11x05 'Out of the Ashes'

[Dee]

Aaron, Carol, Lydia and Jerry go to the Hilltop ruins; Eugene's group goes through orientation at the Commonwealth; Maggie and Negan trudge through the woods; Judith and he kids clash with teenagers.

[Dee]

Hm. I'm not a happy bunny with this episode. After such strong opening with four really good episodes, this one was a bit of a disappointment for me. Especially as Greg Nicotero directed it, and that is normally a guarantee for something awesome.

I spent most of this episode raising my brows and rolling my eyes.

Stuff I really didn't want to see:

More bloody Whisperers. Aaron losing his shit. More torture scenes. More annoying teenagers.
Good gracious.

The torture bits conducted by Aaron and Jerry of all people were really painful to watch. Realistic? I don't know. They both suffered serious trauma. I expect everyone breaks at some point. Maybe it was also a tiny bit interesting how some of the remaining Whisperers were trying to survive, but only such tiny bit, that I'd have really much rather watched hair grow on Daryl Dixon's chin. It remains to be seen whether we’ll get to see these whisperers again. And whether Carol’s act of kindness at the end has cancelled out the hand-biting incident?

The bit of wall falling in at Alexandria? Really? Just like that? By one walker? After all their efforts at fixing the walls? And no one was on watch? Jerry had to spot it whilst taking a morning piss? Then all the banging after / like were they purposefully trying to attract even more walkers? My eyes were literally rolling out of their sockets.

And then the scene with Judith training the little kids. Gracie literally looking like this was her very first lesson. Come. On.

But to top it all: the idiotic teenagers taunting the walker kid by the wall (who was btw Gus, JDM and HB's son! Fun day for the kiddo!). I always hated these scenes and always felt they were unrealistic. But -at this stage? Having walkers around them killing people for the past ten years? These kids were all born into the apocalypse or certainly grew up in it with probably no memories of anything else. That scene just would not have happened. They sure would have known better. Plus even if they didn't, some adults on watch would have surely seen these little idiots and stopped this nonsense straight away. Who were these kids anyway? Anyone remembers seeing them before? And really? No one is on watch anymore?

Well, Judith handled it, and she was a little star as always. But again, why? Why would anyone have been so horrible to her? She's such a giving, kind, sweet little girl. It makes no sense at all that she'd have deserved such treatment from those boys. Couldn’t there have been a different route to this conflict? Perhaps because of some jealousy of her fighting skills? Coming out of some competition amongst the children? Maybe. But not this idiotic repeat of teenagers playing with walkers. Then the little shits destroying the fence with the handprints? Really? How would they even know of the significance of those? More eye rolling for me for sure.

Then we had the one lovely scene in this pointless episode on the back of all this stupidity: Rosita comforting Judith.

Maggie and Negan: I love how this conflict has been written so far, but this episode hasn't moved anything forward. If anything, we are now completely running round in circles with these two. Plus to my horror, they are almost adding a hint of sexual tension to this, which I REALLY DON'T WANT TO SEE.

The Commonwealth? We all get what they're going for, portraying the CW as this utopian paradise, but again, this was TOO MUCH. The Orientation presentation? Like it was made in the 70s? It's just ridiculous. It seems like it takes an awful lot of sugar coating to hide whatever they are hiding.

The Stephanie character? Is this really the girl Eugene liked on the radio? Or someone posing as her? Because sure she has no sass, and something's really off with her.

The scene of her taking Eugene to the radio station, again, ridiculous. These guys have barely passed their entry tests, surely they'd be under strict surveillance still. This seems like a setup to me, and "Stephanie" leading them into it. I don't know. None of it seemed feasible at all. Especially our people thinking they were “blending in” just fine.

Yumiko/brother reunion... again, totally off. And I'm left totally uninterested in this guy. Though conveniently he’s a surgeon who could potentially remove Zeke’s tumour, right? Would he be punished though for hiding this part of his skill set all this time from the CW?

Only fun moment was Princess flirting with Mercer. The big tough guy who's actually a bit of a teddy bear, having a soft spot for Princess. That was the only fun/interesting part of the Commonwealth story line for me in this episode.

So this was a rant and a half. A very poor episode for me. I couldn't relate to any of it except the Judith/Rosita scene.

Next week we finally get to see Connie, and more Daryl - sadly not in the same scenes just yet. But hopefully an episode back on form?

[Dee]

Ok, I couldn’t resist and watched ahead, as the next episode is already out there.

Good Lord. It’s terrific - in all the senses of the word. Absolutely horrific. I’m not going to give anything away but please be warned. You might want to look away a few times. You really should. I most definitely did. And whatever you do, don’t watch it before bedtime. But the episode is brilliantly done. Bar is raised back up. So that’s a relief. But this is what nightmares are made of - be prepared.

[Lori]

Hm. I'm not a happy bunny with this episode. After such strong opening with four really good episodes, this one was a bit of a disappointment for me. Especially as Greg Nicotero directed it, and that is normally a guarantee for something awesome.

I spent most of this episode raising my brows and rolling my eyes.

Likewise. For me, a really filler episode. Uninspired.

Stuff I really didn't want to see:

More bloody Whisperers. Aaron losing his shit. More torture scenes. More annoying teenagers.
Good gracious.

The torture bits conducted by Aaron and Jerry of all people were really painful to watch. Realistic? I don't know. They both suffered serious trauma. I expect everyone breaks at some point. Maybe it was also a tiny bit interesting how some of the remaining Whisperers were trying to survive, but only such tiny bit, that I'd have really much rather watched hair grow on Daryl Dixon's chin. It remains to be seen whether we’ll get to see these whisperers again. And whether Carol’s act of kindness at the end has cancelled out the hand-biting incident?

It felt oddly gratuitous and, yes, of course the hair on DD chin would provide more interest

The bit of wall falling in at Alexandria? Really? Just like that? By one walker? After all their efforts at fixing the walls? And no one was on watch? Jerry had to spot it whilst taking a morning piss? Then all the banging after / like were they purposefully trying to attract even more walkers? My eyes were literally rolling out of their sockets.

So strange! The hodgepodge makeup of the fence is crazy in this resourceful community. Yes, they've been through the ringer but this is downright dumb.

And then the scene with Judith training the little kids. Gracie literally looking like this was her very first lesson. Come. On.

But to top it all: the idiotic teenagers taunting the walker kid by the wall (who was btw Gus, JDM and HB's son! Fun day for the kiddo!). I always hated these scenes and always felt they were unrealistic. But -at this stage? Having walkers around them killing people for the past ten years? These kids were all born into the apocalypse or certainly grew up in it with probably no memories of anything else. That scene just would not have happened. They sure would have known better. Plus even if they didn't, some adults on watch would have surely seen these little idiots and stopped this nonsense straight away. Who were these kids anyway? Anyone remembers seeing them before? And really? No one is on watch anymore?

Well, Judith handled it, and she was a little star as always. But again, why? Why would anyone have been so horrible to her? She's such a giving, kind, sweet little girl. It makes no sense at all that she'd have deserved such treatment from those boys. Couldn’t there have been a different route to this conflict? Perhaps because of some jealousy of her fighting skills? Coming out of some competition amongst the children? Maybe. But not this idiotic repeat of teenagers playing with walkers. Then the little shits destroying the fence with the handprints? Really? How would they even know of the significance of those? More eye rolling for me for sure.

Again - it felt like certain actors were requiring screen time due to some contractual nonsense. Bullying never really makes sense, does it - some of the most fantastic people get bullied merely for being fantastic. But this all felt pointless. Fun fact about JDM's kiddo.

Then we had the one lovely scene in this pointless episode on the back of all this stupidity: Rosita comforting Judith.

Even that was a bit of a yawn imho but it was on the heels of parts of this episode so dull it felt somewhat real at least.

Maggie and Negan: I love how this conflict has been written so far, but this episode hasn't moved anything forward. If anything, we are now completely running round in circles with these two. Plus to my horror, they are almost adding a hint of sexual tension to this, which I REALLY DON'T WANT TO SEE.

Thank you. I was fearing that my hormones from menopause were kicking back in with some strange perception as it definitely read as sexual tension. Is JDM just one of those guys that exude it? It is untenable!!!!! I could fathom it from Negan but NOT Maggie!

The Commonwealth? We all get what they're going for, portraying the CW as this utopian paradise, but again, this was TOO MUCH. The Orientation presentation? Like it was made in the 70s? It's just ridiculous. It seems like it takes an awful lot of sugar coating to hide whatever they are hiding.

Seems every utopia has some under-layer of mental illness rooting about. Reminds me of the 70s Coca-Cola commercial. "I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony..."

The Stephanie character? Is this really the girl Eugene liked on the radio? Or someone posing as her? Because sure she has no sass, and something's really off with her.

The scene of her taking Eugene to the radio station, again, ridiculous. These guys have barely passed their entry tests, surely they'd be under strict surveillance still. This seems like a setup to me, and "Stephanie" leading them into it. I don't know. None of it seemed feasible at all. Especially our people thinking they were “blending in” just fine.

WTH? I find myself in total agreement with all you are saying. It is so off, there must be something to this imposter bit. If not, well poor Eugene.

Yumiko/brother reunion... again, totally off. And I'm left totally uninterested in this guy. Though conveniently he’s a surgeon who could potentially remove Zeke’s tumour, right? Would he be punished though for hiding this part of his skill set all this time from the CW?

I didn't have a clue who he was. He looked vaguely familiar but the supposed bond between the two really fell short of the most minor emotions. What the heck is going on with this episode?

Only fun moment was Princess flirting with Mercer. The big tough guy who's actually a bit of a teddy bear, having a soft spot for Princess. That was the only fun/interesting part of the Commonwealth story line for me in this episode.

Yes - and that is a sad commentary on the rest of the episode!

So this was a rant and a half. A very poor episode for me. I couldn't relate to any of it except the Judith/Rosita scene.

Next week we finally get to see Connie, and more Daryl - sadly not in the same scenes just yet. But hopefully an episode back on form?

This episode was a waste of time for me. The following episode is AMAZING!!! It made up for this sleepy one!

[Dee]

Omg it certainly did!

[Dee]

I didn't have a clue who he was. He looked vaguely familiar but the supposed bond between the two really fell short of the most minor emotions.

Well, we have never met Yumiko’s brother before. We haven’t even heard about him until Y saw his note on the board that he’s looking for his sister.

Their reunion therefore wasn’t such an emotional event for us but it’s also a very contrived situation. For ten years this guy has been making cakes instead of operating on people - because being a surgeon was stressful? Really? Surely there’s more to this story. And he’d better get over this quickly and remove Zeke’s tumour!

[Lori]

I didn't have a clue who he was. He looked vaguely familiar but the supposed bond between the two really fell short of the most minor emotions.

Well, we have never met Yumiko’s brother before. We haven’t even heard about him until Y saw his note on the board that he’s looking for his sister.

Their reunion therefore wasn’t such an emotional event for us but it’s also a very contrived situation. For ten years this guy has been making cakes instead of operating on people - because being a surgeon was stressful? Really? Surely there’s more to this story. And he’d better get over this quickly and remove Zeke’s tumour!

Oh, Wise One! That is most likely where this is all leading. Thanks for clarifying this relationship. I get some of these peripheral people mixed up. The larger question is, would you rather marry a surgeon or a cake baker. I am on the fence!

[Dee]

Pros and cons!