CletusMusashi

Yes, hide behind the blinds with a flashlight. Very stealthy.

So he's this show's version of Gus?

How about: Like the zombie apocalypse, monopoly is not nearly as much fun as advertised, and just keeps on going forever?

Yay! Madison learned how to have a look on her face!

Could these people mumble any quieter?

How dare they run long and make me late for "The Strain?" I wish Zach and Tobias would trade shows, so I wouldn't have to be conflicted.

That's not true at all. He delivers tandoori. That is the most evil scheme I have ever heard.

All I know is, Palmer might now be having seconds thoughts about his wiener falling off.

Or, maybe Travis will try to bond with Chris by taking him to a hot dog stand.

My bad. I meant to say "overly long pilot," but apparently I zoned out. Because memories of the pilot tend to have that effect on me.

If it's not a reference to the Jack London story, then that entire scene could have been trimmed out of the overly pilot without losing anything. But it could mean anything. Maybe they'll be joined by a cowardly dyslexic priest from the junkie church who keep writing "evigrof em dog" all over the place. Maybe Tobias will meet Snoop, and get zombie-fighting lessons from him, for about half an hour, until Snoop inevitably gets bitten offscreen and becomes a disposable zombie. Maybe Alicia will find a puppy, but it will run away when Nick pukes on it. Or maybe a full moon will come, and Madison will do a strangely emotionless transformation into a werewolf.

I'm not clear where Murphy's head is any more. Oh, don't get me wrong, I love watching him. But before, he had priorities I could understand. Originally it was himself, followed distantly by people he liked. Then, it was himself, still followed by people he liked, but with zombies gaining ground on them, because of the psychic empathy he was developing for the latter. If, by this time, it was him, then zombies, then people he liked in last, I could still understand that progression. Or, if they overlapped enough that he felt conflicted. But he doesn't particularly act like he gives a shit about the zombies any more. Oh, sure, he defended them verbally against the bounty hunter who killed them,but that was just for something to say to an enemy. Obviously, he was going to kill that guy anyway. Afterwards, he thought zombies eating each others' faces off was funny, and he deliberately made another one lose an arm, thereby dramatically decreasing her odds of surviving in a violent world. I can understand a bit of sadistic anger in dealing with people who want to capture him and turn him into a laboratory animal, but towards the zombies it really doesn't fit what we've seen of his personality. That part of the show felt like a completely different writer had barged in and taken over.

She's a hombie, or "hot zombie."

Well, the dirt probably has nutrients in it that allow him to be more full of wormy goodness than the average vamp.

This is a small one, but I've been seeing it a lot lately. People who insist on standing in the doorway holding push-doors open for me. First of all, it's a push door. What part of my body do you think can not open that thing? Second: An open door is not useful to me without actual doorway space. Are you trying to make me dry-hump you? Might be fun, if it was attractive females doing this, but it's always just random stoned guys at Circle K who are freaking out over... how doors work, I guess. Get out of the way, dumbass.

Somebody help me out on this. Why can't they cross water again? We know they don't breathe, so drowning isn't an issue. Do the worms themselves drown? I assume it takes a lot of water exposure, otherwise the Master would be as scared of rain as he is of sunlight. So... couldn't Eichorst and Kelly just cover them up with plastic wrap and rubber bands, and they could walk under the river? Or, you know, use primitive boats. Is sneaking over there at night on a few tires or inflatable rafts really that difficult? I think maybe the Master should have recruited fewer beauticians and more u-boat specialists.

OK, just so we're all clear on this: some day, there may come a time when I've been an actual real life big shot vampire hunter for like seventy years, and am surprisingly comfortable battling them with sword canes and nail guns. Should this come to pass, then if any of you ever see me in a close range life or death battle against a super-fast vampire Nazi, listen up. You know what is not helpful? Drinking heavily all day and then firing a rifle at us!

Oh, it very certainly was. They went in knowing that they were going to get a lot of TWD comparisons, and obviously decided to grab the bull by the zombie horns.

Maybe when they get to the desert, the destination everybody seems to know to head for will be her family's hippie commune. So she's kind of an anti-Dharma.

Actually, I was responding to the Dave Erickson interview that Raven 1707 quotes at the top of the page.

I really want to argue against Madison being the Rick, but unfortunately the longer I think about it the more I think you're right. Nick as Daryl? Maybe. But I'm thinking Bob. Clunky addiction plot at the expense of actual personality. Travis is Dale. And that's a good thing. Chris is maybe early Glenn, the smart. friendly youth who can survive just fine by avoiding a brawl. Alicia is Beth. Young, cute, impetuous, nurturing, and bad luck for boyfriends in the ZA. Whatsername... Travis' ex... is a bit of Lori and a bit of Shane. (Does that mean she's Judith?) Tobias, hopefully, is Carol. An underdog who eventually becomes Underdog. Cal was Gareth. A bad guy played briefly but awesomely by a great actor. The Dog referred in next episode's title is probably a reference to the Jack London story highlighted in the pilot. But if not, I hope it's the same dog Daryl and Beth saw at the funeral home. Because that means we're in for a story arc of Tobias not only figuring out the cure, but also getting his Beastmaster on, and sending a dog, a guinea pig, and, oh, what the hell, let's say a mud snake disguised as an eastern diamondback rattler, eastward toward Washington DC.

Actually , being in the midwest sounds terrifying, because it's so much harder to hide and evade hordes, but I simply don't think the writers have the chops for it.

Saying characters service the plot is like saying The Plot is some kind of mystical force that the showrunner is powerless to oppose. The truth is actually quite the opposite. People control the story and casting. And when those people try to squirm out of it, those people aren't "arteests." They are weasels. And when the story/casting relationship is absurdly repetitive, what you've got left is not a very suspenseful show. Racist-baiting hyperbole aside: If their default was to accidentally cast blond guys with crew cuts, and only them, only for the expendable male roles, that would still not be a good idea. "Oh no. Alicia and Sven Bjorgsen are walking through that junkyard alone! I wonder who will get killed by a zombie in.. five, four, three.. CHOMP!"

Nash did follow up his poem with a smiley face. No ill will, methinks.

Watch the whole series be the two different groups wandering around in the desert looking for each other. Travis will repeatedly try and fail to build a fire, Alicia will take advantage of her solar-powered ipod to sit and listen to music during every scene, and Nick will take too much peyote and marry a cactus. Occasionally Tobias, obviously in the middle of some much more exciting story, will race through the background on a motorcycle.