S01.E05: Cobalt

[Maverick]

 I can buy that the government decided that city had to be abandoned and ordered an evac to regroup and consolidate its remaining forces some place safer (the desert, no doubt).  This is most likely happening in every city and is a prelude to napalming them.  What I can't buy is that you need to evacuate and sanitize a city that is virtually devoid of anyone, alive or dead.  And that's what they're presenting LA as.  We saw Morgan rounding up walkers left and right in Rick's small, rural Georgia hometown months after the fall but on the way to down fucking town LA--one of the most populated cities in the country--they run into one lonely doughnut chick.  The whole "the city has been deserted/cleared" bullshit is just that.  The outskirts of the city should be, at best, chaos.  The city itself should be a literal Hell on Earth at this point.

[Glaze Crazy]

I can believe that by now the military hierarchy is also succumbing to the virus at the same rate as every other group of people and the foot soldiers are now working independent of the brass for the most part.  They probably are not receiving much new intel and are only going by the "Cobalt" order that was given at the start of this. That kind of plays out with the soldier dropping Travis off near his house and heading home to his own family.  Good luck with that, buddy.

 

I'm intrigued by the people being kept in the cages/chain linked area. What's that about? Glad that Liza saw it though, so she can swing through and open the cages before the hospital gets overrun, I hope.  And what does the crisp shirt guy have to do with it that a soldier can be bribed off taking NIck away.  He's definitely got some kind of plan so that looks promising.

 

I see the kids wrecking the rich house as a symbol of them realizing that the world as they know it is over.  There won't be many personal things that have any value in the new order, except food and weapons.  I think they were both getting to that point in the last episode but this finalized it.  I noticed that they were back in their original clothes when they were going back to their house, so they know there isn't any reason to covet the stuff of the rich I guess.

 

Not surprised that Daniel turned out to be good at torture, but I'm sorry that they felt they needed to make the character so dark.  Just knowing he's been through a dangerous experience in his youth was enough to know he would have the strength and common sense to survive now.

 

I'm still wondering what will be the thing that finally turns Travis around regarding his apparent denial that things are completely pear-shaped and never going back to how it was.  I thought he would take that shot at the walker in the donut shop, but I suspect seeing the name badge reminded him of the former human that she was and he hasn't  got past that yet.

 

I'm also hoping next week will be a good payoff for this first season. 

[truelovekiss]

nodorothyparker wrote:

But...but..what about Tobias?? He did have one facial expression....but I don't think he played dressup in the neighbors' house.

I hope we get to see more of Tobias in the upcoming season.

I can see Tobias kind of being the Morgan of this show. I don't think we've seen the last of him, but I do think it could be awhile before we see him again. Which is unfortunate, I think he and Daniel Salazar could be great friends.

[Brooke0707]

I know this is a show that is based on fantasy but the way people act is so unrealistic to me.

The world is ending so you get dressed up and break things? Wtf?

And what is with speaking in metaphors? Like the guy with Nick? Who talks like that? And Ophelia's mom? Again, the way she was talking - like she is someone on a tv show, not like an actual person. All the dialogue is very obviously lines on a tv show versus anything natural or organic.

So many holes. The military plan is to kill everyone except themselves? Why? Just because it is an evil thing to do and makes for a plot?

Nothing is organic on the show.

Edited September 28, 2015 by Brooke0707

[bangs]

I was so bored, I was zoning out. Was Salazar going up the stairs to the Staple Center (filled with zombies) at the end of the episode??

[SimoneS]

 I can buy that the government decided that city had to be abandoned and ordered an evac to regroup and consolidate its remaining forces some place safer (the desert, no doubt).  This is most likely happening in every city and is a prelude to napalming them.  What I can't buy is that you need to evacuate and sanitize a city that is virtually devoid of anyone, alive or dead.  And that's what they're presenting LA as.  We saw Morgan rounding up walkers left and right in Rick's small, rural Georgia hometown months after the fall but on the way to down fucking town LA--one of the most populated cities in the country--they run into one lonely doughnut chick.  The whole "the city has been deserted/cleared" bullshit is just that.  The outskirts of the city should be, at best, chaos.  The city itself should be a literal Hell on Earth at this point.

 

I said this last week and it is remains true. LA has millions of people, I think just over 3 million. Where are all the walkers? There is no way that a squad or two of the military took them all out. Also, it has only been nine days, there should be thousands of people still human and struggling to survive by getting out of the city. It is unbelievable that the only surviving people are in that small suburban neighborhood.

 

I will repeat myself: what is the point of setting this show in a large urban city like LA if they are not going to show the characters surrounded by walkers, terrorized, and fighting for their lives? I really think that AMC did not give FTWD the budget that it needed to exploit the LA setting.

Edited September 28, 2015 by SimoneS

[natyxg]

I was so bored, I was zoning out. Was Salazar going up the stairs to the Staple Center (filled with zombies) at the end of the episode??

 

Yes. But frankly I didn't see the importance of that. In the promo he says that the Center was like the soldier said so he must have been telling the truth?  Or something like that? Oookay.

 

I also don't get the importance of the Center, it's as if all hell will break loose when the zombies there break out. But there were millions of people in LA, are they telling us that all people and zombies have been cleared except those? What?

 

Cause frankly, 2000 is nothing compared to the millions that should be walking around. Like someone said, LA must be hell by now.

[Greta]

 

Nick has some kind of charisma that is unstoppable. Are we sure that zombies even want to eat him? Maybe they just want to be close to him. I couldn't believe that his cellmate actually thought Nick was worth saving. Maybe he was just waiting for someone to get put in there that had so many other things going on that the ZA wasn't too upsetting. I see why he had to get rid of that crying man. You can't really plot a prison break with a hysterical man wailing in the background.

 

 

I'm actually shaking with laughter at the image of Nick being tenderly embraced and nose-nuzzled by zombies who just want to hug and pet and squeeze him and keep him forever because of his special snowflakery.

[Yolapukka]

 

And Travis is going to have to find a middle ground between where he is now and that asshole Moyers who seems to get a hard-on from shooting walkers.

 

Especially since that quirk put Moyers into the past tense. He won't be missed around here. Well really, most of the characters would not be missed.

 

 

Nick's so lucky! He's trapped with a smooth talking magician! I can't wait until he Houdinis both of them out of that cage.

 

I think that will probably work out well for Nick when things go sideways, but I doubt that man's intentions for Nick were anything other than an entirely expendable distraction. 

 

 

In contrast, they give us Liza, who is selfless and moral, and is doing all she can to protect others.  Her sacrificial nature is giving her information and advantages in this situation.  So we see two ways of responding.

 

 Liza continues to rise every week in my estimation, She is my favourite character in the cast. She's compelling, sympathetic and effective. She seems to be a quick study. I enjoy Dr. Exner too, she doesn't need to stick around forever, but I'd prefer that she's around for a while.

 

I lost a lot of the esteem I'd formed for Daniel, but I thought Ruben Blades did excellent work in those scenes. He was terrifyingly persuasive, never once going over the top which would be a temptation for too many actors.

 

Madison has me more disinterested in her fate every week.  I went into this expecting her to be a favorite, given that I've often enjoyed Kim Dickens in the past and the character seemed to be getting the lead treatment in the promos. Now I'm hoping that was a bait and switch. It says something that I'm more interested in her sulky, generic teen daughter and degenerate drug addict son. 

 

The scenes in the rich, missing and dead people's house were fairly paint-by numbers but they did have a certain dark humour to them, the writers would do better if they'd inject more of that into the show and less angst, teen or otherwise. Especially Travis angst, ugh.

 

I enjoyed this episode a lot more than what we sat through last week.  I found more to appreciate and less to be irritated by.

Edited September 28, 2015 by yuggapukka

[rab01]

I can withstand occasional stupidity from my heroes but not from my villains.  Everything the military did in today's show is completely illogical.  A lowly corporal knows that they are bugging out in the morning, right?  So, it's not a secret inside the army, right?  Why then is the LT giving Travis a ride-along?  Why do they let the corporal out of their sight for even a minute? Why would the other squad have gone inside a building to get pinned down? How do armed soldiers manage to get wasted by walkers?  Why bother keeping the peace in the "safe zones" instead of just abandoning them? Why have project cobalt in the first place - rather than just bugging out?  (Humane, schmumane - it's dangerous to try kill tens of thousands of people; it's way safer to just leave.)  I could go on listing things that make no sense for hours.

 

And again, like I've said before if the show were giving me good performances, good visuals or a fully realized vision of something, I could look past the huge plot holes or that they prefer to show the dull parts instead of the exciting bits

 

They don't need to be world war z and they don't need to tell the story I want them to tell ----- but thy really need to tell their chosen story well.  *sigh*

[Cthulhudrew]

I liked Ruben Blades' performance; he's been the only really solid, consistent one in the series so far.

 

Of course, I enjoyed the same storyline his character had here back when it was Sayid and Sawyer on LOST.

 

I'm hoping the soldiers took advantage of their zombie situation to frag their ridiculously nefarious leader.

Edited September 28, 2015 by Cthulhudrew

[islandgal140]

I'm am feeling so lied to right now. This show was billed as showing what transpired when Rick was in a coma and shed light on how it all went to hell. Frankly, I feel like I got a show told through the eyes of a family in a coma its damn self. They are just as unconscious and unknowing as Rick was. Seriously, they  got rescued by the cavalry, taken to their homes and within 9 days, LA was lost - OFF SCREEN! 

 

That being said, I thought this was one of the season's better episodes but that is really just damning with faint praise. I was just relieved to be out of the hood and seeing what was happening behind the gates.  I like that we got a look into the armed forces medical tent. Once again Travis' ex shows that she is worth more than both Travis and his current fiancee Maddy combined. I really like the ending scene with Daniel at the arena gates with walkers pushing up against the chained doors. It reminded me of the scene in TWD series premiere of Rick in the hospital with the doors marked 'don't open. dead inside' and you hear the growling and see the hands. I am curious as to how Daniel got downtown though with a curfew instituted. 

 

The biggest wasted opportunity to show and not tell was the military going into the library. That just made me think that this show was just a money grab to capitalize on TWD success without the runners having to actually invest any big money to show complicated expensive combat scenes or worry about anything silly like compelling characters and storytelling. 

 

Crisp Shirt was everything. What a great actor. Although, the characters purported craftiness and ability to 'read' people and situations to his advantage is severely undermined by giving up what appears to be jeweled cufflinks for the likes of Daniel. I don't see what use a withdrawing heroin can be to any dire situation. Gustavo Fringe (Breaking Bad) will tell you that you can never trust a drug addict. Words to live (and die) by.

 

No comment on this episodes submission of teenagers behaving badly. Can't find a f*ck to give!

Edited September 28, 2015 by islandgal140

[truelovekiss]

And Ophelia's mom? Again, the way she was talking - like she is someone on a tv show, not like an actual person. All the dialogue is very obviously lines on a tv show versus anything natural or organic.

I definitely agree that a lot of the the dialogue (especially a soliloquy like that) seems very fake, and like they're trying too hard to be deep. But I actually kind of liked what they did with Griselda in that speech. I found her monologue to God in the midst of her delerium preferable to listening to FPP or someone pray out loud, which feels so much more unnatural. She was clearly a deeply religious woman, and so it was interesting to see her take on her fate, as well as her feelings on the things her husband has done.

[ICantDoThatDave]

Is it a bad sign if the *most* believable thing about this show is the zombies?

[bagatelle]

Grizelda was great at the end.  Pity she's dead.  I'm seeing a major 'redemption' arc for Salazar.  And I'm seeing a HUGE drop in audience for the season finale.  Which is a shame because the real talent just showed up.

 

I thought Grizelda was beyond creepy at the end, although she did admit to her past transgressions, but that was creepy too. I expected Liza to want to see first hand how someone turns, but she blindly believed Dr. Exner, and without much thought, put a cattle gun to Grizelda's head.

[Janimo]

I'm still so very bored with this show.....Is it terrible of me to be looking forward to seeing FPP on TWD over what's been going on with FTWD??? Sigh......

[phoenix780]

If I see one more scene where a character looks out a dirty window while shit happens somewhere off camera I'm going to scream...and then wait for the next episode in hopes that things get better somehow.

 

I'm starting to think this show is designed as a fluffer for the mothership.  They would have to be really, really bad to not seem amazing in contrast to this mess.  It's either that or an experiment in how little effort they can make and keep an audience.  I just can't imagine someone making this and thinking they were kicking ass in any meaningful way.

 

I appreciated the kids breaking stuff because at least that was someone doing something, having some kind of response besides a blank stare.  I kind of hope they keep the blank looks as they get eaten, though.  I mean, if you aren't going to break down when you learn that the government is going to kill you and/or abandon you, why would you when a couple of walkers (skinbags?) tear you apart?

 

Also, US Army, probably the worst moment for you to have an advertisement about how awesome you are.

 

Ooh, doors.  I wonder which character I'll get to watch as they watch stuff happen.  Probably the kids.  Or maybe they'll get real creative and I'll get, like, the walkers' perspective as they peer through the crack of those doors at the outside world.  In any case...here's to one more episode!  Something'll have to happen this time, right?

 

I hope the next spinoff is a flash forward.  Let's see how people are doing 20 years from now, since they ain't interested in showing too much of how it all came to pass.

[Yolapukka]

 

A lowly corporal knows that they are bugging out in the morning, right?  So, it's not a secret inside the army, right?  Why then is the LT giving Travis a ride-along?  Why do they let the corporal out of their sight for even a minute? Why would the other squad have gone inside a building to get pinned down?

 

 

They had the soldier's radio with him and the word "Cobalt" kept coming up. My guess would be that he knew what Cobalt meant, but the information that the particular safe zone that the cast was in was about to be given the "Cobalt" treatment wan't necessarily known to him when he helped Ofelia home. I think the squad going in the building was plot point so he wouldn't missed, Moyers apparently did not survive the experience and the rest of the squad seems to be planning to go AWOL. It's incoherent either way.

 

I think they are rushing this, they are skipping over key parts of the fall with the result that the collapse of society and morality is too quick. Cobalt especially seems like it would have been better used to support a season two arc, rather than be the central conceit of a single episode. Like others, I have trouble with the idea that the military would turn into such a force of nihilistic destruction in such a short time.  I don't have an issue with the concept that there would be a massive breakdown in leadership and bad orders that result in civilians being eliminated along with walkers,

especially with what we know happened in Atlanta.

but the progression I've seen is hard to swallow, especially since apparently there were 9 days where a great deal happened, but none of it was experienced by those living in the Clark household, so we don't get to know any of it.

 

At this point I don't feel like I can complain that they are telling rather than showing, because I don't think there is much telling going on either.

Edited September 28, 2015 by yuggapukka

[placate]

Can someone tell me what happened during the last two minutes?  My dvr cut off after the doctor gave the gun to the ex-wife.

[mightysparrow]

I find it so hard to believe that studio executives watched this show and actually said, 'yeah let's put it on the air'.  As someone said above, this show is a stinky mess.  The contempt shown toward the audience is beyond insulting.

 

I'm disappointed in Salazar the character but not Ruben Blades the actor.  I think it would have been more intriguing if Daniel had been a victim of torture in El Salvadore and the desperation of needing to find his wife had forced him to become a torturer now.  That would have been interesting.

 

The story line with the soldiers would have been much more interesting if we had seen WHY the fuck they were stressing out the way they were.  They took Travis 'deep in the shit' but there was no shit to be seen unless donut girl was it.  These guys are showing signs of battle fatigue but where are the fucking battles.  As so many have said, LA should be hell right now, as stinky as this show,  ONE WALKER??  It would be funny if it wasn't so pathetic.

 

I'm no fan of teenage hijinks but how sad is it that Alicia and Chris are wandering around what we're told is a war zone and their parents don't give a single fuck.  Does Madison even remember Alicia exists?  Speaking of invisible children, I'm trying to figure out how two people as interesting as Daniel and Griselda create blander than bland Ofelia.

 

Strand is my guy and I'm very proud of Colman.  He wasn't just a breath of fresh air, he was a fucking tsunami.  What a joy to have a character who actually had a point of view and an idea about what he was going to do.  Most of what he said and did didn't make a lick of sense, but I didn't give a shit because at least he was doing SOMETHING.  And I want the Emmy committee to take note of the fact that when Strand said Nick was worthwhile, I actually believed him...for a second.  Even Nick looked up with a 'me? interesting?' expression of his face.  Any actor good enough to convince an audience that Nick is actually worth keeping around for a minute is a damn fine actor.

 

Yes, I'll be watching the finale. I've already wasted 5 hours on this things; what's an hour more?  But a lot of people are going to have to die in the finale to convince me to come back next year.

I don't even know what to say about Madison and Travis.

[Kenz]

Maybe I missed something at the end. How did Salazar get to the arena by himself, and why wouldn't he instead have gone to the place that his wife was being held if he was so free to roam the streets of Los Angeles? This show is so full of unexplained holes and unlikable, illogical characters. I can't wait until it's over and the original Walking Dead show comes back in a couple of weeks.

Edited September 28, 2015 by Kenz

[rab01]

yuggapuka, that is a GREAT fanwank.  That Cobalt was ordered in the time between the soldier's capture and his torture almost makes most of the plotholes go away.  Thank you! (That Cobalt is still a stupidly more dangerous, difficult, useless and evil plan than simply bugging out is well ... *shrug*)

 

I also liked the actor playing crispy shirt but I laughed at his opening speech.  It was such a bullshit piece of dialogue that a hack writer thinks will pass for deep. That actor was brilliant to make it almost work; also, the guy playing the neighbor is actually very good to be believably that broken for that long on camera.  As for trading cufflinks for Nick's life, why not?  Diamonds are worthless now so why not fob them off onto an idiot soldier in return for a henchman. As viewers, we've generally felt that that Nick seems like a survivor so it wouldn't be surprising for someone who's been in a cell with him for a day to get a similar idea.

[natyxg]

Can someone tell me what happened during the last two minutes?  My dvr cut off after the doctor gave the gun to the ex-wife.

 

LMAO I'm trying to remember and coming up blank.

 

Um, Liza put down Griselda. And the soldier told Travis that they soldiers are going to evac  and leave everyone behind? Was that at the very end? Or was it that Nick's cellmate told him the soldiers were leaving and the two of them were going to escape? Daniel also made it to the arena full of zombies. Somehow. For some reason. I guess.

[Anela]

I liked the episode, mostly. I didn't like the torture, but the daughter had a believable reaction to it. I also don't want to see step-siblings getting romantic with each other, or seeing them trash someone else's belongings. 

[TrininisaScorp]

Crisp Shirt is the only reason I didn't change channels. He was so very compelling & I think I'm going to enjoy seeing Frank Dillane spar with that actor. Yay!

I also really liked Liza's story. I think she has the skills to make it!

Daniel being a torturerer was rough & maybe a little bit of plotting laziness, but that actor also brings it.

That said, the rest was painfully boring. Am I genuinely suppose to give a shit about Madison or Travis or Chris or...what's her name?! This show would have truly been better using the World War Z method of storytelling from different perspectives from the jump. This way, we'd have seen some more action earlier.

This many episodes in & it drags. Not awesome.

[GreyBunny]

My favorite part of the episode: Chris telling Madison to shut up.  Madison needs to shut up early and often.

[kj4ever]

My favorite part of the episode: Chris telling Madison to shut up.  Madison needs to shut up early and often.

I think I may finally like Chris...lol  Bonus points for refusing to apologize to the ignorant bitch.

 

My biggest WTF about this episode is why do they have to "humanely" exterminate the survivors when they leave?  Why don't they just leave?  WTF?

 

There was a spark of interest in this episode that kind of sort of showed how the military broke down.  People wanting to go AWOL for their own families...Soldiers coming to the realization that there is no hope and it's every man/woman/child for them self.   

 

I did LOL at "skin bags".  I love the different terminology we see for the Walkers in TWD when they meet new people, so I like that they came up with something new here.

 

Didn't the soldiers cart off a bunch of people before?  I think Chris said it during his emo video project about how it had been 9 days.  Is that where the rich family went?  I wonder where they took those people and why.

 

I like that Ophelia's boyfriend turned out to be decent.  I don't like that he was tortured.  I have a very small tolerance for torture in movies/tv.  I'm glad they didn't show more.

 

I'm saying it now....If they kill Liza and leave Madison alive I will NOT watch the second season of this show.  Liza is now my favorite part, along with Daniel and the insurance salesman.  God was the insurance salesman a breath of fresh air!  Someone who can act.  Even though he is definitely shady I care more about what is he going to do next then 99% of the rest of the cast.

 

Madison worrying about Nick and not giving a flying fuck about where her daughter is, well that's par for the course in families with addicts.  They just assume the "good" ones are doing what's right because they have no energy left for them.  

 

Insurance Salesman is spot on with recruiting Nick.  He knows Nick will be able to put on a show and sell the shit out of it when the time comes.  Addicts are the ultimate survivors.

[Nashville]

The actress playing Madison has such a flat effect. When Travis came back from his trip with the soldiers she flatly said ' oh you're back' of something like that, like he had just run out to get a coffee. Same thing when she saw the soldier getting tortured, same flat look on her face.

 

I think they're trying to write Madison as a hard-nosed pragmatist - albeit badly.

 

I thought Grizelda was beyond creepy at the end, although she did admit to her past transgressions, but that was creepy too. I expected Liza to want to see first hand how someone turns, but she blindly believed Dr. Exner, and without much thought, put a cattle gun to Grizelda's head.

 

So - when Liza is holding the stunbolt gun to Grizelda's head - anybody besides me have a "No Country For Old Men" flashback?  :)

[cambridgeguy]

Did a solider insult Kirkman at some point in his formative years?  It's been less than two weeks and the military, consisting of people who are trained to deal with conflicts that could potentially last years, has already devolved into a bunch of evil, cowardly, and incompetent bullies?  This isn't the Night's Watch where the alternative to signing up is being tossed in prison/being killed.

[LVmom]

I think I can put my finger on what's been bothering me about this show. I have no sense of impending doom for these people. At all. Just a laundry list in my head who can die first.

[ghoulina]

Wow, I feel like this episode was the worst so far. And I actually haven't been minding the show the last three episodes. But I seriously could not stay awake. I usually struggle with that on Sunday nights, but if I'm engaged, I won't nod off. Last night my husband kept having to poke me. I was just bored. These people looked bored! Madison was basically in a walking coma. Alicia's so bored she sneaks into homes and tries on other people's clothes? Girl ain't got nothing on Carl and his massive can of pudding!

 

What was up with that weird black guy in the cages with Nick and Bushy Beard Dad? I didn't even get what was going on there. Too bored to care. 

 

The torturing of the Army guy seemed really heavy-handed and unnecessary. 

 

The only part that was remotely intriguing was when Daniel found the arena full of zombies at the end. 

 

YAWN.

[bentley]

I want the dark haired soldier to survive and tag along with the main characters. He was nice eye candy and a decent actor, and lord knows someone in that group is going to have to know how to use weapons.

 

I'm skeptical that Strand could look at Nick and see anything but filth, grime and general patheticness, but if his good grooming habits can rub off on Nick, I'm all for this partnership.. 

 

I'm unspoiled, so I'm curious to see if Shawn Hatosy is a regular on this show, or will be offed in the finale. A tortured man forced to go along and get along with his torturer has all kinds of plot potential.

[RustbeltWriter]

I get that the producers of these Walking Dead shows want to show that humanity without authority is in a perpetual state of war but why do they insist on showing the military to be completes asshats? It's bordering on an adolescent hatred of authority at this point. Moyer's attempt to force Travis to kill that walker was so bully-like that it seemed like they were back in junior high. I would assume that as more institutions collapse the National Guard would stand tall and try to protect the states that are their homes. This business of Moyers being an over-the-top asshole babysitting a bunch of rookies is just simplistic and stupid.

 

By the way, did they mention the name of the suit guy in the cage with Nick? I didn't hear it if they did and if they didn't, man, is that bad writing.

Edited September 28, 2015 by RustbeltWriter

[nodorothyparker]

It's bordering on an adolescent hatred of authority at this point.

 

This is Kirkman we're talking about, who seems perpetually 13 and stuck on the idea that anybody who tries to be the boss of anybody must be EVIL.  More and more I get the sense that when military recruiters came to his high school for career day one of them must have laughed at his drawings of a death ray or something.

[peach]

but the progression I've seen is hard to swallow, especially since apparently there were 9 days where a great deal happened, but none of it was experienced by those living in the Clark household, so we don't get to know any of it.

 

At this point I don't feel like I can complain that they are telling rather than showing, because I don't think there is much telling going on either.

 

And this will continue to be THE fatal flaw of this series.  They billed it as being that very 9 days, and then skipped it, so there's just no coming back from that, IMO.  Unless they use season 2 to go back and fill in the details.  Maybe they had to get the greenlight from the initial 6 episodes to get the kind of money they need to do what they promised.  But they are leaving L.A. to film in Canada, so I doubt it!

[diebartdie]

Sorry, but I refuse to believe that after what, a month tops, the military would be more of an enemy of the people than walkers.  Maybe the writers thought this would make a good political statement or something, but presenting soldiers as selfish, cruel, cowardly, stupid and possibly insane, as well as not trying at all to help out citizens in distress is a really shitty thing to do when in fact that is the opposite of how our military would really be in such a situation.  And don't even get me started on how soldiers can run into a building with guns blazing toward slow shuffling zombies with no weapons other than their teeth, and they not only lose the battle and decide to turn tail and run, but one of them actually fell out of a window with a walker????  How does that happen when you have the guns and are trained to know where to shoot? 

<SNIP>

 

What skills exactly does Nick have to offer because he's a heroin addict going through withdrawals?  That makes him someone you want on your team because why, Mr. Fancy Pants?

I am not one of those folks that believes our military is sterling, above reproach, always right, etc however, even I am so put off by the portrayal of the military in this show, it is absurd. We're not even a full month into this thing and if this show is honestly saying United States Military are ready, right now to slaughter United States citizens, I do not buy it. I accept that our armed forces have committed atrocities in any number of countries around the world and are probably committing some right now but I can not believe they would be like that right at the beginning of the Z.A. It would make so much more sense to see them just going to town slaughtering every zed they found, even making sick games out of it, THAT would be so much more believable. This shit is just bullshit.

 

Now what is Nick's secret superpower that Slick Talking Salesman discerns? Nick knows how to blow one while handying two? Unlike most everybody else, I actually like Nick but he really is not who I would spend a lot of energy on saving.

[peach]

 

Now what is Nick's secret superpower that Slick Talking Salesman discerns? Nick knows how to blow one while handying two? Unlike most everybody else, I actually like Nick but he really is not who I would spend a lot of energy on saving.

 

Unfortunately for Salesman, Nick is all he's got in his cage.  He had more potential than Doug.  lol

[phoenix780]

My biggest WTF about this episode is why do they have to "humanely" exterminate the survivors when they leave?  Why don't they just leave?  WTF?

 

It sort of made sense to me because if you don't kill people the right way they become walkers, and they seem to have an awareness that all the dead come back.  So if you want to have any hope of retaking the area you can't leave masses of people alive to die because you'll just have to fight them later, and these people can't handle the number of undead they already have.  You'd have to kill them right, or at least make sure they're immobile, as you leave.  

 

Alternatively, if I take the word "humane" seriously maybe they actually care, in a way, and don't want these poor people to come back as the living dead.

 

That said, I wasn't clear if "cobalt" involved clearing out that entire camp or just the hospital area.

 

And this will continue to be THE fatal flaw of this series.  They billed it as being that very 9 days, and then skipped it, so there's just no coming back from that, IMO.  Unless they use season 2 to go back and fill in the details.  Maybe they had to get the greenlight from the initial 6 episodes to get the kind of money they need to do what they promised.  But they are leaving L.A. to film in Canada, so I doubt it!

 

Do you really need a lot of money to show those 9 days?  I think you could pull it off with the right characters (or even these ones).  Plus they used a lot of their more expensive-seeming shots as background.  Not sure more money would help them much.

 

It would be cool if they killed them all next week then went back in and filled in blanks next season.  Then at least when they're annoying/boring I can flash to how they went down.

 

Oh- as far as the old man and the doors...his wife was referring to him as the devil, right?  Maybe he's just straight-up evil and figured his wife was dead so he should unleash zombies as revenge.

[chlban]

So I came to TWD kicking and screaming. I don't like Zombie movies,never have, and I really don't like all the blood and guts. Still don't. So on a lazy Sunday morning after watching re-runs of Mad Men I basically fell into a WD marathon starting at episode 1. I was hooked. I found these people and their reactions compelling. Still do. Sure there have been storylines I could have done without, but overall TWD remains not only exciting to watch but interesting. Fast Forward....

I was really looking forward to TWD. I was very interested in how this whole thing came about how the virus spread, why they couldn't fight off the zombies earlier, etc. Unfortunately I just cannot make myself care about these people. I'm not sure if it's because I don't like them,

which I don't, or if they are just incredibly boring.

Whatever. My suggestion would be turn the entire family into Zombie chow in a dramatic finale and start over next season (because we all know there WILL be a next season) with a whole new cast. Oh and all new, writers too. On second thought they could bring Tobias back. Everyone else to be gone though.

[cmfran]

Really enjoyed hearing "Classic Girl" by Jane's Addiction during the dress-up scene. 

[RustbeltWriter]

I'm am feeling so lied to right now. This show was billed as showing what transpired when Rick was in a coma and shed light on how it all went to hell. Frankly, I feel like I got a show told through the eyes of a family in a coma its damn self. They are just as unconscious and unknowing as Rick was. Seriously, they  got rescued by the cavalry, taken to their homes and within 9 days, LA was lost - OFF SCREEN! 

 

 

I think what's most disappointing is that we have many characters and only one point of view. Travis and Maddie's family, the Salazars and the military are all different characters but we only get one point of view with them. We could have been shown those nine days through the eyes of the existing characters but instead they just skipped from Nick's dead dealer to the establishment of a safe zone. No media updates, no news and no stories told by anyone with a different perspective.

 

So obviously we're at a point where the US military will now kill everyone in sight, dead and undead, before they scamper off. Does Kirkman even understand that National Guard units are made up of people from the same states they serve? It would seem like the easiest way to break up a unit would be to start killing civilians. Frist, who would follow such an order? Second, why wouldn't you break ranks and run home to protect your family?

 

I actually have no problem with Chris and Alicia acting out given how they are treated by their parents. They may be the only characters acting as expected.

[Primetimer]

The zombie crisis is worsening, but some are pressing their advantage with nefarious life skills against the tide.

Read the story

[callmebetty]

I think if they were going to do a what happened while Rick was in a coma backstory I would much rather have seen it from all the characters of the original recipe Walking Dead. Hell, most of them, save Carol, Carl and Glen are dead, so it' s not like they needed to have a long working contract.  I would love to seen what all of them were doing leading up to first meeting them on the traffic jam road out of Atlanta. Plus, bonus points it would make Daryl cut that god awful hair and rinse out the Miss Clairol out of his hair. 

With these people I can't even get invested, I'm trying and I'll watch next week.  But I think I'm out after this.  The good characters and small moments of good storytelling can't out weight the other 75% of it's hard to care about story and characters. I tried, I really tried because it had so much potential.

[JBody]

To paraphrase Amelie06 up thread, I'm so frustrated that we are always skirting around the edges of a more interesting show.  And it's not TWD I'm talking about, but what FTWD could have been.  I'm not alone in this, judging from the comments here.

 

Cobalt.  FTWD's original name was Cobalt.  I read somewhere that this is the crossover event with TWD.  When Shane and Lori were witnessing the napalming of Atlanta, they were witnessing Cobalt. 

 

I know Kirkman hated Darabont's CDC episode, he hated the references to France and the science-y explanation for the virus, and he was not interested in showing the fall of civilization, not one whit -- he told viewers to watch the 2005 remake of Dawn of the Dead if they wanted to see how the first days and weeks would be. 

 

But isn't that how FTWD was billed?  What is the purpose of this show?  Damn you Kirkman.  Don't you and AMC have enough money?

 

The National Guard or Army or whoever they were supposed to be: I do not believe they would be acting this way this soon.  I'm no flag-waving patriot (I am Canadian after all) but it's simply insulting to imply that they would devolve into a bunch of mercenaries who give no f&cks about anyone but themselves, this soon in the ZA.  Remember the NG outfit in S3, the one the Guv wiped out -- they were still holding their sh!t together, doing their best to do their jobs.  Just ridiculous.  And yes, to everyone who called this portrayal of LA a week and a half in as total absurdity: it is a basin, and would be teeming with millions, alive, dead and not-dead, a veritable "hell on earth."  One doughnut shop lady and a skirmish at a library where Moyers (I liked his sarcastic lines and over-the-top delivery, though I guess I'm in the minority) gets fragged and we don't see any of it.  Cheap and lazy, as per usual.

 

However, this Strand fellow shows up and I'm a bit interested again.  So, I'll be watching the finale but TWD's first 6 ep season versus FTWD's first 6 ep season?  It is to laugh.

 

*edited for formatting weirdness.

Edited September 28, 2015 by JBody

[Boofish]

I was really hoping they had to evacuate before Brenda and Brandon had a chance to change out of their formal wear.

 

Travis, Travis dear sweet naïve Travis. Your name should be "fame." You are going to live forever because the stupid and useless tend to thrive in these situations.

[Cthulhudrew]

I will repeat myself: what is the point of setting this show in a large urban city like LA if they are not going to show the characters surrounded by walkers, terrorized, and fighting for their lives? I really think that AMC did not give FTWD the budget that it needed to exploit the LA setting.

 

Ironically, the budget for this should have required less allocation for makeup, as the walkers are "fresh." :p

[Cthulhudrew]

Now what is Nick's secret superpower that Slick Talking Salesman discerns? Nick knows how to blow one while handying two? Unlike most everybody else, I actually like Nick but he really is not who I would spend a lot of energy on saving.

 

"Not like that Nick! Middle out! MIDDLE OUT!"

 

Whatever. My suggestion would be turn the entire family into Zombie chow in a dramatic finale and start over next season (because we all know there WILL be a next season) with a whole new cast. Oh and all new, writers too. On second thought they could bring Tobias back. Everyone else to be gone though.

 

That would be cool. Turn them all into zombies, and then have the next season follow their wacky cannibalistic antics as they roam across country and eventually reach Atlanta, where they are all killed by Rick and Co. It would be a crazy zombie Road movie!

 

(But seriously, as I think on it, that might be kind of cool. The main characters would be zombies, roaming the country as it collapses into anarchy, and we see- through their eyes- the depths of despair and extremes that the living have to go to in order to survive. It would be sort of the Anti-Walking Dead, with just as much cast turnover.)

Edited September 28, 2015 by Cthulhudrew

[JBody]

And another thing: the core belief system behind this writing is so juvenile, so first-year Philosophy 101 -- are humans intrinsically good or intrinsically bad?  Lord of the Flies time: the answer is humans are intrinsically bad, but only from an outside point of view, as all the "bad" characters have justifications galore, and Salazar hammers that point home with his "people do bad out of fear" speech, blahdeeblahblah.  You know what I would find really SHOCKING?  If people would actually, you know, do their DUTY.  Have the Army/National Guard be the highly trained people they should be, who DON'T succumb to fear and freaking out and selfish behaviour precisely because of that training.  Have someone or some group exhibit INTEGRITY, a sense of honour; have someone made of stiff moral fibre, someone with a truly firm moral centre -- the closest we've come to that is Liza.  Travis does not count: he is ambivalent, and a coward besides.  

 

ETA: if we are to accept this premise, the dog-eat-dog world thing, there would be no civilization -- oh, that's the point, Show?  Not so fast.  At some point somewhere it builds up again, as it has done over the last 10,000 years.  A constant state of anarchy is not tenable, not compatible with life on earth -- if the ZA is wiping the earth's slate clean, so be it, but if any humans survive at all a civilizing order kicks in at some point.  Now, Show can argue that even the altruistically minded are selfish and thus civilization benefits selfish individuals but there are countless examples of heroism, courage, selflessness, people behaving with honour, or even out of a sense of basic human decency, and they are not society's losers -- if anything, I believe the self-absorbed, selfish people who Show are priming to be the winners in this world would remain losers, regardless of the change in scenery.

Edited September 28, 2015 by JBody

[natyxg]

My biggest WTF about this episode is why do they have to "humanely" exterminate the survivors when they leave?  Why don't they just leave?  WTF?

 

I don't understand why they are leaving at all. Did they say why? It makes no sense to me to waste all those supplies and food and everything on those people just to... leave later and leave them behind? Are they planning to kill them too? I don't remember.

 

Why?

[kdm07]

I guess I'm in the small minority, but I am loving this show. Yes, there are flaws, but if the idea is to witness the apocalypse of society, the choice to do it through the lens of a single family is a good one. I did not expect this series to be WWZ...I hoped to watch the impact on a regular, every day, ordinary family. And I think they are doing so successfully. However, it's clear that if they didn't meet Daniel, there would be no one left to follow after 0900 tomorrow.

One really bad decision, IMHO, was to put a join-the-army commercial in the midst of this particular episode.

 

You're not alone English Teacher! We'll be the small minority that seems to be enjoying the show. I did laugh at the teenagers playing dress-up bit. Not because it was funny but in a face-palm kind of way. And those walkers all in a stadium? Good luck to that part of the world once they get out.

 

I will say this, I probably like this show so much purely because I watched the entire first season of TWD and I still do not understand the hype. I found it boring even with all the zombie action. YMMV though.

Edited September 28, 2015 by kdm07