Chapter 21 - "Mark of the Beast" - Part 2

[shadow]

I have a question though, was tarsier trying to make a homemade thermobarric bomb or were they just hoping to use all of the tankers for a huge explosion? He seemed like he was trying to figure out the safe distance there at the end.

[j0be]

well i know how to refresh, i already tried that multiple times, i had to close my web browser for it to work.

If you're on a mac, hold CMD+F5 (cache refresh)
If you're on a PC, hold ctrl+F5 (cache refresh)

[Pikepaw]

Finally knowing that Durai is alive is good, even though he is a liar who is probably a sociopath or a psychopath to be in charge of the Mallers
Pippin is up to nothing good, I'm definitely thinking he is a spy and I agree with VeritableHero in that the zombie arm means that at least the first Zeds were genetic experiments or something. My lesser theory is that some of them are mutating, but I find this less likely for a couple of reasons.
While I personally think Riley's sexuality is moot and like Ra1th, I want her and Angel to hook up. However even I have to admit this episode made it seem like Riley was in love with Lizzie. Wait, screw that, I just remembered one of my best friends and if he got kidnapped by convicts in zombieland, then I would totally be depressed and angry too on the level Riley is too. I really like how in this episode, same with 20-3, the time-lines were noticeably different. The big cliffhanger explosion ending of the Maller storyline taking place at the beginning of the Tower storyline. Very well done.

Also, it now becomes apparent why Tardust is useful to the Mallers. Before I found him to be kind of small, weak, afraid and the most awkward rapist in history. If I didn't know better, I'd say he was in jail because of a mix up. Now to know he is actually the smart one, at least with explosives. How he masterminded blowing up the Arena. It does surprise me that the Mallers knew about it, but maybe they picked it up from the Tower's radio chatter or they have some damn good scouts.

Chapter 21 is also the chapter making me like Bricks more and more. Before there wasn't enough info about him for me to know. As he does more and says more, I'm really starting to like this guy.

Way to leave us on a Cliffhanger KC! UGH, the not knowing...

[Ra1th]

I wouldnt really call the ending a cliff hanger, the explosion happened. And I'll bet you anything that lizzy, bricks and tar survived, maybe they're a bit banged up but they're alive.

Also, people give the mallers credit. They are not stupid criminals. Some of them are. But not all of them. Pikepaw brought up a good point. Tardust, at first glance seems like a coward, a rapist and a monster, but he's also the one who masterminded the explosives attack on the arena. Second, the mallers do not have to depend on the tower for information on the zombies. Without a doubt Durai is a brilliant type of guy, maybe a bit of a sociopath, but that's it. He's not crazy, he's not dumb, and he doesnt take shit from anyone. And honestly, with a guy like that, he's probably a better leader than Michael. While the tower has been barely surviving, the mallers have been conquering the post apocalyptic world. I mean that very literally. While the tower has been hanging on for dear life and fighting for survival, looking for a doctor, etc, the mallers have been out on the streets. They have a lot more people than the tower, so they have a much bigger reach, they have larger convoys, and motorpools because they have more moutsh to feed, and they have information on the zombies that WE as an audience are not privy to. In an earlier conversation with Kc, the topic came up that there is a reason the mallers can move around in large groups without worrying about zombie attacks (ex: the war, when they showed up with an army at the towers front door, at NIGHT). Do not underestimate the mallers.

I like the tardust/bricks pairing, Bricks has this dumb brawn and loyalty to him, and tardust has this cowardice/brains to him, they work well together. Although I think lizzy has been really annoying lately because she doesnt come off clearly, or she reveals secrets that should not be revealed.

Pippin, everything about this guy seems off. Starting with the deliverance of his lines, he pauses like he's making sure his story adds up, and tanya says that his wounds seem fresh. If he was a slave, then his wounds would have been acquired over a long period of time, and he'd have been constantly beaten for his failures. His wounds are fresh, as though he was beaten to a pulp and thrown out right in front of the tower so he could infiltrate it.

Another interesting thought came to me, cause i was listening to the season 1 box set in the car today, and I was on the purgatory chapter. We don't know what happened to samantha... We think she died. We assume she was played with and killed as entertainment, but what if she wasn't? Datu never looked out the window, what if those screams were from something else... These small ones, they seem like they've been engineered and we know they've been marked. The one brick's killed had the number 5 on it. There's not enough information on it. But it's something to worth noting I think.

[ObamaCat]

Wow. KC, you've done it again. Fantastic episode.

Durai alive? Cool, cool. Arena attacked by the Mallers? Pfft called it .

What intrigues me the most this episode is what the Mallers are up to down South. Setting up at the Colony or the Island are my two best guesses. As for our friend Pippin, the mole theory is beginning to seem more and more likely to be true. His story about escaping when the Mallers moved doesn't match up since Scratch said she was going to "drop him off". Unless Scratch took him back to the Mall, proceeded to beat him up, and he somehow made his way to the Tower unscathed, he's a mole.

As for the ending of the episode, I believe Tar, Bricks and Lizzy are going to become separated from the Mallers. Scratch might think they were taken out in the blast or something and they'll have to fend for themselves. Lizzy and Bricks will become bffs and either kill Tar or he'll defect to the Tower alongside Bricks (not likely).

I think that's all I have to contribute at the moment. I'll give 21 - 2 a relisten and see what else comes to mind

[Th3_T3ch]

Skittles said the little ones showed up later than the rest so maybe, and this is a big maybe, INK made them out of people from the arena.

[ObamaCat]

Skittles said the little ones showed up later than the rest so maybe, and this is a big maybe, INK made them out of people from the arena.

Hell at this point, that seems like a very likely theory.

[nikvoodoo]

1. If TOWTM/Ink made the little ones, I'm disappointed because that should be an impossible task as both sid and I pointed out last month. The piecing together of pieces of flesh and allowing them coordinated and advanced brain functions simply shouldn't be possible.

2. Ra1th, its not spelled out but Datu pounded on the window, and hear what sounds like his hands streak against the glass as we hear Samantha's screams stop. He also says to himself don't look or stop looking, so anymething to that effect. I'd be very surprised if she comes back in any way shape or form other than a memory.

[Ra1th]

Who said anything about piecing one of these things together? I'm more interested in a queen theory. Or some sort of biological way for this to happen. A different strain of the virus maybe.

And i'm not saying Samantha is going to come back, but how do you know she died and that she wasnt turned? There's really no way to prove it. I'm wondering if there is a deeper reason to the zombies taking humans alive than just entertainment.

[Kiwi of the Dead]

Skittles said the little ones showed up later than the rest so maybe, and this is a big maybe, INK made them out of people from the arena.

I'll go with it. It sounds like the little ones were definitely manufactured, but they haven't shown up until now.

I have to wonder, though, how did the Mallers find the Arena? And how much do they really know? Obviously enough that they want to blow it up, but still, they seem pretty inexperienced with the zombies.

Pippin's definitely a rat. Whether he's legitimately a former slave or not is hard to say, but he's pitching his sob story awfully hard. ("Nooo, they're coming for meeee!") My prediction is that he'll be captured, which will fill the Tower residents in on the Maller's plans and current situation. I can see him eventually defecting (or maybe just getting thrown out on his ass) but he'll always be a rat.