rab01

I only know the last 4-5 episodes from reading the snark here but that's probably as informative as watching the show so I want to take a stab at this ... None of the main cast obviously (unless Michonne's passivity can be attributed to the beating she's taken over the past few months). Hmmmm .... Maybe Aaron and Enid? From his introduction, Aaron's been overly trusting/optimistic about people that he thinks are decent and I think he's kept that and Enid went from sullen teenager quietly mourning the death of her parents to quietly latching onto a new mother figure. I'm bored to death by both of them but they aren't spinning weathervanes ... And that's all I got. Shit, this show really does suck now, doesn't it?

Totally agree, I hit that point a few episodes ago; the last one I've watched was Daryl, Tara and Dwight in the swamp. This new "twist" is the equivalent of latter seasons of a sitcom, dramedy or the like where the characters start sleeping with each other in different combinations because the writers can't think of anything else to do.

The last couple of years, Gimple has really "excelled" at creating situations where we are annoyed by every choice made by our once-favorite characters even when they are on opposite sides of an argument. He's done such a job of character assassination that there is nothing left of the show other than the make-up effects.

I don't know about a "rule" but the idea that third date is often about whether a couple is going to have sex or break up is not new, it was enough of a cliche that they made a movie with that as the central premise 30 years ago (an extremely mediocre Martin Short movie). As for Jon and Molly, I don't think that Jon was telling the therapist that Molly is horrible. I think he was trying to explain that off-camera Molly was showing that she had an issue with him, not intimacy generally. He was trying to get to an honest discussion, rather than superficial platitudes/lies. Also, I'm on Jon's side without thinking that Molly has to be a villain (other than her mock-crying face in the video). There is really no way she could say "I'm not into you that way and your gentle pushiness makes me less into you" without that being a shitty thing to do to Jon on TV. In real life, it can be respectful conversation, they can date not exclusively, and decide at their own pace. Here, it's all recorded and there is no way that Jon's ego was totally fine with being "that" guy.

There are so many eye-rollingly stupid moments in this show and even worse decisions by the creators that just thinking of them all gives me a headache. Do you think this show can be saved and, if so, how? I'll start with one idea -- pick 6 characters (up to 5 main cast and one antagonist) and the screenwriter cannot (without special permission) have more than one scene per episode without at least one of those characters, must include at least one scene per episode where more than one of those 6 interact together, cannot center any episode entirely on any character not in that 6 and cannot center any episode entirely on the antagonist. (Think about it, replace Tara with Michonne in the first Oceanside episode and even it might have been good ...)

This was the first episode of MAFS I've watched in 3 seasons (though I love the bride and doom podcast. Is it weird to listen to a podcast about a show I don't watch?) and it was the best episode of the show I've ever seen. At first, I didn't think the recording was a perfect capture of Molly being a liar because it sounded like she was saying he was being disgusting in filming her. But then she flat-out lied to the therapist about the argument in three different ways. Kudos to the therapist (and they're usually useless) for backing her into a corner perfectly and forcing a final break to a clearly toxic relationship.

The spoilers really make clear why Gimple is so anxious about whether the fans will like the finale. Like some others, I'm kind of interested in Dwight. I don't think they really explained why he went back to the Saviors as soon as the diabetic girl died but it's not as retroactively crazy as a lot of other character turns they've forced people into for the last 3 seasons. I think it's pretty normal on this show for there to be resistance to new characters as they join the cast but then they kind of grow on you (e.g., Abraham). I do wish, however, that the show would think a bit about the ones where the annoyance just keeps on going or gets worse - Father Gabriel, Tara, the child-idiot who let the Saviors escape, etc. (of course, Negan).

I just binged this series last night. I'm still not sure how much I liked the series. I think the performances were really good but it still didn't totally click with me and it may be because of the ending. I like that he knocked her out to prevent her from doing anything to get herself into more trouble and to set her up to be absolved of all crimes but I didn't like the gunshot and fade to black. It feels a little bit like Schrodinger's Cat and I'd rather the creators picked an end result. Count me in the camp of thinking he's still alive because killing himself would be selfish (by traumatizing her the way he was by his mom) and the cops killing him would be unnecessary when he had literally nowhere to run to -- he's running in broad daylight on a shore miles away from the nearest city, town or escape route. I'd have loved another 3-4 episodes in this season because I liked watching them change in each other's company but I can't see a second season working. (I don't see what journey they could take that was interesting for itself, did justice to their growth over these episodes, and wasn't a downer of them getting worse together rather than better -- 2 out of the 3 maybe but I can't envision all 3 together.)

I had this show recommended to me a month or two ago and finally tried it last week and am now disappointed that I blew through it so quickly. There are too many great lines to quote and the cast is great too. And even in that great cast, the actress playing Abby is a revelation; she does so much in reaction shots without ever being unbelievable. The zombie clams are native to some lake in Serbia so they aren't extinct just because one warehouse was blown up, which means there can be as many clams or zombies as the show wants or needs.

Whether something is "ridiculously silly" is doing the work in Icemiser's post. The show generally did well when it took stuff from the comics and deleted the sillier bits. Instead of deleting the sillier bits of Negan, they've increased the clownishness ruining a pretty good potential villain. As for the new zombie infection rules, I agree that it's REALLY JARRING for the show to seem to change like this, I know we blame the writers and the show runner a lot but I think here we also need to lay some blame on the directors of the individual episodes. They all should have read the comics and these infections rules should also be incorporated into the show bible so every director should have avoided scenes that douse open wounds with zombie blood because this was always coming.

Yeah, you might as well get your dog ready because it's from the comics and is exactly why they did the zombie guts thing. I've had abut 2 weeks since it first hit me and I wrote about it upthread so I can tell you from personal experience that the annoyance goes away pretty quickly and you're left with one less show on your watch list. I'm just around for the boards now and may watch this season sometime in the summer.

Review of last night's episode on io9, he didn't like the episode any more than most people here: https://io9.gizmodo.com/light-nights-the-walking-dead-was-so-stupid-i-cant-stan-1824072309

I haven't said much about Black Panther here because I've got nothing to add to what felt to me like a pretty perfect movie that's universally acclaimed. The only thing TWD related about it was that I felt like Okoye's hatred of her wig was a nice double joke for everyone here who thinks Danai must hate having to wear that fake hair in the Georgia heat.

Why? Just lock and unlock your own door by reaching around the bars for as long as you have a mind functional enough to work a key ...

The jail really should have been the perfect location. Everyone just locks themselves in at night and in the morning picks up the key and unlocks the door if they didn't turn.

No sign of him in the scene. Honestly, I think they were just saving money by not paying the actor to show up in a scene without anything real to do.

Morgan made it to Hilltop to argue with Carol about whether the kids should know who killed his brother. I'm guessing that Ezekiel is just cooling his heels in an infirmary at Hilltop.

Negan put out an all-points bulletin for the capture alive of "the Sheriff, the Widow, and the King" (or a different order, I can't remember). At least one of the crew heard it and spread it around. She may have also heard it from somewhere else but that's the one I remember.

I haven't really gotten that far in the comics; I'm only through the introduction of the whisperers but I don't think they'll pass up the additional chances for Nicotero to show off that the whisperers give him. He'll develop a whole visual language to make them look like people pretending to be zombies but somehow separate from all the other IRL people pretending to be zombies that we're supposed to believe are real zombies.

Sorry about any confusion, I just used spoiler tags because I was replying to someone who hadn't read the comics who was asking a question. As far as I know, this board is totally free for all discussions of the comics. And, yes, I feel sorry for everyone who assumes that Negan is gonna die at the end of Total War. That said, Negan has been such a failure on the Show that I think they may change their minds on keeping him around. I'm a little frustrated not being able to say elsewhere that Negan's gonna live but I'm more frustrated with how they screwed up a perfectly good villain.

Looks like Vincent Young studied at Joey's "smelled a fart" school of acting.

Ooh, ooh I know this one! Actually, I think it's the only one of your questions that has an answer other than "the writers are idiots." Michonne doesn't use a gun much because she sucks at it. Unless I am misremembering, they had an episode a few seasons ago where she was practicing with a rifle (to possibly use against Negan I think) and could barely hit the broad side of a barn. I remember thinking it was interesting for them to show one of the original cast being bad at some aspect of violence.

That can't possibly be real. If it's true and the actresses actually sell THAT scene to me, then give each one of them an Emmy.

I can't give you a "like" for that one ;) But, of course you're right. That's clearly what they're planning to do; it's why they killed Carl and fired Chandler Riggs. They love Negan even if the rest of us hate him (not love to hate him either, just hate him). I've got to say, I also despise Jeffrey Dean Morgan's acting choices in the role too -- he's choosing to play Negan as amused by everything and it's fucking grating. I'm never afraid of the character; I can't see why others are afraid of him; and I don't care about any scene he's in. Seriously, what about that character would frighten all the other Saviors? Or make them loyal to him? We know why people follow Rick; we got why the Termites followed the barista dude; I understood why people followed the Governor both times. (I didn't quite get Grady's power structure but Beth was Bething around so much that there might just have been static interference or something; BUT Negan? No clue.

Heh, I just deleted a post about to say the same thing AngelaHunter said. I think on a minute-for-minute basis I hate her character more than Negan. Like sure, he's evil and wasting time pretending to give him shades of grey is ruining the show but if the episodes gave Tara as much time as him, I couldn't even hate-watch the damn thing anymore. For my sanity, I've decided to let the rest of this season accumulate on my DVR and binge it (or not) in a few months.