SQUAWKING DEAD: [Episode 199] Tales of The Walking Dead |1x04| Amy/Dr. Everett

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Originally Recorded 2022/09/01

It's telling that this episode premieres just after the #TalesOfTheWalkingDead's Alpha origin story episode: instead of Doc Everett honoring his (more than just?) friend by wearing his face as a #Whisperers mask, he memorializes him by studying him. He does the same to Amy in similar fashion. "People are chaos" and we all have our own, personal ways of surviving and that's never been more apparent than in this episode, which further expands our vista in the ever-growing #TWDUniverse!

The Unedited recording of this episode clocks in at well over two hours: we always have more to say but never enough time to say it (or too much class to allow certain jokes to remain in the final edit)! Join us in our next recording (FOR FREE) by creating a FREE Ko-fi account and following our Ko-fi page to discover our next recording session or, at least, to receive notifications on early access to our episodes! Your support by just following us means a lot and keeps us going. You can start, here:

David Cameo:
Rachael Burt:
Sherrandy Swift:
Bridget Mason-Gray:

🎖SURVIVORS TIER MEMBERS:

Aliza:

Before we do a deep dive into this episode, did you know we have a merch store? If you didn't, now you do! There's even a SALE going on, right now, so what are you waiting for? Click here and start shopping!
Our dear Sherrandy takes time to shoutout all of our lovely TWDU family members for helping her recover from when her house was struck by lightning. I know I speak for all of us when I say WE LOVE YOU SHERRANDY!
Our very own Rachael is working at The Cat's Meow as an emcee, which is defined as a karaoke experience!

@mcmadcatter ♬ original sound - MC Mad Catter
Dave's first impression of this episode was that he was somewhat bummed out after having a positive first two episodes, and a satisfying third.
Rachael enjoyed the episode, but was more bummed-out over the fact that we may never get to see Dr. Chauncey Everett again.
Bridget believed this episode was going to be a documentary and was disappointed that the documentary-style montages were only a small portion of the episode.
Sherrandy enjoyed that this episode was more philosophical and encouraged the audience to ask themselves many questions.
In a battle of nature vs man, with whom do you side?
Sherrandy mentions that the opening sequence reminded her of one of the introductory videos promoting The Commonwealth on The Walking Dead.
Have you appreciated the order in which each episode of Tales of the Walking Dead was placed?
This is one of the posts that Dave authored on one of the Tales of The Walking Dead Facebook groups. What do you think?
What is your opinion on TWDU as a whole right now? Have you been enjoying the new stories they've been trying to tell, or are you upset when it deviates from the flagship series?
Would you want to see the origin stories of characters you are already familiar with in Tales of the Walking Dead, or would you rather continue receiving new stories and new characters?
Aidan's Aside: As all of the hosts kind of rally against seeing more origin stories, I would be remise if I didn't mention a recent article from What To Watch, authored by Sarabeth Pollock (who we have had on our show before), asking the actors on The Walking Dead about the potential of reprising their respective characters in origin stories on Tales of The Walking Dead. I found a lot of their answers interesting. The way Laila Robins imagines what a possible Pamela Milton backstory could look like would make for an outstanding hour of television. I really enjoyed Eleanor Matsuura's vision for a Yumiko Okumura/Magna/Tomichi Okumura backstory episode the most!
Do you think backstories even matter or should The Walking Dead continue to shy away from origin stories (save an exception or two)?
What's your opinion on pre-apocalypse flashbacks: should The Walking Dead (Universe) maintain their stance by not depicting them?
Aliza mentions how she loves the way this episode handles nature and deals with human survival.
Showrunner, Channing Powell, has already alluded to having further plans for Dee and Hera in future episodes.
If there are plans for Dee and Hera, does it stand to reason that there are most likely plans for other characters we've seen in Tales of The Walking Dead?
Sherrandy jokingly asks how the stories of Blair Crawford & Gina would continue? Would they move on to some final boss?
Sherrandy compares Tales of The Walking Dead to the tapes of Althea Szewczyk-Przygocki from Fear the Walking Dead. She never went back to revisit how people were doing, she just moved on to the next story.
Does Dr. Everett seem similar to Hershel Greene, who did not want to kill walkers?
When will we finally get an explanation for the different types of walker variants? Could it be in the final eight episodes of the flagship show, since it has been teased?
Could Alicia Clark (from Fear TWD) have been right about walkers maintaining some of their living counterpart's consciousness?
Aidan's Aside: All of this discussion of Alicia Clark makes me wonder what an interaction between Dr. Everett and Alicia Clark would be like. Could we potentially see Alicia and Dr. Everett meet? Even though Alycia Debnam-Carey left FTWD, it was open-ended, so it's still in her cards (though, she would appear much older after 35 years). Check out this article from Kirsten Acuna about Alicia's potential future in the TWDU.
Speaking of Alicia, Rachael notes that Amy's amputated left arm reminds her of Alicia's.
Aliza brings up the Teddy Bear Girl Walker, Jenny Jones, and other smart walkers we've observed during The Walking Dead's 1st season.
Aidan's Aside: Here's an in depth article recapping some of Everett's experiments in this episode.
Dave reads the poem Dr. Everett recites at the end of the episode, which was written by Emily Dickinson, titled, Nature is What We See.
Aidan's Aside: I enjoyed the conversation everyone was having about Emily Dickinson. While I was watching this episode of Tales, I found myself frequently reflecting on the Apple TV+ series Dickinson starring Hailee Steinfeld. I highly recommend watching it. It also features Fear TWD alums, Chinaza Uche (who played Wes' brother, Derek, in Season 6) & Gus Halper (who played Will, in Season 7).
Do all brains reanimate like Dr. Edwin Jenner's wife, TS-19?
Homo Mortuus means "one who is dead". Aliza points out that it could also be a play-on-words: there is "more to us".
Aliza asks if Dr. Mosely (a.k.a. Specimen 21) was a tribute to actor Moses J. Mosely, who played one of Michonne's Pet Walkers (previously, her boyfriend Mike). Moses Mosely was tragically passed in early 2022.
Aidan's Aside: Haifaa Al-Mansour, a newcomer to the TWDU, directed this episode.
Sherrandy takes a moment to compare the poet, Emily Dickinson, and Dr. Everett by saying they are both loners who tend to not interact with the outside world.
Dave points out that the Chattahoochee River Amy mentions in this episode most likely places them somewhere in Alabama. The northern half might actually place them in West Georgia.
Aidan's Aside: While researching images for this blog, I stumbled upon a recreation of Blair Crawford's jacket for sale. If you feel like cosplaying this colorful character, click here!
Sherrandy compares the Skull Hunters to pioneers of the American West, who would hunt Buffalo for trophies.
Dave compares Everett's study of Homo Mortuus to the way he studied Justin (played by Zach McGowan) in Season 9 of TWD. The opening sequence depicts his corpse being devoured by walkers. Midway into feeding, they suddenly stopped, got up, and walked away. Watching the exact moment walkers refuse to continue feeding indicates exactly when a dead human turns, which was super exciting and fascinating to watch for the first time in this universe.
What happens when the walker population dies off?
Aidan's Aside: This conversation reminds me how Dee, in the last episode, tells Lydia, "people are chaos," and how you essentially become chaos to survive. This brought me back to one of my favorite quotes of this entire franchise by Victor Strand, "The only way to survive a mad world is to embrace the madness".
Did this episode feel as though it was truly 35 years after the fall? Does it feel like nothing has changed? Has Dr. Everett's study of Homo Mortuus truly bore fruit?
Aidan's Aside: I wanted to share an article from Undead Walking, written by Renee Hansen, where Channing Powell reveals how one of the episodes takes place 35 years into the future.
Sherrandy believes the alligator in this episode is a callback to the Fear the Walking Dead episode in Season 4 where Victor Strand and John Dorie try to cross a flooded river while avoiding an alligator attack.
Dave discusses the changes to the animal kingdom in a world ruled by the dead. Crows aren't afraid of walker scarecrows early on in Season 9 of TWD. Later on, in the same season, Negan Smith is chased by the domestic dogs that have gone feral.
In addition, Sherrandy adds that our survivors were forced to eat a pack of dogs in TWD 5x10, Them.
Bridget questions whether the Skull Hunters are really using the walker heads for propaganda. For example, Nick Clark and Troy Otto go to The Proctors market and sample a piece of hallucinogenic walker brain.
In response, Dave and Sherrandy remind us how, in FTWD S5, Annie, Max, and Dylan used the walker blockades as a scare tactic, as well.
Speaking of severed walker heads, how could we leave out Phillip "The Governor" Blake's collection.
Dr. Everett's computer password is the chemical make up of the molecule Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA).
It reminds Bridget of Mr. DNA from the Jurassic Park franchise. Dino DNA!
Sherrandy jokes that she has mistakenly typed "TWD Lasso" instead of "Ted Lasso" before. Is the universe saying we need a crossover?
[Editor's note: God, I really hope not. That would flush a feel-good show straight down the toilet as Coach Lasso will eventually have to eat Coach Beard.]
Could the Civic Republic Military be responsible for making this trench? Is everyone living under some sort of dictatorship this far into the future?
Can one even live in a civilized society, again, after having lived through a post-apocalyptic one?
Bridget proclaims #AnarchyOverIceCream: brought to you by The Commonwealth's famous Taste of Tradition ice cream shop.
Were Dr. Edwards and Dr. Mosely lovers?
What even keeps Dr. Edwards motivated to live?
What does it mean when, at the end of the episode, Dr. Everett essentially replaces Specimen 21 with Amy?
Have some of these stories, depicting characters in isolation, reminded you of the early days of the COVID-19 Pandemic lockdown measures/guidelines? We had the luxury of internet, which allowed us to maintain a semblance of human contact that these characters did not.
This is the first episode of Tales where a title characters dies.
How did Amy's death make you feel?
Aliza said that walker-Amy's interaction with Everett immediately reminded her of the way walker-John Dorie interacted with June Dorie. She felt the same way about walker-Merle Dixon, interacting with Daryl Dixon.
All the references to birds, throughout this episode, reminded Sherrandy of the Emily Dickinson poem Hope is the Thing with Feathers, which was the same exact phrase Joe wrote in one of his (printed out) online chats with Sandra/USHLDBSCRD.
Bridgett says that Dr. Everett's disassociation reminded her of the mental disorders we explored in the second episode Blair/Gina.
Could Dr. Edwards have been a scientist for the CRM?
Aidan's Aside: For those of you how don't know, Dr. Professor T Brooks Ellis was introduced in the third episode of the second season of The Walking Dead: World Beyond. However, that's not the first time we've heard his name! Eugene Porter name-drops his "old boss" Ellis in TWD 5x05, right before ultimately revealing he was never a scientist and had never even met him. That all being said, I feel like it would be awesome to see Eugene finally meet T Brooks Ellis before we say goodbye to The Walking Dead.
Isn't it fitting that Dr. Everett wears a coat made out of the skin of the dead just after the prior episode featuring the origin of The Whisperers?
What did Amy mean when she asks Dr. Everett if he was a "mule"?
Aidan's Aside: Our hosts often talk about the walker heads being used as a scare tactic in this episode. It reminds me of the border that Alpha establishes, delineated by way of our survivors loved ones heads on pikes, in the penultimate episode of The Walking Dead's ninth season. Maybe it's less of a scare tactic and more of a reminder of the potential horrors people are capable of in this world: if The Skull Hunters are chopping off walker heads, what else are they capable of doing to you?
How do you think Dr. Everett felt when he discovered the box of walker heads in the back of a truck in Amy's community's camp after all the bonding experiences he and Amy had during this episode?
Sherrandy says the poem titled We Wear the Mask, by Paul Laurence Dunbar, could be the poem that Amy is referring to after musing on Everett's undead coat of many skins.
Aidan's Aside: All of this talk about masks has me thinking how often we actually see characters wearing masks in TWDU.
Could the physical growth-rate of the animals mentioned in this episode be a side effect of the nuclear fallout and radiation that occurred in Fear the Walking Dead's 7th season?
Is one of the lessons TWDU is trying to convey that you cannot go back?
Special shoutout to Anthony Edwards, Poppy Liu, and everyone else in front of and behind the camera for this episode. Here's to hoping we haven't seen the last of Dr. Everett!