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After last weeks traumatizing season premier I was definitely looking for something a little lighter and filled with a lot less death and emotional sadness. “The Well” was exactly the episode we needed. It had animals, nice calm like walkers and best of all none of the characters we love were in peril.
At the beginning of this episode Carol is having some sort of bad trip. That little switch in her head that made her react and think about the good of her group first is gone. What happened Carol? The first time you would see a sign of possible danger to you and your family you would jump on that, does Tyresse’s girlfriend ring a bell. The old Carol had been a meek and submissive woman her husband (one of the top people deserving of a walker death) had turned her into and when she lost her tether to that self, Sophia, she turned into the strong don’t take shit from no one Carol we’ve come to love and expect. Sure when you add up the death tally it’s no short list. But let’s face facts Carol, those kills you got under your belt most were necessary and some were even mercy kills. Really, if she hadn’t of killed Tyreese’s girlfriend Karen, hot damn I remembered a name, and whoever was the burn victim with her that whole virus could have spread a lot worse through the prison. I guess it still spread pretty good but… but you know she did what no one else would have thought of doing, or really what no one else could cause they just ended up quarantining everyone. So Rick evicts her from the prison without any input or even without telling anyone else he just does it, just cast her out into the dead world with a satchel and a hand wave but boy did he learn his lesson. Carol is one of those resourceful people who can kind of chameleon themselves to their situations and surroundings to really sneak around and figure out what’s up. Rick doesn’t have anyone like her, she’s really like the brains of the group which was why he was smart enough to send the one person who would really be able to help her cope with whatever midlife apocalypse crisis she’s going through. Or… did he send Morgan cause his pacifist way of thinking and need to rehabilitate everyone really just gets in Rick’s way, and maybe Rick was sick of his judging eyes. Well whatever the reason through the episode Morgan can see the change in Carol. She goes from being a badass to this kind of scarred schizophrenic to someone who seems willing to give strangers a chance and killing for a reason not just because she can. It’s like Morgan can see some of himself in her and he’s just glad she found her way out of her funk and is willing to give the kingdom a shot, even if it’s just on the outskirts of the town… village… whatever she’s giving them a from a distance shot.
So the kingdom… Like this place looks legit. They seem to have a lot of people, some with some sweet sporting good knight armor on. There’s all kinds of animals, you can’t have horses and zombie pigs without a tiger. And there seems to be food o plenty. Pomegranate anyone?
Speaking of.. in the back of my mind something kept saying hey you may not know what a pomegranate looks like or ever tried one that wasn’t in an alcoholic beverage but wasn’t there some sort of Greek Mythology to it. Well… yes brain you are correct. After a quick search, cause let’s face it my brain isn’t as sharp as it once was 15 years ago, it all came slowly flooding back. The main story being Hades and Persephone. So I can’t wrap my head around Ezekiel being this big bad, my partner in crime Patti put it best “He’s got such good in his eyes. I wanna snuggle him. Crawl in his curtain of hair and nuzzle him”. I don’t get those kind of warm fuzzies looking at Negan, although I do find myself being drawn to his charisma but fact is fact Negan equals bad and Zeeky boy here is very opposite of that. But they bring up the pomegranate a few times which makes me think maybe there is a connection with that Carol and maybe Ezekiel and Negan. Could Carol be the Persephone that has to spilt her time between the two camps to keep some sort of peace and her friends safe. Maybe a trade to keep Daryl safe. Their relationship is… well I don’t know what their relationship is but maybe that’s what Carol likes best about what they have. It’s undefined and neither of them have to pretend to be or feel something they don’t but more of that later.
About halfway through the episode we see some people of the kingdom doing some sort of hog wrangling. In the moment I think… ok. Then we see the pigs eating zombies and I’m thinking what the hell. It took me a while to wrap my head around what the plan with these zombie pigs were but I still have to wonder what does the kingdom think the outcome is going to be here? We see a whole variety of bite to zombie ratio so what would be the turn rate of someone who is eating tainted meat? We never got to see what the end result was after the Termites ate at the Bob-o-q. Is this going to be a slow turn, or could they grow an immunity to the disease well that doesn’t seem likely since all the people in this world have the disease already. Or is it more like when you return your food at a restaurant and the cook spits in your food before they send it back to you?
Much of this episode seems to lay on the kingdom, or maybe it’s Ezekiel’s need to have these two major hitters in their world. They both kind of symbolize opposite extremes of the spectrum, or at least Carol use to before she lost it. Usually Carol goes in all guns a blazing and normally Morgan wants to cage everyone up and show them the light. Maybe Ezekiel can help them find the in-between that they haven’t been able to on their own. Young Benjamin explains Ezekiel has entrusted few people with the knowledge that they have made a deal with Negan’s people to keep the kingdom safe but they keep it a secret because the people would want to revolt and Ezekiel knows that they don’t really have the numbers and even if they might succeed they will loose a lot of their people and he doesn’t seem willing to put those who put their lives in his hands at risk. Hmmm…. doesn’t particularly sound like a certain leader we know. Maybe that is the difference between a Rick-tutorship and the King Zeek ruling. But it does sound to me like even with all their fancy armor and horses and such maybe Ezekiel’s people aren’t very good on the defensive. Ezekiel does give Morgan the job of training young Benjamin who by the way seems to take to the training faster than someone who gets super powers from falling into a pit of chemicals. I mean… he learned that fast.
Two final things. 1 the elephant in the kingdom, the tiger. Ok, so Ezekiel worked with him. He saved him when he was injured. And he found him when he was the last animal at the zoo. Unlike my friend Patti I can get behind the idea that the tiger takes a liking to him but I still can’t understand the tiger period. Is the tiger some crazy guard dog, would it really attack or is it just like a big kitten at this point. Its bark bigger than its bite kind of thing. I think it’s cool that they didn’t just cgi the tiger and they went old school and did some great animatronics but seriously… I want more tiger!
And finally… It didn’t sound like Patti was totally on board with my theory here but I think I’m going to stand behind. From the very moment a nervous Carol shockingly meet a relaxed and eloquent King Ezekiel I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was flirting with her. And even by the end of the episode he just happens to be taking his pet for a walk and ends up at her doorstep offering her a pomegranate. I don’t know Carol, Persephone ate 6 seeds and she got stuck in hell for 6 months you better be careful.
So he catches Carol while she’s trying to quietly escape and run off on her own, come on Carol is being on your own really a good idea especially with the likes of Negan’s men out there? And he totally calls her out and maybe that’s what she needs in her life. Someone who is persistent, and with the eyes of an angel, and someone who can call her out on her bullshit. The guy she was shacking up with in Alexandria just seemed like a body to be beside her I didn’t really get a she was totally into that relationship feel. Maybe she had just gone so long wondering what her and Daryl were she needed a warm body next to her for a while and it didn’t hurt he seemed like a genuine guy. But, just because it’s the apocalypse doesn’t mean you can’t be choosey about who you want to be with. But Carol didn’t hold back on what she thought about the king either. Calling the kingdom a fantasy world where they were just playing pretend.
Yes Carol, they are pretending but really isn’t everyone? Everyone puts on a mask to survive in this world, maybe some just step into a role that they think everyone wants them to play. It could be the former bad boy hillbilly now reformed Daryl or maybe Rick being thrown into leadership after waking up from a coma and happening upon his family. Ezekiel is no different. He truly said it best “People want someone to follow. To make them feel safe.” And he just faked it till he made it and it surely seemed like all those people feel more than just safe in the kingdom walls.
I just feel like somewhere down the line Carol might finally get a sort of happy story involving Ezekiel but we’ve seen how happy stories go on this show. So maybe it’s best she just keep to herself in her little shack and let Ezekiel come over to borrow some sugar every now and then.
But I feel that when she finds out about Daryl she wont be able to stop herself from rushing in like a white knight on a horse to rescue her damsel in distress. Even if she finally gets all this happiness I envision her finally getting you know she wont even think twice before throwing it all away to rescue the man who helped her find herself when she lost her daughter and her former broken personality. Looks like Daryl is affecting more lives than just poor Glenn’s by his actions. Ohhh… and here I had almost forgotten about that horrible moment we lost Glenn. Well on that visual note…
That’s a Wrap for Walking Dead Episode 2 “The Well.” Remember if you take a drink from the well you have to replenish the well. Even in the apocalypse no one goes thirsty, physically or emotionally.
