[S05.E11: The Distance]

 

I'm sure those kids were a recording...

If I hadn't of had the close-captioning on I never would have known that Rick and Michonne were hearing children laughing and would have wondered why they got such strange looks on their faces. In watching the episode the second time I knew what I was listening for and still couldn't tell, I could just make out a faint something. Was it really that faint or just my TV? If it was that subtle, how did Rick and Michonne hear it from inside the car outside the walls? If it was actually loud (and just my TV or my ears making it so indistinguishable), then yeah, I have the same question everyone else does re where were the kids making those sounds.

 

Anyhows, if it was a recording as many are guessing ... what was it recorded on and what was broadcasting the recording? Do they have an old crank-up phonograph and also happen to have an old record of laughing children to go with it? A battery operated device that they have a fresh supply of good batteries for? Or do they have electricity there? 

 

If we can come up with a believable answer to that question, then the next is .. Do they have a lookout stationed somewhere whose job it is to cue the pleasant audio when strangers approach or is it background sound they play all the time to set a happy calming mood for the inhabitants of the compound?

 

Because of the above questions I think that whatever Rick & Michonne were hearing was real, though I can't come up with any good ideas on what this community's story is. 

 

I loved that Michonne regained some skepticism when she realized there were no people in the pictures. Though as someone else pointed out, it's surprising she could see anything in the pictures in the backseat of a moving car at nightime with no lights. Likewise, when Rick was reading the map to tell Glen where to go, I was thinking "Dam! I wish my eyesight was still that good that I could read a roadmap (which always have tiny print) in the dark in a moving car without glasses!".   

 

[S05.E11: The Distance]

Far from gratuitous, I thought the Aaron-and-Eric kiss was a plot essential.  ...  Based on past history, Rick is unable to perceive anybody outside CDB as an individual human person - outsiders are a Threat which must be nullified or otherwise dealt with. Every action or flicker of emotion Aaron displays will be viewed in the most negative, suspicious, threatening light possible ...

This is why, in this context, The Kiss is so significant. Rick has continually analyzed every one of Aaron's actions/reactions in the context of an assassin, a saboteur, a trickster - every view focused on the potential impact to Rick&Co. When Aaron and Eric kiss, however, Rick is shocked into the realization that Aaron is NOT an assassin, or a saboteur, or a trickster - Aaron is an actual honest-to-God separate living breathing HUMAN BEING, with concerns and motivations which have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU OR YOURS, RICK. ...  IMHO this realization more than anything else breached the emotional walls Rick had built sufficiently to allow him to give Aaron's group a chance.

I thought they were alone in the back room and noone saw the kiss but us viewers? Everyone was headed out to greet the other half of CDB who had just shown up, they all were either still outside or in the front room.  Aaron on the other hand ran inside immediately to find Eric who was calling to him. Rick walked in on them later, after Aaron had just taken Eric's hand (or maybe it was vice versa) and Aaron subtly de-handed him when he noticed Rick, and then Eric said Hello I'm Eric. ...  

So I am pretty sure Rick didn't see anything but the hand thing.  His eyes though told us that he clearly recognized he had just walked in on a tender moment between two people who are more than just friends.

[S05.E10: Them]

But sometimes it's so much easier to make a point when drawing comparisons.  Why go on at length about your concern that a show has lost it's direction, mystical and incomprehensible actions are going unexplained, the writers and show runners are making promises that you're starting to disbelieve, and you're worried this wonderful amazing show is potentially running itself into the ground - taking you and your hopes for how the story ends with it.  Why say all that when you can simply say - I hope this show doesn't become another Lost. Meaning ..... a show that you invested so much time and energy in, and were left bitter and confused when it signed off. 

Agreed it's definitely easier & faster to make your point that way but that's assuming your audience is also familiar with the show you're making the comparison to. I've never seen a single episode of Lost or The Sopranos or Downtown Abbey or Game of Thrones or Sons or Anarchy or Dexter .... I haven't seen any of the other zombie-genre shows occasionally mentioned here either.   (Except for Zombie Land which I loved and Dawn of the Dead.) But I also don't live under a rock so I do pick up little snippets here and there like for example I know how The Sopranos and Dexter ended and that fans weren't particularly happy. I don't know a thing about Lost though or how it ended other than that again, fans weren't all that happy about how they ended it, so any complicated comparisons that aren't explained would be well, lost on me.  

 

In comparison (LOL!) ... if I am looking to buy a new gadget, say a cell phone, I read reviews first and it bugs the hell out me when the reviewer says (and they almost always use this approach) "The SX5 builds on the SX4 and is quite similiar to the LM62, with just minor changes to the user-interface and audio quality" .... WTF? I never had those gadgets and don't know what they are like so that comparison doesn't help me at all.  I simply want a review of the product in question, explained in and of itself. Huge peeve of mine.

 

A discussion of a TV show though, not quite that serious so i just shrug and move on to the next post when there's a reference/comparison I don't get. 

[Beth: You're going to miss me when I'm gone...]

But what stood out to me was Tyreese seeing her and essentially having her escort him to Heaven. That was a giant WTF moment for me. I felt it was more for the audience because I really can't imagine why she'd be given such a prominent 'role' in Tyreese's story. She plays her guitar and soothes him and then reassures him when they're in the car etc.

 

It's not a role that she was ever shown to play when they were both alive, so I really felt that she had been shoe-horned into his exit for no narrative reason at all. She came off (to me) as some kind of pied piper angel who appeared to help Tyreese shuffle off this mortal coil.

 

I'd love to know why TPTB thought that visions of Beth should have made any appearance when Tyreese was dying. .

That whole episode was a WTF moment for me. It was so awful they could have had Jim and Patrick and the Easter Bunny on the bus, too, and I wouldn't have given it a moment's more thought then I did. 

[Daryl: Your Leading Man and Norman Reedus: the Actor]

Please God no the man is 45 years old!!!

46 actually according to Wiki. But in real life, Rosita is only 24 to Sgt. Abe's 50! Now that eeks me out. 

[Beth: You're going to miss me when I'm gone...]

I feel like the narrative is elevating Beth's place/importance in their group now that she's dead and I really don't understand why.

I can accept it on the show because it's what so often happens in real life. We don't usually disrespect the dead. When someone dies we tend to focus only on all that was good in them, we don't dwell on their faults. We remember the positive and that we cared about them and let the rest go with the result often being that the deceased is elevated in death to a "status" they didn't have in life. 

 

I don't think though that the show has gone overboard on elevating Beth. Carol told Daryl "I think she saved my life. She saved yours too, right?". And Daryl told Maggie she was "strong". That's it. A far cry IMO from the perception that the show is presenting Beth as

... a sainted golden child of light who has left a trail of bottomless grief because of evil people who preyed on her, [and Tyrese deserved what he got].

 

[S05.E10: Them]

But there's the difference - it's an animal's smarts that keeps us safe.  Add to that their honed and evolved instincts.  We're protected from most wild animals because they fear us - not true of walkers .... Most wild animals are good hunters and have evolved skills that limits the likelihood they will be injured.  Walkers can not be frightened away, we can't depend on a walkers instincts for self-protection to keep them away from humans, and they are not motivated to kill only when hungry and to ensure survival. Walkers are not capable of learning over time that humans are dangerous, and then learning to avoid us..

Ahh, very good points. The bolded one especially. Yeah, OK, the very fact of being brainless is exactly what makes them such a threat. I can go with that. 

[S05.E10: Them]

This is how you remind me of what I really am. 

 

Listened to this song on the work radio Monday morning and thought it THE perfect Walking Dead song. Close your eyes, play the song, and let the show run through your mind .... 

[S05.E10: Them]

Sheesh, was Daryl burning himself in order to feel his sadness over Beth or was he doing that because he (LIKE EVERYONE ELSE) is so fucking numb he's desperate for something, ANYTHING to break through the fog.

Yes. Seemed to me he needed the physical stimulation to induce the tears that once shed make you feel better. I didn't see it being about Beth in particular or about having been an abused child or being some deeply psychological thing where he's a self-mutalator or cutter or whatnot... I saw it as he simply needed something physical to trigger a release of everything pent up inside of him. Carol told him she can keep things bottled up inside but he can't, he needs to let things out. I don't really understand why she thinks that but yeah, IMO Daryl's burning himself wasn't anything more complicated then him just needing a trigger for release.

 

 

When he cried or Maggie cried or FPP cried or Sasha cried yes it was about some discrete individual but also godamn they were all breaking down because they are living in a horrific world of unrelenting pain and stink.

Yes again. This episode directly followed Beth's death and then Tyrese's, so sure they were all mourning another specific loss but at this point they are all so broken and bone-weary over the bleakness and extreme hardships and daily struggle - both mental and physical - involved in just going on living that tears shed aren't just about one specific person or event anymore, they are a cumulation of everything. 

 

I think the dogs was a nice touch since we've never seen our group being threatened by any wildlife, like bears or coyotes. The former pet dogs seeing people as a food supply and ending up being eaten by those people really hammered home that life has come down to its age-old and most basic "Survival of the fittest."

Yep. "Man's Best Friend" is no longer man's best friend. Its pack against pack now, whether human or animal. I think picking this episode to finally show us a roaming pack of dogs was genius. It was extremely effective at showing that this is no longer the world as we knew it. It's a dog eat dog world now where you sleep with one eye open, trust noone, and make the best of what you are given. Thus dog for dinner. 

That said I have never really understood why zombie's are more of a threat than any other dangerous wild animal humans have successfully kept at bay. Bears, coyotes, mountain lions, wolves, dogs, lions, tigers, wild boar, you name it ... plenty of animals smarter then zombies that would tear us to shreds in a second given the chance but we have so far managed to co-exist with them without civilization ending. So not sure why we can't outsmart brainless corpses and continue on with our Starbucks & Netflix ways. I try not to think about it too much though or it might would ruin the show for me.  

Also, they are always worried about the noise of gunshots attracting Walkers so Sasha opening fire on the dogs was weird to me. She really was being stupid in her anger/grief I guess. And now I am thinking, maybe it was that gunfire that attracted the Walkers that finally caught up to them at the barn?

 

I didn't understand why Rick suddenly changed their plan of attack re: the walkers on the ridge. So Sasha stabbed one of them...so what? It's not like the other walkers would have been all "you killed Doug! You bitch! Attack all at once, guys!" Why couldn't our group have continued with their plan of 'lure and evade'?

Thankyou! I didn't get that either.  I try not to pick the show apart because I don't want to lessen my enjoyment of it by purposely looking for "plot holes" or whatever but this, yeah, it bugged the heck out of me. :(

 

As for the episode in general, I loved it. Might be Best in Show for me so far, especially appreciated after last week's episode which was the worst ever in my book. I so needed a "breather" episode, as dark as it was. Needed to see the effects on everyone of everything they have been though, Needed to finally get a glimpse into just the day-to-day struggles of living in this new world, without any big bad boogieman plot. Just our gang - and the whole gang together -  weary and broken and dirty and starving and thirsty and dejected and just trying to cope and adjust. 

 

And kudos to Carol for finally doing what thousands of us have wanted to do for ages - brush that dam hair out of Daryl's face!

[S05.E09: What Happened, And What's Going On]

Way back when, people didn't worry so much about hygiene. Because Rick's group didn't grow up that way (just as we didn't),  they're probably going to clean up as well as possible before they'd have sex. Scavenge some toothpaste, clean up the usual smelly parts, etc.

With this last marathon I finally saw the episode when they went to the CDC and boy was I happy to see them all get hot showers. (Would have been happier if they'd given us some freshly-shampooed Daryl cross-bowing a walker while wearing just a towel but I digress ...)  Rick and Lori didn't waste any time getting busy together once they had soap and hot water. And also a sense of security.  I think that is as big a factor in people not hooking up as the hygiene factor is. Maybe more so. Kind of hard to get lost in the moment - or even think about having a moment - when you constantly have to keep an eye and an ear out for imminent threats to your life. 

 

I hated this episode, it ranks as worst in the series so far for me. I have never liked Tyrese so did not appreciate that a whole episode was devoted to him. He did of course die so that's a plus but still, blah, I felt that nothing of interest happened and half the cast was missing.  If you're going to make us wait 2 1/2 months for a new episode make it a good one to re-fire our interest; and try to get all the cast in it. Faster-paced would have been better, first ep after a break is not a good time to do a slow artsy-fartsy ep. 

[Beth: You're going to miss me when I'm gone...]

I think they're supposed to be half-sisters, Hershel is father to both girls. But the writers, as per usual, were very careless with the details, so that when you add it all up it makes little sense. 

 

Beth's age has always been rather ambiguous, as has her familial spot in the Greene dynamics. 

 

Don't know what episode it was (been binge-watching with everyone else this weekend so harder than usual to keep episodes straight) but Maggie, in talking to Herschel, clearly says she was 14 years old when he remarried. If the general consensus - that Beth is Herschel's bio daughter by his second wife and Maggie's half-sister - is true then that would make Maggie at least 14 yrs older than Beth (because I think we can safely assume that Herschel would not have had a child (Beth) out of wedlock, which would have had to happen for Beth to be his bio daughter and be closer in age than 14 years to her half-sister Maggie).

 

Someone up-thread said that while on the farm Maggie told Glen she was 22. Which would make Beth 8 at the very oldest when we viewers first met her, assuming the 14 year age difference. Which we know isn't the case as Beth looked to be around 16 then. Other posters have said with certainty that Beth was 16 when we first met her, making for a 6 year age difference between her and Maggie. Which doesn't mesh with the first paragraph above. 

Also, in the moonshine-drinking cabin-burning episode, Beth mentions a brother (Sean?) to Daryl, says he was a typical over-protective older brother. (I had NO idea until the re-watch today that there was a third Green sibling!) I don't recall Herschel ever mourning the loss of a son? Or Maggie the loss of a brother? 

 

So we have Maggie, Beth, and Sean. Full blood siblings? Half siblings (one parent in common with another)? Step-siblings (related only by marriage)? Bio kids or step kids to Herschel? Who knows. I don't think the age & relationships mess was intended, there is enough going on in TWD without the writers needing to throw in complicated family dynamics for no good reason, so I think it's just an oversight in scripting for so many different characters that they maybe didn't know what they would eventually do with. But we as viewers need to know who's related to who and how so we make up our own scenerios. Here's mine:

 

Maggie is the bio daughter of Herschel and Wife #1. 

Wife #1 dies while Maggie is still young leaving Herschel alone to raise Maggie. Thus the very strong bond between Maggie and Herschel and her angst at him remarrying. 

When Maggie is 14 Herschel marries Wife #2, who already has a son of her own, Sean. This makes Sean only a step-son to Herschel and step-sister to Maggie. 

Herschel and Wife #2 have Beth. This makes Beth Herschel's bio daughter, Maggie's half-sister, and Sean's half sister. 

 

I think that supposition works for everything we have seen on the show as far as who is grieving or not grieving for who and who is calling who what so the 14-year age difference that would make between Maggie & Beth is just an unintentioned accident of the script writing. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. ;)

[The "Sex & the City" Movies: Comparing & Contrasting the TV Series]

I have never seen the second movie and have no desire to see it, it sounds absolutely awful. But I watched the first one again today as it was on TV. 

 

The last night in Carrie's apartment where they were supposed to be helping her pack and they did the trying-on-outfits montage? Ridiculous. Would have taken hours for all of them to keep changing clothes yet they supposedly did that and packed up the apartment that night? Just silly. 

 

Steve committing adultery with a one-night fling? I buy it. He may have worshipped the ground Miranda walked on but it was a one way street IMO. No sex for six months and then "let's just get it over with" .. What a humiliating thing to hear from your partner. (Even the friends were horrified when Miranda told them about it). For all he knew it was over; she wasn't showing the same interest in him as he was in her and he was way way down on her list of priorities. So he succumbs one night to a woman who did make him feel good and desirable. I'm not excusing it but I understand it so I don't think it was an out-of-left-field plot device.

 

Big leaving Carrie at the alter? He didn't really. He just needed to see and talk to her and by the time they finally were able to connect on the phone he didn't get a chance to talk it out and get the reassurance he needed from her, she dropped the phone on him. And when he went back she didn't give him a chance either, self-absorbed brat that she is it was all about her. If she had taken a moment to talk with him instead of wigging out on him the wedding would have went on and the guests wouldn't even have known why the ceremony was starting a bit late. 

 

Charlotte taking Carrie into a protective hug and telling Big NO! when he tried to approach - best Charlotte moment of the series I think. Sweet little Charlotte turning bulldog .. of the four she is the friend I would want. 

 

Samantha dumping Smith .. I think that was totally in character for her and I don't think it was just about wanting to have sex with the guy next door.  Her life had become about all him, she was losing herself. She chose to hang on to herself and let the relationship go. Which is what we tell women all the time .. don't lose yourself in the relationship ... and it was a nice opposite take compared to Miranda. Both independent, successful career-oriented women; one chooses to step outside herself and go with the husband, kid, and house in the suburbs, and one doesn't. 

 

And this isn't directly related to the movie but I want to say .. I can't fathom what about Samantha was lovable, why Smith would be so into her. She had nothing to offer but sex. Everything was about sex.  Five year anniversary - he bought her something he was observant enough to notice that she had really liked. She didn't even remember it was an anniversary and when she did all she tried to give him in return was a BJ. Valentines day? Again, her gift to him was sex. Sex is important (see Miranda & Steve) but really, you need more than just that to sustain a serious relationship and it seems Smith wasn't getting anything else out of it. He should have been the one to dump her. 

 

Last note ... what was up with Miranda's face in the scene were she and Carrie were at dinner and she told her about what she said to Big at the rehearsal? The make-up people must have used a gallon of bronzer on her, it looked awful, not her normal pale red-head complexion.

 

[The Men of Sex and the City]

Aidan was my favorite SATC guy.  He is my ideal guy.  Cute, good job, nice, manly but not a douchebag.

Oh, I sooo loathed Aidan and the whole "is he a friend or a boyfriend?" thing. I dated (I guess) a guy exactly like that once. We'd go out for dinner and a movie or just meet for drinks (date-like things) or get together to play raquetball or just hang out at each others places and talk for hours (friend-like things).  He would pick up the tab whenever we went out (date-like) yet he never made a move on me to take things to a physical level (friend-like). Talking on the phone once I mentioned I had just got out of the shower and was wearing nothing but a towel and he was all "I sure wish I was there right now to see that". Such mixed signals. Just man-up already and make your intentions clear. Don't draw a candlelit bubbble bath and then leave. Ick. 

 

But back to Aidan. I hated him! I wanted Carrie to smoke like a chimney and tell him if you don't like it, there's the door ....

In "All or Nothing" they are in bed at her apartment, with his dog. She gets a brief phone call and immediately decides to get out of bed to take his dog for a walk while wearing next to nothing and he doesn't think anything is weird about that. The dog comes back alone and then THREE HOURS later she comes back, soaking wet. And all he has to say is "he was getting worried" and that he can smell smoke on her. Bastard. Your girlfriend goes missing like that in NYC and all you do is sit around her apartment waiting? As soon as the dog came back without her (ridiculous BTW) he should have been calling her friends and the police and been out looking for her. And then she is all upset about "being a bad girlfriend" and he is all "it's OK". WTF? HE should have been apologizing up and down to her for being such a horrible boyfriend (and person in general) who didn't even care enough to go look for her and then has the nerve to chastise her about smoking while she was gone.  I just hated him. If I step out at night barely dressed, without money or keys or phone or ID or anything and the dog turns back up without me, my boyfriend better have the National Freakin' Guard out looking for me, 

[TWD Women Who's the bigger threat: Walkers or Writers?]

I may be wrong, but I don't think we saw Judith at that point, as Lizzie and Mika were both focused on the gun battles. I think Lizzie told one of the boys to go get the other kids. Then we saw the bloody baby carrier to try to fake us out. 

 

All I could find was this video montage from the episode

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGoHRPXzkfs

 

and this pic

 

http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20131210222054/walkingdead/images/3/3a/Too_far_gone_judith.png

 

That's Mica and an unknown girl (in the suspenders)  carrying her out of the prison but in the vid, Mica, Lizzie, Suspender-girl, and a boy are standing together when Lizzie & Mica fire on Tara's girlfriend and I don't see the baby. So now I am confused. Did they exit the building with the baby and then set her down or hand her off to someone before saving Tyrese? I don't know, obviously my memory isn't trustyworthy here. 

[TWD Women Who's the bigger threat: Walkers or Writers?]

I'm completely flummoxed by what I've been reading here and in the Beth and Coda threads. I've always thought TWD has done an exceptional job at giving us strong female characters (probably to attract and keep women viewers in the fan base). After Coda I thought they might even being going a bit too far with it.

 

There's Michonne of course who we all know now as a super-human ass-kicker who needs rely on noone, she's a woman who can take care of herself, no doubts about it. Even her back story shows that - while the two males she was with hung back at camp to watch the kid (and get high, apparently), she, the woman, was the one to go out on a supply run.

 

Carol. So she started out as a mousy, abused wife. So what? There are more women then I would like to think about who are just like Carol IRL, in the same type situation. And look what they did for Carol .. it may have been a man who beat the sh-- out of a living Ed but they gave Carol her revenge too, in beating the sh__ out of his dead body. And it was Carol they had save the entire gang from a certain ugly death. The chose a female character to be the hero, not Rick or Daryl or the hulking Tyrese (who they left behind as a baby-siiter!) or the hulking Abraham (who they had be stupid enough to walk right into a trap despite his military training).  A phyically small middle aged woman - thats who they chose as the hero who saved them all.

 

There's Maggie, who is crazy head-strong, bound and determined to do what she wants and always succeeding at it. The episode where everything goes to hell at the prison and Glen is on the verge of dying, she was amazing in that. She gets a lot of grief for her non-reacton over Beth but I admire her for that episode.  She made her way, kicking and shooting and slaying, into the isolation ward to get to the two men she loved most, Glen and Herschel. Unstoppable, Undeterred. She took a hell of a risky shot and killed the walker that Herschel was struggling with, saving his life and letting him get the intubation mask thingy that they in turn used to save Glen's life. And when they got to Glen, and she saw her man suffering and on the verge of death, she still kept her cool and did what was needed instead of freaking out and fainting or something. And the next day, she insisted Glen stay on the bus while she herself went off to find her sister. This is no damsel-in-distress story with a knight-in-shiny-armor making his way thru hell and highwater to save her.. Quite the opposite ... They made the female the hero here, going the mile to save both her father and her husband!

 

And then there's Dawn. A female cop, in the leader position. Who we also got to see in hand-to-hand combat with O'Donnel, a MALE, wherein she put quite a hurting on him, she had some moves. Did you see that high spin-kick to his chest? Dam. She didn't get dropped with one punch, wasn't left slumped against a wall crying after the first thunk. They gave her a darn good fight. Against a man. Who she whupped up on. And after Dawn is shot what happens? Yes, that's right, it's another FEMALE cop who they have step up and take charge. Shepard is the one who says "stand down" and the others do, with out question. And those others were four MALE cops, and interestingly enough, one woman cop,too.  

 

And don't forget Lizzie and Mica. Seems Tyrese gets all the credit for saving baby Judith at the prison but if I recall correctly it was Lizzie and Mica who were carrying her out when they ran into a bumbling Tyrese and saved his life by shooting the lady who was coming at him - Tara's girlfriend I think it was. Two little girls saved the hulking big dude and the baby! Who thanked them by leaving them alone in the woods with the baby! And then who came by ans saved them?  A woman. 

 

I don't mean for the above to be character analysis' or to endorse for (or rant against) any particular plot lines, just giving them as examples of TWD doing a good job at not being sexist. Not against women anyways, LOL. 

 

 

 

 

['90s Hair, B-Movies and British Accents: TWD Cast in Other Roles]

Flipping channels last weekend I settled into a charming little movie about a boy in Scotland during WWII who finds an egg that hatches into a Water Horse. Someways into it we meet Cpt. Hamilton of the British Army, and jump back .. it's The Guvna' (David Morissey)! 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0760329/

 

 

[Maggie: The Only Person Living in Reality]

I'd vote for - Maggie: “I’m not rubbing dirt on anything.”

 

I loved that little scene, Abraham and Maggie made me laugh out loud in it. 

[Beth: You're going to miss me when I'm gone...]

Ah, OK, thankyou. I remember that character though I do not remember him being left by the tree to die at all, must have nodded of during that episode. 

[Beth: You're going to miss me when I'm gone...]

Will someone please remind me who on earth Jim was? His name keeps coming up as a dead character people liked but I have no idea who he was?

[S05.E08: Coda]

Well crud, I was trying to respond to a few things w/ quotes from up-thread but lost it all with one bad click of the mouse and don't want to re-gather the quotes and re-type so I'll just wing it here ...

 

You are right, the time table in TWD dead world had never been clear and combined with 6-8 months between seasons and 2-3 months for a mid-season break ... yeah, what may seem like eons to us viewers may only be days for the characters.

And I guess I am being too hard on Sasha, finding her guilty by association I guess. I'll try to look at her in a more neutral light when the show returns. But Tyrese, no can do, I still want a ton of bricks dropped on his head. 

 

 

[S05.E08: Coda]

I know the list of "Why I hate/don't mind/love Tyrese" has probably been exhausted but      ..............    Tyrese is the worst

Tyrese has to go. I've moved from wishing he would just sort of fade away to wanting a ton of bricks dropped on his head. Sasha needs to go too though she is not quite as bad as her brother. They knew Karen & Bob for like five minutes each, STFU about them and get over it, I can't stand their blathering anymore. Carl is just a kid and he had to shoot his own mother in the head for cryin' out loud, as well as his stand-in dad, Shane, but he hasn't gone on and on about it. Geesh. Tyrese and Sasha strike me as the sorts whose mailman would die and they would go to the funeral and weep and wail and carry on more than the mailman's wife and kids. Everything is about them and their feelings, never mind that everyone around them is going through or has gone through the same or much, much worse. 

 

The last straw for Tyrese with me was when Tyrese and Sasha were on the roof and they were supposed to be protecting Rick below as he went to meet the cops. Sasha was trying to stay on top of it but there's Tyrese, yammering in her ear, distracting her, paying no real attention to his own weapon or the situation down below. I wanted Sasha to push him away and say "NOT NOW YOU FOOL!!!" Gah. They both need to go. 

[Father Gabriel: Knockin on Heaven's Door]

He's weaselly and snivelly but he entertains me and I can't wait to see what other weird trouble he gets into.

I think everyone of them has done something in the past that was stupid or cowardly or morally questionable so I give him a pass because he amuses me, too. 

[Beth: You're going to miss me when I'm gone...]

I wasn't a Beth Fan or a Beth Hater but I was interested in seeing where they were going with her. I wasn't expecting it so I was shocked by her death. Sad to lose another long-term member of the group but not something I would dwell on as she wasn't a prime player for me. What goads me is that it was such an inglorious death. 

 

[S05.E08: Coda]

Aww, poor Daryl. He looks like he's carrying the weight of the world in his arms there at the end. Which really harks back to him saying "you're heavier then I thought you'd be" when he carried her back at the mortuary. Most excellent, Show. Beth is going to continue to weigh heavy on Daryl for a very long time. 

[S05.E08: Coda]

I didn't like how they didn't show Beth reunite in any meaningful way with the members of the group. Like not so much as a hello.

I don't know. I think being so close to having her back safely and then losing her before even a "hello" is more heart-wrenching then if they all had had a nice reunion.  Especially for Maggie. Getting the good news and then being deflated before even as much as a hug/hello or even a chance to say goodbye while Beth was dying was just awful.

She did get a head-hug/kiss thing from Rick though. Which makes me recall .. wasn't there a scene some seasons back where Rick was coming back from something (literally or maybe just mentally) and Beth gave him a sweet little hug and peck on the cheek?