“No Way Out”
(All images used in this post are screen caps from AMC’s “The Walking Dead” and “Talking Dead” unless otherwise specified.)
Well, that was fun!
Sad…yes. Dark, yes. Haunting…god, yes.
Admittedly, it is with some real trepidation, and assorted beverages, that I set out to craft this post, and face, at some point, the inevitable moment when I must revisit the harrowing scene where Sam, Jessie, Ron, and Carl each meet their respective, tragic fates amidst the swarm of savage walkers invading the streets of Alexandria.
I know that in the rewatchings, there will be many moments, and images, from that scene that will cling to me like burrs, imbed themselves into the depths of my psyche, and stay there for a long while.
This episode’s definitely going to leave a mark or two to remember it by.
Since Episode 609’s airing, there has been a constant stream of social media postings celebrating many of the key moments of “No Way Out” as we in TWD fandom strive to process the constantly-unfolding “new classic” moments of this iconic episode. We, the obsessed fans, show our devotion to the TWD creators, cast, and crew by shipping our favorite show, (and the characters we love so well) with the unparalleled devotion they deserve, in the form of screenshots, memes, videos, blogs, fan fiction, interviews, articles, etc.
This, of course, is as it should be.
Lucky for us, dear readers, great love, lasting love, is reciprocal. Real love, when it’s got the flows, is a mutual, symbiotic exchange, an ever-evolving dance of give and take between two (or more) parties. That, people, is how real love do.
And, lucky for us, dear readers, Robert Kirkman, Scott M. Gimple, and Greg Nicotero know this.
They are worldly men, with big hearts & mad skills.
They know when to bring the love, and with TWD‘s Season 6’s action-packed, chock-full of spills, thrills, and cold, ghostly chills (OMG, the Sam chomp scene…and then, Jessie…and Michonne skewering Ron…and Carl’s eye….and Rick…and Michonne…and OMG, Richonne!..and that Rick and Carl scene…and Daryl…and Glenn and Maggie…and Carol and Morgan….and Denise and The Wolf…and the epic Battle For Alexandria…and Rick Smash! taking on all the walkers, berzerker-style… I cannot…but I must, and I will, dammit, I will!) mid-season premiere, Episode 609, “No Way Out,” Robert Kirkman, Scott M. Gimple, and Greg Nicotero gave everyone in TWD fandom a big, red heart-shaped box, tied with a pink satin ribbon, like:
“Here you go, guys. Happy VDay.“ ❤
And we TWD fans receive this love offering joyfully, grateful for the respite, because we know that as we celebrate the victories and post the memes, trouble is brewing, and hard times are coming for Rick and the gang.
We know soon enough, dear readers, that we are going to get our asses kicked, but good, and we’re ok with that.
It is, of course, as it should be.
So, let us seize the day and celebrate some of the highlight scenes and pivotal moments from The Walking Dead’s Episode 609, “No Way Out.”
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“No Way Out”
When we left Daryl, Sasha, and Abraham in the first four minutes of “No Way Out,” Daryl had just been roughly escorted to the back of the fuel truck, at Snidely’s orders, by one of Negan’s biker goons, “T,” while Sasha and Abraham were looking down the barrels of their own handguns as they were held at gunpoint by Snidely, who had just informed them that he was basically done talking…
Then, suddenly, Snidely brings the weapons down, by his sides, slumping into his bike’s seat, looks down, as if reconsidering...
Snidely looks up at Sasha and Abraham with a sheepish grin…
…then rolls his eyes upward…
“I’m not gonna kill you,” he tells Sasha and Abraham in a joking, friendly manner.
Sasha looks at Snidely, nods, unsure of how to interpret this…
…and turns to Abraham, questioningly, like, “Is this a sick joke, or what?”
Abraham seems to be wondering the same thing, does not take his eyes off Snidely.
“Wait,” Snidely says, as if reconsidering…again.
“…wait…”
Snidely looks up at Abraham and Sasha. “You know what? Yes, I am,” and with that shitty statement, Snidely starts to lift the handguns, ready to shoot Abraham and Sahsa…
We hear a hissing noise, and then a huge explosion engulfs Snidely and his crew of biker dicks in a huge fireball.
Later, dicks.
Hey Snidely, did anyone ever tell you that you have quite the combustible personality?
Well, rather, you had quite the combustible personality…
…because you, and your shitty crew, and your snide comments are in the past tense, now…
…thanks to our man, Daryl Dixon. ❤
Holding the smoking rocket launcher, Daryl surveys the burning remains of Snidely and his charred posse.
Daryl’s like, “Whoa!”
He looks down at the smoking weapon as Sasha and Abraham ease their way back to standing from where they dove for cover.
Coughing, sputtering, ears sure to be ringing, Sasha and Abraham survey the burning, blackened remains of the men who, just one minute before, almost killed them.
I love this look on Sasha’s face as she steps towards Daryl. She’s beaming at Daryl, and nodding, and dazed, and so stoked, like, “Well, how about that? Hell yeah, Daryl Dixon!“
Daryl turns away, says, “Sonuvabitch was tougher than he looked,” (which is pretty funny, because that guy, T, looked pretty tough). As he walks away, we see that Daryl has a bleeding stab wound on his left shoulder, leaving a bloodstain on his left angel wing. This image really saddened me, on many levels, one of them being how it seems to symbolize all of the wounds Daryl has taken right to the heart in his life. ❤ We love you forever, Daryl Dixon, and we are with you, always, every step of the way. ❤
“Did he cut you?” Sasha asks. “A little,” Daryl replies.
Daryl turns, and classic Daryl Dixon style, says, “What a bunch of assholes!”
Sasha laughs, delighted, lays her hands on Daryl’s shoulder, causing him to wince slighty, probably both from the shoulder being tender and Daryl’s general cageyness about letting others touch him. Sasha, however, is family, and this is the first time we have seen her smile like this since, well, Bob…and certainly since Tyreese. “C’mon, let’s get you fixed up at home,” Sasha says, getting to play the role of bossy, loving, sassy sister once again. ❤
“Yes ma’am,” Daryl agrees. Still beaming, Sasha follows Daryl as they take one last look at dead-ass T and climb into the truck.
Abraham turns to take one last look at the blown up bikers and in classic Abraham-style, tosses out the last word:
“Nibble on that.”
Standing ovation, cheers all around to that incredible scene, especially to our man, Daryl Dixon, for proving his constancy and resourcefulness by saving the day, and the peeps, once again.
Deadie of highest order, The MVP Award, to our man, Daryl Dixon, and to the fine, fine actor who plays him, Norman Reedus.
How we love thee, Daryl Dixon/Norman Reedus! ❤
There will be more star players awarded by the end of this post, but we have to take a moment to show the love, “right out of the gate.” ❤
We can only imagine the awesomeness of Daryl’s silent, stealth takedown of T behind Patty the fuel truck’s back bumper. God love him, because we sure do! Five or six minutes into the S6 mid-season premiere, and we are already awarding our man mad props and highest accolades.
I am also loving seeing Sasha blossoming once again, jolted back to life after her and Abraham’s brush with death. That beaming smile…so great to see that again! The banter back and forth between her and Abraham spoke to a deepening connection between the two. Very interested to see how this all plays out.
And, while we rejoice, I do feel the need to point out that there are speculations online about this scene, about the sight of a far-off car way down the road behind Snidely and his fellow “chodes on choppers” as he goes through his comedy routine of, “I’m not gonna kill ya, oh, wait, yeah I am.”
My WD buddy sent the following link to myself and our new team member, The Rookie. (Very cute and fabulous and fun, loves to research TWD, loves The Reedus…welcome to the fold, Rookie! <3):
http://hellogiggles.com/walking-dead-daryl-oh-no/
When I rewatched, I kept watching back in that corner, and I did see something that gleamed like a faraway car appear in the distance. As the article in the link says, there is speculation that the car may be Negan himself, or perhaps one of Negan’s scouts, who speeds off as the explosion happens.
It’s a compelling theory, and there is definitely a car back there if you watch the link’s video footage. At the first watching, I had wondered about their leaving the burnt remains of Snidely and the biker gang behind, seeing that the road where Daryl, Abraham, and Sasha meet up with Snidely’s road block was probably a well-known and well-utilized road & route for Negan and his operation, and that sooner or later, somebody was going to come up on the charred remains of the biker gang and report back to Negan, who would start sleuthing who the perp(s) were and get to plotting his revenge.
Because it just seems like Negan isn’t the kind of guy who lets such insults slide. Negan feels like he might just be the reigning Godfather of the PZA…and if he is that guy, then I don’t think that guy lets shit like blowing up his motorcycle scouts slide.
Negan be like, “Oh, no they didn’t!“
<Sipping Stella, trying not to have a bad-boy crush on Negan.>
Replace. ❤ There, that’s better. In this post, I am going to feature some of my favorite recent offerings from various TWD-loving IG accounts. ❤ Enjoy, and if you aren’t already, give them a follow!
Meanwhile, back at Alexandria:
When the gang is able to break away from the walker herd, they duck behind a bush for a brief rest. Rick turns to the others and outlines a new plan: there are too many walkers, too spread out, for the few weapons and flares in the armory to take care of. Rick lays out a plan to head out to the quarry and recover the vehicles there, come back, and I guess, lead the walkers away from Alexandria. As Michonne watches out (looking majorly badass while doing so), Rick tells the group that they need as many drivers as possible.
Jessie, after a moment’s hesitation, agrees with Rick’s plan…Rick sees the hesitation, waits, then listens as Jessie voices her concerns about Judith’s safety if they set off for the quarry. As always, excellent boyfriend behavior exhibited by our man, Rick Grimes, and good looking out once again by Jessie. Props. <3<3
Rick turns, thinking, and we see that Gabriel has overheard this conversation, and a light has turned on inside him…this is his chance to step up, to redeem himself. Gabriel recognizes the opportunity immediately, says:
“I’ll take her…keep her safe in my church until you all lead the walkers away.”
Rick looks into Gabriel’s eyes, measuring this. I looked into Gabriel’s eyes as well, and after a brief wave of creepiness and trepidation, I did believe Gabriel would keep his word and do his best to protect Judith…and as we’ve seen in previous episodes, Gabriel def has some walker killing skills…time to put that shit to good use, son!
Mama Michonne is not taking any chances. “Can you do this?” she asks softly, like, ‘I will fuck you up if you fuck this up, got me?’ Gabriel gets her, says, “I’m supposed to…I have to.”
Gabriel turns to Rick. “I will,“ he vows. (Well, alrighty then, Gabriel. Don’t fucking blow it…or else.)
Carl passes Baby Judith to Gabriel…what a horrible, scary world to be a sweet little baby in! 😦
Jessie and Rick look on as Gabriel gathers up the baby, covers her in his cloak slimed with walker guts…one of the things that really worked for me with Jessie and Rick’s connection was that they both knew what it was really like to be a parent, and could understand/support each other in that. Jessie would have been a good mom figure to Judith and Carl. 😦 ❤
As Gabriel turns to go, Jessie has, voices the idea, “Take Sam.” Sam protests, and despite Jessie’s insistence that he would be safer in the church, with Gabriel…
…Sam insists on staying with her, continuing on to the quarry. “I’m not leaving you,” Sam tells his mother.
After Sam’s repeated assurances that he will be ok, that he wants to continue on, Jessie, God help her, relents to her son’s wishes (despite not looking too convinced…the shot pans around to the others, and they are not looking too convinced either)…
…but, Jessie gives in to Sam, thus sealing her fate, and her sons’, as well. 😦
Gabriel turns to Rick, vows, “I’m going to keep her safe.”
Rick looks at Gabriel, says simply, humbly, “Thank you.” (One of the first things that I fell in love with about Rick Grimes was his impeccable good manners when someone did him a solid. The man is just solid gold, always. <3)
As Gabriel begins towards the church, Michonne shoots him a final stink eye, like, “I’m watching you, got that?”
They all watch as Gabriel walks away with Judith concealed under his cloak, making his way quietly, evenly, into the throng of walkers. He is doing well, not calling attention to himself.
Awwwww…. <3<3
Jessie looks Rick in the eye, tells him earnestly, “Hey, he’s going to make it, ok? “ Jessie gives Rick’s hand an extra squeeze. “I know it.”
After a moment, Rick takes Sam’s hand, and one by one, they begin to make their way back into the flow of walkers. Carl looks towards Ron, who hangs back, hesitating, and offers Ron his hand…
Again, Ron hesitates, looks down at Carl’s proferred hand a moment…
…before taking it in a rather dickish and aggressive fashion (I thought, anyway). (Ugh, you’re such a chip off your dickhead dad, McSlappy!)
Meanwhile, in another part of Alexandria, Tara is peering through the barred window of the home that she, Rosita, Eugene, Carol and Morgan is safely encased in…you can tell she is peering out for any sign of poor Denise, who was taken against her will by the dark-haired young Wolf.
Outside, countless walkers pass, some lurching along in a slow, plodding fashion, others zigzagging in a shuffling sidestep, heads jerking discordantly as long-dead nerves fire intermittently in the most basic arc. a mere brain-stem connection.
There are so many walkers pouring past the barred window.
Tara turns from the window, says, “We have to try.“ (Man, poor Tara is having some pretty horrible luck dating women in these postapocalyptic times!)
Rosita, who is ever-so-hot, and ever-so-wise, sez no way, there are too many of them.
The girls go back and forth, Tara saying that the Wolf will kill Denise, and Rosita countering that they won’t even be able to get to her (through all those walkers).
“She needs us!” Tara pleads. “We’ll die,“ Rosita says, flatly.
Like a boss, Rosita lays it down, hard truth delivered firmly, but with love: They have one gun, and there are too many of “those things” out there. The Wolf needs Denise, as he’s sick, and she’s a doctor. (I hadn’t really thought about that angle of it, but that does make sense…he would have a vested interest in making sure Denise made it with him through the walkers.) Rosita points out that the Wolf knows how to survive out there, and that she, Tara, and Eugene need to stay back and make sure Carol and Morgan are ok…when they wake up, then they can make a plan.
“We can’t just go,” Rosita says, quietly, firmly. Tara nods tearfully, agrees.
A noise from the other room startles them, and they go in to see Eugene helping Carol come to standing. She’s pretty jacked, you can tell, after Morgan threw her down on that concrete floor (thereby earning himself quite the drop in approval ratings from my corner of the universe).
Like, I empathize and all, and I have love for Morgan. I know that he is trying to apply Eastman’s style of kung fu quite literally to his own life, to help him have a code to live by, but Eastman’s methods apply way more in theory than in actual practice around these parts.
Eastman had indulged his deep bloodlust desire for vengeance to the max, building a prison cage inside his mountain home to imprison the man who killed his family, and destroyed Eastman’s life, and exacting his vengeance by watching the man starve to death in that cage, Eastman keeping him alive enough to prolong the man’s suffering while watching it, 24/7 if he wanted to…like bingewatching your revenge.
I have thought about that Eastman storyline, and I tried to imagine what that would have been like, how long it would have taken, what kind of interactions he and the man had while the man starved to death, day after day without food, and Eastman had total access to watch the whole horrific day-to-day process unfold.
Basically, people, like I’ve said before, I know it isn’t real, but I still obsess, and I have formed a personal theory that Eastman was able to indulge his darkness, his obsessive desire for revenge, fully, and come out the other side, perhaps sobered and sickened by the reality of what he did to the man who killed his family. Dude, starving someone to death who is imprisoned in a cage that is basically right in your living room, where most people’s tv’s would be, is some pretty burly shit.
So, Eastman indulged his darkness, fully, and was living in isolation, so he had time, space, and distance to then immerse himself in his quest for peace and quietude: reading, meditating, practicing with his staff, working in his garden, practicing nonviolence, vegetarianism, embracing life as something precious. Those lofty ideals that Eastman espoused were much easier to practice safely removed from others, especially in the days after a zombie apocalypse.
The way I see it, Morgan’s path is vastly different from Eastman’s. Every time Morgan hesitates in killing someone, or something, who is clearly a threat and who will remain a threat, well, that hesitation seems to come back and bite him, or someone close to him, in the ass. Little Duane was killed, in a horrible twist of irony, by his undead mother, Jenny, who Morgan remained unable, or unwilling, to rekill, though he had many opportunities to do so, and knowing, deep down, that he needed to.
The Wolf boys who Morgan refused to kill found Aaron’s man purse, and came and slaughtered many residents of Alexandria, and then, those selfsame Wolf boys that Morgan continued to spare tried to ambush and kill Rick Grimes in the RV, and now, one has taken Doctor Denise as a hostage and is trying to cross the sea of walkers to scramble up and over the fence…to do something, I’m not sure what, but I’m pretty sure it involves making Denise a walker, herself, at some point. (Honestly, I am still not sure what these freaking Wolves actually believe in…for a sect of humanity that seems to devalue life so much, that dark-haired Wolfboy sure didn’t seem to be in any hurry to become a walker himself, am I right? Like, hypocrite much?)
Anyhow, not sure how all this rant got started, but basically, I think Morgan is full of crazy beans and needs to get over it, like yesterday, or he can just go free-agent or some shit and get traded to another community, because I do not think the chemistry is there if he continues on this foolhardy crusade of his.
Carol seems mos def in my camp, as she looks down at Morgan’s unconscious form, asking Rosita if she can borrow her gun, so she can take a sweep around the brownstone and see if there are “any other surprises” waiting for them in there.
And then, Morgan wakes up, looks around…
…asks, “Where is he?”
Nobody has the heart to answer right away. Morgan then asks, “Where’s Denise?” to which Carol guesses, immediately, “He took her,” (while actually managing to hold herself back from adding, “You fucking idiot,” to Morgan). I thought this omission showed some real restraint on Carol’s part. Props, New Carol.
“Didn’t he?” New Carol presses Rosita, who answers without words, slowly coming to standing, looking at Carol and nodding, then pulling out her handgun, silently handing it to Carol, who stalks off angrily to take a sweep of the rest of the house.
Morgan’s eyes register his dismay as he realizes the truth of what has happened, while Eugene, no stranger to fucking shit up royally for others, gently encourages Morgan to stand, and offers his assistance in helping Morgan up off the floor.
While that hot drama unfolds in the brownstone, we see an ariel shot of two figures, fleet of foot and nimble of mind, dart across the expanse between the fence and the church in short, well-timed dashes, ducking behind bushes, signs, undetected by the milling walkers, until they are able to scramble up the church steps and get inside safely.
We recognize these figures, with their speed and savvy, as Glenn and Enid. #superteam
…while outside, in another part of town…
The young Wolf looks over as Denise bravely tries to keep her calm, and composure, as they hunker down and wait for an opening in the steady stream of walkers, just an iron railing away, while taking momentary refuge in the downstairs bricked-in porch/patio of one of Alexandria’s brownstones. The Wolf narrows his eyes and smiles at this, touches his gun to Denise’s back, says, softly, “Easy.”
Meanwhile, once safely inside, Glenn bars the church doors and instructs Enid to look for anything that may have been stashed or hidden, even inside torn-out pages of a bible. As Enid looks up at a proverb painted on the church’s wall, Glenn continues, instructing Enid to look for any cloths or robes, curtains that could be tied together for Maggie to climb down off the platform she is trapped up on, while a swarm of walkers press and paw at her from below.
Honestly, at the first watching, I was kind of bored with Enid’s process…sorry, but I was like, “C’mon, Enid, didn’t we do this already, like in that town, in that apartment, then out in the bushes, outside the wall, in the tree, climbing up to the wall? “ Like, I don’t know, didn’t versions of this conversation happen like ten times already, or am I being very creative with my memory (again)? I was like, “Boring.” My friends were more tolerant with Enid’s process, so I shut up and sipped champagne and tried to emulate their good example. And they were right. Sorry, Enid. I have a shot attention span. I know you are a young girl and Glenn had an important message to impart. I’s a dick.
“Faith without works is dead.”
Meanwhile, crouched outside the brownstone as countless walkers stream past, just above their heads, Denise has her eyes closed, breathing through bursts of fear, and panic, that bubble up. The Wolf regards her closely.
“How things turn,” muses the Wolf, watching Denise like a movie.
Glenn finally turns around and is like, “WTF Enid?” and Enid’s all like, staring and mopey and like, “When I wanted to run, you said that’s how you lose people…” and then it was all like, wah, wah, wah, blah, blah, blah, my parents died, everybody dies, what’s the point? and Glenn was like, “You do it because you’re here, they’re not, and so you do it for them,” and Enid was like, “Ohhhh…” (and I was like, “Come on, already!”) and Enid’s all like, “Who were your people ?”
And Glenn’s like…
“Who are my people? Girl, I’ll tell you who my people are…”
And then, Enid finally fucking got it, and I was like, “OMG, finally!” and Enid was like, “Oh, look, I found a gun in the bible!” and Glenn was like, “Good job,” and I was all like…
“Oh, YAY, Enid. You go, girl. Now, can we please move the fuck along to the other storylines? Thanks!“
So, moving right along, to other storylines…
The Wolf begins to prepare Denise for the next step of the plan, “When there’s an opening…”
“…we’ll make a break for that tower, over there.” Denise tries to convince the Wolf to leave her: “No, I’ll just slow you down…”
Poor Denise is not to be let off the hook that easily, however. The Wolf leans in to her. “Denise? You’re here…with me.”
“I need you.”
The Wolf pauses, then smiles horridly, “Maybe I want you to stay…because I’m enjoying your company so much.“
Enid, meanwhile, flips the script on Glenn when he tries to order her to stay behind in the church while he goes to rescue Maggie…
Back in the church, Enid basically pulls a classic Glenn Rhee manuever on Glenn and tells him, “You were right, and I’m here now, so I’m going out there, and I’m helping you!” Enid then hatches a pretty brilliant plan involving Glenn distracting the walkers while she helps Maggie, who is injured and needs help, over the wall. “We do it together,” Enid says. Then she laughs, shakes her head with a shrug. “I’m just going to follow you anyway.” Glenn looks at her like he’s looking in the mirror. (Well, alrighty then, Enid! I like you so much better when you’re not being totally annoying.)
Meanwhile, the Wolf continues to chat up Denise. “I liked what you said before,” he says, by way of opener.
“That I wasn’t born this way?” the Wolf continues. “You’re right…I changed.“
The Wolf looks at Denise intently. “And now, I want to help you change.” (Oh, fuck, it’s some bad, bad fucking news when the dude with reanimated torsos hanging from meat hooks in the truck trailer says that line!)
The Wolf continues, telling Denise that she’s being given “a gift.” The young Wolf looks upward, muses aloud that, maybe, one day, Denise will realize that…or maybe she won’t.
Denise be like, “Well, I don’t know about all that, but I do know one thing…your breath smells like a walker ate a dead, decomposing skunk, and then shit it into your mouth. Seriously, dude, keep fucking breathing on me like that, and I’m gonna jump up and run screaming into that sea of walkers out there, just to get the fuck away from those mossy-ass teeth and that Breath of Death of yours.”
In the next scene, night is falling, and the walkers continue to swarm the streets of Alexandria. Their hissing and snarling fill the air.
Rick leading the way, the gang makes their way carefully through the savage walkers.
At first, Sam is holding it together pretty well, until some particularly messed-up walkers come snarling close by…
Butterface Walkers be like, “Yo, young homie, looking good, son! Looking fresh.“
And then, Creepy Carol’s lilting voice begins to fill poor young Sam’s head, reciting the fairy tale that is both a promise and a curse:
“The monsters will come…”
“…and you won’t be able to run away…”
“…when they come for you.”
These images seem like they are straight from the nightmares poor Sam must have started having that very night after Creepy Carol terrorized him into keeping her secret about stealing guns from the armory…
(Damn, Creepy Carol, did you have to get so jiggy with your scary tale? That poor kid never had a chance…all he wanted was the cookies, Creepy Carol. All the poor kid wanted was the cookies!)
Creepy Carol’s voice over continues, “The ones out there, and they will tear you apart…”
“…and eat you up…”
“…all while you’re still alive.”
And with those words, the curse was cast upon the doomed young Sam…
…for once the words fell from Creepy Carol’s lips, they imbedded themselves into Sam’s fertile young mind, and black vines of terror and foreboding began on grow wild…
…until they choked out the light inside the young boy, leaving only darkness within.
Sam stops short, staring at the walker child, and when Jessie looks into her son’s eyes, she sees his terror, his paralysis…and the fear in her eyes grows because she’s seen this before with him…she knows this is bad.
As Carl looks out, alarmed, Jessie tries to coax her son, “Sam? Come on…come on. Sweetheart? Sam…”
But Sam does not, cannot, heed his mother’s quiet urging...he is frozen with terror.
Jessie pulls at her son’s hand, but Sam does not respond, does not budge, will not move…
Rick joins in, and we hear his voice, Jessie’s voice, softly calling to Sam in alarmed whispers… “Sam? Sam! Come on, honey, come with me.” But poor Sam is in the grip of his worst nightmare come to life…
To his credit (which is limited at best), Ron tries to encourage his brother, “Sam! You can do it! Sams, look at Mom!“ But Sam shakes his head, becoming more and more upset, agitated, starts to cry…his heart pounding, body temperature rising, blood surging to the skin’s surface and to extremities to be ready to fight, or flee…and predators, like the walkers, can sense, smell, prey in distress…
Jessie kneels down to Sam’s eye-level, says more firmly for Sam to come now, come with her…
Poor Sam, paralyzed by his fear, whimpers, “I want to.”
This shot really gets me…it felt to me like Sam had already resigned himself to his unspeakable fate in the moment before the walkers’ attack…
And then…oh, God! OH, GOD, oh, God, oh God.
OMFG.
Like, seriously, people…
…I may need to go on antidepressants after rewatching this scene. OMFG, is that a chunk out of Sam’s shoulder in Take A Bite Outta Sam Walker’s mouth? Jesus Christ…
At this point, I usually insert a technical factoid to distance myself from the horror of what is happening in a scene, so here goes: On Talking Dead, Greg Nicotero explained how the special effects crew designed special dentures for the walker actors in this scene. The dentures contained fake blood capsules that burst when the actor bit down on them, creating the effect of the blood streaming from poor Sam’s head as the walker bites down on it.
As the walkers engulf the little boy, poor Sam unleashes a blood curdling scream that has haunted my dreams, as well as some of my waking hours, since…
And, of course, the horror is just beginning…
Poor Jessie… 😦
…ughhh…
I…cannot. (Honestly, of all the gnarly and heartbreaking screenshots I have ever posted on this site, I think this shot, of Jessie holding her son’s hand as he gets eaten alive by walkers, has gutted me more than any other image I have posted. I am so glad this shit isn’t real, that Major Dodson and Alexandra Breckenridge are alive and well. (And p.s., Robert Kirkman, Scott M. Gimple, and Greg Nicotero, I will be sending you three the bill for all the therapy I am going to need after watching, and rewatching this scene in the writing process. Bravo, sirs…well played, well played.)
Ron looks on in disbelief as Michonne’s eyes register the horror and gravity of their situation.
And, when a walker looks up a moment, tearing away a bleeding piece of her son’s flesh, muscle…
…Jessie unleashes a primal scream of a mother’s anguish as Rick, in shock at the sudden, horrific turn of events, looks helplessly on…
This scream, of course, gets the attention of nearby walkers…
…as Carl (whose hand Jessie still grips) and Ron realize, with growing alarm, what is surely about to happen…we her Rick’s voice, sounding so far away through her echoing screams, “Jessie...Jessie!“
As her son’s hand slackens in her grip, Jessie’s gaze deadens as she stares, fixated, at the grisly sight before her, of a group of walkers feasting on her youngest son, tearing him apart before her very eyes.
Carl, pale, panicked, sweaty, calls to Jessie in a frantic whisper, tries to pull her away, but she cannot, does not, heed him…
“You have to come!” Carl begs her. Jessie pulls back, in shock, seems unable to process this horror, this nightmare.
The walkers pounce on Jessie so quickly…
…it takes Jessie a moment to register what is happening to her.
By the time she realizes, it is already too late. The walkers descend on poor Jessie.
“No,” Rick keeps muttering, in dull shock and grief, watching the lovely, good woman who he cared so deeply for suffer such an angonizing, cruel fate…
Carl’s voice cuts through Rick’s reverie: “Dad…Dad!” Rick looks over, dazed, to see Carl’s hand still held fast in Jessie’s death grip…
As if in a dream, Rick lifts the axe he is holding, and after the barest hesitation, brings it down on Jessie’s arm…
…and begins to hack away at it to save his son.
With a final swing of the axe, Rick severs poor Jessie’s arm through, freeing Carl. The walkers pile savagely on Jessie, pulling her down to the ground in frenzy of feeding.
Through all this, a handgun (I forget whose gun this is…anyone?) falls into the grass, unheeded by Rick, Carl…but someone, someone who has now lost everyone closest to him, and who blames Rick Grimes for this, notices the gun, lying there.
Carl whirls at the sound of the handgun’s safety being released, sees Ron, who is clutching the gun, pointing it at Rick, behind Carl. “You…” Ron grinds out, staring at Rick with unbridled hatred.
“You!” Ron says, again, pointing the gun at Rick.
Rick says nothing, does not try to defend himself, or talk Ron down.
Before Ron can fire the gun at Rick, Michonne comes from behind, and in one quick upward thrust…
…and skewers the shit out of Ron McSlappy, son of an abusive a-hole, bearer of a legit grudge against Rick Grimes, but…we can’t have you killing our main man, McSlappy. Michonne no likey when some dicknuts is trying to kill her man, Rick Grimes…remember that time when the Gov was beating Rick almost to death at the Battle Royale for the prison?
Then, suddenly, Snidely brings the weapons down, by his sides, slumping into his bike’s seat, looks down, as if reconsidering…
Ron, in his dying throes and jerks, does manage to squeeze off one shot, involuntarily, as he goes down. Michonne pulls her blade back quickly, silently, as Rick nods his thanks to her and walkers fall upon Ron’s dying body.
Rick then turns to his son…and sees…
“Dad?”
“Carl!” Rick gasps, stricken at the sight of his son, blood pouring out of the hole where Carl’s right eye used to be.
Carl collapses to the ground. Rick rushes to his unconscious son and quickly scoops him up into his arms.
Wild with anguish, Michonne hacks a clear path through the swarm of walkers as Rick runs behind her, Carl bleeding out in his arms.
Holy crap, gang, I tell you…there isn’t enough wine in the world to make that shit go away anytime soon.
(Side note, I was still working on this scene when TWD’s Episode 609 aired this Sunday. It did my soul good to watch the next episode, and celebrate the classic Rick/Daryl hotness, as well as the new man talent (I ❤ Jesus), but it definitely was surreal to have to go back, after the watching of that frolicsome episode, and taking part in the Richonne celebration, and reimmerse myself into recounting this dark scene.
Honestly, t kind of messed me up, and I actually woke up the next day exhausted, run-down, fighting off a cold, and asking myself, for the umpteenth time, “Why the hell am I putting myself through this?”
I know why, loves…I think I do, anyway. It’s inexplicable, but it’s something bigger than me. It’s like some kind of Field of Weird Dreams: “If you write it, it will come.”
What will come, I have no idea, but this crazy project has been a life-changing endeavor, as it keeps me writing, and creating, and the readership is ever-increasing, at an unprecendented rate, with views from all over the world.
And, thanks for that, gang. Thanks for reading my crazy-ass blog.
It means the world…it really does. ❤ <3<3<3
________________________________________
Now, where were we? Ah, yes, having survived the Jessie/Sam/Ron/Carl scene portrayal, let us step back and enjoy a couple of related IG postings:
This post features the amazing makeup and technical effects that went into creating the illusion of Carl’s eye wound.The makeup effects team created an incredibly realistic dummy in Chandler Riggs’ likeness, complete with eye wound, which was used in certain scenes, like the scene where Rick is running, carrying his wounded, unconscious son through the walker horde. An image of the eye wound was also digitally superimposed onto Chandler Riggs’ face (shown in the last panel) in the final edits of the scene where Carl looks up Rick, immediately after getting shot by Ron.
And this post (by the always-hilarious @therickygrimes ) is one of my personal favorites in regards to the character of poor, doomed Sam.
And, mad props, and a round of Deadies to:
1) Alexandra Breckenridge, the lovely and talented actress who plays Jessie Anderson.
Jessie, girl, despite my initial resistance to your coming on the scene, I did grow to have love for you. Respect. You did not deserve what you had to endure, both in your life, and in your death. I am glad you got to kiss Rick Grimes, and hopefully, you were able to knock out a quick one with him in that garage before all the shit went down.
RIP Jessie Anderson ❤
2) Major Dodson, who plays Sam Anderson, the sweet, doomed boy who went in search of cookies, and found himself a world of shit, instead…sorry, little buddy. That’s some rough breaks, right there. I love me some cookies, as well, and I could see myself getting into some similar trouble in the PZA in my endless quest for tasty night snacks.
Chris Hardwick posted this hilarious IG posting comparing a childhood picture of himself next to the talented young actor, Major Dodson, with the hashtag #IAmSam
RIP Sam Anderson ❤
And, finally:
3) A very special Deadie to Austin Abrams, the handsome and talented young actor who plays the complex character of Ron Anderson (a.k.a. Ron McSlappy).
Austin, it is not an easy thing to play a character who is generally disliked by an overprotective, somewhat obsessive fan base, but you really did an amazing job. Baller, truly. ❤
May your young star continue to rise…you’ve def got the goods, son.
And, Ron, well, you started out sweet, then downward-spiraled pretty quickly into becoming a bitter young D-bag.
Carl said it best, when he told you, straight up, that “Your dad was an asshole.”
He was, and for that, I am so sorry. And, your beef with Rick Grimes was definitely understandable, but we can’t have you shooting at the man, Ron, and we certainly cannot have you shooting out Carl’s eye.
That aggression simply will not stand, Ron McSlappy.
(I think, once again, Talking Dead’s In Memoriam said it best):
RIP Ron McSlappy
____________________________________
Meanwhile, back at the brownstone:
As Tara tirelessly keeps watch out the window for any sign of Denise…
…and Morgan mopes…
…Eugene ponders the machete he holds in his hands.
Sporting both a game face and the Front Lines mullet, Eugene looks up at Rosita, who is watching him with narrowed eyes.
“Sooner or later, we’re fightin’ our way out of here,” Eugene says. Rosita regards Eugene a moment more, says nothing, then turns her gaze away.
“I am fully aware that you know that we will,” Eugene continues, in classic #EugeneSpeak.
Rosita looks back at him. “Yeah,” she confirms, arms crossed, “We will.” Rosita then narrows her eyes at Eugene. “Not you,“she says, somewhat bitterly, and begins to move past him.
Eugene protests, “Well, by my reckon…” Rosita cuts him off with a sharp hiss. “Eugene!” she says, arms crossed and eyes shooting daggers down at him. “Come on!” Rosita stalks off angrily…
…leaving Eugene sitting there, holding the machete and rocking the Butt-Hurt mullet. She’s right…how many times did she, Abraham, and so many others fight off walkers to protect him in the past, while he faked having the key to curing the walker epidemic? (Gotta say, really loving this shot of Eugene.)
Meanwhile, the dark Wolf peers through the railing at the walkers moving away, en masse. “They’re moving towards the gunfire,” he says, then muses, “I suppose someone thought they could put up a fight…I guess you all thought that.“
“We did put up a fight,” Denise replies. “That’s why your friends are dead.” (Oh SNAP, Doctor Denise! You throw some shade at that bad man, girl! )
Denise cuts a sideways look as the Wolf agrees easily, “Yeah…we should have waited, and watched a little longer. I was selfish.” The Wolf smiles, remembering, as he moves behind Denise to her left side, watching the flow of the walkers. “But, if I hadn’t been so selfish, I wouldn’t have gotten that I.V.”
Clocking the walkers, the Wolf tells Denise, “We’re gonna find a gap, and GO…up that guard tower, and over the wall.”
The young Wolf then turns to Denise, looks at her intently, grabs her arm.
Denise turns to look at him, afraid.
“You don’t need to be afraid,” the Wolf tells her. Denise turns her eyes back to the steady flow of walkers in front of them, turns back to look the Wolf in the eye.
“Go to hell,” Denise tells him.
The Wolf replies, “You need to know, it’s safer out there than it is in here.” Denise does not reply. “Start moving,” the Wolf commands her, “Start moving.” Denise is left no choice but to nod, wordlessly, and starts moving towards the stairs, the Wolf right behind her.
As they slowly make their way up the steps, the Wolf instructs Denise, “Straight up the guard post, and do not stop…go!“
Using Denise as a human shield, the Wolf pushes her forward as they begin to dash across an opening in the stream of walkers.
They zigzag past the walkers, but see that there is one walker blocking their way to the ladder, and another walker or two turning towards them…
Post Blocker Walker be like, “Hey, y’all know where the dang all-you-can-eat dinner buffet is? I been lookin’ all over the place for it, and I cain’t find it anywhere!”
“Owww! Goddam, now that hurts like a sonuvabitch! Y’all young people nowadays got shit for manners, you know that?”
Early Bird Special Walker grabs Denise and starts shaking her. “You gonna tell me where that damn all-you-can eat buffet is, you hear?“
“I got all dolled up for the fancy party, wore my purtiest dress, got my hair did and everything! Now, I’m a gonna get me somma that all-you-can-eat buffet, so you better just start talking, missy!”
After killing Post Blocker Walker, the young Wolf turns around, looking for Denise, and sees her trying to fend off Early Bird Special Walker. Now, the Wolf has a clear path to the ladder, is right there, but he rushes back to help Denise, stabbing Early Bird Special Walker in her rotting skull, rekilling her.
“Aaaahhhh! That ain’t no way to treat a lady, no sir! Lookit what you gone and done…you done ruined my fancy hairdo!”
As soon as the she-walker slumps down, dead for good, You Had This Coming Walker takes a bite out of the Wolf’s left arm.
Gnarly! As You Had This Coming tears a huge chunk out of the Wolf’s arm, the young man howls with pain and rage and rekills the walker with a downward stab to the head.
As the young man’s arm begins bleeding out, Denise stares down in momentary shock, then she looks up at the Wolf. “You get me to the infirmary,” she tells him, “and I’ll save your life.” He looks at her in shock. “I’ll save your life,” she says, again.
The Wolf and Denise begin to run back towards the infirmary...
Meanwhile, Carol has done a sweep of the brownstone, and looks out the window, upstairs, down at the streets filled with walkers. She sits down heavily, her head in her hand. She looks so over it.
Carol hears a noise, jumps up, gun raised, sees it is Morgan, who approaches slowly, looking somewhat shamefaced.
Carol’s face, as she registers who it is, shows her anger. She lowers the gun, turns back to the window. Morgan comes into the room cautiously, towards Carol, not taking his eyes from her.
“You had a child…right?“ Morgan guesses, astutely.
Carol does not reply. “A husband?” Morgan guesses, again, and Carol’s eyes close a moment at that. “I didn’t want to hurt you,” Morgan explains, by way of apology. “I had to stop you.”
Carol calls Morgan out, her voice shaking with anger.. “You saved him for you, not us.”
“If it was for us,“ Carol continues, “you would have-…” and she lets the thought trail off, unsaid.
“I should have killed you,” Carol says, looking a little shaken at this realization. “I should have…”
“You can’t,“ Morgan replies, before turning and walking out of the room.
Meanwhile, Denise and the Wolf duck into an office. The Wolf stares ahead in shock as Denise unbuckles his belt to make a tourniquet for his bitten arm.
“The infirmary is right across the alley,” she tells the dazed Wolf.
“We need to get you there, now.“
The Wolf continues to look dazed with shock. “Hey!” Denise says, trying to bring him back to the present. The Wolf looks at her, then looks away, his brow furrowing with confusion. “The ladder was clear,” he says, wonderingly. “We could have made it.”
“You turned back for me,” Denise reminds him, tightening the tourniquet around his arm. The Wolf turns to look at her, remembering. “Maybe it was because you needed a doctor,” Denise says, looking at the Wolf significantly..
“Or, maybe you changed.” The Wolf looks at her, stunned at this. Denise turns to go, then turns back to the Wolf. “You ready?” she asks him, and after a moment, he follows her out of the office.
Once outside, the pair must start fighting off many walkers. The Wolf is able to shove a few nearby walkers away and clear a path, but one walker makes straight for Denise.
Sub Pop Walker be flyin’ the flannel and the ferocity.
The Wolf pulls the walker away from Denise, just in time, and calls to her to “Come on!” when a couple of pops sound out from above…
The Wolf is hit by one bullet, then another, as Denise stops and stares, in shock, first at the Wolf, then up where Carol is standing above them, on an upstairs balcony, pointing a gun at the Wolf. “Go!” screams Carol to Denise.
Denise hesitates, and Sub Pop Walker lurches forward for another go at her. The Wolf clasps his arms around the walker from behind, dragging it down with him as he echoes Carol’s command, yelling for Denise to “Go!”. Denise looks back at him a moment more, as walker upon walker descend upon the young Wolf, before turning and running.
Carol watches the young Wolf, whom she had wanted to kill, and who just so clearly intervened to save Denise’s life, get taken down by walkers. Carol’s face shows her conflict, and her sadness as she watches this. A very special Lupine Deadie goes to Austrailian actor Benedict Samuel, who plays the dark haired Wolf, and who, thankfully, is as handsome and delightful as he is talented. Well done, mate!
Denise rushes into the infirmary as Heath and Aaron quickly bar the door behind her. (And, where the hell has Heath been this whole time? I haven’t seen that dude since before the Wolves attacked Alexandria. Heath’s all like, “Whoa, man, I was totally bingewatching Gilmore Girls dvds, and then I musta fallen asleep, because next thing I know, this crazy noise wakes me up, and I look out the window, and there’s like a shit-ton of walkers everywhere!”)
Aaron peers out the infirmary window, whispers, “Oh my God!” at what he sees outside…the others peer out and see:
Rick and Michonne running, Rick carrying his unconscious, bleeding son in his arms, as Michonne hacks a path through the walkers to clear the way. They are hauling ass to the infirmary.
“It’s the kid,” says Heath. “Is he bit?”
Denise closes her eyes, takes a few deep breaths to steady herself, then replies, “No.” She then starts to order the men to gather the needed supplies, meds, IV, gurney. They rush to do her bidding. Doctor Denise is in the house!
Denise opens the door and points Rick towards the waiting gurney. He rushes through the doorway, Michonne behind him, both looking frantic with worry for Carl.
Denise immediately begins assessing the situation. “Gun shot wound?” she asks. “Handgun, close-range,” Michonne replies. As Denise gets to work, Rick pleads, softly, humbly, “Please save him…”
“Please!“ (And how about those eye wound effects? So super duper gnarltastic!)
Denise’s voice, and the others’ voices, begin to drone out, sound further and further away as it all begins to close in on poor Rick: His son is gravely wounded, eye shot out, he just watched his girlfriend and her son get eaten alive by walkers, and to add insult to injury, Rick had to hack off his doomed gf’s arm with an axe to free his son…and then, poor Carl took a bullet in the eye that was meant for Rick, and now, he’s watching a capable woman, who is an untrained doctor, begin the procedures to try to save his son. #shittiestdayever
My WD buddies and I loved this tender gesture on Michonne’s part, taking the walker guts cloak off Rick for him. ❤
Rick turns away, head in hand, then turns back as Denise begins to operate on Carl, ordering Michonne to apply pressure to Carl’s head, above the eye, to try to keep him steady during the procedure, and to limit blood loss…
Rick peers out the window, and as feared, the light that Denise is using for surgery is indeed drawing the attention of nearby walkers, who are shuffling en masse towards the infirmary.
Rick Smash! has some serious rage that he needs to work out, and so our man pulls out his trusty hatchet, goes to the door, and begins to open it.
Time to get to work, Rick Smash! (P.S. I love you. <3)
As he saunters out the door, ready to fuck shit up, we can hear Michonne’s voice calling after him, “Rick! What are you doing? Rick…Rick!” Rick Smash! does not hesitate as he out the door and closes it behind him. <3<3<3<3
Rick Smash! is not fucking around.
Our main man is all about the business of fucking some walkers UP.
Rick Smash! be like, “I am most ill and I’m axin’ and slayin!'”
(On a side note, my hubby’s been teaching me how to split logs, and I’ve been wielding the axe a lot lately, chopping a lot of wood. I have a long way to go with my building my strength and skillz, but I have been thinking that the axe might be my signature weapon in a zombie apocalypse. Just a lil FYI.)
As Rick Smash! kicks Why Don’t You Ax Him? Walker‘s rekilled ass away, Phil Side Walker looks on in dismay all the harshness going down, like right in front of him.. He’s all like, “Hey, man! Hey, man, that’s not cool! That’s not cool, bro…so not cool!!”
Phil Side Walker continues his conscientious objections: “Dude, your agro is totally harshing the collective mellow…don’t you know, like, it’s all connected, bro? We are all one with the universe, man!”
But, of course, Rick Smash! doesn’t care about any of that shit. He just wants to smash him some of these undead fuckers that keep ruining his life and fucking everything up for everyone he loves. And so, he does, looking completely sexy and baller while doing so.
He gets jiggy with that shit, and we likey. ❤
At this point, Phil Side Walker feels it is his karmic duty to call out, “Dude, bro, violence is never the answer!”
❤ The Rick Smash! angels in my head are singing, “Hallelujah!” ❤
Back inside, Michonne keeps looking towards the door, getting frantic. “Rick’s out there,” she says, in a rush.. “Hold on,” says Doc Denise, calmly, stitching Carl’s wound.
“He needs my help!” Michonne presses. “Just one more suture,” Doc Denise replies, steadily working. “He’s out there!“ Michonne cries.(OMFG, were you fellow Richonners out there just loving the shit out of this, or what? I was sooo dying! ❤ )
Doc Denise is all like, “Girl, I know you gotta get out there to your bf and all, but first things first…”
Doc Denise says calmly, firmly, “This is his son. Give me a second.” Really becoming a major fan of Doc Denise, and busting out a love offering right here, right now by awarding Doc Denise both a barnfullawalkers Weird Science Deadie Doctorate and naming her as one of the three MVP‘s of TWD Episode 609…Daryl Dixon, Doc Dense, and our third MVP will be named soon enough, loves, and I am sure you know who it is already. 🙂 ❤
Even Michonne, in her panic, is like, “Yes, Doctor.” Behind her, Aaron marvels, “He’s taking them all on…we have to go get him.“
Spencer’s like, “Say what?” (Yeah, that means you. too, pretty boy, so grow a pair, arm yourself, and get out there and get to rekilling STAT.)
Heath (who is well-rested and reinspired after his long nap and Gilmore Girls marathon) turns to Spencer, agrees with Aaron. “We have to.” Heath turns to the others, taking deep breaths, readying himself for battle. “This is it.”
Doc Denise announces, “Got it,” and Michonne bends down to give Carl a quick kiss on his forehead…
…then grabs her katana, rushing out the door, with Heath, Aaron, and after a moment’s hesitation, Spencer, following right behind her.
The walkers are coming full force towards Rick, who is still hacking away at them, berzerker style.
The others, Michonne, Aaron, Heath, and Spencer, join Rick, and the gang forms a kill circle, back to back, facing the oncoming walkers head on…
…as other residents of Alexandria look out from the safety of indoors, and see the small circle of warriors battling for their town… (I think this is Fax 2 Cleveland guy from the Abraham/Francine walker attack construction site. Go, F2C guy, go on with your bad self and help Rick Grimes take back this town!)
Go, Olivia!
Go, Eric! You can do it!
Heath got some mad rekill skillz…
Rick-In-Charge orders his band of warriors: “Knock “em away, drive ’em down.” He then turns to see…
…the second string, machetes in hand, running down the steps to join the fight! Yahoo!
Couples who rekill together, stay together! ❤
Spencer’s starting to get the hang of this…
“We can beat ’em!” Rick exhorts his troops.
Aerial view, as the Battle For Alexandria rages on.
From inside his church, Father Gabriel peers out the window at Rick and the others fighting. We can hear Rick shouting orders, encouragement from outside.
Judith begins to fuss, and Gabriel takes her over to a female parishioner, asks her to take the baby.
Gabriel then walks over, picks up a bloodstained machete, and walks over to the door. Tobin follows him, asks, “Gabriel, what are you doing?”
Gabriel turns to the his parishioners. “We have been praying, together, praying that God will save our town…”
“Well, our prayers have been answered. God will save Alexandria…”
“…because God has given us the courage to save ourselves.” (Can I hear a “Praise the Lord!”?)
As Rick Grimes and his merry band of Badass Berzerkers go to town on the walker herd…
Tara tells the others, in the brownstone, that the walkers outside are starting to thin out…Carol comes in and informs them that Rick, along with Michonne and some others, is making a stand against the walkers. “We need to get out there,” Carol says, heading for the door.
Carol tells Tara that Denise made it back to the infirmary safely, then tells the others that she’s going to help Rick.
Morgan chimes in, says that he is going, too. The others, one by one, voice their support. They are all in, even Eugene.
Rosita turns to Eugene. “Eugene, you don’t have to,” she tells him.
“That’s incorrect, I do,“ Eugene replies. “Nobody gets to clock out today. And, hell, this is a story that people are gonna tell.“
And so, the story of the Battle of Alexandria continues, as the invading walkers stream towards the fight…
Rosita and Eugene leading the way, the others join the seige.
The first blow Morgan delivers with his staff sends a walker to the ground, and as it rears back up, snarling, Morgan sees it is the young dark-haired Wolf.
Morgan looks down at the Wolf Walker. “I’m sorry,” he says, before swiftly delivering the fatal blow.
Meanwhile, Operation Rescue Maggie is underway, with Glenn and Enid sprinting past walkers…
…to the lookout post Maggie is trapped up on. To Glenn’s horror, the walker horde is charging the posts, and the makeshift wooden structure is rocking as Maggie hangs desperately on. It will not hold much longer.
Glenn orders Enid to “Go get her,” and when Enid hesitates, Glenn barks out the order again. “Go get her!”
As Enid rushes forward towards Maggie, and the swarming walkers…
…Glenn begins firing his handgun, screaming to the walkers, “Over here! Over here!“
Hearing Glenn’s voice, Maggie looks up to see her man for the first time since before he set out to redirect the quarry walkers and was feared dead.
Maggie immediately sees the danger Glenn is putting himself in. “Glenn!” she cries.
“Glenn!” Unbeknownst to Maggie, Enid is scaling up the side of the tower to help her. Glenn continues shooting, calling to the walkers, to draw them away from Maggie, going hand-to-hand with the ones that get too close to him. “Over here! Hey! Over here!“
Maggie helps pull Enid up, and they both watch helplessly as the horde of walkers begin to stream over to Glenn, who continues shooting, yelling, fighting them off.
The walkers continue to swarm around Glenn, backing him up against a wall. He continues to fight, and that this point in the inital watching, TWD fans’ cortisol levels were rising…
Maggie raises her gun, aims, and pulls the trigger, but the telltale click signals that the gun is out of ammo. “Shit!” she swears, then in a last-ditch effort, she bangs the gun against the railing, trying to draw their attention away from Glenn, to no avail.
Glenn Rhee continues to fight, to the very end if he has to…
…and the walkers continue to close in on him.
Maggie watches, helpless and distraught, as Enid takes advantage of the clearing to tie her makeshift rope to the railing. It is what Glenn would want her to do, and she knows it.
Maggie cries, frantic, watching the walkers close in and around Glenn.
Suddenly, the sound of shots pepper the air, and the walkers closest to Glenn go down, one by one.
Glenn drops for cover as the walkers around him go down, one by one, in a spray of undead blood and guts.
It’s the sexy sharpshooters, Abraham and Sasha, come to save the day!
As Glenn looks up dazed, he sees Abraham looking down at him.
“Can you get the gate?” Abraham jokingly calls to Glenn. “Appreciate it, pal!” And with a laugh, Abraham returns to one of his favorite pasttimes…
…blowing away some walkers.
Later, fuglies.
As Abraham, Sasha, and Enid help Maggie down onto Patty the fuel tanker…
…Glenn climbs into the shotgun seat,. Daryl asks him, “What the hell happened?” Glenn replies that he doesn’t know, he just got back there, himself. It’s crazy to think of all that has happened to each of them since they first set off for the quarry, to lead the walkers away from Alexandria.
Glenn voices the idea of leading the walkers away, but Daryl has a better plan. He bangs on the ceiling of the truck, signaling the others on top.
Meanwhile, in another part of town, Rick and the others continue to go hand-to-hand with the walkers. (I found myself admiring Eric’s sporty style of walker killing…those Alexandria cardio kickboxing classes have really paid off!)
However fearsome and badass each warrior is in holding his/her own, the walkers’ sheer numbers continue to give them the advantage as they press onward towards the living.
Meanwhile, Daryl backs the fuel truck up to Alexandria’s mini lake in the center of town…
…and while Glenn, Sasha, and Abraham fight off walkers, Daryl opens the hose and unleashes a large spray of gasoline into the lake.
The warriors of Alexandria continue to face off with the press of walkers…
…who keep backing them up…
…until they are nearly up against the walls.
The next day…
“I was wrong.”
“I thought after living behind these walls for so long…”
“…that maybe they couldn’t learn.”
“But, today…”
“Today, I saw what they could do…what we could do…”
“…if we work together.”
“We’ll rebuild the walls…we’ll expand the walls.”
“There will be more; there’s gotta be more.“
“Everything that Deanna was talking about…”
“…is possible. It’s all possible. I see that, now.“
“When I was out there, with them, when I knew it was over, I had this feeling…”
“It took me a while to remember what it was…”
“…because I hadn’t felt it since before I woke up in that hospital bed.”
“I want to show you the new world, Carl. I want to make it a reality for you. Please, please, Carl…let me show you.”
In response, Carl’s fingers close gently over his father’s hand.
