The Walking Dead

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

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Brando

Quote from: Jeremy Blackman on February 27, 2012, 02:28:27 AM
One of the best episodes yet.  :yabbse-thumbup:

Agreed. I didn't have a favorite episode of the series until last night's episode. The pacing along with the writing and directing really came together. The two shots of the zombie in the field were haunting.
If you think this is going to have a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention.

polkablues

Does anyone know the name of the song that played at the end of the episode? Save me the trouble of looking it up my own damn self?
My house, my rules, my coffee

MacGuffin

Quote from: polkablues on February 27, 2012, 07:38:38 PM
Does anyone know the name of the song that played at the end of the episode? Save me the trouble of looking it up my own damn self?

Wye Oak - Civilian
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

polkablues

Damn.  My dad has been proselytizing Wye Oak to me for months and I kept blowing off listening to them.  I hate when other people are right about things.

Thank you, though.
My house, my rules, my coffee

Jeremy Blackman

That song they played is great, but I don't really like the rest of the album.

Fernando

spoiler for sunday's ep.

so dale is dead and it is because of carl...

...someone put a leash on that kid. wonder if the gun he lost will have any consequences in the future..

Jeremy Blackman

spoilers

Indeed. Carl is a stupid little twerp. They need to keep him locked in a playpen or something until he grows up.

The Dale thing was pretty surreal. I was surprised how easily and quickly that zombie dug into his torso, like it was strawberry pie or something.

The Lost parallels just keep rolling in. We had the prisoner we didn't know what to do with (check), who in this episode was tortured by a lone wolf type without permission from the rest of the group (check). We also have "the others," and an encounter with them appears likely. Should be interesting.

When everything goes down, I predict they will retreat to the secret hatch in the barn.

polkablues

Not a spoiler, but speculation:

I'm pretty sure they're going to kill off Carl, possibly at the end of this season (only 2 remaining episodes makes this a long-shot), but most likely in the third season.  There are narrative reasons that make me suspect this, but they're reinforced by the Walt Problem, which is what happens when you cast a child on a series in which the timeline of the story is so much shorter than the timeline of production.  You either hope nobody notices that this 9-year-old is six feet tall with a beard, you recast, or you get rid of the character.  I don't see any scenario in which Carl makes it to the end of season three alive.
My house, my rules, my coffee

Jeremy Blackman

Quote from: polkablues on March 06, 2012, 07:05:28 PMI don't see any scenario in which Carl makes it to the end of season three alive.

I've already described the solution:

Quote from: Jeremy Blackman on March 06, 2012, 06:28:26 PMThey need to keep him locked in a playpen or something until he grows up.

But I guess I disagree. It's not as if the actor is 13, right? He's going to look young for a while still. And they seem to be grooming him for a coming-of-age plotline and/or some sort of heroics. I just get that feeling.

There's also the fact that he's already faced death. Wouldn't it be too redundant/tiresome to put him in that position again, so soon?

Or maybe he gets captured by The Others, to complete the Lost connection.

Just had an epiphany: This show is more similar to Lost than Alcatraz, Terra Nova, Once Upon A Time, or Persons of Interest.

The Perineum Falcon

He will be sent upstairs, never to be seen again.

Hopefully his mother will follow him up there.................

I've become rather disillusioned with this show. The zombies are the best written characters; the "living" characters are constantly upsetting in their stupidity. They lack all (common)survival skills(sense). I'm surprised they're able to get milk from a cow.
We often went to the cinema, the screen would light up and we would tremble, but also, increasingly often, Madeleine and I were disappointed. The images had dated, they jittered, and Marilyn Monroe had gotten terribly old. We were sad, this wasn't the film we had dreamed of, this wasn't the total film that we all carried around inside us, this film that we would have wanted to make, or, more secretly, no doubt, that we would have wanted to live.

Jeremy Blackman

The reviewer at the AV Club made a similar point, which I agreed with. The show's biggest weakness is that the characters don't make sense, both in their stupidity and their lack of cohesion.

As for stupidity, well, there are plenty of examples. It's always bothered me how nonchalant everyone is about getting zombie blood on themselves and even on their faces. They have no problem with getting close enough to stab a zombie in the head. I guess I'm used to the logic of 28 Days Later, where a single drop of blood in your eye can get you infected (spoiler). Which kinda makes more sense.

It also bothers me how much gasoline they use. It's a finite freaking resource (especially now that production has ceased, given the zombie apocalypse), and yet they casually drive around all over the place. I'm sorry, but what happened to the horses? Take a horse to town if you really must go. Where exactly do they plan to get gas in the future? The various bands of scavengers (including The Others) have probably already siphoned gas from every car in the area. With less and less gas available, they will have to go farther and farther to find it, using more fuel in the process and putting themselves in greater danger.

As for lack of cohesion, it really is unrealistic how uncohesive they are. Always bickering about the stupidest things, never coming together except for someone's funeral... this is just not how people operate in these situations. People typically come together in the toughest times. Sure there will be some unrest, but on this show they've taken the personality clashes and petty conflicts to an irrational extreme, to the point that it damages the characters. Nearly every character... even Dale.

Compare that to Lost... which actually had a nuanced picture of what happens when a bunch of strangers are put together in a survival situation.

Jeremy Blackman

Quote from: Jeremy Blackman on November 28, 2011, 01:26:33 AM
Wow. Best episode yet.

And I mean it this time. I never thought I would say this about The Walking Dead, but this might be an episode to rewatch.

SPOILERS

Aside from the obvious greatness toward the end, the episode had excellent character scenes and tasteful pacing, and I couldn't find much to complain about... which just doesn't happen.

Seems like they put more work into the editing this week. The opening sequence was one of the best they've done, and everything else was pretty much spot on.

I knew Rick had something up his sleeve in that confrontation. Quite a magic trick he did there... it was basically "keep your eye on my gun" and Shane fell for it.

Shane's content was fantastic (all of it)...

- It's deliciously ironic that Lori's attempt to reach out to Shane caused him to believe he had an opportunity to replace Rick.
- I love that Shane is the only person who found out where The Others are located but will not have an opportunity to share that information.
- It was especially satisfying to see him get outsmarted by Rick and Daryl in the space of ten minutes, and in his last episode.

The other big revelation this episode is that anyone who dies (and is not shot or stabbed in the head) automatically becomes a zombie, which I guess is something we could have concluded from the dead officers earlier in the season who were found with no bites. This would certainly explain the number of zombies. Is it something in the air, then? A military experiment gone wrong? Some change to the earth's atmosphere caused by an alien virus?

I haven't read the comics, so don't answer that.

And this brings us full circle back to the zombie fetus discussion. I hope Lori's pregnancy goes alright, because any mother who miscarries in this world is going to have a seriously awkward problem.

polkablues

SPOILERS
(Seriously, if you're not up to date on the episodes, you should probably just stay out of this thread altogether)

This was by far the best episode since the pilot.  Every aspect of the show just felt like a step up, from the writing to the directing to the editing to the acting.  If the last few episodes are representative of the post-Darabont era, then I say good riddance.

I'm seeing a lot of people online freaking out over the death of Shane, how it takes away the show's biggest (non-zombie) antagonist.  I'm all for it.  Even though I thought Shane was a great character, having him around this deep into the series was limiting the growth of the Rick character.  With Shane around, he will always be the "good" alternative to Shane's bad guy.  Without Shane, he's going to have to end up being the character who will do whatever it takes to keep his people alive, at whatever cost to his soul.  Rick in the comics goes some seriously dark places, and I'm sincerely hoping the show is willing to go there.

Now that we have confirmation that anyone who dies becomes a zombie, regardless of being bitten, what are the betting odds that's what the scientist whispered about to Rick at the end of the first season?  I'm trying to remember from a couple episodes ago; when they saw the cop zombies who didn't have any bites, was Rick surprised by that or not?

And JB, I'm not up to date on the comics, but from what I have read, Kirkman makes no effort to explain the source of the zombification, and from what I understand he has no intention to.
My house, my rules, my coffee

diggler

SPOILERS:

They actually gave T-Dog some lines this week. Maybe next week he'll graduate from his role as the token grave digger.

In all seriousness, I'm glad to see Shane and Dale go. As interesting a character as Shane was, they had no where else to go with him, same with Dale. I was a little upset the show didn't have the balls to have Carl shoot a non-zombified Shane, but the unpredictability of Rick's knife move was a nice touch.

There's still some inconsistent characterization (Hershel, Lori), but the show is finding it's footing. 


I'm not racist, I'm just slutty

Jeremy Blackman

Quote from: ddiggler on March 12, 2012, 10:56:56 PMIn all seriousness, I'm glad to see Shane and Dale go. As interesting a character as Shane was, they had no where else to go with him, same with Dale.

I agree. As much as I liked Dale in the beginning (remember for a few episodes, he was the only interesting character), his moral outcries had run their course and had nowhere to go but shrillness.

Quote from: ddiggler on March 12, 2012, 10:56:56 PMI was a little upset the show didn't have the balls to have Carl shoot a non-zombified Shane

I don't think Carl had arrived yet. He arrived to see his dad over the freshly-killed Shane, without context, and that was the source of his trauma/confusion.

Quote from: ddiggler on March 12, 2012, 10:56:56 PMThere's still some inconsistent characterization (Hershel, Lori), but the show is finding it's footing.

I don't think Hershel's characterization is inconsistent. Hershel might actually be one of the show's best-developed characters. Remember he had an epiphany after they killed the barn zombies. He became a bit mopey and embarrassed. Immediately following that, Rick saved his life, proving that Hershel and his group need protection and that Rick could provide it. (In the bar shootout scene, there was even a shot of Hershel showing his "I'm impressed!" face.) Shane was the only person Hershel strongly disliked (and for good reason). He even finally approved of "the Asian boy."

Quote from: polkablues on March 12, 2012, 09:44:56 PMI'm seeing a lot of people online freaking out over the death of Shane, how it takes away the show's biggest (non-zombie) antagonist.  I'm all for it.  Even though I thought Shane was a great character, having him around this deep into the series was limiting the growth of the Rick character.  With Shane around, he will always be the "good" alternative to Shane's bad guy.  Without Shane, he's going to have to end up being the character who will do whatever it takes to keep his people alive, at whatever cost to his soul.  Rick in the comics goes some seriously dark places, and I'm sincerely hoping the show is willing to go there.

I think I agree. Rick has already started to grow in that way, with his near-execution of Randall and now knifing Shane (albeit with some tears). Now with the two most volatile main characters gone (Shane and Dale), and with Randall gone too, and with Hershel apparently satisfied, whatever conflict is next has to involve Rick (moral ambiguity or something else), and maybe The Others.

Quote from: polkablues on March 12, 2012, 09:44:56 PMI'm trying to remember from a couple episodes ago; when they saw the cop zombies who didn't have any bites, was Rick surprised by that or not?

I just checked. Rick wasn't surprised or even curious. Shane was the curious one, and Rick (rather briefly) explained it away by pointing out scratches and saying they probably got infected that way.