Author: Julian Cannon

The Walking Dead Season 10, Episode 5 “What It Always Is” Recap

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Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan – The Walking Dead _ Season 10, Episode 5 – Photo Credit: Jace Downs/AMC

The big bad wolf himself Negan has escaped the cell on last week’s episode and this week, he goes on a little adventure with Brandon. What could possibly go wrong as you are reading this? Well, you will find out right now as I give my recap to the fifth episode of the tenth season of The Walking Dead titled “What It Always Is.”

The episode opens as Kelly is in the woods observing her surroundings as she also sees a lonely pig. I also want to add that her vision and hearing is going low and we see it happen from her perspective during this opening. She kills the pig using her slingshot weapon and she did not know that a walker was approaching behind her. But she killed a few walkers and the ones that were left devoured the pig. She runs through the forest to return back to Hiltop and she gets injured. As she is laying down, a walker grabs her head and then we cut to the opening credits. Negan is by himself washing his face and Brandon approaches him. He first pointed a knife towards his direction, but he said that he was just joking (Brandon is also a fan of Negan). Brandon also told Negan that it took him forever to catch up with him. He gives Negan water to drink and Negan smiles. Yumiko and a few Hiltop residents are finishing up clearing walkers at the gate. Earl still believes that it was The Whisperers that cut the tree down. When another Hiltop resident tells Yumiko about fish being stolen at the middle of the night, she asks who was on watch and then goes inside and talks to Magna who is also listening to music. They both talked about why Magna was not at watch and that she should do her job. Magna ignores her and turns back on the music. Daryl, Dog, and Siddiq arrive at Hiltop and they talk to Ezekiel about Negan. Ezekiel also says that they need more help due to the damage of the tree fall. Ezekiel also does not want to talk to Carol. Oscar and a few soldiers also return and Connie asks him about Kelly’s whereabouts.

Brandon is practicing Negan’s Savior whistle and he even asked Negan how did he get out of the cell. Negan told him that he is looking for a new place and Brandon says that they need a new Sanctuary. Brandon even brings up a rumor about Negan killing Carl Grimes and Negan shuts that conversation down real quick. Brandon also says that “we are Negan.” As they were both looking at a house, a walker attacks Negan and he killed the walker bny using the barbed wire attached to it to rip the head off followed by smashing it’s head. Brandon did not help because he was making Lucille 2.0 for Negan. He even showed him his jacket and Negan told him to put it away so that way, he could not be reconized.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan, Blaine Kern III as Brandon – The Walking Dead _ Season 10, Episode 5 – Photo Credit: Jace Downs/AMC

Aaron is by himself and he hears a walker and seen that Gamma killed the walker and cut open its stomach to drain its blood into the water stream. Back to Brandon and Negan as they talk about what The Saviors used to do to kill time. Then, they hear a woman screaming in the bus and Negan not only saved the woman and her son, he killed those walkers in that bus in gruesome fashion. Brandon even yells out “damn, classic Negan!” While Daryl and Connie were alone looking for Kelly, Daryl tells a good fishing story about Merle. Dog alerts them both and they see blood and the corpse of that pig from earlier. Magna appears moments later and Daryl drew his crossbow at her thinking it was someone else. Siddiq and Ezekiel are looking through the cabinents and they noticed that some of the medical supplies are missing. He also begins coughing and Siddiq tries to care for him and Ezekiel refused at first. Something is clearly wrong with him and Ezekiel revealed that there is a lump on his neck and that he has had it for a month. Siddiq thinks that it could be an infection, but Ezekiel knows that it is thyroid cancer because his grandmother and father had it too. They fought it and beat the cancer and he thinks that the odds are very slim for himself. Siddiq also revealed to Ezekiel that he had to leave Alexandria because hje cannot stand how everyone looks at him and even brings up his PTSD from the barn.

Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon – The Walking Dead _ Season 10, Episode 5 – Photo Credit: Jace Downs/AMC

Back to Negan and Brandon as Negan is talking to the woman as she told him how they got to where they are now. When she and her son exited the bus for a minute, Brandon tells Negan that they might have weapons and supplies but Negan not only does not care to find out, but he told Brandon to go back to Alexandria and tell everyone where he is. Also to note, Negan stopped Brandon from attempting to kill them with his metal pipe. At The Whisperer camp, Alpha talks with a Whisperer and then Gamma and Beta about the walkers they are sacrificing. The unnamed Whisperer speaks up about not wanting to take down any more walkers. Beta was about to attack him, but Alpha lets him finish speaking. Alpha wanted to take a vote with everyone to see if they agree with him in which nobody did. She then leaned over, smiled, and said “that’s democracy for you” and slashed his leg. He tried to fight back and she slashed his arm. He is completely immobilized and Alpha gives Beta a knife to kill that Whisperer and he did exactly that. Negan has a talk with Milo as he was playing with a toy airplane. Negan tells him what it was like to be on an airplane before everything changed and even makes a joke about nut smacking. Funny bonding time. Negan then told him that he and his mom should come to Alexandria. Gamma is walking with the walker who was that Whisperer that Beta killed. She does the same thing to that walker that she did earlier to and that is, contaminate the water. While she was stabbing the walker, she cuts her hand and Aaron introduced himself and gives her bandages. Gamma runs away after this. Dogh finds Kelly and Magna, Daryl, and Connie rescued her. She could not hear at the moment and this is when we find out that they show them the stolen fish and medical supplies that we now know that Magna stolen. Connie was unaware that this was going on and Magna had a dumb reason explaining why she took it which was because she did not trust them.

When Negan returned with the logs to burn fire, he sees that Brandon killed Amelia and Milo and he even got that Savior whistle correct. But that did not last as Brandon attempted to have a Tony Stark moment and say “I am Negan” before Negan himself killed him by bashing his head with a heavy stone. Negan takes his jacket and Lucille 2.0 with him and left. While Siddiq and Aaron are on the radio, it was mentioned that Rosita is sick and that Siddiq is leaving at night. Ezekiel also does not want to speak to Carol. Magna and Yumiko had a falling out and she brings up that they known each other for thirteen years. We also find out here that the reason Yumiko was her lawyer is because it was during the trial of when Magna killed a guy for hurting her cousin who was very young at the time. Gamma and Alpha talk about Aaron giving her the bandages and about her sacrificing her sister. Later at night, Everyone at Hiltop says their goodbyes. Elsewhere, Negan crossed one of Alpha’s borders. He killed a few walkers and called them out and one of The Whisperers knocked him down and Beta and Negan had a stare down and Negan challenged him to a fight as the episode ends.

This episode is awesome and the comic moments from Issues 153 and 154 were done really well on screen. Jeffrey Dean Morgan gets a high praise for me on this episode as not only that he (Negan) did not want to go back to who he was years ago, but he showed that he can be very human to unknown survivors who are in need of help. Also, killing Brandon and having him being a “fanboy” of Negan was the best fan service I have seen this season so far. Ezekiel revealing that he has thyroid cancer made me sad and it also adds to everything that Khary Payton said about Ezekiel’s state of mind last week. I also love Daryl’s interractions with Connie, Magna and Yumiko’s falling out, the opening with Kelly, Alpha showing who is the head boss in charge, and the graphic gore on those walker kills and even Brandon’s death too. My only criticism is the reasoning of Magna stealing the fish and medical supplies. I did not want to roll my eyes after I heard that, but I just had to because Judith saved her in the first place back in season 9 and she is still up to her old nonsense that she brought into the community. I cannot wait for Negan and Beta’s scenes on the next episode!


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The Walking Dead Season 10, Episode 4 “Silence The Whisperers” Recap

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Lauren Ridloff as Connie, Angel Theory as Kelly – The Walking Dead _ Season 10, Episode 4 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC

The Whisperers has dug under the skin of each community and we are starting to see some of the members taking it out on other members. Lydia is also getting the worst treatment from some of the members, but she is not letting them get the best of her at all. Meanwhile, there is a bad situation going on over at Hiltop and I will go over it all on my recap of this week’s episode of The Walking Dead titled “Silence The Whisperers.”

The episode opens with music as Michonne has dinner with Judith, RJ, and Daryl. Daryl even left food for Carol, but she is getting a new bandage from Dante. We also see Magna and Yumiko together in a heavy love scene too. As soon as Ezekiel gets up from his bed, he goes outside and then a giant tree falls down and breaks one of the side walls of The Hiltop as walkers are also approaching. Alden and Earl come up with a plan to get rid of the tree and Connie and Kelly talked about it too. Earl thinks that The Whisperers did it since he believes that they are in war with them now. At Alexandria, Aaron is training members of Alexandria on how to fight with a knife and then Gage, Margo, and Alfred makes fun of Lydia by putting on a mask and making a joke towards her. Michonne and Judith and a few others are heading to Hiltop and on their way, Judith told Michonne that she looks worried and also mentioned Carol’s bandages. Michonne asserted her that she is okay and Judith told her that she will be her fresh eyes and ears. Michonne also talks about what happened at Alpha’s border and Judith believes that Alpha wants to have the entire group fight until they are tired. Michonne suddenly stops to see Ezekiel with himself.

When she searched for him deeper in the woods, she noticed that he was by himself at the edge of a high point. Michonne talked Ezekiel into not jumping and he listened. After that, he kissed her and said that he was sorry. Lydia then finds a worm and Negan approached her and they talked about the people that bullied her earlier that day. While Negan was still giving her advice, Daryl interrupted and told her to get away from Negan. Negan told Daryl that she was just trying to fit in with everyone else there and Daryl told him that she cannot do that while he is around her. After Daryl walked away from Negan, he and Lydia talk and then, a “Silence The Whisperers” grafitti was seen by the both of them. Ezekiel and Michonne talk about what just happened and they both even admitted that they would never work as a couple, but maybe in another universe. He talks about everything and everyone that he lost that includes The Kingdom, Benjamin, Henry, Shiva, and even Carol as they divorced. He even says that he does not know how to talk to Carol anymore too and he was not sure what he was going to do when he came out there. Michonne relates to him and tells him about her dark past and that it felt like she was wearing a mask at that time and could not face reality. She also misses Rick Grimes too and she also said that he is not a bad kisser. Ezekiel made sure that he will not make the same mistake again.

Cassady McClincy as Lydia, Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan – The Walking Dead _ Season 10, Episode 4 – Photo Credit: Eliza Morse/AMC

Members of The Hiltop are trying to barricade the wall so that way, walkers would not break through. At Alexandria, they are eating dinner and Lydia cuts open a squirrel in front of Margo, Gage, and Alfred and when the blood splattered on Gage, he was disgusted. Daryl questioned if she wanted to live there and they also talked about the grafitti on the doors too. At night, Lydia walks outside of the house and Margo, Gage, and Alfred circle around her. Lydia told them that she was not there the night Alpha made the pikes. They all assualt her and Negan saved her life and not only stopped the fight, but accidentally killed Margo too. Members of Alexandria finds this out and Daryl told Brandon to take Negan back to his cell and helped Lydia get up. Also, Siddiq has another PTSD moment and ran away from everyone and washed his face and dumped his head in the sink water to calm down. Dante is doing his best to heal Lydia’s wounds and Daryl checks in on her. She talks about her dad for a few moments as he protected her. Daryl asked her about what happened and she told him that Negan saved her life.

Daryl then visits Negan at the cell and Negan first asked about Lydia, and then he told Daryl his side of what happened and why Margo was killed as she should have not beaten Lydia up. Daryl told him that he has never been in the same room as him and that since Rick is not here, everyone wants him dead. Negan pokes fun at Daryl for not killing him when they had the chance and questions why he is still alive following their rules. Daryl leaves the cell and speaks to Carol as she mentioned to him that it is the same cycle again as everyone is talking about Negan and not focusing on The Whisperers. Back at Hiltop, everyone is clearing the incoming walkers outside of the wall and it got to a point where they were starting to get overwhelmed. Magna wanted to stay out and finish, but Yumiko told her that there were too many and that they should go behind the gate. They did that, and another part of the wall falls down as walkers started to arrive on that side. Michonne, Judith, Ezekiel and the rest arrived in time to help and we got a cool walker kill sequence with everyone including at one point with Michonne and Judith doing this together.

The Walking Dead _ Season 10, Episode 4 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC

Michonne and Daryl speak over the radio about what is going on at Alexandria and why they think that Alpha did not kill them at the border and it is all because Lydia is alive and Daryl needs to protect her. Michonne told Daryl to be her proxy when it comes to the vote at the council meeting. At the meeting, they bring up whether if Negan should be alive or not and Siddiq told them that The Whisperers should be the main focus, but Gabriel told him that this meeting is not a discussion about them. Daryl told them that his vote is to not kill Negan since Lydia told him that he saved her life. The vote is now at a stalemate as Gabriel told everyone to rethink their votes in the morning. In the morning, Michonne, Eugene, Yumiko, Luke, and the rest have a meeting at Hiltop about fixing the wall. Eugene told Michonne that he will stay to fix it, Michonne will leave with Judith. After the meeting, Magna tells Yumiko to not watch over her anymore because of what happened last night and Yumiko told her that she could have died if she continued with those walkers the previous night. At Alexandria, Gabriel goes to Negan’s cell to see that he is gone. He alerted Daryl and Aaron and Lydia told Gabriel and Aaron that she let him out while she was walking herself into the cell. Daryl does not believe that she did it, but she told him that she did. She also told him that Alpha was right about what she told her about Alexandria puts on masks to make things seem like they are okay, but it is not. The episode ends as the same song from the opening plays again while we get a montage of both communities getting their things ready to leave while some stay back. Also, the “Silence The Whisperers” grafitti is everywhere now in Alexandria.

This episode is fantastic and I have to give high praise to Khary Payton and Danai for their performance. That conversation was very dark and and it also exposes the mentality of what people go through when they are in that dark mode. I also like how some of the scenes of the comic series was remixed to fit the overall narrative of the scene with Negan saving Lydia. I also like the walker kill sequence at Hiltop and I am curious to know why the tree fell in the first place. Plus, double points for Daryl and Michonne talking about RJ over the radio.

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Interview: Khary Payton on Ezekiel’s State of Mind, How Much Henry Meant to Him, That Kiss With Michonne, and Much More.

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Cooper Andrews as Jerry, Khary Payton as Ezekiel – The Walking Dead _ Season 10, Episode 4 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC

This week’s episode of The Walking Dead features a heart to heart between Ezekiel and Michonne that has the world talking as this scene is a pivital moment of the entire episode. With Ezekiel losing so much, it is safe to say that we fans hope that he can find happiness once again soon. Khary Payton is here to break down everything with Ezekiel in this exclusive interview!

With the fall of The Kingdom, losing Shiva, Benjamin, Henry, and the divorce bewteen Ezekiel and Carol, which loss do you believe affected Ezekiel the most?

KP: “I think I think it’s cumulative. Benjamin, who is Henry’s older brother, died first and then you have to remember that he [Ezekiel] lost nearly one hundred people with that with that big gun that just tore into people in Season 8. So it’s not just one person or two or Shiva or even Carol. It’s an entire community an entire way of life he really believed in and he looks around him and all of those people are gone. So it’s I think it’s more of a cumulative effect than anything else. He was kicking butt man. He was a light in the dark. He did that for the last few years. It’s just that he’s lost two sons and he lost the only Tiger left in the world that we know of. He lost everything and it has affected him badly.”

In the comic book series, Ezekiel an Michonne were in a relationship and we only got a small tease of that on this episode except that they both realize that it would not work. Do you think that Ezekiel kissed Michonne because he felt very lost and alone?

KP: “I think that’s what it was. When you’ve lost as much as he has, I think I think he’s reaching out for tenderness is understandable and he was desperately and absolutely lost and she provided an anchor. I think if you ask him, he’d say ‘Yeah I’m a hugger.’ And I think that’s what in that moment he was reaching back for. To be loved and to feel that he is wanted and needed.”

Khary Payton as Ezekiel – The Walking Dead _ Season 10, Episode 4 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC

Both Ezekiel and Michonne told their stories with eachother as they both can relate to eachother. How much input did you and Danai had when it came to delivering those lines for that scene?

KP: “I think I have had a lot of input, but also Danai too just because we were talking about Rick and and she’s had such a long history that the relationship between Michonne and Rick I think she probably understands that that relationship just about better than anybody. And so there was definitely some back and forth about how she would remember Rick Grimes. And honestly, I felt like I was sitting and really listening and absorbing that because this was really about Ezekiel finding his way back. I don’t know if he found his way all the way back to shore. But at least he could feel the ground underneath his feet even if he was still waiting in the water.”

The threat of The Whisperers is affecting everyone in each community. Do you also believe that Ezekiel is also giving into the fear of them at this point now too?

KP: “I don’t know if it’s a fear of the whisperers, I think he’s more worried about himself. I think he blames himself more than anything else. I know that the whisperers are definitely a weird and creepy group. But in his mind, they’re not the thing that’s feared. It’s more like it’s a conversation between him and God. You know, I feel like he feels like he’s done everything you could to bring light and positivity into this world. And yet everything has been taken away from him and he’s wondering is he the problem. Does he need to extricate himself from this world. And would that be the right thing to do or is it just the easy thing to do. The demons in his own mind are far scarier to him at this point.”

Khary Payton as Ezekiel – The Walking Dead _ Season 10, Episode 4 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC

We have seen Carol grieve about Henry. Will we see the same for Ezekiel in the future?

KP: “I think that we’re going to see Ezekiel grieving in his own way. There’s a lot going on behind the scenes in his mind and as as verbose and eloquent as he can be sometimes, I don’t know if he gets the chance to to let it out when it comes to his losses in that sense.”

We have seen you interracted with Gavin (Jayson Warner Smith) but not with Negan yet. Have the both of you been in a scene together in this season without giving too much away?

KP: (Laughs) “Yeah I can’t say anything about that yet, You’re just going to have to watch to find that out. I wish I can though!”

How did you mentally prepare for that scene with Michonne?

KP: “I did a lot of research on post-traumatic stress disorder on soldiers because to me, this is about how you deal with loss. It’s sobering and it’s kind of heavy on my shoulders. I feel when you’re trying to portray that kind of pain and that kind of despair, and I don’t claim to even begin to truly understand what that pain feels like, but I hope that the people who are going through that and they were watching and if they saw themselves, that they felt represented. It was a big deal to me in the moment and it continues to be.”

Why do you believe that some of the Kingdom soldiers still look up to Ezekiel even though he does not want to be looked at as one?

KP: “I just I think it’s hard to forget what the man was able to build. You know, the people are still looking for hope and his ego was a big part of what kept people hopeful for a long time and they may want that guy back as much as people like to tear down their heroes. The truth is they say they love a comeback story even better and I have a feeling that Ezekiel will have a great comeback.”

All of you fought against the walkers at Hiltop after the tree crashed down. It was a great sequence and do you have any stories being part of it? And also, is killing walkers very therapeutic?

KP: “The crazy thing is, whenever you’re dealing with horses and smoke and all of this, it never goes the way that you want it want it to. And we were having so many technical problems that night. It was crazy. We ended up shooting the shot of me riding in on that horse and we were waiting and waiting and waiting and my horse, his name is black and he’s a beautiful horse and he can do all kinds of wild tricks and things like that. But at that point it had been so late. It was probably after 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning and he was done. He was so ready to go home and I was just trying to give him exercises to do to keep his mind occupied because he would just get so kind of rattled by all of the noises and stuff going on around him. And he’s the most challenging horse that we use on the show. He’s tried to buck me off a couple of times, but he is a handful horsse and I’m just glad that it ended up looking pretty cool. Killing Walkers is incredibly therapeutic. It’s one of the best workouts because it’s full body. At least when I do it, I’m swinging with my whole body and swinging from my toes all the way up through my arm. And it is a cathartic kind of feeling to to just swing with all of your body and all of your mind. And the idea that we’re kind of going all night to clear this thing and it does feel great. What could be cooler, you know you’re killing things but you’re not really killing things. You don’t want to feel bad about it. You can do go for it. So yes, I absolutely love killing walkers. And every time I get to do it, I feel really grateful and I can’t wait to do it again.”

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Interview: Simone Policano on Producing and Co-Starring in This is Our Home, Yale University Memories, Being on a Commercial, and Much More!

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Simone Policano is a jack of trades in the entertainment industry. She is not only an actress that appeared on Auggie and CBS’ Blue Bloods, she is also a producer and filmmaker with many titles titles credited to her name such as Final Callback, To My Son, and Go Tell Your Fathers. One of her most recent films that she produced and co-starred in is “This is Our Home” which premiered at the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival which I got a chance to see during the week. She has a passion on doing these things and it shows whether if she is on screen, or producing. I got the opportunity to speak to her as we talked about her time in Yale University, the development of the film, New York stories, and more below in this exclusive interview!

What are some of your favorite memories when you were a student at Yale University?

SP: “I would say my favorite memory was the night that I joined the sketch comedy group that I was in from my time there because, I found this incredibly special community of performers and writers and artists in general. I found that really fun community within that group. And the night we had a sort of fun induction ceremony you can say when you’re a freshman and you join the group that was just really one of my first during my freshman year and I just had this really strong artist community right off the bat which I’m very grateful for.”

What drew you into acting and when did you decide that you wanted to continue acting after you graduated from Yale?

SP: “I was born and raised in New York. So I’ve been here my whole life. And I think when you grow up in the city, you’re lucky to be around art a lot if you have access to it. I was taking acting classes from elementary school and I used to do musical theater classes and learned very quickly that I could couldn’t think of doing that. And I started taking more like street theater acting classes like kids classes and then I went to high school called Hunter College High School which Lin-Manuel Miranda went there.  He’s one of our clients. But it’s a really nerdy high school with a really great theater program. And I love that I get a ton of theater there and then I knew I wanted to go to a nerdy college with a really great theater program. So I went to Yale and I did a lot of theater there. I wasn’t a theater major, but you can do a ton. I took a lot of theater classes. And you can also do a lot of extra curricular theater. I’ve known since I was young and I’m very lucky that I had parents and a family that supported my desire to want to do that and didn’t try to talk me out of it. I just kept doing it and I kept being like ‘okay, if this doesn’t work out I’m going to I’ll figure it out’. I guess that could happen down the line. But I’ve been very lucky and I’ve had a great time doing what I’ve done so far so I have no desire to change it right now.”

Being that you are from New York City, are there any parts within the five boroughs that you have never traveled to?

SP: “Well I actually just a couple weeks ago moved to Queens! Other than that, I just really had never spent a lot of time there. I mean, my dad is from Brooklyn. My mom was born and raised in Jersey, but then moved to the city shortly after. So I spent a lot of time in Brooklyn. I wasn’t raised on the Upper West Side so I spent a lot of time there. So it’s been great to explore this new neighborhood. I would say I’ve actually spent the least time maybe probably Staten Island or the Bronx. There’s a great place called Wave Hill up in the Bronx which is a beautiful kind of like nature preserve that my family and I would go to sometimes but I haven’t spent a lot of time in the Bronx.”

You produced and co-starred in This is Our Home and I seen the film at the Brooklyn Film Festival! Tell me how did it get started and also, were you involved with the casting process?

SP: “Jeff and Omri who’s the director knew each other from film school. It was college or right before college. But they’ve been friends for a while and only had just come off doing this movie that was a comedy movie that’s on Hulu now called How to Get Girls with a bunch of people from the office and it’s a very different vibe. It’s very studio and comedy and so he was talking to Jeff a couple of years ago and he was like ‘I really want to do something different. I want to do something darker and more artsy.’ And he and his writing partner Rob basically wrote the script for Jeff and I was just such a gift to get to be that involved in the creative process and to get something from its very inception. We were very lucky in that house that the film is shot in which is basically its own territory and the film is my mother’s house in Woodstock, New York. So we just basically were there for two weeks and a lot of the crew lived there rather than be there. But it’s like we’re living in the house or shooting in the house so that makes it a lot. That cuts costs a lot and if you’re using a location that you actually own and don’t have to pay for it, that’s sort of how that came to be. As far as the casting goes, basically the other main role in the film is the kid the child actor who’s played the character who’s played by a wonderful human named Drew Beckas. And that was a really important part of the film. The casting. Child actors and working with child actors is a really interesting thing because I think people watched the first season of Stranger Things and they’re like ‘Oh my God all these kids are amazing. Must be so easy to find amazing kids.’ And it’s not. It’s hard and it’s really hit or miss with kids especially depending on how old you’re talking. And so we auditioned a bunch of which put out a casting call. I auditioned a bunch of actors around through the age or a little bit younger. Drew was just a very special kid and he just walked in the room with his energy of like I’m game to play and I’m down to do whatever and he has this childlike innocence about him that we felt was gonna be great for the film because it’s important that the kid not trying to play at the idea of the creepy kid but the more just authentically like a kid that character feels within the context of the film. So he just we just sort of fell in love with him and he was great and we got really lucky with him.”

Were there any scenes that were not included in the final cut?

SP: “No there were not. And I think that this was a big lesson with just indie filmmaking in general like you’re working on such a tight budget that every day of shooting costs money and you’re paying people per day obviously, and it’s just you have to pay the whole crew. We did not have a lot of wiggle room and it’s a lean movie. I mean, it’s a short feature because of that. I think there’s totally spaces where it would have been great if we had more time and money to flush some things out. What it meant to be really intentional about what you shoot, and preplanning so that you know you can get exactly what you need because there isn’t a lot of time to film.”

What have you learned the most while you were producing the film?

SP: “Filmmaking is such a feat. Like it is an amazing thing when anything actually gets like it is. It’s so much more extensive than I think. Our film was made on a tiny budge,t but it’s still the money that you do need to come from somewhere. And we were so lucky that basically our major source of funding we were initially going to shoot the film in Philly. And so we got an article in a newspaper in Philly talking about the film and we were contacted by Joey Fatone who was sort of our savior basically being like ‘hey I started a company I had not I guess I sold the company and now I just kind of wanted to be involved in the arts and funding the arts’. And he was like ‘I will give you money’. I don’t know how to make a movie and I don’t want any sort of creative control or creative say like make a movie and then throw my name as an honest and executive producer which is the dream. I mean that is such a dream. And he literally fell out of the sky and we are so grateful for him. But I would say one of the biggest things I learned is that it’s just it’s really hard and it’s going to cost more money than you think it is. Like every time we thought that we had spent all the money that we were going to spend on this film it’s like music licensing or you need to go back and recall or something and it just all takes money and it’s given me a really much stronger sense of appreciation anytime I watch anything because I think it’s very easy as a patron to go to film and walk out and have a lot of critiques that have a lot of things to say about it and that’s great. We should engage with art in that way but I also think that it’s just hard. It’s easy to forget that the fact that anything gets made to look like The Avengers movie it’s great. If you’re an indie film that is not attached to a studio and has a really small budget whether you like the film or not, It’s an incredible feat and it’s given me a lot more of an appreciation for it.”

The first time I remembered seeing you on television was a commercial for the local casino in Yonkers, NY. How fun was it to be on that commercial and have you ever used an actual slot machine before outside of that commercial?

SP: “Oh my God, that was amazing. It was such a such a fun time we went on to Empire City Casino in the middle of the day. But we got to set down different parts of it and just got to walk around and smile and pull a bunch of slot machine levers and just have a good time. We got this huge wheelbarrow of fake money which was awesome. And what’s cool about it was because we shot that a year and a half ago maybe. I’m not sure if I’m right on that but it was playing on a major sports networks such as ESPN and like Monday Night Football and it made headlines. I was getting texts from friends like ‘I just saw you in like a major commercial timeslot’ and then we just actually recapped it like a month ago. So it’s on now again and it’s just a crazy thing. Since then, I recieved videos of friends in bars filming the TV screens when it comes up. But during my senior year of college, We all went to Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut. And again, it was a Tuesday or something and we all dressed up super fancy and swanky just for fun. And I was like ‘I’m not going to to gamble’. And then I played one slot machine game and I won like two hundred and fifty bucks and I was like ‘Oh I got much more than what me and my friend won’.”

Do you have any future projects coming on the horizon?

SP: “I’m actually working on a reading of a new play which I’m really excited about because my foundation is in theater. And part of the reason I’m in New York and L.A. is because I want to continue doing theater. So that’s like the next thing I immediately have coming up to the play workshop next week. But I don’t really I feel very lucky. It’s been a really fruitful or happy time for me and the much of a bunch of this came out this other feature that I worked on with Richard time called Auggie just came out. So I feel very lucky like a lot of things I’ve just come out. And so right now, you know the life with an actor is okay and now I’m conditioning I’m gonna see what happens. So in terms of film and TV stuff I’m not sure right now but something will come around because that’s kind of how it works. And I’m happy to have a moment doing a theater thing while I wait to see what the next on camera thing is going to be.”

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Girl on the Third Floor is a Fun Thriller That Everyone Should See!

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Girl on the Third Floor finally made it’s New York premiere yesterday at the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival and it did not disappoint at all. If you were to tell me 10 years ago that CM Punk would be a lead in a horror movie, I would say “I can see that possibly happening one day” and now he is the lead along with an excellent cast of the film as well. Now that it has premiered, here is my review of the film.

CM Punk plays as Don Koch as Don is a lawyer and he bought a house and wanted to repair it. His wife Liz Koch (Trieste Kelly Dunn) who is pregnant, is at their original home for the first two acts of the film, but they kept in contact via facetime. During the first half of the film, Don rennovates the home since it is very old and he does this by painting the walls, fixing the pipes, installing cameras, and even fixing the roof. All of the home repair things he did mostly on his own. Don was also with his dog for the first half of the film and there were scenes that I enjoyed with them two together especially when the dog interrupted Don in different situations. His neighbor Sadle (Elissa Dowing) has lived near the house since 1984 and she and Don talked about the house. Another neighbor he meet Sarah (Sarah Brooks) during the day checks in on him and they eventually had a fling. Sarah is pivital to the entire story involving the house and she cannot leave Don alone. There were times that Don and Liz were facetiming and she kept walking in the background as Liz noticed it, but not Don. Eventually, Don and Milo (Travis Delgado) fixed the roof and Sarah even killed Milo in the basement and he is found later in the movie behind a wall that Don knocked down. Eventually after Don is taken out, Liz arrives and seen all of what the house was when she explored the place and even talked with Sarah. Liz even found out the background of why the house is the way it is and even killed the female monster in a gruesome fashion. The film also ended as a 6 month time skip happened and her baby was in the crib about to fall asleep and Don (Who is inhabitted with the house) watches over her.

I know that I am jumping all over the place, but I liked this film. There were key moments that I thought was hilarious such as the scene where Don and the bar owner having a funny conversation, Don’s scenes with Sarah, his dog, and even with Milo. The dialogue was great and did not feel forced or ridiculous at all as it flowed very naturally especially the way Punk, Sarah, and Tireste delivered them. I also love the practical effects in the film especially at the scene where the pipe exploded on Don and it was disgusting, muddy water all over his face and shirt. Speaking of shirts, I liked the attention to detail that the developers did as he sweated many times repairing the house and there was sweat stains on the same shirt for the rest of the movie. I know, call me weird on that, But I like attention to detail on the small things. There was also a moment where his dog was found in a dryer and I reacted the same way Don did and I will leave it there. Another thing I would like to mention is that the scenes where he tries to improve the house but it turns into a disaster for a moment was funny as I can relate to it since I get that way when home improvements go crazy!

That also includes the scene on after Don killed Sarah, when he facetimed Liz again, he turned his face around in an angle so that way, she does not see the blood splatter on his face. You will also see marbels in the movie, and I questioned the entire time on why they are there and you will find out during the last act of the film. Punk’s character also smokes and drinks and Punk explained why his tattoos were not covered during the film’s development as it would have took over 15 hours to do it.

Overall, give this film a shot and it is also Travis Stevens’ directional debut for a major film and it was produced very well. Girl on the Third Floor is a great thriller in a house that will always watch you. I also hope to see CM Punk in more films in the future as well.

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The Walking Dead Season 10, Episode 3 “Ghosts” Recap

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Melissa McBride as Carol Peletier, Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon, Danai Gurira as Michonne – The Walking Dead _ Season 10, Episode 3 – Photo Credit: Jackson Lee Davis/AMC

One thing that I love about the horror genre is how it is used to affect the viewer and the characters. We have seen that on this episode as it slowly progressed from the start to the finish. Gear up as I recap this week’s episode of The Walking Dead titled “Ghosts”.

The first few minutes of the episode showcases what has happened in a two day montage. From morning to night, everyone at Alexandria cleared walkers that were approcahing the gates in different waves. It started small, and then it got bigger hours later. While this is going on, Carol is taking pills, and Aaron thinks that The Whisperers are sending those waves of walkers to Alexandria. After Michonne gets some breathing time to relax for a few minutes, her and Judith talk about the walkers. After the second day, it started to calm down. Gamma arrives to Alexandria and told them to come to Alpha’s border. Daryl also asks her if she is sending those walkers and Gamma says that they are not. A counsel meeting takes place before they go as Michonne, Siddiq, Eugene, and Aaron are the ones who hold the meeting. Lydia brings up that Alpha has never done this before and if she wanted them dead, she would have done it herself. During the meeting, Eugene brings up the satellite again as he believe that caused the walkers to arrive, but a few of the Highway Women had enough of hearing about it and bring up the idea of killing The Whisperers head on and Michonne went against the idea for now as Daryl also brings up the mega herd Alpha showed him. Michonne wanted to do this the smart way of handling The Whisperers so she comes up with a plan to tightnen the security. Carol also gets her gun as well.

Samantha Morton as Alpha – The Walking Dead _ Season 10, Episode 3 – Photo Credit: Jackson Lee Davis/AMC

While out of his cell, Negan helps clearing up the walkers that were already killed and he does not want to go out on the mission with the rest so Gabriel teams him up with Aaron to clear more walkers in the area. Negan also made a comment about Aaron’s mace too. While they were killing walkers, Negan finds a crowbar and Aaron told him to put it down. Negtan made a joke about why he should not use the broom and why he should use the crowbar instead and Aaron was not having it at all. Three more walkers were behind Negan and he took them down. The group arrives at The Whisperer’s border at night and Carol had a moment at Henry’s pike to remember him. Also at night, another wave of walkers are arriving at Alexandria and Eugene, Rosita, and the rest are doing their best to clear the walkers and Eugene thinks that he can go all night. Daryl, Michonne, Carol, and the rest are waiting for Alpha to arrive and she did with a number of Whisperers. She told them that she did not send those walkers over there. She also told them that they crossed her border three times. Michonne said two, but Alpha knew when they crossed over the winter storm too and that they are always watching. She also told Michonne that there will be no bloodshead this time at all since they want more land. Carol said that will cause for the hunting ground to be cut short. She also says that she does not have to listen to the rest of this and Michonne wanted to calm her down, but Alpha lets her speak more. The rest of The Whisperers pointed their guns at the group and Alpha stares down Carol and made fun of Henry. Even saying about his last moments when he was alive screaming Carol’s name. Carol shoots at Alpha, but misses when Daryl got in the way to take the gun off her hand. Alpha forgives her “mother to mother” and picks up one of the pikes and said that this is their land now and that they better run.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan, Ross Marquand as Aaron – The Walking Dead _ Season 10, Episode 3 – Photo Credit: Jackson Lee Davis/AMC

Michonne and Carol talk about what happened and Carol told her flat out that “bitch has to die”. Carol then sees a few Whisperers and alerted the group as they started chasing them, only to realize that she is hallucinating. Negan is clearing more walkers and even used the crowbar to kill the remaining ones too. The walkers had poison ivy attached to them so it affected Aaron’s eyesight. Aaron and Negan talk about why Eric is not alive and Negan goes on to talk about protecting what belongs to you. Aaron replied back saying that if he failed Eric, then he (Negan) failed his wife. Negan sees right through of his tactic and a walker was about to bite Aaron, but Negan helps him. Michonne, Carol, Daryl, and the rest enter an abandonded school. Carol examines one of the rooms of the school and she picked up a book with a family on the cover. She then has a hallucination when she looks at the cover to see herself, Sophia, Lizzie, Mika, and Henry. Aaron is also looking for Negan and his eyesight is getting worse. He enters a shed and Negan was sitting on a chair and Aaron walked pass him. Back to Daryl and Carol as Daryl told her a story about his dad being a truck driver. After the story, Carol takes more of the pills. Back to Negan and Aaron as Negan killed a few walkers and Aaron thinks that he would be next. But Negan is not going to kill him as he gives him water and helps him up. Carol then walks to the hallway after she heard a scream. She seen a girl through the broken glass. She then hears Henry’s voice and sees him on a window calling for her. Once she turned around, he is not there. She did it again, and a shadow figure was about to stab her until she wakes up (This jumpscare got me good as I did not see this coming). We also find out here that Daryl’s story was an hallucination as Carol dreamed it the entire time.

When Carol walked into the gym, she is caught in a leg trap that was set up by a Whisperer. She then proceeded to kill some of the walkers while she was upside down and managed to break the rope trap and fell into glass and killed the rest of the walkers. Her arm got cut from the glass and Siddiq and Dante were there to take care of the wound. Siddiq also had PTSD flashbacks again of when he was at the barn with the pike victims. In the morning, Aaron wakes up to see that Negan has kept watch over Aaron all night. Rosita and Eugene are also exhausted from the night before and finally has some downtime to talk. Eugene brings up Coco and Rosita makes it clear that they will never be together but also apologized for screaming at him since she is very tired. Eugene then began to question their friendship as he left the room.

Avi Nash as Siddiq – The Walking Dead _ Season 10, Episode 3 – Photo Credit: Jackson Lee Davis/AMC

Michonne checks up on Siddiq and wants to know how he is doing and after this, him and Dante have a drink and Dante brings up his backstory as he was a field medic while he was in Iraq. Carol also wakes up and goes downstairs to see Daryl cooking breakfast and he even gives her money to go to the store. Henry was also there and asks her a question and then Carol wakes up realizing it was another dream. She then talks to Michonne about her arm and about The Whisperers she seen the night before and Michonne told her that she only seen them, but they did not. She meets Daryl outside and asks him if he believed her from what she seen and he told her that he did. Then back at the school, we see the killed walkers on the ground and one of them in the pile was also a Whisperer as its eyes opened to close the show.

This episode was very great and further explored the mental state of Carol much ever than before. And I believe that the jumpscare that happened during the episode willl catch everyone off guard like it did for me. Also, the scenes with Negan and Aaron were great and it shows that Negan is seriously a different person than what he once was. There are pacing issues that I noticed on the second half as I believe it did not had to jump back and forth with Carol’s and Negan’s scenes back and forth every few minutes like it did since it broke the tension in my opinion. Other than that, this episode is more horror themed than the other two episodes and I love it. It is also another reason why The Walking Dead is the best show on television.

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Interview: Ross Marquand on Working With Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Remembering Jesus, and Much More.

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The Walking Dead star Ross Marquand appears on the new episode “Ghosts” as Aaron and Negan are teaming up for the first time. The unlikely pairing on this episode turned out good for the better and it further explored Aaron’s ability to make sure that Negan does not slip up and to see if he can trust him. I got the chance to speak to Ross Marquand about the episode as we break it down in this exclusive interview!

This is the first time that you and Jeffery Dean Morgan had extended scenes on an episode with eachother. How did it feel for both of you to team up in this episode?

Ross: “I love it. I don’t want to speak for Jeffrey, but I thought it was fantastic because this is the first time as you said that these two characters get a chance to really go toe to toe since the lineup or when Glenn and Abraham were killed. I think a lot of our audience members are gonna be happy to see this because they were hoping for an interaction like this for all of the characters who were in the lineup. Everyone who witnessed this horrific death wish they could have a moment with Jeffrey where they could say ‘hey Negan, you’ve done something absolutely unforgivable and I was trying my damnedest to forgive you. But what what can you do to prove to me that you’re not the same person’. I don’t think that Aaron is convinced that he is the same or has changed rather. I think he is very much convinced that this is the same person that he saw in the clearing all those years ago and it’s a moment of extreme emotional purging where Aaron feels like ‘you have never really fully answered for what you’ve done and this is my opportunity to to relate to you and tell you how much what your actions meant to me and the rest of the group'”.

Do you have any funny stories working with Jeffrey Dean Morgan on this episode?

Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan, Ross Marquand as Aaron – The Walking Dead _ Season 10, Episode 3 – Photo Credit: Jackson Lee Davis/AMC

Ross: “I mean, it was pretty tense. He was he was such a great sport. I felt bad when I kept tripping him and knocking him down because you never want to hurt anybody. But there were a few takes where I really laid into him with a leg and I thought I’d actually hurt him reaally bad. But he would pop up and be like “Nah man, i’m fine! It’s all good. Don’t worry you use it use it”. So he was he was a of sport and we tried to keep it pretty simple and pretty quiet for that because it was such a tense scene that we didn’t want to mess with that but yeah, I really feel like he just brings such a incredible characterisation of Negan to the screen. I mean he is really good at blending that like kind of controlled, smarmy, charm with this absolutely lethal stare. And it’s uncomfortable to act with because he’s channeling this diabolical character so well and he does a phenomenal job with it and I love working with him”.

Who came up with the idea for Aaron to have a mace on his prosthetic arm and were any other weapon choices avaliable if the mace was not a choice?

Ross: “Well I don’t know for certain if it was my idea or the writers, but I was in several interviews last year with different outlets and they asked me the same question: “if you would have any different attachments for your arm what would it be?”. And I just joke and said “I got to be really cool to have like a mace on a chain like a cat of nine tails sort of thing”. And I was just joking I really didn’t think that was ever going to happen. And then this year when I had my meeting, I was informed that there was going to be a mace and I thought Oh awesome .That’s so unique and cool but that’s literally exactly what I was talking about last year. I didn’t know if word got out or it spread to the higher ranks, but I was so happy when I learned that because there is nothing more satisfying than taking off my hand and then putting on this beast of a unwieldy weapon. It’s it’s fairly heavy but it looks so cool. And I’m just so pleased with how the props department put that together”.

What is the most difficult skill you had to learn while you were one-handed?

Ross: “Scratching my back probably! (Laughs). I think it’s a trick. I mean I really had a hard time at first because all the things that you were used to doing with two hands, all of a sudden you’re having to learn with one and one of the most practical ones is just going around at lunchtime and if we have a quick turnaround it don’t always take off the arm. So just loading up all of my meal using my fake arm as a balance beam essentially from my trays and put food into my mouth. It’s a learning curve and I think it’s a wonderful challenge to have for the character and I think it’s a wonderful representation of all that he’s lost both physical and mental. Emotionally speaking from Eric, to Jesus, to Tara, every person that he’s lost is a truly felt by t this character I mean he really feels the weight of their loss. And I think losing the arm is a wonderful physical manifestation of that”. 

We see that Negan has watched over Aaron all night. Do you believe that Aaron is starting to trust Negan after everything that happened the previous night into the morning? 

Ross: “I think that they recognized that if Negan actually killed Aaron in that moment, Negan probably would have had to answer a lot of questions and that would’ve been a search party for Aaron and it probably would’ve ended really poorly for him. So I don’t know if it’s so much that Aaron trusts him anymore as these two men both know who they are. They’re not really convinced that the other one has much faith in the other, but they’ve got a nice understanding now and I think that’s where you can build forgiveness and that’s where you can build open communication after that. But at this point, I still don’t believe that Aaron trusts or forgives Negan one bit”.

You mentioned about losing some of the other characters such as Eric during All Out War, and Jesus at the graveyard in Season 9. Who do you think between those two affected Aaron the most?

Ross: “I think Eric. Eric was a long longstanding boyfriend and lover and they knew each other before the apocalypse even began. So they were arguably the longest running relationship the show has ever known. So it affected him greatly to lose Eric. I think the loss of Jesus was also affected. It’s affected them only because they formed such a camaraderie and they were they were they were such a tight unit. And then to lose him in such a horrific and surprising way, that affected them on a mental level so much more as opposed to Eric was more of an emotional level. Jesus was just such a huge shock to the system and it just came out of nowhere literally. And I think that that would be the distinction between the two”.

The sword that Aaron used on 10×01 while he was clearing the walkers, was it the same sword that Jesus used to own?

Ross: “It is and I think it’s sort of a ceremonial sword for him. Angela and I both discussed it and I said I don’t think that he would just retire that sword. I think he would use that sword especially in very very important battles not only as a way of honoring Jesus and everything that he taught Aaron, but also because it’s a way of connecting the past the future. I think he held a great deal of reverence and friendship for Jesus and that sword is a wonderful way of him continuing that tradition.

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Girl on the Third Floor Comes to the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival Next Week

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Girl on the Third Floor will finally make its long awaited and anticipated New York City debut next week at the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival. Since its debut at SXSW, it has recieved a high critical praise from many outlets praising the acting, the plot, the practical special effets, and the cast.

The film stars Mixed Martial Artist and comic book writer CM Punk as he plays as Don Koch who is a lawyer as he wants to start a new life with his career and he and his pregnant wife (Trieste Kelly Dunn as Liz Koch)plans to get away from the city as he bought a new home in Chicago that is very old. Don wants to renovate the house from the ground up and does not want any help doing this. He eventually learns from his new neighbors that live near by that the house has a crazy and terrifying past and experiences the supernatural in the house.

CM Punk will make his feature film debut on this movie and I know for sure that many people and fans of him are looking forward to seeing the film on the premiere and I have to say that I cannot wait to see it as well. This film will also be the directional debut of Travis Stevens and it also has a strong cast as well featuring Sarah Brooks, Elissa Dowling, Bishop Stevens, Tonya Kay, and Marshall Bean.

Be sure to get your tickets now as the New York premiere will sell out very fast and CM Punk and Travis Stevens will also be there in person to talk about the film as well after the screening. Brooklyn Horror Film Festival takes place from October 17th until October 24th.

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The Walking Dead Season 10, Episode 2 “We Are The End Of The World” Recap

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Samantha Morton as Alpha – The Walking Dead _ Season 10, Episode 2 – Photo Credit: Jace Downs/AMC

The season 10 premiere opened with a bang and kept myself tuned in from start to finish. The second episode did exactly that again. On this episode, we see how Alpha and Beta meet and it is an adventure. Here is my review and recap of “We Are The End of the World”.

*This episode jumps back and forth between the past and the present.

The episode opens with a flashback from seven years ago with a woman getting out of a car after a car accident. Walkers are approaching her and even Alpha and a young Lydia is walking with the walkers and making their sounds as well. The woman gets devoured and it is gross and brutal to watch. Lydia screamed and that attracted the walkers towards the both of them and they both run away from the walkers. They run inside a building and shut the door. Alpha told Lydia that she almost got them killed. Alpha also sees Beta for the first time and he is under a mask and has different clothes on.

At the current time, we see The Whisperers’ camp and we also see Beta shaving Alpha’s head as they talked about how the communities will fear them. Gamma and her sister Frances are also seen. Back to the past, Beta told them both that they can stay and Alpha asks for water so that way, they can wash themselves. Back to the current time as The Whisperers are walking with a small herd. He told Gamma to be on alert and Frances makes a comment about the hot weather and the sun. Gamma told her to quiet down because she is a distraction and also told her that she should have left her behind. Back in the past, Alpha washes Lydia’s hair and then looks through the food cans. Beta even asked for her name, and she replied that she does not have one and that they are all monsters and that they are part of the dead. Beta then mentions about the sound of the walkers.

Back to the current time as Beta is attracting walkers in the locked parking lot. He opens the gate and they are doing this to combnine the herds. We also find out moments later that Frances is the mom of her baby that she left at Hiltop in season 9 and she is still not over the fact that she had to do it. Frances is still not focusing and Beta lets her know that she will pay for it. Back at the camp as Beta shoves her to the ground and she is crying. Another Whisperer is about to kill her, and then Alpha stops it as she arrives. Alpha and Beta then talk as Alpha lets him know that Lydia is dead to her and Beta is not convinced that Alpha has gotten over her. Alpha then went on and told him that he will never understand about losing a child.

Samantha Morton as Alpha, Havana Blum as Young Lydia – The Walking Dead _ Season 10, Episode 2 – Photo Credit: Jace Downs/AMC

Back to the past as Lydia asks Alpha about the pillows on the wallks. Alpha tried to give her a stuffed bunny, but Lydia does not want it and she does not want to be scared anymore. Alpha (who is very thrilled to hear that), hugs Lydia and told her that if she does not stick with it, that she will leave her behind. Lydia does not want that and Alpha told her to stop calling her “mom”. In the present, Frances and Alpha are alone and oh my god, Alpha’s stone cold stare gives me the chills to my spine especially after when Frances apologized, Alpha told her to remove her mask. Alpha then told her to kneel down and as she held Frances’ head, she is heard screaming and Gamma and Beta hears it. Alpha spares her from killing her as she understands what it is like to lose a child. When they both return to the camp, Beta asked Alpha why did she not kill her and Alpha told him to never question her again and said that she will skin her alive if she messes up again. In the flashback, Alpha kills a walker in the hallway and more were approaching her and Beta saved her by killing one wwalker with a knife, and two more by smashing their skills into the wall in brutal fashion. They cut off the walker’s faces and Alpha calls him “B” as she is the “A” (also to note, their given names were never heard up until this point). She tried to take Beta’s mask off, but he refused and told her to not come back.

Ryan Hurst as Beta – The Walking Dead _ Season 10, Episode 2 – Photo Credit: Jace Downs/AMC

In the present time at night, Gamma and Frances talk about what it was like for her to be alone with Alpha and apologized to her about risking everything. While they were controlling the herds in the morning, the satellite explosion from the previous episode happens and this is where we find out that this is happening at the same time as the previous episode. The walkers begin to walk to that direction and one of them, has a baby strapper attached and that distracted Frances. Frances tried to attack Alpha and the rest of The Whisperers tried to break it up and also clear the walkers at the same time. Gamma saved Alpha and Frances got devoured by walkers. Beta asked Alpha if she is okay and she says that she is calm despite that she lost three of their own and the walkers. In the past, Lydia keeps saying that “they are all monsters”. In the present, Alpha gathers all of The Whisperers to give tribute to Gamma. Beta asked Gamma in the morning if she has seen Alpha and she tells him where she is. In the past, Alpha is looking for Lydia and Lydia opened a closet door that had a walker behind it. Once Alpha went into another room, she killed a walker and Beta screamed. We find out here that the current clothes Beta wears along with the Whisperer mask belonged to his fallen friend and there was even a picture on the wall of both of them together with their faces taken off. In the current time, Alpha and Beta talk about Lydia and how she is not strong enough to move forward. Alpha has a breakdown as Beta did in the flashback when Alpha tried to calm him down. The difference here, is that Alpha does not want any of the rest of The Whisperers to know that Lydia is still alive.

In the past, Beta was about to kill Alpha and Lydia stopped it and told him that she is saving him. Alpha also screamed at her to never leave her again. Beta then goes on to say that he is the end of the world and Alpha replies saying that they are. In the current time, they both said “We walk in darkness, we are free, we fear nothing, we are free, embrace all death, we are free, we are the end of the world”. They all walk to the site where the satellite crashed and the episode ends the same way as last week but as Alpha sees Carol in her point of view.

Since we did not get a backstory on The Whisperers in the comic book series, I was happy to see how Alpha and Beta came up with the idea of The Whisperers. It was amazing to see how they transformed to who they are now whether if it is an evolution, or devolution depending on the prespective. Samantha Mortin is very chilling as Alpha and I would be legitimately scared if I was one of those whisperers alone with her. This episode happens as the same exact time as 10×01 and it is good to see how this one mirrors the first episode. Ryan Hurst also knocked it out the part as Beta along with Thora Birch as Gamma in this episode too!

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New York Comic Con 2019 Recap

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This year’s edition of New York Comic Con I believe is the most crowded it has ever been. Not to say that it is a bad thing at all, but it is something I have observed during my entire week at the show floor. But before I get to my recap, I would like to thank ReedPop for allowing me to cover the show once again. Here is my recap of this year’s New York Comic Con.

New York Comic Con has attendees that come from all over the world. It is always great to see a great mixture of diversity on the show floor whether if they are waiting on the lines to buy an exclusive, a rare comic, or even for a spot at a panel. Speaking of panels, this year’s big panels such as The Walking Dead, 1917, and much more had to be won by a lottery and that is a great change so that way, nobody does not have to form large lines outside of Madison Square Garden, and the Hammerstein Ballroom. Another great change that happened this year is the SyFy Wire main stage panels being broadcasted on the second level before where the press lounge is so that way, whoever could not get a good seat, can now watch their panels on the screens. One thing I need to address is the Funko booth. It has always been in the same location for the last 4 years and I believe that it is time to place it somewhere else. Other than the normal line to enter the booth, there was also a very long line just to enter that line. I hope by the time the new expansion of the Javits Center is finished, that booth can move there in a seperate area so the lines cannot be very congested. I did however, stood in one line and that was the Skybound booth and I meet Robert Kirkman and he signed three issues of The Walking Dead that I own too.

I was only able to go to the artist alley once during the entire weekend and that was Sunday. Even then, it was very crowded and congested but I ran into one of my friends and comic writer and publisher Erica Schultz and we talked about her upcoming work and about the show. She even left a message for me when she signed one of her posters.

Despite the fact that everything in every area was crowded, I had a great time on the main show floor. My press coverage this year has also been great and what I also hope gets changed is the press lounge. I ran into many journalists this year who had the same thoughts that I did and that is, limiting the space for the cosplayers was a bad idea. There were many times that I walked into that area to bump into cosplayers that had their props attached. Don’t get me wrong, the cosplayers looked great with the material they used for their costumes, but it was very congesting for four days. At the press rooms, I interviewed the cast of Emergence, Lincoln, Impulse, Daybreak, and Batmman Beyond. Everything turned out great and you can watch them below.

I also was invited to attend The Walking Dead Whiskey’s The Last Bar offsite and they sold their branded whiskey over there.

While I am on the topic of The Walking Dead, I the panel on that Saturday morning and I loved it. Of all of the panels over the years that involved The Walking Dead, this year was the most noteworthy year for the fans of the series and it felt like christmas for everyone. The final event I had to cover took place at a private Hasbro event that showcases the upcoming Star Wars merchndise line for the fall just in time for Rise of Skywalker to premiere in the movie theaters. These figures look awesome and I want to have my hands on a few of them.

I will return next year at New York Comic Con for more coverage. Also to note, I recorded an episode for my podcast during the weekend and it features Brandon Davis of Comicbook.com, Fred Richani of TSC News, and Naiger of Big Gold Belt. And check out the best cosplay pictures that I have taken.

TWC EPISODE 240-NYCC 2019 SUPER SHOW

Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @julianexcalibur for more content. Contact me at julian@alternativemindz.com.