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The Walking Dead Review – Episode 406: Live Bait

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The Governor is back, although more human than anyone was expecting.

***WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS***

If you haven’t seen Live Bait yet, I suggest you scroll down to the end of this post first and watch the entire episode before reading the rest of the text.

twd406_01I’m absolutely sure that every fan of The Walking Dead (including myself) was waiting for a massacre this week, with the Governor and his “evil” army back. However, we were all surprised with an episode showing a very human person, abandoned by his henchmen, lost in his thoughts and wandering around as “live bait” for any walker crossing his path. Was that going to be the end of the Governor? Was he going to live the rest of his life and die in such a melancholic way? Well, as DevilDriver says in one of their best songs, “not all who wander are lost.”

The story went back to when the Governor slaughtered almost all his army after that failed attempt to take over the prison and ran away with the only two survivors, one being his right hand Martinez. We were all left thinking about what happened to them, and when they would come back for revenge, but instead we saw the governor being forsaken and starting a completely different journey in his life. He was about to give up (even with his pretty cool new “Snake Plissken” look), when the vision of a young girl made him reconsider his almost-suicidal thoughts.

Does anyone doubt the first thing that came to his mind was his daughter Penny? At least this time it wasn’t a ghost like when Rick was seeing Lori, but a real girl called Megan who had been hiding for a long time inside an apartment building with her mother Lilly, her aunt Tara and her grandpa Don. Again we were expecting him to go wild and kill everybody, but that didn’t happen. We saw a man asking for shelter and offering his help to the family, and I was really impressed with how open to a guy with an eye-patch, a huge beard and a gun those two women were. It was probably the Governor’s charm striking again! Or should I say “Brian Heriot”, the name he randomly picked from that spray-painted wall full of names? Why choosing a different name, and why talking about his time as the Governor of Woodbury in the 3rd person? Was that a sign he was ashamed of his past and willing to start a brand new life?

This was the beginning of a story that in my opinion will be great to show everybody that no one is born a villain; it’s our society that creates them. While Rick’s group is killing innocents, casting away people that were once considered an important part of the family, and teaching children how to use machine guns and knives, we saw a man looking at a child as before the apocalypse, in other words, just like a real child and not like a soldier. Don’t you think this makes him less evil and more human than most of the members of Rick’s team, especially than Rick himself? By the way, the Governor and Rick have so much in common: they seem to be strong, wise and focused leaders, when in fact they’re nothing but regular people doing something they don’t really want to do, and that due to all the stress and external pressure they can explode at any moment, just like what happened to the Governor twice during this episode when he killed an old man/walker with an oxygen tank and when he brutally assaulted three walkers with his bare hands to protect that little girl.

twd406_02Talking about the action, although it was a more emotional episode than the previous one, there were some awesome moments of violence and tension. The Governor risking his life going to that “zombie nursing home” to grab some oxygen tanks, and as I mentioned before, saving Tara from the zombie Don smashing his head with one of the tanks and saving Megan in the zombie pit was some good action, and the beginning of a strong relationship between him and his new friends. Moreover, he simply burned his old picture with his original family, which in my opinion means that inside his head those people were his family now. He said he will do whatever he needs to keep Megan safe and well, so we can stay assured our good old Governor is back in action for real, especially when we see Martinez out of the zombie pit to “confirm” that the old life the Governor had will never abandon him.

“Nobody ever mentioned just how boring the end of the world was going to be,” Lilly said. Well, not anymore. Now you have the Governor by your side (literally), you’re about to be on the road with a bunch of mercenaries killing zombies, and you’ll probably cross the path of sheriff Rick Grimes. Nothing can be more exciting than this.

Live Bait (FULL EPISODE)

The Walking Dead Review – Episode 405: Internment

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According to our “hero of the day” Hershel, a sad soul can kill quicker than a germ. However, not as quick as Rick and Carl together.

***WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS***

If you haven’t seen Internment yet, I suggest you scroll down to the end of this post first and watch the entire episode before reading the rest of the text.

twd405_01Holy shit, the intensity of this episode was insane! I don’t even know where to start (maybe by saying that there was no sign of Carol?). There was so much going on at the same time, so many characters giving outstanding performances, that it will be hard for the producers to surpass Internment in terms of action and adrenaline. And regarding our friend Hershel, he was a total badass dealing with walkers, kids and the virus, all at the same time, and finding time to even make some jokes. I think he deserves the “Spaghetti Tuesday” on Wednesdays now, if they can find some spaghetti anywhere.

From the very beginning of the episode, I bet everybody was worried about losing Hershel (to the walkers) or Glenn (to the virus), although we knew somehow those two would survive. The thing we didn’t know was how they were going to make it through all that chaos, and both were great, especially Hershel. This was HIS episode and nobody else’s: he showed everyone he’s not only a wise man, but he also has the heart of a lion. The way he handled everything, from not killing people/walkers in front of the kids to risking his life to save Glenn, was amazing. It was interesting to see an episode so full of action and tension without Daryl or Michonne, who would usually be in the middle of the fights and action scenes. Hershel is now the official “badass one-legged grandpa” of the crew, his lonely tears at the end holding his Bible were touching, and from now on we know the group cannot survive a single day without him.

twd405_02And what about that “zombie massacre” provided by the dynamic duo of Rick and Carl? That was probably the start of a beautiful partnership between father and son, something that we have been all expecting from them since the TV show started. The look Rick gave to Carl when the kid was annihilating all those walkers with a machine gun was so cool! It was almost possible to see a very proud father pointing to his son and screaming to everybody else “You see him? You see how strong my son is? That’s my boy!” Let’s wait to see what happens next, but if the show follows the comics, this partnership will become stronger and stronger each day, guiding The Walking Dead to a “Rick and Carl” exclusive storyline, with no one else included except for the herds of zombies, of course. Based on what we saw last night, they’re more than ready for that.

One thing is certain: they have to leave the prison as soon as possible. It’s not a sustainable environment, everybody is dying, and the fences are not holding the walkers anymore. There was an important message last episode when that guy said he and his girlfriend do not wait until a place goes bad, they simply move on. I hope Rick gets the message really soon and they get out of the prison, which despite being an important “character” in the show, is turning into a hassle for everybody inside.

And last but not least, just like almost every episode of The Walking Dead, when we thought everything was fine and everybody was safe and ready to toast some marshmallows outside, there he was. The Governor is back (even if it was for less than 5 seconds), and as I said, it’s going to be brutal. I cannot wait for next week’s massacre episode.

Internment (FULL EPISODE)

The Walking Dead Review – Episode 402: Infected

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The pigs might be gone, but at least our tough sheriff is back.

***WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS***

If you haven’t seen Infected yet, I suggest you scroll down to the end of this post first and watch the entire episode before reading the rest of the text.

I cannot believe I didn’t see what was actually happening to Greg Patrick last espisode! I thought he had some previous disease and died of natural causes, just as many other people, but it was in fact a new deadly virus like Ebola or the swine flu, a brand new threat to the whole group because it doesn’t matter how you die, you become a walker. I’m sad Greg Patrick won’t be in the show anymore, but happy to know that because of what happened to him there will be even more drama and danger in every episode to the survivors.

twd402_01Last night’s episode, Infected, had a lot of questions without answers, action, tough decisions and intestines (a scene inspired by the movie Day of the Dead, from the zombie master George A. Romero, according to Greg Nicotero), a perfect combination for all TWD fans. There were so many questions left that I can’t wait for next week’s episode to answer some of them: is there really a traitor in the group, the person that was feeding rats to zombies? Or were just those two stupid girls feeding their friend “Nick” in a very innocent (and idiot) way? How long will the prison fence stand still and strong against the increasing number of walkers looking for human flesh (I saw Nicotero saying there will be over 7,500 zombies in the next episode)? Who’s infected by the deadly virus, and who’s not? Is there a cure? How will everybody be able to sleep, knowing anyone can die at any minute and become a zombie inside the prison? Who burned the bodies of the two people that were already infected? How will Tyreese react to the death of his love, and to the presumable death of his sister Sasha, who is also infected by the virus? As I sad, too many questions to be answered.

Then there were the tough decisions, most of them taken by Rick. It was sad seeing Rick throwing those poor little pigs to the zombies to protect the fence from falling down, but at least we got our good old sheriff back. No more farming, no more cropping, it’s time for some action! In my opinion, giving Carl’s gun back to the boy was the best decision he could make, especially because Carl is really good at shooting and can help saving many people. Moreover, how many lives has he already saved since he got his gun? As far as I can remember, he saved Rick, Michonne (a couple of times), his sister Judith, Maggie, among others. A boy with a gun will have serious consequences to the whole story, of course, probably most of them for good. And I’m pretty sure Carl will put on his sheriff hat back now, that little badass.

twd402_02The most touching scene in this episode was seeing Michonne crying when holding Judith in her arms. Why was she crying? Did she have a baby a couple of years ago? Did she lost a baby? Did walkers eat her baby? Another important question to be answered soon, I hope. Michonne is becoming more and more human, and less that tough super-woman from the previous season, but I don’t know how this can be good for the group. Well, I personally prefer her chopping zombie heads with her sword than carrying a baby, but the producers know what they are doing. And before I forget, it was nice seeing Beth singing I Don’t Want to Grow Up to Judith. I’m not a fan of Tom Waits, but I love The Ramones version. Lucky baby, anyway!

Stupid humans, thousands of walkers, a deadly virus, a decaying prison… What else can make their lives even more miserable and the show more interesting to us? Will there be any more surprises this season? And again, where the hell is the Governor? I guess when he returns he will kick some serious ass. It’s going to be totally brutal, and awesome.

Infected (FULL EPISODE)

The Walking Dead Review – Episode 401: 30 Days Without an Accident

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It’s raining zombies! Hallelujah!

***WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS***

If you haven’t seen 30 Days Without an Accident yet, I suggest you scroll down to the end of this post first and watch the entire episode before reading the rest of the text.

twd_s04e01_rickFinally, AMC’s The Walking Dead is back! And it was worth waiting for season 4 premiere this Sunday after all those months watching movies and TV series where we had to see people dying but not coming back as zombies… so boring!

Similarly to what happened in previous seasons, the first episode of season 4 didn’t start exactly at the same time where season 3 ended. Moreover, it also summarized what Rick’s group has been doing since they rescued all those people from Woodbury: cropping some food for everybody, reading for children, going hunting, and of course, trying to keep all the flesh-eating zombies away from the prison. We are introduced to some new faces, some not so new as Greg (from Everybody Hates Chris) Patrick, Daryl is now the “official” badass of the group, and we see a more sociable Michonne. And the zombies are getting better and better, as the one Rick stares at TWICE due to his bloody eyes, which by the way was an amazing job done by Greg Nicotero’s team.

Then there were many specific elements that made this season 4 premiere so interesting! Let’s start with that crazy woman that looked like the mother of that girl from the movie The Ring. She was a total lunatic, surviving somehow in the woods close to the prison, and feeding what once was her husband with anything she managed to find, including people. At first I thought they were going to introduce some cannibals to the show, which is something that happens in the comics, but that woman was just plain crazy. Well, at least there was a reason for that: Rick was able to see himself in her, when he was getting insane after Lori’s death, and that freaked him out so much that we won’t probably see the “crazy” Rick again in the show.

The second item that deserves our attention is the way the children are growing inside the prison: they’re becoming cold-hearted kids, without any fear of the zombies or death, and we see that in many different ways, like when the smaller kids are giving names to the zombies at the fence, when Carol starts teaching some kids how to use a knife to kill zombies and/or people, or when Beth simply ignores the fact that her boyfriend (what happened to her relationship with Carl?) became an afternoon snack while on a mission. The only thing Beth does about that is changing a Days Without Accident/Injury sign (where did she find that?) from 30 to zero. If this is not having a heart of stone, I really don’t know what is.

twd_s04e01_zombies_humansThird, that spectacular scene with the “zombie rain” is what every TWD fan wants to see in the show. In my opinion, it was the BEST “zombies vs. humans” fight of the entire series. Not even the zombie invasion when they were at the barn was so cool! The zombies falling from the rotten roof, hitting the floor so hard some were even losing parts of their bodies, but still seeking for human flesh, was one of those things that reminds us why this show is the best on TV today. What about that zombie that was hung by his entrails? I hope they add more gory scenes like that to future episodes. I just don’t know how they can be more creative than this Sunday, though. It was literally raining zombies! Hallelujah!

And last but not least, more important than anything else is what happens to Greg Patrick at the end of the episode, showing us that the biggest threat now resides inside the prison. I’m not going to say anything else about it, in case you haven’t seen the scene, but while watching it I couldn’t stop thinking about two things: first the movie Fido, an excellent zombie movie (shot in Canada, by the way) that has the exact same issue as the start of all its action; and second, I know TWD is a horror/action TV series, but it would have been totally awesome if the last scene (the last 5 seconds of it) had in the background the same audio that played at the end of every single episode from Chris Rock’s amazing TV series: Everybody haaaaaaates Chriiiis…

And where the hell is the Governor?

30 Days Without an Accident (FULL EPISODE)

The Walking Dead Webisodes Review – The Oath

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The Oath endorses what the TV series is currently trying to warn us: living humans are the biggest threat to everyone, not the poor rotting zombies.

***WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS***

If you haven’t seen The Oath yet, I suggest you scroll down to the end of this post first and watch the 3 parts before reading the rest of the text.

walking-deadDon’t you just love The Walking Dead when even something that should be only a bonus to the fans becomes an important part of the whole story? Although it would be really cool to see some webisodes in different parts of the world such as Norway, Chile or South Africa, so that we could take a look at how people are reacting to the zombie outbreak outside the USA (or is it just happening there?), I like the idea of keeping the story in the same location. And now, the new webisodes are even closer to Rick and the rest of his crew than we could have imagined.

walking_dead_oathThe two new characters, Paul and Karina (who in my opinion overacts a lot here), find themselves in the exact same situation as many other groups of people we’ve already seen in the show: a group of 20+ people organized in a camping zone, suddenly overrun by a herd of zombies, or walkers, or bitters, and now decays. How many other names are they going to give to the zombies? Why not just call them zombies, if that’s what they really are? Can it be considered bullying giving so many bad names to those poor corpses? Anyway, this simply proves to us that nobody is safe, it doesn’t matter how many people you are and how many guns you have. Any camping zone, including the “hostile” ones Paul shows Karina on a map (would Woodbury be one of those?), is just a “free buffet” waiting to be found by our beloved flesh-eating friends.

Another great point in The Oath webisodes is that they give almost no explanation of who those people are, why they got together, where they’re going next, or if they will meet Rick’s group one day. Until the end of part 3, we don’t even know when the story is happening, if it’s before, after or at the same time as Rick’s group is at the barn, at the prison, fighting the Governor or anywhere else. This is great, as it keeps me interested in what’s happening next, paying attention to all the details and consequences of people’s actions and reactions.

maxresdefaultBut the best part without any doubt is how the new webisodes are focusing on the living humans as the biggest threat to anyone, just as the regular TV show is doing, instead of just turning it into a B-movie full of half-naked cheerleaders running away from hungry rotting zombies. That’s what makes The Walking Dead so interesting, and now the new webisodes. The previous ones were somehow like that too, but not so focused on humans as now. That creepy doctor, who seems to be their hope at first glance, turns out to be another nightmare in their desperate escape from the zombies. I just don’t understand how that crazy woman was able to survive by herself at that hospital, and why she enjoyed so much “creating” new zombies. But that’s not an issue, because as I said I don’t care about getting all the minimal details of every part of the story. The more suspense and mystery we have, the better.

The-Walking-Dead-The-Oath-WebseriesThe only thing I think they should add to the webisodes is more famous people as “guest” zombies, just like they did in the first ones with Scott Ian, from Anthrax. Although he appeared for only a few seconds, it was enough to make that webisode even better. Why not calling other famous TWD fans to become zombies for a day such as WWE’s CM Punk? He would be an amazing walker! Or maybe some other musicians that sing about zombies, like Chris Barnes (from Six Feet Under) or George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher (from Cannibal Corpse).

In summary, a pretty good job by TWD crew that pumped me up for the Season 4 premiere this Sunday, and that for me just confirms Michonne was a lot happier or at least had 100% less trouble when she was by herself surrounded by walkers, and not by stupid people. If we’ll see Paul and Karina again I have no idea, but at least now we know who painted that famous DON’T OPEN DEAD INSIDE sign we all love so much.

Here are the 3 parts of The Walking Dead Webisodes: The Oath