S07.E12: Sonny Boy

[nodorothyparker]

Streaming on AMC+. Proceed at your own risk for spoilers before airdate.

Airdate 06.08.22

Quote

When baby Mo goes missing inside the Tower, Dorie Sr. finds himself in a unique position to prove his worth to an increasingly paranoid Strand.

 

[Mr. Sparkle]

This one got better as the episode went on, but SO MUCH speech-ifying from Dorie Sr. Once again, it's the writing, in this case the dialogue, that kills this show.  

[Cigale]

Legacy!  Legacy!  Legacy!

Everybody wants a legacy!

[Primstone]

looks like some of the bubble head rad walkers have made it to the tower, and Dorie and June were real close to them

[chick binewski]

THANK YOU.

I know it's temporary but at least someone got Victor to shut the hell up.

[nodorothyparker]

What a waste of Keith Carradine.

I just can't anymore with this ridiculously mannered great dictator routine.

[maystone]

25 minutes ago, nodorothyparker said:

What a waste of Keith Carradine.

I just can't anymore with this ridiculously mannered great dictator routine.

It was a crappy final episode for such a good actor/character.  For the long history of TWD and FTWD, I've been always willing to cut the writers a break, but the writers for this season are indefensible by me. There's so little character integrity - hell, story integrity! - that nothing makes sense. Talking about a waste of a character: Colman Domingo should sue someone for the assassination of the complex and nuanced character that Strand once was. And while you're at it, Mr. Domingo, have a stern word with the wardrobe people.

Throwing people off that damn rooftop is done so often now, that it's just funny. Someone a lot cleverer than I am should do a compilation vid of all of the roof tosses and put it to music.

I just hate what's happening this season.

 

[Iguessnot]

My God, the staging. First the tunnel has a tsunami for no reason. Then June and Dorie dance with the gate and walkers in ways that make no sense. Then the gate is used to perfectly cover the little niche and the walkers stand around like kids at a concession stand.

Why did Dorie waaaallllk soooo sloooowlly to Morgan? Just friggin run. Do TPTB expect the audience to except this nonsense? When Dorie reaches Morgan, most of the hoard just hangs back and lets them converse a bit. Morgan walks away and then they welcome Dorie for supper.

I hadn't realized that phone deck was so open and unprotected. And how is it that all the security didn't see the gang with the baby at the front gates?

Also noticed that once again the fence supports are on the walker side. TWD misunderstands reverse engineering.

 

[nodorothyparker]

7 hours ago, maystone said:

It was a crappy final episode for such a good actor/character.  For the long history of TWD and FTWD, I've been always willing to cut the writers a break, but the writers for this season are indefensible by me. There's so little character integrity - hell, story integrity! - that nothing makes sense. Talking about a waste of a character: Colman Domingo should sue someone for the assassination of the complex and nuanced character that Strand once was. And while you're at it, Mr. Domingo, have a stern word with the wardrobe people.

Right? This show pulled off the really difficult feat of killing off very popular original recipe John Dorie and replacing him with the senior version also played by a longtime popular actor. In a way that mostly worked. But then it was like the show had no idea what to do with the character before finally killing him off in this mess of an episode. It still confounds me that this show and the franchise in general gets some of the actors it does and then mostly squanders them.

Strand used to be one of the more consistently interesting characters on the show and we know Coleman Domingo is capable of a lot more than this ridiculously mannered hamfisted great dictator performance in a succession of silly hats. As much as I thought I wanted to see Strand do a heel turn and evolve into a big bad, that's how much I'm not enjoying the execution of it.

[DavidWeis1]

The problem with this show (and the mother ship) is that NO ONE knows who to write characters. They are either good or so over the top it isn’t funny (hello, Governor!) I mean the writers create the impression of good characters. Look at the John Dories. Could have made for interesting, long-running characters. But what were they asked to do to further the script after their initial appearance? Not much. The actors probably got bored standing around for weeks with nothing to do, then having 2-3 days of lame-ass line reading to do. So, the actors moved on. I’m surprised Morgan didn’t leave. But now that Kim is coming back, maybe he will.

[iMonrey]

Ugh, John had the chance to kill Strand and all he did was knock him out. I've never been able to stand Stand. There is something very performative and stagey about the way Colman Domingo speaks in this role, and always has - not just this season. It sounds very unnatural against the other actors, it's like he thinks he's doing Shakespeare in the park. But yes, the absurd beret doesn't help matters any. He has officially become a cartoon character.

That's kind of been the problem with TWD, too, since around the Negan era. The franchise as a whole has more or less surrendered to being a comic book come to life, replete with all the visual absurdities that might work in a comic book but look really, really dumb in live action. 

I still don't understand how the Tower protects anyone from nuclear fallout. The mushroom cloud was visible from the windows. The wind does change directions, from time to time. 

[Starchild]

I don't know why people don't just leave the area. They're willing to move on for other reasons. Why not a frakkin' nuclear explosion? Seems like the best reason of all, really.

[ctlady]

On 5/9/2022 at 4:58 AM, Iguessnot said:

Why did Dorie waaaallllk soooo sloooowlly to Morgan? Just friggin run.

I thought that too.  But with the radiation poisoning, his clock was ticking so he probably figured why bother.

22 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Ugh, John had the chance to kill Strand and all he did was knock him out.

This concept has always bothered me - even on the other shows with all the baddies they had a chance to off (Negan, et al) but, of course, still need them to extend their character.  IRL ZA this would never happen.  It's like going into the prison yard and knocking out the biggest guy.  You get rid of the leader and his #2 , theres a good chance the underlings will follow because, in EOTW situations such as this there will be people like Strand and those who are complacent and compliant to just follow and live

Knowing how Strand won't think twice to manipulate someone to do his bidding by threatening people they care for, I'm surprised Dorie Sr. gambled on this play not knowing how Strand would react if caught - possibly putting Grace or Wendell's life in danger (he won't touch June because of her much needed nursing skills)

I wanted so bad for Henry to die.  He came across as a tushie kissing little minion to Strand.  I still don't understand how he wound up giving over all the power to Strand when he came to the tower.  Then when I heard his story I felt bad so when he finally went over the roof I wasn't cheering as loudly.  Nice touch seeing his walker-self on the ground when Dorie Sr was walking through

[Iguessnot]

48 minutes ago, ctlady said:

I thought that too.  But with the radiation poisoning, his clock was ticking so he probably figured why bother.

 

He was carrying an infant that he was on a mission to save. That slow stroll made no sense.

[Mr. Sparkle]

13 hours ago, Starchild said:

I don't know why people don't just leave the area. They're willing to move on for other reasons. Why not a frakkin' nuclear explosion? Seems like the best reason of all, really.

It's really unclear to me why this tower is the ultimate location in the universe. Fine, it's secure, but it's also a giant target. Seems to me there would be many ways to take it out. 

[tessabq]

Perhaps it makes me a terrible person but I laughed out loud seeing Dorie Sr. in his Don Quixote outfit.  First they "costume" Strand into Idi Amin and now this.    

A major waste of talent in both cases. The one thing tPTB excel at, it's wasting talented actors.

[KeithJ]

On 5/9/2022 at 3:58 AM, Iguessnot said:

Also noticed that once again the fence supports are on the walker side. TWD misunderstands reverse engineering.

 

There was an article about this somewhere when the mothership first got to Alexandria.  The support beams are actually stronger on the outside.  Steel tension is superior to steel compression or something like that.

[Iguessnot]

23 minutes ago, KeithJ said:

There was an article about this somewhere when the mothership first got to Alexandria.  The support beams are actually stronger on the outside.  Steel tension is superior to steel compression or something like that.

Does that apply to wood fencing? I'm not an engineer, but would those superior steel tension beams, need to originate deep underground, meaning a more elaborate construction?  

[KeithJ]

1 hour ago, Iguessnot said:

Does that apply to wood fencing? I'm not an engineer, but would those superior steel tension beams, need to originate deep underground, meaning a more elaborate construction?  

No idea (I'm not an engineer either).  I can't find the article anymore but I found a bunch of Reddit threads discussing it (where supposedly a real engineer answered the question).

[ctlady]

4 hours ago, Iguessnot said:

He was carrying an infant that he was on a mission to save. That slow stroll made no sense.

Yes - you're right.  Wasn't thinking of that.  I don't think the scene was in slo-mo.  Perhaps the writers wanted to show him doing that to punish himself in some way - for what he did to Henry for Strand, knowing baby Mo was safe under the armour.

[Iguessnot]

39 minutes ago, ctlady said:

Yes - you're right.  Wasn't thinking of that.  I don't think the scene was in slo-mo.  Perhaps the writers wanted to show him doing that to punish himself in some way - for what he did to Henry for Strand, knowing baby Mo was safe under the armour.

Just bad writing. If the walkers had taken him down in route, they would have gotten to her, especially after starting that ear piercing wailing.

[heisenberg]

On 5/8/2022 at 10:49 PM, maystone said:

Throwing people off that damn rooftop is done so often now, that it's just funny. Someone a lot cleverer than I am should do a compilation vid of all of the roof tosses and put it to music.

Benny Hill style!

[GRK]

On 5/10/2022 at 3:28 PM, Iguessnot said:

Just bad writing. If the walkers had taken him down in route, they would have gotten to her, especially after starting that ear piercing wailing.

I hate to say it, but I’ll be glad to see this show comes to an end! The writing is horrible, and why would you want to stay in a radioactive waste land. Go somewhere else, any place is better than there! The tower and baby Mo! Ridiculous!