IT’S. THAT. TIME. AGAIN.
I’m so glad to be watching a new episode of The Walking Dead again. It’s been too damn long.
That said, what an episode to come back with.
You had everything in this episode: Walkers, danger, ingenuity, deaths, returns, cliffhangers; you name it, this episode had it! I know…I have the notes to prove it.
The Walking Dead season ten Part B finale was so full only Things To Note can cover it all.
And, for those of you who are unfamiliar, that’s what I do here. I watch each episode of The Walking Dead, find all the little details, connections, and trivia in each episode, put them all together, and bring them to you so that you can keep an eye out for them!
Are you ready? Because I’m damn sure ready for an all-new installment of The Walking Dead: THINGS TO NOTE!
1) As Father Gabriel tries to blackout the tower’s window, he stops at one to see the horde surrounding the complex. This is only possible because some careless person pulled the sheet back to look out the window earlier and left it that way. That is a terrible violation of safety protocols.
2) At what point did Daryl and Judith meet up with Carol and Kelly? Was one of those pairs already being chased by part of the horde? Were there no Whisperers amongst those walkers? …You’d think there would be. If you’re Beta, that’s a hell of a blown opportunity.
3) In a much smarter move, as he, Judith, Carol, and Kelly reenter the tower, Daryl, rather than try to force a walker (That had tried to force its way in as the quartet opened the door) out, which would have wasted time, dragged it in, to be killed by Carol. Well played, sir.
4) As we cut to Eugene’s team, He, Yumiko, Princess, and Ezekiel are bicycling on a road surrounded by a forest. Obviously, they’re somewhere in West Virginia, but if they weren’t in Charleston when they met Princess, then…where the hell were they?
5) When we cut to Virgil arriving at Oceanside, we see him equipped with “Backpack Guy”‘s orange backpack, which Michonne took when she, Rick, and Carl found his remains after meeting Morgan in the season three episode, “Clear.”
6) How did Aaron and Alden escape the Whisperers? When we last saw them in the previous episode, they looked pretty captured.
7) Who’s the ninja guy? His mask/hoodie combination makes him resemble Morgan when he reappeared in the season five premiere, “No Sanctuary.”
8) This episode marks Maggie’s first appearance since Rick’s final episode, season nine’s “What Comes After.”
9) Thinking back to the letter Maggie received (Which prompted her return), how long ago did she get it, wherein she could read it and return in time to help the Alliance? Was it when Kingdom was evacuated?
10) While Beta isn’t the first character in The Walking Dead universe to see walkers talking to them (That’d be Nick Clark from Fear The Walking Dead), he is the first character to see multiple walkers talking to him at once.
11) Interestingly, if you watch the walkers surround Beta after his “vision” ends (When his imagining of them stopping for him should have ceased), they start moving again, giving the appearance of the walkers (As opposed to the actors portraying them) having actually stopped for Beta, instead of him just imagining they did.
12) Just before the end of the title sequence, there are considerably more walkers approaching the windmill than normal, perhaps as many as eight more.
13) As Daryl and Carol discuss Michonne’s departure, clearly, Judith hasn’t revealed the truth yet of why she actually left, as they make no mention of Rick. However, Daryl’s declaration that he would have gone with her shows why she didn’t tell him and Carol the truth.
14) It’s ironic Daryl should lament possibly not seeing Michonne again “just like everyone else,” considering that Maggie will formally return by the episode’s end.
15) When the team of Daryl, Kelly, Jerry, Magna, Luke, Jules, Carol, and Beatrice prepare to step out into the horde, only Kelly is given a walker mask. Why? Wouldn’t it make more sense for the whole team to have them?
16) The “Sneaky, but not sneaky enough” Whisperer (Who tries to knife Daryl) is the 30th Whisperer we’ve seen die and the 33rd to die overall.
17) “Brown Plaid Shirt” Whisperer is the 31st Whisperer we’ve seen die, 34th overall.
18) “Blue Plaid Shirt” Whisperer is the 32nd Whisperer we’ve seen die, 35th overall, and it’s only going to go downhill for the Whisperers from here.
19) Beatrice is the fourteenth named character to die this season and the first member of the communities to die since Earl in “Walk With Us.” This leaves only three named members of Oceanside now: Cyndie, Rachel, and Jules.
20) Just before the team activates their diversion, one of the walkers tells Beta that “The end is near.” Later, that same walker tells him it’s “Our end” (As in the walkers’), but, since this is all in Beta’s head, could this be his doubt in his attack succeeding? Was this Beta predicting his own demise?
21) ironically, the song Luke chose to lure the horde away with was “Burning Down The House” by Talking Heads, considering that the Whisperers are at the tower to, essentially, do that to the Alliance.
22) The “Wagon Attack Party” Whisperers make for the 33rd through 36th Whisperers we’ve seen die, and the 36th through 39th to die overall.
23) Oscar (The guy in the gray shirt defending the wagon) is the fifteenth named character to die this season.
24) The “Tower Siege” Whisperers (Pictured above) make up the 37th through 40th Whisperers we’ve seen die and the 40th through 43rd overall.
25) The bearded Whisperer that Daryl kills is the 41st Whisperer we’ve seen die, 44th overall.
26) The redshirted, gray shirted, and…black-shirted (He’s the one you faintly see get kicked down) Whisperers are the 42nd through 44th Whisperers we’ve seen die, and 45th through 47th overall, plus, the two we hear dying off-camera bring the overall number to 49.
27) Beta’s death makes him the 48th Whisperer we’ve seen die, the 50th(!) overall, the sixteenth (And final) named character to die this season, and the third to die in this episode.
28) Though he doesn’t call him by name, upon seeing the horde rip off Beta’s mask, Negan recognizes him.
29) When Negan asks Daryl if he knew who Beta was, Daryl replies, “Yeah. Nobody.” I appreciated this. It was like Daryl was saying that, in the apocalypse (Or maybe, just in death), celebrity doesn’t matter.
30) Why was Carol planning to commit suicide when the horde walked off the cliff? Was it because of losing Henry? Or, was it because she felt that all her attempts to avenge him made things worse?
31) As Carol attempts to let the horde sweep her off the cliff, Lydia drags her back. Is it just me, or…shouldn’t the rather forceful way Lydia pulled Carol back have drawn the attention of at least some of the walkers? I mean, with the short, jerky movements of pulling a somewhat reluctant Carol against the flow of traffic, you’d think it’d at least draw some of them.
And, with that, we’ve concluded our Things To Note for this week. Was there anything you missed? Was there anything I missed? Feel free to throw in your things to note in the comments!
If you like this and want to read more of my writings, specifically about how to survive a zombie apocalypse, why not pick up a copy of my book, The Rules: A Guide To Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse! And you can get it from Amazon here and on iTunes here!