Margaux and I love writing about The Walking Dead as much as we love watching it. Below, our thoughts on “Strangers.”
Trevor: Man, you knew Bob was in for some shit when he and Sasha were acting so adorable together. “Strangers” did a great job of showing both sides of that word – the kind of strangers you meet and form a family with (which the cold open showcased nicely) and the other kind, like Gareth and his crew of cannibals, or Joe and the others who kidnapped Beth (whose car Daryl got a glimpse of).
Margaux: Bob has always been a bit of a wild card, in last seasons premiere (and throughout the season) it was heavily hinted he was an alcoholic and that that could spell trouble. But his drinking issue honestly never came to any real fruition. And after last nights episode, I was further confused by Bob’s motivations. Did he get bit by a walker when Rick and Co did a little recon work at the community foodbank?
Trevor: That’s my theory, but let’s back up a bit to how they got to the food bank. I really enjoyed Seth Gilliam’s work as Father Gabriel Stokes, and it was kind of a treat to see the macho Ellis Carver from The Wire paralyzed with fear. He’s an intriguing character, because unlike everyone in Rick’s group, it looks like he hasn’t undergone the transformation to zombie killing badass – yet. But who knows what insidious things he’s done in the past; after all, someone did carve “You’ll burn for this” on the wall of his church.
Margaux: I mean, I feel the carved message Carl shows Rick (“you’ll burn for this”) coupled with the locked up tight shutters and doors are pretty self-explanatory as to what shitty thing Father Gabriel did in his self-preservation mode when it all started. But like you said, loved seeing Carver barf out of fear – not something his character on The Wire would ever do, unless he could beat up a kid directly after he did it.
Trevor: The way Sons of Anarchy keeps adding Deadwood alumni, that’s how The Walking Dead is stacking its bench with Wire vets.
And you’re right about the shuttered windows (I’ll admit to being pretty slow on the uptake with stuff like this). Most likely he just locked everyone out of the church, which, yeah, is pretty shitty.
Margaux: I think what’ll be most interesting with Father Gabriel’s character isn’t so much what he did to stay alive up till this point but how he’ll prove himself to the group in order to stay around. Cause he’d be way dead within the week if Rick and Co didn’t show up all Clint Eastwood style in a western.
Trevor: It’s weird, Gabriel’s reasoning that he was protected by God was more convincing than 99% of all sermons I’ve ever heard. “I asked for help. Help came.” Shit, when you’re right you’re right.
Having a man of the cloth around (because I seriously doubt that Gabriel is going on the field trip to DC) will hopefully make for more interesting scenes like that one.
Margaux: I actually think, especially with Bob’s “disappearance,” Gabriel will insert himself into the group just in time to be invited on the D.C. field trip – just a hunch.
Oh and do you realize that we completely forgot to talk about the re-introduction of Morgan at the end of last weeks episode.
Trevor: In our defense, we were talking about Carol, which tends to dominate our thinking.
Speaking of Carol, which is a thing I love to do, it looks like she might be in bug-out mode; her ambivalent responses to Rick and Tyreese about being welcome back into the group, plus her preparing the getaway car (for lack of a better phrase), makes me think that perhaps she got accustomed to being on her own and likes it better – or maybe she doesn’t want to have to give anyone else the Lizzie treatment. Carol has been through some shit.
Margaux: Yeah, I couldn’t and wouldn’t blame Carol for trying to sneak off in the night but I am glad her surrogate son Daryl catches her and stops her. I think you’re onto something with Carol liking being along more but I also think because she’s seen a lot of shit, before-during-after, she doesn’t wanna experience anymore hurt. Which tends to be a running theme in The Walking Dead – how do you cope when you know the inevitable end is going to be the death of you and everyone you love.
Trevor: And Melissa McBride wears hurt on her face so well. When Daryl asks “What are you doing?” it sounds like her response – “I don’t know” – has her close to tears. McBride and Norman Reedus seem to live in this world, and I’m glad that The Walking Dead invented Daryl (he’s not in the books) so we could get small, powerful scenes like this.
Margaux: Speaking of invented and remixed characters from The Walking Dead books, we knew we hadn’t seen the last of Gareth after Rick shot him in the leg (ha, a leg for a leg…I just got that.) and now it would seem that Terminus has taken its cannibalism show on the road, quaint! Oh, and fuckin’ called it – goddamn pussy Tyrese didn’t kill Babyneck Twister Guy. FUCK that guy.
Trevor: Speaking of jokes, something something Bob’s Burgers.
And you did call it last week; speaking of shit you said, I noticed a lot more of Tyreese’s teddy bear side, as he looked relieved to be on babysitting duty. It’s good to maintain what you can of decency and a gentle nature, but now it’s seriously affected someone in the group. I wonder if there will be any blowback from this. (Honestly, I’m surprised it took TWD until season five to get to cannibals.)
Margaux: Ugh, I’m not – they spent so much of seasons 2-4 finding and then defending what little bits of home they were able to carve out that they didn’t have time to contend with still-living people eating other non-walker people.
So do you think Gareth and his Hunter Crew were the ones stalking around their camp when Daryl was on watch with Carol? Do you think Morgan is part of their group or trying to do some sort of guardian angel-esque bullshit?
Trevor: I assumed it was Gareth, but I’d like to be surprised. Speaking of Gareth, when he told Bob it was “fitting” that he was the one being eaten, did you take that to mean that Bob used to be part of Gareth’s group? Maybe he was one of the people who locked Gareth and the other crazies in that boxcar.
Margaux: Oh snap, I didn’t even put those clues together – I was too grossed out by the whole “you’re eating my leg bruh” situation. And I was too busy wondering if Bob is “infected meat” and if you can taste…zombie…yeah, this is what I think about. But maybe he was – that’d be one hell of a twist.
Trevor: I was wondering about Bob’s meat too (that came out wrong). Can you cook out the infection?
Margaux: I dunno, I assumed it was like spoiled or rotten food – you’re totally getting diarrhea later if you eat it, no matter what.
I will go on record to say that I think the car Daryl sees (with the white cross) that took Beth doesn’t have anything to do with Father Gabriel or Gareth. So that’ll be terrifying and fun for them!
Trevor: I find myself finally caring about a Beth plot! She’s probably locked in the trunk, adorably singing Tom Waits songs.
Margaux: I’m secretly hoping Beth is dead even though all of the evidence – ie, the season 5 trailer – has told me otherwise. I don’t know why but I just feel like Beth and her storylines are a giant waste of time. And goddamn it, if I wanted to hear someone sing poorly, I’d just break into your car Trevor and listen to you sing to yourself.
Trevor: Well, keep two things in mind: 1, Emily Kinney is still listed in the credits (and she’s even been upgraded to the opening credits, instead of benig listed as a guest star). 2, it’d be too cruel to Maggie to take her father, brother, and sister.
Margaux: Pfft, cruel my ass – it’s zombie end times and honestly, Maggie is so much better off without her dead weight sister. How Beth is actually still alive on this show, blows my damn mind – girl might as well walk around with a dinner bell around her neck. I don’t like Beth, haha.
Trevor: Because up until she was kidnapped she’s been in a group with Michonne and Daryl, who will never die, lest Tumblr explode.
Okay, let’s talk stars before we spend 2,000 words ragging on Beth, which I’m sure we’ll do when she’s rescued.
Margaux: I thought “Strangers” was a solid episode even though I think Robert Kirkman’s writing (who wrote this episode) isn’t as good or tight as when showrunner Scott M. Gimple puts cursor to Word Doc. I think setting up the rest of the season – and also setting up some pay off for characters – is good to get outta the way this early, 4 stars.
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