The Walking Dead

[03]

hey you should SPOILIFY that second to last one mang

[Mel]

SPOILERS.

4x06

Necessary - this is most fitting word to describe episode I could think of. On prison side, story of Woodbury was contaminated by killing the most of baggage. Now it is time to clean up mess on the Governor side.

It was average, not much going on, it was mostly the setup for what will come. Looking at teasers for upcoming episode, I'm quite sure that some scenes will foreshadow future events: chess and the King.

Writers managed to squeeze some depth into character of the Governor. He is capable of doing good things without pretending - at least it seems so. Yet at the same time, he is still the same old liar. This could be interesting if played well.

It seems that next episode will be also centered around the Governor. This could give some breathing space to Team Rick as story telling goes.

[polkablues]

I'm all for the show branching the story out, I'm all for adding depth to the character of the Governor, and I'm all for slow-paced episodes full of dread and foreshadowing, so this episode was a massive victory all around for me.

[Jeremy Blackman]

Yeah, it was one of the best of the season for sure. His intense glowering was a bit much sometimes, but otherwise I liked it. The paradox of the whole thing might have seemed nonsensical if it were poorly executed, but it came off like meaningful complexity. In season 2, I never would have believed this show could do that.

I thought the governor was going to deliver his new friends to the prison and disappear. That would have made sense to me. But they could do some very interesting things with the next episode. How much of his past can he hide from the family, now that it's confronting them? Does he stay good or does he snap? (He seemed to be enjoying some of that walker violence a little too much.)

[AntiDumbFrogQuestion]

"Come at the king, you best not miss."

-Omar

[Brando]

I really enjoyed the past two episodes with the Governor. He's just a better actor, better character and more interesting than anyone at the prison.

[03]

i appreciate his polarity in regards to rick much more in this season than the last, which i am unpopularly not a fan of. pretty intense episode, some nice dark shit going on. lets see if this season can continue to be not horrible.

[Mel]

SPOILERS.

4x07

With every day passing I like this episode more. First of all, what a great opening - someone did nice work on inter-cutting this. Three minutes that ended up with "Your turn" and vibe was set for the whole episode - something interesting was bound to happen.

Writers fixed another character. In previous season, the Governor was mostly acting as Incompetent Evil with erratic behavior. I don't care if chess allegory was heavy handed - it worked for me, Brian is making questionable choices that are at the same time very weighted.

i appreciate his polarity in regards to rick much more in this season than the last, which i am unpopularly not a fan of.

Polarity - I think that whole episode was setup up around this. I like how writers are pulling tricks this season, The Dolgen brothers are clear example of that. Their story is mirrored by the way Rick and the Governor are leading. One is constantly battling with "right versus wrong" choices, other is doing the only thing without much remorse. This plot is also somehow parallel to the past of the Governor.

I don't mind to be tricked by writers (a chess game and the brothers) if it leads somewhere. Here they succeed: the Governor after this episode is a man to be reckoned with. Charisma and natural talent to organize people - I was unconvinced by him in the last season, that changed. Question what drives the Governor is relevant, because it is more than revenge and sadistic behavior right now.

I'm envious of the clash between two groups. I would like to see the tank fucking up Team Rick badly and where it goes from there.

edit: I almost forgot to mention the name of the episode: Dead Weight. I guess that writing room had a lot of fun playing with it. Love that name as it was used in a few different ways.

End of spoils.

This goes for highlighting the episode. I think this is the point, where we can try to summarize the season - after the next episode, series takes a break. Pretty much every aspect of the show seen some improvements so far: writing, acting (If material is there, actors can provide. Solid performances - I wouldn't use this to describe TWD few episodes back.), editing, cinematography and some inventive walkers.   

[03]

exactly. i'll expound on what i meant by polarity. i cant think of any better example than vince gilligans two seperate theories of brba: "Brian" is a good person with evil inside him, and his circumstances have whittled away the good around him to reveal it and make him The Governor. Rick is naturally a good person whose circumstances have led him to have to do evil things, and as a result he has suffered in the way that only a truly good hearted person would react.

[Mel]

exactly. i'll expound on what i meant by polarity. i cant think of any better example than vince gilligans two seperate theories of brba: "Brian" is a good person with evil inside him, and his circumstances have whittled away the good around him to reveal it and make him The Governor. Rick is naturally a good person whose circumstances have led him to have to do evil things, and as a result he has suffered in the way that only a truly good hearted person would react.

I won't go that deep. How you adopt to environment, where moral constrains imposed by society and guarded by institutions are gone? There was a whole series built around this concept: Deadwood. Comparing Deadwood and The Walking Dead is pointless.

I treat differences between Rick and the Governor as mere device to construct sense of conflict. This was done in TWD before with Shane and to lesser degree with other characters. In this episode that was distilled to clear and condense substance. I don't expect TWD to explore a greater things - it is a wrong show. Zombie apocalypse with compelling characters is what I'm looking for and where TWD struggled very often. This season so far managed without obnoxious characters and some regulars did get polished.

btw. Spoilers. I'm the only one who found lesbian sub-plot a bit comic? This is another example of how much was squeezed into one episode (long are gone times of season two... hopefully).

[Jeremy Blackman]

I unreservedly endorse this episode. Easily among the best in the series.

I also feel like the show is starting to dip its toes in "serious television" waters. You could write a few essays about what just happened. It was actually a completely salient and unpretentious allegory of sorts that perfectly describes the folly of war. And that was a Walking Dead episode? Wow.

I'm also now entirely comfortable with the Governor's arc. It's still a bit unexpected how long the end was delayed, but now it really does feel like all of that story had to happen first. The structure is unconventional in a meaningful way.

I hope the two sisters join the prison expats. Seems like they were both set up for it. They would add some weight and complexity to the group. (The scared one probably arrives with Judith in her arms.)

[03]

now it really does feel like all of that story had to happen first.

this sums up how i feel exactly. as some of you know, i'm one of the few people that hated season 3, but this episode could not have been possible without it. and it was perfect. hands down the best episode in the series.

it was borderline shakespearean. so many amazing little moments:

SPOILERS, WATCH THE EP IMMEDIATELY YOU!
-
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- the bus leaving was one of the most realistic things i've seen in the series. that's how REAL PEOPLE would react in that situation. not screaming or chasing it or standing there dumbfounded, but like ok that just happened, fuck it, lets move.

- "because they aren't mine" did that give anyone else momentary chills?

- the governor made his transformation into brian and after last episode he's trying to combine the two with no success. he can't be evil the way he is inherently and keep nice people on his side the way he did in woodbury ever again and he sees that. he tries to be his own personal concept of reasonable by saying 'we just want to take it peacefully' and you can see that he feels like this is a huge favor he's doing, but herschell calls him out on it. fantastic scene.

- judith missing was pretty intense the same way the bus leaving was because they just accept it and keep moving. its kind of like someone said pages back, where tyrese's reaction to the bodies being burned wasn't logical because of how things are now, and everyone should be used to horrible shit. the discovery of the carseat and the bus leaving was the opposite of that and it was perfect. balancing stoicism and emotion because thats just how it is.

- i want to hear theories immediately about what's going on with the feeding rats and the drawn and quartered animal. i have no clue. i'm trying to make it d'angelo, or bob, wtf his name is, but that doesn't really compute too much. unless his alcoholism is some kind of hint to him being..crazy i guess?

- only thing i hated? stepping on that king toy thing with the eyepatch. that was just stupid and unnecessary. where did that even come from?

[Jeremy Blackman]

Yup, I agree with all of that. Good stuff.

he can't be evil the way he is inherently and keep nice people on his side the way he did in woodbury ever again and he sees that.

Yeah. One episode ago he was this supposedly nice guy and now he's literally standing on a tank with captured hostages. Should be a red flag. It's a little sad how dumb most of those people were. They should have turned their guns on him immediately after hearing Rick's obviously sincere plea to peacefully take them in. There had not been enough indoctrination yet to make these people as blind as Woodbury's residents (who also had vastly more to lose and were thus more prone to delusion). But it's still realistic, because there are a lot of stupid people out there.

- i want to hear theories immediately about what's going on with the feeding rats and the drawn and quartered animal. i have no clue.

I'm guessing it's one of the kids. Maybe that girl, maybe even Carl, though that would be weird.

- only thing i hated? stepping on that king toy thing with the eyepatch. that was just stupid and unnecessary. where did that even come from?

It was a continuation of the chess metaphor from a previous episode. Remember when the girl drew the eyepatch on that chess piece? But yeah, a bit on the nose. It might have been advisable to abandon the chess thing while they were ahead.

[03]

Remember when the girl drew the eyepatch on that chess piece?

wow i totally missed that somehow. duh. statement retracted.

i originally thought it was the young girl that was feeding the zombies because she liked them, but why show a progression of it with the dissected rabbit/rat thing now? they've treated it as kind of insignificant off and on after the initial discovery of the rats by the fence. it seems like something deeper than that which will be tied up in february. iono.

[diggler]

I keep coming back to the scene where the one girl said to Carol "she's not weak, she's just messed up". I'm convinced the girl killed and burned those bodies and Carol covered for her.

The finale had some balls but was still a little brainless in some aspects. "Sure honey, play way over there in the mud for no reason, I'll just sit up here in silence and not look at you."  I was also a little confused as to why the Governor was suddenly fighting Rick hand to hand even though he had a gun and all of his friends with guns walked right by the bus Rick was hiding behind.  It was at least exciting, which is all I ever really wanted this show to be. Never mind that Daryl could have thrown the grenade from where he was instead of using decaying flesh as a bulletproof shield to throw it ten feet closer.

I did love the long shot of the walker slowly emerging from the trees across the river. This show really nails the production side of things sometimes, I think that's why I keep coming back.