Chapter 37-3: Balance of Power

[Red Shirt]

First things first, A hearty congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. Wayland. I wish you the best and many great years to come. Awesome guys, Awesome.
(I'll admit, I had a look at the emoticons. I was hoping that their might have been a new one, bells. alas there is not.)


Yet again, I wasn't there as these rolled in. With what seemed to be little to no foil hat revelations, I didn't think I'd have much to contribute. I'll just go through the posts from #1 and grab quotes as I go...

Oh, only since no one else has tinfoiled this out yet... Scratch and gang are at Dunbar!

Noooo, I don't think that is the case. Just want to conspiratheorize before 7oddIsDead, Red Shirt or Grognaurd beat me too it.

I don't think I mentioned it because it seemed to me to be generally assumed that this was the case... though I do think it may have been mentioned previously.
Who else would it have been behind the wheel of that SWAT van? A van I might add had a fair bit of equipment, guns, ammo and CJ's maps of LA in it... maps of LA with directions to get back to Dunbar.

Cue: Bizarre emotional scene where Scratch is trying to get through the locked doors and gates of Dunbar, cursing Pegs for the death of Latch at every step.

I think that the crew that ventures bask to Dunbar are in for a nasty and terribly ironic surprise: Scratch holed up in the tower that she was looking for all along. With the tables turned, she now needs to keep them out. With a chopper at their disposal though and no more RPG rounds... they could go in through the roof and make short work of the matter.

That all depends on how protracted the return to Dunbar is. Perhaps Vic and Saul hole up in one of CJ's many safe houses for a while, feeding intel back to CJ through Michael. CJ keeps Michael on a short leash and won't act on the info. Riley and Burt vanish from the story for a few chapters. Michael decides enough is enough, pick up Saul and Vic and go full on commando to retake Dunbar. Only to discover a dying Burt in the hall and a crazed Riley standing over Scratch's pincushioned corpse.

I sense a return to LA/Dunbar Chapter titled: "Once More Unto the Breach."

Was anyone else surprised at how many colonists there still are? I was picturing maybe 20 or 30, but if there were 62 votes and not everyone voted, then how many are we talking?

From the intel that Gatekeeper gave CJ (Ch. 32 2/3 @ 13:30) 90 colonists, 20 slaves and 30 Mallers.
(I'll also point out that it's possible that the female "Maller" that was present during their assault on the arena, might have been one of the deserters/escapees from Dunbar.)

2.) Riley and Burt and whoever else joins them on Operation-Kill the fuck out of Scratch

That's too good for her. Throw her in pit with a live Inkling that was captured for study. Otherwise, I can't help but get the feeling that she's going to live out the series, even be left as a mystery at the show's conclusion. (Foil hat conjecture above aside.)

Ah, but this is where her inexperience as a puppet master shows up. Yes, she did say that. But, she calls for Max, and then tells Saul and Victor that they have until the end of the week. Max knows she just stabbed two of the saviors in the back. From My Generation, Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Come on Max, play ball and nip this powergrab in the bud.

But Max might not know what they "have until the end of the week" for. I don't think he was there for CJ's ultimatum.

Leading up to that, we get resolution of the heated conversation between Michael and Victor. They are buddies now. Michael pulls in Saul and tells him about Angel before anyone else. That solidifies Saul and Michael again. Puck;s comment about being excluded was an interesting one. I don't think it foreshadows a split between Michael and his Irwinite buddies. But an interesting line nonetheless...

Nah, that's more of an Army Buddy Brotherhood kind of thing. It's the sort of thing they needed to do as the Soldiers that knew him. Puck will understand once he learns the story.

Plus, she basically threw herself at Saul only to find out he might have been looking at her as just his ride over to his Girlfriend's house. Gotta sting.

My take is that being rebuffed by Saul is partially fueling her resentment. She lost Sean and can't have Saul so she's sending him away. Victor is getting caught in the fallout even though he was primary to the "lie of omission." I strongly suspected that this might have played out different had Saul reciprocated.

Too many people in one place. TOWTM won't be able to resist and he'll be better prepared to take a defended position this time....

Either way, storm's a comin'

I do believe that this is the largest (confirmed) group of people in one place since the show began. TOWTM hadn't gone south early on, but he sure has now.



An increase of activity at and around Dunbar is going to serve as a huge distraction to the zombie hordes, particularly as a distraction away from the Colony... leaving them without the chopper and heavy weapons may be moot. Leaving may just be doing them a favor.

Also, remember that Michael urged for the LA recon mission and was privy to the intel that was gathered. (Ch. 33 1/3 @ 21:46) The team's map says the naval base is clear, gives a good route, staging areas and info on the local ground wells... What wells? They already discussed early on before the first tower fell that there were no water wells in LA. Datu pointed out that he thinks LA's water came from the Colorado River. Were they talking about oil? The Naval station just might give them some of the supplies they need... Maybe fuel, but more importantly ammo for the .50 cal and M134. If I remember correctly the navy has quite the, um, "love affair" with the .50 cal and gatlings.

Whelp, I started this when there were nine pages. There's now ten. I better get this out.