Thread: Walking Dead

Spoiler for Walking Dead last episode:

I totally agree, this was a huge fail season finale.

First of all, Andrea should had been able to kill that zombie pretty easily, it's not like she had both hands tied up. Just stick the tool in Milton's head woman! But I'm not sorry for watching Andrea go away, I never like the character. After T-dog, she was the one I hated most, I'm glad her "role" was replaced by Michone, now that's a badass woman!
Second, how the hell no one killed the governor? It's just stupid that everyone is so scared of him not to do anything.
And last, why the hell would they bring all those people to the prison? The town offered way more conditions, especially now that the prison got attacked and it's still full of zombies wandering around.
Must say, really disappointed with this final episode...the action lasted 3 minutes tops. I liked how Carl is looking all shady though.

I didn't have a problem with any of the above.

Spoiler for spoilers:

Kind of like with Merle, I was just happy that they found something to do with an absolutely shit character before offing her (Andrea). It's better than T-dog or Dale got. Also, she did kill the zombie, just not without taking collateral damage. She had a pair of blunt pliers--not exactly ideal for penetrating a freshly dead skull.

I thought the Governor taking everyone down was pretty intense. The look on the actor's face before he opened fire was perfect. Keep in mind that those two guys have been his wetworks crew all along, and standing by or assisting while the Gov does horrible shit is their job. I don't know what's going to happen with all the Woodbury refugees--that's a total departure from the comics, and really not much lines up with the comics anymore.

If anyone has taken over the role Andrea played in the comics, it's Maggie. If anything can sum up TV Andrea's role, it was "Person who makes terrible decisions" and/or "serial traitor." She was looking to defect from the original group with Shane, she turned her back on Michonne for the Gov, and then she kept bouncing back and forth between Woodbury and the prison.

Spoilers

I enjoyed the last two episodes. For the most part, I didn't really enjoy the season. Not enough really happened, in general. Granted they did try to pump you up for a huge battle that never fucking happened, claiming they would kill 27 people but hiding the fact that the Gov would be the one shooting them all down.

I agree that Andrea is basically a worthless character, but then again I think most of the characters are pretty shitty, with the exception being Daryl and Micchone, and I guess Glenn's alright.

Frankly the show just isn't that good, when it comes down to it, so when scenes happen like Darryl finding zombie Merl and reacting to that, I'm pleasantly surprised. My expectations are nearly non-existent.

claiming they would kill 27 people but hiding the fact that the Gov would be the one shooting them all down.

Ahahaha, so much this! The only action we saw in the season regarding the "war" was them shooting the towers (10 seconds), killing that prisoner with the mustache, and....governor shooting all people in 10 seconds.

Originally Posted by Taosaur

Spoiler for spoilers:

I thought the Governor taking everyone down was pretty intense. The look on the actor's face before he opened fire was perfect.

Spoiler for spoilers:

I disagree I thought it was completely anti-climactic. It wasn't intense at all. Just lame

Originally Posted by Taosaur

If anyone has taken over the role Andrea played in the comics, it's Maggie. If anything can sum up TV Andrea's role, it was "Person who makes terrible decisions" and/or "serial traitor." She was looking to defect from the original group with Shane, she turned her back on Michonne for the Gov, and then she kept bouncing back and forth between Woodbury and the prison.

Yeah she made bad decisions but she was the most interesting character in the show, without her it would have been a more boring season all up, she had to choose between a comfortable life and being with good people. Now we just have people that are following a guy that makes terrible decisions and as Carl pointed out, has gotten a heap of people killed. And people who are really background characters that we wouldn't care if they died. Daryl is the only other good character. Michonne is okay but she spent so much time not saying anything. She could have easily convinced Andrea to leave ages ago, but she just stood there staring at her with that stupid expression.

Originally Posted by Original Poster

Frankly the show just isn't that good, when it comes down to it, so when scenes happen like Darryl finding zombie Merl and reacting to that, I'm pleasantly surprised. My expectations are nearly non-existent.

I think you're right. I realised this after the last episode. It's just a bad show, if it wasn't zombie related, I wouldn't be watching it anymore.
It could have been really, really good though which I suppose is what pisses me off. And then when it fails, dumbass producers assume no one likes zombie stuff anymore.
That Daryl and zombie Merle scene was really good though yeah.

Are you guys really watching this show in the expectation of big, epic battles? The franchise is founded upon life in a never ending war of attrition. I've found the character development solid throughout this season, particularly for Michonne, Carl, The Governor, Milton and Merle. Even Andrea made a pretty believable albatross around everyone's neck. There have been plenty of real and brutal moments deserving of the TWD name.

ETA: "It's just a bad show." Compared to what??? It's maybe not up there with Breaking Bad and maybe I'd have to admit Game of Thrones is better even if I like TWD more. Shameless might be better. By tv standards, though, the last season of TWD was at least A-minus material.

Tommo - This may sound shallow, but the actress has a very ugly crying/distressed face, and the character wears the expression far too often. I think Merl ended up being more interesting by the end, because his motivations seemed less contrived. I could understand him, even if I didn't necessarily agree with him. The human behind the asshole was revealed through his actions in the second to last episode, and I appreciated that. Compared to that, Andrea's ambivalence regarding which side to join just seemed contrived. But you're right in that, at least in season 3, not too many other characters came off as particularly three dimensional. I'll still continue to watch the show, if only so that tv executives won't think no one wants a drama based on the zombie apocalypse. It just needs better writers.

Taosaur - Other than what you've mentioned (Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad) the only other action/dramas I'll watch are Dexter, Madmen and Sons of Anarchy. And I think they're kind of shitty, too.

[Spoiler]I felt no emotion with the death of Andrea. It kinda felt like stupid way to die, seeing as she went through far worse. I didn't like that Merl was killed off, he was starting to grown on me. I really enjoyed his ironic humor on Rick and others. Also what the hell is up with Carl shooting the kid? Is taking note from Shane's philosophy, or could a rift be made in Season 4 assuming there is another time skip.[/Spoiler]

Carl is slowly being groomed to replace Merl as the morally ambiguous one.

Originally Posted by Taosaur

Are you guys really watching this show in the expectation of big, epic battles?

No, not at all. Unlike everyone else (it seems) I didn't even know of any "27 people will die" thing. In fact I absolutely loathe when there are ads like that on for shows.
It's just inane.

Originally Posted by Taosaur

I've found the character development solid throughout this season, particularly for Michonne, Carl, The Governor, Milton and Merle. Even Andrea made a pretty believable albatross around everyone's neck. There have been plenty of real and brutal moments deserving of the TWD name.

I agree with the first part. But there were no "real or brutal" moments IMO. It was just really slow and not much happened this season.
A couple of episodes literally nothing happened, just filler episodes.

Originally Posted by Taosaur

"It's just a bad show." Compared to what??? It's maybe not up there with Breaking Bad and maybe I'd have to admit Game of Thrones is better even if I like TWD more. Shameless might be better. By tv standards, though, the last season of TWD was at least A-minus material.

Compared to any show I've watched. I'd say it's up in the rank with Arrow. Which is also a show I just don't really care about and it's fine for some stupid entertainment, and I didn't expect it to be that great when I started watching it.
But with The Walking Dead I really really wanted it to be awesome, and it isn't, so it's annoying.

Originally Posted by Original Poster

Tommo - This may sound shallow, but the actress has a very ugly crying/distressed face, and the character wears the expression far too often. I think Merl ended up being more interesting by the end, because his motivations seemed less contrived. I could understand him, even if I didn't necessarily agree with him. The human behind the asshole was revealed through his actions in the second to last episode, and I appreciated that. Compared to that, Andrea's ambivalence regarding which side to join just seemed contrived. But you're right in that, at least in season 3, not too many other characters came off as particularly three dimensional. I'll still continue to watch the show, if only so that tv executives won't think no one wants a drama based on the zombie apocalypse. It just needs better writers.

I somewhat agree (except for the ugly thing, I think she's absolutely beautiful). Merle did definitely become more interesting, but even with him it just felt like they were throwing it in there to make you miss him when he got killed.

Basically I think they waste far too much time on stupid shit and not enough on the characters. Even though Andrea was most interesting to me, I still didn't care that much when she died.
Same with Merle. They didn't show enough of both of them reconnecting so it wasn't that heart breaking when he died, the only thing which pulled that around was Daryl's acting.

Also since you mentioned Mad Men. I think the writers of that have exactly the same problem. The show just isn't going anywhere, but I keep watching it because I want to like it. On top of that, it's show about fucking advertising executives and they barely show any of that so the whole thing feels baseless. You sort of wanted to see what that would have been like, but they never even show it.

Originally Posted by MrBlonde

[Spoiler]Also what the hell is up with Carl shooting the kid? Is taking note from Shane's philosophy, or could a rift be made in Season 4 assuming there is another time skip.[/Spoiler]

IMO it makes sense that Carl killed him. He said "put down your weapon" and the guy was stalling and was leaning forward to hand it to him.
I would have shot him too. He was trying to get a shot at Carl when he went to grab the gun from him.

To me the writing has picked up considerably since the first season, which was about 1/3 gold and 2/3 shit. It's been improving all along, with season 2 much better than season 1 and season 3 a bit better than season 2. The show is a slow burn, and the appeal is mostly atmospherics and character interaction in a situation where the social contract is unknowable and possibly nonexistant (that would be The Governor's position). Stuff happening is secondary to the group of people we happen to be following constantly re-calculating the parameters of their own humanity in relation to the basic situation. Zombie apocalypse is a nihilistic genre; I guarantee you it's "not going anywhere."

Except it's not like that at all and there's very little "atmosphere" at all. The closest there was to that was when they went and found that guy holed up in the apartment by himself a couple of episodes ago. The first and second seasons were infinitely better.

So, you don't like the show. It's possible that living in Oz means you demand a higher level of realism from media based on mindless hordes dictating your everyday actions. Okay. I've found the atmospherics very effective, and found the characters increasingly more human, especially compared to the first season where characters just found themselves in the places the plot needed them to be spouting dialogue that didn't really justify their being there, and there was a whole episode of hand-wavium regarding the central premise, which doesn't really need explaining to a contemporary audience. The second season saw the characters interacting with each other much more like human beings, and the third season did likewise but with a darker turn (while still pulling its punches considerably compared to the comics).

The last season lacked in many aspects.

- We don't see the concern for food like we did in other seasons. I mean you barely see them eating the entire time they spent in prison.
- The governor acted like he knew he wouldn't die all the time. For example when Merle almost killed him (and ended up killing the boy), you'd expect a bit more realism. When he went to the prison he was acting like rambo. And in the last episode, still no one could shoot him after he killed all those people?
- Last season didn't make a good last episode like season 1 and 2 had. The only "big" moment was when they brought all those people in, and their weight will only be shown in the next season.

The big battle in the finale was a bit anti-climatic for me - I was expecting something that lasted a lot longer and perhaps saw a couple main characters die. I'm glad they didn't kill off a bunch of main characters with the prison battle, but I was expecting more from that whole hyped-up battle that they've been looming over all season.

I wasn't necessarily sad to see Andrea die, but it really irritated me how long it look her to pick up the pliers! Seriously woman! I could pick up a thumb tack with my toes in 2 seconds, and she couldn't grab a huge pair of pliers? And I surely thought she would be more than capable of stabbing walker-Milton in the head with said pliers considering all the other stuff she's pulled off throughout the course of the entire show.

I was glad when the Governor went crazy and killed everyone so finally the survivors could see what a psycho he is. And its good that the prison group took in the extra people from Woodbury, but they were all the useless women and children that couldn't fight in the battle, and they will be more of a hinderance in the long term than anything, imo. And what about food? They're bound to run out at some point. Maybe they can go back to Woodbury and steal what's left there.

The next season will probably open up with the field cleared of walkers and turned into a garden of some kind. I'm assuming most of the people they took in will be walker food for the next season as well.

Originally Posted by Original Poster

The next season will probably open up with the field cleared of walkers and turned into a garden of some kind.

oh and that's another thing. Ever since the Governor attacked the first time and brought in that van of walkers, I never understood why Rick's group didn't just clear them out again. They could easily get them up against the fence and knife them in the head or use Michonne's sword so they didn't have to waste ammo or make noise while doing it.

Originally Posted by Burns

oh and that's another thing. Ever since the Governor attacked the first time and brought in that van of walkers, I never understood why Rick's group didn't just clear them out again. They could easily get them up against the fence and knife them in the head or use Michonne's sword so they didn't have to waste ammo or make noise while doing it.

I'm thinking it just hasn't been a priority, what with the prospect of the Gov making a fresh delivery any time. It would actually be a pretty big project to get out there and examine the ruined gates, figure out how to secure them again and get the job done, beating back walkers every step of the way and exposing yourself in the open when someone just got sniped not so long ago. Also, now that they're there, the walkers are at least as much a defense as a liability.

And like OP said, I doubt we'll have to worry about all the dead weight from Woodbury for long.

Originally Posted by Taosaur

So, you don't like the show. It's possible that living in Oz means you demand a higher level of realism from media based on mindless hordes dictating your everyday actions.

I have no idea what you're talking about.

Anyway, I've watched the whole series again, and I still maintain season 2 was the best, season 1's downfall was it was only 6 episodes, but it was still better than season 3.

But we could go over this forever, obviously some people have shit tastes and I'll never convince them

I do have a question though, which still wasn't explained by watching it again, can anyone explain why they had to cut off Hershel's leg?
Or just the whole biting thing in general?
They are all infected, how is a bite going to turn them in to zombies if they are already infected? Assuming they don't bleed out and die from the bite.

Originally Posted by tommo

can anyone explain why they had to cut off Hershel's leg?
Or just the whole biting thing in general?
They are all infected, how is a bite going to turn them in to zombies if they are already infected? Assuming they don't bleed out and die from the bite.

When you die, you turn whether you were bitten or not. But you won't turn until you die.

If you are bitten, you will turn right away (well, within an hour or two or whatever). So I suppose they cut off Hershel's leg to prevent him from turning now. Though when he dies, he will still turn anyway - as will anyone else.

Zombies have filthy mouths. The bite just gives you a fast-acting infection that reliably kills within hours or a day at the most. They cut off the leg for the same reason Civil War field surgeons cut off a lot of limbs--to stop the infection from spreading and killing him.

I know WHY they cut off his leg. But it doesn't make sense. Both of you pretty much just said "you will die quicker if bitten". Which isn't an explanation at all.

Mone of that was ever explained. Why would the zombies have a faster acting virus? They're just people who died and have the infection.

Does anyone else feel like Milton died too soon?

And I was just starting to like Andrea, however, I wasn't very sad when she died.

Originally Posted by tommo

I know WHY they cut off his leg. But it doesn't make sense. Both of you pretty much just said "you will die quicker if bitten". Which isn't an explanation at all.

Mone of that was ever explained. Why would the zombies have a faster acting virus? They're just people who died and have the infection.

What doesn't make sense? They have observed and heard accounts that people who are bitten will die and reanimate in (24-x) hours. No, there's no explanation. How would the characters get an explanation? By infiltrating the CDC and locating a lone surviving scientist who shows slides of the handwavium virus (gagvomitgag, iwishmostofseasononedidntexist)? Zombie God save us from any more explanations. Zombie bites kill. The dead reanimate. Is the same agent at work in both cases? Maybe. Maybe not. Who the fuck knows? It's a zombie apocalypse. They had sufficient grounds to fear Hershel was a dead man, so they took the only available measure that might save his life and it paid off.

How does "they are all infected" with reanimation have any bearing on the impact of a zombie bite? And hell, it's entirely possible that a living, infected human trying to devour your flesh would have the same results, but it's less likely to come up (unless they introduce World War Z style quislings).