Yolapukka

It could be that Jim-Boob bought it for speculative reasons and the possibility of selling it to a larger developer interested in the surrounding land was a hoped-for outcome. Why buy the whole cow when you just need the milk(?) or only want the horns or something .......... because, Jesus! The guy is not a house-flipper, the house was a disgusting neglected sty before it was cleaned up and coated in cheap paint and carpeting for Jill and Derrick. He doesn't exactly seem like someone who has a serious regard for the responsibility of keeping property he has a stake in at anything beyond the bare minimum of good repair and at times, not even that. I doubt the Dillards ever had a guarantee that the property would be available to them when they returned from their mission, especially since it's the sort of thing control-freak J-Boob would enjoy dangling over their heads.

Pandora is described as ominous, I thought she was likelier to be an enemy than a true ally and this could indicate that direction, though the word could also mean that she is an omen, not necessarily that she herself is a threat.

Me too, with resulting snickering.

Ummmmmmmmmm....... oh. my.

Things I like about Tobias; -appreciates the true nature of the danger. -is paying attention to the crucial details hiding in the news and elsewhere. -is attempting to prepare for the coming crisis -is willing to aggressively defend both himself and others against zombie attacks Things I don't like about Tobias; -mopey -brandishes a tiny knife -understood the importance of big cans (of food), but still left big cans (of food) behind. -Willingness to defend is compromised by a lack of fighting skill, including wise equipment selection. Seriously, the big cans would have worked better on principal zombie than the tiny knife.

From the above Mison interview; Love that last turn of phrase.

I don't know if it would be that dramatic, but I do think it could be damaging. For the most part, any zombie movie, book, or video game I've encountered deals with the origins in a few lines, whether they frame it as big revelation or a few throw-away comments. It might be important, but it's not that big a part of the story. I feel like we know enough, that there was a serious "flu"pandemic and exposure to the virus whether or not people died or even were ill as a consequence had the result of the infected dead rising and that the undead are dangerous. Perhaps it was a spontaneous variant of the flu, which isn't particularly interesting or it's a consequence of human tinkering or sheep-fucking or cosmic rays which is a story other than one of survivors dealing with a new reality. Having someone who was in on went wrong would be clunky, having survivors encounter evidence what went wrong is most likely a dead end story-wise, it's not going to reverse the disaster and if it could, it has the potential to blow the basic premise. I think FTWD is better off keeping the template of the mothership and avoiding writing that deals with those in the know. Well, with the exception of Jenner. In fact in some ways, they have done one better than the original by showing those who will survive picking up on the key pieces of knowledge they will need, rather than being told by the likes of Jenner. Loved that scene when the blanket blew back with the result of Liza taking note of the shot to the head that had brought down the homeless guy.

That's Ok, your point was clear and well-made. I was making my own point that the plot was artificially contriving to position her as a burden even though, as your post laid out so well, the situation with her mother and brother made them a burden for her. It's ridiculous to me that Alicia is being written as a problem when the actual problem is her brother's addiction and is her mother shielding her from knowledge about significant danger. Vital information is being withheld when the undead are literally outside their door and this will remain true no matter how long Madison refrains from explaining what she knows. What if Nick died while detoxing? I mean really, Alicia would be placed in dire peril if she stepped out to pick up the hose tomorrow morning, never mind interceding when others need help, the fault for that doesn't lay with her. I hope we don't get scene after scene of Madison talking (probably not emoting) about the painful past, but all the same, I'd like at least one scene or some occasional references that that explain why she shuts down emotionally in traumatic situations, events that would make others at least, gasp. I don't entirely think it's just a poor acting choice (though It is) that she has such non-reactive reactions in the moment, I think this particular actress was cast because they wanted this kind of performance for the character. I want to know why that was desirable.

Honestly, I love Nick and hope he's not doomed because he's the breakout character in this but neither he nor the mother are necessary caretakers to Alicia except in the dangerous way that they are failing to share information with her. Nick at least did try to tell her at one point, but he was in no condition to communicate effectively. I could love Alicia if the writing was there, the character has a good base and the actress is expressive and appropriate. Rant; Also, in an indirect way that quote kind of sums up why female teen characters are problematic, they are either Mary-Sues, with little personality, or they are given personality by means of being a burden. Either way they usually exist only to make us care about their parents and caregivers and to be be reckless and in danger when plot point calls for it. They are either rainbow unicorns or an albatross and often both. Male teens only fare slightly better, but they get a lot of the same writing. (See; Chris* who is so far unbearable) So, on the one hand she's the beloved child who surpasses expectations and is possibly bland as a result, but on the other, she's mouthy, impulsive and she's going to get into scrapes and endanger others and exist to be grating, or a walking Maguffin. It's so fucking stupid though, because if writers would follow the writing they give the character to logical consequences, she'd be competent and capable but instead they have the contrivance that she doesn't understand the danger (because nobody is telling her). We have story hinging on whether she is a good girl who simply needs to do as her elders tell her. The characters flaw is she's not sufficiently childlike and deferential enough, as someone who is close to if not past the age of majority and is mere months from starting to live independently. This would have worked better if they had made the character a little older, maybe had her and the boyfriend visiting home on their off-time from Berkely, because then she'd be independent enough that they wouldn't be drawing on such dull, tiresome tropes as they establish the character. Or maybe not, maybe they'd still go for the same cookie-cutter family drama , only it would be even more ridiculous when the character is infantilized. * Chris only seems to exist to give Travis a credible reason to leave Madison during a crisis and to tie ex-wife Liza to Travis. So far he's shreiky and annoying.

I like this idea. I don't care so much when a show tinkers with canon if they do it well but in most cases it's lazy writing instead. I have no problem with a well-contructed ret-con, I have problems with short-cuts and handwaves, because they don't bode well for future writing and mostly because they aren't necessary with a little research and imagination, which are surely things a good writer has in their toolkit. If they use these entirely credible circumstances to fit Abbies' past with Reynolds into the existing narrative they've made a good move, as opposed to throwing out established character beats. Even if they take a stupid, unimaginative route to putting Reynolds on a personal as well as professional footing with Abbie, I'll still be happy with it if it's entertaining, if it has charm and substance as opposed to simply bringing on a character through ill-considered contrivances just to give Ichabod stink-eye and disapprove of Abbie while grumping about bygones. That's not very interesting to me. If they make the effort to fit Reynolds into the existing framework, it bodes better for the future of the character because it shows they are taking care to make him work.

I tend to think that school wasn't cancelled by the reaction to the viral video per se, at least at the level of public and school board concern but more a reaction from a higher level. perhaps prompted by the video, the same high-level response that has been informing the changes in how hospitals are dealing with resuscitation and police knowing they need to to shoot zombies in the head and hoard supplies. Maybe the idea that it so far has taken place over a day is a big part of why there seems to be inconsistency in how information is fanning out, especially with the added factor that crucial information is being withheld from the public to disastrous effect, the lack of information has resulted in rioting due to shootings of unarmed (undead) civilians, which is going to lead to a massive increase in undead.

I don't believe she should, She needs to shut her noise-hole. They all do. Especially when it comes to the crackpot drivel about female propriety and responsibilities. Hard questions are an unproductive notion as nothing will come out of it other than confirmation of what we already know and yet another chance for these fruitcakes to disseminate said drivel.

Pry Bar is sad that the phlegmatic lady left her so badly underused, first only partially opening Druggie Lock-Up then abandoning poor Pry Bar altogether. Pry bar is useful, Pry bar could have helped with Principal Zombie. Head-Smashing Fire Extinguisher helped and then was abandoned too. Pry Bar is alone and wants to be held, Pry Bar wants to be with Head-Smashing Fire Extinguisher and Big Cans (Of Food), wants to become part of Needed Survival Supplies, even it means being with phlegmatic lady. Pry Bar doesn't like her anymore, doesn't like abandonment. Maybe spotty boy would have saved Pry bar, if spotty boy had not been so interested in Big Cans (Of Food), but then again maybe not. After all, spotty boy lost interest in Big Cans (Of Food).

I haven't seen enough of her to have a firm opinion either way on the character so far. There is one thing I hate and it's nothing against her but rather a complaint about the other characters and how they infantilize her. It's galling how much she is being left out of the loop, especially since she is assertive, intelligent, and has kind impulses, the sort that make her go out of her way for others. Those characteristics, all good things, all potentially advantageous in the zombie apocalypse are a recipe for disaster if the key facts regarding the type of danger that is around them are being withheld from her. Mom thinks she can go out and Alicia is not going to want to slip away to check on her ailing boyfriend? Has she met her daughter?

I think this was a really weak bit of wriiting, editing and /or direction. There was no freaking reason that the scene with Madison dropping off Tobias didn't end with her popping the trunk and if it had, we would have assumed he was unloading his supplies and we wouldn't be taken out of it by the prospect that they had left the food at the school after all that trouble. They made such a point of accounting for his itty-bitty knife in a completely stupid scene in the first episode and this is a lapse not in keeping with that sort of thing. Also, given that they were raiding an institutional kitchen, there is absolutely no reason that the boy could not have obtained a knife there, even if they were locked up. Well, except that then he actually would have been armed with something useful to deal with the attack of Artie, the zombie principal.

I can buy (sort of) the idea that Madison is a possible name for the character even it is very off-trend for someone of her generation. There have always been people who named their children, male or female, after places, like Florence Nightingale and her sister Parthe, there have also been people that named their children with a family surname, usually from the mother's side. That said, I don't care for the name. Girl names that end in the the son/syn sound tend to irritate me, with a possible exception for Allison and that only because of a childhood friend.

Post moved to Madison Clark thread.

Last week I was putting even money on whether Nick was supposed to survive the season or if the sole reason for his presence was someone to die, so everyone else could have a sad. This week I'm leaning more towards Madison. She seems to be the one making the most dumb mistakes.

Even so, he got the knife Madison confiscated back from her and whether it was that or another knife, it was still small. Dude should have got another knife in the meantime, a better one, if not bigger, at least with a sharper, stronger blade.

Ha! I was assuming/fan-wanking that they have a regular spot they go to, the same way people do when they say they're going to the lake or up north, so that a phrase like "the desert" would be meaningful to them both. However her jumping in the car and trying to leave the city at this point is a disastrous, dangerous idea, especially after dark. I'm guessing that's exactly the quality they were looking for when she was cast and that kind of quiet performance is what I usually appreciate about the actress, but so far it's not working in terms of making me engage with the character. Her train-wreck son is easier to sympathize with despite the fact he makes me mutter words like degenerate and pathetic at frequent intervals. I disagree that it was the neighbour's car and house rather than Matt's. His home had distinctive hard landscaping outside. it was very unlike the homes we saw on the Clark's street.

I thought he tried, but his itty-bitty knife wan't much use. He might have been able to get it in at the temple or the base of the skull. Madison had to hit undead Artie in the head several times before he stopped. Skull bones still seem pretty dense at this early point in the apocalypse.

Well that was much better. Better pacing, greater sense of momentum. Nick's accent slipped a few times. Not only is Matt, (black male role #2) dead, but his offscreen parents seem to be dead off-screen as well. A car, presumably theirs was in in their driveway with abandoned luggage and an open trunk. Likely one of them entered and was attacked by undead Matt and the other one ran in when he or she heard screams. The scenes in the barber shop with the sounds of rioting outside were tense and terrifying. I thought that was well-conceived and really well done. I appreciated Tobias' preparedness and quick thinking. There must be at least one other walker in that school since Artie, the principal (black male role #3) was fine when saw him walking through the halls earlier. I can't say I have a problem with Travis and Madison not sharing what they know specifically, because they'd sound crazy to their families and others, but they still need to be saying more, especially to Alicia.

The character really pops off the screen, mostly due to the strong performance, but I have a hard time seeing him as a character whose severe addiction isn't going to be a millstone around the other characters' necks. I'd say it's even money as to whether he's intended to straighten out and shine or merely exist to give the rest of the cast an excuse to emote in grief at his sticky end. ETA; OT (Just like I can't unsee the resemblance of Nick to Johnny Depp characters, mentioning Rob Schneider reminds me that I can't unsee how much Elle King looks like him when they're in the same picture.)

I've usually liked Kim Dickens when she's popped up in various roles, but she's really flat in this. If the ads didn't scream Major character/lead(!), I'd assume she was walker-bait. Unless the character improves drastically I think I'm going to be mumbling "no-one is safe" when she's onscreen. I don't hate the character but so far she's just a blank, barely reactive every(wo)man. I think it would have been much better if she and the family weren't such central casting cliches of the typically dysfunctional disaster movie family and if they weren't trying to to make us like her on account of being a nice person because I don't really care about that quality in apocalyptic fiction.

I think when you pointedly set it in a particular city, that city is as much a character as the actual actors, so, unless they are going to still shoot parts in LA, they are making themselves ridiculous. That said, if this show has a longer run than a couple of seasons it would also look odd if it continued to be smoggy in the absence of heavy traffic and human industry. Though I suppose fires and spillage could be an ongoing problem. (One of the details I particularly appreciated about the book Girlfriend In A Coma was humanity disappears and pollution gets worse as all the abandoned structures break down.) I'm inclined to think the unsettling vibe when Alicia spoon-feeds Nick was a less a deliberate acting choice by the actors and more a combination of editing and direction that made a fairly mundane moment of affection between siblings look creepy. Why did they have that lingering closeup of her leaning towards him? I'm wondering if the overall effect was accidental or another bait and switch, like the shot of principal from the back. It's not appropriate as a visual practical joke and rather horrible if the show actually goes there with the siblings having unhealthy boundaries (or worse) with each other. It was one of the few moments where her character wasn't pouty, sullen and sour so I wish the blocking hadn't been so .... off. For me, Nick in the sweater wasn't distracting, beyond the moment where I went, "Oh, he's put on his girlfriend's sweater, it was the fact he was wandering around a FILTHY DRUG SQUAT in bare feet. What the hell? To those who've posted that the walkers at the church were probably removed by authorities after Nick's account to police, excellent theory. ETA It looked a lot like the restaurant in Pulp Fiction too.