The Walking Dead, S4 Ep 15: Us
~~~SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS~~~And a note to readers: WordPress has changed the way we can format pictures and such, so no images open in a new window. If you want that to happen, you need to do so manually. Or, you can just use your browser's back button. Moving on.Let's get the easy stuff out of the way.Maggie & Glenn: reunited! They have found one another. Glenn saw Maggie's signs to get to Terminus and threw all sense of caution to the wind, running pell-mell along the railroad tracks, refusing to stop for rest or safety, and climbing through a collapsed train tunnel (from which they could clearly hear zombie hisses).
His emotionally fueled personal quest jeopardized the life of injured Tara, who steadfastly refused to leave Glenn's side as she busily atoned for her "sin" of being deceived by The Governor. Things would have been so much worse for Glenn and Tara if the cavalry--in the shape of the joined forces of Eugene, Abe Ford, Rosita, Maggie, Bob, and Sasha--hadn't shown up in backlit silhouette at exactly the right moment.
So, yay, lovebirds, glad you've found one another and can stop risking your friends' lives in unthought-out and selfish pursuits. Once they were back together, Glenn burned the picture he had of Maggie because she promised him she'd never be apart from him again. Sweet. Ominous. Because who can keep that kind of promise in their crazy world?
I'm betting the answer is: not her. But we'll see.Eugene: OMG, really? This guy is the embodiment of the worst of the worst of gamers, and this episode opens with him talking to Tara about dinosaurs and what RPGs or video games or whatever, he liked to play the most. And that a zombie dinosaur game would be an awesome pre-order. Like, he's still thinking about these things like they're present for him. Like, in his head he's running through gaming scenarios. Abe and Rosita, why do you believe he's got the answers to everything? (Actually, I suspect Rosita kind of thinks he's full of shit, but she won't leave Abe and so? She follows.) I'm kind of surprised Eugene is able to tie his shoes without knotting them together and tripping himself, nerd-style. The problem with Eugene is, he's the dangerous sort of comic relief whose stuffed-shirt brainiac blustering will end up getting someone killed, in much the same way that Glenn's reckless run into the train tunnel nearly got Tara (and himself) killed.
Rick, Carl & Michonne: walking the tracks! Heading for Terminus! They're physically not in this episode much, other than to show that Carl and Michonne are pretty securely bonded and Rick is all glowy over the good-timey feelings he gets from both of them. Awwww, so sweet it gives me a toothache. It won't last.
The grim, dark little crew Daryl has fallen in with (grimness evidenced by their willingness to kill Len, one of their own, over the fact that Len was a stupid douchebag) is trailing Rick for revenge over the killing and zombification of their friend in the bathroom (called it!). Joe, the leader of the gang, apparently man-crushes on Daryl, as he's awfully protective of him AND is psychologically working him really, really hard with a relentless stream of "guys like us" statements. As in, "Guys like us, we practice a reverse judgement of Solomon; we cut the bunny in half and wait for the participants to reveal their true natures."And then guys like us, we shoot the folks with a less desirable nature in the eye with an arrow. Because reasons.
One of the curious traits of this season's TWD has been its willingness to be self-referential and go back and forth along its own timeline. The characters' stories are linear unto themselves, but jump back and forth in reference to other characters' storylines. They do this again with Daryl's gang, as they "claim" what they want is theirs, be it a bunny, a place to sleep, or a house. Remember, the episode where Rick first encounters the Joe gang is called "Claimed". Unbeknownst to Rick, he broke the rules by being in a claimed house, though I suspect Joe won't be as lenient toward Rick's rule-breaking as he was toward Daryl's. What with Daryl being his man-crush bowman, and all. I mean, who wouldn't love that vest with the wings on the back?
Look, Daryl Dixon maniacs, I'm not saying Daryl reciprocates the feelings. I'm just saying Daryl has a fan, and that his fan also loves murder. That's all.Bear this in mind for later in this blog: In the "Claimed" episode, Michonne and Carl go scavenging through the houses in the neighborhood, searching for food (not pudding) and medical supplies and...whatever. In one of the houses they come upon a hallway gallery filled with crappy, mom-has-free-time-so-she's-painting-flowers-and-we-have-to-hang-them style paintings. In the same house, Michonne and Carl also find the pinkest room in the history of all pinkness, filled with the bodies of a family that all died together rather than try and survive the zombie apocalypse.
Or so we think. Back to that in a minute.So, Terminus.Maggie, Glenn, Sasha, Bob, Tara, Abe Ford, Rosita, and the relentlessly annoying Eugene arrive, and it is positively Paradise-y. It's quiet. (Too quiet?) It's open. There are sunflowers blooming along the entranceway, and that gives way to tidy little raised garden beds filled with cabbages and cucumbers and whatever else kind of produce they've got going.
Farmer Rick should fit right in here, once he toddles his way down the tracks. Ahhhh, serene, right? They turn the corner and...finally, someone! Standing in the middle of a grill pit.A grill pit?
A grill pit. And she's all braided and serene and smiley, and introduces herself as "Mary". My response was much like that scene in The Highlander, when The Kurgan (only one of the greatest movie villains ever, and I will love you for all time for this, Clancy Brown) is in the seedy hotel and the hooker shows up. "I'm Candy," she says, and his reply?"Of course you are."[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S784Hn_1ivQ]Because I trust her (and Terminus in general) as much as I would trust Kurgan not to cheat at Scrabble. Though I do get to enjoy the benefit of watching the story unfold from the luxury of my couch, and not from the desperate, "I want four walls and food and a hot shower and I want to not have to fear that zombies are going to break in on my life and force me to have to flee into the woods...again...." center of a zombie apocalypse. Perspective is everything.So. Mary. Mother of God allusions aside (is that possible?)...what's she grilling? Because I didn't see any livestock.
AND! Remember those paintings in the house, that I mentioned previously? Some eagle-eyed writer-fan who's got me wildly outnerded pointed out that those paintings all mirror things that have happened in the various storylines. There's a couple of bunnies, and we all remember what happened when Lizzie met up with a bunch of baby bunnies. There's a golden dog, that looks suspiciously like the mangy mutt that lured Daryl to the door and caused the split from him and Beth. There's sunflowers, much like the ones that greeted them at Terminus. And there's one painting that had been profoundly defaced. Eyes and mouth X-ed out, splattered with...blood? Red paint? Hard to tell. And the thing is...
Yep. Looks like her. Looks a whole, irrefutable lot like her.I can't tell you how many times I thought, "I should save these episodes on the DVR, so I can refer back to them if I need to." And then I didn't and now I'm furious with myself (next season: done and done) because...if memory serves correctly...this painting was covered with some kind of cloth and propped in front of the door that led to the pink room where Michonne found the bodies. So. Did someone else place the painting there? Force this family to kill themselves? Was it related to Mary? Or did they just hate kitschy folk art this much? Michonne got a good eyeful of this painting; will she recognize Mary if and/or when they get to Terminus? What really happened in that house?That, I think, is the question that will carry us forward into next season.But next week, for the final episode: Bloody mayhem is assured. Stay tuned!We'll let Guns 'n' Roses play us out of this week's episode with some "Paradise City". Because it feels right.[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rbm6GXllBiw]