My latest review was one where I mention my surprise at just how good Disney’s latest animated film really turned out. It was a surprise born out of seeing the House that Mickey built returning back to it’s fairy tale roots. A return which first began with 2010’s Tangled and now continues with their latest, Frozen.
Close to everyone who has seen Frozen have fallen in love with the film and with many of the characters in the film. Like all past classic Disney animated films, Frozen also succeeds in having some great musical numbers. Frozen doesn’t just have strong characters, storytelling and musical numbers, but it has some great singing performances to round everything into what looks like a classic in the making.
Disney Animation has been kind enough to provide, for free, one of the biggest highlights of the film and what I consider my favorite singing performance in a cast full of them. Idinia Menzel as Elsa didn’t just hold her own in the acting department, but also knocks it out of the park with her power ballad “Let It Go”. Her voice just has a power all their own which brings the character of Elsa to life. The emotions she shows throughout this number just grows and grows as her character grows gradually from the unsure Elsa and into the sassy and confident queen inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s character from his fairy tale, The Snow Queen.
Best to just watch and listen to Idina Menzel just sing her heart out.
Let It Go
The snow glows white on the mountain night Not a footprint to be seen A kingdom of isolation, and it looks like I’m the Queen The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside Couldn’t keep it in, heaven knows I tried
Don’t let them in, don’t let them see Be the good girl you always have to be Conceal, don’t feel, don’t let them know Well now they know
Let it go, let it go Can’t hold it back anymore Let it go, let it go Turn away and slam the door I don’t care What they’re going to say Let the storm rage on, the cold never bothered me anyway
It’s funny how some distance Makes everything seem small And the fears that once controlled me Can’t get to me at all
It’s time to see what I can do To test the limits and break through No right, no wrong, no rules for me I’m free
Let it go, let it go I am one with the wind and sky Let it go, let it go You’ll never see me cry Here I stand And here I stay Let the storm rage on
My power flurries through the air and to the ground My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around My one thought crystalizes like an icy blast I’m never going back, The past is in the past
Let it go, let it go When I’ll rise like the break of dawn Let it go, let it go That perfect girl is gone Here I stand in the light of day Let the storm rage on, The cold never bothered me anyway
During the 1990’s Disney was the king of animated films. It was a decade where they enjoyed a new Golden Age of film animation which first started with Little Mermaid. As the company entered the new millenium their success with traditional animation began to wane and a new kid on the block took over as king. This new kid was called Pixar and soon enough they joined the House that Mickey built. So, it was through Pixar that Disney retained their crown when it came to animated films, but their own in-house animation house suffered setbacks through failed projects and/or subpar productions.
It was in 2010 when Disney itself began a nice comeback with the surprise hit Tangled. This new Disney take on the Rapunzel fairy tale became not just a hit with both critics and fans, but showed that Disney could compete with their very own Pixar when it came to CG animation and storytelling. These were two areas that Pixar were known for and Disney followed it up with another critically-acclaimed and fan-favorite Wreck-It Ralph.
Frozen marks the latest from Walt Disney Animation and, at first glance, the film looked like an attempt to replicate the fun and whimsical nature of 2010’s Tangled. Even some of the character animations looked similar. The film wasn’t helped by a media and ad campaign which made the film feel like it would be about pratfalls and juvenile jokes. Yet, what the public got when it was finally released this past Thanksgiving was a definite return for Walt Disney Animation to their heyday of the 1990’s.
The film takes Hans Christian Andersen’s Snow Queen fairy tale and makes it into a story about the love of two sisters in a faraway kingdom where one grows up repressing her ability to control and create ice and snow for fear of harming her younger sister. It’s this part of Frozen which brings the film from becoming just an animated production for little kids and into the realm of appealing to audiences of all ages. Even Olaf the Snowman who was a prominent face in all the ads leading up to the film’s release ended up becoming more than just comedic relief.
The characters of Elsa and Anna, at first, look like your typical Disney princesses, but as the narrative moves forward the two pretty much blow up whatever negative tropes that have been attributed to past Disney princess roles. Anna didn’t just come off as the spunky little sister, but becomes a multi-faceted character who actually becomes the redemption for her older sister Elsa.
Now, speaking of Elsa, Disney has been famous for creating some very iconic female characters with their animated films. Some of these characters have been the protagonists in their films, but some have also been the villains. In Frozen, Disney has created a character in Elsa who many could say inhabited both sides of the film’s conflict. She becomes a sort of antagonist midway through the film due to fear and ignorance of her ability to create and control snow and ice. This incident also prompts the film’s turn from being just a cute and fun film and into the realm of becoming a classic in the making.
Seeing Elsa accepting her true nature and becoming more confident in herself as a woman makes Frozen a rarity in animated films where females character tend to have male counterparts to help them along. Elsa also becomes such a great character due to Idina Menzel’s voice performance both in the speaking parts and the songs Elsa becomes a part of. In fact, I would be quite surprised if the most pivotal moment and song in the film, “Let It Go”, doesn’t end up winning best original song come Oscar time. Ms. Menzel brought so many facets of emotions through Elsa from a sense of despair to a sassy determination that should make the character a fan-favorite of little girls and mature women for years to come.
Frozen, a film that looked like it was a flop for Disney waiting to happen, ends up becoming one of the surprise hits of this holiday season and cements the return of Walt Disney Animation back to the forefront of animated film storytelling. This was a film that ended up becoming more than it’s initial first impression had going for it. A film that showed the power of female-centric storytelling could compete with the sturm und drang of the male-dominated blockbusters.
I wholeheartedly recommend people see this film on the bigscreen if just to experience Idina Menzel’s performance in “Let It Go” on the biggest screen venue as possible.
What’s more Christmas than some good old cheer song about fighting love from the creators of South Park.
Let’s Fighting Love
I have a wonderful penis
There is hairs on my balls
Is that the sound of a baby monkey?
No! Ninjas are here!
Hey hey let’s go! Getting in a fight!
The important thing is to protect my balls!
I am badass, so let’s fighting
Let’s fighting love!
Let’s fighting love!
This song is a little stupid
It doesn’t make any sense
English is all fucked up
But that’s ok, we do it all the time!
Hey hey let’s go! Getting in a fight!
The important thing is to protect my balls!
I am badass, so let’s fighting
Let’s fighting love!
Let’s fighting love!
“We’re not too far gone. We get to come back.” — Rick Grimes
[some spoilers]
The Walking Dead had it’s mid-season finale over this past Sunday and like previous mid-season and season-ending finales of the past three season this one went for the gut-punch. Season 4 of the show has seen a major improvement in how the writers were finally treating some of the major characters on the show.
The first five episodes were pretty much using a plague situation within the prison community to explore the growth of some of the lead roles in the show. We saw how Rick tried to escape the burdens of leadership by attempting to just be a farmer and a good role-model for his son Carl. It didn’t necessarily work out the way he wanted it to. In the end, Rick finally realized that leadership was what the group needed from him and what he was really best suited for.
We saw a major character shift in one of the show’s less realized characters in the past meek Carol Pelletier. This season we see how she has grown into becoming just as much a cold, calculating survivor as The Governor, but still retaining some of the humanity the latter seems to have lost when the zombie apocalypse happened to the world. It was a surprise to see Carol in such a new light. A person who would do anything to protect the group with special attention to the young children — especially two young girls — who have survived this far into the zombie apocalypse.
Then we had Hershel finally get to have his time in the limelight. Episode 5 has been a near-unanimous choice as the strongest episode of the first half of the season and nothing about the mid-season finale changes that. That’s how good “Interment” really was in the overall scheme of this new season’s first half. We saw Hershel finally become the show’s moral center but one that didn’t have the rigidity of ideals that Dale had. Hershel kept his humanity but also knew that this new world meant having to put one’s life on the line and not just pay lip-service to one’s ideals. I know that Dale would’ve done the same, but we never truly saw him put it all out there. He was great with the speeches, but the writers could never have him act on them. With Hershel they were able to reset the show’s moral compass and write the role properly.
The last two episode saw the return of The Governor. It was a peculiar two-parter which focused only on the return of Season 3’s main villain. Scott M. Gimple and his crew of writers tried to dial back the cartoonish way the character had become a villain by the end of Season 3. They tried to put the character back on the road to redemption. They even gave him a new surrogate family with a young girl who looked eerily like his previous daughter pre-zombie. Yet, while the attempt was an interesting one the character arrived full-circle to the very Governor we first met in the early episodes of Season 3. He wasn’t as mustache-twirling evil that he had become by the end of last season, but that redemption road that episode 6 and 7 was all about ended up being a red herring.
Now, we come to the mid-season finally which literally reset’s the finale of season 3. It was a finale that was underwhelming at best. The war between Rick and the Governor never truly materialized. This was finally rectified with the arrival of the Governor and his new band of camp followers but this time he has a tank. It’s a scene straight out of the comics and it was one that readers and fans of the books have been waiting for years to happen.
“Too Far Gone” marks a turning point for the series in that we finally leave another fixed location but do so with some major characters never to return. It was an episode that started off like a sizzle reel of every complaint detractors have about the show. Dialogue that went nowhere and just seemed to spin the episode’s wheels to fill time. Yet, as the episode progressed the entirety of the first half’s story-arcs began to take shape.
Rick was willing to share the prison with his worst enemy. He wasn’t too far gone that he would put himself as innocent of doing some heinous things to survive. He might not like the Governor, but for the sake of both groups not killing each other he would swallow his pride and accept everyone. The prison has room for everyone and the didn’t need to interact. It’s a major character growth for Rick who always saw his group as the good guys in any conflict. But like any leader he was getting tired of the battles that hurt only the survivors. The real threat were still the zombies who were slowly gathering outside. Hershel’s reaction to finally seeing Rick realize that one didn’t have to sacrifice their humanity to survive in this new world was one of the most poignant scenes in the series to date.
What followed it moment’s later would become one of the most heart-wrenching scenes of the series and one fans of the books were dreading to see.
Hershel was the MVP of this season’s first half and it was only appropriate that he went out in such a memorable, albeit very gruesome manner. It’s not often we see someone decapitated on any tv show. What had been an episode that threatened to meander just the way the finale of season 3 ended up doing instead became a final 20-minutes of intense action that saw both groups fail to hold onto the prison and the survivors scattered to all points of the compass. In the comics, this particular story-arc saw Lori and Judith die just when readers thought they were about to be safe from the battle. With Lori already dead a full season ago the only question which remained during this mid-season finale was whether the writers would actually pull off the unthinkable and do the same to tv version of Judith.
Children have never been seen a sacred cows on this show, yet infants seemed to remain safe. The episode ends with the question of whether Judith is dead or alive hanging in the air. It’s to the visceral power that this show brings to the table that peope will wait the near to three months of hiatus before the show returns of the second half of season 4. The show will remain one that’s obsessed over by the general population while derided by a minority who have valid complaints about it.
“Too Far Gone” could almost be the motto of this show. Any sort of major change on how the show’s stories has been told might be too late to implement. The fans like the show for it’s violence, gore and the soap opera stories. It’s not perfect television, but it is television which seems to have grabbed, caught and held the attention of not just the American tv viewing public but the global tv viewing public. Maybe, it’s just time to just make the that decision each viewer has to make. Either stay on the ride and hold on until the rollercoaster ends or jump off now and forever hold their peace.
Drive Angry came out in early 2011 and it was one of those films which everyone thought was going to flop and flop hard. It did flop like a dying carp on a desert dune, but it was also one of the most fun flicks of the year. People just didn’t get what the film was about and trying to do. I, for one, was of the minority that got “it”.
This film starring Nicolas Cage going the subdued crazy route had so many funny and WTF sequences that it was difficult just to pick one, but pick one I shall.
I think the sequence where William Fichtner’s supernatural bounty hunter, The Accountant, chasing and assisting the undead John Milton on his vengeance ride against a Satanic cult leader, and to the tune of the KC and The Sunshine Band’s “That The Way (I Like It)” classic song was a major favorite. It emphasized just how over-the-top Drive Angry turned out to be, but in a fun and hilarious way. William Fichtner just chews the scenery in this scene. I also like how Tom Atkins, himself a veteran of grindhouse flicks, matches Fichtner chew for chew.
Yes, I agree with the philosophy of one Issei Hyodo of the anime series High School DxD. This is just one of over 200+ anime titles which were picked to comprise the 5-minute running time of the latest “AMV of the Day”.
“Animegraphy 2013” by qyll pretty much takes every anime title that is currently showing in the year 2013 and puts selected scenes into the video. This is quite a feat considering that some anime titles appear more than just once and for more than a second. I like how the video shows an early form of anime with 1963’s Astro Boy as a sharp contrast to how anime looks like now 50 years later.
Anime sure has grown since these last 50 years.
Anime:A Certain Scientific Railgun S, Accel World EX, Ace Of Diamond, Ai Mai Mi Aiura, AKB0048: Next Stage, Aku No Hana Amnesia, Ano Hi Mita Hana No Namae Wo Bokutachi Wa Mada Shiranai. Movie, Arata Kangatari, Arpeggio Of Blue Steel, Arve Rezzle: Kikaijikake No Yosetachi, Astro Boy, Shingeki no Kyojin, Aura: Maryuuinkouga Saigo No Tatakai (Movie), Bakumatsu Gijinden Roman, Berserk The Golden Age Ac Lll – Descent BlazBlue: Alter Memory, Blood Lad Blue Exorcist (Movie), Boku Wa Tomodachi Ga Sukunai Next, Brother’s Conflict Buki Yo Saraba (Movie), Cardfight!! Vanguard: Link Joker-Hen, Chihayafuru 2, Chitose Get You!!, Chokotan! Code:Breaker, Coppelion, Corpse Party: Tortured Souls – Bougyakusareta Tamashii No Jukyou, Cuticle Tantei Inaba, D.C.III ~ Da Capo III ~, Dakara Boku Wa H Ga Dekinai, Danganronpa The Animation, Dansai Burni No Crime Edge, Dareka No Manazashi Date A Live, DD Hokuto No Ken (2013), Death Billiards, Devil Survivor 2 The Animation, Diabolik Lovers, Dokidoki! Precure, Dragonball Z Battle Of The Gods Ebiten: Kouritsu Ebisugawa Koukou Tenmonbu, Encouragement Of Climb, Fairy Tail, Fantasista Doll, Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma☆Illya Free! Freezing Vibration, Futari Wa Milky Holmes, Galilei Donna, Gambo (Movie), Kotonoha no Niwa, Gargantia On The Verdurous Planet, Gatchaman Crowds Genei Wo Kakeru Taiyou Genshiken Nidaime, Ghost In The Shell: Arise (Movie), Gifuu Doudou!!: Kanetsugu To Keiji, Gingitsune, Gintama Girls Und Panzer Specials Gj-Bu Golden Time, Gundam Build Fighters, Haitai Nanafa 2nd Season, Haiyore! Nyaruko-San W, Hajime No Ippo: The Fighting! – Rising, Hakkenden: Touhou Hakken Ibun, Hal (Movie) Hanasaku Iroha: Home Sweet Home (Movie), Hanayaka Nari, Waga Ichizoku: Kinetograph, Hayate No Gotoku! Cuties, Henneko: Hentai Prince And The Stony Cat, Hidamari Sketch: Sae Hiro Sotsugyou-Hen, High School DxD New, Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni Kaku: Outbreak, Houseki No Kuni, Hunter X Hunter (2011), Hyakka Ryouran: Samurai Bride, Hyperdimension Neptunia Inazuma Eleven Go Vs Danball Senki W (Movie), Inazuma Eleven Go: Chrono Stone, Infinite Stratos 2, Inu To Hasami Wa Tsukaiyou Ishida To Asakura, Jewelpet Happiness, Kakumeiki Valvrave Kamisama Kiss, Kamisama No Inai NIchiyoubi Kara No Kyoukai – The Garden Of Sinners (Movie), Karneval Kick Heart, Kill La Kill Kimi No Iru Machi, Kindaichi Shounen No Jikenbo: Kuromajutsu Satsujin Jiken-Hen, Kingdom 2nd Season, Kiniro Mosaic Kira Kira 5th Anniversary Live Anime: Kick Start Generation, Kiss×Sis, Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku, Koitabi: True Tours Nanto, Kono Naka Ni Hitori Imouto Ga Iru!: Ani Imouto Koibito, Kotoura-San, Kuroko’s Basketball 2, Kyoukai No Kanata Kyousougiga (2013), Little Busters! Refrain, Little Witch Academia, Log Horizon Love Lab Love Live! School Idol Project Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions (Movie), Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions: Depth Of Field – Ai To Nikushimi Gekijou Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions: Kirameki No… Slapstick Noel Magi: The Kingdom Of Magic, Majestic Prince Maji De Otaku Na English! Ribbon-Chan: Eigo De Tatakau Mahou Shoujo, Makai Ouji: Devils And Realist, Mangirl!, Maoyuu Maou Yuusha, Meganebu!, Minami-Ke Tadaima, Mirai Nikki Redial, Miss Monochrome The Animation, Miyakawa-Ke No Kuufuku, Mobile Suit Gundam AGE: Memory Of Eden (Movie) Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn, Mondaiji-Tachi Ga Isekai Kara Kuru Sou Desu Yo?, Monogatari Series: Second Season Mushibugyo My Little Monster, My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute, My Mental Choices Are Completely Interfering With My School Romantic Comedy, My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU, Nagi No Asu Kara, Namiuchigiwa No Muromi-San Naruto Shippūden, Nekomonogatari (Black), Non Non Biyori, One Piece OreShura, Otona Joshi No Anime Time, Outbreak Company, Patema Inverted (Movie), Persona 3 The Movie, Phi-Brain: Puzzle Of God (2013), Photo Kano Pokemon: Origins Pretty Rhythm: Rainbow Live, Puchimas!: Petit IDOLM@STER, Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie Part III: Rebellion, Recorder To Randoseru Mi☆, Red Data Girl Ro-Kyu-Bu! SS, Rozen Maiden (2013), Ryo, Saint Young Men, Saki: Achiga-Hen – Episode Of Side-A Specials, Samurai Flamenco, Sasami-San@Ganbaranai, Say “I Love You”, Seitokai Yakuindomo, Senhime Zesshou Symphogear G, Senran Kagura, Senyuu, Servant X Service Silver Spoon Sket Dance (OVA) Space Brothers, Sparrow’s Hotel, Star Driver The Movie, Steins;Gate: Fuka Ryouiki No Déjà Vu , Stella Jogakuin Koutou-Ka C³-Bu Strike The Blood, Super Seishun Brothers, Tamako Market Tamayura: More Aggressive, Tanken Driland: 1000-Nen No Mahou, Tantei Opera Milky Holmes: Alternative (OVA), Teekyuu 2, Tesagure! Bukatsu-Mono, The Devil Is A Part-Timer Toaru Majutsu No Index: Endymion No Kiseki Tokyo Ravens, Uchouten Kazoku Unbreakable Machine-Doll, Uta No☆Prince-Sama Maji Love 2000%, Vanquished Queens (OVA), Vassalord (OVA), Vividred Operation, Walkure Romanze, Wanna Be The Strongest In The World, WATAMOTE ~ No Matter How I Look At It, It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Not Popular!, White Album 2, Wind Rises, World God Only Knows III, Yami Shibai, Yondemasu Yo Azazel-San. Z, Yonhyakunijuu Renpai Girl (OVA), Yowamushi Pedal, Yozakura Quartet: Hana No Uta, Yuusha Ni Narenakatta Ore Wa Shibushibu Shuushoku Wo Ketsui Shimashita Yuyushiki, Zettai Bouei Leviathan, Zettai Karen Children
Song:“Love Lost” by the Temper Trap and “If You Wanna” by The Vaccines”
Today is the date that will forever become a date of remembrance for me and my family.
My father, Fernando Sandoc, passed away after losing his battle with cancer. He’s been a huge influence in my taste in music. I remember listening to him when I was younger singing songs by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin to The Beatles, Tom Jones, The Temptations right up to The Eagles and Elvis Presley. His was an eclectic taste in music, but one that I didn’t appreciate at a young age.
Yet, as I grew older I began to listening to the very same bands and singers and really become fans of them as well. It was one of many ways he and I bonded throughout the years. This was especially true as I grew into adulthood.
One song which always stood out for me was of the Sammy Davis, Jr. song “Ive Gotta Be Me”.
I remember him singing this song with as much enthusiasm and vigor as Sammy himself. It became a sort of anthem (in addition to Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” which was another favorite of his and mine) as if he tried to live his life just how the lyrics spelled them out. I can’t say whether he succeeded or not, but he definitely lived his life “his way” and remained to being true to himself.
He and those he called his closest friends were lived to be their very own Rat Pack.
So, I shall be forever grateful for having such a loving, understanding father and a great friend and mentor who will remain eternal as I take up the mantle he has finally set down to rest.
I’ve Gotta Be Me
Whether I’m right or whether I’m wrong Whether I find a place in this world or never belong I gotta be me, I’ve gotta be me What else can I be but what I am
I want to live, not merely survive And I won’t give up this dream
Of life that keeps me alive I gotta be me, I gotta be me The dream that I see makes me what I am
That far-away prize, a world of success Is waiting for me if I heed the call I won’t settle down, won’t settle for less As long as there’s a chance that I can have it all
I’ll go it alone, that’s how it must be I can’t be right for somebody else If I’m not right for me I gotta be free, I’ve gotta be free Daring to try, to do it or die I’ve gotta be me
I’ll go it alone, that’s how it must be I can’t be right for somebody else If I’m not right for me I gotta be free, I just gotta be free Daring to try, to do it or die I gotta be me
Just going to be brief with the description of the latest “AMV of the Day”. The latest pick was the winner of Anime Weekend Atlanta (AWA) 2012.
“See Who I Am” is the title of the video and also the title of the song used by the video’s creator (Speedy180). This particular song is a favorite of mine from symphonic metal band Within Temptation and also used in one of the very first AMV’s I watched (Alchanum) and one which got me into the scene to begin with. The video itself is an anime mix of so many anime titles that I could only recognize some of the one’s that I’ve actually seen. I’m sure there are many more I missed.
It’s a well-done video that uses Sheryl Nome of Macross Frontier singing to sub in for Within Temptation’s Sharon den Adel. It’s a very dramatic song and the anime visuals picked and they’re put together more than matches the emotional content of the song.
Anime:Guilty Crown, Macross Frontier, Fairy Tail, Fate/Stay Night, Fafner in the Azure, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Bleach and many others…
“And I ask for no redemption in this cold and barren place.” — Ben Nichols
[some spoilers]
Season 4 of The Walking Dead, from the very beginning, has been exploring the theme of whether those who have managed to survive this far into the zombie apocalypse could ever return to who they were in the past. Could they return from the brink of having to do some unthinkable acts in order to survive? It’s this running theme which has dominated this first half of the season, so far.
We’ve seen Rick trying to leave behind the “Ricktatorship” of Season 3, but only to find out that this new world won’t allow him to go back to the way he used to be. He has changed, and so has everyone, some of the better and some for the worst. We’ve seen several main characters of the show go through this very crucible and some have turned out much colder while others have seen their moral center strengthened.
The series has been hinting that the Governor was still out there and last week’s episode ended with a sudden reveal that he’s back and has now set his sight back on the prison. While quite an ominous moment considering the Governor’s past actions towards Rick and the prison group, tonight’s episode has put some ambiguity on what the Governor’s agenda in regards to the prison really is.
“Live Bait” is the title of the latest episode of The Walking Dead and it takes a risky move by concentrating on the Governor only. We don’t see Rick or anyone from the prison community. This episode was all about the Governor and what happened to him after his failed attack on the prison in the season 3 finale. We already know that he massacres pretty much every member of his attacking force with the exception of his two most loyal lieutenants in Martinez and Shumpert. We see during the episode’s cold opening the total breakdown of not just the Governor but also the full destruction of everything he had built with Woodbury both literally and symbolically.
Yet, we don’t see him continue his rampage against those who he sees as having been the architect of his downfall. We see that he has blamed no one else but himself for turning into something that Rick and his people always feared he was: a charismatic, but psychotic leader who would destroy anyone and everything if he can’t have it. Tonight’s Governor has come a long way from Season 3’s version. Tonight he’s become a wandering, disheveled loner who looks to have more in common with the very zombies he hates. He’s on automatic with the barest sense of survival in his mind. Yet, just when we think he has finally given up the image of someone in a second floor window of an apartment complex peaks his curiosity enough to want to live another day.
This begins the meat of this episode as we see the Governor encounter a family who has survived the past year of the zombie apocalypse on their own. A family of a cancer-stricken father, his two daughters and a granddaughter. A group that has managed to survive without having learned just exactly how to destroy zombies they encounter and the true nautre of the infection.
For some this latest episode was too much talking and exploring the state-of-mind of the Governor, but it was actually a very strong episode that shows not every week has to be action-packed. While the episode (written by series regular Nichole Beattie) wasn’t very subtle about having the granddaughter becoming a stand-in for the Governor’s daughter, Penny, it still doesn’t diminish the fact that we see a sort of reset on the Governor as a character. The almost cartoonishly villain that the character had become by the end of Season 3 looked to be getting a sort of rehab to something that retains some complexity. This is not crazy Governor tonight, but a damaged individual who doesn’t see redemption in the future for the sins he had done in the past.
By episode’s end we see him having built a sort of surrogate family from the two daughters and the granddaughter who took him in, but his attempt to try and escape his Woodbury past (going so far as to use a name he had seen during his aimless wanderings) goes for naught as we see his past literally come back to confront him from the bottom of a pit. Like I said, not the most subtle episode, but for the most part the ideas and themes explored stick the landing.
Now, time to see if the sudden change in the Governor in his road to redemption will continue with the next episode which, hopefully, will catch up to the reveal of him watching the prison in episode 5. Some may decry the loss of lunatic Governor, but I prefer my villains to be much more layered in their personalities and motivations. The Governor has come out of this latest episode a sympathetic villain, but who might still have that dark side just waiting in the shadows of his psyche for a chance to assert itself.
Notes
Tonight’s episode was written and directed by series regular Nichole Beattie and series newcomer Michael Uppendahl.
The barn spraypainted with the name Brian Heriot and instructions for this unseen individual on where to go was another reminder of how much the world of The Walking Dead has lost in terms of society and civilization.
The first episode of The Walking Dead where the original cast (those that still remain) don’t make any sort of appearance.
This episode also marks the very first flashback-only episode of the series.
The characters of Lilly and Tara look to be this show’s version of two characters from the comics and the novels. Lilly was one of the Governor’s loyal supporters in the comics while tv version of Tara was much closer to the novel version of the same name.
When the Governor gives the sisters his name as Brian it’s a little detail that fans who have read the novels know as the Governor’s real first name. Philip is actually the name of his brother whose identity and personality he takes.
The episode didn’t have much zombie and gore until the end and much props to KNB EFX for finding new ways to kill zombies. Best kill of the night being the use of a femur bone to rip off the head of zombie by pulling back it’s top jaw off violently like a pez dispenser.
Talking Dead Guests: Ike Barinholtz of The Mindy Project and David “The Governor” Morrissey.
Weekend was busy, but still found time to catch a few favorite flicks on TV. One of these happened to be the classic early 90’s western Tombstone starring Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer. I already profiled my favorite scene from this film awhile back, but as I watched the film again I realized there was another sequence that totally made the film for me.
So, the latest “Scenes I Love’ once again comes from Tombstone and it does a great job in showing the darker and vengeful side of Wyatt Earp as played by Kurt Russell. The first scene I loved about this film was more about the cool, calm and badass Wyatt Earp who can spot a bullshitter, blowhard, coward from a miles away. This scene shows Earp in his scary, God’s Wrath mode as he begins his vendetta ride against the Clantons and the Cowboys.
Just love the look of fire and brimstone from Russell’s eyes as he confronts a cowed Ike Clanton and lets him know what he has planned for his clan and group. Better yet, in addition to Kilmer’s Doc Holliday, we also see a younger Michael Rooker aka Merle Dixon. He plays one of the members in Earp’s posse.
Through the Shattered Lens 