The Walking Dead

Started by modage, July 22, 2010, 09:26:52 AM

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

AntiDumbFrogQuestion

Just watched the last couple episodes in a row with a friend.

I want to hate on the show and fans for making the terrible season 2 feel like their mecca.
If I meet you, and loved season 2, I think you're dumb.
So as much as I hesitate to say this, I'm enjoying this season. "Clear" really seems to have done it.
And despite predictability (I knew Milton would end up being a good fella), the writers have decided to finally give some depth to their characters (note use of the word "some").

Despite any unexpected appreciation on my behalf, we still call the people in Woodbury "The Others" and have taken to calling Herschel "Less Crazy Locke."

Tictacbk

Are there actually people out there who praise season 2?  That's a serious question.  I thought it was generally regarded (at least the first half) as the low point of the series (so far...), right?

AntiDumbFrogQuestion

Quote from: Tictacbk on March 22, 2013, 03:24:03 AM
Are there actually people out there who praise season 2?  That's a serious question.  I thought it was generally regarded (at least the first half) as the low point of the series (so far...), right?

sadly THERE ARE.
The day after s2 ended, my friend posted that it was a "Walking Dead knocks it out of the park with a PERFECT ending to a PERFECT Season". No exaggeration.
Then when my other friend ranted to her about the very glaring things the show lacks, especially in season 2, she responded by saying "oh, well I write Zombie fan fiction so I'm more in tune with the genre than you are."
Goofy.
I'm even surprised there were people on board, ENTHUSIASTIC people, after the whole "let's try to develop these characters and not spend much money and string together a facsimile of a plot by having a bunch of people argue on a farm" thing. So far I've watched s3 with jaded eyes, and even though that doesn't justify it as a great show, it has been much more fun and interesting to watch than the previous stuff.

Jeremy Blackman

Season 2 had some amazing dark moments (S2 spoilers incoming). Namely, Sophia's fate, and Rick killing Shane. Those were pretty spectacular, and certainly more effective in contrast to all the grinding boredom. I spent most of Season 2 desperately hoping that Lori would miscarry and a zombie fetus would emerge.

The only major complaint I have with Season 3 is the epic blossoming of Andrea's dimwittedness. Otherwise, it's pretty much what I wanted. Rick got very interesting, and they did away with the "let's just have everyone arguing 100% of the time every day, because we don't know what else to write dialogue about" method. That's really all you can ask.

diggler

I'm not really that into the second half of Season 3. The first half hit a great pace, now it feels like feet dragging again. Notice the best episodes of both Season 2 and 3 involve Rick breaking off from the group/main story for a side mission. I also hate how they've bumbled the Governor as a character. They've made him a mustache twirling villain, when in reality all he's done to Rick's group is shoot the prisoner character no one cared about and made Maggie take off her shirt.
I'm not racist, I'm just slutty

Jeremy Blackman

I think making the Governor into a complex and effective villain is too much to ask of the show. They've just barely mastered the basics of television writing... I've never expected them to fully deliver on the Governor's potential.

You're right, though. It's like they started trying to make him a bit morally ambiguous, but once they got there they weren't sure what to do with it, so his character just ends up being blurry in an ineffectual way.

Brando

The show has too many episodes a season. 10 to 13 episodes is perfect amount for these types of shows. If you fuck with the amount of episodes you fuck with the show. I consider The Wire's 5th season by and far the worst of all the seasons. I think a lot of it is due to it only being 10 episodes. You could tell the writers were used to 12 to 13 a season.

It's the same with adding episodes. I really enjoyed the first half. Now it seems they are just delaying the confrontation because they need it for the finale. It feels like a 12 episode season stretched to 16. With 12 episodes, you have the first 8 which we liked. Then you have four until the finale. One of those is rescuing Daryl so that's three left.

I have to defend the writers just a little. The writers are being asked to deliver two finales a season due to the mid season breaks. Also, it's not the writers, like the Breaking Bad writers, asking for more episodes it's AMC. I have to guess they would choose 12 over 16 episodes cause it's clear from the second half of this season that they could do this season in 12 and they're struggling to fill 16.
If you think this is going to have a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention.

Jeremy Blackman

Good points. Part of me still says they should have figured out a way to make it not feel stretched. They're supposed to be creative people, and properly structuring a season is their job, so I think that's a fair thing to ask of them, unless the extra episodes were sprung on them later. I would be interested to hear more about the making of this season.

Since we're comparing the Breaking Bad and Walking Dead writing staffs... I've heard Nerdist Writers Panels with both of them. The difference is crystal clear. The Walking Dead writing staff is combative by design. People pitch ideas and are supposed to defend them under fire. This is apparently a thing. Vince Gilligan has several times expressed his dislike for this model, and he wanted to have a deeply collaborative and amiable writing staff. Whenever you hear the Breaking Bad writers talking to each other, there's so much warmth and respect and excitement about what they're creating together. Then you listen to the Walking Dead staff, and there's this tension and resentment just under the surface of their jokey-combative relationship.

diggler

That's a great observation about the writing staff, I think it plays a part for sure. I can imagine what it was like trying to pitch that Morgan episode story, he must have gotten a lot of push back for that.
I'm not racist, I'm just slutty

Tictacbk

What a disappointing end to another disappointing season to an overall disappointing show.  There just seemed to be no good choices made here and nothing about it felt like a "finale".  So very little of it followed any line of logic.  I'm interested to listen to those Nerdist Writer's Panel eps now to see what I can glean from them about how not to run a writer's room. 

I've already dropped this show once and picked it back up, but I might be completely done with it now.  Maybe not though, the new showrunner wrote the best episode this season and I'm usually in the mood for zombies when it comes back in October.

ElPandaRoyal

Yeah, the silence about the whole season finale says a lot about it. It didn't feel that bad to me (but then again, I'm not as hard on this show as many seem to be) but it certainly didn't feel like a season finale worth remembering.
Si

Jeremy Blackman

Yeah, it was decent. There's not much to say about it.

(SPOILERS)

Andrea dying was definitely a plus, but I genuinely hoped Milton would survive and join the main group; he would have added an interesting dynamic for sure. His character had surprisingly become one of the best.

The governor should have died, and he should have done so spectacularly. I don't understand what he would contribute to a subsequent season, unless he resurfaces as the eyepatched leader of a cannibal biker gang. Also, Woodbury currently doesn't make sense. I understand that it's less safe than the prison, but surely they can't leave it there for some other crazy group to take over. It's sort of a priceless thing, actually. Maybe they'll resolve this early next season.

It would be hilarious if Woodbury became occupied and the next season simply repeated the Woodbury vs. Prison story. I'm willing to bet that was considered in the writer's room.

Of course, the biggest issue will be how to feed all those people they brought in. Are they going to start farming like they've always talked about? That sounds really exciting.

Neil

SPOILERS
Pretty much agree with these;
Quote from: ElPandaRoyal on April 06, 2013, 01:38:04 PM
It didn't feel that bad to me (but then again, I'm not as hard on this show as many seem to be).

Quote from: Jeremy Blackman on April 06, 2013, 02:04:29 PM
Andrea dying was definitely a plus.

What JB has said is pretty much the essence of the show.  From what I'm told the Graphic Novel is much more fulfilling, but the same person told me it was a lot more "rapey."  but despite the fact that this show is ALWAYS leaving something to be desired, I'm still interested.

I can't explain why, but I still watch it, and some of the moments in the show work for me. But, you won't find me in a corner trying to defend it because it's seems the writers can't decide what the show is about, other than walkers, but throughout the seasons there have been a few themes that I'm waiting for the show itself to latch onto, and it never fully commits, it just moves on.
it's not the wrench, it's the plumber.

ElPandaRoyal

By the way, is there an American Horror Story thread on Xixax? Search tells me no, but I'm not so sure whether it's working properly or not. I'm asking this because here in Portugal for the last couple of years one TV station gave us a double bill of horror every week with Walking Dead and American Horror Story, and this second season of the later was amazing. When American Horror Story keeps their stupid visual flourishes to rest and focus on its themes and characters, it's really fucked up and disturbing in the best possible way. It was great watching these shows back to back.
Si

Sleepless

Never watched the show, so I don't know who this is or if she's a main character or what:

'Walking Dead' Actress Arrested in Ricin Letters Sent to Obama, Bloomberg

Actress Shannon Richardson, who has appeared on "The Walking Dead" and "Vampire Diaries," was arrested Friday afternoon in connection with ricin-laced letters sent to President Obama and New York mayor Michael Bloomberg.

NBC News first reported the arrest.

News comes two weeks after Richardson had reached out to authorities claiming her husband, Nathan Richardson, had sent the letters. Nathan, an army veteran, has since been questioned by the FBI.

Shannon recently contacted authorities claiming she had found suspicious materials in her refrigerator that could be connected to the letters but investigators are now saying she was the one who sent the letters.

"You will have to kill me and my family before you get my guns," the message sent to Bloomberg read, according to NBC New York. "Anyone who wants to come to my house will get shot in the face. The right to bear arms is my constitutional God given right and I will exercise that right till the day I die."

Richardson is currently at federal court in Texas awaiting arraignment.

Source: Variety
He held on. The dolphin and all the rest of its pod turned and swam out to sea, and still he held on. This is it, he thought. Then he remembered that they were air-breathers too. It was going to be all right.