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High Ewe

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Posts posted by High Ewe

    S01.E03: The Dog

    in Fear The Walking Dead

    · Edited by High Ewe

    As for taking out the trash showing a bit of trying to keep things normal - I disagree.  If you know you are going on a long trip - you don't want to tip potential robbers that you are away by leaving such a tell tale sign as empty rubbish bins on the lawn day in and day out.

    I'd absolutely agree if they were thinking clearly. But the way I read the scene suggested they're not; they were just on autopilot.

     

    I got permission to repost this from a poster on another board. I really liked his read of the situation:

     

    "My favorite moment thus far was the intentional surrealism of Travis dragging out a corpse and burying it in one scene, and then putting the blood soaked carpet into the trash receptacle, and dutifully taking it out to the curb. The juxtaposition of this absolutely all-rules-have-changed scenario of a zombie shot in your house with the everything-is-just-fine scenario of the automatic behavior of taking the trash out to be collected was a perfect encapsulation of what the writers were trying to convey...as in the first step of dealing with the grief of society's death is a denial of that fact.

     

    "I also like how both Travis and the neighbor taking his trash out at the same time looked at each other with suspicious expressions. To me, this was a sign that they are beginning to change, but don't realize that about themselves yet."

     

    I hadn't thought about the characters' actions (in the show as a whole) in terms of grieving before, but after reading this I think he may be onto something. His point about people starting to change but not realizing it was spot on as well, IMO. Part of the reason why they aren't talking neighbor to neighbor may be because they don't know who to trust anymore. For me it doesn't excuse intentionally keeping the familial characters in the dark (I mean, come on), but it's a reasonable explanation for keeping your cards close to the chest with outsiders, neighbors notwithstanding.

    • Love 9

    S01.E03: The Dog

    in Fear The Walking Dead

    · Edited by High Ewe

    I find it challenging because the acting is so terrible it's impossible to believe these are real people.  This has to be the worst cast I've ever seen assembled, and I watched low-tier network soap operas in the 90s.  At least those people seemed to try.  The barber is probably my least favorite.  Speak faster, dude.  Maybe have some fluctuation in your tone at some point.

     

    What's also challenging to me is that so far they don't seem to be doing much of anything.  It's conversations in hushed tones and limited facial expressions broken up only by flashes of random brilliance like getting drugs from a school or breaking in to the neighbors' house to get a shotgun when an action sequence is needed (side note: the pill bottle, was that to indicate that the drug addict stole pills instead of taking the shotgun shells?).   I have the same thought I did last week: I don't need everyone to panic, but this whole shocked-numb thing is really frickin' underwhelming.

     

    This whole show feels a bit...lazy.  Feels like they're relying on things like the possible military state thing or the killing of a pet to get a reaction out of me- things I'd respond to in any context- 'cause nothing else is all that engaging.  Even the scenes where we're watching the characters watch things happen, like the hospital on fire, are a little bland, imho.  And, I'm not even convinced the characters even like each other, aside from the one moment in the pilot where it seemed like the sister and brother were going to make out on the hospital bed so I can't latch on to anything there. Still, I'm in it this far, and I do kind of want to see these people get slaughtered so...bring on next week.

    I hear you. I don't think it's as much a problem with the acting as the writing and directing for the most part, but that's me. Based on the comparatively lower volume of discussion  I've observed at various forums for this show, in contrast to TWD, you're far from alone in your assessment of/disappointment with the show.

     

    The writers are in a tough spot. I think sometimes (and I include TWD in this) they try too hard to appeal to all sides of a disparate fanbase instead of just telling the story they want to tell and letting us along for the ride. I also believe they're really trying to distinguish the two series by their storytelling choices for this show. Still, some of the writing is a bit clunky in places, and I agree that there is a degree of lazy writing in play. Not to beat a dead horse, but leaving the door wide open, for example, was just dumb dumb dumb. They really couldn't come up with a more plausible way of getting the walker in the house?

     

    That said, I enjoy the show, and am looking forward to watching these characters adapt (or not) as civilization falls to pieces. I don't feel the same affinity for them as I do TWD cast/characters, but I care enough to root for (most of) them.

     

    [Edited to add:] I do think the "distance" of the characters observing all hell breaking loose is a deliberate choice. When things are happening "out there" there's an almost dreamlike quality to the scenes, which for me adds to the sense of disbelief and unreality. What I see (or perhaps hope I'm seeing) is a gradual merging of the horror they're observing from afar with their own personal experiences until they reach the point where one by one, they can no longer deny that this is happening and the world they inhabited no longer exists.

    • Love 2

    S01.E03: The Dog

    in Fear The Walking Dead

    The WD universe should take a page out of Geico's book and introduce cats to the show, instead of just dogs.  I'd get a kick out of seeing a cat being up on a really high perch, out of the reach of walkers (& survivors), and just sitting there watching the goings-on without a care in the world.

     

    "If you're a cat, you ignore people.  Its what you do."

    LOL. That would be very funny. And so typical.

     

    Still, as an unabashed cat lover, given the track record of the writers in the Walking Dead universe, I just know they'll go there if a feline ever makes it to screen. I'm perfectly okay comforting myself with the notion that we don't see cats on the show(s) because they're so smart they know how to stay out of sight. ;)

    • Love 15

    S01.E03: The Dog

    in Fear The Walking Dead

    I think Travis is not sure that they are dead, and instead thinks maybe they are alive with some horrible type of Rabies.  I am very impatient with this, because of course, I know what's going on, but I try to remind myself that walking vicious corpses would normally be far less logical an explanation than deeply sick rapid people.  (Like in 28 Days Later or I am Legend).  He's seen Calvin up close, but Calvin was really, really recently dead and didn't look undeniably like a rotting corpse.  He should have been dead from the gunshot and getting hit by the car twice, but he was young and involved with drugs, so maybe Travis thinks there's the possibility that he was still alive and sick from the Rabies and hopped up on some kind of drugs, and that's why he kept coming.  It defies logic, but I guess not more than zombies as a concept does for people who are uninitiated to the Walker reality.  Maybe he thinks he can still reason with the people who are infected, contain them, and hope for a cure.

    Given what he's seen, it stretches credulity, but that's how I interpreted Travis' mindset as well. What if they really are just terribly sick, what if they can eventually be cured? Is it any more outrageous than believing dead people are reanimating?

     

    Nevertheless, he better figure it out and get with the program soon, before he gets himself or someone else killed.

    • Love 3

    S01.E03: The Dog

    in Fear The Walking Dead

    I don't see any evidence that Salazar will do well.. The one thing that we know from TWD is that people need each other. Yes, Salazar's life experience  makes him handier with a gun and willing to use it, but his determination survive alone with his injured wife and daughter surely is dooming them all to death.

     

    Travis is apprehensive about guns and thinks that maybe there is a cure, but it is early days. If he lives long enough to accept the situation, his willingness to help others will increase the size of his group increasing their likelihood of survival.

    This is a good point. Travis berating Daniel for showing Christopher how the shotgun works seemed very shortsighted, and I was thinking he may very well regret cutting off this lesson later. Still, Daniel was very matter-of-fact, cold even, when he blew off the neighbor's head. I could see Travis finding this guy pretty barbaric and not wanting his attitude rubbing off on his son.

     

    Daniel's refusal to see the value in these people who clearly are looking out for each other is his weakness, just as surely as Travis' reluctance to resort to violence when necessary is his. I wonder what will it take for them to realize, like it or not, their key to survival is sticking together?

    • Love 5

    S01.E03: The Dog

    in Fear The Walking Dead

    Now the family's thinking they were right to stay, the authorities are here, things got crazy but we'll have some normalcy soon. 

    Travis was driving me crazy this episode with his (to me) denial of reality. But when the cavalry rides in, I felt his relief. Being the kind of person he is, after a night like that? I could see just wanting to let The Professionals take care of this mess.

     

    I do find it challenging at times to remember they don't know as much as we do. After a second viewing it's easier for me to sit back and reflect on what people might actually do in a situation like that. It (usually) eases some of the initial frustration I feel when the characters don't behave the way they're supposed to, dammit. LOL

     

    That said, leaving the freaking sliding glass door wide open is pretty much indefensible. Talk about a facepalm moment.

    • Love 4
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    S01.E03: The Dog

    in Fear The Walking Dead

    · Edited by High Ewe

    I thought they buried them both and just put the bloody blankets and stuff in the trash. But yeah, what's with that other neighbor taking the trash out like everything's normal? And why didn't either of them say, like, "Dude, did you see the dead people walking around the neighborhood last night? WTF is that about?"

     

    I might be reading too much into things, but I thought the long look between the two men was supposed to imply that the neighbor also had bloody curtains or other zombie-stained items to throw away. However, I was surprised that both men assumed trash would just be collected like normal amidst the riots and blackouts. 

    I also thought the neighbor had his own horror from the night before. They're acknowledging that something has gone very, very wrong, they've (presumably) had to do terrible things, but what can they say? "We had to kill our neighbor last night." "Yeah, so did I." I think it's a combination of shock and fear. Civilized people don't blow their neighbor's heads off; if things ever go back to normal, what will the authorities do to me/us if we confess what we've done (even as they have the bloody evidence right there in the trash cans in front of their house)?

     

    As far as taking out the trash is concerned, I also saw that as a by-product of shock; they both looked dazed and confused (alright alright alright ;). It's something you do without thinking, a normal, everyday task. The contrast of clinging to normality in the face of unspeakable horror...it worked for me. I thought that moment was well done.

    • Love 26

    S01.E03: The Dog

    in Fear The Walking Dead

    Nick is the dog. That's my theory and I'm sticking with it.

     

    He's pretty damned great.

    I agree, on both points. Once--or if??--he gets straight, Nick may be one of their strongest assets. It's strange to think that his myopic, utterly self-destructive behavior in the normal world could very well be what gives him an edge in surviving its downfall.

    • Love 4

    S01.E03: The Dog

    in Fear The Walking Dead

    It's funny how the characters vacillate between sensible and maddening. Nick is the only one who truly understands what the walkers are (though Daniel, and Madison to some degree, seem to get that things are seriously going to shit fast), yet his junkie ways has made him such a liability. He's being so selfish. Frank Dillane is killing it. Totally reminds me of this alcoholic I once knew; nobody and nothing matters except the next fix, even at the end of the world.

    • Love 4

    S01.E03: The Dog - Pre-Air Speculation and Live Chat

    in Fear The Walking Dead

    · Edited by High Ewe

    Hi all, I've been reading the discussions on these forums for a while and figured it was time to jump into the fray.

     

    I'm a huge fan of the TWD and am really enjoying this new series as well. It's an interesting experience watching this show with foreknowledge of what awaits our characters. I'm finding the sense of growing dread quite effective. Even knowing they're on a collision course with oblivion, part of me can't help but share their (increasingly desperate) hope that this will all blow over and life will eventually return to normal.

     

    The shot in the preview (are previews considered spoilers?) where

    Christopher is peeking out the window and a walker makes direct eye contact with him

    brought me to my feet the first time I saw it. So skeery!!! I can't wait to see how Travis and company escape the riot.

     

    I'm with those who really, really don't want any dogs harmed! It's bad enough imagining the fate of millions of cats and dogs in a zombie apocalypse; I don't need to see it! [Edited to add] I suspect, though, like others, the episode's titular dog is a metaphor for the choices someone will make in order to not die.

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