S11.E17: Lockdown

[nodorothyparker]

AMC airdate 10/0/2022. Streaming on AMC+. As always proceed at your own risk for spoilers before the episode airs.

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Daryl and Negan rush to the commonwealth to stop Hornsby. Pamela deals with protesters demanding justice for Sebastian's crimes. Mercer needs Rosita's help.

[OoohMaggie]

Well after managing to watch it more down to chance rather than planning, I think it started out Ok, there were the de rigueur moments of schlock horror silliness but overall I enjoyed the episode. It was good to see the guys again, maybe the fact that these are the very last episodes that we’ll see everybody together could have softened my normal critical comments, or maybe they managed to pull together a pretty decent episode at last, I’ll need to watch again.
The whole ‘nice Negan’ thing is taking a while to get my head around, I suppose I’ve got to deal with it if I’m going to enjoy him and the beautiful one zip lining around Manhattan 🙄

Altogether a pretty decent beginning of the end, it could have been a lot, lot worse let’s face it.

[seacliffsal]

Kind of sad that the best part of the episode was watching the scenes of people and seasons past.  It seems to me that a lot of the new characters in whom I have never been invested are boring (and the acting seems really subpar).  So, New Negan is slowly being accepted by the originals?  

Not much of a lockdown (they should have referenced all of the lockdowns during covid as this one just felt meh).

I'm here until the bitter end and hoping that there will be a pay-off as the show winds down.  However, it seems like there aren't that many of us still around.

[iMonrey]

2 replies? Wow. Just . . . wow.

Bright side, we most of the cast. Hopefully they keep that up. Otherwise, I've really lost the thread on the whole Commonwealth thing. And I even watched a recap of S11 parts 1 and 2 on YouTube to refresh my memory. I can't remember what the deal is with Hornsby or why he wants to kill them all, and didn't the last episode end with him at Oceanside? What happened with that?

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Kind of sad that the best part of the episode was watching the scenes of people and seasons past.  It seems to me that a lot of the new characters in whom I have never been invested are boring (and the acting seems really subpar). 

Yeah seeing Rick and Shane just reminded me what a crap job the show has done making me care about a lot of the newer characters like Yumiko, Connie, Magna, Kelly, etc. 

[GustavMahler]

I am still here, as there is no reason not to go to the finish line. Besides, as most new shows are hot garbage, this has me appreciating TWD more than I have.

[SharonH58]

Meh.  I too have lost the Commonwealth thread but I have zero interest in any of them.  I didn't recognize Yumiko at first.  Glad there was no princess.  I find her as annoying as Eugene.

[SharonH58]

There are too many characters.  We need a massive purging.   Maybe what's her name Milton will go on a killing spree.   And besides destroying Commonwealth, which is what our people do to every new place they go, what is the plan?

[KeithJ]

I'm still here as well and and in until the end.

I actually mostly liked this episode.  One question though, when Pamela was got into her vehicle, what was "B14"?  Did she give an order to release that horde of walkers?

Edited October 4, 2022 by KeithJ

[OoohMaggie]

Who exactly designed the stormtrooper uniforms? Seriously, what can better a full motorcycle outfit? All the resources and industry wasted by the Commonwealth to produce that ineffectual plastic nonsense, just because it might look impressive and we’re expected to just wave it by,  at least the CRM looked a little more bite proof than these clowns 😱

Edited October 5, 2022 by OoohMaggie

[CapeCodLuv]

I'm still watching but I feel like it's the sunken cost fallacy. I've spent so many years so I'll see it to the end even though I no longer enjoy. I don't watch live anymore, I set my DVR and watch while working from home or whenever I get a chance, background noise.  I only care what happens to the few long time characters and since there are so many spin offs planned the mystery as to whether they live or die is kind of lost. I guess I kind of want to see how it wraps up and how they will get started on their next journey, but I will not be watching any spin off to see how that journey goes. I hope they end it with a safe home for those that want it. I have no idea what the end of the world would be like but if I just went off my small town and the neighboring towns there certainly wouldn't be so many heinous villains. But then I guess there would be no show.

I did get a chance to watch Season 1 on AMC a couple of weekends ago, man that was good TV!

[iMonrey]

Maybe I missed something but how did the jeep overturn at the end? Did they just drive right up to the hoard and all the walkers pushed them over?

[SharonH58]

16 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Maybe I missed something but how did the jeep overturn at the end? Did they just drive right up to the hoard and all the walkers pushed them over?

They never showed or explained how they turned over.

[OoohMaggie]

21 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Did they just drive right up to the hoard and all the walkers pushed them over?

Just more nonsense that defies belief, I bet the vehicle maintenance team who managed to keep those Jeeps without so much as a scratch on any of them were deeply pissed, they all appeared to be in showroom condition 🙄 it just never ends does it? 

[Nashville]

5 hours ago, SharonH58 said:

They never showed or explained how they turned over.

Ah, Jeep’s just be doing that kind of stuff all the time donchaknow.  I remember the last time my Jeep just up and flipped over without any warning; it killed me, and I was so piiissssed….  😆

[tennisgurl]

Its sad, here we are at the end of what was once one of the biggest shows on television and one of my favorites, and now I needed to be reminded that it was even back again. This wasn't an awful start, but this show is really going out with a whimper and not a bang so far. I had to go to a recap to even remember what was happening in the Commonwealth, what Sebastian did, and what Hornsby's deal is. I did like seeing so many of the characters I actually like all together at least and we got a few cool bloody horror moments, nothing really angered or overly annoyed me at least, which makes this better than a lot of episodes. Although some of my good feelings might be the nostalgia buzz of seeing those clips from the first few seasons, seeing Rick and Shane really makes me think about how great this show used to be. 

Negan might as well be Negan long lost twin, he has so little in common with the guy we first met. 

I am hoping we can at least end on a decent note, I'm staying here until the bitter end. 

[Mr. Sparkle]

1 hour ago, OoohMaggie said:

Just more nonsense that defies belief, I bet the vehicle maintenance team who managed to keep those Jeeps without so much as a scratch on any of them were deeply pissed, they all appeared to be in showroom condition 🙄 it just never ends does it? 

It did make me think, as all those matching new jeeps went driving by. Maybe get enclosed vehicles, since there are hordes of reanimated humans that try to eat people? I know, I'm just being silly. 

[ctlady]

On 10/3/2022 at 5:36 PM, iMonrey said:

Yeah seeing Rick and Shane just reminded me what a crap job the show has done making me care about a lot of the newer characters like Yumiko, Connie, Magna, Kelly, etc. 

I know shows have to progress - especially ones on over a decade - and in the case of TWD, there's going to be a turnover due to death whether by walker, starvation or coming across the wrong people.  I like Connie & Kelly, but Yumiko with her smugness and Magna with her pouty lipped expression can go away

On 10/4/2022 at 9:44 AM, SharonH58 said:

Glad there was no princess.  I find her as annoying as Eugene.

When Princess was first introduced I was like.., "UGH - shut up!". But....after a while she mellowed out and kinds grew on me.  She's smart, she's a survivor and can pull her own weight.  I liked her hooking up with Mercer last season

On 10/3/2022 at 6:02 PM, GustavMahler said:

I am still here, as there is no reason not to go to the finish line. Besides, as most new shows are hot garbage, this has me appreciating TWD more than I have.

Same here.  It's hard to find new shows that haven't succumbed to 'woke-ism' is some way shape or form.  TV shows are supposed to be an escape from the goings on in the world - not a vehicle to preach an agenda.  Just entertain me, dangit!

On 10/4/2022 at 9:56 AM, SharonH58 said:

 And besides destroying Commonwealth, which is what our people do to every new place they go, what is the plan?

I'm guessing from the commercials showing previews for Dead City with Negan & Maggie, the Rich & Michonne spinoff and the Carol & Daryl spinoff, that destroying Commonwealth is exactly what will happen so these characters can segue into their new city.  I'm wondering if Dead City will be the destroyed Commonwealth

On 10/4/2022 at 11:50 AM, KeithJ said:

Did she give an order to release that horde of walkers?

I believe so.  Just like someone in charge who needs to deflect one crisis (people protesting for Sebastian's head) by creating another (releasing a swarm) in order to force the protestors into lockdown.  Pamela would've had a good career in politics!

On 10/4/2022 at 3:04 PM, OoohMaggie said:

Who exactly designed the stormtrooper uniforms? Seriously, what can better a full motorcycle outfit? All the resources and industry wasted by the Commonwealth to produce that ineffectual plastic nonsense, just because it might look impressive and we’re expected to just wave it by,

Mr. Ctlady and I think these uniforms are ridiculous.  Were they designed and manufactured by the Commonwealth or did they get heist these from somewhere?  Perhaps the props room at Skywalker Ranch?  

On 10/4/2022 at 6:00 PM, iMonrey said:

Maybe I missed something but how did the jeep overturn at the end? Did they just drive right up to the hoard and all the walkers pushed them over?

The swarm could've pushed it over.  And, of course, the Commonwealth police force with their semi-automatic weapons are about as inept as Star Wars storm troopers with blasters

16 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Negan might as well be Negan long lost twin, he has so little in common with the guy we first met

The old Negan needed to be reformed so Maggie can trust him enough for their new series

And Mercer - when walkers are clamped onto a guys legs while you have his arms and he begins to split in half.....let.him.go!  He just kept pulling and pulling.  As soon as he started to split, he was beyond saving, but I can't imagine the pain he endured being pulled in half while he was still alive.  I suppose it was no worse than being eaten alive, but still

[Lambie]

Huzzah! I'm caught up after needing to binge 5 seasons of TWD because I gave up back in season 5. 

My, my, so much has happened and yet so much is still the same. 

I didn't see why those 2 people are after the kids. Is it because they're associated with Alexandria and leverage for them against Aaron and Gabriel? 

I do like how everyone is working together again. I'm optimistic for a strong finish. I can't believe it was 12 years ago when this journey began!

[millennium]

It feels like twelve hundred. 

[heisenberg]

Well I forgot that is was on, just finished this episode. 

Animal Kingdom, Better call Saul, Peaky Blinders, Ozark, The Expanse, etc...  I was motivated to see the ending of all these show but it is taking all my energy to finish the Walking Dead. 

In a lot of seasons we were covering it by laughter and it was pretty cool to underline all the nonsense.  There was a lot of it in this episode but I am jumping right to the next one to cope with you guys.

[BasilSeal]

On 10/3/2022 at 10:36 PM, iMonrey said:

I can't remember what the deal is with Hornsby

This is the walking dead, the designated bad guy does bad shit for some reason, having some sort of logical rational motivation for doing said bad shit in the first place doesn't usually come into it. "It's the apocalypse, and this is what we do now" has always been reason enough for the season''s big bad to launch an unhinged vendetta against our heroes that will ultimately bring about their own downfall.

The child narrator at the start of the episode says as much, something like;the apocalypse has turned some people to darkness, que montage of past baddies including the governor, the poster boy for pointless vendettas.

The only villains in the walking dead universe whose motivations have made sense were the Proctors from fTWD. The idea that an organised criminal gang would adapt well to the zombie apocalypse and would seek to continue their criminal empire building in the post apocalyptic world makes perfect sense. Mad guy who keeps heads in jars attacking the prison dwellers who pose him no threat and have nothing he needs for, er, some reason, not so much.

TWD has always had cartoonish villains, understandable perhaps given its comic book origins, but this isn't a comic book, and their failure to give the villains plausible motivations for their actions is lazy writing. They're doing bad guy stuff because they're the bad guy. It's Dick Dastardly with zombies.

[BasilSeal]

I'm late to the party on this as i only just realised that the final part of the season had started without me, shows how much i was anticipating it.

One observation from this episode is they seemed to have gone overboard on the blood and gore compared to recent  times. Mercer and some zombies literally pull a guy in half? yeah, right. There seem to be some budget constraints, we don't see the jeep turn over because it had obviously been carefully placed on its side to avoid damaging it, also, open vehicles, just the thing for the zombie apocalypse.

[Iguessnot]

9 hours ago, BasilSeal said:

I'm late to the party on this as i only just realised that the final part of the season had started without me, shows how much i was anticipating it.

One observation from this episode is they seemed to have gone overboard on the blood and gore compared to recent  times. Mercer and some zombies literally pull a guy in half? yeah, right. There seem to be some budget constraints, we don't see the jeep turn over because it had obviously been carefully placed on its side to avoid damaging it, also, open vehicles, just the thing for the zombie apocalypse.

Remember when if you didn't start reading the posts the minute the show finished airing, you'd be about 10 pages behind?

[BasilSeal]

11 hours ago, Iguessnot said:

Remember when if you didn't start reading the posts the minute the show finished airing, you'd be about 10 pages behind?

like the original cast, there's only a few of us left.

[Midwestern Lady]

Well count me in as late to the party.   I was a fan from the start and will finish this out.   I forgot this was on until today.   I binged the first couple of seasons and holy moly that was good.  The Governor, waiting to see Negan, Carol the cookie maker.  Scary stuff.  

[natyxg]

I'm finding pretty much everything after the Commonwealth arrived at Alexandria so very stupid.