10 | March | 2013 | Through the Shattered Lens

Whoever has been in charge of choosing the songs that make up the soundtrack for AMC’s The Walking Dead I must salute you. With Bear McCreary’s Southern gothic-influenced score this show has been flush with some excellent songs to end particularly strong episodes. Last week’s strong episode of The Walking Dead saw a favorite character from season 1 make an emotional and heartbreaking return. It also helped refocus the show’s main lead to forging past his own psychological and emotional problems to take on the looming war about to begin.

The song which ended this episode is my choice for “Song of the Day” and it’s from British songwriter-musician Jamie N. Commons.

“Lead Me Home” doesn’t just end the episode but also helps put a spotlight on this show’s third season and it’s many themes concerning not just the zombie apocalypse the survivors must exist and survive in, but how they go about this task. The song’s lyrics takes on the show’s very Southern gothic roots as Rick, Michonne and Carl drive away from Rick’s hometown passing by wrecked vehicles, bodies both freshly killed and decaying.

The song really hit home when they pass by the mauled remains of the backpacker they ignored and passed by earlier in the episode whow as begging to be picked up and saved. It’s this scene which brings to light how much cynicism and distrust as entered these survivors. Faith in the goodness of people has been abandoned for the sake of survival and the roadside remains of their inaction to save this backpacker when he most needed it was shown in gory detail. It’s not the Lord that’s inside them now, but darkness and it will be a long way back before Rick and his people can lead themselves back “home”.

Lead Me Home

Oh lord live inside me, lead me on my way
Oh lord live inside me, lead me on my way
Lead me home
Lead me home

Oh lord in the darkness, lead me on my way
Oh lord in the darkness, lead me on my way
Lead me home
Lead me home

Hmmmmm
Hmmmmm

Oh lord heaven’s waiting, open up your door
Oh lord heaven’s waiting, open up your door
Lead me home
Lead me home

Lead me home
Lead me home

Last night, the Snarkalecs and I watched a SyFy original movie called Flying Monkeys.

Why Were We Watching It?

Because that’s what we do! Every Saturday night, the Snarkalecs get on twitter and watch a SyFy movie together. Add to that, the minute that we saw that the film was called Flying Monkeys, we knew we had to watch it and try to come up with as many bad monkey pun as possible.

What Was It About?

It all takes place in the little town of Gale, Kansas. (Named, I assume, after Dorothy Gale from The Wizard of Oz.) Joan (Maika Monroe) is upset because her dad is late to her high school graduation. So, Dad says sorry by buying her a pet monkey. He’s a cute little monkey and Joan names him Skippy.

What Joan and her Dad don’t realize is that Skippy is a demon monkey and, whenever the sun goes down, he sprouts wings, flies around the town, and kills people. Even worse, it turns out that every time somebody shoots Skippy, this causes Skippy to reproduce and multiply. Since everyone in the town of Gale shoots Skippy at least once or twice, there are soon hundreds of killer flying monkeys all over the place.

Luckily, two demon hunters from China manage to get to Kansas in record time but then … well, let’s just say that, as far as demon hunting is concerned, they were both definitely overrated.

What Worked?

As far as I’m concerned, almost the entire film worked. Seriously, how can you not enjoy something this ludicrous? The makers of Flying Monkeys knew exactly what they were doing and it looks like they had a good time doing it.

Plus, Skippy was so cute!

Seriously, how can you not love a film featuring a killer named Skippy?

What Did Not Work?

The film spent a lot of time building up these two demon hunters from China but, once they showed up, they both turned out to be pretty useless. I understand that was probably the point but still, it felt like the only reason they existed was to pad out the film’s running time.

“OH MY GOD! Just like me!” Moments

Towards the end of the film, Skippy attempts to attack Sonya (Electa Avellan, best known for being one of the Babysitter Twins in Grindhouse) in the shower and Sonya reacts by literally running all the way to the other side of town while clad only in a towel. At the time, we all pointed out how gratuitous this whole scene was.

After the movie ended, I took a nice, long, relaxing shower. It was only after I had stepped out of the shower and turned off the water that I realized 1) just how hard it was raining outside and 2) that I couldn’t remember if my car windows were open.

The idea of my car getting flooded so panicked me that, despite being clad in only a towel, I ran outside to make sure my windows were up. Long story short, my windows were closed, I got even more wet, and I learned that, sometimes, you just have to go outside wearing a towel.

Lessons Learned

Don’t mess with Skippy.