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The Walking Dead Recap: Episode 2.7 – Pretty Much Dead Already

Tom Edwards — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:54:48 +0000

The usual disclaimers here folks – it’s a recap, so there are going to be spoilers everywhere. If you didn’t see the episode and want to be surprised, turn back now.

If you want to see previous recaps, click here.

STUFF THAT HAPPENED BEFORE: Glenn sees THE BARN, Hershel’s wife is in THE BARN, Dale says that those aren’t people in THE BARN, Carol gets all mushy with Daryl the Redneck Ninja, Dale doesn’t trust Shane, Lori’s knocked up, and oh yeah – she was sleeping with Shane. Now, let’s get started.

THE BARN. Yep. There it is.

Carol’s cooking up some eggs, probably all special for Daryl (hint: more squirrel entrails), but otherwise the tension is so think you can cut it with the knife that Andrea is sharpening because she’s a badass. Rick, unable to look like a badass, has that Tommy Dreamer “I’ve taken one too many chairshots” distant look in his eyes. Glenn looks over at the house – Maggie is all OH NO YOU DON’T because apparently she’s pissed at him again. Glenn looks over at the group – Dale is all OH YES YOU DO because his had has the power to read minds. Glenn, apparently trying his damnedest to never see those boobies again, tells the group that he’s got to say something. He stammers out that the barn is full of walkers. Wait – did we miss something? Last week, Maggie was loving her some Glenn and telling him he needed to speak up for himself, and suddenly she’s pissed. Oh, wait a second – here’s a lost scene from episode 2.6.5:

[OPENING: HERSHEL'S house. GLENN and MAGGIE are on the PORCH.]

GLENN
(nervous)

Um, dear? I, um… I… yeah.

MAGGIE
(loving)

What is is sweetums?

GLENN
(sweaty, nervous-er)

I… um, I think I… you know, um, should, um… tell the guh guh group about the b-b-b-b-b-barn.

MAGGIE
(frowny)

Die in a fire.

[SCENE.]

Shane peeks into the barn because, well, maybe Glenn just likes attention. A zombie gets him to back off and we get a shot of a zombie eyeball peering back, letting us know that zombies have feelings too and don’t like to be teased. Shane’s stomping around – he’s pissed. They need to “make this right” (kill the walkers), or they need to get the hell out of there. Carol rolls a 1d4 saving roll for indifference and fails, so she cries that they still need to find Sophia, with Daryl backing her up and saying that he’s close – he knows it – and he just found her doll. Shane repeats that he FOUND A DOLL (well yeah, he just said that), and that hell – if Sophia saw Daryl all messed up with his necklace of ears she’d probably run the hell away from him. Now that’s just hurtful, Shane. Dale speaks up and says that it’s not as easy as just killing the zombies – that Hershel sees them as people, and that Hershel’s family is in there. Shane, realizing that cripes, even the old man in the fishing hat knows, stomps off pissed. Hell, T-Dog probably knew too. Right T-Dog? T-Dog? Meh.

Shane stomps over to THE BARN. He studies THE BARN. THE BARN does not care. THE BARN mocks him silently.

Maggie’s not talking to Glenn. Well no crap, Glenn – she was pissed when you told Dale, now you’re going to tell everyone the secret about THE BARN. Maggie breaks her silence by asking for Glenn’s hat. She puts an egg in it, then smashes it on his head. You’re right Glenn, I don’t get women on this show either.

Carl’s doing homework because if there’s one thing you need to know to survive the zombie apocalypse, it’s proper penmanship. Carl tells Lori that they’re not leaving until they find Sophia, and that he doesn’t want to leave after that. Lori lies and tells him they’re not going to leave. Carl keeps pleading his case – Sophia’s going to like it here; it can be a home. Lori hugs Carl – oh Carl, you sweet, naive boy. Stop stalling and get back to your homework.

Daryl’s got a saddle – he’s going to find that girl, damn it, and he’s going to do it on a horse that won’t try to kill him. Carol finds him, rolls the 1d4 saving roll for indifference again and succeeds this time, so she tells him not to go out – he’s got to heal. The redneck ninja does not know of this word “heal”, so he continues. Carol keeps saying that they don’t know if they’re ever going to find her, and that she can’t lose him too. Daryl gets pissed, throws the saddle and hurts himself, then storms off away from Carol, calling her a stupid bitch. Carol gets turned on because “stupid bitch” used to be her husband’s pet name for her.

Glenn has no hat. Glenn wants his hat back. Glenn’s poor hat. He misses it so much. Dale, do you have an extra hat? No, Dale does not have an extra hat. Would you like the hat Dale is currently wearing? Yes, please. Thank you.

Andrea’s loading up her arsenal and getting ready to go off with Rick, hunting… er, searching for Sophia. Dale doesn’t know what’s going on with Andrea and Shane. Well OF COURSE you don’t know – you gave Glenn your magic mind-reading hat, silly. Dale says that Andrea doesn’t really know Shane, and Andrea takes it as Dale being an overprotective dad, except, you know, Andrea’s dad would have taught her how to clean a gun. Andrea leaves, and Dale starts staring at the gun bag. He asks Glenn (on lookout duty on the RV) to get him some water (because, you know, it’s much easier to climb down off the camper and go find him some water instead of getting out of it your damn self) and as Glenn does it – no questions asked – Dale stares at the bag of guns longer. Failing to read the guns’ minds, he zips up the bag and takes it.

Because there aren't any other images from the first 49 minutes.

Hershel is eating and bible-reading, looking for the zombie chapter (HINT: it’s called “Easter”). Rick comes to visit. He offers to help in the fields NO THANK YOU. Rick brings up that building with the zombie guys in it LEAVE IT ALONE. Rick would like to talk about the building with the zom I NEED YOU AND YOUR PEOPLE OUT OF HERE THIS WEEK. Rick explains that he’s talked to Dale – he gets where Hershel’s coming from. We don’t know whether the zombies are dead or alive, but his group – they’re alive. Even Daryl, despite us trying to kill him. And T-Dog – wherever the hell he is. Hershel doesn’t care – he was nice enough to let them stay, so that’s good enough for him. You know, like the bible says. Rick says that Hershel’s shielded from the world on the farm; that he doesn’t get what’s really going on out in the world. Whatever he thought was going on, it’s so much worse. It makes people worse. Hershel doesn’t really care. Rick throws down the pregnancy card. Pregnant, she can live here or die out there. They’d be willing to help out – just think about it. Hershel’s thought about it, the answer is no, damn it. Rick tells him again to THINK ABOUT IT. Failing with the Jedi Mind Trick, Rick leaves. Maggie overhears everything, and she’s not happy.

Shane v. THE BARN – ROUND 2. Shane stares at THE BARN. THE BARN stares back. THE BARN does not like Shane’s new haircut. THE BARN does not lose staring contests.

Rick comes and finds Shane (THE BARN wins!) and Shane wants to know what Rick’s decision is. Rick says he’s negotiating. Shane says the clock is ticking. Rick says the barn is secure – has been the entire time they’ve been there and didn’t know about it, why not one more day? Shane wants to know why Rick wants to stay at this unsafe place and Rick says that Lori’s pregnant. Shane is… let’s say surprised. They need their guns – they need to stay. Shane manages to congratulate Rick somehow without saying “are you sure it’s yours?” and goes back to barnstarin’. ROUND 3.

Back at the house, Maggie and Hershel prepare their throwdown. Hershel says Carl’s fine now and that he was being overly dramatic and they just need to go find their own farm. Maggie says there aren’t any more farms unless you want to grow zombies. Hershel wants to know why they’re his problem now and Maggie starts quoting the bible. She says that her mom told her to love one another before she died, and it seems like Hershel married again. Hershel wants to know if this was about her and the Asian boy, and Maggie says that Asian boy’s name is Glenn (two n’s) and that he saved her ass from someone that was sick while they were out getting Soap Opera Digest and that it’s not about them but it’s about you. Tension breaks as Redshirt runs into the kitchen and says that it’s “happened again”.

Rick and Andrea are going over search plans when Hershel comes out to see them. Well, Rick. Hershel needs Rick’s help. Andrea wants to help but NO THANK YOU JUST RICK AND ONLY RICK WILL DO.

Shane comes over to see Lori, and says that he thought Rick was dead, and that when he came back, he wished he was. Oh no, not because of you Lori – KEEP THAT EGO IN CHECK, WOMAN – but because he knew Rick wasn’t built for the zombie apocalypse. Shane keeps saving her while Rick is off saving drug dealers and chasing shiny objects. He asks if the baby is his, and Lori doesn’t say no – just that even if it is his that it’s not going to be his and nothing’s going to change that. Shane says that he doesn’t need to and stomps away in Stone Cold mode.

Carl stops Stone Cold Shane and suddenly Shane’s all nice again. Carl lays down the law to Shane – he doesn’t think Sophia’s dead, and that this leaving her behind stuff is bullshit (nice mouth, Carl), and that he knows what they should do. Lori sees Carl and Shane talking and calls over Carl, but not before Shane warns him about his language. You know, or I’ll shoot you in the leg like I did Otis. JUST KIDDING!

Shane flips back on the Stone Cold switch and hits the RV, looking for the guns. The guns… which are not there. Shane starts digging around the RV looking for the guns and can’t find them – son of a bitch. He knows where they went. He asks Glenn (on lookout) where Dale went, and Glenn says that he asked him to go get some water then when he came back Dale was gone. Glenn doesn’t know why he’d bail, but Shane says he wouldn’t get it. BREAKING: Glenn doesn’t get anything.

Hershel brings Redshirt and Rick to the swamp, where two walkers are stuck in the goo. Hershel knows the walkers – of course – and now they’ve got to round up these two and bring them to the barn with their dog-catching sticks. Rick’s not too crazy about this, but Hershel reminds him that it’s his farm, so it’s his rules, hinting that they might be able to stay longer. Rick concedes.

Daryl brings Carol to show her the Cherokee Roses, because when you’re going to use a reference that obscure, you’re going to milk it for all it’s worth. Daryl apologizes for before (heart of gold), and Carol asks why he keeps going out there. Daryl says he still thinks Sophia’s out there, and hell – what else does he have to do? Point taken.

Hershel, Rick and Redshirt have the walkers. Redshirt slips in the swamp and one of the walkers almost gets him, but Rick manages to secure him and saves Redshirt for another day. Secured, they bring the two walkers along. It’s obvious that Hershel has done this before.

Glenn calls out for Maggie. Maggie unloads – she could deal with him telling Dale, but the whole group? Now they’re going to get kicked off the farm. Glenn says that he had to tell the group – that he wanted to tell them. He forgot that the zombies were dangerous – when they lowered him into the well, he thought it was like a game – like Portal (you know, except without… um… portals) but he realizes now that the cake was a lie, and that he’d rather have her pissed off at him and alive than not pissed and dead. They kiss and make up – IT’S ON AGAIN.

Shane finds Dale in the woods with the bag. Shane wants the bag. Dale says no – he doesn’t want to get shot by Shane like Otis did and have Shane tell another story and have to cut his hair again. Shane says that Dale is pretty much dead already [DING - episode title achievement unlocked] and for him to just hand the damn guns over. Back and forth, until Dale’s had enough and aims his rifle at Shane – it’s cocked and loaded, so Dale means business. Shane doesn’t think he’ll do it, so he keeps walking. The gun is at Shane’s chest now, but Shane doesn’t care. Dale finally lowers the gun, but tells Shane that this world is where he belongs, and that while he might not have what it takes to survive long, he can say that when the world turned to shit, it didn’t take him along with it. Shane just wants his damn guns, and he gets them.

It's OK - it's tiny. It's fun sized!

49 minutes in AND T-DOG IS HERE AND HE’S WALKING. Shane’s back with the guns and starts passing them out, which no one seems to mind. Carl wants one too – we need to find Sophia, right? OH SHIT says T-Dog and here come Hershel, Rick, and Redshirt, the zombie-catchers. Wait guys – it’s not what you thi… wait, yes it is. Shane goes ballistic – this is what he was talking about, and crazy-ass Shane’s looking pretty wise right now, because Rick really has to be wondering what the hell he’s doing at this point. Shane takes a few shots at one of the captured walkers, which doesn’t affect it, which is what Shane’s trying to drive home to Hershel – living people, sick people, don’t get shot in the chest and keep going. BANG BANG, still more, and the walker is just getting pissed. Finally a shot to the head and the walker is done as Hershel looks on in horror.

T-Dog apparently didn't get shooting lessons either.

OH BUT WE’RE JUST GETTING STARTED. Shane’s pissed at THE BARN always winning their battles. Shane’s going to open up the barn and take care of this once and for all. Everyone’s just kind of watching Shane as THE BARN starts to open up and here come the walkers. Shane’s ready for battle, and there’s Andrea ready as well. They begin shooting away at the walkers. Amazingly not everyone gets a headshot, so we see them take some damage before actually going down. And they go down – walker after walker dropping with the group shooting away, with even Glenn getting in on the action (after asking Maggie – give him credit for that). Rick’s captured zombie catches a shot to the head too, and finally the barn is cleared. Bodies are piled up in front of the barn, Hershel is distraught, Lori is trying to shield Carl (who is pretty horrified himself), while the group takes a moment to let it soak in what they’ve done, as Dale finally shows back up wondering what the hell he missed.

But, wait – there’s one more. Shuffling out, a smaller walker makes its way past some of the bodies, being careful to step around the carnage around it. We pan up and see the rainbow shirt and the familiar face – it’s Sophia. She’s in relatively good shape – all things considered – but she’s been bitten in the shoulder and it’s clear that she’s one of them now. The group, that before had been so eager to eliminate all of the walkers from the barn, just sit and stare. Carol is hysterical and being held back by Daryl (who’s not copping a feel – that’s against the redneck ninja code), and Carl’s not much better, being comforted by Lori. As the group just looks and stares, Rick walks forward. He draws his revolver, aims it at zombie Sophia, and without any emotion – drops her with a single shot to the head.

Credits.

[Header image via Hulu.com. Show images from amctv.com.]Similar Posts:

The Walking Dead Recap: Episode 2.6 – Secrets

Tom Edwards — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 18:47:49 +0000

The usual disclaimers here folks – it’s a recap, so there are going to be spoilers everywhere. If you didn’t see the episode and want to be surprised, turn back now.

If you want to see previous recaps, click here.

STUFF THAT HAPPENED BEFORE: Glenn gets to see Maggie’s boobies, Andrea sure likes guns and would like them back thankyouverymuch, Lori wants Glenn to get her some personal stuff like a pregnancy test you have to stare at for a long time before you can take it, Daryl had a bad day and looks a whole lot like a zombie, Andrea shoots Daryl because he kinda looked like a zombie and guns are fun, and damn it Glenn, you weren’t supposed to see the zombies in the barn.

Carl and Lori are feeding chickens, which damn it is good, clean, and wholesome. Carl notices some chicks without a mom. Carl says, without a thought, that maybe it was eaten, and Lori thinks that Carl is an emotionless child with no heart who can only think of the horrors that the zombie apocalypse has brought until Carl reminds her that they’re on a farm, and they probably eat the chickens that they raise on the farm. Oh, right. Good boy. Carry on. Otis’ wife/girlfriend/cousin watches from the shadows, grasping one of the chickens. There’s a chopping block in the area, but Otis’ wife/cousin instead snaps the legs of the chicken (but the drumsticks are the BEST PART) and throws it into a sack. Ah, I remember the episode of Good Eats when Alton Brown made Poulet a la Sack. Lady Otis takes the sack into THE BARN, where she looks out over the walkers and empties out the sack – free range broken-legged chicken for everyone! You know, because the damned agile and fast zombies would have trouble catching a chicken let loose in a closed barn. You don’t watch out, those walkers are going to get all fat like the one in the well.

Glenn’s spying THE BARN through binoculars. The barn looks strangely like the Amityville Horror house, except I’m sure the taxes are much better for Hershel here. Maggie tells him to stop staring at THE BARN, and Glenn doesn’t like knowing all these secrets. Maggie tells him to shut up about it, and offers him some peaches. Glenn is offended by being bought off with fruit, and we all know what Glenn’s shooting for. Maggie offers jerky, and apparently that’s all Glenn’s going to get, IFYOUKNOWHWATIMEAN. Get it? Jerky? Because Maggie’s not interes… you know… jerk…

HEY LOOK T-DOG HAS A PEACH.

Andrea goes to see Daryl, and brings him a book. The redneck ninja – they know not of the way of the written word. Andrea tries to make amends, and Daryl is surprisingly forgiving, saying that he knew she was just trying to defend the camp. Aw, how sweet. He then says that if she ever shoots him again, she better pray that he’s dead. Somewhere, a dead squirrel nods in agreement.

Glenn sees Lori and he can’t believe Lori hasn’t said anything yet. Lori tells Glenn to shut up. Glenn needs to shut up a lot.

Rick, Shane, and redshirt from Hershel’s farm are making plans for more searching, because apparently Hershel’s cool with the kid leaving now. Glenn comes by with pregnants, er I mean peaches. Yeah, peaches and ABSOLUTELY NOTHING IS WRONG WITH THE BARN. Everyone eats fruit and laughs at silly Glenn. HE SO CRAZY.

One of Hershel’s daughters and Otis’ wife/cousin tell the group that they want to learn how to shoot too. Rick says no, because you know how Hershel. Hershel’s daughter says that Hershel said it was OK. Rick, being apparently the smartest person in the show, remembers how well that went the last time, so he’ll go talk to Hershel himself.

Carl wants to learn how to shoot too. Aw, he’s so cute. He asks Shane, who defers to Rick and Lori because he’s pretty sure this kid isn’t his. Shane notices something and wants to know what Carl has – Carl’s packing heat. Rick and Lori react pretty much the way you’d expect if your 10-year-old was carrying a revolver. Rick thinks that maybe Carl should learn how to shoot though, but Lori wants no part of that. Rick says that Shane’s a great instructor and hey – Andrea already shot Daryl, so how much worse could the kid be? Lori relents but explains all the ground rules to Carl about the right way to handle a gun. Now if someone told Andrea this, maybe we’d see Daryl more this episode.

Since we’re teaching everyone to shoot, why not Glenn? Hey Glenn, want to practice some shooting and tell us your most innermost secrets? Shane’ll tell you about every chick he’s slept with! Glenn politely declines, since he has to… uh… go look for Dale and learn about… stuff about cars… yeah. Dale, standing directly behind Glenn, takes care of that excuse, but rolls with it anyway. Oh Glenn, YOU SO CRAZY. Glenn and Dale go off and Dale wants to know why Glenn wants to learn about fixing vehicles, and Glenn tells him it’s because he’s old and might not be around – damn that Glenn has a way with words. Dale can tell there’s something on his mind, because Dale has that special power. And, you know, because he’s old. Glenn stammers through a hypothetical scenario where someone knows something and someone says to someone JUST SPIT IT OUT GLENN. “There’s walkers in the barn and Lori’s pregnant.” Don’t you feel better, Glenn? We cut away before we can learn that Glenn also knows who really shot JFK, the eleven herbs and spices in KFC, and the Konami Code. “Up up down down…” “We all know that, Glenn.”

Target practice, because apparently one of the things they grow on Hershel’s farm is bullets. Everyone’s doing well except Andrea – cheer up; you’ll be hitting the target in no time. Andrea says “who said I didn’t hit the target?” and we see she’s been shooting the “o” in the “no trespassing” sign. Well then – good thing Daryl wasn’t wearing a sign. Andrea reminds us of a storyline we blew off several weeks ago – wasn’t Shane leaving? What kept you here? Andrea waits for Shane to say it was her all along, but Shane just looks off towards Rick and Carl, presumably towards Carl because I don’t remember there being too much sexual tension between Rick and Shane. Andrea takes this as a sign that Shane wants her.

Dale’s off taking a stroll and sees that the horse Daryl lost came back, and finds Hershel taking care of it. Dale starts up a little chitchat with Hershel, mentioning how much he likes to walk around BARNS and that he heard some moans coming out of THE BARN and he knows what those are. Hershel, surprisingly, doesn’t bitch about not being asked permission about walking near the barn, and the two get into a debate about the walkers. Hershel doesn’t believe in taking the lives of people, while Dale’s like hello – they’re zombies, not people. Hershel lets Dale know that his wife and stepson are in that barn, and they’re people. Awkward. Dale changes his approach and wants to help Hershel, maybe get Rick involved. Hershel says that if Dale wants to help, he’ll STFU. OK then.

Later, Lori finds Hershel. Lori wants to thank Hershel for all he’s done for them, and for Carl, and that she’s eternally grateful. Hershel keeps it modest, then wants to know when the hell they’re leaving. Lori seems shocked, but Hershel brings up that they should be on their way to Fort Benning soon, making Hershel the only one of us who remembers where the hell the group was on their way to before all this missing Sophia/shot Carl stuff. Lori’s still in shock, partly because I think she forgot too.

"You're doing it wrong! Hold it like a teacup. A TEACUP."

Shane’s giving Andrea some more training – no really, he’s teaching her how to shoot at a swinging log. Seriously, there are no euphemisms there. Andrea can’t shoot it, because hitting a tiny far away target is much easier than hitting a giant target back and forth. Shane, like the rest of us, can’t figure why the hell she can’t hit the giant log, but Andrea says it’s because it’s MOVING, damn it. For those keeping score at home – person’s head from 500+ feet away, easy; swinging giant log from 50 feet away, hard. Since Shane went all Private Pyle a few episodes ago, he’s going to even it out by channeling R. Lee Ermey and going all drill sergeant on Andrea, which oddly doesn’t inspire Andrea to do better. Shane hits a nerve by mentioning Amy, and Andrea’s out of there. Shane feels bad and starts rubbing his head, looking for some clippers.

Lori finds Rick and rips into him because he knew that Hershel wanted them to leave. Rick says that he’s working on being able to stay. Lori doesn’t think Hershel knows that. Rick tells Lori not to worry, because he’ll take care of everything.

Andrea’s stomping back to camp all annoyed that Shane’s a jerk. Shane nails Andrea with a drive-by apology, but Andrea isn’t hearing it. Shane gets pissed off and cuts her off with his car – where the hell did Shane get this car? – and after some back and forth Shane says they can go off searching together with Andrea being his backup and carrying a gun. Andrea says OK.

"It's OK - I'm used to people throwing up at my cooking."

Lori smellllllllllllllllllllllalalalalalalalalals what the Dale is cookin’ and starts to get sick. Dale, using his psychic powers of Glenn telling him everything, visits Lori and comforts her by telling him a story about how his wife was pregnant once. Christ, you’re subtle, Dale. Dale gets into this story about how whenever his then-pregnant wife would smell meat cooking, it would make her sick JUST LIKE SOMEONE WE BOTH KNOW. Lori’s surprised that Glenn spilled the beans, but Dale says that he has no guile. Personally, I always felt that Guile was one of the weakest Street Fighter characters, so I’m not sure how well that would have worked out anyway. Lori mentions the past with her and Shane – yeah, I guess Dale would know about that – but she knows that the baby is Rick’s, no question. Lori questions whether or not to have the baby – she feels that while the adults have memories of what was good to live off of, Carl seems to be running out, and the baby won’t have any – it will never know happiness. No Lori – the baby won’t know any better and see the good in things, it’s your spoiled ass that will complain about how good things used to be. Lori asks Dale if her baby will grow up to be his age and be happy. You know, because you’re OLD Dale. Cripes – first Glenn and now Lori. We’re like one or two away from Gene Rayburn showing up with Charles Nelson Reilly and the Match Game ’73 set.

[Side note: Zombie Charles Nelson Reilly would be absolutely the best thing in the history of ever.]

Glenn and Lori meet up. Glenn’s sorry that he can’t keep a damned secret. Lori says it’s OK, and that she’s got another secret run for him to go on. You know, because he’s so good at keeping secrets.

Glenn goes off on his run into town with Maggie in tow. Maggie’s not talking to Glenn, so Glenn wonders aloud what we’re all thinking – why would you come along if you’re pissed off at him? Maggie finally lets him know she’s still pissed off that Glenn told someone about the barn (I thought Dale was just walking by the barn? Why do we just assume Glenn told him?) Glenn and Maggie make it to the pharmacy where Maggie asks what Lori wants this time. Glenn says he can’t tell her (he’s at least trying to be able to keep secrets) but after Maggie points out his hypocrisy (“Oh, you’ll shut up for them.”) he quickly gives Maggie Lori’s list. Maggie gets more pissed off at the contents of the list and goes off to the drugs to get what is needed (and not one pill more, because it’s fun taking these trips), while Glenn shops in the “non-drugs area”. Maggie is carefully making her selections when she’s grabbed by a walker. Maggie starts screaming and Glenn comes to her rescue, hitting the walker with a shelf then a second killshot to the head as the walker attempts a comeback. Glenn has saved the day, and holds a shaken Maggie. I guess we’re all made up now.

We’re back to the farm and Maggie has decided to deliver Lori’s stuff personally by ripping her a new one. They almost got killed you know, just because Glenn’s her personal errand boy, getting her shampoo and Soap Opera Digest. (Just a note – that might be an old issue) OH AND HERE’S YOUR ABORTION PILLS. Well then. Later, Maggie tells Glenn how pissed off she is at him because he’s smarter than his whole group gives him credit for – the rest of the group treats him like zombie bait. I’d question that if it weren’t for Glenn being specifically used as bait on a line for a zombie just two episodes ago. Maggie gives him a big kiss and says she’s lost all these people she’s cared for already – she can’t lose him too.

Like undead ninjas.

Shane and Andrea start exploring a residential community, figuring that Sophia could be camped out in one of the houses. Shane does his best “fancy cop moves” impression and starts searching a house, with Andrea watching his back. One hallway has some bodies – and in the garage they find it scorched with bodies inside. Shane notes that while one body they find is female (and flies seem to LOVE it), there’s no children here. Also, just below the garage door, there’s a nice group of walkers looking to welcome their new visitors. One slides right under the garage door because these are some of the most agile zombies I’ve ever seen – it’s time for Shane and Andrea to get the hell out of there. They try to leave, but they’re getting swarmed, and their path to the car is blocked. They’re going to have to shoot their way out. Shane starts plugging away, while Andrea can’t seem to hit a zombie’s head if her life depended on it (which it kind of does). Finally, her gun locks up, so at least she can’t waste ammo. Walkers starting to close in and Shane just seems to be kind of looking over to Andrea as she fiddles with her gun and finally gets it working – blowing off the head of a walker who was like five feet away from her.

AW YEAH, THAT’S THE STUFF.

"Stop moving so I can shoot you please."

Andrea apparently gets off on the kill because once that first one goes down, she suddenly turns into a marksman and gets into a killing zone – so much that we’re actually in slow motion at this point. Shane sees an opening, but it’s Andrea who’s giving away headshots like it was one of Oprah’s Favorite Things (YOU GET A HEADSHOT, YOU GET A HEADSHOT, EVERYONE GETS A HEADSHOT) so Shane’s got to snap her out of it so they can get out of there.

Lori goes to apologize to Glenn – she feels really bad about the attack, and she already had that issue of Soap Opera Digest. Glenn asks if the morning after pills will work since, well, they’re “morning after” pills and not “after you miss a period” pills. Lori doesn’t know. Glenn says if they don’t or if she’s having second thoughts, he also grabbed her prenatal vitamins, because Glenn’s thoughtful like that. He also tells Lori that she shouldn’t be making that choice alone.

Andrea and Shane are driving back to the farm, and Andrea’s still got this smirk on her face. She clearly enjoyed taking out some zombies. Very much so in fact, as she reaches over to grab Shane’s knee. And by “knee”, I mean “crotch”. Shane hits the brakes and lets Andrea know that he’s greatly offended and believes that they should court bef… of course not – Shane’s getting him some of that.

Lori takes all the morning after pills, whose brand name are “MORNING AFTER PILLS” (in case you were watching with the sound off) because you need a whole bunch if it’s like two dozen mornings after. Then she feels guilty (or they taste like fish oil or something) and goes to the woods and causes herself to throw up. We get to watch it, because nothing moves a story along better like stomach bile.

Andrea and Shane are back and looking like they just had something good happen, but since there’s no Sophia we can only assume they had sex or found a Five Guys or something. Dale knows something’s up, because he is old and wise. He goes over to Shane and wants to know why he hasn’t left yet. Shane wants to know what his issue is – is this about Andrea? Dale, instead of pulling out the Walking Dead trade paperback and complaining that he should be the one getting a little “closer” to Andrea instead just wants to know why the sudden change in plans. Shane says he’s just looking out for the group. Dale says that Shane’s been pretty vague about the night Otis died, and Shane quickly says that Otis died a hero and that what happened that night was that a little boy was saved because of what they did. Dale, still not letting up, says he was there too when Shane had Rick in his sights and looked ready to pull the trigger, and Shane gets really pissed off, asking if Dale really thinks that he’d shoot Rick – his best friend, a man he loves. He waits a second, knowing Dale has his answer, then says that if Dale thinks that he’d pull the trigger on a man he loves, what the hell do you think he’d do to someone who he doesn’t give a crap about making a bunch of accusations in his direction. Well played, Shane.

"Morning After pills - wonder what these do?"

Meanwhile, Rick comes back to find Lori and sees the packages for the morning after pills. Uh oh. Rick goes and finds Lori. He’s pissed – was there something that Lori needed to tell him. Lori knows she screwed up and please yell at her she knows she did something wrong. They go back and forth – since Rick knows about the pills he knows that Glenn knew before he did about the baby because she had to tell him, and Lori gets mad and starts defending herself. She’s still a wreck – she doesn’t know if she wants this baby, but Rick says that it’s obvious that she does, or she wouldn’t have thrown up the pills. Rick says that they can’t live like this – keeping secrets from each other. Is there anything else he should know? Lori spills it about her and Shane, but Rick takes it better than expected, since it seems like he had assumed it in the first place. Rick says that she thought he was dead, and the world went to hell and she thought he was dead, right? Lori nods, unable to speak – it’s all on the table now.

Credits.

[Header image via Hulu.com. Show images from amctv.com.]

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Doctor Who Recap: Season 1: Episode 4: The Fire Maker

annieevett — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 05:01:44 +0000

Sadly, just as the Doctor and the companions reach the Tardis, they are captured and brought back to the cave by Kai.

Kal repeats his story that Zaw killed the old woman. The Doctor points out that Za’s knife is clean but Kal’s knife is bloody. Kal admits he killed the woman and the tribe turns on him. The Doctor incites them — he and Ian throw rocks at Kal. The tribe join in and drive Kal away. Za still has the travellers imprisoned so they can make fire.

Despite being dirty and dishevelled, Ian continues to wear his tie and jacket. Similarly, their actions and decisions are dogged by the brass band; informing us of doom ahead. Its also fortunate that the cave dwellers speak such pristine English ( the babble fish effect of the Tardis has not yet been uncovered)

Zaw and his wife discuss the travellers at length and although its clear the caveman doesn’t want to kill them, he is desperate to get the secret of fire out of the unwilling prisoners. The rest of the tribe are keen to sacrifice the to their gods in the sun; however Ian is freed to make fire in a pile of small twigs.

Not one to take a dismissal laying down, Kai turns up again, kills the guard and attacks Zaw. Their fight is accompanied by jungle drums and flickering light, interspersed with shots of the travellers looking terrified. There is a gratuitous shot of lycra underwear as Kais body is dragged through the sand. The tribe finally accept that Zaw is the leader when he shows them the burning torch.

The Doctor and his crew are fed meat which looks like sausages, though no-one eats. Susan puts a fire torch into one of the skulls and the group use this to scare the cave dwellers away.

The Doctor and the gang jog on the spot as cheap branch props are tossed around them and whipped past their bodies.

Our travellers manage to reach the Tardis and disappear in front of the tribe people. The Doctor admits to Ian and Barbara that he hasn’t have much luck in controlling where the Tardis lands and that he is unsure where it will take them. They all peer into the screen to see a jungle. Before getting cleaned up, the Doctor asks Susan to check the radiation meter – which reads normally. The crew leave and the camera zooms into the rapidly rising radiation meter; just as the music cues….Similar Posts:

The Walking Dead Recap: Episode 2.5 – Chupacabra

Tom Edwards — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 18:06:02 +0000

The usual disclaimers here folks – it’s a recap, so there are going to be spoilers everywhere. If you didn’t see the episode and want to be surprised, turn back now.

If you want to see previous recaps, click here.

So where were we? Oh yeah – LAST TIME: Sophia sees something shiny and wanders off, Daryl’s going to find that girl, Lori tells Glenn to go get something super secret, Daryl picks flowers and hates his brother, Maggie blows Glenn’s mind (and who knows what else), and Lori finds out she’s pregnant, which should go over real well.

Traffic sucks, but since there’s a whole lot of people around and none of them are trying to eat faces, we’re starting off in FLASHBACK MODE again. That, and Sophia’s back, being a kid with not-shot-Carl. Ah, the good ol’ days. Carol and Lori talk – Carol is pretty friendly and saying lots of words which I’ve forgotten she knew how to do because I don’t remember her saying much of anything like ever. Lori needs to go off with Shane to explore what’s going on (remember, Rick’s presumed dead at this point) so she asks Carol for some help and Carol has no issues with it, but there’s Carol’s douchebag husband reminding her how stupid she is, and we remember why now we didn’t hear anything from Carol before – because of this guy. Sophia says that she likes Carl’s dad, and Carl explains that Shane isn’t his dad, that his dad is dead. AWKWARD. Shane and Lori observe helicopters zooming overhead which is bad enough, then all of a sudden they hear explosions – the helicopters are attacking the city. Shane says it’s napalm, and I guess we’ll believe him because people in TV shows are never wrong.

And then Lori wakes up. Was it a dream? If so, the only thing we really take from it was that Carol’s husband deserved to die, Carol is nice, and that damn it – they all thought Rick was dead. Lori comes out and mentions something to Carol about letting her sleep in. Surprisingly Lori doesn’t throw up right on the spot, because if TV has taught me anything about pregnancy, it’s that women get morning sickness almost immediately after conception, and every birth begins with the woman’s water breaking. Carol thinks it would be a nice idea if they made dinner for Hershel’s family since they’ve been so nice to them. Plus, it’ll get her mind off her assumed-to-be-either-eaten-alive-or-zombified daughter. Lori thinks this is a good idea but figures they should run it by Hershel first. Carol wants Lori to ask Hershel even though it’s her idea because Lori’s kind of like the group’s “first lady”. Oooook.

Today is search day, and thanks to Hershel’s GIS knowledge, they’ve got the area all set in grids so that they can search more efficiently. Someone from Hershel’s group – surprisingly not wearing a red shirt – wants to help with the search. Rick wants to run it by Hershel, and the kid (he’s 17, we find out later) says that he’s already done that and Hershel gave the OK. Well, I’m sure he’s telling the truth, so fine. Daryl mentions something about chupacabras, which gets a chuckle from the group, including the new redshirt. Rick asks if Daryl really believes in a blood-sucking dog. Daryl responds by asking if Rick believes in dead people walking around. TOUCHE. Beware the redneck ninja, for even his words cut with precision.

Glenn, full of confidence, seeks out Maggie and lets her know that he’s got 11 condoms left. Maggie responds by letting Glenn know that while he sees eleven condoms, Maggie sees eleven minutes of her life she’s not getting back. ZING. Immediately afterward, Maggie was signed to do 26 episodes of “Maggie”, with fully functional laugh track, next fall for NBC. Meanwhile, Glenn picks up the pieces of his confidence and walks away.

Shane and Rick are on the hunt for Sophia. Shane regales Rick with tales of his sexual conquests back in high school and how Rick couldn’t score on an empty net from a foot away. Shane segues that into a discussion about the search for Sophia and if they’re wasting time. When they were cops, after 72 hours the missing person is assumed dead, and that was before the whole zombie apocalypse thing. If they called off this search, they’d be making progress on their trip to wherever they’re supposed to be going (does anyone remember anymore?), Carl wouldn’t have gotten shot, and Otis *mumble mumble* killed *mumble mumble*. Before Shane can look for hair clippers, Rick says that he thinks that Sophia’s still alive, but more importantly reaffirms that he still takes responsibility for her being missing.

It’s a squirrel impaled on a tree, so Daryl the Redneck Ninja is on the prowl. Daryl decided he needed a horse for reasons no one can really explain (maybe to hook up with Maggie – chicks apparently dig horses) and is tracking alone again (because that’s how redneck ninjas roll), but we won’t nitpick – after all, it won’t be the stupidest thing that is done in this episode. Daryl spots a doll by the water, so he goes to investigate. The doll hasn’t been bitten, so there’s hope yet. He calls for Sophia, but nothing. He’s back on the horse and some birds get freaked out, getting the horse all jumpy. It’s cool though, just as long as there’s no snakes. Oh, wait – here’s a snake. Snake gets hissy, horse freaks out, Daryl gets thrown from the horse and rolls rolls rolls down the bank and into the stream. Daryl looks around – not too bad, nasty little bump on his head, and oh yeah – protruding arrow in the side of his body. He impaled himself on the way down. Blood fills the water, and somewhere the spirit of a dead squirrel laughs with schadenfreude.

"Kidney" and "quiver" sound very similar.

Daryl gets up and pulls out his commando training, ripping off pieces of his shirt and tying off his – well, waist, I guess – to cut down the bleeding. He leaves the arrow in because generally when you’re impaled, you don’t want to pull out the thing you’re impaled with because you’ll bleed to death all the more quicker. He looks up – he fell a long way down a steep embankment (although he seemed to roll down something with a much easier incline, but whatever) so it’s going to be a hell of a trip back up. There’s some activity in the bushes – chupacabra? Walker? Ned Beatty? His crossbow is missing too – though he knows where his arrow is. Luckily, the stream isn’t that big of an area to search, so Daryl quickly finds his crossbow using a stick and takes it with him on the trip up the hill. He’s trying to make his way up the hill, but it’s not easy, especially not with a pointy thing protruding from your side. He’s in pain, but he’s Daryl, damn it, and through the +3 fortitude bonus of Sophia’s doll (now equipped on his belt), he muscles on, trying to get up the hill.

Glenn sees Lori, and Lori tells him to shut up right away. Glenn responds by talking about Lori’s pregnancy, which I’m pretty sure is the opposite of what Lori was asking Glenn. Glenn can’t believe Lori hasn’t told Rick yet. I can’t believe Lori hasn’t beaten Glenn with a shovel yet.

Rick and Shane are back. Rick makes Shane out to be the bad guy to Lori and says that Shane wants to call off the thing but he wants to keep looking, thereby ensuring that whichever decision the group ends up making, he won’t be the bad guy. That’s why Rick is the leader, dammit. Rick defends keeping up the search, and Lori supports him. One of Hershel’s daughters (maybe?) finds Rick and says that Hershel wants to speak to him. Uh oh.

Back to Daryl, and he’s making his way up the hill, inspiring himself by calling himself female genitalia. You can tell he came from a loving, nurtured home environment. Apparently, Daryl is female genitalia, because he loses his footing and falls back down. No idea whether he broke his crown or not.

Back at the farm, Hershel’s pissed because one of his horses is missing. Rick said Daryl took it, and he said he was going to ask Hershel first before he did it. Yeah, that sounds like something Daryl would do – ask permission. Hershel also is pissed one of his people went out searching today – the kid is 17 and even though he’s not kin, he’s Hershel’s responsibility. Rick told Hershel what the kid had said (about already getting permission) which probably sounded a lot dumber as he said it out loud. Hershel wraps up his scolding by telling Rick that he’ll control his people if Rick can control his. No word on whether Rick has to stay in his room all night or if he gets supper.

Daryl’s out. Luckily, there’s someone there to help him. It’s everyone’s favorite racist, Daryl’s brother Merle! Merle rips into Daryl for being female genitalia, for not pulling out the arrow stuck in his side, for dumping him and leaving him to die, for chasing after a little girl, for the North winning the Civil War, etc. He tells Daryl that the rest of the group doesn’t respect him, that they laugh at him, and at the first opportunity they’re going to dump him off somewhere – scrape him off the bottom of their boot like he was Alpo afterproduct (yes, I’m cleaning up language. I’m not really sure why.) We get a shot of Merle – the hand that once ate chocolate-covered pretzels is still there, letting us know that this is Daryl’s imagination since Merle cut off his hand in order to get out of the handcuffs way back in season 1. Daryl’s going in and out of consciousness, and finally Merle decides he’s going to get Daryl going by grabbing his leg and pulling… pulling…

Daryl wakes up, and he is having his leg pulled – by a walker. Daryl realizes OH CRAP OH CRAP OH CRAP and kicks the walker away and struggles with him a little bit before beating in the zombie’s head. This bring Daryl to the attention of another walker. Daryl, still not in any real condition to flee, does the only thing he can think of – he yanks his lone arrow out of its holder (namely his abdomen) loads it up, and gets off a shot at the other walker, going right through the zombie’s head and dropping it. It drops right alongside of Daryl, with the camera getting a nice profile shot of the walker’s head impaled on the arrow. Lovely.

This inspires Daryl who gets up, ties off the wound that no longer has an arrow in it (“son of a bitch was right”), slices open the squirrel he shot earlier for a little squirrel tartare (I’m pretty sure Alton Brown covered that in a early Good Eats), then starts going all Vietnam by cutting off the zombies’ ears and wearing them as a necklace. Merle’s back again to rip on Daryl some more, but this just seems to inspire Daryl up the hill. He finally makes it, and yells out to Merle, who he assumes has run away. Daryl knows he’s imagining this, right?

"A woman with pants? This is madness! No one asked me!"

Lori and Carol are making dinner, and Hershel’s all pissed off again. Apparently, no one asked him if they could prepare a meal for him. He vents to Maggie, while also mentioning that he’s none too happy about whatever is going on between her and the “Asian boy”. I’m pretty sure Hershel doesn’t get magnets and yells at clouds in his spare time. Maggie doesn’t want to hear it – she’s too old to be hearing this crap from him.

Andrea’s on lookout on top of the RV, armed with a rifle and in her cowboy hat. Dale calls her Annie Oakley, and somewhere only Hershel gets the reference. Dale runs into Glenn, who asks if Andrea’s on her period, because he heard about women all getting their cycles at the same time and all the women are acting weird and Dale, in possibly the best advice ever given on this show, tells Glenn to keep that crap to himself. Glenn’s especially concerned with the way Maggie is toward him since one minute she wants nothing to do with him and the next minute she wants to have sex with him, and then she’s not interested again, plus Lori – er, never mind. Dale thinks it’s cute that “no concept what to do with or how to talk to any woman” Glenn thinks that Maggie wants to sleep with him until Glenn says that the deed is done already. Dale almost has a stroke, saying that banging the guy-who-hates-us-already’s daughter probably isn’t the best thing to do in the world. Glenn defends by saying that Maggie is 22 and has free will, but Dale still wants to know what Glenn was thinking. Glenn says he was thinking that he might be dead tomorrow. Point taken.

Yeah, I can understand the confusion.

HEY LOOK T-DOG IS IN THE BACKGROUND and Andrea Oakley sees a walker. Rick says for everyone to hold on because Hershel wants to handle the walkers, and the entire group completely ignores him and goes to confront the walker anyway. As a father of three, I feel for ya, Rick. The group all goes running after this lone walker with their blunt instruments, but Andrea insists that she can take care of this one with her man rifle skills. Dale tells Andrea not to take a shot, but Andrea listens about as well as the rest of the group and continues to aim, despite 80% of the group now running in front of the walker. Rick gets close, pulls out his gun, and wait a second – it’s Daryl! Daryl, looking worse than a walker, makes a comment towards Rick, and everyone is glad they realized that Daryl wasn’t a walker.

Until Andrea shot him.

Andrea's rifle instructor.

Logic flies completely out the window here. I get that Andrea felt a need to prove herself to the group. But it doesn’t hide the fact that

Ammunition is saved unless it is absolutely needed, because it’s scarce and draws the attention of walkers
Every single person told her not to
There are at least four members of the group (Rick, Shane, Glenn, and T-Dog) potentially in her way for any kind of clear shot
Those four members are standing there TALKING to the potential walker instead of trying to kill it or struggling with it in any way

Cripes. Luckily for Andrea (and the rest of the group), she’s still not that great of a shot, so it only grazed Daryl’s temple. The group brings in Daryl (quickly disposing of the zombie ear necklace), and with Andrea looking for someone to high five, she realizes that she just tried to kill one of the few people that she actually likes in the group, and one of the ones most likely to kill her in her sleep. Oh well.

Daryl wakes up, having been patched up by Hershel, and is on the mend. Hershel’s pissed (OF COURSE) because he wants to know where his horse is. Daryl mentions that he doesn’t know where the horse THAT TRIED TO KILL HIM is, and Hershel snaps back that he must have taken the horse that gets scared all the time which he would have told him about HAD HE EVER BEEN ASKED. Hershel pretty much calls the entire group idiots and he’s surprised that they’re still alive. No tension here at all.

Meanwhile, Andrea feels like crap for being a complete idiot. Dale tries to cheer her up by saying that at one time or another the entire group has wanted to shoot Daryl. Tee hee! All is forgiven! You start to understand where Ghost Merle is coming from.

Finally, the big dinner that Hershel never asked for so it probably tastes bad because they didn’t ask about recipes or how to use ovens takes place, not that anyone asked Hershel, dammit. Glenn, pushed off to kiddie table exile, tries to break the tension by asking if anyone knows how to play guitar, because they’ve got one and it might be nice. Hershel, who finally gets asked something, says that there was one person who knows how to play guitar – Otis. And he was real good too. You know, before he got killed getting medicine for your damned kid. Glenn, realizing that he should never talk again ever, gets a note from Maggie – “Tonight – where?” Glenn gets all giddy, which doesn’t go unnoticed.

Back at Daryl’s bedside, Carol brings him a plate of food and gives him a kiss on the head. Carol says that Daryl did more for Sophia today than her father did in a lifetime. Yeah – someone better start kissing up to Daryl, because after the zombie ear necklace and getting shot by his own group, he might not like you guys too much.

Maggie, away from the group, goes to open up the note she got back from Glenn to find out where their little rendezvous is going to take place. “Ever done it in a hayloft?” Oh, that sounds like fun – the hayloft in the barn…OH CRAP NOT THE BARN HEY GLENN

Glenn, meanwhile, strolls out to the barn. Maggie runs after him, but he’s already climbing into the top of the barn before Maggie can get within earshot. Glenn examines his surroundings – this might work, but damn does it smell bad in here. He looks around, and there on the first floor – zombies. A whole slew of ‘em. Glenn, shining his light, draws their attention, and they’d LOVE to meet Glenn. Glenn, realizing he needs to get the hell out of there, strangely avoids any collapsing floor pieces and makes his way back the way he came in, where he runs into Maggie. Maggie tells Glenn flat out “you weren’t supposed to see this.” YA THINK?

Credits.

[Header image via Hulu.com. Show images from amctv.com. Cartoon still from MGM's "Field And Scream" - 1955.]Similar Posts:

Doctor Who Recap: Season 1: Episode 3 :The Forest of Fear

annieevett — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 05:01:12 +0000

Huddled in the back of the cave, they focus on the skulls which have been spilt wide open. While the tribe sleeps huddled up like kittens, the old crone wakes and steals a sharpened stone.

She makes her way into the blocked up cave by a secret entrance and promises to free them if they leave and never come back. It is revealed that she is afraid of the fire and what it will do to the tribe if it comes.

Zaw’s overbearing wife wakes him and pushes him to look for the old crone. They make their way through the dark cave outside to hear voices from the prison cave.

Holy styrofoam! The great stone – rolled there by the strongest tribes members wobbles after being touched and at one point squeaks as Zaw struggles to push it.

This series see the first of the many running scenes that the Doctor and his companions endure. The party escapes into the darkness of the forest where Zaw and his very pushy wife track them… in the pitch black… finding footprints and broken grass….

Viewers are presented with a Doctor whose body is ageing and needs frequent rest. Susan is very protective of her grandfather, refusing to let the others tend to him.

Zaw is injured by the ‘beast’ of the forest and the doctor and his companions are able to escape.Similar Posts:

The Walking Dead Recap: Episode 2.4 – Cherokee Rose

Tom Edwards — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 18:38:02 +0000

The usual disclaimers here folks – it’s a recap, so there are going to be spoilers everywhere. If you didn’t see the episode and want to be surprised, turn back now.

If you want to see previous recaps, click here.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT – Carl gets shot, Hershel needs a resperator, Daryl’s gonna find that girl, T-Dog and Dale suck, Shane tells Otis the Carl Shooter he’s sorry then shoots him, Carl’s gonna get better, and Shane gets a haircut. Pretty simple.

Rolling to the Hershel Estate are Daryl on Zed’s Chopper, the RV (w/new radiator hose!), and some brand new-looking vehicle that seems destined for product placement. So that’s everyone. Carl wakes up and asks about Sophia – oh crap, that’s who we were forgetting. Rick tells Carl that Sophia’s fine, which might actually be true because in theory, she might be fine wherever the hell she is. The group comes out of the new vehicles (surprisingly can’t see what that nice new one is – so much for that product placement) and Dale asks how Carl is. Rick says that Carl’s doing great, thanks to Hershel and SHANE, SHANE IS AWESOME BECAUSE SHANE DID THINGS AND IS A PURE ANGEL ISN’T THAT RIGHT SHANE? Offscreen, Shane goes to cut his hair again.

Hershel has a service for Otis, showing that Hershel is a master of all trades. Reverend Hershel the Pig and Boy Surgeon talks about how great Otis was for giving his life and Shane starts having flashbacks about how great Otis was at being delicious to zombies. Hershel wants Shane to say something, but Shane declines since he needs another haircut. Patricia wants Shane to say something because he was there at the end, so Shane tells a story about how Otis was awesome and did great stuff and saved Shane’s ass which the family eats up, the group doesn’t care about, and Dale stares at Shane like he’s full of crap. Then again, this is a common stare that Dale has, so I may be reading too much into it.

Hershel asks about Sophia – he’s got maps of the land, because apparently he’s also a GIS master with overhead shots of the area that the group can section off and search just like a real-life search party. Hershel also tells Rick and Shane that he doesn’t believe in having armed people on the farm (off the farm, feel free to shoot whatever children you want), and Rick – knowing not to look a gift horse in the mouth, gives up his firearm. Shane does so as well, with some reluctance. Rick still thinks they should have a lookout though, and offers up Dale up in his watchtower RV. Hershel agrees. Hershel lets them know there’s a pharmacy about a mile down the road where they can get some medicine, and Rick offers up Glenn to help with the task, since Glenn’s experienced at that type of thing and not doing anything that interesting right now. Glenn and Maggie will hit the pharmacy later.

Lori sees Shane and they make smalltalk. Shane asks if Lori meant it when she told him to stay, and she did. Um… so there are still feelings here? Who knows because we cut to Maggie and Glenn discussing going into town. Maggie will go get the horse. Glenn’s not too sure about horses. Hey, it beats walking.

Meanwhile, Shane strikes up a conversation with Andrea. Shane will teach Andrea how to clean that gun. There was more sexual tension in that sentence than there was on the screen at the time, so read that as you will.

Daryl’s goin’ lookin’ for that girl. He’s told about the organized search they’re planning on, but Daryl wants none of it. The way of the redneck ninja is mysterious, and does not involve maps. DARYL OUT.

Rick and Hershel go over more details. Rick, ever the humble guest, offers to have his group stay in the barn. Hershel declines, telling him that they should stay near the house. That’s so nice of him. Oh, and by the way, once Rick finds the girl and Dale’s better, Hershel wants them to get the hell off his lawn (and his property). He doesn’t want the group to get too comfortable. Well, if he doesn’t want them getting too comfortable, why not keep them in the barn?*

Maggie’s bringing the horses in to get ready for the trip into town. Glenn is checking this out through binoculars. HE LIKEY. HE LIKEY A LOT. Lori interrupts Glenn’s farmer’s daughter fantasy by giving him a “shopping list” for their trip into town, asking him to get something special and “discreet”. Glenn’s lost. He doesn’t know where to find this item. Glenn fails at “discreet”. Lori tells him to hit the feminine hygiene section. Perhaps Lori has that “not-so-fresh” feeling (and WHAT a marketing opportunity that would be), but my prior Walking Dead comic knowledge is doing a little foreshadowing. I’ll shut up.

Dale and T-Dog are at the well getting water, because we have to do something with them. Dale’s got that look on his face like Shane’s talking, so he starts snooping around. He notices a hole in one of the wells, then sees T-Dog ready to take a long, dramatic drink from the well… DON’T DRINK THE WATER! THERE’S ZOMBIE BLOOD IN THE WATER! Dale and the group peer into the well and sure enough – zombies can float. Someone makes a joke (I assume) that the zombie has gills – you better hope not, guys. The group has to figure out what to do with this thing. They can’t shoot it, because shooting it would get all kinds of zombie brain chunks in the water and we don’t want that to happen. You know, because a zombie with rotting flesh marinating in your water = OK. Just don’t get chunks in there.

Hershel and Rick go over plans some more when Hershel takes a moment to soak in the skyline. Since he’s Reverend Hershel the Pig and Boy Surgeon, Hershel starts talking about God and Rick isn’t that crazy about that, saying that the last time he stopped to talk to God, his boy got shot. Touche.

Zombie fishing! Bound to be a new mini-game in the next Walking Dead video game, the group tries to figure out how the hell to get the zombie out of the well. They’ve got a canned ham on a line to lure him, but zombies are picky about what goes into their bodies, what with all the preservatives and everything. They prefer live stuff, and where can we find live stuff on a farm? Well, Glenn is live, so LET’S USE HIM. Apparently someone pissed off Glenn. He is the lightest of the guys, I know, but why not Andrea with the death wish? Not so “I don’t care if a live or die” now, are we?

Roland Martin never covered this on any episode.

So Glenn’s going down the hole, obviously thrilled to be doing it, with another rope in his hand. He’s going to noose up or lasso the zombie so that the group can pull him out. This one’s a nasty guy, all hissy and bloated. We can see Glenn being lowered down by most of the group – Shane, Lori, Dale, Andrea, Maggie, with T-Dog anchoring. They’ve got the rope wrapped around some old post/pipe thing, which will SURELY not give them any issues. Sure enough, it snaps, and Glenn starts dropping down to zombie lunch level, stopping only inches away from Gil (that’s what I’m calling floating zombie), who is all like “THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKIN’ ABOUT”. Glenn owes T-Dog his ass, because he’s the one who is holding onto the post thing up against the well, supporting all of Glenn’s weight. Glenn is screaming like a little girl (way to impress Maggie, there) as the group scrambles to get him out. They pull, and Glenn’s surprisingly all in one piece, but probably needs a change of underwear. Dale, dejected, says that they need to go back to the drawing board, but Glenn’s having none of it, walking away and giving the other rope to Dale. Dale doesn’t have time to react as he feels a tug at the rope – Glenn roped his zombie, saving his man points from the earlier girlish screaming.

Meanwhile, Daryl’s found a house in the woods. This sequence seems like it was written by Infocom for Zork I.

North of house

You discover a cottage in a clearing in the woods.

>INVENTORY

You are carrying:
 * Crossbow
 * 2 arrows

>ENTER HOUSE

You enter the cottage.

Cottage

You are inside a cottage. It appears to be unoccupied.

>VIEW

You are inside a cottage. You can go north, west, or south.

>USE REDNECK NINJA SKILLS

You look around as you bounce from wall to wall, your crossbow armed and ready.

This house does, in fact, appear to be empty. You notice a trash can.

>EXAMINE TRASH CAN

There is a can of sardines in the trash can.

>EXAMINE SARDINE CAN

I can't do that from here.

>GET SARDINE CAN

Done.

>EXAMINE SARDINE CAN

The sardine can is empty. Upon closer smell,  this can was eaten recently.

You get the idea. Daryl spots a closet, where he looks in and sees a makeshift pillow and a blanket. Daryl’s definately onto something, and he goes outside and starts calling for Sophia.

Meanwhile, the group (minus Glenn) is reeling in their catch. Gil’s a fat ol’ zombie, all growling and bloated. The group hits a snag as physics is against the group, holding up Gil about halfway out of the well, his back on the edge. They’re pulling and pulling, and since no one in the group has a working knowledge of zombie physics, they have no idea that the weight of a fat, waterlogged zombie cannot be supported by a zombie backbone being bent backwards. Gil snaps in half, with zombie blood and viscera (no, not the former King Mabel) spewing all over, and Gil’s zombie ass dropping back into the well. So much for that well. The group looks at the half of Gil they did manage to get, and he’s no less hissy/pissy. Maggie wonders what they should do wWHAMWHAMWHAMWHAMWHAM. T-Dog, already hurting and with fresh rope burns and probably torn muscles saving Glenn’s skinny ass, takes out his frustration on Gil the half-zombie. “Good thing we didn’t shoot it.” Mental note: give T-Dog an extra slice of pie at dinner.

Carol’s at a car on the highway that has a message to Sophia to wait for the group there and that they’ll check every day for her. Andrea tries to comfort Carol, but Carol gives her the STFU treatment; she’s seemingly already given up hope. Shane says that you never know, which is nice and all, but if she’s starting to actually move on, don’t try getting her hopes up again, OK? Geez. Go shave your head or something.

Shane and Andrea start walking back and start talking about guns and how Andrea seems to be itching to get her hands on one. Shane says that shooting an actual moving target isn’t like shooting some paper target, and Andrea asks him how he does it – the shooting of the actual moving things. Shane says that you have to “turn off the switch” and not think about what you’re doing. You need to do it and forget it. Andrea asks how that’s going – that it’s getting there, right? Shane says he hopes so, then leaves to shave his head.

Cowboy Glenn and Cowgirl Maggie ride into town on their horses making smalltalk. They hit the pharmacy, parking the horses outside. Glenn gives Maggie a list, and while she goes off and collects the items, Glenn discreetly hits the feminine hygiene section. Hmmm. Maxi pads, tampons? No and no. We’re basically getting teased with all the guesses you could have had, and marking them off the list. Ah, what’s this? True Blue pregn… oh boy…HEY MAGGIE WHAT’S UP THERE DIDN’T SEE YOU THERE HI HOW ARE YOU? Maggie wants to know what Glenn was looking for. Glenn grabs a random thing off the shelf… condoms. Sure. He was looking for condoms all along. This follows (paraphrasing):

MAGGIE: So who’s your girlfriend?

GLENN: Girlfriend? Oh no no no, oh no.

MAGGIE: Then you’re a pretty confident guy.

GLENN: Huh? Oh, no. No no. No.

MAGGIE: What? Something wrong with me?

GLENN: Oh no I uh wha uh um wha?

MAGGIE: I’ll have sex with you.

Followed by the best response I’ve ever heard, as Glenn speaks for a nation of us geeks:

GLENN: Really? Why?

I WAS THINKING THE EXACT SAME THING. Maggie notes that there aren’t that many options, and that he’s not the only one who’s lonely. And crap SHE MEANT NOW BECAUSE SHE’S GETTING NAKED. You have to figure that Glenn has to thank whatever deity he believes that he grabbed condoms and not an enema.

Meanwhile, back at the farm, Rick’s trying to get Hershel to reconsider letting them stay longer. Not for him, mind you, but for Carl. WON’T SOMEONE PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN. Hershel says his dad was a prick and that he didn’t bother to visit him on his deathbed and he’s cool with that, but that he doesn’t think Rick and Carl will have that problem. If Rick’s group respect his rules, he’ll consider letting them stay longer.

Glenn and Maggie come back to the farm. Glenn is GLOWING. Maggie bursts Glenn’s bubble by telling him that was a one-time thing. Well crap. Glenn delivers his discreet package to Lori.

Daryl comes back to the RV, and it’s all pretty-like inside, thanks to Carol. Daryl brings Carol a flower – a Cherokee Rose – and tells her this story about Native Americans having their kids taken away and how the tears of their mothers became these flowers. He doesn’t think anything like that would have come from his brother, but it could for Carol’s little girl. Daryl Dixon, redneck ninja with a heart of gold, dammit.

Carl’s awake. Rick feels bad about lying about Sophia and starts to explain when Carl interrupts and tells him that his mom already spilled the beans. Carl asks if he thinks they’ll find her, and he starts confident, but backtracks a little and says that he believes they will. Carl says that he’s like Rick now because now they’ve both been shot. The exchange just reminds us that Carl’s still a kid, since it’s such a kid thing to say. Rick says that since Carl is in the “got shot” club, he gets to wear Rick’s sheriff’s hat now. About damn time.

Rick’s day is over. He’s getting undressed, and he’s exhausted. He takes off his deputy stars and places them in the drawer. Lori asks if he’s putting them away, and he closes the drawer – apparently so. Lori gives Rick a warm embrace, then tells him to go be with Carl longer – she’ll wait up. Rick does, but Lori doesn’t go back to bed – she takes a trip outside, and she’s got a knife. What’s she going to do? Meet up with Shane? Stab someone in the eyeball? Nope – she finds an area alone and away from camp, pulls out the pregnancy test, takes a squat, and in the QUICKEST PREGNANCY TEST IN EVER, it’s positive. Oh boy.

Credits.

[Header image via Hulu.com. All other images from amctv.com]Similar Posts:

The Walking Dead Recap: Episode 2.3 – Save The Last One

Tom Edwards — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 17:35:16 +0000

Hi there. I’m Tom Edwards. You may know me from such recaps as Top Chef: D.C. and American Idol: Season 9. You can find them and the rest of my stuff here. As for this recap (and the ones that will follow each week), understand this – there will surely be spoilers in it. It’s a recap, and it’s awfully hard to recap something without directly talking about it. So if you haven’t seen the episode and want to be surprised by the twists and turns that come from a show like The Walking Dead, by all means, thank you for the pagehit, but stop reading here.

Are we good? OK. The other thing I feel like I should mention is that when I do my recaps, I’m assuming you’re a regular viewer of the show, so you kind of already know what’s been happening. I do a little recap of the action that has recently happened (just like the show does) but I refer to characters by their names (or the names I give them), so if you get a little lost because you haven’t seen the show before, I apologize. I will be doing an “introduction to The Walking Dead” type of article in the near future, but for now, bear with me.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s get to recappin’, shall we?

LAST TIME, ON THE WALKING DEAD: Carl likes deer so much he’s willing to get shot like one, Rick lucks out that the guy who shot his son knows a guy who just happens to be a skilled pig surgeon, Hershel the pig surgeon needs more tools to save Carl, so Shane and Otis the Carl Shooter volunteer to go to a local school that FEMA set up as a camp/zombie feeding ground, Sophia isn’t where Rick left her and now she’s gone but redneck ninja Daryl will find her, Hershel’s daughter finds Lori and brings her to the farmhouse so that she can cry a lot, Hershel says he doesn’t have much time, which sucks because Shane and Otis are pretty screwed since the school is actually East Zombie High School.

We're cool - right Shane? Right? I'm just gonna go.

We start off with a shower and clippers – someone’s getting a haircut. It’s Shane, who apparently got out of the school situation fine. Well, that’s nice. Uh oh – Shane’s looking into the mirror and has the crazy eyes. Not the crazy “Steve Buscemi in an Adam Sandler movie” way, but crazy in the “PRIVATE PYLE WHAT IS YOUR MAJOR MALFUNCTION” way.

A flashback seems necessary here, and we get one, with Rick doing the voiceover, telling a story about Shane back when they were in school. Shane and Otis the Carl Shooter are running from the zombies. Should we pity Otis? I mean, you know, he shot a child while shooting a child deer, but you have to feel for the guy. Next to token black characters and teenagers having sex, fat guys are probably the most likely to get killed in a horror type of situation. Yet he elects to go back into hell to try to undo the wrong that he did. Noble cause, or secret suicide wish? I’ll let the psychologist blogs figure that out.

Oh, right. So Rick’s telling this story to Lori as they watch over their comatose son. Lori tells Rick to “keep his strength.” Yeah – things aren’t good here.

Inside the RV, Carol’s crying in her sleep, just in case you thought Rick and Lori had it bad. It’s one thing for your kid to be dying; it’s another to be picturing your kid’s flesh being ripped from her body as she’s eaten alive. So suck it up, Rick and Lori. Andrea’s trying to put her gun back together. Why are there always extra pieces? Daryl can’t sleep (Carol’s constant crying might have something to do with it), plus redneck ninjas work best under the cover of darkness, so he’s going out to find Sophia. Andrea decides that she’s going to go too and learn the ways of the redneck ninja. Dale isn’t so sure that’s a good idea, but after a good dose of the STFU treatment from Andrea, Dale decides maybe Andrea will be fine.

Still better than High School Musical.

MEANWHILE, back at the school, Shane and Otis are trapped at the top of some bleachers where the zombie pep club and the zombie football and soccer teams are looking for lunch. Shane says they can bust out some windows and crawl out that way, but Otis is fat, you see, so knowing big-ass round pegs don’t go through small square holes, Otis volunteers to jump off the bleachers and make a break for the door, asking for Shane to cover him. Otis jumps off the bleachers and does what any fat adult would in the same situation – busts his leg – and a zombie grabs a hold of him. Otis tries to fight him off as the rest of the walkers come after him, but a well-timed shot from Shane frees Otis to scamper away, with most of the walkers going after him. Shane takes out the window and has a little time to actually think about the two-story drop he’s about to encounter, but that time disappears as a zombie apparently figures out how to pull out the bleachers and starts to grab him. Shane struggles, shoots the zombie in the face to break free, then remembers that the zombie was the one holding him up – dropping the two stories without so much as a tiny Wile E. Coyote-esque sign to acknowledge the camera. Shane’s in pain, but he can move, and as he makes the “ow I’m in pain” grimace, he hears three shots from inside the school, presumably from Otis.

I DIDN'T GET BITTEN. It's because I'm black, right?

Back at the farmhouse, the minority tag team of Glenn and T-Dog finally make it there and offer to help. Before anyone can say anything, T-Dog once again explains that he wasn’t bitten but instead brushed up against a car and since he has skin and muscle that cuts like butter, damn near lost his arm. This is acceptable, and they may pass. They see Rick, Lori, and coma Carl – they offer to help, but they know there’s nothing they can do. Hershel the pig surgeon, sensing an opportunity to kill any positive mood, reminds the Grimes family that times running out and they have a decision to make – have Hershel operate with out a respirator, which likely wouldn’t turn out well, or… wait longer, which isn’t really a decision.

In the woods, Daryl regales Andrea with stories of the redneck ninja way. He thinks Sophia’s OK, because when he was young, he got lost in the woods for nine days, then got home and made a sandwich, with the only damage to him being poison oak. His dad was drunk and didn’t care, and his brother was in jail, so he didn’t have anyone to help him. Andrea likes the story, so apparently tales of child abuse and horrifying childhood experiences amuse her. No wonder Dale won’t let her have a gun.

Rick and Lori start getting deep. Lori starts to question whether or not it would be best for Carl to be dead or alive. “This isn’t a world for children,” she says. She says that if he dies tonight, this whole hell that they’re in – it ends for him. She starts to talk about Jacqui, who elected to die in the CDC explosion, thinking that maybe she was right. She demands Rick tell her why it would be better for Carl to live than to die. Rick can’t answer.

MEANWHILE BACK AT THE SCHOOL, Shane’s trying to get the hell out of Dodge. He’s noticeably limping, so the fall affected him worse than he let on earlier. It’s not nice to hide that stuff from us, Shane. He turns around – HEADSHOT to one of the zombies. Damn, these guys are possibly the finest marksmen on the planet. Zombies are still coming after Shane – LIMP FASTER BOY. Shane’s pressed up against a fence. Zombies push up against it trying to get to him from the back through the fence. Zombies coming after him from the front. What’s Shane going to do? HEADSHOT – MY MAN, OTIS! Otis made it out of the building, and the two of them shoot their way out of the confrontation. They might make it after all, but Otis reveals to Shane that he’s out of ammo, so they best be limping fast.

Back at the ranch, it’s Carl! He’s awake! And he likes deer! He’s in pain, but he has to tell his mom about the deer he saw. It was so close and GAK. Well, that lasted for a minute. Carl’s having seizures and Lori’s losing it, as I’m sure you would if you were watching your kid die. Hershel the pig surgeon says that Carl’s not getting enough blood to his brain, and Rick offers up more. Hershel says that taking more blood from Rick could kill him SUBTLE HINT LORI but Rick doesn’t care – take what you need. Him no thin brai mamage bad thing happen yes.

Cut back to the school. Shane’s limping even more with Otis. LIMP FASTER BOY.

Cut to the RV, where Carol goes to visit Dale. Has every non-missing character gotten screen time yet? OK, good.

Cut to the woods, where redneck ninja Daryl and assistant redneck Andrea find a campground, where there’s a zombie hanging from a tree in a noose. Daryl reads a note that tells them that the man got bit by a zombie, and elected to commit suicide by hanging himself rather than to live life as a zombie, not knowing that the hanging wouldn’t stop the transformation, so he’s been hanging there ever since. Daryl decides to leave it there – “It’s like a big ol’ pinata” – but Andrea thinks they should kill it anyway. Daryl concedes and shoots the hanging zombie in the dead, calling it a waste of an arrow. You know, because apparently he can’t pull it out of the thing’s head.

Dale and Carol are on the RV. Carol tells Dale not to worry about Andrea, that she’s with Daryl. Dale responds by giving her the gun and telling her to keep watch. Carol says she doesn’t know what to do with a gun. Um, shoot it?

T-Dog is getting sewn up in the farmhouse, and Glenn can’t watch. Maggie, Hershel’s daughter, comes out to talk to him. The two start talking about religion, showing Maggie has learned nothing from Linus Van Pelt. The two don’t start talking about the Great Pumpkin though (at least Maggie knows enough to stay away from that).

Cut back to Dale, who’s looking for something. Or trying to get the hell away from having a conversation with Carol.

Rick’s finally got an answer for Lori. Despite all the hell around them, Carl saw the beauty in the deer. He doesn’t see the world for what it isn’t – he’s seeing it for what it is. He keeps bringing up the deer. He tells Lori that there has to be something better out there, and that’s why Carl deserves to live.

Back at the school, Shane’s in trouble. He’s having trouble walking, and slowing him and Otis down. Otis isn’t going to leave him behind though. They say they’ve only got 10 bullets between the two of them. Wait – didn’t Otis say he was out of ammo before? Anyway, 10 more bullets. And they shoot back at the mob of zombies after them. You know, because if you shoot one zombie, it apparently sends a message to the rest of the zombies that they should stop chasing. STOP SHOOTING BACK.

[Sidebar - at this point in the show they have a commercial break, and one of the commercials is for the Air Force. They show the Air Force using some nifty looking transforming planes and taking care of some apocalyptic event. Is this PR control during The Walking Dead where basically the whole military gets owned by the zombie apocalypse? "No guys, join the Air Force! As long as it's not zombies, we really help people!" Anyway, I'll get back to the show now.]

Back at the farmhouse, Hershel says Rick & Lori have to make a choice in regards to Carl. Again with the choice. There’s two options here – operate without the respirator or wait longer. It’s not a choice if one of the two options is not making a choice. Hershel says that he’s going to die without the operation, but he’ll only most likely die with the operation without the respirator. Lori tells Hershel to do the surgery. Hershel tells Rick & Lori that they probably don’t want to watch. They step out and… wait a second… IT’S SHANE! YAY IT’S SHANE HE’S GOT THE STUFF OH CRAP SOMEONE TELL HERSHEL TO STOP CUTTING. The group goes out to meet Shane but uh oh – no Otis. Does that mean? Yep – Otis didn’t make it. Shane tells about how Otis wanted Shane to keep going and not to look back. Rick hugs him. Shane doesn’t look too good – something seems… wrong.

Back at the RV, Carol sees Daryl and Andrea coming back without a kid, and she gets upset and bolts back into the RV. Daryl goes in to talk to Carol, while Dale stops Andrea. Dale apologizes to Andrea and gives her back her gun (apparently without extra pieces). He asks if she forgives him, and she says she’s trying. TENSION.

Cut back to farmhouse, and Glenn is consoling a highly upset Maggie. He asks who else she’s lost, and she starts pointing out pictures on the refrigerator of people. Hershel comes out and tells Rick & Lori that Carl has stabilized. Lori doesn’t have the words to express her joy, while Hershel doesn’t have the words to explain to Patricia what happened to Otis. Yes, Hershel segued Lori’s joy into asking for help with Patricia. Rick elects to help, and the two go to tell Patricia, who (understandably) breaks down. Lori goes in to see Carl, with Shane entering the house slowly. Shane follows Lori into the room to see Carl. Lori, a hell of a lot more friendly to Shane now (naturally), tells him to stay.

Later, we see Shane by himself. Maggie brings him some clean clothes, but says that they won’t fit well, because they were Otis’s. Shane’s not looking too good.

The shower’s running – this is the scene we opened with. Shane looks at himself in the mirror, and – as mentioned before – kinda has the crazy eyes. He checks his hair, and there’s a patch missing, almost like it was torn out of his head. I think that calls for a

FLASHBACK

OK, remember when Shane was getting left behind and they had 10 bullets?

Cut to present time – Shane’s looking for something, anything. Ah yes – clippers.

Cut back to the flashback – Otis is helping Shane, and Shane apologizes… and shoots Otis in the leg. Otis goes down, but he’s not going to let go.

Present time – buzz buzz go the clippers.

Flashback – Shane’s struggling with Otis. Otis has a death grip on Shane’s hair, with Shane beating on Otis in an effort to get away. Finally, Shane breaks free, missing a patch of hair, thanks to Otis. As Shane limps away, the zombies swarm Otis and feast, eating him alive. Shane looks back at Otis and the carnage, making sure that it did stop the zombies from chasing him, then keeps limping on.

Present time – Shane looks into the mirror with those crazy eyes. Everything’s going to be OK – right?

Credits.

[Header image via Hulu.com. All other images from amctv.com]Similar Posts:

Olivia Wilde – A Commencement Ceremony

Jocelyn — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 13:00:00 +0000

With Olivia Wilde making her last appearance on House last week, it seemed the appropriate time to look back at how she became Hollywood’s “it actress”. Retrospective seemed the wrong word for an actress born in 1984, so this is more an unofficial commencement address – series of well wishes as she starts her movie career.

Fans of The OC may remember twenty year old Olivia Wilde for her thirteen episode arc as Alex Kelly. A blonde, bisexual girl with a tattoo on her right arm, Alex dated both Seth and Marissa through the course of season two. Like Buffy and The Bronze before it, The OC used The Bait Shop as a location for the main characters to gather and up and coming bands to play. Like Faith before her, (and Nat on 90210 before that), we meet our bad girl Alex there.

After that thirteen episode arc on The OC, her next major TV role was as Jenny Riley on The Black Donnellys. Now with black hair and a Southie accent, Jenny worked at her father’s diner and served as the love interest for lead Tommy Donnelly (Jonathan Tucker). Black Donnellys shot all thirteen episodes of its order, but only seven made it to air. Those who downloaded the rest of the season on iTunes got to see Wilde hit a stalker with a pipe, and feel bad about her dad who had alzheimer’s.

Wilde also had a role in the movie Alpha Dog with Bruce Willis and Justin Timberlake. While Donnellys didn’t make it, that same year Wilde got her biggest piece of her resume: her recurring role on House as, you guessed it, Thirteen. Wilde would once again play a bisexual role, though now she was a brunette. Wilde would play Thirteen for 79 episodes. I’ll save the spoilers for those watching House through Netflix, but during her arc she became the closest thing House had to a second friend.

As a result, it’s sad to see her go. She missed a good deal of Season seven shooting Tron: Legacy, Cowboys & Aliens, and Butter. If 2010 was big for Wilde, her future is gigantic with five films in pre-production, one in post, and two completed. She’s the new Julia Roberts, and I just wanted a chance to say “god speed”. It’s been fun watching your star rise.

Header Image Cr: Adam Taylor/FOXSimilar Posts:

Doctor Who Recap: Season 1: Episode 1: Unearthly Child

annieevett — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 18:00:44 +0000

The iconic Doctor Who brand has recently enjoyed a resurgence of popularity, attracting new fans who now rub shoulders with the steadfast old guard. Doctor Who is listed in the Guinness book of Records as the longest running science fiction television show, even so, its difficult to believe that there are 783 episodes in over 26 seasons. Doctor Who’s continued popularity stems from the intriguing storylines, the terrifying monsters and the BBC’s ability to produce a science fiction show on a budget so tight, that most of the props and backgrounds were painted cardboard. Whist its difficult to separate all that has aired from one another due to the intertwined nature of time, its the intention of this weekly column to recap on the plot of each episode, sprinkled with some trivia and personal opinions, with the hope that it sparks further discussion and extra insights from fans. Sadly, many of the earlier episodes have been lost and therefore not available to watch, so there may be gaps as the weekly column progresses.

Its my honour to being the review process with the first episode, Unearthly Child, which was originally aired in November 1963. Tingles ran like mad spiders up and down my spine when the original opening theme song began. As the old psychedelic title swarmed the screen, memories of watching the original Doctor Who on our black and white television, when I was a child, flew back.

The episode opens with schoolteachers Barbara Wright and Ian Chesterton discussing a troublesome student they have in their classes. Their concern focuses on Susan’s apparent genius and unexplainable lack of common daily knowledge. The audience meets Susan who is listening to a music device which looks strangely like an ipod. She has a weird fairylike air about her as she evades questions from her teachers.

What would border on stalking now days, the pair decided to visit the address Susan has given as her home and wait outside in the care until she arrives. They discover that she lives in a junkyard and follow her inside to explore it. Its here that her grandfather, the Doctor meets them; displaying all the grumpy traits of an old man whose privacy has been threatened.

Most regenerations of the Doctor has at some point have his costume include an iconic hat; started perhaps by the strange peaked cap the first Doctor sports.

Barbara and Ian, being bossy teachers, force their way into the police box where they believe Susan has been captured and held prisoner. The look on peoples faces when they enter the TARDIS is always priceless and I can only imagine what it might have been like for audiences when it first aired.

The Doctor becomes angry with Susan, blaming her for bringing the unwelcome visitors into his ship. He decides that if the teachers are allowed to leave, then it will be uncomfortable for Susan and the Doctor to continue to live in London. The TARDIS takes them all to a Palaeolithic landscape where they encounter a tribe that has lost the secret of fire.

Although the episode is very dated, from the obvious black and white shots and limited setting; to its language usage and the social attitudes, it is the scripting which detracts from the overall story the most. It is important to note that the concepts were completely new, however, the ‘all tell and no show’ style of conveying information produced a dialogue heavy with information.

Photo of the First Doctor and Susan via WikiSimilar Posts:

Web Series Review: Shelf Life

theletterkae — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 17:00:20 +0000

Shelf Life recently released the first episode of a brand-new web series, promising the masses “This Ain’t No Toy Story…” Its premise: the lives of four action figures who occupy a shelf in a little boy’s bedroom. Will it be an everyday battle of good against evil?

Judging by the trailer, probably not (please note that there’s some adult language in the video below, so make sure everyone watching this at home is age-appropriate):

The cast of characters:
Hero Man (Travis Willingham): the Champion of the Forever Dimension
Hero Lass (Tara Platt): half-sister of Hero Man
Bug Boy (Yuri Lowenthal): foul-mouthed boy in a bug-like suit
Samurai Snake (acted by Bryan Enk, voiced by Dee Bradley Baker): *graaaaaaghhhhh*

The quartet, inactive, on the shelf.

Our introduction begins with the episode entitled: “Quiet On the Set.” We peer through a window into a boy’s bedroom and see shelf adorned with four action figures: a man, a woman, a buggish-looking male, and a reptile. An off-screen mother calls her son to dinner, which he reluctantly answers. The toys wait for the boy to leave before they can relax from their rigid poses and do whatever the heck it is they want to do. Bug Boy lights up a cigarette and complains loudly about their owner. Hero Man and Hero Lass try to get him to keep his voice down, which starts an argument and brings out some hilarious sore issues.

I wasn’t sure what to expect (apart from it not being a toy story), but the opening theme and credits grabbed my attention immediately. What makes it even better is the way the action figures seem to be real and the world surrounding them is fictional. The characters of Hero Man and Bug Boy promise to present the kind of conflict you savor and hope never ends: the smarmy good guy whose over-confidence annoys and smart-assed villain who is pessimistic to the core. As of now, Hero Lass and Samurai Snake seem to be there to just move the story along, but I’m sure they’ve got equally comical pieces to come.

The first episode is available for your viewing pleasure on the Shelf Life:The Series YouTube channel. Go ahead, take a peek. It’ll be among the best two minutes you’ve ever spent in your life.Similar Posts: