The Oregon Trail wasn’t nearly as treacherous as the trip to Washington, D.C. this week. It also wasn’t filled with as many surprises, either.
We caught up with Abraham, Eugene, Rosita/Sarita, Glenn and Maggie on the merry bus of awesome travels to find the cure, wheeeee. Music played, Abraham talked creepy-like about Rosita/Sarita shaving his body, Eugene spouted more technical terms to further his façade and we came close to singing kumbajah.
That was until the excrement hit the fan and everyone had to hoof it to Washington. We also learned about Abraham’s past in flashbacks. But first, the bombshell.
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I always knew something would shake Abraham’s belief in the cure and Eugene, who up until this week was a stern supporter of and willing to take unnecessary risks along the way to ensure his survival. There had to be some sort of admission and we received that when Eugene blurted out “I’m not a scientist” during an emotional moment when the group encountered a town overrun by Walkers.
This shook Abraham to the core and he proceeded to beat Eugene’s head to a pulp. Abraham, who lost everything and needed something to believe in, lost everything again. Eugene’s status is unknown as he was left unconscious on the ground.
Before being knocked out, Eugene admitted he “just knows things,” which translates to he was a whiz on the Google when there was still Internet connections. He’s a loner and a coward and wanted to be important. The lie was easy, living was the difficult part.
I thought this revelation would come a little later, perhaps in the midseason finale. But, it came three weeks earlier. Now I wonder what huge thing will happen during the finale instead?!?
As for the rest of this week, the trip to Washington was without dysentery, one of the popular maladies in Oregon Trail, but wasn’t without its share of obstacles. The first, and most major among those, was crashing the bus at the start of the show (more on that later). Then after clearing the undead, the bus went up in flames, good times.
The group shacked up in a library for the night. There were serious talks with serious expressions and Eugene casually admitted he rigged the buses’ fuel line with glass. He told Tara he did it so he wouldn’t be alone (and we learned later it was so he didn’t have to admit his lie) and she said “bad boy, not again" while also telling him not watch people having sex.
They found a fire truck that was still gassed up and full of water. Eugene used the hose to douse some Walkers in another unique way of disposal (how many more can they come up with?!?).
We saw more of a possibly unhinged Abraham, who until this week was collected. He let his emotions show this week and at times you wondered if he would hold it together. His status also is unknown, but we do know he’ll eventually be Rick’s right-hand man and give as much or more devotion to who will be his new leader.
As for the flashback, Abraham smashed a few people at the grocery store, possibly because the BOGOs were hard to come by. He called out for someone and we find out he had a family in his past. Of course, based on the fact he’s alone, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out he no longer had a family.
His companions weren’t so much scared of the enemies as much as they were the sight of Abraham covered in blood. It furthers the drawback of this world, that you need to survive but in doing so you become something else entirely. Abraham woke to find his wife and kids took off with the coldest “Dear John” letter one can write in these times.
He found his family eaten by Walkers soon after. He believed he had nothing else to live for and put a gun to his head until Eugene cried out from the distance. Eugene saved Abraham’s life that day, but in many ways he ended it at the close of this episode.
It was the lie that gave Abraham purpose. It was the lie that drove him to find something real in this world. And it was the lie that shattered his surroundings.
Abraham, despite being crushed a second time, will rebound. I don't think Eugene is dead, but he's going to have to work to regain everyone's trust and he'll have a killer headache. The dynamic has changed again for all of them, as the focus shifts back to survival and knowing there's little hope for change.
Quick thoughts:
This was a more concise episode than last week’s, which had a lot going on and meandered. It’s nice to see a little more depth to Rosita/Sarita, whose character development has been as shallow as her persona for many weeks. Momentum definitely has started again, but we didn’t have the cliffhanger this week, which helps us have a complete experience without lingering emotion…
Abraham stole the title of the series’ worst drive from Lori. Or ghost Lori took the wheel. In any case, crashing the short bus wasn’t helpful…
Quote of the week: “Maybe we can find some bikes. Bikes don’t burn.” – They don’t indeed, Tara…
There were more signs of love brewing between Rosita/Sarita and Abraham, including a scene of coitus. This is just more of something for Abraham to lose and hit rock bottom…
Speaking of creepy: Eugene went Level 5 while watching said coitus through the self-help section of the library…
I bet the rent is super cheap in Walkerville...
Abraham floated between angry to animalistic to giddy. His bipolar tendencies aside, we were treated to more depth for his character as well. He can’t help but laugh at some things and it’s a sign that maybe he’s not taking everything so seriously anymore…
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Maggie hit it on the head, er the mullet. She said Eugene has the outdated hairstyle because he was afraid to let people know who he really is and that he could be the only one with answers. This basically meant he was making all of this up and is hiding his true intentions “behind the hair.” Two minutes later, he revealed the truth…
Glenn again played the moral center of the show. He’s filling that role nicely. It’s going to be so sad when he goes…
So, do they go back or will they all met up in Virginia? I'm guessing the latter, as we need to meet Negan soon. Maybe THAT will be the big midseason finale finish...