Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

Well that's good, I guess Prof S won't have to worry about the show losing it's funding other than what was already cut to pay for Mad Men.

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

I thought about this as soon as I woke up (for some reason), and had a thought about the name of the show.

Is it "The Walking Dead" because it's literally referring to the 'zombies' that are trudging around - or is it a metaphor for the living people who are so untrustworthy due to human nature that they will kill each other. Making them "walking dead".

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Not sure if just woke up, or been smoking weed.

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Neither?
Both!.


It wasn't really a legit question. More of a "I thought of this early in the morning as the 'possibility' of a metaphor in the name considering the phrase 'dead man walking', and the fact that in the show 'the Walking Dead' the main foes are people who will kill other people to protect people."


While I'm more than aware the show's title is probably not actually a metaphor for people, and more of a literal thing for zombies - I still found it an enticing thought.

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Typh, you're actually on to something there... but that would be spoilers from the books...

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Honestly it probably is a metaphor and a good observation, I was just giving you a hard time. :)

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Its.. not much of a spoiler as Prof says, but yes in the book they come to the same conclusion.

Because, really.. ultimately.. its not about living... but how long they can live before they die.

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Well keep in mind there is a BIG plot point that hasn't been revealed yet that isn't exactly in line with Typh's reasoning. Spoilers below:

So far in the TV series a person has been bitten to turn into a zombie, or they have been shown to have a bite mark. The assumption is that the disease is spread by physical contact. In the book it is revealed that if someone simply dies, and is not bitten, they still turn into a zombie. They are all "infected" right now, and all doomed to eventually become the monsters they are fighting even if they are never bitten. Hence, everyone on Earth is or will be the walking dead .

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In regards to that spoiler Prof S just posted, that was one of my first thoughts when Rick shot the guys at the bar.

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Assuming they follow the comic.

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Best episode in a looooong time.

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The ending of this episode made me really, really want to watch the next episode right now.


You could just see Rick turn into Shane at the very end. I thought that was great.

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This last episode was really good...maybe on par with last week's. I dunno. I'm really happy the show has taken a turn towards sudden darkness and quality, but what the fuck? What does that say about the first 7 episodes? What does that mean for next season, are we going to get 7 more boring episodes followed by a mid-season hiatus? This shit is confusing for me, the poor TV viewer.

Here is the other thing. Daryl and Carol are now on the brink. I'm not sure how I felt about Daryl and Carol's dialog last night...meaning I'm not sure if it was bordering on some of the cringe worthy dialog we have had to deal with in the first half of this season.

The problem is that this TV show cannot sustain and support Daryl and Rick. There is just not enough room to write two parts and maintain in this universe. It is going to be super interesting to see how that all unfolds as we move forward.

Another A- to B+ episode for me though.

Highlights: The bar, Lori's scene.

Lowlights: Literally, the low lighting. What the fuck AMC. Hire some god damn lighting people. Night scenes suffer on this show.

Meh: Daryl and Carol

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I kept expecting Daryl to break down over Sophia after all of that. Like he's actually really sad about what happened and using how hard he tried looking for her as an excuse to be angry at everything as a way to deal with it.

Either that or more would have came out of how Carol kept expecting him to hit her since that's what she was used to in these situations from her husband.

Didn't really go anywhere.

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So.... I know how this sounds... but the women on this show are so worthless overall.

I mean aside from Maggie.

We have Lori, I get into accidents on empty roads.
We have Andrea... I'll shot you because I'm angry
We have Ms. Teen Suicide Now.

And then we had the kitchen exchange. >.<

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The last episode was half good and half absolutely terrible.

The part with Rick, Shane, random guy was good. The half with Lori/Andrea/Maggie/Suicide girl was craptastic. I don't care about this random girl committing suicide, at all. There is someone on the writing staff for this show whose ambition is to always have at least one completely pointless and boring plot thread running at all times.

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The comics do empower Andrea and Michonne is a badass female.

So not sure what the show's excuse for being pretty sexist and anti-women. I'm going to say bad writing, because they show laid an egg when they tried to tackle racism in Season 1.

The Rick-Shane-new guy stuff? Fucking awesome. I would give that part an A+. The dialog between Rick and Shane was so genuine too. What is different now? It was nothing like the horrible deer episode...which given the direction the show took, had no business being in this TV show. I hope the writer who wrote that deer episode gets fired from writing. There are too many loose ends, too many characters. Daryl and Carol, Andrea and Dale, Andrea and Lori now, Rick and Shane, Maggie and Glenn. Too many stories to jam into less than an hour of TV while still keeping good character development.

They could have removed the deer entirely.

What's up with the new guy though? I thought his leg was impaled by a fence? Did I miss something? That guy should be out of commission for like 3 months, there's no way you walk after that.

I give this episode an A- because the Rick and Shane stuff was so perfect I actually got wet. I can overlook the stupid suicide stuff, which was just annoying. Here is my advice for the girl who was trying to kill herself:



(Maggie seems like a candidate for a strong character. And she is sexy, so that is at least kind of empowering).

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Oh, and what happened to T-Dog?

Women and black folks getting the shaft. I figured they could have done a spin-off comedy bit this episode. T-Dog shows up when Andrea and Lori are fighting in the kitchen, and says:

And then they can add a laugh track, and it would have been the perfect moment.

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So I hate Andrea now, completely. Her opinion on how she as to choose to live just like she did is ridiculous. The only reason Andrea didn't kill herself is because of Dale constantly making sure she didn't and now she stops people from doing the same to Beth?

I have one question though, the very opening scene, with Rick and Shane talking at the crossroads I noticed that one of the roads was a newly paved, freshly painted road while the rest were old and cracking. During their conversation the new road was behind Rick while one of the old roads was behind Shane, and they had wide shots of each character clearly showing each road. I am curious as to what you think this means?

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On the topic of the roads:

I'm pretty sure Shane is gonna die. The past few episodes have focused on Rick, and Rick has come around as the conflicted badass from the comics. The episode ended with Rick basically saying he is going to kill that kid, and that's some heavy shit. He also popped the dudes in the bar.

We haven't seen Merle and that actually really concerns me.

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So since what I'm about to say has already basically been written differently in the show from the comics, I'm not sure this is really spoilerz... But whatever spoiler tags anyway.
I hate what they've done to Andrea. One of the better characters in the comic, and they've ruined her. I wasn't around for the first season of the show when you guys started this thread and I don't feel like digging back into it, but I'll take this time to say FUCK IT to the last episode of season 1. It was so god awful, and it setup this whole silly fucking Andrea thing that's going on now. "OH I WANTED TO DIE" "OH NO DON'T KILL YOURSELF!" If they hadn't added that last fucking episode none of this shit would even be going on and it's pointless anyway. I would have much preferred they just get on with the whole Andrea and Dale fall in love in the zombie apocalypse despite their age differences bullshit, instead of this shit here. FUCK!

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After talking with Dylan [owns all the comics] last night about the show, it seems to be it's more of a "What if" Universe. As in "What if some of these characters acted nothing like they did in the comic." (I'd be very pleased if I never saw another "this character was better in the comic" comment. I'm sure they were, but it's not like Game of Thrones. It is not a re-creation. It is a re-imagining.)

I will back up the reason I find it so ridiculous to complain about it, which is that since the person who created the comics and the show said they are in no way connected, that should immediately break all expectations and comparisons between the two.



Anyways, the only real gripe I have with last episode was the filler with that horrible actress horribly acting out her horribly written dialogue about wanting to die. That was some of the most painful acting I've seen in my entire life.

Unless it's like some big meta-joke. All the parts with the women are boring and written horribly, and are super slow-paced loads of shit; and all the parts with the guys are super well-writte, well-acted action-packed dude-fests.

But really, though. That chicks acting was almost as bad as watching "The Situation" on The Roast of Donald Trump. It wasn't enough to make me hate the episode as a whole, the parts with Rick and Shane are tooooooooooo great.

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After the first season or early in the second I gave up comparing the show to the comic. They are completely different entities. Which is good, because now I can enjoy it (as much as one can) and be surprised by everything that happens. Before I was just watching things play out in a much worse way than how they happened in the book.

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In this case, the comparison to the comic is being made because their are strong female roles in the comic, whereas in this case the TV show has almost taken a sexist path in the portrayal of the women.

Frankly, if I was a female viewer of the show, I might feel a bit alienated.

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No basically all I mean was if I was a female who had read the comics and then started watching the show, I would just say fuck it to the whole thing.

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I told this to my mother-dearest and she said [She loves the show, by the way. Never missed an episode.]:

"Not alienated at all. Look at that strong blonde chick there that got kicked out of the house for sticking to her beliefs. And the strong opinionated pregnant woman - she is you know, taking care of the household, and her own son while the guys are away. And she's trying to keep that crazy guy in check. And make sure her husband knows she's for him. All while being pregnant."


So you know.
Female perspective and all.
Don't look at the female characters as a man. Look at them as if you're a woman in a man's world.

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I don't see how the women are worse than most of the men in this show. They all act equally stupid.

Although I have yet to see the episodes since the winter break.

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The zombies don't do as much moaning as you guys, that's for sure.

I probably won't keep reading this thread since it's populated by a bunch of negative nancies who expect the show to fulfill all of their expectations and preconceptions.
:p

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Well, I've never read the comics, so I have no expectations or preconditions, and I can still honestly say the writing on the show is really bad 90% of the time.

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I with this forum had a "like" button. The show is a good show, which is shown by the ratings, and everyone's CONTINUED choice to keep watching even though all we do is seem to complain. If we choose to complain, that means we care about the show. The only real negative the show has right now is that it is viewed largely by internet hyper-nerds who find more pleasure in tearing it down than giving it the credit it deserves (and no, I'm not talking about us. We're kind compared to some). Yes, I've been critical, but since the end of the first half of this season I don't see a whole lot to intensely criticize.

1) No point in comparing this to the comic. As shown with last night's episode, they are not following the exact plot from the books. If you let go of the comics when watching, you'll get a lot more enjoyment.

2) These main characters are archetypes at this point. So many of them that they need to fit roles, or aspects of humanity, rather than be full fledged characters unto themselves. None of them are well fleshed out, because each one is a part of a whole.

To the feminist argument: During an apocalypse the academic ideal of what we should be disappears. We become who we are. No one is really thinking about being a role model. They are trying to survive and find any kind of comfort wherever they can so they don't go insane. If you are a mother you might retreat to your role as a provider to your husband and son. If you are a woman who lost everything, you may become attached to the "alpha male" and learn how to sharp shoot. If you are a young woman trapped on a farm you may find comfort in banging a small asian boy in a pharmacy. If anything, I think the female characters are far more nuanced than their male counterparts.

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The death last night was such a bummer.

I know I just bitched at people for comparing the show to the comics but I'm sad Dale is gone because of the role he served in the group in the comics. He would basically observe the group as a whole and knew when someone was dealing with something they didn't want to talk about or felt they couldn't talk about.

Then he would go and talk to them about it and offer advice. I really liked that about his character and am sad the group won't have that in the show moving forward.

As for the feminist argument, even though I am an equal rights kind of guy, there is absolutely no way I would encourage the women of the group to spend time away from whatever area was deemed to be the safest. It's not about whether or not they can handle themselves, or being empowered or whatever. It's about maintaining the ability reproduce. In times of collapse, women are the most valuable asset if anyone has hope of keeping humanity going.

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Wow spoliers.....


I will say this. I'm not bugged too much by the writing, but I find myself struggling to keep interest in the show. I Have the new episodes from the break all recorded. Just no motivation to watch them. And isn't a shows ability to attract watchers the benchmark?

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If that is the case then it is better than Mad Men and Breaking Bad. The Walking Dead has the highest ratings in the history of the channel. Also, I highly recommend viewing the second half episodes. The show really turned around after Sofia got a bullet in her cute little zombie head. I'd call it a very good show. Not great, but still very good.

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I wouldn't call it "great" when compared to an actual show which is attempting to portray real life (or a re-enactment of a real-life scenario), [I would call it great as a show - but I can't call it great when compared to Breaking Bad, yet each show is equally entertaining.] but it seems to me (Maybe it's just me justifying the bad acting/writing this way) like the show is written and acted like a comic book. There's a lot of one-liners in there, and visual moments that would lend well to a panel or two. A lot of under-the-breath comments you'd expect from a comic, rather than having the person just think it in their head.
It just seems to me like occasionally in all the good writing and good acting, they throw in some campy homage to comic books and the genre in general, or maybe directly to the comic itself.

But the thing is, I really don't mind it. Even if that's not at all the case - it works for me.

And (I believe it was Strangie) who said they're not supposed to be "real" characters yet, they're archtypes of human emotion/humanity. I think that became abundantly clear last episode (If it hadn't been already) with Dale.

I also loved the highly metaphorical scene of everyone contemplating killing the kid in a democratic fashion, while only Dale was the voice of reason. Everyone is okay to have the boy die, but nobody is willing to stand around and watch. So when Dale is laying there ripped open by a walker on the ground, they all gathered around to watch him be murdered (essentially), while nobody talked about if it was the right decision or not. Because when you know, you just know. Not to mention the beauty juxtaposition between them all fearing the living tied-up child. while the only person who doesn't fear him wanders off and is torn open by the real danger, while they were all contemplating murder.

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Sean, I like it when you watch shows that I like. You always think about it a lot and make observations as keen as the people I know who are trained in the craft of film and film writing.

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I got into an argument with someone over The Walking Dead's viewer ratings over at /r/TheWalkingDead on reddit. The guy claimed to be a writer for the show or something. He said, "I think this show is better than Breaking Bad...something something viewer ratings."

I said, "Two and a Half Men has more viewer ratings than both these shows, so ponder that."

Viewer ratings are sometimes a sad reflection...as in the case of something like Jersey Shore. And it's all about money anyway.

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Not that I expect the show to make any sense, but that part was terrible. The guy's 10cm knee got impaled by a 5cm hooked spike. They're talking about amputating it which made sense. Then because they're in a hurry, they jerk the leg free, against the hooks? Even if a person had the strength to pull a leg free, the leg would be destroyed. You could probably cut the last pieces of flesh and the leg would fall off.
But noooo, forget about that amputation part. The guy gets an operation and the next moment he walks around again.

Talking about super human strength: since when do knives go through skulls so easily?

Aaanyway, that kid is getting scary. He encourages his dad to kill a living human. He plays around a zombie, which then kills the only guy in the group with some conscience left.

So what do you guys think will happen to the hostage? I personally think it's time to leave the farm and move on. I know it won't happen, now that Winter Is Coming, but it would be good for the show. I'm so tired of that farm and the same old whiny people.
So they should take Maggie, hit the road again and drop off the hostage hundreds of miles from the farm.

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The only explanation that makes any sense to me is that the show jumped forward a month or two after that night at the bar.

It kind of makes sense as Hershel has suddenly warmed up to Glenn as well.

They didn't do a very good job communicating the time frame though.

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Didn't Hershel say he'd be walking again in a week?

A part of me hates it when series/movies skip so much time. Especially when they don't communicate it well. How hard is it to put in a line like "this kid has been recovering from his broken leg for a month now, we need to get rid of him"?

Oh about the kid (does he have a name btw?), when he was creeping up on the hostage, I was actually afraid he was going to kill him personally.