Season 4 Discussion

[David T. Cole]

Let's talk about why that last guy on the train tracks didn't ask for, nor was offered, a quick death. Rude.

[Omar G.]

That struck me as crazy disturbing, especially given Carol's penchant for putting people out of their misery.

[David T. Cole]

I was sort excepting Carol to get one of the girls to do it as a character-building exercise. You know how she loves them.

[Tara Ariano]

Now that Carol's back, I might start actually paying attention when it's on. I hear good things.

[David T. Cole]

Still thinking about that dude on the train tracks.

[Omar G.]

I wonder if that shoe got out OK.

[David T. Cole]

A number of immediate threats plague Rick; group members deal with their past.

[Portia]

Carl's gonna be upset when he finds out that's not Bill Cosby at the door.

[Omar G.]

Zzzzz...

[David T. Cole]

My scene of the two guys fighting for the bed was a lot more homoerotic.

[David T. Cole]

Whenever they are in the burbs I'm always wondering why the first thing they do isn't find fresh clothes. Rick looked like he was living in a septic tank for way too long. Also Laurita Croft's get up was VERY practical.

So is the sanctuary a trap, a ghost town or a haven?

[Eucrid]

Well it can't be too Woodburyish can it? That'd be very boring.

[Omar G.]

I was thinking that Sgt. Slaughter and his crew were going to be from the sanctuary and that it would be a heavily militarized setting, but doesn't sound like those two things are connected.  

[David T. Cole]

Also what is the deal with Mr. Science? What a weirdo. My theory is that he's a stage hypnotist who's convinced Mr. Mustache that he's this amazing brilliant guy and not, say, a touched weirdo which he seems to be.

[Omar G.]

He seems a lot like the Governor's scientist guy. Maybe he got reincarnated.

[Portia]

Aw, Milton. I miss Milton.

I'd like new Mr. Science better if he'd swing his arms when he walks.  And oh yeah, if he'd refrain from shooting the damn gas tank. I've never touched a gun in my life, but I'm pretty sure I'd manage to point the gun at the walkers and not the truck.

[Eucrid]

I get the feeling Mr. Science is a lot stupier than Abraham thinks he is.

[David T. Cole]

Daryl and Beth get drunk, play golf.

[JocelynCavanaugh]

I think this should have been half an episode, tops. Character development and talking aren't necessarily bad, but there was too much nothin' going on here. (See how I arbitrarily drop some g's like Emily Kinney?)

[Tara Ariano]

I'm covering next week's episode for Omar so I spent most of it thinking, "I hope they keep it chill like this one." Selfish!

I liked the dénouement (despite the forest fire, as Dave said at the time), but it was pretty slow to get to all the places it seemed obvious that it would.

[Omar G.]

It really dragged, but at least it wasn't a long slog to a "Surprise, Beth dies!" ending.  I like it when the show makes you care about the core characters a little more instead of juggling too much in one week and gives you some insight into what happened in unexplored parts of the local society.

The "Beth needs a drink" stuff was just silly but it made me wonder why more characters don't have crippling drug addictions. You'd think there's be lots of pharmaceuticals for the scrounging.

[Portia]

Ugh. I really hated this one. It was a neat idea to split up the group for a time, but I'm tired of the bottle episodes. The "Beth wants a drink" plot seemed nonsensical and contrived to me, and the dialogue was just about as boring as I'd expect an all-night convo with a teen girl to be. Then again, I've never ben fond of Beth (or "Li'l Useless" as I've always called her affectionately) so I'm not crazy about Daryl being stuck with her.

Dave: love your episode summary! Jocelyn: love your dropped G's; you're a regular Blanche DuBois!

[Lyndy]

I liked this one, actually. These two getting stuck surviving together is just weird enough to make it interesting to me. I enjoy how this show points out that many of these people would never associate with each other in normal circumstances. I thought the awkward nature of their trek through the woods was well done. I agree that the Beth's alcohol quest was odd though. 

[David T. Cole]

These two haven't come across any Sanctuary signs yet, right?

[Omar G.]

Wait a minute. Moonshine. "Still." I JUST GOT THAT!!!

[jellysalmon]

I was talking to a friend about how 90 pound girl who has never drank alcohol+few bites of snake meat+moonshine is a recipe for disaster, zombie apocalypse or no. She should have been puking her guts out or rolling on the ground in a dizzy stupor. 

[Kim]

If I start nitpicking this show, I will never stop, but it does make me wonder if they have ANYONE on staff who says, "She's never had alcohol before? And she takes a gulp of moonshine? And has NO REACTION other than to say it's kind of gross?" Because she would have breathed fire, her eyes would have watered, etc.

So do you think they will Go There with Beth and Daryl? How old is she supposed to be anyway? I kept wondering but it was more just "I've watched TV before and they are both attractive people" than anything in the performances or direction or writing.

[Portia]

So do you think they will Go There with Beth and Daryl?

I found myself wondering that myself, but I kept pushing the idea aside because she's supposed to still be a teenager, right? Even if she's revealed to be 18 or older, it's hard for me to imagine the writers Going There without the incredibly popular Daryl seeming like a grade-A creep. The more I think about it, though, the more I think it would be an edgy and fairly believable direction for the writers to go in. Surely the dating rules would get reworked in a world where the pool of non-zombified, age-appropriate potential partners has been greatly reduced. (On a similar note, I remember someone on a past episode of "Talking Dead" wondering aloud about a future Beth/Carl pairing. The age difference now might not mean much within a couple of years.) Okay, I need to stop talking about this. I'm not a creep...promise.

Emily Kinney graduated from university in 2006, so I'm guessing she's approaching 30 in real life. I wouldn't have guessed.

[Omar G.]

Felt to me like there was a lot more hooking up/sex in the comic in general than on the show. They've been pretty hesitant with that for the most part.

[Kim]

Agreed (I'm not totally caught up on the comics but I'm ahead of the show). Seems like the show only has people hook up who are going to be in longterm relationships. I would imagine under such dire circumstances, there would be more terrorsex. The show is sort of prudish in that regard. 

[David T. Cole]

Can't they just have regular sex?

http://i.imgur.com/KQO1fjW.jpg

Oh my no, it had to be TERRORSEX!

[Omar G.]

All sex with Daryl is DANGERSEX.

[Tara Ariano]

One group finds what may be an ideal shelter, while others realize protection is all around them.

[Tara Ariano]

Me again! Here's what I wrote about it. I'm concerned about Daryl! And Bob really did make me choke up at the end.

[halgia]

So, how many more episodes can they end with someone looking at a Terminus sign? All of them? Probably all of them.

Edited March 10, 2014 by Dougal

[JocelynCavanaugh]

Yeah, I need them to go ahead and get to Terminus already. And I need Terminus to be a nice, happy place. No more Woodbury-esque letdowns. Season 5 needs to be the Pollyanna Season where everything turns around, they find a cure, people get along, and Maggie and Rick wash their hair.

[Lyndy]

I don't think I can face another sinister criminal gang leader. This Joe guy is Merle meets The Governor. He's going to corrupt Daryl and I am not having it so show, please wrap that shit up pronto. I'm not interested in the Sons of Anarchy. Let's just go to Terminus already. Also, Beth! I can't believe I care so much about what's happened to Beth!

[Kim]

Okay, so I know I'm probably the only person who watches Talking Dead but I need to wind down between watching Walking Dead and going to bed, and it works. Did anyone see the promo clip they played last night? It was easily the creepiest thing I've seen on television in a long time and I watched True Detective. I'm still not okay.

Anyway, I try not to fall prey to the obvious charms of Daryl Dixon but I can't help it; I want that crazy kid to make it as a good guy.

I was thinking this morning that this show hasn't had a main character killed by walkers in quite some time, have they? Herschel was killed by the Governor. A bunch of randos were killed in the prison sickness quarantine thing. Am I forgetting someone? I think the last one was Andrea, sort of? T-Dog was the last one who was really taken down by a pack of walkers. I feel like that needs to happen again soon, because the walker threat is starting to lose power. Even with Daryl last night, I was like, "There's no way he's going to get bit."

[Portia]

I suspect they'll kill a major character by season's end--I vote Rick, as I mentioned in the "Who Will Die Next?" thread--but I guess I'm still reeling from the loss of Hershel, because I was really relieved that this week's was a pretty happy episode. (I've gone on record as hating Beth, but have no doubt that she's safe in that car, which I guess she hot-wired?) I thought last week's episode was laaaame, but I really loved this one. It took me a while to warm to/trust Bob, and I still wish he were better-looking and had squarer shoulders, but I got all misty when he kissed Sasha and when he flashed That Smile at the end.

[Kim]

I assumed Beth got snatched by whomever had been staying in the funeral home -- mostly because she left her bag and the car didn't stop.

[David T. Cole]

I'm going to just keep on saying this: That's not a terminus, that's a junction.

[Kim]

A junction can also be a terminus.

[Lyndy]

@Dave Yeah but when they called it Junction, everybody kept singing the Conjunction Junction What's Your Function song from Schoolhouse Rock and people got annoyed so they yelled, "Fine! We're just calling it Terminus. Shut up, already!"

@Kim, I watched that preview clip on The Talking Dead and am still super creeped out.

[Tara Ariano]

After establishing a new shelter, the group considers things returning to the way they used to be.

[Kierstyn]

Curses!  This show is so uneven!  After the idiocy of the drinking game episode, I had demoted it on my priority watch list... but now, with this episode?  That was pretty amazing, in my opinion.

[Tara Ariano]

Here's Omar's post on the episode!

I loved this one. If you've decided to survive, you have to make extremely tough choices and be prepared to live with the consequences. You can't have a crazy girl slowing you down. Carol for President.

[David T. Cole]

Daaaaaaaaaamn. These lessons can also be applied to very old leftovers.

[Kierstyn]

This episode made that episode a few weeks back where Lizzie was smothering Judith infinitely more freaky.

[Solid Muldoon]

When Tyreese whipped out that framing hammer I almost cheered. That would absolutely be my weapon of choice during the zombie times. You don't need to sharpen it. You won't run out of ammo. It won't break. Boom! One shot. One kill.

I'd raid a hardware store and get a tool belt and wear one on each hip. I feel confident I could wade through a horde with a framing hammer in each hand.  "Come get some!"

[Kierstyn]

I think I might be more of a crowbar person. But I like your "hammer-slinger" idea.