What I Saw: The Walking Dead Season 7 Finale

Busy couple of weeks! Lots of OT at work but things should be more relaxed (hopefully) these next couple of weeks. I will play the usual catch-up game as I have still kept up with some of the shows despite the radio silence of this blog. I saw a funny but slightly messed up meme (aren’t they all, though?) about the United Airlines incident which I shall share with you before continuing on:

What I Watched:

The Walking Dead Season 7 Finale “The First Day of the Rest of Your Life”
Things finally come to a head with this finale. Sasha is a prisoner of war and Negan takes the fight to the survivors in Alexandria. Sasha relives a memory with Abraham while she prepares a surprise for Negan. The survivors have everything prepped and ready for the Saviors after “acquiring” weapons from Oceanside and getting their reinforcements from the garbage collectors. From there on, it is all out war.

What I Saw:

First up is the storytelling element of the episode. The pacing in this episode was better than the beginning of the season, and really the pacing of the last half steadily improved as it went on. The scenes between Sasha and Abraham were a little difficult at first to figure out what/when they were, and at first I thought it was a sort of hallucination Sasha was having like she was meeting him in heaven or something. But right at the end they kind of cleared up that it was a memory right before they embarked on his yet unknown death march. The last 20 minutes were really well paced out, with a good build up but an albeit rather cliché climax with the Kingdom showing up at the exact right moment to save Carl.

As a side note, I really did like how Rick kept his badass persona even when Negan threatened to kill Carl. He knew no matter what happened, no matter who was lost in the fight, Negan needed to be stopped for the better of the whole.
Which actually brings me to the deeper meaning within the episode: it was all about what you are willing to sacrifice for those you care about. This may be a recurring theme, but it is an important one in the post-zompacalyptic world they live in. People have to make the choice everyday to not only look out for themselves, but also figure out exactly how much should one sacrifice for the good of the community. For the Saviors it is less about sacrifice and more about order and following the rules than caring about those in your community.
We see these two sides reflected in Sasha and Eugene. They both were given a choice about what exactly they should do to help Alexandria. First there is Eugene, who embraced the role Negan has given him and he decides to try and talk down Alexandria to prevent the war because, in his mind, that is the best solution. He is not willing to put himself at risk at all in order to save his friends or community. Rather he would rather stay safe and he tries to convince himself they will be safer if they surrender too. Then there is Sasha who reviewed her choice in the memory with Abraham. They talked about possibly going on of their own and letting the people of Alexandria take care of themselves now that there was relative peace at that time. By the end of those flashbacks she comes to the conclusion that she would never forgive herself for leaving Maggie by herself while she is pregnant. In the present she decides to make the ultimate sacrifice to get the jump on Negan:

In conclusion, the finale was a really enjoyable episode which finished up the March to War story arch in the comics and set us up with the beginning of the All Out War comic arch. I think most fans (myself included) would’ve rioted if they didn’t have at least some kind of action in the finale; especially if they left us with another cliffhanger like the last season. What did you guys think of the finale? What choice would you guys have made, Eugene’s, Sasha’s, or somewhere in between? Let me know in the comments!

What I Saw: Queen Sugar S1.E3&4

Almost done with my second playthrough of Life is Strange, and so far there are some differences but nothing too dramatic. I will be writing (a lot) more about that once I finish. I’ve been busy with work, having to go in a couple hours for something work related almost every day these last few weeks. Other than that, it’s just been the usual sunshine here in Cali.

What I watched:

 

Queen Sugar S1.E3&4 “Thy Will Be Done” and “The Darker Sooner”

What I saw:

In “Thy Will Be Done” the three siblings are officially given the reading of the will, and their father left them the 800 acres of land with the expectation that they will farm it and pass it on to future generations. Ralph Angel is all for it, while the two sisters just want to sell it and move on with their lives. They argue that since their father wrote the will 30 years ago that he forgot to change it knowing the modern lives they are all living. Ralph Angel throws a tantrum about not being listened to, which then leads to the siblings to not listen to him even more. They meet with a big farmer who makes an insultingly low offer, and has a reputation of preying on black farmers who are in trouble. The siblings decide to give farming a try, with Charley and Nova doing a lot of the paperwork leaving Ralph Angel to the day to day tasks (you know, actual farming).

This episode was all about legacy. But not just about the legacy of their father, but the legacy of black farm owners. Remy, who is quickly becoming Charley’s new crush, invited her to a potluck of local farmers who get together and support each other in their endeavors to farm. Remy enlightens Charley that her family is one of the few black farmers who own their land instead of lease it, and even have the capital to keep it running if they really wanted to. They have an amazing opportunity to carry on a legacy that very few can. Owning land has been seen as a sign of wealth and strength for centuries. Even until fairly recent history in America, a voters were made up of only white male landowners. That legacy was why Remy wanted to encourage Charley and her family to discovery what owning that land really means. The fact that they decide to give the farm a shot for the year and then decide if they want to sell means at the very least they know the true value of that legacy.

Of course the other half of the episode is about family and how the siblings get along. Charley and Nova, while normally at odds, are in agreement that they are modern women and do not need the farm in their lives. However, they completely gloss over the fact that their brother Ralph Angel has absolutely nothing to look forward to except the farm. He was paid a visit by his parole officer who warns him even if he does farm, he still needs to get a job with a pay stub to meet the conditions of his parole. While Ralph Angel threw tantrums in almost every scene, even going so far as to pull out a gun on some repo men taking their father’s tractor, his point was still valid: he needs the farm because he needs something to believe in. The most powerful scene was when Ralph Angel’s son, Blue, interrupted his dad in his standoff with the repo men and reminded him that it’s not just about his own needs, but what his son needs; the boy needs his father. As for the sisters, Charley has her career that she used to believe in, but her husband’s scandal has shaken her faith that she is doing the right thing. Nova has her career as a journalist which has also been put to the test with all the fluff pieces her editor asked her to do in previous episodes, but she still believes in the social responsibility of the media.

Which brings us to the next episode. Nova is investigating how black men are being picked up by the police and given excessive charges to force them into plea deals. Aunt Violet is still reeling from her brother’s death and questions a lot about her life. Charley and her son return to LA after her husband admits to having sex with the girl but claims the girl is a prostitute and he paid her for it. The team and the sponsors are all putting distance on him, and Charley is trying to minimize the damage. Ralph Angel is working hard at his new job, but also is struggling to get the farm started. Remy points out some things Ralph Angel needs to do and some mistakes he has made, which breaks his (and his sisters’) confidence about whether he can do it or not.

The episode covered the racial discrimination and overall corruption of the prison-industrial complex. Nova discovers in her investigative reporting that young black men are not only targeted and charged due to racial discrimination, but also because for-profit prisons need to make sure their cells are full so they can make money. They give off-the-books kickbacks to local law enforcement to round up “criminals” and have the district attorney pile on so many charges that they will plead guilty for a lighter sentence even if they are innocent. I wish I could say the situation was a piece of fiction, but that type of conspiracy is actually real. There are a surprising amount of for-profit prisons ran by corporations, and not only do they round up young men of color to keep their population (and therefore profits) up but they also reduce services (like medical care, lower quality food, overpopulated cell blocks) to keep costs low. The other kicker is that while indentured slaves are illegal, slavery as a form of punishment is not, and those same for-profit prisons exploit the labor of the prisoners by paying them next to nothing if not actually nothing for goods inmates produce in the prison. Many prisoners continue to work under those conditions to distract themselves from the suffering that goes on in the prison cells, and since the majority of those incarcerated are young black men it is almost like institutional slavery never really went away. Very powerful issue that this show brought up, and look forward to seeing what else the show presents this season.

Coming back to family, one of the powerful scenes in this episode was the conversation Ralph Angel and Nova had regarding the lack of confidence in the youngest sibling. Charley assumes he will fail and basically says as much to him. Nova hints at the same, and Ralph Angel calls her out that she cares more about other “young brothers” in jail but hardly cared to visit her actual brother when he was in jail. Since everyone has written him off as the the screw-up, Ralph Angel tries to handle everything on his own; then he ends up with seed cane that is infected with a fungus and can’t be used. Since no one believes in him, he feels like he has something to prove and then makes rash decisions, which leads to mistakes and no one believing in him. It’s a vicious cycle, and Ralph Angel struggles to build up confidence while at the same time making sure his ego is in check. Standing by family even though they may mess up is one of the lessons we can learn from Ralph Angel and Nova.

Mourning was another theme of the episode through Aunt Violet. She continues to question just how long her relationship with Hollywood can really last since she points out she is only a few years younger than her brother, who just died. She also questions just how strong she really is and gets mad at Hollywood for keeping his plan to return to work after taking a couple of weeks off. What she doesn’t realize is all of her questioning, moving from sad to angry to sad again are all part of mourning. When someone you are close to (not just emotionally but in age too) dies, it makes you question a lot about your own mortality and how it will effect those you leave behind. She questions her relationship because she may end up leaving Hollywood behind and she will have taken the prime years of his life away. Hollywood talks sense into her saying that he plans on being with her all through those years, but in the present he has to return to work and let her to continue mourning on her own. Despite the mourning, life is also about balance and Aunt Violet has to learn to balance her needs to mourn longer and her husband’s need to return to work and life in general.

Then in Charley’s arc she comes to terms at just how much damage their reputation is really getting. Her son Micah is dating someone, who discovers a website that suggests he is a rapist just like his father. The girlfriend’s mother tries to create distance between her daughter and the son as a result of that reputation. The mother discovers a graphic photo (dick pic in layman's terms) on the girlfriend’s phone, and uses it to get Micah expelled from school since that broke the code of conduct for students. However, the picture isn’t his and he is sad to find out that his girlfriend was cheating on him with someone else. Charley is doing damage control on what she thinks is a prostitute scandal but at the end of the episode discovers the pro doesn’t want to be bought out, which suggests that the rape might be real. This arc was about how people you know can be quick to turn against you, not just the public but the ones you care about once you have been accused of something. The public does not care who else is harmed in the process, so long as they are able to get any sense of justice, and for family and friends it is all about not being guilty by association, like Micah experienced.

In conclusion, the show has a lot of depth in the way the story is told. There was a scene where Ralph Angel is upset no one is listening to him and he pays a visit to his ex. Without saying a word, the scene conveyed he was not looking for any intimacy but just something to distract from the hurt he was feeling from his family. Very powerful storytelling. The pace is still slower, but then again so are most stories in life! I’m curious to see what other social justice and family topics they cover in the rest of the season.

What other social justice topics would you like to see covered in the show? Let me know in the comments.