Walking Dead Discussion Thread: S3 E12, “Clear”
Spoiler Alert: Do not read this post or the comment section if you have not seen the show. Also, for those who have read the comics, please do not discuss plot elements not revealed on the show.
Before I get into this week’s episode, I’d like to solicit some guest posts. There are four episodes left this season. I will be selfish and claim the finale but I would like to see some other folks do the posts for the next three shows. I will accept volunteers on a first come basis so act fast. If this works well perhaps we’ll line up a guest schedule for Season 4.
‘Clear’ was an interesting episode in that they stuck with just a few characters for the whole show, ignoring events back at the prison and in Woodbury. I like it when we get to see dynamics play out at the micro level. Rick brought Michionne along ‘to keep an eye on her’ but it felt more like a trial run for her. “Do well and we let you stay.” The spoiler here is that she seems to have won a spot in the group. I’d still love to see some kind of crazy friendship or even romance between her and Merle but I think that is asking too much.
Unfortunately for me I accidentally read a spoiler Sunday morning and knew Morgan was going to return. His descent into crazytown was clearly meant to parallel Rick’s own problems and for that reason Rick yelling at him that he could come back felt very much like he was talking to himself.
Because the episode was of the micro variety there isn’t a whole lot to discuss other than to say I really liked Michionne’s interaction with Rick at the very end of the show. Also, the thing with the backpacker was totally understandable until they coldly took his backpack at the end. That bothered me even if the realist in me accepted it.
I thought Morgan’s scene in the big monologue was worthy of an Emmy. The actor really did a great job.
Your comment about parallels between Morgan and Rick is spot on, but they did sort of lay it on with a sledgehammer… “See, Rick isn’t *that* crazy!”
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I prognosticated Morgan’s return in the next three episodes, so nice to see I was right on that score.
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Oh, I’ll do next week.Report
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He does descend into “Stumble around crazy,” but Lori dies much earlier in the television show so the timeline is a little different.. he’s relatively sane during the Woodbury conflict and crazy after.Report
Can someone remind me what the deal is with the coded language?Report
http://www.rot13.com/
It’s done to prevent spoilers.Report
If you use Firefox, you can install “LeetKey”, the plug-in, and just highlight the encoded text and decrypt it with the click of a mouse.Report
I thought the monologue itself was a bit overwritten, but I agree, the actor was fantastic. When he brought up the wife, I knew she’d killed the boy.
I had a bit of trouble with the hitchhiker deal. I don’t AGREE with Rick driving off Tyreese and group, but I can sort of understand it; taking in a group that large at once is potentially destabilizing, b/c they may be able to take over your group.
But a single person seems like he might be able to be safely taken in – Rick just keeps a gun on him, frisks him and locks him down, until they feel he’s proved himself.
Were they worried he might be a spy from Woodbury or something?
And where the heck did Morgan get THAT many guns & ammo, even in GA? And why didn’t Rick & co. take more?Report
It’s established that Morgan at the very least cleaned out the armory at the prison so that is some. Assuming overrun military checkpoints scattered about the area and the like (Rick’s Hospital, for instance- per the pilot, was under military supervision for a while) the amount of guns and ammo you could collect. Remember also that this neighborhood would be considered the “sweet spot” at this stage of TWD world’s timeline. It was a populated exurb or suburb that was mainly indefensible and so was likely abandoned by the humans early on and then overrun with walkers seiging the urban holdouts and thus preventing the masses from scavenging out the area during the seige. So there’s plausibly a lot of supplies cached around there.
Well one thing to consider is that, having occupied a prison, it’s unlikely that guns are the group’s issue; ammo is, and we saw them fill three huge duffles with boxes of ammo. That is a bonanza and approaching the limits of what they could carry in one trip (now me I’da backed the car right up to Morgans walker barricade and/or made a couple trips but perhaps navigating the unfamiliar booby trapped place felt too fraught?
Throwing Tyreese out and not picking up the hitch hiker were the same problem for Rick in my mind: he has jerked too far in the other direction and won’t trust anyone. Sure Tyreeses group would be a big influx but damn they sure would have been helpful. But Rick isn’t interested, in his addled brain anyone not already in the group is too risky to chance.Report
Yeah, I know Rick is addled, and Tyreese himself appears to be a good egg; but we did see (though Rick didn’t) that Tyreese had two potential bad eggs in his group, so Rick’s “decision” (really, more of a “losing his s**t” than an actual “decision”) w/r/t Tyreese & co. makes a little bit of sense to me.
But a lone hitchhiker seems like he could either be taken in, and/or offed if he turns out to be trouble (and that would be the deal I’d offer – “one false move, and you get a bullet, no questions asked, so you need to avoid even the appearance of evil until you have proved yourself”), without too much undue risk.Report
Yeah what it boils down to is Rick is addled so both the Tyreese rejection and the hitchhiker rejection are coming from the same addled place. I’m hoping this is running into an overarching theme that it is simply not a good idea to have a Ricktator, it’s too hard on the one person leading the group and it leads to bad decisions. People always snark about committee decisions but they have their up sides.Report
Yeah the backpacker scene went from grim but understandable to just brutal when they stopped to get the backpack. Just dog.
While my knee jerk reaction to Carl’s behavior initially was “oh season 2 Carl! There you are.” I’ve mellowed on it on my second rewatching. He is, after all, still a kid; a tragically experienced kid but still just a kid and a boy on top of that. Still, major props to Michonne for not bending him across her knee and giving him a hiding.
I do have a bit of puzzlement about Morgan. He indicated that when it was him and Duane living in the neighborhood food remained a perennial problem. This makes sense of course but all of the clearing and trap building he subsequently embarked on is very labor intensive; did he score some big stash of non-perishables sometime after Duane died?
I note cynically that even in his brand of crazytown Morgan is building traps and clearing walkers from his environment. That’s a damn sight better than Ricks brand of crazytown which involves stumbling about like an idiot and chasing viable group members into the arms of his enemies. Maybe the prison group could trade up?Report
You can’t always get what you want…
It was great to see Morgan again. But I wish he was found alive and well (he’s not well obviously) and to see Dwyane a mirror of Carl.
I hoped Morgan would someday show up – to save Rick again – instead of seeing him like he is now. Maybe he will who knows.
Nice closure to a story-line, and possible prologue to something else in the future of the series.
I found this a long road traveled to go back to the town it all started. They all should go back and make it another Woodbury.
It was interesting that the 3some didn’t even get phased when walkers attacked the car. They didn’t even flinch. Desensitized to it all.
The backpacker scene – what a great opening and closing scene despite it’s lack of human nature (which seems to be lost).
I guess they nailed it on the head – trust no-one. Consistent with letting the Tyreese’s group go.
That being said – we didn’t really see Tyreese’s group go and I hope we will see a flashback of Rick talking to them somehow.Report
Duane is a mirror of Carl. He’s Carl in a world where Rick (and Carl himself) didn’t get tough and learn to make tough decisions and therefore died.
This has some interesting implications: Neither path is successful in saving the “wife” of the family and it also suggests that the “Husband” is the element that puts the “son” in danger.
Carl was able to shoot his mother and save himself because Rick wasn’t there, Duane had his weapon drawn on his mother when Morgan came upon them, calling out to him and probably distracting him from making the same critical decision that saved Carl’s life.
Both paths result in the loss of sanity of the husband.
A little heavy handed that the “darkest timeline” version of Rick and Carl are literally black people, but whatever.Report
Just a quick FYI: ‘Clear’ was written by Scott Gimple who will be taking over as showrunner for Season 4.Report