#same functions. opposite order. bc of these two things you are both extremely different yet extremely similar

[bat-the-misfit]

clarifying my latest post i don't mean character should always be opposite types bc

1 like in the quixote example a character can still foil another without them being opposite types

2 most people don't care about mbti and that's ok and writers shouldn't be forced to learn it bc of that

3 you shouldn't change the nature of a character just to force them to oppose another character's type bc mbti is not to force people into boxes :)

i just like it when it happens bc i'm a mbti nerd and i like the idea of foils being opposite types ok

[twdmusicboxmystery]

Dissecting the S8 Trailer

Okay. I promised I’d get this posted tonight and here it is! (Now I gotta go to bed bc I have an early morning.) 

Let's talk about this damn trailer because it was amazing! First off, thanks to all the members of my FB group. They know who they are. They helped hash out many of these insights.

***Also, I do mention minor spoilers in here. Just FYI.***

The Coda

I ought to talk about things in the right order. But yeah, really not going to. Let's dive right into the coda. It's what I was most looking for and it did not disappoint.

You all know what I mean by the coda, right? It's that extra little bit that comes after they give the premiere date. At that point, the commercial seems to be over, but no! There's more.

Beth was the coda of the S5 trailer. It showed her getting beaten by Dawn at Grady. They usually go for something shocking and/or mysterious. I don't think there's any way in hell that Beth was the coda of the S5 trailer, and then the episode where she was shot was called "coda." In S6, the coda was Daryl in the woods meeting Dwight and Sherry in 6x06. And we all know that episode had a crap-ton of Beth symbolism. For S7, it was Tara at Oceanside, and of course there's that pesky 7:30-clock in Slabtown. So basically the codas have been about Beth in some way for the past three seasons. Keep that in mind.

This coda showed Rick waking up in a hospital as an old man. We see a cane and we see flowers, and Rick looks very old. I 100% believe this has everything to do with Beth's return. Let's go over a few things here:

Lots of people saying this mirrors the comic books. That it's what Rick will look like after All Out War. I'm not saying they're wrong. At the very least this is probably a foreshadow of that. But guys, keep in mind that the trailers generally take all of their scenes from the first 3-4 episodes of the season. There's absolutely no way they'll get through all of All Out War and a 2 year time jump in the first four episodes. It's ludicrous to think that. Besides, the lighting here is VERY reminiscent of the picnic scene in 7x01, and that wasn't a literal event either. It was Rick's bittersweet dream. I think this will be something similar. But again, that doesn’t mean it's not a foreshadow of something down the line.

That's what it's not. Let's talk about what it is. TD has spent 2+ years showing all the parallels between Beth and Rick. We've shown them, talked about them, over-analyzed them. Of all things, why would they pick the image of Rick waking up alone in the hospital? Probably to symbolize something else. Look at these flowers. (I don't mean that in a Carol way. ;D) In S1, his flowers are dead. 

That was most likely to symbolize that the world died while Rick slept. Now the dead are walking.

In this little coda, the flowers are alive. 

Someone is waking up alive in a hospital, and I don't think it will literally be Rick. It will be someone else. (Hmm. I wonder who! ;D) Besides as I said above, all the codas have related to Beth in some way. I think this is the same. It got me SO excited.

We also discussed in my FB group how the music sounds a LOT like the music that was played at the end of Coda. Not over the scene where Daryl carries Beth out, but just after that with Morgan. I haven't done a detailed comparison, but some who did say it's probably not the EXACT same music. There are some differences. But it's VERY similar. This kind of music is usually reserved in the show for big revelations. And the piano music is almost associated with Beth (because, you know, she played the piano). All of that is super significant.

The Trailer Overall

Remember that trailers in the past have proved very deceptive. Often they portray the opposite of what's actually happening in the season. (Looking at YOU, S4 and S5 trailers!) So keep in mind that whatever they're trying to make us believe (time jumps, etc.) is probably the opposite of what will actually happen.

The other thing I loved about the trailer (which has no bearing at all on the story, tbh) is how much action there is. This is EXTREMELY good for TD, guys. Go watch it again. Look at all those explosions, car chases, fighting, bullets flying. The spoiler site hasn't gotten ANY of this, and majority of it had to have been filmed over the past two months. This is what we've been saying all along. They have the ability to hide stuff when they want to.

The music over the main part of the commercial (not the coda) sounds a lot like Irish punk rock. That may or may not be significant, but we've had lots of Irish references before. (Patty Reilly, Tullamore Dew, etc.) Remember that in S2, Hershel told Glenn all about how his people were from Ireland. It's part of the Greene family legacy.

The spoiler site has several "main" locations they look at, and they're very good at getting shots of those sites. But all the show has to do is take the actors out to some remote site in the woods WITHOUT bringing them to base camp first and no one would ever be the wiser. Let's face it: Beth's first scene when she returns won't be her walking onto the middle of the Alexandria set and being like, "What's up guys?" It will probably be out in the woods somewhere. So no, just because we haven't (and they haven't) seen her filming doesn't mean diddly squat. And let's not forget Norman's tweet about Princess Pants.

Rick's Imprisonment

Everyone's talking about who's eye this is: 

If I had to guess, I'd say Rick's. Why? Because of this shot. 

Pretty sure this is Rick and he seems to be in a box car of some kind. It looks a whole lot like Terminus, actually, and remember in 5x16, Rick talked about having nightmares that he was still in the box car. So, especially as his clothes seem to have disappeared, it almost seems like a weird cross between Terminus and Daryl's imprisonment.

I could be wrong about the eye, of course. No way to tell for sure. Just seems to me that these two scenes are related somehow.

I will also say that a situation like this might be a good time to do dream sequences, which is where the coda may come in. And while they're at it, they might as well include some flashbacks to the 17 missing days after Grady. ;D

Pretty sure this is Rick, too.

Oceanside:

There's been a lot of talk of Oceanside not being in the trailer. Even if it weren't, that would be interesting to me because they're definitely not focusing on Oceanside. (Again, the trailer tries to misdirect us.) But I think there's a good chance this could be a shot of Oceanside. 

Can't tell for sure, but it looks like it to me.

Also, there's this guy. 

From what I understand, this is Siddiq. New character from the comic book. And here's where this gets interesting. This guy is a minor character, even in the CBs, but his ties are to Oceanside. And what's weirder, there's a part in the commercial where it shows faces REALLY fast.

Here's the sequence: Tara, Morgan, Carol, Daryl, Rosita, Rick, Maggie, Michonne, Gregory, Aaron, Morgan, Carl, Tamiel, Jerry, Siddiq, Rosita, Enid, Jesus.

Notice all the rest are characters we know and love and who are going to be part of AOW. Why would they throw in a minor character that the audience hasn't even been introduced to yet? That's kind of weird.

I think it shows that Oceanside will definitely be a part of this season, but they're being very careful to be subtle about showing it.

Hospital Theme:

We see Carol and Tara sitting here. Tara is wearing her funky sunglasses (Beth's blindness) and there's a flower on the wall next to Carol. 

I doubt the flower will be part of the scene. It's background decoration/symbols. We've seen similar ones, though. Both in the chalk mural at the prison (x) and in the drawings at Eastman's cabin. But we see more of this scene here and I'm noticing something interesting. 

This looks a lot like it could be a hospital they're sitting on the roof of. Okay, I know you can't tell what kind of a building it is, but I guess what I mean is it reminds me of TF being on the roof in Coda when Rick went to approach the Grady officers about the prisoner exchange. It looks like it could be the same set. I almost wonder if in some way this could represent Carol and Beth (Tara as her proxy) at Grady. Just a random thought.

It also looks a lot like season 1 when Rick and everyone is on the roof of the building there.

Okay, so I looked through comments on various platforms (most of which are NOT TDers) and everyone is talking about a hospital theme. It's kind of funny because that wasn't actually my first thought. (Not that I'm complaining if they're going for the hospital theme, because that would mirror Grady.) If you look at this room, it's not a hospital. 

It's actually a chemistry lab. And the Saviors or whoever could definitely be used as a hospital, but that wouldn't have been it's original function.

The camera pans over to this hallway, and someone's head shows up from around the corner. Pretty sure it's Carol's. 

Well, the walls are ALL kinds of green. But I think this is part of this building: And this building looks EXACTLY like the Savior outpost TF invaded in S6. (The satellite station.) 

I don't know if it's the same place or another outpost with the exact same layout, but I'd say TF is invading outposts for the war, which is awesome, if you ask me. ;D

New TF Operation?

So at the beginning, we see a lot of the characters sitting around waiting for something. And this scene especially reminds me of Operation Lead the Walkers Away. 

They're obviously putting some big plan into motion, though it's hard to tell exactly what they're doing or why. (Yet another reason I think most of this is probably from episode 1 or 2.)

Later there's this. 

I can't tell if this is TF, but I assume it is. Once again, they're trying to manipulate a walker horde for some reason. The fence here also looks a LOT like the promo posters for S4, which symbolized the downfall of the prison.

Sunrise:

One of the first things I noticed is the sunrise before Rick in this shot. (I was originally going to post a different thing tomorrow that talks about sunrises, but naturally I have to dissect the trailer, so that post will come later. Not sure when. But the sunrises usually start new arcs and phases in the show. They're super important. And remember that the music box started playing again with the sunrise.)

Carzekiel

Not much to say about this except that it still seems to be going strong, which makes me happy. We also do see Benjamin's little brother hanging around Carol a bit, which might prove my theory that he will be the next kid in Carol's arc. (Let's hope he doesn't die.)

Other Random Shots

No idea what's up with Negan and Gabriel, but the walkers against the window look a lot like Grady and Andrea and even Tara in 6x08. We've seen this theme before. Quite a lot, actually.

Carl looks hard at a blond walker in a car. 

If you look close, this walker has a forehead wound where Beth's was. And I can't help but wonder if this is from episode 1, where Carl and Rick were seen filming at a gas station. (We do see them making little gas bombs for Daryl to shoot, so that may be what Rick and Carl are doing at the gas station in ep 1. Which would be yet another mirror-and-yet-opposite to episode 1x01. In that episode, when Rick arrives at the gas station, all the pumps are dry. I'll do a more detailed post on this later.)

I'm curious as to why the crowds are parting for Ezekiel here. Later with Jerry we see him with a bloody face, so that could be why.

Dwight reads a note, but what's interesting about this shot is that it's shown through the spokes of a bike tire. No way that's his motorcycle. The wheels are too skinny.

Morgan definitely seems to be freaking out. He attacks Jesus more than once in the trailer, but it's hard to tell if they're just practicing together or if Morgan's gone back to his PTSD state. He certainly wasn't doing well last season after Benjamin's death.

Someone watches Aaron through binoculars. No way to tell who it is yet, but if it's Boots again, that's the Scavengers. As far as I can remember, the only time we've ever seen the shape of binoculars around the camera this way was from Boots in S7 and when Daryl and Aaron watched Red Poncho Guy in 5b.

Someone's tied up. Notice they give us no clues about what this is about in the trailer. Using wood to escape is a callback to Rick doing that at Terminus. Also notice the blue plaid. Just saying.

No idea what's going on here, but it reminds me of the balloon Enid and Carl found in S6, as well as the random guy/walker Spencer found with a map to supplies just before he died. Honestly don't know what that's about.

They show Gavin here. Obviously the douche-baggery is still strong with this one. But it's odd for them to focus on such a minor character. It's understandable why Jadis and Negan would have some focus, but Gavin? On the other hand, his name is Gavin. And Trevitt at Grady was named Gavin. I mean, there must be around a million names in the known world that the writers could use. Do we really think they're recycling names (and focusing on random, minor characters in the trailer) for no reason?

This scene reminded me a whole lot of Rick's escape from the Claimer house in 4b. The stance is almost identical, and that was a very Grady-like foreshadowing. The shelf they obliterate is full of boxes of matches, btw.

There's a Virgin Mary statue here, which we've seen before.

Behind Carol here we see big cargo boxes in cages, many of which are blue. Seems like an imprisonment theme to me.

I can't help but read into Maggie mentioning the farm. We can't tell who she's talking to there, but it must be someone who knows about the farm, and it doesn't get mentioned very often, does it. ;D

An example of how muddled things get in the trailer. There's a part where Aaron has a line and I listened like five times, trying to understand what he says. I think what we hear is, "We pin them in/it takes care of itself. That's the plan." Pretty sure they're running two sentences together there, and he probably doesn’t say anything remotely like that at that part. They've done this before where they change dialogue in the trailer from what it actually is in the episode. That's why you can't trust it.

And of course I'm still in love with Jerry:

I think that's all I have for now. I'll probably watch it a billion more times and may come up with more.

We didn't see Beth of course (which I really didn't think we would). We didn't see Grady either, and I thought that was way more likely. (Bummer)

Just don't forget that all the clocks in Slabtown except one (the 7:30 one) pointed to a time somewhere between 8:00 and 8:05. Can't wait to see what S8 brings us!

How did everyone else like the trailer?