The Walking Dead

[Reply #680 on:]

Well, it'll be over in little over a month.

[Reply #681 on:]

Thoughts on the premiere for season 6?

I thought it was solid. Probably slightly weaker than season 5B's average but I'm excited to see where it leads, and I'm so glad they finally added Heath to the show. His first scene with Eugene was great.

Big comic spoilers:

Show spoiler

The herd being drawn to Alexandria is such a tease. I hope they do the scene with Rick cutting off Jessie's hand and Carl taking a bullet to the eye. I was thinking that might be the mid-season finale but now I'm thinking it'll be earlier.

[Reply #682 on:]

I clicked on that before I saw "Big comic spoilers", I thought it was just going to be spoilers for the episode. Damn son! Put that shit in bold or something!

[Reply #683 on:]

Aww, sorry. Is that better?

[Reply #684 on:]

Yes. Well done, sir.

I actually only read the first few words before I realized it was something I didn't want to know. I don't think you spoiled anything bad for me.

[Reply #685 on:]

New episode was amazing. One of the best in the series IMO. And can I just say that I fucking love Carol?

[Reply #686 on:]

It was the best episode in a long, long while.

I'm hoping season 6 will be a return to form for the show, though I doubt it will end up being more than a flash in the pan, sadly.

[Reply #687 on:]

Agreed, new episode was great.

Can someone tell me exactly why Carl thought it was an appropriate time to bake himself up some dinner though? That was weird.

[Reply #688 on:]

That was Carol's dinner. It showed her setting the timer right before the attack. I guess it was an abstract way of showing that the whole thing happened really fast; it started and ended in the time it takes to bake a casserole.

[Reply #689 on:]

That's no fun. I wanted to imagine Carl as a master multitasker. That's the second time in a week you've ruined this show for me!

[Reply #690 on:]

I must say, it would have been amazing if Carol kept having to come back to the kitchen to add salt, set water boiling, that sort of thing, so that the meal didn't get put behind time.

Especially if, at one point, she was attacked in the kitchen and had to have a Jackie-Chan-esque fight where she's both focusing on not being killed and adding ingredients to the casserole. Maybe  they could attack her with a machete and she could throw some broccoli at them as they swing it so that it slices, neatly, into the pot.

Man, I should be writing this show.

[Reply #691 on:]

...Fuck.

[Reply #692 on:]

...Fuck.

Holy shit. Holy shitting shitbirds.

Show spoiler

That's easily the most unexpected death in the show's history, and really drives the point that not everyone can be redeemed. Some people just suck.

I really love how damn terrifying they made the zombie threat in this episode. I was literally trembling at some points. The Walking Dead has very been a particularly scary show, but I'll be damned if it wasn't this time.

And can someone give Andrew Lincoln an award? His acting at the very end was just phenomenal.

EDIT:

Show spoiler

There's theories that the zombies are eating Nicholas and that Glenn survives. That would be ridiculously shitty writing and I will eat my own fist if that ends up happening.

[Reply #693 on:]

Fuck, indeed. As in fuck this show.

That was the biggest load of fucking stupid nonsense that they've pulled in a long, long while.

Show spoiler

I've been expecting Glenn's death for the last few episodes - if any of you follow the comics, you'll know that he dies roughly around this point in the comics, too - but that was the most utterly pointless and downright stupid to the point of being inadvertantly funny death that they've pulled since that character got a pair of scissors in the head. In the comics, his death is genuinely moving and powerful and a huge deal. In this, he just got unlucky because some idiot shot himself. And that would be fine if the show was attempting to make some sort of point about existentialism and the futility of life, but it clearly isn't. It's just a load of fucking idiots, running around, behaving like nobody would ever behave, week after week.

Rick kept leaving doors open and then a guy attacked him with a gun, shooting at him and missing and not bothering to attempt a clear shot, and Rick's reaction was to tackle the guy before shooting him with the gun he had rather than just shooting him. Meanwhile, the guy's other friend, with no gun, ran in and the two of them weren't able to stop Rick form overpowering them with a tackle?

And at the end, Rick just sits there and lets himself get surrounded by zombies despite having more than enough time to get out and run away. They might be fast by slow zombie standards, but they're still fucking slow.

Ugh. Seriously. Fuck this show. It's dumb and it's an embarassment to the comics.

[Reply #694 on:]

Show spoiler

From a story perspective I thought Glenn's death made a lot of sense. Glenn's questionable choice to spare Nicholas earlier came back to bite him in the ass. Not everyone gets an epic Shakespearian death monologue and it would be stupid if they did.
As for his comic death (which I expect to be the season finale), they could always use somebody else. They tend to swap characters around all the time for major events.

[Reply #695 on:]

Show spoiler

Not everybody should get a crescendo and fanfare, I agree, but there needs to be purpose to it from a writing perspective. It can't just exist for the sake of it - as a cheap means of squeezing emotional blood from a what is, at this point, essentially a TV stone. I don't agree that Glenn's death made any real sort of sense unless the show was trying to make a specific point about his actions and I don't think it was given how the show essentially glossed over the fact that he'd just died.

If they use someone else for the scene from the comic, it will have to be somebody important to the show and important to the story at this point. I guess Carol might just about pass. There's no way the show would have the balls to kill Rick, Carl or Michonne at this point and nobody else comes close to being as important to the series in the way that that scene requires at this point.

[Reply #696 on:]

Show spoiler

What about Daryl? He has a huge fan base and they'd collectively lose their shit if he was killed in that manner.

It might be a little early to say if Glenn's death was a waste or not. I'm sure it will have a huge impact on Maggie's character.

[Reply #697 on:]

Show spoiler

Oh yeah, I always forget about Daryl because I don't understand why he's so popular. I think he's a really dull character, but you're absolutely right, he's a massively popular character and they could easily use him in Glenn's place.

[Reply #698 on:]

I really enjoyed the newest episode. Probably the best character-based episode they've done since Live Bait in season 4.

[Reply #699 on:]

I really enjoyed the newest episode. Probably the best character-based episode they've done since Live Bait in season 4.

I didn't mind it... but it had no business being so long and being placed in such a sensitive position with all the crazy shit going down in Alexandria. It just felt like bloated filler to me.

[Reply #700 on:]

I'm in two minds about it.

It felt better than the show typically is these days; it was certainly much better than last week.

It was also bloated to fill a full episode's length, overly simplistic in a lot of ways and it just felt like a cheap means of prolonging the hype generated from the events in last week's episode.

I guess I basically agree with UnrealLegend.

[Reply #701 on:]

So basically if it had come at a different place in the season, it would have been much more appreciated?

I guess I don't really buy that there should "hype" left over from last week's episode. I know that the internet is losing its collective mind, but having watched the big scene from the last episode on slow motion a few times, I can say pretty assuredly that those people are idiots and he is dead as a doornail, and if he isn't then the writers/director of that episode are absolute morons who should be fired. Personally I want to believe that there was no ambiguity about his fate intended whatsoever, in which case there shouldn't be any major anticipation regarding it for future episodes that should distract from a bit of a break from the action like this week's episode. If he is indeed dead, then there's no reason the writers should have to take into account the stupidity of fans thinking that the matter is somehow unresolved.

As for other matters such as what's happening with Rick and the rest of Alexandria...I guess I'm just not invested enough to need to know immediately that I wasn't able to appreciate this episode? I mean, obviously Rick will live, and it seems like Alexandria is about to be totally fucked over and then some, returning the show to the status quo of trying to find a new home, so I guess I'm just not dying to see it all happen as soon as possible. The acting and writing in this episode seemed like a step above the usual so I was happy with that while it lasted.

[Reply #702 on:]

It's not just the placement of this episode that bugs me, it's that it feels completely unnecessary.

We didn't really learn anything new. Sure, we get to actually [i[see[/i] how Morgan changes, but we already vaguely knew what happened with some of his conversations with Rick at the start of the season. It's not something that needed an entire episode.

[Reply #703 on:]

Yeah, it's not the placement, but that it felt like they thought:
"How can we stretch this hype we're getting out for maximum viewers?"
"If we have several episodes following other characters before addressing the fallout of what happened?"
"Well, we've only really got one other group we can follow at the moment, so we could stretch it out for one week."
"What if we throw some flashback episodes in there as well?"
"We've only really got that back-story about Morgan to fill in, but there's only really enough story there for a C-plot."
"Screw it, pad it out. We need it here."

It could have gone anywhere and felt equally bloated and unnecessary, but the fact that it was placed there makes it feel even cheaper.

That said, like I said, I do feel like it was of the better recent episodes.

[Reply #704 on:]

"WE KEEP NOISE TO A MINIMUM! WE NEED TO MAKE THIS PLACE AS QUIET AS A GRAVEYARD!" - Rick on this week's The Walking Dead

[Reply #705 on:]

I also commented on his yelling while saying that to the person I was watching with.

Anyway, this episode was pretty boring. The sewer zombies were pretty awesomely gross though.

[Reply #706 on:]

Yeah, not a terribly eventful episode but I thought it was good regardless as far as buildup goes (a few quiet moments before things get really bad in Alexandria are well deserved, IMO).

The stuff they did with Maggie makes me feel like Glenn is dead for good.

Oh yeah, and I can't unsee the fact that Tara's actress is pregnant. It's really obvious.

"WE KEEP NOISE TO A MINIMUM! WE NEED TO MAKE THIS PLACE AS QUIET AS A GRAVEYARD!" - Rick on this week's The Walking Dead

I'm not convinced that would matter in the slightest. When you literally have thousands of zombies around your walls a few stragglers joining in means bugger all.

[Reply #707 on:]

Yeah, but why say it unless you believe it would matter?

I thought this week was fairly solid on the whole. Uneventful, nothing particularly interesting, but nothing really dumb and never too boring.

[Reply #708 on:]

Newest episode was... kind of average. It was too drawn out and the dialogue felt fake. I'm glad we got an episode focusing on Abraham at least.

I really don't understand the need to separate all the different stories so much. It made sense post-prison when they group was scattered but it's just kind of annoying here.

Anyway, here's my predictions based on comic spoilers:
(Here's that gif again!)

Show spoiler

The guy who robbed Daryl is Dwight, or at least a counterpart to Dwight. For those who don't know, Dwight is a character who uses a crossbow and the very first time he appears, he kills Abraham. I hope it's not Abraham who dies like that in the show (it was a pretty shit death, tbh) but I'm sure somebody will be used instead. But I doubt they'd permanently get rid of Daryl's signature weapon unless it was either coming back eventually or he was being killed off soon. Chekov's crossbow.

I think Abraham will cheat on Rosita with Sasha. In the comics it was with a character called Holly... who has already died in the show. Holly also has a very memorable death in the comic which I really hope ends up happening in some form in the show.

Anyway, I'd say this episode was a bit like the Morgan one. Could've been much shorter.

[Reply #709 on:]

That would be ridiculously shitty writing and I will eat my own fist if that ends up happening.

Well, I'm a man of my word.

Show spoiler

Although to be honest, it was more a case of poor directing and continuity than poor writing. In "Thank You" you could quite clearly see that Glenn was surrounded but in this episode there was a convenient gap. Oh well. At least that means he can have a more meaningful death later on.

"Head's Up" was an improvement from last week, I think. It's good to have an episode with most of the characters instead of only focusing on a small group for once.

My favourite part was Tara flipping Rick off. I was totally expecting a contrived speech about how she'd save anyone or some shit but instead there was a hilariously unexpected middle finger. It genuinely felt like one of the more realistic exchanges in the show.

I wish that Carol confronted Morgan while still holding Judith. The mental image of her executing somebody with a machete in one hand and a baby in the other is highly amusing to me.

[Reply #710 on:]

Mid-Season finale was a very good episode I thought, but a pretty shitty mid-season finale. It's going to be painful waiting months for the payoff from that cliffhanger.

[Reply #711 on:]

I thought it was pretty mediocre. They've done far worse, but it wasn't anything special.

[Reply #712 on:]

So, the mid-season premiere was excellent, in my opinion. A lot of unforgiving brutal shit happened and the drama wasn't goofy.

Still don't know why they didn't make it the mid-season finale, though.

This is how that scene went down in the comics:

Show spoiler

[Reply #713 on:]

In the comics, that scene is one of the most brutal, visceral, emotional gut-punches I've ever experienced in any medium, including real life.

In the TV show it just sort of happened and then they got on with it. None of the emotion hits properly on this show.

I thought the episode was alright. They've done better; they've done worse.

[Reply #714 on:]

In the comics, that scene is one of the most brutal, visceral, emotional gut-punches I've ever experienced in any medium, including real life.

Agreed.

In the TV show it just sort of happened and then they got on with it. None of the emotion hits properly on this show.

Might be a bit early to say that... the show loves to pad itself out so I don't doubt there'll be more emotional aftermath next episode before they kick off the next arc. Although I do wish they

Show spoiler

lingered on Jessie's face a bit more while she was being eaten. (Does typing that make me a sound like a psychopathic cannibal? It sure feels like it.)

[Reply #715 on:]

The picture you just showed from the comics makes it a lot more believable that he could survive than in the show, because it shows the bullet having torn through the side of his head. In the show there's no where for that bullet to have gone other than his brain at that close of range.

I thought the episode was well executed but it strained my disbelief more than any episode so far, and that's saying something. So our main characters are basically superhumans who can take down literally thousands of walkers by hand? And since when does starting a giant fire cause walkers to walk directly into it? Imagine all the times that nifty trick could have been used at earlier times!

I fail to see how there could be any tension left in this show whatsoever after this point when the characters are clearly all invincible.

[Reply #716 on:]

In the show there's no where for that bullet to have gone other than his brain at that close of range.

It actually looks like the bullet skimmed the edge of the skull next to his eye, and I'm guessing the impact (or fragments from the bullet) took his eye with it.

It looks absolutely gross. Colour definitely make gore nastier.

[Reply #717 on:]

I really enjoyed the Rick / Darryl road trip portion of this week's episode. I wish this show would do the odd comedy episode like The X-Files or Star Trek used to do. Imagine if once a season, Rick and the gang held a sports day or something. It'd be great.

I wasn't so sure about the romance that came out of nowhere though. Seems like an odd choice of going off script with regards to the comics.

[Reply #718 on:]

I want to know how the fuck zombie-Deanna managed to get outside Alexandria's walls.

I really enjoyed the Rick / Darryl road trip portion of this week's episode.

Same. It's kind of strange, despite being the two main tough-guys of the group it feels like they don't interact that much. It was nice to have a relatively lighthearted episode as well, which I don't recall the show ever doing.

I wasn't so sure about the romance that came out of nowhere though. Seems like an odd choice of going off script with regards to the comics.

I think it's just another case of character-swapping.

Show spoiler

Since Andrea is long dead in the show they needed someone else to fill her romance role with Rick. The only real options are Michonne, Carol or Sasha, and Michonne makes the most sense of those three.

[Reply #719 on:]

Last couple of episodes have been interesting. The Hilltop community is uncannily similar to its comic counterpart (in fact, pretty much that entire episode).

I hope all this suspenseful build-up to Negan pays off.