Vee

Jewel Allison.

Sure, it was coked up, but it worked. The energy was right for the time. You can get away with a lot in these OTT sci-fi stories if the acting and writing and production is there, and IMO it often was back in the day. Luke becoming an X-Man might have been a step too far, though. They also regularly appropriated classic film scores of the era in these old stories - they're liberally lifting from John Carpenter's music for Escape From New York here.

I have been looking for this scene for years. I haven't seen it in ages, but I was sure it existed - Luke kills David Gray with the psychic powers of his mind and/or the Sword of Malkuth. I'm still not sure what the [!@#$%^&*] happened in a) this entire storyline or here.

AMC has already ordered two seasons of the TWD spinoff.

What the !@#$%^&*]?

Theon was in the last trailer for a brief glimpse. What's wrong with Tyrion or Arya?

This is the time, and I will risk everything.

I think the show is absolutely portraying it as potentially unhealthy, too hasty, and as a symptom of Rick's trauma. That's my read of it, anyway. But either way I just don't think what people say on the talk show is really very relevant to the episodes as written, and I also don't think the writers have to come out and clearly indicate their intentions publicly outside of the actual episodes in order to make that clear to the crazy people on Facebook or whatever who don't get something in the middle of the story or root for the 'wrong' thing. I think they eventually make themselves clear in the show itself and in the stories as they progress. They're never going to tip their hand all the way in the press, and signpost and discuss it at too much length until the story has played itself out onscreen - that's the opposite of their responsibility as storytellers. They have to preserve suspense and ambiguity, and for me as a viewer I have to either trust in their future intentions and let the story play out and see how it goes, or I don't. I think they've done a good job with this season, so thus far I do trust in that.

The actress on Talking Dead is there to promote her job and keep viewers guessing. Even if she's dead in three episodes she can't not go out there and promote her character's take on events. But her character's POV is not what the show is writing or producing. You have to separate a promotional forum from the actual show. If the showrunners had any real connection to that talk show we'd be on Season 3 of Daryl choosing between every woman on the show. On the episode I watched there was no burgeoning great love story that was evident to me, no new female lead. You're right, Rick does have PTSD and I think that's what they're clearly portraying, AFAIC. That behavior is not a foundation for some long-term new romance with this woman. That's also part of the reason Rick, Carol and Daryl are keeping the truth from Michonne IMO, who is more level-headed than Rick and Carol but open and willing to change, not utterly traumatized and scheming the way they are. Michonne is clearly positioned as the voice of reason, who Rick and Carol are currently shutting out. They do have to be strong, but they can't be nuts.

I loved everything with Daryl, Aaron and Poor Doomed Eric. That was really good stuff. I really love all of the weird gamesmanship and scheming in this new setting, and I think the core characters especially are thriving in the new environment, dressed in their suburban drag - Rick, Carol, Michonne, etc. Even Abraham and Rosita look wildly different, and had that great beer gag. Oddly enough, Daryl seems like the first one of the original 3 to fully begin to acclimate, while Carol is doing Carol (and her monologue to the kid was pitched on the right knife's-edge of horrifying and hilarious, and Melissa McBride clearly played it for both) and Rick is retreating into a sort of Governor-lite mindset - relating more to the dead outside the walls then the people. Michonne looked like a million bucks at the party. I think they're still clearly very committed to her, and to all those relationships, whether she ends up with Rick or someone else or whatever. I'm familiar with Jesse in the comics and the character just doesn't bother me. What's happening with Rick indicates to me that whatever he's doing with her is not serious and not meant to last. It's either a foolish flirtation or a scheme within a scheme, or both. I do think it's a little rushed, but I also think it's meant to be seen that way. It's this rash, unhealthy thing and Rick is in a rash, unhealthy mindset. Rick, Sasha, Carol, etc. are all traumatized and managing it in different ways. I didn't see anything in this episode or the last one that indicated that the show is seriously trying to push a sincere insta-love story for Rick and this random chick. Everything he's doing now is a reaction to his experience, both here and now and long-term. Good episode. I hope Sasha finds her way, though. They seem to be giving her more and more, and I hope it's not the end of her. I also love the idea of Maggie as Deanna's second in command.

I think Rick's gotten to a point in his life - utterly exhausted, finally given some respite - where he might have a fling or a beginning relationship with someone new and comforting and vaguely reminiscent of Lori, all of which that woman would seem to be. But I don't think it's going to amount to much or end well. I don't think the show is even remotely hyping her or them as the next big thing. I don't see that kind of marketing or narrative in any of the show I watch or the episode teasers or ads they run. I think any time Rick really moves on, if he ever does, it will be with something much more profound. Maybe this can grow into that, who knows, she's only been on for one episode, but I doubt it. And I don't see the show leaning on it in any way. What the press does or the talk show does I don't care about, and obviously the show doesn't either considering how many beloved characters have yet to be risen from the grave. I think they've given a lot of time to Maggie in the second half of this season, so that makes me happy. But I also think they purposely separated the characters to split them off on separate goals for the back half of last season, and they decided to have Glenn and Maggie's driving purpose be finding each other. Which I understood, personally; I thought that made the most sense. Everyone they knew and loved had been scattered to the winds, not just Beth, and of course anyone's first focus would be finding their spouse and life partner. I think criticism of her is silly on that point, but I don't think the show did it to shortchange Maggie for Daryl. I think they did it because Glenn looking for Maggie and Maggie looking for Glenn was the first and most logical dramatic choice, while Beth and Daryl were total opposites, so why not put them together on a journey.

Well, fans watching TV shows can be stupid. That's been the case since TV was invented. We've been around the block on this but I don't think any show bears any responsibility for an audience's behavior unless they actively try to induce it or skew the show around catering to it, and I don't think TWD has ever done that. I don't watch the talk show and I have no interest in it or the fanbases on social media, I'm just going by what I watch episode to episode. And I think most of the general audience is the same - I think there's a lot of people out there who had no idea "Caryl vs. Bethyl" was a thing. I would never have known unless you told me. I do think they leaned on Daryl and Beth's bond and their friendship, as well as the question of whether it was or wasn't something more, but they never broke that seal because they decided it wasn't right for those characters (and especially his - I have doubts he'll ever be paired with anyone). They used it as a human touchstone for Daryl's character this year and his driving motive, but I don't think she was his world or his woman or anything like that and I don't think the show ever wrote them like that. What the press does or what AMC polls for on the talk show is really not relevant to me when I watch it. It's like people freaking out about the new blonde chick with Rick - who gives a !@#$%^&*]? I'm not seeing any other character done a disservice by her presence on the show when I watch, not thus far anyway, so it doesn't bother me. Would I rather he be with Michonne, sure, but the woman likely has a story purpose, which may be finite. Until I see it turn into the Rick & Whatserface Show in lieu of Michonne's current central role, I'm not gonna stress about it. Everything else is static to me, and almost certainly to the showrunners who clearly have no problem with outraging the more crazed segments of their audience.

I don't think Glenn and Maggie were written to be callous or unfeeling about Beth, but I also don't think they were poorly written. At the same time, I also don't think they wrote Beth's death to be about Daryl or to spotlight him. He's not had much to do this season period. They had a bond, they paid it off but the season has hardly focused on Daryl's Quest for Beth, IMO. I also don't think the show has ever cared about any maybe-couple with them, at least not to the point of distraction. It will play with dynamics but the writers and producers never seem to feel remotely beholden. It's always just gonna do whatever it's gonna do and it has no interest in its fanbases.

I loved the Ben story! I don't even care. Actually, some of the Civil War [!@#$%^&*] really grated a little in my recent run-through. But as Richard Beymer says in the book I also think it was a genuine attempt to evolve a character from something other than their prior, standard characterization, and I liked the results - when Ben became this sort of on-the-fence, 'kind' philanthropist in the final stretch who sometimes does more harm than good, and you can't quite tell whether he is 100% genuine in his motives or not. I also thought, despite the Wheeler thing and Sherilyn Fenn's issues with that, that Ben and Audrey bonding closely over his empire and his making her his heir was a very natural evolution for her. She looked great in those power suits. Unlike most of the female youth set at that point, Audrey still had agency, even if she was off in a bubble.

The kid who played Nicky, Joshua Harris, is interviewed in Brad Dukes' extremely indispensable book (now for free on Kindle Unlimited!). He's now a pretty busy producer or something. Like me at nearly the same age at that time, he was already a big fan of the show when he got the part. Oddly enough, the Nicky subplot is one of the few parts of her story for much of Season 2 which Kimmy Robertson says she liked (she also loved Ian Buchanan, so it's hard to be clear what exactly she objected to so much as their being stuck in that silly triangle). I liked Nicky simply because they showed an actual child existed in town other than Donna's sisters, but the infamous "devil" scene is still unforgivable. The story does, however, feature Molly Shannon in a very early role as a social worker.

Sherilyn Fenn will be attending horror convention "Crypticon" in Seattle with Sheryl Lee this year, over Memorial Day Weekend, and both will take part in a special Q&A. Hopefully she's well and will give more definitive confirmation on her involvement in the new series, although Sheryl Lee and Dana Ashbrook all but tacitly confirmed it last fall IMO when discussing her. This is also around the time the new series is said to be filming. Welcome to Twin Peaks posted this ancient trailer along with their news item on the con. I've never seen Meridian, but it looks like the kind of instant classic we've come to expect from Full Moon and Charles Band.

Oh good lord! There's a headline you don't see everyday.

I doubt Rick is headed away from the group. I don't see anything with the woman being long-term, and even if it was abandoning the group is not what the writers seem interested in.

Andrew Lincoln looks amazing. I never knew if we'd see him clean-shaven again. I was a little amazed to see theater legend Tovah Feldshuh on this show as Deanna. I hope she sticks around a bit, but I suspect she may be the noble leader who falls to make Alexandria a better place despite its other dumb and sheltered citizens, like her son. She's great as always. It was pretty emotional to see Rick and Michonne honored with those positions. I do think the almost Game of Thrones-esque gamesmanship that may be entering the equation is fascinating - the three most hardened people conspiring in the dark, two of them dressed in normal suburban drag that hides their true selves, talking candidly about how they'll have to handle the place. Carol is playing it brilliantly. I think Alexandria has good people, but weak ones. I do hope the group can forge a newer, stronger community out of it without it falling apart or being purged through disaster. As for the new chick, Rick might sleep with her but I am not seeing some major romance. The husband is clearly bad news. And whether or not the show ever pulls the trigger on Rick and Michonne, they clearly have no intention of stepping away from their relationship or its intimacy, which is more than enough for me.

Because she sucked.

Eh, maybe they will someday or they won't. To me Rick and Michonne is like Daryl and Carol; I'd love it if they someday went there and made it explicit, sure, but I can also see the argument for keeping it in a vague place and never breaking the seal on either pairing. (With the latter, especially, they're such particular and sometimes aloof characters that making it go there might be cheapening the intimacy.) It's just not what I watch for so much as the people and the larger family and relationships. And I don't think the show is really working towards any of that romance stuff or signposting anything, but I do think they've decided that if it happens they want it to be organic and well-rooted. So they just seem to keep building and building the relationships, whether they're platonic or potentially more, deeper and deeper. And that doesn't just go for potential romances but for the friendships - Rick and Daryl, Maggie and Sasha, Carl and Michonne, Glenn and Rick, and so on. They just keep building the family, and that's what I watch for.

That does not make sense.

New victim, same "act drunk" M.O.

Russ Tamblyn has been asked back as Dr. Jacoby for the new series. Provided he's well enough after his recent surgery, he will appear. I keep hoping Amber Tamblyn - a regular presence at TP events with him - will tag along. She's building quite a solid character actor career and has just gotten better and better as an adult actress. A writer for Rue Morgue has released his unedited interview with Sheryl Lee from last year. Carel Struycken (The Giant and Star Trek: The Next Generation's Mr. Homn) talks about his experience, and is hoping he'll be asked back.

There's a 90-minute finale coming next month.