S04.E04: A New Mission: Keep Moving

[ottoDbusdriver]

Following Warren's dream, the team doesn't stop while crossing The Great Pile, a seemingly endless landscape of rubble and destruction.

 

[ottoDbusdriver]

There's lots going on this episode during their trek through the Great Pile.

There were classic Zs, a Mad Z, Rat Zs, Enders, two goons from Zona (how they managed to track the group, I have no idea), and booby-trapped Zs (the question is who was doing the booby trapping with all those grenades, probably military).

Doc and 10K's reflexive answer of "We were no where near the Grand Canyon" was priceless.

At least both of the Zona security goons got their comeuppance.

Warren's dream changes every time, but the basics seem to always be there -- the black rainbow, the blotted out sun, the road, the falling ash, Warren's skin catching fire -- but then there are the little differences, like this time with the towers.

The only question they didn't really solve -- where was the radio tower getting it's power from ?

Finally we find out that Kaya-in-the-Skya is still around, with Nana and her baby -- still no sign of Citizen Z or Uncle.

And we still have no idea where Addie, Red or Sun Mei -- because if they are heading north to NewMerica and the group is heading east, odds are they may never meet up.

Of course, can't forget that it looks like Murphy's 'cure' maybe didn't fully take -- because he's started eating parts of his scar tissue and I think he might be getting his Z powers back.

I actually liked the intervention for Warren -- when they all heard finally what she was seeing and Murphy stated that "it's not enough" -- along with the comedy relief of 10K sticking his head through the hole in the ceiling of the RV.

10K and Murphy still have their issues, and Lucy is finally starting to come around and calling Murphy 'Dad'.  Well, sometimes.  
It's interesting that Lucy can hear the thoughts and control regular Zs, but has no control and can only hear screaming thoughts from the Mad Zs.

[Ohwell]

I do hope that we finally get to the bottom of Warren's dreams, once and for all because it is getting tedious watching her space out.  I was glad they had the intervention, even though she might eventually be proven to be right.

I like the female sgt. but half the time I couldn't understand what she was saying because she was talking too fast.

I hope Doc's kiwis are ok!

[Joimiaroxeu]

What is this low-rent Thor Captain America thing Warren is doing with the road sign? And why is Murphy eating himself?

I'm glad we're finally seeing the tiniest bit of movement on whatever's happened to Citizen Z.

Edited October 21, 2017 by Joimiaroxeu
got my Marvel superheroes mixed up

[10kfever]

I really liked this episode, despite its episodic nature - travel, MAD-Z, travel, Z, travel, Enders, travel, Zona troops, all taking place in one gigantic junkyard, which gave it a nice feel. There was enough character interaction throughout these scenes to keep the episode moving along. I love 10K, so I thought his bits were great, especially with Doc. Finally, he solidified his opinion of Murphy, which has been clear in past episodes but was not visible in Season 4.  Yes, loved 10K's scenes as a prairie dog, and the quote, "Warren? I don't have a problem with her", and thus dismissing the whole subject of the intervention. We learned a little more about Warren's vision(s). As for Murphy tasting his blood and nibbling on his zombie wounds: I think he's trying to regain contact with Lucy, and this is the only way he can think to accomplish this. Otherwise, I think he'd be perfectly happy staying "cured". I agree it was great to hear from Northern Light, although CZ's fate is still unknown; I still hope he's the founder/head of Newmerica, and he's trying to find a way home to Alaska; then again, by now Newmerica has "troops" (according to rumor) and might therefore have both communication and transpo. Or maybe he's at Newmerica "under cover" because the whole thing is a Zona front. Sure hope he survived Season 3. I'm still waiting for Season 4 to become a cohesive arc, but for now I think it's greatly improved over the first few episodes. I hope the writers keep up the good work! Go, Operation Bitemark!

[rmontro]

6 hours ago, 10kfever said:

As for Murphy tasting his blood and nibbling on his zombie wounds: I think he's trying to regain contact with Lucy, and this is the only way he can think to accomplish this. Otherwise, I think he'd be perfectly happy staying "cured".

A good theory, but my impression is that he finds himself doing this more or less involuntarily.  He seems to absentmindedly cut a piece off of himself and is afterward horrified by it.  I don't think his "cure" is permanent, I think this is a sign of him slowly reverting.  Remember there was supposed to be some sort of contaminant in the vaccine (which was made from his blood).  I don't know, you could be right though.

I liked the episode, although I was a little irritated by the intervention because it was all settled to go to Newmerica, then by the end they just reversed it, so it was all for nothing.  I was hoping they would hook up with Addy again somehow, but it looks like it will be longer.  Maybe Addy will come to them.  When Warren verbalized her dream, it did sound completely crazy and no reason at all to go east.  If her dream is true and the sky is going rain down burning ashes with a z rainbow, why would you want to go toward that anyway?  

[51Muses]

I can see Murphy wanting to change back. His paternal attachment (and vice versa) to Lucy is getting stronger. In this episode, he realizes that he has to be the one to protect her. Any parent who has lost sight of their child for even a few minutes knows that angsty, heart-thumping terror when you know don't know where your child is. If he got blue again, he could have that psychic connection to Lucy plus a bit of enhanced strength and senses. Not to mention, two people who can control the Zs is a lot better than just one. Like Montro said, his normalcy is not permanent. It's all on the surface. He will be all shades of blue and gray again.

I also liked the intervention because it showed how each one was part of the unit. They talked. Few secrets. Anyone unfamiliar with the characters could get the gist of the characters and their relationships to each other. The intervention also served to resolve a potential conflict. Instead of dragging unwilling people to who knows where, they all came to a conscious agreement. 

For me, the entire episode was all about relationships - 10K and Doc, Lucy and Murphy, Sarge and Warren, Warren and Murphy, Doc and Warren, Warren and 10K. It was also about character development. Take Warren. In past seasons, she was following orders and doing things from a mission standpoint. There was no doubt in her. Murphy had to be taken to the lab and nothing was going to stop her doing so. Now, she's going with her gut instinct. Nothing concrete, just a feeling. The team leader is prepared to go rogue solo if she has to. Murphy is changing to think less of himself and more of Lucy. Doc is far more pessimistic than before. Lucy has matured. 10K has no qualms about speaking his mind.  Still idealistic but he's learned to pick his battles. 

I think Citizen Z is going to make an appearance. Yes, there are only a small number of episodes left but this show packs a lot in an episode. Anything is possible. I'm very curious to see where Mad Scientist has holed up.  He knows something isn't right so is still after Lucy. 

Questions: Are the mad zombies the result of addicts and enders turning?  Geographically, where is the Bite Mark crew now? What is with the blonde hair on Warren? Is that a sign of her Murphy contamination? 

When Warren was on the pole muttering about deja vu, what was going on with her hand? Vision? Flashback with shades of time travel because she had been on that thing before? 

Edited October 22, 2017 by 51Muses
added another question

[ottoDbusdriver]

6 minutes ago, 51Muses said:

Questions: Are the mad zombies the result of addicts and enders turning?  Geographically, where is the Bite Mark crew now? What is with the blonde hair on Warren? Is that a sign of her Murphy contamination? 

Regarding the Mad Zs, the gang figures the the Z virus has evolved -- making them much tougher to kill. As seen, a head shot no longer does it.

No idea where the gang is now -- its been 2 years since Spokane, apparently they are on Route 66 (per Warren's shield) which puts them somewhere in the Southwest between LA and Chicago.  So they've got a long way to go to get to Canada, let alone the Yukon.

My guess about Warren's blonde hair (and visions) is that it is a side effect of the bullet that shot her that passed through Murphy first.  Since they indicated while in Zona that Murphy and Warren were the only 2 that didn't get the vaccine made from Murphy's blood.

[rmontro]

7 hours ago, 51Muses said:

Yes, there are only a small number of episodes left but this show packs a lot in an episode.

Shouldn't there be nine episodes left?

[51Muses]

Yes, nine left out of a 13 episode season. By "small number of episodes left", I meant it in the sense of how will they fit the Reset plot and the Numerica plot in the remaining eps. I expect things to start jumping by episode 5 though. 

[Nashville]

On 10/22/2017 at 2:33 PM, 51Muses said:

I can see Murphy wanting to change back. His paternal attachment (and vice versa) to Lucy is getting stronger. In this episode, he realizes that he has to be the one to protect her. Any parent who has lost sight of their child for even a few minutes knows that angsty, heart-thumping terror when you know don't know where your child is. If he got blue again, he could have that psychic connection to Lucy plus a bit of enhanced strength and senses. Not to mention, two people who can control the Zs is a lot better than just one. Like Montro said, his normalcy is not permanent. It's all on the surface. He will be all shades of blue and gray again.

IMHO Murphy is torn between two diametrically opposed desires:

• Murphy's desire for normalcy, both personally and in his environment.  Murphy never wanted to be "humanity's greatest last hope"; Murphy was a two-bit con man who got busted for mail fraud, wanted to serve his three-year sentence*, and get back to his life.  Zona was, in effect, Murphy's personal dream come true.  Murphy was the closest to physically normal as he had ever been since the start of the ZA, and life at Zona wasn't just "normal" - it was a level of luxury Murphy had always desired but never attained in the pre-ZA world.  Zona was Murphy's Nirvana - hence his initial strong unwillingness to acknowledge its collapse.  Since Murphy is back in the apocalyptic saddle again, his quite understandable reaction to the loss of normalcy in his environment is to cling even tighter to his sense of normalcy of self.
• Murphy's desire to bond with Lucy, his disaffected daughter.  Lucy's physiological age may be in the twenty-somethings, but chronologically she's still not much more than three.  Lucy's brain and sensory perceptions have physically kept pace with her body, but Lucy is constantly playing a neverending game of catch-up both emotionally and in terms of actual life experience.  One of the casualties in Lucy's emotional perceptions will be her sense of empathy, which means Lucy has virtually zero chance of understanding why her father opts for "normal" in preference to their shared uniqueness.  Murphy's semi-zombiedom was acquired, while Lucy's is congenital; having never known "normal", Lucy has no ability of comprehension except to interpret Murphy's embrace of the norm as an explicit rejection of his former uniqueness - and, by extension, rejection of her.  Such rejection would also probably be a emotional double whammy to Lucy, because the best of anybody's knowledge she and Murphy are the only two of their kind in the world; if Murphy continues to pursue normalcy, it will be at the expense of Lucy's sole compatriot on planet Earth.  And Murphy understands this.

So therein lies Murphy's dilemma.  The two things Murphy wants most - normalcy and his daughter - are totally antagonistic; the choice of one necessarily dictates abandonment of the other.  I'm betting Murphy's paternal feelings will win out in the end - assuming, of course, both of them survive long enough.

 

* Incidentally, the three-year sentence meant Murphy should never have been considered a practical candidate for the Z virus dug trials in the first place.  Even in the days when unethical clinical drug trials and medical experimentation on prisoners were common, the pool of prisoner candidates for such trials were usually focused on Death Row inmates and lifers without the possibility of parole - i.e., prisoners who would have little or no chance to be released and start raising hell back out in the world about their treatment.  A short-timer like Murphy would carry too much chance of blowback.

 

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10K has no qualms about speaking his mind.  Still idealistic but he's learned to pick his battles. 

10K is still one of my favorites (Addy being the other).

 

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I think Citizen Z is going to make an appearance. 

About damn time - that kid of his is probably already walking.

 

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Questions: Are the mad zombies the result of addicts and enders turning?  

Purely idle thoughts of my own on the subject:

Lucy said she can sense ("hear") trace memories and thoughts of the "sane" zombies (names and such), but of the "mad" zombies she hears only screaming.  Given the Z virus is degenerative by nature, it may simply be the "mad" zombies are simply zombies whose brains have degenerated - not necessarily to the point of complete decay, but advanced enough to disrupt "sane" thought processing.

Which gives rise to another line of thought

1. By the simplest definition zombies are rotting, walking humans; without a functional immune system, gangrene and infections both bacterial and viral run rampant.
2. The fact Lucy receives "normal" thought of any degree, however, pretty much dictates zombies retain some degree of sentience.  

So think about this: to any living human unfortunately afflicted with an injury resulting in gangrene, the juncture between (relatively) healthy and gangrenous tissue is EXTREMELY painful, to the point the slightest touch can result in unimaginable pain.

So - even if they're operating on a barely sentient level - to a zombie whose ENTIRE BODY is riddled with gangrene, how painful do you think every step might be?  

It wouldn't surprise me if the "mad" zombies were formerly "sane", but driven insane by the pain.

 

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Geographically, where is the Bite Mark crew now?

Given...

• Ep3 indicated the Army refugee camp was somewhere in the vicinity of Flagstaff, AZ.
• Warren grabbed her Route 66 sign and headed east out of camp, with the rest straggling along behind her.
• It's unknown how many days they've been walking east since leaving the Flagstaff area.
• References were made to the Great Pile (the tremendous traffic jam) being the result of a doomsday prophet claiming aliens were coming to that spot to rescue people from the apocalypse (also indicated by much of the vehicle graffiti).

...I'm going to guess they're on Route 66 east of Albuquerque somewhere in the vicinity of Santa Rosa - directly due south of which is Roswell, NM.  For the UFO crazies, Roswell is a fucking magnet.

[jhlipton]

@Nashville, I love your whole post!

[Nashville]

18 hours ago, jhlipton said:

@Nashville, I love your whole post!

Thank you.  :)

Looking back, though, I find it mildly disconcerting all that just came off the top of my head.  Do other people have this sort of stuff just rambling around in their cranium as idle thought?  

I'm not sure whether to be disturbed or not.  Or maybe I already am.  :>

[jhlipton]

15 hours ago, Nashville said:

Do other people have this sort of stuff just rambling around in their cranium as idle thought?  

I'm not sure whether to be disturbed or not.  Or maybe I already am.  :>

I do.  And, yes, be afraid... be very afraid!

[Nashville]

3 hours ago, jhlipton said:

I do.  And, yes, be afraid... be very afraid!

Oh, I'm not afraid, just bothered.  It could always be much worse, after all - like being a writer for FTWD ....  ;>

[jhlipton]

On 10/25/2017 at 10:54 AM, Nashville said:

Oh, I'm not afraid, just bothered.  It could always be much worse, after all - like being a writer for FTWD ....  ;>

I don't watch FTWD  (or TWD) but I get what you mean.  LOL

[10kfever]

Okay, you guys sound like the intellectual bunch! I'm loving these threads...so much to think about. Yes, I love the characters, and I love the psychology of the characters. Your observations are outstanding. I am now your #1 fan. I'll be watching each episode from a number of new perspectives. So...I think 51muses mentioned fanfic as the source for exploration. Anything good out there? I'm hungry for more! Thanks...