One of the best films of 2015 didn’t hit theaters during awards season but hopefully will be remembered when it comes time for year-end honors. The Gift is a riveting thriller featuring terrific performances by Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall, and Joel Edgerton. Edgerton not only stars in the film but also wrote, directed, and produced the Universal Pictures release which originally opened in theaters on August 7, 2015. Although Edgerton was spread thin behind the scenes, you wouldn’t know it from the feature film.
The R-rated thriller is well paced and Edgerton has wisely snipped any potentially sluggish scenes, keeping those for the bonus features on the Blu-ray and DVD. Speaking of which, The Gift Blu-ray Combo Pack (Blu-ray + DVD + DIGITAL HD with Ultraviolet) was released on October 27, 2015 and is well worth checking out. The extras include four deleted/extended scenes including a lengthier, more violent version of the scene that takes place in the garage between Bateman and Edgerton’s characters. There’s also a very short (about one minute long) featurette on the dark side of Jason Bateman as well as a two minute video titled “Karma for Bullies” with Edgerton explaining the focus of his film.
The best extra feature is the alternate ending with an introduction by Joel Edgerton. Definitely check this one out, even if you normally bypass all of the bonus material. The alternate ending includes footage that shows what Edgerton’s character was doing throughout the film while Bateman and Hall’s characters were the focus of scenes. For those who have the time, it’s also worth watching the film again with the feature commentary to get a better idea as to why Edgerton made some of the choices he made, including why he chose to have fish outside the house.
The Gift Plot:
Can you really go through life having never wronged anyone? Even if you are unaware of how, or when, and even who you may have wronged….chances are there is someone out there who won’t ever forget it…or you.
Simon (Bateman) and Robyn (Hall) are a young married couple whose life is going just as planned until a chance encounter with an acquaintance from Simon’s high school sends their world into a harrowing tailspin. Simon doesn’t recognize Gordo (Edgerton) at first, but after a seemingly coincidental series of encounters proves troubling, a horrifying secret from their past is uncovered after nearly 20 years. As Robyn learns the unsettling truth about what happened between Simon and Gordo, she starts to question: how well do we really know the people closest to us, and are past bygones ever really bygones?
The World of Warcraft movie will release the first trailer on Friday, November 6, 2015, but we don’t have to wait to check out the film’s new poster. The poster is divided down the middle with Toby Kebbell as Horde leader Durotan (in red) and Vikings star Travis Fimmel as the Alliance’s Anduin Lothar (in blue). The cast also includes Ben Foster as Medivh, Paula Patton as Garona, Dominic Cooper as King Llane Wrynn, Rob Kazinsky as Orgrim, and Clancy Brown as Blackhand.
Duncan Jones (Moon, Source Code) directed and Charles Leavitt wrote the screenplay for the sci-fi action film based on the incredibly popular Blizzard video games. Legendary Pictures, Universal Pictures, and Blizzard Entertainment are launching Warcraft in theaters in 3D on June 10, 2016.
The Warcraft Movie Plot:
The peaceful realm of Azeroth stands on the brink of war as its civilization faces a fearsome race of invaders: Orc warriors fleeing their dying home to colonize another. As a portal opens to connect the two worlds, one army faces destruction and the other faces extinction. From opposing sides, two heroes are set on a collision course that will decide the fate of their family, their people, and their home.
So begins a spectacular saga of power and sacrifice in which war has many faces and everyone fights for something.
20th Century Fox and New Regency have just released two new posters for the dramatic action movie The Revenant starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Will Poulter, and Domhnall Gleeson. The new posters feature DiCaprio and Hardy looking fierce and rough, along with the tagline: “Blood lost. Life found.”
Directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu (Birdman), The Revenant opens in limited release on December 25, 2015 followed by a wide release on January 8, 2016.
The Revenant Plot:
Inspired by true events, The Revenant is an immersive and visceral cinematic experience capturing one man’s epic adventure of survival and the extraordinary power of the human spirit. In an expedition of the uncharted American wilderness, legendary explorer Hugh Glass (DiCaprio) is brutally attacked by a bear and left for dead by members of his own hunting team. In a quest to survive, Glass endures unimaginable grief as well as the betrayal of his confidant John Fitzgerald (Hardy). Guided by sheer will and the love of his family, Glass must navigate a vicious winter in a relentless pursuit to live and find redemption.
Ellie Goulding will be kicking off her Delirium World Tour’s North American leg in Vancouver on April 1, 2016, hitting cities including Los Angeles, Cleveland, Oklahoma City, Miami, and Boston. The North American leg will finish up on June 21, 2016 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Goulding is touring in support of her new album Delirium which is set for release on November 6, 2015, and will be joined on select dates by electronic pop trio Years & Years.
Tickets go on sale on November 6th.
Delirium is Goulding’s third studio album following 2010’s Lights and 2012’s Halcyon. Delirium‘s first single, “On My Mind,” has reached the top 10 at Top 40 radio and the video [featured below] has been viewed more than 51 million times.
Ellie Goulding’s North American Delirium World Tour Dates:
4/01 – Vancouver, BC Pepsi Live at Rogers Arena
4/02 – Seattle, WA Seattle Center – Key Arena
4/03 – Portland, OR Rose Garden – Theater of the Clouds
4/05 – Sacramento, CA Sacramento Memorial Auditorium
4/06 – San Jose, CA SAP Center at San Jose
4/08 – Los Angeles, CA Staples Center Arena
4/09 – Las Vegas, NV Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino
4/12 – Broomfield, CO 1st Bank Center*
4/13 – West Valley City, UT Maverik Center*
4/16 – Phoenix, AZ Comerica Theatre*
4/18 – Grand Prairie, TX Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie*
4/19 – Cedar Park, TX Cedar Park Center*
4/23 – San Diego, CA Viejas Arena*
5/05 – Saint Paul, MN Theater at Xcel Energy Center*
5/06 – Rosemont, IL Allstate Arena*
5/07 – Cleveland, OH Wolstein Center – Cleveland State University*
5/09 – Ypsilanti, MI EMU Convocation Center*
5/10 – Columbus, OH The LC Pavilion Outdoor Amphitheatre*
5/11 – Bethlehem, PA Sands Bethlehem Event Center*
5/13 – Pittsburgh, PA Stage AE*
5/14 – Indianapolis, IN Farmers Bureau Insurance Lawn at White River State Park*
5/16 – Saint Louis, MO Chaifetz Arena*
5/17 – Bonner Springs, KS Cricket Wireless Amphitheater*
5/18 – Oklahoma City, OK Zoo Amphitheatre*
5/20 – Rogers, AR Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion*
5/21 – Houston, TX Toyota Center*
6/02 – Tampa, FL Amalie Arena
6/03 – Miami, FL American Airlines Arena
6/04 – Orlando, FL University of Central Florida – CFE Arena
6/06 – Alpharetta, GA Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park
6/07 – Charleston, SC Volvo Cars Stadium
6/09 – Charlotte, NC Uptown Amphitheatre at The Music Factory
6/10 – Raleigh, NC Red Hat Amphitheatre
6/13 – Columbia, MD Merriweather Post Pavilion
6/14 – Canandaigua, NY Constellation Brands Marvin Sands PAC
Arrest Development‘s Alia Shawkat leads the cast of the mystery/comedy series Search Party from writer/directors Sarah-Violet Bliss and Charles Rogers. TBS just greenlit the series and will debut the dark comedy in 2016. In addition to Shawkat, the cast includes John Early, John Reynolds, and Meredith Hagner. Bliss, Rogers, Michael Showalter, Tony Hernandez, and Lilly Burns are executive producing.
“Sarah-Violet, Charles, Michael, and this fantastic cast of comedians have truly hit on the glory and utter misery of early adulthood,” stated Brett Weitz, executive vice president of original programming for TBS. “Search Party is a carefully observed, blunt comedy for people who are testing out who they are and who they strive to be.”
The Search Party Plot:
Search Party centers on Dory (Shawkat), a fragile, frustrated, life-long doormat who’s not particularly proud of her impact on the world, especially since her greatest accomplishment to date is organizing clothes to be donated to Goodwill for her wealthy employer. Dory feels stuck in a stale and disconnected relationship with her boyfriend, Drew (Reynolds), a kind of clueless, complacent, spoon-fed doofus who just really loves Christmas.
She also feels removed from her closest friends, Elliott (Early), a self-diagnosed narcissist who loves adding job titles to his designer-stylist-curator multi-hyphenate lifestyle, and Portia (Hagner), an actress always struggling to balance the challenging demands of chronic insecurity and pathological self-absorption.
Search Party opens with Dory learning that Chantal, a girl she barely knew in college, has gone missing. Despite having almost no personal connection to her, Dory becomes fixated on the mystery. Dory, Drew, Elliott, and Portia are not crime solvers. They value brunch, parties, and their own loud opinions. So when Dory drags them into a bumbling, perilous pursuit to find the missing girl, they soon learn the meaning of real danger and become entangled in a sinister plot that is more than their privileged Brooklyn lifestyles ever bargained for.
Colin O’Donoghue and Lana Parrilla in ‘Once Upon a Time’ (Photo by Ed Araquel / ABC)
In the final moments of ABC’s Once Upon a Time season five episode six we almost found out what happened to Emma and Merlin in Camelot that led to Emma turning completely into the Dark One. It looks like we’ll have to wait one more week for the actual details as to what went down during Merlin and Emma’s meeting. However, the sixth episode did find the Storybrooke gang discovering they’d been tricked once again and it also featured much more of Merida. Bear with us through this detailed recap of Once Upon a Time‘s season five episode 6 titled “The Bear and the Bow:”
Back in Camelot a flash of light disables the knights long enough for Merlin (Elliot Knight), Hook (Colin O’Donoghue), David (Josh Dallas), and Belle (Emilie de Ravin) to make their way through a passage. As they work their way into Camelot’s cells, Hook is convinced Merlin actually can see the future. “Bits and pieces, yeah,” says Merlin. They find their way to Lancelot and it’s a happy reunion. Merida (Amy Manson) is jailed across from Lancelot and wants out too. Belle whips out a spell book to help Merlin because the bars of the cells are enchanted. It works and both are freed. Merlin assures Merida she doesn’t want to look for the wisps and they’ll find her brothers another way.
Present day and the gang is trying to figure out why Merlin didn’t destroy the darkness in Emma back in Camelot. Regina (Lana Parrilla) holds the crimson crown mushroom and says they can use it to try and communicate with Merlin. Hook wants to know exactly how that will go down, asking if they just speak to it. But Regina says the question has to be asked by someone Merlin chose, and the memory-impaired gang believe that’s Arthur (Liam Garrigan). David will go seek him out but Belle says Rumple (Robert Carlyle) can do it instead of Arthur. Unfortunately, Belle’s outvoted.
Rumple sits with hands tied in the woods and kisses the chipped mug, asking for Belle’s forgiveness before shattering it so he can free his hands.
Back in Camelot it’s nighttime and they’re walking through the woods. Merida explains to Belle how she wound up in jail, and it had to do with mistakenly stealing a boat that belonged to Arthur. Merida and Belle lag behind the group and when the rest are out of sight, Merida takes a rock and knocks out Belle.
Present day, Merida takes the Dark One (Jennifer Morrison) to Rumple but he’s gone. The Dark One says that’s okay, he’ll become a hero by stopping a very surprised Merida from killing Belle.
Flashback to Belle in a boat with Merida heading to the Shores of DunBroch. Merida is rowing, Belle’s just coming to from being hit. Belle grabs an oar to hit Merida and Merida explains she took her so she could do magic to help her find her brothers. Belle is upset and rightly so…Merida could have just asked. Merida tells Belle she’s not going to marry someone she doesn’t love and her brothers were kidnapped so she would give up the throne. “Would you give up everything you’ve ever dreamed of just because a man said you didn’t deserve it?” she asks Merida.
Present day, Belle is in the library trying to figure out where Rumple is being kept. A complex lock opens and Rumple appears. He didn’t expect to see Belle there and he’s overcome with emotion. He tells her Merida and the Dark One are after him. He says while he was in the coma he wanted to let go, but he heard her voice. He can’t believe she stood by him all that time, despite what he did to her and her friends. It’s because of her that he’s alive. Belle says they have to hide, but Rumple knows the Dark One let him escape so he could turn into a hero. She’ll come after Belle and he’ll protect her, and that will make him a hero. They have to get to the shop because magic there can help them.
Speaking of magic, Merida says they have to go into a witch’s house because the magic there can help them find her brothers. Belle does a spell using the witch’s cauldron and they see where Merida’s brothers are behind held. They also see the men who are holding them – the men who wanted to marry Merida. She hears them say they’re going to kill her brothers that evening and take away her crown. Belle says they’ll find a way to save them from that fate, and a lightbulb goes off for Merida. She figures out she needs to change her fate and Belle has to do it for her.
In jail, Zelena (Rebecca Mader) feels the baby kick as a plate of healthy food arrives courtesy of Regina. She sends it away and the Dark One appears, wantng to have a little chat. The Dark One poofs Zelena out of the cell and to her house, along with a lunch bag full of fried food from Granny’s. Zelena asks, “So tell me, what kind of trouble do you want to get into?” The Dark One tells her to eat up and then shows her the apprentice’s wand. Zelena’s the only one who has used the wand and the Dark One wants to make a deal. Zelena says Henry will resent her forever for ripping out his girlfriend’s heart, but the Dark One thinks he eventually will get over it. Nope, says Zelena, some hurts don’t heal. Zelena doesn’t want to make a deal because of her baby and wants back in her cell. The Dark One says eventually she’ll be back to take the deal. Zelena replies, “No, I don’t think so, Emma. The difference between you and me is I don’t mind being alone.”
Rumple says he’s doesn’t want to go outside and can’t make it to the shop. His leg is hurting horribly and Belle knows why it’s that way. She knows the man behind the beast but now she also sees a hero.
Amy Manson in ‘Once Upon a Time’ season five (Photo by Ed Araquel / ABC)
Merida’s showing off her archery skills; her father taught her well. “If you remember what you’re fighting for, you will never miss your target,” says Merida, recalling her father’s words. Merida asked Belle to make a potion for her but before she gives it to her, Belle wants to be sure Merida knows what it does. It turns a person into a bear, says Merida, and that’s what she needs to change her fate. Merida thinks changing into a bear will make her strong enough to beat the men holding her brother, but Belle thinks Merida is capable of doing it using just her wit and her bow and doesn’t need to be a bear. Merida disagrees.
Belle helps Rumple to the shop and gives him his cane. Just then an arrow flies through the window followed by Merida who can’t believe they’re dumb enough to go to the shop. The Dark One knew they would but Merida didn’t believe it. They hide behind the door in another room and Merida’s arrow comes through the wood inches from Belle’s face.
A potion boils in a cauldron and Regina holds the mushroom. It’s taking a while and Hook’s growing impatient. In comes Arthur and he’s willing to help. Regina hands him the mushroom and he says it’s best if he does it alone, and David leads the gang out of the room. Only Arthur remains, bending down and tossing the mushroom in the fire heating the cauldron. Arthur walks out and tells them it didn’t work.
Merida breaks into the room, shoots at Belle and Rumple, and then says, “Stop me, coward. Be the hero we all need.” Rumple can’t and he apologizes to Belle, just as Belle knocks Merida over. As they leave the shop Rumple grabs something from the safe, something that will keep them safe.
Flashback to six weeks earlier – Merida and Belle sneak up on where Merida’s brothers are blindfolded and tied to posts. She asks for the potion but Belle’s still reluctant to give it to her. Merida tells her about her father’s death at the hands of a knight and how she missed when it was the critical moment. Her father is dead because she missed. Belle tells her she lost her mother in the Ogre Wars but has finally forgiven herself. Merida can’t do that because the clans lost faith in her that day. Reluctantly, Belle hands over the potion. “Thank you. Now let’s kick some arse,” says Merida.
Rumple drives toward the border of Storybrooke with Belle, but Belle refuses to leave while her friends are still in trouble in the town. Belle says they will stop the Dark One together. She demands he stop the car and he won’t so she grabs the handle. He does finally stop it, and she’s out and heading back to Storybrooke. “Running never made anyone a hero,” says Belle. Rumple tells her about the Ogre War and why he really crippled himself – he did it because he was scared. He didn’t want to die then and believes through and through he’s a coward now. Only if they escape Storybrooke can he protect her but she’s done with it. Belle turns her back on him and walks down the road. Rumple drives forward.
Just minutes later Merida is in the middle of the street and she’s now got the bear potion with her, because the Dark One demanded it. Yep, she’s a bear…a giant, angry bear who wants to kill Belle.
Back in time, Merida’s brothers prepare to die at the hands of the three clans. Merida and Belle stroll in and she tells them to let her brothers go. She drinks the potion but nothing happens. Belle claims to have mixed it right but then admits she switched it with water. She knew Merida wouldn’t face her fear unless she did it. Merida tells the men she’s the rightful queen and they draw their bows, aiming at her brothers. With one arrow, Merida pierces all three arrows before they can strike her brothers. The three clans’ leaders draw their swords but Merida says, “You saw what I can do with an arrow. Do you really want to see what I can do with a sword?” The clans people bow to her and eventually all three leaders drop their swords and also bend their knees. Her brothers rush to her and it’s a joyous reunion.
Back in Storybrooke, the bear chases Belle through the woods and of course, given that it’s night, Belle stumbles. The bear catches up and Belle begs Merida not to do it. As she’s about to attack Rumple hits her in the head with a rock. Belle tells him to run but he says he’s not running this time. The bear knocks him to the ground, stands over him, and he tells it to do its worst. Then he see the bag from the shop and throws it into the bear’s mouth. It changes back to Merida. He didn’t know it would work and Belle tells him he saved her. He answers, “I think you saved me.”
Six weeks earlier, Merida offers to help Belle with her quest but Belle tells her the kingdom needs their queen right now. Merida wishes her well with the man she loves and they are both hopeful that their paths will cross again. Merida gives the boat a push and Belle rows away down the river.
Back at Granny’s Diner in Camelot, Merlin picks up an Apollo Milk Chocolate candy bar. Emma walks up behind him and says she has the strangest sense of deja vu. Merlin confesses to always wanting to try a chocolate bar. He says the last time he had the chance “was in the hands of a little girl with sticky fingers.” That jars Emma’s memory and she recalls meeting him in the theater all those years ago. She remembers him telling her not to touch Excalibur. Merlin tells her the sword will return to the stone and that now that the darkness is in her, it’s critical she leaves it alone. “Leave Excalibur alone. The fate of everyone that you love rests upon it,” says Merlin.
Flash-forward to the Dark One staring at Excalibur while Merida walks in with Rumple and Belle. Rumple says a hero never runs from his problems. He also knows she won’t stop wreaking havoc unless he pulls the sword out and he wants to make a deal: Give Merida back her heart and make sure her brothers are safe and he’ll pull out the sword. Done. Rumple goes to grab the sword and before he does he tells Belle he’s sorry for everything. “If I had to do it all again I would make sure I was the man you deserved right from the very start,” says Rumple. He adds that he would change everything for her and Belle says it’s never too late. He grasps the sword and removes it from the stone. They all stare at it and then he tosses it at the Dark One’s feet. Before they leave Rumple tells the Dark One she’s made a terrible mistake in turning him into a hero. She says there’s heroes all over the town, but he says none are like him.
Regina is going over the spell for the umpteenth time and can’t figure out why Arthur couldn’t talk to Merlin. Then David bends down and finds the burned mushroom resting in the ashes. They know Arthur lied and sabotaged the spell, and Regina says he must not have known magic toadstools don’t burn. Mary Margaret says they have to talk to Merlin now more than ever. Hook says they still need someone who is chosen and that means they’re out of luck. Regina then has a brilliant idea: the author was also chosen by Merlin.
Henry (Jared Gilmore) joins the gang and he’s ready to help. He thinks Emma is still in there somewhere and he’ll do what it takes to get her back. He puts the mushroom in the cauldron and a hologram of Merlin appears. Merlin gives them a message (Regina says she can’t believe they’re getting Merlin’s voicemail). Only one person can defeat the Dark One and their name is Nimue. He’s interrupted before he can finish his message. Hook says, “What the hell did Emma do to him?”
Once Upon a Time Season 5 Episode 6 Review:
We’re slowly but surely edging closer to the big reveal as to why Merlin didn’t help Emma rid herself of the darkness. Merida’s storyline and the rescue of her brothers, along with Rumple’s journey to becoming a hero, took up a good deal of time in “The Bear and the Bow,” but there was also enough room to squeeze in a little bit more on Arthur’s villainy. Unfortunately, that meant many of the key characters including Hook, Regina, Mary Margaret, and David were barely heard from in this episode. A shift back to focusing on the Storybrooke heroes will likely happen in episode seven as the details behind Emma’s embrace of the darkness should be the central story of “Nimue.”
Overall, episode six did a decent job of moving supporting characters’ storylines forward. Fans who aren’t that into the Merida storyline probably won’t list this episode among their favorites of season five, but at this episode gave actress Amy Manson something juicy to work with.
CBS just made a lot of Trekkies very happy. The network announced they’re reviving the Star Trek TV franchise with a new series coming in January 2017. The 2017 series will, according to CBS, feature new characters “seeking imaginative new worlds and new civilizations, while exploring the dramatic contemporary themes that have been a signature of the franchise since its inception in 1966.”
The series’ first episode will debut on CBS and then move to CBS All Access Digital Subscription Service where all of the episodes will air.
Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek (2009) executive producer Alex Kurtzman executive produces the new Star Trek TV series. Heather Kadin is also on board as an executive producer, with CBS Television Studios and Kurtzman’s Secret Hideout producing.
“There is no better time to give Star Trek fans a new series than on the heels of the original show’s 50th anniversary celebration,” stated David Stapf, President, CBS Television Studios. “Everyone here has great respect for this storied franchise, and we’re excited to launch its next television chapter in the creative mind and skilled hands of Alex Kurtzman, someone who knows this world and its audience intimately.”
“This new series will premiere to the national CBS audience, then boldly go where no first-run Star Trek series has gone before – directly to its millions of fans through CBS All Access,” said Marc DeBevoise, Executive Vice President/General Manager – CBS Digital Media. “We’ve experienced terrific growth for CBS All Access, expanding the service across affiliates and devices in a very short time. We now have an incredible opportunity to accelerate this growth with the iconic Star Trek, and its devoted and passionate fan base, as our first original series.”
CBS also confirmed the new series has nothing to do with the upcoming Star Trek Beyond film which will open in theaters in 2016.
Paramount Pictures has released the trailer for Anomalisa, a stop-motion feature film written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Kaufman and Duke Johnson. The animated film, which will get a limited 2015 release for awards consideration, features the voices of Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tom Noonan, and David Thewlis. Carter Burwell handled the film’s score.
Anomalisa opens in limited release on December 30, 2015.
The Anomalisa Plot:
Michael Stone, husband, father and respected author of How May I Help You Help Them? is a man crippled by the mundanity of his life. On a business trip to Cincinnati, where he’s scheduled to speak at a convention of customer service professionals, he checks into the Fregoli Hotel. There, he is amazed to discover a possible escape from his desperation in the form of an unassuming Akron baked goods sales rep, Lisa, who may or may not be the love of his life.
Lennie James as Morgan Jones and John Carroll Lynch as Eastman in ‘The Walking Dead’ Season 6, Episode 4 (Photo by Gene Page / AMC)
“You stay or you go, those are the choices. I will not allow you to kill me,” says Eastman (John Carroll Lynch). Eastman’s just opened the cell door to the cage in his log cabin where he’s been keeping Morgan (Lennie James) since knocking him out after Morgan tried to shoot him and take his goat in episode four of the sixth season of AMC’s horror/drama series The Walking Dead.
As the episode begins Morgan is looking right into the camera, obviously looking at a character that the audience is supposed to see this episode through the eyes of. He says, “You said you wanted everything I had before. All right, I’ll tell you everything.” The screen goes black with only a title card stating “Then.” Morgan is yelling about someone knowing something and that “they weren’t supposed to be there.” After that, the opening credits and creepy theme music start.
Morgan is walking in the woods eliminating walkers and writing in their blood and feces the words “CLEAR” and “Here’s Not Here.” When a father and son make the bad mistake to try to take Morgan on for the supplies he has, he kills both of them with his spear and his bare hands. At night Morgan builds a bonfire made up of the bodies of walkers he has eliminated and the fire draws more curious zombies into his trap. He destroys them and adds them to the bonfire.
The next day Morgan is again moving through the woods when he hears a goat. He approaches and sees the goat tied to a fence in front of a log cabin. Morgan is about to get the goat when he hears a man’s voice telling him to please leave the goat alone, she doesn’t belong to him. Morgan shoots at where he believes the man is, only to hear the man say he should put the gun down and they can work it out. Morgan keeps looking for an entrance to the log cabin when he finally hears the voice say, “This is your last chance. Put down the weapon and get away from the cabin.” Of course Morgan doesn’t and is hit in the head by a bo staff and knocked down. When he looks up he sees a big man standing over him. “Sorry,” he says to Morgan and knocks him out.
Morgan wakes up in a cage in the middle of the main room of the log cabin. The man enters the cabin with supplies and asks Morgan what his name is to which Morgan replies, “Kill me.” “That’s a stupid name; it’s dangerous. You should change it,” replies the man. He walks over and tosses small book titled The Art of Peace through the bars. “My name is Eastman,” says the man as he walks over to his bedroom and turns out the light.
Over the next few days Morgan watches his captor train himself in Aikido, kill the occasional walker who shows up at the cabin, and make horrible, inedible goat cheese. It turns out Eastman was a forensic psychiatrist in the world before the rise of the undead and he believes that Morgan is suffering from PTSD. Eastman shows Morgan the cell door isn’t locked. He tells him he has two choices: to leave or he can crash on the couch. Of course the minute Morgan steps out of the cage, he tries to attack Eastman who uses his Aikido training to subdue Morgan and leaves him lying on the cabin floor. Morgan goes back into the cell and closes the door. Eastman reopens the door and tells Morgan about Aikido, that it helped him and that it will help Morgan, too.
Eli the Goat as Tabitha in ‘The Walking Dead’ Season 6, Episode 4 (Photo by Gene Page / AMC)
The next day Eastman asks Morgan to watch over Tabitha the goat while he goes looking for supplies. Sure enough two hungry walkers show up to try to make a meal out of poor Tabitha and Morgan comes to the goat’s rescue, destroying both walkers. Morgan drags the two walkers to where he has seen Eastman drag the walkers he killed and finds a graveyard. It seems Eastman finds each zombie’s ID and puts the name of who they were before they turned on the cross at their grave site. Each life is precious to Eastman.
Eastman returns to find Morgan finishing burying the walkers and thanks him for saving Tabitha, but also says he noticed that when Morgan fought the zombies he destroyed a perfectly good fence he’ll need to fix. He also shows Morgan that he fixed his spear. He encourages Morgan to instead take a bo staff and start training with him.
The two men spend the next few months training together, trying to get both Morgan’s body and mind clear and healthy again. They begin to become friends and bond, and one evening Eastman reveals to Morgan his story from before the apocalypse. During the time working as a forensic psychiatrist he saw 800 patients who committed unspeakable acts but he only found one person truly evil and beyond redemption. Crighton Dallas Wilton was a pure psychopath and a great conman able to fool almost everyone around him into believing he had been rehabilitated.
Eastman tells Morgan he saw through Crighton’s act and Wilton knew it and tried to kill him. Aikido saved Eastman’s life that day. However, Crighton wasn’t finished with Eastman and managed to escape only to find Eastman’s wife, daughter – who gave her father a lucky rabbit’s foot she won at school when he was feeling bad and has been his lucky charm ever since – and his son. After finishing murdering Eastman’s family, Wilton turned himself into the police admitting to the murders. Eastman tells Morgan he built the cell in the log cabin to bring Crighton there and starve him to death. Eastman than tells Morgan that all life is precious to him.
The next morning Morgan and Eastman head out for supplies for a trip Eastman is planning, and Morgan finally opens up about what happened to his wife and son. To help him center himself and deal with the pain he’s still struggling with, Eastman tells Morgan they need to spend a little time practicing Aikido. Things get dangerous when a walker shows up and Morgan freezes because it’s the young man who attacked him in the woods a few months ago. Realizing Morgan isn’t going to fight back, Eastman shoves him out of the way and in the process gets bit by the walker. Eastman then finishes off the zombie with his bo staff.
Morgan yells, “You shouldn’t have done that!” and tries to fight Eastman, showing signs of regression but Eastman won’t play into it. He just quickly knocks Morgan off his feet and takes the walker off to bury him in the graveyard. Morgan ends up taking on another walker and kills it, only to discover it was closing in on a young, wounded couple. Morgan doesn’t kill them but instead lets them leave and realizes Eastman’s teachings about life being precious have taken root in his mind. With that realization, Morgan heads back to the cabin to check on Eastman.
Morgan returns to the cabin to find a zombie eating poor Tabitha. It seems she figured out the cell door doesn’t lock and got out. Morgan kills the walker and takes what’s left of Tabitha to the gravesite. Morgan takes over digging the graves for the walkers and sees a grave marked Crighton Dallas Wilton. Eastman did succeed in kidnapping Crighton and starving him to death for what he did to his family. Eastman admits to Morgan it took 47 days to starve Crighton to death, but that killing him gave him no peace. Eastman tells Morgan he only found peace when he decided to never kill again. He went back to Atlanta to turn himself in and that’s when he discovered the zombie apocalypse.
Before Eastman dies he reveals to Morgan everything is about people. He tells Morgan he could stay in the cabin because there are enough supplies but that he shouldn’t. Eastman doesn’t want Morgan to live alone and before he goes into the next room where he has a gun, he gives Morgan his lucky rabbit’s foot.
Morgan trains some more, packs up his supplies, and heads out, passing the gravesite and walking by a new grave with a new cross with the name Eastman on it. Morgan reaches a road and sees a sign on the side of the road. He half smiles and begins walking down the road. The sign reads Terminus.
“That’s it,” says Morgan to the Wolf he fought but did not kill who he has now tied up. He’s trying to get the Wolf to see the error of his ways and that it’s not too late to change. The Wolf tells Morgan that he’s most likely going to die but if he ever gets free he will kill everyone in Alexandria because that’s what he has pledged to do with the other Wolves. The episode ends with Morgan leaving the room, going out the front door and locking it. Morgan turns when he hears a voice yelling to open the gates.
The Walking Dead “Here’s Not Here” Review:
Spiritual, profound, and enlightening, season six episode four titled “Here’s Not Here” slams the brakes on the intense and action-packed season and shows the audience the backstory of how Morgan went from being on the brink of self-destruction to the bo staff-wielding bad ass loner he is when he finally catches up to Rick and his group. This is a very different episode in both pacing and writing than what most fans of the horror/drama series are used to. It’s a performance-driven episode and constructed almost as a two man play between Morgan and Eastman.
Lennie James delivers one of his best performances to date as Morgan, portraying wonderfully the emotional arc his character goes through as a man lost on the edge of madness and destruction to being brought back to not just sanity but to finding a real purpose in his life and believing all life is sacred. It’s a performance that’s worthy of an Emmy nomination.
Guest star John Carroll Lynch (Fargo, Zodiac) has without a doubt the best, one episode only role any character actor could hope for on The Walking Dead as Morgan’s savior, teacher, mentor, and friend. His first name might as well be Obi-Wan as he trains Morgan how to fight, cope with tragic loss, and teaches him that all life matters and it is possible to keep your humanity and still survive in a zombie apocalypse. Both actors have such great chemistry in this episode and play off each other perfectly. The scene where Eastman tells Morgan about the psychopath who murdered his family and how Eastman came to finally believe all life is sacred is one of the most powerful and perfectly acted scenes in the series’ run.
The writing and dialogue is superb as both actors are given realistic, funny, and at times intense lines revealing their past and the struggles they’ve endured and the horrific loss of loved ones to violent ends.
With the episode ending with Morgan hearing someone yelling to open the gate, here’s hoping that episode five will reveal what has happened to Rick who we last saw being surrounded by hungry walkers in a stranded RV as well as the fate of fan favorite Glenn who may or may not be dead. Note: actor Steven Yeun who portrays Glenn on the show was missing during the opening credits of episode four…make of that what you will.
The November 1, 2015 episode of AMC’s The Walking Dead didn’t serve up the answer everyone was waiting for regarding the events of the previous episode (that was tough to word without giving out spoilers!), but it did treat the audience to the first look at the Preacher trailer. AMC’s upcoming series based on the comic books by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon won’t debut until next year, but the teaser trailer gave viewers plenty of reasons to want to check out the new show.
Preacher is executive produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg and stars Dominic Cooper, Joseph Gilgun, Ruth Negga, Ian Colletti, W. Earl Brown, and Lucy Griffiths. Season one will consist of 10 one-hour episodes.
The Preacher Plot:
Preacher is the story of Jesse Custer (Cooper), a conflicted Preacher in a small Texas town who is inhabited by a mysterious entity that allows him to develop a highly unconventional power. Jesse, his ex-girlfriend, Tulip (Negga), and an Irish vampire named Cassidy (Gilgun) embark on a journey to, literally, find God.
