Jimmy Fallon, Will Ferrell, and Christina Aguilera on ‘The Tonight Show’ (Photo by: Andrew Lipovsky/NBC)
The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon revived his Tight Pants sketch with the help of Christina Aguilera and Will Ferrell. Ferrell and Aguilera play a married couple extremely proud of their tight pants, so proud that they declare themselves the only couple who can wear them. In pops Fallon who attempts to reclaim the tight pants-wearing title.
But, the claws come out when Fallon insinuates he’s actually the father of Christina’s baby. Aguilera breaks out in a little “Circle of Life” from The Lion King, and Fallon has a difficult time holding it together when Ferrell insults him.
Christina Aguilera is returning to the judging chair for the new season of The Voice along with Blake Shelton, Adam Levine, and Pharrell Williams. Will Ferrell recently reprised his role as Mugatu in the Zoolander sequel, Zoolander 2.
Joe Manganiello and Pee-wee Herman star in ‘Pee-wee’s Big Holiday’ (Photo Credit: Netflix)
Netflix just released the official trailer for the comedy Pee-wee’s Big Holiday starring Paul Reubens as Pee-wee. The new trailer features Joe Manganiello as a customer at Pee-wee’s soda shop who convinces Pee-wee he should finally leave town to see the world. The cast also includes Jessica Pohly, Alia Shawkat, and Stephanie Beatriz. John Lee directed and Reubens and Paul Rust wrote the script. Reubens also produced the film along with Judd Apatow.
The Plot: The new film stars the beloved fun-loving hero of TV, stage and film, Pee-wee Herman. In Pee-wee’s Big Holiday, a fateful meeting with a mysterious stranger inspires Pee-wee Herman to take his first-ever holiday in this epic story of friendship and destiny.
In support of the 2016 Grammys, Jimmy Kimmel launched Mean Tweets Music Edition #3 featuring musicians reading horrible tweets. Among the collection of artists reading the mean tweets are One Direction, Ed Sheeran, Drake, Common, Rita Ora, Josh Groban, Meghan Trainor, Ricky Martin, and James Taylor. Twitter users also found mean things to say about Little Big Town, Mumford & Sons, Kelly Clarkson, Charlie Wilson, Blake Shelton, Lionel Richie, The Killers, Demi Lovato, and Wiz Khalifa.
The latest video subjecting musicians to the harsh, unforgiving world of mean tweets follows in a long line of mean tweet reading courtesy of Jimmy Kimmel. Kimmel’s up to edition #9 of ‘Celebrities Read Mean Tweets’ and there’s even a video of President Obama reading tweets. NBA and NFL stars have also read aloud uncomplimentary tweets as have Country music stars. And Kimmel’s Mean Tweets segment has spawned spin-offs, with wrestlers, porn stars, and politicians getting in on the act through other media outlets.
Richard Madden and Idris Elba star in ‘Bastille Day’ (Photo Copyright: Jessica Forde)
Idris Elba and Game of Thrones‘ Richard Madden star in Studiocanal’s Bastille Day, an action thriller showing off a new action-packed trailer. Directed by James Watkins, the cast also includes Charlotte Le Bon, Jose Garcia, and Kelly Reilly. The film doesn’t have a US release date but will be hitting theaters in the UK on April 22, 2016.
The Plot: Michael Mason (Madden) is an American pickpocket living in Paris who finds himself in the hands of the CIA when he steals a bag that contains more than just a wallet. Sean Briar (Elba), the field agent on the case, soon realizes that Michael is just a pawn in a much bigger game and is also his best asset to uncover a large-scale criminal conspiracy in the heart of the police force. Going against commands, Briar recruits Michael to help quickly track down the source of the corruption. As a 24hr chase ensues, the unlikely duo discover they are both targets and must rely upon each other in order to take down a common enemy.
Adam Cayton-Holland, T.J. Miller and Maria Thayer in ‘Those Who Can’t’ (Photo Courtesy of truTV)
On Thursday, February 11 you met Those Who Can’t, four educators failing comedically to inspire the youth they teach. Created by the Denver comedy troupe The Grawlix, the three comedians are joined by Maria Thayer as librarian Abbey Logan. Andrew Orvedahl is gym teacher Coach Fairbell. Ben Roy is short-fused teacher Billy Shoemaker and Adam Cayton-Holland is sensitive, thoughtful Loren Payton.
We spoke with Thayer and Cayton-Holland after their panel for the Television Critics Association. In upcoming weeks, you’ll see the teachers protest, band together to save their vending machines, and even do a horror episode. Those Who Can’t airs Thursdays at 10:30pm ET/PT on truTV.
Maria Thayer and Adam Cayton-Holland Interview:
When the three Grawlix were developing the show, did you all know which characters you wanted to play, or was it ever in flux?
Adam Cayton-Holland: “No, we knew because we did a web series and all those characters are the worst exaggerations of our actual personalities. I would be the kind of pretentious idiot. Ben would be the emotions on his sleeve screamer and Andrew would just be the dumbass.”
Maria Thayer: “That’s pretty accurate, getting to know them.”
Maria, is your character volatile in every episode?
Maria Thayer: [Laughs] “I don’t think so.”
I mean that in a good way.
Maria Thayer: “No, I don’t take it in a bad way. She has her moments but I think she can keep it together once in a while.”
Adam Cayton-Holland: “Yeah, every third or fourth episode she holds it together.”
How intense are those frantic crowd scenes?
Adam Cayton-Holland: “They’re intense. It’s hard dealing with extras. Everyone was great. Just when you do a crowd scene, it gets harder and harder because there’s a lot of pieces to maneuver. In terms of the classroom scenes, the kids are awesome. We had ones we were pulling out from nonspeaking role to speaking role because they were shining. So those are fun.”
Maria Thayer: “A lot of the same extras came back. It was exciting, after week eight you’d see a lot of the same faces. I always get nervous when there’s a lot of extras because I feel I need to be perfect. It’s like I have an audience for a play that I haven’t prepared for.”
Adam Cayton-Holland: “You’re classic theatre girl.”
So how was the protest scene in episode two?
Adam Cayton-Holland: “Took a long time. I lucked out because I wrote myself into tailgating that in the back of a truck. So me and Kyle Kinane were just hanging out in lawn chairs in a truck having fun, relaxing.”
Maria Thayer: “That’s right, and it was like 4,000 degrees that day in Van Nuys, which is always 4,000 degrees in the summer. So they were just hanging out drinking and we were marching around screaming. Ben and I were getting into a fake fight.”
Adam Cayton-Holland: “We’re just lounging in the shade in the back of a flatbed truck.”
Maria Thayer: “I was so jealous of you. I would like to be written into the scenes more like that if I can put in a formal request in season two.”
Adam Cayton-Holland: “When we were filming, I was like, ‘This is the smartest thing I’ve ever written. Me in a truck tailgating in the shade.’ More of these scenes.”
Did the show escalate really quickly from the pilot?
Adam Cayton-Holland: “Yeah, I think we were shooting for the moon pretty quickly, but we definitely gelled as a cast. I think we got our mojo going pretty quickly, so by the time episodes five, six and seven come out, it ratchets up pretty fast.”
Maria, how did you meet these guys?
Maria Thayer: “I met them in Portland, Oregon in the back of a van. We were at a comedy festival. It was a bunch of comedians and improvisers and I was there to promote something but it was sort of strange that I was there. I got in this van to go from the hotel to an event or the opposite and these guys were in it. We started talking and that was three years before they finally cast me.”
Adam Cayton-Holland: “We hazed her for a solid three years.”
Maria Thayer: “To see if I was tough enough.”
Adam Cayton-Holland: “She broke down several times, kept coming back.”
Maria Thayer: “Yeah, sure. You can break down but you just can’t quit.”
Adam Cayton-Holland: “And that’s an important Hollywood lesson.”
Where did master baking come from?
Adam Cayton-Holland: “Honestly, the director, Roger Kumble in that episode, did the movie Cruel Intentions. We knew I was going to be cooking rock candy meth and he was like, ‘I want to show you something.’ He showed me this Charlie Chaplin clip and it’s kind of racy for a silent film. He’s got his back turned and he’s shaking a martini and it looks like he’s masturbating. Then he turns around and it’s a martini and I was like, ‘That’s hilarious.’ He was like, ‘I want to do this with you but you’re stirring a bowl.’ Out of that jerk off joke, master baking somehow was born. I love that. I was like, ‘This is the smartest d*** joke. I’m referencing a Chaplin silent film.'”
What’s the horror episode?
Adam Cayton-Holland: “The horror episode rules. I won’t give away any spoilers. It was the first one we shot with Bobcat Goldthwait who’s amazing and we all loved him and he loved us. He directs two episodes this season. I won’t explain how it happens but essentially teachers are being killed and we’re locked in the school and it’s after hours and we’re running for our lives. It’s great. We shot it with mostly flashlights.”
Maria Thayer: “Like lighting each other sort of. All I want to do is a horror film.”
Adam Cayton-Holland: “They’re kind of easy because it’s just like, ‘Oh no! Run!’ and you just run.”
Maria Thayer: “I feel like you have to have one of those things where your cheek shakes.”
Adam Cayton-Holland: “A twitchy lip or something. It was fun. I love that episode and it came out really well, I think.”
What other funny stuff is coming up?
Adam Cayton-Holland: “There’s a lot of nudity. There’s car chases, literally.”
Maria Thayer: “Slapping, a lot of violence. I realized that I love slapping.”
Adam Cayton-Holland: “These characters hit each other a lot. I don’t think real teachers should hit each other this much.”
Maria Thayer: “No, real teachers shouldn’t.”
Did you really hit Andrew when you slapped him?
Maria Thayer: “Yeah. I think I really hit everybody that I hit.”
Adam Cayton-Holland: “Andrew got beat up. The Coach Fairbell character, he had to do the most stunts. We really beat him up, which was great. We had a stunt coordinator. We had the same stunt coordinator who did Zoolander 2, came from Zoolander 2 to do our show.”
Did you ever have any teachers like Those Who Can’t?
Maria Thayer: “I definitely had some subpar teachers. I had some sleepy teachers, some teachers who really didn’t care which I don’t think the Those Who Can’t teachers [don’t]. As Adam has said, they care.”
Adam Cayton-Holland: “Our teachers are definitely lackluster but they do care. They’re trying in their misguided ways. I had lots of bad teachers. I went to a public high school and I had teachers that were so bad they got fired for many bad, illegal things. Mostly, I had a teacher who was kind of pretentious and thought he was a writer. I definitely took that on a little bit.”
I had all those teachers you’re describing too.
Adam Cayton-Holland: “That’s the great thing about a high school show. It’s pretty universal. Everybody had some facsimile of high school they can relate to.”
Maria Thayer: “And it’s a time you don’t forget either. You really remember.”
Adam Cayton-Holland: “It’s so formative.”
Where is the school you’re shooting at located?
Adam Cayton-Holland: “The actual high school is Van Nuys High School. Where they shot Fast Times at Ridgemont High and where I learned Marilyn Monroe went for a while.”
Maria Thayer: “The kids there are very nonplussed. If there was a television crew where I went to high school in Apple Valley, MN, we would all be crying with excitement. They don’t care at all.”
Adam Cayton-Holland: “They rent this school out a ton so the kids are just like, ‘Great, Hollywood film shoot going on at school. I gotta get to class.’ So it’s funny how they just don’t even bat an eye.”
So they were in session?
Maria Thayer: “For some of it, yeah.”
Adam Cayton-Holland: “When we filmed the pilot, the entire time it was in session, which is fun. It adds a certain lifelike feel to it but it’s kind of sad how seasoned and just over it these kids already are.”
Maria Thayer: “The person who was most excited I met was the school librarian. She was like, ‘I’m the librarian. You’re playing me!’ She was very excited but the kids not so much.”
Adam Cayton-Holland: “If I went to that high school and I graduated, I’d be like, ‘Move me anywhere real. I’m leaving L.A. Move me to a real place where things actually happen and a wall doesn’t just get removed because it was a film set.'”
I saw Sarah Michelle Gellar’s episode. Any other guest stars?
Adam Cayton-Holland: “T.J. Miller, Susie Essman, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Peter Stormare, Michael Madsen, Mark Hoppus of Blink 182. Lots of good guest stars. We lucked out this season. Really, really cool.”
Walt Disney Studios released the new trailer for the dramatic fantasy film Alice Through the Looking Glass during the 2016 Grammys, quickly followed by its debut online. The studio also announced P!nk will be writing and recording an original song for the film and she’s already recorded a cover of Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” that’s featured in the trailer. P!nk’s writing the song specifically for the film and it’ll be part of the soundtrack along with the score by Danny Elfman.
The cast of Alice Through the Looking Glass is led by Mia Wasikowska as Alice and includes Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Rhys Ifans, Helena Bonham Carter, and Sacha Baron Cohen. Voice cast members include Alan Rickman, Stephen Fry, Michael Sheen and Timothy Spall. Alice Through the Looking Glass will be released in theaters on May 27, 2016.
The Plot: Alice Kingsleigh (Wasikowska) has spent the past few years following in her father’s footsteps and sailing the high seas. Upon her return to London, she comes across a magical looking glass and returns to the fantastical realm of Underland and her friends the White Rabbit (Sheen), Absolem (Rickman), the Cheshire Cat (Fry) and the Mad Hatter (Depp), who is not himself. The Hatter has lost his Muchness, so Mirana (Hathaway) sends Alice on a quest to borrow the Chronosphere, a metallic globe inside the chamber of the Grand Clock which powers all time. Returning to the past, she comes across friends – and enemies – at different points in their lives, and embarks on a perilous race to save the Hatter before time runs out.
Watch the Alice Through the Looking Glass new trailer:
Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle/The Punisher in ‘Daredevil’ (Photo by Patrick Harbron/Netflix)
Part one of Netflix’s Daredevil season two trailer finds includes our first good look at Frank Castle/The Punisher played by Jon Bernthal. Elektra (Elodie Yung) is barely seen in this teaser video, but we can expect her to be featured in the second part of the season two trailer. Season two’s 13 one-hour episodes are set to arrive on March 18, 2016 at 12:01am PT with Charlie Cox back in the lead role as Matt Murdock/Daredevil.
The cast also includes Deborah Ann Woll (Karen Page), Elden Henson (Foggy Nelson), Rosario Dawson (Claire Temple), and Scott Glenn (Stick).
Marco Ramirez (Sons of Anarchy, Fear The Walking Dead) and Douglas Petrie (Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, American Horror Story) are Marvel’s Daredevil‘s co-showrunners and executive produce along with Marvel’s Head of Television Jeph Loeb.
The Plot: Blinded as a young boy but imbued with extraordinary senses, Matt Murdock (Cox) fights against injustice by day as a lawyer, and by night as the superhero “Daredevil” in modern day Hell’s Kitchen, New York City. While season one of Marvel’s Daredevil, which is now streaming, was about Matt Murdock’s decision to become a hero and take on the role of Daredevil, season two revolves around the question, when does right become wrong? The show continues to explore the philosophical conflict at the core of Matt’s double lives, now complicated by a vigilante rival, Frank Castle, who takes things too far.
Midnight Special premiered at the Berlin Film Festival where it earned positive reviews, including one from The Hollywood Reporter’s David Rooney who says Nichols is one of the most compelling current filmmakers. “Nichols is in supreme control as he establishes tension and then progressively tightens the story’s hold,” said Rooney. Variety’s Peter Dubrege was also impressed with the film. “Midnight Special demonstrates once and for all that indie auteur Jeff Nichols is now the go-to storyteller for the kind of slow-burn supernatural thrill audiences once sought from M. Night Shyamalan,” writes Debruge in his review.
The Plot: Michael Shannon plays a father who goes on the run to protect his young son, Alton (Jaeden Lieberher), and uncover the truth behind the boy’s special powers. What starts as a race from religious extremists and local law enforcement quickly escalates to a nationwide manhunt involving the highest levels of the Federal Government. Ultimately his father risks everything to protect Alton and help fulfill a destiny that could change the world forever, in this genre–defying film as supernatural as it is intimately human.
Disney set to release a new trailer for Alice Through the Looking Glass which will premiere during the 2016 Grammy Awards on February 15, 2016, and in support of the new video the studio’s unveiled a colorful new poster for the fantasy film. Alice Through the Looking Glass was directed by James Bobin (Muppets Most Wanted) and produced by 2010’s Alice in Wonderland‘s director Tim Burton. Returning cast members include Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Mia Wasikowska and Helena Bonham Carter, along with voice cast members Alan Rickman, Stephen Fry, Michael Sheen and Timothy Spall. Joining Alice’s adventures for Alice Through the Looking Glass are Rhys Ifans as the Mad Hatter’s father and Sacha Baron Cohen as Time, a character who’s part clock, part human. Alice Through the Looking Glass opens in theaters on May 27, 2016.
The Plot: Alice Kingsleigh (Wasikowska) has spent the past few years following in her father’s footsteps and sailing the high seas. Upon her return to London, she comes across a magical looking glass and returns to the fantastical realm of Underland and her friends the White Rabbit (Sheen), Absolem (Rickman), the Cheshire Cat (Fry) and the Mad Hatter (Depp), who is not himself. The Hatter has lost his Muchness, so Mirana (Hathaway) sends Alice on a quest to borrow the Chronosphere, a metallic globe inside the chamber of the Grand Clock which powers all time. Returning to the past, she comes across friends – and enemies – at different points in their lives, and embarks on a perilous race to save the Hatter before time runs out.
Michael Cudlitz as Abraham, Alanna Masterson as Tara Chambler, Sonequa Martin-Green as Sasha, Seth Gilliam as Father Gabriel, Melissa McBride as Carol Peletier, Christian Serratos as Rosita Espinosa, Corey Hawkins as Heath, Katelyn Nacon as Enid, Josh McDermitt as Dr. Eugene Porter, Lennie James as Morgan Jones, Austin Nichols as Spencer Monroe, and Ross Marquand as Aaron in ‘The Walking Dead ‘ (Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC)
“What a bunch of a**holes, says Daryl (Norman Reedus) after he blasts the motorcycle gang who stopped him and his traveling companions Abraham (Michael Cudlitz), and Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green) sky high with a rocket launcher in the sixth mid-season opener of AMC’s horror drama series The Walking Dead.
After the opening credits with the now well-known intense opening theme, episode nine begins right where episode eight left off with Rick (Andrew Lincoln), Michonne (Danai Gurira), Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam), Carl (Chandler Riggs), Jessie (Alexandra Breckenridge), and her two sons walking through Alexandria which is now infested with walkers. The group has covered themselves in guts and blood of zombies trying to blend in with the undead. Rick realizes there are too many zombies for them to make it to the armory and fight their way out of town so he makes a new plan to try to get to the vehicles and lead the herd of undead away from Alexandria. Gabriel offers to take baby Judith back to his church and keep her there safe which Rick agrees to.
Meanwhile, Glenn (Steven Yeun) and Enid (Katelyn Nacon) have made it back into Alexandria and are checking the church for supplies and maybe a stashed weapon or two. Enid asks Glenn what he meant when he said that if she ran off and deserted the town she would be losing the ones she loved, even those who are already gone – something which obviously shook her to her very core. Glenn explains that if she or anyone runs away it means you give up on who you are and the people in your life both living and dead who help make you the person you are are lost forever. Enid asks Glenn who that was for him and he answers her by saying, “My parents, Maggie, her father Hershel, a woman named Andrea, and my friend T-Dog.” Glenn asks Enid who is it for her and she answers her parents. Glenn tries to convince Enid to stay in the church while he goes to find a way to save Maggie (Lauren Cohan) who’s trapped on an unstable watchtower surrounded by hungry walkers. Enid refuses to stay, telling him since she came back she’s going to help him and that he should let her because she’ll just follow him anyway. So Glenn and Enid go to save his beloved Maggie. It seems Enid has formed a bond with Glenn that she hasn’t had with anyone in Alexandria.
The Wolf (Benedict Samuel) and Denise (Merritt Wever) are hiding not far from one of the watchtowers, and he tells Denise that as soon as a break in the crowd of walkers happens they are going to make a run for it. She tells him she’ll just slow him up and he should leave her behind, but he says she’s with him now and they will go together.
During all of this, Carol (Melissa McBride) and Morgan (Lennie James) are finally waking up from their battle. They stay in the house with Rosita (Christian Serratos), Tara (Alanna Masterson), and Eugene (Josh McDermitt) and spend most of the day arguing about when they will have to leave the safety of the house – which is currently being ignored by the zombie herd – and make a fight of it. Morgan’s also trying to bring to the surface Carol’s dormant humanity by bring up her past.
As night falls on Alexandria, Rick, Michonne, Carl, Jessie and her two sons are still making their way slowly through the huge undead crowd when Jessie’s youngest son, Sam, panics and freezes in fear, recalling Carol’s words about the monsters coming and eating him alive. Jessie tries to urge Sam to keep going but he just can’t do it. Two walkers realize Sam is not one of them and begin to feast on him as he screams both in terror and pain. Jessie screams and a couple more zombies attack her as well. Carl can’t release himself from dead Jessie’s grip and he turns to his father for help. Rick uses his ax to chop her hand off causing Carl’s gun to fall to the ground which is picked up by Jessie’s other son, Ron. He points the gun at Rick repeating the word ‘you’ and just as he is about to fire Michonne stabs him with her machete. Unfortunately, Ron does fire the gun as he falls down dead and the bullet hits Carl in the eye. In shock, Carl turns and says, “Dad,” before collapsing to the ground. Rick quickly picks up Carl and with Michonne clearing a path with her machete, the three head to find a safe place to hole up.
The Wolf and Denise finally make their move to get out but Denise gets caught by a walker and is struggling with it when The Wolf, who was clear to go up the tower and over the fence, comes back to save Denise. He does but gets bitten by another walker in the process. Denise tells him she can save his life but they have to go back to the infirmary. Right after Denise patches up The Wolf they head back outside and The Wolf is shot by Carol who’s standing on a balcony just at the right moment. She helps Denise get back inside the infirmary by providing cover. Denise gets back inside to find a group of Alexandrians prepping the place as a safe house. Denise sees Rick and Michonne running with Carl tells them to come inside. She quickly goes to work on Carl’s wound with the help of Michonne. Rick, who’s overwhelmed with fury over the loss of Jessie and now maybe Carl, goes outside, hatchet in hand to take on the army of walkers. He’s an unstoppable one man army, cutting his way through the mindless zombie hoard.
Once given permission by Denise who’s working to save Carl’s eye (and life), Michonne goes out and joins Rick in the battle to save Alexandria from the herd of undead. Finally finding the courage and strength in themselves, some of the local Alexandrians also head outdoors and join Rick and Michonne in the fight. Rick yells to them that they can beat them and begins to tell them how to position and drive the walkers back. Carol tells Morgan, Tara, and the rest that Rick is making a stand to save the town and now is the time to fight. Everyone follows, even Eugene who tells Rosita no one can sit this one out and, “Oh, what a story it will be.”
Katelyn Nacon as Enid and Lauren Cohan as Maggie Greene in ‘The Walking Dead’ (Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC)
Glenn and Enid have made their way close to the unstable tower where poor Maggie is hanging on trying not to fall into the large crowd of hungry walkers surrounding the tower below. Glenn tells Enid to go up the tower and use the tied-together cloths she has to make their way down the other side of the wall while he distracts and draws away the herd. She climbs up and calls to Maggie who now sees Glenn – who she believed earlier in the season to be dead – firing off his pistol and yelling at the crowd of walkers to follow him. Glenn is successful in leading most of the herd away but ends up getting surrounded by them and cut off from any escape. Maggie shoots a walker in the head and goes to fire again but her pistol is out of ammo. She yells to Glenn but he cannot hear her. Glenn keeps firing his pistol and using his large knife on the walkers, even shoving some of them away from him. He backs up to the gate with what is left of the herd closing in on him and Maggie, who isn’t paying any attention to Enid who’s trying to get her to go over the fence, screams, “GLENN!!!!!” and reaches out her hand as she believes she is about to see her husband die. It’s at this moment machine gun fire is heard and many of the walkers closest to Glenn fall to the ground.
Glenn drops to the ground so as not to be shot and looks up to see Abraham and Sasha up on one of the walls firing into the herd of zombies. “Hey, get the gate, would you?” yells Abraham to Glenn who complies, giving Daryl the opportunity to drive the diesel truck into Alexandria. Daryl asks Glenn what happened but Glenn says he just got back and doesn’t know. Daryl comes up with a plan to draw all the walkers to the lake and burn them to a crisp. Daryl, Glenn, Sasha, and Abraham drive the truck to the lake and pour some diesel fuel into the lake. They set it ablaze by using the rocket launcher again and, like a moth to the flame, the mindless walkers head right for the lake of fire. The handful of walkers who remain fighting with Rick and the rest are quickly put down.
After sunrise, most of the group is resting after the major battle. They’ve saved the town from the undead, with bodies of the walkers littering the streets and yards of the town. Rick is sitting with Carl who’s lying in bed still unconscious after being shot. Rick tells Carl that he feels something that he hasn’t felt since he woke up in the hospital so long ago. He says he wants Carl to see the new world and begs for Carl to wake up so he can show it to him, telling Carl there is still so much they can do and that Deanna was right in trying to expand the town. If they all work together, there isn’t anything they can’t do. Rick pleads with the silent Carl to allow him to show him this new world. As he sits holding Carl’s hand trying to hold back his tears, Rick feels movement. Carl squeezes his father’s hand.
Review of ‘The Walking Dead’ Season 6 Midseason Premiere
Intense, scary, brutal, and at times emotional, season six episode nine titled “No Way Out” brings the horror/drama back in gory, blazing, and shocking style. It’s perhaps one of, if not the most, intense episodes of this season as well as one of the best directed and paced of the entire series.
The stand-out performances in this episode belong to two cast members. First, Andrew Lincoln as Rick captures subtly and wonderfully the shock and horror his character feels at losing the new family he was desperately trying to save and almost losing his own son, Carl, in the same few moments. The look on his face as Jessie is taken by the hungry group of walkers is perfect. Also, the scene where Rick is sitting at Carl’s bedside and he reveals that for the first time since he woke up in the hospital to this apocalypse he feels hope and wants to start over in this new world is some of the finest work of Lincoln’s career.
The second stand-out is Lauren Cohan as Maggie. Although only in one scene in this episode, Cohan portrays beautifully the joy in Maggie seeing Glenn alive and how quickly it turns to absolute horror as she realizes he is leading the herd of zombies threatening her away and it looks as though he is sure to meet his end. The scene where she screams his name and throws out her hand as the undead close in on Glenn is the most heart-wrenching scene of the season thus far.
The cinematography is gorgeous, in particular in the scenes where the walkers are drawn to the giant fire on the lake and become engulfed in it. The special effects and make up is once again award worthy, bringing the undead to life.
With everyone back together in Alexandria, viewers are anxiously looking forward to seeing to see what’s in store for the show’s heroes and what their next move will be.
