#psych 6x14

[psych---ologically-deranged]

Autopsy turvy, this seems like a woody heavy episode, I might need to liveblog it. Side note, I haven't seen a flashback in a while.

Often confuses clowns & bus incidents.

Lost his keys in a woman's spleen. (they say the patient withheld the object, as if it's their fault.)

Briefly lovers with his forensic school classmate.

The camera is almost fuzzy, & the music, it def gives off a vibe.

Monk & sharona moments "you be the victim"

IT SHATTERS RIGHT THEN!? IS THAT A DREAM?

Who is this guy? Why is he so fancy? Why does he know them?

Oh a true crime bookstore. Castle moments. I need to finish posting all my stuff from that fixation.

It took me a second to et it. The little person is still at large. Ha. Hey I have one that involes psychics! A petite psychic escapes from prison: there is a small medium at large!

They turn around so a man can check out their "rumps"

Oh no not the yang book. Oh I remember, I once visited a show home where they had a bookshelf you could push in the basement to get to a secret movie theater room.

He's going to forge the signature

Woody probably gets off at 18.00 (6) because he said he'd stay there until 6.15pm if need be.

Hee lied & said his father was the king of sweden.

My man didn't chew his food

phat thai jones, the killer afro-thai place

I've met white (passing) thai people, chill out shawn, not every white person in america was born there. (Oh. Apparently this guy was adopted. I totally thought he was just thai or mixed or smth, which is funny bc it's a thai & african place & this guy is racially white, not racially black nor thai, even tho his dad is thai & his mom is Black from philly)

Sometimes people with allergies or intolerances can stand a little bit of the thing which hurts them.

"Could the alcohol have been inserted into his blood somehow?" 'That is the sexiest thing I've heard in this office.'

I like this weirdo

I LIKE THIS MUSIC. Usually I like jazz swing like big bands, but swing rock is ok too, but this is almost classical! I want to listen to glenn miller's moonlight serenade

I was right! It is 40s! or 30s.

Henry! Can Henry dance? "idk shawn." *looks at the voluptuous woman* "Count me in"

she's still dancing XD

Ooh another psychic!

*grabs his face* & she's right!

He was the stalker, not the other way around

No! The slavic accent going away!

lmao not death, that is not how it works

hiding behind one another

captions were wrong. "Hey o'hara"

He's a communicator? Dude your firt marriage failed & I am torn between you being a cis white guy & being autistic!

What the heck

Even sitting on the floor, Shawn grabs a pillow for his lap!

she calls woody a good boy ...

mortitian: is there anything sexier than a man scaling another man's fingernails? Woody: nope. & btw I realize I'm acutely turned on by taking orders from a woman. If this continues, I might have to change my facebook relationship status to "it's complicated" These two about to kiss over a dead body & then she asks about his wife with whom he is separated ebcause she cheated on him 2 times with 10 men, & idk if he is counting the one he approved

Gus recognizes her as the bologna girl XD

"Gus was there" pulling the "I have a Black friend" card? srs?

Morrtitian lady brought creme fraiche & strawberries into the morgue!? She sppoon feeds him & did you hear that moan!? GRACE that was her name!

Woody says it feels amazing to... mess with an intestine... while some old flame is feeding him strawberries

I NOTICED THE STAMP!!!

Ooh impala isn't a bad car. Poor whip chatterly. That sounds like a Gus name.

Woody: You just can't tell what a person is capable of until you've seen them naked. *proceeds to offer them cakesters with the dead body still there*

woody: From now on I'm not half-assing ANY autopsies, unless the corpse has half an ass

Shoot, & THEN the door slam. I honestly have been suspecting the mortician grace since day 1. Did he dial on purpose or WAS it a pocket dial?

Shawn gave Gus his cakester! They do love each other!

Swallowed a bullet?

biscotti? HOMEMADE? "Let's pretend we're oding an episode of red shoe diaries"

Grace Mortician: I think we need to pull another all-nighter. I love this job. Woodrow Strode: You know, I do too.

Motive?

Gus could totally rock a turtleneck.

Woody: I thought they were going home to watch hot in cleaveland *as if they live together*

calls her banana Even when she's basically confessing to him he says "we can still go two for three" this man

At least he got her to explain.

FINALLY SOMEONE IS OBSESSED WITH WOODY NOT WITH SHAWN! Brilliant but misunderstood. She broke open the case, but then she solved it? When did she choose to frame this guy?

SHE SLICED THE EARLOBE AFTER THE AUTOPSY! Why did she need it to be an investigation? "You may not realize it grace, but you're insane." 'Well I'm a woman. I can mask it.'

I'm not ready to die, I haven't seen gloria estefan in concert yet!

Thank you for believing in me. I didn't, I believed on your colleague who turned out to be a homicidal maniac.

I love you guys. I mean that. Shawn gus & woody are great, I wish they got more screentime. You know, it's just as easy for me to love a man as it is a woman. At the end of the day we're all jut meltable flesh & breakable bones.

& then immediately asks the chief, who has a picture of her daughter behind her, if she is seeing anyone. He saves it with "I was just overjoyed, got away frommyself" & then he ruins it with "I guess it'll only be in my dreams that you are the chief of doing me" like bro shut up I'm glad shawn & gus are there to... bring things... to a professional level... that is weird.

Awww henry napping on her boob <3

[jamesrodayrodriguezpresents]

This week, Maggie & Tim are joined by THE Kurt Fuller to talk about S6 E14: Autopsy Turvy LIVE at GalaxyCon Oklahoma City. You know, the episode where a funeral mortician discovers a problem with an autopsy performed by Woody. Marked as an accidental death, she thinks it could be a murder. Shawn and Gus investigate the problem to help prevent him from losing his job.

[juliets-roller-derby-awesomeness]

does anyone have psych fic recommendations without spoilers? i want to read some so bad but i really really don't want to spoil myself because im loving watching the show for the first time

im at the beginning of season six right now, and part of me just wants to rush through these last episodes so i can start being a part of the fandom and watching the blooper compilations and video essays, but part of me just wants to go slowly and enjoy the moments

so like, even if it's like " this one is really good but you need to watch 6x14 so you don't get spoiled" it'd be something i can enjoy sooner than just at the end of the series

and ofc if you have stuff for after season 8 too im all ears but please please please tell me it's for after because i really don't want to be spoiled

[girls-are-weird]

#NowWatching: Psych 6x14 "Autopsy Turvy"

[nocontextpsych]

[seongwu]

I can’t believe this Shawn. — Psych (6x14)

[retiredgremlin]

is shawn maybe actually psychic pt1

so I just finished watching 6x14, Autopsy-Turvy and that bit in the beginning is very interesting, from 2:13 to 3:15. The bit where Gus lays on the street and Shawn backs up, thinking through the incident presented to them.

Bob White, the victim of the current “case of the week,” was run over by a bus. The bus didn’t see him because a singular street light was out that night. Neat, okay, so Shawn is thinking through that, right?

And then we are shown the light going out, with glass raining down on Shawn, who visually reacts to it. We are shown the shot of where Gus was on the street, only it’s pitch black now. Shawn asks Gus if he’s still there. We get a glimpse of the usual “psychic recreation” then with the bus driving over the spot where the body would have been, showing how the body would be completely invisible. When whatever this is is over, we see the lights come back on and things resume regularity.

I wanna talk about this.

I wanna talk about this because this bit is....unprecedented. I haven’t started my critical analysis yet and I usually need the second pass over a series to burn everything into my memory, but I have no recollection of being shown something like this before.

Typically, we see “recreation visions.” Those show past events and have a grain filter over them, maybe a little desaturation. Notably, Sometimes Shawn’s memories are also shown this way (which hohoheehaaa is a whole ’nother can of fucking worms but let’s stay on track here-)

Let’s do a play by play here.

We are shown the light going out, with glass raining down on Shawn, who visually reacts to it.  Shawn states that [the report] says the streetlight directly above the bus stop was out. The camera zooms in on his face before cutting to a set distance away and the light in the scene is shown to flare before we hear the bulb break. The light goes out and glass falls onto Shawn. Shawn is shown physically reacting to the glass with squinting and a slight flinch. The camera zoom and reset indicate a change of scene, despite still just watching Shawn. The following events are presented to us as a physical change to the environment, one that is shown to interact with Shawn who is reacting to this change. 

The place on the street where Gus is laying is now in total darkness. Gus is now obscured as there is no light. This further enforces the physical shift to the environment. This also implicates that Shawn can no longer see Gus, just as we no longer see Gus. Shawn then cocks his head to the side, accompanied by a sound suspense sound cue. This body language is often used in media to convey confusion, curiosity, or inquisition. As someone who does this irl, I use it as a visual cue that I’m listening/paying attention if I’m unable to make eye contact during the conversation. At the very least, removing conjecture, it’s a reaction to a stimulus, indicating attention of some sort.

Shawn asks Gus if he’s still there. This is when this starts to hit home, right? This statement all but confirms that Shawn is no longer seeing Gus on the ground at all. This also confirms that what we the audience are seeing is something Shawn is experiencing in that moment. Shaw cannot see Gus currently and thus he asks for a verbal confirmation. We hear Gus respond, exasperated, saying Shawn can damn well see his face on the asphalt. Except Shawn can’t. Instead Shawn is seeing the space as though one of the lights was punched out. Shawn then comments by saying, “That’s interesting.” This is a verbal acknowledgement of what is visually happening in the scene right now. What precisely about this scene is interesting? We could easily infer the explicit lack of a visual Gus while still hearing Gus. Otherwise, why ask if Gus was still there? Notably, Gus’s response reinforces that he is not experiencing the change to the environment that Shawn and the audience are, as he is not reacting to it.

The usual psychic recreation kicks in to show us the bus running through the dark patch. Cue the typical grain filter of the scene. These visuals clearly mark the shift from real-time to flashback/past events, as the show has trained us to read this visual. This is also what we normally see when a scene is revealed to us or facts come together. The show could have just as well have shown us this flash without showing the dark street real-time, but they didn’t Why? Why is this different? Why does this call for a different kind of visual? I would assume because this is different somehow.

The recreation ends and we see the light come back on. The flashback recreating is over and simultaneous with the scene shift back to Shawn’s face, we see the light coming back in again and zooming out from Shawn’s face, mirroring how the scene started. This marks the end of whatever moment was happening.

Taking all of this into consideration, what conclusion are we left to draw from this short scene? Shawn experiences what we just saw: he sees the light flare, hears the bulb break, feels the glass fall around him, and sees the street as though this street light was out. It’s not as though it’s recreating something though, or imitating how a light would have actually burst. The light flares before popping, mimicking how a light would act when it dies. The filament grows thin and puts off a super flash as the filament breaks.

This does not mean the fucking glass shatters though. Conversation does indicate that the light being broken is why it was out the night Bob White was run over though. This is piece of the....”vision,” shall we call it, imitated what would have happened. But for the light to both flash and break? Unless I’m terribly mistaken, it’s usually one or the other that will put a bulb out of commission, not both. This lends additional credence to this being an unnatural occurrence. Given the glass shatters after the flash, to would indicate to me that the light dying somehow lead to the glass breaking? Either way, it’s a bit extreme and unusual, which plays into the entire strangeness of the scene. 

It’s like is someone grabbed the space around them and metaphysically punched the street light. Somehow Shawn is experiencing a manipulation of the space around him, enough to alter what he’s sensing in a targeted and specific manner. 

Now sure, we could just say what this scene was meant as: a visual built to communicate to the audience what is going on. Psych likes to show us how a situation is being assessed, what information Shawn is taking in and processing. But where’s the fun in that, especially with how they chose ground this short experience through having Shawn experience it.

You want to know something else I find very interesting here? 

Shawn’s response is mild.

Listen, I dunno about you, but I probably would have had more reaction to a bulb over my head suddenly bursting and throwing glass at me. I probably would have had more to say if I suddenly wasn’t seeing light when there was light in front of me, especially if it wasn’t that I suddenly lost all sense of light, but that a singular light suddenly and magically seemed to turn off.

Guess Shawn wouldn’t though! He takes this all fairly well in stride. There are two major possibilities here. One is that he’s more focused on the case than anything else so he mentally dismisses whatever is happening and proceeds until it goes away. There is precedent to him acting this way when he gets fixated on something, but we’re not seeing many signs of that here. Option two is that the reason Shawn barely reacts is that this not new or overly concerning because he is aware it is not real.

Shawn certainly recognizes what’s happening as unusual, but he is not panicked or caught off guard. When asking if Gus is still there, his voice does not betray anything strange. He is simply affirming. His “that’s interesting” comment also expresses no concern and he does not dwell on this occurrence, simply makes use of it. This leads me to believe that this is not the first time Shawn has experienced something like this. Something where he needs to see something in a different light (ha), and it just happens. We are not shown this prior because the show had no reason to concoct this sort of occurrence before now, as most investigation could be done through the physical clues given in the state they were in. This is new for the audience, but this is presented as something that isn’t really that new to Shawn.

The thing is, the vision is accurate. The vision is not an exaggeration or unrealistic distortion of the space. It is the space as is, except as if the light went out. Not that suddenly everything went dark or that he can’t see anything. To see the space as it would be with one thing different, especially when that one thing is something that interacts with everything in the space? That’s...something.

Let’s not forget the cinematography and sound cues though. With the scene starting up, we get real close and personal with Shawn’s face before the camera cuts to where it’s zoomed out again. Well, what does a camera cut indicate? Typically the shot is focused on the character relevant to the scene, whatever you should be seeing to line up with what’s happening. We were already looking at Shawn though, so what purpose does this cut serve? They wanted to shift the perspective we were viewing Shawn with. This cut indicates a change to the scene. Directly following this cut, the light bursts. This cut signified the shift from reality into the vision. When the scene was over, the camera cuts to Shawn’s face and is zooming out, clearly outlining the end of the vision. This explicitly bookends the start and stop to the strange phenomena.

As for the sound, we hear a back and forth piano tune leading up to the start of the vision. It starts just as Shawn is backing up from Gus laying down on the street and continues through Shawn noting that the report says the streetlight was out and fades as the glass shatters and finishes falling. This is a leadup, a lead in, an indication of something eerie going on. It lets the audience experience a moment of strangeness as the music disappears when we look back and see the street is dark with no Gus. We get a short violin sting to punctuate Shawn cocking his head and the recognition of something wrong here. When get a softer, deeper version of that sting as Gus responds, accentuating something even stranger going on. As Shawn lifts his arms to mimic a bus steering wheel, get a short orchestral bit that strings into the recreation of the bus driving over Bob White and concludes with the vision. This feels like a carry through, a dramatic reveal piece. 

These shots and sounds of this scene do everything to accentuate that something fucking weird is happening here. Please note that I have an education in art, not cinematography or music, so I can give an interpretation of them as a critical consumer, but I cannot speak speak to them in the manner of a trained and educated professional. Take my opinions there with a grain of salt. 

What is all of this then? How does this happen? What is this scene telling us?

I have 2 ideas.

1.) His eidetic memory is able to be used to create hyper realistic visualizations wherein the space can be manipulated.

2.) This is a preternatural vision and Shawn has latent psychic abilities.

Honestly, these possibilities can coexist with each other, and maybe they should?

This scene is deliberate, is the funny thing. The way is was shot, the way it was presented, the way the characters interact. Nothing here is a mistake, but it’s out of left field as a totally new way to observe a crime scene from anything else they’ve shown in the series. (I have only seen up to this episode, so if there’s another incident after 6x14, then neat, I’ll dissect that to when I get there.)

In conclusion, this scene leads me to believe Shawn has the ability to see, or is subject to the phenomena of seeing, space in a manipulated manner. The space mimics reality and reacts like reality, where variable can be arranged and shifted. Evidence from this incident would indicate these shifts are based on what Shawn is currently thinking about or puzzling through, showing him the scene the way he needs to see to it rather than how it necessarily is.

I, personally, would like to think this points to genuine latent preternatural abilities that tie into his eidetic memory and how that exists. Mostly because I think it’s fun that the show about the fake psychic is actually a show about a sort of psychic who doesn’t realize he’s actually sort of psychic while pretending to be a psychic. I think is an incredibly fun take to explore. Which I will later because I have a working idea of how this all connects in and functions but this has gone a bit long for a dissection of what is a minute or less bit at the beginning of a single episode.

This is the prologue to my TED Talk: “Shawn Spencer is probably psychic” and in this presentation I will-

[cheryls-blossomed]

Do we know why the speedforce continues to take the form of Barry’s mom? At first, I thought it was comforting. But now, I'm starting to think it secretly enjoys torturing him with her image. I would hope not, but I started thinking about it when it told Iris that it could change its appearance if that would make Barry feel better. Maybe walking around in its true form once in awhile would be better. That way, when it does appear as Nora, it could be for happier, more special occasions, like to Iris. It owes some thank yous to her for helping bring it back to life in Barry and Wally too, I would think. Maybe it could say a quick hello to the twins before they're born. I'm rambling now, but I think you get it.

Well, currently, it’s partly a logistical thing, because the speedforce’s true form is literally lightning, so that’s not serviceable when the speedforce is meant to be trying to communicate something to Barry. And in this arc, in particular, it’s not serviceable, when the other forces have all taken human forms, of sorts. The speedforce cannot interact with Fuerza, Psych, and Deon as lightning. So it probably was just the natural story-telling progression that the speedforce take on the form of Nora. Also, the speedforce can’t just take on any form, I would imagine. There’s a specific reason it can take on Nora’s form that hasn’t fully been explained, but it’s likely because of the comfort this form brings Barry. The speedforce is not secretly torturing him at all; like that’s the last thing the speedforce wants. Taking the form of Nora does bring Barry peace and comfort. 

The issue though is that Barry and the speedforce have some residual issues. Barry bears some degree of guilt over what happened in 6x14, even though it’s not his fault, and then there’s the residual anger that is still left over from 6x07. The speedforce, meanwhile, is afraid that Barry is going to reject it, after what transpired in 6x07. So in that sense, the initial comfort is complicated by the fact that there are issues that have to be hashed out. But part of this arc is Barry and the speedforce really reconnecting after what transpired during season 6, so it especially makes sense that in this arc, the speedforce would take on such a human character in the form of Nora. It enhances that reconnection that much more. 

[twdmusicboxmystery]

TWD 10x02: We Are The End of the World - Details

Okay, let's talk details. I’ll go through them chronologically. 

***As always, spoilers abound below for 10x02. Don’t read until you’ve watched! You’ve been warned!***

We start with the woman in the car, which I talked about yesterday. I thought the blaring horn was a call back to the Wolves in S6. That’s interesting because this was about Alpha and Beta, and we think the Wolves were a foreshadow of the Whisperers. I can't help but wonder if some sort of loud noise or horn will figure and whatever happened to Beth after Coda.

When Alpha meets Beta in the hospital, Lydia wants to wash the off the walker blood. Alpha asks, "Is there water?" He points to where she can find some, and she does. Because they’re in a hospital, this is yet another example of water being available at Grady or, if they’re a part of the helicopter people, then with the helicopter people. The point is, they'll be the ones with access to water.

When the two sisters are walking, gathering walkers with Beta, one of them closes her eyes and talks about how the sun feels different today, like it's burning into their skin. 

I kind of wondered if that might be a radiation reference, especially as they see the satellite fall in this episode. Her looking up the sky also reminded me vaguely of Daryl and Beth looking at the sky in the Inmates. This is where the sister says that she should have left her behind.

We then see Alpha giving Lydia a bath. There are a lot of background things in the hospital that caught my eye. Mostly graffiti and posters. But a lot of them point to Beth dialogue. Some of them are simply about hope, others of them suggest “you are still alive,” “why am I still alive?” Etc. One of the posters has both the words “Still” and “Alone” on it. Ring any bells? 😉 Here are some if you want to study them:

It took me a few times watching it to realize it was Beta who wrote all the words on the walls. We know that because “I am the end of the world” is written in several places. It’s also important to note that he contemplated suicide. Things like “End it all?” followed by “No, not now,” are seen in various places.

Alpha picks up a can of tomatoes (perhaps tomato soup?) in the hallway. I've said before that tomatoes represent the state of the community. I think we see them here because Alpha and Beta are about to form a community together. This is the origin story of the Whisperers.

Something interesting happens. Beta is humming in the background. Alpha hears him and begins to hum as well. Beta doesn't like that. He stocks toward her and says, "Were you singing?" She answers, "I wouldn't call it that." He says, "Don't do it again."

So, while they didn’t say what his back story is (on TTD, Ryan Hurst seemed to suggest the country singer theory could be true) there is definitely a musical theme around him.

In terms of a parallel to Daryl, you could see it as him being uncomfortable with people singing because it reminds him of Beth. I started thinking about Daryl's, "I never," from the moonshine shock. One of the things he said is that he never sang out in public. We haven't really seen a fulfillment of that yet. But just as Alpha and Beta were sort of humming together right here, maybe we'll see Beth and Daryl sing together in some capacity in the future.

She also asks how he ended up at the hospital. He said he got into a tussle with the dead and they ran him out of his camp a few months ago. Again, I think that could be a Daryl parallel. In terms of ending up at the hospital in S5, it happened after walkers overran the prison. This is also when Beta says he likes the sound of the dead and it’s the only song he never wants to end.

Then we’re back to the two sisters rounding up walkers. The one who gave up her baby sees the walker with the baby carrier on it on its front and starts to cry. Something about the way she cried, the way she looked, reminded me of when Beth cried in Inmates.

The more I thought about that, something occurred to me. I’m just gonna throw this possibility out there. I feel like Beth is going to go through an arc where she loses a baby. It may not be hers biologically. After all, with plenty of foreshadowing after taking care of other people's kids. (Such as Judith at the prison.)

This woman who sacrificed her baby at Alpha’s behest has parallels to Beth. In that scene in Inmates, which this reminded me of, Beth actually was crying over the perceived death of a child. She thought the little shoes she saw belong to the kids they’d been tracking. She was actually wrong about that. They were tracking Lizzie and Mika, who were with Carol and Ty. But Beth and Daryl assumed the kids they been tracking were dead and the shoes belonged to them. She was literally crying of the loss of a child. 

There was that weird, creepy baby death thing around Denise in 6x14, and we know how big a proxy she was to Beth. We also know Connie lost a child at one point, and she’s being used as a Beth stand-in as well. I'm just saying we have a lot of evidence of this.

Back at the camp, Beta almost kills this woman for endangering them. Alpha shows her mercy, probably because she understands what it's like to abandon a child, because she abandoned Lydia.

Then we see Alpha making a room for Lydia in the hospital. She takes her in a room that's used for psych patients and is therefore padded. Lydia asks about the pillows all over the walls. The sequence was actually very interesting. It got my thoughts spinning.

First of all, Alpha offers Lydia her bunny and Lydia rejects it. Remember the bunny represents those who are weak. Specifically, those too weak to survive and who end up dead. (Lizzie killed the bunnies in the log in 4b, and then later killed Mika.) Lydia rejects the bunny says that she wants to be more like Alpha. That’s a mirror to Beth saying that she wants to change and become stronger. Alpha says she's glad to hear that, because if Lydia doesn't change, Alpha will eventually have to leave her behind.

In other words, a person must be strong enough to defend themselves, or else they get left behind. Definitely feels like a call back to Beth. Now, obviously it didn't go down that way with Beth and Daryl. He didn’t leave her behind because he thought she was weak. But we often like to say that Beth’s weakness died when she was shot and she’ll arise a much stronger person who can take care of herself. If nothing else, this is a reference to someone changing from being weak to being strong as well as being left behind, in the same sentence.

What struck me most about this sequence (along with something strange in the final scene) is the actual sleeping arrangement. It's about finding a bed for Lydia to sleep and feel safe. I know that sounds a little goofy, but it reminded me of something we saw back in S8 that has never been explained. When Daryl tries to escape the Sanctuary, he ran into Dwight's room. He ate peanut butter, changed his shirt, and opened the door into a secret room at the back of Dwight's quarters. No one was in there, but it looked like there was a bed with the pillow. Such a random detail, and it's never been explained. I was reminded of that part because there's an emphasis on pillows covering the walls.

Near the end of the episode, where we see Alpha keeping a shrine to Lydia, along with her bunny, there’s what looks like a gigantic bird’s nest. It’s actually more square than round in shape, but it’s made with twigs and vines like a bird’s nest might be. I think it’s supposed to be a place Alpha created for Lydia to sleep in and be secure. So, I think this is a theme about finding a place for loved ones to sleep where they will feel safe. It's possible the hidden room in Dwight’s place was there for Sherry. I don't know if she ever actually used it, but he might've created in case she ever wanted to hide there.

We can also relate this back directly to Beth and Daryl in the funeral home. Daryl laid down in the coffin saying, "this is the comfiest bed I've had in years." And while he laid in that “bed,” Beth sang to him, about laying in the lawn and being good. So it's about finding a place to lie down and sleep, feeling secure and safe with the people you're with. Because, by nature, everyone is vulnerable when they sleep.

Alpha tells Beta to send the baby’s mother to her in the “deep” place. I had to think about this one for a bit before I understood it’s significance. It's underground (sort of like a cave) and in darkness, so I knew it had to have symbolic significance. It was obvious that everyone thought Alpha would kill the baby’s mother, but, she didn't. She showed her mercy.

I think we could perhaps relate it to Beth going into the darkness and emerging into the light. We saw this theme around her with light and darkness at Grady. She goes into the dark hallway just before being shot. 

Emerging into light at the end of the hallway represents her living. So, similarly, the baby’s mother goes into the darkness and faces death by Alpha’s hand. Mercifully, she comes back out again into the light and is given a second chance. Her sister even says, "Alpha showed you her grace?"

At this point, we learn other whispers are also thinking about Hilltop and that it looked like a safe place and maybe they want to return. Alpha is already losing her pack.

We see Alpha and Beta killing walkers together in the hospital. They bond and she gives him the name of first Big Man, then Mr. B, and then just B. He asks what that make her. She says, “A.” 

She then proceeds to tell him about becoming the walkers. She says there are two kinds of people left in the world: those brave enough to walk with the dead, and everyone else. She tries to take off his mask, and he freaks out. He tells her leave at sunrise not to come back. Obviously, that doesn't happen.

So, a couple things about this. We’ve seen the A/B theme since S4. It's very obvious that Alpha and Beta are being defined this way in the plot. This isn’t just symbolism anymore. They’re calling themselves and each other A and B. Yes, we also saw that theme with the helicopter people who also used the terms A and B. For me, that suggests that perhaps the Whisperers are tied up with the helicopter people in some way. It also shows that the Whisperers are much more endgame than Negan ever was. Everyone made such a big deal about All Out War, but we’re seeing the fulfillment of Beth-related symbolism that’s been around since S4 much more with this group than we ever did with Negan.

It's also interesting that we don't see Beta’s face. Alpha takes off her skin mask all the time, but we've never seen Beta without his. I wonder why he wants to hide his face. Back when she asked how he got there, and he said that he tussled with the dead. She asked if that's what he wore the mask now. There's an implication there that maybe, just maybe, he has scars on his face.

That would have some really interesting implications of true. Not only would it parallel him to Beth in a big way, but if Beth ever came into contact with Alpha and Beta, I almost think that they would be predisposed to like her, both because she's a survivor and also because of the scars. That might draw them both to her. At this point, Alpha and Lydia have seen Beta's face, but no one else has.

When the Whisperers see the satellite fall, the sister who lost her baby goes nuts and tries to kill Alpha. She dies because her sister betrays her to save Alpha.

Alpha asks her if she regrets what she did. The sister essentially says no. (I don’t know if this will mean anything to you guys, but that was very Charles Manson.) Then Alpha said something super disturbing. "Like a lioness who smothers her own cub, we are strongest when we kill our own blood." 

Now, obviously that's the opposite of what TF and most of us (hopefully) believe. It serves yet another antiparallel to Beth and TF in general. They try to save their own people and keep them alive at all costs. They believe that banding together through love and community is what makes them stronger. Alpha obviously believes the opposite.

Then we reach the final sequence of the episode. There’s a lot going on here and I watched it multiple times, trying to catch everything. Lydia covers herself in walker guts. She seemed to want to find a walker and prove to her mom that she could be strong. So her mother wouldn’t leave her behind.

Of course everything goes down where Alpha kills Beta’s friend, and Lydia comes out, saying she was strong. Alpha hugs her and says she did a good job and was very strong.

Then she turns to Beta and says some really interesting things. She says, "You are not broken. You were made for this." Beth said that exact same thing to Daryl in Still. "It's like you were made for how things are now.”

Alpha also says, "Stay with me and you'll never be alone." I don’t think Daryl said exactly that Beth, but I remember that he did say it to Bob. "You're not alone anymore. You never will be again." And Bob was a Beth proxy.

After watching it several times, what strikes me is the parallel to Beth and Daryl. While the actual events are different, Alpha and Beta basically see one another at their most vulnerable. In true states of anger and grief. Alpha over Lydia in the current timeline and Beta over the loss of his friend in the flashback. And that’s exactly what Still was for Beth and Daryl.

Beta then started chanting, "I am the end of the world. I am the end of the world." This is part of the Alpha and Omega theme. Alpha is, um, named Alpha, which means the first or the beginning. Then we have Beta saying he's the end of the world. Omega is another term for the end.

This is super-intriguing to me and I’ll have to think about it more. Maybe revisit the Alpha/Omega theme. Because a the two instances that always jump to mind for me of the Alpha/Omega theme are 1) when Abraham said it to Sasha in the flashback in 7x16. And he said, “Alpha to Omega, Battlefield to Beach.” (paraphrasing there, btw.) Well, they’re about to enter a war with the Whisperers, and they were training on the beach in 10x01, so it all feels very relevant. 2) Via Paula’s group in 6x13. And that episode a gazillion, ridiculously obvious references to Beth and Grady. Just saying.

Alpha says, “We’re the end of the world.” Beta says he can't leave his friend. Alpha says he won’t have to and gives him her knife. It’s then that we learn that the skin mask Beta wears around once belonged to his best friend. Just when you think these people can’t get any more twisted, right?

This is why I loved this episode so much. Creepy? Oh yeah. Twisted? Absolutely. But also fascinating and fantastic. On TTD, YNB said she wasn’t a fan of villains. Yeah, I am. I’m totally obsessed with their psychology. So I totally geeked out about the fabulousness of this episode.

But I digress. We then return to the current timeline, where Beta finds Alpha in her special little grove. As they talk, he comes to realize she didn't actually kill Lydia and Lydia is still alive. This is where we see the giant bird’s nest/bed. So, we have a connection to the bird theme here, with Alpha playing mother bird and wanting to protect her young. She’s created a bed for Lydia to feel safe in.

At one point, Beta says, “she’s GONE, Alpha.” That’s before Alpha admits she lied about killing Lydia. So we have yet another example of something thinking someone is dead, & saying she’s “gone,” when really, she’s alive and well in some other place.

Alpha gets upset about Lydia and starts to cry. (Note that Beta is the only one allowed to see her cry and live.) He reaches his hand out to her and she takes it. He basically calms her down and brings her back to herself. 

He tells her that there was smoke on the horizon. Alpha says it might be “the enemy” which means TF, and that they have to teach them a lesson and let the pack watch. That’s how she’ll ensure her pack’s loyalty to her. Not unlike Negan’s old tactics.

It's important to note that she was planning on attacking TF even before she realized they’d crossed the border. It's really not about her looking up and seeing Carol standing there at the end.

Then we see Alpha and Beta intertwine fingers. (Fascinating but creepy romance vibe.)

I said this was their Still/Alone episode. Think about all the things I’ve laid out here. It happened in a hospital. There was a bunch of Beth and Daryl dialogue. The words “still” and “alone” were literally written on the wall! And they forced a deep (albeit twisted) connection. When they were killing the walkers that got into the hospital, Alpha says, "I like kill with you." When she starts gutting the walkers, he says, "you're different," which really ought to be an insult, but you can tell he's drowned her because of that.

So at the end, they intertwine fingers, which always represents romantic love in TTD  and say their little mantra.

"We walk in darkness, we are free.

We bathe in blood, we are free.

We love nothing, we are free.

We fear nothing, we are free.

We need no words, we are free.

We embrace all death, we are free.

This is the end of the world. Now is the world. We are the end of the world."

This is twisted and heavy stuff, guys. This satanic little chant also brings me back to the Alpha and Omega theme. Like I said, I feel like Whispers are much more endgame than Negan ever was. Think of it this way. If the helicopter people have been around since the beginning (and they have been), and the Whisperers are tied up with them, then the “beginning” and the “end” makes sense here, right? I’ve even considered that maybe the helicopter people are the ones who caused or released the virus to begin with, whether by accident or on purpose. No idea if that’s true. It’s just something I’ve considered. But TWD is big on story arcs where the end mirrors the beginning, so this is a theme, a motif, and a pattern in the show.

Two more short notes. I’m not sure why Alpha doesn’t realize that making war on TF means coming face to face with Lydia again. She’s lying to her people about killing Lydia, and if they find out she’s lying (and they surely will) that will make them less loyal to her. Might be her undoing.

Also, just a correction. I said yesterday that Beta didn’t cry when his friend died. Upon watching it again, he actually does. I missed it the first time. You can’t see it because of the mask but you can hear him sobbing. Just wanted to correct myself on that.

Again, just a really fabulous and fascinating episode. I’ve watched it like three times and I totally want to watch it again.

[unlessimwrongwhichyouknowimnot]

Psych Rewatch - 6x14 Autopsy Turvy

Hi, Andy Berman!

“And I’m a highly trained communicator able to adapt into any situation. I’m a master chameleon.” “You’re not a master chameleon.”

[juliets-roller-derby-awesomeness]

psych episode masterpost (18 july)

season one

🍍 pilot 1x01

🍍 spellingg bee 1x02

🍍 speak now or forever hold your piece 1x03

🍍 woman seeking dead husband: smokers okay no pets 1x04

🍍 9 lives 1x05

🍍 weekend warriors 1x06

🍍 who ya gonna call? 1x07

🍍 shawn vs. the red phantom 1x08

🍍 forget me not 1x09

🍍 from the earth to the starbucks 1x10

🍍 he loves me he loves me not he loves me oops he's dead 1x11

🍍 cloudy with a chance of murder 1x12

🍍 game set ... muuurder? 1x13

🍍 poker? i barely know her 1x14

🍍 scary sherry: bianca's toast 1x15

season two

🎤 american duos 2x01

🦖 sixty-five million years off 2x02

🍍 psy vs. psy 2x03

🍍 zero to murder in 60 seconds 2x04

🐎 and down the stretch comes murder 2x05

📰 meat is murder but also murder is murder 2x06

📚 if you're so smart then why are you dead? 2x07

🍼 rob-a-bye baby 2x08

🚤 bounty hunters! 2x09

🎄 gus' dad may have killed an old guy 2x10

🍷 there's something about mira 2x11

💊 the old and the restless 2x12

🎬 lights camera ... homicido 2x13

🍍 dis-lodged 2x14

🍍black and tan: a crime of fashion 2x15

🍍 shawn (and gus) of the dead 2x16

season 3

🚙 ghosts 3x01

🏫 murder? anyone? anyone? bueller? 3x02

🏍️ daredevils! 3x04

🍍 the greatest adventure in the history of basic cable 3x04

🍍 disco didn't die it was murdered! 3x05

🛢️ there might be blood 3x06

🛼 talk derby to me 3x07

🏦 gus walks into a bank 3x08

🎅🏻christmas joy 3x09

🐬 six feet under the sea 3x10

🍍 lassie did a bad bad thing 3x11

🧯 earth wind and ... wait for it 3x12

🏈 any given friday night at 10PM 3x13

🍍 truer lies 3x14

🏕️ tuesday the 17th 3x15

🍿an evening with mr. yang 3x16

season four

👑 extradition: british columbia 4x01

✈️ he dead 4x02

🤠 high noon-ish 4x03

⛪️ the devil's in the details ... and the upstairs bedroom 4x04

🥎 shawn gets the yips 4x05

🥻 bollywood homicide 4x06

💻 high top fade out 4x07

🐺 let's get hairy 4x08

🍍 shawn takes a shot in the dark 4x09

🪖 you can't handle this episode 4x10

🍍 thrill seekers and hell raisers 4x11

❤️ a very juliet episode 4x12

🦠 death is in the air 4x13

🍍 think tank 4x14

🦈 the head the tail the whole damn episode 4x15

🎞️ mr. yin presents 4x16

season five

🥋 romeo and juliet and juliet 5x01

💉 feet don't fail me now 5x02

👽 not even close ... encounters 5x03

🍷 chivalry is not dead ... but someone is 5x04

🏎️ shawn & gus in drag (racing) 5x05

🍍 viagra falls 5x06

⛓️‍💥 ferry tale 5x07

🍍 shawn 2.0 5x08

🚁 one maybe two ways out 5x09

🍍 extradition ii: the actual extradition part 5x10

👻 in plain fright 5x11

📧 dual spires 5x12

🚓 we'd like to thank the academy 5x13

🍍 the polarizing express 5x14

🍍dead bear walking 5x15

💉yang 3 in 2d 5x16

season six

🇬🇧 shawn rescues darth vader 6x01

🍍 last night gus 6x02

🩸 this episode sucks 6x03

📰 the amazing psych-man & tap man issue 2 6x04

⚾️ dead man's curveball 6x05

🍍 shawn interupted 6x06

🍍 in for a penny 6x07

🧘 the tao of gus 6x08

💍 neil simon's lover's retreat 6x09

🖼️ indiana shawn and the temple of the kinda crappy rusty old dagger 6x10

🗡️ heeeeere's lassie 6x11

🍍 shawn and the real girl 6x12

🍍 let's doo-wop it again 6x13

📚 autopsy turvy 6x14

🍍 true grit 6x15

🍍 santabarbaratown 6x16

season seven

🍍 santabarbaratown 2 7x01

🏠 juliet takes a luvvah 7x02

📹 lassie jerky 7x03

🇲🇽 no country for two old men 7x04

🎸 100 clues 7x05

🎪 cirque de soul 7x06

💍 deez nups 7x07

🦋 turn right or left for dead 7x08

🪟 juliet wears the pantsuit 7x09

💛 santa barbarian candidate 7x10

🗑️ office space 7x11

🎙️ dead air 7x12

💉 nip and suck it 7x13

🍍 no trout about it 7x14

🎵 psych: the musical 7x15

season 8

🪄 lock stock some smoking barrels and burton guster's goblet of fire 8x01

s.i.e.z.e. the day 8x02

[nocontextpsych]

[snarkypsychic]

"luckily this box has an elevator."

[fyeahvulnerablemen]

Best 'shot' whump recs? Like the whole collapse, bleeding out, near death, stitches/bandages/surgery, hospital/recovery, etc.

The Fall 2x06 and 3x01 [x] [x] [x], Grey’s Anatomy 6x23 [x] [x] [x], The Tomorrow People 1x12 [x] [x], Prison Break 4x20 [x], Hawaii Five-0 6x25 [x] [x], October Gale [x] [x], Dark Matter 2x11 [x] [x], Timeless 1x02 [x], Zoo 1x12 [x] [x], NCIS LA 2x17 [x] The XFiles 6x14 [x], Psych 4x09 [x], The Blacklist 1x09 [x]

Those are some favorites but there are SO many good ones out there. Check out the shot and hospital tag too. :)