Persnickety1

I've been a devout viewer of this show since before S1E1 even aired. A friend of mine in the biz slipped me a link and I was able to view the premiere a few weeks before it actually aired. I immediately fell in love with it. I remained in love with every single episode through the second season. The love waxed and waned throughout season 3. In season 4, I loved more episodes than not. In season 5, I had numerous episodes I really enjoyed as well. In season 6, my love dwindled to just enjoyable...most of the time. By season 7, I was frustrated with most of the episodes and didn't really particularly enjoy any of them. This season has had a lot more misses than hits for me. So, seriously, WTF happened to this show? I used to immediately blame it on Gimple, but checking out Google I learned that Gimple actually wrote some of my favorite episodes (I had to pick my jaw up from the floor when I saw he wrote The Grove and the season 5 premiere where Carol took down Terminus). Maybe it's not Gimple per se as much as Gimple (lacking the "testicular heft" of Darabont) kowtowing to TPTB at AMC? I'm so confused about how this show could have fallen so far over the seasons. So, what's the consensus here? Does anyone have a particular time that can be pinpointed as to when the show started to lose your love? Any opinions of what might be going on that might have/did contribute to it's steady decline? I'm usually so fucking snarky, but I'm genuinely curious as to what others' feelings are regarding this.

Apparently in an attempt to torture myself, I just began re-watching seasons 1 and 2, when Darabont was at the helm. Yowza, what a difference between the brilliance of those first two seasons and the buckets full of crap AMC et al is feeding the viewers now. Again, I just began re-watching seasons 1 and 2. You know, the "good old days" when Reedus didn't mumble and grunt his way through his lines. Dear gawd, if he had to recite that speech to Carol about the Cherokee Rose now, it would make the closed captioning explode. And Maggie's gross over-enunciation and laughable attempt at a southern accent becomes more cringe inducing every season. This bugged the crap out of me, too. Who the fresh hell are those addressed to that Rick hasn't had contact with since Carl's death? I'm trying to fan wank by saying one is probably to Judith...but that's all I got. No clue who the other recipients might be. Ugh. Remember season 1 and 2 when Darryl had short hair, actually spoke in words, and looked at least halfway clean? Interestingly, in season 1 and 2, both had full-on walker attacks (the original CDB campsite and at the farm). Both occurred in the dark of night. And EVERYTHING could be seen. None of this Keller-vision bullshit to save money on special effects that we have now. The scenes were set in darkness, but the viewing audience could actually see every single detail of what was going on. Talk about how the mighty have fallen. This show is like a proverbial Humpty Dumpty. I doubt even if Darabont by some miracle returned to the show that he could put it back together again. I think it's irreparably broken. Indeed. There's just no comparison to the initial seasons of this show with Darabont and, in my opinion, the downward decline since season 3. While there were episodes I have enjoyed, objectively speaking, had I started watching this show in season 3 with the claustrophobic and dim surroundings of the prison, I doubt I would have become a dedicated viewer. Talk about an Easter egg and foreboding. I guess since the audience chose to hang in there and not bitch about all of the dimly lit scenes in season 3, they have since pushed the envelope to where one needs to use closed captioning to at least hear what's going on since it's not easily seen. I'm sure the notoriously tightwads at AMC are saving a huge amount of money on special effects with this "technique." As for this episode, I loved seeing Jared get his comeuppance (and thanks to AMC/Gimple/et al for actually not filming that in Keller vision). I spent the first half of the episode thinking Negan had met the woman of his dreams in Jadis, a woman who wouldn't take his shit and could outsmart him, and that he might free the other harem wives and settle down to live happily ever after as Mr. Jadis... But then she dropped her "lady balls" somewhere in that story line and turned him loose. Ugh. I still enjoy the show, but for entirely different reasons than I did in seasons 1 and 2. Now it's almost for comical relief, and that's a bloody shame considering its brilliant start.

I'm hoping it's Clear Morgan that's being shipped over there so that (to quote Simon) he can "expunge" and "redact" the cast. We call this "Keller Vision" at Casa Persnickety. Mini-Persnickety and I agree that by shooting in darkness so much, it allows them to get away with less special effect (particularly walker) effort and thus it's cheaper. Fuck those 3 standard questions the gang uses. My first and possibly only question would be "Do you have coffee?" So reminiscent of when Michonne knocked Rick in the head with her gun when he was looking and acting like a maniac at Alexandria. As Hershel said, "You people are the plague!" Yes, and mad props for hanging onto a set of pearl earrings as well. She looked like someone with access to coffee., and possibly chocolate and wine. I'd have jumped over everybody else to get inside that van and go with her. I've spent about 3 seasons now hoping someone would cap Maggie...right after someone caps Tara. I couldn't agree more. I found the little shit intolerable until that particular episode. In fact, it was at the end of that episode because I was really rooting for him to fall off of the roof into a swarm of walkers with only the sharp lid of the pudding can for defense. After that episode ended, I found myself liking the character despite myself (although I still think my pudding can lid scenario would have been epic).

I admit that I've often found myself contemplating how often they actually leave the basements in which they surely must be dwelling, especially given the way they attempt to write adult relationships. Ye gads. ***insert eye roll here*** The giggles this post gave me were like hugs from sweet baby Jaysus...Grazi!!!

Precisely! If they were hell bent on killing off Coral, why not have him be bitten whilst protecting Judith or doing something worthwhile instead of that bullshit "releasing their spirits" or whatever the fuck that shit was with Saddiq? It was an absolutely meaningless death, that made no sense, just like so many characters before him. Of course, I've never figured out why the writers couldn't kill off Tyreese by having him being bitten when he killed all of those walkers barehanded protecting Judith instead of writing a scenario in which he had his head up his ass staring at a picture on the wall at Noah's house. We're supposed to believe he was so mesmerized by that picture that he failed to hear either that bedroom door across the hall opening or the godawful grunting/moaning sounds walkers make? Again, absolutely implausible. And I loathed Beth but, that being said, to have her stab Dawn in the shoulder area with those scissors instead of actually going for her throat was asinine. I guess they "stupidized" her character in that moment so Darryl could put a cap into Dawn's cranium. I guess if they ever decide to kill off Carol, at this point she'll probably be killed whilst playing nursemaid to an ailing Jared or some other ridiculous plot-driven deviation from the character. I'm probably deluding myself, but I sincerely hope the new show runner starts taking things in another direction.

Oh gawd yes, and built the fuck-and-awe story line of him forgiving Carol for killing her.... And then TPTB at AMC somehow neglected to include her in his even more fuck-and-awe filled death episode. Instead we got Beth caterwauling (because apparently Tyreese needed an aural assault on top of dying), the Governor proselytizing, Lizzie and Mika assuring him dead is better, and Bob telling him that it was the way it was supposed to go...with Karen nowhere in sight. Apparently the actress who played Karen wasn't available or AMC didn't want to pay her for an appearance. I prefer to think she read the script and passed on appearing in the episode. As for Michonne, I hope her Black Panther series is picked up and Danai is able to exit this show, as she's been woefully underused for the past season. As an actress, she deserves better than what's currently being written for her.

Could someone please send Tara off to search for the missing Heath? And never return. What happened to that mystery scrap of paper she found on the ground near where Heath disappeared that made a shit-eating grin come over her face? I think it had something scrawled on it, but honestly I just don't care enough to dig around for it. How I hoped that either Darryl would get sick of her shit and shoot her with his crossbow...or that Dwight would wrestle the gun from her and shoot her...or that one of those swamp zombies would drag her to the depths of the swamp with only one of her shoes floating to the top of the bloody water. Pretty much anything to rid the show of this character once and for all. And great decision from the Accent Master Maggie to take food from the residents of Hilltop to feed the saviors. Of course, freshly widowed or not, I suspect Maggie is getting vaginal twitches from that relatively attractive and well-spoken Savior. Hopefully it's all an act and he'll throw her overly dramatic ass to a swarm of walkers. Did the actresses who play Tara and Maggie both attend the Academy of Overwrought Acting and Horrific Accents? As bad as this show can get, I find it 1000x more tolerable when neither of these characters are on the screen.

We refer to those scenes as "Helen Keller Vision" at Casa Persnickety. Hopefully off working on her atrocious southern accent.

I was holding out for a double snot bubble, but alas I was disappointed. I need to watch the episode again. My AMC keeping "loading" and thus cutting out quite a bit of every scene (wish I could blame Gimple for that, too). Or maybe I was still grief stricken over the death of Neil (whoever the fuck that red shirt in the back of Maggie's truck was) to concentrate. I was glad to see Carol and Morgan being a dynamic duo and doing what they're best at. Hopefully Henry stays short, cute and with a high-pitched voice for some time. Apparently boys who reach puberty (Sam and Carl) are killed off in short order on TWD. On an aside, I was disappointed to see none of his fellow cast mates showed up to wish Chandler well on TTD. Hell, maybe AMC told them not to in light of the controversy, but still...disappointing. I'd have even be happy to see Lori show up for him.

So much of your post rings a bell with me. It's almost as if everything from about episode 6 (when Gimple decided to kill off Riggs) was just tossed together without any real thought to it. Yeah, kind of like the show has been for a while now, but to a much more obvious degree. I tend to think something went on behind the scenes about halfway through filming the first half of this season, and instead of turning right, Gimple made a hard left and took off into uncharted (and obviously not clearly thought out) territory and things just went haywire. I hope the second part of the season can pull it together to some degree, but I have to admit I'm not going to hold my breath. Normally before a SP or MSP, I'm already buzzing around planning a menu and activities around the episode, but I'm finding it a bit challenging to work up much enthusiasm for the MSP and the whole "Oh, yay, let's watch Chandler Riggs get screwed over by Gimple/AMC!!!!" As I've said, it's not so much I object to his character being killed off, but the way in which he and his father describe it was done just leaves me disgusted. I won't say I'll stop watching because I know I'll be ride or die to the bitter end, but I will say a lot of my enthusiasm for the show has been dampened with this turn of events.

Down about 4 million viewers pretty consistently just since last season. While it's still a (the?) top-rated show on cable, that's a significant drop in viewership. Here's hoping AMC/Gimple have something up their proverbial sleeves to pull out for the second half of the season, otherwise I'm pretty sure those numbers are going to drop even further.

Oy, when the episode where Glenn and Maggie were reunited in that tunnel, I remember somebody (from either here or TWOP) posted that the cave should have collapsed and buried them. I laughed my ass off when I read that post. I've come to the conclusion that these writers simply have no idea how to handle "couples" material without changing the very core of the individuals involved. The only romantic entanglement I've found interesting on this show was the Rick/Shane/Lori clusterfuck. I wonder why that particular arc was so well written, whilst the rest of the couplings have been so crappy. Oh, wait, now I remember the problem. G-I-M-P-L-E.

Maybe any new people they meet will be smart like the folks at Grady. After shooting Dawn, when Rick made his spiel about how any of them could leave to join up with him and his group, I literally LOL'd when no one chose to leave the sanitary safe confines of Grady to team up with the band of smelly, dirty, malnourished, half-crazed renegades standing before them. As much as I despised that whole Grady story line, that single scene *almost* made it worth the frustration. On a side note, interestingly CR's dad removed (or at least hid from his timeline) his post outlining CR's termination from the show. I'm betting AMC was behind that.

Your comment about dumbing down characters reminded me of something else that pissed me off with this episode. There is a lovely scene of Michonne and Judith by the pond having some quiet time. Michonne kisses Judith good bye and goes off on her merry way. And then I realize there is absolutely no one else around or anywhere to be seen. WTF was up with leaving Judith (who's what, 2 or 3 maybe?) alone, and by a pond no less. Ye gads... Previously Michonne would never have done irresponsible shit like that. It totally ruined what I had been enjoying as such a sweet (and much needed) scene in this show.

I enjoy getting pissed off at this show....It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside (or maybe that's just the wine I'm usually consuming whilst it airs). Yeah, you're right about the irony of Carl's death. Too bad there wasn't a scene where Michonne told him "Stay in the house, Carl" right before he went off in search of Siddiq. That would have really brought it full circle. I'm waiting to see if they bury Carl with the hat or if Rick starts wearing it again. Maybe Gimple will decide it's time to kill the hat, too.

Tyreese's death still pisses me off. I don't follow the comics, but I was informed he didn't die in such a stupid, senseless way. This was a guy who just killed numerous walkers with his bare hands to save Judith...and he died with his head up his ass staring at pictures on a wall and totally oblivious to his surroundings. And then to add insult to injury, AMC/Gimple bring back a host of ex cast members for his mortal send off..... Except for Karen, who was supposed to be the love of his life, and after all the fuck-and-awe in the Tyreese/Carol forgiveness story line. Guess AMC didn't want to loosen up the purse strings to bring the actress back for an episode. I'm not sure which death pisses me off more, the death of Tyreese or the death of Carl. If Gimple was hell bent on killing off Carl, why not let him go out protecting Judith or Michonne instead of being bitten whilst "freeing the souls" of a small group of walkers that weren't even an immediate threat? Ugh, Gimple, you suck.

And how about his befuddlement that fans didn't REALIZE when Carl was bitten? Yeah, I saw the scene and, yeah, I thought "Oh, shit, Carl got bit!," but then...well, no mention was made of it and this show has some pretty craptastic editing at times, so I wrote it off to a poorly edited/choreographed scene. I'm sure I'm not the only one who did the same thing. So, Gimple, go fuck yourself. NOTHING was clear about that scene and it was intentionally choreographed to be vague. Don't act like the fans are too ignorant to appreciate the wonders of your self-perceived brilliance.

Gimple is a furtive-eyed rat-faced piece of rancid shit. This episode.... Okay, so Carl is being killed off. I was okay with this when I thought the kid wanted out of the show to pursue his education or other acting opportunities. Then to find out that rat-faced weasel blindsided the kid and apparently arbitrarily just decided to kill him off around episode 6? GTFO. I find it extremely difficult to buy into Gimple's fuckery about needing to kill Carl to progress the storylines for Rick and Michonne. Nope. Had killing off Carl been a long-range plan, I highly (HIGHLY) doubt that he would have waited until the episode where Carl is actually bitten to give Riggs a heads up. All of the other cast members knew in advance when their time was coming, so his half-assed explanation does not compute in my brain. It's like Judge Judy says...if it doesn't make sense, it's a lie. So, just why was Riggs unceremoniously dumped from the show? Maybe there was a clause in his contract that his salary would increase once he turned of legal age? Did Gimple decide Riggs didn't have the acting chops to carry off the storyline as depicted in the comics and decide to cut the character? Did AMC decide they couldn't afford an adult Riggs since they reportedly just gave Lincoln and Reedus sizable salary increases (and AMC is notoriously cheap, so I can't help but think this was in the end a financial maneuver rather than a storyline driven decision). Riggs and his father were apparently led to believe by Gimple/AMC that Carl was going to be around three more years. Yeah, something smells like bullshit about this clusterfuck. The fact that this kid gave nearly half of his life to this show and then being treated like this by Gimple/AMC really just pisses me off, and I loathed the little shit up until about mid way through season 3. As for the episode in general, why the fresh hell did Simon allow Maggie to make a choice? Wasn't there a bounty on her head by Negan, along with Rick and Ezekiel? Here again, this makes no sense. And who the fuck was that dude Maggie chose to shoot? He tried to kill Jesus? Hell, I spent two episodes wanting to kill Jesus. I didn't even remember the guy or the situation when he was chosen...and with that repugnant Jared standing right in that vicinity, a threat to all of them. Well, at least she nutted up and shot the dude. That was a split second of entertainment. And speaking of Maggie, could somebody on that set PLEASE get LC to a diction coach? Her over-enunciation of every single word combined with her horrific fake southern accent is positively cringeworthy. I can't even take anything the character does too seriously because I'm so disconcerted by her "technique." I really wanted Father Gabriel to die, turn, and then go rip out Eugene's throat. If they're going to kill off Gabriel, at least let him put Eugene out of his misery on his way out. I'm hoping Daryl and Tara take off in search of supplies....and never return. And how is it Rick can't seem to kill Negan, no matter what the circumstances? It's like Negan is coated with Rick repellant or that leather jacket has some sort of force field surrounding it that doesn't let any harm befall him. Just stop putting Rick in situations where he easily could/should be able to kill Negan. I understand storyline dictates that Negan will survive another season or two, but then again that theory didn't work out too well for Carl, so... Darabont may be batshit crazy and have no respect for budgets, but damn if I wouldn't love to see what this show would be like today with him still on board. I think this show is going to have abysmal ratings after the MSP, and maybe that will be the catalyst for AMC to kick Gimple to the curb.

Ahhh indeed...And he needs to go back to acting 101. That "smile" people on some forums are referring to was actually him biting down on his blood capsule, an action that is supposed to be subtle and not like you're biting into a baby back rib. Ye gads, TWD...regain some control with the editing. Jesus, no matter how smokin' hot you are, if I were Tara, I'd have shot you *and* that lying sack of shit in the closet. Speaking of closets, apparently Coral couldn't catch Enid to lock her in one this time around. I could have sworn I saw brief glimpses of her with the gang. Anyone else want to venture a guess that this season's snoozefest of a bottle episode will be all about Morales? Hell, that's okay. It's got to be more interesting than the Tara-centric episode of last season. I personally love Clear Morgan. It's nice to see one of the gang realize the only good Savior is a dead Savior. All in all, I enjoyed this episode...but probably for all of the wrong reasons.

This is probably my all-time favorite post over this entire dismal season. I'll be giggling about this for days and think of it every time I see that scene. What a disappointing season. It really tried my patience most of the time, but, fool that I am, I kept hanging in there, assuming that there would be a huge payoff in the finale. Well, there's always next season. Usually the day after the season finale, I'm stalking the internet trying to find the season for sale... Even though I'll probably end up buying season 7 for completion's sake, I'm not in a hurry to buy it so I can rewatch it. Hopefully season 8 is better. It sure wouldn't take much effort to top this albatross of a season.

Oh, hi, Mr. Man Bun.... *wipes drool from my chin* Oh, hi, Jesus....Now I'm double dripping...

Holy shit... Automatic gun fire for minutes on end, a man/woman eating tiger, flares being shot in the air, fuck-and-awe in every direction. Did ANYONE of ANY significance on this goddamned show get their ticket punched during this "all out war"?????

Wonder if Rick has season 6 de ja vu, because I do.

Thank you, Jadis, for shutting Rick Grimes the fuck up before he concocts another ill-planned, ill-executed, sure-to-fail "deal." I'd have shot him and kicked him off that platform, too.

Walker Sasha is bad ass!!! As for Coral's L'Oreal hair, well...that's for another thread.