The Walking Dead

[Pinky]

I'm awful.



My fave ending tweet.



All set for the new episode tonight?

[Pinky]

Ok, I don't wanna say it's back luck, but when a soulless ginger is the one giving the thanks in a church, well... (I come from a whole family of redheads. I love redheads. ) But you know that's just not good, right?



My head snapped around at that last one, lol.



Zoom, suddenly!





Whatever happens in the future with Beth, it's gotta be huge by now, the fandom is about to pop with tension.



And of course we go skipskipskip because I was busy picking up my dropped jaw, so here is a genuine spoiler alert, do NOT read past here if you haven't seen this episode yet and don't want it ruined.



I do have to admit this scene didn't bother me at all (I know, so weird), but I loved watching the rest of you go totally divergent into shock and hilarity.







This is so Crow and Servo.



Dang, ran outa room. But we're nearly done. Hang on.

[Pinky]

This is where I got lost between all the feeds going crazy, so, as with all my twitter reviews, if you are worried about spoilers, no worries, I dropped the ball and it's up to you to go watch the show and keep up. Just trust the flow of the feeds.



This is where we all wander happily off to go look through the fridge for chocolate pudding, right?



I want @MJCaan on my team when we get zombies. He actually had me last year during a Rudolf tweet.



I hafta admit I'm waaaaay lost at this point, might even have a snip in the last panel that doesn't even go yet, so the rest of this is me swimming happily in fan feeds because I actually stopped looking up at the TV and was glued to hyper toggling and speed scrolling on my laptop. I haven't even rewatched yet, and your tweets are still cracking me up. I do remember getting this one and fussing at them. I think Carol knows stuff can still come back to bite when they all settle down again.



I would say spoiler alert but I was so busy reading tweets I forgot to retweet, so now we 'plunge' into a whole new scene. Get it? *Plunge*.





TScott cracks me up.



I mean, big fandom hug right here, right? Best zombie apocalypse ever.



D*y*i*n*g.



THIS. I actually tried to look up at the TV because of this tweet and Scott really did flick a spider just then, and I was so torn between looking for the spider and looking up to see if Rick really died. First time in my life I didn't go all crazy making sure a spider wasn't on me.



Hang on, there's a little more.

[Pinky]

Twitter really doesn't like it when you try to scroll back through a thousand tweets. I need to remember that for the next review. Ok, where were we? The gang is all back together, and despite the relieved love fest, they quickly disintegrate into hunger and exhaustion, emotional issues, and being gullible again. I can scream at my TV till I'm blue, they never listen.

Lame attempt at commentary on modern culture fandom, seriously wonder if the two fandoms ever cross paths because I don't think either realizes just how much they have in common. But I digress.





Before we go on, does anybody besides me think Rocky Horror when they see that little church?















Word.



I was smart this time and grabbed all my snips ahead, so now all I've got to do is load them. So come back in a few and keep scrolling.

[Pinky]

Found out I'm getting a little rusty keeping up with live tweets, but holy cow that was a crazy episode! I'm talking about 10/19/14 and *boom* it begins. This second cap clicks to source.



Since I'm pulling one of my last year stunts and doing this really late you know at this point I'm winging it through my old feeds, but right off the bat, yes, Nelson is one of my accounts and thank goodness, because the live tweet was flying so fast it was all I could do to read maybe a third of it. I was trying to keep up with #TheWalkingDead, #TWD, #TWDFam & several others, skipping around, wow there had to be 100,000 tweets, my eyeballs were spinning. and I'm a speed reader. So I apologize for my own slack on pix but y'all were awesome. I don't know if anyone else on the planet does a Walking Dead twitter review, but you guys rock it and I think someone needs to be collecting the live tweets into a book or something.





This one clicks to source, congrats to Brandon on 105 retweets.







This one clicks to source. Nelson is in awe of Daryl's Arms having an account.







You know the drill, I get 10 cap pix per panel, so keep scrolling.

[Pinky]

I know, I took my sweet time, sorry about that. Long day. And I have sort of like skylight windows up high in my house, so as the day wore on, my phone pix got grainier from all the extra light bouncing off the walls. So this little wrap up is just a big bunch of feels, not going to say much.

When Carol saw the crossbow and slung it over her shoulder. ~feels~



Ode to Daryl hair here, in case some of you are still trying to get that look just right.



When Carol walked across the 'sanctuary', with all the 'markers' symbolizing the lost, all covered in blood as if she'd risen from among the dead and conquered that which kills the innocent. ~goosebumps~ ~major feels~ ~moar goosebumps~ Don't tell me that symbolism didn't **rock**.



It was like a second chance to say goodbye to Tasha. Ok, evil twisted psychotic not-Tasha.



Just. This.



Flip the script. Who could not like Eugene here.



~Feeeeeels~



*snif* ~burrito feels~



Have they EVER ended an episode as feely as this? ~moar feels~



In case you don't want to let this go, there's a show on tonight to keep talking about it. Just click for more info.



My jam while I worked.

[Pinky]

Wouldn't it be cool if this had been an old chicken house? Just sayin.



Sorry this isn't more clear, but it's still a pretty wicked shot with that contrast. I wasn't the biggest Carol fan at the start, but she has really grown on me. I wanna be Carol when I grow up.



Rick never catches a break. He's like the Jack Bauer of zombieland- when does he eat and pee? Does the guy even sleep?



This scene is incredibly inspiring, woman-wise. Not only surviving, but taking control and strategizing when no one else can. This is like prepper poster porn right here.



THIS is why you camouflage your tanks during a zombie apocalypse. Why do people never think of this? Not an easily replaceable resource there. It just screams "We've got a tank and you don't, nyah nyah."



Yes, I *am* leading up to something.



BOOM.



And behold, a new word was born. I noticed it as I read back through the Walking Dead live tweet later. This capture clicks back to source on twitter.



So I got all excited and ran off to see if anyone had ever used this hashtag before and was very disappointed in #TheKelly for not hashtagging. As you can see, it was a perfect opportunity to have been the creator of such an awesome hashtag.





So guess who is creating the hashtag? That's right, ME. Hang on while I go do that.

[Pinky]

Ok, where were we? Mr. Bossy is wanting a shot report.



This scene reminds me of sitting in my high school geometry class between a couple of ne'er do wells who taught me the KISS and WAG methods.



Meanwhile...



Ever since we got a burrito in our lives we notice everything about this kid. I'd love to get tips on how to train ours to be so still for so long. Unless there is something we don't know about Judith, like maybe the latent zombie virus is already okayokay I'll stop.



But bets are on this shot was on a doll, in which case Bilinski wants his shot glass back.



This scene could have been shot at Silver Dollar City, that looks like the little church, except worse. Way worse.



I've about figured out that The Walking Dead is like a modern western. I think this scene epitomizes the new classic, and one day in the future they'll talk about the how Walking Dead evolved 'Muricans into a new thang. The Walking Dead will be the new Bonanza when we're all older and sitting around in medical clinics watching the TV in the waiting room, and the youngsters will roll their eyes.



I instantly had bets all over this guy. All that talking, he's the next conundrum, right? Will he convert and become part of the gang? Will he play both sides and psyche everyone out? Just seems like a character that'll be around all season because he talked so much, and his words already carry weight. I would've liked to have seen a mouse scuttling around, or peeking out of that hole. At least a centipede. They're in the woods. There isn't even a spider in there.



Meanwhile... I generally watch The Walking Dead with Scott in the house. I'm doing this rewatch alone. I will speak for everyone who still can't bring themselves to watch this show and admit I had a pretty nasty anxiety attack right about here and had to take a good, long break. The zombie actually didn't bother me at all. Carol smearing blood all over herself is what got me. I know how blood coagulates and smears and smells and feels on my skin, and I know Carol has gone beyond a limit a lot of us could never even get near in the first place. I would LOVE to talk to the Walking Dead creators and ask them if they've ever spent time around lots of blood in the heat, because this scene nailed (for me) what going over the limits would be in a zombie apocalypse.



Gratuitous close up for Chris Coy fans before we finish this panel and move on, because imdb lists him in only one ep. I feel they wasted an opportunity with this character. If you'd like to read more here's a cool review I found featuring Martin.

[Pinky]

I. Was. Wrong. I know, I tried so hard to believe they weren't going there, and I'll tell you why- every time they show us how people sink to new lows, you think "Ok, what is there left", and I figured cannibalizing was the lowest they could go. So they're leading with it, plus flashbacks, and my first thought is "Here we go, the whole season will be spent exploring how people reached that point instead of moving on to a new challenge." I reeeeeaaalllly hope they don't drag this season out like that, but I'm sure they'll keep surprising me.

I want to thank people still checking this thread for updates, you guys rock. Before we start I totally apologize for missing the live tweet on the season opener, I wound up being in a car when it started and I didn't want spoilers so I just shut twitter off on my phone. The live tweet is the most awesome part in my opinion, so I hope to be on that next time. But since I'm here...

Close your eyes if you haven't started this new season yet because SPOILERS.



Our gang doesn't sit around and cry about the psychological breaks shredding their brains, noooo. They GET REDDEH... Some of the kids used to do this in the middle school I went to. Totally serious. I was so ready for this rumble.



I was captivated by how many cool shots they were able to get inside a boxcar. My poor phone isn't worthy.



I'm skipping a bunch of stuff here but I'm about to rip on the set. Seriously??? Ok, so these guys go through a psychotic break and then find some spray paint and fonts and stencil their equipment... This would have been easier to accept if those bins had been smeared a little, but that entire work area was ~sparkling~. I've worked in professional kitchens that could never attain that level of utter cleanness even when we were all done and locking up.



I'm sorry, this made me laugh. I couldn't keep a straight face through all this 'tension'.



The Penguin goes first, he's got another show to come back from the dead on...



"My bondage scene is gonna spike the ratings and skyrocket my career, they can't kill me off now!"



"Choke on it, you're not the only one with fans with bondage fetishes."



"Do you believe those two?"



Here we go, I've gotta say stuff. That stainless is as pure as the driven snow, they must buff it with the softest terrycloth and a whole bottle of stainless polish after every use. Also- I'm about to rip on this method but I'll let you admire the beautiful stainless first.



First of all, I'd have been rolling all over that floor kicking and creating havoc and chaos. I grew up sitting on sheep to hold them still and Rick would've had a better chance to stab someone somehow if he'd been rolling around. Second of all, bodies don't bleed out correctly just slicing the throat like that, and then they jerk like crazy and the eyes roll around while they do, they don't just stay in position and conveniently slump over a giant tub. I didn't see a single set of meat hooks hanging from the ceiling. I'm also concerned that a solid hit to the back of the head tells the audience they're only knocked out- that bat could easily have broken their necks at the base or crushed their skulls in right there, and that part of the brain is what tells the heart to keep beating. You don't get a good bleed if the heart isn't still beating. (Geez, I know way too much.) I could go on, but y'all will think I'm a mass murderer or something, so I need to just drop it and accept that these guys did a better job stenciling their bins than killing their victims. And I really hope they explain the utter cleanliness. I mean, that sent more chills up me than the slaughtering did because that means the evil despot behind all this organization is so far outa town on the mental illness train that things could get way more twisted than what we just saw.

Each panel here only allows ten pix, so I'll be back in a little bit.

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You guys ready for this?

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In case you didn't catch the Snarkalec Radio recap of the Walking Dead season cliffhangar, here you go.

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The film makers went out of their way to make sure we saw Rick notice the pile of bones.



Better shot, and here's my two cents. Stripping bones that clean takes a lot of time. I grew up butchering and grinding meat with a hand crank, and I see a whole pile there of remarkably clean bones. We never stripped the skulls because it's pointless, and I see skulls there. These bones are tainted a little so we think they still have a thin layer of meat still on them, but that pile does NOT automatically say "cannibals" to me. Why? First of all, if you're not familiar with preparing long pork, please read down through the 4th paragraph in this instruction manual. Even people determined to eat other people kinda hang back at the incredible amount of work it is. Second of all, in pre-industrial days, many Native American tribes would put their deceased out on pallets in sacred areas so birds could pick them clean, and then go collect the bones and bring them back for proper burial. This pile of bones reminds me of that, like they've been picked clean, except they're all dumped and jumbled into a pile, probably for effect. I'm venturing a guess that these aren't necessarily the victims we think they are. Right now we're leaping to conclusions on the run during a panic attack.



And now we have what appears to be a shrine. Why a shrine? Who would set up a shrine to people they're eating? But the first thing we're assuming is that this has to do with dead people. It's very creepy. My first question is where in the world did they get all those candles, and why in the world are they wasting them? This is clearly for show, to psyche our guests out.



And then the writing on the walls. Who is this for? People who will be eaten? Why would they need to be psyched out with a weird word game? This automatically makes the viewer think the 'cannibals' are super mental, but it's making me think our guys are being hit with subliminal messaging. All this work was done on purpose to make them FEEL something, to point their thinking a certain direction.



And this is the message they're imprinting on the newbies' brains. The reason we are here and we do what we do is because we once trusted, and something very bad happened. It's vital to imprint this into the new visitors during a state of panic and fear.



This scene was pretty awesome, and bewildering, yet very ordered in its symbolism. There is an inner circle, perhaps of protection, where names are still important. There are precious belongings that have been preserved. Are these people dead? We don't know. Were they processed ahead of this group? Most likely so.



Why in the world would it be so important to herd new people through a place full of names they would never know because they're soon to be eaten? This whole thing reminds me of stuff I had to study about cults and brainwashing techniques. In order to get new people to bond tightly with a group, they must be put through rigorous weird hardships to break them down first, so their thinking can be rebuilt. I would propose that 'Terminus' is like a station where people get off a bus or train and then go through processing. In that last picture I noticed Judith's new dolly. I noticed other things we've seen in previous shows. What if all these people have been processed, their possessions taken away, and they are being routed to a different area?

The boxcars, you say. That's proof they're being kept to be eaten, you say. I say no, that is part of the brainwashing. There is still a long way to go before they'd be considered ready for integration into the group. I noticed no one in the boxcar that we got to see into looked like they'd been treated badly, except from what they'd suffered before they arrived at Terminus. I predict they don't stay in the boxcars that long because new people filter in continually, and this processing goes on nonstop.

Why would this even be necessary? Seems a bit extreme. Well, remember Mary's house, with her picture all bloody and people dead in their beds. Did she clean up and make it nicer out of love, respect, and anguish after she survived the spoilers? We don't know yet. We know now how nasty the spoilers were, because they were going to rape Carl and Michonne and kill Rick and Daryl. Spoilers have no mercy, even with rules, and they have nothing in their psyches to help keep an ordered society.

Maybe Terminus is a form of marshal law, if you will, that is weeding out spoilers and mentally ill despots like the governor. Maybe they are trying to perfect a system where there is no more trial and error trying to survive every new group you bump into.

And if this is the case, I bet that the evil our gang will run into next season will be even more twisted and surreal because this new group is trying so hard to keep that out. Because think about it- we really didn't see a lot of zombies in this last ep. I have a bad feeling that zombies are going to evolve and that there will have to be a new way to handle them, plus something will go all wonky with the brainwashing or something.

And if I'm wrong and Terminus really is all about cannibalism, there you go.

[Pinky]

SPOILER ALERT- If you've not yet seen this cliffhangar episode, shut this window RIGHT NOW and walk away.

The rest of this review is apart from my twitter recap. I got the following pix with my phone right off the TV, emailed to my hard drive and resized, then uploaded to my own host. This isn't the best way to get quality pix, but I'm able to do it fairly quickly, so please bear with my blurry shots.

I'm starting right after Rick sees Hershel's watch that Glenn wound up with in this new guy's pocket, and next thing we know, our guys are all weapons drawn and suspicious. So first scene coming back from commercial is a nice closeup on Carl, reminding us that Carl has been pivotal throughout the season and will probably continue to be the pivotal character when 5th season picks back up next October.



Nice pan out, and the first thing I notice is the long shadows. If you get mixed up during the following scenes, think of the shadows as an east-west direction pointer to keep you oriented through all their running around. Many shows revolve around what is called a 'core four' in a cast, and these are our core four here. We've watched them bond over several episodes, so remember that next October, this core four is more like solidly bonded family now than anyone left standing.



Do you remember this spoon? I commented on a spoon near the beginning when I first started doing my Walking Dead recaps this season. Is it the same one? They don't show us stuff without a reason. There were a couple different groups awhile back mysteriously raiding campsites. I have no idea if this means something here. I want to note that it's really interesting how neatly everything is arranged and made so obvious with the outdoor cooking, especially for as few people as we're seeing around. I've already got the feeling this is a front for something.



For everyone yelling cannibals already, I'm noticing what might be squash blossoms, but I'm also noticing that while all the other planters around them look vibrant and healthy, this big one looks a bit wilty, which I think is something psychological the film maker is doing to us, the audience. I really do apologize for the blurriness because I did a zoom, but anyone who plants a garden can see there has been a lot of work put into growing stuff all over the Terminus set.



We catch on very quickly that our core four are being herded around, not being given time to think, a maze is already set up and they are being pushed hard with fear and adrenaline to rush through it. If you still have this in your DVR, mute it and go back through the running scenes, you notice more without the gunshot noises. Special effects are used, so we see all these white spots marking where the bullets are hitting, but you know it doesn't do that in real life, right? Notice how far away these spots are. They have no intention of killing anybody, at least not right now, and they're making sure they don't even nick them accidentally. I wonder why.



I don't know about you guys, but this race scene turned into a 'name where that car came from' game. I'm pretty sure we've seen all these cars in previous episodes. Don't wanna spoil your fun, but go back through and see if you can remember them.



If you take the time to go back and look this maze over, you can tell it's been used a LOT to run people. There are pock marks everywhere from bullets, so a ton of ammo has gone into this venture, which seems a little odd to me. I would think wasting ammo is a bad thing.



Is this the car Beth disappeared in? I'm not fanatical enough to go back and look.



I know this scene is moving really fast and they're scared and jacked up on their adrenaline, but the wide shots are getting really obvious. Surely someone would have been nicked by now if this were truly a life threatening situation, but none of them have the time to even think that. They keep gut reacting and doing what comes instinctively, and that's running blindly through a maze. I've run a lot of cattle across fields and into corrals and then chutes, and this looks exactly like a cattle run to me. If they were wanting to capture them, they could have done it much more easily than this.

[Pinky]

We'll see if I get this done on time, wifi is slowing down because of the storms. Zombienado across Missouri, right? That's a real thing, please to click, and then like their facebook and follow on twitter. I'm doing this because Kenn Medeiros is an aspie dad and is super awesome for following my Existential Aspie twitter, so please to follow him on twitter as well.

Back to the Walking Dead recap. So everybody's freaking out, dogs and cats sleeping together, mass hysteria.



Bob really started going to town around this time with these gigantic graphics that are too big to get full screen caps of, but they were pretty cool coming through my feed.



I was impressed with these herding scenes, having herded large groups of cattle on a 200 acre farm, and I saw stuff that I want to come back to.



Yep. You guys should follow Bob, he's really into TV show graphics. The zombie twitter logo was cute.



I actually missed the Victoria's Secret commercial, I was too busy pausing and yapping at bonenado. I don't know how he doesn't throw me off the deck.



Rick luv oozing all over twitter....



In the meantime....



That's right, my DVR switched before the show actually ended and I had to catch it after Talking Dead.



While I'm setting up my SPOILERS where I think they're going with Terminus, check out Dylan's Zombie Hack before you listen to the show tonight.

[Pinky]

Ok, where was I? I think just about everyone on twitter thinks Terminus is a cannibal state. I'll tell you what I think is really happening after I finish the tweet recapping.



Just wanna point out how cool Rick is with grey in his beard. Just saying.



I'm not being paid to bring up Silver Dollar City, but it's a big deal around here and I just linked that in case any of you decide on Branson as a vacation destination.



Lotta nerves going off...



NERVES.



*Big* time.



You know how people play air guitar and other things with their fingers? I bet a bunch of people out there are making bow fingers now.



I just skipped a bunch of good stuff. I will come back to it. If you are reading this and *haven't* seen the ep yet, I'm still giving you time to shut your eyes, because SPOILERS coming.



Personally, I'm wondering where the smokers are. This isn't being very creative for cannabalism. Sorry, I'm getting way ahead of myself.



LOL



Sit tight, more coming.