S01.E01: Evie / Joe

[raven]

Quote

In a road-trip story, a reclusive prepper abandons his bunker in search of a female prepper from his past; along the way, he meets an unlikely ally who is his polar opposite; they team up in an effort to find their lost loved ones.

Streaming on AMC+. As always, proceed at your risk for spoilers before the airdate.

Airdate 22.08.14

[kevvoi]

I actually wouldn't have minded a longer visit with Evie and Joe - a decent episode. They really missed out - they should have had some zombies in football gear of the local team instead of using the postcards to show where they had wandered to next.

I did get a little peeved that the tires on his bike were slashed by the trap - and yet somehow magically Evie had replacement tires and was able to fix it while Joe was tied up.

Minor setting error though - there are very few rivers in the Lower Peninsula that flow over bedrock and none are that close to Mt. Pleasant. They would have been better off setting the prepper woman's bunker somewhere in the Upper Peninsula - perhaps the Escanaba area if they wanted a location that would look more like where they actually filmed.

[Mr. Sparkle]

Ha! I completely forgot it premiered already. I'll try tomorrow night. 

[diebartdie]

I am 15 or so minutes in and I hate Evie so much I hope Joe kills her in her sleep.

OK, finished the episode, still intensely dislike Evie BUT my final question is....why would they give up that sweet bunker? Just toss psycho zombie out. I like that everyone in the ZA grows and consumes weed.

Edited August 12, 2022 by diebartdie

[Mr. Sparkle]

Overall, I was bored, but it did pick up at the end. At 18 minutes I checked the clock to see how much time was left. 

Random thoughts:

• Terry Crews is an awful actor. 
• The woman in the bunker wasn't much better.
• Totally obvious that the woman in the bunker was a psycho and I'm usually embarrassingly dense about those kind of things. 

I'll watch the whole season, but this was a mediocre start. Not the worst WD thing ever, but not a great beginning. Hopefully they didn't put the best one first. 

11 hours ago, diebartdie said:

why would they give up that sweet bunker? Just toss psycho zombie out.

Seriously. I'd rather get high with Olivia Munn inside than piss outside. At least stay until all the food and weed is gone. Minimally, load up on supplies before you go. 

[OoohMaggie]

On 8/13/2022 at 2:44 AM, Superclam said:

Hopefully they didn't put the best one first.

Still haven’t seen No1 but if it’s worse than No2 😱

[Mr. Sparkle]

No. 2 is up now, I might watch it today or tomorrow. Let's see if it lives up to the title of "No. 2". 

[OoohMaggie]

1 hour ago, Superclam said:

No. 2 is up now, I might watch it today or tomorrow. Let's see if it lives up to the title of "No. 2". 

Well I’m afraid I’ve already pulled the chain on that, Zombies and funny has not only been done elsewhere, but also successfully. TWD is not the place. 🥺

Edited August 14, 2022 by OoohMaggie

[OoohMaggie]

The live posting didn’t go so well then, maybe they got the date wrong 🤔

[Mr. Sparkle]

Yep, that's it! Everyone's watching tonight! 

[Mr. Sparkle]

Upon reflection, it wasn't the worst thing to watch, but ultimately, it did not matter. It was a regular TWD story, just with different characters. Could have been any of the WD crew from any WD show meeting someone, getting into a jam, and then getting out. 

Maybe 6-8 years ago when this show was still buzz-worthy it might have mattered. But now, honestly, who cares? 

[OoohMaggie]

35 minutes ago, Superclam said:

Yep, that's it! Everyone's watching tonight! 

Well they certainly would be in the UK if it was the old show, the 24 hour delay being our penance for daring to live in some far off minor colony or other 🥺

Yet there is still no information as to how we can watch this extravaganza if so desired, not a word. Judging by reviews and what’s been seen, maybe I should be coming across as being slightly more grateful of this situation 🙄

Edited August 15, 2022 by OoohMaggie

[Mr. Sparkle]

My friend, you missed an average, opposites attract, road trip story featuring characters you'll never see again (or miss,) played by actors with some appeal. It carries no import into the WD Universe. 

[kevvoi]

After thinking about it some more, I have some serious questions about how they actually made it to Mt. Pleasant. Joe and Evie had to travel through a pretty populous portion of Ohio. I know they went through Lima - and I think they would have had to go past Toledo to head north to Ann Arbor and Flint.  So they would have had to cross the I-94 and I-96 corridors in southern Michigan in order to head north to Mt. Pleasant. Roughly a 1/4 of Michigan's population lives within 20 miles of I-94 - which connects Detroit to Chicago (and of course continues on north of Chicago). I-94 is incredibly busy at the best of times - and I suspect in an apocalypse would have been a parking lot of wrecked cars and semi-trucks stretching from Kalamazoo to Detroit including bigger pile-ups around Battle Creek, Jackson, and Ann Arbor. With the berms and fencing along long stretches of I-94 - it would have bottled up large hordes of the dead to walking along it. I think the route they mentioned took them through Ann Arbor to Flint and then on to Mt. Pleasant - so M-23 would have likely been the straightest route - which then would have them cross over the I-96 corridor (which connects Grand Rapids-Lansing-Detroit) - probably the second most populous corridor in Michigan. I-96 would likely be just as much a nightmare of wrecks and zombies during the apocalypse as the I-94 corridor.

I don't remember them giving any indicators for the route from Flint to Mt Pleasant - but I guess, they could have gone up I-75 to the Saginaw-Bay City area then take M-20 through Midland to get to Mt. Pleasant. This area is still fairly populous, but with more farmland.

I really feel like the show made their road trip too easy.

[Nashville]

They almost lost me before they got started.

Kill a dog within the first 5 minutes?

Burn in hell, you bastards. 🤬🤬🤬

[ctlady]

On 8/12/2022 at 11:49 AM, diebartdie said:

OK, finished the episode, still intensely dislike Evie BUT my final question is....why would they give up that sweet bunker?

Complete with a security system!  You must've heard me and Mr. Ctlady yell this at the tv as well.  They left a secure bunker with supplies to go travel side by side - on foot - with no provisions, protection or transportation.  What a joke!

4 hours ago, Nashville said:

They almost lost me before they got started.

Kill a dog within the first 5 minutes?

I was peeved by that too, but then I remembered - Gilligan was old and went out fighting - protecting his hooooman.  Just like Shiva did with Ezekiel

I'm not sure I like campiness combined with the ZA.  Sort of cheapens the whole TWD franchise and makes it look more like one of those C/D list zombie movies you see on SyFy

Where was the container of spare fuel for the bike? I think it was electric/solar charges, but still...just in case.   They traveled all across that terrain and didn't come across one desperate person(s) looking to rob them?  Clear sailing all the way?  Just, no way.  And two idiot moves by each of them:

1) Joe starts his bike and leaves it running with his back to it while he goes back inside the warehouse when Evie calls him.  Shut.It.Off.  Too late now

2) When Evie knocks out 'dots with an i' (or was she crossed with a t?), and goes to rescue/untie Joe, she has her back to the door.  This happens in practically all Lifetime moves about psychos.  You knock them out, they fall unconscious and you immediately think you're safe to go and have a long hug with your loved one you just rescued.  No!  Make.Sure.They're.Dead!  I was waiting for psycho brownie woman to close that door and trap them both inside.  Was glad that didn't happen.  So, in the ZA - make sure someone ALWAYS has your back.

This looks like it may just be a fun filler until the mother show begins their final episodes in October

[deemac]

16 hours ago, Nashville said:

They almost lost me before they got started.

Kill a dog within the first 5 minutes?

Burn in hell, you bastards. 🤬🤬🤬

I wish I'd read this before I decided to watch it for curiosity's sake rather than just delete the recording.  And what they hey!  Gilligan old?  I've had many old dogs in my 70 years but never one with a perfectly black muzzle.  Deleted it immediately and won't watch another.

[Nashville]

3 hours ago, deemac said:

I wish I'd read this before I decided to watch it for curiosity's sake rather than just delete the recording.  And what they hey!  Gilligan old?  I've had many old dogs in my 70 years but never one with a perfectly black muzzle.  Deleted it immediately and won't watch another.

Regardless - storyline-wise, an old lifelong friend deserves better. 🤬🤬🤬

That being said, I liked the rest of the episode better than I expected.  
DEFINITELY not OG TWD quality, to be sure - more like a cross between TWD and Z Nation - but Terry Crewes did not suck near as egregiously as I expected

In the interests of transparency, though: THAT bar was already so low you’d be hard-put to slide a sheet of paper under it.

[seacliffsal]

I, too, didn't understand why they left the bunker.  Were they hoping to find more humans?  Nevertheless, I hope the lamb lives to a ripe old age, but most likely not.  Sigh.  So did Evie only want to see the painting?  Why did she leave the cabin to look for Joe instead of looking for whoever it was she was looking for?  And, wow, what a coincidence that they both had the same destination!?!  (I am rolling my eyes as I write this...).  I found all 3 characters tedious (especially since one of them had to put clown makeup on before killing some?).  Oh well.

[iMonrey]

I should know better than to expect good writing from TWD universe at this point but these characters fell victim to some of the worst Idiot Plot writing I've ever seen. Joe leaves the bike running because Evie calls him into the warehouse, where he simply must go? To see what she has gleaned from reading his internet hard copies? Because she simply couldn't walk out to him instead? He had to come running to her? Why again? Oh. So someone could steal the bike. Which he conveniently left running for them. 

I found it hard to get past that.

[Nashville]

On 8/18/2022 at 7:11 PM, seacliffsal said:

I, too, didn't understand why they left the bunker.  Were they hoping to find more humans? 

This made zero sense to me as well - but I guess it was in keeping with this half-assed storyline that Evie is painted as some sort of New Age discount Manic Pixie Dream Girl, so of course Joe is going to follow her anywhere….  🙄

On 8/18/2022 at 7:11 PM, seacliffsal said:

So did Evie only want to see the painting?  Why did she leave the cabin to look for Joe instead of looking for whoever it was she was looking for? 

The paintings verified EV had correctly her ex’s cabin, but the open door and the general state of the place also made it clear it had been deserted for sometime - so he was either dead, or had hit the road a while ago.

On 8/18/2022 at 7:11 PM, seacliffsal said:

And, wow, what a coincidence that they both had the same destination!?!

Now THAT was no coincidence.

1. Joe initially had only a vague notion of where in the country his internet pen pal lived.
2. Evie was familiar with Joe’s target region, though - and from the chat transcripts and the picture of psycho chick’s house, Evie was able to pin down the location for Joe.
3. So - once Evie had verified for herself that her ex was no longer to be found, it’s not too big of a leap for her to head where she knew Joe was going.

[WritinMan]

Wow, I couldn't make it past 10 minutes of this. Maybe I'm just tired of The Walking Dead universe, but I thought this was really bad. The acting was weak (and I typically like Terry Crews and Olivia Munn) and the story was just silly. It all seemed really cheap, too.

Edited August 24, 2022 by WritinMan

[OoohMaggie]

Finally managed to see the show, and to think I was willing to pay for AMC+ to watch this 😂🤣😂🤣

Even with a budget that makes TWB look extravagant, times that by six, divide the screen time by two and they could have produced two movie length features. They could have made a really good one about Alpha, showed what happened to Rick to build up to the spin-off, Abraham, even showed what happened to the Vatos.

Having said that, I did actually like the characters, usual silliness aside I wouldn’t have minded seeing a couple more episodes featuring them.

What was the bike supposed to be powered by?

[Mr. Sparkle]

3 minutes ago, OoohMaggie said:

What was the bike supposed to be powered by?

[Nashville]

6 hours ago, OoohMaggie said:

What was the bike supposed to be powered by?

I think it’s electric (possibly hybrid), with recharging solar panels attached to exterior surfaces.

[Fellaway]

7 hours ago, Nashville said:

I think it’s electric (possibly hybrid), with recharging solar panels attached to exterior surfaces.

I love your profile pic! That is one of the best commercials ever. That poor serial killer. It's so hard finding victims worthy of his talents.

To topic, yes, I think you're right regarding the motorcycle. And what bad writing that was. I don't think they could've found a lamer way to separate Joe from his bike.

[Nashville]

2 hours ago, Fellaway said:

I love your profile pic! That is one of the best commercials ever. That poor serial killer. It's so hard finding victims worthy of his talents.

That’s my boy; he is me on most workdays.

2 hours ago, Fellaway said:

To topic, yes, I think you're right regarding the motorcycle. And what bad writing that was. I don't think they could've found a lamer way to separate Joe from his bike.

They probably could have, but they would’ve  had to work REAL hard at it…  🙄

[OoohMaggie]

20 hours ago, Nashville said:

I think it’s electric (possibly hybrid), with recharging solar panels attached to exterior surfaces.

I thought it sounded remarkably like the 60’s Batmobile 🤔

Edited August 26, 2022 by OoohMaggie

[BasilSeal]

I quite liked this one, it was obvious that Bunker Karen was a psycho, in fact the whole thing was a bit obvious but it was amiable enough.

On 8/19/2022 at 1:11 AM, seacliffsal said:

I, too, didn't understand why they left the bunker.

The writers wanted to show that Joe has turned his back on the bunker mentality, the message is that hiding in a hole in the ground has kept him alive but it wasn't living, so he rides off into the sunset with his new friend Evie to enjoy all sorts of exciting new possibilities, like starving to death or having your face eaten by a reanimated rotting corpse.

The writers needed them to leave the bunker to convey the show's themes, the fact the leaving makes no sense just highlights that the writers aren't very good. ~having characters do things that seem illogical, counter intuitive or against their previous apparent personalities just to move the plot forward or make some point is a common trope in TWD, i doubt they're going to change any time soon.

On 8/22/2022 at 2:28 AM, Nashville said:

So - once Evie had verified for herself that her ex was no longer to be found, it’s not too big of a leap for her to head where she knew Joe was going.

The coincidence is not that Evie goes to look for Joe after she finds her ex is long gone, but that her ex lived just a short walk from bunker Karen, i mean, how lucky is that?

[raven]

Finally getting around to watching and this ep was the perfect encapsulation of TWD.  Start off strong and slowly devolve into nonsense.   Right away I'm rooting for Joe because 1) he loves his dog 2) he's survived and thrived.    Joe carrying Gilligan outside to pee got to me.   I had a feeling Gilligan wasn't long for this episode and at least he went out fighting.

It was all downhill from there so I'll just quote @BasilSeal

On 11/25/2022 at 6:24 PM, BasilSeal said:

The writers needed them to leave the bunker to convey the show's themes, the fact the leaving makes no sense just highlights that the writers aren't very good. ~having characters do things that seem illogical, counter intuitive or against their previous apparent personalities just to move the plot forward or make some point is a common trope in TWD, i doubt they're going to change any time soon.

Exactly.  I'm picturing Joe, Evie and the lamb all torn apart by the side of the road and then Joe and Evie get up and shamble around for eternity.