It's that time of week again! Yours truly, Chris "The Dace Man" Dace, is back with another review and synopsis of AMC's horror drama, The Walking Dead!
I apologize for the lack of a post last week, fellow zombie lovers. WWE had to present their monthly pay-per-view to disappoint yours truly. But I am back in full force after watching The Walking Dead replay last week at 1 a.m. and then catching an early flight to Indianapolis. Last week we saw some more follow-up on Rick and his group, where he got into quite the pickle while trying to catch some Z's. We also saw interaction between Glen and Abraham's group which ultimately led to them walking back toward the prison region, leaving us with many questions last week. Where will we go this week? Will the group regroup at this safe haven they see maps for? What's up with Daryl and Beth? How about Carol and her group? All that and more on this week's Walking Dead.
THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR THE WALKING DEAD SEASON 4, EPISODE 12: "STILL"
We kick off this week's episode with the focus on Daryl and Beth. Again, they seem to get into a sticky situation by getting pinned in a car in a nasty thunderstorm. While they're in the car, a herd of walkers passes by them. And with that we roll, showing fear in Beth's eyes and determination in Daryl's. Pairing these two should end up hardening Beth up. We roll into our opening credits and first commercial break.
Back from commercial, zombie lovers, and we see Daryl hunting and skinning a snake. While Daryl devours the reptile, Beth speaks to him about going to find alcohol because she could use a drink. After Daryl ignores her request, she wanders off into the woods, where she stumbles upon walkers. She cleverly throws a rock to lead them away, only to find Daryl behind her. Daryl leads her back to the camp where they have an argument. Beth makes it a point to say she's done camping and eating mud snakes. She then proclaims she's going to get a drink and storms off into our next commercial break.
We are back again, still following Beth and Daryl. They've made their way to a country club, with Beth still hell bent on that drink... my kind of girl. After finally getting into the club building, the two find the remains of what looks to be a stronghold that has failed. We see walkers hanging from the ceiling and rotten corpses scattered through out the room. Beth picks up a spoon that says Washington D.C. Fans of the comics know this is the ultimate foreshadowing.
As they go through some more items, the walkers from the field catch up and start banging at the door, so the two advance further into the club. Beth, still hell bent on getting her drinky-drink on, almost gets eaten by a zombie and ultimately smashes her bottle of alcohol on its head. She then snarkily remarks to Daryl, "Thanks for the help," to which he retorts with the line she fed him earlier in the show about not needing him. They continue on scavenging for items and Beth gets a new outfit... Yay!
They stumble upon a body labeled "Rich Bitch," and Beth insists on making peace with the body. After walking down a hallway where an obnoxious clock draws walkers to their position, the two are quickly overrun. Daryl, being the ultimate badass that he is, increases his kill count and goes apeshit on the last walker with a golf club, getting blood all over Beth. Beth finally finds the bar and tells Daryl she needs to do this, and if he wants he could go beat on walkers. The only thing left is peach schnapps; it totally sucks that it's gonna be her first drink... though mine was an appletini, so I don't have much room to talk. After not being able to find a glass she breaks down into tears. (Any true drinker would just drink from the bottle, so she needs to man up.) After several awkward moments of tears, Daryl slams the bottle of shitty liquor on the floor and states that if she's gonna have her first drink, it sure as hell isn't going to be peach schnapps. Ultimate badass.
Daryl and Beth are seen walking through the woods shooting the shit as we return from another commercial break. They arrive at a shack that Daryl and Michonne had found on one of their expeditions, and he introduces her to moonshine. This is going to be a fun scene. After proclaiming this is a real first drink, Beth is hesitant. But then, down the hatch! She took it like a champ, calling it disgusting and then finishing it. If I had moonshine, I'd probably cry like a baby and cough ridiculously—certainly not returning for seconds. The two hunker down in the shack they found and begin drinking more moonshine. We get some more insight into Daryl's backstory during their exchange in this scene. The usual redneck stuff you'd expect. They toast each other with another mason jar of moonshine, and we roll into a rather quick commercial break.
Back, and they're playing "Never have I ever," a game I am all too familiar with. This could get interesting. Essentially, this is turning into privileged life versus rebel. Beth is trying like hell to pry into Daryl's life. To avoid further questioning, he goes to take a piss. Daryl is an angry drunk and has obviously taken offense to Beth's interrogation. Daryl is drunk and going nuts, and they argue like crazy. (I'm totally expecting a herd to walk up on them.) They start airing out shit and pointing out each other's flaws. Emily brings up Sophia; this totally strikes a nerve and sets Daryl off, and he opens up. We finally get a look into Daryl, revealing how he feels responsible for what happened at the prison and everyone's deaths and disappearances. This moment that both he and Beth share is fantastic and very well done. Much like how we saw Michonne emotions in the mid-season premiere, we finally get a look inside of man who has been through some serious shit. Once again, Kirkman and AMC shows us we don't need all-out war to have a fantastic episode. With that amazing scene, we roll into another commercial break.
We return with the two reconciling about what transpired earlier in the day. Daryl shares a story with Beth about how a tweaker had an emotional moment and got into a situation where he almost died. Daryl finally reveals that prior to the apocalypse, he was a drifter with Meryl. (Come on, AMC, we knew this!) He admits that he was being an asshole and that Meryl was the bigger one. Beth talks about how she misses members of her family. She goes on to say how she thought everyone would end up living happily, with Glen and Maggie having a baby and Hershel being a grandfather. The thought of it puts a smile on her face, till it quickly fades and she exclaims that it was a stupid thought. She shares her desire to be hard and tough like Daryl, and says one day she will be gone and Daryl will be the last man standing. Side note—loved Season 3's promo videos with the song "Last Man Standing."
Anywho... Beth goes on telling Daryl how you have to bury your emotions inside, otherwise they'll kill you. And sealing my love for Emily Kinney and her character Beth, she tells Daryl they should burn down the shack. Queue the music and the montage of moonshine spreading AND THEN FIRE!! The awesome thing is they start the fire with a big ol' stack of money. The arsonists then watch their work, and Beth flips it off, encouraging Daryl to do the same... I love this crazy chick. Amazing episode, especially in the character development of both Beth and Daryl.
So see ya next week, walkers! As always, check back regularly to see what Chris "The Dace Man" Dace is looking at (and no, not just porn), as well as all of the other bloggers here at Fanboys Anonymous. Remember, keyboard warriors: leave your feedback! Until then, for the few, the proud, and of course the Dacetacular, grab a beer—and, in this case, riot gear—and check out what's going on here in the Dace-Sphere. See ya next time!
