#twd 5x13

[sleepysnailart]

Sasha needs a hug pls :/

#the walking dead #rewatching #twd sasha #twd 5x13

[rown-cheese]

cw: mort

TWD est une putain de boucle :')

Saison 2, Rick bute Shane parce que Shane a pécho Lori et tenté de le tuer

Saison 5, Rick pécho la femme d'un autre et celui-ci va tenter de le tuer ou de le faire tuer

#TWD #TWD 5x13

[redrisingsun]

gays watching daryl dixon eat:

#im laughing so hard actually #twd #the walking dead #5x13

[arcanespillo]

girl daryl having dinner with that cheeky couple in s5 ep 13 is so funny also so relatable yes babygirl destroy that plate

#daryl dixon #twd 5x13 #the walking dead

[wolfish-nightmares]

Game of Survival

Pairings: The Group x gn!reader

Era: Season 1-11

Warnings: TWD gore and violence. Bad language. 18+

Category: Fluff. Angst.

Word Count:

Summary: With no other choice, you must learn to play this new game of survival. 

Prologue

Season 1: 

1x1 - Days Gone Bye 1x3 - Tell It to the Frogs 1x4 - Vatos 1x5 - Wildfire 1x6 - TS-19

Season 2:

2x1 - What Lies Ahead 2x2 - Bloodletting  2x3 - Save the Last One 2x4 - Cherokee Rose 2x5 - Chupacabra  2x6 - Secrets 2x7 - Pretty Much 2x8 - Nebraska 2x9 - Triggerfinger  2x10 - 18 Miles Out 2x11 - Judge, Jury, Executioner  2x12 - Better Angels 2x13 - Beside the Dying Fire 

Season 3: 

3x1 - Seed 3x2 - Sick 3x3 - Walk With Me 3x4 - Killer Within 3x5 - Say the Word  3x6 - Hounded  3x7 - When the Dead Come Knocking 3x8 - Made to Suffer  3x9 - The Suicide King 3x10 - Home 3x11 - I Ain’t Judas 3x12 - Clear 3x13 - Arrow on the Doorpost 3x14 - Prey 3x15 - This Sorrowful Life 3x16 - Welcome to the Tombs

Season: 4

4x1 - 30 Days Without an Accident 4x2 - Infected 4x3 - Isolation 4x4 - Indifference  4x5 - Internment 4x6 - Live Bait 4x7 - Dead Weight 4x8 - Too Far Gone 4x9 - After 4x10 - Inmates 4x11 - Claimed 4x12 - Still 4x13 - Alone 4x14 - The Grove 4x15 - Us 4x16 - A

Season 5: 

5x1 - No Sanctuary  5x2 - Strangers 5x3 - Four Walls and a Roof 5x4 - Slabtown 5x6 - Self Help 5x7 - Consumed 5x8 - Coda 5x9 - What Happened and What’s Going On 5x10 - Them 5x11 - The Distance  5x12 - Remember  5x13 - Forget 5x14 - Spend 5x15 - Try 5x16 - Conquer 

Season 6: 

6x1 - First Time Again  6x2 - JSS 6x3 - Thank You 6x4 - Here’s Not Here 6x5 - Now 6x6 - Always Accountable  6x7 - Heads Up 6x8 - Start to FInish 6x9 - No Way Out 6x10 - The Next World 6x11 - Knots Untie 6x12 - Not Tomorrow Yet 6x13- The Same Boat 6x14 - Twice As Far 6x15 - East  6x16 - Last Day on Earth 

Season 7: 

7x1 - The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be 7x2 - The Well 7x3 - The Cell 7x4 - Service 7x5 - Go Getter  7x6 - Swear 7x7 - Sing Me a Song 7x8 - Hearts Still Beating 7x9 - Rock in the Road 7x10 - New Best Friends 7x11 - Hostiles and Calamities  7x12 - Say Yes 7x13 - Bury Me Here 7x14 - The Other Side  7x15 - Something They Need 7x16 - The First Day of the Rest of Your Life 

Season 8: 

8x1 - Mercy 8x2 - The Damned  8x3 - Monsters 8x4 - Some Guy  8x5 - The Big Scary U 8x6 - The King, the Widow, and Rick 8x7 - Time for After  8x8 - How It’s Gotta Be 8x9 - Honor 8x10 - The Lost and the Plunderers  8x11 - Dead or Alive Or 8x12 - The Key 8x13 - Do Not Send Us Astray  8x14 - Still Gotta Mean Something 8x15 - Worth  8x16 - Wrath

Season 9: 

9x1 - A New Beginning 9x2 - The Bridge 9x3 - Warning Signs 9x4 - The Obliged 9x5 - What Comes After 9x6 - Who Are You Now? 9x7 - Stradivarius 9x8 - Evolution 9x9 - Adaptation 9x10 - Omega 9x11 - Bounty 9x12 - Guardians 9x13 - Chokepoint 9x14 - Scars 9x15 - The Calm Before 9x16 - The Storm

Season 10: 

10x0 - Holiday Special 10x1 - Lines We Cross 10x2 - We Are the End of the World 10x3 - Ghost 10x4 - Silence the Whisperers 10x5 - What It Always Is 10x6 - Bonds 10x7 - Open Your Eyes 10x8 - The World Before 10x9 - Squeeze 10x10 - Stalker 10x11 - Morning Star 10x12 - Walk with Us 10x13 - What We Become 10x14 - Look at the Flowers 10x15 - The Tower 10x16 - A Certain Doom 10x17 - Home Sweet Home 10x18 - Find Me 10x19 - One More 10x20 - Splinter 10x21 - Diverged 10x22 - Here's Negan

Season 11: 

11x1 - Acheron: Part 1 11x2 - Acheron: Part 2 11x3 - Hunted 11x4 - Rendition 11x5 - Out of the Ashes 11x6 - On the Inside 11x7 - Promises Broken 11x8 - For Blood 11x9 - No Other Way 11x10 - New Haunts 11x11 - Rogue Element 11x12 - The Lucky Ones 11x13 - Warlords 11x14 - The Rotten Core 11x15 - Trust 11x16 - Acts of God 11x17 - Lockdown 11x18 - A New Deal 11x19 - Variant 11x20 - What's Been Lost 11x21 - Outpost 22

#the walking dead x reader #game of survival

[daryl-dixon-daydreams]

“I’ll get ya some rabbits.” Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon in The Walking Dead S5 E13 - Forget gifs by @daryl-dixon-daydreams | follow for daily Daryl content!

#norman reedus #daryl dixon #gifs by me #the walking dead #twd gifs #season 5 #twd 5x13 #forget

[annoyingabouteverything]

I like that Carol knows that Daryl needs to try in Alexandria even though she can’t try. Just like how he needs to feel it and she can’t 

#twd s5 #5x13 #forget #carol peletier #caryl #the man needs to be domesticated so damn bad

[grimesadvocate]

Richonne in Forget [The Walking Dead]

#richonne #the walking dead #twd #rick grimes #michonne #frames #my edits #colourgrading #5x13 #season 5 #episode 13 #it's the way they look at each other #michonne do you see how he's staring at you #it's so obvious how much they like each other #the jessie subplot was so stupid and a waste of screentime #especially when richonne was meant to be so what's the reason #I know it's in the comics but it did nothing for the show #instead they should've just showed us more of richonne

[thewalkingcaps]

#The Walking Dead #twd #twdedit #s5 #5x13 #Rick Grimes #Andrew Lincoln

[thewdead]

The Walking Dead | 5x13 - Forget

#norman reedus #daryl dixon #the walking dead #twd #season 5 #5x13 #forget #edits #my edits #daryledit #twd daryl #twd screencaps #screencaptures #daryl #dixon #twd s5 #twd 5x13 #thewdead #twd episodes

[whateverisbeautiful]

Richonne in Retrospect

#35: The Authority (5x13)

Rick and Michonne are compatible in a whole lot of ways and both of them have a certain authority about them. And in their new job positions we get to see how they’re both literal authority figures in the community as well as how they have a certain healthy authority in each other’s lives as well. 

The first Richonne moment of 5x13 is when R&M discuss why they might have been given these authoritative roles. 

The scene starts with Michonne alone in her room and she’s trying to make the most of this cop outfit and I support her wanting to improve this look. 

And then, y’all, can we talk about Rick’s reaction to Michonne in this scene?  

Like y’all what is this adorableness right here? 😋 It’s everything and I’m glad that the actors did stuff like this for their characters, in order to keep building on the evolution of Rick and Michonne’s chemistry, despite a trifling storyline that was attempting to infringe on it.

It’s these little moments that helped keep Richonne on the horizon cuz I feel like it’s hard to interpret this whole raised eyebrow reaction as anything other than the fact that Rick was taking note of the Queen lol. And it’s not even like she was in some fancy outfit or anything, but more so Rick seems to be taken by her regardless, cuz Homeboy is always taken by her. 

His reaction feels similar to hers over the clean shaven face. And it’s cute that, similar to Rick’s nervousness with revealing his clean shaven face, Michonne seems a little nervous for this reveal too.  

(Also I briefly mentioned this before, but I love that by this point they’ve picked their own houses and clearly the magnets stuck together.) 

Rick says, “I don’t know if this is some kind of play. Handing authority to strangers.” And I appreciate that he’s willing to be transparent with her about still having some doubts, despite the fact that he “signed the papers” in taking this job. 

And then Michonne humorously brings up how it’s really just “the authority to break up fist fights” 

Rick makes the good point that if it was just that Deanna would have given one of those uniforms to Daryl.

To me, that means that Rick knows there’s probably something deeper that made Deanna pick him and Michonne specifically. Like there’s some unique quality in both of them that either Deanna appreciates or wants to control. 

Michonne smiles and says, “I don’t know if it’s for us or for them” and then she wisely suggests, “Or maybe Deanna’s trying to get rid of ‘us and them’”

And can I just note that Homeboy has all eyes on her during this conversation. I love that he is focused whenever she talks. 😋

Like the way Rick is standing and looking at her, makes his feelings for her pretty apparent cuz you can just visibly see how much he likes her and cares about her. ☺️

It’s also interesting that during this time Rick is keeping a secret from her about those guns. But just in his demeanor in this scene it’s clear he believes he’s keeping this secret to protect her rather than to leave her out. Cuz I know he care about the fact that Michonne really wants this place to work for her and so that’s a big reason he keeps the plan with Carol and Daryl under wraps.

I still don’t support keeping this little gun scheme from Michonne tho. But at least it led to my favorite season 5 scene with the “I’m still with you” moment. 👏🏽

But back to this scene, Homegirl stay strategizing, cuz then she’s brings up that maybe this is all a play to show them around in those jackets. She laments how that would be smart and she says Deanna seems smart. Deanna sensed Richonne so yep, she is smart. 💯😋

Michonne knows that play would be a clever tactic cuz she knows her and Rick are the baddest of the bunch, so if they’re in those jackets adhering to Deanna’s rules, it shows that Deanna was able to control two of the strongest people. 

Rick says, “Smart for then or smart for now?” and Michonne wisely reminds him of the thing he most needs reminded of, when she says “This is now.”

I feel like he really needed that wake-up call because he seems to be very much stuck in the past, be it the trauma of the Terminus encounter or losing Lori without closure. 

And, when he’s not living in the past, he’s on edge for what might be around the corner and what happens next so that’s all apart of what’s making him lose it. 

He needs someone to help him see that this is now and it’s okay to be in the present moment, and of course Michonne is the one to help him see that.

Like the way Rick reacts when she says that, you can tell he needed to hear that cuz when Michonne says it, you see it sort of snap Rick out of it for a second and I love how he allows her words to have so much authority in his life and really resonate with him.

Deanna has a meeting with Rick, Michonne and Maggie. And R&M just look like a little power couple in their matching windbreakers lol. 😋 Also I love that Rick now has a wife that could be on the force with him. 👏🏽

And Deanna explains that they “protect and serve” and I was like ain’t that the truth. She really can read people, cuz that’s what R&M do all the time; protect and serve. 👌🏽💯  

She tells them what the job entails and then she says, “People will listen to you.” And I love that Michonne says, “Because we’re wearing wind breakers?” lol. Talk about it, sis. 😂 

It’s funny that as Deanna is talking about her big goals of how one day civilization will be functioning and up and running again, Rick is clearly distracted. I was like “Deanna, just tell Michonne to say it and he’ll pay attention.” 😋

And then when Deanna notices him looking out the window she asks if her vision sounds like “pie in the sky” and Maggie says no and then Michonne says no and then Rick’s like “I guess I have to go with the pattern” so he says “no” too lol. 😂

And then, true to his cop DNA, he’s ready to get on to the more pressing issues when he says, “Can we talk security?” cuz before you can have a whole government and industry and commerce, he knows they first need to make sure this place is even as secure as it seems. 

It’s cool that Michonne gets to see a glimpse of Rick in his element of his past life as he talks security and Deanna was definitely right that this is still who he is cuz he falls back into this police role pretty naturally.

When they’re walking through ASZ, Sasha approaches and basically asks to be the ‪24/7‬ lookout to which I was like “y’all that’s a cry for help”. And when they learn that there’s currently no lookouts in the tower, both Rick and Michonne are not having that. 

I love that, in both of them expressing why they need a lookout, we get to see firsthand why Deanna made the right choice giving the two of them this job.

...And then there’s this welcome party. 😒

I mentioned that there would be some gif journeys. And gif journeys tend to come out when I feel the most tried lol. And the events of this party all the way tried it, especially once my eyes were open to all the Richonne build up prior to this. 

And while I’m over it now, I gotta take you on a little journey of how much I was not feeling this thing lol. 

So first of all; The whole time Rick is with this woman at this party I was legit watching like…

The. whole. time. lol And the little Petty Betty in me was like “It’s interesting that this episode is called “Forget” cuz Rick seems to have forgotten a couple things, the main one being that he has his literal soul mate living under the same roof as him and yet he’s getting caught up with this other chick.” 🙄

This woman says, “We all lost things. But then we got something back. It isn’t enough. But it’s something.” And I feel like that was pretty much Rick’s thinking with her, like “this isn’t enough to reconcile everything I’m feeling but maybe it’s something.” But it’s really nothing.

To me the most telling thing in the whole Jessie storyline is Rick’s words to Daryl in 5x12 when he says, “Lori and Me, we used to drive through neighborhoods like this. Thinking one day…” and then Daryl says “Well here we are.”

That is at the foundation of the entire thing. It was all about Rick being around some things that reminded him of his wife and now that he’s here he’s trying to get a “second chance” to save Lori in a sense, by trying to save this new lady. So when it comes to Jessie, as you all already know...

Like in 5x12 when Rick, suffering from PTSD, runs to look for Carl and Judith he runs into that sculpture and when talking to Jessie afterwards he straight up tells her, “I was in the middle of losing my mind.” And when he said that I was like...

Like that’s just more proof that he’s not in the best headspace during this whole arc and he even knows it himself.

And then at this party that little kid of hers, Sam, runs to tell her there’s no more cookies and Rick playfully says he knows the cookie maker and she’s a good friend and all that, and I was just like…

Cuz Michonne is out there on the porch by herself and he’s over here trying to be cute lol. Not here for it. 

Sam gives Rick a stamp and his mom says, “See now you’re officially one of us” and I was like…

So I’m already annoyed that Rick is out here blurring the lines with this married woman. And then I see that Michonne’s at this party looking sad and alone in a sad dress so then I’m even more salty lol. 

Like I wanted to be on that porch just staring down Rick from the window like...

But fr, I get so sad to see Michonne standing outside by herself at the party. It’s weird to me too that they never show Rick and Michonne interacting at this party but I think they had to keep them separate for this Jessie arc to really work. 

Otherwise Rick and this chick would make even less sense cuz when you see the way R&M are together it would be real hard to still try and suggest Rick has feelings for someone else. 

While it was strange to never really see Rick and Michonne acknowledge her and that situation, I’m kind of glad Michonne wasn’t put too in the mix of that storyline so that she didn’t have to deal with that mess. 

Like I notice that aside from Carol, really no one was shown to be that aware of Rick’s pursuit of this lady but I feel it also just further emphasizes how not serious his feelings were for her.

I’m glad that at least Abraham comes out to talk to Michonne. When he notices the little plastic sword she’s holding and he jokes “You packing different steel now?” 

And Abe is actually making some deep statements when he says, “You live by it, die by it.” And then he says how you pray you don’t forget how to use it but also don’t ever have to use it and it’s on your back even when it’s off. I was like alright Abe feels like preaching to somebody. 😂👏🏽 

And then Michonne looks over at him and asks how much he’s had to drink and they share a laugh which is sweet.

Abe tells her he’s come to realize things have actually worked well for him and then he asks her, “How about you? What have you done?” and then she says “I put on this dress.” which I believe is her suggesting the dress is sort of her way of attempting to get reacclimated to normal life. 

And Abe responds by saying, “Try again.” I still don’t know exactly what he meant by it. Maybe one of y’all can break it down for me. Like I know it wasn’t in a Tim Gunn way of critiquing the fashion choice lol. Even tho low key when he says that for some reason I always hear it like he’s saying...

But, if I had to guess, I think he just means she’s taken bigger steps forward than she realizes and so she’s gotta know she’s done more than just put on a dress. 

Inside the house, Rick tells Jessie how Judith and Carl are why he’s still here which made me really sad cuz now part of why he’s still here is about to be taken away when the show returns. 😭

And y’all, I would talk about what happens next in this interaction but you already know and I had to just skip it cuz I can’t lol. Like, again, for most of their moments this was my actual reaction…

All there is to say about it is that it’s just more proof that Rick was not in a good head space at this time. 

In a later scene, when Rick’s walking in ASZ he sees Jessie with her husband and they both put up their hands to show their little “A” stamp to which I was like...

Cuz the lines just stayed blurred and sketchy with them. 

But it really gets confirmed that Rick is not in the best headspace when he puts his hand on his gun as he watches Jessie and Pete walk away. Like this is before Rick knows about the abuse I think, so for Homeboy to even quickly contemplate taking out her husband in broad daylight just shows that he’s feeling real off. 

Plus he goes to a wall and listens to the walker on the other side, which is actually a cool shot and symbol, but again, he’s not all there rn. 

During this whole arc of Rick’s, I just wanted Iyanla to come along and give Rick a warm hug and be like...

In 5x14, Rick’s all adamant to help with that owl situation and people have to tell him it’s just an owl but for him it’s a way to be useful and save something which is his m.o.. 

When he’s talking with her about the owl and trying to be funny asking if she has any enemies or people who hate owls, I was just like...

As frustrating as Rick’s behavior is, there’s also this feeling of sadness for him cuz at the root you can see that all this is coming from a place of trying to fix something that he can’t go back and fix.  

And again, it’s implied that all this has to do with Lori when later Rick and Pete talk and Pete brings up how Rick lost his wife and how they’ve lost things and some things they’re just fighting really hard to hold on to. Which is exactly what Rick is doing.

(Side note: It makes me mad too cuz you can sees Michonne’s katanna in the back of this exchange with Rick and Pete and I was like Rick, bruh look over there at that sword and remember who you’re supposed to be with.)

And when Pete leaves, there’s a shot emphasizing Rick’s wedding ring to yet again confirm that this whole thing is about Lori.   

And then in 5x15, we see Michonne sad in her room when she finds one of Noah’s old shirts after he’s passed. 

It’s implied a couple times that clearly losing Noah was tough on her so I can’t even imagine how she’s supposed to go on when she loses Carl. 😥 Which is insane to even write out cuz I still can’t believe it’s actually come to this. 😭

Rosita tells Michonne that Sasha hasn’t been seen so they go look for her. As they walk, Rosita brings up how Michonne seems screwed up cuz they found something in ASZ and Michonne tells her “Noah’s dead. And I think. I just feel like I was asleep in there.” And she brings up how she doesn’t want to forget, what this world is.

It’s telling that she felt asleep in there. I think this ASZ move was a tough adjustment for Rick and Michonne, and a lot of that is because they had things trying to keep them apart, like Rick’s secret with Carol and Daryl and the trifling storyline with the married woman. And see when you’re magnets, that distance is bound to not sit right with them. 

And then when we get this scene where they find Sasha on a walker rampage, Michonne starts recalling who she was when she was slaying walkers outside these walls and joins Sasha in shooting the walkers. And when Sasha lets her know she’s got it, Michonne lets her know this isn’t for her.

Michonne helps get a walker off of Sasha to Sasha’s frustration. She gets up and points at Michonne and says, “You. You can’t do anything. It worked out for you. Don’t you see that? You can’t help me.” 

Y’all, this moment and the line “it worked out for you” has always been super interesting to me.  

What I think Sasha’s words mean is, not just that they got to go to ASZ like Michonne wanted, but that Sasha’s seen Michonne with Rick and the kids and she knows Michonne has a full on family now, whereas Sasha’s family was stripped away pretty quickly after each other with Bob and Tyreese.

Think about all the public Richonne bubble moments Rick and Michonne would have, with all TF around. Knowing that, it would make sense for Sasha to feel it worked out for Michonne cuz she sees the family unit she’s now apart of with Rick and his kids. 

(Side note: Sonequa’s acting when she talks about Noah tho. A1! Sis is holding it down in this scene. 👏🏽 )

And it’s also interesting to see Michonne’s reponse to Sasha saying this. Like she seems like this really causes her to think about what Sasha means.

When Rick returns to the house after confronting Jessie about the abuse, he tells Jessie he doesn’t want her to die and he can protect her and her kids and keep them safe. I sound like a broken record but just to hit the point all the way home; this undoubtedly proves that Rick was trying to get a second chance at what he feels he couldn’t do with Lori.

He tells her all you have to do is “say yes” which low key made me like the title of 7x12 a little less. Just 1% less. 😂

And then as you know the episode ends with Rick and Pete fighting and flying out of a window and then Rick going in on the Alexandirans until Michonne comes to his rescue like a real one.

This whole storyline was not exactly Rick’s shining moment, and it was definitely a mixture of PTSD and also what he says in 5x16 that sums it up best...

But what’s great is that even in this time that wasn’t Rick’s finest hour, Michonne was there for him and saw him through it. 

And that about covers the remainder of season 5. (sorry this post was so long!) And there’s so much good stuff in 5x16 that I already reveled in. Particularly what could be considered the GOAT Richonne pre-canon scene...

But before I make this post any longer by reveling in this scene all over, I’ll just quickly reiterate that this scene is every last thing, y’all. 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

I appreciate that season 5 ends with Rick and Michonne united and, even tho it would still be a few more episodes, I’m glad that season six is the season where they fully see what’s always been in front of them. 👌🏽😊

#richonne #richonne fandom #richonne family #michonne #rick grimes #twd #the walking dead #michonne grimes #s5 #5x13 #5x15 #5x16 #not my gifs #5.14

[sleepysnailart]

SIDENOTE CAROL’S TERRORISING A CHILD

#MA’AM THIS IS A WENDY’S #HE JUST WANTED COOKIES #twd #the walking dead #twd 5x13 #rewatching

[rown-cheese]

Bravo Carol /s

Je sais que tu as perdu trois enfants déjà, mais est-ce que tu pourrais ne pas traumatiser le gosse comme ça? Il va jamais survivre quand il y aura un danger (c'est le cas, il ne survivra pas, mais j'avais oublié que c'était sa faute)

#TWD #TWD 5x13

[jeysbvck]

Personal tag game!

Thank you @aprilfire18 for the tag😘🥰

Last song: the lakes - taylor swift.

Last show: 9-1-1.

Currently watching: im currently binging twd, but right now im rewatching 9-1-1 5x13.

Currently reading: nothing atm, ive just finished daisy jones and the six, so im deciding on my next read.

no pressure tags: @talespinner230 @likedovesinthewnd @chaseadrian @qjuiq-odakyu 💖💖

#shan speaks #tag games #these are so fun i love being tagged in them

[caffeinosis]

TWD 5x12-5x15

Emmm, what am I even watching now? You guys weren't kidding that it goes off the rails

5x12

Carl’s voice is breaking and he’s got an Emo GF :’)

Daryl take a damn shower, you walking disease. There is running water now, you've got no excuse

Lmao, poor guy, he sticks out like a sore thumb in Alexandria.

I don’t like Fake Stepford Wife Carol, what is this, put it back (Smart, though)

Daryl agrees

“I’m gonna hose you down in your sleep” yes please, I can smell him through the screen.

Father and son bonding time. Killing walkers is something like a hobby now

Oh great, here’s another dick-measuring douchebag.

“We’re not impressed, man, Walk away.” ILU Glenn

if they can’t make it then we’ll just take this place” ooooh, I see now. Finally some actual moral ambiguity. Though I doubt they’d go that far.

5x13

How have these people survived that long?

Actual undercover agent Carol Peletier

Daryl's a Weird Horse Girl

Well, bye bye Horsey :(

The horse incident was LOST levels of heavy-handed symbolism. The show reminds me a lot of LOST, actually.

Aaron and his boyfriend seem all right. The rest of the Alexandrians seem like a bunch of Karens.

This feels like a High School AU or something. Let's force all the misfit introverts into a party with the Cool Kids. Weird Horse Boy gets invited to the prom but doesn't fit in. :( Ends up hanging out with the other losers.

I thought that Aaron and Eric were either going to exile Daryl or invite him to a threesome

Way to go Carol, I'd totally steal that chocolate too

I almost thought that Carol was gonna pull a Jaime and throw that kid out the window

I DON'T CARE ABOUT JESSIE OR HER HUSBAND

Shane's Ghost approves of Rick's latest fuckery

Two breather episodes in a row? Hell's going to break loose

5x14

Carol's like "I'm not gonna get attached to another kid, he's gonna end up dead,not gonna get attached to another kid, oh shit, must protect”

"You're gonna have to kill him" That's nice Carol, but why don't YOU kill him?

Aidan deserved to die because he had a shitty taste in music.

What the FUCK, all this bullshit, Beth and Tyreese dead only for Noah to die like THAT?!

Also, are they seriously picking off all the black guys one by one, it's a fucking pattern now

5x16

All right, Rick has officially lost it.

#twd thoughts

[twdmusicboxmystery]

FTWD 5x13: Analysis

Everybody like last night’s episode? I liked it, but it turned out to be kind of a strange episode. I had a hard time figuring out how to read it. I think I did finally figure it out, but I also think it’s the type of episode that will make more sense in hindsight.

***As always, spoilers abound below for FTWD 5x13. Don’t read until you’ve watched! You’ve been warned! ***

Plot:

So, we start out with a flashback of Logan's. We find out he once tried to rescue someone and didn't make it in time. The woman he tried to rescue, Serena, was killed. Then he met the riders on horseback. They’re led by a woman named Virginia. (Given that TF is in Virginia/D.C., I'm having a hard time seeing that as a coincidence.) Virginia also has an accent that sounds a whole lot like Alpha’s.

Then we returned to present day. Al, Morgan, Grace, and Daniel are all out of range and were not in this episode. John and June are heading for the oil fields because they (correctly) suspect Logan has found them. Sarah and Dwight manage to ambush the man Dwight let go before and take his truck. They also head to the oil fields to head off Logan. Most of the episode takes place there.

Logan tries to take the oil, but things go wrong. The fire burns too hot and attracts walkers. Soon everyone is being overwhelmed by smoke and by walkers that dive into the quarry. 

Dwight’s group starts to leave, but Sarah decides to go back for Logan because she still has guilt over leaving Clayton behind. Basically, Logan has a Darth Vader moment where he turns to the good side.

The reason has to do with Strand and Alicia’s arc. They hear a woman calling for help in the exact same truck stop as the woman Logan failed to save. They run out of gas and can't get to her. 

Logan talks to her on the radio and tells her where there's a gun with a single bullet in it, suggesting that she killed herself rather than be eaten by the walkers. I thought for a minute this would be a seriously depressing episode because they’d all listen to to her kill herself. It's a very hopeless thing to have to listen to someone die because you couldn't save them. But in the end, Wes (from last episode) saved the day and came in to save this woman. 

It helped restore Logan's faith and he suddenly seemed like he was on TF’s side. Then Virginia and her group showed up and Logan and all his people were killed. R.I.P. Logan.

So, who's Virginia and her group? Not sure. They’re not openly identifying themselves with the helicopter people yet, but that doesn't mean it's not who they are. We did notice that the symbol for their group is a key. We saw it on a map Logan looked at, probably given to him by them. We also saw it on Virginia's lapel. 

That’s important because Key Theory. (Remember all the keys we saw at Grady? It could be to point to Beth eventually ending up with this key group.) But it also reminds us of Georgie from S8. Remember her? She showed up with a book called A Key to A Future and gave it to Maggie. (X) 

Maggie's been MIA for a while. Daryl and the rest of TF assume she's with Georgie, helping to build up communities. So not sure if there's a tie there or not.

Another thought we had is that Virginia and her group riding on horses with cowboy hats reminded us a lot of the highwaymen from TWD S9. Remember how we thought it was strange that they introduced them only to kill them all off a few episodes later? 

Well, Virginia claims that her group is expanding quickly and have people all over the place. In fact, the girl from the gas station said she was trying to get away from people that she didn't want to stay with anymore. Chances are it's Virginia's group. (Too much of a coincidence for them to be in the same episode and NOT have a connection, you k now?) So, if Virginia's group has a branch anywhere near D.C., it's possible the highwaymen came from her group. Maybe they left for the same reason gas station girl did: they no longer wanted to be with the group for moral reasons. No idea if that's the case, but it's a thought we had.

That's basically where we’re at right in Fear right now. Luciana stayed behind as part of the deal with Virginia's group to help them “cook” the gas. Everyone else left. It's obvious that Virginia's group is quite ruthless and not the kind of people our beloved characters want to stay with. Especially if they are the same as the helicopter group. And, to be honest, their attitude toward people and the world in general seems pretty in-line with the helicopter people, and chances are TF will have more interactions with them in the future.

Symbols:

The woman Logan tried to save, Serena, was at a truck stop at mile marker 65. When we saw Logan and later Alicia and Strand running to help, we saw some interesting mile markers. With Logan’s flashback, we first saw mile marker 50. 

Which might point to S5 in general. Series number 50 was 4x16. You know, the one where Rick put the hat on Beth and proclaimed her the “new sheriff.” Then we saw 58. 

Series number 58 was Crossed (a Beth episode) but 5x08 is Coda. Then we also saw mile marker 61. 

Series number 61 was Them. 

At one point, we also saw 55. (Series episode 55 = Slabtown.)

At the end of the episode, when they were trying to save the girl at the truck stop, they didn’t focus on these markers again. Only in the flashback where Logan failed. I’ll come back to why that’s important in a minute.

At the beginning, we saw Alicia paint a Phoenix on a tree. The word Phoenix was mentioned twice in this episode. Alicia asked Strand if it was too much Phoenix. At the end, Wes told her that he liked the phoenixes she was painting on the trees. Just wanted to mention that it was said TWICE. 😉

Virginia also keeps saying they've been watching the group for a long time. She said it to Logan and then again to the rest of the group at the quarry. So that could be in line with our long-time theory about someone watching TF, even in D.C.

When Logan and his group first get to the quarry, we have an interesting prisoner exchange. He says he’ll let the three kids go as long as Dwight and Sarah stay to help with the oil. So, he basically exchanges three prisoners for two. 

Remember, that was exactly what was supposed to happen at Grady. They were going to exchange three cops for Carol and Beth. Of course, Rick shot Evil Officer Bob and then they only had two for two. It led directly to Dawn forcing Noah to stay, which led to Beth being shot. I’ll come back to this too. It's important that they did the three vs. two exchange and it worked. Nobody died.

At one point, we see a four of spades card. Not entirely sure what to make of that. In terms of queens, I’ve always seen Michonne as the queen of spades. (X). They could be associating this with Michonne’s arc (in S4, perhaps?) or I even thought they may be associating Sarah with it. This card was in the room with her and Logan. Like Michonne, she’s a strong woman and the only one who never really lost hope in this episode. Not positive that’s what they’re going for. As I said, I’ll have to think on it more.

When Logan realizes the girl Alicia and Strand are trying to say is it the same mile marker as the one he failed, he says, "[This is] just a song I’ve sung before." Not only is that a singing reference, but it also shows this is a replay of sorts. Once again, I will come back to it. (Bear with me.)

I also noticed they keep mentioning the “promised land.” Logan said it last episode when they first drove up to the quarry. One of his people, Doris, said it again here. "You said this would be the ticket to the promised land." They believe taking the oil will somehow set them free/make their world better. I only noted it because it’s a biblical reference.

I’ll mention a few more general symbols. There were a lot of deer antlers on the wall of the truck stop, a poster of a little girl that was for sunscreen. A lot of green, especially in people's clothing. At the end, when the group drives off in the tanker, there are a lot of blue gas cans on the back of it. 

We also saw white rats. They weren’t actually paired with black ones this time, but I wondered if the white emphasis might be important. Remember in the black and white theory, Beth is white, so that could be important. The rats were being used to help create the gas. To power a simple machine to help make it, actually.

Big Picture:

@wdway and I both agreed this was kind of a strange episode. The more I watch it, the more I really like it, but it just felt different than most of the others. There weren’t as many symbols as we usually see (more action) and it wasn't easy to figure out where it fit in the grand scheme of things or what we were supposed to take away from it.

In order to figure it out, I did what I often do. People often ask me how I figure out the symbolism so easily. One thing I do is take a step back from the details and look at the very general events happening in any given scene or episode.

I wanted to compare this to two different things:

1) The girl who almost died in the gas station reminded me of the gas station Daryl and Bob found in 4A. (The “hell” gas station). In it, they found a family that had committed suicide. Daryl was very critical about them making that choice. But remember outside the gas station, in the ivy, were tons of walkers. Daryl’s group had to kill them in order to gain access to the gas station. So, it's very possible that the family didn't just give up on life, but rather were surrounded by walkers and killed themselves as a way to gain a quick death and avoid a torturous one.

Same situation here. Logan encouraged the woman at the gas station to do the same thing. To kill herself, rather than be eaten by walkers. The difference here was that Wes saved her and she didn't die in the gas station. She didn't commit suicide. Someone saved her and she lived.

2) The other thing I wanted to compare it to is the rock quarry from 6A, at the beginning of Operation Lead the Walkers Away (OLtWA). I wondered if there might be some correlation between that quarry and this one. But again, I had to step back and look at the general sequence the quarry was involved in.

In terms of TD symbolism, the biggest thing about the quarry sequence from S6 is that Glenn's death fake out was all tied up in it. We had a rock quarry full of walkers that led to Glenn being trapped under the dumpster and presumed dead for a time. He lived, of course, and it was his death fake out.

I'm not saying that were seeing anything in particular like that here, but I think we can still make some connections. For one thing OLtWA led to Daryl, Sasha, and Abraham's first interaction with the saviors. So it led to them meeting the new group of baddies. Same thing happened here. What happens at the quarry leads to them meeting Virginia's group and creating a deal with her in order to survive.

There’s also the fact that the first picture above of Logan running from his truck looks a LOT like Rick running along the road in 6a. I’m thinking we’ll be able to draw more parallels once we see what happens in subsequent episodes of Fear. Remember, OLtWA lasted for most of 6a.

But here’s my big take away from this. I think it’s an opposite symbolism kind of thing. I've always wondered why they used the gas station and the people who committed suicide in 4A. We definitely see Beth symbolism in that sequence. Most of it, we’ve interpreted to my satisfaction. But why gas specifically? What specifically did their role in the gas station point to?

Remember that right before he went in, Daryl tried to hot wire the van and we saw a red and green wires. Well, given that the opposite happened in this episode of Fear (the person in the gas station lived) I'm thinking that gas station was merely a foreshadow of the current arc. We saw the red/green combo, which suggests death and resurrection. But then we saw the people in the gas station who were not saved. One of them was even stabbed in the head with a key (Keys in this episode).

So I'm thinking that was a foreshadow the coming arc which lasted from 4x08 when the prison went down and didn't truly end until 9x05 when Rick disappeared was all about death. Beth “died,” and we only saw her death, not her resurrection. Glenn “died” in his fake out and then later for real. And we lost tons of other characters—Sasha, Abraham, Tyrese, Jesus, etc.—culminating in Rick's “death” in 9x05, or so everyone thinks.

Then, remember that in 9x06, the first episode after Rick disappeared, we started seeing birds and symbols of hope. In fact, we’ve seen a ridiculous amount of birds since 9x06, both in TWD and FTWD. Now there's talk of phoenixes and, in this episode, the girl in the gas station survived.

So, this is a really complicated explanation to say that the gas station in 4a represented that arc, which would only show us death. We are now in an arc that will show us life. The girl in the gas station was saved, the Grady-like prisoner exchange worked, no one in the group actually died this episode. 

In fact, I’m just thinking this now, but Luciana staying behind to help Virginia’s group could parallel Beth remaining at Grady. But again, it’s different because Luciana’s group doesn’t think she’s dead. They’ll probably try to come back for her, where TF did think Beth was dead, so there was no reason to go back for her.

Seeing the anti-parallels? I said I’d come back to the mile markers. We saw mile markers whose numbers point to episodes like Coda and Them. Those are key episode (see what I did there? 😉) in which TF and the audience were led to believe Beth had died. We saw those mile markers at the beginning of this episode, when Logan is trying to save Serena, but fails. He’s too late and she dies. (Eaten by walkers, no less, which is what we think TF thinks happened to Beth.) 

But we did NOT see those mile markers, pointing to those death episodes at the end, when they saved the woman at the gas station in this episode. Because the opposite outcome happened.

Logan's line about it being a song he'd sung before shows that it was meant to be a replay. A replay of what happened with our favorite song bird, only this time things will be different.

So, where do we go from here? I'm not sure. In a lot of ways this was sort of a bridge episode. It ended Logan's arc, which is a little surprising because I would've assumed that his arc would run all the way through to the end of the season. Obviously not. In fact, it reminds me of 4a as well because we saw the virus arc at the prison end in 4x05. That was because 4x06 and 4x07 were about the Gov. Then everything came to a head in 4x08.

So, I’m curious to find out what the final three episodes of the season have in store for us. I don't have a whole lot more insight into this episode except to say that it's interesting, it left more questions than answers, and I think we’ll glean more from it once we see where the story is going. Anyone see anything I missed?

#beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is alive #beth is coming #td theory #td theories #team delusional #team defiance #beth is almost here #bethyl