S11.E08: For Blood

[raven]

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The Reapers defend Meridian from a herd; Alexandrians protect themselves from walkers in a storm.

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AMC+ airdate: 2021.10.03   AMC airdate: 2021.10.10

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[OoohMaggie]

Is that supposed to be a cliffhanger? The worst thing I can see happening is Elijah jumping in front of the Magster and taking a few fireworks for his trouble. 
They should have concentrated on the attack and not bothered with Alex and whether Judith is going to drown or get eaten.

Boring villain finally dispatched,  ✅

Is Leah going to carry on the hunt?

[Mr. Sparkle]

17 hours ago, OoohMaggie said:

They should have concentrated on the attack and not bothered with Alex and whether Judith is going to drown or get eaten.

I haven't watched yet, and I'll do so begrudgingly tonight. But I can't for the life of me think of who Alex is. 

ETA: so I googled it, and I still have no idea who Alex is. 

[Mr. Sparkle]

Alright, I just watched it, who TF is Alex? 

Overall, a whatever episode. More action than talking, but it was just to set up the cliffhangers. 

At least Popeye is gone. Leah could be a more interesting villain because there's some nuance there. 

[OoohMaggie]

On 10/5/2021 at 2:50 AM, Superclam said:

Alright, I just watched it, who TF is Alex? 

Alex - Alexandria………….🤭 

 

 

[OoohMaggie]

On 10/5/2021 at 2:50 AM, Superclam said:

Overall, a whatever episode

Apologies if I gave the impression that something mysterious and interesting was on the cards, I know how painful that can be 😂

[Mr. Sparkle]

7 minutes ago, OoohMaggie said:

Apologies if I gave the impression that something mysterious and interesting was on the cards, I know how painful that can be 😂

I was all excited for this hot new chick Alex. 🤪

[raven]

On 10/4/2021 at 9:50 PM, Superclam said:

Leah could be a more interesting villain because there's some nuance there. 

Yeah, I was glad she didn't run to be with Daryl & true love, etc.

I liked that Pope is dead - seriously, waste of time character.  I guess he was there to cement Leah being loyal to her family. Whatever.

I always like Fr Gabe getting his badass on.  Rosita doing her best Michonne impression was fun.  Gracie - sigh - NO ONE is still watching these kids, who should know better.  I am kind of liking Judith. 

Don't stare and gape at the new weapon, people.  I'm sure all of the principals will be fine.

Kang in the after special "our people are learning, getting smarter"  Me:  "Hahahaha!  What show are YOU watching?"

[Starchild]

2 hours ago, raven said:

Rosita doing her best Michonne impression was fun. 

I got a post-Reavers River Tam vibe lol

[Iguessnot]

Lousy writing on this episode. Maybe I'm missing nuances, but everything is a mishmash. Did anyone at Meridan question what happened to the guy Daryl knifed? Daryl's reveal just didn't seem believable at all. 

Why haven't the windows been shuttered years ago? Why wasn't everyone upstairs a long time ago? I noticed the walkers easily walked up the stairs to the front door.

Maggie told Gabriel we do this, we take the food and go home. That statement sounds like they planned to steal the food and slip out unnoticed. I think Maggie and Megan agreed the Reapers must be eliminated, so I don't know what Maggie's line was supposed to mean.

 

[iMonrey]

It feels like we wasted an awful lot of time on the Reapers. They seemed like a pointless distraction from the Commonwealth. Speaking of which, they kind of gave away the game in the previews as to where that's going. 

[GustavMahler]

I realized how my mindset has changed over the years while watching TWD. With a cliffhanger like this, years back I would think: "Damn, I hope (insert name) does not die." Now I think: "I hope they all fucking die already!"

[madmax]

Wasn't a bad episode, but a lot of wasted time back at home.  Of course nothing's going to happen to Judith and Gracie.  I would have rather seen what Aaron or Carol were up to.

Glad Pope is gone.  He was an irritating character.  I guess his sole purpose was to set up Leah as the ultimate baddie.

I did like Rosita's line after she came back in all River Tam like (thanks @Starchild):  Let's stay away from the windows.

[iMonrey]

The episode was surprisingly Negan-lite, I'll give it that. 

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Glad Pope is gone.  He was an irritating character.  I guess his sole purpose was to set up Leah as the ultimate baddie.

I guess, but again, why devote so much time to yet another psycho murdering group leader? I mean, the actor was really good in the role but we've already gone thru countless characters of this type already, and this is the last season. I don't know if this character was in the comic books and I really don't care, because the show should try to elevate its own material if the source is repetitive and subpar.

It's gotten to the point where this show just recycles the same scenario over and over again. Invent some new gang of thugs led by some charismatic but murderous villain so the "heroes" have someone new to fight and overcome. Lather, rinse, repeat. And it's looking more and more like the Commonwealth is just another iteration of that too. 

[madmax]

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

I don't know if this character was in the comic books and I really don't care, because the show should try to elevate its own material if the source is repetitive and subpar. 

I don't remember him from the comics, but I read it a while ago.

They have shown that they can elevate the comic material (Daryl, Carol's arc), but they seem to just go for the lowest common denominator.  And that sucks.  This season should have been more about the Commonwealth, not just the last half of the season (which will still be interspersed with Leah and her drama).

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

3 hours ago, madmax said:

Wasn't a bad episode, but a lot of wasted time back at home.  Of course nothing's going to happen to Judith and Gracie.  I would have rather seen what Aaron or Carol were up to.

Glad Pope is gone.  He was an irritating character.  I guess his sole purpose was to set up Leah as the ultimate baddie.

I did like Rosita's line after she came back in all River Tam like (thanks @Starchild):  Let's stay away from the windows.

Couldn't stand the Pope character,  he had the hardest time trying to avoid speaking with an accent, someone should have plugged him way back in the season. 

[nodorothyparker]

Some reviewer I can't remember now said Pope was a red herring so Daryl could delude himself into thinking that Leah was a poor put-upon victim with all of her misguided loyalties and talk of staying with the Reaper group because "family" who would surely flee with Daryl first chance she got. It wasn't until Leah took the first immediate opening to gut Pope and pin it on Daryl that it finally dawned on him that she's a Reaper because she wants to be. I can see that. Too bad it took the entire first third of the final season to set that up though.

I just hope that Pope's death doesn't mean that we never find out what Maggie did to honk him off so bad. They all keep speaking of her as THE ENEMY in all caps, so it must have been something. I swear their ultimate weapon looked like it came straight out of Acme mail order with its ridiculously long fuse.

Eleven seasons in and we still have kids who can't stay where they're supposed to be. 

 

 

[heisenberg]

5 hours ago, nodorothyparker said:

Eleven seasons in and we still have kids who can't stay where they're supposed to be. 

You mean that the orphanage is not safe I guess, and for most of them the parents are not even dead.

[rmontro]

22 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I don't know if this character was in the comic books and I really don't care, because the show should try to elevate its own material if the source is repetitive and subpar.

Neither Pope nor the Reapers were in the comic books.

[heisenberg]

23 hours ago, iMonrey said:

because the show should try to elevate its own material if the source is repetitive and subpar.

That is quite the inverse.  AMC is trying to print money by diluting everything.

[ctlady]

On 10/11/2021 at 1:30 AM, Iguessnot said:

Maggie told Gabriel we do this, we take the food and go home. That statement sounds like they planned to steal the food and slip out unnoticed.

I honestly believe Maggie did not think this through. Negan has more sense than her, sorry to say.  Was also wondering just how much food is there that they're trying to get.  Enough for only 4 people to shove in their backpacks and trudge back to Alexandria?  That still wouldn't be enough for everyone there.  We saw the food storehouse in the last episode, but inside only briefly so not sure how much is really inside, but if they need a truck to get it out of there, they will need to take out all the Reapers so they can pack up and take off without having to watch their backs

[SharonH58]

How many people are in Alexandria now?   And was that the prison room that was flooding in whatever house all those people seemed to be in?  I don't see why Judith didn't slice some of those zombies instead of them retreating into the flooding basement.   She's smarter than that but the writers aren't.   I don't feel any cliff hanger vibes as we know all will be well.  Except for maybe Virgil.  I think he got bit in the hand.   The Reapers were a big let down,  not that I think they are gone for good yet until something happens to Leah.  

[nodorothyparker]

5 hours ago, ctlady said:

Was also wondering just how much food is there that they're trying to get.  Enough for only 4 people to shove in their backpacks and trudge back to Alexandria?  That still wouldn't be enough for everyone there.

I wondered about this too about the same time Maggie was able to hotwire a truck 11 years post ZA. I initially assumed that she was stealing the truck because she knew where there was a good sized cache of food and they'd need the truck to haul it, but nope, just gonna crash into the gates and leave it and then I guess magic whatever long expired canned goods they stumbled upon back to Alexandria. If that's the extent of the plan to bring back what only four people can carry on foot, it hardly seems worth a third of a final season's efforts.

[ctlady]

11 minutes ago, nodorothyparker said:

I wondered about this too about the same time Maggie was able to hotwire a truck 11 years post ZA.

Yeah, I snorted to Mr. Ctlady about that.  Maggie the farm girl meets Grand Theft Auto - unless she cut her teeth hotwiring John Deere machinery

[madmax]

5 hours ago, ctlady said:

Maggie the farm girl meets Grand Theft Auto - unless she cut her teeth hotwiring John Deere machinery

I can fanwank that she learned it during her years away from the main group, when she did whatever it was that pissed off Pope.

I just don't understand how all these vehicles are still running.  Gas doesn't last that long.

Edited October 14, 2021 by madmax

[econ07]

12 hours ago, ctlady said:

We saw the food storehouse in the last episode, but inside only briefly so not sure how much is really inside, but if they need a truck to get it out of there, they will need to take out all the Reapers so they can pack up and take off without having to watch their backs

In 2 seconds, you have thought through the scenarios much better than the writers.

[tennisgurl]

Not much Negan at least, which I can get behind. So what exactly was the point of the Reavers? Other than being yet another band of murderous psychos led by some supposedly charismatic leader who they all blindly follow. So Darryl finally realizes that his girlfriend isn't some poor innocent victim of Pope and is actually fully committed to being part of their lame gang, and will hopefully move on and find something interesting to do. Can we be done with these guys please? And cross our fingers that the Commonwealth will be more interesting?

I did enjoy Rosita and Gabriel getting their badass on, being some of the characters that I am actually still invested in. I would certainly rather hang out with them then with random people who keep popping up all of the time like I am supposed to know who they are. 

How are we so far into this show and kids are still stupidly wandering off like this is some B movie slasher? This wasn't an awful episode, but like a lot of this season, its just meh, which is especially bad so close to the end.