Review: The Walking Dead S5E13 “Forget”

Posted on March 8, 2015 by Arleigh

“Because you can tell the good guys from the bad guys.” — Aaron

[spoilers within]

Tonight’s episode of The Walking Dead saw Rick and his people continue to try and assimilate themselves within the safe confines of the Alexandria Safe-Zone. It’s a situation they’ve been hoping to find on their way to Washington, D.C., but also one that seems to have unnerved a good portion of the group when it falls into their lap.

“Forget” is a tough episode to sit through because it highlights both the show’s strength and also one of it’s recurring weaknesses. It’s a well-written episode by series writer Corey Reed with some fine direction from series director David Boyd, but at times the story-arc for certain characters landed with a thud instead of expanding on that character or moving the story forward.

Let’s go with the lowlights before moving onto the highlight of tonight’s episode.

We’ve known that the Alexandria Safe-Zone had time to build itself when the zombie outbreak began. We learn this from Deanna herself during her introduction in last week’s episode. Yet, something about how the writers have done to build-up ASZ (what I shall call Alexandria) as this well-protected haven from Aaron don’t seem to mesh with what they’ve shown on the show, so far. Maybe it’s a slow burn the writers are going for. Maybe we’ll find out how ASZ ultimately survived the lean years since civilization broke down. For now, there’s less a hidden, sinister agenda of how the ASZ has survived this long and more of it’s surprising and lucky they’ve lasted this long.

The next thud would be the story-line for Sasha herself. We see her during the episode’s cold opening unable to sleep in the house Rick had claimed as his. Pictures of it’s previous owners seem to gaze down at her. We later see her venture outside the walls of the ASZ to practice some shooting with those same family portraits as targets. Her behaviors borders on reckless and suicidal. It’s hard to judge the character for this considering she’s lost both her lover and her older brother right after each other. Traumatic experiences will do that to a person, yet when it happens to Sasha it’s hard to sympathize with her. It’s not that she’s a bad person. She just seems to be a badly-written character who doesn’t have her own voice with Bob and Tyreese now gone from the group.

We get description of what sort of character she is from other’s describing her to strangers. Tonight we find out from Maggie that she’s the group’s best shot, but we never really see this skill develop. The rest of the group we find in some way or another how they got to where they are in regards to their skills. With Sasha one day she’s someone who leaned on her older brother for protection then next she’s suddenly the next reincarnation of Annie Oakley.

It’s a weakness in the show’s way of handling such a huge cast of characters. They get rid of characters who were interesting or becoming one, but keeping characters who remain relatively unknowns to the audience. It’s as if the writers can’t find a way to make Sasha become an interesting character without having to repeat themselves in turning her into one (Carol, Maggie and Beth being three who improved over time).

So, while Sasha’s suicidal tendencies could be chalked up to her growing PTSD due to the experiences she has had to deal with recently it’s impact on the story seems to be minimal. It’s not that we as an audience don’t care it’s just that we don’t know Sasha well enough to bother to even care.

That’s not the same when it comes to Rick, Carol and Daryl. These three have begun to form a new sort of triumvirate leadership group. Everyone who has come this far with Rick are survivors in their own right, but it’s these three who have come farthest within the group. They’ve grown from who they’ve were when we first met them. We first met them as the lawman, the housewife and the rebel. They’ve outgrown those initial labels and become complex characters who harbor both positive and negative qualities. They’re not black and white in their behaviors anymore. It’s because of their character growth (most seems to be once Scott M. Gimple took over as headwriter and showrunner) that we’ve come to care what happens to them.

With Carol we see nothing left of the mousy and battered housewife who couldn’t defend herself until pretty much everything had been taken from her. She had gone from victim to survivor in order to never be dependent on others and to protect her new found family. While she has employed a cold logic to how she must survive and protect her people she does seem to be the one in the group who has adjusted best in this new world. She’s able to be the one willing to do the dirty work if it means keeping her group alive another day. Her threat towards Jessie’s young son, Sam, was both hilarious and chilling. Never could we have seen Carol from season 1 through 3 threaten a young boy of death by being zombie bait in order to keep her duplicitous behavior from being outed to the rest of the ASZ community.

There’s Daryl, the rebel loner we first me in season 1, whose lone wolf behavior has become tempered by his realization that he needs Rick and the others to keep himself human and sane. He doesn’t need them as a crutch, but instead sees in them the family he never had growing up and for being the redemption for his past failings. Yes, he still remains sort of an outsider maneuvering his way through the new dynamics that ASZ opened up, but his interaction with Aaron (another one who feels like an outsider despite being a longstanding member of the ASZ community) shows that he’s grown away from his intolerant beginnings in the show and sees in Aaron a kindred spirit. The fact that he’s aired some doubts about their original plan to takeover the ASZ community if they deem it necessary shows that Daryl may still be a badass but he also understands that making something like ASZ work in the end would be to the group’s benefit in the long run.

Then we have Rick. The lawman and father whose personal beliefs and principles have become the fulcrum by which the show has explored varying themes throughout it’s five season on the air. We’ve seen Rick the reluctant leader in the first two season. Finding and protecting his family had been his only concern during those initial seasons, but betrayal and the knowledge that there was no cure for the zombie pandemic unleashed the Ricktatorship which led the group to becoming the hardcore survivalist they’ve become. Yet, even this version of Rick made mistakes that cost him those closest to him. He’s tried to be less a leader and more a provider. We call this Farmer Rick, but we knew it was going to be a temporary reprieve from what we’ve wanted Rick to become and that’s accept his role as leader and take ownership of that role with all the good it brings and all the bad it brings out.

We see Rick take to this role with such a focus that he teeters on the brink of becoming the very thing he despised when he saw the Governor. This Rick is willing to depose those in the ASZ community leadership group if he thought they couldn’t hack it when times got rough. This Rick sees danger everywhere and plans several steps ahead even when we as an audience sees it as a sort of madness creeping to latch onto Rick’s psyche. This Rick seems willing to take what he wants when he wants it even if it means contemplating murder. This is a Rick that seems to be exhibiting the worst qualities of the leaders of three groups who have fallen into the abyss: the Governor, Joe of the Claimers and Gareth of Terminus.

While Rick has learned to become a better leader of the group from having Hershel and Tyreese as his moral compass, they seem to have been pushed to the back of Rick’s mind by the ghosts of the Governor, Joe and Gareth. These three showed Rick that surviving at any cost was the only currency left in this new world. It was all about protecting what was his and that was Carl, Judith and the rest of his group. The people of the ASZ community were strangers to him who he felt were ill-equipped to survive in this new world. He even mentions to Carol and Daryl that this community was lucky to have them as new member because only they could protect them from the bad people beyond the walls. It doesn’t dawn on Rick that he was now acting and behaving in some fashion like those very bad people he warned Deanna about.

“Forget” could easily have become one of the best episodes of the season if it concentrated more on this triumvirate of Rick, Carol and Daryl and just jettisoned the Sasha plotline. Yet, despite Sasha’s role in tonight’s episode we still got a strong foundation on what could be the role of the Power Three for the final three episodes of season 5. Will Carol and Daryl follow Rick if he ever goes too far? We have three more episodes left to find out.

Notes

Tonight’s episode of The Walking Dead, “Forget”, was directed by David Boyd and written by series writer Corey Reed.
Carol had herself some a breaking Bad moment when she confronted Sam, Jessie’s youngest boy, after he saw her taking guns from the armory. Some have said that her “speech” to Sam was reminiscent of Walt’s “I’m the one who knocks” speech.
Deanna’s husband is named Reg. In the comics, Douglas (Deanna in the show) has a wife named Reggie. The show also added Aiden as a second son. We met the other son, Spencer, in tonight’s episode.
Interesting choice of a song to end the episode on…Spicks and Specks by the Bee Gees.
The shippers of Rick and Michonne seem to have gone insane since they’ve gone on a social media rampage against the actor Alexandra Breckinridge who plays Rick’s potential paramour Jessie in the show.
Talking Dead guests tonight are Kevin Smith (writer/director), Ross Marquand (Aaron from The Walking Dead) and Alexandra Breckinridge (Jessie from The Walking Dead)

Season 5

Song of the Day: Stairway to Heaven (by Led Zeppelin)

Posted on March 8, 2015 by Arleigh

The latest in the Song of the Day for the greatest guitar solo series is the power rock ballad of power ballads. Straight from their untitled fourth album, Stairway to Heaven is a mixture of acoustic-folk music and anthemic hard rock. The fact that this power ballads of all power ballads have stood the test of time, ridicule and countless covers (both serious and comedic) says much about the power that Led Zeppelin had over rock music. Even 30 years since they broke up the band still influences musicians to this day.

Stairway to Heaven to me best exemplifies the gradual shift of the band from a down and dirty blues-based hard rock band to the proto-metal/progressive rock which would dominate the band’s sound from the mid-70’s until the band’s break-up after the untimely death of drummer John Bonham in 1980. The song puts to light Jimmy Page’s growing attraction for the esoteric as the song’s lyrics conjures up images of the fairy folk of the Welsh countryside. The acoustic guitar arpeggios which begins the song soothingly brings the listener in. Each section brings in more of the modern to the Renaissance-like intro. This build-up reaches a crescendo at the mid 5-minute mark when Jimmy Page begins a guitar solo which finally leads to a climactic hard rock finish to the song.

The song was the most requested and played track over the radio and became a staple of the band’s sets on their many tours during the 70’s. Like any piece of artistic work extremely popular with the masses the song reached such a popularity that a backlash just as extreme followed as the band broke up in 1980. The fact that this backlash didn’t diminish the song’s appeal to future generations of fans and to the legions before them shows just how important this song has become to rock music history.

While other epic power ballads have come and gone since Stairway to Heaven they will never supplant Led Zeppelin’s epic mystical anthem of fairy folk, magical lands with progressive hard rock. Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven was first and to many will always be First and The One.

Stairway to Heaven

There’s a lady whose sure all that glitters is gold
And she’s buying a stairway to heaven.
When she gets there, she knows if the stores are all closed
With a word she can get what she came for.

Ooh, ooh, and she’s buying a stairway to heaven.

There’s a sign on the wall but she wants to be sure
’Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings.
In a tree by the brook, there is a songbird who sings:
Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven.

Ooh, it makes me wonder,
Ooh, it makes me wonder.

Theres a feeling I get when I look to the west,
And my spirit is crying for leaving.
In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees,
And the voices of those who standing looking.

Ooh, it makes me wonder,
Ooh, really makes me wonder.

And it’s whispered that soon if we all call the tune
Then the piper will lead us to reason.
And a new day will dawn for those who stand long
And the forests will echo with laughter.

If there’s a bustle in your hedgerow,
Don’t be alarmed now,
Its just a spring clean for the May queen.
Yes, there are two paths you can go by but in the long run
Theres still time to change the road you’re on.

And it makes me wonder.
Ooooooh…

Your head is humming and it won’t go,
In case you don’t know:
The pipers calling you to join him.

Dear lady, can you hear the wind blow,
And did you know:
Your stairway lies on the whispering wind.

(guitar solo)

And as we wind on down the road,
Our shadows taller than our soul,
There walks a lady we all know.
Who shines white light and wants to show…
How everything still turns to gold.
And if you listen very hard the tune will come to you at last.
When all are one and one is all, yeah, to be a rock and not to roll.

And she’s buying a stairway… to heaven.

Great Guitar Solos Series

Song of the Day: Hotel California (by The Eagles)

Posted on March 7, 2015 by Arleigh

Time for the latest “Song of the Day” and this one has grown on me with each passing year: “Hotel California” by The Eagles. It also continues an impromptu mini-series of songs with some of the greatest guitar solos. The previous entry, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird”, gave us an extended triple guitar solo that never seems to end.

I must admit that the group was never a favorite of mine growing up. I rarely listened to them and when they came on the radio I used to change the station. But as the years passed I began to give them more of a chance. I think part of it comes from the fact that this band is one of my Dad’s favorites. So, I gave them a chance in my advancing years. I guess with age does come wisdom since I began to really dig the band that I’ve dismissed as typical “adult contemporary” music in my youth. This just goes to show that the adage that sometimes “youth is wasted on the young” has some truth to it. My Dad’s probably looking down at me right now wherever he is and giving me that smirking smile that says “I told you so.”

“Hotel California” is my favorite of all the songs The Eagles have ever made. It’s not just catchy but the song also plays out like some sort of tale being sung by bards of old. Well, bards of old until we get to the dueling guitar solos by Don Felder and Joe Walsh which forms the climactic finish to the song. Guitar solos that I must say earns its place in rock pantheon as one of the best. That’s fact and not hyperbole.

FACT.

Another reason why this song of The Eagles is a favorite of mine is just the sense of the ominous just below the surface of the song. The lyrics does play out like a story, but a story tinged with a sense of malice and just a hint of the supernatural. It’s no wonder some of the more religious-minded fans of the song consider “Hotel California” as a song that details a time spent inside the Anton LeVay purchased San Francisco hotel called Hotel California which was converted into what would become the Church of Satan.

Lastly, I just plain love this song for the fact it paints my home state of California as something more than just a place to live and work in, but a place half in and out of reality. Maybe the song will convince Lisa Marie that California isn’t that bad of a state to be in.

Hotel California

On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night
There she stood in the doorway;
I heard the mission bell
And I was thinking to myself,
‘this could be heaven or this could be hell’
Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way
There were voices down the corridor,
I thought I heard them say…

Welcome to the hotel california
Such a lovely place
Such a lovely face
Plenty of room at the hotel california
Any time of year, you can find it here

Her mind is tiffany-twisted, she got the mercedes bends
She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys, that she calls friends
How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat.
Some dance to remember, some dance to forget

So I called up the captain,
‘please bring me my wine’
He said, ‘we haven’t had that spirit here since nineteen sixty nine’
And still those voices are calling from far away,
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them say…

Welcome to the hotel california
Such a lovely place
Such a lovely face
They livin’ it up at the hotel california
What a nice surprise, bring your alibis

Mirrors on the ceiling,
The pink champagne on ice
And she said ‘we are all just prisoners here, of our own device’
And in the master’s chambers,
They gathered for the feast
The stab it with their steely knives,
But they just can’t kill the beast

Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
‘relax,’ said the night man,
We are programmed to receive.
You can checkout any time you like,
But you can never leave!

(guitar solos)

Great Guitar Solos Series

Song of the Day: Free Bird (by Lynyrd Skynyrd)

Posted on March 6, 2015 by Arleigh

I think if the United States ever decided to change it’s national anthem then I propose they just use Lynyrd Skynyrd’s classic arena power ballad Free Bird. It’s already considered by many as the unofficial anthem. There’s something about this song that is just so Americana. I know that the band itself has been accused of being racist because of their support for the historical legacy of the South and the Confederacy, but I don’t go for such nonsense. Lynyrd Skynyrd was just one of the best southern rock bands during the 70’s and probably would’ve reached Led Zeppelin status if a tragic plane crash hadn’t killed almost a third to half of the band.

It’s very hard not to get into this power ballad. A song which band front man Ronnie Van Zant would use to personally memorialize his fallen friend and colleague, Duane Allman of The Allman Brothers band who died from a motorcycle accident just a few years before. This song was always the most requested song by concert fans to be played by the band and play it they did and extending the triple guitar solo in the end from the usual 3-4 minute to as long as 10. It was this extended triple guitar solos with Gary Rossington, Allen Collins and Ed King which would be the highlight of any live performance of the song (one of my favorite solos)

It has also become a favorite amongst those who compose and pick music for films of late. Rob Zombie used it to highlight to great effect the nihilistic ending to his grindhouse film The Devil’s Rejects. The latest to use this song in a very inventive manner was Matthew Vaughn in the surprise hit of 2015, Kingsman: The Secret Service.

Even with most of the band either dead or retired the song still gets massive play when the current band tours and is still a favorite staple with most rock stations. Everytime I hear it come on or I play it on my mp3 player I feel like pulling out my Bic lighter, flicking it on and waving it in the air in tune to the song. FREE BIRD!!!

Free Bird

If I leave here tomorrow
Would you still remember me?
For I must be traveling on, now
‘Cause there’s too many places
I’ve got to see

But, if I stayed here with you, girl
Things just couldn’t be the same
‘Cause I’m as free as a bird now
And this bird, you’ll can not change
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

And the bird you cannot change
And this bird you cannot change
Lord knows, I can’t change
Bye, bye, baby it’s been a sweet love

Yeah, yeah
Though this feeling I can’t change
But please don’t take it so badly
‘Cause the Lord knows
I’m to blame

But, if I stayed here with you girl
Things just couldn’t be the same
‘Cause I’m as free as a bird now
And this bird, you’ll can not change
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

And this bird you cannot change
And this bird you cannot change
Lord knows, I can’t change
Lord help me, I can’t change
Lord I can’t change

Won’t you fly high, free bird, yeah?

(commence awesome triple guitar solos)

A Vision of the Avengers: Age of Ultron for the Third Time

Posted on March 4, 2015 by Arleigh

The third and, hopefully, final trailer for Avengers: Age of Ultron was unlocked today after a Twitter event which had millions of people tweeting the hashtag #AvengersAssemble. One has to give it up to the Marvel marketing machine. They know how to get the public clamoring for more when it comes to their films.

All that could be said has been said about this film. Just sit back and enjoy (or critique) one of the most highly-anticipated films of the year.

Review: The Walking Dead S5E12 “Remember”

Posted on March 1, 2015 by Arleigh

“We’re almost out there too long.” — Glenn Rhee

[spoilers within]

Can a group of people who have survived through the most dangerous situations ever remember to return to some form of normalcy? Can they ever accept such an offer and not feel out of place?

Tonight’s episode of The Walking Dead brings up this question as we finally see the group enter the fortified walls of the Alexandria Community. Rick and his people have been on the road for as long as they’ve found themselves a safe haven to call home since the zombie apocalypse began. They’ve lost many along this journey through attrition, carelessness and betrayal. This is a group that has lived every day in a constant state of war. It’s something that the people of Alexandria seem to be very short in.

There’s an almost comical difference in how Rick’s unwashed, hardened survivors when compared to the people of Alexandria who seem to have been able to weather much of the storm that the apocalypse has rained down upon the world. They’ve been able to have constant running water, electricity and an abundance of food. They also have walls which seem to be designed to maximize protection from both zombies and raiders alike. It’s the gated community for the apocalypse and it’s current inhabitants either put too much faith in what has kept them safe and alive or playing at being badass survivors when we as an audience can see the opposite.

Alexandria is not like Woodbury where just enough of what was past was brought back to keep people happy. It’s not like Terminus which became corrupted once the dangers outside the walls entered. This is a community that seems like paradise and willing to give Rick and his people a chance to fit in and contribute. It’s the hope they’ve been searching for since they left the prison. A place that has a chance to sustain not just everyone physically but mentally and spiritually.

Yet, we also see that Rick and his people still have their guard up despite it all. Like pets who have gone feral, Rick and his people want to accept this hopeful situation as genuine, but also aware that when things look to be too good to be true then it probably is. They search for a hidden agenda in what Alexandria’s leader, former Ohio Senator Deanna Monroe, has for taking them in when she has admitted to Rick herself that his group was the first large group of outsiders they’ve deemed worthy enough to invite in.

Characters like Carol, Daryl and Glenn seem to share Rick’s doubts about this new safe haven in one way or another. With Daryl we see him become even more outward with his belligerence towards the strangers in their midst. There’s nothing hidden about how Daryl feels, but he’s willing to go along with things while Rick and Carol play along. With Glenn he wants this opportunity to finally get off the road and settle down to work, but we can see that he’s already waiting for that hidden agenda to reveal itself as another betrayal.

Outside of Rick it’s Carol who seems to be looking to play the long game with Deanna and her people. We see how Carol begins to act like her former self from all the way back in season 1. Melissa McBride’s performance during tonight’s episode shows why she has become one of the stalwarts in this huge cast. One second she’s the observant, veteran killer looking for the danger she knows is just waiting for them. Then next moment she’s the clumsy, mousy and battered housewife we first saw in season 1 and 2. She understands that this place can be a good place for them, but once again willing to be the one to do the dirty work to protect her new family when the time comes.

Tonight’s episode was all about Rick Grimes and whether he’s able to remember how things were suppose to be for him and his family when they had something good going in their prison community. Since they fled that sanctuary’s destruction Rick has been going through several moments of crisis that just chip away at the Officer Friendly that we first met in season 1. The bigger and more unkempt his beard got the more Rick steeled himself form the dangers that strangers posed for him and his group.

There’s a moment when he’s being interviewed and videotaped by Deanna that showed Rick’s two side at war with each other. The Rick of the road was ready to strike at the possible dangers around him. Unable to sit still and even uncomfortable to be sitting in a nice sofa chair. This is the Rick that has learned what deprivation and constant danger means and lived through everything this new world threw at him. Yet, we also saw the Officer Friendly of those early seasons wanting to accept this offer of hope and renewal. Even the act of shaving off the beard was a powerful symbol of Rick trying to shed some of the mistrust and paranoia he’d acquired since leaving the prison.

The Walking Dead will always have it’s great moments of zombie gore and action. It’s the show’s bread and butter, but when the show’s writers decide it’s time to lay down the seeds for a much longer game the show under current showrunner Scott M. Gimple seem to have gotten better. Not much zombies or action, but the episode still was full of tension as we’ve all come to expect that other shoe to drop and when it does it comes from a surprising source.

Will Rick and his people remember what it was to be able to trust others again? Will Rick be able to get back to that balancing act of being both pragmatic and compassionate when it comes to being leader of his group? Or are Rick and the group too far gone to remember what made them decent people even when the apocalypse landed in their laps.

Notes

Tonight’s episode of The Walking Dead, “Remember”, was directed by series producer Greg Nicotero and written by series writer Channing Powell.
It looks like Law & Order‘s own Danielle Melnick (Tovah Feldshuh) will be the leader of the Alexandria Community.
In the comics the leader of Alexandria was also a senator but was a man named Douglas.
Alexandra Breckinride has gone ditched the red locks of her American Horror Story character and gone blonde as Jessie of the Alexandria Community.
Deanna’s son Aiden, a former lieutenant in the ROTC (snicker), does not deserve the rifle he was carrying when he took Glenn, Tara and Noah our for a dry run outside the walls of the Alexandria community. I think that SCAR-L should be given to someone who can use it better like Glenn or Carl or Abraham.
I do believe that was Scott Ian of Anthrax playing the zombie that Carl killed with the steel pole.
Talking Dead guests tonight are Timothy Simons (Veep) and Alanna Masterson (Tara of The Walking Dead) and Denise Huth (series producer)

Season 5

Review: The Walking Dead S5E11 “The Distance”

Posted on February 22, 2015 by Arleigh

“The fight it turns on you. You have to let it go.” — Michonne

[spoilers within]

Just when there’s been a sliver of doubt that the show has lost some steam because of last week’s episode which some have called a throwaway due to little to no action. When people say this it means the show barely has the so-called zombie action it has become known for. A show titled The Walking Dead always goes back to surviving the zombies around Rick and his people. Yet, the show needs to take the sort of breather that last week’s “Them” provided not just the characters but the audience.

Tonight’s episode looks to be the start of a new story-arc that mirrors a similar event in the comic book. The group has a journey where food and water has become scarce. A night trapped in a barn with zombies about to break through and hurricane winds and rain just outside. These people are true survivors. Rick’s leadership (questionable at times) have seen the group through the Governor and Woodbury, a viral outbreak, fall of the prison, Terminus and right up to Gareth and his Hunters. All these events have culled some of the more soft-hearted members of the team and just about left nothing of the group but the hard inner core.

They remain good people trying desperately to hold onto the humanity and compassion, but all the things they’ve gone through has begun to affect them in so many ways. Tonight we see how the burden of leadership and seeing how their trust has been betrayed over and over when it comes to strangers has begun to weigh on Rick. He sees how being on the road has weakened his people as water and food run low, but trust seems to be leaving him when it comes to those he sees as not his people.

Tonight we see Rick’s mistrust of Aaron (introduced as the mysterious “friend” who left the group bottles of water on the road) and his promise of a safe community reach paranoia level. The rest of the group have their own levels of doubt about Aaron, but willing to entertain the prospect of getting off the road and be somewhere safe even if just temporary. Rick doesn’t see it that way. What he sees when he looks at Aaron and listens to his words of safety and community are the same things the Governor and the Terminus radio message had promised in the past. His defense mechanism has become so pervasive in how he deals with the unknown that he’s lost sight of how this world needs pragmatism over anything else if one was to survive.

Michonne and others in the group understand that Aaron’s offer could be a trap and another Terminus, but they’ve become such pragmatists in this hellish new world that before they dismiss the offer as a danger they need to find out more. They see this offer as a way out of the road. A solution to the emotional toll their nomadic life has taken on them. Yet, Rick focuses on seeing this new development as just another trap that he needs to stop before it gets sprung.

The whole episode we see Rick’s mindset get questioned by not just Michonne, but others such as Glenn, Maggie and, to a certain degree, even Daryl knows that they need a viable and safe place to hold up. A barn that is stinking of horseshit would not do. Rick would back off his initial orders to take the fight to these new mysterious “benefactors” but we could see in his eyes and behavior that the others might be willing to give Aaron a sliver of trust but he won’t.

It takes some words of wisdom from Michonne herself who has noticed that Rick has begun to slide into a state of nihilistic behavior. She knows exactly how Rick feels. She herself was were Rick was when she first showed up to save Andrea all the way back in season 3 and when she first meets up with Rick at the prison. Rick has become so focused on his anger at all the people they’ve lost because of the “bad people” they’ve encountered that he doesn’t seem willing to want to trust anyone outside of those he already has. He has begun to let nothing but anger, distrust and paranoia dictate his decisions instead of letting his emotions tempered by pragmatism rule the day.

Will Rick give up the fight and allow himself to return to being the compassionate leader he was when this all began? Or has the Governor, Joe and Gareth worn his principles down to the point that he cannot go back to being that compassionate leader?

This season has been a gauntlet for the group. Rick might not have loss anyone like Carl or Judith, but as their leader every loss weighs on him and distances him from everyone. One could almost wonder if this was how the Governor, Joe and Gareth turned. Were they good people who were suddenly forced to kill and kill more people just stay alive. It will be interesting to see whether Rick joins those three or will he bring himself back from the brink.

The Walking Dead will always have it’s dosage of gore and zombie action. It will have it’s level of soap opera moments. This is a show that has begun to accept the fact that it will not be on the level of Game of Thrones or it’s stable mates like Breaking Bad or Mad Men. It has gradually embraced it’s very pulpiness and horror roots. For some people it’s way too late, but for those who have stuck around and gone the distance with this show then it looks like there’s hope yet both in new stories to come and how it’s writers have finally gotten what it’s all about.

Notes

Tonight’s episode of The Walking Dead, “The Distance”, was directed by Larysa Kondracki and written by Seth Hoffman.
According to some little details revealed in this episode Aaron has been tracking and observing Rick and the group for over two weeks now.
The sequence at night with Rick, Glenn, Michonne and Aaron driving down route 23 and suddenly running into a road full of zombies was one of the highlight’s for the show tonight.
Glad to have the Winnie back even though it’s a different one and not Dale’s.
Nice throwback to the show’s early days when Glenn showed Abraham that they had nothing to worry about the Winnie’s dead battery since they had an easy spare to use.
Talking Dead guests tonight are the series’ own Dania Gurira aka Michonne and film director and writer Paul Feig.

Season 5

Trailer: Kill Me Three Times (Red Band)

Posted on February 20, 2015 by Arleigh

Once in awhile we come across a little film that we would never have bothered to even check out if not for the reach of the interwebs.

One such film is the Australian black comedy thriller Kill Me Three Times which had a screening at 2014’s Toronto International Film Festival. It stars Simon Pegg (channeling his inner Sean Connery mustache by way of Zardoz), Teresa Palmer and Callan Mulvey.

From the red band trailer it looks to be quite the violent little black comedy that Simon Pegg seems to be quite adept at. Interesting to note that this film will probably introduce the rest of the world to a third Hemsworth brother (they must clone them Down Under or something).

Scenes I Love: Gladiator

Posted on February 17, 2015 by Arleigh

“ROMA VICTOR!”

While Lisa Marie watches Ben-Hur on TCM I decided to revisit one of my favorite films to start of the new millenium. This was a film that helped resurrect sword and sandals epic that had burnt out during the late 60’s. From the late 50’s and throughout most of the 1960’s we had such classic epics as Spartacus, Quo Vadis and Ben-Hur. Then we have the Italian-produced peplum films which ranged from memorable to awful.

In 2000, Ridley Scott released the film that would finally win Russell Crowe an Oscar for Best Actor (one he should’ve won for The Insider in the previous year). Gladiator was a return to the old-school epic-scale filmmaking that we hadn’t seen in decades and audiences ate it all up as it won in the box-office and charmed critics.

I wasn’t sure about Gladiator leading up to it’s release, but I was always up for some hacking and slashing in my entertainment. What changed my mind from just being interested to buying fully into the film was when I first saw it and the opening scene which I dub the Battle of Germania. This opening sequence appealed to my sense of adventure as a viewer and also as a student of history (especially military history). While the scene itself wasn’t as accurate as I would’ve liked it got enough of how the Roman Legions fought as an army correct that I was able to forgive Sir Ridley for some dramatic flourishes that wasn’t historically accurate.

In this scene we see the Legions form up in square ranks with their recognizable scutum (Roman shield) into their typical shield wall formation. There are also the auxiliries acting as long-range support such as archers, catapults and ballista (though the last two were rarely, if ever used outside of sieges). Then there were the Roman cavalry led by Maximus himself (a unit seen less as an elite formation as we see later in the Medieval era). Scott was able to combine all these elements and create a scene that probably was as close as we’d get to seeing how war was waged between the Roman Empire and the so-called barbarian hordes of Germania.

I think this scene would’ve been perfect if the Roman Legion formations remained cohesive and just meat-grinded their enemy in front instead of breaking apart and turning the fight into a free-for-all. Other than that misstep this scene was what I loved about Gladiator.

Review: The Walking Dead S5E10 “Them”

Posted on February 15, 2015 by Arleigh

“We are the walking dead.” — Rick Grimes”

[spoilers within]

The Walking Dead has been a show that has always recycled basic themes throughout. From the very beginning of the series the characters have always been confronted by some very basic notions of humanity and survival. At times, the writers have done some great work exploring these themes and there has been times when they’ve been very heavy-handed and miss the mark.

Tonight’s episode takes it’s time to explore how the deaths of Beth and Tyreese has begun to affect the group as a whole. The first half of the season began with such hope as everyone believed Eugene’s story that a cure was possible if they could get to Washington, D.C. As we’ve now learned that story turned out to be a lie. Yet, despite that punch to the gut the group still remained hopeful. They had just escaped Terminus. They were able to defeat Gareth’s Hunters in quick order.

Then the first half of the season ended with the death of one of the group’s symbols for hope. Beth’s death was roundly seen as pointless and a waste by fans and critics, but it also showed what this show has been all about right from the beginning. It’s a show that shows promises and hints that there’s hope for the future when it’s really just a mirage in the desert of this new post-apocalyptic world. Last week’s death of Tyreese further cemented this. His death on top of Beth’s just seem to have worn down Rick and company.

We seem them tired, dejected and looking like the very zombies they’ve been surviving against. Food and water has now become scarce. The very real problem of being “truly hungry” as Gareth pointed out to Rick has now hit the group. We see Daryl scrabbling in the forest soil for earthworms to eat. Even Abraham would rather drink the bottle of booze just to not feel the thirst and hunger. This is a group that’s nearing it’s breaking point. Even the most hardened survivor must have food and water. Gareth and the people at Terminus went through this crucible and came out insane on the other side. Tonight we saw just how close the group came to finding out for themselves if they had what it took to remain sane and humane as thirst and hunger ate away at them.

We also found the group grieving for those they have just lost. The episode concentrated on Daryl, Maggie and Sasha in exploring the grieving process in this new world. These three lost the most this season. Maggie lost her father in the previous season. She had thought Beth lost to her after the flight from the prison, but found out she was alive only to lose her again before being reunited. Daryl loses in Beth a close friend and someone he allowed to get emotionally close to him. Then there’s Sasha who didn’t just lose her lover Bob, but also her older brother Tyreese in a span of a week or so.

All three grieved (or didn’t) in their own way. Maggie seemed lost and just tired of the day-to-day survival. She’s begun to question whether going on was worth the energy (physically and emotionally). She sees this world and life as having taken everyone last one of her immediate family and it’s begun to weigh on her, if not, breaking her down. her own survivor’s guilt finally comes out as she talks to Glenn about how she had thought Beth was already dead after leaving the prison. How she didn’t allow herself to dwell on the prospect that her little sister was gone. She focused on finding Glenn. Viewers had wondered why Maggie never once worried if Beth was alive and tonight’s episode seemed like the writers giving a sort of explanation as to why.

Maggie has become one of the ultimate survivors in this new world. She has learned to compartmentalize what was done to what needs to be doing better than anyone. Beth being dead or alive after the prison was an unknown. Moving forward to finding the rest of the group was a goal that kept her moving forward. This forward motion became even more prominent when she realized Glenn was still alive. It’s this survivor’s mentality which has also made her unable to grieve properly for the loss of her father and sister. As we neared the end of the episode we finally see a glimmer of Maggie accepting and grieving over who she has lost and looking to move on forward towards an unknown future.

Sasha hasn’t reached that point of grieving. She has lost two very close men in her life and both to the very inevitability of the walking dead around them. This world has hardened her too fast where reckless behavior and anger fuels her instead of guilt. She plans to take it out on the very things that took Bob and Tyreese from her, but she doesn’t see how her need for revenge puts the group at risk. While the episode seems to end with her pushing herself back from the brink of the abyss she was heading in there’s still a danger that her inability to grieve properly could make her not just a danger to herself but to the very people who has accepted her as family.

Now, the very notion that Daryl should even grieve openly goes against the very badassness that fans have heaped upon the character. Seeing Daryl cry was tantamount to losing whatever hope there was in the world. The fandom which has grown around this character wants him to remain a badass who eats nails and shoots lightning from his ass, but at the same time swoons at the notion of him showing a gentler side. The younger Dixon doesn’t allow himself to grieve or feel Beth’s death because he thinks he can’t afford to allow himself to lower his emotional guard down once again. He sees how getting too attached to anyone means heartache in the future. It happened when his older brother died, when Sophie was found dead instead of alive and now with Beth.

We see Daryl finally breakdown, but only in private when he knows no one is looking. Even then it’s not a full release but just enough to alleviate the emotional pressure within him. The very need to distance himself from those who remain has begun as he twice declined Carol’s (the one he feels closest to) offer to accompany him on a scouting mission. It has been great to see Daryl the character become an integral part of the group. To see him accept the fact that he need not be alone in surviving this new world. But as the show likes to do it throws a major obstacle in his path that makes him question whether he would be better off emotionally if he returned to being a lone wolf. No attachments to anyone means to need to grieve when he loses them.

The Walking Dead doesn’t truly allow it’s characters to grieve, but tonight’s episode does a great job in showing how they all find ways to handle loss in the family. It showed that the grief and loss is there, but the need to continue surviving has taken precedent over everything else. It makes for an unhealthy group of people, but unlike the Terminus, Claimers and the Governor, they try to find little ways and moments to grieve. Even if for just a moment they try to find some solace in what they’ve accomplished and how they’ve survived this long. They see how others have slipped back beyond the pale of what’s acceptable behavior in trying to stay alive one more day. The group is still not there, but this season has shown that they’re close to breaking and unless they find another hopeful goal to focus on they would end up resembling the very walking dead that they’ve been avoiding and fighting against.

Notes

Tonight’s episode, “Them”, was directed by Julius Ramsay and written by series writer Heather Bellson.
It’s always surprising to notice how customized the rifles that Rick and his group carries. One of the most custom rifles being the AR-15 carried by Sasha which looks to be a Seekins Precision custom AR-15 with a built-in suppressor. I will hazard a guess and say that this particular AR is of the 300 Blackout variety which when paired with the suppressor does cut down on the sound though not in the level shown during tonight’s episode.
Sasha’s comment to Noah about “Don’t think, Just eat” was a nice bookend to Rick mentioning to the group how they are the walking dead.
We see the zombies finally look like the very natural disaster they’re an analogue for when they attack the barn and sound as if they’re a tornado (which seems like was the case in the end as a sort of tornado his the area and did away with the small herd of zombies).
A new character makes an appearance in tonight’s episode, Aaron (played by Ross Marquand), who should be familiar to readers of the comic. His appearance might have started the countdown that will lead to a shocking death from Rick’s group.
Talking Dead guests tonight are the series’ own Maggie Greene (Lauren Cohan) and Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) plus Robin Lord Taylor (The Walking Dead, Gotham)