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Rick: Lord of the Thangs


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I think that the fact that Rick is not perfect or totally likeable is perfect for a show like this.  A ZA world has no place for perfection.  Hell, they've shown his own flesh & blood son being fed up with him at times.  But despite his flaws and imperfections, Rick has done and will do anything to protect and survive - be it ripping out jugulars, slaughtering enemies, trying to make trades for their people, doing things that aren't maybe smart but trying to give people hope, etc.  Flawed, but naturally so.

 

Let's look at it another way; of what we've seen since the series started and up until now, who else would be fit to lead, really lead?   I honestly can't think of a suitable replacement.

 

And keeping him imperfect gives weight to the whole show.  I know its likely he'll survive until the final season, if not the ultimate series finale, but it keeps his fate hanging up in the air for those who know absolutely nothing about TWD outside of just watching the weekly hour on AMC.  If the RG character was universally believed to be perfect, loved and adored, everyone would know he would be around as long as TWD is on the air.  This way, not being perfect, it leaves it a bit up in the air in terms of the whole "nobody is safe" mantra that the show runners like to portray.

Edited by iRarelyWatchTV36
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I think the show has done a good job in the last few years of reminding people of Rick's strengths and flaws (for instance, having us understand why he banished Carol, but never insisting he was "right" and she was "wrong"), of making him a key part of the group and the heart of TWD, without overexposing him and his relationships to the point where fans get sick of it, like in the first few seasons. I saw someone yesterday raging that Tyreese's death was all about Rick, and all I kept thinking was, "I can't imagine how you felt 3-4 years ago."

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I think that the fact that Rick is not perfect or totally likeable is perfect for a show like this.

 

That's one of the things I've loved about this show. It's about real-seeming people. There are no towering, buffed and perfect Ahnold/Lara Croft types. Everyone is "normal folk." They mess up, make mistakes, get scared, cry, carry on and even act like assholes. It's easy to identify with them and makes us wonder, "What would I do in this circumstance?"

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And, Rick's got your back.  (Unless you screw up.)  But, truthfully, you don't have to worry about being gunned down by Rick just because he had a bad day.  And, if you get caught and are held against your will, you can bet that at a point ole Rick will find a way to save you (unless some nut blows your head off first).

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I am having a hard time indeed with the Rick Grimes hate.

 

Has someone here expressed hatred of him? I'm not up to reviewing the entire thread, but I don't recall seeing any hate. Poking fun or criticizing, maybe. Hate? No.

 

I think he's doing the best he can under absolutely insane circumstances. The others bitch at him when he tries to lead, and bitch even more when he doesn't.  All in all, I think he's done a pretty good job, certainly better than any of the others could do.

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I want to chime in here with some agreement on this.

 

As an admitted newbie to Walking Dead I have to say I am having a hard time indeed with the Rick Grimes hate.  Is there something I'm not getting (which, granted, would not be unusual)?  I mean, I love him.  I love how he struggles to figure stuff out, what path to take.  I love that he fails.  He's existing in a place of such unbelievable chaos and it can't be easy to navigate there.  Or know what the unintended consequences of each decision might end up being.  Kind of like...life.  And Andrew Lincoln is playing the HELL out of this character.

 

If a real worldwide catastrophe happens (as it inevitably will), I hope to God there's a Rick Grimes around to look to.

 

As an aside, folks who are--rather loudly--convinced they'd do better than Rick sound like idiots.

 

And as another aside, re: the beard thing?  There's actually a reason why men shave.  Because if they didn't, they'd have beards!  Men have beards, believe it or not!  It's not the end of the world.

 

Many of us came here from a now-closed site called TWoP---Television Without Pity/ "Spare the Snark, Spoil the Networks".

 

It was a refuge from all the supposedly TWD sites that devolved into an ooey-gooey schmoopie fanlove overload.

 

We came here together to PreviouslyTV , so we kinda/sorta know when we are yanking somebody or something. If we didn't love the show, we wouldn't still be watching 5 years later.

 

Many of the characters we love exasperate the hell out of us just because we expect better from them and we wanted to see them make a better decision

 

Many of the characters we rag on, but we would not harm them in real life. (not counting Fat Tony from Philly; yes I would harm him just on GP).

 

It's not hatred, but it is our vibe here to be snarky. Mostly to make each other laugh.

 

If you just joined up, you probably haven't read all the posts all the way back, and it's tricky to get the TWoP forums (Wayback Machine, it's a whole thing blah blah.)

But we go from adoration of a character to blaming that same character for making us pull our hair out within a season...hell, within an episode.

It's like family; you say things to your own family you wouldn't say unless you knew they loved you enough to hand-wave it.

(well, my family, but that's another can of worms. As the O.G.s know.)

 

One thing you can't do though, is ad hominem attacks. You can disagree till your keyboard melts, but no calling other posters names and so forth.

No flame wars monopolizing a thread (I hope you die! OH YEAH? I hope you die first! ) on and on for 3 pages.)

When it gets a little "sparky", the moderator can make bad things happen. So sometimes we have to just agree to disagree. Since you aren't used to us, it may take a little time but we aren't all monsters.

Any talk of doing better than Rick or Carol or Michonne or whoever, is in the same vein as armchair quarterback critique; we all know if a ZA was really happening we'd be dead in 5 minutes. Don't take it too seriously. (Except with Eugene, or Father Pee-Pants...we do believe sincerely we could do better than them.)

Edited by kikismom
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Except with Eugene, or Father Pee-Pants...we do believe sincerely we could do better than them.)

 

I'm on the fence about Eugene. I think he did splendidly at getting people to feed, protect and care for him, sort of a like a giant cuckoo hatchling. Kudos to him.:p

 

Father Pee? Yeah, I'm pretty sure I could do better.

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I'm on the fence about Eugene. I think he did splendidly at getting people to feed, protect and care for him, sort of a like a giant cuckoo hatchling

 

18n7gtldovnn6jpg.jpg

 My old boss T. Brooks Ellis director of the Human Genome Project liked it.

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Has someone here expressed hatred of him? I'm not up to reviewing the entire thread, but I don't recall seeing any hate. Poking fun or criticizing, maybe. Hate? No.

I don't hate Rick Grimes. Hating the beard, mocking the way he says "Carl," and disagreeing with his banishment of Carol =/= hating the character.

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 (Except with Eugene, or Father Pee-Pants...we do believe sincerely we could do better than them.)

While I can resolve I wouldn't extend my life at the expense of an entire community of people who look to me for guidance, from a purely pragmatic view Father Gabriel has lasted a lot longer into the Zombie Apocalypse than I would expect to.

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While I can resolve I wouldn't extend my life at the expense of an entire community of people who look to me for guidance, from a purely pragmatic view Father Gabriel has lasted a lot longer into the Zombie Apocalypse than I would expect to.

 

At the risk of talking about this on a "Rick board," it is interesting that the few times we've seen Father Pee-Pants outside of the church he's gotten himself into trouble.  So, really, how could he have survived for, what, two years???  Unless there's something he isn't telling us.  I've always felt there was something more there than what we've seen/heard.

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At the risk of talking about this on a "Rick board," it is interesting that the few times we've seen Father Pee-Pants outside of the church he's gotten himself into trouble.  So, really, how could he have survived for, what, two years???  Unless there's something he isn't telling us.  I've always felt there was something more there than what we've seen/heard.

Count me as still suspicious as well.

 

 

While I can resolve I wouldn't extend my life at the expense of an entire community of people who look to me for guidance, from a purely pragmatic view Father Gabriel has lasted a lot longer into the Zombie Apocalypse than I would expect to.

 

The Father Gabriel Theme

 

Bah da dah! Bah da dah! Bah da da DAH!

Who's the black Catholic priest

With no cojones in the least?

Pee Pants!

You're damn right!

 

Who is the man who won't risk his neck for brother man?

Pee Pants!

Can ya dig it?

 

Who's the cat who pussies out when there's danger all about?

Pee Pants!

Right on!

 

You see this cat Father Gabriel is a sad clutterbucker...

Shut your mouth!

But I'm talkin' bout Pee Pants!

Then we can dig it!

 

He just complicates the group, and no one understaaaands whyyyy but Robert Kirkman!

He was good on The WIre though.

 

Ba da dah! Ba da dah! Ba da da DAH!

 

 

I

Edited by kikismom
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At the risk of talking about this on a "Rick board," it is interesting that the few times we've seen Father Pee-Pants outside of the church he's gotten himself into trouble.  So, really, how could he have survived for, what, two years???  Unless there's something he isn't telling us.  I've always felt there was something more there than what we've seen/heard.

My theory is that Father Pee Pants had a stash of cheetos and weed under those floorboards and had just run out when he crossed paths with Rick and his band of merry men (and women).

 

I love Rick....even when he does stupid stuff and thangs.  

 

I used to think this show was more about Rick's journey and his evolution but now I'm wondering if it's not more about Carl.  I bet Carl barely remembers what it was like to just be a kid.

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I wonder how anyone sleeps at night.  Seriously.  They saw that even in the prison they weren't safe.

 

And it's things like that that gives Rick a leg up on everyone else.  As a cop, he had to deal with some stressful things.  True, most of them were resolved in a fashion, and this is dragggggiiiinnggg on, but, still, Rick has some experience with it.

 

(I guess Rick's experience would be followed, and perhaps eclipsed, by Abraham.  Do we know if Abe actually served in combat?)

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I wonder how anyone sleeps at night.  Seriously.  They saw that even in the prison they weren't safe.

 

And it's things like that that gives Rick a leg up on everyone else.  As a cop, he had to deal with some stressful things.  True, most of them were resolved in a fashion, and this is dragggggiiiinnggg on, but, still, Rick has some experience with it.

 

(I guess Rick's experience would be followed, and perhaps eclipsed, by Abraham.  Do we know if Abe actually served in combat?)

Since Abraham constantly references it, my guess would be he's full of it and he may have been in the service but worked motor pool in Germany through the whole thing.

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Since they're walking through the south. I always thought it'd be cool to have some acknowledgement of past TV shows.  Like, out in the country they could pass a bright orange (faded with time, of course) General Lee.  Then, in the background, you might see a sign announcing the next town: Mayberry.  But, alas, TBTB just don't have a sense of humor, unlike the X-Files.  Remember the episode where Mulder and Scully went to a town called Mayberry, and the sheriff was Andy Taylor?!?  A classic.

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I used to think this show was more about Rick's journey and his evolution but now I'm wondering if it's not more about Carl.  I bet Carl barely remembers what it was like to just be a kid.

 

Hence why the pudding moment nearly brought me to tears. 

 

I still think of it as Rick's tale, but more and more it becomes Rick AND Carl's tale - especially last season when we saw Carl having to take care of Rick, become more of a leader in some circumstances. I still think Carl will be the last survivor of this group. I mean, I'm not saying they ALL die. But I do see Rick dying, and passing the torch to Carl at the very end of this series. I think their roles will continue to cross over each other, until eventually son surpasses father.

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In one of those "making of TWD"  features way back at the beginning, Gale Ann Hurd came right out and said this is really a story about Carl.

 

 I still think Carl will be the last survivor of this group. . But I do see Rick dying, and passing the torch to Carl at the very end of this series.

 

So, it's like Cormac McCarthy's The Road. Although that one didn't have such funny memes.

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In one of those "making of TWD"  features way back at the beginning, Gale Ann Hurd came right out and said this is really a story about Carl.

 

 

So, it's like Cormac McCarthy's The Road. Although that one didn't have such funny memes.

Aw, did she really say that?  Awesome!  Sort of.  I don't want Rick to die.

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So, it's like Cormac McCarthy's The Road.

 

That was one of the most unrelentlngly bleak movies I've ever seen. As for Carl, I've always pictured him ten years down the road as a Mad Max type, with virtually no memory of any other kind of life.

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I want to chime in here with some agreement on this.

 

As an admitted newbie to Walking Dead I have to say I am having a hard time indeed with the Rick Grimes hate.  Is there something I'm not getting (which, granted, would not be unusual)?  I mean, I love him.  I love how he struggles to figure stuff out, what path to take.  I love that he fails.  He's existing in a place of such unbelievable chaos and it can't be easy to navigate there.  Or know what the unintended consequences of each decision might end up being.  Kind of like...life.  And Andrew Lincoln is playing the HELL out of this character.

 

If a real worldwide catastrophe happens (as it inevitably will), I hope to God there's a Rick Grimes around to look to.

 

As an aside, folks who are--rather loudly--convinced they'd do better than Rick sound like idiots.

 

And as another aside, re: the beard thing?  There's actually a reason why men shave.  Because if they didn't, they'd have beards!  Men have beards, believe it or not!  It's not the end of the world.

I don't hate Rick, but I do hate the beard, and I make no apologies for that. I just don't like beards. The small one wasn't so bad, but the others are clean-shaven. Women would be also be covered in hair, to a certain extent - you don't see them that way on the show.

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I still think of it as Rick's tale, but more and more it becomes Rick AND Carl's tale - especially last season when we saw Carl having to take care of Rick, become more of a leader in some circumstances. I still think Carl will be the last survivor of this group. I mean, I'm not saying they ALL die. But I do see Rick dying, and passing the torch to Carl at the very end of this series. I think their roles will continue to cross over each other, until eventually son surpasses father.

 

They've referred to Carl as "John Connor" on TTD, and I think it's pretty apt.  I think they will kill of Rick in the series finale, or if AL ever gets tired of this gig (he won't).

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How Rick responds to Aaron will be a character test for him. Will he be rational or irrational? Even though Rick is working the boxcar hopping hobo look, he actually seems more emotionally together than he has been in a long time. 

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You do know how many syllables there are in Episcopalian?

 

Maybe shorten it to " 'Pisco"?  We could start a thing here.

 

I have to add to the beard hate.  How could a man so handsome look so damned awful with just the addition of crazy facial hair?  I like men with beards, but even a short one on him doesn't work for me.  Aside from Herschel, the other men must be shaving daily.  Which brings me to wonder how Daryl can be shaving his face but not combing or washing his hair.  I mean, if he's taking a minute to shave,why not just...  Of course, that brings me to the next point, which is how are they shaving at times like this week's episode when they're searching desperately for a single drop of water?  They could have shaved with Abe's booze, I guess, but I sense he's not sharing.  I mean, can a guy shave daily with no water?

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I'll go all geeky here and say in these conditions it's a bad idea to shave. Anything.

Normal world, nicks and scrapes and cuts, splash on something that's mostly rubbing alcohol anyway...you aren't going to die.

But when you are coated with a constant crust of filth, making even a small break in skin like the face where the blood vessels are so close to the skin?

Septic inside and out!

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I'll go all geeky here and say in these conditions it's a bad idea to shave. Anything.

Normal world, nicks and scrapes and cuts, splash on something that's mostly rubbing alcohol anyway...you aren't going to die.

But when you are coated with a constant crust of filth, making even a small break in skin like the face where the blood vessels are so close to the skin?

Septic inside and out!

Echo that. Traditionally speaking, beards were not a Southern "thing" in the middle and upper classes; long beards were a sign of poor hygiene and/or impoverished upbringing. Look at the pictures of Confederate soldiers, however, and you'll see most have beards. They were called "campaign beards", and were an acknowledgment of the harsh realities of life in military campaigns. Most didn't shave them off until they got back home - if they got back home.

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This is a valid point. I've only recently, this past year or so, learned how inaccurate the Hollywood "sea biker" version of Vikings is. I'd always rather enjoyed the notion that Vikings kicked ass all over the place while looking as shaggy and scraggly as me. But in actuality, both their art and the huge numbers of personal grooming tools found in their ruins indicate that, unless they were wealthy and powerful enough to have servants drawing their bath for them every day, they tended to have short head hair and to shave their faces quite often. Because lice, on a ship, are hard to get away from.

But Vikings had a pretty much unlimited amount of fresh clean salt water to treat their scratches with. Rick doesn't.

Plus, if you haven't changed your underwear since Lori died, you're probably going to have some kind of bugs on you no matter what.

Edited by CletusMusashi
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So this is what it's come down to - speculation about the types and numbers of vermin dwelling in Rick's crotch? By now, there could be a nest of mice in that beard and he wouldn't even notice.

 

I guess this is why even a pack of wild dogs pulled up short and hesitated, probably wondering "WTF?"

 

oMYu8zB.jpg

 

 

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