#anyway um will Probably stop thinking about the show soon until s3 comes out

[spacestationstorybook]

anyway since i binged the whole second season in a day and now i'm done with all the current content here's‏‏‎ ‎trexel-but-a-girl. i feel like a lot of adult swim shows are a little on the mean-spirited side for me and i'm not really into the gross-out humor of this one (i say as the biggest‏‏‎ ‎stellar‏‏‎ ‎firma‏‏‎ ‎fanfreak‏‏‎ ‎but That's Different Okay) but it was sincere just often enough to imprint itself on my brain a bit. her romance subplot in s2 gave me the ick quite a lot (and short of a character literally committing a heinous crime it takes a lot to give me the ick) because it was like cute for a split second and then got weird and gross and also i'm pissed about that turning into like the most important relationship in her life instead of her best friend who she's known for years and who the whole show is about her doing stuff with. and who she definitely has repressed lesbian feelings for but she deals with that as badly as she deals with literally every other thing in her life. i liked her maybe 3 or 4 moments of being a sweetie pie though those did uh. they did something for me.

[actuallylorelaigilmore]

I Can’t Love if You Lie, Chapter 2: Is Love A Feature Of Your Kind

iZombie, Peyton x Blaine. Still no intentional similarities to S3 as I haven’t seen it yet. This one features more Peyton POV, next chapter will have more Blaine.

Summary: Reluctant revelations in small spaces; beauty in the dark of night. “He refused to let his mind wander where it wanted to go. Clearly he had sense memories of her, whether he’d ever remember them or not, because it was too easy to drift there in his head, like a reflex, a path he’d walked before.”

Cross-posted on AO3; more notes can be found there.

“So, what do you like to do for fun?”

Blaine hadn't spoken to her much in the last few days--no easy feat when the house was small and they were tucked protectively inside it. His sudden appearance startled her.

“Um, a lot of things. Read. Travel. Not be on the run from murderous crime bosses.”

Closing her eyes, Peyton sighed. “Sorry.”

“No, I probably deserved that one.” He took a seat in the dining room chair across the table from her, scanned the papers she had strewn across it. “Working on the case?”

“What case? They killed it, and the guy I was trying to bring down nearly killed me.” She set down a folder. “I’m not sure what the point of any of this is anymore.”

“That’s crazy,” he argued. “We spent what, weeks? Months? With you piecing this together. You get kidnapped once and you’re just going to let that scare you off?”

His crooked, deliberate grin made her laugh. “Fine. I take your point, and yes, here I am still trying to work on the case. Not sure what else to do, honestly. I’ve never been good at just...sitting around.”

“What about you?” She turned her face to his, and Blaine was struck by the way her eyes were a slightly different color when they weren’t hostile. More misty forest, less stormy seas.

“Hmm?”

Peyton rolled her eyes, pulling him back to the moment. “What do you do for fun? I know how I’ve been keeping busy lately, but I’ve hardly seen you.”

“Oh.” He flushed a little. “I’ve just been around. Reading, checking out the house. Writing.”

He admitted the last part with visible guilt, like a kid expecting a lecture. She was surprised, but not unpleasantly. “You write?”

“Yeah. I mean, I do right now. And I did...when I was much younger.” He looked at her for a few long moments--just stared, as if measuring something. Then he continued.

“Like I said, I’ve been exploring the house. I knew this place had come to my family in some convoluted way that wasn’t traceable among my holdings. I assumed it was owned by someone else before that, people not connected to us.”

Blaine shrugged. “Either way, I found a box of stuff in the basement”--the basement, Peyton thought, that explained his successful disappearance--“while I was poking around, looking for more books. It was all from my childhood, my teen years...from me.”

“You kept journals?”

“Up to a point, yeah. I have to assume that after a while I was too busy with the drugs and...everything. But before then, I wrote a lot.”

He tugged on his hair, uneasy at having revealed that much. “So I’ve been writing. I’m hoping maybe it can help.”

A sharp pang hit Peyton in the stomach. “Have you been remembering things, then?”

On the one hand, it would make everything easier. Put things to rights. Once he was Blaine again, he could leave them alone, not be their responsibility. But on the other hand...she hadn’t figured him out yet. She was irritated by unfinished puzzles, and Blaine, who had violated her trust and then saved her life, was definitely a jigsaw without all his pieces.

“No,” Blaine told her sincerely, and she felt relief--and then guilt, for feeling relieved.

“I’m still not getting anything about before, but I’ve been writing about now. About what I’m learning I like, about my experiences since I started over.”

About you.

He didn’t say it; he didn’t have to. She heard it anyway.

“I’d rather you didn’t include me,” Peyton told him, but she said it with a shrug, as if she were brushing her own words away before they landed.

He nodded, taking her seriously anyway. “Why not?”

“It’s just...weird. I mean, are you writing about David Copperfield?”

****

It had been two weeks now of living together, one big strange family in the tidy safe house, and that first night of Blaine reading to her had turned into a regular occurrence. Dickens was slow-going, especially since he started the story over from where Peyton last remembered hearing it, every time. How his instincts were so impeccable for when sleep hit her, she would never know.

It shamed her how much safer she felt with Blaine around. She knew that she shouldn’t; she knew what a betrayal of Liv it was--but she tried to fall asleep in her temporary room and woke up in a cold sweat from the nightmares...too many nightmares. So as the days passed by, she found herself back in the office every night, and no matter how late it was by the time the rest of the group fell asleep, he always came to her.

It was Blaine who finally broached the subject a few nights in. “Hey, Peyton? You should really stop sleeping on the couch.”

She frowned.

“I’m serious. You’ve got a perfectly good bed waiting for you, right down the hall from your friends in case you wake and need company.”

Raising her eyes to the ceiling, Peyton considered his words. The problem wasn’t the couch at all. The problem was that she’d grown to depend on this ritual to keep the memories at bay.

Blaine delivered his next words so softly she could almost believe she'd imagined them. “I’ll still read to you, if you want.”

Her eyes pinned him in place, needy, scared, but still angry--and somehow so much more compelling for all that.

“I’d like that,” she whispered back, and he accepted the trust she was giving him.

There was an overstuffed chair in the corner of her room when Blaine entered behind her. He settled into it, flipping open the old cover and returning to where they’d left off, his voice caressing the words as though he loved this story...as though it comforted him as much as it did her.

The bedroom was too big, compared to the office, which Peyton hadn’t considered when she invited him in. “I can’t hear you,” she admitted reluctantly.

Blaine’s head lifted, and he looked around the room, his eyes returning to hers helplessly. Clearly he’d come to the same conclusion she had. Peyton knew then that things had begun to change for her, because she didn’t have to think about it for very long.

“Come here,” she said, with a resigned sigh.

He was frozen, certain he’d misheard her, until she gestured impatiently. “You want to help, right? That’s what you told me.”

Nodding, he stepped toward her bed with caution.

“So, keep reading to me. From here, otherwise I won’t be able to hear you, and then what’s the point?” Her no-nonsense tone made Blaine smile; he wasn’t sure why it was such an attractive quality on Peyton, but he found it delightful. Even in the brief time he’d known her, it was clear that she knew what she wanted and went for it...and then there was a fragility she tried not to show anyone. That tugged at him, too.

Okay, he might be spending his nights sleep-deprived just to watch over her and give her some peace of mind, but he could hardly be blamed for that. He was pretty sure he was half in love with her already.

Blaine sat himself carefully at the foot of her bed, on the empty side, as close to propriety as he could manage. He refused to let his mind wander where it wanted to go. Clearly he had sense memories of her, whether he’d ever remember them or not, because it was too easy to drift there in his head, like a reflex, a path he’d travelled down before.

A beautiful, tempting path, with sleepy eyes watching him warily as though he was the wolf she’d just encountered in the forest and chosen to walk with for a while. Shaking his head, Blaine turned his attention back to Dickens, and felt the bed shudder beneath him as Peyton settled into it.

“It was beautifully clean inside, and as tidy as possible,” he began. “There was a table, and a Dutch clock, and a chest of drawers, and on the chest of drawers there was a tea-tray with a painting on it of a lady with a parasol, taking a walk with a military-looking child who was trundling a hoop.”

As his voice sketched out the room inside the story, Peyton closed her eyes, seeming undisturbed by his closeness. She relaxed while the story continued, sliding more quickly into sleep than she had on the couch. Bookmarking the pages, Blaine kept reading long after her breathing slowed and deepened, unwilling to leave right away. Not wanting to leave at all. Exiting silently, reluctantly, once he was sure she would sleep soundly without him--and once he was sure the others weren’t likely to wake and see him leaving her room.

He didn’t care about their opinions, since they all hated him anyway, but Peyton didn’t need them thinking the worst of her.

So he crept back to his own room, careful to disturb no one, especially not the woman he’d done his best to lull into dreamless rest.

****

Blaine looked away, and she didn’t wait for him to admit the truth out loud. “See, that’s why I’d rather you didn’t. I’d really rather there wasn’t a record of...what we’re doing.”

He couldn’t help it. “And what exactly are we doing?”

“You know what I mean.”

“I do.” The grin he flashed her was so warm, and bright, it barely reminded her of who he used to be at all. “But I want to hear you explain it. Admit it, out loud. That’s your problem, right, Peyton? You don’t want me writing about you because then you might have to admit something to yourself.”

Her face was stony, self-protective. Blaine left without saying more, and she assumed that he was angry with her in return, but realized she was wrong when she went to her room that night and found a spiral-bound notebook next to her bed instead of David Copperfield.

“Read it,” the note taped to the cover said simply.

As soon as Peyton opened the notebook, she understood that Blaine had never planned for anyone to see this--and what it meant, him giving it to her. The journal was him talking candidly to himself, spanning the length of time that he’d gone without his memories so far.

It was also often rambling or downright chaotic, illustrating the progression of a mind trying to understand itself without identity. But as time passed, it had become more coherent. Sometimes it was almost poetic, as he’d made observations based on his childhood diaries and noted feelings. And, nearly from the beginning, there she was.

Peyton, confounding him in the mortuary. Peyton, giving him a purpose with their reading sessions. He talked about the others, too, Liv with her wounded eyes and Don E.’s patronizing annoyance with Blaine once he became less cooperative. But Blaine kept coming back to her in his writing, the same way he did to her room every night.

Reading his attempts to understand himself, she wished that he could be granted access to his memories again, despite what it would mean for her. Some of his passages even made her tear up, which she would never admit to anyone. By the time she closed the notebook, Peyton knew why he had given it to her.

She understood him now. Probably better than he did, since she had his recent past to add to the picture. And she couldn’t know him like she did, see him for who he was, and not admit that there were feelings there. Feelings she resented, complicated feelings, but actual genuine emotion. For Blaine.

It was his fault, she thought to herself as she set the notebook aside and turned off the light, snuggling into the covers. As this new man, who didn’t remember their history, he had to go and fall for her.

She had a weakness for that.

Alone with her thoughts, Peyton wasn’t able to sleep. Tonight, though, it wasn’t the noises or the nightmares. It was simpler--it was him. She felt the lack of him too dearly to push it out of her head and drift off.

Sighing, Peyton sat up, opening her eyes to the darkness and waiting for them to adjust. She had to hope this wouldn’t be a terrible violation of privacy.

Tiptoeing out of her room, she crossed the hall to his, keeping her ears perked for signs of the others. She could hear Ravi’s light snoring; nothing that warned her a door was about to open. Still, she didn’t want to risk getting anyone’s attention by knocking, so she slid into Blaine’s room and shut the door behind her silently, enveloping herself in the shadows.

With her eyes slightly more adjusted to the darkness, she could make out the furniture in the room, and there was just a touch of moonlight streaming through the window to help her along. Funny, she wouldn’t have pegged Blaine as the type to sleep with his window open, but she could feel a slight breeze wafting beyond the curtains.

She hadn’t thought this through, Peyton realized as she caught the outline of his bed. Was she going to wake him? How? Maybe she could just find somewhere to sit and doze, to avoid the loneliness of her own room.

Blaine saved her from having to figure it out. “Hey,” she heard him say softly. From her position next to the door, she finally realized he wasn’t in his bed. He was sitting across the room, in the corner behind the window.

When he leaned forward, the moonbeams cut across his face, making him look more intimidating than usual. She swallowed hard, feeling the slight trickle of fear--and something else she chose to ignore--dampen her palms. She shouldn’t have done this.

“You okay?” Eyes shining, Blaine didn’t move toward her, and she wondered whether it was to keep from spooking her or because he didn’t know what to expect.

“Yeah.” Shaking her hair back, Peyton straightened up, reminding herself that she could handle Blaine. She crossed the room to hand him his notebook. “I just wanted to give you this back.”

He turned to look out the window, no longer making eye contact at all. In this light, she thought, his eyes were so blue they almost lost their color entirely.

“Did you read it?”

His voice was rough, a tangle of raw hope and premature dejection. She couldn’t stop the sympathy, though she squashed it hard.

“Yeah.” When Blaine took the notebook and his fingers brushed hers, she looked away as well. Such a simple connection shouldn’t make her shiver, or give her flashbacks, but it did.

She sat on the edge of his unmade bed to face him. “Couldn’t sleep?”

“Nah.” He offered the stars a sad attempt at a smile.

“Why not?”

“Oh, you name it. Zombie apocalypse, psycho-killer history to atone for, living with people who hate me...it doesn’t make for restful nights.”

Peyton nodded. “Well, I guess that explains why you didn’t mind staying up to keep me company.”

“Yeah, that must be why.” He shifted in his chair, still looking out the window. “You don’t have to say anything about the notebook, okay? I just wanted you to know I didn’t write anything about you that was horrible. And I won’t mention you again.”

Peyton sat thoughtfully for a moment before making her decision. Once made, they were firm. “No,” she said quietly. “It’s okay if you do. I’m fine with it.”

“Okay...” He finally looked back at her. “Why?”

Peyton wasn’t able to think of an explanation that would be satisfactory without also giving too much away. She moved a shoulder uncomfortably. “I just am.”

“But-”

She reached out and gripped his forearm, startling him into the silence she preferred. “Take the win, would you? Just don’t show anybody what you write about me. Ever.”

“Deal.”

“If you do,” she warned him, “I’ll kill you.”

“Understood.” Blaine grinned at her and she held back the quirk of her own lips.

“I promise you, I could do it, and no one would ever wonder where you were.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt it.” Blaine removed her hand from his arm by lacing her fingers with his. She’d forgotten she was even touching him. Now he was smiling and they were holding hands and the moonlight was glowing over his ridiculous bleached hair and she was in trouble.

“Okay.” She detangled herself from him, backing away from the bed, willing to look foolish in full retreat. Better that than the slow slide back into old habits.

He wasn’t who he’d been...except he was. And someday, he could start getting his memories back. She couldn't bear giving Blaine the ability to sneer at her and point out that she had been his willing conquest a second time.

He watched her leave with a knowing expression on his face, but didn’t try to stop her.

“Sleep well,” he murmured instead.

Neither of them did.

****

When Blaine didn’t come to her the next night, she wasn’t surprised, but she was disappointed. Peyton considered and rejected the idea of going to his room again. Too forward; definitely asking for trouble. There was no way he wouldn’t see it as meaning more than she intended.

She just...she wanted this new lifeline. She wanted to keep it, at least while they were on hold in this little house, plans flowing around them and the zombie hordes at bay for the time being.

So instead of intruding on Blaine, and unable to stay in a room that felt even emptier now that she was used to his carefully restrained presence on her bed, Peyton snuck back to the empty office at 2 a.m.

Only it wasn’t empty. This time it was Blaine who appeared to be using it with the expectation of solitude, and he lacked her instinctive terror.

After what happened with Liv, when she was nearly killed by a zombie, it took her a long time to heal from the trauma of that--to not jump at every floor creak or car door slamming. It didn’t matter that Liv, also a zombie, had saved her...the experience had knocked her down hard. But she had recovered. She knew she could do so again--she was Peyton Charles, after all. It would just take time.

Blaine was clearly less jumpy, despite actually dying along the way. And apparently he was pretty tired, because when she entered and found him stretched out on the couch, it was her automatic apology that woke him. She might have gotten away with backing out the door, Peyton thought ruefully, if she had said nothing. Instead, Blaine blinked slowly as he focused on her.

“Fancy meeting you here,” he said with a yawn, covering his mouth and waiting for her to do or say something.

“Yeah.” Peyton took the chair this time, mildly amused at the turning of tables. “Why aren’t you in your room?”

Blaine sat up, halfheartedly trying to pat his hair back into shape--bedhead didn’t suit his image, old or newly-formed. He stared at her, silent for an unsettlingly long time before asking, “Truth?”

She blinked. “Sure. Truth.”

There was still a touch of sleep slurring his words, though his eyes were clear. “Missed you.”

Peyton flinched. “Oh.”

“Yeah. Pretty much the reaction I was expecting.”

She nodded. “Truth?”

His eyes cut through her with the hope in them. If she hadn’t already made the impulsive decision to be honest when she found him there, she would have been helpless to resist.

“Me too.”

“Yeah?” Aiming for cool, even nonchalant, he attempted to cover his joy. Blaine Debeers was terrible at nonchalant, Peyton noted with fondness.

Then she noted her fondness with terror, and knew that she had crossed a line somewhere along the way. No turning back. Too late. All the sirens and warning signs couldn’t help her now.

Damn it.

[twdmusicboxmystery]

7x10: General Analysis

Good Morning and Happy Monday! What did everyone think of last night's episode? I liked it a lot. I'll admit that, as an episode, I liked it less than 7x09, which surprised me because I thought I'd like it more. But in terms of what it means moving forward, I'm super excited. Let me start by saying that there is a gazillion (totally a number) callbacks to S4 in this episode. Let's dive right in, shall we?

We begin with the Kingdom meeting the Saviors for a pickup. A walker shows up and Diane kills it. 

This sequence is suspicious to me. I'm not entirely sure what it means yet, but I'm side-eying it. I've already talked about (I think) how the Greek goddess Diana would be an apt template for Beth, especially where owls are concerned. And in this scene, she refers to her sister several times. I will also say that in some ways, the goddess Diana equates better with Maggie than Beth, because she is the patron of pregnant women. But again, there's that sister reference, and Diane in the show has a bow. I also noticed that she spoke of her sister and Richard said, "Don't think about it." Then the Saviors arrived. Then, as soon as they left, Diane returned to her sister again. 

Just kind of bizarre, but I’m sure it's purposeful. Will have to think about it some more. Oh, I also googled to try and find out if the Greek goddess Diana has a sister. She doesn't. She has a twin brother, but that's a theme we've seen before too. Twin bridges. Plus, Denise had a twin brother, so it's obviously all connected.

Next, this isn't specific to this episode, but I think I've had ten people ask me in the last week if I'd noticed the blue feather in Ezekiel's hair and what it meant. 

I still think blue is the color of imprisonment (Beth wore blue scrubs constantly at Grady). So I'd say it's a symbol that Ezekiel is imprisoned to the Saviors through his deal. It will be interesting to see if the feather changes color or disappears once that's no longer the case.

The leader of this Savior group foreshadowed his own death. He threatened Ezekiel and specifically Richard: "This has got to stop. Things might need to get a little visceral." But I think he's the one that will die.

And Morgan lost his stick, just like Daryl lost his bow, and Rick lost is gun before. Definite theme going on there as well.

Then we move on to Daryl and Morgan. Their scenes together are gold. The air crackles with angst and emotion when they glare at one another. Loving it! I thought it was interesting that when Morgan said Carol had left specifically because she didn't want to kill anyone, Daryl gives this little disbelieving laugh. 

I don't think he entirely believed Morgan. Or at least, he didn't understand to what extent that was true of Carol. She's never said that to him before, and despite trying so hard to leave in 5x02, she still saved them at Terminus. This scene was, of course, a setup for their later conversation, and I think Daryl was genuinely surprised at Carol's state of mind.

Daryl getting his crossbow. This was another interesting sequence. He pauses for quite a long time and then this melancholy music starts. My very first thought was that he was thinking about Beth. He may have also been wondering at Richard's intentions or imagining shooting Dwight through the throat, but still. It was the sad music that really caught my attention. At the very least, this is a red-letter moment for Daryl, and I think I know why.

I'll do a TTD post, probably tomorrow, because a lot of important things were said in this episode. But one thing that completely dropped my jaw was about the crossbow. Did you guys see TTD? It said that this is actually the third crossbow Daryl has received. Um…I don't think anyone knew that. No one my FB group did anyway. Apparently, he got a new one in S3 when Rick brought one from Morgan's loft. You know, the place where all the suspicious stuff was written on the walls? Of course, most of us didn't start paying attention to these kinds of details until S4, and by then he already had the second crossbow.

But that's not even the point. Third crossbow? Rule of 3's? We are perfectly poised for Beth's return. (And you know, Daryl looked super sexy wielding that thing with passion. ;D)

Then Daryl goes with Richard. There's an interesting sequence right when this part starts. First, we see the sun coming through the trees, much as it did in 5x10 when Daryl cried for Beth. 

Then we see them at Richard's secret fort. He has stuff in glass jars to make Molotov cocktails. Not sure if it's alcohol or gasoline, but both are recalls of Still.

Plus, we have the glass jars (moonshine) and they're in an RV (time reference). Then, as they head out on their journey, they pass a cemetery sign. 

It felt like a symbolic sequence of S4. First sun (at the prison) then Still, then death to follow. I know that doesn't sound particularly hopeful, but we had a serious reunion vibe in this episode. Who did Daryl find among the actual cemetery? Carol. I'll get to why that's important in a minute.

(Random detail, but did anyone else notice the name 'Katy' on the backpack in Richard's closet? No idea what it means, but it felt like a purposeful detail to me. Any ideas?)

The mural on the truck behind Daryl and Richard was important, but I'll leave that for my TTD post since they talked about it there.

Okay, the Daryl/Richard scene. I had to watch this scene like seven times to absorb all the nuances. Richard's plan is both intelligent and complicated. He wants to kill one group of Saviors, in order to piss off the others, so they'll kill Carol, and then that will piss of Ezekiel and he'll finally join the war. Basically, he's manufacturing a reason for Ezekiel to join TF. Daryl asks him why the fire, and Richard simply says that it needs to look bad. In other words, it's not necessary. They could have just used the guns. So, the fire becomes highly symbolic.

We also have another callback to S4 here. Burning bodies is what Carol did at the prison to Karen and David. Not only is that super relevant to this episode because it's a Carol-centric episode, but it's a callback to what happened at the prison in S4. Once again, those events are still relevant in a very real way.

I thought it was interesting that Richard had already guessed that Daryl knew Carol. Here's the thing about Richard, guys. His true character is finally starting to be revealed, and it's not as good as it seemed at the beginning. Yes, he wants to kill the Saviors. Awesome. But think of it this way: Rick and TF would never kill another man's potential love interest (by that, I mean Ezekiel, not Daryl) just to start a war. It's twisted and Governor-ish. I've said from the beginning that Richard reminds me, physically, of the Governor. I'm wondering if this is why. I don't think he's evil like the Gov was, but he's willing to do very questionable things to get what he wants, and that feels Governor-ish to me.

We also get a very in-your-face death omen for Richard here. "I would die for the Kingdom." Daryl: "Why don't you?" Yeah, Richard is probably gonna be toast pretty quick here.

Let's go to the junkyard. First, we see figurines of a rooster, a cat, and a pig. 

The rooster means two things to me: it crows at dawn. So more of the dawn theme which we've seen a lot this season. Dawn of a new day, a new chapter, a new story. A new ending, perhaps? Also, the rooster is a very blatant biblical symbol. More than that, it's a part of Christ's death story. It has much more to do with death than resurrection, but that's okay. I'm actually super excited about this symbol. The cock crowed three times (rule of 3s) before morning, showing that Peter had denied (i.e. betrayed) Christ three times. This was before Christ died. So, 1) the rooster is a symbol that the junk yard group will betray Rick and TF. Also keep in mind that sequentially, the rooster and the betrayal happened before the resurrection. Just saying.

The cat plays into Daryl's arc, for the most part. We have yet another callback to S4, when Joe Claimer told Daryl, "There's nothing sadder than an outdoor cat thinking he's an indoor cat." I remember wondering what the hell that meant and if Joe wasn't a little crazy. I started to understand the theme in S5 with Buttons the horse. Daryl said, "the more they stay out here, the more they become what they really are." This is Daryl's civility/humanity fighting with his animal self. It's been a part of his internal struggle since S4. (Really since the beginning, but it's Gimple that has made it a functional part of the story.) Shiva and Daryl becoming friends also plays into that, but I'll get to that in a minute.

Finally, the pig. Well, we've seen the pig symbol many times. First, the pigs at the prison in S4. (Another S4 callback.) And then also this season when the Kingdom gave pigs (that had fed on walkers) to the Saviors. I think there were other times too but I don't remember specifically what they were.

Yeah, the Scavengers in the junk yard are creepy. They formed themselves into a double circle around TF and then the leader kept waving her hand in a circle. 

Not sure what that means, other than that it seems to be symbolic of this group somehow. I couldn't help but be reminded of Teletubbies, though. They talk in fragmented sentences and all seem to be freakishly tall. Just…yeah, creepy.

Let's talk Father Gabriel for a minute. First thing I noticed is that he is wearing a white shirt. 

I've said before that he's been used as a parallel to or symbol of Beth. And in the most blatant times (like 5x16) he was almost always wearing a white shirt. I think the white shirt signifies the parallels. Gabriel certainly isn't ALWAYS a parallel. Now let's look at him here. After last week's kidnapping parallels, it turns out he was taken to another community by a group that very much resembles both Grady and the Saviors. Then a small group of TF (not Daryl this time but still a handful of them--in fact, the same number: 5--people from TF figure out where he is and come to rescue him. I also noticed that FG took care of Aaron medically. And then there's that speech about hope he gives to Rick at the end:

Rick: "You didn't just hope. You got us here."

Gabriel: "I was beginning to lose faith, but then I saw you…just the fact that you searched and found me… We will set things right, but things are going to get very hard before that time. We have to hold on. I will. Thank you."

Tell me that doesn't smack of Beth.

Then Rick fights Winslow the Walker. While doing it, he steps on someone else who might have fallen to Winslow. And I'm a little confused about this part bc Jadis said they weren't sending anyone else into the pit as they did Rick, but it's obvious that other people have died at this walker's…teeth. I guess she was just lying?

While fighting, Rick receives an obvious Christ-wound in his hand. I'm assuming he'll now be wearing a bandage around for a while, just as he did in S4, and just as Beth did in S5. He also hurt his leg, which wasn't like Beth's hurt ankle. He was cut farther up on the leg, but he still was limping around, much like she did in 4b.

Rick and Michonne continually looked at one another down long tubes. Could have been dark tunnel symbolism. It was very light at the end where Rick was, which symbolically showed that he'd live, and he did.

So the dark tunnel stuff, the injuries, and even being thrown into a scary walker pit where he really should have died but didn't, all feel like possible Beth parallels to me.

When he climbed out (which could symbolize Beth saving herself) the camera focused very obviously on Rick's watch. It's hard to tell, but I think it reads 3:05. 

Yeah, no idea what that time portends, but it almost seems like we might have seen it before. I'll have to research it.

Then we had another instance of the number 3. Jadis wanted half of what they won from the Saviors. Rick insists on 1/3. If you ask me, 1/4 would have made more sense because there will now be four communities fighting. But he said 1/3 like six times during the convo, so more rule of threes stuff. Then Rick goes to shake her hand and she uses the left bc she doesn't want to touch his blood. Not that I particularly blame her, but someone about that felt symbolic. Like the handshake was wrong somehow, twisted, opposite. To me, it just shows once again that this group will betray TF eventually.

Rosita: I knew something was up with Rosita. I really didn't like the way she treated Sasha last episode. And yes, I get that she's still grieving Abraham. (Sasha and Maggie are having the same grief and not acting that way. Just saying. But it's also true that everyone deals with this kind of trauma differently.) But something about it just rubbed me the wrong way. Now we have this. She's taking on a very Negan/Scarlet O'Hara mindset. No matter what she has to do, even kill, she'll do it. Not good, Rosita. Not good at all. This worries me a lot.

Can we take a Richonne appreciation moment? SO much Richonne sweetness in this episode. Gave me warm fuzzies. :D

Back to Carol and Daryl. Ezekiel arrives, apparently by accident, saying that they'd come out to clear away the dead. Except…that there are no walkers anywhere around for them to kill. Nice try, Ezekiel. You're totally coming up with excuses to go visit Carol. But we're cool with that. :D

Jerry! Cobbler! Need I say more? Look at that smile! So adorable.

Carol seems to be reading a book called Denim Dreams. I looked it up, and while Amazon does carry a book by that name, I don’t think it’s the same one. The cover is different at least. But whether the book is real or not, I’m pretty sure she’s reading a romance novel. (Kind of an out-of-character choice for Carol, if you ask me.) And yes, I get that some will take that as a sign that Daryl and her are a romance, but keep in mind that she was just talking to Ezekiel right before this. The romance novel comes between the two men, which is admittedly a bit murky as to who it refers to, but I think we all know the answer to that.

Also remember that Daryl and Beth had a “damn romance novel.” This just shows that they’re using the same symbolism with Carzekiel.

Okay, so this post is already long and I'm not going to go into tons of details about the Daryl/Carol scene. I'm going to do an in-depth analysis of it later this week, as the FB peeps and I have discussed it at length and some of them have come up with ridiculously awesome insights. For now, just know that Norman confirmed on TTD that Daryl and Carol's relationship is mother/son. Daryl turned into a scared little boy asking why Carol had left him. It was so sad! Poor Daryl! 

When she hugged him, he actually pulled away at the end. (Notice how he didn't do that with Beth, even though their hugs were both more awkward in their own ways.)

In the cabin, Daryl sees how broken Carol is and lies to her about what happened in 7x01. He is, no doubt, protecting her the only way he knows how. But contrast that with him telling Carol in Consumed over and over again that Beth is tough and saved herself. He doesn't think Daryl can handle the truth (and he's not wrong) but there's such a massive difference here between his relationship with Carol and his relationship with Beth.

Then they sit and have dinner. Here's what I noticed: there are seven candles in the room (which are probably simply to show that this is S7). But on the table where they eat, there are only 4. I think this is another callback to S4. But guess what, guys? We only saw two dinner tables in S4. One was Carol and Tyrese in 4x14, and I think that's the most relevant here. I said this after ep2, but Carol has returned to a cabin just like the one Lizzie and Mica died at because she's not past it yet. She's returned to her own personal hell to do penance, and she will stay there until she works through these issues. I feel this was yet another callback to S4, and Carol's arc there. But the other dinner table we saw? Yeah, Beth and Daryl in Alone. Just saying.

I'm already having many people tell me they felt like the goodbye between Daryl and Carol was ominously final. I agree, but I don't think Carol is dying just yet. I don't think that's what the hug was about. But I DO think it was a goodbye. I think this is a goodbye to what Daryl and Caro's relationship has been for a long time now. They've lived side by side since S1, and I don't think it will be that way anymore. Daryl will be wherever Rick, Maggie, TF and *coughs* Beth *coughs* is for the day to day stuff. Carol, on the other hand, will be where Ezekiel is. So this is a goodbye to what their relationship has been thus far. They'll remain friends of course and will probably still see one another a lot. But this is a major change. A major crossroads. Things will be different from here on out, and that's good for TD.

Speaking of crossroads, check this out. Total credits to @thegloriouscollectorlady for this. I don't think I'd have noticed it on my own. 

Yeah, another S4 callback to Daryl's state of mind right after he lost Beth. We've come full circle in that way, and once again, Daryl is at a crossroads.

Me and my FB peeps have talked at length about how Daryl and Shiva fit into the symbolism. @thegloriouscollectorlady said it best: Shiva is the definition of an outdoor cat that's been made into an indoor cat, so Daryl understands her very well. Of course, he's struggled to remain an indoor cat. He often slips back into his wilder mindset. The only one who every came anywhere close to taming him was Beth. As I said after 7x02, Ezekiel, the hopeful, gentle character, represents Beth. He tamed the wild animal (Daryl/Shiva) and will tame Carol as well.

This episode is very much preparing us for Beth's return, y'all.

When talking to Morgan, Daryl says, "Whatever you're holding onto is already gone." That's heartbreaking to me. He feels that way about Beth, but there's also Denise and Glenn. He also says, "you don't know shit about me," which was Noah's line at Grady. Let THAT sink in for a minute. Beth saved Noah. Beth fought Dawn (*coughs Negan parallel*) for Noah. Daryl shot Dawn for hurting Beth. Hmmmm.

It was also pointed out to me by @thegloriouscollectorlady that right after Morgan says, "we're all holding onto something," Shiva licks Daryl's hand, as if to remind us that he's still holding on like hell to Beth. All together now: Awwww.

Bottom line: this episode is very much preparing us for Beth's return. All the pieces are moving perfectly into place.

I'll shut up now, but I have a LOT to post this week. A lot more to say. Tomorrow I'll talk about all the TTD clues (there were tons of them!). On Wednesday I'll finally post the Jadis theory I've waited months to post, because I wanted to wait for the episode to air. Thursday I'll do my deep Daryl/Carol analysis. If I have time, I'll also try to get a Carol/Beth master post written. No promises on that one, though. So, what did you all think of the episode?