The Walking Dead Check-In and Some Other Stuff

I haven't written any posts about the first episodes of the back half of the season, but I've really liked them? I think the show is finding a new rhythm and I like it. I do think the show continues to struggle with the introduction of new characters and this continues to trouble me a little bit because of the necessity of killing people off, lol. But alas!

I think part of why these episodes have worked has been because of how successfully they split the group into interesting subsections. Of course my favorite is Rick and Michonne and Carl and the Michonne and Carl stuff has just been top notch, like SO GOOD. This is probably one of my favorite scenes, I just love how Michonne's journey has been about choosing to open her heart up to love again despite loss. And while yes that's hard to do in a zombie filled world, there's a clear parallel to real life...that it's hard to open up again after you've been brutally hurt. And Carl is just so sweet, ugh, SO SWEET. It's still safe with me. I mean really such a perfect and right response. I love how they are functioning like a family unit even if there's no romance (yet!) I just love them all together so much and individually--I guess I'm incoherent about it! It's been a surprising sweet spot in the show filling me with so many feelings!

I finally got attached to Tyreese a little bit, too, after watching him bumble around with the three little girls (including baby Judith!!) aw. Kudos to the person on tumblr who spotted him running away with her in the mid-season finale! Right on! Lizzie is clearly a psychopath and therefore one of the most interesting characters at the moment. I LOVE that Carol and Tyreese are now together...I'm hoping for maximum drama and fallout from this tbh.

Props to the writers for foreshadowing Daryl and Beth's time together in the season premiere. It's an interesting combination. I'm not sure how I feel about Beth's voiceovers/diary reading. I thought it was very effective during the open of episode ten, but it seems like they are continuing with it and it feels a bit of a cheat. Beth is by far one of the more underdeveloped characters and so using this method to give us insight into her ~feelings, I just. I don't know.

I feel like I should have more feelings about Maggie and Glenn looking for each other, but I don't. I do love Sasha, though! She's so fierce. PLEASE DON'T KILL HER OFF SHOW.

Fingers crossed they do better with developing the three new characters they've just given us.

One of the things I love about the show and that I feel it does well (perhaps Gimple in particular) is to give us hints of all the stories that we'll never see. Like the bedroom Michonne found or the zombie Rick and Carl found with the note about having the courage to do what he couldn't. There are all these hints and reminders of a painful world with many more people. I love it.

Other Stuff

I also watched the Carrie remake with my girl Chloe Moretz. I never really watched the original all the way through or read the book, but this movie got pretty good reviews? Or at least reviews raising interesting ideas. It was okay, but the actual biggest thing I came away with is that Ansel Elgort is going to be a PERFECT Gus in TFIOS! He's really super charming in that Gus sort of way!! The one other thing that kind of slayed me was that they played "Dust to Dust" by The Civil Wars as the slow dance Carrie and um Ansel dance to. It's about two lonely people finding each other ;__;

Amazon Prime put up some pilots for voting. I fell asleep during Bosch and The After is...weird. I was bummed because it's a Chris Carter pilot, but it was too ambitious and the pilot gave no sense of what the show would be about. It sort of details a catastrophic world ending and then after a bunch of drama, we maybe see an alien at the end? Also, do these shows have to be full of language and gratuitous nudity? I know I sound like a grumpy old lady, but really now.

And...that's all I got! I'm still behind on The Fosters (don't spoil me!!) but am I wrong in thinking Maia Mitchell is an exceptional talent? Feel free to tell me I'm blinded by love for the character or her charm!

Also problematically I cannot seem to commit to a book and I'm reading like ten at once.