Anyone Watching "Walking Dead" on AMC?

[ClausentoTate]

I was really expecting more from this finale; Nothing "big" happened. My thoughts:

1. Not killing Glenn and not having him kill Nickie was actually the biggest twist of the entire episode. So much build-up and speculation... him killing Nickie would have been a 180 and then to have nothing happen actually gave it some suspense. Then again it's a good thing without any weapons and a bum shoulder, with Nickie right next to him, Glenn was able to get away from three walkers without any explanation and track Nickie down in the dark. How did Nickie know Glenn would follow him over the wall? Why did Glenn go without any weapons? Great writing/directing all around.

2. Gabriel's white sweatshirt, wtf. By far my least favorite character. His story makes no sense. I wouldn't even call his story an arc, he's just crazy. Why does the community just let anyone go outside for a walk without a buddy? Could the guy at the gate not wait 15 seconds to watch Gabriel close the gate? Nobody has a view of the gate for how long? They don't even lock it or have 24/7 guards, anyone could just mozy in. Good thing the walkers walked through a pole and left a blood trail, and the town had a dog with an open window. How does Rick know that's all of the walkers? How does biting cause you to turn but getting bled on in the eyes/mouth not do the same thing? Shouldn't these walkers be basically bags of flesh at this point? Why are they so strong?

3. Why did Maggie not tell anyone what Gabriel said? Why does she not wonder where Glenn is?

4. Nobody knew Rick had a gun, in fact he's supposed to not have a gun (they posted guards in the armory). Won't this create way more mistrust?

5. "It'll take a lot longer to get this trap reset". Trap takes literally a minute to reset... Do walkers not make noise when they're in trucks? Good thing Morgan came within one second of when he had to, and had a note on his map from Rick, and gave the map to Darryl, and trusts him, and got lost in exactly the right spot to save them. He literally just almost got mugged by wolves, why would he trust two guys with weapons even if he did just save them? He values all life but basically kills the first two guys?

6. I don't get the Rick=Shane references. Shane tried to kill his best friend and steal his wife because he was jealous and had been with her for a while. He had zero justification for trying to kill Rick. Rick didn't want a wife-beater to be tolerated in their new society. He takes it a bit far by saying he should be killed, but he knows first-hand that those types of people don't change. Exile would have the same effect. The town no longer has a surgeon, so that's exciting for them.

7. WHY HAVE ZERO PEOPLE IN THE SHOW NOTICED THE "W"??? Darryl and Aaron are stuck in a car for a while and every walker is marked with it. Not even a "huh, that's weird, this trap is full of walkers with this w, it looks like that one girl we saw on the tree". Nothing. Drives me crazy, at least acknowledge it.

TLDR; Finale was mediocre, lots of plot holes and lazy writing, next season there should be some actual danger. It's unfortunate because the start of the season was AMAZING.

 

[woolybug25]

Ahh... the ol' "this show was mediocre and the writing was lazy".... but here is my 7 point breakdown of the show. lol

 

[phork]

That episode perfectly encapsulated a lot of my complaints about the show. Some OK stuff surrounded by a whole lot of nothing and shit that just doesn't make sense.

I'm not sure at what didn't make sense to you?

I was really expecting more from this finale; Nothing "big" happened. My thoughts:

1. Not killing Glenn and not having him kill Nickie was actually the biggest twist of the entire episode. So much build-up and speculation... him killing Nickie would have been a 180 and then to have nothing happen actually gave it some suspense. Then again it's a good thing without any weapons and a bum shoulder, with Nickie right next to him, Glenn was able to get away from three walkers without any explanation and track Nickie down in the dark. How did Nickie know Glenn would follow him over the wall? Why did Glenn go without any weapons? Great writing/directing all around.

He purposefully climbed the wall where Glenn could see him, the other points not sure.

2. Gabriel's white sweatshirt, wtf. By far my least favorite character. His story makes no sense. I wouldn't even call his story an arc, he's just crazy. Why does the community just let anyone go outside for a walk without a buddy? Could the guy at the gate not wait 15 seconds to watch Gabriel close the gate? Nobody has a view of the gate for how long? They don't even lock it or have 24/7 guards, anyone could just mozy in. Good thing the walkers walked through a pole and left a blood trail, and the town had a dog with an open window. How does Rick know that's all of the walkers? How does biting cause you to turn but getting bled on in the eyes/mouth not do the same thing? Shouldn't these walkers be basically bags of flesh at this point? Why are they so strong?

Gabriel is a tool. He is still battling in his head how he let all his people die. He still doesn't see how the world has moved on and what it takes to survive. His point is strengthened by the fact that this Safe Zone is peaceful and has no issues, he feels like Rick and Co. don't belong here. I assume he asked Gabriel to close the gate, he heard it as he was walking away. The gate does lock from the inside as shown by Rick later.

Rick can't be sure thats all the walkers, how can you be? Biting in and of itself doesn't turn you. Everyone is already infected with what causes the turning. Imagine being bitten by a garbage truck and all the crap thats around rotted flesh. Infection (of any kind) will kill you, you die and you turn.

3. Why did Maggie not tell anyone what Gabriel said? Why does she not wonder where Glenn is?

Good points.

4. Nobody knew Rick had a gun, in fact he's supposed to not have a gun (they posted guards in the armory). Won't this create way more mistrust?

Possibly. But now that threats are real I think they are all in for Ricks plan.

5. "It'll take a lot longer to get this trap reset". Trap takes literally a minute to reset... Do walkers not make noise when they're in trucks? Good thing Morgan came within one second of when he had to, and had a note on his map from Rick, and gave the map to Darryl, and trusts him, and got lost in exactly the right spot to save them. He literally just almost got mugged by wolves, why would he trust two guys with weapons even if he did just save them? He values all life but basically kills the first two guys?

I'd imagine walkers walking in the dark might just shut down almost like in "I Am Legend" thingies. No light, no sound.

6. I don't get the Rick=Shane references. Shane tried to kill his best friend and steal his wife because he was jealous and had been with her for a while. He had zero justification for trying to kill Rick. Rick didn't want a wife-beater to be tolerated in their new society. He takes it a bit far by saying he should be killed, but he knows first-hand that those types of people don't change. Exile would have the same effect. The town no longer has a surgeon, so that's exciting for them.

Regardless of the wife stealing, Shane saw what the world had become. Do anything and everything to save YOUR group and move on. (RIP Otis) Rick was still positive that humanity was alive and well. That is now gone. Rick now views the world as Shane did.

7. WHY HAVE ZERO PEOPLE IN THE SHOW NOTICED THE "W"??? Darryl and Aaron are stuck in a car for a while and every walker is marked with it. Not even a "huh, that's weird, this trap is full of walkers with this w, it looks like that one girl we saw on the tree". Nothing. Drives me crazy, at least acknowledge it.

I am sure Morgan will fill them all in about his adventures in the opener.

 

[ulukinatme]

I was really expecting more from this finale; Nothing "big" happened. My thoughts:

1. How did Nickie know Glenn would follow him over the wall? Why did Glenn go without any weapons? Great writing/directing all around.
Par for the course


2. Gabriel's white sweatshirt, wtf. By far my least favorite character. His story makes no sense. I wouldn't even call his story an arc, he's just crazy. Why does the community just let anyone go outside for a walk without a buddy? Could the guy at the gate not wait 15 seconds to watch Gabriel close the gate? Nobody has a view of the gate for how long? They don't even lock it or have 24/7 guards, anyone could just mozy in. Good thing the walkers walked through a pole and left a blood trail, and the town had a dog with an open window. How does Rick know that's all of the walkers? How does biting cause you to turn but getting bled on in the eyes/mouth not do the same thing? Shouldn't these walkers be basically bags of flesh at this point? Why are they so strong?
Gabriel is a pretty horrible character. They never really flesh him out once he gets to Alexandria in the comics. He has a couple scenes where you know he's crazy, but I don't think they ever resolved his issues, he kind of just disappeared if I remember. As far as the other questions, crappy writing is the answer.

3. Why did Maggie not tell anyone what Gabriel said? Why does she not wonder where Glenn is?
Because anything that makes sense is not done with this group.

4. Nobody knew Rick had a gun, in fact he's supposed to not have a gun (they posted guards in the armory). Won't this create way more mistrust?
I can see your point, but at the same time if Rick didn't have his gun then a lot of Alexandrians may have died with those walkers roaming around. Obviously Rick didn't use his gun, but he may have needed it in this situation I think. The big point was that Alexandrians are weak and they've been lucky up to this point, their ways will get them killed.

5. "It'll take a lot longer to get this trap reset". Trap takes literally a minute to reset... Do walkers not make noise when they're in trucks? Good thing Morgan came within one second of when he had to, and had a note on his map from Rick, and gave the map to Darryl, and trusts him, and got lost in exactly the right spot to save them. He literally just almost got mugged by wolves, why would he trust two guys with weapons even if he did just save them? He values all life but basically kills the first two guys?
Crappy writing, or maybe Morgan used his new Jedi powers to read the minds/intentions of Daryl and Aaron and knew they were good people. I do find it interesting that 100 walkers make no noise in the trailers.

6. I don't get the Rick=Shane references. Shane tried to kill his best friend and steal his wife because he was jealous and had been with her for a while. He had zero justification for trying to kill Rick. Rick didn't want a wife-beater to be tolerated in their new society. He takes it a bit far by saying he should be killed, but he knows first-hand that those types of people don't change. Exile would have the same effect. The town no longer has a surgeon, so that's exciting for them.
I think the comparisons to Shane go back to the fact Shane figured out early on that you have to make morally questionable decisions to survive in this world. Shooting Otis in the leg when they were trying to escape with the meds for Carl was a dick move, but if Shane doesn't do that then both of them die and probably Carl with them. Shane developed the survivalist mentality that you need in the zombie apocalypse, and at first Rick wasn't willing to do those things to protect the group. Over the course of 5 seasons though we've seen Rick evolve and he's become that very person needed to protect the group, he's become what Shane told him he needed to be.

7. WHY HAVE ZERO PEOPLE IN THE SHOW NOTICED THE "W"??? Darryl and Aaron are stuck in a car for a while and every walker is marked with it. Not even a "huh, that's weird, this trap is full of walkers with this w, it looks like that one girl we saw on the tree". Nothing. Drives me crazy, at least acknowledge it.
Crappy writing

TLDR; Finale was mediocre, lots of plot holes and lazy writing, next season there should be some actual danger. It's unfortunate because the start of the season was AMAZING.
I did like parts of the show, but it would have been nice if they culled the herd a bit. If they have a smaller group of people to focus on they won't need to jump around so much between different people/story arcs and maybe we can get more action that way. Also,k I think when you have a smaller cast the deaths mean a lot more when they do occur.

Replies in bold

 

[ClausentoTate]

Ahh... the ol' "this show was mediocre and the writing was lazy".... but here is my 7 point breakdown of the show. lol

Touche.

Honestly I just want more replies on this thread, as I do love the show even if it is pretty up-and-down by season. I don't really get into characters like other people so I enjoy trying to figure out motivations and where things are going. You can only expect so much for something adapted from another medium... although GoT seems to do a much better job.

God I'm not looking forward to the lull that is summer TV.

 

[ClausentoTate]

Replies in bold

I guess when people said Rick is Shane, I immediately thought they meant killing for what you want and not so much to protect the group. I can see your explanation, though. Totally agree on the smaller group. Definite case of too many simultaneous character arcs.

Regarding the group, I actually find it pretty funny that nearly weekly there are people complaining that Rural Atlanta/the general "South" has too many or not enough of a demographic of survivors. This has got to be the most diverse group of survivors you could think of.

 

[Irishnuke]

Ahh... the ol' "this show was mediocre and the writing was lazy".... but here is my 7 point breakdown of the show. lol

So much this. Every time this thread is bumped, someone has their period all over it. If you guys dislike the show as much as you seem to based on your comments, stop watching.

 

[ClausentoTate]

Interesting comparison to I Am Legend.

I wonder if they'll give more specifics on the physical aspects of the walkers. They kind of glance over most characteristics of the walkers, other than explaining the origin in Season 1 and showing some experiments (that yielded no actual information) with the Governor. Resident Evil and 28 days later got much more specific about their habits, what drives them, how they detect humans vs non-humans, etc.

I'm actually convinced they're not giving information on the walkers so they can basically do anything they need them to do as part of the plot.

 

[ClausentoTate]

So much this. Every time this thread is bumped, someone has their period all over it. If you guys dislike the show as much as you seem to based on your comments, stop watching.

Sorry for having a vested interest. Also, same with reading this thread. Probably should just stop watching ND football too.

 

[ulukinatme]

Touche.

Honestly I just want more replies on this thread, as I do love the show even if it is pretty up-and-down by season. I don't really get into characters like other people so I enjoy trying to figure out motivations and where things are going. You can only expect so much for something adapted from another medium... although GoT seems to do a much better job.

God I'm not looking forward to the lull that is summer TV.

I'm kind of the same way. I don't really have a favorite character on Walking Dead I think, I try to just enjoy the show for what it is, yet it's hard to ignore the criticisms when there are bad episodes. I don't necessarily think it was a bad episode, but there was certainly a lot of criticism, and I definitely preferred some of the other finales they've done. So many people complain that the show is not the same as Season 1....but you're going to have that with pretty much any show. Sure, they fired Frank Darabont after Season 1, which was probably a stupid move in hindsight, but it's 20/20 and all that. At the same time, even if Frank had remained on the show I'm sure people still would have been disappointed. Season 1 of shows always seems to be the best in fans eyes because the show is new and fresh. After a few seasons they could spin the story an entirely different way and fans still wouldn't be satisfied. To be fair, Walking Dead only had something like 7 episodes in Season 1, so it was really jam packed with good action and moved at a quick pace, there was no dilly-dally there, and there was a lot of death.

I generally enjoy the show though, despite a lot of overwhelming criticism when you go online. I don't get into very many TV shows these days, and often I watch them after they've already gone off the air. Walking Dead and Big Bang Theory are about the only two I keep up with today, so it will indeed be a long summer.

 

[ulukinatme]

One of my favorite parts last night:

 

[yankeeND]

One of my favorite parts last night:

This!

That dude is awesome!

 

[phork]

Interesting comparison to I Am Legend.

I wonder if they'll give more specifics on the physical aspects of the walkers. They kind of glance over most characteristics of the walkers, other than explaining the origin in Season 1 and showing some experiments (that yielded no actual information) with the Governor. Resident Evil and 28 days later got much more specific about their habits, what drives them, how they detect humans vs non-humans, etc.

I'm actually convinced they're not giving information on the walkers so they can basically do anything they need them to do as part of the plot.

There isn't a whole lot of research happening since, you know, all the labs are down at the moment. However we have learned they like to eventually walk in packs. They can't see clearly but can make out light and movement and they tend to go the direction of sound. (Morgan honking the horn). Everyone is infected with what ever the thing is and everyone turns when they die. Unless of course you brain'em. (Shown at the CDC with said scientists wife). Other than that they are rotting hunks of meat determined to find and eat you.

Do you really need much more? While the walkers are certainly a prop in the story its more about the human element of how things have changed.

 

[IrishinTN]

Anybody else looking forward to the Los Angeles version? At least we'll get some insight into what happened while Rick was in a coma.

 

[phork]

My interest is piqued for sure.

 

[johnnycando]

Best tv show.

Behind GOT.

 

[ulukinatme]

The more I watch Chris Hardwick, the more I think he's just a tool. I enjoyed the season finale, but I certainly didn't think it was the best one they've done. Hardwick plays that shit up way too much. He also doesn't know how to pronounce "GIF," which makes him a bad person.

 

[calvegas04]

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Va1UPrFXHKA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Huntr]

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WDxew5SguVw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Irishnuke]

Can't wait!

 

[Bogtrotter07]

I already like Fear better, Kim Dickens, oh my!

Actually, it looks like the original may have corrected some of its rough spots. But you know what they say; it's hard to tell anything from a few seconds of video!

Props to all for providing premiere dates!

 

[GO IRISH!!!]

I wasn't too excited about Fear until I just watched that trailer. Looks really good. I am really excited to see the pre-outbreak events. I hope they get more in depth with the preparedness aspect and how quickly things go downhill. Looks awesome.

 

[johnnycando]

Oh shit.

Alexandria going down...

Is it the boy on the horn?

The blonde?

Deanna?

A random dead person getting mauled on a horn?

 

[notredomer23]

Oh shit.

Alexandria going down...

Is it the boy on the horn?

The blonde?

Deanna?

A random dead person getting mauled on a horn?

It's gonna be another colony.

 

[johnnycando]

It's gonna be another colony.

The Wolves you think?

 

[notredomer23]

The Wolves you think?

No idea if the show is gonna loosely follow the comic book or not from this point(though you'd expect it to). Was it just me though, or did it sound like a helicopter in the final scenes when the horn went off?

 

[johnnycando]

No idea if the show is gonna loosely follow the comic book or not from this point(though you'd expect it to). Was it just me though, or did it sound like a helicopter in the final scenes when the horn went off?

It absolutely did.

 

[ulukinatme]

Fucking. Awesome. Episode.

So much action, I was in disbelief. They still managed to advance story lines without 30 minutes of slow moving dialogue. Very impressive.

Supposed to be a 90 minute episode next week, where I assume we have the horde moving in on Alexandria. After that we'll probably spend 3 episodes looking for a lost cat.

 

[johnnycando]

Fucking. Awesome. Episode.

So much action, I was in disbelief. They still managed to advance story lines without 30 minutes of slow moving dialogue. Very impressive.

Supposed to be a 90 minute episode next week, where I assume we have the horde moving in on Alexandria. After that we'll probably spend 3 episodes looking for a lost cat.

The satchel what's-his-face found with photos inside of Alexandria: did anyone notice it was an inside the fence scouting report?

Which guy was that?

Epic beat downs this episode.

 

[phork]

The satchel what's-his-face found with photos inside of Alexandria: did anyone notice it was an inside the fence scouting report?

Which guy was that?

Epic beat downs this episode.

It wasn't a scouting report. It was that guys backpack who was finding people to bring back to Alexandria last year and he lost it on the road. The Wolves found it and obviously came looking for it.