Monday, May 18, 2015

Blood, Boobs, and Carnage Blogfest



Howdy, ya'll. Today's bloodfest is hosted by Ninja Captain Alex Cavanaugh, author of Dragon of the Stars and the Cassa Trilogy, and Gnome Master Heather Gardner, author of One Good Catch and Already Home.

Few stories feature more blood and carnage than a zombie apocalypse. Boobs? Well, zombies give a whole other take on breastfeeding, I suppose. (Insert evil chuckle here.) Today I'm focussing on the episode Pretty Much Dead Already in the television series The Walking Dead, because not only did the flesh fly, but there was a moment of horrifying emotional carnage as well. Talk about brilliant writing!

Season 2 finds the band of survivors led by Rick Grimes out on the road, fleeing from the camp where they first met during the outbreak. Right off the bat, one of the children, Sophia, gets separated from the group and lost in the woods during a zombie encounter. Several episodes are spent looking for the girl even though the odds aren't so hot. Few humans are around to help a missing kid and hoards of zombies are hungry to eat her alive.

The group settles by the farm of Hershel Walker, retired veterinarian, to keep up the search and to save the life of another kid in the group, Carl, when he is accidentally shot. It turns out that Hershel's not too crazy about letting other survivors join what's left of his family. He's got a big, ugly secret: he's been keeping his dead, but still lively, family members and neighbors locked up in his barn where he feeds them live chickens. Poor Hershel is in serious denial that these moaning corpses can be cured of what ails 'em.

Of course, the secret gets out and one of the hotheads in Rick's group decides to do away with the barn monsters. As a viewer, I was on his side. Yes, shoot those disgusting zombies. I don't care if it's Hershel's wife, she's the grossest one. She's dead! Shoot her quick, before she can rip off her surviving daughter's head! BAM! BAM! BAM! Yeah! All those deadly (and dead) zombies are toast. High fives, right?

Well, guess what? After all those zombies, whose characters we never knew as live people, are dispatched, one last zombie shuffles out the of the dark barn into the light. The camera shows the feet first: small, unlaced sneakers, torn capris. It's Sophia. The whole time Rick's group was searching, she was in the barn, already dead.

Zombie walk 2011 México












Image courtesy: caliopedreams

It's heartbreaking, especially the mother's reaction. She knew Sophia was probably dead the whole time, but still, she had hope. And that kind of makes sense, because Carl survived a gunshot wound to the chest, so why not a Hail Mary save for Sophia too? No dice.

Then Sophia's mother has to hear the bullet that ends her child's undead existence. That's emotional carnage, my friends. I haven't felt such a kick to the gut since the opening scene in Sty Stallone's Cliffhanger, when the hiker, dangling from a steel cable, slips out of her glove, and you know the last minute (or minutes) of her life will be spent plunging to her death. That still gives me the shivers.

What show or movie has kicked you in the gut? If you're a Walking Dead fan, do you have a favorite episode?


47 comments:

  1. Pretty much everyone I know has told me to watch The Walking Dead, but I just can't stand zombies! :/

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  2. My goodness! I think I've seen one ep of Walking Dead, but am usually too busy to actually catch up on the entire story (even when I really liked what I saw.)

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  3. Yes! The episode is quite clear in my mind, and it was an excellent one. I'm a HUGE Walking Dead fan. There are so many favorites, but I guess one of my favorite episodes is when Daryl hugs Carol because he's so excited to see her again. I really wish they'd get those two together!

    Precious Monsters

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  4. I tried to watch The Walking Dead...I couldn't get past all the violence. It just turned my stomach. But the first episode and half of the second episode that I watched were very well written. I could see why those who have a stomach for that sort of thing like it so much.

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  5. I liked the first three seasons of The Walking Dead the best but I don't know if I have a favorite. There is always lots of carnage.

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  6. I watched the show until the end of season 2, cried when the girl came out of the barn... I have recently started re-watching the show's last season.. the end was awesome.

    Jeremy [THE WOLF]
    Howlin' Wolf Records: On-Line Magazine

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  7. I've only watched a couple episodes. I just never seem to have time for TV.

    I remember that scene from Cliffhanger. My palms were so sweaty.

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  8. I need to watch this series. Everyone says I should!

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  9. I thought I was the only person who hasn't watched this show. After reading the comments I am happy to see that's not true. lol So many people I know love The Walking Dead, but I couldn't get into it for some reason.

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  10. I'm a big Walking Dead fan. Since I've read the graphic novels, I know what's coming. It scares me more than the Governor!

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  11. As much of a zombie fan I am you'd think I'd keep up with Walking Dead but I don't. I've seen 2 episodes. If it were a movie that I could watch in one sitting that would be one thing, but I don't get caught up in too many series. I do like the concept of the show though.

    Arlee Bird
    A to Z Challenge Co-host
    Road trippin' with A to Z
    Tossing It Out

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  12. I've at least watched season 2 of Walking Dead and saw this scene. I like the story line, but not watching the zombies so much! Two films have kicked me "emotionally" in the gut, to the point I was sobbing, and yes, I know some of you will think me a sop, but they got to me, what can I say? The Champ, and The Seventh Sign. That whole parent/child thing got to me even before I had kids... Thanks for dropping by today Tamara! Lisa @ http://www.lisabuiecollard.com

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  13. One of the best episodes they ever did. I remember how devastating it was. It's one of those things that we probably should have seen coming in hind sight. (Just the episode before we learned that whenever walkers wandered onto his land, Hershel's man Otis would just wrestle them into the barn, so someone probably should have thought that, perhaps, if Sophia was already dead...) But we, as the viewers DIDN'T see it coming. At all. And that was the beauty--and tragedy--of it. Great post!

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  14. I watched the first season or two, but all my favorite characters kept dying. (For some reason, it doesn't bother me in Game of Thrones.)
    Hershel Walker went from professional football to being a vet? Who knew?
    Thanks for participating in our blogfest!

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  15. I like the emotional carnage best, too. Walking Dead is a show I keep thinking I should try again. The first couple episodes didn't do it for me, but so many people I know love it.

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  16. I am not into the Walking Dead because it just seems too bleak but it does have blood and carnage

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  17. I love Cliffhanger. Very good film. John Lithgow plays a really good bad guy.

    Stephen Tremp
    A to Z Road Trip
    www.stephentremp.com

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  18. That was such a strong episode - probably the strongest in the series so far, and it is a pretty good series all in all. I was never a zombie fan, but the psychological and emotional storylines in Walking Dead are epic. Carol's development in the latest season was spot on too :)
    Visiting through the blogfest! :) Cheers!

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  19. A terrific show, and a great episide. Good choice for the B,B&C Blogfest!

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  20. I've yet to watch The Walking Dead. There are so many great TV series out there these days, but I'm scared they will suck me in completely and I won't get anything else done.

    American Horror Story has kicked me in the gut, and it definitely fits the theme as well. The first season was especially haunting for me. I loved the character of the tortured, bullied kid who has fantasies of shooting his classmates. How things turned out at the end was devastating.

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  21. I stopped watching THE WALKING DEAD after the wife died giving birth ... she could have aborted and since she had a Caesarian already, what did she think was going to happen to her, leaving a helpless baby.

    How do you like the virtual pet cat? I find myself playing with the one on my blog all the time! :-)

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    1. It's too cute. I love the way it purrs when the cursor is on it's chest.

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    2. It's too cute. I love the way it purrs when the cursor is on it's chest.

      Delete
  22. Emotional carnage is way cooler than physical carnage.

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  23. Almost any time a child dies, even a bleak show like Walking Dead, it's a gut punch. I remember hating a character in the third Song Of Ice And Fire book because he had killed children.

    God, Entertainment, & Annoying Things

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  24. "zombies give a whole other take on breastfeeding" hahahaha. Now that is a quotable quote. I love The Walking Dead. Another heartbreaking episode is when Daryl has to see zombie Merle die. Rough.

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  25. i remember that episode! It was a good one. I had forgotten that Hershel kept all those zombies locked up in the barn. That was heartbreaking when the zombified Sophia came out. Great choice for the BB&C!
    Michele at Angels Bark

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  26. I think I'm the only person now watching The Walking Dead. As for shows with gut punches... I'm sure there are some, but none come to mind at the moment.

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  27. That was such a heartbreaking moment. I could understand Hirshel's denial. I wonder if I would have felt the same, if not for all the zombie movies I've watched. Hope dies hard. Modern medicine can cure anything, right?

    I've watched the Sofia scene many times, and always cry and hide my eyes. Yeah, I was every bits as devastated when Hal dropped the girl. Both scenes were so unexpected. Good analogy.

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  28. Excellent choice for this blogfest. Heart gripper and sleep snipper.

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  29. A number of my friends love The Walking Dead, but I've never seen it.

    I almost always get a big emotional kick to the gut at the end of Charlie Chaplin's films, particularly the famous ending of City Lights. Just thinking about it can choke me up.

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  30. I've never seen The Walking Dead. But as soon as you mentioned the scene in Cliffhanger, I could see it happening. I'll never forget the desperation in her eyes as the glove is slipping off. A kick to the gut, indeed. :-)

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  31. That scene from Cliffhanger still haunts me, too! OMG!

    We didn't jump on the band wagon with WD, but I'm sure we will binge watch it one day!
    THANK YOU for joining Alex and me in this EPIC blogfest!
    Heather M. Gardner

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  32. Yeah, that was a rough episode- awesome of you to hone in on the specifically and not go with the series as a whole.

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  33. It's embarrassing to admit, but zombies have always kind of freaked me out, and not in a good way. I know - what am I, eight years old??? Sigh.

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  34. OMG your zombie breastfeeding joke... ROFLMAO.
    Excellent choice for the hop.
    My favorite is the episode that flashes back to Michonne's origin, where she cut the arms off the two zombies and hauled them around with her.
    Thanks for visiting me.

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