5.05: The Walking Dead - Self Help

[ctg]

A new set of issues confront the group while on a mission. Will they be able to push through and survive these challenges? Or better yet, each other?

 

[markpud]

I guess we're not getting anything from the Beth/Carol storyline this week then.. the pattern last year was to dedicate whole episodes to each sub-group in turn.

 

[Jesse412]

Episode 5 "Self Help" I wasn't expecting the bus to flip over or the reveal that Eugene sabotaged it. The Abraham flashbacks were interesting. I was pretty shocked that Eugene came clean to the group. Pretty satisfying seeing Abe knock him out. Great ending. Looking forward to seeing what happened to Carol and Daryl next week.

 

[ctg]

Abraham is the man I found most relation when I read the comics, and I only have to raise a hat to a wonderful adaptation of this scene. He is a man with a mission, and while he has one, he cannot fail. That's what kept him alive over the seas and that's what kept him alive so far. But not any more. he has even less of a purpose now than at back then when eat the pipe and thought about the final solution.

Rick went through that same phase and that broke him. You saw it. He started talking to the dead people. What will happen, I don't know. I'm as blind as you're as I know that things has gone awfully awry this year. And they are not following the script. So it makes this situation really interesting.

a) They have a man without a mission, without a reason to live as far as Abraham sees it in this world. So he breaks down and hits the swarm with a one thing in his mind. The end.

b) It's the long way around, knowing that they have sent Rick on the path to Washington. Abraham collects his bones and sulk at Eugene, while the group really understands his value and the purpose of finding out what the Capital knew about the infection. After all, isn't that the neighbourhood where they could find some answers, and possible quite wicked "executive" hideouts.

c) It's short road back, but it's mighty thing to swallow for the man who has lost his world. He purpose. Abraham bashes Eugene once more to make sure that the moron knows his place, and the wrong he did. He grins all the way back to the Church, where Gabriel gives them a small talk about the way of forgiving the sins. The big man breaks down and ask for Eugene forgiveness.

d) They all ready f**ked up by shouting and the hoard is on the way. Someone dies for sure. They catch up with Rick's group on the way to Atlanta to save Carol and Beth from the bastards that locked her in the seclusive slave camp, and their leader whose waiting for the Government propelling with special anti-zombie units and pockets full of anti-zombie medication.

e) We don't know, because Mr Kirkman is one evil person and the moment you think you know, he proves that we know nothing.

Whatever it is, the one thing I know is that the sadness hasn't stopped. There is no glimmer of hope. Everyone has it and it's either do or die, or go through necromorphosis and become soulless monster that ravages any living in sight. That hoard was there for a reason and in my mind I see them as the ultimate clean-up crew. They simply will either get their prey or they force their victims in devilish situation, where at the end your either break it through it or you become part of the army of the walking dead.

They are at the moment getting to a point, where the hoards big impossible wide and therefore, as difficult to stop as they will trample through the area to find anything to put in their stomach. There's no doubt about that in my mind. You just watch that trampled grass they had spilled all over the road because to me it looked as if tens of thousands had just walked into that town.

May Lord be gracious and offer guidance to those poor souls still trapped in there.

 

[markpud]

I really wasn't expecting Eugene to come clean so quickly (comic readers knew it was coming though). The punches Abraham dished out could easily have killed him, especially with the face-plant to unconsciousness! Guessing his free pass to watching sexy time is officially rescinded!

I liked the way Maggie worked out that the mullet is a disguise. Her and Glenn are doing what they need to do to survive and keep moving forward. But she's still not mentioned Beth so perhaps they really think she's dead after Daryl said she was "gone"?

The library was a good base, perhaps they'll head back there? Not sure how far they got in the fire engine before it failed... But Abe's not looking too good for rational decision-making right now.

The bus crash was unexpected, not so quickly after departure. Worse driving than Lori? Rick & co will see that burnout pretty soon after they hit the road, and fear the worst. Using the hose was one of the "how can we kill zombies in new ways" moments that Nicotero likes to get into the show, but probably a waste of water that could have been better used if that group of walkers could be taken out conventionally. But I still remember the truck full of water cooler bottles on the highway in s2. Shane took a shower from one of them but they were never seen or mentioned again, even when they revisited that spot after leaving the farm.

The style of Abe's flashbacks was nicely done to break up the main story. Was that his wife and kids who'd become so terrified of him/those other guys he killed? Ending the show with Eugene's first appearance, barely maintaining pace from the trio of walkers, and showing the start of Abe's post-family mission just after we saw it's end.

 

[Culhwch]

This episode got a bit tiresome for me. I didn't mind Abraham's character after he was introduced last season and through the start of this season - he seemed reasonable even if he was focused on his mission. But this episode just turned him into a stubborn idiot, really, without any true explanation. If he truly wanted to complete his mission, he'd have listened to reason and gone back - either to go around the horde, or meet up with Rick's group again for safety in numbers. But if they do that, then I guess Eugene loses his impetus to confess (which was prompted again out of self-preservation, I feel - he's a smart man, he knew they weren't getting to the other end of that road).

 

[alchemist]

I knew that Eugene was a bad 'un!

I hope they do keep on for Washington because that storyline gave the plot a bit of momentum. The focus badly needs to shift from traipsing through the woods every week.

 

[Bugg]

I have to say I found last week's episode dull (Beth is such a boring character!) but this one took it to the limits of my patience. Apart from Glen and Maggie (who had very little to do) I don't care about any of these people. The whole episode, and the splitting of the storylines, just seems like a waste of time to me.

 

[markpud]

Hopefully Abraham will be a bit less gung-ho now that he no longer has a mission. He is a broken man. He was definitely behaving OTT, but seeing how he picked up Eugene's mission when he had literally nothing to live for puts some context around why he's been so relentless.

Agree on the split storylines, I believe they're trying to be more immersive with each group so we can get to know the newer and side characters. It can fall a little flat at times, especially when Rick is sidelined for multiple episodes.

 

[svalbard]

It was an ok episode. I do find that the show flags when Rick is not part of the storyline. He is the most compelling character in the whole series and I do hope we get more of him in the remaining episodes.

 

[ctg]

I think you all feel that they should go back and join the forces with Rick's group now that the original mission is finished more and less. It would be wisest course of action they can take, but the problem still is that I'm not sure that the zombies didn't notice them shouting and fighting even if the fire-truck is still behind the hill. There is not much any other noises muffling the action, and when it comes to the noises the producers has literally shown that the undead can hear noises in places where they shouldn't. So to get out from there, they're going to need the fire-engine in full working order or then it's a long walk against splinter group of zombies. Like the one they'd swarming upon them when the bus crashed.

 

[Bugg]

when it comes to the noises the producers has literally shown that the undead can hear noises in places where they shouldn't.

Unless it doesn't fit the plot

 

[markpud]

They were downwind of the herd, hence smelling them before they came into view. So in theory the walkers wouldn't hear them from that distance (could have been half a mile or more?). But the extreme shouting and fighting may well have piqued their interest. We shall see (but probably not next week if it focusses on another group again)!

 

[Dave]

I knew that Eugene was a bad 'un!

I hope they do keep on for Washington because that storyline gave the plot a bit of momentum. The focus badly needs to shift from traipsing through the woods every week.

I agree with this. They went to the CDC in Season One, and yet no one ever mentioned this, even in passing conversation. They could have outed Eugene much earlier. I didn't see his story as a total lie though, I thought there must have been some substance to it.

Without a goal, things are likely to fall apart. With Hope people can do extraordinary things. Without Hope they tend to give up.

Hopefully Abraham will be a bit less gung-ho now that he no longer has a mission. He is a broken man.

I'd be unsure if he could pick himself up again. He invested everything into the mission. He has lost all face.

Maybe they will all move back into the city. It seems easier to defend than the woods.