He penetrated her mouth with a lollipop. Or, lollipop penetration.

I would suggest looking into subtext, and coercion, and grooming, and Stockholm Syndrome. Also, plausible deniability (both to others and oneself) and the appeal to some of power games.

Wow.

I assumed the hospital ran on generators, which they keep fed with all the top-grade fuel the writers leave lying around for them.

That is interesting, and definitely makes going on the road to Washington seem all the more treachorous - all they've done is wander around/set up camp in the backroads and woodlands of Georgia, and look at the shit they've gotten into! The Nebraska bunch in S02, the guvnah, the claimed group, Terminus and now Beth's…

There was a nice shot last week when Rick and Abraham had their spat about Abe leaving asap - shooting up the aisle they were stood in, the characters nicely arranged. Also when Abe gave Rick the map - there's a nice fluid turn that opens up the background whilst still holding Rick up front. Hopefully the directors…

I wonder about that. I might look into that later - I'm sure someone's been keeping track of geographical locations. I think when they came to the prison they said something about having gone round in circles (herds kept pushing them back).

I liked it. I have problems with the show that are pretty much always there, that seem to simply be part of the creation, so I try to keep my expectations fairly moderate. And this is the fourth in a row that worked for me.

The timeline is one of my issues with the show. With Darryl getting back as the present day, it's about 6 days since Beth was abducted. It's nine days since Hershel was killed. Bob - dear old Bob - was with them three weeks. It's barely two weeks since the flu struck.

I know! We'll get Patti LaBelle on, but not let her sing, even though we'll have three dodgy music numbers in the first four episodes! Good lord…

Definitely. Goals are necessary.

When Eugene eyed that 'stupidity is a gift' sign, was I the only one expecting him to outwit the Terminites, thus making his much-declared intelligence both apparent/believable and valuable?

I think people who spout such things are romantics and sentimentalists: they'd swear they're not, of course, but they're romanticising a certain view of things - they're constructing a drama, with themselves as the hero.

Re Maggie and Beth - Maggie had a quiet moment with the bible. I suppose quiet contemplation is her way, giving up Beth as lost/dead perhaps easier than trying to find her.

If Carol does go off on her own, any chance she'll be the binding character for the mooted spin-offs? Like a zombie apocalypse Littlest Hobo?

If this show has a sense of humour, resident Tom Waits tribute Beth would sing that to the group on the first night of their reunion.

Alternative ending:

Yes, but she was….late.

Re the trough - a few things occur to me:

Loved it - a worthy follow up to 'A'. I thought we'd have had at least one episode at Terminus, with a breakout/takeover (of the compound, not the cannibalism) after a few episodes. But this was much tighter. Makes me wonder what the hell was going on with The Strain.