Tag Archives: review

TV Review: Dexter: New Blood 1.8 “Unfair Game” (dir by Sanford Bookstaver)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

So, Dexter is going to teach Harrison “the code.”

Wow, who could have predicted that!?

Okay, okay …. I know it’s not good to gloat but let me have my moment.  From the minute that Harrison showed up at Dexter’s cabin, I’ve been waiting for him to take up the family business and it would appear that’s what is about to happen.  My prediction was correct and it’s actually kind of rare that happens so I’m definitely going to take a little bit of pride in this moment.

Kurt definitely had his chance to bring Harrison over to his side but he ruined it by snapping and trying to kill Harrison.  Big mistake there, Kurt.  Harrison is now back with Dexter and, judging from that big hug he gave him, it appears that there’s no longer any doubt in Harrison’s mind as to which father figure he should follow.

It was an exciting episode.  Along with Kurt’s attempts to bond with Harrison, we also got a lot of scenes of Dexter and the truck driver chasing each other through that abandoned summer camp.  (“Perfect place for a serial killer,” as Dexter put it.)  Why didn’t Kurt take out Dexter personally?  That was my only real question.  I get that Kurt wanted to bond with Harrison but he could have easily killed Dexter and the bonded with Harrison later.  It’s not like Harrison has anywhere to go.  Instead, Kurt made the mistake of outsourcing the murder of his biggest enemy.  Entrusting a job that important to a random truck driver doesn’t really make that much sense.  Kurt screwed that one up because, despite being shot in the leg, Dexter managed to kill that truck driver and save Harrison.  In the past, Dexter has spent so much time in its lead character’s mind that it was interesting to see that Dexter can take care of himself physically as well.

Dexter and Harrison appear to be ready to go to war with Kurt but it also appears that Angela has figured out that Dexter murdered that drug dealer a few episodes back.  Will Angela arrest Dexter?  Will Dexter have to fake his death yet again?  Let’s hope not.  There’s only so many times that one character can successfully fake his death before it starts to challenge the viewer’s suspension of disbelief.

That said, I don’t see Dexter sticking around town, regardless of how everything turns out.  I’ve seen some speculation that Dexter will sacrifice his life to save Harrison and then Harrison will be the “new” Dexter.  I don’t think that’s going to happen just because I don’t think Showtime is going to want to abandon the character of Dexter after this miniseries ends two weeks from now.  If nothing else, Dexter: New Blood has proven that there is still a sizable audience that’s interested in Dexter’s adventures.  Ask me to look into the future and I see Dexter and Harrison going on the road together and hunting killers.  It’s the family business.

Am I right?  We’ll find out in another two weeks!

Catching-Up With The Films of 2021: Fear and Loathing in Aspen (dir by Bobby Kennedy IIII)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The year is 1970 and big business has all the power in Aspen, Colorado.  The landscape is being bulldozed to make room for time-shares.  The once pristine ground is being covered in asphalt.  The rich are using Aspen as their own personal playground while the hippies, drawn to the town by the beautiful landscape, are regularly used as scapegoats for every problem that the town encounters.

A struggling journalist named Hunter S. Thompson (Jay Bulger) wants to change that.  When Thompson first declares that he will be running a third party, “freak power” campaign for Sheriff of Pitkin County, his main concern is getting paid to write about it and perhaps becoming a regular contributor to Rolling Stone Magazine.  But, as the campaign starts to grow and Thompson finds success in motivating the hippies to actually register to vote, he starts to realize that he could actually win this thing.  Despite the efforts of Aspen’s mayor (Cheryl Hines, the stepmother of the film’s director), “freak power” is on the verge of turning the establishment upside down.

Fear and Loathing in Aspen is based on the true story of Thompson’s campaign.  Thompson did not win but he did go on to write Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and to cover the 1972 presidential election for Rolling Stone.  Thompson was an iconoclast, a writer who as open about his love for drugs as he was for his love of guns.  He committed suicide in 2005.  If he were still with us, one imagines that he would probably love Bernie while hating Trump, Biden, and Twitter.  There have been a few, generally uneven attempts to bring Thompson and his writing to cinematic life, the most famous probably being Terry Gilliam’s adaptation of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, starring Johnny Depp as Thompson.

Fear and Loathing Aspen stars Jay Bulger as Thompson and it should be said that Bulger does a good job in the role.  While he doesn’t quite have the movie star charisma of Johnny Depp, he is believable as a sincere prankster, as someone who is genuinely torn between whether or not to burn it all down or to try to make people’s lives better by participating in the system.  Unfortunately, the rest of the film doesn’t really rise up to the level of Bulger’s performance.  Cheryl Hines, Laird Macinstosh, and Paul Morgan all give such cartoonishly evil performances as Thompson’s political opponents that it makes Steve Carell’s performance as Donald Rumsfeld in Vice look nuanced and intelligent by comparison.  The film’s director tends to rely a bit too much on obvious tricks, like split screens and shaky hand-held footage.  It gets distracting.

The director, by the way, is Bobby Kennedy III, the son of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.  There’s some irony to be found in a film about outsiders being directed by a member of the Kennedy family, particularly the son of someone who would probably just be another Facebook conspiracy troll if not for the circumstances of his birth.  Fear and Loathing in Aspen may tell the story of an outsiders revolt but it doesn’t feel authentic.  With the exception of a few scenes, it feels like counterculture cosplay.

Lisa Marie’s Week In Televison: 12/19/21 — 12/25/21

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Merry Christmas!  Here’s what I watched this holiday week!  It’s a short list because it’s the holidays.  Next week, I’m planning on getting caught up on a few shows before the start of 2022.

A Very Boy Band Holiday (Thursday Night, ABC)

Erin and I watched this two weeks ago.  On Thursday night, we watched it with our other two sisters, Megan and Melissa.  It was fun.  How can’t you love Joey Fatone holding a bunch of boy banders hostage in a Christmas cabin?

A Charlie Brown Christmas (Sunday Night, PBS)

I watched this with my sister.  It’s a tradition!  Be sure to read what Erin wrote about this special and why it’s still important.

Dexter (Sunday Night, Showtime)

It was a good episode this week.  I wrote about it here!

Kelly Clarkson Presents: When Christmas Comes Around (Thursday Night, NBC)

I like Kelly Clarkson.  She’s from Texas and she’s got a helluva voice.

The Love Boat (Sunday Night, MeTV)

On yet another Christmas cruise, there was love and there were laughs.  This time, the overly eager crew hired three separate Santa Clauses.  It cause a bit of trouble but, in the end, everything worked out for the best because there’s always room for multiple Santas!  The other plotline of this episode dealt with a down-on-his-luck comedian who ended up sharing his cabin with an adorable dog, who he adopted at the end of the cruise.  Awwwwwww!

The Office (Friday Morning, Comedy Central)

On Friday morning, my sister Megan and I watched the first three of The Office Christmas episodes.  My favorite is still the first, the one where Michael ruins Secret Santa.  Benihana Christmas is pretty funny as well, though I do think Karen could have tried hard to work with Angela before forming her own rival Party Planning Committee.

Santa Claus is Coming To Town (Thursday Night, ABC)

I watched this classic 1970 animated special with my sisters on Thursday night.  It had actually been a few years since I had last watched this and I was surprised to discover that it was a lot better than I remembered.  The animation was adorable and the voice acting of Mickey Rooney and Fred Astaire holds up surprisingly well.  I’m glad I watched it and I’m even happier that I watched it with my family.

Seinfeld (Weeknights, Comedy Central & Netflix)

A chicken place with a bright red neon sign turned Kramer’s apartment in the Angry Red Planet.  This was followed by an episode in which Kramer got the wrong personalized license plates and suddenly became very popular.  The 90s were a wild time.

On Thursday morning, Jeff & I watched the episode where Kramer returned to his old job making bagels, Elaine tried to get back a card that she could use to get a free submarine sandwich, Jerry dated a woman whose appearance kept changing, and — most importantly — the Constanzas once again celebrated Festivus!

It was a Festivus miracle!

Scenes that I Love: The Post Office Proves Santa Claus Does Exist from Miracle on 34th Street

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

This is from the original, 1947 version of Miracle of 34th Street, starring Edmund Gwenn as the one and only Kris Kingle.  Yes, the scene below is colorized.  I’m not a fan of colorization but at least it’s not as poorly done here as it’s been in some other films that I’ve recently watched.

Anyway, on to the scene!  Kris Kringle is on trial.  His lawyer (John Payne) is attempting to prove the Kris really is Santa Claus and he gets some help from the U.S. Postal Service.

I love this scene and I love this movie.  It always puts me in the mood for Christmas.  And, if nothing else, it shows that postal service has gotten at least one thing right over the years.  Anyone who has ever seen Edmund Gwenn as Kris Kringle know that there’s no way he isn’t Santa Claus!

Catching Up With The Films of 2021: Wild Indian (dir by Lyle Corbine, Jr.)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Wild Indian opens in the 80s, with two teenage boys living on a Ojibwe reservation in Wisconsin.  Both of them come from broken homes.  Both of the are bullied in school.  Makwa (played, as teenager, by Phoenix Wilson) is quiet but angry and spends most of his time trying to avoid the company of his alcoholic parents.  His cousin, Teddo (played, as a teenager, by Julian Goppal), is slightly more responsible and level-headed.  One day, after Makwa kills one of his classmates, he begs Teddo to help him hide the body.  Teddo is reluctant but eventually, he agrees.

We then jump forward several years.  Now played by Michael Greyeyes, the adult Macwa lives in California and he uses the name Michael Peterson.  He’s a businessman, a partner in a firm with Jerry (played by the film’s executive producer, Jesse Eisenberg).  Michael is married to a white woman (Kate Bosworth) and lives in an upscale apartment.  He and his wife have one child and another is on the way.  Though Michael doesn’t deny his Native heritage, he now uses it for a gimmick.  He describes it as being his “brand.”  He never speaks of his past in Wisconsin.  His wife doesn’t even know his original name.  Michael would seem to have everything that he’s ever wanted but it’s obvious that he’s still struggling with his inner demons.  He hires a stripper so that he can strangle her.  The rare time he does talk about other Native Americans, it’s to dismiss them as being dishonest and narcissistic, descriptions that many would use to describe Michael himself.

Meanwhile, Teddo (now played by Chaske Spencer) has spent the last several years in prison.  Wracked with guilt after helping Makwa cover up the murder of their classmate, Teddo became a drug dealer.  When he gets out of prison, his face is heavily tattooed, as if he’s trying to announce his crimes and sins to the world.  When he visits the mother of the boy that Makwa murdered, Teddo starts to cry uncontrollably.  Eventually, Teddo leaves Wisconsin, heading to California so that he can confront Makwa face-to-face.

Wild Indian is an atmospheric and, at times, rather disturbing thriller.  It’s not a surprise that Teddo wants and needs some sort of resolution with Makwa but, from that premise, the film’s story goes off in some unexpected directions and, in the end, neither Makwa nor Teddo turn out to be quite who the viewer was expecting them to be.  Teddo, the violent drug dealer, turns out to have a strong sense of moral obligation while Makwa, for all of his success, is so deeply in denial about his past and his sins that he can’t even be honest with himself about who he is, much less anyone else.  It all leads to a rather jarring ending, one that may seem abrupt but actually works perfectly.  In the end, the sins of the past cannot be escaped and they cannot be changed.  All one can do is live under the clouds of the past.

Wild Indian is triumphant directorial debut for Lyle Corbine, Jr., an uncompromising character study of two men who can never escape the past no matter how much they may want to.  Both Michael Greyeyes and Chaske Spencer give wonderful performances as Makwa and Teddo.  This is definitely a film to track down and watch.

TV Review: Dexter: New Blood 1.7 “Skin of Her Teeth” (dir by Sanford Bookslaver)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Occasionally, while watching an episode of the original run of Dexter, I would sometimes wonder, “What if Dexter didn’t kill this latest serial killer?  What if he actually did step back and just let the police do their job?”

Well, the latest episode of Dexter: New Blood answered my question for me.  Even after he had all of the evidence that he needed to believe that Kurt was not only the sniper but that he was also responsible for the decades-old murder of Iris, Dexter still tried to play by the rules.  He extracted a tooth from Iris’s mouth and, seeing that she had bitten her attacker, he gave it to Angela so that she could run a DNA test.  He also told Angela about the murder cabin to which Kurt had previously tried to lure Molly.  For once, Dexter stepped to the side and tried to let the system do its job.

Why did Dexter do this, despite Ghost Deb literally ordering him to kill Kurt?  Dexter’s pursuit of Kurt has been complicated by Kurt’s pursuit of Harrison.  With Harrison obviously growing more and more unstable, Dexter didn’t want to have to keep another secret from his son.  He didn’t want Harrison to make a martyr out of Kurt.  Dexter wanted to make sure that his son would eventually look up to the right serial killer.  Good for Dexter!

Unfortunately, it turns out that the system doesn’t work.  It didn’t work in Miami and apparently, it doesn’t work in upstate New York either.  Yes, Kurt is arrested and he’s taken off to jail.  But, after he concocts a story framing his abusive father and after the DNA on Iris’s tooth turns out to be just a 67% match, Kurt is set free.  However, while he is in jail, he’s visited by Dexter.  The two of them, obviously no longer pretending to be friends, find themselves discussing whether or not titanium can melt.  Earlier in the episode, a slovenly truck driver gave Harrison an envelope for Dexter.  Inside the envelope was a titanium screw, one that Dexter soon learns came from Matt’s body.  In short, Dexter knows that Kurt is a murderer and Kurt knows the same about Dexter.  However, others may soon be finding out as well.  With Kurt out of jail, Molly and Angela talked and realized that there were holes not only in Kurt’s story but Dexter’s as well.

Meanwhile, Harrison finally revealed the truth to Dexter.  As Harrison explained it, he has always had nightmares but now he realizes that the nightmares were actually memories of Rita’s murder.  (John Lithgow makes a cameo appearance as the Trinity Killer and is quite chilling, despite only being onscreen for a minute or two.)  Harrison announced that he was leaving town.  Just as Dexter tried to follow his son, he was attacked by the same trucker who gave Harrison the screw.  And then …. the episode ended!

This was a seriously good episode, probably the best of the season so far.  The episode opened on a properly macabre touch (with Dexter and Angela investigating Iris’s mummified corpse) and it ended on a moment of genuine suspense.  In between, Michael C. Hall and Clancy Brown both did compelling work as two guys who have a secret that only they can truly understand.  The scene were Dexter and Kurt faced off in the jail was wonderfully acted and directed.  As played by Clancy Brown, Kurt is the first Dexter villain to truly feel like a worthy adversary since the Trinity Killer.  Indeed, it seems somewhat appropriate that the same episode that featured a flashback to Kurt’s first kill also featured a flashback to Trinity’s final murder.

So, what can we expect to happen next week?  Dexter getting attacked by that truck driver would seem to suggest that Kurt has more allies that Dexter imagined.  What if Kurt is not working alone?  What if his truck stop is actually some sort of serial killer hang-out?  It’s possible and it would certainly explain why Kurt was so eager to have Harrison working there.  It would seem that Kurt might want to hunt Dexter next.

But here’s the thing — there are three episodes left.  Seeing as how Kurt and Dexter know the truth about each other, you have to wonder what they’re going to be spend the next three hours doing until their final confrontation.  Next week’s episode is called Unfair Game.  Could that be a reference to The Most Dangerous Game, the short story that Kurt seems to be trying to recreate with each of his murders?  The final two episodes are entitled: “Family Business” and “Sins of the Father,” which would seem to indicate that Harrison is going to play a key role in whatever happens.  Personally, I’m still expecting Edward Olsen to be revealed as Kurt’s partner.  Olsen hasn’t been in the last few episodes but he was prominently featured at the start of the season so it just seems like there has to be more to him beyond just being a wealthy land developer.

We’ll see what happens!

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 12/12/21 — 12/18/21

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Again, I didn’t watch much this week.  I was busy getting ready for Christmas and my boyfriend’s birthday and watching and writing reviews for 2022.  So, not much television this week!  However, here’s a few notes on what little I did watch.

Boxing (ESN, Sunday Night)

Yikes!  I’m not sure who was fighting who but everyone certainly did seem angry.  I have to admit that I do have an odd weakness for the spectacle of men hitting each other but I also cringe whenever the blood starts flowing.  The best thing about boxing is when everyone hugs after the match and you realize that none of it was personal.  Awwwwwww!

Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO, Sunday Night)

Larry David annoyed a lot of people.  It’s what he’s good at.  Now, I haven’t really been keeping up with this season but, as far as I can tell from watching Sunday’s episode, Larry is sleeping with a really annoying local politician because he’s hoping she’ll change the zoning laws and this somehow will allow Larry to fire an actor who he dislikes.  And apparently, someone drowned in Larry’s pool and now Larry is being blackmailed or something.  (Actually, I kind of got the feeling that maybe Larry killed whoever it was.)  I don’t know.  It was confusing but it was funny just because Larry doesn’t know when to stop.

Dexter: New Blood (Showtime, Sunday Night)

I wrote about the latest episode of Dexter: New Blood here!

The Love Boat (MeTV, Sunday Night)

There was a definitely lack of Christmas cheer on the Christmas cruise but luckily, Mickey Rooney played an angel who brought everyone together, taught the children how to sing, and saved the marriage of Donnie Osmond and Maureen McCormick.

Mom (Friday Afternoon, Paramount)

I swear, have the people on this show ever met anyone who they didn’t automatically accuse of being an alcoholic?  On Friday, Paramount showed a quartet of depressing Christmas episodes.  Yikes!

Seinfeld (Comedy Central, Sunday Night)

I watched three episodes on Sunday night.  Jerry learned how to express his emotions and George sold computers.  George lost his keys in a pothole and Jerry had a panic attack after a toothbrush fell in a toilet. (Ewwwwww!  I don’t blame him.)  And then George killed his fiancée with toxic envelopes.  Unfortunately, Jerry had just gotten engaged so the tragic end of George’s engagement was a bit awkward for all involved.  Line of the episode: “I can’t be with someone who reminds me of me!  I HATE MYSELF!”

The 70th Miss Universe Pageant (Fox, Sunday Night)

Miss Paraguay should have won.  Also, Steve Harvey needs to get some new material.  I mean, Steve — we know you announced the wrong winner a few years ago.  We’ve moved on.  The only person who keeps bringing this up is you.

SERIOUSLY, STEVE, IT’S OKAY!

Survivor (CBS, Wednesday Night)

I wrote about the season finale of Survivor here!  This was an okay season.  I was happy to have Survivor back but Jeff Probt’s new happy and enthusiastic persona didn’t really work for me.  Of the final three, Xander probably should have won but the jury was a bit bitter so congrats to Erika on her victory!

TV Review: Dexter: New Blood 1.6 “Too Many Tuna Sandwiches” (dir by Marcos Siega)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

AGCK!  HARRISON BROKE THAT KID’S ARM!

Listen, a lot of interesting and important things happened on the latest episode of Dexter: New Blood.  Angela broke up with Dexter after revealing that she knew that Dexter was lying about his identity.  Dexter now has all the evidence that he needs to know that Kurt is a serial killer.  Kurt is continuing to bond with Harrison, to the extent that he’s now becoming as much of a father figure to Harrison as Dexter is.  The scene where Dexter and Harrison went to therapy together was classic, cringey Dexter.  Harrison and Audrey’s relationship is getting serious.  Hell, even Molly had something important to do this week.  There were a lot of good and memorable moments to be found in the sixth episode of Dexter: New Blood.

But what we’re always going to remember is Harrison coolly and efficiently snapping that kid’s arm.  Maybe it was the “crack” sound effect or that the show cut away just as the bone snapped but that totally freaked me out.  I’m just hoping the bone didn’t piece the skin.  God, I’m cringing just thinking about it.

Yes, Harrison definitely has some issues.  That’s been clear since the first episode.  With each subsequent episode, Harrison has gotten a little bit more openly violent, a little more openly insolent, and a little angrier.  Harrison is a time bomb and you have to wonder just what exactly Dexter is going to do about this.  Because his son seems like he’s going to snap eventually — ugh, snap.  Snap just like that kid’s arm….

The obvious solution would be for Dexter and son to go into business together, working as a team to take down murderers.  But is it too late for Dexter to do for Harrison what Harry did for him?  Dexter was raised for an early age to hunt down evildoers.  Harrison has developed his “dark passenger” without the benefit of guidance.  The entire town should be worried.

As for the rest of the episode, it was a good one.  It didn’t get bogged down in improbable coincidences like the previous episode and the story is definitely moving forward.  Dexter now knows that Kurt is a serial killer and, as a result of following Molly, he now knows where Kurt takes his victims.  But how long until Kurt figures out just who exactly Dexter is?  It’s going to happen.  Either Harrison is going to tell him or Kurt will figure it out on his own by listening to Molly’s podcast.  It’s obvious already that Kurt is going to do what he can to break up Harrison and Dexter …. in fact, he’s going to break up their uneasy relationship just as surely as Harrison broke that kid’s arm!  OH MY GOD!

Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter get and deserve a lot of praise for their work on Dexter.  Clancy Brown is doing good work as Kurt but that shouldn’t be a surprise, seeing as how he’s Clancy Brown.  But I have to say that the actor who is really taking me by surprise is Jack Alcott.  In previous episodes, Alcott has done a great job maintaining a balance between making Harrison sympathetic and making him petulant.  I mean, Harrison has been through a lot so it makes sense that he would not be the most emotionally stable character on the show and Alcott has done a good job of capturing Harrison’s unpredictable nature.  But last night, Alcott was briefly terrifying.  The look of pure hatred that went across Harrison’s face before he broke his opponent’s arm was genuinely scary.  And, of course, only Dexter and the audience noticed.  I’ll be interested to hear what Ghost Deb thinks about all this.

This was a good episode and I look forward to seeing what happens next week.  Will Harrison face any consequences or will he get away with yet another act of violence?  And how long until Kurt and Dexter have their final confrontation?

We’ll know soon enough!

Lifetime Film Review: Sisters For Life (dir by Anna Elizabeth James)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

It’s pledge week!

Bailee (Briana Fermia) really wants to join the college’s nicest sorority and she feels that she established a real connection with Jana (Maddison Bullock) when she interviewed to be selected for one of the opening spots.  Unfortunately, connection or not, there’s no room for Baileee because a legacy named Cori (Taylor Fono) has also applied.  Cori’s mom was in the sorority.  Cori’s sister was in the sorority.  Therefore, Cori gets to be in the sorority!  Yay!  College traditions are the best!

Bailee confronts Jana about how unfair it is that she wasn’t invited to join the sorority.  Jana feels guilty but what can she do?  There’s just no space.  But then, one night, Cori is attacked on campus.  Due to her injuries, Cori has to withdraw from the college and therefore the sorority.  Who can take Cori’s place?  Jana has a suggestion!

Bailee is now in the sorority and it soon turns out that she’s totally clingy and kind of psychotic.  She takes the whole idea of “sisters for life” very seriously and Bailee fully expects that Jana will be her sister for life.  Jana, meanwhile, is like, “This is my senior year, I want to hang out with my boyfriend, and I want to finish up my science project so I can have a career once I graduate.”  Soon, the other sorority sisters are getting drugged, framed, and attacked.  Even Jana’s boyfriend gets attacked in the shower!  Could it all somehow be connected to Bailee?

Of course it’s all connected to Bailee!  The film wastes no time in making it clear that Bailee is not to be trusted.  That’s the way Lifetime films work.  Anyone who shows up out of nowhere and suddenly starts demanding that you be her sister for life is going to turn out to be totally unhinged.  They always start out as slightly needy but seemingly sweet but, by the time the second commercial break rolls around, they’ve already put at least one person in the hospital or maybe even worse.  Some people will go to outrageous lengths to have a friend.

Anyway, Sisters for Life was a fun, if slightly predictable, Lifetime film.  As I’ve said in the past, though, the predictability is kind of the point.  Familiarity is one reason why Lifetime movies are so much fun to watch.  We’re always a few steps ahead of everyone else in the movie.  Towards the end of the film, one character announces, “You’re the meanest sister that I’ve ever had!” with a totally straight face and if you can’t appreciate the self-awareness behind a line like that than Lifetime films just aren’t for you.

TV Review: Fear The Walking Dead 7.8 “PADRE” (dir by Michael E. Satrazemis)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The seventh season of Fear The Walking Dead came to its mid-season conclusion on Sunday.  We learned a few thing as the show went into the hiatus.

We learned that PADRE is not a person but instead, it’s a place.  It’s some sort of secret government installation that has the resources that can be used to rebuild the world.  It was created by Senator Elias Vaszquez, just in case something like a zombie apocalypse happened.  Unfortunately, Sen. Vaszquez is now one of the walking dead and no one is quite sure where Padre is actually located.

We learned that Will, who we met in the first episode of the season, was the senator’s aide.  Will had managed to retain his idealism, even while the world was changing around him.  When Alicia said that she sometimes forgot that the dead used to be the living, Will said, “Maybe that’s why I’m here.  To remind you.”  Wow, someone certainly had a high opinion of himself.  Anyway, as we all know, Strand eventually threw Will into the moat and Will lost a good deal of his face and came back as a walker.  Alicia came across Will at the end of the episode and put a blade through his reanimated brain.

And that’s lead us to the other big thing that happened during this episode — ALICIA RETURNED!  I would probably be more excited about this if I felt like I really knew Alicia but, as I’ve mentioned in the past, this is the first season that I’ve really watched this show.  I do know that Alicia is one of the few remaining links to the show’s first season.  So, the fact that she’s back, has amputated an arm, is turning into a walker, and ended the episode by declaring war on Strand is a big deal.

As for this episode, it was …. well, it wasn’t bad.  It managed to neatly link together everything that we’ve seen and heard since this season began.  Hopefully, now that Alicia has declared war on Strand, the rest of the season can play out a bit more straight-forwardly.  (Keeping track of all of these flashbacks and trying to keep everyone’s chronology straight in my head has been a bit of a struggle.)  It’s hard not to feel that the first 8 episodes of the seventh season were basically just an extended prologue for something bigger.  On the one hand, dragging a prologue out over 8 episodes is exactly the sort of narrative trick that burned me out on The Walking Dead in the first place.  On the other hand, the episodes were largely well-done and well-acted and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t interested in seeing where this all goes.

Fear the Walking Dead will return on April 17th, 2022!