"The Walking Dead" S9E5: From the "end" to the "start"

Tod 2022-07-21 20:26:12

Seriously, this episode made me cry. If "The Walking Dead" really "returns to the top" in the future, it will start with this episode.

It's hard to imagine what the show "The Walking Dead" would be like without Rick, the soul of the hero, so Rick's every move in this episode touches my heart... He "woke up" at the end of his life. Lu is magnanimous and calm, and makes a choice without regrets and regrets - this scene is worthy of his farewell .

However, what makes me happier is that this episode has left hope for the audience, and it has also allowed me to see the dawn of the "Walking Dead" series coming back to life, which will usher in the biggest "change of blood" since the beginning of the sixth episode. " and "Reboot".

This story has its origins in the end of the world and will open a new chapter after Rick is gone.

let go, let go

Maggie went to Alexandria full of hatred and anger.

Her act of killing a walking corpse on the road is proof: just smashing the head, the small threat is lifted... but Maggie just kept throwing the crowbar and smashing the walking corpse's head.

This is a typical "exposed anger" symptom . Maybe Maggie is practicing with a walking corpse, and she is going to smash Negan's head like this.

Maggie has long been dazzled by hatred. She doesn't know how to distinguish right from wrong. She only knows that she wants to kill the enemy at this moment, and she has nothing else in her eyes.

Through the dialogue, we determined the time - it has been a year and a half since the "Death of Abraham and Glenn" at the beginning of the seventh season. Time did not erase the hatred and pain, but kept stinging Maggie's nerves. If she doesn't get revenge, she will never be able to let go of this hatred.

Michelle stopped in front of the cell first. She wanted to stop Maggie, but she really didn't have enough reason and confidence to stop it.

Now that Maggie was ready to "take all the consequences", Michelle gave her the right to choose - only from the perspective of "opening the knot", Michelle did it right, as long as someone stopped her. When Maggie takes revenge, she will always remember this matter, and always treat the symptoms rather than the root causes (the same is true for "not afraid of thieves stealing, but afraid of thieves thinking").

After entering the cell, Maggie met Negan, the "thinking" enemy, and the other party's performance was also in line with the "personality".

It was clear that Negan wanted to provoke Maggie even further, so that she would kill herself instantly.

But Maggie didn't lose all her senses. She wanted to see what Negan looked like before he died... Now Negan is finally exposed - the long-term imprisonment has played a role. After Negan communicated with Michelle last time, she completely Exposing the essence of his own serenity, he was so fragile that he longed to die.

"Why should I kill you?!" Negan no longer even has the ability to lie, and can only tell the truth: I want to be free, I want to see my wife Lucille... I want to kill myself, but I can't do it... please give me an end.

This performance completely extinguished Maggie's anger. She found that the big devil "Negan" in her memory was dead, and now only a humble soul was left living in his body. It is better to kill such a life. Dead people have no meaning of revenge.

Ridiculous to say, the people who finally made Maggie let go of her hatred were not Rick, Jesus and Michelle who persuaded her to "let go" and "look forward", but Negan who begged her to "kill me".

In my opinion, this is also the most effective and fundamental method of "persuading people to give up their minds": (under the premise that environmental conditions allow) a person is too thirsty for something, then let him pursue and get it, and the consequences will be borne by others. If he makes a decision for him, he will always keep that fantasy. Only when he experiences it himself and decides to let it go can he truly let go.

Rick Grimes

It was not Rick's way of dying to be stuck in place by a steel bar pierced through his stomach and waited for a walking corpse to bite.

But in fact, Rick, who was seriously injured, bleeding heavily and weak, couldn't stand the bumps, and he straddled the boundary between the human world and the underworld .

It is said that people replay their own life memories before death, and Rick experienced this kind of hallucination - this series of scenes is the essence of this episode, and they implicitly propose and answer ancient and eternal philosophical propositions: " Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going?"

In the first scene, Rick, who was dying, tried to wake himself up from a coma in the hospital at the beginning of S1E1.

This scene answers "Who am I?" - I'm Rick Grimes, a man who never sits still. So wake up Rick began his last way of survival.

In the second scene, Rick, who dreamed of returning to Atlanta, crossed into the police car where he and Sean partnered. The two talked about the afterlife as they did in life...but Sean's point was "It's my credit that you're here today."

"Killing me is what you should do. It's either you or me... You do it, and you become stronger."

The important points mentioned by Sean (handing a knife to a troublesome friend, biting Old Joe's throat, hacking the "cannibal" leader) are all Rick's most "brutal" moments, but the "blood" behind the brutality is not. It's also the key to Rick's ability to get to where he is today, "...Your anger, hatred, and finding the loyalty contained in it is the only way to survive."

This scene answers "where did I come from?" - I started from Atlanta, and the choices and bloodlines along the way made me. So after a simple hemostasis, Rick woke up again and fled the cabin.

In fact, in this scene, Rick has already started talking about "finding family", and even in the next few scenes, it is Rick's process of finding "Where am I going?".

In the third scene, Rick returns to Herschel's farm. Rick's first reaction was guilt . He felt that he failed to protect Beth, Glenn, Maggie and other relatives of Herschel. He hoped that he could do better...

Herschel persuaded Rick to relax, "You don't need to (take all the responsibilities), you just think you need to."

To Rick, Herschel was a wise, generous, benevolent, gentle elder, and for a long time, he was very dependent on Herschel psychologically, "We will eventually reach that wonderful future. ." - Rick once again found comfort, inspiration and strength in Herschel.

Rick wants to find his family, so he comes to the farm, because the farm symbolizes peace and quiet, which also reflects the weakness and escape in Rick's heart ... But Herschel told him "your family is not here", so Rick Wake up and go to the next place.

In the fourth scene, Rick passed through the door of the hospital and came to the underworld where corpses were everywhere. It was filled with friends and relatives he knew well.

This is similar to the warm farm, which is Rick's reference answer to "where am I going".

At this time Sasha appeared. Like Herschel, he also wanted to help Rick offload the heavy burden on his shoulders : "You have done your duty (and you have not sorry anyone), we help others, and others help in turn. We, we all empowered each other, and we changed because of that.”

This is equivalent to a response to Rick's guilt over Sasha's death in the season seven finale, and it is also the spiritual reproduction of Sasha in that episode, that is, "everyone is for me, I am for everyone". noble pursuit.

Sarah is also here to reassure Rick that what he has been doing will make everyone better and that this strong bond will never end.

Rick wanted to find his family, so he came to the underworld, because the underworld symbolized death and the end, which reflected the fear and despair in Rick's heart ... But Sasha told him "your family is not dead, and neither are you. Not dead", so Rick woke up again and continued searching.

In reality, Rick had stumbled back to the construction site at this time. From the empty barracks and the multiple corpses on the ground, it was clear that the scale of the "civil strife" was not small.

The members of the alliance have already withdrawn, the corpse has also come here, and the camp that repaired the bridge has completely fallen.

In the fifth scene, Rick had a "parallel" hallucination by the bridge. "Family" appeared, they didn't need to protect themselves, on the contrary, they could slaughter the corpse to protect themselves well, they were extremely powerful.

(Although this scene is fake, it is very moving no matter how many times I watch it)

Michelle told Rick "We can't die", which means the same as Herschel and Sasha, that is, to let Rick put down his heavy psychological burden.

"You are a warrior, you never give up, you fight for all of us."

Rick finally gets close to his family. The bridge is not an illusory scene, but a real one. It symbolizes connection and hope. Rick is close to the final answer ... Michelle told him to seize the "real", So Rick woke up for the last time and never entered the illusion again.

After crossing the bridge, Rick found that the bridge was strong and the corpses did not overwhelm it - the results of everyone's efforts were better than expected .

But at this time, Rick has removed the unnecessary psychological burden, and is no longer rigidly sticking to a bridge - he is willing to give up the bridge, but the bridge can hold, but he can't hold it...

...

The family finally came. Some people tried their best to make a movement to attract the corpses to turn around. Some people did not hesitate to use crossbow arrows just to delay Ricko for a while (thinking that Darryl is usually reluctant to waste any arrows, this scene is even more sensational). )…

Rick understands everyone's intentions, but he is very sober at the moment, he knows that "the general trend and things cannot be done", and he doesn't want his family to make unnecessary sacrifices for himself.

The walking corpse knocks over the explosives on the bridge, and Rick decides to fix everything once and for all - he's already found his family in reality, and that's enough.

Rick got the answer to "Where am I going?" at the end of his life (thinks himself) - I'm going to my family, they're right here, strong and beautiful, no matter what. All can be ashamed.

Rick finally adopted Darryl's strategy of "destroying the bridge". The walking corpses were taken away by the power of water and fire, and the biggest corpse crisis in the hinterland of the alliance was lifted.

In the eyes of the heartbroken people, Rick was dead in the explosion...

Although the bridge was destroyed, Rick used his sacrifice to establish the alliance's determination to overcome all difficulties. This is the best curtain call for the protagonist.

Sow good causes, reap good fruits

Anne's "ideas of good and evil" largely depend on the attitude of the environment towards her.

In the past, most people in the alliance excluded her and suspected her, which led her to choose to cooperate with the "helicopter forces" again. Although Gabriel's trust has restored some of the goodness, Annie still wants to do evil, such as cooperating with partners and lying Got "A" and ready for shipping.

From the words on the other side of the walkie-talkie, it can be understood that "Jiandis" has a bad reputation in the past transactions, and it is estimated that he will often make small moves, and the other party does not trust her too much.

Anne's "maliciousness" remained until the moment she saw Rick. Rick was badly wounded and dying, but Annie could see that he was not bitten by a walking dead, so she immediately changed her mind and said there was a "B".

I think the "helicopter forces" are indeed using humans to conduct research experiments to cure zombie viruses. The experimental subjects should all be dying people. "A" goods are bitten by walking corpses and are dying, and "B" goods are affected by other Fatal injuries are on the verge of death (personally, I think there is a 70-80% chance).

Annie had a little opinion about Rick, but at the moment of life and death, she still couldn't help thinking that Rick had given her the chance to "start over" again and again, and that kindness and kindness were unforgettable.

So Annie chose to be completely honest, stating that she had never had an "A", lost the hidden gun, and told the other party with a sincere voice: This is no longer a trap, I want to save a friend, a friend who saved me.

Annie's sincerity gave Rick a chance to be "reborn" - Rick did "leave" "The Walking Dead", but he would still live in the "Walking Dead Universe" world.

Don't feel cheated, AMC has always only stated that Rick will "leave", never said that he will "die", it is the audience's mindset that is at work...

I have to say that the crew is very satisfied with the handling of Rick's departure. The lack of innovation in "the walking dead" has become the biggest stubborn problem of the show, and now taking the most representative protagonist rick away (it is said that Andrew lincoln will appear in the "walking dead" movie version) is equivalent to two more preparations, both to give The drama "Big Change" will not "bleed to death", but may also support another "life", AMC's trick is really good!

"The Walking Dead" reboot

At the end of this episode, several years have passed. The place where Rick was rescued has long been blurred, and the young girl Judith has also grown into a graceful little girl. A small group of survivors composed of five people: Gena, Connie, Kelly, Yumiko, and Luke - there is no dog or daughter.

This ending + the preview of the next episode, "The Walking Dead" has released a clear signal: I'm about to start a new chapter.

This should be regarded as the era of "The Walking Dead 2.0" in the true sense. Except for those viewers who really abandoned the show, I believe that most people will find "freshness" in the following stories .

[PS: Rick is not dead, I am very happy~ I will still write the original planned "Rick Grimes" commemorative text , after all, it is an important period in the memory of eight years. This will also be my (except "One Piece") article with the largest time span. I don't know how long it will take, but it will definitely be written, so please wait~! Everyone is welcome to pay attention to my public account "You Love Comment Area". 】

View more about A New Beginning reviews

Extended Reading

A New Beginning quotes

  • Aaron: [about his zombie kick moves] Will you teach me sometime?

    Paul 'Jesus' Rovia: I got a kids' class at the Hilltop you could audit.

  • Michonne: I'm glad you won your election.

    Maggie Greene: I'm glad I grew up on a farm.