So we have the super
duper storm last episode and Morgan desperately seeks shelter in a convenient
truck full of emergency supplies and chocolate
Really? Because I’ve
played computer games with fully stocked medikits in every ancient ruin and
rubbish bin and they were less convoluted and convenient
He decides to hunker
down for the night there and rest. When he wakes up he’s in Mississippi.
Whut… really? I mean
really really? Did the writers completely run out of ideas of how to actually
get Morgan away from the rest of the cast?
He looks around the
truck stop full of amazing supplies, electricity and water and someone calls on
the radio - looking for a “Polar Bear” he speaks to her and she says he can
take what he needs so long as he leaves what he doesn’t
He stocks up on some
supplies, examines some maps, uses the toilets and is interrupted by Wendall, a
Black man in a wheelchair with a shotgun who wishes to discuss him using the
disabled stall.
He is joined by
Sarah, a white woman, and they introduce each other as twins with a “yeah we
know it’s not true but you don’t need to know” look. They seem a little
surprised that he spoke to someone on the radio but lay out their spiel -
they’re truckers. And when the zombie apocalypse hit they were perfectly placed
to know where all the warehouses where, to know their way around the roads,
where to find petrol and generally able to move supplies around to where they’re
needed easily.
Which sounds pretty
awesome. But we’re not running with that, yet anyway.
Morgan tells them
about Alexandria and where he’s heading and how it’s a super shiny place of
people doing good just like the truckers. But when he hears that the storm was
a hurricane (which the truck drove through… apparently) Morgan decides he
simply must go back to help his friends back in Texas. They give him supplies
for the journey
But with some sad
music and zombie montages Morgan reaches a perfectly intact bridge and then
calls Sarah and Wendall to say that the bridge is out, he’s coming back. Yes
he’s lying, no he’s not going back to help. Morgan’s new found saintliness is
chipping
He decides to return
to the truck stop to meet up with Wendall and Sarah again so they can go to
Alexandria together when he finds a man running - tied up, with a bag on his
head, being chased by Walkers. Naturally Morgan runs to the rescue despite the
fact that the man, Jim, isn’t exactly grateful. Jim clearly isn’t an extra
because he’s played by that guy from 12 Monkeys so he’s going to be
around for a while
So Jim is a brewer.
He makes beer. And he was kidnapped by people who wished to punish him for
the heinous crime of inflicting American beer on the world steal his
recipe. Jim’s really big about making beer bragging about his awards and his
plans for the future - basically make lots of beer and hope the world sorts
itself out so he can sell beer. Which… I mean his point that humans will infest
the planet in time has merit because humans are worse than cockroaches for
that… but I think it’s going to be a while before we get a market economy up
and running.
They reunite with
Wendell and Sarah - and Wendall points his shotgun again. Seems they were the
ones who kidnapped Jim. Because Sarah likes beer
That’s pretty much
the whole of their motives
Oh and they stole the
truck off a guy in Texas who was using it to charitably leave boxes of
emergency supplies at road markers
Because this is The
Walking Dead and all good deeds and decent people must be punished because
it’s BLEAK AND HOPELESS! REVEL IN THE BLEAK! THERE WILL BE NO HOPE EVAH! In
case we’ve missed it.
Oh and in this
hopeless apocalypse maybe Morgan should stop announcing “hey, wanna come to Alexandria
with me!?” to everyone he’s met after 5 minutes
So Wendall and Sarah want to go to Alexandria because… why?
I mean, seriously
why? They’re thieves and scammers so there’s a decent chance they won’t be
welcomed. They seriously do not have the forces necessary to overcome it. Why
is Morgan even worried about taking them there? They’re going to arrive, meet
Carol, be invited to look at some flowers and then die a terrible terrible
death.
They’re not a threat
Morgan. Maybe it’s the Saint Morgan thing. I mean he’s not trying to protect
Alexandria, he’s trying to save them from the vicious Carolling in their
future.
So they take him captive and demand he tell them the way while they drive to Virginia. He says no. Jim gets on board because he needs a settlement to sell his booze and he’s really that obsessed with beer. He actually has a really good beer speech and how beer is a fundamental to a rising pre-modern-technology civilisation. And he’s not wrong. Except a) not American beer. The apocalypse is bad enough and b) beer is a safe source of drinking water only in societies that don’t know about germs and boiling water.
Morgan isn’t
convinced.
They make a stop
because the truck is now magically too heavy. This truck that drove from Texas.
In a hurricane. Is now too heavy.
This leads to a
convoluted state of affairs in which Morgan ends up trapped on top of a car
surrounded by zombies with his arms tied and Sarah and Wendall insist he tell
them the location of Alexandria if he wants to be rescued. He agrees and they
abandon him. He protests they point out he can drop the holier than thou act
because he did the same thing with his friends when he lied about the bridge
being out. Yes they knew.
So they drive off and Morgan monologues into the walkie talkie about how he’s a wretched coward and totally doesn’t need saving. But if they return they could give him the chance to be a better person
Why he thinks any of
them are invested in him being a better person I do not know.
He manages to free
himself thanks to those aforementioned caches the old Texan lorry driver was
leaving behind. One happened to be within easy reaching distance of the car he
was stuck on. This is, what, the third or fourth really convoluted and helpful
event in this episode?. Remember how Gabriel briefly thought he was being
guided and protected by god? Well Morgan might actually be.
And the others have
come back because he was lying about the direction to Alexandria. So he’s not
that much a fool. He agrees to show them the way - buuuuuut he has a condition
now. He’s all guilty about being a bad person so now he wants to go back to
Texas, leave supplies dotted around everywhere and rescue his friends. Oh and
the guy they stole the truck from. The rest have to come with him because if
they want to go to Alexandria what choice do they have? (Morgan is not an easy
man to overpower).
As they drive Morgan
leaves a hopey, shary message on the radio to said Texan truck driver or to the
people he spoke to who said he could take supplies. And his message is heard by
a woman caked in mud who, it seems, has killed said truck driver and is now
writing “take what you need leave what you don’t” all over his zombie face.
Well… oooookay then we’re going really out there with the next villains
Let me say now that a
future spin off where we follow a band of truckers navigating the zombie and
bandit haunted roads to connect the newly arising settlements in the rising new
society, trading, moving supplies, moving people for diplomatic missions, moving
armies to help protect against groups like the Saviours would actually be an
awesome new direction for the Walking Dead
This episode makes me
think Morgan is high. I mean he continually appeals to the better nature of
those around him even when it’s clear they’re not that good people… it doesn’t
make him look saintly. It makes him look out of touch with reality
Again, I’m still
bemused by Morgan was so resistant to take them to Alexandria in the first
place
Also there's raaaaaather a lot of characters now who aren't extra and they're all over the place... who is next to die?
