similar mundane existences before these end of days times.  She was a secretary in D.C. and quarantined in her office building instead of with her family (husband and 4 daughters) and had to kill her boss to survive.  And she kept killing through double digits (Carol noted her 18 kills again which became 22 by the end of this episode).   Anyway, we don't know much about Negan himself yet but we learned enough about Paula to know that they aren't necessarily bad people. They're just looking out for their own.  And of course, Rick and crew did just slaughter many of their people in their sleep. (Granted, we must not forget the polaroids above the bed!) 
  • Early in the episode, we did hear Paula speaking in military speak with the greek letter locations.  It seems like they have secured various locations around the area, but don't always keep up with them.  Case-in-point the KILL FLOOR got infested with Growlers (their term for walkers) as it wasn't being looked after.  Does that suggest that they don't have enough people to man all of their stations?  Was it an important tidbit at all?  Guess we'll find out. 
  • One question we were all asking throughout the episode was if Carol had actually lost it.  We thought for sure she was playing up another persona of someone afraid to die.  But, was it all part of an act?  She was playing the part of someone strong in faith (after snagging rosary beads from a walker).  But that was all part of her escape plan.  I would say that in the end it was all an act if she hadn't hesitated in killing Paula.  That was almost a fatal error in judgement.  Maybe it was a mix.  She certainly made a point that she does not enjoy killing the living.  It has been a theme in these past couple episodes (actually, this whole season, maybe even the series given where Rick's point-of-view started off)
  • There was a theme to the episode that suggested all of them are NEGAN.  Molls said it and then Primo said he was Negan at the end.  I don't know if that's an effort to hide their leader.  But, I don't think anyone is buying that for a second.  And it's not just the fact that it is public knowledge that Jeffrey Dean Morgan has been cast as Negan.  
  • Maggie told Glenn at the end of the episode that she can't do this stuff anymore.  That seemed to suggest that she'll be taking a behind the scenes leadership role in Alexandria if given the chance.  'Chelle also grazed her belly with a knife.  I'm going to assume there was no way that damaged her pregnancy, but it sure did give us all a scare! 

There's probably tons more I could write about the episode, but I'm short on time as always.  I will say it was an excellent showcase for Melissa McBride (Carol) and Lauren Cohen (Maggie).  They were both amazing.  And Alicia Witt, I already commented how great she was too!  3 more episodes this season.  The intensity will only rise and the chance of survival will only decrease!  Hope you enjoyed my ramblings and I'll see you next week! 

13 comments:

Plumbarius said...

Mike, great recap and thanks for continuing this project! I don't get a lot of time to comment like I used to but I think this 1/2 season might be the best of the series. There is so much dread and foreboding knowing what might likely happen in the final episode of the season. I told my wife after watching it last night that I wouldn't be surprised if 3 or 4(major/minor)members of the group were killed off just to make up for the lack of major character deaths throughout this 1/2 season.

Loved the Carol and Maggie team up and to have them basically held by their doppelgangers was pretty intense. Like you said, being the good guy/bad guy can be a matter of perspective, although those Polaroids clearly show the Saviors to be a little sick in the head. You could clearly see that Paula, Chelle, and Molls could have been valuable members of Rick's group if thinks had worked out differently.

The group has killed a large number of Negan's folks up to this point. I wonder if there are actually hundreds of Saviors scattered throughout the region and that there will be plenty of "bad guys" left to inflict serious damage on our group as season 7 unfolds next year?

Alicia Witt was fantastic and it's a shame that she couldn't stay on longer as another strong female lead!

I haven't read the comics but am looking to buy the graphic novels containing all the comics this summer for some "light reading".

Namaste!

Mike V. said...

Hi Plumbarius, thanks!! It's been tough to "continue the project" these days but I still find a way. I feel like I say the same thing every half season (this is the best of the series), but it just seems like the show only improves every 8 episodes. I'm loving this arc right now.

As for the final episode and deaths...I'd put more money on the penultimate episode. I think the past couple season finales there have been no major deaths in the finale...of course maybe that means that we're due! It seems like we are due for a season 1 regular death or something that's going to hurt more than losing someone we may have met later on. They teased it with Glenn (and Carol)...But knowing there's only 3 episodes left in the season means something is coming SOON.

Yeah...the Polaroids are the one thing giving Team Rick the edge in the "justified actions" department. It does certainly seem like there are MANY Saviors. But, I did find it interesting that the "kill room" location had been abandoned for a long enough period of time to get overridden. That just seemed to suggest to me that maybe they're not as high in numbers as we think. But, I'm sure they are.

I haven't read the comics either...but your summer reading though isn't a bad idea. Maybe I'll look into it! I'd rather be reading GRRM's Winds of Winter, but that isn't out yet. :-|

Plumbarius said...

Just don't be my competition when I bid for those graphic novels on eBay! ;)

Mike V. said...

lol...don't worry you're safe there! I think I'd look for e-book versions or something anyway!

MJ said...

He lied to you Rick ! He was not Negen ! LOL Interesting when one said 'We're all Negan'. Loved Rick just shooting him like that though. It was Chick action night . Very intense show - thought several times Carol was going to buy it. Like when she was bending over Donnie - thought he'd turn around and bite her. And of course Maggie's close call getting slashed in the tummy. Alicia Witt was great on both the show and Talking Dead. And she was damn clever - figuring out that Rick and company were closer due to lack of static - I didn't catch that. I really could not tell at times was Carol acting to fool her captors or really feeling some of what she was saying - I think both really. Didn't realize until today that the whole thing was only a few hours but alot sure happened. Was chilling when Shell says her boyfriend was blown up - took me a minute to put it toghether that it was Daryl who did it !

I've heard that the finale is very dark and heavy.

MJ said...

No - they are bad people. Maybe not all of them - but they are not good either. And our group keeps dipping their toe across the good/bad line. Yeah - they needed supplies but they went in an killed people in their sleep on the word of Gregory of Hill Top that they are bad. Though they did know about the RPG incident so I guess not just Gregory's word. But in this world you have to protect your own. Notice Shell's finger ? It got cut off for stealing. Guessing Negen did it.

Mike V. said...

Yeah...Alicia Witt is just great all together! Enjoyed her on TD for what I watched as well. Definitely smart call with the static. I definitely didn't catch it when listening but when she (i.e. the script) brought it up it was a good point! I think we both agreed on the Carol stuff.

Totally didn't make the connection on 'Chelle's boyfriend being blown up by Daryl. And forgot about the finger when I was writing it up this morning! Yeah...I'm sure Negan did it too.

Oh they are totally bad people...I agree with that. But, it's still a grey area of debate for the show in general because Rick and crew also, like you said, cross the line too. But, exactly...you protect your own. And this is their newest threat.

I'm sure the finale will be intense!

Jason B. said...

While watching the show I thought that Maggie's stomach was cut, but I found out that it was just her shirt. I was wondering why she wasn't trying to stop the bleeding or anything, but it was because there wasn't any haha. But it was super close and that's why Carol took Chelle out without hesitation.

Rick's group has killed wayyy more Saviors than they had in the comics at this point. But once the group is fully aware of Rick's presence I think they'll become a much bigger threat. They had their guard down because the Hilltop wasn't a threat to them. I'm questioning exactly how the Saviors are gonna become aware of Rick's group though, since they once again killed all witnesses haha. Unless someone escaped that we don't know about.

Mike V. said...

Hi SuperJ - good point on the no bleeding and was a plot point for Carol's motivation.

Good question on how the Saviors will become aware of Rick's group. Or does Rick's Group even know that there are more saviors? Surely, they don't think they actually killed Negan right?

That's true someone may have escaped, but it sure didn't look like they did. There's always the chance that the scout crew contacted Negan before they went to help the Kill Room folks.

Plumbarius said...

Maybe Negan (or his flunkies) were listening to all the radio chatter going on between Rick/Paula and Paula/flame broiled saviors? Paula did tell them to switch to a secure channel so Rick couldn't listen in.

Mike V. said...

Right...that's a good point too Plumbarius. Worst case...he's going to wonder where all his people are disappearing to...and keep closer tabs on any remainder of his people. Or he's going to attack Hilltop assuming that they had a part in it. And since Rick has pledged his defense of Hilltop they will meet.

MJ said...

I do believe that our group thinks they killed Negen.

Probably more Saviors will go to either of the sites and find the bodies. Perhaps even see the smoke from the fire that Carol set. That is how they will become aware there is another group out there. Will probably ask Hilltop about it and Gregory will betray them is also a possibility

Mike V. said...

Sounds pretty plausible!