After an extended period of safety in the good city of Alexandria, the worst case scenario came to fruition on The Walking Dead last night as the walls were breached and the dead came to town in one intense episode to say the least. So let's waste no time and get right into discussing the season six midseason finale, "Start to Finish".

The Good: Well here we are, the morning after another midseason finale of my favorite show and it feels as though I'm still catching my breath from how intense this sucker turned out to be. It was truly a marvelous episode for so many reasons and the biggest thing that stuck out for me last night...was the invasion of the living dead because that was one scary sight to see. The dust hovering in the air after the bell tower tore down the wall only to see the dead emerge from it sent chills up my spine because that was something straight out of a George Romero movie and I loved every single second of it and it was only enhanced further by the incredible moments that followed the breach as everyone scattered to find some kind of safe heaven. Those opening moments were so tense and fast paced I actually welcomed the commercial breaks that followed for a change. 

But all the stuff that came after was just as amazing as well. I'm glad that there was finally a showdown between Carol and Morgan regarding his decision. It's obvious that these two have been ready to confront one another for some time, it's just unfortunate that the Wolf essentially got away, with Denise for that matter. I'm not sure how far he will make it in a sea of walkers, but time will tell on that one. I also thought Deanna got a fine sendoff, facing the end on her own terms, in strong fashion to say the least and actually she will be missed. Strong Deanna made for an interesting character and it's a shame we don't get to see her grow any further. I also loved the throwback to season one with Rick getting everyone covered in guts to head to the armory and what do you know, the simple act of going along with that plan ended up being Gabriel's unexpected redemption. But what I liked the most about last night was the fact that no major series regular died. I think we already went through hell trying to figure out if Glenn lived or died a few weeks ago, so the fact that the big names made it out intact was a breath of fresh air. 

The Bad: I honestly did not care for the scene between Carl and Ron mere minutes after they fought. I get it was necessary for Carl to get the last word in...but your dad and his mom are trying to barricade the door from flesh eating monsters and now is the time to have this conversation? And my constant reminder that any kid outside of Carl and his sister cause nothing but trouble in this universe was only compounded further by the final moments of the show with Sam calling for his mom in the middle of the herd. I mean really? Even Judith knew to keep quiet during all of this. If I had one wish for the back half of the show, no more stupid, selfish annoying kids please.

The Verdict: Have to say that this was not the typical midseason finale for The Walking Dead. For the most part everyone made it out alive and it ended on a cliffhanger for a change rather than an epic moment. It was a nice change of pace to say the least, and it was definitely an episode I enjoyed, but it also has me wondering if they're saving the ugly stuff that drops our jaws until later in the season. Guess we find out in February, until then...

It's funny when you think about how long Rick Grimes and his group have spent their time in Alexandria on screen versus real time. It's only been a short time on the show that they have lived within this sanctuary, but for us, the viewer, we have been on this journey with them for thirteen episodes now spanning back to spring earlier this year.

It's important we remember that, because it's been quite a wild ride since we arrived in this little oasis in a sea of the living dead and last night capped the end of an important set of storylines that have been brewing since that arrival, specifically whether or not the Alexandrians could ever do more than cower in fear and if Rick and his group would ever fit in with this place.

Turns out the answers to these questions came in the most horrific fashion, with the walls being breached by the living dead and I'm pleased to say the end result...was that of unity. Yes for once we finally saw a fight from the good people of Alexandria like we have never seen before. It wasn't a huge number of them taking up arms and battling the dead because hey, it was a wall of walkers coming into their town, but Jessie and Deanna showed promise as they took out quite a few walkers without a shred of fear and of all the Alexandrians we have seen grow, Deanna's story closed out the strongest. This former United States Senator, once a person who was happy to dish out the orders and never get her hands dirty...finally found her peace and her legacy once she was faced with her unfortunate end. She was able to inspire Michonne like never before and went out on her own terms rather than simply hiding in the dark.

She symbolized the growth of the entire town and her final discussion with Rick cemented a few things. For one, it was a fine goodbye, one filled with mutual admiration and respect between two characters who truly did not trust one another that long ago and it was indeed the passing of the torch from Deanna to Rick in regards to leadership and responsibility for this burgeoning community. There was no more question now if Rick and his people would ever fit in. They were home, they were part of this place now and there was no going back. Once the dust settles on this latest scare, it is up to Rick to lead these people, strong ones at that, into a new future.

It was truly a wonderful sight to see all of this come together quite frankly. To see the urgency in everyone's eyes, to know there wasn't going to be any active choice to be afraid and hide. This was a time to shine really, one where everyone came together and stood tall and while this episode left us with quite a few unresolved issues at the end of that hour, because hey, what's an episode of The Walking Dead without a cliffhanger, it was good to finally see that everyone in this community was acting as one. It's something that will serve all of them well. Because once this mess is finally sorted out, it will take everyone to help rebuild the walls and keep this place going and more importantly...they will need to rely upon one another because their greatest challenge...is on its way... 

Well, it was bound to happen. After four kickass episodes of Ash vs. Evil Dead the show finally decided it was time for a break and delivered us the always dreaded "filler" episode last night. You know the kind of episode I'm talking about, a bunch of stuff happens, some of it cool or some of it not cool to satisfy us just enough until we get to something else next week.  

Thankfully, because of the fact there is such an awesome cast on this show and because of how kickass this show is in general, this filler episode actually turned out to be better than most and while this go round may not have moved the plot forward a ton or revealed some incredible revelations about the Evil Dead universe, it was pretty heavy on something that I always enjoy, character development, specifically for Ash and Pablo as they raced to save Kelly from the clutches of Eligos. 

After all, when we last left our intrepid Ghost Beaters we found out Kelly was possessed by the demon Eligos and well, the old monster was able to provoke Ash and set him up to look like he's the one carrying a demon instead. It leads to the Brujo making the decision to exorcise the demon from Ash, and as he prepares to free the evil spirit that isn't there, we find Pablo in serious danger as Eligos uses his crush on Kelly to its own advantage. The demon promises Pablo with a kiss if he takes the strangest bong hit I've ever seen...straight out of the barrel of a shotgun.

Thankfully, Ash is able to convince the Brujo that he's not the one filled up with a demon and that's when the fun begins as they rescue Pablo and finally get down to the business of exorcising Eligos from Kelly. Of course, nothing works and that's when a special moment from Pablo came about as he decided to be a bit of a hero and asked Eligos to take him instead of Kelly. It was enough to finally draw the demon out and that's when Ash finally showed his true calling as a Jefe, remembering his crazy acid trip just enough to figure out how to destroy the beast. Although Kelly is saved and the monster defeated, the battle came at great cost as Pablo has to say goodbye to his Brujo, but is given a gift from beyond before the group heads out once again.

So like I said earlier, this was a real basic episode, one that gave us everything we enjoy about the show. Plenty of laughs, plenty of splatter and gross out moments, but the plot didn't move that far. But I will give the show this, it was good to get the Eligos storyline resolved since it's been with us for a couple of episodes and I really do have to give props to the show for giving us a little more of Pablo tonight, and for finally showing us a little growth for Ash as well. But while I have complained about there not being enough plot advancement, still doesn't mean I didn't love the episode. It was a lot of fun, and really how can one go wrong with Bruce Campbell kicking Deadite ass after all these years? The answer is...you cannot. Until next time.

Despite the celebration that fans everywhere, myself included, enjoyed last night over the fact that Glenn did not die a horrible death at the hands of walkers; a few other surprises reared their head on The Walking Dead this week. In fact I would venture to say that last night was the culmination of something that's been brewing here and there over the last few weeks, something we have discussed on several occasions in this breakdown, the show's new found focus on hope and living. 

Last night we saw it everywhere, from Glenn, Rosita, Spencer and the people of Alexandria as a whole that they finally understand the opportunity being afforded to all of them, the fact that this tiny little town can serve as a new beginning, a chance to start over and that they can find a stable and secure life. Even the answers as to how to make all of this work came forth last night, by way of maintaining a sense of unity in this community, by keeping an open mind and protecting one another and stopping at nothing to make sure they survive and stay alive because at this point...life is a gift.

The latter of those points was perhaps best exhibited by Glenn since he went back to make sure that Enid was safe and that she returned with him to Alexandria despite her protests because of how important it was that they keep this community going and that being together like that and pushing forward was honoring the people that they lost, and that they were given a true gift by being able to live. You also saw Rosita teaching others how to be strong, Eugene specifically, as she also lectured him on the importance of living and fighting for every breath and well...it was simply wonderful to see this message finally taking front and center on the show. 

But perhaps the greatest example of all of this from last night, came from Spencer's stupidity. He's been a character struggling over the last couple of weeks. First he is noble, then he is a thief and this week he tried to be a hero. He wanted to move the herd, to get the dead away from his home and nearly lost his life in the process and well, while his plan was dumb he at least wanted to do something more for the greater good and that's something we really have not seen from the people of Alexandria at all until this point.  

I was also a big fan of the fact that the Alexandrians are calling out Rick now for NOT trusting them and not believing in them. Spencer was quick to do it after being saved, wondering if Rick would have listened to his plan and other people in the town asked for Rick to give them a chance because they truly are all in this together. Of course the end of the episode spells nothing but trouble for this city and its people, but despite what horrors happen on the mid season finale we know that these core ideals won't settle with the dust that follows, like the people of Alexandria I have a feeling they will survive and thrive and lay the foundation for the rebuilding of a shattered world.

It took four excruciating weeks, but at long last The Walking Dead finally revealed the fate of Glenn all while setting up next week's ominous Midseason Finale. So let's not waste any time today and get right down to recapping last night's episode, "Heads Up".

The Good: YES! YES! YES! GLENN FREAKING SURVIVED! Those opening moments were horrifying gold for a few seconds as I witnessed the terror of that ugly and iconic moment by the dumpster over again before cheering at the top of my lungs and startling the dog as Glenn slid under that dumpster to survive the onslaught of walkers feasting upon Nicholas. It was an absolutely wonderful sight to see, and to know after all this time he finally made it out called for celebration, and I spent the first commercial break rejoicing with others over this lovely news. How big of a deal was it that Glenn survived to some of my friends? Put it to you this way, Shae was ready to move to the moon (her words) if she found out he was dead in order to deal with her grief. No Joke. These are the kinds of texts I received over this momentous occasion.

But a lot of other important stuff happened as well since this was an episode that had a taste of normalcy for a change as the good people of Alexandria started putting together the pieces and started acting like a community after all this time. It was nice to see everyone finally act like every person in this town matters and we will discuss the best parts of that in depth in my weekly breakdown later because there were two key plot points that take precedence at the moment. Specifically, the fact that some ugly things were set up last night that I have a feeling will come together in next week's midseason finale. The first...is Ron and the fact the gun Rick gave him is loaded now. It's clear he has a deep rooted hate in his belly for Carl and it wouldn't shock me to see something bad happen to Carl, perhaps right from the comics, during next week's episode. As for the other thing, why do I get a feeling next week is also when Morgan's decision comes back to bite him on the ass? That Wolf will have a chance to escape amid the chaos and Morgan may be his first target. I make mention of all of this because let's be honest, this was another filler episode, that didn't feel like a filler episode and every little tidbit put forth tonight was important in some way.

The Bad: Outside of Carl, I can't stand the kids on this show. Enid is a little punk. Ron is a little punk and sometimes their idiocy gets a tad on the annoying side like it did tonight. I get Enid is traumatized and scared and Ron is basically his father, but seriously, someone put these little brats in time out for a moment please. 

The Verdict: I really enjoyed this one for the obvious reason that we found out Glenn was alive, but it was nice to see this community come together and actually work toward a common goal for a change. It's just a shame a lot of people might not make it out alive next week since the herd is clearly getting in...

When you think about the Evil Dead franchise as a whole, there's one big question after all this time that we have never had answered, specifically, what do we really know about Ash Williams? I mean, we do know the man is a badass through and through and a monster killer extraordinaire annnnnnnd he's also a dumbass. But outside of those basic facts, we know little about the man, about what drives him and what I love about Ash vs. Evil Dead is the fact that we are finally getting to know him. 

Our first real glimpse of the man behind the chainsaw was given to us in the pilot episode where we saw the fear in his heart over the evil he faced so many years ago, and how reluctant a hero he truly is until the chips are down and he has no other choice but to kick some ass. But that was all we initially enjoyed before the story moved us along...that is until last night. The fourth episode of this epic series brought the story back to our favorite hero by giving us the most in depth look at Ash that we have ever seen, but before we get into what we learned about Ash, we do need to take a moment and talk about the two other awesome discoveries from last night. 

First and foremost, after four freaking films we finally saw what the Evil looks like when it's chasing people down via the Ram Cam we are so used to. Turns out it looks just like a tornado rushing toward you, and well, I rather liked that touch because sometimes simpler is better. The other little nugget of awesomeness is that now we know the identity of Lucy Lawless' character Ruby. While she didn't say the last name out right it's obvious she is Ruby Knowby and if that name sounds familiar, it should. This was the family involved in much of the events of Evil Dead II and Ruby's sister Annie was the gal who found herself stabbed in the back before finishing the spell to send the Evil into the portal. So now we know how Ruby got her hands on that familiar dagger and she also has Ash's evil hand, yet her purpose in the story is still unknown. We just know now that she thinks Ash killed her family and is out for blood.

Speaking of Ash, it turns out that he may indeed be the Jefe that Pablo thinks he is, but Pablo's Brujo uncle only sees flashes of brilliance in the man and uses a little medicinal magic to send Ash deep within himself to discover the answer to the problem that is the Evil unleashed. It is here we discover that Ash is a deeply traumatized man, who is frozen in and haunted by that fateful night and has moved from place to place, always hoping for a chance to visit the one place he was supposed to go after that weekend trip at the cabin, Jacksonville. But as we learn all of this, we also find out that there is indeed a solution to the problem...the book must be returned to its original place and buried deep. But getting there fast and efficiently may be something of a problem however, because the demon Eligos; the one we thought Kelly banished back to the book...is still with them. 

He jumped inside Kelly's mind at Books From Beyond and is now taking control, making Ash look like the bad guy since Brujo and Pablo found Ash in a trance choking Eligos/Kelly before knocking our hero out and that's where we leave the story this go round and seriously...what a fantastic episode. I love the fact we are learning more about Ash bit by bit and it finally allows for him to not just be a one dimensional character and that's something the character has been owed for quite some time. As always, I cannot wait for next week because I'm dying to learn more about Ruby since we all know there's something villainous about her...heck the Lionel-Deadite even started to say something important about her before she lopped its head off and I can't wait to see how Ash gets out of this one and gets Eligos out of Kelly's mind so they can save the world. Until next time.

Oh my Moose! For once I actually got John to watch the show with me. Yeah, we spent the episode texting, and it was mostly me yelling. I have two problems with this episode. 1. Flashbacks of when the Clowns were attacking Sam in that Chuck-E-Cheese knock off. And 2. Actual horrifying clown mask. Seriously, I've just decided that I'm leaving earth and going to spend my days where the horrible things that go bump in the night don't exist. Mostly, whoever thought clowns were cute or a good idea should just be fired from a cannon into the sun.

A new case has our brothers heading off to Minnesota where they meet our beloved Sheriff Donna. She's got a deputy and he might just be crushing hard core on her. Yes, Doug, has it bad for the short blonde. The case is an odd one. A guy wearing an Easter Bunny head breaks into a home and murders a man with a beer bottle. He's arrested and that's when our "FBI agents" come in. The guy doesn't talk or say a word, but he grabs Dean and attempts to crush him. Holy water proves he's not a demon. While the boys leave to talk to the widow, Donna and Doug sedate the kid and take attempt to take him to the hospital. Except, he tackles Doug and is about to kill Donna when the deputy shoots and kills him. The bunny head that would come off finally falls off, revealing a teen.

Sam and Dean find out that the guy had bought the mascot head from a thrift store for Halloween, and then just abandoned his girlfriend at the store after putting it on. Later they find out who donated it and talk to the woman. It had belonged to her brother, he was a children's performer and owned all kinds of costumes. The eccentric man spent his time doing magic tricks and parties for kids, she'd donated his stuff after his suicide....while this is going on, a coach of a high school is assaulted by the new Mascot. The creepy jester clad person beats the man with a ball weight. He survives, but is in a coma. The Jester is arrested and isn't talking. One salt pellet shot to the mask sends the mask and a ghostly figure flying. Dean worked it out that it was a vengeful spirit. The girl has no memory of what happened, at all, and is let go.

At the hospital, the comatose coach gets his throat slit by the creepiest looking clown I have ever seen. They clown even attacks and attempts to kill Sam in the hospital elevator. Iron saves the day, and the clown is really an old guy who had been playing dress up with his grandson. With no memory of how he got there, or what he had done, he was also let go. Donna and Doug round up all the remaining costumes and have them burned, but there's a lot left unanswered. Back to the sister of the suicide victim's house. It seems that the coach and first dead guy suspected the performer to be molesting their children. Ironically, his name was Chester. But Chester claimed innocence and his sister believed him, until she started to wonder. Her brother and son were close, so she ended up talking about her concerns to the coach and dead beat guy, instead of confronting her brother like an adult. The two men took matters into their own hands, and while dangling Chester over the bridge was supposedly just to scare him, they end up dropping him. A wrongful death creates a vengeful spirit.  Max, the woman's son, appears after she tells this sad story wearing a deer mascot head. He attempts to hurt them all, but again iron to the rescue. Sam takes the head and gets tossed around by the ghost outside before Chester comes inside to get ride of Dean so he can kill his sister. Sammy recovers and gets the thing burned and the spirit vanishes angrily.

This was so reminiscent of the earlier seasons in so many ways. Only, Sam has been praying to God for answers on his visions, and Dean is busy thinking he's an idiot. They're no closer to finding Amara and a way to kill her, but Cas has dug up some interestingly unhelpful pre-Bible stuff....now we must wait a bit as Supernatural isn't back until December 2nd.

We've seen a lot of horrible things happen to our intrepid band of heroes on The Walking Dead over the past couple of years and none of it has been easy to watch. We saw the prison fall, we were witness to the horrors at Terminus, the loss of Beth in Atlanta, Tyreese in Virginia, the list simply keeps going on and on and last night an important piece of dialogue caught my attention revolving around just that and it came from the most unlikely of sources, Abraham.

In fact this week's story turned out to be incredibly important for Abraham and well the overreaching story arc of the season as we went on one incredible journey with the man and he summed up how his night would go with his musings upon the fact that he acknowledged that a lot of tough things had happened recently and there had not been enough time to heal from all the trauma. Granted I'm paraphrasing pretty heavily, but that was the jist of his message and those words and everything that happened to Abraham after spoke once again to the underlying theme of hope that season six seems to be carrying.

Yes, at long last Abraham was able to stare down into the darkness of his soul and face the demons that waited there for him after all this time. He's been one of the show's more troubled individuals as of late, clearly not the same man after what happened with Eugene but he's always been troubled. We saw how bad things were for the man after he lost his family, he was mere minutes from death and that's where Eugene came into play but it seemed as though ever since he beat the tar out of Eugene, he was giving in to that darkness. Week after week he has been slipping away from us, only seeming to come alive when there's danger around or the chance to tease and kill some walkers.  

But last night that all changed for Abraham, and the reason for his change of heart was simple...Alexandria. The city truly has become something more for our characters than a place to catch their breath and survive another day, it's becoming a symbol of hope, a beacon for a life that they thought could never exist again. Sure it isn't perfect, there's still living death everywhere they go, but this city has become a tie back to the life they once knew and a chance to begin again and that's what made Abraham's transformation so amazing last night, he finally saw something beyond the death that surrounded him. 

The end result of his revelation was nothing short of amazing. For the first time ever we saw Abraham smiling and laughing, a bounce now in his step and a sense of satisfaction at the end of the episode as they drove back toward...home. Home, a word that now holds meaning once again since it has given Abraham, Sasha and everyone else suffering from the horrors they have seen in this world a sense of purpose, a place to belong and most importantly...a reason to live. It's these beautiful moments I don't expect to find in a show about the end of the world, but I'm glad to be seeing it more often as the season and the show progress.

After weeks of crazy intensity, The Walking Dead decided to slow things down last night...sort of. We finally find out what Daryl, Sasha and Abraham have been up to in the midst of Alexandria being under siege and it turned out their reasons for not getting back to Rick on the radio make perfect sense. So without further ado, let's take a look back at "Always Accountable".

The Good: I have to say that I think this was without a doubt, the sneakiest filler episode that I have ever seen when it comes to this show, and I say that because the more I think about it and talk it over with people, I really feel like some big plot points were set in motion last night and if I'm right about one particular thing, season six just became a whole lot more awesome.  But before we get into that, I have to say I absolutely loved the character development from this week's episode. Lots of important things happened to our intrepid trio after finishing their mission to move the herd, but the biggest growth came from Abraham and Daryl. 

Now Abraham's journey was a little darker and we will be getting to that later today in my weekly breakdown because the focus for right now is Daryl and the crazy journey he went on last night. This was really the first time we've seen Daryl on his own like this, forced to make some tough decisions and well, this was hands down the best Daryl episode to date on the series because we learned one big thing about him last night...the man is infallible when it comes to his faith in humanity. This is incredibly poignant, especially after all he's been through with the group and even though that group of survivors threatened him, and stole his bike and crossbow at the end, his actions speak louder than his fury and I like the fact that Daryl is in a place now where he will indeed do what needs to be done, but will take time to do the right thing when the opportunity presents itself. 

But, I made mention of something bigger on the horizon and I think last night...we met the Saviors from the comic book. I'm fairly certain Negan's band of thugs were the people hunting the folks that Daryl tried to help last night and there were plenty of hints to support that, especially the discussions revolving around taking what was fair and Wade telling the group they had to pay back what they owed. Plus, Wade made mention of "He" on a regular basis and one has to wonder...if the He in question is Negan himself...

The Bad: I really liked this episode so...I guess the only thing I can fuss about is leaving us with that cliffhanger of an ending since I'm dying to know who was on the other end of that radio.

The Verdict: Like I said, I really enjoyed this episode. I'm always a sucker for big time character development and it was available in spades here and I love the ominous foreshadowing this episode produced with that mystery group of armed assailants. I have a feeling it won't be long before we see them again...

Ooooooh momma, I've been a fan of the Evil Dead franchise for a crazy long time and after all these years, a big piece of the mythos that I would venture to say everyone wanted to know about but really didn't worry about because of how awesome everything else in the franchise turned out to be...was revealed to all of us last night on Ash vs. Evil Dead.

In fact this week's story, "Books From Beyond" got a lot of things right. Not only did the scares return that were a little less prominent in episode two, this tale managed to set up the story for the rest of the season by bringing forth some important moments and some important questions and that penultimate revelation that I eluded to? Well after all these years, we finally learned everything about the Necronomicon's back story and it was absolutely glorious. 

The grand knowledge that we have been waiting for regarding this book came to fruition at last as we finally reached Books From Beyond, the bookstore that Ash has been trying to get the Necronomicon to since the series premiere before being blindsided by evil and some garbage cooking from Kelly's Deadite mom. It was here where the store's proprietor, a strange little man named Lionel revealed the book's grand secrets to all of us. Turns out that the book goes beyond merely being able to summon evil, it is an actual gateway to Hell and was created by a group of half human/half demon known as the Dark Ones to link our world to the Underworld so they could open portals and in essence use the book as a weapon against humanity.

I for one...love this backstory for the book. We always knew it was evil and that it brought forth horrible things, but to know now that there was at some point a group of evil human/demon hybrids, hellbent on destroying our world somehow adds a whole new level to the story. Ash in fact looks like a bigger hero than he ever has before thanks to this. Well, actually, maybe I shouldn't go that far just yet...seeing as to how his plan to summon a tiny demon to commune with and figure out how to put the evil back where it belongs basically backfires in incredible fashion when Amanda, who was also at the bookstore continuing her independent investigation on the whole mess startled Ash and he set the demon free.

Of course Ash gets out of the mess with the help of his friends, but as I mentioned earlier, this episode set up a lot of questions and no doubt future plot points and really all of them revolved around Lucy Lawless' mystery character. We learned tonight that she's been searching for the book for quite some time, she happens to have the Kandarian Dagger from Evil Dead II and she seems to be in tune with the book. All of this leaves me wondering, why is she also hunting for the book, how is she tied to it and how does she know about Ash? Her story should be equally as intriguing as the Necronomicon's, and I'm hoping the show relays it to us next week since it looks like she saves Amanda's hyde according to the teaser. Guess we will find out, until then.