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

You are crazy, the last 4 ep's have been really good, just watch em.

Yeah, once they broke everyone up into small groups/pairs, sent them on the move/run, it's been one pretty solid standalone episode after the other, no doubt on the way to something massively disappointing at the end of the season.

Last episode was amazing. Best episode of the whole four seasons, I thought.

the breaking of the fellowship has been a v good thing for the narrative, indeed.

The irony being that less is happening even though more is happening. In a zombie apocalypse where children are eating their parents and people are putting their former loved ones down while they're not dealing with rampaging/shambling evildoers, every episode should be as heart-wrenching and hard to watch as the last one. But of course that would be the most depressing show ever.

http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/walking-dead-grove-202256

I agree with some of the points in this, actually, it just felt to me like they were pushing past dark to ludicrously dark.

Also so, so sick of zombies popping up whenever they can't end a damn scene.

Yeah, it goes back to the problem of the zombies being quiet until they're RIGHT BEHIND YOU! BOO!

I thought the write-up was *way* off point. Ludicrously dark is the lame governor lopping off a hero's head with a samurai sword. This dark turn, on the other hand, has been building up for a long while, and the pay-off on all fronts was perfectly in line with the set-up.

kind of an anticlimactic season ender. also want to know where Beth is.

the gang scene gave the episode bit of an early climax, but overall pretty good. i notice i keep getting a sentiment on this show that if they nail one really good scene I'll forgive anything else; super intense. (man, did not think they would go so far as to having Carl almost raped) i'll miss you, evil Jeff Kober

also a lot more satisfying than last year's season ender w/the gov. driving away. this season, especially the second half, was pretty damn good IMO. probably the best season of the show yet in retrospect, even w/the awkward adventures of One-Eye Bri

as soon as Beth was "disappeared" i knew we weren't gonna see her again until next season. maybe not even until the second half, depending how long this Terminus arc goes

actually looking forward to to see Rick and Co. go nuts on these hippie/hipster psycho cannibals (my guess?) next season. never trust a Tasha Yar, man

oh shit was that her?

yeah I loved the cage full of human ribcages and the sizzling meat that rick didn't allow anyone to eat

haha, yeah, i like how that was instinctive... *thinking* "where... could they have gotten all this meat..."
there's a great similar moment in The Walking Dead game by Telltale where the main character screams "DON'T EAT IT"

My wife and I were watching this last night and I think I knew Rick was going to bite the guy's throat out about two seconds before he did it, but him going to town on the other guy with the knife was just o_O.

When they were all outside the railway car and Rick saw all the empty boxes of powdered milk, all I could think of was that Simpsons "Treehouse of Horror" with Mrs. Krabappel writing on the board: HOMEWORK - EAT A STICK OF BUTTER.

http://bbsimg.ngfiles.com/1/24851000/ngbbs526c1faa59d70.jpg

the way that scene ends with Carl staring with intense hatred/approval as Rick stabs the pedo endlessly was a really good shot

I can't believe they wasted the first half of this season on "resolving" the Gov. arc, when the stakes are so much higher for this second half of the season. But then, maybe that's why that other showrunner got run out. Whoever is in charge now is sure not afraid to go daaaaaaark.

I don't know if it went down that way - pretty sure Scott Gimple was showrunner since the beginning of this season (that is, his first job was to clean up the Governor mess + the disease arc). The way last year ended just smacked of interference... but I don't know for sure

I guess I was just presuming that at least a little work was done on the first half of this season before they swapped showrunners, but maybe not. Given how much stronger the second half of this season was than the first, which basically just extended the previous sort of not strong season was, it makes me wonder.

The question is: how long can the group last in a "Hostel" like house of horrors? Did we see the Washington guy among the group in the train car? Is he already gone and grilled? That would be a funny anti-climactic end to the dead-end get to DC subplot.

i'm up to speed now. gotta say, i think the show came into its own during season 4 - at its best that season was actually full-on no-caveats can't-look-away brilliant. i'm thinking the mid-season finale and the lizzie episode in particular (the former was pretty much a do-over of the botched season 3 finale, right? except done so well it didn't matter).

i really enjoyed the scattering of the cast. previously, interesting minor characters' subplots were kind of brushed under the carpet because the main plot and characters took precedence - it was really good to spend extended time with unlikely teams of people who weren't rick/carl etc, especially as they've actually learned how to do character development well. so i didn't mind that there was minimal plot development (which is an odd complaint anyway now, given that the main theme of the series is that there is no point, there is no endgame, there is no plot).

michonne and carl bonding has been one of the season's highlights for sure, who would have thought these two would be the ones bringing some much-needed levity to matters? surprisingly i also really liked carl yelling at unconscious rick. so teenage. it felt true to life and the character. helped that i agreed with him. and i no longer want rick to die!

daryl and beth was pretty absorbing, if you took the burning of the shack as allegorical catharsis rather than actual baffling stupidity. you'd think they'd have worked out their princess vs redneck issues by now but it's great that TWD went there with the class war angle. (politically, it's become so much better since the days of token-black-guy-killed-off-asap. minority characters carrying episodes without being caricatures and it's not even a thing.) i felt the last two episodes did lapse into the bad old days of stupidity and withholding information though - hey daryl, beth has not "just gone", maybe tell rick that she was kidnapped in a car???

maggie/bob/sasha and glenn/tara/new people had their moments but unfortunately glenn and maggie's relationship is now the worst thing about the show. so many unnecessary acts of stupidity and selfishness committed by them. i really, really wish that at some point they'd used glenn and maggie to bring the levity to the show - this constant intense "i must protect you with my life (even though i'm ill and you're perfectly capable)" crap is very wearing. they should have been an opportunity to remind the audience that joy and relaxation and contentment and shared humour with someone you love are possible even in a zombie apocalypse, and this would have meant there was more at stake when they were separated. and maybe i'd have had more patience with maggie dragging bob and sasha around after her, as if sasha hadn't also lost someone she loved. ditto glenn and tara - in just a few weeks tara's gone from relative security with her entire family to seeing her dad, sister, niece and girlfriend all die violently in front of her - in that context maybe HER trauma might be more in need of attention than glenn's? and the fucking train tunnel. you'd walk into a zombie-infested tunnel without your armour and with an injured companion just to save a day's journey? do you want to get to your wife or do you want to die trying? ughhhh.

against that backdrop i did like bob becoming a happy voice of reason rather than a dodgy alcoholic. and the three new characters are pretty 1D and straight outta the comics at this point but not in an annoying way. gotta love that there's someone out there who thinks hotpants and hoop earrings are suitable zombie apocalypse attire, love rosita already <3

obviously the carol/tyreese/lizzie/mika group was the BOMB this half-season though. if i had minor nitpicks, 1) i'd have liked them to keep escalating lizzie's craziness for a little while longer (just because it was tremendously effective to watch), 2) i'd rather she'd killed off judith than mika because that fucking baby is just dragging down the plot. still - that episode was peak walking dead. the carol/tyreese post-mortem was easily the most powerful non-violent scene in the show's history. carol's definitely the best character now. and she NEVER lapses into clichéd soliloquies, she speaks normally and level-headedly at all times and this never lessens the impact of her words or actions. also, an episode carried entirely by a middle-aged woman and an african-american man, neither of whom were remotely stereotyped? pow.

no idea where they'll go in season 5. thought they should probably have done the (i assume) cannibalism reveal in the finale, it was never explicit but if it's in the comics there'd obviously be speculation and there were enough clues to put two and two together. not much suspense about it now.

i have a feeling beth was kidnapped by someone else entirely, kidnapping doesn't seem to be terminus's style.

oh the flashbacks in the finale made me want to throw things though. NO 1 CURR about farming lyfe when drama is happening. STOPPIT.

glad they went with a guns blazing premiere, a lot of fun. really surprised that the end of Terminus came so soon!

That was pretty cathartic. Also worth watching Talking Dead for once, I missed a bunch of references and characters from earlier episodes!

Same here - can't believe they brought back that guy from waaay back last season with Rick's watch, to not even get a single line and get mercilessly slaughtered

As a newish parent, I really can't take more scenes of baby in peril, just too distressing. The abattoir carnage, fine, but the upset baby...

wow that must have been one of the best walking dead episodes ever, was convinced they'd take 3 episodes just to get out of the cattle truck. carol is the best.

as nice as it was to see them all reunited, that's some unwieldy group of FIFTEEN they're now trekking around as...

That was stunning opening episode, was never fooled that Tyrene wasn't going to anything other than waste that little fucker!

Tyreese

I don't think he did! Really hoping that dude doesn't double back and kill Tyreese's sister or something else awful.

Love this show, but it's so fucking cynical. I guess I'd like to think that humans would not be in such a big hurry to kill each other when faced with a zombie apocalypse.

xp
That is probably what will follow, alas he only beat him half to death.

Xpost

Remember that your nut job survivalist types who can't wait to go round killing the less prepared would probably be the ones who thrived in this sort of scenario. Sadly doesn't seem that cynical.

i don't think you even need a zombie apocalypse for humans to start killing each other, just the breakdown of law & order

props for how well this show deals w/race & gender (having been so terrible at it initially). tyreese as babysitter and carol as action heroine going into battle made total sense and was allowed to just happen without being a big deal.

it's weird to have started the new series and have no idea where it goes from here. we need either a new base, an artificial splitting up or a serious cull at this point. feel like being able to name all 15 in our merry post-terminus troupe should deserve a prize. tara probably the most obvious to be killed off but almost too obvious - hard to be shocked/upset about a character you'd forgotten about. glenn and maggie are still terrible but i live in fear of one of them dying and the other one moping for a whole season. abraham/eugene/rosita all still underdeveloped (has rosita even had any lines yet?) but their story hasn't really begun has it? i fear for bob/sasha - just developed enough that we care, but not too established that they're here for good.

i would like some michonne/sasha dialogue, i think

My understanding from interviews is that, as with this opener, they're going to bracket episodes at the beginning and end with stuff from what happened at Terminus before our intrepid heroes arrived. Gareth is definitely not dead - I've seen stills of him from later episodes, probably so Rick can deal with his "Remember when I said I'd kill you last, Sully?" promise.

A good episode from this show is such a red flag, considering its complete inability thus far to sustain a season-long narrative from start to finish. To that end, really this should have been last season's finale, the same mistake they made with the governor, but whatevs.

Other thoughts:

-Who cares what happened at Terminus before our heroes arrived?

-Why did they tie that dude's hands but not his feet? Also, I totally forget what turned Tyreese into the cowardly lion. The murder/death of his sister? That psycho kid from the end of last season?

-You want cynical? When they lined up the eight people at the trough, four of them strangers, four of them our heroes? What a cynical way to just get some horrific gore going without really putting any familiar faces at real risk.

-One of the very first episodes Rick realized that smearing yourself with zombie offal and other effluvia at least briefly disguises you. Certainly Michonne realized that walking around with mangled zombies protects you. Here Carol gets all gutted up to sneak around. Why don't more characters do this all the time? Is it just too gross?

-Carol did somehow clean up well, though, for the reunion.

-Took a while to steal the savvy fireworks idea from "Land of the Dead."

who did rick give the watch to? I remember that happened but don't remember who it was and didn't recognize anyone.

oh I just googled it. at the blood trough. ok.

Who cares what happened at Terminus before our heroes arrived?

Gimple said on Talking Dead that he wants to show what happens to people when they're put in situations that change them, that the Terminus people were good to begin with and became what they were due to the experience with the psychos who took over. "You're either the cattle or the butcher," or whatever the dude said. I think the implication is that Rick & Co. are going to undergo some heavy shit that might make them change their moral attitude and how they deal with people.

Not sure how much rape camp torture porn we really need to see to make a point that has already been pretty heavily made

I think this show errs on the side of going too far a lot, actually, so I'm expecting the flashbacks to be pretty dreadful.

"Undergoing some heavy shit that might make them change their moral attitude and how they deal with people" is the closest this show has had to a theme. And every other apocalypse tale before it, too. I really hope this season's bright idea is bigger, but I don't expect anything more than the usual wheel-spinning, honestly. Because again, no matter what, the world is over and done with. Life is nothing but wheel-spinning, which that needling neo-conversation between Tyreese and the smug gum chewer reiterated over and over. It's not so much "cattle or butcher" but "we're all going to die." And when we die, we're going to come back, and maybe never die. And also eat people. Per Lex above, yeah, I'm impressed that I can name all 15 or so of these folks now, too, but won't that be a problem? Who of this batch can they kill? Would they kill anyone of them? If they don't kill any of them, won't the posse just keep accumulating names we know, making it harder and harder to depict the group as in any real danger?

i appreciated the terminus flashbacks, always good to have the villains somewhat fleshed out. would like some more b/c it's still a big step from vowing not to be taken advantage of to actual cannibalism.

this show's big themes are silly and/or overblown, i don't watch it for those, i guess i see it as an ~adventure series? there is no point or ending to aim for, but it's a group of characters i'm somewhat attached to getting into life-threatening scrapes. making me give a shit about the characters (without feeling as though i should have an executive producer's credit for projecting what i want a character who hasn't been given any lines in 5 episodes to be) should be the show's no 1 aim imo. (the terminus flashbacks do decent work in this area.)

the tactics to move around zombie herds safely do seem to be conveniently forgotten/remembered, though i think the zombies randomly being able to suddenly move silently and quickly enough to surprise characters bothers me more.

definitely loled when carol showed up fresh out of a shower advert,

http://i.imgur.com/rjXdsSj.jpg

made some perfect bacon

http://i.imgur.com/Hy5A7tY.jpg

oh no stop ur killin em

lol oops

omg at bacon pic!!

Mmm. Hoegarden.

Now, see, something is all screwy. Clearly the last episode should have been the season finale, and this one should have been the season premiere. It's as if they don't know how to tell a story, even when they are lucky enough to have a story to tell.

Anyway.

1) Not sure how much I can handle a smug, talky villain this season.

2) Didn't Rick and a few of his friends already have a run-in with the CDC c. season one? The crappy season one finale, maybe? So shouldn't he know that the idea that DC has anything to offer is silly?

3) Also, you'd think they'd recognize that staying away from population centers would be a wise thing. Though sure, if I spent all my time wandering the same 10 or so square mile area, I'd get pretty bored too.

4) Speaking of smug, talky villains. You'd think our tracker heroes would notice someone grillin' nearby. But hey, whatevs

1) hipster villain is a funny demented twist though
2) i think that some point the writers are going to remember this and someone will call out the mullet guy. the CDC thing didn't happen in the comics

poor Bob though, you knew as soon as one new black cast member entered, another would have to leave... thanks AMC

Maybe the villain didn't start out hip. Maybe what happened to him ... made him hip.

Want to say mullet and his story have already lasted longer than he/it did in the comics?

Though actually, hipster Gareth does have a direct analog in the comics, so let's see if the show follows that storyline to its probably not far off conclusion.