Monday, November 7, 2016

The Walking Dead: Season 7 Episode 3 - The Cell


Hello everyone and welcome back to our season 7 discussion of The Walking Dead!  We got another episode focused on a couple characters this week.  But due to their surroundings we were able to pick up a lot of information on Negan and Savior life!  Let's have a little chat about the episode below and when we're done we'll feel like we're all doing some time on Easy Street!
Discussion Points

We spent this episode following Daryl and Dwight at the Sanctuary.  Through the eyes of those 2 we saw 3 eventual fates for Daryl and gained a whole new perspective on Dwight since seeing his evolution off-screen last season.  Bottom line in case no one really figured it out, Negan is a giant A-hole!  
  • Poor Daryl.  He spent most of his time in a prison cell getting fed dog food on bread and listening to the most annoying song in the world on repeat.  They'd even mess with him and when he was about to fall asleep the song would blast again.   For anyone who wants to torture themselves, the song is called "Easy Street" by The Collapsable Hearts.  
  • The torture, it turns out, was to make it clear to Daryl that there were limited options.  They were trying to break him so that he would agree to become another one of Negan's right hand men.  His other options would be to be killed, put on a spike and hang around as a walker in Negan's walker yard.   It seems that he keeps a lot of trophies around in that regard.   Or he could work for Negan against his wishes and be a points earner.  Honestly, I couldn't tell you what those other prisoners were doing in the Walker Yard (I also don't know the official name if there is one for the "Walker Yard).   
  • Through Daryl's journey in the episode we met the acclaimed Doctor Carson and revisited Sherry's story.  Sherry was Dwight's wife and we met them and her sister in the woods with Daryl last season.  It turns out there was a whole lot more to tell with that story, but we'll get there.  
  • Basically, Sherry was apologizing to Daryl for screwing him over last season and warning him that it'll only get worse for him if he tries anything.  We know Daryl though.  He wasn't going to stay put.  He did try to make an escape when Dwight was on a mission.  He successfully navigated outside of whatever building he was in.  But, Fat Joe and the rest of Negan's henchmen surrounded him including Negan!  Negan threatened him with Lucille and was impressed when Daryl didn't flinch.  Daryl took a pretty good beating there.   
  • Dwight tried to reason with Daryl several times and told him it won't get any better for him and to just take the deal.  All of Negan's men when asked who they are all say "Negan" implying that he is everywhere.  Negan made one last presentation to Daryl and tested him by asking the same question.   Daryl responded the only way he ever would. "Daryl."  Naturally, this pissed off Negan and Dwight.  Daryl was returned to the cell.  
  • I guess we'd have to ponder what would happen if Daryl did work for Negan.  You know that he would mess with Daryl and send him on collection missions to Rick and crew at Alexandria.  He would force him to threaten, possibly torture, possibly kill one of them.  And it would just be awkward for everyone involved.  Daryl told Dwight that he understands why he did what he did.  He was doing it for someone else.   And that's why Daryl can't take the deal.  I can only assume he means that he can't go against his people.  
  • So what's Dwight's story?  Well, it's a pretty sick and twisted one!  Dwight worked for points back in the day.  Sherry's sister was sick and needed medication.  Negan being the stand-up guy he is offered to marry the sister and provide the medication.  Apparently, this is when Dwight, Sherry and sister took off and ran into Daryl in the woods.  But Dwight had a change of heart and returned to Negan.  After some begging and pleading for their lives Sherry proposes that she will marry Negan instead.  WHAAAT!?!?!?   And that is exactly what happened.  Except Dwight took a hot iron to the face as well before he stated working for Negan under these top notch conditions!  After learning this back story it shed some light on the negative pregnancy test we observed in Dr. Carson's office.  
  • If this didn't make us sympathize for Dwight a little bit, then it's just because we have a soft spot for Daryl and team Rick!  But, Daryl certainly sympathized with Dwight.  I'm sure Dwight might end up being a huge key plot point in some kind of rebellion against Negan, but we'll have to wait and see.  
  • Dwight also went on a mission to reclaim an escapee, Gordon.  It was grunt work and something Negan mentioned Dwight didn't have to do anymore.  But one could suggest Negan is always testing his crew.  Dwight caught up with Gordon near a pretty gruesome road scene that I believe looks exactly like the location where Abraham fired an RPG at Negan's crew.  I can't imagine what else would leave that many walkers in a position where they were missing limbs and couldn't directly walk to Dwight to try and eat his brains.  If it weren't for walkers falling from the sky he would've gotten through pretty easily! 
  • Long story short, Dwight and Gordon reunite.  We find out they used to be surviving together before Negan came to their town.  Gordon is tired of living in the Sanctuary and wants Dwight to kill him.  After a lot of back and forth drama and threats to hurt all the people Gordon knows  Dwight does kill Gordon and bring him back as a souvenir for Negan's yard. 
  • Miscellaneous things I either missed or just wanted to call out separately: 
    • Who's the Boss lives on in the Zombie Apocalypse!  Yes! 
    • Lots of food production going on at the Sanctuary.  Bread making, Gardening, live chickens with fresh eggs.  And of course, Dwight scavenging from whoever he wants due to his status in the place. 
    • To finally try and break Daryl, Dwight gives him a polaroid of Glenn's corpse to remind him he's responsible for killing him.  He then changes the song playing to Roy Orbison's "Cryin".  Which Daryl did proceed to do.  Poor dude. 
I'm sure there's a ton more to say, but I gotta wrap things up!  As always, I hope you all can fill in the gaps as this is intended to be a discussion each week.  Based on what I watched of Talking Dead, it sounds like we're still pretty much on point with details from the comic storyline this week.  At least with Dwight and Sherry.  We can discuss more below.  Hope you enjoyed my ramblings and I'll see you next week! 

7 comments:

MJ said...

Part of me just wanted Daryl to give in so he can get out of the cell and then start to plan the revolution ! Sigh. Love to know what Sanctuary actually was before – that was a pretty well made cell. And the whole building seems pretty sturdy.

I was disappointed they did not have Nicatero explain how the did the walker on the pole – they one that kept moving up and down. That was awesome. And until Talking Dead I did not catch that the red haired guy that Dwight takes from was in that ‘pit’ for want of a better word. Did see the guy from the road.

So is killing the guy from the road a mercy ? Probably. When we first met Dwight last year you could tell the three of them were pretty desperate, and scared when they first thought Daryl was from some other group – which we now know was Sanctuary.

I kept debating whether Daryl should trust the chick. Yeah – she seems like she wants to help him – and the advice she gave him of going back to the cell was good advice – but it’s all a game. And I think she is being told to do what she is doing. Just like the guy was told to leave that door unlocked. So I don’t really trust her yet – though the actress on Talk Dead seemed to say she was trying to help him. We shall see.

That song was even worse the the one from AHS Asylum french one ! LOL

Seemed like in the pit/walker yard the live ones were almost playing a game ? Putting the buckets on the walkers heads and moving them out of the way ? Couldn’t figure it out either.

When Dwight finds the road guy – and we see all the splatter – I also wondered if it was the RPG site. But the RPG was fired at Neges man – not walkers. Also thought it looked like someone just went and ran over all those walkers. It wasn’t until Taling Dead that Denise Huth stated that the car drove off the overpass and walkers have just been walking off and dropping and breaking bones and such.

Mike V. said...

That's my thought too. I know they've been dealt a pretty bad hand...but just suck it up and go with it until you see an opportunity. But yeah...I'm sure Negan would anticipate that like he did with Rick and continue to break him down. He certainly would make him test his loyalty by going up against his friends.

I thought the same about the cell too. What was that before??

Yeah I didn't catch until the in memoriam about one of the dudes either.

I think Dwight was definitely mercy killing Gordon. Will Sanctuary is the place but the people are Saviors right? But yeah...still desperate and scared of them.

No idea on what to think of Sherry on the trustworthiness...but I did sense legit fear and concern coming from her. But I agree there could always be a trick.

Nice callback to AHS Aslyum. lol Agreed!

I couldn't figure out the pit/walker yard thing either. Maybe a game! I have no idea. Maybe they'll explain it more if it's of any importance. Doesn't look like anyone was having fun regardless. lol

The RPG was fired at Negan's MEN....I assumed they all blew up into pieces and their leftovers became walkers. lol Ahhh...I didn't finish Talking Dead...so they explained the scene? That makes sense I guess.

MJ said...

Good point that the RPG could have left partial people to turn. But Huth didn't mention that at all.

Crap - I saw the comings for next week and now don't remember. LOL

Mike V. said...

Do you not want to remember or do you want me to remind you? lol Bottom line...we're returning to Alexandria!

MJ said...

LOl - no I could not remember. LOL About time we go back see how it plays out.

This week the ep is like 90 mins (I think 85 actually) Probably won't get to Talking Dead then

Mike V. said...

Yep...definitely a longer episode this week. I've been kinda just watching the first few minutes of walking dead since the premiere. Just enough time to unwind from the episode before putting Shameless on. lol

Jason B. said...

MJ, at the end of this Making Of video they have a very tiny part on the poll walker. The rest of the stuff is pretty cool too though.

http://www.amc.com/shows/the-walking-dead/video-extras/season-07/episode-03/spoilers-making-of-the-walking-dead-season-7-episode-3

And I believe that the people moving the walkers around with buckets on their heads are just getting them into place, using the buckets as safety precautions. That seems to be one of the jobs of people working for "points." So when Dwight told Daryl that he could be like "them, me, or them" I realized that it was the people working for points, Dwight, or the walkers at the fence. At first I thought he was just really emphasizing that he could end up as a walker on the fence haha.

Yeah, the Sanctuary was introduced a bit differently than it was in the comics, which is to be expected since Daryl isn't in the comics haha. But my guess has been that we will soon see a lot more of the Sanctuary through the way it was introduced in the comics, or something similar at least, and that's why they showed very little other than the cells. And then I watched that Making Of video, in which one of the crew members said that they were saving stuff to be revealed later, so sounds pretty likely haha.