7.09: The Walking Dead - Rock In The Road

[ctg]

Rick, Michonne, Aaron, Tara and Rosita (Photo by Gene Page/AMC)

Rick and the others are led to a new community, where they meet the residents and their ruler; a familiar face resurfaces.

 

[ctg]

I have a good feeling that this is going to be the real return in this season, while the first half was the nightmare. Literally.

In fact, people left the series because Negan's introduction was too much. I hope they don't stay mad at the producers and Mr Kirkman forever and ever again. I, for one, cannot wait to get back to Kirkman's other TV series the Outcast or find out, who bad the situation at Mexican Border (without the bloody wall) has got in the Fear The Walking Dead.

All that happened in the last half, things could have got much worse, and Rick's crew could be back on the road again. There isn't much that is holding Rick to Alexandria. Not really. It isn't even his hometown. Everyone could now lift their foot from the break and get on with it since Eugene has switched sides.

The one man, who screwed things up for all of them at Road to Washington DC, could be finally forgotten but I don't think Rick really can give up. In his heart he is still a sheriff. He might be showing it via his shield, but all that it is to be the lawman is in his soul. Being a law officer wasn't just a job. It was his world even though since the zombie apocalypse dawned, he hasn't done much of that kind of work. In a way, Rick lost his way and all the people in his posse couldn't put him back.

He was gone. Almost for good.

But that's the thing, people in Rick's group never give up. They can't because the fate of humanity almost rests in his shoulders. It's just he doesn't feel that burden. None of them do, or otherwise they would have been bonking their brains out by now. We humans can also boost up our numbers. And the numbers are the key to win the apocalypse, because the previous world is still around them even if the populace is now mostly dragging their feet and dream about feeding.

The key for survival is the people. Rest is just work.

That is what I believe we will see when the Walking Dead returns in the small screen at 12th of February.

 

[REBerg]

Holy deadly clotheslining! Rick and Michonne taking out a big chunk of the walker horde with a cable tied to two vehicles was great!

The recruiting mission wasn't too successful, but they did get explosives to help even the odds against the Saviors. I think Rick has found the army he was seeking in the last scene, judging by the smile he cracked in the final seconds.

Gabriel's action left me mystified. He took a lot more food and tools than he personally could use. I don't think he just refound his inner coward and deserted the community.

All of this packed into one episode. I hope the rest of the season keeps up the pace.

 

[ctg]

Gabriel's action left me mystified. He took a lot more food and tools than he personally could use. I don't think he just refound his inner coward and deserted the community.

You're right, his actions are mystified as a man, but not as a priest. The first and foremost thought any chaplain would be to preserve the flock. The people under his influence, and the way things have gone in the past, hasn't filled Gabriel with a confidence. One thing he isn't scared is the killing. And he isn't going to let his people get slaughtered because they're weak and give away their possessions to a ruthless savage.

What Garbiel tries to do, in my honest opinion, is an act of survivalism and what he is doing, is hoarding. Gathering supplies for the rainy day. Food, weapons and whatever is needed for him to offer them a real sanctuary if the need arrives.

Or then Gabriel, as you said, deserted the community for his own good, because nothing in his past got resolved and he's just acting like in the last time, he had a church. And that act was called cowardly hiding.

I don't think God would be pleased for him to abandon his people. Would He?

 

[ctg]

War. War never changes.

War will always need people to fight battles and die honourable for fighting over ideas. Giving up and let Negan to be a slave lord was never in the cards for Rick's crew. Otherwise he would have given up, when Lucielle smashed some heads. It would have been easier for him if the world would have rolled over and kissed his feet.

To Rick and his people, fighting is in their nature. They cannot help it, because it also part of human nature, to not give up and play nicely with the oppressors. Even the Bible teaches that in the Old Testament with Moses's flight over the Red Sea. Or David with his sling.

Gregory doesn't represent that part of the humanity. He is a coward, who don't want to put up a fight, but actually just like to repeat the benefits from other people work. We all know that sort of people. So it is easy to understand why Hilltop's people rise up to occasion and accepts the Call for Arms.

It is not the weapons that are doing the killing in battlefields. It is the people who do that. We call them soldiers, but in case of the uprise, what we see in the small screen is a revolution.

People rising up to oppose an absolute tyranny. They don't want to go down in the history for not showing their mind on what is to be humane than allowing themselves to become slaves for the Saviors.

Oh that irony. Don't you love it?

The state of decay has started to become very noticeable in the show. There are rarely sets that shows any signs of maintenance in the States. Even the grasses are pushing through the cracks in the pavements, soon to be fully covered under the sea of green.

Only thing that's different are the ever present threat of zombies. In places, where I see them trapped, unable to hunt I've started feeling sorry for them and actually wishing that someone would put them down. What if, somewhere among that chaos is still part of humanity left, trapped forever inside the brain of the dead. Wouldn't a death be a blessing for them instead of feeling perpetual hunger as if it's a curse?

I've kind of started to understand why it was so difficult for some to accept that the dead aren't their loved ones. Not the people who they've shared memories with. What the audience still don't acknowledge is that the people in Kirkman's world never developed zombie literature.

I don't even think they've vampire stories. Or any other stories about the dead. Nothing other than the Mexican culture. And that is based on the belief of afterlife and the people, who we lost, coming back to visit us time to time.

Still fighting never becomes easy. It is always hard. Always dangerous. Reasons they do it for are good. They fight for the Freedom. The idea American forefathers installed in their people, when they put up a fight with the Redcoats.




Good episode. And a real nice opening for the second half.

 

[nixie]

Woo loved the wired clothes line. Now that was more like it. The kingdom will join eventually.
Who was that group at the end. I think Gabriel is with them.

 

[svalbard]

I agree. I believe Gabriel is with that group at the end. When he left at the start of the episode there was a second person in the car. Think it could be the person with the boots we saw at the mid season interval.

A strong opening episode.

 

[ctg]

When he left at the start of the episode there was a second person in the car.

 

[svalbard]

I cannot make out the pictures.. When Gabriel drove off the figure of someone popped up..

 

[ctg]

When Gabriel drove off the figure of someone popped up..

Oh. I have to check it again. Thanks for the tip.

 

[ctg]

The second head pops up a split second before the title scene starts. I didn't notice it. You got better eyes than me, svalbard. Was Gabriel allied with these people? Are they the Wolves?

 

[svalbard]

I think the clue is in the Bible. Gabriel is directing the group somewhere or to someone. The supplies could be a gift to the new group to join with Rick?

 

[ctg]

Gabriel is directing the group somewhere or to someone. The supplies could be a gift to the new group to join with Rick?

Thing about Gabriel is that he is in conflict with the God. You check out the verses from his church and you see they all are quotes about the dead rising up and taking a vengeance on humanity. He almost lost his faith at the Road to Alexandria, and it was renewed when they got that water shipment from Aaron.

He even fought against Saviors in the Satellite Station and acted as if he were a battle-chaplain. All this time Gabriel has been more than willing to take out Negan, so betraying the group sounds so highly unlikely, when his aim was to save Alexandrians and Rick's group.

Rick's group and Hilltop both showed weapons as a sign of force, when new people have arrived and now that the party is on war foot, that large group of Saviors would mean a finish to the series.

Wolves as well, because so far the evidence has pointed that the Wolves don't leave behind living communities.

 

[Gnrevolution]

So the note (from Gabriel supposedly) said boat, the same boat Rick and Aaron were at a couple of eps ago, where the mysterious boot was seen. My guess, Gabriel decides that if Negan's crew see they don't have any stuff, they can;t take anything, so he decides to hide it all. However the mysterious boot person kidnaps him and leaves the message. Who is the mysterious boot person? Well from looked liked almost exclusively females at the end, is it not the group Tara escaped from? They tracked her down, but are now confronted with a priest (were they religious?) and Rick's, is Gabriel gonna pull a threepio and get them out of the stchook? I assumed Rick was smiling because now he has his army to fight Negan, or at least to persuad the others to join in (primarily Ezekiel).

 

[REBerg]

Woo loved the wired clothes line. Now that was more like it. The kingdom will join eventually.
Who was that group at the end. I think Gabriel is with them.

Yeah, maybe Rick smiled because he spotted Gabriel.

 

[ctg]

Yeah, maybe Rick smiled because he spotted Gabriel

Was he smiling at the Gabriel or was he putting up a smile, because he realised they weren't going to kill them outright? These people aren't Saviors, because otherwise they would have opened fire for Rick and Carl carrying visibly arms.

 

[ctg]

As Rick and Michonne's cars zipped down the road attached by a wire which was previously dangling explosives across the road, they sliced through so many zombies that it was impossible to keep track. Hundreds of new bicycle girls were made as torsos separated from legs and limbs were sent flying across the highway.

According to AMC's official The Walking Dead story sync app, the slicing of zombies is being counted as confirmed kills. As for how many walkers were taken out, not even the team involved with the show has an exact number, but they're crediting Rick and Michonne with over 300 kills.

The epic zombie kills were not originally a part of the plan for Rock in the Road. Executive producer Greg Nicotero directed the midseason 7 premiere of The Walking Dead and spawned the idea after reading the script.

The Walking Dead Sets A New Confirmed Walker Kills Record

It was epic on first, second and third time as ReBerg mentioned it in his post. I didn't want to comment about it, back then because I didn't want to spoil the fun from others as I was clapping my hands on the epic massacre.

300 kills with a wire. Man, that's a high number.

Showrunner Scott Gimple had to get on board. "I pitched it to Scott. I said, 'Let's have them hot wire the cars. As long as we can separate Carl and Tara and them from Rick and Michonne, it gives us a great opportunity to have Rick and Michonne do something together.'"

As for Andrew Lincoln, the man charged with playing Rick Grimes, he was as excited as anybody for the scene to come to life. "What I loved about that whole thing is that obviously Rick's getting his mojo back, but I loved the way we shot it and I loved the cars that we used," Lincoln said. "It felt like we were in some 1970s lone, low fi American indie movie. It was a pretty wild day. It was amazing. Then they called in all these drones."

 

[Mister_Oy]

Great return for the 2nd half of the season, despite the worst cgi animal of the modern era! That Tiger really is RUBBISH!

Good to see the gang and Rick in particular getting his mojo back. All those explosives kinda puzzled me though. THAT many needed? Really? A good chance of ONE walker setting off the whole lot. Pointless. Gave the good guys some firepower though which is what it was about I suppose.