S02.E01: Power Equals Power

[Mr. Sparkle]

Airs Sunday, May 4th. 

In the war for control of Manhattan, Maggie and Negan find themselves trapped on opposite sides.

[Mr. Sparkle]

Anyone watch this, or was everyone watching The Last of Us? 

I'm still deciding if I'm going to watch or not. I have AMC+ free through my cable, but I couldn't muster the interest yesterday. 

[gutbuster]

I watched it. I could barely remember what happened in the first season so it  didn't grab me but I'll stick with it.

I did feel like I was watching some kind of live action apocalyptic western video game. The costuming and scenery had a definite vibe.

I feel like I'd rather be watching a show where Maggie and Hershel work on their issues, though. I liked their scenes together.

[Boofish]

I watched and enjoyed. I have a few complaints, but overall enjoyed how all the stories tied together with Maggie and Negan both agreeing to the war to protect the people they love. 

I was disappointed in Maggie's home base. It's been 15 years. There is no reason they should still be living like the Ingalls family on the Prairie. Everyone else has figured out how to manage, grow things, power things, get gas etc. and they are still struggling with rotten corn. I'm over that part.  

[nodorothyparker]

The Forbes review? How Much Stupid Can You Fit In One Episode?

I don't know if I'd go quite that far but there did seem to be an awful lot of "wait, why are they doing this?" sprinkled throughout the episode. I mean, all of NYC is basically being dragged kicking and screaming into an alliance by one old woman who looks like a stiff breeze could knock her over whose entire leadership seems to consist of one simpering crazy guy and another they've had to lock in cage for a year? feeding him cockroaches to try to "convince" him to join their cause before giving up and outright blackmailing him into it. If someone would rather eat literal bugs than sign on to run your operation for you, maybe start right there with why things aren't working for you.

On the other end, you have another group strongarming unwilling people to go "explore" Manhattan before invading, seemingly entirely on the basis of some guy who's read some books about what NYC was like before the ZA. And yeah, I know, something something something about turning walkers into methane and wanting to steal the tech and know-how to do that. I realize Maggie reluctantly signed on to that voyage of the damned to keep more of her hapless people from ending up cannon fodder, but seriously, they're piddling around with what looks like a couple of dozen people at best to invade what was once the mostly heavily populated part of the country. How do they see they going? Oh right, they're consulting a pre ZA tourism guide to NYC. I'm sure it will be fine. Maybe they should have spent a bit of the last dozen or so years teaching themselves how to make their own tech or something instead of endlessly warring against each other over whether your crazy-ass leader is worse than my crazy-ass leader.

I guess I'm supposed to be impressed that the Croat has given life to Lucille 2.0, now with stun gun action, but I was mostly just amused watching the faction leader who was styling himself as Edgar Allan Poe of the ZA watching everyone else with increasing trepidation. Like it had just now registered with him what kind of meeting he'd wandered into.

We already know Herschel is going to somehow end up back in the middle of this mess no matter how many times Maggie tells him to stay in the house, er, her community or what's the point?

Edited Monday at 11:34 PM by nodorothyparker

[Samwise979]

Is Hershel important to the old lady? I can’t remember. But Croat was asking Negan at the beginning where to find him. Triggering the whole mama bear speech. And it looks like Hershel is somewhat obsessed with old lady too. 

[iarwain]

21 hours ago, Boofish said:

I was disappointed in Maggie's home base. It's been 15 years. There is no reason they should still be living like the Ingalls family on the Prairie. Everyone else has figured out how to manage, grow things, power things, get gas etc. and they are still struggling with rotten corn. I'm over that part.  

Well, they were having pests problems with the moths that were destroying their crops.  That seems realistic enough.  Can't say I'm particularly interested in corn problems either though.  

That said, I thought the episode went by quickly enough, so I must have enjoyed it.  It's a bit of a contrived way to bring back the old Negan, but it's interesting that they've set Negan and Maggie against each other, with neither one being actually loyal to their sides.  I guess they will have to find a way to work together to get each other out of their messes.

[Mr. Sparkle]

I liked it better the first time, when it was called "The Warriors."

But seriously folks, I would describe it as underwhelming. I'll stick with it through the season because I'm a Walking Dead universe loyalist for some reason unknown to even me. But I can't say I care about any of these characters, particularly the new cosplaying cowboys and steampunks. 

[Mr. Sparkle]

On 5/5/2025 at 7:30 PM, nodorothyparker said:

The Forbes review? How Much Stupid Can You Fit In One Episode?

As usual, The Forbes review is more entertaining than the actual show, and is dead-on accurate.