S08.E06: All I See Is Red

[Mr. Sparkle]

Mid-season finale. 

Morgan fights his past as he and Madison race to stop PADRE's expansion.

Streaming early on AMC+ and premiering on AMC June 18, after the new show. 

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

[Mr. Sparkle]

My tv listing has this as 2-1/2 hours. I hope that's just a terrible, terrible error. 

[Mr. Sparkle]

The best news for this season so far: looks like it comes in at less than an hour. 

[Samwise979]

Never thought I'd be happy to see the back of Morgan but man! These past couple of episodes were tedious. 

[maystone]

I didn't see that coming. Lennie James is one hell of an actor, and no matter how ridiculous the plot or the dialogue, he never let the character Morgan falter; he was always in the moment. I'm glad Morgan found his daughter and some peace. But why the hell turn his character's send-off into The Search for Rick Grimes? I wanted to throw something at the screen. I mean the "I'll turn my walkie on each morning at sun up" was a lovely throw back to the very beginning, but they could have left it at that and not made it a promo for the series? movies? that are still not actually scheduled to be shown.

I don't want Sherry and Dwight to break up! I really don't. And Austin Amelio may have another job lined up, I don't know, but I'm going to miss him and Christine Evangelista. He, too, did first rate work on both shows. They both did.

(Seriously, I've got to say that the casting for FTWD has been great when it comes to the core characters. I've been re-watching the series on AMC+ (I've been sick; too much time on my hands) and it really had its moments.)

I still have no clear idea what this front half of the season was about. What's in all those containers? Because the brother said they scrubbed the containers looking for those little pieces of paper, so there can't be that much in there. They really own that cargo ship? They're really going to seed new civilization around . . . someplace? Was it ever made clear where those containers were headed to?

It sounded like Madison was going to lead the kids on a mission to find their parents. OK. So is she leaving the show? Because we still have Daniel, Sherry, and everyone else who was in that flotilla of rafts from the end of last season. Where is Luciana? And Victor Strand? I'm really confused.

Edited June 17, 2023 by maystone

[Mr. Sparkle]

Lol, that was kind of a Father's Day episode. But really so, so, bad. Too many logical inconsistencies and plot holes for me to mention, and I don't even feel like trying. This should have been the series end, I can't imagine what 6 more episodes are going to be like. The whole PADRE build-up lead to absolutely nothing. I guess the Rick thing at the end means that we'll see Morgan on the new Rick/Michonne show which will definitely be out - in the future. 

I wouldn't have understood the end if I didn't read something about it on the internet. I won't spoil it until tomorrow, but yeesh, I really hope not. 

[Mr. Sparkle]

42 minutes ago, maystone said:

Where is Luciana? And Victor Strand?

In the credits, but not actually on the show. 

[maystone]

1 hour ago, Superclam said:

Lol, that was kind of a Father's Day episode. But really so, so, bad. So many logical inconsistencies and plot holes for me to mention, and I don't even feel like trying. This should have been the series end, I can't imagine what 6 more episodes are going to be like. The whole PADRE build-up lead to absolutely nothing. I guess the Rick thing at the end means that we'll see Morgan on the new Rick/Michonne show which will definitely be out - in the future. 

I wouldn't have understood the end if I didn't read something about it on the internet. I won't spoil it until tomorrow, but yeesh, I really hope not. 

I got what they were trying to do with the "I see red" sequences, and I found the first few effective. But I actually burst out laughing when Morgan came-to neck deep in quicksand. And I have no idea what that was at the end of his axe but it looked to me like a thermos bottle which made me laugh again. By the end, there really weren't that many people around; were we supposed to assume that Morgan killed them all? Ha!

Yeah, what the actual hell was the point of the PADRE plot? And I think we started hearing mention of it in S6. This can't be the payoff. Maybe Strand and Luciana are more involved with it in the back half.

 

[Mr. Sparkle]

3 minutes ago, maystone said:

And I have no idea what that was at the end of his axe but it looked to me like a thermos bottle which made me laugh again.

I think that was one of Madison's oxygen tanks. Like I predicted, those were used to drive the plot when needed, and forgotten when they weren't. 

4 minutes ago, maystone said:

Yeah, what the actual hell was the point of the PADRE plot?

No idea. Completely toothless. Least intimidating villains in the WD universe. 

[Brown44]

It seems it's a good chance we'll get an appearance from Morgan on the Rick and Michonne show.

[Starchild]

OMG Mo was once again ping ponging back and forth between "Dad don't leave!" and "Dad, get away from me!" Her motivations make less sense than her being a seasoned leader at the ripe old age of 8. They didn't even try this crap with Judith "Mary-Sue" Grimes.

So yeah, it's clear Morgan is heading to the Rick and Michonne show, while Dwight drifts up the east coast to NYC. Without Sherry. Now that was stupid. I'm not particularly invested in their relationship, but after everything they've been through, it made no logical sense for those characters to break up. 

And who was that supposed to be at the end, with Alicia's arm? By god it better not be Charlie. Although if somehow Alicia has grown her arm back, that would be cool. It would be nice if Alicia and Madison could reunite.

[Iguessnot]

Oh this is so bad. Reliving Morgan's clear period is torturous. Dreadful. Obviously the village idiot crew is doing the writing this season. That small group kill that huge CG herd? The girl who couldn't get herself off the porch is leading Padre through the swamps. How come they can wade through the swamp but the walkers can't. Funny how the walkers attacking the houseboat couldn't move forward when Morgan and Mo had to keep chatting. One minute she says this is the safest place, then they will die together, then she can't leave him to die. 

Shrike letting her walker dad bite her was stupid. 

That whole scene with the standoff between Daniel and the precepts wasn't worthy of being written or filmed.

In talking to Madison, Morgan mentioned being in Texas. So Morgan took Grace and Mo from Texas to Georgia to chase and bury the carcass of his son, and then they are magically transported back to Texas. And are we also supposed to believe Morgan dragged the body of Grace on the boat, and they sailed the gulf back to Georgia to bury her next to Eastman?

I like Sherrie and Dwight but the burial scene just had no emotional pull. Dwight patted the grave like some books they just packed up and said we need to end it. They were spouting off cliches, but I don't see why Finch's death means that weren't meant to be together. Their relationship preceded the birth of Finch. The only major difficulty in their relationship was the Negan era, and they have dealt with that trauma, so why would they throw away a stable and loving relationship in their walking dead world? Saying he's going back home like there's a sustainable world "back home".

[Starchild]

7 minutes ago, Iguessnot said:

I like Sherrie and Dwight but the burial scene just had no emotional pull. Dwight patted the grave like some books they just packed up and said we need to end it. They were spouting off cliches, but I don't see why Finch's death means that weren't meant to be together. Their relationship preceded the birth of Finch. The only major difficulty in their relationship was the Negan era, and they have dealt with that trauma, so why would they throw away a stable and loving relationship in their walking dead world? Saying he's going back home like there's a sustainable world "back home".

Where is back home for Dwight anyway? Virginia?

[Iguessnot]

8 minutes ago, Starchild said:

Where is back home for Dwight anyway? Virginia?

Yep, that's what Wiki says.

[nodorothyparker]

That was .. rough, even by this show's standards. I love that after all the fanfare of Morgan crossing over to this show he can have a couple of near incoherent "Clear" episodes and then nope on out of the series with half a dozen episodes left to go to run back to the same people who were so maddening they sent him running in the first place.  I'm almost sorry now that the mother show is done so we can't get the scene of him showing up at the gates of Alexandria (assuming Alexandria hasn't gone the way of Hilltop in the intervening years) to find pretty much everyone he knew from there dead and/or gone and a bunch of randos who have no idea who the crazy guy and kid with sticks are.

This was also the episode where everyone obviously threw up their hands and stopped pretending that geography is a thing that's supposed to make any sense at all. Did they haul Grace's corpse halfway back across the southeast on foot just to bury her in the cheesemaker's walker cemetery? Oh, who cares.

So after several episodes hyping June's possible zombie cure, it all goes to shit and Dwight and Sherry's kid dies offscreen. I have a weird soft spot for this pair but their sudden decision to call it quits as a result didn't really land and felt more like the franchise was laying the groundwork for if or when they decide to plug Dwight into one of the other spinoffs that isn't set inexplicably in France.

[Iguessnot]

2 hours ago, nodorothyparker said:

That was .. rough, even by this show's standards. I love that after all the fanfare of Morgan crossing over to this show he can have a couple of near incoherent "Clear" episodes and then nope on out of the series with half a dozen episodes left to go to run back to the same people who were so maddening they sent him running in the first place.  I'm almost sorry now that the mother show is done so we can't get the scene of him showing up at the gates of Alexandria (assuming Alexandria hasn't gone the way of Hilltop in the intervening years) to find pretty much everyone he knew from there dead and/or gone and a bunch of randos who have no idea who the crazy guy and kid with sticks are.

This was also the episode where everyone obviously threw up their hands and stopped pretending that geography is a thing that's supposed to make any sense at all. Did they haul Grace's corpse halfway back across the southeast on foot just to bury her in the cheesemaker's walker cemetery? Oh, who cares.

So after several episodes hyping June's possible zombie cure, it all goes to shit and Dwight and Sherry's kid dies offscreen. I have a weird soft spot for this pair but their sudden decision to call it quits as a result didn't really land and felt more like the franchise was laying the groundwork for if or when they decide to plug Dwight into one of the other spinoffs that isn't set inexplicably in France.

And was there some reason they didn't try to give Finch another dose? We saw the train car was readily available.

[iMonrey]

This show is even worse when you're stoned. Hard as that is to believe.

I don't care about Morgan. I don't know why the show insists that I do. And even if I did care about Morgan, there's no logical reason why I should be invested in his relationship with Mo. We're talking about a baby that popped into his life in a single episode last season, was with him for precious little time, then spent the bulk of her life raised by PADRE. There's no emotional connection there, there's no real relationship. Even if we're to assume he's projecting all his feelings for his son onto her, why does she care? She has no memory of this man and he's not even her father.

My God, the speechifying. Not only was it tedious it was repetitive. Morgan talked about breaking the cycle at least three times. You can't break the cycle until you stop talking about breaking the cycle! And why was Shrike's brother and the one militant precept just standing there letting Morgan blather on endlessly? Just shoot him. 

The time skips were just a convenient way to yada yada Morgan out of the ridiculous situations he kept getting into. How did he get out of the houseboat? How did he get separated from Daniel's group and wind up in quicksand? None of it made any sense.

AMC has a lot of nerve breaking this up into two halves. It's not like the first half was so good everyone is going to want to come back for more.

[heisenberg]

21 hours ago, Starchild said:

Although if somehow Alicia has grown her arm back, that would be cool.

😄  I wonder how those so "talented" writers would do that but they have no freaking limits do they?

[heisenberg]

2 hours ago, iMonrey said:

This show is even worse when you're stoned. Hard as that is to believe.

My God, the speechifying. Not only was it tedious it was repetitive. Morgan talked about breaking the cycle at least three times. You can't break the cycle until you stop talking about breaking the cycle! And why was Shrike's brother and the one militant precept just standing there letting Morgan blather on endlessly? Just shoot him. 

 

Same for me.  

I asked myself "Is everyone preaching on every line" or am I too blasted to appreciate those fine monologues moments?😄

[nodorothyparker]

13 hours ago, iMonrey said:

And even if I did care about Morgan, there's no logical reason why I should be invested in his relationship with Mo. We're talking about a baby that popped into his life in a single episode last season, was with him for precious little time, then spent the bulk of her life raised by PADRE. There's no emotional connection there, there's no real relationship. Even if we're to assume he's projecting all his feelings for his son onto her, why does she care? She has no memory of this man and he's not even her father.

Now having raised kids to teenagers, I realize this is another one of those TV trope that grates. Kids who haven't been raised by their "real" parents or have been separated from parents immediately recognizing them as such and wanting the instafamily experience is a kind of fantasy wish fulfillment that TV writers like to show for the cheap emotional tug of it. When my kids were the age Mo and Finch are supposed to be, they generally liked and trusted adults they interacted with regularly but also routinely failed to recognize former teachers, babysitters, extended relatives, etc., they hadn't seen in some time and especially not if they weren't where they associated those adults with being. And they weren't toddlers the last time they saw any of these people. I guess maybe you could argue that kids raised in a parentless society would be more prone to latching on to anyone who looked to fulfill that role for them, but considering that these kids were raised with the narrative that their "real" parents couldn't take care of them and abandoned them you'd expect them to be a lot more mistrustful and hesitant to buy anything any of these people are selling. These kids don't even have any real concept of "mom" and "dad."

Mo was the Judith of this series, passed around a lot to whoever could lug her before the PADRE people got her as a toddler. About the only "family" moment she had with Morgan and Grace was Morgan strongarming Grace into mothering this stray child she didn't want after she'd buried her own and going off leaving her screaming alone with her while he galavanted about creating his own Back to the Future of the nuclear apocalypse car instead of bringing back formula.

[Mr. Sparkle]

14 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I don't care about Morgan. I don't know why the show insists that I do. And even if I did care about Morgan, there's no logical reason why I should be invested in his relationship with Mo.

I kind of care about Morgan, since he's played by a good actor and he's been with the show since Day 1. Your second sentence? Dead on. nodorothyparker's post above this one explains it way better, but the bonding between Mo and Morgan is fake af and makes no sense at all. Mo would bond with the people who raised her for the last 8 (?) years, not some dude who isn't even her biological father. If we see Morgan & Mo in one of the spin-offs like they alluded to, it's really going to weaken it even further. 

[KeithJ]

On 6/14/2023 at 7:09 AM, Superclam said:

My tv listing has this as 2-1/2 hours. I hope that's just a terrible, terrible error. 

I’m pretty sure they did that so everyone had Dead City recorded too whether they wanted to watch it or not.

[Mr. Sparkle]

6 minutes ago, KeithJ said:

I’m pretty sure they did that so everyone had Dead City recorded too whether they wanted to watch it or not.

100%. I flipped over when Fear was supposed to be over, and Dead City was just starting again. 

[rr2911]

I read online that the person at the end of FTWD's episode was a dude that Madison had supposedly killed with a hammer back in an earlier season.  There was Madison's hammer, Vistor's sunglasses and Alicia's prosthetic arm.  I saw what appeared to be a female with blonde hair, so it will be interesting to find out this potential villain.

[Iguessnot]

48 minutes ago, rr2911 said:

I read online that the person at the end of FTWD's episode was a dude that Madison had supposedly killed with a hammer back in an earlier season.  There was Madison's hammer, Vistor's sunglasses and Alicia's prosthetic arm.  I saw what appeared to be a female with blonde hair, so it will be interesting to find out this potential villain.

Good lord that's back when Nick was still alive. The hammer seemed familiar but that's not something I would place from so long ago. The sunglasses are generic to me.

[Starchild]

I've heard that rumour too, and if it's true I'm not terribly excited about that as a way to end the series. That character was a fan favourite, though, and he did have a pretty interesting character dynamic with Madison.

But I was glad when she killed him and I can't say I'd be happy to see him come back.

[margol29]

So I can't remember from last season but I think Alicia is still alive? Also Strand and (please forgive me) I can't remember the two characters names who were brother and sister the brother was in a wheelchair and the sis was a Mo too, I think. Did something happen to Charlie? I hope the last half of the season gives us closure on these characters.

Was the guy killed with the hammer

Spoiler

the one who brewed the beer a thousands seasons ago?