11.04: The Walking Dead - Rendition

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Daryl and Dog get captured by the Reapers they are taken to the Meridian and reconnect with a familiar figure from their past.

 

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When I read the episode synopsis I though how will he captured, because Daryl is the most skilled tracker in the series. The only thing that is his downfall is Dog ... and that woman he loved, Leah. We can blame Dog for that as well, for being loyal to his owner.

So let's see how he does get captured and what we learn about our new adversary, the Reapers... my money is on Dog being the culprit, again.

I have to say that in times Dog is well trained. He does what he needs to ... when it suits him. But it's interesting that during the fight he didn't go to defend his master, instead he was just barking on the side ... causing a lot of noise.

Bad doggie. Does barking really help?

I liked that that as soon as the fight was broken, he went for the leg. Good Doggie. If he'd understood taht barking causes trouble and helping his master in the fight, they could have got out there with little effort, also with one more Reaper in grave.

At the end, my jaw dropped when the Reaper turned out to be Dog formal owner, the woman Daryl loves and it was his downfall. Let down by a sausage and urges. He even lied about being part of the Ricknation.

Well, I can't blame him as some of us has wished for years for him to find someone to love. And if you look into the history, love has been a biggest thing for several calamities. Starting from Rick finding Lori in the camp, eyeing another man. Not talking all the trouble that John went through in Fear. This time it was love for Dog and a chance to dip a sausage in pie that led to his capture.

When do we learn the lesson, "When the heat comes around the corner, you fight or walk away (very fast)?"

Reaper camp. By looks of it, it's similar to the Sanctuary or Kingdom. They cannot fire that smoke stack or it would give out their location. It is also intriguing that it's a very open plan, with no walls, no zombie traps. Not even scouts on rooftops.

I would estimate that there are at least fifty around, giving them about same strength as what we have in the ASZ. The stupid thing is that the hood prevented nothing. Daryl had easy time seeing the route they took, giving him vital info on how to get out.

He also didn't break during the interrogation. Leah did. She also bought Daryl's lies, but the problem for her is that there is no way to verify the story. It's his words against what they know. And the trouble with that story is that they only know very little about the whole history.

What surprised me was the religion at the heart of all of it. It was as if they'd advanced to a new level of cultism. I guess that can happen as we have seen some people losing the marbles and going totally bonkers, because there is no law stopping them.

It is almost as if we have advanced to feudalizing state and we are watching nations clashing on the small screen. Maybe we should start calling North of the Ricknation as the Popeland, essentially showing what has been suggested recently, the Rise of Warlords.

Is Commonwealth the biggest bully in the game?

The history of Reapers. Back in the beginning of the War on Terror, Pope erected a Private Military Company and Leah was part of its operations. Essentially they'd been a band of brothers and sisters until the zombies crawled into the picture and took over everything.

What I find interesting is that Leah tried to have a family, maybe even sprout kids after she'd done with the war. None of the battlebrothers were good enough. Daryl however took her heart and then they got their wires crossed. So it is interesting to think about what if ... if Leah had followed Daryl into the Alexandria and become part of Ricknation instead of being a Reaper loyalist.

The thing that is notifiable is that it was the battle-brothers that came to find her and she accepted them, while Daryl were unable to being open about his feelings. Unlike Leah who begged from her heart for a chance to save his sorry bottom.

It's kind of incredible how cold Daryl can act when it's needed. It's like a comfort blanket for him, to be able hide behind stoicism. But it actually helped him to save himself as all those lies were so easily bought, through love.

Speaking of which, Pope had no problems on seeing the SausageGate for what it is and he approached it in the same way as Walter White did to his problems in Breaking Bad. It kind of makes me admire that old, grumpy man.

I bet he used to be a company commander, before he started the business. A lot of boys must have been coming to him for wisdom and guidance. So love troubles must be a familiar encounter and to be honest, they never change.

I liked that the boys behaved as if Leah was their sister, when they dragged Daryl into the interrogation room for Pope time. They were slanting him for being their sisters boyfriend just like brothers would do - for not trusting that the guy would hold the girl on a pedestal and admire her everyday.

Click, scratch and woosh, the sound of horror. A pure horror. Well done AMC and TWD crew, well done. Pope did exactly the same as what Heisenberg would have done to find out what's what ... with a chance of failure, because failure is always an option.

From the moment of a roar I could feel adrenaline surging, with my senses heightening, and my mind trying to find an escape ... by any means just like Daryl did. It surprised me that Pope was dazzled by the show and he completely forgot the task.

It was easy for Daryl to lie afterwards as they'd already accepted him in the group. Pope was in fact more interested on telling his side of story, beginning from getting contract to do the dirty business in A-stan and elsewhere.

"The real dirty work started after the Fall." He told that they fought the Authorities and .gov napalmed them just like we saw happening in Atlanta. Reapers found a church and it became their base, "while everything else burned."

"It got not even a scratch." In other words it was a miracle,a vision but Pope made the message his own. He clearly needs a visit to an optician, because things have gone into his head and he's becoming as dangerous as Alpha or Filthy Woman.

 

[REBerg]

I knew who was under the Reaper mask the moment I saw Dog standing by her side.
I am shocked that Leah would be a loyal member of such an authoritarian religious cult. Pope, beyond being a tyrant, is obviously batsh*t crazy.
Leah was so fiercely independent when Darryl first encountered her in the wild. For months, she wanted nothing to do with him. A I recall, she wouldn't even accept a gift fish.

 

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I am shocked that Leah would be a loyal member of such an authoritarian religious cult. Pope, beyond being a tyrant, is obviously batsh*t crazy.

Like I said, no laws, nobody stopping them and on top of everything he's in deep grief. So clearly not thinking straight, just winging it on autopilot. It is also a shame, because Pope could be the leader of the Ricknation military wing. They've needed someone with a strategic mind for the job for ages and nobody has turned up to take it.

Leah was so fiercely independent when Darryl first encountered her in the wild. For months, she wanted nothing to do with him. A I recall, she wouldn't even accept a gift fish.

What can I say, woman are difficult on best of days. Just because they can.

 

[Dave]

Well, that was more interesting. I never expected to see Leah again for one.

Pope erected a Private Military Company and Leah was part of its operations.

Secondly, I always wondered why we didn't see more ex-military groups surviving. They have more training and experience for survival in this world. The Governor's henchmen and the Saviours were just petty criminals in comparison. But equally violent and brutal it would seem.

...that woman he loved, Leah. We can blame Dog for that as well, for being loyal to his owner....
he was just barking on the side ... causing a lot of noise...

It was well done. As you say, they are Daryl's weaknesses, Leah and Dog. Wasn't sure why Dog just barked, but I guess he recognised her immediately.

I am shocked that Leah would be a loyal member of such an authoritarian religious cult.

No, it doesn't seem in keeping with what we saw of her before, but... it does make for a better story!

And next week looks to be just as good. Maybe this series hasn't jumped the shark quite yet?

 

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Maybe this series hasn't jumped the shark quite yet?

You did and I think you didn't read some of the post in the general thread, where Jeffrey Morgan and Norman Reedus claimed after reading the scripts that it was a return back to season 1. That they all felt excited and eager. In other words, this is the end time and we'll see them making their finale mistakes before Rick-movies.

Kirkman also isn't influencing anything as his interest lie elsewhere then in TWD universe. It pays his bills, but I doubt as an artist that he's as eager with this stuff as Angela Kang is, and to be honest Kang has turned the ship and sailed boldly into the water, making new material like what we see with the Reapers.

Secondly, I always wondered why we didn't see more ex-military groups surviving. They have more training and experience for survival in this world. The Governor's henchmen and the Saviours were just petty criminals in comparison. But equally violent and brutal it would seem.

PMC business is numbers business. There aren't that many operators, honestly and a lot of them don't want anything to do with the business after the service. They are done with it. There is also a problem with their practices as I assume a lot of them were hired in the protection details, or they were unleashing hell on the Dead. So a lot of noise and horrific situations, where you make a horde to attack you. How many merc companies would have survived the Hell?

Also you have to think are they all located around the Washington DC area?

 

[Dave]

Actually, I wasn't thinking of ex-servicemen or mercenaries, but men who would have still been in-service during the epidemic, or National Guardsmen.

 

[nixie]

Well I was wrong, reapers do take prisoners.
Leah was a surprise, didn't expect to see her again. I get why she is with them, she served with them in military and as a mercenary. She did leave but they came and found her, after she thought Daryl had left her, they showed her they are family and care for her.

The pope, is more frightening than any previous adversities we have seen before. He maybe unhinged but he's also very clever, understands military tactics, makes Negan look like a school bully.

I really do want to know what Maggie did to mark her for death.

 

[svalbard]

Pope is nuts and not in a nice crazy type of way. He exudes danger and menace. His sudden act of violence at the end and the absolute viciousness of it was pretty terrifying.

The Reapers seem to have a...not too sure how to put it. Not fear, but an apprehension of Maggie. There seems to be a good backstory to be told and no doubt we will get a flashback episode in good old TWD style.

Daryl is a bit of an expert at getting captured at this stage. A veteran of it you might say. I had forgotten about Leah. Is Dog a trained military mutt or was he a pup when Leah and Daryl met? I cannot remember.

Another interesting episode after the silliness of last week's one.

 

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Bad Dog! The Walking Dead star Norman Reedus says he felt "betrayed" by man's best friend when Daryl (Reedus) reconnects with his dog's original owner: Leah (Lynn Collins). In Season 11 Episode 4, "Rendition," Daryl and Dog sniff out a familiar face when Leah returns after vanishing in the Season 10 episode "Find Me." Leah leaves Dog in the cabin where she and Daryl spark a romance, and when his old flame returns in Season 11, it's with the Reapers — a squad of scary-masked mercenaries who are "The Chosen Ones" commanded by Pope (Ritchie Coster). Daryl tries to leave with Dog, but he stays by Leah's side. That's ruff.

"I mean, it was her dog first. Maybe the dog is telling me that's Leah. Maybe he's helping me out. She takes off the mask, and the dog still doesn't come to me, but maybe he's telling me there's something good left here. I don't know. Who knows," Reedus told AMC.com. "On the day, I did feel a little betrayed. I was like, 'Come on!' But even if he's with his trainer and he doesn't come to me, I get sort of upset."

Reedus' canine co-star, named Seven, is better trained than Dog (who runs off into walker-infested subway tunnels to start the season). And even though Daryl is out of the frying pan and into the fire by the end of "Rendition," surviving a test that traps him with The Chosen Ones, no harm comes to Dog when he's reunited with Leah at Meridian.

"No, no, no, they like him. He's a good dog," said Reedus when asked if the Reapers hurt Dog. "And remember he was Leah's dog, so she won't let anything happen to him."

A live poll on a post-"Rendition" episode of Talking Dead revealed that 96% of voters say Dog belongs with Daryl over Leah, but Collins had this to say about Dog staying put despite's Daryl's commands to come: "Well, I mean, I've got a double-barreled shotgun (laughs). I think the dog is gonna stay with his alpha, right?"

The Walking Dead's Norman Reedus Felt "Betrayed" by Daryl's Dog

Bad Dog! The Walking Dead star Norman Reedus says he felt 'betrayed' by man's best friend when [...]

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