Assorted Musings:
- There are two other mostly meaningless plots going on in “Out of the Ashes.” The first is that Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Maggie (Lauren Cohen) reach the ruins of Meridian. They have the same dumb fight they’ve been having, where Negan asks her to trust him despite proving untrustworthy while Maggie’s determined to ignore his advice to head home instead of staying to see if any of the other survivors from the Reaper attack show up, even though it’s endangering the mission (something she wasn’t willing to entertain when Roy was screaming for help). Eventually, Gabriel makes it along with another dude. Yay.
- The other is Judith (Cailey Fleming), who starts by awesomely teaching the kids of Alexandria some sword work (with wooden swords) and then tells a bunch of idiot teens to stop sticking their fingers at an essentially prone zombie’s mouth. I’m not sure how the kids in World Beyond are, but in TWD Prime teens are still idiots who have somehow still not internalized how fucking dangerous zombies are.
- I guess there is one more notable thing about the Judith scene. The teens mock Judith by saying her mom abandoned her, which causes her to threaten the teens and then walk away, stifling her sadness. Later, Rosita (Christian Serratos) gives her a comforting pep-talk… and I’m not 100% sure these two have ever had a scene alone together? It’s possible I’m forgetting something, but Rosita playing “mom” to Judith out of nowhere was kind of unsettling. On the other hand, Fleming does some tremendous work as Judith throughout the episode.
- I got excited when the Wolf showed and was immediately disappointed when it turned out Aaron was only having a dream. I’d love to see the Reapers take on the Wolves. Two groups of murderous nitwits enter! None leave!
- Seeing a herd of zombies shamble into town while you’re taking your morning piss is a hell of a rough way to wake up in the morning, so good on Jerry for soldiering through.
- As someone who has expected to die almost immediately once the dead start rising from their graves, the discovery that the Commonwealth is based in or around my current location of Charleston, West Virginia is extremely good news.
