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Author Topic: The Walking Dead *SPOILERS*  (Read 172051 times)
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« Reply #180 on: Tuesday, October 31, 2017, 13:17:10 »

8x02

Well, if last weeks was a bit meh, this weeks was a total fucking confused mess.

How do you fuck up an action episode. Here's  how
 - Start off by making it feel like you missed an episode
 - add two sets of randoms + Aaron in a shootout and leave the viewer to work out WTF is going on and who is who.
 - Add Carole, Aza and the fucking tiger chasing hand grenade man, in case he tips off the Saviours they are attack. You know, the ones that have already attacked earlier.
 - Turn  morgan into Robocop. Actually this but was good fun and given he think he's immortal not too stupid
 - Turn Jesus into actual Jesus, forgiving everyone.
 - Send Rick and Daryl into somewhere on some vague plan or other to get guns from what I though was the main Saviours hold, but wasn't, even though it looked like Daryl's cell. And then get Rick blindsided by non other than.......thingmy dude that was in it ages ago that .... er.. wait...let me google who he is again while we wait for Daryl to save the day.
- Obviously don't mention what hapened with shitting pants and Negan.

Now I'd imagine all this will be explained, drawn out over some episodes, and I'll go aasaaaah. But as a standalone episode it was confused and poor. The director should be fed to the walkers.
« Last Edit: Wednesday, November 1, 2017, 13:35:40 by Batch » Logged
RobertT

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« Reply #181 on: Tuesday, October 31, 2017, 15:28:33 »

I went down to Senoia on Sunday, place was packed with people on walking tours.  Popped into a local bar, got talking to some locals and ended up getting four free pints.  I still have only ever watched one episode.
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jayohaitchenn
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« Reply #182 on: Wednesday, November 1, 2017, 09:25:36 »

8x02

Well, if last weeks was a bit meh, this weeks was a total fucking confused mess.

How do you fuck up an action episode. Here's  how
 - Start off by making it feel like you missed an episode
 - add two sets of randoms + Aaron in a shootout and leave the viewer to work out WTF is going on and who is who.
 - Add Carole, Aza and the fucking tiger chasing hand grenade man, in case he tips off the Saviours they are attack. You know, the ones that have already attacked earlier.
 - Turn  moran into Robocop. Actually this but was good fun and given he think he's immortal not too stupid
 - Turn Jesus into actual Jesus, forgiving everyone.
 - Send Rick and Daryl into somewhere on some vague plan or other to get guns from what I though was the main Saviours hold, but wasn't, even though it looked like Daryl's cell. And then get Rick blindsided by non other than.......thingmy dude that was in it ages ago that .... er.. wait...let me google who he is again while we wait for Daryl to save the day.
- Obviously don't mention what hapened with shitting pants and Negan.

Now I'd imagine all this will be explained, drawn out over some episodes, and I'll go aasaaaah. But as a standalone episode it was confused and poor. The director should be fed to the walkers.


Fucking this. Didn't follow this episode at all.
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« Reply #183 on: Wednesday, November 1, 2017, 13:35:25 »

I had to check they hadn't stuck another episode on before that I missed!
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Barry Scott

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« Reply #184 on: Wednesday, November 1, 2017, 16:06:15 »

Agreed. That episode was a cluster fuck. It was one of those that on previous occasions would have had me throwing in the towel.
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« Reply #185 on: Wednesday, November 1, 2017, 16:12:19 »

This is not a criticism and his delivery does grate on me at times but you do realise he is playing the role of a psychopath? He's meant to be enjoying what he is doing.

Missed this. I wish to second Batch’s Negan thing.

We know he’s a apparently a psycho, but like I’d said previously, he doesn’t actually come across as a psycho. He comes across as an annoying twat.

Apart from when he battered Glen, he’s not really done anything remotely intimidating and some how manages to be tantamount to invincible.

He’s such a shit “baddie” that I don’t even want him dead, I don’t hate him, he doesn’t make me fear for characters, I’d just rather he fucked off so we don’t have to watch and listen to his pathetic theatrics anymore.
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BambooToTheFuture

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« Reply #186 on: Wednesday, November 1, 2017, 18:19:24 »

S8E2:

Well, what can I say. I agree with Batch for a fair part here. There were however some decent reveals and good elements. It was, on the whole though frustrating in certain scenes. I'll start with the Director.

Rosemary Rodriguez directed only her second ever episode of TWD. Her first one being.....from S7 episode, Sing Me a Song. That wasn't a terrible episode but it was the episode where Negan befriended Carl, showed him around the Sanctuary, made him take off his eye bandage, and took up residence in Alexandria for the day. He was almost just a regular nice guy and revealed a few more layers of Negan. In this latest episode, S8 The Damned, things however get a tad convoluted.

It starts with a weird face montage which I don't know what the show was trying to achieve but it appeared pretty cringy. So Tara, Morgan & Jesus start ambushing the observatory that they had cleared of Saviours before (S6:E11 or 12). Morgan, as Batch says, seems to have become this immortal being. It's not fully out of character though, Morgan does just need a focus. See the episode clear where Rick see's Morgan for the first time and he is just "clearing" every Walker that comes through, almost in delirium. He's with two other guys, infiltrating the quarters when they're shot at and we're meant to think all three have been killed. We later find Morgan is still alive. Tara and Jesus split from Morgan where they find a man who's pissed his pants and begs for their mercy. Tara wants to kill him, Jesus says no (no pun). This is the most frustrating and infuriating part of the episode for me. Just fucking kill him. You know The Saviours "ethos" you know they don't give a damn about anyone and considering the brutality our survivors have been through (although you could argue that Jesus & Tara weren't in the line-up that witnessed the psychologically altering, skull smashing of Abe & Glen). It just didn't wash and this was definitely way wide of character. Did it make them seem more human? No. Not in that scenario and not how we've seen both characters develop. For the purposes of the show, the guy the ended up tying up, was a total unknown to them so there was no emotional attachment of sorts. Just get rid of him. It was a pointless scene. The other bit with the remaining Saviors, who down weapons and Morgan, after coming round and killing some more Saviours appears bemused that they all seem to have met a peacekeeping agreement was ok and Lennie James again acted his parts well (even if he is now Robocop/Terminator).

The other part which annoyed me and this character is increasingly grating on me as the episodes recede is the whole "stature" of King Ezekiel. To be honest his character even admits to Carol, in the episode annoyingly "Fake it till you make it...babyyy."
It was their pursual of one, yes one guy from a Saviour controlled pharmacy lab that was frustrating as they again wasted ammunition (which incredibly King Ez, says to not waste because fucking Shiva ends him anyway!). In the aftermath of him letting off a smoke bomb/chaff grenade and unleash walkers that had been trapped within the building, he gets his come uppence from the ammunition depleted Shiva (everyone's favourite house trained Tiger). They continue on in the direction the man led them after following his blood trail, to the next Saviour outpost thinking it's all jobby dunny, however The Saviours know they are coming.

The other bits do kind of make sense and weren't as confusing. If you'd been looking at the notes that Dwight's been sending it's pretty much intel on Saviour outpost. That's the continued plan to take those outposts ermm out and weaken Negan's army, to gain control or at least take Negan hostage (just a guess, I don't know if they will or not).

So while Aaron & Eric attack a Saviour warehouse which was quite clever strategy in shooting so many, drawing the others out but holding their position. Retreating slightly, drawing the other Saviours closer knowing full well the "dead" Saviours would turn and start to attack/eat/distract the remaining Saviours. It was a clever play so those scene didn't fuss me too much. It obviously ended with Aaron carrying a shot Eric away.

Then their was the Rick and Daryl mission, again it was fine as part of the plan, after all Dwight's intel had informed them of a Saviour gun stash hidden there. No real confusion as such but when it's found to be empty they split up which I found ridiculous. Just search each room out together and cover each other. Standard two man rule. The predictable happens and Rick fights a man who he ends up spiking on a shelf bracket. He shortly finds, behind a concealed doorway a baby in a crib who we know as "Gracie". Rick spirals into regret as he realises he's still a human being after all and not just a post apocalyptic killing machine. I found that more real than the "Tara & Jesus" scene, as we've seen Rick break down before after reflecting on his actions. In truth this shows the true decency of the character we remember at the beginning and somewhat even before the apocalypse began. I liked that bit even if he should've been more on guard in that moment. The photograph he was looking at is then revealed  in real life as Morales. Me being me, I liked this reference back to Morales. Yes I did remember who he was and if I'm right, we first saw him in S1:E3 after doing an Atlanta mission with Glenn? But I think he and his family parted at the end of the next episode which I always remember the name of, Vatos. It's the one where they come across a gang who are actually looking after oldies in a Nursing home. Anyway, I think the reintroduction of Morales was a good call. The fact he's joined up with The Saviours is interesting twist and I wonder if his family are still alive?

Final irks for me, which mirror Batch's comments are;

They've left us hanging with no reference to Gabriel & Lord of The Shitting Pants. They could've ditched the Tara&Jesus scene and done a small two minute scene of either Gabriel begging for mercy or a small battle ensuing between Negan and himself.

We've not seen any true closure yet(probably thankfully) of the Scavengers/Junkyard. We know Jadis is still alive and surely some others escaped. I think they were a poor plotline from S7 but if we're not going to hear of them anymore, especially Jadis, then it needs to be written out and presented to the viewer. Just so we can say, thanks but goodbye.

The episode did make you feel like you'd missed one from between (1a or whatever). Are they trying to do what the Stranger Things writers have done with their S2E2 whereby the episode bears no real relevance to the story as a who? Ok, TWD wasn't that extreme but I did feel like I'd missed a week.

All in all my guess is S8E3: Monsters, will have to be a fairly brutal or shocking episode. If Negan is true to his character then he's going to be seriously pissed off with the attack on Saviour outposts. Can he just eliminate Gabriel and also Gregory while he's at it, as these two are now pointless characters only holding the pace up. There was a time when I thought we'd find out Gabriel was a former criminal or had a shady past and had found God but alas they never developed his character, it's time for him to go. Gregory is just an annoying and predictable coward. Someone would've killed him along time ago as he'll just betray whoever to keep himself sweet. The development of Morales will be interesting but they have to ramp the season up otherwise the ratings will start to drop more. We can take the odd one or even two poor episodes and while this wasn't an awful episode, it just felt disjointed and detached from the core of the show.

Still looking forward to E3 but it really needs to be a good one, followed by another one in E4. That'll take us to the quarter nicely and build for the MSF. Just stop dancing around and give us the real TWD back. We shall, as always, see.

Strike up your opinion on my comments here, I'm always up for hearing your thoughts on TWD whether they differ or mirror mine. I'm a big fan of he show still but I can also be it's worse critic. Thanks for reading/listening/viewing and I'll have an installment once again, this time next week!

Cheers, Bamboo
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'Incessant Nonsense'

______________________________________________________________

'I'm gonna tell you the secret.
There's a threat, you end it and you don't feel ashamed about enjoying it.
You smell the gunpowder and you see the blood, you know what that means?
It means you're alive. You've won.
You take the heads so that you don't ever forget.'
chalkies_shorts

« Reply #187 on: Thursday, November 2, 2017, 22:47:55 »

I'm done with it. It's a shame. Was fantastic now rehashing the same old shit. I want to be entertained, I couldn't give a shit how clever they are introducing a character you might have seen for 2 seconds 5 years ago. Like others before it, its got it's head up its own arse.
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Batch
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« Reply #188 on: Friday, November 3, 2017, 09:14:22 »

Well Bamboo, its clear you are dedicated fan. I say that with respect not derision.

Straight after the episode I had to look up what happened and found most of what you wrote above. While that can be quite rewarding at times it is a bit tiresome too.

Another issue I didn't mention is that its become a bit too 'big' in plot and I think its suffering. I think that there are too many characters, and like plates on a pole you have to keep spinning them. At some point you forget which one is at what stage and one falls down. Maybe Negan is suffering from this, bad...vanishes for a bit...bad...vanishes for a bit...Similarly Rick's group suffer, you become less emotionally caring because they aren't in it much anyway!

I do have a bit of sympathy for the writers. They are probably loosely bound by comic plot (no spoilers please) and it couldn't stay small group v zombies or we'd get bored of that. But its their job to get the balance and pacing right, and they ain't.
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Flashheart

« Reply #189 on: Friday, November 3, 2017, 10:20:12 »

I'm surprised it still has the following it does. I think that might largely be down to the fact that it's quite novel for a TV series. Or maybe through the popularity of the comics? I dunno. What I do know is that it's been dire for some time. I think the first series was OK but that was about it, it was some of the most boring TV I have watched for a long time.
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Chubbs

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« Reply #190 on: Friday, November 3, 2017, 10:38:22 »

I'm surprised it still has the following it does. I think that might largely be down to the fact that it's quite novel for a TV series. Or maybe through the popularity of the comics? I dunno. What I do know is that it's been dire for some time. I think the first series was OK but that was about it, it was some of the most boring TV I have watched for a long time.

I have found this time and time again with shows that start well and go stale, no matter how annoyed you are with the show you can't stop watching it because your come this far and you refuse to give up hope.

The same happened with Lost, Heroes, Prison Break, to name a few...Its like a journey, and you've come this far its hard to turn back.
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Flashheart

« Reply #191 on: Friday, November 3, 2017, 10:51:33 »

Oh, I found it easy to stop. When they were at the prison, I asked myself why on earth I would want to watch such mind-numbing crap when there's other things to do. Boring characters acting out boring, predictable plots. I actually found it to be a chore, it was an unpleasant way to spend my time. I still get a gist of what's happening as the wife watches it, and other people talk about it, other than that I've not watched an episode since. From what I can gather it's only got worse since.

I'm not really a big fan of TV anyway, though. I'm normally quite happy to abandon a series when it turns. I think the only one I've watched to completion in recent years is breaking bad. I still found the walking dead to be one of the worst, though. I can't think of anything that comes close.
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Chubbs

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« Reply #192 on: Friday, November 10, 2017, 13:04:25 »

Has everyone given up? Watched 8x3 last night, it was late and i was working so was relying on a write up from bamboo.
Poor show bamboo.

Was much like last week, still not even a tease of Negan and the Father. Lots of gun fights to fill up the hour.
What i did like is that notable change is some characters personas. You had the confrontation with Jesus and Morgan where Morgan is becoming ruthless and want's to kill everyone but Jesus remains sympathetic and doesn't believe in doing so.
You also saw a similar clash with Rick and Daryl on 2 occasions, first when Daryl saved rick from the guy who no one remembered from the prison and at the end of the episode when Daryl popped the kid who was hiding behind the tree. Rick didn't look to impressed at all.

I'm with Daryl and Morgan. Take no chances. The saviours are masters of deceit. Showing them sympathy will end badly.
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BambooToTheFuture

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« Reply #193 on: Friday, November 10, 2017, 13:12:01 »

Has everyone given up? Watched 8x3 last night, it was late and i was working so was relying on a write up from bamboo.
Poor show bamboo.

Was much like last week, still not even a tease of Negan and the Father. Lots of gun fights to fill up the hour.
What i did like is that notable change is some characters personas. You had the confrontation with Jesus and Morgan where Morgan is becoming ruthless and want's to kill everyone but Jesus remains sympathetic and doesn't believe in doing so.
You also saw a similar clash with Rick and Daryl on 2 occasions, first when Daryl saved rick from the guy who no one remembered from the prison and at the end of the episode when Daryl popped the kid who was hiding behind the tree. Rick didn't look to impressed at all.

I'm with Daryl and Morgan. Take no chances. The saviours are masters of deceit. Showing them sympathy will end badly.

Ahh apologies. I've had Birthdays galore in the family, whilst helping my brother in law with his recently late Dad's boat. We have another Birthday do and my old man's 60th doo tomorrow.

I will try and get a bit of a write up done later this afternoon (if anyone is fine with my ramblings?) Time for some lunch now though and photos to edit. It's seem I do have a life outside TWD after all...
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'Incessant Nonsense'

______________________________________________________________

'I'm gonna tell you the secret.
There's a threat, you end it and you don't feel ashamed about enjoying it.
You smell the gunpowder and you see the blood, you know what that means?
It means you're alive. You've won.
You take the heads so that you don't ever forget.'
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« Reply #194 on: Friday, November 10, 2017, 13:18:15 »

Ahh apologies. I've had Birthdays galore in the family, whilst helping my brother in law with his recently late Dad's boat. We have another Birthday do and my old man's 60th doo tomorrow.

I will try and get a bit of a write up done later this afternoon (if anyone is fine with my ramblings?) Time for some lunch now though and photos to edit. It's seem I do have a life outside TWD after all...
I'm just messing mate.

I welcome your ramblings. At the end of the day if people don't like it they don't have to read it.
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