Bongo Fury

You obviously didn't watch Deadwood then. The writing was outstanding, David Milch ftw. Yet we got the same wooden expressionless performance from Kim Dickens. I'm sorry, but she is quite simply a poor actress.

IMO, the Vultures have clearly been watching the stadium crew for a while and only sent the little girl in after they knew the group was safe. She went in to get the fine details on the group and she did a great job of it, so it clearly wasn't her first spy mission. They obviously care for Charlie, I see no reason to believe that they'd cavalierly put her in jeopardy. She is a valuable member of their community and is not someone they would allow to be harmed. It seems to me that the Vultures clearly did not wreak havoc on the stadium people. Witness the reaction the dude had towards Nick last week, it was casual and consistent with what we have seen earlier. If they had attacked the stadium and killed the people there he wouldn't have been so relaxed towards Nick, he'd have been much more cautious or even taken up a defensive posture. From what I'm seeing, the 'good guys' are pissed at the Vultures because they were right, the stadium was doomed. And they made the fall of the stadium even worse than it needed to be because their egos refused to admit that the Vulture were right and they stuck with the stadium to the point where it cost lives of their people. It's the smug attitude and the fact that they were right that is fueling the animosity towards the Vultures.

So I'm pleasantly surprised to see that the antagonists for the current season aren't psychotic evil villains. As portrayed so far the Vultures are a group of people who feel that a fixed settlement is not a viable solution to long term survival in the ZA. Rather they feel that nomadic scavenging is a better way to go. They also appear to be somewhat of neatness freaks as they round up and entrap any walkers in any area they pass through. And they appear to be scavengers extraordinaire, cleaning out shelves completely and even taking the lightbulbs (as a aside, WTF are they doing with light bulbs, they can't use them in their cars or busses). As part of their nomadic scavenging, they also appear to size up any fixed communities they encounter and those they deem imminently doomed, they evangelize their lifestyle and offer the residents a chance to join them. So overall, they aren't evil bad guys. Major buzz kills lurking around a community they anticipate dying, but I guess that's why they call themselves Vultures. Like much of this franchise the Vultures don't stand up to logical scrutiny, but it's an interesting change from the BIG BADS that have become SO repetitive. I'm just pessimistic that the writers can connect the story from what we have seen so far of the Vultures, to the vitriolic reaction our protagonists (the not so good guys) have towards them now. What is it with the V's that we haven't seen yet that could elicit this reaction? What? Oh, yeah. Silly me, I'm expecting consistent writing and a logical story progression. From a Gimpfest. Ah ... nevermind ... nothing to see here ... I'll show myself out ... sorry for wasting your time.

And this is not just some schlocky zombie show, this is High Art. Witness all the close ups of people staring off in the distance, and the montages over a musical soundtrack, not just anyone can do that, it takes a Real Artist. But then, we all are just commoners and can't appreciate the true genius of the Gimpster. Make sense? Pfft, you probably would bitch that Salvador Dali didn't make sense either. A genius should be held to a different standard. Make sense ... right.

From memory, not interested enough to look it up. At the end of Total War, differences: Alive on TV, Dead in comics: Carol, Morgan, Dead on TV, Alive in the comics: Andrea, Carl, Sophia, Herschel (I think they left him on the farm, so alive last we knew),

I assumed that they'd keep the planet between their ship and the sun to shield themselves.

Shane lived and died entirely within the Darabount era of TWD. Which also coincides with the era of the show when Daryl was an interesting character. Since then there just hasn't been a show runner who can craft compelling characters. In fact there aren't characters on this show any more, just vehicles to move the plot along.

Which is why I have said for a long time that ZA survivors should be raising pigs and dogs as a food source. And they should be clearing the vicinity of their settlement of walkers and bringing back the bodies to feed them. It's a proven way to convert zombie flesh into edible protein. Until the rules suddenly change and the flesh from those who have eaten walkers starts transmiting the affliction.

Yes. the 'tainted weapons' plot point comes directly from the comics, and it's a rather significant point in the Saviors story which I won't explain because it's a spoiler. But, if you planned all along to do the Savior story, the tainted weapon had to be a part of it, so for the entire show up till that point you needed to preserve the concept of walker goo being an infective agent. The problem is, they didn't do that at ALL. It's almost as if the show didn't have a story board with the major points of the story mapped out years ahead of time. That they would preserve the story for these upcoming plot points. Instead, it seems like they have just been making it up as they go along, and now that they need the 'tainted weapon' story it's a major retcon. Part of that I blame on Nicotero, he has to come up with spectacular and shocking gore moments for almost every episode, so often he violated the 'tainted weapon' canon for his gore shot of the week. Sure it's sloppy story telling, but it goes beyond just pushing the gore envelope each week. Earlier in this very Savior story arc we had the memorable encounter with Rick and the walker with the machete stuck in him that Rick cut his hand on. WTF, that was an unnecessary scene that occured in this very story arc, where the 'tainted weapon' plot point was looming. It's just INCREDIBLY poor story telling and it brings people out of the story completely because it's such a total retcon. I can attribute this to nothing short of incompetence.

Yes, he left after S2. But his problems started after S1. The show was a big hit but inexplicably AMC cut his budget. And he got his hands slapped by Kirkdouche for the CDC episode. So he basically went through the motions for S2 with the set piece location of the Farm as his only recourse after getting his budget gutted. Just imagine what this show could have been had Darabont been given proper funding and the freedom to tell the story HIS way.

While I've been a fan of ST since it originally aired in the 60s I haven't followed the minutiae as closely as a lot of the folks here. So please indulge a clarification question: Is it: "in THE Mirror Universe ..." or "in A Mirror Universe ..."?

Aslaug surrendered to Lagertha and ceded the kingdom to her, so Lagertha is not a usurper, she is the rightful queen of Kattegat. Aslaug handed the blade over to Lagertha as part of her surrender and passing rulership to Lagertha.

It's been a while since I have read the comics, but wasn't there a big time jump between the fall of Negan and the introduction of the Whisperers? I remember there being a lot of world building as the separate communities built and thrived supporting and trading with each other. Narratively I don't think the story works introducing the Whisperers immediately after the Negan story. People are already complaining about the one big bad after another repetition. I think the time jump and world building is needed to change the pace of the show a little bit.

I thought that the garbage dump people were an organic element of the TV show, but I wonder if their appearance is a prequel introduction of the Whisperers. Do the Whisperers start out as the GPK and through the Total War experience are transformed into the comic version of the Whisperers? Maybe I'm giving the writers too much credit, maybe the GPK are just THAT stupid and there is no complex reason to their inclusion in the show. I mean beyond the usual shit writing we have been getting for the last several seasons.

So Lagertha imprisons King Finehair, but leaves all his armed men free to wander about Kattegat and work on a plan to break him out? Now that is real plot stupidity on display. I think Ivar is setting up the Bishop with the 'obvious' lack of repairs to the one section of the defenses. Ivar may be a sick fuck, but he certainly isn't that stupid. The arc of the Floki character throughout the series has be great, and shows why he is one of my favorite characters. Quirky and flawed, but never boring.