"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, November 20, 2017

The Walking Dead 8.5: True Confessions




Here, in order of importance, are some of the many game-changing or game-revealing moments in tonight's episode 8.5 of The Walking Dead.  Nah, they're all so important, I can't logically rank them.  So I'll give them the good old bullet treatment:

  • That flying machine that Rick saw overhead - that could definitely change everything.  Any sign of advanced civilization - i.e., our world, as it is now, or before the plague, in The Walking Dead, is a big deal.
  • Eugene figured out that Dwight is the turncoat,  Given Negan's little talk with Eugene at the end, the pressure is really turned up.  It will be tempting indeed for Eugene to turn Dwight in - unless his superior intellect tells him that Negan (the one Negan) will lose in the end.  My best bet is ... well, too close to call, but at this point I'd give Eugene protecting Dwight the slight edge (I haven't read the comics).
  • Negan's confession to Gabriel: Negan admits weakness because he couldn't bring himself to end his first wife, who was sick and presumably dying, after the plague had started.   Not the most earthshaking confession. But, from Negan, anything of this sort is fairly astounding.
  • Speaking of Gabriel: what is his ailment that we see so vividly at the end?  The strong implication is that he was bitten, but .... well, that hasn't happened to one of major characters in a long time, which makes it even more likely now.
  • Back to Rick: he and Daryl actually come to blows, and - unsurprisingly - neither gets a clear win, though Daryl comes out slightly ahead.  It was a good scene.
Seeing the other side - or, in this case, the inside of events that opened the season - is always a strong narrative move.  Tonight's episode showed us lots of inside, other side stories, and was one of the best of this already-excellent season so far.

See also: The Walking Dead 8.4: The King's Not Smiling

And see also:  The Walking Dead 7.1 ... The Walking Dead 7.7: Negan and the Kids

And see also: The Walking Dead 6.1: The Walking Herd ...  The Walking Dead Season 6 Finale: Who Was It?

And 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 ... The Walking Dead 5.9: Another Death in the Family ... The Walking Dead 5.11: The Smiling Stranger ... The Walking Dead 5.12: The Other Shoe ... The Walking Dead 5.13: The Horse and the Party ... The Walking Dead 5.15: The Bad Guy ... The Walking Dead Season 5 Finale: Morgan and Optimism

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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