Sam Talks of the Dead: Chapter 3

Hey it’s time for Chapter 3 of The Walking Dead!!! Wooo! I was genuinely excited to read this chapter, as it is the first one that goes on past the TV show…and now that i’ve read it…i’m even more excited to watch the new episodes. I was worried that I would feel that reading the comics completely ruined the show for me, as I’ve spoken with other readers who aren’t pleased with the way the show is going. However I feel that both the TV show and the comics are a delightful look at the logistics of post-zombieapocalyptic survival and that similarly to Fight Club they compliment each other well. The dramatic elements of a TV show are somewhat different than those utilized in a comic book, and so the big differences in storytelling are, I feel, overall justified for a TV audience. Anyway, back to the comic!

And now it’s time for Sam cries everywhere, the part of the show where Sam cries.

So the good folks over at BBC released this little gem today called Doctor Who: P.S. it was a mostly animated short scene that was never filmed. It was written for the end of The Angels Take Manhattan and it concerned the events surrounding Amy and Rory informing Brian Williams of their fate. I saw stories talking about this last night…and I became concerned. The articles all said that it would tell us more about the Williams’ life after they got time locked in NY and about Brian. I was excited naturally, but worried about any potential inconsistencies there may have been in the scene. Well there weren’t…instead there was just…tears and crying…and tears.

Let me make this perfectly clear. I don’t cry about things…it takes a lot to get me upset. The only thing I have cried about in the past few months is Doctor Who. So i knew there would be feelings…but I wasn’t prepared for them. In no way shape or form was I prepared for these feelings. If you haven’t watched the video I would encourage you to do so because i’m about to ruin it for you if you haven’t.

So this man shows up at Amy and Rory’s house and Brian’s there…just watering the plants…like he said…someone has to water the plants. I just can’t handle how adorable Brian is as a human being, he’s is just remarkably loyal and just…wonderful really. Anyway…i’ll stop gushing. So Brian answers the door and this strange man invited himself in and gives Brian a letter…from him son…from like 60 years ago. So by now Amy and Rory are both dead and buried on NY. So maybe someday he’ll go and visit their graves… 😥 So then Brian reads the letter, and Rory tells his dad what happened to them. He tells him that he’ll never see him again, and that he misses his awkward hugs. Along with everything else about Brian. He goes on to tell him that he and Amy adopted a son, and that his adopted grandson is the man who delivered the letter. Brian goes to look the man he now knows to be his adopted grandson in the eyes, properly, for the first time. The last little piece of Amy and Rory that he’ll ever be able to see or touch again. He hugs this man, in his 60’s. His grandson is older than him…and he gives him an awkward hug.

For a lot of reasons this farewell for Brian is infinitely more upsetting than saying goodbye to Amy and Rory. The ending of Angels Take Manhattan will always be sad for that little girl sitting on her tan suitcase waiting to get whisked away by a magic man in a blue box. This ending is sad on such a deeper level though because of Brian. Anyone who watched an episode featuring Brian can understand how endearing he is. A man who just wanted to sit in orbit over his home planet and have tea when he learned he was in a time machine. A man who when told to stay put by the Doctor actually stayed put…for 4 days. A man who was so simple, but so overwhelming complicated just by being there. And this simple marvelous man now has to live with the fact that he sent his son and daughter-in-law away and now he might feel responsible for making them effectively dead to him and all of their family and friends.

Brian might have to be the one to tell everyone else, at least anyone who doesn’t know. Would he tell them the truth, or would he come up with a story? Why else couldn’t they be contacted? Why didn’t the Doctor tell him?…that bothers me. A whole week the Doctor kept him waiting…i’m sure he was in mourning for his friends, but he has a bloody time machine he could mourn for years and still go back the day after they left to tell Brian what happened. Brian might have to bury his own grandson.

When it comes to Doctor Who: P.S. I think I have decided this. It was beautiful, and I’m glad they released this information to us. Brian’s fate is ridiculously heartbreaking and I feel that he’s the real victim in all of this. Everyone has suffered no doubt, and Rory will miss his father as much as Brian will miss him. We know nothing about Brian’s life outside of his relationship with his son however…we don’t even know if his wife is still alive…i don’t think. He could be completely alone now. I feel for the Doctor too, I always will, but this time I think he should’ve known better. I don’t think i’ve ever stop feeling that way, he knows how dangerous he is to people and he keeps endangering them. I don’t want him to be alone, I could never want that. He just needs to figure out how to keep his friends safe…somehow.