AMC zombie series from Frank 'Majestic' Darabont - The Walking Dead

yeah but this was better than the entire plot. the entire plot is pretty much dumb as heck! the general atmospherics on this episode were like all i ever wanted from this show in the first place.

It didn't sidestep the plot. It addressed the OH HAI MY NAME'S CRAZY RICK I CHASE GHOSTY LADIES NOW development of the last few episodes; sure they didn't make him stand in front of a mirror and have flashbacks but through his confrontation with Morgan, now Rick is pushed into assessing not only his current state but his future; even when he was saying to Morgan 'this can't be all there is', he was declaring his own motivation, like he'd just woken up again. This episode answered the question that's been simmering: is Rick going to be able to lead them against the Governor. Perhaps NOW he can. Is Mishonne going to have Rick's back, or the group's back for that matter? Perhaps now she will.

I mean, if you didn't like it you didn't like it; but there was a lot more depth in this episode than this show has had in ages. I thought Morgan/Lennie James was great, I didn't find his acting on the nose at all. And I found a lot of that episode (finally) genuinely human and moving.

i thought this episode was kinda underwhelming, just pointless filler so they can delay the battle a bit more coupled with a bit of rick will sleep with michonne heavy hinting for good measure.

― Tioc Norris (LocalGarda), Monday, March 4, 2013 6:36 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

nothing happened plotwise and the morgan stuff was badly acted and badly written. it's always disappointing when a show has to sidestep its entire plot for a week and waste an episode because there's obviously not enough of it to fill a tiny season. this was like one of those eps of lost.

― Tioc Norris (LocalGarda), Monday, March 4, 2013 7:01 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark

nobody on the planet is excited to find out how the epic showdown with the governor pans out, so sidestepping the main plot is good

ty

yeah well personally i watch this show for the action, which it at least does in an exciting way relative to the mostly dire attempts at "character". even rick's "spiral into madness" basically involved what, seeing a few visions and the camera spinning around. and now he'll basically be fine again, what a surprise.

not least since how is there any tension or risk when you know it's a side ep where nobody is going to die and nothing is going to happen in advance of the battle to come. so no matter that there's a zombie hiding behind the counter, cos he isn't going to hurt anyone in this zero stakes stopgap.

As we were watching this last episode and it got near the end, my wife said, "If this really is a cruel show, we'll see that hiker dead or turned into a zombie himself." When they not only saw him dead, but stopped to take his backpack, I just turned to her and said, "THAT'S how cruel of a show it is."

Bottle episodes are just part of the reality of us TV production. I'm fine with that if they're as good as this one. Though this season has been a massive improvement, I'm pretty happy that the guy who wrote this episode is in charge next year.

Every time a zombie suddenly presses up a window, particularly a car window, take a drink.

Hmm, ep was written by Scott Gimple, who is taking over the show.

i'm pretty okay with that

also feel it deserves mentioning whenever they actually give Michonne some good material, can't help but the feel that actress is being tragically underused

she spoke and everything!

Aisha Tyler pointed out on Talking Dead though that this may mean she's now marked for killing since emoting = headshot

:)

I swear to god, if she somehow dies saving Andrea's life at the end of this season, I'm gonna stab somebody. Just a feeling...

Bottle episodes are just part of the reality of us TV production.

this wasn't a bottle episode, though. they had to build new sets / shot a bunch of stuff outside. a bottle episode would have taken place like entirely inside the main prison room.

they cut down the cast to four speaking characters, and c'mon, that totally was a very slightly redressed Woodbury set, they barely even tried to hide it

Cutting down on cast is a huge money saver.

I just posted a stream of conscious rant about this past episode and wanted to share it...

Hated that episode! Hated it! Hated!

It all seemed like a cynical plot detour. It served no point in the overall story other than to tie up a loose end that nobody really thought too much about anyway (really, was anyone thinking "Gee, I wonder what happened to that kind-hearted black fellow who saved Rick's ass back when he could still barely walk?") and all it accomplished was finding more guns & ammo (which could have been written in a hundred ways without taking a whole episode) and making the group seem even more cynical assholes than ever.

And it was illogical! Rick is so irrationally emotional to see his friend who tries to kill him, and risks a lot to keep him safe and tries to convince him to join them, but the zombiemeat backpacker doesn't get so much as a "Go Fuck Yourself."

And Carl is this cold, emotionless machine who will risk both his and Michone's asses for a sentimental photo of the same person whose head he casually put a bullet into.

Sure, people can be inconsistent. But in zombieland, the inconsistent people are the first to die. These fucks should have learned by now or died trying. But no. They survive in spite of themselves.

I know it's a stretch to start pointing out things that are unrealistic about a portrayal of dead people coming back to life and eating flesh for fun, but realistically, the inconsistencies of all involved (including Michone who really should have knocked Carl silly and dragged his ass back to daddy - and she would have only a few episodes ago!) tell me that nobody knows what they are doing. And by that I mean the WRITERS, man.

they haven't got a clue, it's ground to a halt again, at around the same point it did last season.

Can't you make the case though that it was a sobering encounter for Rick, who was on the edge of sanity and luckily aware of it? Running into someone crazy doesn't do the job as much as running into someone who is now way crazier than when he last saw him. (Therefore not a pointless plot detour/filler)

On the Carl thing he did mention it was for the benefit of his sister, not him.

I'll give you the tone of the episode felt very season 2 to me, with the long winded melodrama-ing at each other.

xp

xpost I think the only reason our cast has let its guard down at all is that they now understand people are more dangerous than the zombies, and there aren't many people. Things are always more tense when they meet new survivors. Hence zipping past the backpacker, but Rick giving the guy who saved his life - someone he knew - a shot. Of course, guy who saved his life probably had the right idea: the zombies are such a minor threat at this point that he knew they weren't stockpiling weapons to take out walkers. Like Newt in "Aliens," who knew she was better off on her own in the air ducts than with a bunch of highly trained, heavily armed space marines. Daryl walks the cold morality line better than any other character in the show. A la "Don't let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner."

Agree that the writers are struggling, though, esp. if they think anyone gives a shit about the impending Big Showdown. Alas, it lacks the budget to show what's going on in other (more interesting?) parts of the world. If the show had deeper pockets it would be cool to dedicate each season to a different stand-alone thread/series/cast, each set in a different part of the world, like "The Real World." "Walking Dead: Toronto." "Walking Dead: Tokyo." "Walking Dead: Cape Town." Which of course is basically "World War Z."

Suddenly had a flashback to how much I loved "Y: The Last Man."

they now understand people are more dangerous than the zombies, and there aren't many people

this is a problem imo, the zombies in the last ep were utterly irrelevant.

I have to give credit to Tom Savini's not very strong remake of "Night of the Living Dead" for being the first zombie flick iirc where the characters realize they can basically successfully run away from zombies, and that what takes people down is carelessness and/or zombies in large numbers. "The Walking Dead" comic made a point about this, swarms, but we've only seen it once in the show.

But yeah, it is a narrative problem, since there are so few people worth caring about. Survival in and of itself is not compelling short some larger vision or goal.

Maybe in season four Rick will convince the group he knows the way to Earth?

There is serious over-critiqueing going on here and the Justified thread, you will miss both of them when they are gone cos they are both fucking ace.

Agree that the writers are struggling, though, esp. if they think anyone gives a shit about the impending Big Showdown. Alas, it lacks the budget to show what's going on in other (more interesting?) parts of the world. If the show had deeper pockets it would be cool to dedicate each season to a different stand-alone thread/series/cast, each set in a different part of the world, like "The Real World." "Walking Dead: Toronto." "Walking Dead: Tokyo." "Walking Dead: Cape Town." Which of course is basically "World War Z."

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, March 6, 2013 5:53 PM (4 hours ago)

Ah yes, we discussed this way upthread somewhere. I would totally love to see where the show went next if they'd done this!

yeah i've often commented after episodes of this show that there must be a thousand fascinating stories in The Walking Dead's world, why did they have to tell what is surely the single most boring story out of all of them?

like a few episodes back The Brothers Redneck saved the Spanish-speaking family with a baby and it's like c'mon, stay with these guys, they're probably just a zillion times more interesting than Rick & Co.

Yeah so many questions when glimpses of others make their way into the show.

How did the hitchhiker end up alone?

The hermit in the cabin really was that isolated the entire time?

Where is the Spanish-speaking family going?

And these are just people in the same county and towns.

There is serious over-critiqueing going on here and the Justified thread, you will miss both of them when they are gone cos they are both fucking ace.

walking dead is just filler until other more enjoyable shows return.

There is serious over-critiqueing going on here

I would probably "miss" candy corn, too, but that doesn't mean I would actually miss it. And for the foreseeable future, there is always the "Waling Dead" comic.

Walking Dead opening credits, 1995-style

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C6tE4Mblks

Oh yeah, thought that was pretty amusing! Along with the Breaking Bad one.

I like the Breaking Bad one better.

Wow, I wonder if the cold open was a conscious nod to the "DayZ" mod? Which, by the way, if no one has ever seen it, watching several of the youtube clips of people playing DayZ is better than most episodes of this show. http://dayzmod.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7Q8c8jnL3s#!

Were these zombies growling and snarling from episode one? They'd be a lot scarier if they didn't announce their approach from a block away. "snannnarrrrlll gag groooowllldroooll snarrrryyyylllllllll slobbber ... here we come! buuuurrb snaaaaaaaarll sliiiiimmmme sneeeeeallllll ..."

GRRrrrllll must move plot ALOOONNNGGGG gnash gnash.

What a particularly terribly written and acted episode. I've seen better straight to video horor films. The Governor is a Jason-like all seeing, all knowing, unkillable slasher. Andrea, always stupid, seems to have forgotten how to avoid running down the middle of the road or standing in the middle of fields with no cover. The Woodbury b-listers have gone sadistic psycho. Tyrese, so slow on the uptake, has been given nothing to do but whimper. Even the geography suddenly seemed off.

Yeah they must be running out of cash when they're like, in a field, that looks like Herschel's farm repeatedly.

I like the idea of them having hours of b-roll with just nothing but people running through fields, to be used in future episodes.

i was pretty ok with the show embracing its trashier elements in this one. the Governor gets more and more ridiculous

what annoyed me was Andrea FINALLY starting to not be a total idiot (about the Governor) and alternatively acting like an idiot (when being chased by the Govenor), but i suppose her wising up had to bring a comeuppance

Me, watching the last 15 minutes of this episode:

Why is she not trying to just get outside and take his truck?

(when she unleashed the horde of zombies on the Governor) Andrea actually did something smart!

So she's going to go take his truck now, right?

OK, she's going out the door, hotwire the truck. He probably even left the keys in it.

WHY DIDN'T SHE TAKE THE TRUCK? AND HOW DID HE FIND HER AGAIN? THIS SHOW IS RIDICULOUS!

Burned-out pit zombies were like the worst thing ever.

yup, that was almost exactly my line of thinking re: andrea

What about Milton acting like a bigger than Andrea idiot? You'd think he would know when a little lie might serve him a bit better than spilling all to the psycho (Milton burned the biters, right?). And as for Tyreese, he's being played so clueless that I can't tell if he's clueless or just pretending to be clueless. How many red flags does a dude need? It's like the great Eddie Murphy routine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpPdgrr5diM

I appreciated Milton's thing there - his give and take with the Governor is a lot more potentially interesting than Andrea's - he seems pretty confident the Governor's not gonna kill him

I didn't see Tyreese as clueless than more conflicted, since it's clear they've had a pretty rough year, like it seems like he's still not sure about how much craziness he's willing to put up for safety. At the end of the ep it seems like he's not gonna fight it for now, unless he's planning to jet

The last place Tyreese and co stopped a psycho cop started ranting "NOOOOOOO!" at them, the Governor is at least a more controlled sociopath.

Why is she not trying to just get outside and take his truck?

(when she unleashed the horde of zombies on the Governor) Andrea actually did something smart!

So she's going to go take his truck now, right?

OK, she's going out the door, hotwire the truck. He probably even left the keys in it.

WHY DIDN'T SHE TAKE THE TRUCK? AND HOW DID HE FIND HER AGAIN? THIS SHOW IS RIDICULOUS!

I thought this, completely. But I did also think he might have taken the keys with him.

I figured she'd look for the keys too, as she knew that it took a zombie decoy for her to barely make it inside the prison last time, I don't know how she expected to get in this time.