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

Yeah, but we haven't seen anything much more than police there in the show, have we? Still have the more recent ep to watch.

Some sort of amusing religious in jokes though. The Biblical stuff about eating the flesh, the priest pulling a nail from his foot ...

yeah they didn't show that many other people and I'm not sure there were that many in there, which is why they were so frantic to get more.

Was cool seeing Keisha Castle-Hughes show up as the recaptured escapee / amputee / walker. Curious how she got the role (her and show mutual fans of each other?). Wish she'd joined the cast for a longer stint. Glad she's continued to act. Thought she was great in "Whale Rider", and fun seeing her appear in "The Almighty Johnsons".

As far as the cops, not sure how many bad apples there were besides the two that died in the hospital, but was also surprised they only showed Noah leaving with Rick's group. The remaining cops were either cowards, allowing the few to abuse the civilians, or the civilians prefer the devil they know versus leaving with a wild-looking bunch.

At the pace they're going, seems like they're 1 to 1.5 seasons behind the comics. It's been long enough, I can't remember Beth the comic character, if there was one.

don't think there was a Beth in the comics, Maggie had other sisters but they all died pretty quickly

it was a little vague to me how it ended, it wouldn't surprise me if Noah was the only hospital person to go with them or if a few more tagged along as well
but then again, looking at it from their point of view, Rick and co. looked like a bunch of psycho hobos and probably even scarier than the cops

i do like how DGAF Rick now doesn't even try to look presentable. or maybe he learned a lesson about wearing other people's jackets. I don't know

This last episode was unfortunately like a condensed Day of the Dead: poorly defined or barely established sadistic authority figures histrionic, overacting, or just generally talking and talking, all while trapped in a confined space. Also, kind of tired of, five seasons in, these debates about what you need to do to survive. We've already established that these people have survived, and why, so no need to rehash. Plus, while this show clearly has a pretty big production budget, every once in a while we hit a stretch of episodes where it seems like they've run out of money, or need to scrape together every penny for some shooting and zombie effects, sticking everyone else in a hospital hall, or standing by a firetruck, or standing around the same square city block or parking lot, talking. And speaking of which, why is downtown Atlanta suddenly more or less devoid of zombies? They all watching "Snow White" at the theatre?

Did I miss when Carol woke up? I blinked, and next thing I know she's awake in a wheelchair. And then she was standing. Did she say anything? And a real cheat to leave Beth out of the show for so long, then bring her back just for this lame detour.

Seriously, this hospital side plot was so lame. So many police, and the only two civilians are ... the doctor and the bearded guy? Plus Beth, always mopping and Carol, in a bed? Make an effort, Walking Dead. Just when I thought you had turned a corner ...

they did a similar thing with Merle and Andrea tbf

Did they? Did we ever have more than an episode without Merle or Andrea? Because Beth was taken back in episode 13 of Season 4, so we had, what five episodes in a row with barely a mention of Beth? And then they bring her back just for this sloppy and circular and rushed 5 episode stretch of a go-nowhere subplot, just to kill her? Were there people between seasons on pins and needles wondering what happened to Beth, and these show folks were like, just wait until you see what's in store! It's a hospital, filled with 10 people, most of them cops, who sometimes hit this guy with a beard and have alluded to sex slaves we have never seen! It's SOOOO much worse than being stalked by smug ruthless smart cannibals, just you wait!

Still amazed, what with the relative ease of travel/finding cars/gas that they haven't tried driving anywhere else. It's like there's downtown Atlanta and the woods, and all those millions of suburbs, let alone other cities, have just vanished. They should take a trip to Athens and try to find some coffee. They could get the zombie members of REM to reunite on the show.

"Cuyahogaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh..."

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

Merle was gone for over an entire season!!!

And no one missed him.

He certainly wasn't the exclusive subject of a subsequent story arc though.there was no, next week, find out what happened to Merle!

carol's recovery from her internal bleeding was remarkable. and they went to those lengths to get her into the hospital for...nothing? not even a reunion scene with beth? no plotting? indeed, not a single line?

That's what I mean. It just seems sort of first draft, seat of pants. There is no goal, no end-point, no arc, just action. It's like a big boulder pushed off the top of a mountain, rolling and rolling, fast at first, then with diminishing speed, until it levels off and just ... stops.

to play the devil's advocate... carol did get a whole episode where she had a character arc leading up to the hospital, and more or less completed it before getting hit by the car
tbh she didn't really care that much about Beth as much as Darryl did... she was ready to bail on everybody yet again!

Oh, she had her arc. It's really no excuse to hit her with a car and lay her in a hospital, mute, for a couple of eps, just to have her up and running again by the end of the mid-season break. That's some weak soap opera shit. I'm waiting for someone who looks and sounds a lot like Rick, but with a mysterious mustache or goatee, to suddenly show up. "Something's not right about Rick ... "

Watching this show is like watching a child play chess. They know what all the pieces can do, but they focus so much on the mechanics that they never think more than a couple of moves away. And then they lose.

haha otm

I think I'm done with this show. It's a fucking never-ending bummer. I kinda figured the whole Eugene thing was bullshit (they weren't going to magically find a "cure" for all of the zombies), but at this point, it's just this disgusting series of shitty events.

Yup, that's what it is - don't blame you. But at the same time, I dug tonight's episode - they gave Tyreese a good send-off. Fun to see the ghosts show up and the dreamy editing.

ugh i hated that episode, another needless death caused by idiot sentiment and general stupidity - from entering the house in the first place without waiting for the others to tyreese getting lost in a fucking photograph everything about that had me yelling "whyyyyyy"

and then the hallucinations with their terrible, clichéd lines that they kept repeating again and again

the premise of the episode and tyreese's death could've been handled so much better

I agree. Imaginary haunting conversations with past (usually dead) characters is one of my least favourite storytelling devices. Or at least the way film and tv tends to do it. Easily the worst aspect of Six Feet Under.

Can't believe a show about the zombie apocalypse isn't more upbeat and edifying, c'mon writers!

Finally caught up with this go-nowhere pseudo premiere. I'd call this amateur arty ep a risk that did not pay off.

this episode was a mess! and to think during points of the last season i was actually finally digging it as much, if not more than, the comic.

flashbacks in any TV series can get to fuck

Post terminous this series has been consistently dreadful, they don't know what they are doing.

I thought this was a good episode - heavy drama. Hope this series has an end, because this could go on forever using a random plot generator.

Clearly plot has not troubled this show. I'm beginning to think it is improvised.

"Hey, what do you want to do today?"

"I dunno. Road trip?"

"To where?"

"Virginia."

"Cool. Do we have to leave Georgia?"

"Nope!"

"Even better. Will the trip be very dangerous with no obvious gain?"

"Of course. But Beth would have wanted it that way."

"Who's Beth?"

"Only the emotional lynchpin of the entire show, duh."

"Eh, doesn't matter. I'm in. It'll be rad."

That's a little disingenuous. There have been plenty of haranguing conversations about them starving, they can't stay on the road forever, so on and so on and so on... and it's basically a repeat of the end of season 2 / beginning of 3 when they go from the farm to the prison.

I only saw the midseason premiere, and they road trip from Atlanta to Virginia as a favor to dead Beth to bring Everybody Hates Chris home to see his inevitably dead family. And then at the end they say, huh, we're close to Washington, so even though we have never left the apparent 10 square miles of Georgia we've called home, maybe we should check out some other places. You know, now that taking cars and the roads are apparently safe again.

Where did they get the walkie talkies? From terminus? Maybe they should have grabbed more than two, could come in handy when you're exploring zombie infested gated communities.

Caught up with last week's death march ep. Questions:

Why have they not tried moving closer to the coast, or some place where they can sail/float around on boats, like Huck Finn or something?

Why hang in Hotlanta at all? They could find a lake house in the mountains where it is cooler. One of the smarter things in World War Z (the book) was recognizing that zombies slowed, stopped and froze in cold weather.

One smart thing (finally!) about this show is the realization that zombies are slow and relatively manageable.

I know they've been busy, but there's been just a general lack of exploration, period. Or, you know, bicycle riding.

Other than that, usual bullshit. I know these people are bummed, but you'd think they'd move on beyond the shock of perpetual bad news. Because even on a good day the world is still overrun with flesh-eating zombies.

Oh, almost forgot: the ive-second dog attack was hilarious.
http://i.imgur.com/IpPFq.gif

Also, life is precious, and god, and the bible.

that multi-species super hobo dog gang was the best

OK, finished last night's ep. For a show about desperation and survival, it's amazing how slow and nothing-happens it can be. But zombie attack was good, and I give a lot of credit for featuring a prominent gay couple (who even kiss!) on such a red-meat, red-state show.

Still, how many times are they going to feature a clean-cut, smooth-talking smugly-friendly guy appear out of nowhere?

this was the most clean-cut guy they've ever met, so naturally he was gay

so refreshing to have actual normal dialogue in the most recent episode, and no one inexplicably withholding information and acting irrationally for the sake of plot (i mean, rick, duh, but his paranoia felt built into the plot and plausible). abraham and rosita should get more lines, they don't get much to say but they mostly seem like normal human beings when they do

nothing this show has ever done has convinced me that rick should be the leader instead of michonne/glenn/carol/even carl at this point. i appreciated michonne just being like, NOPE we are doing this

aaron's entire approach was very psychologically astute and - assuming all's as he tells it - that's a pretty brave job he's got going on there

I'm curious where they go with this, because it's a pretty big turning point in the comics, iirc, but I'm not sure how far into it they're going to get this season, if they even do.

[no spoiler intended] Aaron took Jesus' meet and greet role from the comics, correct? Recalibrating what I've read vs. where the series is at.

Nope they are distinct but I can see the confusion because of the repetition of roles and themes (being intentionally vague here for those who haven't read comics)

This show has gotten so good, like everyone is hitting their stride and nailing scene after scene with no overthinking or doubt. The 'how'd you know where the battery was?' bit needed nothing else other than that line for a close-reading and remembering audience, and got nothing more than that

I loved the faux-"An Ending (Ascent)" at arriving at the Alexandria gates

Ha, noticed that, too. Used well in 28 Days Later, just as the series premiere used that movie's start.

really enjoying this alexandria plotline. remains to be seen how they'll manufacture tension and danger - on past evidence, by characters behaving stupidly and implausibly out of character - but there are a lot of interesting tensions to explore beyond that. carol's little video scene >>>>>>>>

haha yeah that was incredibly hilarious

her "aw shucks!" looks when fumbling with the guns too

Definitely an intriguing decision to introduce a douchebag character who literally introduces himself as a douchebag.

that sort of self-awareness is pretty rare among douchebags.

i appreciated the theme of who they were pre-apocalypse; rick asserted it didn't matter but it coloured how all of them reacted to "civilisation". carol was lying but also not, she was just reaching back to who she actually was; everything said was true of who she used to be. michonne and daryl are the most badass badasses on the show but she used to be a lawyer and he was a redneck; of course she'd be substantially more enthusiastic, and he'd have been surly and suspicious in a place like that pre-apocalypse. and if rick finds adjusting to society difficult, naturally, of course he slips into the role of cop easily...

(the only characters whose previous occupations we don't know are sasha and rosita, right?)

Wow is this gated community arc laying it on thick. It got to the point where every time the politician gave one of those "I can read people" speeches or talked about "what this place will become," or someone talked about cookies or making prosciutto or knitting or trying to get NPR back up and running (OK i made those up) I wanted to barf. And then, adding insult to injury, they toss in killing an animal and threatening children, which is the laziest way to get a rise out of viewers.

Plus how literal minded to give Rick an actual scarlet letter A. This show, man ...

Carol threatening the kid was one of the show's best scenes ever! So hilarious. Her whole character during this arc is fabulous.

Main reason I like this arc so far is the way they're playing crazy Rick/Sasha/Carol/etc. being the real danger to this town rather than just doing Governor/Terminus/Part III