The Walking Dead

[TheLeviathan]

Back from the dead puns aside......this show has dramatically improved. If you dropped it after the stale second season, pick it back up. It's worth it.

[snepp]

I didn't drop it, but I was awfully tempted to 2/3rd of the way through season two. Thankfully season three has picked up where the last couple episodes of two left off.

[TheLeviathan]

Yup, agreed. I was a reader of the graphic novels so dropping wasn't something I was considering, but good god Sophia made it painful to endure for awhile there. This season has sound writing and action - it's been a breath of fresh air from that nonsense on the farm.

[DaveW]

I fear they won't end up making the governor as bad ass as he should be.

 

Thank God they killed Laurie though, Christ she was a beat down. What will they do about the baby? I can't exactly see them killing off a baby on the show, yet having a baby while you are being attacked by zombies and other folks isn't exactly a realistic expectation. Perhaps they end up leaving the baby with someone or something?

 

I found it comical that the second they killed off T-Dogg (who really was under utilized) they had a new token black guy enter the group more or less.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Have to keep the Token Black number at one no matter what. I mean, the show takes place in Georgia. There aren't many black people there at all.

 

I was so freakin' relieved that they killed the wife. I was scared that they were going to shy away from following the comic in that regard and the idea of that character being with the show for several more seasons is enough to make me stop watching.

 

BTW, anyone here keeping up with the comic? The storyline right around #100 brings the comic back to its roots and it's getting good again.

[DaveW]

Have to keep the Token Black number at one no matter what. I mean, the show takes place in Georgia. There aren't many black people there at all.

 

I was so freakin' relieved that they killed the wife. I was scared that they were going to shy away from following the comic in that regard and the idea of that character being with the show for several more seasons is enough to make me stop watching.

 

BTW, anyone here keeping up with the comic? The storyline right around #100 brings the comic back to its roots and it's getting good again.

#100 pissed me off royally.

[Brock Beauchamp]

#100 pissed me off royally.

 

I was shocked that Kirkman went back to the well and re-instituted the "no one is safe" rule. I didn't necessarily like what happened but I appreciate that he was willing to off some major characters in the book again.

[DaveW]

Part of me wishes they would just kill off the rest of the group (sans Carl) then go into the future 5-10 years and focus on him.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Part of me wishes they would just kill off the rest of the group (sans Carl) then go into the future 5-10 years and focus on him.

 

At some point, Rick is going to have to go. I don't know if it will mean the end of the series but the guy has been up and down too many times. At some point, he's going to jump the shark with his behavior and turn into a caricature of his former self. I don't think that point is too far off, either.

[DaveW]

Part of me wishes they would just kill off the rest of the group (sans Carl) then go into the future 5-10 years and focus on him.

 

At some point, Rick is going to have to go. I don't know if it will mean the end of the series but the guy has been up and down too many times. At some point, he's going to jump the shark with his behavior and turn into a caricature of his former self. I don't think that point is too far off, either.

Not to continue to bitch, because the comic has done a great job overall, but I am not a fan of Neagen, he is so ****ing over the top its unbelievable and they will never be able to match the Governor as the big bad. The only thing that could come close is if Carl ends up becoming a cold calculating pyschopath.

[TheLeviathan]

I think early on Kirkman said this was the story of Rick and the series would die when he did. Recently I'm pretty sure he changed his tune and insinuated that he's realized this is really the story of Carl, not Rick. Which is interesting.

 

So far everyone they have killed or introduced has been spot-on. The Governor can't be a comic book character to make this worthy of watching. They've taken his twisted side, made it realistic, and done a damn good job doing it. The logic behind the zombie games was a good example.

[DaveW]

So far everyone they have killed or introduced has been spot-on. The Governor can't be a comic book character to make this worthy of watching. They've taken his twisted side, made it realistic, and done a damn good job doing it. The logic behind the zombie games was a good example.

I think you are giving the show a bit to much credit, there is still plenty of eye rolling moments that occur, Michonne is a bad ass, but I feel they are really limiting her quite a bit. In the comics she is arguably the best character, through her entire time in them, in this she is the weird chick who is a killing machine but has zero social skills and is paranoid. I think they have really ****ed up her character.

 

The governor should have been Danny Trejo, end of story.

[Brock Beauchamp]

So far everyone they have killed or introduced has been spot-on. The Governor can't be a comic book character to make this worthy of watching. They've taken his twisted side, made it realistic, and done a damn good job doing it. The logic behind the zombie games was a good example.

I think you are giving the show a bit to much credit, there is still plenty of eye rolling moments that occur, Michonne is a bad ass, but I feel they are really limiting her quite a bit. In the comics she is arguably the best character, through her entire time in them, in this she is the weird chick who is a killing machine but has zero social skills and is paranoid. I think they have really ****ed up her character.

 

The governor should have been Danny Trejo, end of story.

 

Agreed on Danny Trejo. I always pictured the Governor as him in the comic. Funny that you mention him specifically.

 

It's still early with Michonne. I'm willing to give her a few more episodes to see how the character develops. I also agree that she's probably the best character in the book.

[Cody Christie]

This is one of my favorite shows on TV. I love the direction they have gone this season. The drama of having the humans being as dangerous to one another as the zombies is a great twist.

 

I am excited to see what the rest of the season will bring. I usually finish each episode with my jaw on the ground.

[TheLeviathan]

I think you are giving the show a bit to much credit, there is still plenty of eye rolling moments that occur, Michonne is a bad ass, but I feel they are really limiting her quite a bit. In the comics she is arguably the best character, through her entire time in them, in this she is the weird chick who is a killing machine but has zero social skills and is paranoid. I think they have really ****ed up her character.

 

The governor should have been Danny Trejo, end of story.

 

There are plenty of eye rolling moments, but not the ones you listed. Andrea's characterization this season has been awful. They still are character building more post-death than pre-death. But I don't agree with your complaints. Go back and read the comic - Michonne was a brooding isolationist there as well. Especially if you exclude Tyreese. And that wasn't even in Woodbury where she has reason to be mistrustful. So you're way off base there.

 

As for the Governor, the comic version was never going to work on TV. What they're doing to tweak him to make him plausible in a non-cartoonish way has been really good so far. As Heath Ledger and a few others have taught us - sometimes the best comic book character isn't the outlandish version you see in print, but the monster you make real. We'll see if they can do that here, but the foundation has been well built so far.

[glunn]

I think early on Kirkman said this was the story of Rick and the series would die when he did. Recently I'm pretty sure he changed his tune and insinuated that he's realized this is really the story of Carl, not Rick. Which is interesting.

 

 

I must be missing something. I have watched every episode and was sure that this was really the story of Maggie.

 

[video=youtube;jVy_xFjzxs4]

[TheLeviathan]

I'm not sure what your post is saying glunn, but I thank you for the reminder that Lauren Cohan is friggin gorgeous.

[glunn]

I'm not sure what your post is saying glunn, but I thank you for the reminder that Lauren Cohan is friggin gorgeous.

 

I think you got the gist of my message, and you are welcome. This is an area where we are in complete agreement.

[TheLeviathan]

This show can't get out of its own damn way. As soon as they start touching something approaching a well executed plot or scene they screw it all up somehow. BS cliffhangers are the worst.

[nicksaviking]

Yeah, visually seeing the beating would have been much more impactful after the build up of tension. It will have all gone to waste after a 6 month break. Also, how do they plan on keeping this a secret? Folks are going to notice and talk when they start seeing who is and who isn't showing up to set.

 

I also wonder how many actors have contracts that were up after this season. Perhaps they didn't want to commit because they knew there may be some difficult negotiations to come back for the next season.

[TheLeviathan]

 

Yeah, visually seeing the beating would have been much more impactful after the build up of tension. It will have all gone to waste after a 6 month break. Also, how do they plan on keeping this a secret? Folks are going to notice and talk when they start seeing who is and who isn't showing up to set.

 

I also wonder how many actors have contracts that were up after this season. Perhaps they didn't want to commit because they knew there may be some difficult negotiations to come back for the next season.

 

That's just it - set photos will leak and we'll have the answer spoiled long before the first episode.  Meaning they completely pulled the rug out of what should have been a traumatically emotional scene for the sake of a stupid cliffhanger.

[Brock Beauchamp]

I haven't watched the show in ages. So Negan beat someone with a bat, eh?

 

If they follow the comics at all, I know where this is going... And it's the point where I threw up my hands and stopped reading the books (not right away, finished maybe ~10 issues after that point but was doing it more out of habit than actual interest in the story).

[TheLeviathan]

 

I haven't watched the show in ages. So Negan beat someone with a bat, eh?

 

If they follow the comics at all, I know where this is going... And it's the point where I threw up my hands and stopped reading the books (not right away, finished maybe ~10 issues after that point but was doing it more out of habit than actual interest in the story).

 

Basically, they handled issue 100 very well up to the point of denying us who took the beating.  They left who got chosen for it as a cliffhanger.  

 

They spent 80 minutes of meh leading up to 9 minutes of pretty damn good leading to 1 minute of pure outrage.  It's at least the third clumsy, stupid cliffhanger of just this season.  The show does just enough to make me not abandon it, but boy it's getting harder.

 

My wife is already pretty much peaced out of it and she was really into it around season 2/3.

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

Basically, they handled issue 100 very well up to the point of denying us who took the beating.  They left who got chosen for it as a cliffhanger.  

 

They spent 80 minutes of meh leading up to 9 minutes of pretty damn good leading to 1 minute of pure outrage.  It's at least the third clumsy, stupid cliffhanger of just this season.  The show does just enough to make me not abandon it, but boy it's getting harder.

 

My wife is already pretty much peaced out of it and she was really into it around season 2/3.

Season two *really* soured me on the show. It was terrible.

 

Season three was much better and I watched part (maybe even all) of season four but the damage was already done in my eyes. Because I know how the comic *also* spirals down the drain slowly from #50-110-ish, I had no reason to continue watching it and subject myself to the story (again).

 

My biggest issue with the comic is that it has a 30 issue cycle and rinses/repeats the exact same story over and over again. Find a safe haven! We're safe! Oh no, bad humans! Fight! Flee! Find safety! Repeat!

 

The comic - at least when I stopped reading around 110-115 - badly needed a breath of fresh air.

[nicksaviking]

My wife watches a lot of network drama shows so she didn't seem too upset about the cliffhanger since that stuff is pretty much standard on ABC/NBC/CBS.

 

What's disappointing is that the show clearly puts so much effort, time and money into production of this show, even the small details, but then they waste all that good will when they do something clumsy like this. Watching the show and seeing interviews, it's clear how much the people who work on this really love their jobs and how they want it to be authentic in all aspects, so it's a shame when they make the wrong call with the script and turn people off. They could really use a voice behind the scenes to smooth out the pacing and advise on key details.

[TheLeviathan]

 

The comic - at least when I stopped reading around 110-115 - badly needed a breath of fresh air.

 

The comic has relied on coming up with inventive, interesting villains.  Negan fits that, but it does need to explore some different themes.  

 

The show bounces from theme to theme within minutes, seemingly forgetting what it was doing just an episode prior.  

[TheLeviathan]

 

My wife watches a lot of network drama shows so she didn't seem too upset about the cliffhanger since that stuff is pretty much standard on ABC/NBC/CBS.

 

That scene should have been Walking Dead's Red Wedding.

 

And they totally screwed it up.

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

The comic has relied on coming up with inventive, interesting villains.  Negan fits that, but it does need to explore some different themes.  

 

The show bounces from theme to theme within minutes, seemingly forgetting what it was doing just an episode prior.  

Yeah, the villains were always interesting but I was just tired of seeing the same predictable events play out over and over again.

 

It didn't help that Kirkman kept killing protagonists. I understand why he felt he needed to do it but the replacements were never as interesting as the original characters.

 

And even that became predictable and boring after a time. You knew someone was going to die each time they reached the "conflict!" section of the cycle, which mitigates the impact of the coming death.

[Brock Beauchamp]

I really wanted to see the characters give up on finding a safe haven and become nomads, which would have introduced new environments and reintroduced zombies as the primary villains, at least for awhile.

 

The story needs to mix it up a bit. Rural Georgia and bad human beings have outstayed their welcome.

[TheLeviathan]

 

I really wanted to see the characters give up on finding a safe haven and become nomads, which would have introduced new environments and reintroduced zombies as the primary villains, at least for awhile.

 

The story needs to mix it up a bit. Rural Georgia and bad human beings have outstayed their welcome.

 

Well, they are in the Virgina/DC area now but your point still stands.  

 

But after the "Glenn survives a hundred zombies" BS of this season they have officially made sure the zombies are a distraction, not a threat.