S01.E01: Pilot

[tv echo]

It was difficult watching this episode all the way through because my attention kept wandering and I wanted to switch channels a lot.  The three teenagers were all annoying in different ways.  The two teenage boys were too similar.  The teenage girl was almost like a cliche with her silent, sulky, earbuds-to-shut-out-everyone persona.  When the sister climbed on the hospital bed, it almost seemed like she was going to start making out with her brother.  The two siblings had more chemistry than the adults.  The two adult leads (Cliff and Kim) had zero chemistry together - it was hard to believe they even liked each other, let alone loved each other.  Individually, Cliff's character was more likeable and has more potential. Kim's character comes across as a bit cold, despite the scenes that are supposed to show her compassion (like the one with the student), and could be headed toward Lori territory.

 

It just made me appreciate how good the pilot episode of TWD was in writing and execution, and just how good Andrew Lincoln was in portraying a compelling character from the get go. Ditto for other early episodes of TWD and other original cast members (like Shane and Glenn).

Edited August 24, 2015 by tv echo

[JackONeill]

Talk about going to the well (or church) too often. Show opens in the church. Then Travis goes to the church at night, alone. (Even in the best of times that's STUPID. WIth a capital S.) Then he takes Ms. Blank Stare to the church because . . . um, I'm not exactly sure. Travis had already confirmed that something bad, indeed, happened there. But, they go anyway. Three times to the church. No wonder they needed the extra time for the Pilot. It sort of reminds me of all the walking in the same set of pine trees on TWD. How about something a little different?

 

I think the idea of the show is a good one, i.e, showing how things started. But I think most of the audience have already filled that in. We're now used to swarms of walkers. (And I wonder what they're going to call them on this show? And, since this is California, we will see any Walkers on skateboards. Then we could call them Sliders.")

 

The family drama is old-hat and adds nothing. It might have been more original to just have a normal family get caught up in the debacle. I mean, come on, isn't there enough drama when the dead reanimates?

 

Although, it would be fun to have the families from Modern Family run into some Walkers. (And, yes, I know about the one actor. So, he's got experience.)

[maystone]

In the story sync, they showed a document from the CDC about the disposal of corpses.  I'm assuming that since it was in this episode's story sync it supposedly was sent out during the time span of the episode.

 

http://images.sync.amctv.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/FTWD-101-WHO-v3_UPDATED2-09gu3-e4908.pdf

 

I think the reason we weren't seeing any walkers in the hospital is because these orders were already being obeyed, and not enough people had reanimated yet so these measures were successful enough to get by.  The fact that the nurse was so dismissive of losing a patient when the parents were asking about Nick makes me think that shit was currently hitting the fan at the hospital, but they were at least managing to cover it up at that point.

 

Thanks for that link, Cynthia24. I watched the second viewing before I read your comment, and that time I caught the urgency of the doctor repeating that the dying old man - actually he coded, right? - needed to be moved downstairs stat. That got me thinking that the hospital knew about the reanimations, but the casual way Nick's nurse was reacting to the old man's death rattle threw me off. I didn't notice, but I hope the old guy was restrained in the same manner that Nick was, otherwise that's pretty irresponsible of the hospital admin since they obviously know about the whole zombie thing.

Edited August 24, 2015 by maystone

[SoSueMe]

Okay, I haven't read back all the way but was anyone else annoyed by Madi constantly calling Travis "Babe"?

And where did the church zombies go? Do they lie low during the day like vamps?

Edited August 24, 2015 by SoSueMe

[Lizzing]

TWD premier had me enthralled, and this left me bored.  ITA about the lack of chemistry between Madison and Travis.  Hell, there was more of a connection between Rick and Morgan in S1:E1 of TWD.

 

And, OMG, how stupid was the nurse?  Not only did she remove Nick's restraint, she totally blew off Nick's comment that something was wrong with his roommate.  If a heroin addict coming off a bender can spot distress in a patient, what gives with the RN?  And if she thought the old man was a goner anyway because of the zombie virus (flu, whatever), why was he even in a multiple occupancy room with a dude who just was banged up and coming off a bender?

 

Ugh, it was so many things that made no sense (as mentioned above: the cracked windshield, the ridiculous dialog at the church, the even going to a known shooting gallery at night & unarmed, the ability of the school's guidance counselor's daughter to skip Spanish class repeatedly....) it makes the crew on TWD seem like mensa members.  NTL, I'll give it a few more episodes, just because I like some of the actors.

[GodsBeloved]

I don't think the daughter's boyfriend is dead...isn't that actor the kid who played Randy on The Wire? They wouldn't kill him yet, right?

Yes that's Randy. He needs to survive so he can sell candy to the non undead.

[Constantinople]

I think its a mistake to start the show from the perspective of one family and their acquaintances.  I think it would have been better if they had a large cast initially to show the gamut of reactions to the ZA.  Then you kill off characters at the rate the population died in the ZA.  So if 50% of people are dead in a week (or whatever) then half the cast is wiped out by whichever episode that is.

I tend to disagree.

I find it difficult enough to keep track of a bunch of new characters in a pilot as it is. If they started with a larger cast it would inevitably lead to confusion as to who was who. Even when sorted out, a number of them would just be known by labels and not names.

 

As it is, if they hadn't said Calvin's name about a million times, he'd be Drug Dealer Walker. The only other character whose name I remember is Nick, and his name was mentioned about two million times. For the rest, I have Mom, Dad, daughter, daughter's boyfriend, Dad's ex-wife, Dad's son by first marriage, school principal (I think), kid who brought knife to school, zombie chick in opening scene, etc.

Edited August 24, 2015 by Constantinople

[kdm07]

Anything about zombies that doesn't involve Rick Grimes is my new favorite thing.

 

This! All of this!

 

I actually liked the pilot. Yes it wasn't as fast moving as the TWD but I get why the pacing is the way it is. You're watching these people dealing with every day life but at the same time knowing that none of it will matter within a few days because of the zombies. I don't know about anyone else but the episode gave me a sense of unease the whole time purely because I know what's coming but none of these poor saps do.

 

Nick's withdrawal is going to take some doing to manage during a zombie apocalypse.

Edited August 24, 2015 by kdm07

[ghoulina]

At the beginning I thought the kid was a girl until they showed his chest and I can't figure out why he was wearing a girl's bolero in the first place.

 

My husband thought he was a girl as well. His first comment was that he needed to pluck his eyebrows. I was like, "Honey, that's a dude". My guess is that he just picked the top up from the ground because he was cold or something. He was a junkie, I'm not sure fashion was on his mind. 

 

It just made me appreciate how good the pilot episode of TWD was in writing and execution, and just how good Andrew Lincoln was in portraying a compelling character from the get go. Ditto for other early episodes of TWD and other original cast members (like Shane and Glenn).

 

I echo your entire post, but especially this. I will continue watching, but this episode did not reel me in the like the pilot for the original did. In that first episode, I instantly cared for the characters and wanted to follow their stories. Not just Rick's, but Morgan reeled me in as well. He had what? 15 minutes on the screen? And there I was bawling because he had to shoot his wife, and he just couldn't. It was so compelling, so touching. It was different than anything I'd ever seen. 

 

For me, I wasn't so much bothered by the lack of action with this pilot - it was simply that I didn't care about anyone. No one stood out to me. No one made me feel for them. Right now I feel no connection to this show. At first I liked the idea of seeing the ZA in a different part of the country, starting from a different part in the outbreak. But I feel like a lot of the choices they made are pandering to the youth demographic that is obsessed with this show, and as a result *I* am just not connecting. 

 

We shall see. 

[eejm]

Question about Cal - was he a childhood friend of Nick's?  Or maybe a former junkie friend who got clean, yet still deals?  Maddie seemed to regard him with some affection, so clearly he is/was more to Nick than just a drug dealer.

 

I also read that Travis's character was originally written as Hispanic, but was changed to Maori when Cliff Curtis was cast.  That's understandable, but why didn't Curtis keep his New Zealand accent as well?  It seems a little odd as the amount of Americans of Maori descent is pretty small. 

Edited August 24, 2015 by eejm

[kdm07]

I think he was a childhood friend eejm because he was angry about Nick's parents coming over to his parents' house asking about his whereabouts. I doubt anyone but Nick knows he's a drug dealer.

[hoosiermommy]

Okay, I haven't read back all the way but was anyone else annoyed by Madi constantly calling Travis "Babe"?And where did the church zombies go? Do they lie low during the day like vamps?

If I remember correctly, didn't the first episodes of TWD make a big deal of not being put at night because that is when the zombies were most active. I think as the ZA has gotten further along, the zombies don't mind the sunlight as much as at the beginning.

[hoosiermommy]

So, the outbreak is being managed like Ebola...disposal of dead bodies is of paramount importance and the way things spread is people who don't know protocol.

I can totally buy the idea that the ZA's ramp up was slow, especially if the information was being withheld from the populace. While it is important to advise the medical professionals, and most deaths will happen on their watch, there will always be unelected deaths, and I bet that is how this gets out of hand.

What surprises me though is that there are still so few people on the outside who know. The immediate disposal of bodies and not observing religious protocols isn't causing people to ask what is going on?

[tveyeonyou]

He ran in such a girly way with his hair flowing behind him.

 

 

In other news, Nick's shirt was tiny in the opening scenes. It looked child-sized and cracked me up.

 

 

I spent the whole sequence trying to decide if he was wearing Gloria's blouse.  It killed any tension in those scenes.

Ugh, that shirt! It's like it was a character itself because MrTVEye and I could not stop talking about it, we spent most of the episode talking about that damn shirt and how much he looked like a girl more than we talked about anything else that happened in the episode.

My brain refused to stop imagining his backstory, it was completely stuck on stupid so the only way I could shut it up was to decide he was a lead singer in a band which led to his junkieness, seriously, I could not move on with the show because of that damn shirt and his flowing locks.

 

I don't know about this show, I'm really disappointed because I wanted to love it, I've been doing the weekly Sunday rewatch of TWD, we spent yesterday all giddy and excited (ok, I was giddy, MrTVEye wanted to watch The Last Ship, I should have listened to him), we even splurged on my favorite foods, scallops and soft shell crabs #yum as if it was a really special day and by the time Talking Dead was over I was so ready to see what (I thought) pretty much amounts to the beginning of The Walking Dead and bam, Disappointment City.

I mean really, there's sirens everywhere, we had 2 people (at least) talking about zombie-like behavior, there's all kinds of blood and guts at the Junkie Church and disappearing bodies, too much stupid.

I was hoping the kid from school was going to play a larger part since he seems to get it, maybe next week, I hope.

I get that they had to cram a lot of stuff in the first episode but I'm afraid this is going to be my OnDemand show and I'll be watching The Last Ship on Sunday nights.

Hell, if it keeps going at this rate I'd rather watch Bachelor Paradise than the most disappointing zombie show ever.

I can't believe this show is by the same people who do TWD.

Maybe we're being punked.

 

 

 

I just can't wait until October 11th, TWD Season 6 can't come soon enough for me.

[Primetimer]

The zombie apocalypse begins not with a bang, but with a lot of disbelief and foreshadowing.

Read the story

[nodorothyparker]

It was a slow beginning, God was it slow, but I can see it being like that at the start. Government officials and hospitals trying to establish protocol and acting like there's nothing to be concerned about and they've got it handled. Internet conspiracy theories and shared video that's more than a little alarming but everyone assumes is some kind of weird police brutality gone wrong and probably fake. People being out sick with the "flu." Slow, but I can buy this.

The family drama was dull dull dull though. And apparently these people already got the same memo as those on the mother show that when you're in a horror movie you make poor decisions, it's what you do with their multiple trips to the church. I also like that they're driving around in a worse beater while the world is still intact than our original recipe gang will afterward.

I'll give it some time, if for no other reason than I'm the mother show's bitch no matter how ridiculous it may get.

Edited August 24, 2015 by nodorothyparker

[JackONeill]

For no real, I-can-put-my-finger-on-it, the truck bothered me. Yes, I know this isn't about Beverly Hills. I get that and am okay with that. But there was something about the truck that bothered me. It didn't seem to fit.

[Boofish]

I am going to stick with this because I like yelling instructions to people on television and movies. Like yelling at the police "shoot him in the head" "keep the knife" "stop making all that noise"

I was thinking "my oh my; what a nice young man for a drug dealer" I wouldn't survive a week *Kayne shrug*

Finally thought I could get my boyfriend to join me on my Sunday obsession with this prequel. I had my arsenal ready - pizza, cold drinks, clean house, fed dog the works. Even felt superior when I was telling him that the people on the show don't know this but you don't have to be bit to turn. If you die you turn. He seemed genuinely interested. Then he says "Now we can finally find out how the whole thing started and why people come back to life" *sad horns* I had to tell him they never explain exactly what happened this show is just the beginning before it all it went to Hades. And with that I have lost him forever. We have decided to end our relationship every Sunday from 8:00 to 9:00

[Tippi Blevins]

The fake-out with the principal almost made me stop watching the episode. That was just dumb, low-hanging fruit. In fact, the fruit was already dead and on the ground. The fruit was zombie fruit.

 

I like that the family finds out Nick is in the hospital and takes time to let the daughter dry and style her hair to perfection before going over to see him. I'm already placing bets on her hair being gorgeous for however long the series lasts.

[Ottis]

"Ain't nobody got time for this" ...  show.

 

Didn't watch, checked this thread to get a sense of reviews. Surprised so many people are commenting. Don't know why it is interesting to go back and see the beginning of something we already know about from TWD ... now with teenagers.

[HalcyonDays]

Everyone. Just like over at the Walking Dead threads, please remember to keep the heated racial arguments out of your posts. There is nothing wrong with discussing the POC casting, characters and diversity on this show, but do not get pissy at each other nor dismiss anyone's opinion or brush it aside, or reply with attitude because it does not match your own opinion. In terms of the long-running TWD joke about POC on the show, the show hasn't been around enough to set that "benchmark" yet.

 

As I said, same rules apply here (and PTV in general) as we've seen over on TWD board. Respectful discussion of diversity casting/POC characters over there too, without attacking each other. I don't want this to devolve into back and forth snipping. Thank you.

[nodorothyparker]

I think a lot of people are interested in exactly how the world fell apart.  We have the general idea, thanks to years of speculating on message boards, but Kirkman very specifically skipped over that part of the story along with the cause because it never seemed to interest him.  The little nuggets we got from the mother show, like the napalming of downtown Atlanta, have been tantalizing for viewers like me who only marginally care about the zombies and gore and are much more interested in the dystopia of the world ending and what comes after.

[Timetoread]

I'm in.  But unlike everybody else, I'm not in it for the walkers.  We already have a show that's chock full of walkers - it's called "The Walking Dead".  My understanding of the premise of this show is that it would be about the PEOPLE.  It's about seeing life as we recognize it go up in flames in an apocalypse.  The stuff that we always hear about from preppers: collapse of society, gangs running rampant, looting, fight for survival and safety, overreaching military and national guard deployment.  It's not about how humans react to zombies, it's about how humans react to an apocalypse.  And yes, before the mass dying commenced, families were intact and in a time of stress and turmoil, our first thoughts and top priorities are of family.  And so are our last thoughts.  It will make the impending zombifying (I made that word up) of the world that much more poignant because all of those zombies that require the gruesome headshots that CDB delivers so deftly, were somebody's mother, father, sister, brother, son, daughter, cousin, lover.  Somebody's SOMETHING.  They were people once.  Just like in "Clear" the zombie with the bracelet clawing at Michonne's car window was once a girl named Erin and her family was desperately looking for her and hoping she'd find her way to Magic Mountain.  She did not.  And most likely they did not either.  This is the story I think this show wants to tell and it is the story that I want to see.

Edited August 24, 2015 by Timetoread

[ghoulina]

The fake-out with the principal almost made me stop watching the episode. That was just dumb, low-hanging fruit. In fact, the fruit was already dead and on the ground. The fruit was zombie fruit.

 

YES. Eye roll worthy for sure. 

 

I'm in.  But unlike everybody else, I'm not in it for the walkers.  We already have a show that's chock full of walkers - it's called "The Walking Dead".  My understanding of the premise of this show is that it would be about the PEOPLE.  It's about seeing life as we recognize it go up in flames in an apocalypse.  The stuff that we always hear about from preppers: collapse of society, gangs running rampant, looting, fight for survival and safety, overreaching military and national guard deployment.  It's not about how humans react to zombies, it's about how humans react to an apocalypse.

 

Well, I do think the original has already well established that it's not just about walkers either. There's been plenty of human reaction to explore. But, absolutely, I was very excited about this show because I wanted to see that immediate collapse - not just the aftermath. We only got small snippets with TWD - Shane in the hospital, Lori and Shane on the highway. I rather enjoyed those scenes and was excited to see more of that early stuff. I'm not totally writing this off, the previews look fairly good, but my issue is that I just don't find myself connecting with or caring about any of these characters yet. I know it's early, but with TWD, most of those early characters were likable from their first lines. So yea, I really dig the idea of watching that "fear"  when stuff is happening but you don't know yet what it is, and how people get passed the initial outbreak, and all of that. But for it to work, the main cast has to be compelling. And so far they're all either annoying or a big yawn. 

[HalcyonDays]

I think part of the problem (all?) was the lack of action or evidence that the shit was hitting the fan. This series is only 6 episodes long, so get on with it. They needed more "action." in the final 30 minutes showing things starting to degenerate.

 

An example would be when Travis and Maddie hit that traffic jam, and with all of the cop cars and firetrucks, etc. Same with Code Blue guy. They could have had another scene with a CDC team rushing through the hallways in full gear, in panic mode, to hint at what's going on.

 

Maybe more evidence of something deadly in the church. We only saw the one slick of blood on the floor, but there should have been more "hints" at "something bad".

 

it just seemed like the show went Church to Hospital to School to Church to Hospital to School, etc etc.

 

I'm going to watch it next week too, but at this point, The Last Ship has priority for me (and it has it's flaws too).

[Timetoread]

I  know it's early, but with TWD, most of those early characters were likable from their first lines.

 

Really?  It was not that way for me. I found almost ALL of TWD characters to be eye roll inducing in the beginning - particularly Rick, Carl, Olive Oyl (er, Lori), Andrea, and DARYL.  The only one I could stomach was Glen.  I never warmed to Carol (and still haven't in spite of rabid fandom) and Lori made me homicidal, but Daryl and Shane grew on me.  I didn't like Hershel in the beginning but really liked Maggie.  Andrea grew on me but love turned quickly to hate by S3.  I didn't care for Michonne in the beginning but now I'd stop watching if she left.  I hated Rick all the way up to his utterance of the line "I killed my ---- ------ for you people!" which to this day cracks me up. Then I liked him.  Now I love him.  And Carl - well Carl is my heart now. 

 

This is all to say, I'll wait and see.  The only character I like now is the junkie son - because he's a good actor.  The two parents are okay but don't seem believable to me.  Reuben Blades is on cast and I would watch the show for him alone.  So we'll see!

 

Edited because the spoiler tags won't work correctly.

Edited August 24, 2015 by Timetoread

[phoenix780]

I think a lot of people are interested in exactly how the world fell apart.  We have the general idea, thanks to years of speculating on message boards, but Kirkman very specifically skipped over that part of the story along with the cause because it never seemed to interest him.  The little nuggets we got from the mother show, like the napalming of downtown Atlanta, have been tantalizing for viewers like me who only marginally care about the zombies and gore and are much more interested in the dystopia of the world ending and what comes after.

I agree with that, which is why it may have been better to do a hybrid of what the poster upthread suggested and this show by having a small cast, a family, but connecting the characters to the How of it all a little more.  Make one of the parents a doctor, maybe a government official making some of the decisions.  Pull them into it all a bit more.  And maybe stay away from the whole shadowy-government angle they seem to be playing, which is something I don't always find entertaining.

 

As it is, this is another show about people trying to cope with what's happening rather than a show where we get to learn about what's happening, if that makes sense.  Coping requires me to care about them to stay interested, whereas they could lean a bit more heavily on my curiosity about how everything fell apart.  It's a pilot, though, so who knows where they'll go.  And, having watched most of "Lost," I get that sometimes answering questions is more disappointing than leaving them open. 

 

I'm glad to read others commenting on the truck.  I thought I was being an unfair viewer, but it never clicked for me why they were rolling around town in a beat up truck with a cracked windshield.  One of the kids, maybe.  Or maybe there's a deleted scene out there somewhere?

[Ocean Chick]

I'll watch for a couple of more episodes, for sure, but I wasn't in awe like I was for the pilot of the Mother Ship.  The characters are just okay, so far.  Except Cal, who I knew was just too fine to live.  I love the little bit that they showed about those in authority knowing what's going on (the doctor hurrying the dead old guy downstairs, the policemen not blinking too much regarding Nick's story (though still wanting to appear to believe he was hallucinating so that no one else would believe him), and poor Tobias with his online life and knife).  I don't think girlfriend's bf is dead, but he's probably dodging walkers as we speak.  He'll probably appear next week to warn the family of the outbreak, and then he'll probably die trying to protect miss brat.

 

Let's hope this show finds it's footing fast.

[Haleth]

Did I blink and miss Ruben Blades?  Where was he?

[LVmom]

I hope there is at least one person who gets my reference here-I hope we don't get a Tyler from "V" situation here, or a Terra Nova teenage angst story. Both shows had promise, and were completely killed by teenagers who sucked every last bit of interesting out of them with their whiny asses. Thus far I'm not getting that from FTWD, but I've been burnt before. Jericho cultivated a decent "teenager in the apocalypse" scenario without sucking the life out of the show-but, teens weren't a large chunk of the featured cast. Jericho managed to show a teen(Dale Turner) become corrupt by coming into a position of power post-apocalypse.

 

I did get a bit of "let's cater to a certain female age group." The guy is there to make the single moms life easier. He fixes her problems and drops everything for her. It felt like middle aged mom porn. And as part of that demographic, I don't care. I'd rather see more of the nitty gritty at the hospital, freeway, or even more druggies interacting, observing the apocalypse in a drug induced haze.

[RustbeltWriter]

Nick's shirt took me out of the opening scene completely. I kept wondering how high he had to have been to put on something like that. Also, are junkies shooting up in abandoned buildings usually so well groomed and fit? Where was the gaunt, caved in chest and scabs that normal heroin users develop?

 

I liked it but the fact that I can't remember the mom's name is not a good sign. After the TWD premiere the name Rick Grimes was stuck in my head.

 

The old Ford pickup was a bit of a head scratcher as well. It was too old to be a daily driver, too beat up for someone who has an actual grown up job (who wouldn't get that windshielfd fixed?) and it was impractical for a family man. Maybe the production/ prop/wardrobe staff is just falling down here.

 

I'm enjoying the slow build up. After all, I want this series to show the fall of society so spending some time showing us that society is a good thing. We got three walkers, some really cool video of one being taken down and they built the tension very well. Everyone is getting the feeling that something odd is going on but they can't quite put their finger on it.

Edited August 24, 2015 by RustbeltWriter

[Joan van Snark]

Hmmmmm....guess I had a different experience because I thought it was very interesting for the most part.  I honestly don't need to see zombie chases and killings every 5 minutes---we've pretty much seen all that ad nauseum.  I enjoyed getting to know the characters.  The son is a really good actor, although I can see how he might have a penchant for going a little over the top.  Had no idea he was Stannis Baratheon's real life son. 

 

Honestly I find the 'mothership' quite boring at times.  I think the LA/urban environment might make the show a lot more interesting.  Sort of reminds me how I was overjoyed when Camp Dinner Bell made it to Alexandria and we got to see the group living day to day in a semi-normal environment instead the constant threat of zombie attack. 

[Timetoread]

Except Cal, who I knew was just too fine to live.

 

This!!  LOL LOL LOL!  Yeah, girl, we can only dream.

[MrsRafaelBarba]

@LV Mom....

 

Never saw Terra Nova, but heard about how annoying the teens were on that show. 

 

Tyler from V, I literally snoopy danced around my bedroom, gleefully celebrating his fate.

 

MOST ANNOYING TEEN ON TV..EVER!

[maystone]

I like the truck. I get the truck. The first scene we have with Travis and Maddie shows Travis trying to fix the kitchen plumbing to save them $300. A school teacher and a guidance counselor would not be swimming in cash, especially if one of them is also paying child support, which I'm pretty sure would be the deal with Travis and his ex-wife. Both my father and my brother owned a pick-up truck, and they each owned their own home in a settled housing development, not out in the country. The truck always came in handy for helping with hauling loads of home/lawn repair stuff. To be honest, I didn't notice the cracked windshield, but the sight of a beat-up, well-used pick-up would not make me gasp.

[LVmom]

In regards to the truck, my husband grew up on a farm where they had that same truck. He said the best thing about it was the slide back window. I wonder if it will come into play, like a quick escape route or something thereabouts. I have come to realize that even the most minute details are significant on these Dead shows.

 

And MrsRafaelBarba, Tylers ending was the.best.ending.evah!!!!

Edited August 24, 2015 by LVmom

[Helena Dax]

I don't think this is a problem between people who wants action and people who wants to get to know the characters. I was pretty bored with this episode, but I'm someone who enjoys shows like Sense8, The Leftovers or Les Revenants. But there, you've got great characters and interesting dialogues and  here, you've got characters you've seen millions of times, saying lines  you've heard millions of times. If I didn't know zombies are coming, I wouldn't have watched more than five minutes of this episode. I still have hope, though. Little Voldemort wasn't annoying and I want to know more about that kid with the knife.

[Ronin Jackson]

I'm fine with the pacing and the lack of zombies, but just because a show takes time with characters doesn't mean it's doing a good job with character development. The idea is right, but not the execution. There's even less of an excuse because they rounded up a pretty good cast... Cliff Curtis and Kim Dickens are fine choices to headline the show, but they need to be given material that doesn't feel generic, and so far it is.

 

There are too many red flags with the execution that I'm really doubting I make it through the season. On top of making it a character piece with uninteresting characters, the music is overbearing and lame (I'm not a huge fan of the mothership show but they do have perhaps the best active television composer working on it... this show seems to have hired the local DJ at the corner store for the gig). You already have characters acting excessively stupid (even though they didn't pay for it, wandering around in an abandoned Church populated by junkies where something horribly violent obviously happened and calling out "Anybody here?"... not smart in the real world or zombie land).

 

But you can't take the zombies out of the equation. The thing that would set this show apart from the mothership show is chronicling how the modern society reacts to the ZA as it begins to unfold. (they are both claiming to be character driven pieces about people dealing with the situation, not the situation). I guess they want to milk this for a bit (it's not going to be long before the situation is as dire as it was during the pilot of TWD), but the pilot should have had at least one cool set piece chronicling how this epidemic begins to change the modern society. I agree the hospital was a missed opportunity. It's not too late for that but the early depictions of the onset of the apocalypse have been underwhelming.

[MrsRafaelBarba]

And MrsRafaelBarba, Tylers ending was the.best.ending.evah!!!!

 

        Simply Glorious.

 

        That character was truly a waste of dead trees.

[Omar G.]

Did I blink and miss Ruben Blades?  Where was he?

 

He wasn't in this episode.

 

He starts appearing in the next episode.

[snowwhyte]

I wasn't impressed e the pilot but I did love the scene where Nick was running from the church and had to stop to pull his baggy pants up. If the zombie apocalypse brings the baggy pants trend to an end then it's not all bad.

[yogi2014L]

I agree with the PP who said they should start broad and whittle it down.  I would be super interested to see the collapse from a lot of different perspectives...teachers, doctors, police, military, poor people, celebrities, government. You could do SO much. I thought I am Legend did a good job with the demise, the panic ect.

 

It was horribly disappointing! I didn't care for anyone, especially not the mom ( who has a major case of RBF). And when the teachers were watching the video of the cop shooting the walker they were all acting like they were watching the weather report!  Same with when Cal was reanimating. Like they see this shit all day. no reaction. I would have loved if it was realistic ( screaming, freaking out, fleeing the scene)

 

Ill still watch with hopes it will get better but...ugh.

[cynic]

One thing I wish they did for this series was do it Wwz style - I wish they had shown the beginning of the apocalypse from a variety of ways, a doctor being prepped on the new 'flu', a government official trying to keep it under wraps, a family in LA dealing with the outbreak. If they weren't going to show origins, I do wish we could see how people reacted, not just a family again. And if budget were a concern, they could have spent one episode on each person/group and have them all meet up on season two.

I would have preferred this too. As for the budget, if 12 Monkeys on SyFy can pull off basing their stories in two different time periods, I'm sure FtWD could have handled a few different PoV. I guess that's just not the story they wanted to tell. They really wanted to do a family drama.

...As it is, this is another show about people trying to cope with what's happening rather than a show where we get to learn about what's happening, if that makes sense. Coping requires me to care about them to stay interested, whereas they could lean a bit more heavily on my curiosity about how everything fell apart. It's a pilot, though, so who knows where they'll go. And, having watched most of "Lost," I get that sometimes answering questions is more disappointing than leaving them open....

I think the thing is that the showrunners are not really interested in answering those questions. They've always been squirrely about the origins, even on the mothership. They're only interested in the coping. You're right though, they need to make these people more likeable or at least more interesting if they want us to care about how they are coping.

 

[Slider]

Way too slow for my tastes, but the part the bugged the most was the brother/sister flirty vibe when she was feeding him jello in the hospital.  A little too creepy for my tastes.  They acted like boyfriend/girlfriend (or exes), not brother/sister.  Yuck.

 

If the whole thing had started in five other states like the kid with the knife said, why didn't they link it news reports that mysterious things were happening in other places? Give me something that says people were starting to wonder what was going on.  There was no build up!

[ghoulina]

It was horribly disappointing! I didn't care for anyone, especially not the mom ( who has a major case of RBF).

 

LOL, I kept thinking - why is this chick always staring pensively off into the distance? 

Way too slow for my tastes, but the part the bugged the most was the brother/sister flirty vibe when she was feeding him jello in the hospital.  A little too creepy for my tastes.  They acted like boyfriend/girlfriend (or exes), not brother/sister.  Yuck.

 

Thank God I'm not alone in getting that vibe. I was all prepared to FF when she climbed onto the bed. 

 

Yea, I feel like a lot of the casting and pairing up of people is just off. 

[Iguessnot]

Yeah the way she leaned in to raise the bed, the way the camera lingered a second too long on her arm and the way he squirmed and giggled were ALL wrong.

Edited August 24, 2015 by Iguessnot

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

 

To Live And Un-Die In L.A. / The zombie apocalypse begins not with a bang, but with a lot of disbelief and foreshadowing.

[smcallah]

Exactly. especially in a hospital. I would have thought that was where  Travis, Nick, and the mother would have encountered a mass of walkers.

 

Actually, The Walking Dead has shown dead bodies in cars stranded on the road as they moved along that didn't turn when they died.  So not everyone must have been infected in the beginning if people evacuating the cities died in their cars and didn't turn.

[kj4ever]

Going into this I knew it was going to be different and had made up my mind not to compare it to the Mothership.  I couldn't help but compare though to see they horrid writing for females has carried on to this show.

 

You can write a strong female character without making you wish she is the first to die.  You can write an overachieving teenage girl without her coming off like a complete asshole.  I could not stand either of them.

 

Didn't have much love for the Dad either.  Someone please get his balls back from Kim's character.  There is supportive, then there is hen pecked little whipping boy.  Ugh.

 

Surprisingly to me the character I thought I would hate at the beginning is the only one I even have a passing interest in finding out how he deals with this whole mess.  Having the unfortunate experience of dealing with a junkie I gotta say this actor hit it out of the park.  If I can erase the hilarious run/little child's shirt/I wanna do my sister vibe from him I'd say he was damn good and brought a realness to his character and not just a caricature, which is how I saw all the others.

 

And really, if they survive past the DT's a junkie probably has a good shot with the whole end of the world thing.  These are people that have already done whatever it takes to survive, so it's second nature to them.

[Morgan of Hed]

Going into this I knew it was going to be different and had made up my mind not to compare it to the Mothership.  I couldn't help but compare though to see they horrid writing for females has carried on to this show.

 

You can write a strong female character without making you wish she is the first to die.  You can write an overachieving teenage girl without her coming off like a complete asshole.  I could not stand either of them.

Michonne? Carol? How are these horribly written characters that make you wish they would die?  I don't see this pattern of horrid writing for females that you see.