Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

It definitely has good things going for it.

Humor: dangling the Asian kid in the well.
Sexy: Sideboob, peeing on stick
Well-rounded cast: Asian delivery guy, black guy named T-Dawg, Nazi rednecks

and zombies!

I like the Hershel Green convo between Rick and Hershel this episode. And did anyone see the shot where they cut to the barn? I think some crazy stuff is going to go down, and they are already setting Hershel up to be a nutter.

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

I think he eats people.
or slave labour or something. Zombie labour. I think the dude's fucked up though. I've always thought that, he sort of seems too good to be true. Then again the dude could just really love Jesus. That barn could just be a church.

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

That would be awesome, but I think they're going for the boring option here. He's just a friendly old guy who likes his privacy.

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

ಠ_ಠ

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

Well, we find out about the barn... well if you haven't read the comics.

This was a good ep, mostly because it focused on the best character of the show, IMO.

And.. yeah we have some dumb folks

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

If they kill Daryl I'm pretty sure I'm done with the show. Rick continues to suck at acting, and the Rick-Lori-Shane drama is so over the top it borders on Telenovela Soap Opera.

It shouldn't really be a surprise though. Norman Reedus made Boondock Saints enjoyable. His resume includes acting in an over-the-top role and making it funny, serious, and believable. He is the only character on the Walking Dead who isn't totally forcing the cheese, going way over the top, or sucking ass. I enjoy his acting, his character, and his time on screen.

In my honest opinion, Daryl has filled Rick's role on the TV show. In the comic, Rick had hallucinations and spiritual epiphanys. He saw darkness but he was a real survivor.

In the TV show...Rick is a punk ass, whiny BITCH. In the words of Jesse Pinkman...haha. Seriously though. So far Rick's character is a vehicle for forced drama. He is an obnoxious, archetype character. The writers have basically written Rick into a corner and I don't know if they will be able to un-fuck him.

I don't find Rick's character remotely believable...or enjoyable to watch...or anything like the comic character. So why is he in the TV show again?


What I liked:

--> The Post-Apocalyptic intro

--> Maggie is so hot. So hot. That short hair...T&A...holy crap. I would do things to her illegal in most Mormon states.

--> The barn. What is that? The first interesting plot point this season? Yay!

--> Hershel vs. everyone.

--> Hershel is psycho. They've done a good job with his character. I guess the writers occasionally hit the right note....

--> Daryl. I love Daryl.

--> Merle. This was brilliant. Genius. I love the ambiguity too...like he could be alive (99% unlikely since he had both hands...) but he is probably a crazy hallucination. But you have to think he is still alive based on the house scene from last episode.

What was bad:

--> The Intro was really fucking dark. This is not the first time too. The Otis/Shane scenes were very dark. They need to get better lighting people. I know they cut the funding on the show, but they shouldn't do dark scenes if the lighting is going to suck.

--> The intro scene was clearly the same highway scene from the last few episodes. Again, I get the budget issues...but I had a hard time suspending disbelief.

--> Who the fuck is the new guy helping them out? Where did he come from? Oh, it's Jimmy! Well we better clear that with Hershel. /eyeroll

--> Sophia - the search for really boring TV continues...now with dramatic music and intense dialog between Rick and Shane! And fucking snakes! Sophia has to be the worst plot point ever. It's sad that Shane is the only character preaching common sense. There is a 99% chance she is dead. If she isn't dead, it's not worth saving her because she already proved that she is a stupid character who is too stupid to just chill under a car. If not now, she will certainly fall to Darwin soon.

--> Dale: "Jesus, Glenn! What were you thinking."
Glenn: "I have a penis." or "Have you seen Maggie?" or "Dude you're going to be banging Andrea in 4 episodes, chill out."

Well, that's what I would have said.

--> When did Andrea get a gun? Why is she such a dumb cunt? Can someone shoot her in the face? Jeez.
First rule of gun training - DON'T POINT AT THINGS UNLESS YOU WANT IT TO DIE

This is why we don't give civilian fuck-wits a firearm. That's like zombie rule number 344. I'm keeping track for the real zombie Apocalypse.

To elaborate on this dumb-fuckery, why was a gun used in the first place? It's a single walker, you have pitchforks and stuff. And we already established that the walkers are attracted to sound. Why would you risk firing a gun and making all that noise?

I assume this is just really bad writing. Really bad. Like...is this a FOX TV show bad.

--> "niggers and democrats." Seriously, can we fire the writers again?

CONCLUSION

Final episode grade: B

Conclusion: I enjoyed Daryl, Hershel, and the closing sequence. I feel like the plot moved a little bit, but not enough to warrant 42 minutes of TV Show. Rick, who is central to the comic, has become an obnoxious whiny bitch character. The Rick-Shane-Lori drama continues to border on 11am Soap.

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

Oh...final thought. While I liked the intro, did anyone else wonder about the napalming? I don't recall a government contingency plan, and far as I could tell Atlanta was intact, the 'burbs where Rick woke up was intact, the CDC was intact....so what did they napalm?

:ohreilly: :ohreilly: :ohreilly:

I've come to terms with the fact that the writers for this show suck. So I expect a certain amount of bad writing per episode. But yeah. I'm more concerned that I hate the Rick character and want to see him eaten by 14 zombies. It isn't supposed to go down like that!!!

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

I really liked last night's episode, and it was huge improvement over previous eps. They're finally moving into the psychotic meat and potatoes of the series and not just playing with zombies and gore. I also liked the fact that Shane confronted Rick about spending so much time searching for the girl. I don't think that they'll kill off Daryl, but considering his alienation from the group, Merle hallucinations, and the fact that people he's helped save just shot him in the face... I think there is a good chance he might turn on the group after a while. Also, I know a lot of you are waiting for Michonne... but I think Daryl might be this show's Michonne. Replace the samurai sword with a crossbow and he is the group's zombie killing badass.

As for there being unreasonable decisions being made by characters, well, they're stuck in the middle of an unreasonable situation so I'm willing to let a lot of that slide, especially when they address it in the story.

Overall I think they finally have the story back on track. I'm just wondering when zombie Otis shows up with bullet holes in him... :D

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

I really thought that since they made it a point to show both his hands twice, the third time we saw him Darryl would assume he was a hallucination until we see one of his hands missing.

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

I find it funny that last night was one of the best episodes, but based on a character and a scenario not presented in the books.

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

And yet the themes of the ep followed the book more closely than anything we've seen to date, IMO.

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

You should send this to the directors/writers...I don't think they are smart enough to go down that path. Would be effing brilliant though.

The tone has finally taken that much needed turn towards the dark. We haven't seen anything remotely dark since Days Gone Bye. Or the Season 1 premier. The show moved towards dark with Shane and Otis. Overall I agree...it seems the show is "back on track" or on pace for something good.

I'm still curious how they are going to integrate Rick back into a central character role. And I believe they said no Governor this Season...but right now I am 100% sure that Merle and Daryl would be horrible roles for the Governor.

I still think Michonne shows up, even if Daryl has elements of her.

Apparently AMC has really raped the show's budget. I find this ironic, because people are using that as an excuse for some of the shoddy writing. BaB thinks the irony is that the last episode focused on Daryl, a character not in the comic. I think that the real irony is that the best scene in the entire second season 2 cost peanuts. I can't imagine they spent much to shoot the Daryl cliff scene.

Proof that you can make kick ass character drama on a short budget. "Bottle Episodes" as they are called are common in TV.

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

100% agree.


I still think the show is great.
I still have not read the comics and therefore have not had my mind tainted by thinking I am 7 years in the future of a story that isn't connected to the comic version. :p

I have a feeling Daryl is going to kill Merle when he finally sees him under the assumption that he's a walker. I noticed they made a solid point to always show fake-Merle with both hands, so I think at the end of one episode, he's just going to kill him, and the reveal will happen as the camera pans out or something cliche like that.

Anyways, I like Rick. He's a good actor at playing a broken man. Fuck you guys. :lolz:

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

Wow, Daryl really had a hard time trying to fall off that horse. Did anyone else notice hows unrealistic that looked? He basically stepped off it.

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

I guess you could say he didn't...

Reeve the horse.

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

"You can't fall off that horse!"

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

New episode is back-on-track good, A- TV good, "I could enjoy this series good."

So instead of bitching about the show, I'm gonna bitch about AMC.

After next week's episode, the show is going on a "mid-season" hiatus until February. Next week is the "mid-season finale." That is the dumbest fucking thing I have ever seen. All this is going to do is create a schism for viewers.

When February roles around, people are going to be back watching other TV shows.

Apparently this all has a bit to do with Frank Darabont being fired, and AMC slashing The Walking Dead's budget. I'm curious how you all feel about that....since most other cable TV shows role through the series without blue balling the fuck out of viewers.

Finally, episodes 6 and 7 were leaked so tonight's episode went as according to the leak. Don't read if you don't want 7 spoiled:

Sophia is a walker...in the barn...Rick kills her. Yeah.

Edit: I'm still waiting for that progressive, pro-abortion TV show. Juno flaked. Walking Dead flaked. Seems like Rick and Hershel have more in common than they think. Common sense says in a zombie apocalypse....never mind.

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

I do hate when they break up seasons (the last season of Doctor Who had a mid-season finale as well), but as you stated, they probably have reasons for it. At least it wasn't like Young Justice where I had to wait six months between episodes nine and ten...and there was no heads up either. And the alternative would have been a longer wait for this season to have begun. Look at Mad Men.

As for the show itself, I enjoyed the ep.

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

Keep waiting for it, because I doubt it will ever happen. It's very hard for the majority of people to be "pro-abortion", because that implies an inherent value to the act. At the very best abortion destroys a potential life, and while this may be necessary at times, it's hardly something to celebrate or promote and most people would be very disturbed at the attempt.

As for "flaking", aborting a child in the face of a zombie apocalypse would be the worst thing you could do, because the continuation of life is the only hope against a world filled with death. If you abort a child in those situations it is the same as giving up completely. Might as well eat a bullet at that point.

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

I thought the episode was frustrating and boring. Here's the 16-word summary: a bunch of secrets are discovered and people find new stupid ways to almost get killed.

The worst part is that they're still sitting in 1 place. I think in last season there were maybe 2 episodes in the same place, but now they've been in the same spot for almost the whole season.

I feel like the story so far could have been told in 3 episodes instead of 6.

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

Well, I think the second part is an odd complaint.
I mean the entire point of their "journey" is/was to find a safe haven. They've made it a point that a lot of people are settling into Hershel's farm because they are accustomed to living a relatively normal life again.

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

The more I watch, the more Andrea annoys me. I'm at the point where I wouldn't care if she offed herself. I'm struggling to find a character that I enjoy watching and care what happens to them. Also the whole Sophia thing just bores me.

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

I liked the last episode. I like Shane's (hopeful) insanity. I hope his insanity soon leads to Andrea's death. I was really hoping he'd shoot her when he said "I've got a lead on the girl". The whole time I was just thinking "Pleeeease be is Otis."


I also didn't know there was a mid-season break. Autumn/Winter breaks in shows really piss me off, but I understand why they do it. I just want to watch my goddamn stories.



100% agree. It's not a show about a group of people going on a journey. It's about a group of people trying to survive.

PS: Deep down I really don't think Shane is insane. I think he'll literally just do anything to keep Carl alive, is all.

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

Oh, 1 more thing: Dale is getting on my nerves. I wonder if the actor isn't growing tired of playing the same scene over and over again, but with different actors.
Think about it: basically all he ever does is talk some courage into others. And it's always yadayadayada with that half troubled, half witless look on his face.
So who's the next character to have a conversation with the wannabe shrink?

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

Dale reminds me of like....Obi Won or something. I still think it was a miscast, but he has wisdom and seems to fit in as a guide. Ultimately, his passiveness will get the best of him in a clearly disturbed world.

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

I think at this point everyone is trying to show their worth, and that's why Dale is trying to hard to play mechanic (in the beginning), peacemaker, psychologist, and philosopher. He's old, and he has to be thinking what his value is in such violent times. For the audience I believe he plays the role of the observer/audience. In a world gone mad, we see it through his eyes.

Rick the the leader, Shane is the enforcer, Daryl is the hunter, Glenn is the courier, the chick is the sharp shooter, Dale is the sage, Rick's wife is the village slut, and T-Dogg is the... he's the... um... the next victim (hopefully).

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

Not just the metaphorical observer....but the observer of common sense!

I mean come on! Lori has been sneaking away to have private convos with Shane since season 1. It's obvious she is boning him. I think Dale was on to that. I think Dale knew about Shane and Andrea right away....I think Dale sees stuff that everyone else is too retarded to notice. Except for that damn herd in Episode 1, why'd ya let me down Dale, why!? :lol:

Even though some of his stuff seemed obvious in the last episode, I really think his dialog was some of the most human dialog we have seen on the show.

The scene with Dale confronting Shane? That was BY FAR one of the best dialogs on the show so far. It felt real. Human. Like it wasn't written by George Lucas the Second, aka Kirkman and his writing team of monkeys.

If the show continues to improve like this it will be stellar stuff as it moves forward.

Even the Rick and Lori confrontation was much better done than past exchanges of forced dialog. The Rick and Lori exchanges regarding Carl were terrible. Shane and Rick's exchange last episode made me want to throw a remote at the writer's head. But this newest episode? Rick sounded like a normal fucking human.

I know people very well, and for the first time since Season 1 Episode 1, they've been getting the dialog right.

Edit: they even got some humorous dialog out of Glenn! And it was organic and didn't feel forced! I mean....I swear...it's like they hired a whole new team of dialog writers for the most recent episode.

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

I think that was one of the best moments in the show so far.


I agree that the last episode seemed a lot more human than the other recent episodes.

I fall back to my theory of why the writing style/acting consistency changes wildly; the creator of the show has some handjobs to pay off [for getting the show] so he's giving episode-writing-jobs and directing-jobs to friends, and friends of friends. So maybe now they've rifled through the shitty directors/writers that were owed favours, and are on to some people who are doing it for a job. Hopefully.

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

Great episode tonight. The main characters are finding their voice and lines are starting to be drawn. Shane is crazy, but in a way that is understandable and people can be empathetic towards. Rick is showing that he can make the truly hard decisions. Dale is holding on to the group's humanity.

Just a very good episode.

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

Yep, best episode of the season.

The Maggie/Glenn dialogue is still cringe-worthy though.

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

I think they're going for semi-camp and having fun with his dialog. But who knows with these writers.

Tonight's episode was the best episode in the series by far...

BUT

How the show moves forward is going to determine if tonight's payoff was worth the slow burn we had to endure for the first half of Season 2. If they don't start killing main characters (I'm looking at you, psycho Shane; and Hershel...crazy nutbag), or moving this plot forward....

After a 2 month hiatus and a fairly slow/awkward Season 2, I feel like the last 6 episodes better maintain the darkness. Shit better go down. If the next 6 episodes go back to 1st gear, than tonight's episode will get docked big time. You have to go up from here, right?

Anyone have predictions now that a whole lotta shit went down?

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

I think the plot has moved forward quite a bit, but it has nothing to do with the farm or the army base. We are seeing these characters change. They are becoming hardened and at times, cruel. This is a necessary character arch if they are going to be able to leave the farm... and face the Governor.

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

One thing I remembered during last night's episode, didn't Maggie ride in on a horse early on and decapitate a walker with a baseball bat?

What was with her character suddenly regressing to being Walker-friendly, and acting like the one in the pharmacy was the first one she had ever seen killed?

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

She wacked it in the head but was still "alive." Darryl shot it afterwards.

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

I loved the episode.
I can't even put the ending into proper words. But I'll try.


I liked how earlier in their week they were anti-guns - and most of the people who knew about the barn were anti-shooting-walkers. Not their farm, etc. That type of thing.

All it took was one crazy alpha-male to Hitler the situation up and get them to blankly kill everyone in that barn. I noticed that every single person [of the group] at least killed 1 walker.

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

Dale didn't kill a Walker.

And Hershel went full retard with Rick when they went to round up zombies.

I mean Shane is fucking psycho, but he also was preaching some common sense. Hershel is by default a moron because he hasn't been outside the farm to see the real world.

I understand that most of the people in the barn are family members of Hershel, and I can empathize with that fact. But Rick blew a hole in Sophia's head...so he also can relate to having close friends/family turning into a zombie.

I think the fact is, Hershel is going to be held at gunpoint most likely. He can either go with the flow, or die. Rick will be a pussy and go against this. And that will ultimately be the demise of Shane. All things considered....TV Shane does show more common sense than the core group. He just lacks empathy and is antisocial.

I found Andrea to be the most annoying character in this episode. Not annoying in a poorly acted or written sense, but I just find her character to be one degree removed from Shane. She too is on the brink of insanity. Honestly, if I was Dale I would peace the fuck out of there because that group is going to self destruct. But I'd shoot Andrea and Shane in the face first.

These Zombie films and TV shows are like survival tips 101. Things to NOT DO in a real zombie apocalypse. I wouldn't travel in a group with a whole bunch of morons. That's for sure.

Like I said....the show has momentum now, so they need to continue down the dark, self-destructive path.

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

Damn! I r corrected.

Anyways, I totally agree with everything you just said, and have nothing of value to add.

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

One of the things I liked most about this episode was Shane's tirade, because to everyone else he looks insane, but what triggered is that he really thinks everyone else has lost their minds.

I mean, if you step back for a second, Rick is leading a Walker on a stick to store it in a barn. That's pretty crazy.

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

Rick's problem is that he wants to make everyone happy. As a leader, you can't do that. I think there's good "deeper meaning" in that development, even if it is unintentional by the writers.

Rick has tried to understand everyone, and the result has been lapses of common sense.

My question is what the heck happened to Sophia? Rick gave her pretty clear orders...and she can outrun the walkers. So when did she fall to the zombies.

Does anyone know if this was addressed on the Talking Dead or something? So far all the Talking Dead questions have been really dumb: "why don't the zombies go poop har har" but I think asking about where Sophia went would be a good question.

Maybe they will do a flashback to what happened to Sophia in the intro to one of the next episodes. That would be a worthwhile and awesome flashback. And it would be dark...seeing her bit by a Walker.

Re: The Walking Dead: The Television Series
 

Good episode. Oh, what did you think of the Portal reference? It's nice they try something like that, but in this case it didn't make sense.

What I was wondering about with Sophia is why the farm people didn't mention her to the group. They knew they were looking for a small girl.. well hey, they caught a small zombie girl the day before! If Hershel wanted them off the farm, why did he give them time to search for Sophia?
Also, a lot of farm equipment/people was used to search for her.