Irishmaple

Carl dies and I’m done. I can’t even imagine the show without him. He, Rick and Michonne are the pillars on which my love for this show was built. I don’t recognize the Rick you guys described in the threads. He went back to the dump to win those losers back? No. Just no. That is not the Rick who killed Joe with his teeth, who fed his son roast dog and his infant daughter mashed acorns. That is not the Rick who looked at Alexandria and said “yeah, we can take this”. That Rick I understood and supported. Battling to win untrustworthy allies? No. I respect Danai for nurturing her career and I love that she’s part of the MCU now, but I miss Michonne. I know the premise is no-one is safe but I was all-in for Carl is the future.

I didn’t watch this one. I read the threads for 5 and 6 to motivate myself to watch in order to catch up. And I couldn’t. I think I’ll wait until the mid season finale airs and binge watch the four episodes over the hiatus. Honestly, and I never, ever thought I would say this, but I think I’m over this show.

Damn. I still haven’t watched the previous two episodes. I missed 5 because I was on vacation; I missed 6 because I got off a plane after crossing the Atlantic and Toronto Pearson Customs is the absolute worst so I was too tired to catch up on 5 before 6 aired, so I just went to bed! Now 7 is on deck, the two episodes are on demand waiting, and I watched two episodes of SWAT and the latest Blindspot instead. I didn’t realize how much I hated Negan until I had to face his return episode. I mean, it’s no secret that I hate him but it’s reached the point that I am actively avoiding watching the show. There’s still time to catch up though. I missed you guys!

The familiar eyes have to be those of Eugene, I suppose. Poor Father Gabriel is stuck with Negan and likely considering a quick death by zombie horde. You guys are going to have to snark for me because I’ll be missing the live airing due to being in Ireland. I’m on vacation!!

I’ll admit I wasn't paying complete attention but Hondo’s exchange with the mother left me confused. I thought she was a domestic violence victim who went in for killing her abuser. She was reaching out on behalf of a cellmate to prevent this other woman from further domestic abuse. Then, suddenly, she was a prison drug queenpin kneecapping her competition and manipulating her son to do so. The story took a turn and left me behind. Did Hondo have information about her that Street doesn’t? And why keep it from him? Why would you let anyone have their strings pulled by a sociopath?

The family drama was very tedious in this episode. Are Ray and his family in danger of losing military housing, or is he living off base? I felt really bad for his wife. She’s dealing with a newborn, complete with sleep deprivation and hormones in disarray, and trying to keep on top of finances as well? It didn’t occur to Ray to get her some help? And why was he complaining about a luxury cable package? When money’s tight, frills like that are first to go. I don’t really care about Jason and Alana either. It seems obvious they’ve grown apart because of the wall he built between his work and his home. Some wives might be okay with that but Alana isn’t. At this stage, it looks like Jason would do better with the translator or the CIA officer, both being women comfortable with secrets. The show went all-in on the Brian died so Clay could become a real boy aspect, which does nothing to endear Clay to me. That interrogation training was really hardcore. Was that Doug Savant as the leader of the training crew? As usual, the actual op was miles better than the background stuff. Nice to see Cerberus back in action, although it looked like one of the anonymous SEALs was working with him. I thought Sonny was his handler.

I am so sorry for your loss.

Anne Heche was able to tie the bombing on the beach to the international arms dealer from the Mexico episode. His girlfriend colluded with a Mexican intelligence operative and the team to plant a bug on him. Ops just learned, via that bug, that he supplied weapons to the people responsible for the Turkey incident. Thereby neatly wrapping two separate cases in a nice bow. Mid season finale, I’m guessing.

His bond with Tyler. There’s definitely agenda there now but on the Klingon vessel, Lorca stuck with the Starfleet prisoner because he trusted him and didn’t want to leave him behind.

This episode felt like filler. I don’t get the point of Wes if that’s the end of his arc. Lauren gets a crush and then he leaves? That didn’t do anything for anyone’s storyline. If we’re exploring issues of trust, Reed earning his way into the Mutant Underground inner circles, Johnny rebuilding his connection with Blink, and Marcos sneaking off to the cartel more than covers that. If I’m ever in deep (fictional) crap, I want to be standing behind Lorna and Dreamer. Those ladies get shit done. The actor playing Johnny does much better work when paired with anyone other than Jamie Chung.

I felt bad for the Mongolian nomads. The raid by the Russian special forces did some damage, and then they were held at gunpoint by Americans. Why wouldn’t the Russians just kill everyone though? It seemed shortsighted to leave survivors with knowledge of the drone and the raid. Even in the middle of nowhere people talk. I like that the show is circling back to the bombing in Turkey and to Boothe. For all the running around and shooting in this episode, I found it dull.

That was a really strong episode. Ash Tyler’s PTSD flashbacks were very well done, so harrowing I felt anxious for him. I was concerned that the show would bypass Ash’s experiences as a POW but they didn’t. Regardless of whether or not he is Ash Tyler, the character has very traumatic memories and was completely incapacitated by them. Cornwell did a very professional job of guiding him back to reality despite her own pain and worry. Lorca’s going to have his hands full when she catches back up to him. L’Relle may have outsmarted herself. If she did plant Ash on Discovery, her plan may not go as smoothly as she thought. Ash has formed a genuine bond with Burnham, has a position of status among the crew, and gets along well with Lorca. The non-Klingons have completely accepted him. The only one who can hurt him is L’Relle herself. I felt bad for Hugh and Tilley as they supported Stamets through the jumps. He and Lorca made an unlikely pair of allies, given the early episodes, but I liked seeing them on the same page. Lorca’s developing an interesting connection with all of his bridge crew. Ash and Michael argued with him, the pilot offered input, Hugh yelled at him, and he listened to all of them. The characters are all coming together nicely.

The episode was brutal on The Kingdom and Ezekiel looks absolutely broken. His people were ride or die, and they did. I was stunned by how quickly they swarmed him, giving their own lives without hesitation to protect him. Regardless of his origins, they loved that man and the sanctuary he built with them. I’d be eye rolling through his speeches but I wouldn’t hesitate to follow him. He doesn’t buy his own bullshit for a minute. He does it for his people. It was awful watching them turn and stalk him. Daniel, the ginger, looked very menacing and I thought the actor did the zombie thing very well. I was surprised Shiva was taken down so easily by the Toxic Avenger zombies. I thought perhaps she’d been injured during the shooting but didn’t see any wounds. A bad day all around for Ezekiel. What the hell kind of Kool Aid is Negan serving that his people don’t take the opportunity to escape when it’s available? Ezekiel said in his opening speech that some of Negan’s people are there due to circumstances and some are just murderers. I’m beginning to think he’s wrong. Everyone seems to buy this I Am Negan crap and show absolute loyalty even when Lucille and the hierarchy are elsewhere. It’s stretching my very flexible suspension of disbelief a bit far. Carol is the absolute best at presenting herself as overwhelmed and non-threatening before kicking ass. Rick and Darryl managed to prevent the weapons from getting to Negan. Jerry survived. There’s been a nice break from Negan and Jadis but I guess all good things.....

Guess Jerry’s the new king.

Oh Kirkman’s going to hear about this later.