ZOMBIES: Recap - #TheWalkingDead and family in 'Live Bait'

HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN IN THE ZPOC
By
Bowie V. Ibarra

Things get deep for our old friend The Governor in the latest episode of 'The Walking Dead'.  Here's some wild speculation from some zombie apoc enthusiasts, and brief notes on the episode.


ARMY ED,
Special Weapons and Tactics Advisor to ZBF.com

I think the Gov will continue to put pressure on the folks inside the prison using. He can weaken them by reducing their resources and weakening their defenses. The prison is too big for a small group to defend. He will work to force them out of the prison and into the open before he sets out to kill Machone. 

 

In the next episode i think the center on the Gov and show how he'll put his plan into motion.

 

I think his ultimate goal is to kill Machone and Rick. He's alone so he'll use subterfuge to weaken the group and divide them before he strikes.

Starting with Carol, I'd like to see characters go off in different directions and show different stories of survival.  I thought that's what might happen after the farm house.   People could go off on their own, have the story revolve around different groups trying to survive

JACKIE DRUGA,
author of 'The Flu' series from Permuted Press

I think this is my favorite season so far. Gov baby perches like a bird outside the prison. We see through previews how he has not gotten bit.

So my speculation. Darryl remains eerily calm about the news of Carol's ousting. And uses 'helping Michonne' as his excuse to go looking for her. It is while they are out we learn more about Michonne and see a burning Woodbury.

I think this is a clean up episode, Flu is done and running its course. Not much walker action, just plot set up and a slowed down pace as we approach the arc for the mid season finale

BRIEF NOTES
THE GOVERNOR HATES SPAGHETTI-O's
Well, it wasn't escargot or filet mignon.  But it was still nourishment.  What kind of jerk turns down Spaghetti-Os during the Zpoc?

 

ZPOC READY-MADE FAMILY

The governor walked into a ready-made family (which counts as an 'other group's story of survival'.  Well done Army Ed on your speculation).  The three girls spend time with their dying father thanks to The Governor, and end up leaving with him.  Governor has affection for the youngest, as she reminds him of Penny.

Guys, I guess you now know what kind of household to avoid during the zpoc if you aren't ready to shoulder this kind of responsibility.

STUMBLED BACK ON THE HENCHMEN

So, The Governor established himself as a bitter douchebag to even his most loyal followers, and they bailed on him.  That's why as he stumbled back on them with their own little team of survivors, it seems like there's going to be some tension that needs to be resolved between them.  The Governor might be more forgiving, considering he's now got a family to take care of.

GLAD IT WASN'T A BURMESE TIGER TRAP

Man, I don't know about you, but when The Governor fell in the pit trap, I prayed it wasn't a Burmese Tiger Trap. 

You know those, right?  It's a pit with pointed stakes at the bottom used in jungles.  Man, I though for sure the little girl was going to get impaled.

A NURSING HOME WOULD SUCK EVEN MORE DURING THE ZPOC

You hate to think about the zpoc and how it would affect a nursing home.  Looks like we got a chance to see what happened to one.  It's hard enough to think of one outside of the zpoc.  You know the attendants bailed on them, and their own families left them there.  Not cool, but another harsh truth of the zpoc.

So what now?  Looks like its time to build up the opposition and have them interact with the Prison.

We'll see next week.

And if you enjoyed the blog, support the blogger by picking up one of his zombie horror titles. 

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BOWIE V. IBARRA earned his BFA in Acting and MA in Theatre History from Texas State University.  Network with Bowie at his official website, ZombieBloodFights.com today.

 

ZOMBIES: #TheWalkingDead recap 'Welcome to the Tombs'

by Bowie Ibarra

What an asshole

Well, we were all calling for it.  And we got it.  One of the main characters from the show didn't make it out alive.  Neither did a bunch of random people.

Anyway, lets get to the big finish of 'The Walking Dead - Welcome to the Tombs' Season 3 finale.

ANDREA'S TORTURE CHAMBER UPDATE

Governor is ready to kill Andrea, but he's not going to do it himself.  No.  He won't sully his hands in Andrea's blood.  He'll let Milton do it.  But Milton refuses, so the Governor stabs him in the belly to let him bleed to death.  Then, when he turns, he'll kill Andrea.

What the Governor doesn't know, however, is that Milton left a pair of pliers for Andrea to use to twist off the chains on the cuff.  He encourages her to do it as fast as possible.

Naturally, Andrea drags her feet on the whole situation.

THE BATTLE OF THE PRISON

Tyrese and Sascha refuse to go on the mission to Woodbury and are greeted with bitter scowling and a weapon from the Governor.

The Governor has put a gun in the hand of all thirty of Woodbury's citizenry, and they go on the assault, trashing the front gate, the tower, and busting in unopposed.

As the ragtag band of citizens move on the prison, they notice the door is wide open.  In fact, the entire prison is unlocked.

Like the maniac he is, he still refuses to go back out and moves deeper into the catacombs.  In a dark hallway, Rick and Daryl launch a smoke-bomb/flash-bang attack, freaking the citizens of Woodbury the fuck out.  They bugger off and right out of the prison in fear, much to the Governor's dismay.

As they all run off with their tails between their legs, they are shot at as they exit the building and get in their vehicles and run off.  So much for the Governor's plans of vengeance.

As the Governor tries to get the people to regroup, the entire citizenry refuses to go back on the attack.  So the governor mows them down.  All of them.  He even pops them in the head as they lay on the ground.  One citizen hid under a body, an classic genocidal survival tactic, and gets off because the Governor ran out of bullets.

The Governor drives off into the wasteland with his two trusted death squad members.

PRISON FALLOUT

So, this kid scrambled in fear into the woods where Carl, Hershcel, and Michone were hiding.  Carl pulls a gun on the kid and tells him to drop his weapon.  The kid hesitates to put his gun down, and Carl makes the executive decision to put down the non-compliant kid.

When Carl gets back, Herschel tells Rick the news.  When Rick tries to get the details about what went down, Carl puts his dad in check by saying he did what he had to do.  Carl had seen too much death in the past as a result of not acting in the moment to neutralize a dangerous element, and he tells his dad just that before running him off like some kind of underling.

And in a symbolic moment, his dad's badge falls off his shirt, thus becoming something completely different than the image of his father.

ANDREA

Rick, Daryl, and Michone go on a guerilla mission against Woodbury, but soon find the massacre of the people of Woodbury.  They also find the woman who was saved.

They make her help them get into Woodbury to find Andrea.  The woman signals to Tyrese to let them in and they do.

When they discover the place Andrea was in, they discover she had been bit before she had a chance to put Milton down.  Her decision not to act only days before not to kill the Governor when she had the chance has now been cashed out with her life.

Suddenly, Carl's philosophy makes the most sense in the zombie apocalypse.

They take her body to bury back at the prison.  They also take the women and children who did not go on the attack of Woodbury.

More mouths to feed as we go into the next season.

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ZombieBloodFights.com would like to take a moment and thank the following people for their participation in this season's 'Walking Dead' Blog entries.

Thanks to:
Army Ed
Thomas, the VW Tech Guy
Jackie Druga
R Thomas Riley
Gareth Wood
DL Snell
Micheal Gardner

You guys are the best.  Thank you.

Please, if you enjoyed this blog, look them up on Amazon.com.

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Need more 'Walking Dead' Season 3 recap and review?  Check out my buddy Jason Thorson recap over at Ravenous Monster here.

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BOWIE V. IBARRA is the author of the 'Down the Road' zombie horror series from Permuted Press and Simon and Schuster.  His latest book, 'The Cruel Fate of Dr. Brewster' McGill' is a weird western tale of snake oil, Aztec Magic, and the dead rising from the grave to attack the living.  It is available in Kindle and paperback from Amazon.com.

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ZOMBIES: Season 3 Finale 'Wild Speculation' for 'Welcome to the Tombs - Walking Dead

by Bowie Ibarra

JACKIE DRUGA, Permuted Press author of FLU

Oh! Oh! This is the week where my wild speculation is spot on! Simply by viewing the two sneak peek trailers, this is my ‘Wow she nailed it’ predication for the season finale.

Milton discovers Andrea has been taken hostage by the Gov. As he tries to free and help Andrea, Gov comes in. After nailing Milton with that mighty punch, which by the way IMO wasn’t enough to take out bad ass Merle. Gove says to Andrea, “I’ll set you free, but you have to come with us. You have to be the one to get Michonne for me,” he tells her and a few other dubious lies. She says no and he laughs, we see him close the door. He rallies his forces. Tyrese stays behind with Sasha. Tyrese finds out via Milton, what the Gov has done to Andrea and turns the tides inside.

Meanwhile back at the prison, Rick and the crew have packed up, heeding Merle’s deathbed advice of Michonne to warn them. He sends Carol, Beth, Baby Judith (No she isn’t going to die) Carl and Hershel away and to be hidden. Gang Woodbury arrive to ambush the prison. Booby traps are set for them. Remember Michonne said, “We don’t have to win we just have to make it hard for them to get us.”

Daryl has found transport and heads back to the prison. He arrives as Rick, Micky, Maggie and Glenn are watching from a distance the Gov and his people fall.

The four of them, in turn head to Woodbury.

In short, they make their away in. The Gov, pissed off about the unsuccessful ambush, realizes that Team Prison is at his home front and goes there. This is where the battle takes place. This is where Maggie or Glen will die. They have been playing on them being happy and married so that is foreshadowing they won’t be. Michonne finds Milton who tells her Andrea is in the torture chamber. She goes there, Andrea’s head is down, when she lifts it, she’s a walker, Michonne takes her out. Rick fails in killing the Gov and he gets away. Team prison moves into Woodbury. The clean up begins.

GARETH WOOD, Permuted Press author of RISE

I predict for the season finale, either Milton or Andrea kills the Governor. Hershel will be killed in the showdown. Carol and the baby will be killed. The Governor kills Rick and adopts Carl to raise as his own. Andrea and the Governor elope.

ARMY ED, Special Weapons and Tactics Advisor to ZombieBloodFights.com

The people in the prison need to take off.  Let the Governor take the prison, cut their losses, and run.  There's no sense defending the place.  They can find another place to defend.  Let the Governor expend resources in this futile move for revenge.

There's just too much at stake for the prison to fight this maniac.

MICHAEL S. GARDNER, author of the short story collection, Death in the Times of Madness, and the zombie novella (that’s only a buck), Betrayal. He also blogs at: www.atasteofterror.blogspot.com. Look for his new zombie novel, Downfall, which is coming soon.

Well, last week was a tear-jerker. I truly was saddened with the loss of Merle. He, in my opinion, had a lot left to offer the show. But that’s what happens when you’re thrust into a world filled with walkers and one-eyed gov’nas, I suppose.

For the big season finale, I’m thinking that we’ll see Andrea get rescued (unfortunately) by either Michonne or Rick. I’m really betting on the former, however, as I imagine the gov’na or Tyreese will put one in the back of her head. Andrea won’t die, I’m thinking; we need a kickass female lead, and it’s apparent that Michonne isn’t what the director and writers are looking for.

Speaking of females, my girl, Maggie, will bite the big one. Her ghost came and told me this last night. Or maybe that was a dream. Glenn too. They’re both goners. Herschel will do his best to save them. However, a flight of stairs – his arch nemesis – will prevent him from doing so. The old man, this time, will run out of shotgun ammunition, as well as balance, and be consumed by a mob of hungering walkers.

Rick, well, he’ll be doing stuff and things; that much is obvious. My money is on Daryl fucking up the gov’na and his cronies. I imagine it happening like this: Daryl on top, choking the dirty politician and holding his head down so the walkers can peel slabs of flesh from the buffet of his face and lap up the blood like parched, feral canines.

Lori will make an appearance, but who cares? Even if it is significant.

We’ve been warned this season’s ending would leave us speechless, so all bets are off. I would prefer that we lose at least half of the cast. Nothing personal; it’s just time for a big change.

Oh, and if Daryl dies, we riot.

 

THOMAS, VW Tech Guy

Rick and the folks in the prison have booby-trapped the prison, ready to let The Governor and his Death Squad infiltrate the labyrinthine facility.  This will allow the Walking Dead folks to attack the Governor from all angles.

I also predict the Governor will get his other eye poked out and fall victim to a zombie.


ZOMBIEBLOODFIGHTS.COM

If I don't see Zombie Lori in this episode, I'll be upset.

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BOWIE IBARRA is the author of the 'Down the Road' zombie horror series from Permuted Press and Simon and Schuester.  His latest zombie story, The Fall of Austin, tells the story of military, police, convicts, and citizens of the Texas capitol as they deal with the zpoc.  It is available in Kindle and Paperback.

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ZOMBIES: Wild Speculation 'This Sorrowful Life', Walking Dead

by Bowie Ibarra

Things are coming to a head between Woodbury and the prison.  ZombieBloodFights.com brings some wild speculation on the upcoming last two episodes of the season.  Check it.

JACKIE DRUGA, author of Flu from Permuted Press

Holy Cow was last week the best episode? I just loved it. Filled with suspense, action, and lots of moments that I have missed in Walking Dead … making me scream!

We pull into the final weeks and here is my speculation. Like most of you I have watched the clips, sneak peaks and such. By what I seen and what I feel, this is the big week! The producers told us that two major deaths will occur this half of the season, so I am going to say one of them is this week. This is the week that starts it all.

Rick makes the decision to give Michonne to the Gov, but it is a set up. They have no plans on really handing her over. This is Merle’s week to shine, as he is the one that goes after the Gov, behind Rick’s back, and tries to kill him.

Things will erupt at the meeting hence starting the war. But not without a casualty. I think Merle to Herschel will die at the meeting causing the shot that started it all. I also predict that Milton will turn on Woodbury this week and join the prison. Oh, yeah, Tyrese finds Andrea.
 ARMY ED, Weapons and Tactical advisor to ZBF.com

The Governor got bit.

That's right.  The Governor got bit during the melee in the building in his vengeful pursuit of Andrea.  The way he was adjusting his jacket after the event seemed to hint at that.  He'll die, but take others with him before he goes.

Andrea is in some deep water, but Milton will be the one to save her.

As for the Prison vs. Woodbury matchup, its going to be a wholesale slaughter.  My picks on those that make it out alive will be Rick, Carl, Daryl, and Tyrese.  That's right.  The baby dies, too.

BOWIE IBARRA, ZombieBloodFights.com mastermind

I think we're finally going to get the Zombie Lori reveal in this episode.  It's going to play out exactly like Morgan shared with Rick.  Watch for it.

I also think Andrea is tortured to death by the Governor.  I don't see her making it out alive, but we'll see.

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BOWIE IBARRA is the author of the 'Down the Road' zombie horror series from Permuted Press and Simon and Schuester.  His latest zombie story, The Fall of Austin, tells the story of military, police, convicts, and citizens of the Texas capitol as they deal with the zpoc.  It is available in Kindle and Paperback.

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ZOMBIES: Recap 'Walking Dead - Prey'

by Bowie Ibarra

As you might expect, even in the zpoc, humans can't get along and present an united front against a common enemy.  Here's a recap from 'The Walking Dead' episode 'Prey'.

-- The show opens with Andrea has a secret meeting with Michonne in the woods.  But while that's going down, the Governor is constructing a custom torture chamber for Michonne and any and all of his foes.  He looks a liiiiiitle too turned on at the prospect.

--  Woodbury gears up for war.  It's all or nothing for the town, and Andrea realizes she's been duped again.  I don't know, maybe they should consider the benefits of the 'nothing' option.

--  Milton talks with the Governor about the offensive, but discovers the torture chamber.  Awkward.

--  Milton leaks info about the torture chamber to Andrea and then shows it to her.  Then the governor shows up to test audio recording equipment.  Kinky.
-- Milton and Andrea explore the assassination option.  Hey Andrea, too little too late.  You could have killed him after banging him out a few nights before.  Do you get it now?
--  Milton says killing the Governor would only put Martinez in charge.  Things would go from bad to worse in Woodbury with the death squad leader at the helm.  It's a 'Day of the Dead' situation.  You remember when Major Cooper died and Sgt. Rhodes took over the underground base?

--  Andrea tries to make a run to warn the prison, but gets disarmed by Martinez and propositioned by the Governor.  Best thing you could do, Andrea, is stick with the team for the attack and off the governor before the battle even begins.  You wanted to shoot him just moments before.  Keep your friends close, and enemies closer, you know?

--  Tyrese and Sascha are on the wall on the watch and let Andrea run for the prison.  They're not cold enough to shoot her.   They then have to answer to the Governor on why they let her go.  Governor figures out Milton leaked info to her.

--  Tyrese confronts his other two friends, who are firmly behind the Governor. 

--  Governor tracks Andrea, and the hunt is on.  She runs into a building to escape the Governor.  After some cat-and-mouse and squashing a zeds face via some Greg Nicotero magic, Andrea makes a break for it and the Governor is confronted by zeds.

-- The pit that Woodbury gathered zombies for the ZombieBloodFights.com Games at the Woodbury Arena of Sport and other such experiments is set ablaze by a mysterious figure.

-- Andrea is yards away from the prison.  She's so close she can see Rick on the tower.  She can't cry out or the zeds would be on her, so she just waves.  But the Governor catches her and takes her back.  He tells the people at the gate he didn't find her.  He also discovers the sabotage and knows who did it.  Milton has a very bad poker face.

--  Show ends with Andrea strapped to the Governor's custom chair as the first contestant to initiate the Re-education Room.  You know, work out the kinks.  See what works and doesn't work.  You know, general torture to the death trial and error stuff.

Two more episodes, folks.  The two opposing factions throw down next week.  Get ready.

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BOWIE IBARRA is the author of the 'Down the Road' zombie horror series from Permuted Press and Simon and Schuester.  His latest zombie story, The Fall of Austin, tells the story of military, police, convicts, and citizens of the Texas capitol as they deal with the zpoc.  It is available in Kindle and Paperback.

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You can network with Bowie and read about his Tex-Mexploitation stories and check out his book trailers at his personal website, ZombieBloodFights.com.

ZOMBIES: 'Arrow in the Doorpost' Walking Dead Notes

by Bowie Ibarra

 

 

Tensions were high in 'Arrow in the Doorpost'.  Here are some notes from ZombieBloodFights.com.

 

GOVERNOR AND RICK FACE-OFF

 

--  Rick, Daryl, and Herschel are part of a convoy to meet the Governor.

 

-- Great opening shot overhead of the silos where the Prison/Woodbury Peace Summit would take place.  Great shots throughout, creating great, bordering on arthouse-style pictures throughout.

 

--  Rick finds the shed where the Governor is waiting to broker a deal.  Rick puts his piece away, but the Governor has an ace in the hole taped to the side of the table.

 

--  Andrea shows up with Milton and Marquez.  She claims to have negotiated the peace talks.  She is quickly dismissed by the Governor, showing no respect to Andrea.

 

--  Rick suggests boundaries for co-existence, Governor doesn't want any of it.

 

--  Governor says he'll lay off if Rick sells out Michone.  He gives him two days to decide.

 

MARQUEZ AND DARYL, HERSCHEL AND MILTON

 

--  The muscle of both teams, Marquez and Daryl, flex their muscles putting down zeds.  Both know they're going to throw down eventually in spite of the diplomatic theatrics from their leaders.  But they respect their leaders enough to stay on their leashes.

 

--  Herschel and Milton have a moment together and bond over Herschel's cut off leg.

 

--  Herschel subtly reveals to Andrea the threat of rape the Governor posed to Maggie.  He also says she is still welcome with the prison crew.

 

PRISON GEARS UP

 

--  With all the weapons brought from Morgan and throughout their adventures, the team gears up.

 

--  Merle thinks they should jump the Governor at the meeting site, its the best opportunity to finish it.  Glenn shoots down the idea.

 

--  Merle takes the initiative and tries to gear up and make a run on the Governor, but Glenn stops him with physical force.

 

--  Merle tries to recruit Michone to go jump the Governor, but she turns him down, too.

 

RICK AND THE GOVERNOR'S RETURN

 

--  Rick weighs the options of selling out Michone by asking Herschel's thoughts.  Herschel says Michone has earned her place and is a big part of why their still alive and Glen and Maggie are safe.

 

-- The Governor says whether Rick brings in Michone or not, they're going on the offensive to crush the prison folks.

 

It's a great episode and lead up to next week.  We'll see how it plays out.  Join us later this week for the next 'Wild Speculation' as well.

 

If you enjoyed the blog, please consider offering support by purchasing one of the ZombieBloodFights.com titles from Permuted Press and Simon and Schuster in paperback and kindle here.

 

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BOWIE IBARRA is the author of the 'Down the Road' zombie horror series from Permuted Press and Simon and Schuster.  His latest zombie story, The Fall of Austin, tells the story of military, police, convicts, and citizens of the Texas capitol as they deal with the zpoc.  It is available in Kindle and Paperback.

Enjoy the blog?  Share it with your friends using the 'Facebook', 'Blogger' and 'Twitter' buttons below.

Leave a comment below using your Google+ or Blogger account.

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ZOMBIES: 'Arrow on the Doorpost' Wild Speculation, Walking Dead

by Bowie Ibarra

The follow-up to 'The Walking Dead-Clear' episode should be interesting.  Here are some thoughts from some noted Zombie Enthusiasts.

R THOMAS RILEY, author of the Permuted Press title 'If God Doesn't Show'

First off, I have a really healthy love/hate relationship with The Walking Dead. Some episodes all I want to do is reach through the screen and slap a stupid character, other times, I'm simply in love with said same character. Much of this has to do with the various writers of the show. The writers have done some really stupid stuff over the past three seasons, then again, the writers have managed to pull off some of the best stuff I've ever seen in a TV show. Basically, I long for the show to somehow find consistency. One can hope, right? Still, in the end, I'll still be hooked on this show, warts and all, and most episodes it is the best show on TV.

For this week's episode, Arrow on the Doorpost -

1) I predict Andrea is going to play a pretty significant part in setting up The Governor and Rick's meeting, and , and she'll pay dearly for it, caught in the middle and torn between her feelings for both The Governor and Rick, if not in this episode, certainly by the end of the season. I don't feel her chances of surviving past the finale are very high, and Michonne will have a hand in Andrea's demise.

2) The Governor is certainly laying a trap for Rick and his crew. I predict during the peace treaty talks, others from Woodbury, on orders from the Governor, will attack the prison, while Rick is distracted.

3) Merle will prove to be a wild card. At this point, he could go either way. Both Rick and The Governor have tried to kill him, so he's really not loyal to either at this point in the series. Merle is smart and a survivor, he'll certainly weigh his options and go with the group that's more likely to survive. I could see Merle taking over Woodbury and becoming the "new" Governor.

4) We're going to lose more characters, it's inevitable. I predict either Maggie or her sister are going to die. It'd really do a number on Glen if it's Maggie, and if it's Maggie's sister, the baby will be in even more danger.

5) This may be the episode where the set for the finale is very much in motion. The prison is no longer safe and it's time to move on. Rick's kicking Tyrone and his group out will come back to bite him. I really feel the hitchhiker from the previous episode is going to play into something as well.

JACKIE DRUGA, author of the Permuted Press title The Flu

Episode 12 gave us very little but character development of Michonne and a nice treat into Morgan.
So my speculation, based on previews and items picked up in the episode clear. They meet up with the governor. But I think Rick goes into the meeting thinking they are gonna talk and while Hershel is outside, he gets kidnapped. Starting the war.

Back at prison, Merle becomes more part of the group and they plot the assassination of the governer.
In Woodbury, Tyrese trains to be a solider there but learns quickly about the governor’s evil ways and hence becomes a spy. I think Tyrese sees Herschel.

Michonne really came out of her ‘anti’ shell and I liked what we saw. I don’t know if it’s me but I felt a connection between her and Rick. If anyone is gonna bring him out of his padded cell world, it’s her.

I’m gonna lean toward thinking there was something in the orange backpack they picked up. The writers can’t be so daft to think that we, the viewers would buy a man, who had survived a year in a Zombie Apocalypse, would scream and run down the road. He knows better. You gonna tell me he survived all that time to die being stupid. No. So I’m hopeful that the twit factor didn’t play into the writers and the running survivor means something other than a bad way to show Rick lost all humanity and how much he has changed.

ARMY ED, Special Weapons and Strategy Advisor to ZBF.com

There's got to be a showdown between Rick and the Governor.

Both sides feel each other out.  Prison needs to upgrade security.

Woodbury shouldn't storm the prison, but he's probably going to because of his hubris.  If they have 35 some-odd people at Woodbury, and 20 folks go on this offensive, what happens?  Some of them are going to die, many will be wounded.  Not only will they have to deal with the defenses and the prison itself, but the zombies outside.  As people start dying and getting wounded, the wounded start expending resources.

And even if they made it into the prison, they don't know where they're going, they're still dealing with zeds, and all the people in the prison have to do is lock the cell blocks and hold their positions.

And the Governor would have to maintain morale, which is hanging by a thread a the moment.  If the Governor were leaving people out on the battlefield without help, attitudes would definitely change toward the Governor's regime.  It would change the attitude of Tyrese, too, who might be the deciding factor in the assault.

If the Governor is going on the offensive, he'd be better off doing some sort of stealth attack with his death squad, infiltrating under the cover of darkness.

And Morgan's story about putting down his zombie wife and how she infected his son is finally setting up Zombie Lori.  Zombie Lori will have Carl in a vulnerable position, Carl won't be able to act, and Rick will put her down.  Rick learned from Morgan's story.

KAS ALLEY CASSEROLE, Zombie Horror enthusiast

I speculate that...
A. Rick makes some sort of deal with the governor that will put the group at odds and make everyone further question his judgement.

B. He and Michonne will plan a prison courtyard picnic with their dead loved ones.

C. The governor will find an abandoned Best Buy and suddenly will be as populated with iPad 3s as Atlanta is with 2013 cars in "2010".
;)

Suddenly Woodbury will be as populated with iPads.

 

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If you need a little more zombie horror in your life, I hope you will consider checking out my zombie horror series, Down the Road, from Permuted Press.  The books are available in Kindle and paperback at great prices, so check them out here.

Thanks, and we'll see you next week.  Don't forget to follow the blog for this week's 'wild speculation'.

ZombieBloodFights.com will be live Tweeting again next Sunday (@wingback20).  Use the hashtag #ZBF to join in the conversation, which was basically just me last week.  So join me for some fun during commercials.

===========

BOWIE IBARRA is the author of the 'Down the Road' zombie horror series from Permuted Press and Simon and Schuster.  His latest zombie story, The Fall of Austin, tells the story of military, police, convicts, and citizens of the Texas capitol as they deal with the zpoc.  It is available in Kindle and Paperback.

Enjoy the blog?  Share it with your friends using the 'Facebook', 'Blogger' and 'Twitter' buttons below.

Leave a comment below using your Google+ or Blogger account.

Follow Bowie on Twitter @wingback20

Follow Bowie's Facebook page.

You can network with Bowie and read about his Tex-Mexploitation stories and check out his book trailers at his personal website, ZombieBloodFights.com.

 

 

ZOMBIES: #TheWalkingDead crew gets caught with their pants down in "Home"

by Bowie Ibarra

Photo credit Gene Page/AMC

Things start in the realm of fantasy, it seems, but get real really fast at the prison as 'The Walking Dead' brings another episode to our screens of humans being more dangerous than zombies in 'Home'.

RICK'S PHANTOMS

The pressure put on Rick has pushed him over the edge.  Yet again, he's chasing the ghost of Lori out of the prison walls into the outer wall, making himself vulnerable in the sticks around the prison.  Michone, taking it upon herself to be a lookout from a position near the gate, sees it all play out.

Young Carl is working with Glenn to secure the prison, because if what Michonne is saying is correct, the Governor and his deathsquad will be making a move on the prison soon.  Glenn thinks they should mount an offensive against Woodbury, with Michone's knowledge.  But Herschel thinks it would not be a good move.

As they set up to defend the prison, Glenn and Maggie have an awkward conversation about the threat of rape the Governor used against Maggie.  It really seems Maggie has had this issue in the past even before the ZPoc, and Glenn doesn't know how to deal with it.

Axel and Carol flirt while building the defenses.  Axel's even cleaned himself up as well.  He lied about being a druggie because he was really in for armed robbery.

THE WALKING DIXONS

As 'Army Ed' astutely pointed out in our 'Wild Speculation' post, the Dixon boys were going to have to face the updated versions of each other.  And it didn't take long for them to butt heads on what direction they were going.

They eventually had to face off on their philosophical differences when helping a Latino family trapped on a bridge and attacked by zombies.  Daryl's idea was to help because they had a baby to take care of, hearkening back to his time and affection for 'Little Ass Kicker'.  But Merle's idea was to pillage after securing the zeds.

After having to put his crossbow to his brother's head to leave the Latinos alone, Daryl was walking away to head back to Rick's camp.  Merle knew he couldn't go back to Woodbury.  But then again, he couldn't go back to the prison because he had beef with Glenn and Maggie.

GOVERNOR SECURING ALLIES

Knowing he's lost some street cred after shooting a bitten resident of Woodbury in the face in front of its citizens, Phillip the Governor petitions Andrea to act as interim Governor as he takes a hiatus to pull himself together.  Andrea has always wanted to show her value, and had occasionally screwed up that chance.  Remember when she almost shot Daryl in the face?  I haven't forgotten that.

But the Governor clearly knows she wants to be a leader, and appeals to that part of her pride to keep her in his pocket.  He does the same to Milton, but with a little bit more menace because he knows he can with him.  He's Team Phillip for Life.

THE ASSAULT ON THE PRISON

Glenn apparently takes the new truck sponsor for the zombie apocalypse, the Dodge Ram, to drive to find where the breach to the prison was as Herschel moves to the first fenceline to talk to Rick, who reveals his problem with hallucinations as Michone watches.

Axel and Carol arrive on the scene.  But the tranquility of the scene and the budding friendship is ended quickly by a shot to Axel's head by the Governor.  His deathsquad arrives and raises hell, getting into a gun battle with the prison population.

Vulnerable, a milk truck batters through the first two fencelines and unleashes a crowd of zombies from the back of the truck.  The mysterious masked driver leaves the truck and returns to the Governor's position.

Its a wake-up call to Rick, who needs to get his shit together, as it seems his team, disorganized and caught with their pants down, was spared by the Governor.

We'll see if Rick can pull his head out of his ass and rally the team for the next move.  But who makes it?

We'll find out soon enough.

===

BOWIE IBARRA is the author of the 'Down the Road' zombie horror series from Permuted Press and Simon and Schuester.  His latest zombie story, The Fall of Austin, tells the story of military, police, convicts, and citizens of the Texas capitol as they deal with the zpoc.  It is available in Kindle and Paperback.

Enjoy the blog?  Share it with your friends using the 'Facebook', 'Blogger' and 'Twitter' buttons below.

Leave a comment below using your Google+ or Blogger account.

Follow Bowie on Twitter @wingback20

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You can network with Bowie and read about his Tex-Mexploitation stories and check out his book trailers at his personal website, ZombieBloodFights.com.

ZOMBIES: RECAP - 'Walking Dead: Made To Suffer' until February, S3 Ep.8

by Bowie Ibarra

THE PRISON POPULATION GROWS

This weeks episode opens with the appearance of Tyrese, apparently another popular character from the comic, regulating zeds in the woods with his friends.  We are treated to an example of his football acumen as he runs through the woods with skill and athleticism with a big backpack to help his team.  Though one of their team is bit, they end up finding sanctuary in a broken down wall and its building.  Look familiar?

Axel gets creepy with Beth, but is cut off by Carol, who pulls him aside.  He's pretty plain about his motivations, having spent so much time behind bars without the company of a female.  He thinks Beth is his only option, stating he thought Carol was a lesbian because of her haircut.

Later, young Carl, with his dad's hat, keeps tabs on the group and his little sister.  They hear a scream from the interior.  There's a funny moment when Herschel says it can't be Carol because she's in the guard tower with Axel.  We all remember the fun Maggie and Glenn had in the guard tower from a while back.  I wonder how Daryl's going to feel about that.

At any rate, Carl goes to investigate and finds Tyrese and his friends.  He helps them fend off the zeds, who seem to have followed them in, and leads them back to a secure room.

Its there that one of their team passes from a bite suffered in the woods.  Before they can smash her face in with a hammer before she rises, Carl locks them in the space.  That's when one of the team named Sasha's voices that she's not much for being 'secured', but Tyrese sees the advantage and they relax about it.


ZERO DEAD THIRTY:  THE RAID ON WOODBURY

Andrea volunteers to help scientist Mr. Mamet cremate Mr. Coleman.  As she leaves the governor's side, it gives the governor special time with Penny.  He plays music like Mr. Mamet's experiment, Penny runs at her dad, but is restrained by a leash.  He tries to calm her by undoing her bonds and singing to her.  Too bad she's interested in the blood pudding he made for her.  He shouts at her, losing patience, and puts her back in her cell.

Meanwhile, Maggie and Glenn are trying to come to terms from their respective forms of torture, and 'forget what people do'.  Glenn gets motivated and rips the arm off a zed in the room, taking its bones for use as weapons.

Meanwhile, outside, the WD Crew Fireteam of Michone, Rick, Oscar, and Daryl follow Michone's lead and begin their infiltration of Woodbury to find their friends.

The Governor and Merle are planning an assault on the prison.  Though Merle is concerned about his brother, the Gov feels they can get Daryl on his side.

The WD Crew move deeper into enemy territory, breaking into a building.  Rick thinks Michone might be leading them into a trap.  But they are spotted by some schmuck from the wall who walks in on them.  The dude doesn't think they are much of a threat.  But when Rick jumps the dude and asks where his friends are, its too late.

They end up finding out where the prisoners are when Maggie and Glenn make a move on enemies entering the room they were in.  They jump them and stab them with their bones, but its short lived because they had backup.

It gives enough time for the WD Crew to initiate an assault, freeing their friends and leading to a mad dash out of Woodbury.

The Governor tells the regular citizens not to worry and go home, but tells his militia to gear up.

Michone leads the team to a safe building to make another run at the wall before she runs off.  Its here that Glenn tells the team about Merle and the Governors knowledge of the prison.  Daryl wants to see his brother, but Rick tells him he needs him with the WD Crew.  We once again see that Rick's relationship with Daryl is just like the Governor's to Merle.  It's another striking moment when you see the duality of the two teams, just like when Michone first joined the WD Crew at the prison.  It was like Woodbury without the trappings of normalcy.

The Governor mobilizes his team against the 'terrorists', and tries to keep Andrea out of the action, who again gets all women's libbed up and ready to fight back.  But the Governor can't let her see the enemy.

That's when the WD Crew makes their move.  The set off smoke bombs and race to the wall.  Andrea claims she sees them.  The Governor thinks she was able to see them because she was able to identify the prisoner, Oscar.  Not by name, actually, but by clothes.  But that could spoil his plan to assault the prison, so he demands she goes to hide.

While the WD Crew is running and gunning their way to their escape, the ghost of Shane comes to haunt Rick and even shoots Oscar dead.  Rick puts the Shane-Ghost down to find it was a real man that was not really Wolverine Shane.

Rick clearly is still not well.


PENNY



Michone infiltrates the Governor's house and waits at the door for her revenge.  But she hears Penny in the side room.  She kicks open the Governor's rec room to find the heads and Penny locked up.  She thinks Penny is just a kid and takes off her chain.  But then she takes off the bag on her head to find she's dead.  When she tries to bite her, Michone takes control to set up a fatal strike with her Hanzo.

But that's when the Governor shows up and begs her not to hurt her.  He even puts his gun away and submits to her, offering himself up to Michone to spare his 'little girl'.  Michone sees the best way to hurt the Governor by killing Penny, which she promptly does by stabbing her through the neck and out her mouth.

A fight ensues, as you might imagine, breaking the fish tanks with the heads and brinking their biting into to the equation.  That's when Michone uses some glass to go Lucio Fulci on the Governor and stab him in the eye.

Its then that Andrea appears to see it all, and the two former BFF's have a face off.  Michone walks off because the Women's Libber can't pull the trigger.  The other problem is she is now exposed to the Governor's sick secrets in his rec room.

At the doctor's office, Andrea confronts the Governor about the heads.  But he doesn't have much to say.  When Merle arrives, he tells the governor he'll go after them.  But the governor is thinking about a different angle.

Rick mentions to Michone upon her return that Daryl moved back into Woodbury to find his brother.  But the problem is he gets caught and put in the arena of sport, the ZombieBloodFights.com Arena, where the Governor sets up a speech about how he's failed the city and sets up Merle to take the fall as a 'terrorist', saying he is responsible for letting the terrorists in for the attack.

Problem is, Daryl gets added into the mix, too, and all of Woodbury calls for their heads.

And that's it.  That's the mid-season finale.  Damn this mid-season finale bulls**t.

Anyway, enough of that.  We'll see you in February.

======

Enjoy the blog?  Share it with your friends using the 'Facebook', 'Blogger' and 'Twitter' buttons below.

Leave a comment below using your Google+ or Blogger account.

Follow Bowie on Twitter @wingback20

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Bowie Ibarra is the author of the 'Down the Road' zombie horror series from Permuted Press and Simon and Schuester.  His latest zombie story, The Fall of Austin, tells the story of military, police, convicts, and citizens of the Texas capitol as they deal with the zpoc.  It is available in Kindle and Paperback.

You can network with Bowie and read about his Tex-Mexploitation stories and check out his book trailers at his personal website, ZombieBloodFights.com

ZOMBIES: RECAP - The Walking Dead 'When the Dead Come Knocking' lights the fuse, S3, Ep7

by Bowie Ibarra

Here's how last week ended...

And here we go with this weeks episode, 'When the Dead Come Knocking'...

THE WOODBURY INTERROGATION

Merle has captured two of the WD Crew and begins by interrogating Glenn, pushing his buttons by insulting the cultural background of Glenn's friends and pushing him to say where the others are by threatening Maggie, who is in the next room and can hear it all.  Glenn draws first blood by catching Merle with a headbutt, and the beating begins.

Realizing how stubborn Glenn is, Merle uses one last cruel attempt to get Glenn to talk by unleashing a zombie on him.  But the once meek Glenn, who hid behind a trash can when it was 'go time' in season two, ups his game.  During a struggle, he escapes from his chair that he was bound to and kills the zed.

Merle reveals to the Governor that his brother is still alive, but doesn't know where.  So the Governor takes it upon himself to interrogate Maggie.  He's cordial, even unties her bonds.  But when she doesn't answer his plain and simple non-threatening questions, he begins a sexual humiliation of her and threatens rape.  I hate to think she's been in this predicament before, because it came across that this wasn't the first time by the way she handled herself with some real courage and repressed rage to call the Governor's bluff.

Turns out the Governor might be a weirdo, but he's not a rapist, and he diffuses the situation.  He pulls her into the next room with Glenn and forces her hand by putting a gun to Glenn's head.  That's all that needed to be done, as Maggie sings like a bird to spare Glenn.  The Governor adds insult to injury by attempting to console Maggie with a hug and a kiss.

THE WOODBURY EXPERIMENT

Andrea gets assigned to work with the scientist Mr. Mamet to help scientifically determine if the zeds have any conscious thoughts.  And before that, we get a Van Damme-style 'Put on my Calzoncillos after Banging it out' shot of Andrea by the window.  You remember the Van Damme 'Put On My Calzoncillos after Banging it out' shot from 'Bloodsport', right?  Yes, you do.

Anyway, when Andrea arrives, the scientist is trying to program Mr. Coleman with audio and visual cues to see if the recently deceased and risen Mr. Coleman will remember the cues.  Andrea is doubtful, but the scientist somehow insists.  It seems the results could be of some value to the Governor when you think of his daughter.

When Mr. Coleman turns, Mr. Mamet tries to make a run with the audio and visual cues.  When he thinks Coleman might respond, he loosens the bonds only to get attacked.  Andrea puts a stop to the experiment with a knife to the head.

With that revelation, the Governor questions Merle's loyalty as well as Andreas.  Little does he know, the raid from the WD fireteam is about to happen.

MICHONE GETS LOCKED UP

Michone makes it to the fenceline of the jail with 'Lil' Ass Kicker's' baby food.  Rick and co. decide to make a move to help her before she is overrun by the zeds and bring her in.  Its this time that Carol is revealed by Daryl to the crew to much warm fuzzies.

Look at all this space

Then Rick and the crew help patch up Michone before they interrogate her on how she got there.  I have to admit, this felt like the duet scene that Michone probably got the role from, as she does a pretty good job here.  She even stares down the crossbow from her loose cannon rogue equivalent in Daryl.  She reveals the location of Woodbury, and the Governor.  Rick and his team mobilize, using the roomy and luxurious comfort of the Hyundai Death Dealer: Zombie Crusher Edition.  Rick puts the burden of protecting the prison on Carl, who apparently hates the nickname 'Lil' Ass Kicker' and gets Rick's approval to call the baby Judith in what I believe is a Freudian nod to Judith O'Dea, or Barbara from 'Night of the Living Dead'.

When the WD fireteam arrives near Woodbury, they are nearly overrun by zombies.  They requisition a house to hold off the zeds.  They don't realize the house has someone in it.  When the dude freaks out in spite of Rick trying to be calm about it, the dude almost runs out to let the zeds in, Michone takes matters into her own hand and kills the dude with her Hanzo sword for the safety of the team.

They feed the dead body to the zeds and the WD Fireteam makes a break for it.  And we get a great Greg Nicotero special effects gore feast.

Before long, they find Woodbury and gird their loins for the raid.

Looks like the mid-season finale (WTF?  C'mon, Walking Dead) is going to be filled with some action.  Until next time.

===========

Enjoy the blog?  Share it with your friends using the 'Facebook', 'Blogger' and 'Twitter' buttons below.

Leave a comment below using your Google+ or Blogger account.

Follow Bowie on Twitter @wingback20

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Bowie Ibarra is the author of the 'Down the Road' zombie horror series from Permuted Press and Simon and Schuester.  His latest zombie story, The Fall of Austin, tells the story of military, police, convicts, and citizens of the Texas capitol as they deal with the zpoc.  It is available in Kindle and Paperback.

You can network with Bowie and read about his Tex-Mexploitation stories and check out his book trailers at his personal website, ZombieBloodFights.com.

ZOMBIES - RECAP: Lots of 'action' in The Walking Dead: Hounded, Season 3, Ep. 6

by Bowie Ibarra

Things start of pretty fast in 'The Walking Dead: Hounded'.  Here's how it played out.

MERLE AND FRIENDS HUNT MICHONE
- Merle took a small team of killers with him to hunt down the exiled Michone.  They stumble across a warning from the Hanzo-sword wielding killer made up of dismembered zed body parrts.  One of the crew, an openly frightened Gargulio, deciphers the message as 'Go Back'.  Before they know it, Michone jumps the Woodbury crew and takes out two of the members.  Merle gets a shot off that wounds Michone, and the chase is on.

Only a few moments after looking for her, she jumps them again.  After a struggle, zeds join in the fun, giving Michone a chance to run.  But not before she cuts open the stomach of one of the ghouls while stuck on the ground, providing the viewer with some great Greg Nicotero special effects gore.

Merle calls it off, saying Michone is going into the 'red zone' and is as good as dead.  Gargulio speaks up and wants to make another run at finding and killing Michone, stepping up to Merle.  But Merle blasts the boy for speaking up and returns to Woodbury.

Trying to escape, Michone accidentally learns that the caked-on gore from the belly of the zed has disguised her to the walking dead.  So she moves on and into a nearby town.  Its here where she sees Glen and Maggie rolling in for supplies.  The problem is Merle arrives as well.  After setting up a false sense of security, Merle captures Glenn and Maggie and forces them to go drive Woodbury, leaving the baby food.

ACTION IN WOODBURY

Andrea tells the governor she didn't like the ZombieBloodFights from the night before and wants to work wall.  So she's assigned with this young girl who has a compound bow.  But the girl sucks with the bow she claimed she killed her father for, so Andrea has to go all women's lib on the zombie the girl tried to kill by jumping off the wall, stabbing the zed in the head, and making the girl look stupid.  But the girl rats her out to the governor.

In the proverbial principals office, the governor takes her off the wall.  But to get back in to his good graces, she changes her position (no pun intended) for the governor on the ZombieBloodFights.

The Governor sees that she's opening up to him (no pun intended), so he takes her back to his super mini garden for a drink and conversation.  It's here that he gets all Jim Jones on her and charms her with words and whiskey and gets her in the sack.  That's when Merle returns and lies about the expedition but the capture of Maggie and Glenn.
MYSTERY AT THE PRISON

The mysterious phone call is answered by Rick.  The people on the other line claim to be survivors, but they hang up on him.

After checking with the team, Rick returns to the room and a dude calls him back, asks if he's killed anyone and how many, then asks about his wife because he mentioned a boy and a baby to the lady who called the first time.  When he doesn't answer, the dude hangs up on Rick.

Herschel shows up to help sooth Rick, and Rick tells Herschel about the phone call.  Herschel listens on the phone, then offers to stay with him.  Herschel suggests the phone isn't working, and gives Rick some space.

Another few phone calls later, he then starts talking to Lori, and you know he's gone off the deep end.  But the message she has for him is a kind of consolation that helps get his focus back.  He returns to the team to hold his baby for the first time.

Oscar, Daryl, and Carl do some cleaning up of some of the prison.  While doing their search, Daryl shows off some acting chops with a monologue about how his mom died in bed when he was young in a fire.  Daryl says how unreal it was to him.  But Carl comes back with his experience shooting his mother in the face and saying 'That was real.'  They both console each other for their loss.

They had discovered a door that seemed to contain another zed.  They knew it couldn't be much of a threat if it couldn't open the door.  Later, when Carl and Oscar return to the team, Daryl moves to kill the zed after a moment of brooding.  It's then that he finds out it is Carol.

Meanwhile, Rick is having his moment outside with his baby, but notices something by the gates.  As he approaches, he finds Michone... with the baby food Glenn and Maggie left behind.

Just how will Michone be treated by the Walking Dead crew?  We'll see very soon.

==================

Enjoy the blog?  Please, share it with your friends using the 'Facebook', 'Blogger' and 'Twitter' buttons below.



Leave a comment below using your Google+ or Blogger account.

Follow Bowie on Twitter @wingback20

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Bowie Ibarra is the author of the 'Down the Road' zombie horror series from Permuted Press and Simon and Schuester.  His latest zombie story, The Fall of Austin, tells the story of military, police, convicts, and citizens of the Texas capitol as they deal with the zpoc.

You can network with Bowie and read about his Tex-Mexploitation stories at his personal website, ZombieBloodFights.com.

ZOMBIES: RECAP - "S**t pops off early" in 'The Walking Dead: Say the Word, Ep. 5, Season 3

by Bowie Ibarra

Because I was going to let 'The Walking Dead:  Say the Word' start on DVR so I could fast-forward through commercials, here is the first text from one of the resident weapons experts for ZBF.com:

Weapons Expert - HOLY S**T!!!!!
ZombieBloodFights.com - Let me guess.  Walking Dead.  I'm about to watch.  No spoilers.
WE - s**t is popping off already!!!!
ZBF.com - Rock!  I'm going to finish watching 'Payback' and watch the DVR.
WE - Wooly's gone apeshit!!!!!  Hooah!!!

And that's how I was lead into the episode.

PARTY IN WOODBURY!  PARTY IN WOODBURY!

First off, was I the only one that thought the opening moments featuring the party in Woodbury featured the Ghost of Lori?  LOL!

Anyway, the scientist presents Andrea with a cup of cold water that the ghost of Lori handed to him.  She's impressed, but its using energy resources he could be using for his experiments.

Conspicuously absent from the morning activities is the Governor, who is combing the hair of a little girl who is sitting at his feet back in his house.  They are listening to an interpretation of Chopin's 'Etude No. 3 in E', known popularly as 'Tristesse'.  'Tristesse' is French for 'Sadness', similar to 'Triste' in Spanish, which means the same thing.  It's one of my most favorite classical pieces.

 The trouble is, the girl is a zombie.  Since Governor Philip said his daughter had survived the initial zpoc, he meant he kept his dead daughter around to keep him company.  When she gets out of hand, he places a bag over her head and preps to lock her away, telling her, 'Daddy still loves you'.  But did Michone just watch what was happening down on the street below?

Moments later, the governor gets on his porch for another inspirational speech to the people of Woodbury, claiming it all started with 'nine people in an apartment', to where they were today.  Everyone holds up their glasses of iced water in honor of all those that came before, looking a bit like they are, indeed, 'drinking the kool-aid' of the Governor.

While all the stump-speech hubbub is going on, Michone sneaks into the Governor's house to get her Hanzo sword.  While she's there, she snoops around, seeing the pic of Philip's family, a strange book with a list of names ending in 'Penny' before a series of pages with hash marks.

But before Michone can investigate movement behind a door, the Governor, scientist, and Merle return.  The scientist wants to stop the Woodbury City Faire to finish an experiment he started.  But since it will take him 6-10 days, the Gov. shoots down the idea.  Before they leave, Michone has already ninja'd her way out of the house.

She shows up in the back of a warehouse where she finds captive ghouls.  She promptly releases and dispatches them with her Hanzo sword.  Thought we get some CGI action, the visceral Nicotero effects are on display with a head-stomp by Michone.  That's when some dude shows up to feed the zeds and drops his grub when he sees her.

I need to emphasize that again:  A dude shows up to feed the zeds.

Feed the zeds?  Feed them what?

So Michone has to go to the principal's office.  She tries to get under the Governor's skin to get kicked out to no avail.  She even tries to bring up 'Penny', but the Governor keeps a poker face at the mention.  He won't let her leave for whatever reason, and tries to recruit her again to be a part of his Woodbury Death Squad.  But before he knows it, she uses her ninja skills to take the sword from his hands and almost kills him.  She spares him and walks out.

The Governor tries to get Andrea to talk Michone into staying to no avail.  She tells him she slaughterd some captured zeds, making Andrea wonder for a moment.  Andrea tries to make Michone stay, but its no use.  She is let out of Woodbury on her own, leaving Andrea behind.

Meanwhile, The Governor's death squad goes to a secret location that has a strange device that attracts zeds and makes them fall into a trap.  The squad, led by Merle, recover the zeds like lobsters in a trap, find worthy candidates, and start pulling their teeth.

Night falls over the secured town (similar, but different than the secured town in 'Down the Road: On the Last Day'), and the Woodbury Jamboree culminates in one of the most glorious moments in ZDay TV History:

ZOMBIE BLOOD FIGHTS!!!

That's right!  The Governor has been providing the proverbial Roman 'Bread and Circus' for the people of Woodbury.  He gave them a day of food, iced beverages, and now the circus.

ZOMBIE BLOOD FIGHTS, BABY!  WOOHOOO!!

Here's how it plays out:  About six zeds are chained up in a circle, creating a fight space for the two competitors, Merle, and another dude with some pretty good hands.  Merle salutes Greg Nicotero's teacher, Tom Savini, with some one-armed push-ups before the fight begins.

Apparently, Merle took some kind of Tae-Kwon-Do class, because he hits his opponent with a spin kick before he responds with some kind of Capoeira/Eddie Gordo kick, and the two mix it up while trying to stay away from the chained (but toothless) zombies.

The whole event doesn't sit well with Andrea, who says the whole thing is sick.  But the governor says Woodbury 'needs entertainment' to 'make the people feel better about themselves'.  Then, echoing the philosophy of Roman gladiator battles for the ancient public, the Governor says it helps the people to 'not be afraid', very much like witnessing gladiator combat was supposed to desensitize the public to the brutality of war.

Bread and Circus in Woodbury during the zpoc, folks.  The more things change, the more they stay the same.

MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE PRISON....

Rick is still a mess as the WD Crew learns the baby is fine, but needs formula.  Daryle puts on his 'Man with No Name' poncho and takes Maggie on his Hog to find formula.

As that's going down, Rick snaps like a rubber band and goes on a (my fantasy) rampage through the prison.

Glenn occupies his time by digging a grave.  He lets the prisoners dig two others before going in to look for Rick.

Big Mistake.

When Glenn tries to talk Rick down, Rick assaults him and roams deeper into the prison.

Rick snaps like a rubber band as baby needs formula.  Daryl, Maggie, and Glenn make a formula run.  Glenn ends up digging three graves and lets the prisoners help as he goes off to find Rick.  When he finds Rick, he's in the zone and assaults Glenn.  It's clear to Glenn Rick isn't ready to leave, and he goes deeper into the prison.

Daryl and Maggie infiltrate an old nursery school and find formula. Also, a possum.

Daryl and Maggie returns to feed the baby. And while Carl rattles off the worst names in the world for the baby (read: the names of everyone from their WD crew who has died gruesome deaths.  Good job making everyone remember the gruesome fates of so many friends, little kid), the WD Black Angel Daryl bottle feeds the baby, and every one of 'Dixon's Vixens' in the world ovulates.

The next morning, Daryl leaves a 'Cherokee flower' for Carol's grave, though we have yet to see her remains and did not see her buried.

While the awkward moment of Carl bringing up the dead females of the group and Daryl feeding the bebe, Rick has found Lori's death bed.  The floor is bloody, and he finds the knife that cut her open.  But there is no sign of her.  It seems zeds dragged off her remains (?), and he finds the bullet Carl shot (?).

He also sees a zed fattened up from eating a lot of Lori.  Rick moves to the zed with the knife to cut him open.  After blasting its brain out by sticking his gun in its mouth and pulling the trigger, he moves to cut the zed open, but ends up stabbing it multiple times in its full belly.

After their tender moment, Rick takes a seat and spends the night in the room.  That's when the phone rings.

The phone rings?  WTF.

Rick answers it....

And that's the end of the episode.  Until next time, thanks for dropping by.  Please comment, like, share, and follow, because zombies, blood, and fights rock!

===============

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Bowie Ibarra is the author of the 'Down the Road' zombie horror series from Permuted Press and Simon and Schuester.  His latest zombie story, The Fall of Austin, tells the story of military, police, convicts, and citizens of the Texas capitol as they deal with the zpoc.

You can network with Bowie and read about his Tex-Mexploitation stories at his personal website, ZombieBloodFights.com.