"Paul Levinson's It's Real Life is a page-turning exploration into that multiverse known as rock and roll. But it is much more than a marvelous adventure narrated by a master storyteller...it is also an exquisite meditation on the very nature of alternate history." -- Jack Dann, The Fiction Writer's Guide to Alternate History

Monday, February 9, 2015

The Walking Dead 5.9: Another Death in the Family

The Walking Dead 5.9 was back after its winter break with another death in the family.  This kind of death - at the mouths of walkers - had to happen, to keep the series true to its roots.  Beth's death was more traumatic, but it was a death which didn't touch base with the basic, omnipresent environment of the series:  walkers who can kill you just about any place and any time.

Our crew has probably escaped these kinds of deaths more than is plausible, given the scenario of the series.  So, every once in a while, someone has to die that way - someone very important.  Herschel was bitten but survived.  If I'm not mistaken, the last truly major character of huge importance to the story to die because of a walker's bite directly or indirectly was Lori.

And so tonight it was Tyreese.   In many ways, he'd become the heart and soul of the show, because of his kindness and gentle spirit.  And he was given a great send-off, replete with cameos from, of course, Beth, but also surprises like the Governor.   His death thus marked an important rite and night of passage from what has happened before on The Walking Dead to what will now come after.

I had to say I was hoping, as the story unfolded, for another resolution.  It would be nice in some episode, sooner or later, to come upon someone with a natural immunity to the walkers' bites and the illness they spread.  That someone could well have been Tyreese.   But it was not to be.

And that's not really surprising, because The Walking Dead never was and never will be about nice. It's about the indomitable human spirit standing up to almost impossibly overwhelming odds, with almost all cards stacked against it, and if not winning, at least staying in the game.

What will happen in the end?   We'll just have to wait until the end of the series to know.  In the meantime, Washington DC beckons.

See also: The Walking Dead 5.1: The Redemption of Carole ... The Walking Dead 5.3: Meets Alfred Hitchcock and The Twilight Zone ... The Walking Dead 5.4: Hospital of Horror ... The Walking Dead 5.5: Anatomy of a Shattered Dream ... The Walking Dead 5.6-7: Slow ... The Walking Dead 5.8: Killing the Non-Killer

And see also The Walking Dead 4.1: The New Plague ... The Walking Dead 4.2: The Baby and the Flu ... The Walking Dead 4.3: Death in Every Corner ...The Walking Dead 4.4: Hershel, Carl, and Maggie ... The Walking Dead 4.6: The Good Governor ... The Walking Dead 4.7: The Governor's Other Foot ... The Walking Dead 4.8: Vintage Fall Finale ... The Walking Dead 4.9: A Nightmare on Walking Dead Street ... The Walking Dead 4:14: Too Far ... The Walking Dead Season 4 Finale: From the Gunfire into the Frying Pan


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no cannibalism but at least a plague in The Consciousness Plague

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