The Walking Dead -- TV Series Thread

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by stevew

What are the odds that (spoiler based on the fact that im not sure whether it's speculation or a true spoiler)

Spoiler

Morgan shows up and sniper kills people to save the day at the ultimate prison battle

I would not be surprised at all if something like that goes down.

[Radii]

The casting for other shows that has been discussed make it seem less likely to me. If there was a chance for him to become a season 4 regular, maybe.

[Draft Dodger]

Originally Posted by stevew

What are the odds that (spoiler based on the fact that im not sure whether it's speculation or a true spoiler)

Spoiler

Morgan shows up and sniper kills people to save the day at the ultimate prison battle

It occurred to me, but I sure hope it doesn't happen. that story ran its course really well and I hope they just let it be what it was

[Draft Dodger]

PS man, that Morgan sure did manage to find a LOT of guns

[stevew]

Oh yeah, he got a cache of weapons. I would have snagged those grenades.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by Antmeister

You called it.

Eh, I had a friend point it out when they spoiled/telegraphed Merle's return. I know they don't make TV shows for the "hardcore" viewers, and they want to embrace their larger audience, but have some respect for the audience.

My gripe this week (not really a spoiler, but it kind of ruined the episode for me)

Spoiler

So is the prison a few hours drive from where Rick was Sheriff, and he didn't know about it? Or did 3 of the 4 best defenders (in a group of 7 plus the baby) just go on a few days journey away from the prison after the Governor attacked them once and made clear his intentions to come back and finish the job? Great stand-alone episode, and I get from a storytelling perspective why they need to draw things out for a couple episodes, but I couldn't get that out of my mind.

[Swaggs]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

Eh, I had a friend point it out when they spoiled/telegraphed Merle's return. I know they don't make TV shows for the "hardcore" viewers, and they want to embrace their larger audience, but have some respect for the audience.

My gripe this week (not really a spoiler, but it kind of ruined the episode for me)

Spoiler

So is the prison a few hours drive from where Rick was Sheriff, and he didn't know about it? Or did 3 of the 4 best defenders (in a group of 7 plus the baby) just go on a few days journey away from the prison after the Governor attacked them once and made clear his intentions to come back and finish the job? Great stand-alone episode, and I get from a storytelling perspective why they need to draw things out for a couple episodes, but I couldn't get that out of my mind.

Kirkman answered this in his weekly interview (not too "spoilery"):

Spoiler

He suggested that it is less than a day's drive away, but that Rick's town and the prison have Atlanta in-between them. So, they may each be 2-3 hours away from Atlanta, but in different directions. I think that explanation makes it pretty realistic.

[dave731]

Originally Posted by stevew

What are the odds that (spoiler based on the fact that im not sure whether it's speculation or a true spoiler)

Spoiler

Morgan shows up and sniper kills people to save the day at the ultimate prison battle

I would say this is the odds on favorite...maybe 3-2? I doubt they brought Morgan back for just 1 episode.

[stevew]

I wish they would have used real life geography. It wouldn't be that hard, instead of inventing places.

I guess it wouldn't be that hard to speculate based upon the respective locations of Stone Mountain and Atlanta.

[Butter]

Just finished watching. Lennie James turning in the very first, what I would consider, "Emmy-worthy" performance on this show. This week as a whole was absolutely riveting. I remember at the beginning of this show how people were complaining that there wasn't enough "supplies gathering" going on and that it didn't show enough of the mundane "day-to-day" stuff of how they are surviving. This episode shows that all of that stuff could easily be just as riveting as this manufactured "Woodbury vs. Prison" conflict, that honestly seems a little bit forced to me. Not saying I don't like it, but this was easily the best episode of the season, if not of the entire series.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Butter_of_69

This episode shows that all of that stuff could easily be just as riveting as this manufactured "Woodbury vs. Prison" conflict, that honestly seems a little bit forced to me.

As I understand it, that "manufactured conflict" is a rather large chunk of the source material. Enough so that -- best I can tell from the various detailed summaries I've read of the comics -- it could probably have provided more than a full season of TV.

It may feel contrived to you, but it seems kind of harsh to blame the TV writers for that.

[Butter]

Not really blaming the TV writers so much as whoever is responsible for the storyline to begin with.

[Swaggs]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

As I understand it, that "manufactured conflict" is a rather large chunk of the source material. Enough so that -- best I can tell from the various detailed summaries I've read of the comics -- it could probably have provided more than a full season of TV.

It may feel contrived to you, but it seems kind of harsh to blame the TV writers for that.

To be honest, I think they could have spent most of this season at the prison and put together a pretty good 16-episode season. I feel like they have really rushed through and missed out on a lot of great source material from the prison. I think they could have waited and introduced the governor at the end of this season and done well to focus on developing the (false?) hope that the prison could become a permanent settlement for Rick's group, where they start to become too comfortable in their setting.

I feel like a big part of this story is about the group's hope that they can somehow get back living life similarly to how they did prior to the outbreak (both Rick's group and the Woodbury group). I think they have glossed over it a little too much in the show, whereas in the GN there are (sometimes brief) periods of time where the group begins to feel like things are getting back to where they can settle again. And then we have the fun of them getting jolted back to reality in creative ways.

[stevew]

I'll admit that the thought of "is this Emmy worthy?" did cross my mind as well.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by Butter_of_69

Not really blaming the TV writers so much as whoever is responsible for the storyline to begin with.

I can see why there is more manufactured conflict in a graphic novel... that format needs to be more action-driven than suspenseful or eerie. I'm not a GN reader, but I can't imagine a scene like the S2 opener where the zombie horde slowly went past as they lay under/in the cars would work nearly as well on paper.

[flounder]

I spent some time this afternoon reading through synopses of the comics, and I would be perfectly fine if they completely diverged from the comic story line after the prison.

[Raiders Army]

I hope they have Negan on the show. He makes the Gov'ner look like a good guy.

[stevew]

I found it interesting that Rick uttered the line "I am sorry this happened to you" to Morgan. IIRC the last time he used that was in the pilot in response to the "bike walker" who was crawling on the ground with no legs. Perhaps Rick has regained some humanity?

[JonInMiddleGA]

It was 930 when I looked ... expecting it to be 940.

That's not necessarily a good sign.

[JonInMiddleGA]

And the :37 break felt like at least :45

[sabotai]

Literally fighting off sleep during this episode. Should have had lots of great back and forth with Rick and The Governor. This episode feels like the writers wanted to do that, but couldn't think of anything so we get lots of pointless filler-scenes with the rest of the characters. The only semi-interesting thing was seeing the underlings getting along rather well rather quickly. The stuff at the prison is completely unnecessary.

EDIT: and continuing Jon's posts, :47 felt like the end of the episode...

[JonInMiddleGA]

If I'm not mistaken they added extra commercial breaks this week. At least one extra in the 2nd half, plus an extended break on the last one.

[stevew]

AMC...more bottle (episodes) than a wine cellar.

[Draft Dodger]

wow, did they really make Melissa McBride (Carol) come in and go through makeup for ONE 3 second reaction shot?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Draft Dodger

wow, did they really make Melissa McBride (Carol) come in and go through makeup for ONE 3 second reaction shot?

How about Amy's one shot (literally in this instance)

[DanGarion]

What a bunch of complainers. I thought it was a great episode for what it was. Enjoyed it a lot.

[Jas_lov]

So all that came out of that episode is that Rick and the Governor are at war, which we already knew. And we know that Rick will eventually kill the Governor. They need to get this over with and get back on the road like they were last week.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

What a bunch of complainers. I thought it was a great episode for what it was. Enjoyed it a lot.

Yeah, it was a great way to waste a half hour listening to morons talking in a fake southern accent.

[Swaggs]

That felt like an episode the writers put together to try and earn Emmys for the actors that play Rick and the Governor, but neither have/had the chops to really stand out.

Is it possible for a female to be a douchebag? If so Andrea has the market cornered. I'd love to see her just get randomly eaten by a walker one of these times when she unnecessarily goes hand to hand with them for no good reason.

[Draft Dodger]

when they were leaving and Andrea was trying to decide on which car to get into, I was kind of hoping that both groups would just take off and leave her there.

oh, and whenever Merle or Daryl says "because he's my brother", all I hear is Michael from Lost yelling "they've got my boy"

[Butter]

There was no point to the episode, except to introduce the tension of the idea of sacrificing Michonne to save the group (which we know to be pointless)... and maybe to show the Woodbury and prison citizens getting along outside the confines of the "war". But they could've done that in 10 minutes. It felt artificially padded to add length to the season, not to advance the story. Not a big fan of this one.

[sabotai]

Originally Posted by Draft Dodger

when they were leaving and Andrea was trying to decide on which car to get into, I was kind of hoping that both groups would just take off and leave her there.

That would have made the whole episode worth it.

[Honolulu_Blue]

A pretty slow episode. It had some nice little moments, but not really enough to justify the lack of nothing. I was glad to see Michonne continued to find her words and looks as if she's stopped her glowering/mumbling routine for the most part.

I have a faint memory of reading somewhere that one reason that Mazara was let go as the showrunner was the lack of focus and direction of season 3.5. It's definitely showing.

I didn't realize there were three episodes left. That means the seaon finale will be on March 31st, which is also the premier of Season 3 of "Game of Thrones."

Sweet sassy molassy!

Here is my current plan:

1. Watch Game of Thrones, while "The Walking Dead" is recording.
2. Watch "The Walking Dead" as soon as "Game of Thrones" is finished.

I would prefer to do it the other way around, but this way gives me the power to fast forward commercials.

[Bonegavel]

This could have been a great episode but, for me, was just moderate filler.

The writers kind of phoned this one in. It made no sense to me that Rick didn't shoot the Gov in the face 3 seconds into their meeting. They could have devised a scenario where it would have been sensible for Rick not to shoot his face off as soon as he saw him. Instead, it just seemed that the Gov is still alive because they don't want to end the story line just yet.

And it made no sense that the gov doesn't just shoot rick in the face since he plans on doing that anyway (as he mentioned when he got back to Woodbury). He could just storm the prison and capture them all and kill 'em all. Why go through these pointless steps? They could surround the prison and he could easily capture Michonne (sp?) or at least kill her. Makes no sense for him to risk his life like that just for this.

Is it just because the Gov is insane? I think there are better ways to show us this. The reason this show works for me is, for the most part, there are lots of "ahhh, that makes sense" or I could at least buy why they did what they did. This is beginning to venture into the Chewbacca defense zone.

[spleen1015]

The one thing that stuck out to me was the gun taped under the table.

You show us the gun taped under the table on the Governor's side. Then when he gets the whiskey, he sits on the side of the table, away from the gun. They have their little talk and then they all leave.

WTF happened to the gun? They just decided to leave it there?

[GoldenEagle]

I don't think the governor has as much man power as he lets on. I don't think he could have taken the prison that day. Once the guy in the tower was shot, it turned the tide.

Last night's episode was kind of lame, but I have hope that the rest of the season will be good.

[Groundhog]

I thought it did a good job of building up tension, as well as the 90000th "Oh Rick you stupid shit" moment. I mean, there's...

Spoiler

16

...episodes total this season and last night's was episode 13. It's fairly obvious when we're going to see the 'big event' go down.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by GoldenEagle

I don't think the governor has as much man power as he lets on.

What are you talking about? He's got the dark haired woman, the hispanic guy with the baseball bat, the bushy haired black guy, Martin, that old lady, and the 13 year old kid with asthma!

They are essentially a modern day version of the Spartans from "300".

[Draft Dodger]

Originally Posted by Bonegavel

Is it just because the Gov is insane? I think there are better ways to show us this. The reason this show works for me is, for the most part, there are lots of "ahhh, that makes sense" or I could at least buy why they did what they did. This is beginning to venture into the Chewbacca defense zone.

For all the time they've spent / wasted on the Governor, they really haven't done a good job explaining what makes him tick. Is he crazy? Is he power hungry? Is he simply driven by vengeance? Does he want to be remembered as a founding father for the next generation? I mean, nice story about the wife and all but...uh...

And he won't let anyone from Woodbury leave because.......he wants more mouths to feed? Because he's a social person? Because they need that many people - many of whom seem to have no combat training - to man the defenses?

[Draft Dodger]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

What are you talking about? He's got the dark haired woman, the hispanic guy with the baseball bat, the bushy haired black guy, Martin, that old lady, and the 13 year old kid with asthma!

They are essentially a modern day version of the Spartans from "300".

did the black guy who the camera kept lingering on early on get killed in the Daryl rescue? or is his big part still to come?

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Draft Dodger

did the black guy who the camera kept lingering on early on get killed in the Daryl rescue? or is his big part still to come?

Ooops.

They're down a man!

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by Draft Dodger

For all the time they've spent / wasted on the Governor, they really haven't done a good job explaining what makes him tick. Is he crazy? Is he power hungry? Is he simply driven by vengeance? Does he want to be remembered as a founding father for the next generation? I mean, nice story about the wife and all but...uh...

And he won't let anyone from Woodbury leave because.......he wants more mouths to feed? Because he's a social person? Because they need that many people - many of whom seem to have no combat training - to man the defenses?

The story about his wife seemed more to be told to get a reaction out of Rick, because the Governor knows he is unstable and about what happened to his wife. After he told it he looked at the way Rick reacted and grabbed his whiskey.

His motivation from what I've seen so far is to be a 'king'. The way he always says that Governor is a name people call him, yet at the same time no one knows his real name. There's definitely more to him than they've shown IMO re: his motivations, but power-hungry "win at all costs" wacko seems to fit the bill pretty well.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Draft Dodger

For all the time they've spent / wasted on the Governor, they really haven't done a good job explaining what makes him tick. Is he crazy? Is he power hungry? Is he simply driven by vengeance? Does he want to be remembered as a founding father for the next generation? I mean, nice story about the wife and all but...uh...

He is definitely crazy. I think he might have started off a decent, but some what ruthless person, but the moment his daughter got bit he pretty much lost it.

That first time Michonne was sneaking around his apartment, he had that list of what appeared to be people who died and/or were bitten. Once he wrote his daughter's name (Penny?) his notebook turned into a bunch of slashes over and over again. That's a sign of crazy.

So, he's been holding it together, just enough, keeping his zombified daughter in a closet, watching zombie heads in jars, but still has some sort of malevolence deep in him. Then Michonne shows up, kills his daughter and then he's pretty much over the edge there. He's got his original crazy brewing under the surface fueled by a jet fuel of vegeance towards Michonne for killing his daughter.

Originally Posted by Draft Dodger

And he won't let anyone from Woodbury leave because.......he wants more mouths to feed? Because he's a social person? Because they need that many people - many of whom seem to have no combat training - to man the defenses?

Initially, I am not sure how many people would really want to leave. So, I am not sure if that came up. When all of those people wanted to leave post-Rick attack, I don't think he was really in charge then, but it would make sense he would want to keep people there at that time, to have more meat shields/possible people for defenses. They started training them after that, if I recall.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I just see the governor as your basic cult leader megalomaniac type.

[JonInMiddleGA]

FWIW, there is official canon about the Gov, who he is, how he came to be,etc. etc.
Wiki link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wal...f_the_Governor

[stevew]

All of those stories are 1000 times more interesting than what we've seen of him on TV.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I never read the novel, but I've been much more impressed with the Governor character in the show than in the comic.

[stevew]

‘Walking Dead’ Season 3 Delays & Comic Creator Behind Showrunner Firing

I know this is old, but the part about production delays due to the lack of material to film has certainly shown over the past several weeks(with the obvious exception). Hopefully they can break the cycle of hand to mouth filmmaking and create a more cohesive and less padded vision.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Thinking aloud, or maybe just briefly pondering something if you will.

I almost wonder if there's too many characters for the writing staff to handle. They've got a handle on Rick, I think they've got a handle on Carl. I even think they've got a handle on Andrea (annoying though she may be). They write Herschel well enough. Maybe, just maybe they've finally figured out what to do with Michonne to keep her from being an attack robot. I honestly suspect that they feel stuck with Darryl & Merle, I totally expect them to kill off one or both any minute now (they aren't written horribly, I just get a sense of obligation with them).

But Carol? Or Maggie's blonde sister? Or anyone in Woodbury that isn't the governor or his geeky henchman? Introduced Tyrese & crew only to conveniently write them off-screen?

What started me down this line of thought was the notion that the Carl/Michonne photo recovery sequence felt like a standalone piece, like a mission in a video game. Same with meeting up with Morgan, it was like a (quite good) larger quest from the overall storyline. They tell the story, they resolve the situation, they move on.

But when it comes to figuring out what to do with half the characters on the show, it's as though they either have no interest or simply lack the ability.

[DanGarion]