SamBeckett

Who knew a preacher could be so randy?

Show’s not over, alas.

I live in Georgia. I see their clothes. I just hope they didn’t film this when it was hot!!!

Daryl’s giving of the plate of food to Lydia was a nice touch.

Frankly, I’ll welcome a less overly-wrought season ender. Assuming it’s good. Which with TPTB is a tall assumption. Such a shame.

Someone mentioned upthread about what it will be like when Daryl runs into Negan, and I got to thinking “Why?” It has been so long (it seems) since the whole “bat to the head in the middle of the dark woods” that I forgot about it. I mean, I know they don’t like one another. I just forgot why. Talk about losing momentum.

Maybe he’d had a bad piece of opossum at the fair. You know if you don’t cook that stuff right ....

Here’s a random question — did we even see Aaron anytime in this episode? Maybe we did and it was in passing so I missed it. But if we didn’t, then it’d be so typical of this show. Aaron is by now, due to attrition, in the upper echelon of characters. Yet, a casual viewer wouldn’t know that. And chances are good when the camera happens to fall on Rosita, the same casual viewer would say: “Who’s that?”

I agree. It’s uncalled for. We’re supposed to be talking about the show.

This show needs a good grounds’ keeper.

Very good point. Alas, no one listens to us. Common sense and knowing your own show should have told TPTB that Tara was the big reveal, given her history even though she is far from Rick or Daryl status. Still, in a strict hierarchical sense, she be “the boss.” And I wonder why they even bothered with some of the people few people even recognized. Is quantity worth more than quality? I missed your post icemiser69. You make a good point about why so many relative unknowns.

I’m a sucker for those “siege of the Alamo” kind of scenes like the last battle last night. I know time limitations probably prevented them from showing close-ups of each person’s death and their head on the spike. That would have clued us in as to who was who. Then again, the biggest problem regarding who is who is that we had too many “who the hell is that” who’s. I mean when dedicated viewers have trouble telling the difference between Tara and Enid who, out of the “piked group,” are the “biggest” characters, then that tells you we’re hitting the bottom of the barrel of big characters. The next big character to go will be someone who said a few words in passing to Eugene in the back ground of one scene from an episode last season. Oh, well.

Great job of laying it out in such precise terms. Although applying that word — precise — to the plot of TWD, I'd never have envisioned because this series — like you infer — has lacked a cohesive plot (or thought) since about Season 3. We can all pick a favorite character of ours who seemingly had good potential only to be tossed aside like used mattresses by Negan's team of plunderers. Glenn, of course. Abraham. Beth (though she was disliked by many, but I would argue her contribution could have and should have continued). Her friend from the hospital. The spoiled rich kids at Alexandria. But nothing says incompetence on behalf of TPTB more than Jesus. I mean, seriously, what WAS that all about? He came, he lingered in the shadows, then — and powerfully — he was gone. Why? What did it get us? Sure, he died an in so doing he showed us the "evilness" of the Whisperers (Oh, look Ma — that Walker's not really a Walker! Ohhh, scary!!! Ohhh, ouchy!!!!! The mean non-dead man stuck me!!!) And now, we will soon be left with someone who doesn't bathe and . . . Carol (not someone I would have counted on making it past Season 2). What the hell had TPTB gotten us into? And what is going on with Negan? He's like a lingering afterthought.

I see someone — Eugene maybe — running into the fair, all sweaty, his hair askew. He’s carrying a big book that seems to have strange markings on the cover. Frantically, he yells out, “It’s a cookbook. ... they’re eating people.” Turns out some years ago as Ezekiel and his group were passing through Terminus, Jerry picked up a little something in the gift shop. Who knew?!?

When everyone was driving around, I was worried about them running out of gas. Now I’m worrying about Connie running out of pens!!! This is a cruel, cruel show.

If only Daryl had stood up suddenly and faced Beta with a serious look on his face. "Damn it, we have mold." In response, Beta would have said, "There goes the budget."

I wish they had the Property Brothers dude on TTD last night to talk about Daryl’s “form” of going through the drywall.

And that underscores the problem with this show. Think about it: If anyone from Oceanside showed up for the fair, would anyone in the viewing audience even know who it is??? They'd have to be wearing name tags that we could see at home. In other words, the casts are too big, with too many people and, more importantly, with too many people we only barely knew to start with. Honestly, I've already forgotten what Rosita looks like!!!! That's why if you come on this show, you better hope you have a shtick, like Negan's too-tight leather coat and baseball bat, and Abraham's out-of-bottle red hair and goatee, the Governor's one eye, the original "Daisy Duke" outfit for Rosita, Eugene's mullet, etc. If you don't, you fade right away into the background. And you'll you notice, from about season three or four onward, the get-ups for characters have gotten more and more outlandish. I know Lori had many enemies, but if she were still around she'd get lost in the crowd because she looks like a too normal brunette who wore normal clothes—No capes, swords, skin-faces, etc

At first the Highwaymen bugged me too. And maybe still do. They seem too . . . over-the-top. Sure, Rick had "the hat" but it fit him. Not to mention it came to him via the job. But this guy (is it Bart?) not only has the hat but the John Wayne shirt AND the cowboy accent. However having said all that, if they keep them relegated to small appearances (which with this show that seems to happen to ALL the characters, main or otherwise) than I can put up with them because I think, and I may be wrong, they seem to be here for comedic relief. And god knows we need this with this show. Everyone is so dour. I always thought this show needed a Han Solo character, someone flip and funny, but still heroic. Daryl could have been that person but instead he went with the person who just crawled out of the dumpster character who doesn't like women (or anyone?!?).

I wonder if Rick knew that instead of going to all the trouble of ripping out Joe’s throat, and getting bloody and everything, he could have simply invited him over for a movie. Then we’d still have Joe on the show. And he seemed fun. Actually, speaking of movies, the lead Highwayman seems a little like Joe (but he still has his throat).

Going all Property Brothers on that drywall.

So, instead of ripping out Joe’s throat, Rick could have just offered to show him a movie? Good to know!

A sudden thought: You know, it's irritating when a show's plot revolves around someone on the "good team" (in this case, Henry) doing something stupid. It is SOOO contrived. And it makes all the characters dumb. What I mean by that is that Henry does something stupid (a whole series of them, in fact), which then causes Daryl and Connie to go traipsing after him. At night. Against tremendous odds. True, no one was holding a gun to their head, but that's what adds to the whole stupidity of this. One stupid thing leads to another stupid thing. For purposes of my argument, let's assume Connie is a key member of the team (likely is, and much more than Henry). We know Daryl is. So, they are risking two lives of key people for . . . Henry. If it were Carol, fine. Or Michonne, fine. But Henry, for christ's sake!!??!! And it all starts with Henry being an idiot. Now maybe if the Whisperers had snuck in and taken him and Lydia, that might change things. But it's hard to root for the good guys when they're responsible for the shit-hole they're in. BTW - I owe BOOFISH credit for the genesis of this thought.

Has Kirkman ever been with a woman? Are women allowed in his basement?

I hear you. And going to the high point is always best. And having snow certainly makes it easy to keep track of comings and goings. But then the downside is obvious—the bitter cold makes surviving more difficult. And fires would make finding you easier for the Negan-types AND the Walker/Whisperer types. At the beginning of the ZA, I'd stake out claim to the nearest COSTCO. Then from there, and probably quickly, things would go from bad to worse.