The Walking Dead - Season 5, Episode 9 - "What Happened and What's Going On"

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

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

I wish Tyreese was hallucinating E.T. in this screenshot.

The Walking Dead, Season 5, Episode 9, "What Happened and What's Going On"

HEAVEN KNOWS I'M MISERABLE NOW

“My eyes can hardly believe this highly discolored garbage.” 

–Ignatius J. Reilly, A Confederacy of Dunces

*drinks a tall glass of Haterade*

So not super impressed with the episode. For jumping back into the second half of the season I was hoping for a little more than an episode full of depressed, beat down heroes.

I hate dream sequences. I’m sure they’re a blast to write but as a viewer, I find them incredibly frustrating and irritating. Knowing that, it will come as no surprise when I say that I hated this episode. It’s arguably the worst episode the show has ever done. I mean, I guess The Ghosts of Walking Dead Past were more hallucinations than a dream, but it felt like just lazy writing and a cheap way to bring back dead characters. If they were going to have ghosts talk to a character, they could have at least had it happen to Carole so the A Christmas Carol jokes land better.

We open with some foreshadowing, someone digging. Generally digging means someone died as they "don't burn their own.”

Not only did I hate the ghosts/hallucinations, they had to team them up with some choppy, out of order, slap-on-an-Instagram-filter editing in an ill-advised attempt at serving up artful existentialist musings that instead spewed out as pretentious, hackneyed navel gazing. I instantly hated the opening foreshadow montage but I assumed that was the end of the dabble into artsy editing.

His whole hallucination trip was a bit weird, that has never been explored before when others get bit, so why now?

Because…art?

Obviously Noah's home was going to be a bust. What hasn't been a bust lately? So we see Noah lose hope, Rick and Glenn are gloomy. Michonne and Tyreese were the only real hopeful ones. That ended poorly for the latter. But to be fair he let his guard down. He didn't fully sweep the house, he knew there was at least one walker present. What the hell T? You know better than that! This whole 'house of a few corpses' was a bit weird. I get the metaphor and what not but it was just weird and maybe even a bit contrived. I get they all had their wounds at first and once they were in the car telling him to let go they were clean and that was obvious. I just don't understand why Tyreese gets this whole letting go montage. Complete with musical back drop too. Fun fact, the voice on the radio was Andrew Lincoln in his native dialect.

What did this episode accomplish? 

1.       Lets us know everyone is struggling with Beth’s death.

2.       Shocks the audience by killing off another character right after Beth’s death.

3.       Developed Noah’s character a tiny bit, I guess

4.       Hinted at future plot points (see Questions and Observations below)

5.       Made me angry.

One of the reasons the first half of this season was so good was the growing sense of humour and occasional fun the characters were having amidst all the grimness. Now everyone is sad and grumpy. This is not what I want to watch. I get that they have to react to Beth’s death but now the pit of sadness they have to rise out of is twice as deep. I feel like this episode destroyed all the momentum the show had built as well as me looking forward to watching it. What happens now? The next episode has to be everyone just lying around super depressed or ugly crying, right?

QUESTIONS AND OBSERVATIONS

-The most interesting part of the episode for me was the strange, chopped up walkers scattered throughout the episode. Is someone building a Super Walker made from only the finest walker pieces?


-The torso truck was weird, considering it was so far from the dismembered parts that Rick and co came across. As stated we aren't the comic readers but the 'W' scored on the heads will probably be our next villain(s) at some point. If they are heading to D.C. I'm sure they will run into them sooner rather than later.

-I didn’t even notice the W’s.

-Does the 'W' stand for Warriors? Are we getting a crossover?

-It stands for…WASHINGTON! We’re going back!


-There's always an evil twin!

-For a split second I thought the pictures on the wall were of young Noah and a twin brother he didn’t mention. It was all a trap! His evil twin brother was alive and was going to capture Tyreese. Alas…nope.


-Where are the rest of the group? Where is their temporary base? Still in the city?

-I think they’re moping in a ditch somewhere being sad and listening to The Smiths.

Blair's Rating: D

Steve's Rating: 2 out of 5 model airplanes

Blair's MVP: The end credits

Steve's MVP: Michonne

Blair's Deadpool Pick: Noah

Steve's Deadpool Pick: Maggie