“Spend”
(All images used in this post are screen caps from AMC’s The Walking Dead unless otherwise specified.)
As The Walking Dead’s Episode 514, “Spend,” opens, we see shots of another day dawning in Alexandria…the sun rises over the stately homes. The birds are singing. All is quiet and peaceful within the steel walls of the enclosed community, hearkening to days gone bye.
We see Father Gabriel step into the opening of a garage that has been converted into a little chapel. He stands there, hesitating, before entering with an air of one who is resigned, and who is going through the motions.
Gabriel makes his way up to the front of the room, which has been decorated with care. Sunlight streams through the windows, and a pane of stained glass has been hung behind the altar to catch the light. Chairs are arranged in rows, and a brightly colored throw rug has been carefully placed before the makeshift altar. A bible is opened on the altar, surrounded by candles.
Gabriel steps up to his place at the altar, and carefully places a wrinkled piece of tracing type paper in the pages, which are open, and ready, for Alexandria’s new spiritual leader’s use. It is easy to imagine that the citizens of Alexandria are excited to resume worship, and eager for some spiritual comfort and guidance from their new priest, in these times.
Gabriel then looks over and spies…
…a bowl of fresh strawberries, and a sweet note welcoming the new priest.
This offering to Gabriel from a member of his new congregation seems to be bringing up some painful memories, and self-loathing, for Gabriel. Seth Gilliam once again delivers a powerful performance as the tortured priest who cannot forgive himself for the sins of his past…when he kept his church doors locked and refused his parishioners the safety inside the church walls, leaving them outside to be torn apart by walkers.
Gabriel turns back to the altar, and the bible before him. The top page has a tiny tear at the top of it, and Gabriel slowly tears the page out of the bible, and tosses it aside.
Gabriel continues ripping page after page out of the bible.
Faster and faster, Gabriel tears out the bible’s pages…
…until he has torn away half the bible, leaving the spine, back cover bare. He slams the bible shut.
After he destroys the bible, Gabriel looks over, once again, at the note and strawberries. His jaw clenches, and his face shows the torment inside as he looks at the sweet offering.
Gabriel then lifts his gaze towards the heavens with the manner of one who does not feel worthy of divine forgiveness, or salvation, for the sins of his past.
Meanwhile, as the gates of Alexandria roll open…
Yes…
…yes…
YES!
Daryl and Aaron head out on their first recruiting run together as Alexandria’s Dynamic Duo.
Across town, in a gazebo, Reg apologizes to a waiting Noah for being late…the power’s out again.
Reg jokes to Noah, “How is it that you’re the one who called this extremely early morning meeting, yet I’m the one bringing breakfast?”
As Noah takes the cup of steel cut oatmeal that Reg offers, he jokes back, “Because you’re a good guy?”
After the banter back and forth, Noah asks Reg if they can start meeting in the mornings, so Reg can teach him “how to build things.” Reg asks him if he wants to be an architect, and Noah replies, “I wanna make sure those walls stay up.”
Reg, surprised, asks Noah if he thinks the walls could fall. Noah looks around, replies:
“I think they could get knocked in.” Surely, Noah is thinking of his family, and what happened to the Shirewilt Estates.
Noah softens this train of thought at Reg’s alarmed reaction, saying it could happen years from now, and then tells Reg, “It wouldn’t hurt if I knew some of what you knew.”
As Reg regards him, Noah continues, “The walls, the houses, some new buildings…”
Reg stares at the young man before him. “So, you’re in it for the long haul?”
Noah looks down, shyly, says that he is. Reg pulls out a black journal notebook, opens it, and begins writing in it.
Noah asks Reg what he’s writing, and Reg replies that he writes everything down, everything of note, that is. When Reg looks up, he sees the young man watching him, so he takes his notes out of the notebook and hands it to Noah.
“Now you should,” Reg says, handing the notebook to Noah. “There’s going to be a lot to remember.”
Reg continues, “This is the beginning of this place.” He motions with his head towards the notebook, prompting Noah, “You should record all that…along with everything I’m going to teach you about building things.” At Noah’s look of surprise, Reg smiles, begins to dig into his oatmeal. Noah smiles, shyly looks down and begins writing in his new notebook.
Meanwhile, Abraham stands at the bathroom mirror…
…while his lovely lady sleeps in.
Abraham’s face is grim as he peers at his reflection in the mirror.
Later, as the Run Crew prepares to go out on a goods run for a new micro-inverter for the solar grid, Noah holds out a gun for Eugene to take. Eugene tries to decline the offer. “Oh, no thank you.”
Nicholas, walking by, laughingly says, “Just take it.” “C’mon,” says Noah, “you gotta protect yourself.”
“Not if I don’t go,” replies Eugene. The one thing Eugene is not afraid of, it seems, is owning up to his cowardice.
Aiden walks up, informs Eugene that he’s not driving all that way to come back with the wrong shit…Eugene tries to tell them that there are at least a dozen different options of this “shit”, clearly-marked and available through a variety of manufacturers, and “the shit will be right,” and he, of course, will be available to “install said shit” once they return, and the solar grid will once again be operational…
In reply, Noah presses the gun to Eugene’s chest. His unspoken message is clear. No backing out, dude. You’re the only one who knows what the hell we’re looking for…you’re going.
Eugene reluctantly takes the gun, looks down at it with dismay.
As they load up the van, Tara says to Noah, “Heard you talking to Holly last night…what’s her story?” Noah plays dumb. “Why do you ask?”
They are so young and cute and full of life…am drowning some serious sorrow right now with Modelos as I rewatch this scene. Damn you back to the hell that spawned you, zombie apocalypse!
As Noah turns away, smiling, Tara calls after him, “What? It was an innocent question…don’t make me hurt you!”
Aiden, meanwhile, says goodbye to his parents. He assures them that everything’s set, and the mission is a straightforward one. Aiden assures his parents, “We’ll be fine.”
His father, Reg, protests lightly that he’s a worrier…that’s how that wall over there got built.
Aiden kisses his mom and bids his father farewell.
Now, it’s time for Glenn and Maggie to say their goodbyes. Maggie assures Glenn that he’s got this…he always does. Although her words inspire confidence, her face shows her worry. Every run is a risk.
Glenn and Maggie kiss goodbye.
As Glenn and the gang turn to go, Deanna makes a point of thanking Glenn once again.
As they load into the van, Tara tries to ask Noah about Holly once again when the loud techno beats of Dubstep flood the van.
“Oh, great, another mix,” mock enthuses Noah.
As Noah and Tara make funny shrugs and faces at each other in silent commentary about the ridiculous music, the song’s lyrics announce, “Now, you’re going to die.”
As Glenn, Tara, and Noah prepare to suffer the long drive with bad 90’s techno blasting in their ears, Glenn tries to look on the bright side, “At least it lures them (the walkers) away.” From the community and the fences, he means, but his words unknowingly foretell events that will to come later in the episode.
As the van drives away, Gabriel emerges, looks at Reg and Deanna significantly. Reg raises his hand in greeting. Gabriel seems to be thinking, already, coming to some conclusions, decisions about his future course of action. As I have said before, Seth Gilliam is killing it in this episode…at this point, he has not spoken yet in Episode 514, but has already communicated so much with just his eyes and facial expressions. After a moment, Gabriel turns away and goes back into his garage chapel (perhaps to try and tape the pages of the bible back together…can’t exactly ask for another copy, can he?)
Meanwhile, in another garage across town…
Rick stops by and sees Jessie in her garage, picking up pieces of the wrecked owl sculpture…it seems someone finished the owl demolition job that Rick accidentally started when he crashed into the sculpture during his wack attack a couple of episodes back, in “Remember.”
Jessie says stuff like this never happens around here…
Constable Grimes has a caper to solve…the case of the Villianous Owl Vandal. (“Did the owl have any enemies that you know of?”)
Rick and Jessie share a joke and a laugh about the situation…any opportunity to flirt and smile at each other, they’ll take it!
Rick tells Jessie about the Broken Window Theory…keep the windows intact, keep the society intact. Besides, he adds with a smile, he’s gotta do something today…
Rick gives Jessie one more hot look before walking away. I must cop to being a total jealous B about Jessie at first…my WD buddy and I agree that we really like her, and it’s super cute how Rick acts with her. Alexandra Breckenridge, who plays Jessie, imparts a realness and sweetness to her character that makes Jessie really endearing and easy to relate to, like in this shot, as she processes her smoking hot crush on Rick Grimes. ❤
Meanwhile, the young crew in the van has made it to the warehouse, where they hope to find a new micro-inverter for the solar grid. A micro inverter converts direct current (DC) generated by solar modules to alternating current (AC), which is then fed back into the electrical grid.
After taking a quick survey of the outside of the building, Aiden remarks that the one door visible to them “is the fastest way in and out.”
Glenn points out that they should know all the exits before going in, “so there’s a plan if things go south.” He’s right, of course.
But Nicholas, being, well, Nicholas, chimes in with, “I already got one…it’s called ‘going out the front.’” Even Aiden is looking at Nicholas like, “Dude, you’re kind of being a huge douche right now.”
Tara alerts Noah to an approaching walker, and Noah aims his gun, drops it with one shot. Aiden commends Noah on his aim, then turns to Nicholas and voices his agreement with Glenn’s plan, to do a perimeter check of all the exits before entering the building.
I definitely was railing on Aiden before, but I have seen how he seems to be able to roll with the reality and accept, on some level, that Glenn and his people do have the goods to back up what they are talking about. Glenn nods at Aiden’s plan.
Nicholas, however, shoots Aiden a sour look before shrugging on his backpack and glumly going about the business of splitting up into pairs and checking the exits.
Eugene and Tara pair up, and after Tara rekills a walker by plunging her knife into its skull, Eugene feels the need to “go on the record” as saying:
“Just so you know, I’m on record as stating that I should not be here. You will know that I am not combat ready or even for that matter, combat inclined.”
Tara replies, wisely, “You never are ’til you are.” She then tells Eugenge, “You gotta start pulling your weight…you know, I did.”
In response, Eugene stops, looks at Tara. She stops, looks at him. “What?” she asks.
Eugene makes his case. “All things being equal, I do believe my weight’s been pulled. I got you all to D.C., which is, in this man’s opinion, is damn near close to nirvana, judging by current standards.”
I do feel he has somewhat of a point, here…they certainly would not have lucked out with being recruited for Alexandria if Eugene hadn’t brought D.C. into the collective consciousness, even if it was based on a total lie…
Tara, however, is like, um, no. “Except you didn’t get us here…we got you here.” Ouch, Eugene, truth hurts!
Eugene continues to plead his case. “If it were not for me and my mention of this city’s potential for home and hearth, not a one of you would have had the vision to come here, let along the cojones to travail such a fraught and punishing pilgrimage.”
“That, sister, is a fact,” concludes Eugene. “That’s as cold and hard as they come.”
Tara shakes her head at this. “God, you’re really that much of a coward,” she marvels. Eugene once again slows his step, looks at Tara.
“Yes, I am,” Eugene states, baldly. “I told you I was.”
Tara has no response to this, merely shakes her head and walks away. After a moment, and a nervous look around, Eugene takes off after her.
Meahwhile, Glenn and Noah are paired up, walking together. Glenn commends Noah’s aim back there, with the walker.
Noah replies that target practice has helped…
…and then laughingly admits that last week, he was pretty close to doing some “target practice on Aiden.” Glenn joins the laughter at this statement.
Glenn and Noah reach the front left corner of the building, and what they see beyond the tall chain link fence enclosing the property makes them stop in in their tracks.
In front of the building, there is a large group of walkers, milling about. Glenn mutters, “Well, we’re not getting out the front.”
The gang enters the warehouse cautiously, led by Glenn, who bangs his hand on the door to draw any walkers inside the buiding to them. But all is quiet.
Glenn motions for them to wait a moment more, then Aiden speaks up, suggesting they get a move on…they go in, be careful, get it done. Glenn agrees, pulls out his gun before entering the building.
Holding guns steady, shining flashlights into the darkness, the gang slowly and carefully begins to make their way into the warehouse, where they split up (Tara and Eugene in one aisle, Glenn, Noah, Aiden and Nicholas in another), moving cautiously through the aisles, looking for boxes marked with the name, brand, serial number of the micro-inverter they came for.
Glenn hears the sounds of walkers, somewhere in the building. He shushes, motions to the rest to be quiet, listens. “They’re stuck behind something,” he says. “How do you know?” Aiden asks. “I don’t…but they aren’t here.”
Glenn moves the gang forward, and as they turn a corner, they see:
A sizeable group of walkers, locked behind chainlink gated doors. The walkers begin to get loud and agitated as they see, and smell, the living.
There are a lot of walkers.
It is probably one of the few opportunities someone like Aiden has had to really observe the walkers, close up…Aiden looks really freaked…
…especially when his eyes lock with the vacant, hungry stare of one of the walkers.
Aiden, rattled, says to Glenn, “You know your stuff.” Tara tells him that they were out there a long time.
Tara then turns and shines her flashlight on Eugene, who gapes in fear and horror at the trapped walkers…
…and tells him, “You’re up.”
A little ways down one of the aisles, Eugene and Tara find the box marked with the information for the micro-inverter they are looking for.
It is indeed the type of micro-inverter they are looking for. As Tara digs them out of the packing, Glenn gives props to Eugene, “All right, Eugene!”
While the gang, and their mission, seem like they are in the clear, the happy moment is short-lived, for behind Aiden, who is stealthing along another aisle, weapon held high, comes an unwelcome visitor…
S.W.A.T. Walker!
It takes Aiden a bit to hear the walker, whose riot gear face shield may have muffled the walker’s hissing and slavering. Aiden finally whirls around and sees the walker coming towards him.
The walker is encased in military-issue full-protective gear, including helmet and face shield.
Aiden faces the S.W.A.T. Walker, and begins firing upon it, but the walker’s protective gear makes it hard to get the head shot…
…and the S.W.A.T. Walker keeps coming.
Hearing shots, Glenn shines his flashlight over the shelving and sees the armored walker approaching Aiden. Glenn advises Aiden to let the armored walker get closer before trying to rekill it.
Aiden says he’s got it, busts a cap into the walker’s knee, dropping it.
But, instead of going forward and rekilling the walker by hand at this point, Aiden keeps on firing bullets into the walker. Glenn, who has come forward, peers more closely at the downed walker, who is writhing and hissing on the floor, and sees…
The S.W.A.T. Walker’s armor has a grenade clipped to its shoulder, and Aiden continues to shoot at the walker.
Glenn cries out to Aiden not to shoot, to stop shooting, but Aiden either does not hear, or heed, these warnings, takes a few more shots at the walker…
Aiden fires the fatal shot…
…and we hear Glenn’s cries, warnings, before the blinding explosion of Aiden’s bullet connecting with the S.W.A.T. Walker’s grenade rocks the warehouse.
After a much-needed commercial/bathroom/beverage re-up break, we are taken back to the warehouse, as the smoke and dust begins to clear from the blast. We hear the sounds of the walkers, louder now, and we see figures lurching forward in the haze. Glenn shines his flashlight, calling for, “Noah, Tara, Eugene..!”
As Glenn calls for the others, we see the shadowy figures of the walkers in the background, coming closer.
Noah emerges, dazed…Glenn tells him the cage is open. Noah turns and sees the walkers, freely moving about.
Glenn and Noah hear Eugene’s voice, and they rush over and peer over the shelving, to the next aisle…Eugene is there, looking frightened, pale, sweaty…they shine their flashlights down and see Tara, lying unconscious on the floor,with a pool of blood at her head.
Glenn asks if she is breathing…Eugene replies that he doesn’t know, he can’t tell from where he is…then Eugene starts saying, over and over, with growing alarm, “Walker…”
“…walker!”
From the next aisle, unable to get to Eugene right away, Glenn coaches him, “Eugene, it’s yours, take it out.”
Terrified, Eugene backs away from the advancing walker…
…and raises his gun with shaking hands. But, before Eugene can pull the trigger…
…Eugene gets grabbed from behind by Sneaky, Snappy Walker…
…who ends up on top of Eugene, snapping at his face as poor Eugene tries to turn away, unable to get himself free.
Glenn leaps through the shelving and manages to pull Sneaky, Snappy Walker off of Eugene, and Noah comes through and throws down the death blow, smashing the butt end of his rifle into Sneaky, Snappy Walker’s slimy, squishy skull.
Noah is a badass. ❤
Glenn blasts another oncoming walker’s brains all over the floor, and the lens.
Noah pulls Eugene up, and Glenn orders them to get to the office, and he’ll get Tara. “Go!” Glenn barks, before leaping over the boxes to get to Tara.
Glenn is a total badass. ❤
Meanwhile, back in Alexandria…
Carol hears a rustling noise downstairs…she pads lightly, quickly down the stairs…
…and opens the cupboard door, quickly, and finds Sam inside.
Carol pulls Sam out of the cupboard, asks him angrily what he’s doing there…Sam cheerfully informs her that he didn’t tell anybody about the guns. That kid sure doesn’t scare easy!
Carol growls out, “Answer the question!” Sam pauses a moment, then asks Carol if she has any more cookies.
Personally, I am amazed by both Sam’s bravery and the fact that he still likes cookies, after that Creepy Carol Threats & Cookies encounter the other night.
Carol tells him the cookies are gone, while turning him around and trying to march him to the door. “Go home,” Carol tells him. Sam protests that his house doesn’t have any power, and he wanted to paint his owl sculpture, but somebody broke it…
Carol narrows her eyes at Sam, tells him these aren’t problems, and besides, she doesn’t care…she tries once again to march him to the door. Sam asks her if she can make more cookies…she tells him no, and when he asks why, she tells him that she doesn’t want to.
Carol shoves Sam out the door and is about to close it in his face when he suggests that if she shows him how to make cookies, maybe he can make them himself…kid’s letting loose a Hail Mary pass as the last second runs down on the clock…anything not to have to go back home, it seems.
Corrosion of Conformity Carol narrows her eyes again, asks Sam if he wants cookies. He nods enthusiastically. COC Carol tells Sam if he wants cookies, he’ll have to steal the chocolate from Olivia, and he is to get an extra bar, for her…and if he gets caught, and tells anyone why he is stealing, he’s not going to like what happens next…
“Now, go,” orders Carol, shoving Sam out the doorway. Easy there, sister…but poor Sam, who is probably used to getting shoved around, simply turns and runs off to do Corrosion of Conformity Carol’s bidding.
Meanwhile…
We see Tara, unconscious on a table, blood still seeping out of her head wound.
Glenn comes over, asks how she’s doing…Eugene replies that she’s suffered serious head trauma and is losing blood fast. We can see and hear the walkers, hissing, slavering, and batting at the outside of the office door and windows that overlook the inner warehouse space.
Noah asks how they can stop the bleeding. Nicholas replies that there’s a meds kit in Aiden’s bag, which got blown to hell…Glenn says there’s one in the van.
To this, Eugene looks up, replies, “She’s on her way out…”
Eugene looks over at the door, the walkers pawing at the windows, trying to get at them. “We need to get her there,” Eugene says, meaning they need to get Tara out of that warehouse, to the van, to the meds kit, then back to Alexandria asap.
“All right, we’ll get her there,” Glenn assures Eugene and the others. I have to give Glenn mad props on being a solid, capable leader, especially in this mission, where everything is starting to go wrong at every turn…and then, right on cue, there is a loud, agonized cry from across the warehouse…Aiden!
Glenn stops at this sound, horrified to realize that Aiden is still alive.
At Aiden’s cry, Nicholas whirls around and looks out the windows. “Oh, Jesus,” he laments.
Aiden’s head moves, but the rest of him looks immobilized as he starts to come to. He is impaled on something, probably thrown back onto it from the grenade’s blast.
“He’s still alive?” Glenn asks.
“I checked him, I thought, I…I…” Nicholas stammers to a stop. You were saying, Nicholas? ‘I…I…I am a total dumbass who can’t be relied on to do anything except fuck it up worse for everyone else?’ Yes, we fully agree, Nicholas. You are.
Glenn-In-Charge looks out at Aiden, assesses the situation quickly. “It’s gonna take at least three of us,” he says. Noah, his second, turns to Eugene. “Do we have that kind of time?” he asks him.
Nicholas offers his attempt at a cowardly out, probably, regrettably, something he and Aiden would have come to, together, when faced with a highly dangerous rescue scenario of a trapped or wounded comrade, in times before…he offers that lifting Aiden off of whatever he’s impaled onto could kill him…
Noah whirls on Nicholas, asking, “Are you saying we leave him?”
You’re up, Eugene.
“Go. Save. Him,” Eugene tells them, his hands on Tara’s head, keeping pressure on her bleeding wound. “She’d do it, I know she would. “
Eugene looks up at them. “I’ll stay with her. I’ll keep her safe, I assure you. I will.”
After Eugene’s proclamation, Noah and Nicholas turn to Glenn, who must channel Rick-In-Charge in this moment. What would Rick do now?
Glenn-In-Charge thinks fast. “All right, we’ll knock ’em back…you still have that flare?” Nicholas says he does.
Glenn tells Nicholas, “You fire the flare over the shelves.” Glenn walks quickly to the office door. “I’ll draw some of them over.”
Glenn turns now to Noah, “We’re going to hit the rest hand-to-hand.” Glenn turns to Nicholas. “You ready?” Nicholas says he is. Glenn prepares to open the door into total walker mayhem as the others brace themselves.
Glenn counts to three, then he and Noah shove the door open, hard, knocking the walkers back. Nicholas points and shoots the flare gun into the far corner of the warehouse aisles and shelving.
Glenn-In-Charge leaps into action, spearheading the Against All Odds Aiden Rescue Mission.
Meanwhile, back at the construction site…
It seems Abraham is working with a team led by Tobin, gathering materials from the abandoned mall construction site, to bolster a compromised section of Alexandria’s protective wall…
…the men load the materials, while a woman stands watch high in an excavator bucket.
Abrahmam asks another guy if Tobin really thinks the job will take four weeks. The guy shrugs, says that last time, the job took twice that. Abraham’s look says, ‘Not on my watch, it wouldn’t.’
After a moment, the guy checks in with Abraham, makes sure he’s ok to hold it all down here…the guy then excuses himself to go “send a fax to Cleveland,” waving some papers and walking off.
I really don’t understand what the hell that guy was talking about, either, Abraham…is that code for poop?
As Abraham watches over the site, a group of birds startle somewhere deeper in the woods and fly quickly away, over the trees, over the site. Abraham watches them fly overhead, gripping the edge of the flatbed where his gun lay. He breathes deeply, readying and steadying himself.
Watching this, I feel like this is a coping mechanism that Abraham must have relied on even before the turn, being a soldier returning from duty overseas, back to home and family.
Breathing, and steadying oneself. Not every startle means emergency, crisis…
…except when it does. Like now.
Enter the Job Site Walkers!
Abraham rushes forward to help Tobin and the others fire upon the oncoming walkers.
Unfortunately, a stray bullet from Tobin’s rifle hits a piston on the excavator’s workings, releasing the bucket and sending poor Francine to the ground, hard…
…far out into the path of the oncoming walkers, who begin to close in around her. Tobin orders everyone back, to take shelter in the trucks.
Abraham turns to Tobin. “What about Francine?” he asks. Tobin looks at Abraham helplessly, shakes his head.
Abraham rushes forward, alone, to help Francine.
Abraham nails two of the I Wanna Eat Francine Walkers in the heads, rekilling them…
…before grabbing up Francine. The walkers are beginning to swarm in from all sides…
Abraham gets Francine inside the safety of the truck…
…before turning and facing the swarm of walkers. Abraham’s surrounded, but does he look scared? Hell, no.
Facing the press of walkers closing in on him, Abraham marvels, with a laugh and a shake of his head, “Mother dick!”
Ladies and gentlemen, another instant classic from the mouth of Abraham Ford. ❤
The Job Site Walkers begin to swarm the truck…
…while Abraham quickly slides under truck, taking momentary cover there…
…and drawing the walkers under the truck as they come after him.
Abraham begins blowing the Under The Truck Walkers away by firing into their heads…
…rekilling them.
Francine offers Abraham her hand, wanting to pull him up into the truck with her, but he tosses her his rifle instead, instructing her to take care of the rear end…
…while he “takes care of the uglies in the front,” hand-to-hand style.
Abraham taunts, “C’mon, don’t be shy,” and throws in another “Mother dick!” when he loses the ball and chain part of the mace thing he’d been using to bludgeon the oncoming walkers. Abraham continues going to town on them with just the metal pole part. Francine seems take brief moments to stare in disbelief at Abraham’s berzerker style before turning the rifle once again on the Bringing Up The Rear Walkers.
Abraham’s heroics seem to inspire the others…the Fax 2 Cleveland guy inches forward, aiming his rifle at the swarming walkers. “Son of a bitch is still alive,” he marvels, watching Abraham brain the walkers who come at him. As the F2C guy continues to make his way towards the mayhem, Tobin calls out, with alarm, “What are you doing?” “Making sure he stays that way!” answers the F2C guy, before rushing forward in a burst of bravery.
Abraham continues to singlehandedly massacre the oncoming walkers, armed with only a wrench-sized metal stick.
Back in Alexandria…
Dr. Petey McBeaty has been catching a daybuzz, it seems, and he’s come knocking on Rick’s door with a beer offering “for helping my wife earlier today.” McBeaty does not look Rick in the eye as he steps inside the home.
Rick puts on a smile and politely declines the beer. You can tell by the look on his face that he really hates this guy and wants to smash him.
“Don’t tell me you’re still on duty,” presses McBeaty. Rick replies, politely, that he kind of always is.
“Not at Deanna’s party…I saw you,” says McBeaty, his voice sounding careless and slurry as he leans against a support beam, facing Rick.
Rick faces McBeaty, standing loose and casual, but definitely always at the ready. He waits. McBeaty raises the beer bottles in his hands, says, “You had some, right?”
Rick Grimes is like, Yeah, bitch, I had some.
Rick looks down, takes the high road, says that he wished that he could have done more, today…he asked around, but nobody seemed to see or hear anything like someone going to town on an owl sculpture.
McBeaty says, “Well, it was just an owl…in the grand scheme of things, I think we’ll live.”
Rick Smash! seems to be thinking, “In my grand scheme, McBeaty, you just might not.”
An awkward silence follows, and then McBeaty ups the awkward a few thousand notches by saying, loudly, “I’m sorry…I heard you lost your wife.”
McBeaty, McBeaty, McBeaty...I don’t know how Alexandria managed to keep the vast amounts of beer and booze on hand to feed your alcoholism these past two years, but I don’t think they did you or your family any favors by enabling your addiction or your stupidity. Can’t you read the non-verbal cues the man in front of you is giving you, right now, that he wants to kill your stupid ass, hard?
Between head shakes, nods, sighs, and belches, McBeaty goes on some sodden soapbox soliloquy about how “I’m sure it looks like we haven’t lost much, but we have…”
“We’ve lost things, “ muses McBeaty, nodding and looking off, somewhere.
McBeaty looks back at Rick. “Other things, we’re fighting like hell to hold onto.” Whatever, McBeaty. Nobody cares. I do think, however, that Rick Grimes is feeling more and more justified in his “end justifies the means” imaginings right about now.
McBeaty continues on his soap box, telling Rick that he doesn’t know if Rick and his people, after everything they’ve been through, can see the plight of the Alexandrians, or McBeaty in particular…
“We do,” says Rick, with the barest of a smile. Oh, he sees it, all right, McBeaty. Rick Grimes sees everything.
Somewhat mollified, McBeaty takes a swig of his beer.
McBeaty’s barely swallowed his mouthful of beer when he utters another classic McBeaty non sequitar, urging Rick to “Bring your kids in for a check-up…they were out there a long time, right?”
Rick Grimes smiles a secret smile in response to this, bounces back and forth a bit lightly between his feet, like, ‘Yeah, right, asshole, so you can either drunkenly molest my kids or mismanage their care in the throes of a violent hangover? I don’t fucking think so.’
Instead of voicing his real thoughts, Rick politely agrees and thanks Pete for the offer while motioning with his head towards the door, like, ok, dude, time to go. All falls silent again for another moment of pure awkwardness between the two men.
Once again oblivious of nonverbal cues, Pete lurches forward until he comes face to face with Rick.
McBeaty leans in conspiratorially to Rick. “Let’s be friends, man,” he says.
McBeaty continues, “We kind of have to be, right?”
Looking right into McBeaty’s eyes, Rick smiles and agrees, “Yeah, we do.” Notice how McBeaty has dropped his gaze, does not meet Rick’s eyes. Universal sign of submission to an alpha.
“So we will,” says McBeaty, grabbing Rick’s hand for another fake, gripping handshake that is a little too hard, and a little too much like arm wrestling to be fooling anybody.
After the handshake/wrestle, McBeaty slaps a couple of hard ones on Rick’s shoulder as he lurches out. “See you, Rick.” Rick shoots McBeaty this look over his shoulder as McBeaty beats a hasty retreat.
Watching McBeaty’s retreating form, Rick thinks a moment, then looks down at his left hand…
Rick reaches down and twists his wedding ring…is it time to take it off?
Meanwhile, back at the warehouse…
Eugene’s going all “empty chair therapy” on Tara as she lay unconscious…
“I take no responsibility for this…I told you what I was. You should have listened.”
“All of you…you should have listened.”
Looking down at Tara’s still form, Eugene knows what he must do. The sounds of the walkers have died down, and there are none around the office…they are surely being diverted by the others. Eugene stands to his full height…
…and the next shot we see is of Eugene, peering fearfully out the office door…
…and then, Eugene is carrying Tara over his shoulder, making his way down the hallway. He hears a walker approach…
Eugene fires at the walker…
Yes, Eugene!
You can do it!
Eugene busts a cap in another walker’s leg, dropping it. The door is right there…
Alas, things are not looking as hopeful for poor Aiden…
It’s not good.
Glenn tries to reassure Aiden. “Aiden, it’s gonna be ok…we’re gonna get you out of here…it’s gonna be ok. I just need you to stay quiet…”
Aiden nodds, dazed and shocked.
But, it’s so not good…
As Glenn and Nicholas attempt to pull Aiden off the metal bars he is impaled upon, Aiden screams in pain. Noah turns and tells them the flare is burning out.
Aiden begins to panic. Glenn says, “Again!” Nicholas, being ever-fucking helpful, says querulously that, “We’re never gonna make it.”
What a total whiner! Way to inspire confidence and calm in your poor friend who is gravely wounded, impaled on metal bars, and who is currently freaking the fuck out, Nicholas.
Nicholas, after this episode, we TWD fans hereby ban you to the Land of Suck. (Of course, I am sure the actor who plays Nicholas is a lovely person in real life…just hating on the character, not the man. 🙂 )
Nicholas may suck ass, but Glenn needs him. He pulls Nicholas close and tells him, yes, they can, but he needs his help. “You can do this!” urges Glenn.
Aiden pleads to his friend, “Don’t leave me.” Nicholas looks at him, nods, but it’s not in his eyes. The sound of walkers approaching gets louder, closer.
Nicholas and Glenn try to pull Aiden off, again. The sounds of Noah’s shots piercing the oncoming walkers ring through the air…Nicholas winces with each shot like the bullets are piercing his body, and he seems to be more vested in reacting to his own growing panic than helping pull Aiden off the jagged metal bars that are impaling him in two places…one bar is up by the left shoulder, where Nicholas is, and one bar down by the right lower belly, where Glenn is.
Instead of grabbing his friend and pulling, hard, Nicholas lay his hands on the metal spike, on his friend’s chest, wincing. Nicholas looks at Aiden.
Nicholas leans in, tells Aiden, in his ear, “You left them…we both did. That’s who we are.”
“I’m sorry,” says Nicholas, repeating it as he backs away, then hurries off, leaving them. Glenn turns to Aiden, and begins trying in earnest to singlehandedly pull the young man free. Noah warns, “They’re coming,” and continues firing on the walkers.
Aiden confesses to Glenn, “It was us…the others before…”
“…they didn’t panic. We did.”
Glenn takes a brief second to register this sad confession, then pulls in earnest one more time…“No,” Aiden says, then Noah is there, pulling Glenn away, “They’re here!”
As Noah pulls Glenn away, just in time, Glenn looks at Aiden, anguished. Poor Glenn in this episode…
And then, it becomes…awful.
Poor Aiden! 😦
I know I was mocking Aiden before, in Episode 512, “Remember,” calling him a “budussy” and joking about him getting chomped…
…but I assure you, I get no pleasure from this. I see Aiden now as just a young man, full of brash and swagger, who had shelter and privelege on his side for a long time…
…who fell into, or volunteered for, a role in this new world order that he wasn’t fully equipped for…
…but who was basically a good person, a young man on the verge of adulthood, who just wanted to stay alive, and who now must suffer a painful, lonely, horrific death. RIP Aiden 😦
It’s not even noon, but it’s Spring Break, and the kids are at the grandparents’, and so I am cracking open a Beck’s…to raise a toast to poor Aiden, and to an incredible acting job by Daniel Bonjour, who supposedly interrupted his honeymoon for the chance to play Aiden on The Walking Dead; and to Glenn, who tried so hard, and was getting it done, and to Noah, who stayed true and solid, and to Eugene, who stepped up…and to Michael Traynor, who plays Nicholas. Cheers to all! ❤
And so, we continue…and you know what’s coming. So, I drink again, and onward we go…
Back at the job site, Abraham shoves Tobin, gives him The Biz.
“Is that how it works with you?” demands Abraham. “You leave people behind to die?”
Tobin stammers, indignantly, “We have a system…tell him, Francine!”
In reply, Francine rushes up and tells Tobin with a surprise right hook to the jaw…ow, this is not a good day for you, Tobin!
Abraham looks down at Tobin, slumped against the truck. Francine mutters, “Asshole!”
F2C guy tries to interject that all this noise will attract more, and maybe they need to just call it a day…Abraham has other ideas, however. They still got daylight…it’s time to get back to work. Abraham turns to Francine, asks her if she’s ok to continue on…
Francine replies yeah, they got three hours of daylight left.
Tobin, doubled over, and F2C guy look at Francine, disbelieving, as Abraham starts calling for two lookouts, one in the bucket, and one at the trucks, to see if any more come along after the Bash and Pop…he actually calls his one-man walker massacre the “Bash and Pop”… ha!
“Now pull the cobwebs outta your asses and MOVE!”
Abraham looks back at Tobin, F2C guy, nods. “We have a wall to build.” (Yes! Totally drinking to Abraham..and for bravery. <3)
Meanwhile, the shit is majorly going down at the warehouse. We see Nicholas making a run for the front exit, where Glenn and Noah saw the swarm of walkers milling about earlier. He runs for the revolving doors. “You’ll never make it!” Glenn tries to call after him.
Nicholas is going to try, but he doesn’t really have the fortitude or hand-to-hand skills to even have a fighting chance.
It’s a tough one, even for seasoned warriors like Glenn and Noah.
Nicholas quickly gets overrun by the swarm outside, and Noah, Glenn are out of bullets and out of time, inside. Nicholas runs in, as Noah and Glenn run out, and the three men take refuge in the only space available to them, the revolving doors.
On one side, Nicholas braces himself, alone, in one enclosed middle section, while Noah and Glenn are together in the opposite enclosed middle section, with swarms of walkers on both sides, outside and inside the building.
Back in Alexandria, in Deanna’s office…
Tobin has come to talk about the events of the day with Deanna and Reg…Maggie, as Deanna’s aide, is present for this conversation as well.
“I’m sorry to lose you, Tobin,” Deanna is saying, leaning in to the man who sits beside her on the couch, looking down at his hands. “Are you sure?”
“Absolutely,” Tobin replies. He continues, saying if Abraham had followed his orders, Francine would be dead. Reg chimes in, points out that while somebody saving another person’s life certainly makes them a hero, it doesn’t qualify them to run a construction company.
Tobin looks at Reg. “He’s out there, still working, the whole team. And he’s leading them…”
“…better than I ever could.”
Deanna and Reg exchange a look, then Deanna turns to Tobin. “It’s settled, then.” She stands, tells Tobin that she will speak to Abraham upon his return and make it official. Tobin has resigned his post, and Abraham will now be put in charge of Alexandria’s construction team.
Being a good, honorable man, Tobin tells Deanna, “The thing is, I know you won’t regret it.”
Reg walks Tobin out, and as the door closes behind them, Deanna leans against the corner, thinking. Maggie quietly says, “He’s right, you know…Abraham is more than qualified.”
Deanna looks over at Maggie, gives a little laugh. “I put another one of your people in a position of power, you vouch for them…it’s becoming a pattern.”
Maggie quietly asserts, “We know what we’re doing. That’s why you wanted us here. That’s why Aaron and Daryl are out there, looking for more people.”
Maggie looks at Deanna, says, “You wanted a future…you need us for that.”
With a little smile, Deanna agrees, “That’s right,” but her voice sounds less than convinced. Maggie smiles and excuses herself, saying that she’ll go down and get to work on those field plans. Deanna tells Maggie she’ll be down to join her in a minute.
Meanwhile, a playful knock raps on another door in town:
Carol opens the door to a grinning Sam…
…who wags a ziplock baggie containing the chocolate contraband up at Carol.
Carol yanks the bag from his hand and pulls the child inside. As she turns on the oven, Carol grouses to the young boy that this is the last time she’s helping him, and after this, he is not to come over or bother her again. Sam agrees, when pressed by Carol, who then goes on to tell him that he had better not be thinking that he’s getting more than half the batch of cookies, as he did barely half the work…
As Carol does her best to try to be mean and run the young boy off, Sam just looks off sadly in the kitchen. It seems like he is used to people being mean around him.
Sam looks at Carol, asks her, “Were you always a good cook?”
Carol tries to shut this down. “Sam, we’re not talking.” She instructs the boy to wipe the counter, and while doing so, Sam tries again to ask Carol about cooking, if she likes it…Carol turns to Sam, admonishes him again.
“We don’t have to be friends,” says Sam, looking down at the counter he is wiping. “It just doesn’t have to be quiet.”
Carol gives in. “I was good at it, it distracted me, it made me forget when I was sad,” she offers. Sam tells her when he gets sad, he breaks stuff. Carol looks at him, asks him what kind of stuff. Sam shrugs, and Carol puts two and two together.
Carol knows kids. Looking right at Sam, Carol asks him, “You told me someone broke your owl statue. Did you break it?”
Sam looks down, nods. Carol asks him, “Why?” Sam does not answer. “Why are you here?” Carol asks him.
Sam looks at Carol. “Why did you steal the guns?” he asks, looking down and wiping at the counter.
Carol drops the tough act. “Because sometimes you need to protect yourself,” she tells him.
As Carol looks down at the boy, Sam stops wiping, looks up at her.
“Can I have a gun?” Sam asks Carol.
Carol asks Sam why he wants one. “It’s not for me,” Sam says.
Carol asks Sam who the gun is for. He doesn’t answer. “Who is it for, Sam?” Carol asks again.
At this, Sam turns and runs off, as Carol looks after him, realizing what the little boy was really trying to tell her. She calls after him, “Sam!”
Meanwhile…
Trapped in a section of revolving door, walkers on all sides, Nicholas is buggin’, hard.
Nicholas calls to Glenn and Noah, suggests they can blast their way out…they have the guns. But, as Glenn points out, Nicholas has the ammo. “We gotta do something,” Nicholas laments. “We’re gonna die in here.”
Bracing himself, sweating, Noah says there has to be another way, there has to be a way…
Glenn tries to think of a way as the walkers paw and push, trying to get at them.
Suddenly, the sound of a honking horn and the driving beats of Dubstep fill the air. Glenn whirls around, and they see…
Eugene, who has gotten Tara to the van and who pulls up, slapping the door and calling the walkers away, “Hey, over here! Come get me!”
Eugene leads the walkers outside away from the doors.
Noah and Glenn share a laugh of relief, and disbelief, as the walkers begin to abandon the doors and follow the Eugene and the van as it slowly leads them away, blasting techno beats. Outside clear, but inside, there is still a press of walkers. Trying to escape through the front on either end would push the other person/people into the inside swarm of walkers. Glenn thinks, and comes up with a plan.
Calling to Nicholas, Glenn tells both he and Noah to hold the doors steady, while Glenn uses the butt end of his rifle to break the glass on his and Noah’s side…once the glass shatters and they are free, Nicholas can push himself out and grab the rifle. Nicholas nods, agrees.
Glenn rams the butt end of his rifle into the glass of the revolving door again and again, but is unable to break the glass.
Nicholas is having a hard time holding his side of the door steady, and panicked, yells for Glenn to stop, that it’s not safe…
Nicholas begins to shake his head, saying that the glass is not going to break…
Glenn and Noah look at Nicholas, urge him to hold the door steady…they know he is about to bail, and this only works if everyone does his part, keeps the doors steady…if Nicholas bolts for it, pushing the doors to escape outside, he presses them into the walkers inside…Glenn tries to talk Nicholas down, “Trust me, count to three, ok? At three…”
“One…two…three,” but as Glenn gets to “three,” Nicholas pushes the door pane before him forward, hard…
…and pushes his foot through the opening of the door…and we know how revolving doors work…an opening here creates another opening, diagnonally across, to the inside…
As Glenn and Noah frantically try to hold the walkers back, and push back, Glenn pleads with Nicholas to stop, to not do this…
Not heeding Glenn, Nicholas squeezes an arm through, trying to press through and free himself at any cost…
…at any cost. 😦 😦 😦 😦
Uncaring, frantic to save himself, Nicholas pushes his bag, then himself out, hits the ground, outside, thus sealing poor Noah’s fate…
The walkers grab Noah’s leg once the doorway opens enough for them to get a hold of him…and they don’t let go. 😦
Noah looks at Glenn, who clings to him…
“Don’t let go,” Noah tells Glenn, before getting dragged inside by the walkers. On Talking Dead, Tyler James Williams (Noah) and Steven Yeun (Glenn) said that they talked about that line a lot during shooting, and they took it to mean that Noah is telling Glenn not to let go of his hope, and his humanity, and the dream of building Alexandria into a future for them all. Sadly, there is no hope for Noah, now, and they both know it.
It is horrible to watch Noah get dragged away from Glenn, into the swarm of savage walkers.
Trapped in the glass doors, Glenn must watch his friend’s painful and tragic demise.
Noah gets thrown up on the glass of the door by the walkers. The expression on his face as he looks at Glenn is agonizing to watch.
The walkers begin to bite into poor Noah’s flesh as he screams in agony.
It takes a while, and poor Glenn must bear witness to it all, the sights, the sounds, the horror of his friend and comrade being torn apart, and eaten, before his very eyes.
It is hard to imagine anyone, even someone as strong as Glenn, coming back from something as unspeakable as this.
Meanwhile, Nicholas chases down the van, orders Eugene to “Move over, we’re leaving!”
Eugene looks at Nicholas, turns off the engine, and begins to step out of the van, despite Nicholas’s orders to get back in.
Eugene faces Nicholas, not backing down. “Not until you tell me where they are,” he says. Nicholas looks down a moment…
…before telling Eugene that he, Eugene, can go with him, Nicholas, now, or he can stay and “die with your friends…your choice.”
Eugene fumbles for his gun, and Nicholas throws him to the ground, grabs the keys and jumps in the van, but before he can start it…
Glenn runs up and grabs Nicholas out of the van…
…Glenn throws Nicholas down and pounds him into the pavement until he’s out, cold.
As Glenn stands over Nicholas’s unconscious form, Eugene comes forward and looks questioningly at Glenn. Glenn tells Eugene, miserably, to help him get Nicholas in the back.
“Where’s Noah?” Eugene asks him.
Glenn looks at Eugene, too distraught to answer. His look, and his red, swollen eyes say it all. Glenn turns and walks away.
Back in Alexandria…
We see Carol knocking on someone’s door…and after a moment, Dr. Petey McBeaty answers it, forgets, then remembers, her name, and asks if she needs something…is she sick?
Trying to peer past him, into the house, Carol hedges, then says she was just with Sam…is he ok?
McBeaty leans in closer to Carol, shutting the door a little tighter around him, blocking her view, asks, peevishly, “Why wouldn’t he be?”
Carol puts on a smile, asks if she can talk to Jessie. “Not a good time,” whispers McBeaty, before closing the door in Carol’s face.
Glenn drives home, silent. The daylight is beginning to wane.
Holding the gun, in case Nicholas wakes up, Eugene first looks towards Nicholas, then at Tara…
…and finally, at Noah’s first, and last, journal entry: This is the beginning
Meanwhile, there is a knock at Deanna Monroe’s door…it is Gabriel, asking to speak with Deanna privately.
Gabriel gets right to it. “Satan,” he begins, “disguises himself as the angel of light.”
Deanna Monroe’s like, “Say what?”
Gabriel continues, “I’m afraid that false light is here, inside these walls.”
Gabriel tells Deanna, “Your community, you say it’s not a paradise, but it is. I’m grateful to be here, I am…”
“…but you made a mistake letting in the others.”
“How so?” asks Deanna, as Maggie creeps up the staircase, from working downstairs, and listens.
As Maggie listens, Gabriel says, conspiritorially, “Rick, his group, they’re not good people.”
(I am not sure how, or why, Maggie stays silent throughout this exchange, but she does, continues to listen to Gabriel talk some mad shit to Deanna Monroe about Rick and the gang…I would have been all busting up those stairs, like, “YOU LITTLE BITCH! Why don’t you ask him what happened to his last congregation, Deanna? Right, Gabriel? You wanna tell Deanna here what happened to them? Why don’t you tell her what happened to them, Gabriel, you cowardly, shit-talking, little bitch?“)
I am sure Maggie has her reasons, and I am certainly not always known for my impulse control, so perhaps Maggie is showing good judgement, and caution, in staying still and listening to Gabriel’s whole spiel to Deanna Monroe:
“They’ve done things…they’ve done unspeakable things…”
And we see a shot of Rick, looking out the window, fiddling with the wedding ring on his left hand…he turns, and Carol comes in the house, looks at Rick.
Carol tells Rick, “Pete’s hitting Jessie, maybe Sam, too.”
Rick Smash! is all like, “Grrrr…”
We see a shot of Deanna, as she tries to placate Gabriel, “To make it out there as long as they did, they had to have done things…Rick said as much. They survived…that’s what makes them assets.”
Gabriel Snitch, The Little Bitch whispers, “You’re wrong.”
“They can’t be trusted.”
Gabriel continues, “They’re dangerous. You may believe that they did what they had to do, that they were afraid…but the day will come when they put their own lives before yours, and everyone elses, and they will destroy everything you have here, and everything you are trying so hard to build.”
Shots of Abraham, at sunset, praising the crew for a good job that day, advising them to call it an early night, as they are sure to have another long day of work tomorrow.
We see a shot of Rick, asking Carol she knows this…how? Did Sam tell her? Carol looks at Rick, tells him, “He didn’t have to.”
We hear Deanna’s voice asking Gabriel, “Why are you just now coming to me with this?”
Gabriel says, again, “Satan…disguises himself…as the angel of light. His disciples are the false apostles of righteousness…”
Gabriel whispers, “They don’t deserve this…they don’t deserve paradise!”
Deanna thanks Gabriel, tells him she has a lot to think about…
…and as Deanna holds the door open for him to leave, Gabriel stops, leans in, tells Deanna that he wishes he had come to her sooner. “I just hope it isn’t too late,” he tells her.
Hidden in the stairwell, Maggie listens to all this, troubled.
Deanna closes the door, processing this, as we hear the van pull up, and somebody starts screaming for help…
And Rick, pacing, thinking…from behind him, Carol tells him that she knows how this is going to go down, with Pete…there’s only one way it can go…
“You’re gonna have to kill him,” Carol tells Rick.
Well, like I said before, shit’s getting cray in Alexandria.
I apologize again for getting behind in the posting, dear readers. Life, and all that. I, along with you all, will be watching Sunday night’s 90-minute finale episode, and I will be sending the love to all of you in the TWD family. Get your coping mechanisms, your Daryl Partner, your tissues ready. Don’t be afraid to call in to work on Monday if you can pull it off without getting fired. Be strong, my darlings.
I will probably hold off and publish the posts for Episode 515, “Try”, and the WD Season 5 finale episode, Episode 516, at the same time. I have thought about it, and it makes more sense for me to do it like that.
It is ideal for me to post before the next week’s episode airs, but this time around, posting for the Season 5 2.0 episodes didn’t quite go like that. It is what it is. But, I promise when the posts do come out, they will be full of the love, with epic playlists. And, it’s gonna be a long summer…lots of time to read, recap, reminisce about the wild ride WD Season 5 has been for us all.
Episode 514 Deadies go to: Tyler Jesse Williams, and the character he plays, Noah. Amazing performance, this episode and all around, especially during Noah’s harrowing death scene. Tyler Jesse Williams is one smooth, classy young dude, a consummate actor who really brought the character Noah to life, as a young man who joined the crew later on in the game, but who stepped up and became family, a solid team member, and a great friend. #RIPNoah
Deadie #2 goes to: Steven Yeun, and the character he plays, Glenn Rhee. Steven Yeun delivered an incredible performance once again, and with this episode, set the bar even higher than he has before. As a character, Glenn displayed incredible leadership abilities in this episode: unparalleled heroics, quick-thinking, bravery, heart, compassion. I am worried about Glenn on many levels in this moment, and I am thinking that he has become one of my very favorite TWD characters, ever. Much love, Glenn Rhee. ❤
Deadie #3 goes to Josh McDermitt, and the character he plays, Eugene Porter. Amazing throwdown performance in this episode by Josh McDermitt, who manages again and again to blend comic genius with real heart and depth in his portrayal of Eugene Porter. Eugene, you finally did it. You stepped up, you got Tara out of there, and you stood up to Nicholas. You even killed a walker! Good job, buddy! ❤
Deadie #4 goes to Seth Gilliam, who plays Father Gabriel, a.k.a. Gabriel Snitch, The Little Bitch. I saw on Talking Dead that Seth Gilliam even rented a place far away from the rest of the TWD cast, to keep a separation between himself and the others, and to stay in character, more or less, in his portrayal of the odd priest. That is some dedication, because I would want to be all up in whatever fun those beautiful, inspiring cast members are having at any given moment!
And Gabriel, as far as you are concerned, you better watch out…as @therickygrimes account posted on Instagram:
Deadie #5 goes to Daniel Bonjour, the young actor who plays Aiden Monroe. Cheers on a job well done, and once again, sorry I was a dick before, Aiden. #RIPAiden ❤
Deadie #6 goes to Michael Cudlitz, and the character he plays, Abraham Ford, for once again being a total badass, and for the line, “Mother dick!”
And, last but never least, lucky Deadie #7 goes to the inimitable Bear McCreary, for composing one of the most haunting, disturbing, exceptionally beautiful soundtracks I have ever heard for the second half of WD Season 5. Don’t think I haven’t noticed, Bear McCreary! Mad props to a true genius. ❤
Much love, my WDO darlings, stay strong, end enjoy the playlist.
#NoahForever ❤
Playlist:
Jimi Hendrix, “Castles Made Of Sand”
TV On The Radio, “Crying”
Jackson 5, “I’ll Be There”
Panda Bear, “Bros”
The Spinners, “I’ll Be Around”
Mos Def, “Hip Hop”
Radiohead, “Knives Out”
Nick Drake, ” ‘Cello Song”
