The Walking Dead - Season 5, Episode 6 - "Consumed"

Blair Fink (Twitter: @BlairMFink, Instagram: @BlairFink)

Steve Bethel (Twitter: @the_lazy_gamer, Website: steveisthelazygamer.blogspot.ca)

"Beth, I hear you calling…"

The Walking Dead, Season 5, Episode 6, "Consumed"

WE DIDN'T START THE FIRE

“Sometimes I just don’t know what the hell to think.”



Where there’s smoke, there’s Carol, the girl who played with fire. So, this episode slathered the fire symbolism on pretty thick but I didn’t mind. It almost became a game, trying to pick out all the uses of fire and smoke in the episode. Did you catch them all? There were the two big fires at the prison and at Terminus, each billowing smoke. Then there were the various little fires throughout the episode, like the bodies Daryl burned (as well as the bodies Carol controversially burned), the paper they used to distract the walkers, the cigarette Daryl smokes and the flaming dumpster as another decoy. Let me know if I missed any. And those were just the physical ones. There were a lot of metaphorical fires burning as well. Flame on.



When the episode opened with Carol leaving with an ominous revolver and sheriff brown pants in the foreground I was super stoked to think I had nailed it and I was right about it being a post kicked out Carol we see in the hospital...but alas I was wrong. This flashback, and all the others, were merely to point out the metaphor that Carol explains to Daryl in the women's shelter, in case you didn't get it. If all the smoke and fire it showed in all the flashbacks wasn't enough: Carol is a phoenix. Born again, stronger, from the ashes of the previous version. 

This episode really highlights all the things that have made Carol who she is now. This isn't the dainty, timid, beaten housewife of season one. This Carol has been forged in the blood of everyone/thing she has killed or lost. All the flashbacks help to show all these things that have made her stronger. Rick giving her the boot, her seeing the prison in flames thinking all she knew is dead, burning the bodies in the prison, burying the girls. As well as the less obvious call back to her daughter, shown by the mother and child locked in the room of the courthouse (or whatever building they were in). This show rarely shows zombie children, but when it does it is powerful and Carol is involved. Her daughter, the girls from the prison and this faceless one in the room.

The scene in the shelter with the silhouettes of the mother and child walkers in the next room and the obvious effect it has on Carol was so great. Dear writers of The Walking Dead: MORE PLEASE. That is the kind of “show don't tell” that brings shows like this up a tier. It trusted the viewer to understand and remember why this might be particularly upsetting for Carol without immediately broadcasting it. It's easy to forget what Carol was like early on in the show's run and the journey she's taken to who she is now.

So we're back in Atlanta. We know it's Atlanta because it had all our favourite things from season one: the long stretch of deserted freeway, the dirty tattered city, and the TANK!! At least that gave us some hope that Rick was still a part of this show...it's been a minute since we have seen a Rick focused episode.

I'm impressed the show has had the guts to go away from Rick for three straight episodes. In the past this would have been a recipe for disaster (not that Rick has always been the most riveting character but still) but now I think this foray has only made the show stronger. The characters around Rick are getting strong enough and developed enough that we don't need Rick to drive the show by himself. It answers the question about whether or not The Walking Dead could survive without Sheriff Grimes. Now that the answer seems to be “yes,” that only makes scenes where Rick is in danger that much more tense. Rick. Could. Die. I don't expect him to anytime soon but it might make me think twice the next time he finds himself about to dance the grim fandango.

So we didn't get as much excitement as we were hoping. I suppose that's what we get being two episodes away from the midseason finale. I don't think we need four episodes of slow, boring build up but I'm not a show runner so who knows. So we can all assume the storming of the hospital is going to be the big bang for the midseason break. Which leaves next week’s episode to put all the pawns into position. Don't get me wrong, I say this was a slow episode in the sense of what's to come in two episodes. I really enjoyed this episode for what it was.

I loved this episode. We got more of a slow burn episode, something the show tried to do in the past and failed, but this time they pulled it off. It helps that Carol and Daryl and great together and both strong characters. They can easily carry an episode while Beth can't (at least not yet). I would also totally watch a show starring Carol and Daryl. The Walking Dead: Care Dare Countdown! Each episode features them critiquing a different painting while a song about fire plays in the background. Gold, Jerry, gold!

We see some more bonding between Caryl and Darol. Talking about their pasts, more so Carol, (we do catch a glimpse of Daryl's rebirth when the book about child abuse falls from his bag later on). There is the lingering scene on the bunk bed and the scene with the mother and child that Daryl stops her from dispatching. He sends her off and we see him the next day burning the bodies (more Carol phoenix referencing?) I'm starting to fall away from the romantic with these two, it's become a more brother/sister support system.

I am also backing off the romance push for these two. They are just really good friends that care about each other. Burning dead zombies so it won't bring back past trauma? That's what friends are for! The only concern I have is the possibility of this clearing the way for a Beth-Daryl (“Bethyl”? Got a nice ring to it, eh Steve?) romantic pairing down the road, something I am not on board with at all.

Like all team ups we need a cutesy name for these two; Caryl? Darol? ...clearly this is only a team up name that will translate in type form only...



CareDare. Dare2Care! Dare II Carez?

Well I guess it's true, Everybody DOES Hate Chris...I mean Noah. Pretty bold of him to jack these two, and spring the camper zombies on them. If only he knew what they were capable of...which he almost finds out as Carol goes for a shot, only to be stopped by Daryl. As I assumed, in the episode that Noah got away from the hospital, he isn't very well suited for life outside. He has trouble with a few solo walkers, rather than kill them and move on he leaves a trail of dead crumbs for Darol to follow. This time Daryl is the one that wants to let him die, and Carol is the sympathetic one. Good thing too because they find out about Beth in the process, and what they're up against.

Everybody Hates Noah shows up and in a real dick move, leaves our loveable greaseballs nearly weaponless to combat some intense in tents walkers. I can't see how Noah fits in with the show's future. I just don't think he joins the group and makes it through this.

Too bad that's where the good news ends. We close on Carol getting T-boned, Noah explaining why now isn't the time, and Daryl driving back, with a very determined face, to rally the troops and go on another "destroy everything good that another group has" killing spree. Where does that put Abe/Glenn's group? Do they get found along the way? Or will they stay as their own spin off now? I would assume so as they were heading in the opposite direction to DC.

I’ve been slightly confused as to the geographic location of recent events. I thought they were north of Atlanta but CareDare follow the car…north to Atlanta? I perused the internets and found this map indicating that Terminus is roughly by Macon, GA which is southeast of Atlanta. Which way did Honest Abe's troop go? Were they headed northeast to bypass Atlanta? We need some Indiana Jones-style map hopping transition scenes once in awhile on this show!

QUESTIONS AND OBSERVATIONS

-Don't get me started on the van falling from the bridge. That was bad physics, they should have landed on the roof. When it landed tires down I scoffed.

-Yeah, seemed questionable but I’m perfectly okay with chalking it up under “reasonable suspension of disbelief”. The entire sequence was great otherwise, with the bridge jumping walkers raining down after. Reminded me of a great scene in a great movie, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, where, faced with no other option, Butch (Paul Newman) and Sundance (Robert Redford) are forced to leap off a cliff and into a river below to escape the lawmen chasing them.

-Is the hospital going to be our base of operations for the second half of the season?

-I’m on board only if we get a voiceover narration like Scrubs.

-Will Dr. Steven stay alive? Will Dawn and a handful of cops make it out and become the big bad of the second half of the season?

-I kind of hope not. I hope they keep mowing through plot and lay waste to the hospital.

-Will the two groups ever converge again?

-I think some of them will for sure. But which ones?

Blair's Rating: A

Steve's Rating: 4 out of 5 Jean Greys rising from the ashes

Blair's MVP: Carol

Steve's MVP: Caryl/Darol

Blair's Deadpool Pick: Noah

Steve's Deadpool Pick: Tara

Steve is doing Movember again this year, so if you want to kick in a few shekels, head on over to his page: http://mobro.co/stevebethel121