Monday, March 6, 2017

The Walking Dead: Season 7 Episode 12 - Say Yes


Hello everyone and welcome back for more season 7 of The Walking Dead!  Well, when the marketing for this 2nd half promised Rick would smile they weren't kidding!  This whole episode was a bit of an "eye of the storm" type of escapism.  But, considering it focused on so few characters and sent Michonne and Rick out on their own it was pretty believable (and hilarious at times.  Something we rarely say about a Walking Dead ep).  Let's dive in.

Discussion Points

The episode primarily focused on 4 characters in 3 storylines.  Rick and Michonne were hunting for guns and supplies.  Rosita was complaining about guns and progress.  Tara was battling internally about telling everyone about the guns she knows exist.  So, basically what this all boils down to is that if things go South, it's Tara's fault!  But, at least Judith will know why.
  • I was worried Rosita was a goner in this episode for sure.  She had the discussion with Tara about no leads on guns and then went out looking for a gun.  I figured Rosita dying looking for guns would enable Tara to shamefully confess.  Now, considering how the episode ended that could still be the end result of Tara's inaction.   But, for now Rosita was spared by the homemaker mother walker protecting a toy gun on the front step.  Man, Rosita had to be annoyed that she almost died for that! 
  • Okay, a bit of confusion with the Rosita stuff.  I could go back and read other recaps, but I'm going off memory here.  What did Gabriel do to talk Rosita out of trying to kill Negan?  I'm pretty sure that the scar on Rosita's face is because of the fact that she DID try to shoot Negan and the bullet went into Lucille.  Was there an opportunity before that that I'm forgetting where Gabriel intervened?   Anyway, Gabriel insisted that he made a decision because Rosita has a role to play and she can do a lot more alive than dead.  
  • Meanwhile, Tara struggled to keep her knowledge of Oceanside to herself.  She gave sound arguments to Judith about why she is refraining from telling people.  I'm not sure how I feel about the plot mechanism.  It certainly gives voice to Tara's thought process, but talking to baby Judith? (who is looking a lot older these days!)  I guess it works in the end.  Anyway, she convinced herself by the end that Team Rick is looking for the greater good here.  She worries that it will end in a shootout between Alexandria and Oceanside, but Rick and crew want to end the oppression of Negan which benefits everyone.  
  • Then we have Rick and Michonne on their romantic supply run getaway.  They were all business going house to house, clearing walkers grabbing 2 guns, clothes and beans.  And finding some time for some hot and heavy action.  We also saw them spot some of the living fishing who had a cooler clearly labeled "BATTERIES AND STUFF" when they needed new batteries for their walkies.  We're left to interpret how they got the batteries but are assured it was no sweat.  Surely they found a way to do it without killing them.  
  • Rick was enjoying his time with his Michonne, on the road away from the stress of leading.  He kept trying to push for more time while Michonne kept stressing they should go back.  (this also led me to think something bad was going to happen in Alexandria)  
  • Michonne almost snagged a deer with her silenced pistol, but Rick loudly woke up from his nap scaring it away.  This came to play later when Rick tried to win his girl a prize at the fair and ended up scaring her into thinking he died trying!  
  • So, they pushed on and found this fairgrounds where some big showdown took place years ago.  It involved the military (national guard?) and civilians.  It seemed to have been converted to some survivors camp as there were palettes of food drops (wait, what show are we watching her?), make-shift beds, and lots of armed walker soldiers.  Rick and Michonne couldn't help but laugh at their luck that this stuff just fell into their laps as they literally fell through the roof onto a bed surrounded by Ready to Eat palettes of food.  
  • While Rick put on a good face during the day he stayed awake at night stressing.  But, they put together a game plan to grab the guns.  It wasn't without problems, but these skilled warriors made it work in the end.  And it was totally fun to watch.  Rick giving Michonne 8 walkers and used the "silent sword attack" as the excuse.  Then they split the remaining walkers up later into the different fair rides.  Rick using fair equipment like the prize hook to take out walkers.  All of it was nicely executed.  But yeah, we all knew that deer was getting chowed down but seeing Michonne lose all sense of anything while she thought it was him was crazy.  She basically lost the will to live, dropped her sword and froze.  
  • She didn't really recover after that encounter.  After collecting the food and weapons and started their trek back Rick stopped the vehicle for a heart to heart.  He promised people were going to die in this upcoming battle.  He talked about his grieving process of losing Glenn, the guy that saved his life in the very beginning.  He said that this battle is not about them anymore.  It's about providing a future for civilization.  In micro terms, for Glenn/Maggie's kid and for Judith.  So, if Rick dies he knows Michonne is the one to lead the people into the future.  And he knows this because Michonne is the one that led Rick to this righteous path.  It was sound logic, but scary for what might be coming in the next 4 episodes.  Granted, if it works anything like The Walking Dead of the past the encounter with Negan will start to happen in the final minute of the season finale leaving us waiting for next season! 
  • Rick and his entire crew went to the Scavengers with the 63 guns.  Jadus (I think that's her name?) was only mildly impressed.  She insisted they needed more guns.  Rick reluctantly agreed to get more but not without negotiating keeping some of them to get more.  Somehow he went from demanding 10 to getting 20 and keeping a cat (Huh???)
  • This finally set in motion Tara getting the courage to talk to Rick about Oceanside, but it was an off camera conversation.  Stay Tuned for a future episode! 
  • But, the conversation was off camera and out of earshot of Rosita who was fuming at the slowness of this process.  She left for Hilltop and went to her lover's other lover for help.  Sasha agrees to help Rosita, but only if she gets to take out Negan.  They are heading to sanctuary and have memorized information of the internal and outside schematics of the facility.  Rosita provided a sniper and they both agree that this is a one way ticket for both of them.  (DAMMIT TARA!!!)    
Somehow this whole thing is going to backfire and cause Rick more stress!  And it does seem a little too much like the same plot from the first half of the season for Rosita.  But, she is dead set on killing Negan and killing him now.  I guess we'll just keep watching to see how it unfolds.  That's enough for me this week.  This was an enjoyable episode.  I wouldn't be upset if there were more episodes like this, but I think they only hand them out sparingly.  Hope you enjoy my ramblings and I'll see you next week! 

20 comments:

MJ said...

LOL on it being tara's fault if it goes bad. But now Rosita and Sasha are about to cause all kinds of trouble - cause we know that their

attempt to kill Negen will not go well. Funny how you think tara will be at fault if rosita died looking for a gun. I say it would have been on Rosita herself. This will be the second time she is planning to go rogue on the group.

Not sure what you meant by Rosita shooting at Negen and the bullet hitting her ? No - her bullet hit Lucille the bat. But I think before she shot at Negen Gabriel had another chat with rosita trying to keep her from going off on her own.

I just hope that we don't just go in and attack Oceanside or steal their stuff.

And boy that Judith got big all of a sudden ! LOL

I love Rick and Michonne as much as any one - but again almost the entire show was all them just as the last 2 eps have been about a very

small subset of the group. I am sure we all knew Rick was not dead - but Michonne really took it hard when she thought he was! THIS I am sure is not foreshadowing. LOL Convenient them finding whole pallets of food and supplies ! LOL on the 'what show is this' though.

Don't know about Negen stuff jumping off in the finale minute of the finale but def not going to happen until the finale.

Cat - the statue he took off one of their piles to give Michonne was a cat. LOL

And Rosita left for Hillside - not Oceanside. LOL And again - not taras fault that others are going rogue and not following Ricks plan.

Mike V. said...

Cat - OH YEAH!! duh...knew it sounded familiar. That's even funnier then because they noticed. lol Just an overall funny episode.

I know there's plenty of blame to go around with Rosita. But Tara withholding information partially leads to Rosita's angst. Rosita did ask if Tara knows where there are any guns. And Tara said no....so that led Rosita to go look for them.

I meant the bullet hit the bat. Probably a typo. I'll check it! Yea...I vaguely remember a Rosita/Gabriel discussion...but she still shot at negan. So I'm still confused at the discussion.

Yeah...you gotta think there's going to be some tension with Oceanside...but hopefully they can make it work.

Yes on Judith! I had the same reaction. lol

I figured you'd complain about the subset. I just think they like to give the characters their due. I don't even think Rick got too many focused episode last season. So this was one for him to shine too. It makes the ensemble eps that much more effective as well. But I could go either way with it.

Yeah...it's definitely being setup as a finale showdown. But I think it'll probably bleed into next season.

yikes...typos everywhere. i'll fix Rosita comment too. I still stand by my comment that Tara will take it hard if anyone dies because of her indecisions. There has to be consequences to her lying or else what's the point? To draw out the plot?

Mike V. said...

"bullet into Rosita" - Yep typo...I meant Lucille. Writing these things at 5am tend to get filled with typos! :) Thanks for the correction.

Jason B. said...

I agree that Rosita is at fault for what she's doing, not Tara's decision to keep information about Oceanside (especially from Rosita, I certainly wouldn't tell her haha). They found 63 guns and Rosita still wasn't satisfied in the progress they were making? If only Tara actually HAD told her about Oceanside but not mentioned their "shoot on site" policy haha. Kidding, I know she wouldn't do that.

Prior to shooting at Negan, Rosita had gone to Father Gabriel and talked to him about what she was planning on doing. Gabriel talked about how they need to work as a group to take down Negan and that carrying out her own play was not the way to go. It seemed, especially now, that she had decided against shooting Negan when he was in Alexandria - that is until he killed Spencer. Her emotions then took over and she attempted to kill him.

I am kind of disappointed that Sasha would agree to Rosita's plan when she knows that they are doing everything to get ready for a war. Also, why did the writers have Rosita be so rude to Sasha in their most recent encounter if their next encounter was going to be this? I don't know haha but that seems weird to me. They could have just left them on the agreement terms that they were on after the mid-season finale.

I went into this episode with pretty low expectations based on the preview last week, but I actually did enjoy it quite a bit. I am very intrigued by the preview for next week's episode though, something has to pop off in Kingdom-Savior agreement. They aren't just going to have their third standoff with no further action, at least they better not haha. I feel like something will happen that makes Ezekiel understand the need for war, or at least come a lot closer to understanding it. And that feeling is not at all based off of the comics haha, The Kingdom situation was very different in them.

Leslie said...

I enjoyed this episode! I was thinking that Michonne might die somehow. Too much happiness and all! Thought the same thing about Judith, but did anyone else think it looked like she was pooping during Tara's talk? She had that look! Lol! Loved the preview with Carol!

Mike V. said...

@Leslie - there's a very good chance that the child WAS pooping during that scene and they just went with it. lol (but no I didn't notice!)

@Superj -

Still think there's a reason the show went to the lengths they did for events to be set in place whilst Tara didn't say anything. Sure, it's still Rosita's fault for going on her own....but Tara will feel responsible if something happened to her. I think so anyway. Funny on the shoot on site policy. With the way Rosita has been acting, it wouldn't bother me! lol

Ahhh...okay. Thanks for the clarification on the Rosita/Gabriel stuff. That makes sense. So she had an opportunity before the Lucille incident and didn't take it. I forgot it was after Spencer died. (And Rosita was talking in this episode about how Spencer wouldn't be dead)

Yeah...that's a good point on Sasha. I guess the fact that it's taking so long is the motivating factor...but it's really not. They're making progress!

Yep excited for next week too!

Plumbarius said...

I'm mildly enjoying the season so far but there are plenty of episodes that I don't plan on watching for a 2nd time.

Clearly, Rick and Michonne were in the "honeymoon phase" of their relationship! Like the rest of you, when good things happen, we all cringe waiting for reality to step in! I knew that roof was going to cave in!! :)

Did Rick and Michonne kill those two Saviors or just sneak up to truck to steal the batteries?

Must be cutting the budget on WD based on that CGI deer and the really fake background with Rick standing on garbage pile last week.

Michonne has certainly become a co-leader with Rick, I think it began when she told the group that they WERE going to Alexandria after initially meeting Aaron and having the group discussion in the barn.

Based on their current/future TV projects, I would predict that Sonequa Martin-Green (new Star Trek) and Corey Hawkins (24 Legacy) will be dying pretty soon.

Lastly, the raw emotion that Michonne showed when she thought she lost Rick was pretty impressive and to see her give up and drop her sword was tough to watch. Shows what a strong relationship they have developed over the last few seasons.

I don't comment as much as I'd like to but thanks again Mike for keeping up with the blog!

Mike V. said...

Hi Plumbarius. If it makes you feel better, I don't watch ANY a second time. :-) I love the show, but once is enough. lol


Yes on the honeymoon phase!

I wondered the same thing about the fishing duo...but didn't know they were saviors. Is that for certain?

Totally could tell the deer was fake too. lol

Your memory is better than mine on Michonne talking to the group, but I believe it!

Yep...I figured Sasha was a goner the minute that was announced. Heath...he certainly has been absent for awhile and it could be because of his movie/TV projects. But yeah..killing him off seems certain too. He'll probably be back this season though. one would think

Yeah...it was a powerful scene with Michonne.

No problem on the blog! Thanks for reading!

MJ said...

Tara is not technically lying - she's keeping a promise. And considering what her very own team did last year - attacking people in their sleep for Hilltop - she should be nervous to tell them about this group of women and children. But yeah - she will tell Rick now cause she feels they really need the help - and she now sees that Rick is Reasonable Rick and not crazy rick so she probably feels he'll be decent about meeting Oceanside.

Agree with SuperJ - Rosita is a little out of control right now.

Sasha - I thought that too - why would she agree to this ? But then she is a little removed from all the planning what with being in Hilltop. And she might not be up to date that they have the Scavengers with them. So all she knows is a few Hilltop farmers want to help but not the leader. And her emotions are out of whack over Abraham and Glenn too. Figuring it's only benn a couple of months since they were killed ?

Carol - yeah Carol is coming to town ! Wonder what bee has gotten into her bonnet ? She looked pissed.

Yeah - cause rosita had just agreed to have dinner with Spencer (remember they were friends with benefits for awhile) and then Spencer went all 'lets make a deal' with Negen. So she lost it and took the shot. But sadly - Spencer would still be dead. His own actions caused it - not Rosita taking the shot.

Saviors - it was left unclear whether they killed the 2 saviors or just stole their stuff.

Good point about actress playing Sasha leaving the show possible. So THAT is why Sasha agreed with Rosita ! LOL

Mike V. said...

I'm not saying what she did is wrong. I'm just saying she will probably feel responsible if anything happens to Rosita and Sasha.

I agreed as well about Rosita.

Plumbarius brought up a good reminder on Sasha too...they're probably setting the wheels in motion for her to be written off the show. We all knew that she probably was a goner once she was announced for Star Trek. I just forgot lol.

Carol - lol on the bee/bonnet analogy.

I think SuperJ's point was that she had a chance to take the shot BEFORE Spencer was killed. (like earlier in the episode maybe or another episode) I don't remember that moment, but I do remember Rosita talking to Gabriel.

Yeah definitely unclear...but how do we know those 2 were saviors??? That was my question.

lol...just read your last sentence (and it's what I mentioned above! lol)

MJ said...

Hmm - I guess we don't know they were saviors playing golf. But seems likely. Who else is comfortable enough 4 to 5 years into the apocolypse to play golf ?

Ah - I think you and him are right. She was going to and didn't. Then after Spencer she tried.

Mike V. said...

Oh right..Golf, not fishing. I think Hurley and Charlie would find a way to play golf in the middle of an apocalypse! :) But fair point.

MJ said...

LOL on Hurley and Charlie !

Jason B. said...

Saviors - I've been watching with subtitles on recently, which is super helpful, and the guys by the truck were talking about Fat Joey. So they are indeed Saviors haha. But yeah Michonne and Rick just took some pretzels and a few batteries from the back and left. If they had killed them I am sure that they would have taken everything, but that wouldn't have been very smart to do right now when they aren't yet ready for war.

I think it has still only been a few weeks since Glenn and Abraham were killed, maybe about a month now. I don't think Daryl was at The Sanctuary for more than a few weeks, and he still just got out within the last few days.

Haha yeah I thought about Sonequa being cast on that show right when she agreed to Rosita's plan. I am still hoping that she won't die... but it sure looks like it. It feels like a waste of the character for me, but oh well I guess, I can't do anything about it. If so, I'm sure that she was written off of this show before being cast on Star Trek, not the other way around. Why couldn't they have taken Rosita instead!? Haha no I would really feel bad for the actress if Rosita died right now... she would be hated in regards to this show forever haha. I'd rather see her come back around and become a likable character.

Good point that Sasha doesn't know anything about the Scavengers or the guns that they found, does she? Rosita might have told her that they found a small amount, I don't know. That's pretty slimy of Rosita honestly (not that that's surprising!), to not tell her exactly where the numbers and preparation are at before asking her to agree to that.

Yeah, I think Heath was written into that uncertain fate because of Corey Hawkins' role on 24. If he can ever come back, they can write him back in somehow based on where the story is at. If not, it can just be assumed that he died somewhere or left and that's it I guess. If he wasn't a comic character my guess is that they probably would have just killed him there haha.

Mike V. said...

Nice call on the subtitles superj. I do that for my morning treadmill shows and it is helpful. I don't think about it when I'm watching at night! lol

Gotta run but I'll try to comment more later!

MJ said...

Spoilery - not very spoilery but Gimpel is saying this years finale - while not as dark as last year - will have losses. So I guess some skirmishes will at least occur if not all out fighting.

Mike V. said...

could be losses on both sides. I'm going to guess Sasha and Dwight. Maybe Simon. Maybe Dwight's ex. Maybe Rosita...but it probably won't be both Sasha and her. Negan will live to fight another day.

There's some other Alexandrians that could be sacrificed without losing any of the core group. Losing Enid could present some emotional challenges for Carl (COOOORAAAAL). There's that other dude in Alexandria that was a little flirty with Carol. There could also be losses from The Kingdom, The Scavengers, Oceanside. I'm sure something like that could happen. Maybe the younger dude Benjamin in the Kingdom or Richard.

Glenn/Abraham was a big hit to take in one season (granted it was technically the end of last season). So I don't think we'll get a big hit like Maggie, Daryl, Carol or Michonne. But when you grow your cast there's plenty of sacrificial lambs. It's the old LOST rule!

MJ said...

Agree - lots of red shirts to die. Hope its not Dwight or Richard or young kind at he Kingdom. Or Jadis - I like the quirkiness of her. LOL Probably Sasha so she can go be on her new show. Don 't want Rosit - even though right now she is not behaving I have liked her all along. I think she is just a little damaged right now - they all go thru it at some point.

MJ said...

So - have to say - JDM (negen) used to be on Supernatural ages ago as the two boys father. So last night I watched and one of the boys (men now really) brings out a bat covered in barbed wire and says - hey remember dads favorite weapon ? I was crying I was laughing so hard.

Mike V. said...

lol...that's a nice shout out. Definitely intentional!