The Walking Dead

[Reply #720 on:]

The guy who robbed Daryl is Dwight

Fuckin' called it.

The bolt to the head took me by surprise even though I was expecting it.

[Reply #721 on:]

Sadly, that season finale was total horseshit. They somehow don't have enough faith in the show to do well on it's own merits without resorting to bullshit cliffhangers. And now, they've completely killed the momentum of that particular scene to the point where I can't see how it could possibly recover it for the start of season 7.

I'm amazed that they screwed up what is by far the most famous scene from the comics after setting it up so well. Especially because the setup and tension in the final 10 minutes were done masterfully. My heart was pounding so hard that I'd barely have cared if they copped out and had Negan chose a nobody like Rosita. But nope, gotta secure those views for the next season, even though nobody will give a shit 6 months from now.

Fuck this show.

[Reply #722 on:]

Agreed. What a ridiculous copout.

[Reply #723 on:]

This show is bullshit.

[Reply #724 on:]

Nothing wrong with cliffhangers IMO. I like the idea that nerds are fuming they didn't get to see who bit it
Hope its Glenn but its probably Abe or the mullet guy.

[Reply #725 on:]

There's nothing inherently wrong with cliffhangers when they make you excited for what's next. But in this particular instance, they cheated the audience out of the climax that the past six episodes had been building up to. And like I said before, the momentum is dead. Any impact that scene might have is gone now.

[Reply #726 on:]

Yeah, I'm not really mad that I don't know who got killed, the show hasn't done enthe work to get me invested enough in these versions of these characters to care. What bothered me about it was that we didn't get to see it happen, period. Showing it from the angle they did was silly and deflated all the tension that the scene had been building up.

[Reply #727 on:]

WE got to see it from the POV of the person getting their heads caved in, some might see that as a cheap trick but I liked it. Its probably not a big character, a big character death makes a better cliffhanger than a mystery killing but a mystery killing is a better cliffhanger than us seeing them kill a minor character. So that probably means Glenn is safe unfortunately, will probably be Abe or Eugene on maybe Sasha. 

[Reply #728 on:]

It being Maggie would be the only thing that might possibly redeem it as a cliffhanger.

[Reply #729 on:]

Maggie would actually be a really shocking choice, and I might even forgive the writers if they had the balls to kill a pregnant woman.

But if it's not her, it has to be either Glenn, Daryl or Michonne. If they chicken out and kill a minor character then I won't be able to take the show seriously anymore. There hasn't been a major character death for like, 2 and a half seasons.

And completely irrelevant to this rant, but I like how Trevor from GTA V is one of Negan's henchmen. Hopefully he becomes a recurring character.

[Reply #730 on:]

Ye both want Maggie to die 
She is the nicest piece of eye candy on the show.

Strange way of coming out of the closet guys.

[Reply #731 on:]

There's nothing wrong with cliffhangers as a general concept, but in the comics, this scene is incredibly powerful and a real emotional gut-punch.

They reduced it to a cheap bit of cynical marketing and there's absolutely no way that this scene will ever have the impact that it should have had, now. Even if it picks up from the second the season finale ended, the pacing will be completely thrown off and ruined.

A show should never put "generating hype" or word of mouth ahead of its actual content to the point that it affects the writing. This season of The Walking Dead is the most blatant example of that that I've ever seen in a TV show (I know there's much worse out there, I just don't typically watch that sort of crap).

[Reply #732 on:]

I'm still very pissed off with the way last season ended, but I gotta give credit where credit is due: the season 7 premiere was extremely well-done. And gross.

Enormous spoilers ahead.

Show spoiler

They kind of re-built the tension by not jumping straight back into it (although not as effectively as if they just made it the gosh darn ending for last season in the first place) and did something I seriously didn't consider a possibility. When it revealed Abraham as the initial victim I thought "7 months wait for this? mehhhh" but then he went and splattered the shit out of Glenn. That's easily the ballsiest thing the show's done.

Then of course there was that whole thing with Carl almost losing his arm. How the fuck did this episode end up being more grim and messed up than the comic?

Still should've been completely contained to a single episode, buuuut... It still ended up going down much better than I thought it would.

[Reply #733 on:]

Show spoiler

How the fuck did this episode end up being more grim and messed up than the comic?

Scott M. Gimple venting anger at everyone who said the season 6 cliffhanger sucked balls, I presume.

[Reply #734 on:]

Well, a good way to avoid that is to not write a garbage cliffhanger in the first place.

[Reply #735 on:]

I must admit, it was a very strong opening episode even if it did favour cheap, relentlessness over "real content" and even if the ending was a bit drawn out and ponderous, what with all the long shots of people over piano music.

I hope the season keeps this quality up. I don't have high hopes given how many times this show has started strong and fizzled out in the past, but they've got some bloody good source material to be working with this season so let's hope they pull it off.

[Reply #736 on:]

I hope the season keeps this quality up.

So far, it hasn't.

The story has been moving at a snail's pace and on top of that it's been spread incredibly thin. This week's episode is possibly the lowest point in the show's history: an entire episode about Tara. What silly person thought that was a good idea? She's an okay side character but the actress really isn't talented enough to carry the entire thing.

There's so many characters now, and the show is clearly starting to suffer as a result because AMC are to cheap to hire the all the actors for every episode. We haven't seen King Ezekiel since he was introduced (which I thought was a really good episode, by the way. I'm both happy and surprised they went all out and decided to include the tiger), and the Hilltop has made only it's second appearance since its debut all the way back in the last season. I definitely won't watch the next half of season 7 as it airs, because the draw out "one character at a time" formula is a total drag. TWD is a show for binging.

Still, there's a heap of cool shit in the comic that happens around this time which I'm excited to see adapted:

Show spoiler

Carl going full Rambo in Negan's base and Negan gutting Spencer like a fish.

But here's hoping some shit actually happens.

[Reply #737 on:]

But here's hoping some shit actually happens.

Well, it kinda did. The two remaining episodes were definitely an improvement over the ones prior to them, mainly because they did away with the "one small group per episode" bullshit.

I'm quite happy with the way certain scenes played out. I'm less happy about Rosita being a complete fucking idiot, but whatever. It's not like her comic counterpart is any better. Negan instantly knowing her bullet was custom-made was a bit of a cop-out though... it's really not out of the realm of possibility that she just found it. The whole "Guts" sequence made up for it at least.

I didn't mention it in my other post but that one episode where Negan was taking their guns annoyed me. Everyone totally forgot that Carol and Morgan weren't present at Alexandria, both of whom were armed. There was also Tara and Heath, though I can't remember if they were armed or not. Either way, everyone was so convinced the idiot Spencer had them it annoyed me that they never considered the others who weren't present. Seems like a really obvious plot-hole.

Anyway, the mid-season ended on a decent note. Hopefully they don't wait until season 8 before starting the war, because I don't know how the hell they could fill an entire half-season without starting it.

I also feel like I'm the only one in this thread. Oh well, I enjoy putting my thoughts into writing at least. Maybe cyber_turnip will show up. Hi there, cyber_turnip! If you're reading this

[Reply #738 on:]

The number of times someone had the intent and opportunity to shoot Negan or bash his head in and either didn't because of ineptitude or straight up failed due to sheer idiotic luck was immensely frustrating. Every time it served to make Negan's character seem less dangerous. He frequently leaves himself vulnerable to those kind of attacks and it seems like anyone who was motivated enough could easily take him out without much reason for hesitation. Yes, he has a huge army, but they all seem united by his rule and his rule only and would likely fall into chaos and infighting were he to die, too distracted by the upset of their own ranks to take any kind of organized revenge on the asssassin's group. They did such a good job building Negan up to be this untouchable villain who struck so much fear into everyone, that every time the season went out of its way to unnecessarily undo that was maddening.

[Reply #739 on:]

So, this was in the latest episode (bottom-right corner):



Who the fuck approved that CGI? Did they blow their budget on the tiger?

[Reply #740 on:]

So I finally caught up and finished the season. It was alright...better than the first half of the season for sure. There were a couple episodes that I thought were pretty good and not much that hugely bothered me, though the way everything played out did feel fairly predictable and by-the-numbers. I wish the finale spent less time on those pointless flashbacks but that's kind of par for the course for the show at this point. Maggie's narrations also seemed like total filler, I really hope that they skip forward in time a bit so she can have her baby early on next season so she can maybe become an interesting character again.

[Reply #741 on:]

Funny, I always thought Maggie was one of the shallowest characters on the show. Everything to do with her character was drama related to her relationship with Glenn, and now that he's out of the picture she has a chance to develop in some other ways.

Some other thoughts:

-I love Gregory. He's a vile, cowardly scumbag who was perfectly cast.
-Negan is becoming really annoying. He can't interact with anyone with a fake "calm" manner and that idiotic head-tilt. It's not intimidating.
-The trash people were lame and their betrayal was super predictable.
-That one episode with Morgan snapping and killing that guy was one of the best in a long time. I love Morgan's actor.
-Dwight's turn to the good side seemed weird because he didn't really explain why he can't kill Negan himself. They touched upon that in the comic but it was kind of brushed aside here.
-Rosita and Sasha are fucking idiots in every sense of the word. The concept of patience seems completely lost on them.

[Reply #742 on:]

Yeah, I think I meant to say "for once" instead of "again" in regards to Maggie. Glenn dying gave her the chance to become an interesting character but the pregnancy sort of drags that potential down. Kind of a bummer.

As far as Negan goes, I actually felt like maybe the writers were self-aware about his repetitive act wearing thin since some of the protagonists seemed to become less intimidated by him after so many encounters. Though it's sort of hard to not be intimidated no matter what when he has you at gunpoint and is telling you your loved ones are about to get turned into mush.

[Reply #743 on:]

Fear the Walking Dead is so bad, I can't even force myself to keep up with it for the sake of overall show context any more. I'm giving up on it. I hope it never crosses over with the real show.

[Reply #744 on:]

I finally started watching this show, so I'm like 8 years behind everyone here.

I really enjoyed Season 1. TS-19 was a fantastic episode, but once I started Season 2 today it feels like a slog to get through. Characters feel dumber and the writing seems sloppier. Every episode has a lot of filler in it, and it feels like there's barely any progress made to the story.  People keep saying the show only goes downhill from here onwards, so god knows how much worse it gets in the later seasons. I'm missing Frank Darabont as showrunner already! I'll try my best to get through it all, though looking at this thread it seems people gave up eventually.

[Reply #745 on:]

Do you want someone to make the background of your avatar transparent?


The first episode of this show is pretty great.  I stopped watching around season 5, I guess.

[Reply #746 on:]

Do you want someone to make the background of your avatar transparent?

Yeah, that would be great if you could do that for me.

I binge-watched all of the seasons in about a month, and Jesus Christ this show is really becoming a real chore to watch now. There's no endgame and it just keeps going and going. Season 8 has been borderline unwatchable compared to previous seasons, which had some boring episodes but not too many bad ones. People shooting people non-stop to me is very bland and is making me lose interest in the show rapidly. The walkers have taken a backseat and are barely the focus anymore. There's so many characters and groups that it's really hard to follow and give a shit about anything now. A minor character gets a big emotional scene, who cares? I can't even remember his or her goddamn name half the time! Negan is a joke! Rick and the group have had so many easy opportunities to kill him, and they don't shoot him! The "Big" death that happens in Season 8? Yeah, they fucked that up as well!

[Reply #747 on:]

Dammit, I figured that it would be trivial to do in GIMP. So I tried. And failed

[Reply #748 on:]

Well, it seemed Season 8 improved quite a bit in the second half. There was less people shooting people non-stop and the plot started progressing again. I thought the last 2 episodes in particular were pretty great. Not sure if it happened the same way in the Comics, but I enjoyed the last 10 minutes of the finale. Had a bit of a Breaking Bad "Face-Off" vibe to it. I still question how much further this show can keep going without an endgame, but as the All Out War is seemingly over, they can go and bring the walkers back into the spotlight.

So that's the end of my binge-watch run. Took me 28 days to complete. Season 8 is easily the worst season to date, despite a brief upswing in the second half. I will start Fear the Walking Dead soon.

[Reply #749 on:]

28 Days later......

[Reply #750 on:]

Fear the Walking Dead is so bad, I can't even force myself to keep up with it for the sake of overall show context any more. I'm giving up on it. I hope it never crosses over with the real show.

I also got bored with Fear but I later went back to it and found it a lot better than the main show. About halfway through season 3 and its pretty good now tbf.

[Reply #751 on:]

Looks like The Walking Dead is going to be "dead" soon -
http://collider.com/andrew-lincoln-leaving-walking-dead-season-9/
With Rick and Carl both gone, my interest in the show drops to zero.

[Reply #752 on:]

Scratch what I said about Fear the Walking Dead, was good for about a season and a half but has gone back to being boring. Bringing in moody Morgan ffs.

[Reply #753 on:]

Looks like The Walking Dead is going to be "dead" soon -
http://collider.com/andrew-lincoln-leaving-walking-dead-season-9/
With Rick and Carl both gone, my interest in the show drops to zero.

Why the hell did they announce that? Imagine the shock if they just offed Rick six episodes into the next season?

Like Game of Thrones saying Robb and Catelyn Stark will be done after the Red Wedding episode so tune in to find out how!

Stupid, stupid show.

[Reply #754 on:]

They off Morty in the title sequence of the first episode.

[Reply #755 on:]

Well Season 9's first half has finished, and I don't get how anyone could think this is a return to form, honestly. It was just a lot of boring scenes for most of it and Rick's exit sucked. They basically ripped off Futurama's The Sting and he should have had a better send off. I didn't even realise the same episode he leaves the show in is also Maggie's final episode. Who we got left to root for now? Daryl, Carol, and Michonne?

As for the new group afterwards, pretty bland set of characters, a kid named Henry is trying to be the Carl replacement, and Negan literally did nothing but sit in a cell the whole time. The Whisperers may have potential, but it's really only the final 5 minutes of the last episode where they're properly shown. Unfortunately, there's a boring 35 or so minutes before that happens, and the surprise death I saw coming a mile away.

Overall, Season 9 so far has been mostly mediocre with a small handful of okay-ish scenes. The Whisperers now have a chance to properly show up in the second half of Season 9, so I could see them improving things if they get more screen time. Otherwise, the show is going to struggle without Rick and I can't see it lasting too long.