S08.E03: Odessa

[Mr. Sparkle]

Mo's hunt to prove PADRE's true intentions has her in over her head as she's drawn into the larger web of secrets.

Streaming early on AMC+ and premiering on AMC May 28, 9:00 PM EDT.

Proceed at your own risk for spoilers before the AMC airdate.

[Starchild]

Odessa? I wish the writers could figure out how to tell the story with established characters we care about.

And I don't mean Mo. Please, if there's anyone who arrived at the end of season 7 and said "gee, I really hope they center the next season of this show around Mo, because that kid is a great character", please step forward. I won't judge you, I just want to understand.

It was nice to see Daniel return. I was expecting him to say that PADRE had a surgeon who determined that he had a brain tumour and operated to remove it, which is why he seems to be back to normal. I mean, we're not supposed to believe that he's spent the last 7 years drinking some mysterious organic tea or juice that's cured his dementia, are we?

Daniel didn't come out and say that Charlie died. She better not have found a way to survive a terminal case of radiation poisoning. And if she did, Madison better kill her.

And of course, Madison cedes her natural leadership to indecisive unstable Morgan. I hate these fucking writers.

[maystone]

I love seeing Daniel again, and June, and Madison - but god this was a stupid episode. I feel so bad for the actors, that this mess is going to be their final season. Even just one particular stupidity can sum it all up: Sam and Ben can make Madison and June stand down with the argument that the worst pain in the world is when a child loses a parent. Those two women have had their children die! You'd think they could at least make a point about the devastation those two idiot children have caused to hundreds of parents. Not to mention the pain and seething resentment that the stolen kids are exhibiting by believing their parents abandoned them. This whole plot makes no sense!

I still find the Walker head on a stick to be pretty cool.

[Brown44]

Am I the only one not understanding what's going on this season?

[Mr. Sparkle]

The way you make sure no child goes through the pain of a losing a parent is taking them from their parents? Makes total sense to me. 

Also, seriously NO ONE thought to break the glass or even peek behind the glass in the last 8 years or so to see who was actually PADRE? Makes total sense to me. 

Once again, I got tricked into thinking PADRE was some kind of endgame, something that made sense and tied it all together. For the 10 or so episodes left in this show, is Shrike really going to be the big baddie? 

[Starchild]

No, they are going to leave things unresolved so the actors who can still stand it will find themselves stumbling into NYC or France or something.

[nodorothyparker]

So this entire convoluted premise is because these two hapless idiot adult children couldn't stay in the house, er, boat or whatever and basically got their father killed? That's it, really? And they convinced a whole lot of other people even through successive phases of terrible hairstyles that stealing other people's children to raise them devoid of normal human interactions to protect them from the pain of losing someone because "this is what we built" is a good idea? 

Sure, okay. 

[Brown44]

30 minutes ago, Starchild said:

No, they are going to leave things unresolved so the actors who can still stand it will find themselves stumbling into NYC or France or something.

I mentioned in the 1st episode of this season in the comments that that is why they had the time jump closer to TWD so the 2 new WD shows  can have guest appearances, especially from Morgan.

[maystone]

This is a 12 episode final season; we're only on ep 3 and they've already done away with the mystery of who/what Padre is. FTWD spent all of S7 hyping this stupid island, and they just deflate all the build-up in 3 episodes. They need to add a hell of a lot of meat to the scrawny bones of the plot so far.

Ash/Finch seems to be doing well after June's radiation treatment. Maybe they'll build on that.

[Iguessnot]

The main story is SOOO silly. I swear some TiktoK plebe all up in their feelings wrote this mess. A whole kiddie revolution just to know who their parents are. Whoop dee do. 

The kidnapping was always bad, but damn, those two numbskulls sure have run an efficient operation for 12 years.

And for all these 7 or 8 or 12 years, no one has been able to find this island right down the river.

[nodorothyparker]

13 hours ago, maystone said:

Ash/Finch seems to be doing well after June's radiation treatment. Maybe they'll build on that.

I'm going to laugh forever if after the higher profile Daryl in France maybe origin story and all the assorted conspiracy stuff and half-assed dead ends on the other shows and spinoffs, the cure turns out to come from this forgotten ugly stepsister of the franchise. It was the radiation we had all along, no really.

[maystone]

7 hours ago, nodorothyparker said:

I'm going to laugh forever if after the higher profile Daryl in France maybe origin story and all the assorted conspiracy stuff and half-assed dead ends on the other shows and spinoffs, the cure turns out to come from this forgotten ugly stepsister of the franchise. It was the radiation we had all along, no really.

Ha! "It's the radiation, stupid!"  This does make me worry that they'll bring back Alicia in the final episode as the great heroine of the zombie apocalypse for inspiring June to use radiation. Honest to God, I have no idea if she's supposed to be dead or alive based on what I saw in the finale of S7.

[KeithJ]

Man this season is stupid.  The kids who got their father killed because they are idiots are Padre?  The son was acting like a five year old during the entire flashback.  Dad, don’t go.  We have to make sure he’s ok.  He forgot his binoculars.  Ugh.

Still waiting for Luciana.  At least she got a mention.

[Mr. Sparkle]

11 minutes ago, KeithJ said:

Man this season is stupid.  The kids who got their father killed because they are idiots are Padre?  The son was acting like a five year old during the entire flashback.  Dad, don’t go.  We have to make sure he’s ok.  He forgot his binoculars.  Ugh.

I was actually thinking it was going to be a decent season. Ep 2 was pretty good, and it seemed they were setting something up with PADRE that could've been cool. But nope, 2 whiny kids who would've been killed in a minute if their father didn't save them ended up running a child-kidnapping cult for the last 7-12 years. Makes perfect sense. 

Well, you know what they say - fool me once, shame on you. Fool me 17 times - shame on me. 

[iMonrey]

23 hours ago, Starchild said:

It was nice to see Daniel return. I was expecting him to say that PADRE had a surgeon who determined that he had a brain tumour and operated to remove it, which is why he seems to be back to normal. I mean, we're not supposed to believe that he's spent the last 7 years drinking some mysterious organic tea or juice that's cured his dementia, are we?

I mean . . . I guess so?

I'm lost on the whole Padre plot. I get the radiation experiments but kidnapping the children makes absolutely zero sense. I have no recollection of this Odessa girl whatsoever, does the show think I actually remember some obscure plot point from Season 7? And I don't get what Shrike and her brother are planning to do with the walkers. Just let them run rampant on the island while they all go somewhere else? Huh? Why? What?

[nodorothyparker]

We were only introduced to Odessa/Dove in the first episode of this season. We're told about her in last season's finale, which is where we briefly meet her mother, Ava, that they were flashing back to this episode. Madison stole Odessa/Dove from her as a "collector" and Ava was killed and turned in the same episode trying to get her kid back.

I had to check the WD wiki for the particulars of this as I only vaguely remembered the actress playing Ava from last season's finale but couldn't remember much else except that she was one of the hapless parents of all of these snatched kids. I commented at the time that the show somehow managed to make victims of child abduction look stupid and unsympathetic to the point that you could almost argue PADRE had a point that none of these people seemed competent to keep a goldfish alive, let alone children in the ZA.

[Starchild]

15 hours ago, maystone said:

Ha! "It's the radiation, stupid!"  This does make me worry that they'll bring back Alicia in the final episode as the great heroine of the zombie apocalypse for inspiring June to use radiation. Honest to God, I have no idea if she's supposed to be dead or alive based on what I saw in the finale of S7.

I figured they left it deliberately ambiguous so that they could bring her back if her other show failed.

Which, has it? I don't know how (un)successful it's been.

[Mr. Sparkle]

20 minutes ago, Starchild said:

I figured they left it deliberately ambiguous so that they could bring her back if her other show failed.

That's what I thought. I can see her coming back for the last few episodes. This universe has a long history of that. 

[Starchild]

It would be nice to see mother and daughter alive and reunited at the end. 

I'm ambivalent on Alicia, but I would watch Madison on another WD show.

[heisenberg]

On 5/28/2023 at 10:18 PM, Starchild said:

we're not supposed to believe that he's spent the last 7 years drinking some mysterious organic tea or juice that's cured his dementia, are we?

kombucha?😄

[heisenberg]

On 5/30/2023 at 7:11 AM, nodorothyparker said:

you could almost argue PADRE had a point that none of these people seemed competent to keep a goldfish alive, let alone children in the ZA.

Like Michonne and some others.

[heisenberg]

On 5/29/2023 at 12:41 AM, Iguessnot said:

And for all these 7 or 8 or 12 years, no one has been able to find this island right down the river.

I was going to write "Just find a map" but it is even worst because it is a river like you say, it is like getting lost in tunnel.

[Samwise979]

Pausing at 20 min in to ask: does Madison know who Charlie is/was??

I'm listening to Daniel tell Madison his regret in not being with Charlie at the end and she's just like, I'm sorry Daniel. Instead of like, who is Charlie? 

But I don't remember them meeting....

Also, TOTALLY forgot June and Madison knew each other way back when!

[Samwise979]

Ok, the show had me until this episode. By the end of last episode I was like, omg, is this actually going to be a good season of fear?!?! But nope. Dove blames Madison for her moms death?! What?! Did she not hear the part were her mom died while trying to rescue her from Padre?! PADRE killed your mom!!! 

Also the whole premise of Padre is ridiculous. You kidnap kids from their parents to save them from pain of losing a parent while simultaneously creating the pain of feeling abandoned by their parents?? Dumb.