The Walking Dead, Episode 609 – No Way Out

Well. We’re back, huh? That was EXHAUSTING. Awesome, but exhausting.

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We open up where we closed before the mid-season break that WOULD NOT END. It’s kind of adorable that the head dude sent just one of his little minions to the back of the truck with Daryl. Slap a red shirt on that biker. He’s dead. Pour one out disdainfully, Kate.

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Abe: “WHO’S NEGAN?” Bless him. That’s going to be his shtick now, right?

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And then BOOOOOOOM.


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That’s my BOY! Who needs a crossbow when you have a MOTHERFUCKING ROCKET LAUNCHER? Hell yes.

Back in Alexandria, Sam isn’t dead yet??? They’re still making their way through. Gabriel offers to take Judith to the church to keep her safe. OH YOU BETTER DO THAT, GABRIEL. So much as a hair on that baby’s head is out of place and Rick will gut you without blinking an eye. Sam refuses to go with Gabriel and Jessie gives in. I am judging her parenting decisions.

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Carol, Tara, Rosita, Eugene and Morgan are all still locked up together in the Wolf Jail. The Wolf has taken Denise and is scoping out a way to get out. Denise is being so brave and still snarking at him and I kind of love her.

Enid and Glenn are inside the walls and locked into a church. Glenn makes Enid search the bibles and hymn books for hidden weapons. Enid calls it the Bible Glock, which I love. Glenn makes Enid feel like pond scum by bringing up Dale and Herschel and all the other awesome people he has lost. Because he is the sweetest cupcake ever.

Soooo, suddenly it’s dark.

Question: Exactly how long does it take to get the fuck out of Alexandria???

Well, shit, there goes Sam. Poor kid. I expected it to happen at the open of the show, frankly.

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Well, shit. And there goes Jessie. Damn it. I liked her, even if she did make questionable parenting choices and had very little chemistry with Rick.

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Oh, that’s just ugly. Poor Jesse. Nobody likes to get their hand chopped off while they’re being eaten alive.

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RICK GRIMES, I TOLD YOU NOT TO TEACH THAT BOY HOW TO USE A FUCKING GUN. Did I not tell you he was trouble?

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Well, Michonne is obviously having none of that. Did that gun just go off?

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GOD DAMN IT.

Pour one out for the Anderson Family. And Carl’s eye. 


Cut to Carol telling Morgan “I should’ve killed you” and Morgan telling her “You can’t”.

Then cut to Wolf Boy getting bitten, then trying to get Denise to the Infirmary so that she can cut his arm off.

Carol, apparently, CAN kill Wolf Boy. RIP Wolf Boy. I enjoyed your special brand of crazy.

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Rick gets Carl to Denise in the Infirmary and she gets to work trying to save his life, while Rick immediately LEAVES HIS POSSIBLY DYING SON TO GO HACK AT WALKERS.

Jessie is not the only one making fucking questionable parenting decisions around Alexandria tonight.

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I did love this moment with Michonne and Carl before she does to back up that damn fool, Rick.

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Glenn and Enid go to save Maggie, who is about to be shaken out of her tree.

The writers at The Walking Dead are having a lot of fun scaring the hell out of us by placing Glenn in potentially mortal danger, aren’t they?

STOP.

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YES! The fucking Cavalry have arrived!

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Daryl Dixon got to have more fun than anybody else that day. It almost makes up for losing the crossbow and the bike.

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Then the walkers start walking toward the Pond of Fire and the Alexandria locals (the ones still living) come out to join Rick and his posse to fight off the walkers. It was nice to see them nutting up and getting down to work.

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So the battle ends. The Alexandrians win. Everyone is in the Infirmary getting patched up.

WAIT A MINUTE. Did Daryl have his shirt off?

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Landmark occasion.

Rick has a sweet moment where he tells Carl all about his renewed hope and how he wants to SHOW Carl this brand new world and he wants Carl to SEE how great it could be and CHOOSE YOUR WORDS MORE CAREFULLY, GRIMES. Jeez.

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And because the Internet is a great place…

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So Carl gets to work the sexy eye patch thing now. Is he finally going to cut his bangs so they don’t dangle in his one good eye? Might be a little trickier now that the hairdresser is dead, but…

Next Week, Daryl and Rick’s Big Adventure.

In closing…

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Bad. Ass. Mother. Fucker.

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Pay Attention

I just read this poem by Mary Oliver and it sort of socked me in the jaw. Paying attention to the world as prayer.

The Summer Day by Mary Oliver

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

It made me think of one of my favorite passages from The Color Purple by Alice Walker:
“I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it. People think pleasing God is all God cares about. But any fool living in the world can see it always trying to please us back.”

Pay attention to your world. Appreciate what is beautiful. Appreciate what makes you smile and cry and struggle and learn. Appreciate your own beauty. These are all reminders for me, but feel free to take what you like along with you when you leave.

Ferguson

As you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don’t you forget it-whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash.
-Atticus Finch, To Kill a Mockingbird
And also…
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