Miss us?
Nah, probably not - but we bet you missed The Walking Dead. We also bet you're wicked excited about tonight's episode, "The Suicide King". We advise you hit the jump, and get started. We've prepped a bit of a preview for you.
keep calm, drink on.
8:00
Two months ago we entered the show's brief holiday-hiatus period, so that children and adults alike could eat turkey and open presents without being concerned about the inhabitants of Woodbury, or the Prison, and their plight in the time of
This first half-season has seen quite a dynamic change to the show.
Lots of characters of been introduced: Michonne and her pets, The Governor and his daughter, Axel and Oscar.
Lots of characters have been lost: Tomas and some other guys Rick kills, The Governor's Daughter Penny, T-Dog, and Lori
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Rick's group has been shaped heavily by the impact of the last while. With the addition of Hershel's family (and the subtraction of his leg) Lori and T-Dog's deaths take on a new light, as new relationships and roles are forged for characters. Carl's got a little sister now, and has grown up a lot.
he's earned a whole +11 melee! don't forget +2 lurk
this kid must rule myspace
his dad Rick, on the other hand, has gone the complete opposite direction. After killing his best friend and appointing himself "Ricktator" of the group, Rick has taken every possible opportunity to distance himself from his family, and group, and further descend into darkness. Oh, and he was an outright cock to Lori before she died.
ain't that the truth
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On the other side of all the baby birthing and character dying, we've got this place called Woodbury. Andrea's there. Well, so are Glenn and Maggie. Oh, and Merle. And Daryl. Yeah, it's conveniently close to the prison, or something. Anyway, this is like some sort of 50's dystopian future lead by an evil dude known as The Governor who has many secrets and experiments on many creepers (that's what they call walkers). He's also a bit of a jerkwad, but in good news has recently lost an eye (and zombie daughter) at the hands of Michonne.
oh, hey - there's them now!
So where did we leave off last?
Well, good ol' Michonne there has met up with Rick and his group, alerting them to the existence of The Governor and Woodbury. This leads to Rick assembling a crew with Michonne (who they don't trust, 'cause... racism?) to go raid Woodbury to rescue Glenn and Maggie who were captured by Merle. This fails pretty badly, and they end up losing Daryl as well.
Over at the Prison, a wild group of survivors has appeared, led by Tyrese, and new and improved ADULT Carl has chosen to grant them sanctuary.
Lots of craziness afoot - who knows what's about to happen?
8:30 - you guys!! things are getting so close now!!
this seems as good a time as any to note that tonight's tipsy liveblog is being brought to you by heineken lager, mill street coffee porter, and multiple varieties of david's tea (as he or she who is not currently responsible for the blogging shall brew copious pots of deliciousness).
8:50 - ten more minutes! party time!
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9:00 - so, obviously they're going to remind us of everything that happened up to this point. sort of like we did above. it's pretty neat, really. read along with our recap, and it'll be cool, y'dig?
...previously on AMC's The Walking Dead.
Montage!
9:01 - so, it appears as though Daryl and Merle have to fight?
"You wanted your brother, you got him." - The Governor.
We pan in, and Daryl's still bound, ol' Gov stalking about like a warlord.
Merle and Daryl exchange a glance.
Andrea makes a run for them, but is held back.
"I asked you where your loyalties lie. Well prove it. Prove it to us all. Brother against brother. Winner goes free."
The sadistic laugther of the audience is gross.
Andrea begs Phillip to stop things.
Merle and Daryl exchange a glance.
Merle starts a rant about proving his royalty, "Y'all know me" then suckers Daryl, and starts booting him.
9:03 - Some jerks bring in walkers to complicate things.
9:04 - During a choking match:
"Do you really think this asshole's going to let you go?" Daryl asks.
"Just follow me lead, little brother"
Merle and Daryl start walker-smashing as Andrea continues to plead with The Gov.
Suddenly someone's sniping Walkers.
It's Maggie.
Rick and Company are storming Wrestlemania with automatics.
Daryl looks to get out, while Merle smashes up spme walkers.
The Gov stalks about with his gun as citizens flee - killing walkers in his wake.
Andrea picks up a gun.
Daryl saves children and steals a crossbow from some guy.
He and Daryl make a run for it.
The Gov walks up to the foreground menacingly as some vintage Bear McCreary surges up.
Credits
9:09 - we're back. Merle is leading the way.
"you're not going anywhere with us." Rick tells him.
Merle asks if he wants to do this now and carries on.
they get out beyond the gates, and merle is smashing skulls, and Andrea capping them.
Andrea is left behind.
anyway, as Rick's group gets away, they've left a breach in the outer wall.
9:10 - the group meets up with Glenn and Michonne in the morning.
everyone freaks out when Merle shows up, all guns drawn.
Michonne and Glenn are pissed.
9:10 - Merle makes some pretty gross comments about Andrea and the Governor.
Rick finds out Michonne knows Andrea.
Merle continues his gross racist, homophobic rhetoric, and Daryl tells him to shut up.
the whole group is a little upset hearing about Andrea's plight.
Merle starts razzing the group, and after being told to shut up by nearly everyone, Rick knocks him out.
Daryl and Rick exchange a glance, and Daryl mutters "Asshole." but about/to whom?
9:12 - back at the prison, Hershel is stitching up tyrese, but they're not bonding.
they do discuss the baby and her age though, as beth carries her around.
oooh, snap. Tyrese's group thinks Beth is the mother, then they figure it out quick.
9:13 - "man, you people have been through the mill," Tyrese says.
"haven't we all?" Hershel asks.
Tyrese and his wife, Sasha, discuss how hard it's getting out there, and tell a bit about their origins. their group was huge. they were as big as 25 not too long ago. they were overrun though.
9:14 - the groups mingle a little better now.
Tyrese jokes "i must be the first brother to break into prison"
from the background, Axel chimes in with "i must be the first white guy who doesn't want to break out." shut up, Axel! no one cares about your story.
despite their heartwarming moments, Hershel tells Tyrese of their close-knit group, and that he shouldn't get comfortable.
Tyrese pleads their case, but hershel leaves on his crutches.
9:15 - back on the road, Rick and the mini-group are chatting up a strategy.
they decide Merle is a crazy racist asshole.
...but so is Daryl.
they argue how they can keep "the last samurai" (Michonne) and not Merle.
there's a bunch of talk about family, and life after, and Daryl throws down the gauntlet.
he'll leave with Merle if they're not letting him come.
"what do you want us to tell Carol?" Glenn asks. Daryl says she'll understand. He is probably wrong.
"say goodbye to your pop for me," Daryl tells Maggie as he walks away.
surprisingly, rick follows him along, trying to get him to stay.
"no him, no me. that's all i can say. take care of yourself. take care of Little Asskicker, and Carl. that's one tough kid." Daryl exchances one last glance with Rick while unloading his supplies from the truck, then goes off with his brother into the woods.
9:18 - Rick's pissed and takes it out on Michonne.
"we patch you up, and you are gone," he tells her.
why does she never speak?
they get in a super-clean, fancy-ass car, then drive away. what the hell, where do they wash this business these days? at the prison?
commercialz.
9:22 - back at the prison, Tyrese's group prepares to bury... Donna?
They're in the centre of the cellblocks, where Rick's group busted in.
one of their men suggests they overtake Carl and Carol on patrol.
"we do it quick, we'll get their weapons."
Tyrese argues against it.
"This'll be easy. A little kid, a woman, a baby and an old man."
"You gonna smash the baby's head with a rock?" Tyrese is hard.
His group is rough.
As things get heated Axel and Beth show up to provide them tools to bury their dead.
...why are they together?! this is uncool.
Anyway, these two offer help, which is hilarious, then head out.
Tyrese and Sasha provide quite the resolve as the scene cuts.
9:24 - Rick and Glenn come upon a road reef with a truck in it.
They go to move the truck and clear the scene, but there's a walker. Glenn umm, Glenn goes crazy on it, as he has of late, kicking its head properly in.
Rick goes to comfort Glenn, but Glenn is pissed that Rick didn't kill the Governor, went back to get Daryl, and let Daryl walk.
Glenn is awesome, but Maggie wants him to let it go.
This moment is sweet, but there are Walkers in the background.
"Daryl had his reasons."
"You keep telling yourself that," Glenn says.
Rick freaks out.
"This is the hand we've been dealt!"...hmm. foreshadowing?
walkers are all over the background.
9:26 - back at Woodbury Milton and Andrea discuss how their shit is going to hell. People are trying to leave Woodbury en masse. Woodbury officials are blocking the wall though, and things are getting super tense. One one side walkers are amassing, and on the other a bunch of people want to leave.
Andrea pleads with people to stay. This scene is awesome.
Very The Stand to me.
Some guy's blowing his horn, drawing walkers and driving one of the security guys crazy.
He drags the hornblower from the wall.
The guy, Hernandez wants to know where the Governor is.
9:28 - screams ring out.
a Walker's gotten in and is feeding on someone. There are several behind him.
Andrea goes in to clean up, and runs out of bullets. She reloads, but it's too late.
The citizens up Woodbury gather around the wounded man.
"Do something," they ask Andrea. "Help him," they plead.
The Governor walks out from his apartment, and up to the bitten dying man.
He shoots him in the head and returns indoors, not giving anyone a glance.
Jackson Lake, ladies and gentleman! He is, after all, the oncoming storm.
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That's the Governor we've been looking for.
Commercials.
9:33 - quiet times at the prison.
"it's so quiet," Carol tells Carl.
"it's easy to forget how loud the world used to be," they go on to complain about noise pollution.
"what i wouldn't give for the sweet sound of a jumbo jet," she says.
"it'd be even sweeter if we were all on it," carl tells her.
there's a pause, carl walks away.
"your mom was so proud of you."
"for what, being mean to her?"
Carol tells him not to think about it, but Carl replies that it's all he thinks about. it's really touching, actually...but because i'm an asshole, i just wish he'd take off that stupid hat.
they're interrupted by Rick's group returning. Carl's gratitude on seeing their return is also touching! nice work, kiddo!
Rick gets out to hug Carl, and Maggie drives the car up.
Carol asks about Daryl.
When Rick explains, she seems confused. "They left? Daryl left? He's gone? Is he coming back?"
Rick fucked up by telling her. Oh, and there are Walkers everywhere. Good thing the Prison has two layers of gates, and they walk back to the prison together.
9:36 - at the Governor's house. Andrea confronts him about what he's done, killing that man in front of those people.
"Those people are scared," she tells him.
"Those people have had it easy," he responds. "Barbeques and picnics. That ends now."
uh...Governor? You are aware that you were the one throwing the barbecues and picnics?
Governor goes on to explain that they're at war now. They're at war with Glenn, Maggie, Daryl, all of them.
"My friends are alive and we're shooting at them?!" Andrea cries.
"Your friends killed six people," The Governor explains. Then names them.
Andrea's pissed because the Governor kept this information from her while they were boning. She has a point. The Governor tells her she's just a visitor. She's in the middle of refuting that when Milton comes to the door.
"The whole town is out on the street. It could get ugly again."
9:38 - Hershel and Beth meet up with the rest of the group, there are hugs, and odd kisses to Rick's cheek. Maggie and Beth go inside, and Hershel stays to talk to Rick. Rick quickly ascertains something is wrong. It's not the baby, so what is it?
Inside, Carl is watching over the new gang with a gun.
Hersel leads Rick in, all crutched up.
9:39 - "Not exactly a chatterbox, is he?" Tyrese's group notes of Carl (or possibly Rick).
9:40 - Beth hands Little Asskicker (who has an adorably labeled bassinet - though i believe it says "Lil," and not "Little") to Rick, noting she has Lori's eyes. The baby starts crying and Rick starts losing his shit.
Commercial
9:45 - back at Woodbury, Milton is addressing the audience.
People want to know about the Governor. They want answers.
Andrea steps in.
"you're right. everyone of us has suffered. we don't even have funerals any more because the death never stops. we're never going to be the same, ever. so what do we do? we work together, and we rebuild..."
obviously the Gov is listening to all of this.
Andrea tells them all that "years from now, when they write about this plague, the history books? They'll say that Woodbury perservered."
the finger thing means the taxes!
9:46 - at the Prison, Beth and Carol chat about babies and the previous life.
Beth always wanted a child.
This has worked out pretty well I guess.
"She wouldn't have made it if Daryl weren't here. He couldn't stand to lose anyone else," Beth says.
Carol explains to Beth a little bit of how Merle works, then expresses sympathy with Daryl as an abuse survivor. It's sweet. But way too expository...I wish they had trusted the first line of dialogue and her discussions of her own experience to stand on their own! It was a very powerful scene.
Beth apologizes to Carol about Daryl.
"Don't be," she says "he has his code. The world needs people like that."
Then they place little Asskicker in a custom bassonette. It's all super cute.
9:48 - Hershel's looking over Glenn. They start talking about what happened and Maggie takes off.
"You two alright," Hershel inquires of Glenn. Silence
"Thanks for looking out for her."
Hershel goes off to check on Maggie as Glenn kinda stares.
Aww. He is rightfully traumatized, but his attempts to take ownership over Maggie's experience is obviously driving a wedge between the two of them. I'm impressed by this nuanced portrayal!
Hershel goes on to say he couldn't stand to lose Glenn.
"You're like my own son, Glenn."
Aww, Hershel.
9:50 - He goes to check on Maggie who's cleaning up.
He doesn't pull many punches.
"You two seem to be holding something back, you want to tell me what happened? I rest easy knowing you can handle yourself. You've got your mothers spirit. And her stubborness... You hungry?"
"No," she says.
"Don't disappear on me," he asks of her, and there's a sweet embrace and awesome shot in a cell. Hershel really gives the sense that he is willing to be there for Maggie regardless of whether or not she chooses to share her trauma with him. Have we mentioned how much we are loving Hershel lately?
Then we go to commercials, and it gets glitchy as shit, which we love, and then Kevin Smith and Steve Yeun talk and shiiit. Talking Dead, it's soon.
9:55 - back in the prison, Rick's looking all weird and Hershel is inspecting Michonne. He wants to know how long before Michonne can leave...
"Couple of days, if she's up" Hershel says.
Rick locks her up... Like father like son.
9:56 - In the cell block Rick's group discusses what will happen with the Governor, and how he may respond.
"We could use some reinforcements," Hershel says.
Cut to Tyrese's group being introduced to Rick... There are some weird vantage points/camera shots in this one.
"How'd you get in?" Rick wants to know.
Tyrese explains what happened to them.
Rick gets pretty pissed at Carl for letting them in.
"I'm sorry about your friend," Rick tells them. "We know what that's like."
Tyrese offers to take care of their own. Work hard, get their own food, help with problems with other groups?
"Please? It's like ten little indians out there," Sasha says. Great, more racism. Americana!
Rick cites Oscar, and Andrew, and Tomas.
"I can't be responsible," Rick tells them.
"If you turn us out, you are responsible," Tyrese tells him.
9:58 - Hershel calls Rick aside. He tells Rick they owe them their lives, and are super thankful...
"and I'm telling you, Rick, you're wrong on this. You have to start giving people a chance."
9:59 - Rick looks about, shaking his head, and pondering. He looks up above and sees a shadowy figure on the catwalks above. This explains that weird shot from earlier. It's Lori? It's a woman in a fancy ass wedding gown. He walks up and starts addressing it.
"Wh... why are you here? What do you want from me? Get out! Get out! You don't belong here. Get it!"
Rick starts losing it...Like, proper Rick is effed losing it, and Glenn ushers the new group out, presumably for their safety. Nuts Rick is Nuts. Ugly shot for the ending. Good episode. Yes.
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