S09.E07 Stradivarius

[nodorothyparker]

Airdate 2108.11.18

Quote

Carol seeks out an old friend living alone in a wilderness teeming with walkers.  Survivors make the perilous trek to a new home.

[nodorothyparker]

Reminder: This thread is for discussion of the episode.   DO NOT talk about the comics or other spoilers here.   If it hasn't been onscreen yet, it's a spoiler.  That includes news about cast comings and goings.  Discussion of that can be found in the Spoilers and Speculation thread.

[Shriekingeel]

Stay gold, post-apocalyptic Pony Boy!

[MrsRafaelBarba]

2 minutes ago, Shriekingeel said:

Stay gold, post-apocalyptic Pony Boy!

Don't care much for C. Thomas Howell, always irked me.

[CletusMusashi]

I'd been hoping that "Stradivarius" would turn out to be the name of the leader of the walky-talkies. 

[Mu Shu]

I liked this episode.  I like yumiko and the music guy.  Could be the liquor, could be Cudlitz.

it seems like Michonne is on her way out.  

[AimingforYoko]

Daryl got a hair cut. OK, a trim. I guess he really is the leading man now.

[mightysparrow]

One thing this episode proved is that there's no fucking way Norman Reedus can carry this show.  That's 20 million dollars down the toilet.

[timesywimesy]

4 minutes ago, mightysparrow said:

One thing this episode proved is that there's no fucking way Norman Reedus can carry this show.  That's 20 million dollars down the toilet.

This was a given. 

[CletusMusashi]

I found Yumiko's pesonality to be every bit as grating as Henry's. But I did laugh my ass off at her collapsing a building onto the zombies with one arrow shot.

[AngelaHunter]

2 minutes ago, CletusMusashi said:

I found Yumiko's pesonality to be every bit as grating as Henry's. But I did laugh my ass off at her collapsing a building onto the zombies with one arrow shot.

Too bad she wasn't around when Ricky G. emptied an entire machine gun and couldn't hit Negan.

I found this ep really boring. Even the big tension of Daryl rescuing the dog was pointless since we know Daryl can't die. I was just on edge in a bad way for Dog.

[maystone]

So . . . who did C. Thomas Howell play?

[AngelaHunter]

5 minutes ago, maystone said:

So . . . who did C. Thomas Howell play?

I had to look him up but he was the bearded Hilltopper who met Michonne and the Millennial gang and told her about Rosita and Eugene.

[nodorothyparker]

The show is much better paced now than it ever used to be.  I'll give it that much.  I'm also increasingly amused by the off kilter Wild West/LOTR fantasy horror mashup they seem to be going for aesthetically.  Digging the deaf girls blowing holes clean through walkers with sling shots.

The idea of trying to preserve art and music and finer culture even in an extinction-level event was done really well in Station Eleven, but that's kind of a high brow notion for a show that's largely about how many randomly cool ways they can come up with to smash zombie skulls.

[maystone]

4 minutes ago, AngelaHunter said:

I had to look him up but he was the bearded Hilltopper who met Michonne and the Millennial gang and told her about Rosita and Eugene.

Wow. I was actively looking for him during the episode once I saw his name in the credits, and I still didn't recognize him. Thanks, Angela.

Edited November 19, 2018 by maystone

[maystone]

Dary and Michonne are both sporting X scars. I want to know if Carol has one. So far they've cleared Ezekiel and Rosita as being non-Xed, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it's not just the two we've seen so far. I'm living in a house where no one can figure out the closed captioning on the TV, so I'm missing some things. Was it stated last week why Michonne is such a tight-ass about security now? Because maybe that would explain the scars and the reference went over my head because I couldn't hear it well enough.

I thought tonight was pretty good as far as the two-legged characters went, but for the love of all that's four-footed, please keep an eye on your animals! They saw that two different herds came through that camp site, but still someone hitched the horses up to the wagon . . . and just left them. And Daryl's dog! I told my brother while we were watching that now I'm going to have to spend every episode worrying about the dog. Just . . . please.

I liked the slingshots a lot. And the use of the car doors. I'm not too sure what Daryl is up to with all of the holes he's been digging, though. It was good to see Tara again. No, really. I like Tara. And Siddiq got actual dialogue. I'm really warming up to Yamiko. I try not to let superficial things interfere with what I think of a character, but that man-bun on Jesus is annoying me in a big way.

I will never not love Carol and Daryl together. That is the hill I die on.

[AngelaHunter]

5 minutes ago, maystone said:

I'm not too sure what Daryl is up to with all of the holes he's been digging, though.

Daryl has been digging holes? Multiple or one big one, maybe to remind him of Rick. I completely missed the digging.

24 minutes ago, maystone said:

I was actively looking for him during the episode once I saw his name in the credits, and I still didn't recognize him. Thanks, Angela.

YW. I think the last time I saw him he was a kid, so I didn't recognize the grizzled, gray version. I had no idea who he was until someone mentioned him in the Live Chat.

[TV Anonymous]

Can somebody please remind me who 'Georgie' is? I checked on IMDb and she is listed to have had an appearance last season.

[AngelaHunter]

Quote

  8 minutes ago, maystone said:

I'm not too sure what Daryl is up to with all of the holes he's been digging, though.

Daryl has been digging holes? Multiple or one big one, maybe to remind him of Rick? I completely missed the digging.

Quote

 

  25 minutes ago, maystone said:

I was actively looking for him during the episode once I saw his name in the credits, and I still didn't recognize him. Thanks, Angela.

 

YW. I think the last time I saw him he was a kid, so I didn't recognize the grizzled, gray version. I had no idea who he was until someone mentioned him in the Live Chat.

8 minutes ago, TV Anonymous said:

Can somebody please remind me who 'Georgie' is? I checked on IMDb and she is listed to have had an appearance last season.

Here she is. She was offering LPs and books to Maggie:

 

[CletusMusashi]

So how is it possible that Michonne assures them they will be there by morning, and then two seconds away says "The sun will be down soon. We need to find shelter?" Was she planning to find shelter, waste daylight by all taking naps, and then continue traveling again once it's too dark to see where they're going, or what? Is there some new time of day in the ZA that we don't know about? Maybe it goes "Morning, afternoon, evening, schmarglebarglemonkeys, and then morning again," so she was planning to do the rest of their travel during schmarglebarglemonkeys, when the moon is blasting eveything with magical anti-zombie radiation that for some reason has just never come up in conversation before this.

I mean, the sentences are like right next to each other! How do you accidentally write something like that?

[Anela]

What does it mean to be marked with an X? I deleted the episodes from my DVR, to make room for other things. I guess I'll google. 

[AngelaHunter]

6 minutes ago, Anela said:

What does it mean to be marked with an X? I deleted the episodes from my DVR, to make room for other things. I guess I'll google. 

Don't bother. We don't know what it means and knowing this show we may never find out.

[walnutqueen]

Great.  Now all I'll be doing is worrying about DOG.

So, Maggie is just far away, with Hershel and Georgie.  No nice send-off for her, it would seem.

[apollonia666]

1 hour ago, AimingforYoko said:

Daryl got a hair cut. OK, a trim. I guess he really is the leading man now.

UGH after all these seasons someone finally gets a pair of scissors to feral Daryl's head and THAT'S all she does with it?! I don't know why AMC and Norman Reedus are so damn determined to make him look like the physical manifestation of rancid swamp ass.

[rebel2u]

I don't really like the new people.  I don't really want to spend an hour and some change watching Michonne being billy badass and Henry being a smartass to the adults.

I miss The Walking Dead.

[catrox14]

Tara is obnoxious.  Jesus and Aaron....I ship it.  

The new crop of actors are bad....I mean really not good.  Stradivarius Boy is obnoxious.

I really wish Carol would cut her hair again. That long hair isn't working for her.  I mean she does know how to cut hair since she cut Daryl's.

I don't know who this Michonne is and they really need to cut her hair too.  I need some clarity on why Michonne is the way she is now. 

[tennisgurl]

So, I can appreciate that this episode was better paced than a lot of them have been. That’s good. And Darryl got something close to s haircut. That’s also good. Of course, Darryl will never die, so there’s not much drama there. That’s dull. Really, that’s kind of the post-Rick world so far. Competently made, but dull, with weird hair cuts. While waiting for Carol to set someone on fire again. 

[MVFrostsMyPie]

2 hours ago, maystone said:

And Daryl's dog! I told my brother while we were watching that now I'm going to have to spend every episode worrying about the dog. Just . . . please.

That's how I felt when Shiva was around. I'm still bitter over that death. I hugged my cat extra tight that night (much to her dismay). 

1 hour ago, apollonia666 said:

UGH after all these seasons someone finally gets a pair of scissors to feral Daryl's head and THAT'S all she does with it?! I don't know why AMC and Norman Reedus are so damn determined to make him look like the physical manifestation of rancid swamp ass.

Probably cause if they'd cut his hair shorter and get the hair out of his eyes, people might realize he's actually not attractive at all (not that he's attractive now, but thousands of people seem to think so, for some reason). 

[Nashville]

3 hours ago, TV Anonymous said:

Can somebody please remind me who 'Georgie' is? I checked on IMDb and she is listed to have had an appearance last season.

Georgie was the blond lady in the van with the ‘twins’ who showed up towards the end of last season - traded her ‘Plan For the Future’ manuscript to Maggie for a milk crate full of LP records.

Edited November 19, 2018 by Nashville
Correcting damn autocorrect

[GreyBunny]

3 hours ago, walnutqueen said:

So, Maggie is just far away, with Hershel and Georgie.  No nice send-off for her, it would seem.

I much prefer it that way as opposed to some long, drawn out blubberfest that too many of these characters get, and she's not dead, she's just away at band camp.

I worry for Doggo, he'd better not end up on the casualty list.

I want to see more Jesus-Aaron fight club action.

Daryl's digging, I think he was making traps Clear!Morgan-style; holes with spikes in them.

Edited November 19, 2018 by GreyBunny

[Anela]

3 hours ago, AngelaHunter said:

Don't bother. We don't know what it means and knowing this show we may never find out.

LOL! Okay. 

[Smad]

5 hours ago, walnutqueen said:

So, Maggie is just far away, with Hershel and Georgie.  No nice send-off for her, it would seem.

Building a new community.

Name: The Castaways

Slogan: We welcome all series regulars, semi-regulars and guest stars that don't get killed off in case of a possible return to the story sometime down the line.

Edited November 19, 2018 by Smad

[dvil]

So the Hilltop is music central? Too bad Luke didn't have time to form a Hilltop orchestra to greet Daryl with a live performance of Easy Street.

[Mu Shu]

7 hours ago, AngelaHunter said:

Don't bother. We don't know what it means and knowing this show we may never find out.

Yes.  They have been throwing A around for a long time.  Remember the side braid?  That’s back too.  It’s just bullshit.

we never found out what was in Bobs box.

[JackONeill]

I came, I saw, I slept.

[Save Yourself]

8 hours ago, apollonia666 said:

UGH after all these seasons someone finally gets a pair of scissors to feral Daryl's head and THAT'S all she does with it?! I don't know why AMC and Norman Reedus are so damn determined to make him look like the physical manifestation of rancid swamp ass.

I was yelling at the TV ‘cut it all fucking off!!!’ It was the only exciting bit in the whole show, when I saw her with the scissors I sat up and was like thank god, they are finally listening to their audience. But nup, he had a trim 🙄, so damn disappointing. Carol needs to lop her hair off as well, I am not digging this Maid Marion look. 

I was worried they were going to have Aaron and Jesus’s fight morph into kissing thus linking violence with gay sex. I want them to hook up but I don’t want that conflation. 

[TV Anonymous]

On 11/19/2018 at 5:22 AM, Smad said:

Building a new community.

Name: The Castaways

Slogan: We welcome all series regulars, semi-regulars and guest stars that don't get killed off in case of a possible return to the story sometime down the line.

 

I would prefer the slogan as, "We will be here as long as Whiskey Cavalier does not get cancelled".

ETA: They have the fuel and lubricants for a working motorcycle? How? It has been around ten years since the apocalypse. All kind of fuels has surely degraded by now. Is there any refining plant working somewhere? Motorcycles can not take 100% ethanol. There have to be petroleum products to make them run.

Edited November 23, 2018 by TV Anonymous

[JackONeill]

Did anyone else notice Daryl, after cutting the head off the snake, put the head in his shirt pocket?

Reminds me of the time on Herschel’s farm when Daryl had a hallucination about Meryl, and he wound up killing a handful of Walkers. Then he tied their ears on a string around his neck.

When Rick saw that, he said, “Best not to say anything about that.” That’s when this show had a sense of humor.

[Lady Iris]

10 hours ago, Shriekingeel said:

Stay gold, post-apocalyptic Pony Boy!

I saw his name in the credits and was all like woo hoo! Pony Boy! But if it wasn't for this thread I wouldn't have known who he was or played so thank you.

 

8 hours ago, apollonia666 said:

UGH after all these seasons someone finally gets a pair of scissors to feral Daryl's head and THAT'S all she does with it?! I don't know why AMC and Norman Reedus are so damn determined to make him look like the physical manifestation of rancid swamp ass.

I swear if this isn't the truth. My personal theory is that Norman Reedus doesn't want to be the pretty boy hero so he goes the PigPen route to keep the lusty wummin folk in line.

 

13 minutes ago, JackONeill said:

Did anyone else notice Daryl, after cutting the head off the snake, put the head in his shirt pocket?

Reminds me of the time on Herschel’s farm when Daryl had a hallucination about Meryl, and he wound up killing a handful of Walkers. Then he tied their ears on a string around his neck.

When Rick saw that, he said, “Best not to say anything about that.” That’s when this show had a sense of humor.

Hah! That was a favorite moment of mine too.

 

Who was the walker in the psychedelic shirt at the end that the new people looked mournfully at when he was taken down?

 

Yes to more Jesus!

Edited November 19, 2018 by Lady Iris

[Bryce Lynch]

9 hours ago, walnutqueen said:

Great.  Now all I'll be doing is worrying about DOG.

So, Maggie is just far away, with Hershel and Georgie.  No nice send-off for her, it would seem.

At least having Dog around adds a little bit of tension to scenes where Daryl is under attack.   We know Daryl isn't dying but Dog doesn't have his plot armor.

3 minutes ago, Lady Iris said:

I saw his name in the credits and was all like woo hoo! Pony Boy! But if it wasn't for this thread I wouldn't have known who he was or played so thank you.

 

I swear if this isn't the truth. My personal theory is that Norman Reedus doesn't want to be the pretty boy hero so he goes the PigPen route to keep the lusty wummin folk in line.

 

Hah! That was a favorite moment of mine too.

 

Who was the walker in the psychedelic shirt at the end that the new people looked mournfully at when he was taken down?

 

Yes to more Jesus!

The walker in the paisley shirt was "Bernie", the late member of the new group they kept talking about.  There was a tedious discussion about how Magna hated the shirt so much and Bernie wore it every day annoy her and eventually it grew on her.   

[Daltrey]

9 minutes ago, Save Yourself said:

UGH after all these seasons someone finally gets a pair of scissors to feral Daryl's head and THAT'S all she does with it?!

They weren't scissors, she was using her knife. You can clearly see her sawing back and forth at the lock of hair with the blade. My thought was "has nobody ever found a pair of scissors?", but really, why would she randomly have scissors with her in the first place? She didn't take Henry out to meet him for that purpose. It was an after thought when she saw how unkempt he was; without actually saying it, she basically told him he looked like shit. If she'd whipped out a pair of scissors, it would have been the most unlikely and ridiculous thing to happen in this episode, and I'm counting the sling shot projectiles going clear through the walker skulls.

 

I enjoyed it for the most part, I think the show is still steadily improving over the last season or two, but I think it ended too soon; it felt anti-climactic. I suppose it was probably intentional so next weeks mid-season finale will have greater impact and consequences. At some point something has to happen as a catalyst for Darryl to reconnect and become front and center to justify all this money Reedus is getting. I'm liking the new cast so far, particularly Luke, which is surprising because Dan Fogler usually drives me nuts. They haven't done anything exceptionally stupid yet and I think their reactions are fairly normal given their situation and subsequent treatment at the hands of Michonne/Alexandria. It's still not at peak glory days and probably never will be again, but I'm liking the job they're doing so far and I'm looking forward to see where it goes. ...Which is more than I can say for last year.

[bosawks]

I think Carol only gave Daryl a trim because who would want to touch that hair any longer than they had to.

And if Dan Fogler doesn't arrange a spelling bee I'm going to be disappointed.......

[Daltrey]

11 minutes ago, Lady Iris said:

11 hours ago, Shriekingeel said:

Stay gold, post-apocalyptic Pony Boy!

I saw his name in the credits and was all like woo hoo! Pony Boy! But if it wasn't for this thread I wouldn't have known who he was or played so thank you.

That cracked me up, lol!

It's funny, I didn't see his name but recognized him right away because I've seen him in a bunch of stuff the last two seasons or so. He seems to play antagonists most of the time so my immediate thought was "Hey!...What are you up to or what are you going to get up to down the line, Mr?" lol. Should be interesting; you don't hire a name actor to be a simple gate guard and errand boy.

[Lady Iris]

14 minutes ago, Bryce Lynch said:

At least having Dog around adds a little bit of tension to scenes where Daryl is under attack.   We know Daryl isn't dying but Dog doesn't have his plot armor.

The walker in the paisley shirt was "Bernie", the late member of the new group they kept talking about.  There was a tedious discussion about how Magna hated the shirt so much and Bernie wore it every day annoy her and eventually it grew on her.   

So tedious I completely blocked it out. Thank you kindly.

[theredhead77]

9 hours ago, walnutqueen said:

Great.  Now all I'll be doing is worrying about DOG.

 

1 hour ago, icemiser69 said:

Yeah, I am not happy about that development.  I kind of hope they name the dog Bob Barker.

Yea. Between the dogs and the horses I think I'm going to have to watch this the next day, after making sure everything with 4 paws (or hooves) is alive. Sure, it's 'sad' when the humans die but I get unreasonably upset with the animals die. I didn't even start watching the show due to the horse in the first episode (friends warned me off) and the episode with the piglets used as zombie bait had me bawling.

[amazinglybored]

Hurt the dog. I dare you to hurt the dog, show. He knew help had arrived! Dogs. <3

 

Michonne and Daryl mourning Rick for so long is just awkward. It could be interesting if he was coming back and we’d get to see that playout but as is? I doubt he would have mourned them like that and he’s not dead anyway. Talk about wasting years of your life, but Daryl did get a dog out of it... the Carol and Daryl bond remains a strength of the show and now it has a dog.

 

I’m going to be pissed if those X scars and whatever changed relations aren’t explained or have a stupid explanation. They’re playing with fire with that. On the other hand, I’m fine with some characters being written off without being killed. Never come back or come back without a good explanation? Fine. It’s depressing when everyone and every animal dies. 

 

The new people. Eh. The guy and angry woman can die but the other three could be alright as B or C characters. People should be asking to learn some sign language from them because it seems useful when you need to be quiet. Attempts to preserve art and culture are nice to see. Impractical but it was important to them/him. 

 

I like seeing how things have grown... once Rick was gone I guess they didn’t have a danger magnet anymore and they could. I kid, I kid.

 

I’m convinced Negan and the saviours have been an anchor to this show. Him in a reduced role or not being in episodes helps quality and pacing a lot. Not having some overpowered, plot armoured group looming and taking up screen time helps.

[sigmaforce86]

Not too worried about Daryl's dog (yet), apparently Norman's been lobbing for one for awhile so I suspect now that TPTB have given in they're not going to kill it off after just a few episodes.

Knowing Rosita and Eugene have been chased through the woods for about two days by "talking walkers" and knowing the chase is on purpose by something or someone with ability to be intelligent and plan (going no further on that to avoid spoilers) I feel like that colors every little thing that happens.  And I think it's interesting and makes for more suspense than we've had in awhile.  We and eventually they won't be able to assume what is or isn't on purpose.............Was the dog caught in the trap accidentally or since Daryl said that's never happened before was he trapped there by someone, Did Connie really see something in the woods, Did the walkers come to Michonne's overnight camp accidentally or were they lead.  Even knowing the spoilers, the comic book etc I like it, I sort of like questioning everything that happens, it gives a different tone.

Still talking about the fair?  Suspect that means it's going to be either a come to jesus (pun intended) party where the communities remember why they were friendlier than they are now OR something goes terribly wrong and it's going to be a complete disaster with much mayhem, fighting and death.  Is it wrong that I'm rooting for a disaster?

I do wonder if they tipped their hand casting C Thomas Howell, as others have said he had a "blink and you'll miss him" role last night, I too have to go back and see that scene because I didn't catch on the first time.  If they had used any other actor I'd think just an extra/walk on role/red shirt but he's a step above that (at least) - which to me means there's a story for him somewhere whether he plays good guy or bad guy.  So, to me, they've almost given something away that at the very least we'll be seeing that guy again.

Directed by Michael Cudlitz .... Good for him! 

PS:  I love that TVLine titled their recap "Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Daryl" 

Edited November 19, 2018 by sigmaforce86

[AngelaHunter]

1 hour ago, Daltrey said:

Should be interesting; you don't hire a name actor to be a simple gate guard and errand boy.

They hired Zach McGowan to have around 3 scenes and say about 5 lines and then get bumped off. That one still puzzles me.

[Lady Iris]

This show has reduced us to trying to figure out why Daryl Dixon is hoarding snake heads in his shirt pocket *facepalm*

[hacman00]

I think the implication was that Carol set up the whole dog/zombie drama.  They show her hiding in the bushes, bow and arrow at the ready in case things get outta hand.  Daryl mentions that Dog never got caught in a trap before.

Am I correct in assuming that the title refers to both the violin and Carol playing Daryl like a fiddle?  It certainly fits her character history.