Sunday, March 17, 2019

The Walking Dead: Season 9 Episode 14 - Scars


Hello all and welcome back to the Walking Dead Season 9 or 20!  3rd to last episode this season and the unveiled some of the mysteries that came in the Post-Rick world.  I was prepared to be underwhelmed at the revelations, but by the end of the sequence I think they earned what they had set up (for the most part).  Let’s dive in.


Discussion Points

We basically followed Michonne between the present day and 5 years and a few months ago as we uncovered what’s been plaguing her since Rick left the reservation.  And who would’ve thought Tara from True Blood (Jocelyn) would be the one to help bring us up to speed?   Long story short, Michonne found a long lost close friend from pre-apocalypse days and she turned out to be bat#### crazy.   She was reforming kids into her killing machines and kidnapping any kids she found.  Her big mistake was taking the Alexandrian children including Judith.  Daryl and Michonne went after them, got captured and branded (mystery solved!) by the kids.   In the end Michonne was forced to kill Joss and all of the children (save Winnie who ran away.  Wait for 6 seasons and she’ll be a main character, mark my words!).

This made its mark on Michonne as she shut the doors of Alexandria from any newcomers and her friends at Hilltop, Oceanside, Kingdom and the Sanctuarians.  In the present day Daryl brought Henry, Lydia and Connie (? Still get them all mixed up.  I’m going with Connie) to Alexandria to get Henry patched up.  There was a lot of fear of bringing Lydia in, but Michonne did because of Daryl. Judith got all up in arms about not helping friends. It was actually a pretty powerful speech at the end in Michonne and Judith’s heart to heart.  Helping the people we love, Carl’s letter and all that.  And of course, Negan brought all of this up to Michonne in their talk too.  In the end, Michonne vowed to get back on point with Carl’s mission and help their friends.   They took a souped up old Minivan (seriously, loved this ride) attached to horses and caught up with Daryl and crew enroute to the trade fair.

There are whisperers lurking outside the Kingdom seeing the fair preparations and are going to report to Alpha.   I can see it now.  The final battle of the season will take place as a movie is screening in the theater.  Will make a great backdrop for some crappy gut splattering!

Other Points:

  • Negan apparently has been completely open in his stories to Judith about Rick, Carl and even his past actions (killing Glenn, Abraham, etc...).  
  • Daryl definitely stayed in those woods for 6 years looking for Rick.  Michonne never stopped looking either as she said Judith and RJ deserve to know what happened to him for sure.    

I think that’s about all I have for tonight.  I’m sure I missed stuff as always but we’ll get it covered in the comments.  Hope you enjoyed my ramblings and I’ll see you next week! 

9 comments:

MJ said...

OMG - Michonne went all Anakin and killed some younglings. Man - Jocelyn was a crazy one ! Nice to see tara from True Blood though. That Whisperer in the end - I know that voice ! Alicia Witt maybe ? This was a great episode. Very moving when Michonne found his gun. And damn - not a very suble way to tell Lydia that she should just leave without Henry and never come back. Did I see correctly - two more eps left ?

Mike V. said...

Yep 2 episodes left! Those 8 episode half seasons make it seem like the season flies by. (for most maybe lol)

Yeah I did enjoy this one in the end. But when they first got branded I was like..."ummm that's it? That's the whole thing you kept us in suspense for?"...but then by the end it was basically symbolic of what the whole ordeal represented for Michonne. And yes...very Anakin. Except she was fighting to NOT kill the kids right until she saw no other choice. I guess you could say the same thing about Anakin stopping Mace Windu from killing Palpatine, but by the time he was killing younglings, there was no more internal debating left. lol

Whisperer just sounded like another whisperer to me but maybe it was someone we know (or that is known)?

Forgot to mention the gun....yeah that was a good moment. They definitely were able to justify the stark difference in Michonne (and therby the rest of the crew) from point 1 to 6 years later.

MJ said...

Sounded like Alicia Witt - And I read recently she was going to be on something I watch - can't remember what tho. You would recognize her - Red Head. Was on Justifed and other things

True - Ani had no hesitation by the time he came to kill the Younglings.

I guess the symbolism of the X was also psychological - this is what you get for trusting others. And I was glad they finally explained why Michonne pulled away from all her friends.

Mike V. said...

Ahh yes...I know the name and all you had to say was red head and justified for me to place her. lol

True on the branding being psychological. I'm sure it didn't feel good either! But yes, it all made sense why she pulled away after seeing what happened to her.

Meanwhile, Rick is off just living the life, flying on helicopters with no care of returning to his family and friends. lol (Kidding...I'm sure we'll find out why he can't go back and can't tell anyone what's happening. But until then we can joke about it!)

Jason B. said...

Hey! Sorry I haven't commented in awhile. One thing I wanted to add about the movie deal with the Highwaymen in last week's episode: the info they gave on Talking Dead made it a bit more believable haha. They listed some of the original requests that the Highwaymen had in their letter, and a big chunk of them were things like books and comics. So for me, that made it make more sense that Carol would think of offering the movie, and that they would actually accept it. Definitely still a bit cheesy though haha.

Alicia Witt was on TWD in season 6, she played one of the saviors that Maggie and Carol got captured by at the satellite outpost. So I'm guessing it's not her haha, but I'm not sure who it was either. Here is her character's wiki page:
https://walkingdead.fandom.com/wiki/Paula_(Savior)

Mike V. said...

Hi Jason! Ahh that makes a little more sense with the Highway Men. But yes...still cheesy!

I thought I remember her being on TWD already, but couldn't place when it was. Yep, probably not her. I just assumed this was a random "scout"/red shirt for the whisperers clan. Alpha, Beta and Lydia are the characters we know for sure at this point.

MJ said...

Black Summer - new show coming to Netflix. A zombie apololypse. Not as campy as Z Nation and looks less touchy feely then TWD.

Sabrina - part two of the season looks awesome !

Alicia - I wasn't sure I remembered if you watched Justified. LOL And wow - totally forgot she was already on.

LOL on Rick

Wait til those Highwaymen hear that the other chick has records ! LOL

Mike V. said...

Oh boy...we're merging TWD with all other shows! That's encouraging me to stop the recaps and just cover all in one thread! :) lol KIDDING! Still haven't seen Sabrina S1 and think I have my fill on Zombies for now! :)

Oh yeah...totally watched Justified. Loved it! Can't wait for Deadwood to return for the movie either!

Anonymous said...

OOps - I posted in wrong place. Ugh - I still have to watch Deadwood.