Margaux and I talk mullets and mayhem – it can only be time for The Walking Dead.
Trevor: “Self-Help” was a quietly devastating episode of The Walking Dead, and gave us some much-needed insight into the character of Abraham Ford, but I’m just glad so much of its runtime was spent discussing Eugene’s mullet – or as he calls it, “Tennessee top hat,” which is my new favorite anything.
Margaux: I really loved how well-executed Abraham’s flashback was illustrated to the audience and not told to us, like The Walking Dead has a tendency to do in the past. It felt very much like, “everyone in this world has been through some bad shit, FYI here’s a little on Abraham.” His flashbacks, ultimately leading us to how Eugene and Abraham first met and hit the road, took up a total of three minutes and it’s all you needed.
Trevor: The flashbacks were so well-shot and directed. Ernest Dickerson is a veteran of The Wire and Dexter (when Dexter was good), and he shows admirable restraint in Abraham’s flashbacks. I love that we were never told who that family was, or who he was protecting them from. This was a great episode for Abraham, and Michael Cudlitz really delivered.
Margaux: I don’t think we needed to know more about the men he killed or the terrified family that he eventually failed in protecting, I think it really reinforced who Abraham is. We already knew he was a man of single minded pursuits but his thick-headedness, in never wanting to slow down long enough to think about anything other than getting to point B, shined through with not much exposition – thankfully. And it only added more emotional weight to the semi-surprising end of Self-Help.
Trevor: One thing that bugged me about the episode, though – correct me if I’m wrong, but this is the first we’ve seen of any relationship between Abraham and Rosita. Rosita still doesn’t have a lot of dimension, and she’s more or less a cipher. So is Eugene, but that’s by his own design.
Margaux: No, you’re right. It’s been hinted at that Rosita and Abraham might be an item but until they boned down in the bookstore, nothing was ever confirmed. I do agree that Rosita doesn’t have a whole lot of agency and is sort of just a parrot to Abraham but I was happy to see her start to form something of a personality when she stood up to Abraham’s ridiculous idea of just waltzing through a literal town of smelly zombies.
Like all of The Walking Dead’s minority characters, they struggle to balance more than one with depth at a time – sorry bout it Rosita.
Trevor: Yeah, Abraham spent most of “Self-Help” losing his shit, another thing Cudlitz excelled at. When he started cracking up at the spray-painted warning on the ground, that was a bad sign.
Margaux: I get the sense that Abraham is borderline manic but, I’ll save my two semesters of community college psych for another day.
Trevor: I got a D+ in psych!
Margaux: Did you get a dusting of black comedy from this episode too? It might of been the way the bus accident and subsequent explosion played out/was written, “we’ve got first aid in the bus” BUS EXPLODES, so subtle.
Trevor: Yeah, and something about the overly clinical, officious way Eugene talks is inherently funny. He can be a frustrating character – that “classified” shit was getting old – but Josh McDermitt commits to making him an off-putting weirdo who will totally spy on you if you’re boning in the bookstore.
Margaux: If Eugene didn’t come across as painfully self-aware on top of it, he would have been a more insufferable character. And I think not giving him much to do other than look hilarious whenever walkers came along until this episode was a wise choice that actually paid off. You might have seen the fact that Eugene isn’t really a scientist coming all along, but getting to know this slightly charming and slightly Asperger-y dude helped make the reveal not feel cheap. Almost sort of surprising, at least in the sense of the timing of it all.
Trevor: Yeah, and whether or not you see the reveal coming – I admit to being surprised, although I had my doubts as to the viability of Eugene’s sci-fi zombie cure – Abraham’s reaction was the “devastating” part of the episode that I talked about. He feels betrayed and foolish, but more than that he feels lost, and not to sound like a broken record, but Cudlitz does an amazing job of conveying Abraham’s anguish.
Margaux: I mean, everyone’s crestfallen face when Eugene spills the news…sort goes back to my “black comedy” vibe of this episode, the WTF expression on everybodies face (except Abraham – who just looks like he’s running through scenarios to murder Eugene) made me laugh out loud. But I think it was more of a nervous release – there was already so much tension leading to Eugene telling the truth – Abraham and Glenn were in fistacuffs!
Trevor: I was 80% sure that Abraham was just going to raise his gun and shoot Eugene right there. But he might have killed him anyway – apparently he’s got a hell of a right hook, because three socks to the jaw and Eugene is down, possibly permanently.
Margaux: Abraham is a “wild card” of sorts but how does Glenn always end up number 2 to some guy who always yells and is going through a mental thing about wife? WHEN WILL IT BE GLENN’S DAY?
Sidebar, noticing the rope burns still around Glenn’s neck from Terminus – OAF. I love the shows small reminders like that.
Trevor: Yeah, and I found myself still missing Gareth. I guess I have a man crush on Andrew J. West that will never abate.
I like that Glenn and Maggie are a decent enough couple to not bone in front of everyone. Abraham and Rosita are the kind of couple who don’t care who hears them fighting or fucking.
Margaux: So, what now for The B Team? Go back to the church? That sort of seemed like the way things were going at the very beginning, before the bus exploded – thanks a lot Gene, now no one has a bus! This is why the world is in ruins!
Trevor: Yeah, think ahead, you cock! This is why we can’t have nice things. I’m excited for next week, as much as I’ve enjoyed these digressions from the “main” story. Basically I haven’t had enough Carol on my TV, and that shit needs to get fixed.
Margaux: Next week is what the internet is referring to as, “The Carol and Daryl Hour” and I could not be more pumped. Except for our Bad Movie Review of Cyborg later this week – as everyone can tell, I have a very full social life.
Trevor: That’s for losers – we’re the cool kids who write about shit on the Internet, we’re clearly winning at life. You wanna talk stars?
Margaux: Surely! I’d give “Self-Help” a solid four stars – honestly, I’ve knocked off a star because of the lack of Carol. I could give two shits if we never catch up with Carl and his hat again.
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