S01.E09: The Deepest Cut/S01.E10: In This Life

[nodorothyparker]

Airdate 2020.11.29

Quote

A series of setbacks causes a member of the group to reevaluate their role in the mission as someone makes a surprising discovery and a startling revelation casts everything in a new light. A divided group struggles to reunite while others set their sights on the greater good.

Yes, AMC is showing the two final episodes of the season as a combined season finale. All total, it clocks in at a whopping 2 hours and 24 minutes, so strap in.

[BasilSeal]

On 11/28/2020 at 1:39 AM, nodorothyparker said:

Airdate 2020.11.29

Yes, AMC is showing the two final episodes of the season as a combined season finale. All total, it clocks in at a whopping 2 hours and 24 minutes, so strap in.

the episodes run to about 50 minutes each when i streamed them so there must be a load of adverts in there somewhere.

FWIW i thought these were stronger episodes, but the bar's not very high on that one, in all fairness.

[nodorothyparker]

Yeah, the ads always really bloat the run time. A typical Walking Dead episode is often only 42-45 minutes long but may run between an hour and an hour and 10 with ads. 

[Mr. Sparkle]

2 hours ago, BasilSeal said:

FWIW i thought these were stronger episodes, but the bar's not very high on that one, in all fairness.

The second one was a little better. Both had some decent scenes and some real cringe moments. 

[BasilSeal]

15 minutes ago, Superclam said:

The second one was a little better. Both had some decent scenes and some real cringe moments. 

god yes, i'll spoiler my response as i understand most haven't watched yet.

Spoiler

We finally get some ok zombie set pieces, but not really up to the standard of the other shows. A decent fight scene with Felix and Huck but sadly neither manages to kill the other. so we're going to have to suffer both of them next season. We finally meet Felix's love interest and there's zero chemistry there but the main takeaway from those scenes was what the actual fuck has  Nico Tortorella done to his arm? it looked as if someone had been at him with a sharpie and coloured it in. We get an explanation why Hope is the asset and oh boy, it's a doozy. Apparently she's like some super smart genius and they needed her to go out into the world and fight some zombies so she could focus her special talents on saving the world, or something. but yeah, i'm totally buying that and can absolutely see why they thought it was worth killing 9,000 innocent people to get an angsty teen on board with their project to save civilisation as we know it because she once fixed a PC when she was a kid. I mean really, even by TWD standards, that logic sucks.

 

[Mr. Sparkle]

^ Pretty much dead on, and let's not forget:

Spoiler

Huck's obvious redemption arc, which they pretty much already started by the end of the episode. 

 

[BasilSeal]

3 minutes ago, Superclam said:

^ Pretty much dead on, and let's not forget:

  Hide contents

Huck's obvious redemption arc, which they pretty much already started by the end of the episode. 

 

oh yeah,

Spoiler

that awful moment when you realise your mum's not just a little bit controlling and overbearing but also an insane mass murdering agent of an overtly fascist military state. I hate it when that happens.

 

[gutbuster]

I liked Hope admitting to being concerned that Elton "would freeze to death in his little suit". haha

God help me, I felt concerned that they might kill off Felix. I feel mildly invested. 

[oakville]

I enjoyed watching the season finale. I still can't understand why the CRM would let Hope wander around the country if show was such a valuable asset to the CRM.

It would have mad more sense to offer Hope & Iris a visit to the CRM facility.

Furthermore, there may be other "geniuses" in the campus colony that could be used to help the CRM. Killing thousands of people doesn't help the situation.

[theredhead77]

I enjoyed the season finale as well as the episodes leading up to it. It seems Huck may be rethinking her loyalty to her mother and I'm really looking forward to the fallout once she learns they killed off all of the Campus Colony. We had a bit of foreshadowing to Hope's intelligence when she took apart and reassembled the tornado siren earlier in the season.

All in all it's a fun ride and something new to watch. I do hope that Annet Mahendru's cadence changes next season. I've only seen her in The American's and can't tell if she is trying to hide a natural accent or add a random accent but the way Huck speaks can be improved.

[OoohMaggie]

1 hour ago, theredhead77 said:

I enjoyed the season finale as well as the episodes leading up to it.

At least somebody gained some benefit from the $10,000 seasonal budget, I hate to see money going to waste.

After seeing ‘*uck’ stabbing a Walker with her specialised Walker dispatching device, my memory was dragged back to an attack upon a certain Hilltop community, where arrows and blades with Walker blood on said items, were used with apparently great effect in killing those being attacked. ‘*uck’s’ blade slice on stubble boy’s heel didn’t seem to have much of an effect that some antibiotics couldn’t handle.

Im convinced he was just a very lucky boy and there was no suggestion of any lack of continuity between the shows..........🙄

[OoohMaggie]

It is reassuring to know that 10 years after the outbreak, no matter how far you are into the middle of nowhere, you only have to let out a quiet fart and you’ll have a handful of Walkers shuffling up the hill to wherever you happen to be..........Oh! The suspense  😱

[Utpe]

The highlight of this season was Big Mo the bowling ball.  Otherwise, kind of a boring show.  It didn't draw me in like TWD initially did.  Glad this only has ten more episodes.

ETA:  Aliyah Royale (Iris) has such an emotionless face.  Hard to tell if she was being serious or cheerful at times.

Edited December 1, 2020 by Utpe

[BasilSeal]

4 minutes ago, OoohMaggie said:

arrows and blades with Walker blood on said items, were used with apparently great effect in killing those being attacked. ‘*uck’s’ blade slice on stubble boy’s heel didn’t seem to have much of an effect that some antibiotics couldn’t handle.

Back in the day, rick chopped  Herschel's leg off with his favourite murderin' axe that he'd just killed a load of walkers with. We also regularly see characters covered in walker blood and guts after the big fight sequences not to mention Nick covering himself in walker innards in FearTWD so the walkers would avoid him, you'd think if a walker bite was fatal then getting walker juice into a cut even the sort of small cuts or abrasions most people who are running about in the woods and engaging in violent activities would have on the hands and face would be fatal also, or maybe they aren't? perhaps they just make this shit up as they go along?

[OoohMaggie]

11 minutes ago, BasilSeal said:

perhaps they just make this shit up as they go along?

Damn Sherlock, I think you’ve cracked the case 😂

[TWOPrefugee]

4 hours ago, icemiser69 said:

The only way Huck can redeem herself is to shoot herself in the head.  I know it seems impossible, but she is far more annoying than Nagen, and it isn't close.

This character annoys me more than any other I have ever seen anywhere, this includes Eugene and Henry from the original show, Roseanne and Spongebob. Every time she speaks, I just want to drive a shovel through her mouth.

[TWOPrefugee]

So Elton killed one walker, pushed one down and tied up two with fishing line before tripping them. Then the camera pans out to show these three walkers just lying there feebly moving their arms and legs. Is this where the state of walkers now lies? Once they've fallen, they can't get back up?

This show is beyond stupid

[Nashville]

Two explanations for whatever the fuck was posing as Felix’s arm:

1. Slip-on arm stocking to cover a full-sleeve tattoo chock full of profanity-laden - or even worse, trademarked! <shudder> - imagery. 
2. Worst cover-up tattoo attempt in the history of mankind.

[MrPissyPuppy]

Being able to take stuff apart and put things back together doesn't make a super genius. 

I don't know if it's the actress personally or an acting/directing choice, but I really dislike the way Huck rolls her jaw around and smirks when she talks.   She's just fucking annoying.   I'd find her acting choices/the directing far more interesting if she had dropped the tough routine/accent when reporting to Julia Ormond and been smooth and professional but I guess that wouldn't fit in with her being a Marine (and she wasn't very convincing there). 

[Mr. Sparkle]

Well, overall I have to say that I didn't hate this. I'd give it a C+/B-. I liked it more than the first two seasons of FearTWD at least. That said, every complaint and plot hole listed here and elsewhere is valid. The cheapness of the costumes (wigs) and sets was glaring at times. I thought the performances were ok except for Huck (the actress who played Hope had a few clunkers also.) 

Still, I'm kind of intrigued as to where it's going. I'll be back for the second and final season. If it was supposed to last 5 seasons, I'd probably bail. 

17 hours ago, icemiser69 said:

I know they aren't twins, but I suppose I might as well start calling Hope and Iris, The Wonder Twins.   So both of them need to work together in order to save humankind?   Yikes.

I really hated this part at the end. So hokey. I was expecting Iris to shout "Girl Power!" 

Edited December 1, 2020 by Superclam

[rmontro]

3 hours ago, TWOPrefugee said:

Is this where the state of walkers now lies? Once they've fallen, they can't get back up?

And if this is the case, there's no reason for the "shoot them in the head" move anymore.  All you have to do is knock them down.

So first it looked like Iris was the smart one, then they said Hope was the smart one.  Whoops, nope, turns out they're both the smart one.

This plotline is the most absurd thing I have ever seen, it makes zero sense.  BasilSeal's first post in this thread explains it better than I could, so I'll refer you to that.  There's been a lot of talk about how they've got a small effects budget, but I don't think they've spent a lot on the writing either.  Only 10 more episodes to go, thankfully.

Agree with others that Huck is incredibly annoying.

[BasilSeal]

4 hours ago, icemiser69 said:

I know they aren't twins, but I suppose I might as well start calling Hope and Iris, The Wonder Twins.   So both of them need to work together in order to save humankind?   Yikes.

we're doomed, aren't we?

I thought this was particularly weak, we've been racking our brains on here trying to think of a convincing reason why the CRM would murder 9000 innocent people then send some mildly annoying teens on a pointless journey, and none of us could think of a reason that made any sense. turns out the writers couldn't either.

there's only one more season of this and i'm intrigued to find out what happens so i'll no doubt watch it next year when it comes back, assuming the world hasn't ended for real by then. I just don't buy into the idea that Hope is so special it would be worth their while to do all this, or that even if she is this special, that there weren't any less killy methods of recruiting her that didn't necessitate mass murder.

Edited December 1, 2020 by BasilSeal

[rmontro]

1 hour ago, BasilSeal said:

we've been racking our brains on here trying to think of a convincing reason why the CRM would murder 9000 innocent people then send some mildly annoying teens on a pointless journey, and none of us could think of a reason that made any sense. turns out the writers couldn't either.

I didn't expect the reason to really make any sense, but I thought whatever they'd come up with would make more sense than this.  They want to save humanity so they kill 9000 people so they can get a teenaged girl to agree to work with them?  Did they ever think to just ask her?  She'd probably jump at the chance, just to be able to see her father again.

The main thing I want to see is how they end up shoehorning Rick into this, and if they will actually spend enough money to get Andrew Lincoln to appear onscreen for two seconds.  I'm guessing not.

[gatopretoNYC]

15 hours ago, theredhead77 said:

All in all it's a fun ride and something new to watch. I do hope that Annet Mahendru's cadence changes next season. I've only seen her in The Americans and can't tell if she is trying to hide a natural accent or add a random accent but the way Huck speaks can be improved.

I had no idea that was the same actress!

[OoohMaggie]

On 11/30/2020 at 9:38 PM, MrPissyPuppy said:

I don't know if it's the actress personally or an acting/directing choice, but I really dislike the way Huck rolls her jaw around and smirks when she talks.   She's just fucking annoying.

She looks as though she’s wearing a set of comedy teeth, very strange and the smirk / sneer is ridiculous 😁

Edited December 4, 2020 by OoohMaggie

[BasilSeal]

10 hours ago, rmontro said:

I didn't expect the reason to really make any sense, but I thought whatever they'd come up with would make more sense than this.  They want to save humanity so they kill 9000 people so they can get a teenaged girl to agree to work with them?  Did they ever think to just ask her?  She'd probably jump at the chance, just to be able to see her father again.

Of all the issues with the show, this is the most egregious, it makes absolutely no sense, they want Hope on board with their project for, er, reasons, OK, i can buy that, but some dude tells his new girlfriend that his daughter is like, really clever, and no parent ever exaggerates about their child's relative intelligence so on the strength of that they set about committing mass murder and try to manipulate some children into making a pointless journey, when as you say they could have just asked her. Even if this plan does actually work and she decides to join them willingly, finding out they've killed all her friends and are planning on killing her sister for good measure is hardly likely to endear them to her.

They need her to go through an experience of the outside world in order to understand her purpose? well i can buy that too, but again, just ask her and then put her through a selection process that would  serve the same purpose. non of this makes any sense just like destroying a high functioning community of >9000 people makes no sense when you're trying to preserve human civilisation. How could one child who may or may not prove useful  to your cause possibly be more valuable than a whole fucking community in that respect?

10 hours ago, rmontro said:

The main thing I want to see is how they end up shoehorning Rick into this, and if they will actually spend enough money to get Andrew Lincoln to appear onscreen for two seconds.  I'm guessing not.

Rick is supposedly with the CRM after he was wounded and Garbage lady called for assistance. she told them Rick was a 'B', it's thought the A and B classifications stood for After and Before, ie Dead and Living subjects, presumably the CRM need newly deaded subjects for their creepy walker research we saw in the end credit scenes. Also a guess but maybe the 'B's are also useful like Hope, maybe they think Rick is an asset because his great decision making and leadership abilities make him special, oh, hang on.

But anyway, maybe in CRM land getting nearly everyone who ever followed you killed counts as an asset, so Rick's now fighting in the CRM army and can't simply bugger off back home because, er, well, reasons. (TBF, it's possibly they tell those they recruit that if they run then they'll kill all their friends and family, they do after all have form in this department, so it's not an empty threat, and in rick's case they'd have a big head start as he's managed to get a fair few of the potential victims killed himself)

anyway, Rick's with the CRM and no doubt would prefer not to be, and presumably at some point his path may cross with Hope who is in a similar situation and this will lead us into the rick movie(s) which are definitely a thing and will absolutely get made, oh yes.

[Mr. Sparkle]

I wonder if the hooded figure at the end who turned out to be the boyfriend was originally supposed to be Rick, and they couldn't get Andrew Lincoln to do it? There was a lot of talk a while back about Rick making an appearance.

Also, if the boyfriend was at the CRM facility for the past however long, how did he know the Campus Colony was destroyed? It looks like the girl's father doesn't know.  

[theredhead77]

8 hours ago, gatopretoNYC said:

I had no idea that was the same actress!

Someone here pointed it out in the first episode. I'm terrible with placing most people in other shows and her face was someone that was driving me bonkers because I couldn't place it (and IMDBing the cast was too hard because I'm lazy on Sunday nights).

[iMonrey]

This was a fitting ending to a tedious season. It's so frustrating, because there's a decent story buried somewhere underneath all this dreck. At least there's the potential for one. But what do we get instead? We get drips and drabs of vague story with a whole heaping helping of angsty teens sitting around talking about their fee-fees. This is all just pointless character study via flashback. These just aren't very interesting characters, and the more we study them the less interesting they get.

I'm so sick of these cryptic conversations between CRM characters that deliberately tell you nothing. We learned nothing here. So Hope is the chosen one? For what? And why? Because she's such a genius? Evidence, please. Why did the CRM wipe out the entire campus compound? What exactly is their goal? What happened to the father at the end? Is Felix's boyfriend part of some sort of rebellion? All we got is a bunch of new questions. Do they really think we're all hanging on the edge of our seats waiting for the next season?

I suppose there's potential for something interesting to happen next season, but given that nothing interesting happened this season, I'm not exactly confident about that. I think the people writing this don't even know themselves where this is going which is why it's all such an enigma. TPTB aka Scott Gimple probably haven't decided what they want to do yet which makes this show all the more pointless.

Quote

I don't know if it's the actress personally or an acting/directing choice, but I really dislike the way Huck rolls her jaw around and smirks when she talks.   She's just fucking annoying. 

And she struts. She's camping it up with the tough guy persona. Even when she and Hope were exploring the upstairs, she strutted into that room she said was "not for us." It's corny as hell. 

The actress playing Huck was in an episode of The Romanoffs and she played a Russian baby broker. She was actually quite good in that. She's a good villain anyway. So I blame the writing and directing more than the actress. Her character is a cartoon.

[BasilSeal]

7 hours ago, Superclam said:

I wonder if the hooded figure at the end who turned out to be the boyfriend was originally supposed to be Rick, and they couldn't get Andrew Lincoln to do it? There was a lot of talk a while back about Rick making an appearance.

Also, if the boyfriend was at the CRM facility for the past however long, how did he know the Campus Colony was destroyed? It looks like the girl's father doesn't know.  

The father mentions to his creepy catfishing girlfriend  that Will has gone off with a patrol and not returned, so my guess would be that Will has gone outside the base with some CRM soldiers, as one would when you've been given the one job of protecting a guy who's staying inside the base, and they've bumped into some survivors from the Campus Colony who are no doubt annoyed with what the CRM have done, and have expressed this annoyance with extreme prejudice. so now only Will is left alive and he knows what the CRM have done.

[iMonrey]

Quote

  I wonder if the hooded figure at the end who turned out to be the boyfriend was originally supposed to be Rick, and they couldn't get Andrew Lincoln to do it? 

Possibly. I mean, that would explain the mysterious entrance with the hood lowered dramatically over his face so he could slowly reveal himself and make us all gasp! in surprise! Either that, or . . . cornball writing.

You be the judge.

I mean, who does that? Who walks around with a giant hood covering their face? How the hell could he even see where he was going? Was it raining? Dumb, dumb, dumb.

[txhorns79]

On 11/30/2020 at 3:38 PM, Nashville said:

Slip-on arm stocking to cover a full-sleeve tattoo chock full of profanity-laden - or even worse, trademarked! <shudder> - imagery. 

I think he was wearing some kind of arm cover.  You can find pictures of him online, and see what the tattoos under the arm cover look like.  Perhaps they thought the tattoos would be too distracting (or maybe wouldn't make sense for the character), even more so than the covering.

[Boofish]

How did Felix not realize that great value Rosita chopped into the back of his leg? He was nowhere near barbwire. I want Felix and Will to get rescued and sent to Alexandria. They are way too good for this show.

[Nashville]

On 11/30/2020 at 3:38 PM, MrPissyPuppy said:

Being able to take stuff apart and put things back together doesn't make a super genius. 

No shit; I’ve been doing the disassembly/reassembly thing since I was 6, and all I ever got for it was a belt even when everything worked fine afterwards - and that’s including the junk that wasn’t working when I started.  😄 

[Nashville]

On 11/30/2020 at 1:07 PM, OoohMaggie said:

Damn Sherlock, I think you’ve cracked the case 😂

So, basically... An Evening At the Improv, with zombies.

[GreyBunny]

In an alternate universe...

Elizabeth [shows up, finds the girls]: Want to go live with your dad?

Hope & Iris: Yes!

Elizabeth: Okay, grab your stuff and hop in!

[They all chopper away, the research compound has room for the spare girl to live there and find something useful to do.]

The end.

[Iguessnot]

I have a few questions. It took me until last night to finish this series so I'm not keen to rewatch yet to figure out the storyline.

From what I gathered at the end, Hope & Iris's home has been destroyed or taken over etc.

A few episodes ago one of the Brit Lady's soldiers balked and was taken into custody for questioning a previous massacre. Was said massacre that scene where she beckons the soldier to hand over a weapon and she dispatches a spray painted walker on the ground? And where they can't find "her".

Was this the site of a massacre? Because those looked like old walkers. If Hope is "her" why were they searching there? Hope was not hidden in her community, how was she identified as the asset and why was other destruction done to locate said asset?

 

[rmontro]

They made a point of showing that Elton wasn't upset with Hope for killing his mother, he was upset with his mother for killing Hope's mother.  I thought that was a convenient way of dropping that storyline so there wouldn't be much tension between them to deal with next season.  I could have done without that whole storyline honestly, it seemed like quite a coincidence, and apparently it's not going to be of any long term use.  More of a time killer, filler basically.

[Nashville]

3 hours ago, Iguessnot said:

I have a few questions. It took me until last night to finish this series so I'm not keen to rewatch yet to figure out the storyline.

I’ll give it a shot....

 

3 hours ago, Iguessnot said:

From what I gathered at the end, Hope & Iris's home has been destroyed or taken over etc.

Yes. At the start of the series Hope and Iris’s home is (and has always been) the Campus Colony located in Lincoln, Nebraska - a spin-off from a larger settlement located in Omaha NE.  The Campus Colony is the community featured throughout Episode 1.  
At the end of Ep1 we see the Campus Colony destroyed and its occupants killed by the Civic Republic Military (CRM) at the orders of Lieutenant Colonel Kublek (Brit Lady).

 

3 hours ago, Iguessnot said:

A few episodes ago one of the Brit Lady's soldiers balked and was taken into custody for questioning a previous massacre. Was said massacre that scene where she beckons the soldier to hand over a weapon and she dispatches a spray painted walker on the ground? And where they can't find "her".

Was this the site of a massacre? Because those looked like old walkers.

Yes - that was the Campus Colony massacre at the end of Ep1.  

 

3 hours ago, Iguessnot said:

If Hope is "her" why were they searching there? Hope was not hidden in her community, how was she identified as the asset and why was other destruction done to locate said asset?

The identity of the “her” being referenced in thst scene is still debatable; it could be either Hope (the “asset”), or Huck (tough girl, CRM spy, and Kublek’s daughter).

I suspect it would be safe to assume the CRM would not start killing everybody in the Campus Colony until they were certain their “asset” and companions were already out of the Colony and on their way to “rescue” Dad in NY. Once the CRM stormtroopers started wasting everybody in sight, though, it’s entirely possible Kublek was concerned her daughter might have been killed by friendly fire if Huck had not already left town as well - although I got the distinct impression any concern Kublek might’ve had for Huck’s well-being ranked a distinct second to Kublek’s concern for their “asset” and the associated mission.

[Nashville]

Side note: while we all knew Camp AngstRidden and Felix were clueless about the demise of the Campus Colony, it appears Huck knew nothing about it as well - which (a) is a little surprising, and (b) might be cause for concern on the part of Huck - if she were left out of that part of the mission, what else might she be left out of?

[Iguessnot]

3 hours ago, Nashville said:

I’ll give it a shot....

 

Yes. At the start of the series Hope and Iris’s home is (and has always been) the Campus Colony located in Lincoln, Nebraska - a spin-off from a larger settlement located in Omaha NE.  The Campus Colony is the community featured throughout Episode 1.  
At the end of Ep1 we see the Campus Colony destroyed and its occupants killed by the Civic Republic Military (CRM) at the orders of Lieutenant Colonel Kublek (Brit Lady).

 

Yes - that was the Campus Colony massacre at the end of Ep1.  

 

The identity of the “her” being referenced in thst scene is still debatable; it could be either Hope (the “asset”), or Huck (tough girl, CRM spy, and Kublek’s daughter).

I suspect it would be safe to assume the CRM would not start killing everybody in the Campus Colony until they were certain their “asset” and companions were already out of the Colony and on their way to “rescue” Dad in NY. Once the CRM stormtroopers started wasting everybody in sight, though, it’s entirely possible Kublek was concerned her daughter might have been killed by friendly fire if Huck had not already left town as well - although I got the distinct impression any concern Kublek might’ve had for Huck’s well-being ranked a distinct second to Kublek’s concern for their “asset” and the associated mission.

Wait, so you're telling me that invasion scene was a flash forward? Damn now I have to rewatch the whole thing because obviously I didn't comprehend anything I was watching. 

[Nashville]

5 hours ago, Iguessnot said:

Wait, so you're telling me that invasion scene was a flash forward? Damn now I have to rewatch the whole thing because obviously I didn't comprehend anything I was watching. 

If by “invasion scene” you mean the Campus Colony massacre, no that wasn’t a flash-forward; that happened the day after Hope and Iris and the boys set out to save Dad (and although they didn’t know it, with Felix and Huck right behind them).

Kublek’s motivation behind the massacre wasn’t immediately evident at the time; there was a WHOOOOLLLLE lotta shit going on behind the scenes before the WB timeline starts up in Episode 1 - most of which is revealed throughout the course of the subsequent episodes in flashbacks, and exposition discussion between the characters (mostly the scenes involving CRM characters and/or settings).  When Episode 1 picks up the WB timeline, though, the course of events runs something like this:

1. Kublek arrives at the Campus Colony via helicopter; ostensibly she’s there as a Civic Republic representative for the Colony’s Monument Day ceremonies, but her real purpose is to kick into gear her plan to get Hope away from the Campus and headed towards the CR.
2. The CRM is aware of Dr. Bennett’s “secret” set-up to communicate with his daughters, and uses it to send a fake message to Hope (and Iris) indicating Daddy might be in trouble.  
3. Alarmed, the girls show the message to Felix - who tells them that worried though they may be, they have no choice but to sit tight because nobody has any real idea where the CR (and therefore Daddy) are actually located.
4. That evening Kublek fakes being drunk and gives the Bennett girls a map indicating the general area where they can find Daddy - figuring they’ll immediately go charging off into the wilderness to save Daddy if they think he’s in real danger.
5. Surprise, surprise: the next day, another (fake) message from Daddy indicating he’s in real danger now.  
6. Hope and Iris immediately take off to rescue Daddy, of course, with Elton and Silas in tow - leaving Felix a note of explanation.
7. As soon as Felix finds the note, he and Huck take off to “rescue” the kids - Huck’s true motivation, of course, being totally unknown to Felix.
8. Shortly after Felix and Huck take off, Kublek and her discount stormtroopers go 100% Apocalypse Now on the Campus - destroying everything, killing everyone, and rigging the whole scene to make it look like the Campus was simply overrun by a zombie horde.

...and all THAT mess was frikkin’ Episode 1.

As to why Kublek felt it was necessary to nuke the entire Campus Colony?  Good fucking question, and one that has yet to be fully answered.  Kublek herself has thus far made little explanation beyond “tying up loose ends”, although killing some 9,600+ people on the off-chance one of them might know a secret and might let it slip...?  I dunno.  Comes across as a leeeetle too sociopathic for my tastes - but hey, maybe that’s just me.  🙄

[Nashville]

By the way, and in a related vein - something stood out to me in the final scene dialogue between Kublek and Huck after the helicopter landed.  I still have the episode on DVR so I pulled it up and kicked on the closed captioning - the conversation went like this - (some of my comments in brackets):

—————————

Kublek: Well done; seems we need a bit more work with her [Hope], but she’s not fighting it.

Huck: She won’t.  She knows what’s at stake.

Kublek: And I assume you were going to tell me about the loose ends?  That truck, the others still out there.  We heard the transmission [Elton’s walkie-talkie call, I assume].  Makes me wonder what they know.

Huck: The ones that are still out there?  They’re not a threat.

Kublek: I’m taking care of them.  We’ve found one.  We’ll get the rest.

Huck: You should’ve let me handle this.  I was gonna make sure they get back to the Campus Colony.

Kublek: I didn’t want to have to step in, but that incident back home before you left for Omaha put your judgment into question - at least in the eyes of others.  I had to see to it that your bringing us the asset was an unmitigated success - no loose ends - so I did.  I am.  And as far as the Campus Colony... we’ll talk.  A lot’s happened since you left.

—————————

Soooo, I’m curious; when do you reckon we’ll find out more about the “incident back home”?

[AG921]

On 12/2/2020 at 5:21 AM, GreyBunny said:

In an alternate universe...

Elizabeth [shows up, finds the girls]: Want to go live with your dad?

Hope & Iris: Yes!

Elizabeth: Okay, grab your stuff and hop in!

[They all chopper away, the research compound has room for the spare girl to live there and find something useful to do.]

The end.

THIS!

Plus, by making up the message that their Dad was in trouble it immediately put the girls at odds with the CFM, seeing them as bad for potentially hurting their dad. If the whole point was for Hope to start working with Dad then why not make up a message like "I need your help Hope! I will explain when you get here! Ask the CFM lady in charge to please take you in her helicopter! Or if you have to see what the world is like, your friend Huck will be happy to road trip with you!" 

I'm glad this show is planned for only two seasons, it makes me more inclined to stick around and see what happens but yeesh, I thought this was pretty terrible. 

[Iguessnot]

6 hours ago, Nashville said:

If by “invasion scene” you mean the Campus Colony massacre, no that wasn’t a flash-forward; that happened the day after Hope and Iris and the boys set out to save Dad (and although they didn’t know it, with Felix and Huck right behind them).

Kublek’s motivation behind the massacre wasn’t immediately evident at the time; there was a WHOOOOLLLLE lotta shit going on behind the scenes before the WB timeline starts up in Episode 1 - most of which is revealed throughout the course of the subsequent episodes in flashbacks, and exposition discussion between the characters (mostly the scenes involving CRM characters and/or settings).  When Episode 1 picks up the WB timeline, though, the course of events runs something like this:

1. Kublek arrives at the Campus Colony via helicopter; ostensibly she’s there as a Civic Republic representative for the Colony’s Monument Day ceremonies, but her real purpose is to kick into gear her plan to get Hope away from the Campus and headed towards the CR.
2. The CRM is aware of Dr. Bennett’s “secret” set-up to communicate with his daughters, and uses it to send a fake message to Hope (and Iris) indicating Daddy might be in trouble.  
3. Alarmed, the girls show the message to Felix - who tells them that worried though they may be, they have no choice but to sit tight because nobody has any real idea where the CR (and therefore Daddy) are actually located.
4. That evening Kublek fakes being drunk and gives the Bennett girls a map indicating the general area where they can find Daddy - figuring they’ll immediately go charging off into the wilderness to save Daddy if they think he’s in real danger.
5. Surprise, surprise: the next day, another (fake) message from Daddy indicating he’s in real danger now.  
6. Hope and Iris immediately take off to rescue Daddy, of course, with Elton and Silas in tow - leaving Felix a note of explanation.
7. As soon as Felix finds the note, he and Huck take off to “rescue” the kids - Huck’s true motivation, of course, being totally unknown to Felix.
8. Shortly after Felix and Huck take off, Kublek and her discount stormtroopers go 100% Apocalypse Now on the Campus - destroying everything, killing everyone, and rigging the whole scene to make it look like the Campus was simply overrun by a zombie horde.

...and all THAT mess was frikkin’ Episode 1.

As to why Kublek felt it was necessary to nuke the entire Campus Colony?  Good fucking question, and one that has yet to be fully answered.  Kublek herself has thus far made little explanation beyond “tying up loose ends”, although killing some 9,600+ people on the off-chance one of them might know a secret and might let it slip...?  I dunno.  Comes across as a leeeetle too sociopathic for my tastes - but hey, maybe that’s just me.  🙄

Thanks for the synopsis because unfortunately, just like before, I watch four minutes and pass out. Took me weeks to finish the first two episodes. I binged the last few episodes really well, even at the wee hours of the morn, but this first episode is my kryptonite.

[Nashville]

13 hours ago, Iguessnot said:

Thanks for the synopsis because unfortunately, just like before, I watch four minutes and pass out. Took me weeks to finish the first two episodes. I binged the last few episodes really well, even at the wee hours of the morn, but this first episode is my kryptonite.

No problem, and I agree: the first episode had all the riveting dramatic presence of a high school musical.

[For Cereals]

On 12/1/2020 at 7:22 PM, Boofish said:

great value Rosita

💀

[natyxg]

On 12/4/2020 at 10:14 AM, AG921 said:

THIS!

Plus, by making up the message that their Dad was in trouble it immediately put the girls at odds with the CFM, seeing them as bad for potentially hurting their dad. If the whole point was for Hope to start working with Dad then why not make up a message like "I need your help Hope! I will explain when you get here! Ask the CFM lady in charge to please take you in her helicopter! Or if you have to see what the world is like, your friend Huck will be happy to road trip with you!" 

I'm glad this show is planned for only two seasons, it makes me more inclined to stick around and see what happens but yeesh, I thought this was pretty terrible. 

I think the convoluted answer is that they wanted Hope to have some sort of growing up adventure so she could learn what the world is really like, what's at stake, so she could also toughen up and agree with their "we must do what must be done for the future at all cost" mentality. If she never felt in danger then that couldn't work? I guess?

Anyway, I thought this show was okay. There were some slow episodes, but overall I enjoyed that the characters had backstories and wounds. I also liked that the show seems to have a clear theme (or maybe two): "sometimes you have to do bad things for the greater good" and "everyone has some good and some bad in them". In Sila's episode, for example, we saw Sila's dad being a monster as well as being a good dad, and we saw military lady crying about destroying the colony and, I thought, putting up the volume of everything in her house to maybe drown out the bad memories or the screams. Same with Percy and his uncle. I like it when shows are trying to saying something, even if they stumble sometimes in how they do it.

I'm going to assume that something happened to trigger the Campus Colony massacre. That or military lady believes that only their city can exist. In which case, yikes. I imagine that Huck will be appalled when she finds out and this will eventually turn her against her mother.

I gotta say, I expected more people to be dead by season's end.

The sisters are okay, I guess. I knew Hope had to be the asset because from the first episode I thought that while Iris wanted to be the doctor or something, she was an artist at heart, while Hope was the one who knew how to make alcohol, which involves science. And bad guys are obsessed with science. Them being so obsessed with this random teen just because they think she's a genius is kind of ridiculous but I let it slide because I think they're supposed to be cray cray. Another group in the long list of Walking Dead groups who have lost their minds as a consequence of the zombie apocalypse. Also part of the reason why I watched this was because I wondered if this is the group who got Rick and they plan to tie all of this to the original show. I guess we'll see. Glad it's only two seasons, though.

Overall, it might be an unpopular opinion, I guess, but I thought this was some of the best stuff out of the WD universe in a while. Certainly much, much better than Fear the walking dead, that's for sure.

[Smad]

I'm late to the party but I just got around to finish watching this because I was bored and haven't watched anything TWD related in years.

So let me get this straight, all they are teaching in that colony in terms of walker killing is theoretical? Felix's class of 'hit the brain, don't tire yourself out etc.' is all they do? No practical applications whatsoever? Elton is teaching others martial arts which can't be part of 'kill walker training' because you are not going to get into a martial arts fight with the freaking undead. Then we are told by Huck that she was training with Hope specifically because Hope had asked her for it, so it wasn't part of the regularly scheduled program. And what a crappy teacher Huck, you think having someone wildly swing a baseball bat around is useful? Holy crap. And apparently they didn't cover camouflage in 'walker killing 101' which would have made things so much easier at the burning tires place. Not to mention would have helped the Colony people when the CRM send their walker horde in there. SO. MUCH. STUPID.

Speaking of the CRM. This show needs to step up and come out with the explanations fast because these people make no sense. So when we see Kublek at the end of episode 1 strolling through the destroyed colony she asks if they found 'her'. Her soldier tells her she wasn't among the 9000+ dead. What with the what? You want Hope but you decide to unleash holy hell on the campus before you know that she is away from this massacre? Or was she talking about Huck? Sure kill your daughter, why not. Why go through all this trouble (and waste of resources) shipping in undead and picking up some from the surrounding area when you could just throw a bomb (or lethal gas) into the center of the colony and have those people turn and kill everyone else from the inside? Why lead a walker horde across whatever distance when all it takes is for one of them to hear a noise and veer off and all the others follow? Do they have several feet high movable walls from ground up to coral them like cattle? Yeah no one will spot this from a distance. Nor will a distracted horde not push up against it and overpower your soldiers. That's just stupid. And apparently they will do the same to Omaha at several entry points. Really show? These people ain't the Whisperers.

I had to laugh my ass off when spy science lady said human life would be gone in 30 years. Well duh. When you feed the computer model the information that you kill off everyone not in those highly secret CRM bases and apply basic human behavior to it, it's extinction time. Because when there is nothing and no one outside, the problems will start within. Humans can't exist without conflict not to mention that their overtly militaristic approach would be fertile ground for power struggles. You don't need a computer model to tell you this, it's just common sense.

We are still no closer to discovering what's up with the As and Bs that were introduced on TWD main show with the CRM. Apparently they are very picky in regards to those (didn't seem like Jadis could just nap anyone). The only As we have seen so far on this show are the test subjects. I'm sorry but with millions of undead out there it should be easy to get test subjects. 10 years into the apocalypse they also shouldn't need any more alive people to test the progression of the virus on. So all they would need is alive people to test a cure on. But why then be so picky about them? You could just find a small colony like Alexandria or Hilltop and take every person from there. Seriously, what's up with the As and Bs?

On to the characters. All of them are very hit and miss. Iris and Silas are a snoozefest and I blame the actors for it. They are boring to watch on screen. Sometimes I find Elton's philosophical diatribe cute and other times I just think 'Do you ever talk like a normal person?'. However he IMO is one of the more decent actors in this. Hope is very hit and miss (because of the writing, not the actress). Felix seems to be the stick up his ass, token gay character. But at least he's watchable. Huck however is the worst and I don't mean the character. The actress and her 'ticks' are so cringe it's insane. The bottom lip sucking, tongue lolling, head tilts, bending body in half when talking to someone and the bouncing on her on feet while walking (which no one does in real life).

Edited August 21, 2021 by Smad