The Walking Dead

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

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03

let me know when you guys are ready to talk about the finale, because nothing i have to say is not spoilerful.

Pubrick

Just post it, I like reading the constant disappointment in this thread.

It lets me believe for a moment that I have made the right life choices.
under the paving stones.

Jeremy Blackman

Nah, this season was actually really fun. Pretty much everything that was wrong about the early stuff has been corrected. Even Rick's accent! The only annoying bits left are... well... there's actually not much. (Even Carl is tolerable right now.) There's Beth. But she's in a trunk somewhere.

The show is still fun to criticize, but it's also just fun, despite its gloom somehow.

SPOILERS

I'm interested to know what you disliked about the finale, 03. I quite enjoyed it. There were at least two amazing scenes that are still staying with me: epic neckbite scene and the scene where Rick notices his friend's belongings being worn by the strangers. (I immediately rewatched both of those scenes.) Directed by Michelle MacLaren, by the way.

Brando

SPOILERS

I enjoyed the finale.

Carl takes after Lori. I should be annoyed with Carl's reaction to Rick. Last season, the kid killed a guy while he was surrendering his gun and now he has an aversion to violence. The reason it doesn't bother me is cause it has nothing to do with Carl. Everything in this episode was about Rick. They needed a reaction to Rick's change. Also, as JB stated Carl is no where as annoying as he used to be.

I really hope they continue with Rick going down this path. I want to see him turn into the governor.

They wasted a lot of bullets just to trap them by the train. I'm sure that was Michelle MacLaren idea. I remember the BB podcast for episode To'hajiilee. They joked Maclaren added the shoot out at the end of the episode. In the BB doc she was upset that she didn't get to film the shoot out in the Buried episode.

The production design in the memorial was horrible. It looked liked a 3rd grade version of a satanic ritual.

If you think this is going to have a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention.

03

SPOILERS

i liked the episode a LOT. my problems with it stem from there not being enough of it.
the flashbacks were nice and i understood there purpose, but i would have gladly traded the foreshadowing for more information.

it felt like a mid season finale. this seasons mid season finale had more closure to it than this episode did.
we spend all this time getting to terminus, and the big reveal about who they really are isn't going to be seen until the next season?!?

so that means that the trailer for season 5 is going to reveal all the shit we don't know about terminus that would have been much more dramatic if we ended season 4 with it. i mean, who else wanted to see them walk into that train car and see glen and maggies body being prepared for food? that would have been CRAZY. this ending was simply them setting up another woodbury, which i do not want to see again. i want to know what they are and why.
terminus is genuinely interesting. im guessing that lady was sending out radio broadcasts?

and it would have been better if tyrese and carol were also in that car, because then it would have been 'everyone is fucked' as opposed to 'well they're probaly going to come and have a hand in saving them'. and ricks last line was stupid, it was like bruce willis putting on his shades and going 'here we go again, fellas'.

the whole neckbite scene was amazing! the fat guy trying to rape carl was great because i dont think the show has really gone 'there' before. and rick going into monster mode was insanely satisfying.
overall it was a great episode, i just dont like cliffhangers that could have been more emotionally effective if they added just a bit more information.

also, i found this pretty interesting:

"In Roman religion, Terminus was the god who protected boundary markers; his name was the Latin word for such a marker. Sacrifices were performed to sanctify each boundary stone, and landowners celebrated a festival called the "Terminalia" in Terminus' honor each year on February 23. The Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline Hill was thought to have been built over a shrine to Terminus, and he was occasionally identified as an aspect of Jupiter under the name "Jupiter Terminalis".

Ancient writers believed that the worship of Terminus had been introduced to Rome during the reign of the first king Romulus (traditionally 753–717 BC) or his successor Numa (717–673 BC). Modern scholars have variously seen it as the survival of an early animistic reverence for the power inherent in the boundary marker, or as the Roman development of proto-Indo-European belief in a god concerned with the division of property.

The name of the god Terminus was the Latin word for a boundary stone,[1] and his worship as recorded in the late Republic and Empire centred on this stone, with which the god could be identified.[2] Siculus Flaccus, a writer on land surveying, records the ritual by which the stone was sanctified: the bones, ashes, and blood of a sacrificial victim, along with crops, honeycombs, and wine, were placed into a hole at a point where estates converged, and the stone was driven in on top"


diggler

I laughed out loud when I saw that guy casually wearing Glen's riot gear, Terminus folks aren't too bright. Also got a kick out of Rick approaching from the woods just to be cautious, then busting in blindly anyway.

Jeremy's right, the show is still fun, even when it sucks. I feel like any time I'm watching a zombie film, I'll talk shit to the screen and make fun of it, even though I'm actively enjoying myself. Rick mugging to the camera and saying "They screwed with the wrong people" as the camera does the world's cheesiest zoom was so deliciously bad, I couldn't help smiling.
I'm not racist, I'm just slutty

MacGuffin

'Walking Dead': Revisiting the Final Scene
Source: THR

[Warning: Spoilers ahead for the season finale of The Walking Dead.]

As someone who hasn't read the Walking Dead comic books -- just as I haven't read George R.R. Martin's books that form the basis for Game of Thrones -- I take in all the information simply as it's doled out, without being privy to older nonshow references or working with the knowledge of what's ahead.

But I didn't want the finale and the group's trek to Terminus and what that foreshadowed to slip away (the onslaught of Game of Thrones, Mad Men, Fargo and others is near) before revisiting it. When first introduced to Terminus -- at the end of a journey the season was leading viewers along -- I got the distinct feeling (as others did, or at least should have), that Terminus is no sanctuary. Rather, hints abounded that a modern-day Soylent Green story was unfolding.

And though it's pretty clear there's cannibalism going on at Terminus, the producers are being coy about it.

In the episode where Glenn and Maggie, etc., walked into the welcoming arms of Terminus, red flags were everywhere. The people at Terminus had an awful lot of meat, first of all. The grill -- with its willing grill-master -- was always framed prominently and was the first stop to gaining interior access to Terminus. Just by positioning it right there in the open, out front, the Walking Dead brain trust was making the grill and all that might conjure, a significant visual element. Then it was,  "Hey, grab a plate, have yourself a meal. You're welcome here." But was that meat from unseen calves or pigs -- or was that Beth, or others?

Of course Terminus seemed pretty desolate for a major destination meet-up for wandering survivors. The "Those Who Arrive Survive" signage would certainly indicate more people should be hanging around -- unless those people are surviving in spirit, as sustenance. And the Terminus explanation of why in the hell anyone would be so generous, letting in hordes of freeloaders -- "the more people become part of us, we get stronger" was certainly a big hint.

With a plethora of clues turning up, the one that probably sealed it was the quick shot (but not too quick) of what looked like the stripped carcasses of humans (and later an altar room to remember them for their sacrifice).

I'm fine with the cannibal notion -- it's not revolutionary for the zombie genre and all through the series I've been wondering when the hungry hordes of survivors would finally go Hannibal on the weaker of their number. In the finale, so much portent about hunger and trapping was afoot. But I don't think it was overkill -- the writers rather adeptly handled the storyline of Rick showing Carl how to trap a rabbit with the Terminus parallel hanging over it like a noose. Our group of plucky core members were being led, just like the rabbit, down a chute to their own demise.

Whereas my most nagging thought after the finale was how the hell Rick and company would get out of the cattle car and overtake a larger group of vastly better-armed adversaries, the actual scene that stuck in my head was the last five minutes of herding.

That was impressively done -- and made up for the literal last shot of Rick announcing revenge in an all-too-pat blockbuster movie kind of way.

In the scene, as the snipers are shooting at the feet of Rick and Daryl, etc., my initial reaction was a slight groan about the poor marksmanship so prevalent on TV and in movies -- but it then  becomes clear that the shooters are missing on purpose. They're not trying to kill, they're trying to herd. It was the start of something that became really something to behold, not only for the execution itself but for the level of detail and research that went into it.

Alternatively shot from above -- emphasizing power and giving viewers a long shot of the railroad/cattle car at the top of the frame and the futility of Rick, Daryl, Michonne and Carl in the foreground -- we then got the crowning elements. Gareth, the leader of Terminus, is going to walk them to slaughter (though it's important to remember this is all implied -- the finale made no hard nod toward cannibalism). Still, the scene all but seals it. If you research how cattle are killed, the optimum approach is to have them take a series of corner turns before getting close -- if they see they're being led to slaughter, chaos ensues. The camera follows Rick and company in a circular route through Terminus until they get out into the clearing.

Cattle are also, as they near slaughter, guided in single file -- something Gareth did meticulously with each character, leading them to the railroad/cattle car in the short distance. There is also a "correct handler position for driving cattle" -- and director Michelle MacLaren set up the final scene by positioning Gareth in a perfect, textbook handler position.

She also created maximum tension by showing the distance between Carl, the last of the group to be herded toward the rail car, and Rick. The panic that arose on Rick's face as Gareth forced him to be first while keeping Carl behind in a vulnerable position, was captured superbly by MacLaren. Proper handling procedures also indicate that calves go last (or, if you will, parents go first -- reversing it causes panic and a chance the cattle will disperse). And lastly, what the scene captured in a kind of haunting by-the-book approach, is that cattle go forward in a single-file line but shouldn't actually see livestock in front of them -- which is why Glenn and Maggie and the others were shunted to the rear of the car.

All of that was both chillingly calculated and beautifully constructed (and the powdered milk containers -- clearly being used to fatten everybody up -- were a nice touch). I may have wished for a more dramatic cliff-hanger (a shoot-out, or perhaps reinforcements to use those guns Rick buried), but I did, especially on further inspection, appreciate the artistry in the construction of that finale scene.

Now all that's left to find out when season five begins is who gets slaughtered -- or maybe who already has been slaughtered (and grilled).
"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

diggler

So I guess the people of Terminus resorted to cannibalism almost immediately after the zombies showed up? There still seems to be plenty of food everywhere, even now.
I'm not racist, I'm just slutty

Kal

True, it does seem like you can still hunt animals, plant fruits, find supplies of other sorts around. Deciding to become a cannibal and building a whole system around it, including a marketing campaign to attract new victims, it seems very elaborate and crazy.

Do we know how long it's been since the zombie breakout began?

AntiDumbFrogQuestion

Michelle MacLaren directed this, eh?
No wonder it didn't suck

Mel

Lengthy interview with Scott Wilson:



Some highlights: Fake head, going with six-shooter after tank, taking a lot out of playing in TV series, missing the show, holding on plot twits, about liking own character, collaborating with writer/directors, looking good enough for the role, almost constantly shooting with 3-camera setup.
Simple mind - simple pleasures...

03

man you guys are slacking. no one's even mentioned this yet?


looks entertaining and that's about it.
what a repetitive trailer.

Jeremy Blackman

That looks pretty top notch, actually. This show has so much potential now.

03

i agree, its just the constant "i don't trust them" "we have to stick together" in that trailer that irked me a little bit.

Jeremy Blackman

Totally fair point. I think that stuff just blows past me now; it's like the static in the signal.

We have to stick together!
In the zombie apocalypse, the real danger is other humans!
You must sacrifice some of your own humanity to survive!
Caarrrl!