The Walking Thread

[mrjonno]

I doubt anybody considers themselves innocent. But Rick basically took a contract to kill these people and has already started hunting them down. That's well beyond a random clash or robbery gone wrong so it's not hard to imagine how people would rally against Rick's group knowing he would just as soon gun them all down if the roles were reversed.

The most unrealistic part of the episode (apart from zombies) is Negan's group didn't go a lot further. it would have been perfectly reasonable to have killed everyone and leaving survivors to get revenge is just silly

[Sendraks]

[quote="mrjonno";p="2487698"]
The most unrealistic part of the episode (apart from zombies) is Negan's group didn't go a lot further. it would have been perfectly reasonable to have killed everyone and leaving survivors to get revenge is just silly[/quote]

The Walking Smeg strayed from the path of its character's making sensible or believeable decisions a loooooooong time back. I'm honestly surprised the audience for this show has remained engaged with this stupidity for so long.

[Spinozasgalt]

I watch for the sparkling wordplay and the copious visual and auditory references to The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

[scott1328]

The season 7 finale was Sunday night. I had not watched the show since the third episode of the season. Instead they accumulated on my DVR until I knew if the season was going anywhere...

The verdict is in... Last night I deleted all the remaining season 7 episodes unwatched.

I guess I am done with the Walking Dead.

[NamelessFaceless]

[quote="scott1328";p="2541064"]The season 7 finale was Sunday night. I had not watched the show since the third episode of the season. Instead they accumulated on my DVR until I knew if the season was going anywhere...

The verdict is in... Last night I deleted all the remaining season 7 episodes unwatched.

I guess I am done with the Walking Dead.[/quote]



So you missed the finale? I'll admit it wasn't as shattering as (was it Season 6 or 5?) when they were trying to get through a herd of walkers and that stupid kid kept saying "mom . . . ."

You missed the Scavenger chick asking Michonne's permission to bang Rick. It was hilarious!

[Mike_L]

I thoroughly enjoyed this season finale. Some highlights:

* the reveal that sly Negan had won / bought the 'Garbage People' over to his side.
* Sasha's sacrifice. Clever (turning her deceased self into a surprise weapon against the Saviors) and sad at the same time.
* Shiva the tiger going into action (in the process saving Carl from Lucille). On a technical note, the CG used in the tiger sequences is topnotch here... better than in the earlier episodes when the big cat was first introduced.

I think I'll continue watching when season 8 comes around.

[Spinozasgalt]

SPOILERS: DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED THE FULL SEASON.

Probably one of the show's weakest seasons if not the weakest season to date. It's disappointing because only 2 seasons ago we were seeing what, for me, ended up being its strongest one. I think the needlessly drawn out cliffhanger ending from last season, because of its really disastrous and despairing (and disappointing) low mood, meant that the period in between seasons carried that mood and lack of faith in the show's storytelling for a lot of fans. So many people were pissed off about that ending. My take: if you're gonna kill two people as the show did, why not kill one in the season finale and the other in the next season opener. That way the former season has a definitive ending and all the surprise of the second death is still there for the opener. Even better, the deaths are spaced out and the episodes can be about the individual deaths, rather than feeling like that were just put on top of each other for shock value. Voila! You keep your cred as storytellers intact!

And when the show came back, it wasn't explosive like Carol's entry in season 5, or long and considered like the opening plan episode in season 6. It was just a dread crawl. By the time the second episode came along and Carol and Morgan went to the Kingdom, a lot of people seemed to suddenly wake up, as if, "Oh, there's still some life in this show! We forgot about Carol." And then again in episode 6, when we find out whatever became of Tara, the mood picks up again and it looks like we've got some story left in this show. But it's not until the midway finale that the characters are really awake again.

The back half has plenty of problems, too. The glaring one for me was the second to last episode - they seemed to really mess with Tara's motivations for no reason and then let Rick's lead character status determine the show's morals. The finale was kind of a relief after that. I'll spoiler my reaction to the finale.
That said, I think they messed up the finale as well. The women of the show (particularly Maggie and Carol) have been the stayers on the main theme: how do we deal with the saviours? Maggie was the member of the group who'd kept up fighting when the rest had given up, and Carol was the member who'd gotten out before any of it happened and refused to be a part of things. They were integral to how the finale shaped up, but they just weren't utilised properly at the end. As much as I liked the entrance of the tiger, it put Carol in the background and she stayed there all the way through the end run. And Maggie's entrance should've meant much more to Negan's confusion, but it was too rushed over: he's been under the impression all season that she was dead - the fact that she wasn't should've been an epic middle-finger from the audience to the villain moment.The only thing that saved the finale for me was that Maggie got the end speech and brought it back to Glen and explained her reason for being steadfast when no one else was. Long story short: Rick's still a shit lead character, and the writers don't seem to realise that they have some good (and, in Carol's case, great) characters in the background that they just don't seem to know how to use. But they scrape through. It's just not gonna be a good show again anytime soon.

[Mike_L]

Very good points there, especially this...

Long story short: Rick's still a shit lead character, and the writers don't seem to realise that they have some good (and, in Carol's case, great) characters in the background that they just don't seem to know how to use.

The plus point of the finale was Sasha's 'curtain call' -- I thought it was pretty well written. But yes, Maggie and Carol were horribly underused.
And as far as villains go, I still prefer the Governor to Negan. The former had a bit of depth (as revealed in S4:E6 and S4:E7), while Negan is at the level of cartoon caricature evil.

[NamelessFaceless]

[quote="Mike_L";p="2541183"]
And as far as villains go, I still prefer the Governor to Negan. The former had a bit of depth (as revealed in S4:E6 and S4:E7), while Negan is at the level of cartoon caricature evil.[/quote]

Completely agree with this. I just don't get Negan's cult following.

[Rachel Bronwyn]

I don't know if Negan's written poorly or if it's just casting but he doesn't come across as charismatic to me at all, making his cult following even less believable. In order to pull off Negan they needed someone special.

[Mac_Guffin]

This has actually been my favorite season lol.
I understand the criticism, but I have weird reasons for liking things, and can easily dismiss certain kinds of flaws. I enjoy over-the-top villains like Joker and Freddy Krueger. To me, they're fun. I grew up on cheesy, gory horror movies and later started appreciating gore and horror done right and tactfully, so I really enjoy any kind of fake gore. I love the world-building this season. I love that the universe is becoming less semi-realistic apocalyptic fiction and more of its own kind of thing, much like The Road Warrior. I love that Negan and the Saviors work as a sort of protection racket because I don't see it that often outside of mob movies.

[Mike_L]

LOL at this!

[Spinozasgalt]

After the varying results of last season, this actually looks like it'll be fun.

[Mike_L]

A big to that!

[Mac_Guffin]

I wonder what non-comic readers think of that last part of the trailer.

[Spinozasgalt]

So far the main reaction I've caught is, "Please don't tell me everything after the first episode was a dream!!!1!"

Heh, idiots.

Wait, is it?

[Mike_L]

Study this promotional picture carefully...

lost_twd.jpg

What they think is mainland USA is actually just one corner of an island.
It'll all become clearer when Lori and the Governor reappear (as sister and brother) in season 9.

[Mac_Guffin]

[quote="Spinozasgalt";p="2571368"]So far the main reaction I've caught is, "Please don't tell me everything after the first episode was a dream!!!1!"

Heh, idiots.

Wait, is it?[/quote]


Not really full spoilers, but an answer to the question: No. Even the writing for Walking Dead isn't that hacky lol. Full spoiler: This is Rick after the time skip. Most of them look different. Here's Carl, Andrea, Maggie, and Rick after the time skip:

[Mike_L]

Season 8 starts tomorrow (USA).

[Mac_Guffin]

This season is okay, but it seems like it will be better binge watched. They feel more like parts of a whole than full episodes.