S01.E02: The Blaze of Gory

[nodorothyparker]

Airdate 2020.10.11

Quote

Hope and Iris disagree on the mission. Felix and Huck pursue the group as Felix confronts his past.

 

[CletusMusashi]

Okay, first of all, it's hard to believe "Blaze of Glory" was not already used as an episode title for Season 5 Buffy.

Second: That bowling-ball head zombie brought back some Halloween memories. I'm gonna put spoiler tags on it, because it's kind of a long story, but honestly even if I wanted to reveal spoilers I don't have any. It's just a way of making the page easier to scroll through .                             

Spoiler

Once upon a time, back in a wonderful time called the 90s, I decided to be the Headless Horseman for Halloween. Since at the time I was obsessingly trying to hide my baldingness by shaving my head every day, I had the idea to paint it orange, with stripes, to look like a pumpkin. I darked out my nose and lips and hid my eyes behind some triangular-lensed novelty sunglasses. Bought a cheap cape, a cheap plastic sabre, one of those "horse head on a broomstick" toys, and finished by dressing in black with my pants tucked into my socks. Seemed reasonably clear to me. Unfortunately, I live in Cleveland. And on that particular Halloween, Cleveland was playing the Cincinnati Bengals. Despite every single thing about the costume screaming "Um, dude, not a sports outfit..." my friends and I had to change bars over and over and over, because everywhere we went, there were at least four screamingly offended drunks who didn't know what day it was and thought I was a face-painted Bengals fan. Sort of annoying at the time. Now, though, it's a hilarious memory that doesn't get jogged as much as it used to.                                                            So, thank you, Shiny Bowling ball Head Zombie, for reminding me of things that happened in years that October didn't completely suck.

Third: I think the main focus of WDWB is on the wrong group. I would much rather watch Felix and Female Slater go through their day, trying to catch up to the kids, with just enough scenes of what the kids are doing to make all the inevitable near-misses make sense. And.. yes. I did just feel the boot of George Carlin's ghost when I typed that.

Sorry, George. You're right. A near-miss is called a hit. A collision is a near-miss.

And this show, which has thus far avoided being quite as bad as the other two in the franchise, is a near-mess.

Edited October 12, 2020 by CletusMusashi

[Nashville]

@CletusMusashi - not meaning to be rude - but if you were expecting rational thought and/or logical discernment from guys in a bar in Cleveland, then you were already kinda fucked from the word Go.  😆

Edited October 12, 2020 by Nashville
Grammar

[tv echo]

Actually, this episode's title is "Blaze of Gory" - here are some media reviews (just as mixed as my feelings about this spinoff)...

Where there's smoke, there's fire as Walking Dead: World Beyond hits the road
Alex McLevy   October 11, 2020
https://tv.avclub.com/where-theres-smoke-theres-fire-as-walking-dead-world-1845302683

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“The Blaze of Gory” slightly improves on the show’s quality as compared to the pilot, but only by dint of not shoehorning in copious amounts of clunky backstory and exposition. ...
*  *  *
You can see the hints of a better show tugging at the edges of the screen, like it wants to be let in, if only someone could figure out how. But for now, The Walking Dead: World Beyond is still mired in its own false starts, struggling to get some momentum going without bogging it down in hoary and vague dynamics. A lot of viewers can forgive a bad first episode; we’re all used to shows that take awhile to find themselves. But World Beyond needs to get its act together, before it finds itself like one of its shambling empties, a dead program walking.

The Walking Dead: World Beyond Season 1 Episode 2: "The Blaze of Gory" Review
By Matt Fowler    11 Oct 2020
https://www.ign.com/articles/the-walking-dead-world-beyond-season-1-episode-2-the-blaze-of-gory-review

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With the four teens out in the world beyond their walls, totally sucking at killing zombies, "The Blaze of Gory" was a better episode than the premiere. It expanded on Elton and Silas' characters while also giving Iris and Hope surprising moments. Also, the idea of a (tire?) fire so big and sprawling that to walk around it meant going sixty miles out of the way was a fun landmark/local legend for the kids to experience as a team-building exercise.

‘The Walking Dead: World Beyond’ Episode 2 Recap And Review: ‘Blaze Of Gory’
Erik Kain   Oct. 11, 2020
https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2020/10/11/the-walking-dead-world-beyond-episode-2-recap-and-review-blaze-of-gory/#5926c5836835

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All told, this was definitely a better episode than last week’s, though I’m still not thrilled about any of it. I’m glad some of the characters are growing on me, but the show itself still feels a little hokey for The Walking Dead. The teens’ fighting ineptitude feels wrong also, and comes off as ridiculous and comical after so many seasons of The Walking Dead and Fear The Walking Dead.

I can see World Beyond going one of two ways. Either it starts to get more interesting as we learn about the ways it ties in to the main show, Rick’s fate and so forth, or it keeps on with the hokey teen drama stuff. Maybe a little bit of both. The premise is just strange. How the kids plan to make it so far with so few actual survival skills is beyond me. What they plan on doing when and if they find the CRM base is also a mystery. I’m not sure they thought this through.

The Walking Dead: World Beyond Episode 2 Review – The Blaze of Gory
By Ron Hogan  October 11, 2020
https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/the-walking-dead-world-beyond-episode-2-review-the-blaze-of-gory/

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One of the better aspects of World Beyond is the fact that none of these kids are particularly good at surviving outside of the walls of their colony. For Iris’s smarts, Elton’s savvy, Silas’s violence, and Hope’s practicality, they’re really bad at killing walkers. They’re sheltered, and they lack the post-apocalyptic street smarts for the kind of mission they’re undertaking. ...
*  *  *
Director Magnus Martens once again does a solid job of handling his young performers, but more than that, he’s able to turn an overactive smoke machine and some old school busses into an exercise in tension that has yet to be seen on World Beyond. ...

The Walking Dead: World Beyond 1.02 Review – ‘The Blaze of Gory’
October 12, 2020 | Posted by Katie Hallahan
https://411mania.com/movies/the-walking-dead-world-beyond-1-02-review-the-blaze-of-gory/

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All-in-all, I enjoyed this episode. So far the show is striking a good balance for me between the Young Adult genre and the Walking Dead universe. ...

 

Edited October 12, 2020 by tv echo

[WaltersHair]

The thought the bowling ball was a callback to Carmine the Bowler from the movie Mystery Men (and under-rated flick in my opinion)

[diebartdie]

3 hours ago, tv echo said:

Silas’s violence

See, I'm not picking up on that, the dude coudlnt even end a walker, how is he so scary and violent? He just seems like a big, dumb kid (and I am not impressed with his acting, AT ALL). This show is really not very good.

[paulvdb]

42 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

BTW, they probably should have passed out and died just breathing in the smoke from the burning rubber,  I can't figure out why they didn't cover their faces and noses in an effort to cut down on the smoke.

Seriously. So far the zombies don't seem to pose much of a threat (based only on these two episodes and being completely unfamiliar with the other shows in this universe). But they should all have been dead from smoke inhalation by the end of this episode.

[txhorns79]

36 minutes ago, paulvdb said:

So far the zombies don't seem to pose much of a threat (based only on these two episodes and being completely unfamiliar with the other shows in this universe)

I kept thinking: "If these people cannot dispatch one pretty debilitated zombie, how in the world are they going to handle things if they run into  two or three zombies at once?"

[Mr. Sparkle]

2 hours ago, diebartdie said:

See, I'm not picking up on that, the dude coudlnt even end a walker, how is he so scary and violent? He just seems like a big, dumb kid

They're clearly setting him up for a backstory wherein we see that he was accused of a violent act that he didn't do. The actor and script aren't good enough to make me care yet. 

[rmontro]

2 hours ago, icemiser69 said:

Which one is leaving markers so that they can be found?

According to the live chat, it's Hope.  I didn't really notice because I was having a real hard time trying to be interested in this, so I ended up kind of half watching it.  I hope I didn't miss too much, although I'm still not at all sure I'm going to stick this out.  

Who is Hope leaving the markers for, Felix?

[Mr. Sparkle]

Yes. We saw Hope deliberately leave the can of peaches, and then tag the sign at the end. Felix said she took the peaches from his room. 

Edited October 12, 2020 by Superclam

[iMonrey]

Quote

Hope and Iris disagree on the mission.

I'm sensing this is a running theme of the show. That description can probably be recycled for every episode. I didn't get the repeated flashbacks of Young Hope blowing bubbles - cut to teen Hope crying. WTF. 

Also? What do you expect when you name your son "Felix," Felix's dad? 

I really don't see the point of this show so far. I assume it's at attempt to appeal to a Young Adult audience but in my experience YA audiences aren't necessarily interested in watching shows about mopey and angsty YA characters. 

[diebartdie]

32 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

I really don't see the point of this show so far.

I suspect Gimple thinks this show (being a "limited 2 season series") will be the mighty unifyier between TWD + "The Legendary Rick Grimes Movies That Are Really Happening" + FtWD + The Daryl & Carol show. Mainly though, I bet he's seeing it as the groundwork for the movies (which are really happening) (I personally do not believe they are happening).

[raven]

So they took classes on how to kill a zombie without any practical applications?  Sheesh.

The sisterly relationship feels real.  

The rest feels kind of already done.  I do get distracted by the perfect eyebrows on both sisters and by how clean everyone is, though I suppose that will change.  We have four bumbling questers being tracked by two noble knights. 

Also, hate the term "empties".  Just say "the dead". 

[sigmaforce86]

What strikes me and what I almost feel I don't have patience for is how unprepared these kids are for this "world beyond".   If we as viewers didn't already know so much about the walking dead world we'd probably be more invested in the kids journey - it would be:  "Oh my god this is strange and scary what will they do how do you fight and get past these scary creatures!".    Or that's what it should have been, instead we look at them sneaking through the fire area and it was "Just cover yourselves in their guts and blood and you'll be out of there in half an hour, Oh my god Carol and Daryl would have solved this yesterday how stupid are these kids".    So half of me feels like hey it's interesting to see how these kids have been almost over protected and never really prepared for what the world is like now and the other half is just too impatient to deal with how stupid they are and how stupid the adults were to not prepare them for how the world is now with every trick in the book.   They are just way to neat and clean and confused and it's a little like rolling all the way back to watching the antics of Camp Dinner Bell outside Atlanta except we're nearly a decade into this little apocalypse and their naivete should be long gone by now.

So far the most interesting thing to me is my curiosity about what are they going to do when Finn Felix (Fixed on 10/14; I think I did some sort of crazy Huckleberry Finn typo there!) and Huck, who are way more interesting characters; catch up to them and will they find out there's no community to go back to.

Edited October 14, 2020 by sigmaforce86

[txhorns79]

17 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Also? What do you expect when you name your son "Felix," Felix's dad? 

I would have found Felix's flashback more interesting if it wasn't like a bad after school special with zombies.    

5 hours ago, sigmaforce86 said:

So half of me feels like hey it's interesting to see how these kids have been almost over protected and never really prepared for what the world is like now and the other half is just too impatient to deal with how stupid they are and how stupid the adults were to not prepare them for how the world is now with every trick in the book. 

Yeah, I really did wonder about the training these kids have been receiving, given that they seemed so ill prepared to actually handle a zombie.  It reminded me a little bit of a scene from the last season of The Americans where Paige thinks she is hot stuff (after receiving limited training from her mother and completing a few missions).  Phillip challenges her to show him what she knows, and he basically is able to incapacitate her within 20 seconds.  It was his way of showing her that she is way out of her league and much more vulnerable than she realizes.  That's essentially the situation here with these kids.   

[Persnickety1]

19 hours ago, diebartdie said:

I suspect Gimple thinks this show (being a "limited 2 season series") will be the mighty unifyier between TWD + "The Legendary Rick Grimes Movies That Are Really Happening" + FtWD + The Daryl & Carol show. Mainly though, I bet he's seeing it as the groundwork for the movies (which are really happening) (I personally do not believe they are happening).

Come sit by me, my friend, because I've been saying for the past year those movies are a figment of AMC's imagination.  Lincoln has been off TWD 2-3 years and there's zero footage, just a bunch of the usual Gimple/Kirkland blather about the "great ideas" the writers are discussing.  After all this time, still in the "discussing" stage is...interesting.  I've always been of the opinion that the promise of the movie(s) was to prevent the fans from abandoning the show when Rick left.  The mid season finale apparently hit an all-time ratings low, and that's been the case for a few seasons now, so AMC can't blame the pandemic for that.  People are stuck at home and still not tuning in.  I can't think of any reason on earth AMC would sink money into making (presumably budget heavy) movies based on a show that's circling the drain with every season.  

-----

On another note, wasn't FTWD originally supposed to unite TWD and FTWD characters, having them join forces somewhere around Texas?  I know they eventually shuffled Morgan over to FTWD and maybe Dwight, but I've tried at least half a dozen times to sit through that dreck and just can't do it, so I'm not sure which original TWD characters ended up on FTWD.  

I think this Beyond the Wall offshoot would have been much better if:  

A.  It was a group of rebellious teens who were sick of living within the confines of the walls and wanted to see what was on the outside.

B.  Skip all the espionage and finding daddy crap.  

C.  Start with a group of about 8-10 so (see D).

D.  Kill off 2-3 of the original group in the first 2-3 episodes.  With only the 4 core group members, it's almost like they're going to have built-in "plot armor" and removes any suspense for me as a viewer.  They're all Daryl Dixons.  

E.  Find some kids who can actually act (which should probably be A on my list, but if there was any suspense to the plot at all, I could overlook the lack of acting ability in favor of good writing).  

Since it's incredibly dull these days, I'll probably keep watching this mess, but it will be more so I can have an hour of wine drinking and eye rolling on Sunday nights until TWD returns...someday.  I've made it a mission to ride that one out until the bloody end.    

 

Edited October 13, 2020 by Persnickety1

[Mr. Sparkle]

^ This is dead on. I wonder if the Daryl-Carol show will even happen if the ratings are this bad. 

[Mr. Sparkle]

6 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

Daryl-Carol show?  This is the first I have heard of it.

Really? It's "big news," as far as TWD universe goes. I don't want get into it in this forum, but you can look at the main show forum, or PM me if you're so inclined. 

8 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

It is also that none of them look physically strong enough to handle any difficult task.

Well, the first 2 episodes haven't shown that any of them can kill even one walker, and that's a skill they may want to develop quickly. 

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

Just a bunch of nanny state candyasses. Remember where's there smoke, there's work. 

[BasilSeal]

I was a bit disappointed with this weeks episode, after last weeks set up episode, we get another set up / place holder episode where nothing much happens. such episodes aren't uncommon in TWD, but the show's strength has always been the set piece zombie fighting sequences, which in the past have compensated for the show's many failings, this show didn't even have that though.

We get some back story on Felix, felix comes out to his dad who apparently, lives in the 1950's, and  would rather end up as a rotting ambulatory corpse than acknowledge his son's involvement in bum sex. The zombie encounters are a bit tame and the blaze of glory, a tyre fire so huge it has been burning for, <checks notes> 10 fecking years,  is somewhat underwhelming.

19 hours ago, Persnickety1 said:

After all this time, still in the "discussing" stage is...interesting.  I've always been of the opinion that the promise of the movie(s) was to prevent the fans from abandoning the show when Rick left.  The mid season finale apparently hit an all-time ratings low, and that's been the case for a few seasons now, so AMC can't blame the pandemic for that.  People are stuck at home and still not tuning in.  I can't think of any reason on earth AMC would sink money into making (presumably budget heavy) movies based on a show that's circling the drain with every season.  

I think it's a little early to say the TWD franchise is circling the drain, the ratings are way down on the 15 million highs they had 6 or 7 years ago, but they're still at a level that most shows would be more than happy with, and no show will generate those sort of figures now because the nature of TV viewing has changed and more people are streaming content rather than watching live to air.

The show is still a big cash cow for AMC, they've got content planned out for the next couple of years  and it's clearly all going to culminate in the final TWD original series which will finish airing in 2022, and is likely to include cross overs with fTWD.

With that in mind, the purported rick movies are a bit of an odd one, because it's hard to see how they fit this timetable even if they'd started pre production. You think that TWD will want to end with some sort of conclusion, and that Rick would be involved in this somehow. this places significant limitations on any movie plots assuming they haven't happened at this point. though it could be that they intend TWD to be all about the commonwealth, and the CRM will be an entirely sperate issue that will be exclusive to the rick movie(s) if they ever happen (this would explain why they've  created the CRM, it seems like an unnecessary complication when the CRM's role could have been filled by the commonwealth.) .

Anyway, i kind of agree that the movies are not a done deal, they could still happen but it's equally likely that they won't.

[tennisgurl]

Kind of a boring follow up from the promising first episode, this just ended up reminding me of the earlier, crappy TWD before we got to the good season and before it got stupid again. The stuff I dislike most of TWD, people ambling around making dumb choices, things that seem stylistic but are actually pretty stupid, people sitting around talking about random stuff the show thinks is deep, random backstory information, hardly any actual zombies, it didn't take advantage of any of the things that could make this show stand out. The backstory for Felix was alright, it does explain why he latched onto the girls dad as a father figure apparently, if a bit after school special. It takes a special combination of being awful and being stupid to be more concerned about being homophobic than about the impending zombie attack. 

This kids are so hilariously unprepared, the one kid couldn't even take out one Walker that was just standing around asking to be stabbed. I guess thats the point, because they have lived in this walled up community for ages, but it now strains credibility that these kids could even survive a few days out in zombie country, let alone live long enough for a whole show. 

The sister relationship is probably the highlight of the show, its done pretty well. I am also looking forward to the inevitable "you killed my mom" "Your mom killed my mom!" confrontation, just due to how hilariously awkward this wacky coincidence will be. 

Also, empties sounds stupid, so I will probably keep calling them Walkers. Walkers at least makes sense, empties just sounds random.

[rmontro]

The triceratops horn sort of bugs me.  I'm sure the idea is to have some kind of iconic weapon that will make people think "Oh, that's so cool", but it seems a little cringe and try hard to me.  I was watching Dino Hunters and they talk about how fragile fossils are, then they super glue them together and cover them in a varnish or something to make them harder.  But I still doubt that they're meant to stand up to repeatedly jabbing zombies in the skull.  

3 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Kind of a boring follow up from the promising first episode

I'm glad you said that, because I thought it was just me.  Like you said, the first episode was interesting, then it was like all the novelty drained out of it for the second episode.  I said elsewhere that the community was more interesting than a road trip.

[Josh371982]

On 10/12/2020 at 2:25 PM, icemiser69 said:

All I know is if they run out of food, I know which one is going to be the main course, and there probably will be leftovers.

Teenage angsty dog shit is teenage angsty dog shit.  In this case, they just threw walkers into the mix.

BTW, they probably should have passed out and died just breathing in the smoke from the burning rubber,  I can't figure out why they didn't cover their faces and noses in an effort to cut down on the smoke. 

Which one is leaving markers so that they can be found?

 

I believe its Hope. I swear they showed her leaving behind the can 

Edited October 16, 2020 by Josh371982

[iMonrey]

Quote

Also, empties sounds stupid, so I will probably keep calling them Walkers. Walkers at least makes sense, empties just sounds random.

I also with they'd stop saying "the day the sky fell." This isn't Falling Skies. Do they think they're on a different show? Why do they keep saying that? Because planes and stuff started falling out of the sky? Those are planes and stuff, not the sky. How many planes would have crashed in their immediate vicinity anyway? Do they live next to an airport or something?