sanctuary

An engaging and honest conversation with a counselor Tom had worked with years ago and his personal journey growing up with three brothers who have struggled with psychotic disorders.

After finishing our conversation about his brothers' mental health struggles Craig realized a need to share more about all three of them and their lives. 

“It is more important to know what sort of person has a disease than to know what sort of disease a person has.”
Hippocrates

After finishing our conversation about his brothers' mental health struggles Craig realized a need to share more about all three of them and their lives. 

“It is more important to know what sort of person has a disease than to know what sort of disease a person has.”
Hippocrates

This version has all unsavory words beeped out.

An engaging and honest conversation with a counselor Tom had worked with years ago and his personal journey growing up with three brothers who have struggled with psychotic disorders.
This version has socially unacceptable words beeped out.

• This Quoircast episode is brought to you by The Seeds Of De(con)struction by Nat Turney. Published by Quoir and available now.
• In this episode we chat with Meg Calvin
• Meggie Lee Calvin (Meg) is an Amazon Bestselling Author, Wife, Mom, Speaker, Podcaster, and Coach who helps her fellow Spiritually-Attuned Go-Getters find confidence and certainty in who they were meant to be. Meg's book I Am My Own Sanctuary: How A Recovering Holy-Roller Found Healing And Power is available now.
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As if you don't already have a number of answers for that question...all of the marketing world is bending you over backward to sell you as much juju for whatever it is as possible. Mostly just Tom complaining about stupid commercials. Fun Right? ; ) All while unknowingly setting the world record for umms.

As if you don't already have a number of answers for that question...all of the marketing world is bending you over backward to sell you as much juju for whatever it is as possible. Mostly just Tom complaining about stupid commercials. Fun Right? ; ) All while unknowingly setting the world record for umms.
This version has no swear words, that you can hear at least. 

Have you ever looked around your home and felt overwhelmed by all your belongings? Our guest, Connie Ellefson, certainly has. Join us as this multi-book author, engineer, and mom shares her life-changing journey to declutter not only her physical surroundings but also her mind and spirit. With inspiration from Marie Kondo, Connie reassessed her relationship with her possessions, treating them with reverence and gratitude. She emphasizes that emotional clutter often outweighs physical clutter and discusses the endorphin rush of decluttering and the invigorating feng shui energy that comes with creating space.

But decluttering is more than just separating items for charity donations - it's a discipline that requires a deep connection between body and mind. Julie reveals intriguing insights into the connection between the act of breaking glass and energetic release. They also discuss  the use of tapping and neuroemotional techniques to cleanse our emotional bodies. We also uncover the concept of mindful consumption and how decluttering can have a profound impact on various aspects of our lives resulting in a positive transformation.

Finally, Connie emphasizes the power of time and stillness. She guides us through the benefits of as little as a 10-minute meditation session, insisting that it's more than an indulgence - it's a necessity. Turning off technology and embracing presence, energy, empathy, and sensitivity can lead us to understand our purpose and function at higher vibrations. So, join us and learn how to declutter your life and mind, gaining a sense of peace, clarity, and fulfillment in the process. It's an empowering journey that you won't want to miss!

Link to Support this Channel: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2153284/supporters/new
Julie's Book: https://amzn.to/3K2ZS05
Julie's Website for more information, comments or requests: https://lifeofloveandjoy.com
Promo Code for Free Audio Book on Audible: https://amzn.to/45YUMdH
My Book: Life of Love a Joyful Guide to Self and Sensuality

I was lucky enough to have a conversation with someone that left me thinking and Raye mentioned she would like to share her story with hope it could help others who might feel blind-sided by terrible news. 
So here is a repeat of our discussion and what to me is the moving story of one amazing person's trials and take aways from losing their husband to cancer. It won't be the same as anyone else's story but in some ways; it is everyones' story.

Been watching a lot of birds. Made me think of some things. Flying, Fighting, Plumage. That's all.

If you don't know the Monty Python Dead Parrot Sketch...you can find it here: https://youtu.be/vZw35VUBdzo 

Been watching a lot of birds. Made me think of some things. Flying, Fighting, Plumage. That's all. 
With Beeps instead of Bad Words.

If you don't know the Monty Python Dead Parrot Sketch...you can find it here: https://youtu.be/vZw35VUBdzo 

This week, The Musafir Stories speaks with Ila Reddy, a returning guest and listener as she takes us to the ancient kingdoms of Newar. 

Today's destination: Nepal

Nearest Airport: Tribhuvan International Airport, KTM

Nearest Railway Station: N/A

Prerequisites:  N/A

Packing: Pack according to the season

Time of the year:  September - Feb

Length of the itinerary: 9 days

Itinerary Highlights: 

• Ila takes us overseas as we discover the Newari capitals of Nepal - Patan, Bhaktapur along with other places like Panauti and Bharatpur! Historically, the Nepal valley and adjoining areas made up a confederation known as the Nepal Mandala. Until the 15th century, Bhaktapur was its capital, when two other capitals, Kathmandu and Lalitpur (Patan), were established. 
• The trip was done with the Community Homestay Network (CHN). The Community Homestay Network (CHN) is a social enterprise that supports a network of homestays run by local women and families across Nepal. Their homestay model provides hosts with an additional source of income and the opportunity to meet travelers from around the world, while travelers get a taste of the local way of life. 
• The best part is that 80% of the revenue goes directly to the community and is used for family and household expenses, education, personal development, community activities, and community development
• We begin the journey by flying into Kathmandu and making our way to Patan/Lalitpur, one of the ancient cities of the Newari kingdom. 
• The Durbar Square is one of the iconic locations of Patan that is made up of a number of temples and provides a view into the wonderful architecture of the region. 
• The prominent temples of Patan Durbar Square include:: Krishna Temple, Royal Palace Patan, Jagannarayan Temple, Keshav Narayan Temple, Char Naarayan Temple, Golden Temple and others. 
• On the east side of the square looms the impressive Ancient Royal Palace, which dates back to the late 1600s. With its red-brick walls, tiered rooftop pavilions and latticed window screens, the palace is a shining example of traditional Nepalese architecture.
• The next stop is the Golden Temple Also known as Kwa Bahal and Hiranyavarna Mahavihara, this Buddhist monastery takes its English name from the beautiful golden metalwork which adorns its façade. We also speak of the rich traditional food from Nepal - including local candy, thalis, daal and sabzi. 
• The next pitstop is Bharatpur - to experience the life of the Tharu community that lives around the Chitwan national park. Besides the rhinos and mustard fields, the experience is all about the time spent with the community, sampling their way of life, food and celebrations! 
• Ila makes a short trip back to Patan again, which they used as their base camp. In this leg, Ila covers the Paubha painting workshop which she was a part of. The painting is native to Nepal and is similar to the Tibetan Thangka paintings and involves detailing of Hindu mythological figures and deities and Mandalas. Paubha painting is treated as a form of meditation by its practitioners, and mastering the pattern of even a single leaf, wave, or cloud can take weeks.
• The next stop from Patan is Bhaktapur, another of the capitals of the Valley. Bhaktapur, the "City of Devotees," is also known for Newar traditions, food, and artisans, and is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Nepal
• The Bhaktapur Durbar Square - is similar to the one in Patan, except that the temples are more massive. There are several smaller squares or chowks and the one with pottery shops was particularly beautiful. Like Patan, the area is best explored on foot and the local mitho doi (similar to Bengali mishti doi, or sweet curd) is a must-try!
• Ila moves to Panuati after spending time in Bhaktapur -  Panauti is a historical city in Nepal, originally it was a small state given by King Bhupatindra Malla as a dowry to his sister. 
• Ila explores a few temples, walked around the market and alleys, and even made a day trip to Namobuddha Monastery, located atop a hill and offering exceptional views of the snow peaks.
• The final stop is a quick return to Patan where Ila takes part in a Ranjana lippi workshop, the traditional script of the Newari people as well as a quick visit to Kathmandu to visit the Pashupatinath temple and a sound bath meditation!                                                                            

Links:

Link to Ila’s substack:

https://ilareddy.substack.com/

Link to blog posts: 

https://ilareddy.substack.com/p/nepal-part1

https://ilareddy.substack.com/p/nepal-part2

Link to Community Homestay network:

https://www.communityhomestay.com/

Link to Ila’s episode on Nagaland: 

Ep. 110: Headhunters of Nagaland with Ila Reddy The ...Applehttps://podcasts.apple.com › podcast › ep-110-headhu...

Photo by binaya_photography on Unsplash

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A memorable experience from 20 years ago makes me miss a lot of things in the current world, particularly service. 

This version has no swearing.

A memorable experience from 20 years ago makes me miss a lot of things in the current world, particularly service. 

In case you didn't notice (there's no way you didn't) betting is legal online in Ohio. Good bad, don't know. But how much are they making? Cause they are spending like they're printing the stuff. 

In this episode Forrest talks with David Pott and Daniel Rutland, two friends from Durham in the UK. Both share wisdom  from experiences of pilgrimage—which we define as the practice of purposeful walking guided by a particular goal or sacred destination. They explain how pilgrimage can help us to more deeply understand and love the earth— to open ourselves to a sense of God’s presence in and through creation—and ultimately to become better earthkeepers.

Guests:

• David Pott, contributions to Godspace: Introducing the Lindisfarne Gospels Pilgrimage, An Update on the Lindisfarne Gospels Pilgrimage, others 
• Young Christan Climate Network: Relay to COP26 
• Author, The Two Saints Way 
• Daniel Rutland, contributions to Godspace: On The Third Day, A Poem 

Mentions: 

• Walking routes: Cotswold Way, Pennine Way 
• Pilgrimage in Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Islam, Judaism 
• The Way of Life route 
• The Two Saints Way route 
• The Northern Saints Trails 
• British Pilgrimage Trust: Sanctuary Network 
• Lindisfarne Gospels Pilgrimage 
• World Pilgrimage Guide 
• The British Pilgrimage Trust 
• The Way Under Our Feet: A Spirituality of Walking by Graham Usher 
• The Art of Pilgrimage: The Seeker’s Guide to Making Travel Sacred by Phil Cousineau 

Keywords: pilgrimage, reconciliation, walking, healing, Durham, saint, carbon footprint, sanctuary, spirituality, worship, prayer,  ekklesia, gathering, climate change, sacred, indigenous, scripture, destination, realism

 

Find us on our website: Earthkeepers
Support the Earthkeepers podcast
Check out the Ecological Disciple

Intro:

A lot happened this season, so we have a lot to get into. 

The season kicks off long after the War with Neagan.  We see Rick, the hilltop and the Kingdom working together to gather necessary items to help them farm and continue to survive. 

We see that they must have finally run out of gas (only been more than nine years) as they have made makeshift horses and buggies out of cars.  

This is actually clever and well done, and believable. Frankly I would think things like this would happen much sooner as Gas would be scarce and going bad within the first four years or so of the apocalypse. 

All three communities seem to be thriving at this point, and the group has set off to gather key items at an old history museum in downtown DC. 

There's some action and drama as we see King Eziekle almost fall into a pit of zombies when the glass floor breaks.  We also get to see that Carol and the King have a relationship and the King is interested in her hand in marriage.

To be honest I don't have much feeling about the King and Carol hooking up.  I personally would rather see a relationship further develop between Darol and Carol as I have always felt like there was some fire there and a deeper love and caring for each other. 

After all they have been together surviving from the first episode and Darol was the one who risked his life looking for Sophia and in that transformed into a mature and stronger character, who was loyal to the group but able to think for himself instead of living in his brother shadow.  

Carol played witness to all of this and in many ways Carol's new inner strength and being a badass in some part is because of Darol, and Darol becoming the reliable person he is now is Carols doing too. 

These two are very much connected and in that you would expect something romantic to form from it. Darol certainly cares for Carol probably more than anyone else, maybe Rick is a close second.  

Time will tell on this, I feel like there's still time for those two to walk off into the sunset together, live in the woods and start a family far away from the threats of the living and the dead. 

So that episode one in a nutshell really, it lays out the foundation for whats to come over the next couple of episodes and sets a the time table.

We know it's months after the war because Maggie has had her baby, Herschell.  Maggie is still dealing with the problems of the past though.  

Gregory decided at some point, arrogantly thinking that he would win, that the hilltop should hold an election for its leader.  The Election was him against Maggie. 

He naturally lost, by a landslide.  Gregory is a weasel and he only gets worse this season. 

Unfortunately the group ends up getting attacked while returning with supplies and one of the young men from the hilltop is bitten by a zombie trying to save horses.  

This naturally upsets the parents of this young man, they seem to air their grievances with Maggie and we get a little insight into how the locals are all feeling about the saviors hanging around and their people making what they perceive as unnecessary risks. 

Needless to say Gregory uses this moment to manipulate the father of the dead boy.  Greggory knows that he had a drinking problem and offers him a glass of Tequila. They get drunk together and Gregory conspires with him to take out Maggie for the better of the community. 

Needless to say that plan fails, Maggie stops both of them. 

And now Maggie is left with a hard decision.  Afterall she knows that this father was in mourning, drunk, and is otherwise a good man. He also happens to be the only blacksmith who is building plows for the fields. 

Remember kids, make yourself unfireable in whatever job you take… and in life.  Be so important that people can't cancel or fire you. That's what this guy has going for him. If he wasn't the only blacksmith, he would be in the gallows right next to Gregory. 

And that leads me to the scene, dead of night, Gregory sits on horseback with a rope around his neck.  

Maggie has had enough of him.  And with good reason. This man has tasted her and the others far too many times, and turned his back on them far too many times. With this last time being an attempt on her life. 

There's no better message to send to any group that if you break the rules you will die. Hmm, who does that sound a little bit like? (Negan)

Maggie is 100% Negan in this scene, but it does not make her wrong.  The community is far too young, and too fragile to deal with behavior like this in any manner that we would see in modern day society. 

For attempted murder, its to gallows. 

Negan showed us this when a man attempted to rape Sasha. It was an immediate death sentence. 

There's no time for that behavior right now, or ever really…. And they dont have the infrastructure for trials by jury. 

The show ends with Gregory dying.  I was glad, that character was annoying and I was always worried he would try to hurt one of them, and he did… 

The next couple of episodes focus on all the communities coming together, including the sanctuary to build a bridge that went out during a storm.  This bridge would cut the travel time in half to the kingdom and sanctuary. And Rick felt it was really important. 

The bridge is really just a metaphor.  It's to show the status of all the communities. Right now they're all coming together and so a bridge is being built that will connect them all. 

Unfortunately for Rick that bridge build starts to go sideways when Saviors start to come up missing. 

It starts to turn the camp against each other as all of them accuse one another of wrongdoing. 

We later find out when Maggie and Darol stumble upon the oceanside group at an old hold out. They have one of the saviors captured on her knees and they are about to execute her. 

This is when we learn that Oceanside was taking the saviors and killing them.  They explain to Maggie and Darol that these are the people that killed all the men and boys and that they must have justice. 

So Maggie, being the stone cold badass that she is, agrees and walks away. 

Oceanside takes out the last person responsible for killing their men. 

The first three or four episodes really dive deep into this struggle between the four communities trying to work with the saviors. 

I found it really interesting and actually enjoyed all of them greatly.  I felt it was an honest and real take into what It would be like trying to live and work with people you were once fighting. 

And while I don't disagree with Rick keeping Negan alive and trying to get the people to work together it isn't realistic in any way to believe that it would be possible. And I think the show really highlights that well. 

These people did ugly, and terrible things. Now most of the people that did the ugly and terrible things to Hilltop, Alexandria and Kingdom all died during the war.  But the People that committed the atrocities against Oceanside were alive and walking around among them. 

Imagine if you would, that a group of people shows up to your family reunion, and murders almost all of your family in cold blood, acting like they enjoyed every second of it. Only later to see they didn't get charged, never sent to jail, but told that all you must get along now and work together. 

That isn't possible, There's no way anyone could do that. At best you would leave and go far away from those people, and at worst you would get your justice on them. It's not revenge, it's holding them accountable for their actions. 

And that's what Oceanside was doing. 

Letting the people who murdered you husbands, brothers, and sons walk freely was a bridge too far for oceanside, and yes pun intended. 

This was Rick's biggest mistake.  He locked up Negan, and fair enough. But what about the others that committed war crimes? They must be held accountable. Much like at the end of world war 2 when the Nazi’s faced trials for what they did. Ya you got Hitler, but those other people must be held accountable too. 

By not charging Negan's lieutenants In what I would have called a regional court held among the four communities created undue tensions. The surviving saviors who were not responsible could have witnessed those people being charged, justice being served and that all the communities could move forward now. 

Instead, you get Oceanside going behind everyones back to dish out the justice and it turns everyone against each other.

Needless to say the bridge does not get built, and the Saviors walk off and go their separate ways. 

Things fall apart further as Rick's lookouts and Darol conspire against him. Maggie is headed off to kill Negan and get her justice. 

Rick thinks Darol is gonna take him to Alexandria to stop her but he doesn't, instead he leads them away where they get into a scuffle and fall into a pit. 

It's interesting to note that Darol and Rick really haven't had a scuffle like this since season one. 

They eventually crawl out of there and Rick sees a massive horde of walkers heading toward the bridge and Alexandria. 

Rick tells Darol to head on as he will lead the walkers away. 

This is where things go bad for Rick. 

He ends up coming to a four way, and there's a horde behind him and to the left all descending on him. The Horse decides to freak out and buck him off, keep in mind this horse never freaks out or bucks again later on…. 

Rick falls and lands on rebar, piercing his side. 

Now I am no expert, but that looked pretty close to his kidneys, and a puncture like that is usually a death sentence if you don't get that wound closed up quickly.  You will bleed out pretty fast. 

Rick manages to yank himself off that rebar, and get away where we are treated to a bunch of hallucinations.  We get to see past characters like Shane and Hershcel interacting with Rick as if it's happening in real time. 

This scene made me miss these characters a lot.  I really liked Shane's character and how he was always playing opposite Rick and testing him.  They bounced off each other so well that it always added an interesting tension to the show. I always felt like he was killed off maybe a little too soon. 

And Herschel was always the angel on Rick's shoulder, being his moral compass.  Making Rick see things differently and keeping him on the straight and narrow path. If it wasn't for Herschel, Rick likely could have become Shane but worse. 

All of this comes to an end with Rick at the Bridge and the Walkers coming down on him. There isn't much he can do and he knows he has to stop them.  The others look on as he fires a single shot at some explosives taking out the bridge and as we think at the moment killing Rick. 

It was a pretty emotional scene as we see Darol look on in sorrow, losing his best friend and Michonne screams out for him… as she watches the man she loves and respects die. 

I am not sure I felt the same emotions but I also already saw this scene. 

In fact this is where I ended my journey with The Walking Dead and stopped watching the show. So from this point on after this episode I had no idea what to expect or what was going to happen. 

I am not really sure anyone really felt shocked or emotional too much. Seeing as we all knew this season would be Andrew Lincoln's last. We all knew this character was going to be written off and that sadly kind of ruined it all. 

But Ricks is gone, or so you think? 

Later on Jadis just so happens to be nearby when she sees the explosion and finds Rick on a river bank. 

We still have absolutely no idea who Jadis is communicating with; we know they have a helicopter, medical, and are searching for certain types of people but that is all. And Sadly this season we will get no answers on any of this. 

I don't know if we will later, but the fact that a 16 episode season pays no mention to the disappearance of Jadis or that helicopter makes me think we won't get any information on it and that was just a convenient way to write Rick off without killing him. 

Again I have no idea what happens after this. But I will say I actually am enjoying this season up to this point and it sparked a bit of interest in the show again.  so I was looking forward to the next episode and the rest of the season.

That is until I watched that episode…. 

Suddenly we are flashed forward in time, a decent amount of time at that as we see a much older Judith rescue a group of people being attacked by walkers. 

Judith is probably close to ten years old at this point, It's hard to know.  But she is old enough to start carrying her own weight and she certainly does. 

She somehow manages to carry and use Rick's old Python 357 magnum. The sentiment isnt lost on me here, as she's dawning the sheriff hat and wielding her dads magnum.  But the reality is that thing would be pretty heavy for her to hold out and shoot and the recoil on that thing would kick back in her face if not just fly out of her hands. 

I actually like this version of Judith. She's not over the top like most child characters are today. Young Leia in Kenobi comes to mind. 

She's smart but not smarter than her age would allow, and she has spunk but is respectful to her elders.  She's brave and adventurous which you would expect her to be, since she's grown up in this new world. But she's also very vulnerable as you would expect a child to be.  She's capable of helping herself to a point but relies heavily on the adults around her. 

She's just the spitting image of Shane…hahahaha

And so here we are as Judith introduces herself to these new people and takes them back to safety. 

We see and learn all kinds of new things in this episode.  Like Carol has long and gray hair now, Michonne looks the exact same age but just shaved a little of her hair off on one side.  She also has a major chip on her shoulder toward everybody. 

This part is strange because the show does not explain why for a while, almost toward the end of the show. None of the three communities are talking to each other, or at least not very much. 

And there isn't really an explanation as to why. Ever.. 

I mean I get Michonnes chip on her shoulder because an old friend betrayed her and almost got her killed. But why the beef with the other communities? Why wasn't her and Maggie talking? Where the hell did Maggie go? And why did she go? 

None of these things are told to us. 

Instead they wrote off Maggie and just said she took Herschel and went off to another community… 

But why? She was the leader of Hilltop and damn good one at that. She had everything she needed there, why would she suddenly leave? don't know…  

Erggh Whatever show. 

Darol is living in the woods alone and has made a companion in a dog, named dog. The most Darol move ever on this show.  

He has been out searching for Rick's body but of course has not found him. 

He gives up and heads back to Hilltop at Carol's request to look after her boy while he apprentices to be a black smith. 

Needless to say that kid won't be doing much blacksmithing as he ends up in jail after getting drunk and sneaking out with some other kids. 

So Michonne is wrangling whether or not this new group can be trusted but settles to take them to Hillside, something that made really no sense to me. IF you don't trust them, why give them to your friends? And if you do trust them, why not let them stay at Alexandria? 

I guess the show needed an excuse to get Michonne back at Hilltop to learn Maggie is gone and Jesus is in charge and reunite everyone. Again why she was avoiding Maggie and the Hilltop makes no sense. And it annoys me that it's not explained. 

Anyway…

Jesus is out hanging with Aarron eating lunch and training how to fight.  I guess they are developing a sort of relationship but we never really see anything more than them just sparring and eating a meal.  They chat about their communities but eventually they stumble across Rositta.  She's basically passed out so they rush her back to Hilltop and find out that Ugene is still out there. 

They send out a rescue party to find him and that’s when the show goes from pretty damn good to what in the absolute hell am I seeing? 

We heard voices talking when Rositta and Ugene were hiding from the walkers, well that's ominous. 

But suddenly the rescue group finds Ugene and he tells them that these walkers have evolved.  They can talk and they can track.  And they have been following him up until this point. 

Evolved zombies? For the love of goodness no! 

Needless to say those evolved zombies are outside the barn they’re all in. And its time to move. 

They try the usual distraction tactics to pull the herd away from Ugene, Jesus, and Aaron.  But it doesn't work and that's when Darol realizes something is up. 

They get chased into a foggy cemetery where they make a stand against the zombies. They manage to fight most of them off and get a gate open to escape.  Jesus tells them to go while he covers them and we see a slow mo action scene where Jesus is kung-fu kicking his way through the herd. 

Until one the zombies suddenly stabs him and kills him. 

OH MY they are not evolved zombies at all… they're… people dressed up like the dead? 

What the hell!! 

What is this nonsense? 

Who the hell approved this? Probably the same guy that approved a CGI tiger… 

Let me start by saying this new enemy is the dumbest and worst of all the enemies that Rick's group has faced. 

Just when this season was turning out to be really good they go and pull this crap on me… 

Its just too much, too impractical 

So, how do you eat? 

Do you just walk around with the dead all day? 

Does your back start to hurt after being hunched over like that? 

Do you enjoy the smell of these dead people's faces when you're wearing them? What in the Hannibal Lecter shit am I watching? 

I remember going on a long winded rant to my wife after this episode about how this is impractical from a tactical and survival situation. 

First off, you look like and act like the very thing every living person is actively killing.  If you stumble across anyone with firearms…you're dead.  If you break character for even a second the actual dead that you're walking with will turn on you and eat you. 

It's dumb, it's too much and its way over the top and in no way is believable. 

EXPLAIN THE BELIEVABILITY OF THE WALKING DEAD***

The show actually makes my point later on when Darol and Michonne trap them on a bridge.  Instead of head shooting them Darol just hits them in the leg with his crossbow.  Naturally he finds a living one and he screams immediately being eaten by the dead next to him. 

Epic fail… 

They end up killing all the dead except one who's living and falls to their knees and gives up.  Turns out to be a young woman. 

So they haul her back to Hilltop to interrogate her and hold her. 

They don't get much of any truth. 

We get a little back story on the girl and how the group started. Turns out her mother is an evil abusive person, and was that way long before the dead started walking. 

So needless to say this girl has some heavy baggage… but for some reason Henry just loves her. 

Take it from me kid, you don't want to date the emo girls… it never works out well in the end.. 

Eventually they get some of the truth out of her, but wouldn't you know it! Look who shows up the girl's mother and her little army of pretend dead people. 

At first you might be thinking they will say trick or treat but no, they make some threats toward the hilltop which is laughable… considering these dead heads have no fire power. 

Instead of just blowing them away and ending this Darol decides to make the trade because there's a baby amongst the dead heads? Whatever… 

And by the way what happened to all the guns? Did the just disappear? What happened to the infinite ammo cheat code they had unlocked? Did that die with Rick? 

I mean Eugene is a bullet maker, these people should be armed to the teeth with that many years of peace and time to make ammo. 

But nope… just bows and arrows. 

I guess the script needed that since they would make pretty quick work of these pretend zombies if they still had all their guns. 

Judith still has a gun tho… still has bullets too…. 

I love that this show conveniently brings in ammo, gas, and a timely turn rate when the plot needs it to move along. 

Carol gets the award for the longest turn rate of five or six days.  Check that kid's blood, maybe he has some antibodies or some shit. Call Doctor Fauci and pfizer.. 

 Anyway, this entire scene is stupid as even without guns they have walls, and arrows and numbers… 

There's no reason to negotiate with these idiots. 

But they give the daughter back for the other two captors. And all go on their merry way. 

Henry isn't having it though, He loves this girl and by golly hes gonna go after and save her. 

Henry is about as useless as he was when he was a kid.  Making the same damn irrational decisions like last season and is useless with his stick. 

Morgan whooped ass with his stick, taking down full size men.  Henry… nah he just gets beat up. 

Well now he's captured and Daryl has to go out and find him 

 Because Darol is the smartest character in this story, he takes a page out of the deadheads book and dawns a zombie mask, sneaks in and takes the two love birds away. 

Darol and the others have to stage a last stand sort of fight in a building where he is met by Beta, a giant man played by none other than Ryan Hurst.  

If you don't know who Ryan Hurst is, he's a damn good actor.  Too good for this role in my opinion. He's starred as Opie in Sons of Anarchy and movies like Remember the Titans. 

He's actually a really big dude and he shows that in this show. He plays a pretty strong and powerful character and it was fun to watch him and Daryl fight. 

But Darol gets the best of him and shoves him down an elevator shaft. Now he should be dead, because that's what happens when you fall that far… but He managed to now only live but get up and walk away like all is fine. 

Ergh whatever. 

Stop doing this! Stop putting your characters in unrealistic and inescapable situations. If Beta is not to die, then don't have him pushed down an elevator shaft. 

So they all get away, and flash forward now to the fair. 

All the communities have come together to celebrate and do trade.  All is going well except somehow alpha from the dead heads managed to sneak in disguised as a normal person. 

She does recon on the place and eventually finds her daughter later on in the movie theater. Her daughter basically tells her to screw off, and they mother tells her she's weak and leaves. 

Now we think this all that happens but turns out she captured a bunch of people from the hilltop who were on their way back from the fair. 

Darol, Carol and some others go out looking for them but are quickly captured by the stupid pretend dressed up people.  The woods were dead quiet until the walkers were right up on them.. Go figure

Needless to say Alpha takes Daryl away to show him a very large horde of zombies that she has under her control. And tells Daryl that if his people cross into their territory she will unleash them toward his people. 

Daryl is let go and meets back up with Carol and the others in a field where they see the markers for the boundary line.  

Its a bunch of steaks in the ground and sitting upon them are the heads of the captured hilltop people.  

Sadly we see many characters but then we see Tara’s  and Enids head.  Then Henrys.. 

See what happens when you fall for women with so much baggage!? 

Needless to say I was not expecting that. Especially not Tara or Enid. 

IT was a pretty shocking and sad ending to that episode and yet there was still one more episode left. 

The Kingdom has fallen apart, and is now beyond repair.  I like this because its realistic, most of our buildings would not last for very long without general maintenance. And sadly they dont have the supplies or knowhow to do it. 

Carol and the King are clearly in disarray after losing Henry and it would seem their marriage is now shaky.  The King even asks Daryl to disappear for a while after they get to Hilltop so he can spend time with Carol and try to piece things back together.  It would seem the King might be suspicious of Carol and Daryls relationship. 

So The King and everyone set off for the Hilltop but are cut off by a nasty blizzard and must seek shelter nearby at the abandoned sanctuary. 

This episode marks the first time in the series, that snow has been present. Chief Content Officer, Scott Gimple, expressed his excitement about this, as it is something that he has wanted for years. Back in season 2's "18 Miles Out", Shane and Rick shares a short conversation about how they should prepare for the winter, where it was asked on Talking Dead after if there would ever be snow in the show. Special Effects Supervisor Greg Nicotero explained that he would very much like to include a winter theme in the show, but it would be too complicated to create in terms of using sets with snow and to create frozen and icy walkers.

However they can't stay there long and risk being snowed in with little food or water. So they must make the hard decision to trek across Alphas territory to get home faster.  Since Ricks bridge is gone they wont be able to take the usual long way. 

Luckily they never encounter Alpha and her people.  But they do encounter some frozen zombies. But nonetheless make it to the hilltop. 

Alexandria meanwhile is batting down the hatches and trying to survive the blizzard too as the snow has shut down the solar panels and there is no power.  

Negan ends up rescuing Judith when she runs off to save Dog. And this earns him favor with Michonne, to a degree. 

Now In the last season I said they were going to get Negan back into the fold and some how working with Ricks people. 

I said I wasn't sure about this working because Negan did some pretty messed up things and in my mind is irredeemable. 

But the show cleverly has made him pay his dues, hes sat in a jail cell since the end of the war, Likely at least five or more years. 

He's still the protagonist at times, egging people on (which is funny) but he appears to be a changed man. 

Now look, does this mean that he should be walking free? No… 

Afterall he should be dead, but the show realized quickly with Andrew Lincoln gone they don't have a main character to center on.  Could it be that Negan takes that roll? 

Normally I would protest but I like Negan’s character so much I would rather watch him screw with Father Gabriel than anything else. And I will be curious to see his reaction to the stupid dress up dead people. 

The show knows that Negan is a slam dunk character and the only one that really is interesting anymore in this series.  Daryl is always fun to watch but hes hit his arch. And unless he gets serious with Caryl or some one else there is not much more to explore there. 

That's not to say Daryl is a bad character now, not at all. He's quite reliable, and we can trust to know how he will act or what he will do in a situation.  This is fine, but it's not that interesting after a while. 

Michonne, Eugene, Rosita, Gabriel, the King, and Carol have all hit their character arcs and now are essentially on auto pilot. There's very little left that you can do with the characters at this point. They have all grown up. Now that's not to say they can't be in interesting circumstances. 

But what makes a show interesting is watching the characters grow and change with their environment. We have seen this with everyone. 

Negan is the last interesting character in this situation. And that's why I'm giving this show a pass on this one. 

It will be interesting to see how he acts and moves about if he gains his freedom. And how will the others react around him. 

Overall this was actually a pretty good season, far better than the last one. And heading in a much better direction than I would have thought. 

The first four or five episodes were my favorite as I found that all the communities trying to work together was a new and interesting story. 

I am in no way a fan of these whisperers or whatever they're called.  I think its cheesy, over the top and stupid. 

The communities should make quick work of them in theory but I have a feeling that the show's writers will make a way for them to struggle against them. It probably won't make sense and seem way too convenient at times but that's what happens when you create villains that in any real world situation would not be hard to take out. 

We will see, maybe it will end up being good. The season overall was much better than I was expecting and lone and behold rated higher than last season too. 

I find it interesting that the show's writers were so quick to kill off so many main characters this season.  Especially when it seemed like everyone was invincible last season during a major war. 

If only they had been this capable last season, it may have been more interesting. 

I have heard many rumors that the actor who played Jesus wanted to be done with the show. So they had him killed off, and it was certainly unexpected and strange when it happened. 

Overall it is safe to say this show is reaching its end, and not because I know there's only two seasons left. But because it's simply heading toward a dead end. There is only so much you can do with this story at this point that won't be already done. 

It will be interesting to see how they wrap this up, its one of the hardest things for a show to do. Most end horribly and leave fans with questions or frustrated.  But I feel like they could really go full circle and bring this ship home on this one.  End on a strong note like your began back in season one. 

Time will tell… I am looking forward to season ten. 

Wrap up. 

//

Intro/outro

Big Rock License

Big Rock by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3436-big-rock

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Other Intro

The Walking dead main title theme song

by Bear McCreary 

On Apple iTunes 

Frankl said if you are going to suffer, don't suffer for nothing. After suffering through the flu, I try to find something worthwhile in the experience. WARNING: Barfy talk.