Hearts Still Beating.

Hearts still beating. 

Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe as Jamie Fraser and Claire Beauchamp in Outlander (S1 E11 THE DEVIL'S MARK)

I understand being surprised by George’s narrative bob and weave. It’s the reason this is one of my favorite fight scenes. 🗡️

Some point to it to say Jon has really grown as a fighter. But Mance beats him bloody later, so as great as it is, I don’t think that’s the point.

It’s more of a character moment, after which he wonders why he’s so angry.

I wanted it and I still want it.

Jon Snow is such a good person that he hated himself for dishonoring Robb in life and in death by coveting his birthright.

We could stand to learn something from him.

In the end Halder and Horse had to pull him away from Iron Emmett, one man on either arm. The ranger sat on the ground dazed, his shield half in splinters, the visor of his helm knocked askew, and his sword six yards away. "Jon, enough," Halder was shouting, "he's down, you disarmed him. Enough!" Jon page 1088

Jon has a flashback of a memory of growing up in Winterfell while sparring. Because of this, he has to be pulled away from his opponent.

This picture was another example of why you can't afford to scan through the quiet pits. I had originally picked the sentence right before this. Which was exclusively the flashback. I hadn't been looking forward to doing it because I'd already drawn Jon sparring in his last chapter. At the same time, because I was just doing a quick scan I caught myself mixing him thinking about Catelyn from two pages later with this scene.

I had a great idea for her to be standing in the foreground reacting to the "I'm the lord of Winterfell" line as much as Robb did. It came as quite a surprise when Mr. Martin immediately flashes back to Jon going postal on Iron Emmett.

Fortunately, this challenge is only limited to choosing the chapter so it was easy to move to that scene.

"You are he who must stand against the Other. The one whose coming was prophesied five thousand years ago. The red comet was your herald. You are the prince that was promised, and if you fail the world fails with you."

—Melisandre, to Stannis Baratheon. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 63, Davos VI.

1x01 “Years”

These are my last first thoughts on the premier. There were many things where you’re like, wait is this a good thing or a bad thing? Can we trust this person or not? Is Rick in it or is he not? And I love it. You have to go back several times to see the way things stitch together. We’ll see what happens. As for what has happened, Scott Gimple pulled out the “end in the beginning” move from his back of tricks. In my notes I named each ‘scene’ this:

1. “There’s still one good man in the world”: Rick vs Thorne’s Glass

2. The stuff and things we hide. Rick plays the game.

3. “Monsters that kill the monsters—that’ll be over soon.” Okafor turns the walking dead theme on its head.

4. “She’s not gone. They’re not gone. But we are.” Turning a theme on its head again. Letting us know it’s all about…

5. Nationbuilding 101: Secrets. Secrets. Secrets. Rick plays the game to its end.

6. Rick vs Thorne’s Glass 2: Electric Boogaloo

7. (“He’s a good man and we’re from a good place.”) Rick chooses to die metaphorically.

8. A reunion. Writers’ lesson in teasing but avoiding the Romeo and Juliet scenario.

Rick, Pearl, and Donald: CRM’s Alliance of Three

1x01 Analysis of Donald Okafor

Secrecy is the main theme for the CRM. Major General Beale is its commander. Lieutenant Colonel Okafor is its prime visionary. We see it in his confession of bombing LA, Atlanta and a stadium in Philly. We see it in his quest to recruit Rick Grimes and Pearl Thorne, and in his quest to 'quietly' dissolve the military's As and Bs system of culling and control. Although Beale and Okafor disagree on something major, they signed off on the construction of Omaha and Portland, secretly destroyed the former and passed it off as an accident. Why would they do this? The CRM seems set to rule the Civic Republic forever, but that's not the case. This secret is the most important one, a card I think Okafor was holding onto until the best time to reveal it it to Rick. The purpose is not to implement a liberation of the people, but to implement a soft coup so the Civic Republic would not learn about the monstrous people they're ruled by or be able to do anything about it.

It begins with the main walking dead theme and its sudden flip. It begins with secrets and Okafor's vision: “Monsters that kill the monsters—that’ll be over soon.”

To start, let's remember our hero Rick Grimes. In The Ones Who Live, personal freedom is one of his themes. When Rick refused to back down, this is what Okafor did:

a) The CRM already revoked his freedom of movement, his freedom of association and they continued to pressure him into joining the military even after he took his own hand in his attempt to escape. b) The writers even had Rick acknowledge that, “People here can’t leave. They aren’t free.” c) When Rick said, “If I’m an A and I think for myself…” Okafor shrugged it off. d) When Rick held him at knife point, Okafor pulled out the ace card and threatened his wife and child to prevent him from leaving, once and for all.

Donald Okafor is a villain. He does not care about what Rick Grimes wants and what he believes. He cares that the man has inherent power, that he is a juggernaut. This is Palpatine seducing Anakin Skywalker to the dark side to get ultimate power. And like Anakin, Rick has to metaphorically die to 'survive' this fraught partnership. Pearl accepted it, and eventually Rick understood it.

Thankfully, our other hero Michonne interrupted Okafor's moment in the sun. But Rick still has to know what he wanted, because he and Pearl are poised to inherit his plan and will disagree on what to do with it.

So what does Okafor want? He wants the CRM to keep its sovereign power over the Civic Republic. World Beyond viewers know a timed shift of power was included the CRM's founding. This is their Death Star’s fatal flaw. But the CRM is not the kind of group to accept being scrutinized, interfered with, and audited. They are not the kind of group to accept the possibility of being dissolved due to the atrocities they committed. They are the kind of group to manufacture their value and necessity to the Civic Republic’s government through degrees of obfuscation. Any and all other threats to their absolute power (see Michonne's group) would also be vanquished. That's their average Monday.

This leaves us with two versions of one final question.

What if Okafor had survived? (Secrets, secrets, secrets.)

1) If Okafor had lived to execute his soft coup within the military, once Rick and Pearl were in place, he would “tell them one more secret” and reveal the Civic Republic’s threat via the oncoming oversight. He would explain that the CRM was founded as an emergency protocol. He would ask Rick and Pearl, what happens if the emergency continues? There would be no more As or Bs within the military. They would not need to do this to prevent the Civic Republic from learning what kind of monstrous people are out there in the waste. They would no longer need to hide the fact that the Civic Republic is being ruled by them. These layers of secrets would make it near impossible for Rick to approach the general population and Pearl's already drunk the koolaid; Okafor would strongarm Rick into fighting for this evil cause, and Rick would run the risk of dying to avoid engaging in it.

Since Okafor hasn't survived, what then? (Secrets, secrets, secrets.)

2) Since Michonne did interrupt Okafor’s moment in the sun, in the fallout, Rick has an even more compelling decision to make. He will want to run away with Michonne. He’ll try to get home. With Rick’s escape, obviously Jadis will try to save her own skin. And Beale will bring down the hammer. But I think Rick will find out about the secret threat to the CRM. I think he will see he almost got roped into a hard coup masquerading as a soft coup, and that he would have committed atrocities like the others the CRM had done before, or he’d have rather died. It’s kind of amazing. After choosing to live by dying metaphorically inside, he will realize how much worse CRM was all along. That and Michonne’s encouragement will be enough to convince Rick Grimes to be the leader of a liberation, whereas before Okafor’s death there would have been literally no one available to take on such a daunting task.

To finish with more poetry: Donald Okafor help set up Omaha and Portland, but between him, Rick and Pearl, he's the first to die. That would make him a foil, or opposition, to that community’s role in the story. I'd bet that Pearl is a foil to Portland and Rick is a foil to the Hidden City, hopefully indicating his survival. I’d like to see that, anyway.

There are only 6 episodes so let's see how far they get. I think this is a compelling run down of what's possible. One villain set it up, but he's dead now. The others will take us other places. We'll see.