Scaeva

Glenn was never as popular as Carol or Daryl, and even had a vocal minority of fans who have been complaining for several seasons that he became boring and lacked chemistry with Maggie. While he had lots of fans, he was a much safer character to kill off than either of those two. The same was true for Abraham, who was always polarizing, and by the end had many fans hating him for how he treated Rosita. As much as the TPTB like to pretend this is a series where any character can die, they've never had the balls to kill off the most beloved characters. TWD is not Game of Thrones. It's always side characters or members of the core cast who are polarizing who die in TWD, and characters like Rick, Michonne, Carol, or Darryl never feel like they're in any real peril. This may be an unpopular opinion, but I think this season should have opened with Negan killing Daryl instead of Glenn or Abraham. The only shock value in that scene came from the graphic violence, not from who the writers axed. The choices were predictable.

That anyone from the Kingdom gives a fuck about Carol strains suspension of disbelief more than the zombies. She was there for all of two minutes, hardly enough time for anyone to know her (including Ezekiel) was standoffish for most of her brief stay, and decided she'd rather live in her Fortress of Solitude than become part of their community. They're fawning over her because she's a main character and is a fan favorite, not because it actually makes sense for the characters to be enamored with her. Richard might have been a ruthless jerk for planning to throw her under the bus, but his not being impressed by Carol at least felt earned. Why should he care about her?

I wonder if their lake was stocked with more fish. The contestants on the other lake seemed to have more food struggles.

I think the primary reason why starvation was a bigger factor this season was it's length. This group went three months, while the groups from the last two seasons went two. Had the first or second seasons lasted as long it's likely starvation would be just as big a factor as well. Sam from Season 1 (the runner-up) was in the process of withering away when he tapped, and had been subsisting on mice and their 100 or so calories for a long while. He had a moment on camera where he seemed to zone out as well, not unlike Dave from this season. Dave was thinner to start however and lasted longer than Sam (73 days to Sam's 55), so he looked worse when he finally tapped. Larry, the runner up for Season 2, was also struggling for food when he tapped. Both winners from the previous two seasons also lost a lot of weight. Alan lost 60 lbs.

Teach went down pretty much as he did historically, minus the surrender and execution bit. The historical Blackbeard was also caught at a disadvantage under similar circumstances, and his surviving crew surrendered after he was killed.

People who historically lived as hunter-gatherers were nomadic as well. People didn't get rooted in one place until they started farming. I think being restricted within boundaries probably guarantees that eventually resources will be exhausted and hunger will take it's toll. Even if the contestants were plopped into a location where large herbivores were plentiful, I can't imagine big game sticking around once they figure out that humans are nearby.

I think that scene was very loosely inspired by Teach's historical death. While the show took quite a few dramatic liberties (the real Blackbeard was killed in battle, not executed, and by a lieutenant in the Royal Navy rather than by Woodes Rogers), the ship boarding played out similarly to Blackbeard's historical last moments. During a sea battle with the Royal Navy, Blackbeard's ship fired two broadsides into it's opponent after the Royal Navy sloop got stuck on a sandbar. When the smoke cleared it appeared the broadsides had killed all of the Royal Navy men that had been on deck, leaving only Robert Maynard (the lieutenant) and a couple sailors left alive. Although Maynard had lost men to cannon fire (about a third of his crew), he had sent most of his men below decks during the cannonade as a clever ruse to lure Blackbeard to board. When Blackbeard led a boarding party onto the ship he thought they had effectively disabled, Maynard's crew sprung the ambush and attacked from below decks. Blackbeard was killed in hand-to-hand combat with Maynard, after being shot five times and stabbed twenty, and the pirates that survived were taken prisoner. In the show they also had Blackbeard boarding a ship with a mostly empty deck, only to have men spring from below decks and take the boarding party by surprise. They gave Woodes Rogers' Maynard's ruse.

Carleigh *might* have also took in less calories than Fowler over that three months. It's difficult to say because not everything the contestants do makes the show and the edit they get may not present the whole picture. She did however have more screen time devoted to being hungry than Fowler, who only seemed desperate towards the end.

I hope the producers never go that route personally, because I think it would ruin the show. While it sucks to see contestants pulled for medical reasons, providing contestants with food drops would transform the series into one about camping rather than survival. The race to the finish line would then just be about who could tolerate boredom and solitude longer. Of course no one's health should be put at serious risk either, so regular medical check-ups and the prospect of being pulled by a doctor are the only other alternative. I think medical disqualifications are something that are going to be part and parcel to the series so long as it actually requires its contestants to participate in wilderness survival.

I think Eleanor won't survive the season if for no other reason that she had a teary-eyed parting with Woodes Rogers, with Rogers assuring her that he'll see her again. On a show like this, that's as good as a death sentence. They won't get that reunion.

I think I caught a glimpse of Ben Gunn among the crowd at the plantation, but I've only watched the episode once. I'd be very surprised if he doesn't get anything more substantial in future episodes however, because he has a fairly significant role in Treasure Island.

I'm hoping there is an episode after the finale where they have the former contestants talk about their time in Patagonia. I'd love to hear a healthy Dave talk about why he was hoarding food, while he was beginning to suffer from starvation. The little blurb at the bottom said that starving people will sometimes have a compulsion to hoard food rather than eat it, but I wonder if that is his take at what was going on, or if he just underestimated how bad off he was.

I'm disappointed to see Callie go. She was kicking ass and was never not entertaining. I don't doubt she's sincere however when she said no longer cared about the money, and was ready to go. The spider bites would have been easy out if she was just looking for an excuse to quit. It wouldn't be Alone without some people who have no issues with the survival aspect of the series, eventually walking away before the end. There have been a couple with each season. On that note, as much as I hope Fowler is in the final two, he is also no shoe-in for the prize, particularly with homesickness kicking in. I'm glad they showed that Dave had quite a bit of fish stored up. He's not looking well, but at least he's got food to fall back on if he fails to get that boar. I wonder though if maybe he'd be better off at least doubling his calorie intake instead of trying to stretch his fish stores for two months.

I was surprised she was freaking out about the fox as well. He isn't going to bother her, and if he was digging around in the ground he was probably after a mouse. Better a fox than a mouse with a hantavirus.

I feel sorry for Callie. If not for the spider bites she seems like she'd be in for the long haul, and unlike some of the other contestants it doesn't seem like she's had any days where she has struggled. I'd be very surprised however if she isn't a tap on next week's episode. Her symptoms (and the crawl about the Chilean Recluse) all sound like an ER trip is necessary. I wonder if we might lose two next week. Greg doesn't seem to be in good shape either, and potentially has hypothermia.

I'm hoping Greg, Callie, and Fowler are the final three, if for no other reason than I find them entertaining. I don't think I'd be disappointed with any of the contestants winning however, except Dan. In every episode he's made an appearance so far he's been criticizing other contestants.

Dan the trapper was saying he didn't see any sign of rabbits or other small mammals worth trapping, so he wasn't going to bother. Of course he's committing to the 'do the least' approach, but since he is a trapper I would assume he's right about the scarcity of small mammals. I wonder if that is the case for everyone, since some of them are miles apart.

The historical Vikings were heavily involved in the slave-trade. They'd often take captives in their raids to sell in foreign slave markets. That's probably what Bjorn's crew has in mind for the captives they took from the harem.

Spain was Islamic during the period the series is set, or at least a large swath of it was. The Islamic conquest was in the 8th Century CE and the series is currently set in the early 9th century.

I thought I had missed a scene where Greg found his way home. I guess not. I figured that his being lost would amount to nothing, but it is weird that the cliffhanger wasn't followed up on. Maybe the missing wolf from last season's previews guided Greg back to his camp.

Weather seems to be the big thing that culls the herd. Season 2 had a lot less rain than Season 1, and that cast lasted longer as well. Season 1's cast seemed like like they were under a constant deluge, and more than half of them were gone by Day 9. How far out is Season 3's cast from winter?

I'd be surprised if Dan doesn't go far, if for no other reason than we haven't seen him yet. If he was an early tap you'd think they'd have squeezed him into one of the first two episodes.

I seriously doubt Zach purposely injured himself. If you're not taking in calories, not sleeping well, and doing a whole lot of physical exertion on top of that, you're probably not going to be at sharpest. Under those circumstances it probably isn't too difficult to make a dumb mistake. He's also only 22, so probably has the least experience out of the group, no matter how devoted he was to the whole wilderness lifestyle before going on Alone. It also seemed like it was the medic that made the call. He needed stitches and they wouldn't or couldn't do it in the field, so that was that.

No, but the post at the top of the page questioned whether a woman could hold her own against a man in combat. I've lurked long enough here and IMDB to have also seen similar posts, discussing earlier seasons. They could, and did. Lagertha and the other shield-maidens are far from being the most far-fetched element of Vikings.

Female warriors aren't as far-fetched as some think. They may not have been commonplace, but they did exist. Amage Veborg Tomoe Gozen