Mini movie review: Never Let Me Go

Adapted from the Kazuo Ishiguro novel of the same name, Never Let Me Go is a sadly quiet science fiction movie with ruminations about genetic engineering and the meaning of life.  And there's a love triangle.  Although the novel apparently holds onto its secrets for much longer (and I've just requested the book from the library to see how it compares to the movie), the movie does not SO SPOILERS AHEAD EVEN THOUGH THE MOVIE COMES RIGHT OUT WITH IT: we open with title cards telling us that in the late 1950s, a scientific breakthrough meant that most diseases that were previously unsurvivable were now curable and that by the mid-1960s, human life expectancy was in the 100s.  This progress comes at a price and we are first introduced to Kathy (Carey Mulligan), Tommy (Andrew Garfield) and Ruth (Keira Knightly) when they are pre-teens in 1978, at an English boarding school, Hailsham.  These children have no parents: they are human clones, formed in a lab to provide clean and healthy organs for sick, natural humans.  From their childhood, they are kept safe and sheltered and are told what an honor it is to be Donors.  The film follows Kathy, Ruth and Tommy to 1985, when they move to a group home, meet other Donors from other places and learn a little about the world before their required donations begin when they are in their mid-20s.

Never Let Me Go is calm and measured, much like these Donors' lives, and chooses to focus on the relationships among the three main characters, their hopes and dreams, and just touches on the moral issues surrounding their lives (are these cloned Donors humans? is it right to give these young people life, only to take it away from them?).  One of the saddest scenes, I thought, takes place when Kathy, Tommy and Ruth are still little, living at Hailsham.  The students collect tokens and every so often, a delivery van will bring boxes of treats and toys for them to purchase with their tokens.  A small group of students waits eagerly at the door, asking the deliverymen if it is "a bumper crop" this time.  The men say, yes, it is, but when the contents of the boxes are spilled out onto the tables, it's nothing but old dolls, broken toys, decks of dog-eared playing cards and other castoff bits of rubbish that the real people have donated.  The little donor children don't know that this is rubbish and it is heartbreaking to see how happy they are to have new things to play with.

The Walking dead S6E13 "The Same Boat" 3/13/16

It's a slow burn of an episode here, focusing on Carol and Maggie, with a lot of talking, until it all kicks into gear at the very end.  Let's get down to it.

As the klaxon sounds in the distance, Maggie wants to go help Rick et als. and Carol is all, no, you're staying here.  A man ("Donny") comes out of the woods and Carol shoots him in the upper arm.  Before Maggie can put him down, three women also come out of the woods, guns drawn, capturing Carol and Maggie.  The redhead (played by Alicia Witt), Paula, is the leader; it is she who speaks to Rick over the walkie.  They tourniquet Donny's arm and speak with Rick, trying to broker a trade.  The Saviors would like to get back the man Rick has captured ("Primo") because he's got some medical training, but Rick's group outnumbers theirs more than two to one.  Paula tells Rick she'll think about his deal and get back to him.  Then the Saviors hood Carol and Maggie and march them off through the woods.

After quite a bit of walking and some driving, they arrive at a Savior "safe house."  It's not clear what this place is - an old slaughterhouse, maybe - but there are a few zombies lurching around that need to be cleared out.  Paula gags Carol and Maggie and tapes up their hands and feet.  As she drags out a now-dead zombie, a rosary falls out of its pocket; Carol snatches it up.  When the Saviors go to kill off the zombies, Maggie immediately starts trying to get her hands loose.  Carol, however, looks like she's about to freak out instead.  The Saviors return and Carol starts hyperventilating.  Maggie stares at her, all WTF is going on with you.  She can't tell - I can't tell - if Carol is faking or if the panic attack is for real.  Finally Paula takes the gags out of Maggie and Carol's mouths.  Carol calms down a bit, but she's a mess.  Young Savior Woman: "Look at you.  Bitch, how did you make it this far?"  Old Savior woman ("Molly"):  "Honey, you need to take some yoga breaths and calm down."  There's a lot of talking about fear and dying and the apocalypse and Carol is all meek and scared, asking the Saviors just not to hurt Maggie or the baby.  Then there's a lot of talking about WTF Maggie was thinking, getting pregnant at a time like this.

Paula talks to a Savior scout crew, telling them to come to the safe house to pick them up.  They should get there in about thirty minutes.  Maggie observes Donny, saying that he may not have thirty minutes as the tourniquet on his arm is killing the nerves.  He staggers to his feet and starts ranting about Carol having shot him.  He wants to kill Carol and Maggie or at least shoot them a little and when Paula refuses, he hits her.  Maggie strikes out at him, despite being bound, and after he knocks her away, he kicks Carol for a bit.  She doesn't fight back at all.  Then Paula stands up and clocks him on the head with her gun, dropping him.  She tells Young Savior Woman to take Maggie out and question her, which she does, completely ineffectually, giving more information to Maggie than she gets from her.  In the other room, there's quite a bit more talking as Paula scoffs at the rosary Carol is clutching.  "Faith got me through the death of my daughter," says Carol (really? I don't at all remember that - is this a put on?).  Paula tells her captive about her zombie apocalypse backstory: she was a secretary, stuck at work in D.C. when the shit went down; she never got home to see her husband or her four daughters (really?  four?  she looks young to have had four kids if she isn't a Mormon); she started killing people in addition to the walkers and she stopped counting when she got to double digits.  Yeah, yeah, you're a tough guy.  Like no one else has gone through anything like that in this world.  Carol watches her closely, however.  There's more talking and Carol even cries a little.  If she's faking, she's selling it awfully well.

Rick comes over the walkie again, saying he's ready to make a trade.  Paula tells him about a field and they arrange to meet up and trade captives.  When she hangs up the walkie, however, she points out that there hadn't been any static on the transmission so that means Rick and his group are close, have crept up and are getting ready to take them out.  She calls the scout Saviors: they're ten minutes out.  Paula and Molly go to collect Young Savior Woman and get ready for what's next.  As soon as they're gone, Carol sharpens the crucifix on the rosary, using it to cut through the tape on her hands and ankles.  She finds Maggie and cuts her loose.  Carol wants to sneak out but Maggie is all, we can't leave them alive - we have to finish this.  They go back to the room where Donny is and find him dead, bled out or dead from the blow to the head Paula gave him.  Maggie takes his gun and then, noticing that he's about to turn, ties him up.  Carol is all but useless; Maggie is the one in charge.  Molly comes back for Carol, gets bitten by the now-zombie Donny and then Maggie kills her brutally, coming up behind her, stabbing her in the stomach and then beating her head in.  A little while later, Paula comes in, sees the mess and gets her game face on.

Carol and Maggie walk down the hall and find a bunch of zombies, still alive but impaled on metal poles, cluttering the hallway.  They're a trap to keep Carol and Maggie in and to keep Rick and his group out.  Our women start to make their way through, killing zombies as they go until Paula shows up.  Carol points her gun at the Savior but tells her to just run away.  Maggie, aghast: "Carol! Shoot her!"  Paula is all, "You are such bitches! You killed Donny, you killed Molly, you killed all my people and ruined my home."  Carol: "Paula, run away."  Maggie: WTF, Carol, shoot her!  A zombie breaks loose and Carol and Paula tangle with it.  Young Savior Woman hears the gun shots and Maggie closes with her.  Carol comes up but doesn't get involved until YSW almost guts Maggie and then she shoots YSW in the head.  Paula watches and is all, you tricked me.  "If you could do all this, what were you so afraid of, Carol?"  Carol: "I was afraid of this."  And then she and Paula fight, until Paula gets impaled on one of the pieces of rebar, snug up against a living zombie.  The zombie takes a chunk out of her face and, as Paula screams and screams, it buries its jaws in her neck.  In the midst of all the screaming and eating, the walkie goes off: it's the Savior scout team, wondering where Paula wants them.  Carol picks up the walkie, hesitates just a bit and then tells the scout team that they'll meet them on the "kill floor."

As Carol and Maggie wait for the scout team, Carol goes over some of what has been bothering her.  She tells Maggie that she's killed eighteen or twenty people, but she should have killed Donny out there in the woods - that none of this would have happened if she had just done that.  Maggie: Don't think about it, we're almost done.  The scout team shows up, goes into the kill floor.  Carol lights a cigarette and, as she and Maggie slam shut the door to the kill floor, she tosses the lit cigarette inside the room, where it ignites the gasoline they have poured out.  They stand there a moment as the men inside scream, burning to death.  Then they walk out, through the gauntlet of impaled zombies, killing them as they go.  Maggie stomps on a couple of heads.  They get to the exterior door and pull it open, just as Rick et als. arrive.  For a moment, everyone points guns at each other until they realize who it is.  Carol staggers a little and Daryl goes to her, asking "Did you start a fire? Are you good?"  She answers yes and then no, and he pulls her into a hug.  Glen embraces Maggie who also says she isn't okay either: "I can't anymore."

Rick turns to Primo, asking about Negan.  Primo turns to him and gives a sassy answer.  But Rick is not having any of that and just shoots him in the head.  Carol watches, a little stunned looking, and clutches her rosary so hard that the crucifix digs into her hand.  Blood drips to the floor.

So Carol sees herself in Paula: a ruthless killer who has lost her humanity in the wake of all she has had to do to survive.  In the few calm weeks at Alexandria, Carol has allowed herself to relax, to let go of the killing instincts that had sustained her for so long.  When she went out on the Saviors raid, Carol was conflicted, having enjoyed not being a killer in the interim.  And when she and Maggie were captured, I think some of the trembling and fear was real - despite how much I hoping that it was ALL an act - some of her old self creeping back in around the edges.  When it came down to it, Carol was once again able to tap into her bad-assery, but her toughness is fraying.  It's understandable that the character would feel conflicted, and it's wonderful for Melissa McBride to have been given so much to play with - but Carol the bad ass is a much better, more interesting character than early-season Carol.  Sending the character backwards after the painstaking, seasons-long development that brought her from mouse to lion would be a mistake.  Heed my words, TWD writers.

Previously on The Walking Dead / next time on The Walking Dead

Mini book review: The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

In Depression Era Chicago, a not very nice man named Harper Curtis stumbles into a derelict-seeming house.  The House (for it is a House, not just a house) is different on the inside: in a room upstairs, there are trophies taken from women that Harper will kill.  The House has a listing of these "shining girls," and whenever Harper opens the front door, the House delivers him to a different time between 1929 and 1993 so he can locate these girls and snuff out their light.  Although he starts awkwardly, he quickly becomes quite good at these vicious, seemingly untraceable murders as he bounces back and forth through time.  But in 1989, Kirby Mizrachi manages to escape Harper's knife, despite her belly and throat being slashed.  And because she manages to escape, she systematically begins to track down her would-be murderer.

Time travel stories are always tough but despite a couple of passages that I had to read and re-read to figure out who was sticking what knife into whom, The Shining Girls is pretty successful.  It's very violent - the descriptions of Harper's attacks are detailed and extremely bloody - but also very convincing.  The amount of research Lauren Beukes did to create the Chicagos of the various times must have been staggering.  The characters, including all of the victims, are fleshed out and real, interesting, sympathetic; the only one who gets short shrift is Harper but he's such a horrible person that I really didn't want to get to know him better.  I recently had a rare rainy Sunday when I didn't have to do anything, so I sat down and read The Shining Girls all in one go.  If that's not a recommendation for a book, I don't know what is.

PS - I have also read Beukes's Broken Monsters and liked that too, but it's a weirder book and didn't connect with me quite so well.  Don't know why I didn't review that here.

Here:  link to links to buy the book.

The Walking Dead S6E12 "Not Tomorrow Yet" 3/6/16

This is what we learn about Carol: even though she has become a stone-cold killer, a badass who does what has to be done, when she has enough time to relax, she's still a mom who likes to wear cardigans and make cookies for everyone.  In this case, it's acorn and beet cookies (the acorns gathered outside Alexandria's walls; and she brought her machete so she could decapitate zombies when necessary) because of the food shortages.  But still.  She likes to take care of people without having to shoot.

Rick et als return in the RV with enough food to last them a month.  Rick tells Sasha to spread the word: everyone meet in the church in an hour to talk.  Carol wants to know what's going on.  He tells her, "We're going to have to fight."  Before the meeting, Morgan finds Carol, asking her why she - and Rosita, Eugene and Tara - didn't tell anyone about what happened with that Wolf he wouldn't kill.  He tells her that she doesn't have to carry that alone but she brushes him off, saying that they just need to forget it and move on.  This conversation?  Takes place in the small Alexandria graveyard.  Carol leaves the last cookie on Sam's grave.  (Because she has guilty feelings about her treatment of Sam, obvs.)

At the meeting in the church, Rick lays it out for everyone: the deal they made with Hilltop to take out Negan's Saviors.  He says that sooner or later, the Saviors will find Alexandria and, low on food, the Alexandrians might not prevail.  But if they go after the Saviors first, they'll have the upper hand.  He says that it needs to be a group decision and asks for dissenting opinions.  Morgan stands up and says they should approach the other group first, give them an opportunity to coexist peaceably.  Rick disagrees, saying that will give away their advantage.  He asks if anyone else agrees with Morgan.  No one does.  "It looks like it's settled ... We don't shy from this, we live.  We kill them all." Rick adds that not everyone in Alexandria will be expected to kill, but everyone will have to accept it.  Morgan sits down, sad-faced.

That night, Carol can't sleep.  She gets a notebook out of the bedside table: in it, she's been keeping track of the people she has killed.  Her death count is up to 18 now.  Later, she goes walking and finds Tobin (one of the Alexandrian guys) up too, sitting on his porch.  They talk about tomorrow.  He likes her.  He tells her that she is able to do things that just terrify him but the reason she is able to do them is because she's a mom, then and now.  Then, for the hell of it, she leans in and he kisses her.  Nice! Carol getting some before heading off to battle!  (Seems a little out of character but Melissa McBride sells it with a "oh, what the hell" look on her face.)

In other parts of town:  Maggie tells Glen that she's going on the raid because it was she who brokered the deal (which is BULLSHIT because she is pregnant and should be thinking about that); Abraham leaves Rosita by telling her that when they met, he thought she was the last woman on earth, but now he knows she's not (which is a BULLSHIT way to break up with her and mean and terribly bad timing); Tara is nervous about going and tells Denise that she loves her but Denise won't say it back, instead saying that she'll say it when Tara gets back from the two-week supply run she's going on with Heath directly after the raid (which is kind of bullshit and I don't understand why Denise does this) (also, is the actress who plays Tara pregnant? because she looks like she's gained weight and they're dressing her in sweatshirts and placing her behind dish racks).   Also, Eddie, the non-Jesus Hilltop guy, draws maps of the Saviors' compound, telling Rick, Daryl, Glen, Michonne and Maggie as much as he can about the compound.  His information is pretty vague - he only went there to deliver food - but our gang seems confident they can figure it out.  And the way they're going to get in without busting down the front door?  Rick: "They're going to let us in.  They want Gregory's head and we're gonna give it to them."

The next day, the raiding party drives out a ways and parks on the road, honking their horns.  They all pile out of the cars and start combing the woods for zombies: they're looking for ones who look kind of like Gregory, of course, because they need a head.  Rosita, still smarting from Abraham's abandonment, bitches to Carol about Morgan being such a pussy.  Carol is feeling understanding - he doesn't want to kill - and when she can't get a rise out of the older woman, Rosita gives up, pouting a bit.  Glen and Heath search together and Heath asks Glen if he's nervous, especially since they'll be killing people instead of zombies.  Glen's like, yeah, it's going to be basically the worst thing ever and yeah, he's nervous.  When everyone regroups, Rick goes over the plan (Carol is mad that Maggie is even out there with them and says that she's going to stay out on the perimeter with her; Rick wishes she would come inside but doesn't press the issue) and examines the potential heads.  One of them is close but the nose is not quite right, according to the Hilltoppers.  Rick picks up the head and punches it in the nose a few times.  Eddie stares at Rick, who's all, what?  Eddie:  "The Saviors, they're scary, but those pricks got nothin' on you."  Rick: *...*

At midnight, our gang makes their move.  Eddie drives up with the purported Gregory-head and after a couple of tense moments, the two Saviors on guard buy it, bringing out the Hilltopper they've had captive.  As soon as that captive is handed over, the two guards are promptly killed by Michonne and Daryl.  Their bodies are dragged into the tall weeds and then the show totally morphs into an action flick.  Our gang infiltrates the compound, silently, opening doors, looking for the armory.  It gets VERY tense, especially when first Rick, then Glen find sleeping Saviors and run their knives into the sleeping men's heads.  It doesn't matter that these Saviors are obviously horrible people - one has Polaroids of bodies with bashed-in heads tacked to the wall over his bed - our people are murdering other humans while they sleep.  It's grim and feels like there's a line being crossed.  Glen struggles with it but does it (including killing one that Heath is supposed to do, so Heath doesn't have to); Rick pauses for a moment before his first but seems to deal with it more easily than Glen.

You know it can't go entirely smoothly, however, and as Sasha and Abraham are trying to open a locked door, a Savior finds them.  They try to kill him quietly but he is able to pull an alarm and soon the whole compound is awake.  Lots and lots of gunfire.  Lots and lots.  When the alarm sounds, Tara, Gabriel, Jesus and Eddie (plus the rescued captive) hear it.  Tara sends Eddie and the captive back to Hilltop, thinking that if he is returned, then Hilltop will have to keep their end of the bargain with Alexandria, not matter what the outcome here at the compound.  She, Gabriel and Jesus pick off Saviors coming out the front door, then Jesus slips inside.  Out on the perimeter, Maggie and Carol also hear the alarm.  Maggie wants to go help but Carol is like, goddamn it, Maggie, you're going to be a mother and you are staying here!

Inside the compound, it is a madhouse.  SO MUCH SHOOTING.  Amazingly, none of our gang gets hurt badly, much less killed.  As the sun comes up, they make their way outside, dully congratulating themselves on the victory.  Tara and Heath - who can't meet Glen's eyes - take off on their supply run.  Michonne goes up to Rick and says that she wonders which one was Negan.  [And of course, the audience is all HE WASN'T THERE YOU DIDN'T GET HIM YOU HAVE NO IDEA THE SHITSTORM THAT'S ABOUT TO RAIN DOWN ON YOU POOR FOOLS.]

They hear an engine and look up to see a Savior making a run for it on a motorcycle - Daryl's motorcycle.  They shoot him down - Daryl punching his face for a bit for good measure.  He sneers at them but before they can shoot him, a woman's voice comes over the walkie-talkie he was carrying: "Lower your gun, prick.  You with the Colt Python.  All of you lower your weapons.  We've got a Carol and a Maggie - we're thinking that's something you want to chat about."  Everyone gives each other OH SHIT looks.

Previously on The Walking Dead / next time on The Walking Dead

Catching up a bit

I finally made it back to the library after some months away and stocked up on some books, trying to catch up on my Neil Gaiman/Stephen King backlog.

Finders Keepers by Stephen King.  Sort of a sequel to Mr. Mercedes since it includes some of the same characters, Finders Keepers is equal parts literary musings and thriller, with nary a whiff of the supernatural.  A superfan murders a reclusive author, getting away with not only cash but scores of notebooks in the author's own handwriting.  He hides the cash and the notebooks, only to get put away for a totally different crime.  The stash goes unfound for almost forty years until a young boy finds it, uses the cash to help his failing family and covets the notebooks for his own.  But when the superfan is finally released from prison, he wants back what he thinks is his.  I give Finders Keepers a solid meh.  I think I liked Mr. Mercedes better; FK seems to go along at a leisurely pace for most of the novel and then hurryupfinishitallatonceinarush.

Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman.  A short story collection but not, I think, Gaiman's strongest.  I liked some of the stories - "Black Dog," "The Sleeper and the Spindle," the creepy "Feminine Endings," "Orange" - but I think my favorite bit was the introduction, when Gaiman gave some context/framework as to how each story came about.  I love these little practical insights into writers' brains.  Stephen King does this too with his short story collections.

The Bazaar of Bad Dreams by Stephen King.  A short story collection, made up of stories that have either been published in other places or never been published.  With some of these tales, you can understand why they've been languishing in a drawer for decades.  Others succeed better and I think the quality of the stories improve the deeper into the book you go.  I particularly liked "Blockade Billy," "Obits" and "Under the Weather."

Edited to add:

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman.  This one I enjoyed quite a lot, a short fantasy novel with new kinds of creatures and very old magic.  Things start to get very scary for a young boy when a man steals his family's car and commits suicide in it, at the bottom of the hill near their house.  Cracks in the very fabric of reality start to open up, issuing in terrifying things.  But young Lettie Hempstock, who lives with her mother and grandmother at the farm at the end of the lane, finds the little boy and promises to take care of him, through whatever may come.  Both sweet and scary, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is a lovely treat for fantasy and faerie tale lovers.

The Walking Dead S6E11 "Knots Untie" 2/28/16

Abraham and Sasha come back from a patrol, shooting the shit companionably.  He's into her.  But when he says he'll see her for the next patrol, Sasha tells him that she's changed her shift and Eugene, who wants to take a more active role, will be patrolling with him instead.  Abraham is slightly taken aback.  I'm guessing this is because he hasn't broken up with Rosita yet.  Which we are reminded of in the very next scene, as they are chitchatting post-coitus.  Abraham, you can't have your cake and eat it too.  Figure it out.

When everyone else in Rick's house gets up, finally, it's time to talk with Jesus.  He's tricky - easily getting out of the ropes and slipping out of the house - and has done his homework, reconnoitering Alexandria and noting that while they've got a good weapons stash, they are running dangerously low on food.  He says that he comes from a place kind of like this one and they have more food - maybe his community and Alexandria can do some trading.  Maggie asks if he is already trading with other groups and Jesus smiles, saying that their world is about to get a whole lot bigger.  Which can't be that surprising, really - surely other settlements have cropped up.

As the gang gears up to head out, Denise gives Darryl an oatcake to take with him for sustenance.  He's all, are you doing this because I tried to bring you that soda?  She says yes, plus it will be healthier than scavenging something out there that could give him rabies.  He takes it, grudgingly, saying that he hopes it tastes better than it looks because "it looks like shit."  Denise, with an arched eyebrow:  Shit's still better than roadkill ... just, just eat it.  Cute scene.  Denise is quickly growing to be a decent character.

The group taking Jesus back to his settlement is: Rick, Michonne, Glen, Maggie, Abraham and Darryl which, frankly, seems like they've taken an awful lot of the best fighters - hopefully Alexandria will fare well enough in their absence.  As they drive, Abraham, obviously working through some stuff, asks Glen:  "So, when you were pourin' the Bisquick, were you tryin' to make pancakes?"  It takes Glen a minute to figure out WTF Abraham is trying to ask - "Uh ... yes?" But he figures it out and says that he and Maggie - all of them - are trying to build something here, regardless of how tenuous the situation.  Speaking of building something, Rick and Michonne hold hands a little as Rick drives.  Ick.  Just - I don't mind if they're hooking up, or even if they're looking to turn into something real, but I do NOT need giggly, googly-eyed Rick and Michonne.

They stop in a tiny town when they see a recent car wreck.  Jesus says it's one of his but the people are nowhere to be found.  Everyone is suspicious - "This ain't more firecrackers in a barrel," growls Darryl - but they find a trail of blood leading away from the wreckage.  Our gang heads off, looking for survivors, and leaving Jesus outside with Maggie holding a gun on him.  Inside a building, they quickly dispatch whatever walkers are staggering around and rescue the four survivors.  Abraham actually nearly kills one of them, thinking he's a zombie, but he pulls back just in time.  One of the people is hurt from the crash and one of them is a doctor.  They all load back into the RV and continue on.  Maggie and Glen talk with the doctor a little and find out that he used to be an obstetrician.  The doctor grins when he learns Maggie is pregnant, saying that he owes them one for the rescue so they definitely hit the jackpot with him.

They arrive at Jesus's settlement, actually getting stuck in some mud and hoofing the last little distance.  The Hilltop is well-fenced in.  After some tense moments when the Hilltop guards wave their spears around (Hilltop is out of ammo) and our gang waves their guns around, Jesus brokers some peace and they get inside.  The Hilltop used to be a living museum, like Sturbridge Village, with farm animals, crops, a smithy, hand-pumped water, etc., so when civilization collapsed in the face of the zombie apocalypse, it was well set-up to survive.  Hilltop's leader, Gregory, comes out, immediately announcing that he's "the boss."  I immediately take a disliking to him.  He is ensconced in the main house - clean, beautiful and full of antiques - and insists that our gang get cleaned up before discussing anything with him.  As Jesus leads them off to their baths, Rick tells Maggie that it is up to her to negotiate with Gregory, with her new diplomacy skills learned from her time with Deanna.  Rick is particularly ill-suited to deal with this guy since he'd just shoot him rather than deal with his bullshit.

Maggie's first interaction with Gregory does not go all that well.  He is absolutely a tool.  But he's sharp too, deducing that they don't have much to trade with.  He says that they can work for food and pretty much says that Maggie could work on her back under him to really make it worth their while.  She shows amazing restraint in not shooting him in the head, I think.  He dismisses her, though, saying that her group doesn't have anything he needs.  "We're doing fine," he sneers.

Shortly thereafter, a small group returns to Hilltop.  They had been sent to trade with Negan and his Saviors (that thuggish group that Darryl, Sasha and Abraham blew up with the rocket launcher was part of the Saviors).  Negan has been extorting the Hilltop, demanding half their food in exchange for not killing them.  On this last drop, Negan decided that the Hilltop share was light.  He killed one or two Hilltoppers, kept one prisoner and sent the other three back home with a message for Gregory.  That message?  A knife in the gut.  Rick et als. spring into action, ending up breaking one Hilltopper's hand and cutting the throat of the one who stabbed Gregory.  The immediate threat diminished, Jesus springs up, calming everyone down.  He should be Hilltop's leader, not Gregory.  [Note: that wig he is wearing is very, very terrible.]

Jesus and our gang chat a little later, as Jesus explains the Negan situation.  Darryl's all, we'll take care of them for you for "food, medicine and one of them cows."  Jesus hadn't considered this but then our group points out that they've dealt with people like this before.  And now they're dead.  [But at what cost?  This is Michonne's concern.]  As it turns out, Gregory survives, although he is in a fair amount of pain.  Pressing the advantage, Maggie goes back to renegotiate.  This is the deal she gets: they wipe out Negan and the Saviors in exchange of half of everything they have, right now.  Plus she gets an ultrasound of her baby.

After loading up the RV, our gang - plus Jesus and the guy with the broken-hand who knows about the Saviors' compound - drives back to Alexandria to deliver the supplies and make their plan of attack.  Maggie and Glen smile at their ultrasound photo; Michonne looks at it with a wistful smile, then passes it to Darryl, who then passes it to Abraham.  Abraham gives Glen a genuine grin as he hands the photo back - looks like he has maybe changed his mind about building something in this new world.

Previously on The Walking Dead / next time on The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead S6E10 "The Next World" 2/21/16

This week on The Walking Dead, we have a kindler, gentler episode, giving us a break after the utter misery of the last one.  Not a whole lot happens but we get some character work that doesn't entirely feel like filler and although it isn't a fantastic episode, it's a pretty decent one.

We pick up back in Alexandria, a couple of weeks after the massacre.  The walls have been rebuilt, Carl is up and at 'em, Rick is actually calm, happy and at peace.  He and Daryl are going on a supply run since everything is quiet:  in addition to the necessary food and medical supplies, Michonne has requested toothpaste and Denise ADORABLY asks Daryl to bring back some pop for Tara as a surprise, if he comes across any.  As the guys head out, Eugene suggests that they check agricultural supply spots for sorghum wheat, which would be a good crop for them to grow.  They pick up speed heading out of town and Rick pops in a CD of perky country music.  "No," Daryl protests in vain, "Don't, don't, please don't."  And then he gives Rick some serious side-eye as Rick snaps his fingers along to the music.  Aw, it's a buddy-roadtrip episode!

Back at Alexandria, Michonne notices Spencer heading out into the woods outside the walls with a shovel on his back.  She climbs down from the walls to follow him.  Inside the walls, Maggie finds Enid who is by herself, writing in her journal.  She asks the younger girl what she's been doing with her time and when Enid can't/won't account for herself, suggests that maybe she could help out.  "I'm around," says Maggie, in a friendly tone, "Come find me."

Rick and Daryl slam on the brakes and pull to a stop in front of a barn with SORGHUM written on its wall.  In the barn they find a small box truck loaded with all kinds of food and toiletries.  They are thrilled and get the truck started, deciding to take it back to town and return later for their car.  On the way back, they stop at an old gas station.  Daryl breaks into a vending machine, pulling out orange soda and some chips.  Rick is all, ???? and Daryl explains that it's for Denise.  Rick nods, saying that she has really stepped up, saving Carl's life and all.  He admits that he was wrong in his initial assessment of the Alexandrians.

Just then they are interrupted as a guy in a leather coat, wool beanie and a kerchief over his face runs up, knocking into them.  Our boys pull their guns and the guy introduces himself as Paul Robia (?), "Jesus" to his friends (because of the resemblance when he reveals his face).  He says that there is a small herd of walkers coming this way and he's not sticking around to deal with them.  He says that he's on his own, with no camp, and when Rick starts to ask the three questions, Daryl stops him, saying, not this guy.  When Jesus runs off, Rick points out to Daryl that Jesus was too clean and put-together to be out on his own.  They wonder if they should follow up and then a series of small explosions erupt behind them: firecrackers, that Jesus put in a barrel.  Daryl says to Rick, he swiped your keys, didn't he? and they run back towards the truck, only to watch as Jesus drives away in it. Daryl: Shit.  Rick: Shit.

Michonne catches up with Spencer out in the woods.  He says he's just walking and she tags along, wondering what he's up to.  Also out in the woods, Carl and Enid.  Apparently this is where Enid has been going, accompanying Carl who has become a little bit withdrawn after his eye got shot off, needing some alone time.  He's content to read comics out in the woods but Enid has come to the end of her patience with that.  They see Michonne and Spencer walk past but don't say anything.  A little later, they come across a lone walker.  At first Carl is bent on killing it, since their friends are out in the woods, and then he refuses, to Enid's dismay.  "This is bullshit! It should be dead!" she cries.  He pushes her away, saying that he's not going to kill it, that she wouldn't understand.  Carl tells her to go home and then leads the walker off in the other direction.

Rick and Daryl run and run, finally catching up to Jesus and their truck when he has to stop for a flat tire.  They overpower him eventually - he puts up an awfully good fight - and tie him up, leaving him sitting on the road ("The knots are loose," Rick assures him) as they drive off in their truck.  A bit down the road, they see a farm near a small lake and turn in.  As they drive through the field, however, there is some banging coming from on top of the truck.  "It's that guy," snarls Daryl.  Rick slams on the brakes, throwing Jesus off the truck (how the hell did he get up there that quickly?) and Daryl jumps out, chasing him through the field.  As Daryl and Jesus tussle, Rick parks the truck to deal with some walkers that are approaching.  Jesus makes a run for the truck, Daryl close behind him.  They struggle again in the cab of the truck, Jesus stealing Daryl's gun.  He points it at Daryl's head and then says, "Duck!"  Daryl ducks and Jesus shoots the walker that was quietly approaching.  Daryl says thanks and then pulls Jesus out of the truck, knocking it out of park in the meantime.  The truck begins to roll backwards, towards the lake.  Jesus gets a hard knock on the head from the truck door and collapses.  But Daryl and Rick are too slow to save the truck and can only watch in disbelief as it rolls into the lake and submerges.  They shrug: what can you do?  Rick's all, we can't just leave that guy here, passed out in the field.  Daryl suggests that they just stick him up in a tree, out of reach of any walkers, but Rick insists that they take him back, let Denise patch him up and then question him.

Michonne and Spencer see Carl running through the woods.  Then they see the walker that is following him: it's zombie Deanna, Spencer's mom.  Spencer has been out looking for her; Carl led her to him, understanding that Spencer needed to be the one who puts her down (just like he had to do for Lori back at the prison).  Michonne grabs zombie Deanna's arms, holding her still, and Spencer puts a knife into her skull.  They bury her together, Michonne marking a nearby tree with a carved D, and then she insists that Spencer come back to Alexandria with her.  "It's where you live and you still have family there."

Back in town, Michonne finds Carl sitting on the porch with Judith.  At first she chastises him for not killing zombie Deanna, then he explains: it needed to be someone who loved her.  "I'd do it for you, Michonne."  Michonne pulls him and the baby into her arms, saying "Me too."

Rick and Daryl bring Jesus to Denise, then after she's bandaged him up, they lock him in that house they use for new people, leaving some water and a note, probably explaining that they brought him here for safety and that they'll talk soon.  As they head out, Rick says, "It is pretty stupid for us to be goin' out there."  Daryl: "Yup.  Do it again tomorrow?"  Rick:  "Yup."

Rick goes back to the house and crashes on the couch.  This is where Michonne finds him.  They sit companionably for a while, each not much wanting to talk about their day.  He hands her some mints that he scavenged, since all the toothpaste is at the bottom of the lake.  Michonne: "Oh, so you had a day!"  Then their fingers touch, and their hands, and then they lean in and kiss.  (Apparently a couple of weeks is all he needs to get over Jessie.)  Michonne laughs a bit and then they go at it.  Some time later that night, they sleep in bed together, naken, her sword on one side of the bed and his gun on the bedside table.  A man's voice: "Rick. Rick! Wake up."  Rick and Michonne lunge out of bed, stark naked, grabbing their weapons.  It's Jesus (christ - this guy is supernatural in his ability, Houdini-like).  "We should talk," he says, smiling a little.

Previously on The Walking Dead / next time on The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead S6E9 "No Way Out" 2/14/16

And we're back ...

We start with Daryl, Sasha and Abraham getting stopped on the road by Negan's men.  Our three are disarmed and one of Negan's thugs takes Daryl around back of the truck, ostensibly to search for whatever else loot may be stashed there.  The head guy yammers on a bit; the rest of the thugs aim all their guns at Sasha and Abraham; the droning music amps up the tension.  Then the head guy decides that he is, in fact, going to shoot Sasha and Abraham, despite having promised that he wouldn't.  He raises his guns and then BOOM ALL THE GUYS DISINTEGRATE IN A MASSIVE EXPLOSION.  Heads fly everywhere.  And Daryl saunters out from behind the truck - where he somehow killed the thug he was with without anyone else hearing anything - holding that rocket launcher Abraham scavenged.  It's completely ridiculous: we never heard or saw the rocket fly by, for one.  But it's also kind of nice to have a tiny little bit of humor in this largely humorless show.  "What a buncha assholes," mutters Daryl, as they climb back into their truck.

Back at Alexandria, Rick leads Jessie, Sam, Ron, Carl with Judith, Gabriel and Michonne through the milling zombies.  I believe their original plan was to get to the arsenal and at first it goes well - they aren't being noticed at all.  But then they step off to the side as Rick tells them that the weapons they'll get at the arsenal won't be enough (so? at least they'll be more than what you've got now) so they should walk all the way to the quarry and then drive back to lead the walkers away.  Terrible plan, Rick.  But everyone just nods their heads.  Gabriel volunteers to take Judith to the church to wait it out and for some reason, Rick decides that he can trust the reverend with his daughter.  Really?  Jessie wants Sam to go to the church too but Sam is terrified to leave his mother and insists that he can make it.  They all grab hands and continue on.

Tara, Rosita, Eugene, Carol and Morgan regroup where the Wolf and Denise left them in the brownstone (a brownstone? in a rural housing development?).  They've only got Rosita's gun and Morgan's staff.  Carol takes the gun and does a sweep of the house.  Meanwhile, the Wolf and Denise hunker down in a stairwell, waiting for a break in the zombies to make a run for the wall.  Doesn't seem like that's a particularly safe place.  Denise looks like she's about to go into shock but the Wolf is all, I need you, we can do this.  Also, Glen and Enid get to the church and look for supplies - guns, ammunition, sheets they can use to climb the wall and get Maggie down from her perch.  This is weird, though: how fucking big is Alexandria that Gabriel and Judith haven't gotten to the church yet?  Have the Glen and Enid scenes been edited in out of order?  Enid finds a gun hidden in the altar.

Editorial insert #1:  This fucking show keeps changing the rules.  Whereas sometimes people can't talk at all without being tracked by the walkers, now it appears that low talking - not even whispering - is okay ... until it isn't.  Then Rick changes the plan halfway through town?  He couldn't have gotten them to safety inside the arsenal, with additional weapons, before revising the plan to head for the quarry?  Also, the first time they tried the zombie guts disguise, they were drenched with the gooey stuff.  This time they're just wearing barely coated ponchos.  INCONSISTENT.  Writers, you need to keep the rules of this universe consistent.  Sigh.

All of a sudden, it's night.

Editorial insert #2:  Night really? Already? And Rick's group STILL isn't out of town yet?  How were they possibly going to walk to the quarry in the dark with all those zombies? STUPID SHOW.

Everyone's zombie guts poncho is pretty dry by now but still the zombies don't notice.  Until Sam - who was doing fine before - decides to remember all the crappy things Carol told him about getting eaten alive by monsters and freaks out.  He stops in the middle of the road, refusing to go any further.  Jessie, Rick and Ron whisper-shout at him and still the zombies don't notice.  Until suddenly two zombies swoop into the shot and start gnawing on Sam.  WTF?  Did none of Rick, Carl or Michonne see them coming?  And then Jessie screams and zombies pounce on her.  And then Rick starts to go a little crazy, having flashbacks of how much he lurves Jessie.  Jessie is getting chowed on but is still holding onto Carl's hand and he can't get away.  So Rick takes out his machete and hacks her arm off.  Carl falls over, his gun getting knocked out of his hand.  A traumatized Ron picks up the gun, aiming it at Rick or Carl, whoever.  Before he can shoot, Michonne skewers him through the back with her katana.  He lurches and the gun goes off.  Rick flinches but it was Carl who got shot.  In the eye.  As Michonne wields her sword like the badass she is, Rick snatches up Carl's limp body and they make a run for it.

In the "brownstone," Rosita reminds Eugene that he's a coward and Carol and Morgan have a little talk - nothing much gets resolved except that she says she really should have just killed him.  Outside, the Wolf and Denise make a break for it.  He reaches the ladder up the wall but when she gets cornered, he goes back to help her, getting a big bite taken out of his arm for his trouble.  Her backbone snaps into place and she says, "Get me to the infirmary and I can save your life."  They almost make it too - but Carol, on lookout, shoots the Wolf down.  He gives Denise a little shove, urging her on.  Aaron and some others have taken refuge in the infirmary and when Denise looks out the window and sees Rick and Michonne coming with Carl, she has them help her stitch Carl back together.  Because getting shot through the eye wouldn't kill you.  (I know, it's in the comic but it's a little harder to swallow in a live-action show.)  As they work to save his son, Rick freaks out some more.  He grabs his machete and runs back outside.

Out in the horde, Rick is fighting like a maniac.  As soon as she can, Michonne runs out to join him, as do Aaron and the other Alexandrians.  Gabriel sees them from the church and decides to be brave, as do many other previously cowardly Alexandrians, and eventually Carol and her group - even Eugene - are out there too.  The small group of humans hack and slash and kill walkers and make a stand, being impressively efficient at it.

Editorial insert #3:  Seriously?  I mean, it's very inspiring but again, inconsistent that this small group isn't being completely overrun.

Meanwhile, Glen and Enid get over to Maggie.  Enid scampers up the scaffolding to try to get Maggie over the wall, Glen tries to singlehandedly murder scores of zombies and Maggie screams her lungs out because it pretty much looks like he's going to be killed.  Until semiautomatic weapons roar out from atop another section of the wall: it's Sasha and Abraham and they rake the zombie horde with their guns, saving Glen and bringing death to the walkers from on high.

Daryl is there too, of course, and after they rescue Maggie, Enid and Glen, they back the tanker truck up to a little pond in the center of town so that Daryl can pour out a bunch of gasoline into the pond.  Then he lights it up by shooting it with the rocket launcher.  There's a huge explosion and the zombies are all attracted by the light and noise.  Like bugs to a bug-zapper, zombies walk into the flames and burn.

Editorial insert #4:  Is that a thing?  I know we've seen zombies attracted by bonfires before but I really don't remember them walking right into it.  Writers changing the rules again, just to suit the situation.  

Then there's this strange scene of each of our heroes, one at a time, up against a black background, murdering zombies.  Perhaps it's out of the comics, perhaps it's meant to be uplifting and inspiring, but it's just a little silly and out of place, IMHO.  We get it.  You kill zombies.

In the morning, it looks like everyone has survived (really?), including Carl.  And Rick has had this massive change of heart: he realizes that the Alexandrians are not useless and that together they can rebuild the walls, rebuild the town.  He gets all teary and tells his son that he has hope for a future for him, a feeling he hasn't had since before he woke up in the hospital.  "Ah want to show you the new world, Coral!"  And, heartwarmingly, just as the episode ends, Carl's fingers twitch and close around Rick's hand. Awwwwww!

I just.  I don't know.  Yes, this was a more exciting episode than many when they're just walking and talking and talking and walking.  But even the zombie violence isn't that interesting anymore - there really needs to be consistency, so there can be tension when things are going badly for the characters and we know the writers aren't just going to change the universe's rules to get them out of it.  There needs to be character development - look at Denise, for a decent example.  There needs to be more plot than finding a safe place and then losing it moments later, then finding another safe place, and then losing that one moments later.  The Walking Dead is such a hugely popular show - I just want it to be a better one.

Previously on The Walking Dead / next time on The Walking Dead

Mini movie review: Only Lovers Left Alive

I don't think I've ever seen a Jim Jarmusch film before so I can't speak to how Only Lovers Left Alive stacks up against the rest of his library.  But I can say that if you were looking for a romantic movie to watch on Valentine's Day (before diving into the misery that is The Walking Dead (recap coming soon)), this was a good one.  More atmospheric than plot-driven, OLLA follows Adam and Eve, two super-cool, effortlessly chic vampires, still completely in love with each other after centuries of marriage.  Eve, played with alien elegance by the otherworldly Tilda Swinton, is living in Tangiers when the movie begins, in a flat filled with ancient books and beautiful fabrics.  She occasionally socializes with her dear old friend, Christopher Marlowe (John Hurt), who is still writing five centuries later and is still indignant about William Shakespeare's fame.  Her husband Adam (Tom Hiddleston), however, is hiding out in a decaying mansion in a decaying Detroit, collecting beautiful, rare guitars and making beautiful, melancholy music.

As I mentioned above, there's not much plot: Eve goes to Detroit to visit Adam; her little "sister" - at most, Eve says, they are related "by blood" - Ava (Mia Wasikowska) shows up and wrecks some slight havoc; Adam and Eve return to Tangiers.  Usually I like a lot of plot in my movies.  But this moody, funny movie is wonderful.  Yes, Adam and Eve are vampires and they do drink blood, but they drink it out of tiny cordial glasses, getting stoned off each sip.  What these creatures of the night are about is culture through the ages - science, literature, music, art.  They listen to vinyl and play chess, there are stacks of leather-bound books everywhere.  Adam and Eve are deeply in love with each other and, as much as Adam might bitch about how the "zombies" (humans) are ruining the planet, they are still in love with the fact that art is still being created in the world.

Mini movie review: Frozen

I have long been a fan of Disney animated movies but refused to see Frozen in a reaction to everyone's omgitssoawesomeandwonderfulandthebestanimatedmovieelsaissogreat and just generally losing their minds.  Last night I finally decided to see what all the fuss was about and was just a bit underwhelmed, to be honest.  The songs were all forgettable - except for THAT ONE SONG which I admit that I like (although I don't have a little daughter playing it ad nauseum) - and the story was a bit light.  I liked Sven the reindeer the best but was surprised that I enjoyed Olaf the snowman too.  I had assumed that he would be totally annoying, like the Jar-Jar Binks of Frozen, but he wasn't and I actually laughed at a number of his lines.

Elsa, who every little girl dresses up like for Halloween, is an odd character.  Her parents were horrible to her, encouraging her to lock herself up after what was clearly an accident.  And then she finally breaks free and runs away and ... locks herself up again.  She doesn't really do anything (other than making that gorgeous ice palace).  It's Anna who is the hero: she searches for Elsa, battles adverse conditions and makes the ultimate sacrifice to save her sister - but it's Elsa who all the little girls emulate and love.  Anna (yes, annoying at times but she had a crappy, limited childhood) gets shafted, in my opinion.