S07.E06: Swear

[Timetoread]

 I guess I'm the local girl on this board.  To answer questions: Alexandria is 3 hours from the ocean - in a car. The Bay is closer but not close enough for Tara to stroll back home on a sunny afternoon.  It is on the Potomac but if she washed up on the Potomac she'd be a zombie.  Not really a swimmer's river. Also the bridges covering the Potomac are bigger (google Woodrow Wilson bridge).  Also there would be no need for a Negan in this area (the most heavily populated in the US)  he wouldn't need to shake people down for shit, he could just hit the closest mall (spit and you'll hit one) which could hold him and his group for a very long time.  Also there is so much military in the area - literally 4 or 5 large bases within 25 miles - you can bet that in a ZA the DC area would be under military rule.  And again I tell you- CVS's as far as the eye can see.  Two for every survivor.  

15 hours ago, apollonia666 said:

Can we please stop body-shaming a woman who was doing her own damn stunts while filming a few months after having a baby?  Actually, can we stop body-shaming altogether?   

Amen Sister!  Sick of it.

[Timetoread]

6 hours ago, DEL901 said:

I don't think they are supposed to be in Alexandria Virginia.  They are in the Alexandria housing development...not sure if they are still in Georgia, but I would think so.

They are in VA.  Remember the ridiculous shot of them driving with the Capital in the distance? Only possible from DC.  They are still FILMING in GA.

[bosawks]

17 minutes ago, The Mighty Peanut said:

Omg. Everybody on this show except Daryl and Sick Maggie has perfect everything--dreads, press and curls, no stubble, makeup, teeth, mutton chops, sideburns, no pit stains, perfectly fitting clothes....but someone is slightly overweight and it threatens the immersion experience? Should they have recast her or fired her for getting pregnant? Scrapped the story not because it's meandering and semi-relevant at best, but because she is bigger than the last time we saw her? Give her a break...she was in Alexandria where supplies were (at one point) plenty and she had a happy relationship; maybe she was nesting a little bit.

Hey, don't take lightly the Miss Clairol Cognac Rinse.   That shit is hard to find in the apocalypse!

[Timetoread]

3 hours ago, AngelaHunter said:

I didn't say anything derogatory, just that it looks extemely uncomfortable when she runs. As a woman myself who is not that well-endowed, it still feels bad.

As a woman who is endowed, I ain't running nowhere.  I would be the hotwire/bike riding/roller blading queen of the ZA. D cup or more means thumbs down to running.

[maczero]

33 minutes ago, Timetoread said:

 I guess I'm the local girl on this board.  To answer questions: Alexandria is 3 hours from the ocean - in a car. The Bay is closer but not close enough for Tara to stroll back home on a sunny afternoon.  It is on the Potomac but if she washed up on the Potomac she'd be a zombie.  Not really a swimmer's river. Also the bridges covering the Potomac are bigger (google Woodrow Wilson bridge).  Also there would be no need for a Negan in this area (the most heavily populated in the US)  he wouldn't need to shake people down for shit, he could just hit the closest mall (spit and you'll hit one) which could hold him and his group for a very long time.  Also there is so much military in the area - literally 4 or 5 large bases within 25 miles - you can bet that in a ZA the DC area would be under military rule.  And again I tell you- CVS's as far as the eye can see.  Two for every survivor.  

Amen Sister!  Sick of it.

I'm a DC local too.  I'm curious what makes the Potomac not a "swimmer's river".  Other than it being somewhat foul smelling, I don't really notice anything particularly dangerous about it.   I've kayaked it and the current isn't that strong.

As for Negan scavenging malls in the metro area, you have to remember they're a few years into the apocalypse.  I suspect malls, grocery stores and any other retail place would've been cleaned out within the first few weeks of the apocalypse.  At this point, you have to be looking for supplies in places such as schools, distribution centers, prisons etc.  

Edited November 28, 2016 by maczero

[Timetoread]

2 minutes ago, maczero said:

I'm a DC local too.  I'm curious what makes the Potomac not a "swimmer's river".  Other than it being somewhat foul smelling, I don't really notice anything particularly dangerous about it.   I've kayaked it and the current isn't that strong.

As for Negan scavenging malls in the metro area, you have to remember there a few years into the apocalypse.  I suspect malls, grocery stores and any other retail place would've been clean within the first few weeks of the apocalypse.  At this point, you have to be looking for supplies in places such as schools, distribution centers, prisons etc.  

Because it is disgusting.  I've always thought your skin would melt off the bone if you got caught in that sludge. LOL.

As for the pickings: I think about dumb stuff too much but I would imagine that in a scenario where 95 percent of the human population died, that there would be plenty of non food resources.  I always wonder why they didn't loot all those cars on the highway.  People packed up their homes and died in their cars. 

[Boofish]

The government napalmed the cities early in Season 1 and they were full of walkers. Can't imagine I would venture to the mall. Unless desperate, any trip outside the gates is akin to a suicide mission. 

[bosawks]

3 minutes ago, Boofish said:

The government napalmed the cities early in Season 1 and they were full of walkers. Can't imagine I would venture to the mall. 

Soooo, like Black Friday..........

[ByTor]

48 minutes ago, ghoulina said:

Yea, I stopped even noticing the freshly shaved armpits, perfect eyebrows, and bright white teeth along time ago. No one's body size has ever given me pause on this show. I'd say the ONLY things that do/did take me out of the moment in regards to looks are Daryl and Abe's obvious dye jobs. But for the most part, I'm just beyond that kind of thing. There are 10,000 plot holes I'd rather pick apart. LOL

I can't help but marvel every damn time I see all those perfect sets of teeth :)

28 minutes ago, Timetoread said:

As a woman who is endowed, I ain't running nowhere.  I would be the hotwire/bike riding/roller blading queen of the ZA. D cup or more means thumbs down to running.

I'm only a C...running is my thing but no way no how am I doing it in an ill fitting bra!  Poor Tara must have been seriously hurting.  I even said "ouch" out loud while watching :)

[halkatla]

I´m 10 minutes in and slowly being bored to death... I think I´ll save my own life and just not care about this unimportant sidetrack. *Pressing off-button*

[AngelaHunter]

1 hour ago, ghoulina said:

Yea, I stopped even noticing the freshly shaved armpits, perfect eyebrows, and bright white teeth along time ago.

I can't help it. I still notice. Oh, my husband's head has just been bashed into hamburger? Sorry, gotta go shave my pits to silky smoothness before I start grieving. I think the perfectly shaved armpits bother me more than anything, because to many people it seems that a woman with hair in her pits is way more obscene, horrific and shocking than smashed skulls or slit throats. Oh, the horror!

As for the teeth - I can understand people wanting to keep their teeth functional and clean, but everyone here looks as though they came straight from the dentist with freshly polished, highly shiny and whitened teeth. Well, except for the Wolf. I guess the indication that he was really really evil and bad was the nasty grill. No one who is good can have discoloured teeth, right?

[Boofish]

I honestly know people who have never stepped foot in a dentist office with perfectly straight white teeth. They brush and floss but some people just have naturally beautiful smiles. Plenty of people in 3rd world countries have beautiful smiles as well so that is not that big of a stretch. Even some slaves had beautiful smiles if the "sales records" are to be believed.

I'm willing to grant more leeway now that they are in Alexandria with excess to water and electricity. 

[The Mighty Peanut]

1 hour ago, bosawks said:

Hey, don't take lightly the Miss Clairol Cognac Rinse.   That shit is hard to find in the apocalypse!

Au contraire, I give him even more credit for applying it without cleaning or washing his hair in any way.

The teeth thing is more than just superficial...with no dental care in a survival situation a cavity could be a really big deal. 

It probably says something about the episode that we're talking about teeth, hair dye, and baby weight.

Edited November 28, 2016 by The Mighty Peanut

[nodorothyparker]

Well, a lot of those box dyes do say not to apply to clean hair.  So there's that.

[imnoangel129]

What bothers me is Michonne's skin tight clothes and her nasty ass dreads.  I don't know anything about dreads upkeep but it seems to me that they would be smelling pretty ripe by now.  If it was me , I would have cut them off.

[natyxg]

2 hours ago, rab01 said:

That said, I'm still not entirely sure why Tara immediately ran away from the two who were escorting her to the bridge.  Michel's guess is better than anything I came up with but, if that's it, I'm still wondering what tipped her off to the coming murder? (Also, it wouldn't make sense to hide it at Oceanside - they aren't pretending normality like the Governor was.)

I think the moment was when they stumbled upon the walker and Tara noticed that the attention as they clutched their weapons was on her, not on the walker. Specifically, when she's by the tree she notices the woman behind her looking at her funny and Tara swallows hard and goes "I'll get it!" or something along those lines, then runs towards the walker to pretend to kill it so she can run away.

I figured they did it that way because they were hiding it from Cindy, who was adamant about not hurting Tara. That way they could say they let her go and she just never came back. But Cindy knew better.

Edited November 28, 2016 by natyxg

[Ocean Chick]

10 minutes ago, imnoangel129 said:

What bothers me is Michonne's skin tight clothes and her nasty ass dreads.  I don't know anything about dreads upkeep but it seems to me that they would be smelling pretty ripe by now.  If it was me , I would have cut them off.

Dreads wouldn't be any harder to clean than other hair - as long as they have access to water and some sort of shampoo or soap, she should be good.  I'd much rather point out that those dreads make it easy for walkers and bad guys to grab her.

[Scaeva]

2 hours ago, The Mighty Peanut said:

Omg. Everybody on this show except Daryl and Sick Maggie has perfect everything--dreads, press and curls, no stubble, makeup, teeth, mutton chops, sideburns, no pit stains, no pit hair, perfectly fitting clothes....but someone is slightly overweight and it threatens the immersion experience? Should they have recast her or fired her for getting pregnant? Scrapped the story not because it's meandering and semi-relevant at best, but because she is bigger than the last time we saw her? Give her a break...she was in Alexandria where supplies were (at one point) plenty and she had a happy relationship; maybe she was nesting a little bit.

The actress shouldn't lose work just because she's recently had a baby, and the character carrying a few extra pounds is hardly the most far-fetched element of this show. Nor is she the only character who is a bit too stout to be believable as someone who has been living in a post-apocalyptic hellhole for two (?) years. Hello, Eugene.

That said, I do think there is a legitimate complaint about the writing of this show. She's obviously not starving, but we get a scene of her desperately scarfing down food while characters who are thinner than her fuss over how famished she is. It was all a bit ridiculous. Could we maybe not have had that scene? It's hard to suspend disbelief when the writers include scenes that like that one, practically begging the audience to notice her weight.

Despite that, I think I'm in the minority in actually liking this episode. It isn't my favorite episode of The Walking Dead but I'd rank it above most of the other episodes we've had this season, which admittedly isn't saying much. The new community Tara ran into is also the most interesting of those they've introduced in the last two seasons. Hopefully Rick & company don't fuck it up.

I did have to eyeroll a bit at Tara washing up unconscious on that beach. How and why did that ever become a Hollywood trope? I'm pretty sure an ability to move your arms and legs is an essential element to not drowning.

Edited November 28, 2016 by Scaeva

[GodsBeloved]

8 minutes ago, Scaeva said:

She's obviously not starving, but we get a scene of her desperately scarfing down food while characters who are thinner than her fuss over how famished she is. It was all a bit ridiculous. Could we maybe not have had that scene? It's hard to suspend disbelief when the writers include scenes that like that one, practically begging the audience to notice her weight.

But fat people can be famished. I speak from personal experience and I'm bigger than Tara.

Edited November 28, 2016 by GodsBeloved

[Haleth]

On a show about zombies is it really that hard to ignore that Alanna Masterson is carrying a couple extra pounds after giving birth?  We had to ignore that she was hiding a growing tummy last season. What's the difference?  

She looked beautiful on TTD.

[seacliffsal]

I find Alanna to be a bad actress; her go to look was mouth open, slack jaw, wide open eyes.  Most of the other actresses seemed to act circles around her.  This episode very much reminded me of 'Beth's' episodes in which a boring actress is immersed in a 'new world.'  Oceanside was very interesting to me and I was hoping that they only allowed women to stay in their community.  Disbelief about the story line that they ran away from Negan and have been hiding.  Somehow I think that if people ran away and hid from him, he would open his minions to find the women and not come back until they did.

[Ohwell]

1 hour ago, Ocean Chick said:

I'd much rather point out that those dreads make it easy for walkers and bad guys to grab her.

Yeah that's the problem I have with those dreads.  I'm surprised a walker hasn't yanked on them and pulled her down to the ground. I know they make her look badass but she should have cut them in the beginning of the ZA.  That also goes for whoever is wearing pony tails, and long hair in general.  Galavant's....errr...Ezekiel's dreads are long, too, but he's safe in the Kingdom.  And maybe it's because they're grey but they do look cleaner than Michonne's.

[magemaud]

6 hours ago, Lakebum said:

did anyone else notice a small blond child slip behind the tarp with Heath?

Yes, I saw it, too and even re-wound to watch it again. But I didn't think it was a child, I thought it was a petite woman with really nice blonde highlights which was in sharp contrast to all the sand covered walkers. Maybe it's someone who helped Heath escape, you might be on to something. 

[Diane M]

1 hour ago, imnoangel129 said:

What bothers me is Michonne's skin tight clothes and her nasty ass dreads.  I don't know anything about dreads upkeep but it seems to me that they would be smelling pretty ripe by now.  If it was me , I would have cut them off.

That has bothered me from the first day Michonne joined the family.  Why don't they let the actress skip the wig and appear with her own close-cropped hair?  Would be so much cooler in that Georgia heat.

[MaggieG]

Cindy was cool, she can come back. Rachel was a brat, she can stay away. 

A little OT, but I wanted to share a funny story. We went to my in laws for Thanksgiving and my MIL loves the show. She does however call Michonne Michelle, she gets Tara and Maggie confused and generally doesn't really follow along too well. I love her, but she isn't the brightest bulb. We were talking about the show and all of the sudden she says "did you know the actor who plays Negan was a standup comedian." My husband and I looked at each other with wtf faces. I remember thinking that I was pretty sure JDM was not ever a comedian. So I asked her "she did you hear that?" She said he mentioned it on Talking dead. Then I realized, JDM and Chris H talked about him playing The Comedian in Watchmen. I'm pretty sure my MIL would not understand what Watchmen even is so we just let her believe in her JDM was a comedian fantasy :)

[ganesh]

Sure! Now they talk about running out of gas.

I'm actually glad that "Galavant"'s community is relatively nice because I'm a little over 99% of the people we are meeting on the show are "shoot first". I guess Hilltop isn't, but the guy running it has no problem kicking out a pregnant woman. 

One smart takeaway was that these Ocean people just upped and left. I can't see why none of the other groups thought about that. 

Edited November 29, 2016 by ganesh

[mightysparrow]

9 hours ago, GodsBeloved said:

Women are smarter than men. If Michonne was in charge, ASZ would still have some weapons somewhere.

If Michonne was in charge, she would have killed Negan the second she had the chance.  No snot bubbles for Michonne.

[Primetimer]

Tara and Heath reappear after a long absence, and an all-woman village of survivors is uncovered.

View the full article

[mightysparrow]

2 hours ago, imnoangel129 said:

What bothers me is Michonne's skin tight clothes and her nasty ass dreads.  I don't know anything about dreads upkeep but it seems to me that they would be smelling pretty ripe by now.  If it was me , I would have cut them off.

Dreadlocks are hair and are washed just like any other type of hair.  I've had dreadlocks for 25 years and I'll match my hairs cleanliness against anyone's.  Dreads can take a long time to dry but since Michonne spends a lot of time outside in the sun, it shouldn't be a problem. 

As I recall, there was a scene with Rick, Carl and Michonne and Michonne was in a bathrobe with a towel wrapped around her head, so she DOES wash her hair.  And it shouldn't be too hard for a Black woman to find some hair grease in the south.

I have always thought that Michonne's dreads might make it easy for someone to grab her but with her trusty katana, nobody ever gets that close.

Edited November 29, 2016 by mightysparrow

[ganesh]

Quote

And what is with Negan executing all of their young boys and men? Why would he do that when he didn't do it elsewhere? None of this makes sense. 

I would have thought the typical "kill 2 of them to show you mean business" but maybe take all the boys and men for labor at their compound? Or why not the usual "bring me something INTRISTING" every week. It seems out of the norm to kill them all unless I missed something. Although it's consistent with the lack of any strategic thinking. 

I honestly don't care about clean hair, teeth, etc. You have to give a little because it's television. Although I think Lost did a decent job with that. I also had no idea the actor just had a baby. I tend to lean on the side of if you go looking for info then you see things more glaringly. I stay unspoiled for everything and don't really follow much media unless it's a post show recap and her gaining weight didn't even register till I read it here. 

[Miles]

God damn it, another flippin storyline? What do the writers think this is, a Netflex series I can binge watch on a slow weekend?

I get what they are doing. They are introducing a bunch of groups that will eventually band together and take out the saviors (even though they could have just shot Negan in the head 2 episodes ago and been done with it). But do they have to front load the season so much? They have so many episodes. Can't they pase themselfes a bit?

[AngelaHunter]

1 hour ago, Diane M said:

 Why don't they let the actress skip the wig and appear with her own close-cropped hair?

I'm assuming (since I've never read the comic) it's the same reason we saw Abe with his perfectly coiffed, perfectly dyed hair which maintained its pefection til he died and the same reason Rosita appeared in short-shorts and a cropped top (even though she'd be eaten alive by the hordes of mosquitos that are strangely absent in this version of Georgia/VA even though I know of course we can't have everyone scratching all the time) - that's how they look in the comic book.

One thing (well, more than one but anyway) in this ep particularly bothered me. Cindy(?) letting Tara go after telling her to "swear." I really wonder if someone would be this trusting still after everything that group has gone through. I was expecting her to add, "Cross your heart and hope to die!" or maybe "Pinky swear!" The fist bump is wearing very thin.

[raven]

3 hours ago, Scaeva said:

I'm pretty sure an ability to move your arms and legs is an essential element to not drowning.

Tara said she crawled up on the beach and passed out. 

I liked it - I like Tara (I laughed that she was fishing on a "larder") and liked seeing a different setting, the people were OK, the usual stock characters.    No Negan is a huge plus.    Tara loosing all the sand zombies - which were a cool visual - was, sadly, something I would probably do.   I like road trips and would totally not want to be holed up in one spot with a bunch of other sweaty, dirty people. 

Tara and Heath fighting to get back to each other near the end worked for me - in the beginning Heath was saying that they weren't in it together but at the end there they were.   We're probably back to total misery next week.  

I gave a sympathetic wince to Alanna's boobs bouncing ow!  Except for Carol - cuz you know, she's old (sarcasm) - most of the women on TWD have model bodies, they don't have a starving look.   The men can be scuzzy and dirty but the women look healthy (Maggie is allowed to be sick-pale right now) and in great shape, which isn't exactly realistic either.  Danai Gurira is gorgeous but no way Michonne keeps that strong figure if she's starving; it looks like Michonne takes time out from killing for a good gym workout a few days a week.

I do think the pacing is off - all these satellite groups that our group or the ASZ scouts never found, etc etc - you've all pointed it out already.   The non stop talking about how miserable life is (probably why I like Tara, she at least tries to be positive).  Doesn't anyone want to learn how to create thing, grow things?  Let's group the interesting people together and road trip to the East Coast away from Negan.  There's apparently unlimited gasoline after all. 

Edited November 29, 2016 by raven

[Seawolff]

Weighing in:

I never noticed or cared about Tara's body.

When the sand walker's emerged from the sand I was transported to Sid's backyard sandbox in Toy Story.

I can believe that these groups have not run into each other until now.

It could easily have taken Tara a few to several days to walk back. Staying in the boat one night, the curio shop another, etc.. how many of us wanted to see it all spelled out for us?!

[Raven1707]

30 minutes ago, Seawolff said:

It could easily have taken Tara a few to several days to walk back. Staying in the boat one night, the curio shop another, etc.. how many of us wanted to see it all spelled out for us?!

That was my impression as well, that it took her at least a few days to make it back to Alexandria.  Kind of hard to illustrate that, other than something like this:

https://youtu.be/L1bTxTws0Xc

Edited November 29, 2016 by Raven1707
first link didn't work...

[Miles]

1 minute ago, Raven1707 said:

That's was my impression as well, that it took her at least a few days to make it back to Alexandria.  Kind of hard to illustrate that, other than something like this:

It might actually have been the majority of the time difference from last we've seen her. Maybe they scavanged for only 1-2 days and the majority of this episode took place before all the Negan shenanigans happened. She just took this long to get back.

[Ebonygoddess]

6 hours ago, Timetoread said:

And again I tell you- CVS's as far as the eye can see.  Two for every survivor.

 

Local girl here too. Besides CVS's they could live forever raiding Starbucks and 7-11.

[Dobian]

Wow, an entire episode devoted to Tara, a character I have no interest in played by a forgettable actress.  This was almost as bad as suffering through a Negan monologue.  I liked the leader of the women folk tribe.  That was about it.

[AngelaHunter]

48 minutes ago, Dobian said:

Wow, an entire episode devoted to Tara, a character I have no interest in played by a forgettable actress.

Everything is relative. I would have said the same thing had I not watched 90 minutes of Morgan sitting in a cage, listening to HallMark card sentiments from the CheeseMan and learning to be Zen and carry a big stick. In comparison the Tara ep wasn't so bad.

[ganesh]

I think it's more that they just don't do single character episodes that well nor the super sized ones. Both are a good chance to do some world building but all I'm getting is that Negan is seemingly everywhere. I think the constant strife is just wearing me down. 

[thuganomics85]

Oh, yeah, Tara is still a thing!  I honestly almost forgot about her (and Heath.  And Denise...), until the previouslies kicked in.  I guess it's good to know she still exists, even though I'm not sure if I really want an episode just about her, since Alana Masterson is probably one of the weaker members of the cast (not the worst ever or anything.  At the very least, she can emote which I still can't say about the dearly departed Beth/Emily Kinney...), and Tara is just generally obnoxious.  I get she's always been a bit odd, but stuff like offering the main lady a fist bump is just dumb.  I can't believe that even she thought that was cool to do with someone she just met and barely knows.  Her social skills are wack.  But, hey, maybe I'll be proven wrong and if/when she meets Negan, she does the same thing, and he suddenly tosses Lucielle aside and is like "Wow, cool!  I can't believe I ever hated you guys!  I so misjudge y'all!  Let me join y'all and be hip too!"

Anyway, so she and Heath had gotten jumped by walkers (or, more accurately, Tara accidentally a whole bunch of them right into their laps), she goes over a bridge, and runs into another group known as Oceanside, which is made up of only women, and they really, really hate strangers.  Oh, and they were victims of Negan and the Saviors, of course.  They tried to revolt, so he killed all their men and boys over 10.  Kind of would have preferred if they were an all-woman group on purpose, but alas, it's not to be.  Tara's keeping their secret for now (despite trying to kill her), but I'm guessing they'll be back.

Because I so think this is basically a big-ass set-up to have all of these other places finally meet up and try to take on The Saviors.  It's like a apocalypse, modern version of Game of Thrones, with The Saviors in the Lannister role (although Cersei is way more intimidating then Negan), and everyone else as all the various families trying to oppose them.

I figured Heath was a goner, so Corey Hawkins can assume Kiefer Sutherland's mantle in 24, but I guess he might be still alive?

Honestly, the best part of the episode was Eugene's reaction to Tara coming back.  Only emotional part about this episode worth remembering.

Can't believe there is already only two episodes left this season.  Feels like nothing happened.  Like Fear the Walking Dead-level nothing.  And the only episode I fully liked was the Kingdom/Ezekiel one.  Although, this might have been the second best of the season, but that's not a high bar to cross when this season included a hour and half one, of Negan just smirking and speechifying for the entire damn thing (oh, wait.  I'm suppose to think he's the greatest villain of all time.  My bad, Kirkman...)

[Jordan27]

On ‎11‎/‎27‎/‎2016 at 10:18 PM, JackONeill said:

I reckon that's where Rick will happen "to find" some guns. But will he ask?

Seems a little late.  If he was going to use guns, he had plenty and let Neegan take all of them.

[imnoangel129]

Thanks for the info on the upkeep of dreads.  I know that she washed them in Alexandria but what about all the time before that, the prison, Terminus when she was wandering with Andrea.

[millennium]

18 hours ago, Ohwell said:

Exactly, and I don't see this as body shaming.

I agree.    If a person's height is above average, it's okay to say they're tall.   If of a more diminutive stature, short.   If they are well-developed physically, we say they are muscular -- or what is the new slang?  ripped?   If not, we might describe them as scrawny.   If a woman is curvy, we refer to her as voluptuous.   And so on.  All of these adjectives are acceptable, but somehow in the last year or so it has become a crime against humanity to mention -- nay, to merely notice -- that someone is overweight.  Even if it's just an objective observation.   

Anyway, I felt like I've already seen this episode five or six times.  Nothing new.  Nothing interesting.   A tremendous bore.  Funny it was called "Swear," because that's just what I felt like doing after wasting another hour of my life.

[Johnny Dollar]

Props to Tara for being able to find her way back to Alexandria, on foot, through an area she was not at all familiar with, over a distance that was originally travelled by car, and not being eaten or starving or dying of thirst or running into a Savior or Unfair Wolf. 

Are there even beaches in Virginia that have woods so close to a resort area?  Most east coast beaches don't even have trees within a half mile of the shore. 

And why isn't Virginia Beach overrun by survivors?  Hundreds of multi-floor hotels (unless walkers can climb stairs), close to a food supply (even if you hate fish, it's better than starving), unlimited water that can be distilled to make fresh water (although I may be dreaming about this) and an easier way of defending your position. 

The sand walker that Tara put her spear through was practically hollow. Shouldn't these things have at least a minimal amount of brain matter left to be able to survive and be strong enough to walk, let alone attack someone?  Unless we're to believe they are now possessed, it's getting beyond ridiculous. 

[BloatedGuppy]

17 hours ago, The Mighty Peanut said:

Omg. Everybody on this show except Daryl and Sick Maggie has perfect everything--dreads, press and curls, no stubble, makeup, teeth, mutton chops, sideburns, no pit stains, no pit hair, perfect eyebrows, perfectly fitting clothes....but someone is slightly overweight and it threatens the immersion experience? Should they have recast her or fired her for getting pregnant? Scrapped the story not because it's meandering and semi-relevant at best, but because she is bigger than the last time we saw her? Give her a break...she was in Alexandria where supplies were (at one point) plenty and she had a happy relationship; maybe she was nesting a little bit.

It has nothing to do with her being slightly overweight. Eugene, for example, is significantly overweight. As we've seen with some other characters. It's a little bit silly, but nothing outrageous. It's the fact that only a few weeks have passed in show time and the actress has expanded substantially due to her pregnancy (in ways that her ludicrously baggy outfit cannot completely hide). If Andrew Lincoln came back next season 50 pounds heavier, we'd notice. It would be a startling physical change. GoT went through similar issues with the kids rocketing through puberty (especially Bran), although it had a little more leeway as the period of time wasn't so precise. When Marlon Brando showed up to the set of Apocalypse Now dramatically overweight, they truncated his screen time and hid him in a dark room. Coppola wasn't body-shaming Mr. Brando, he was just ensuring the continuity and logic of his film wasn't damaged.

It's the zombie apocalypse. Food is tight. We've had entire story arcs around the fact food is tight. Tara was coached to act like she was desperately hungry and had barely seen food in days. Taking all that into account, yes, rapid weight gain is somewhat immersion breaking. Moreso than "lack  of pit stains" or "perfect eyebrows". If they had entire story arcs about a lack of toiletries or grooming supplies, you might have a point there.

The point of this is not to denigrate or punish the actress for having a baby, it's to question the wisdom of the show trotting her out  as the central character in a tertiary (and dubious) story line. And "questioning the wisdom of the show" after an episode that plonky should not raise any hackles.

[mandolin]

Seasons ago, when I was completely in love with every episode of this show, I hoped TPTB wouldn't ruin it. Well, this season, for me, SUCKS. Thanks, Gimple.

I barely watched this episode and certainly have no plan to watch it again. I cannot fathom the point of another group that I do not, will not, in a box, with a fox, on a boat or with a goat, care about. What about the people we've known for 7 freaking years? I don't even like Tara. 

[Ohwell]

13 hours ago, AngelaHunter said:

The fist bump is wearing very thin.

Which is why I never, ever liked Tara.  I know that's a nitpicky thing to say, but I can't help it.

[Ocean Chick]

10 hours ago, imnoangel129 said:

Thanks for the info on the upkeep of dreads.  I know that she washed them in Alexandria but what about all the time before that, the prison, Terminus when she was wandering with Andrea.

Well, obviously her hair would have been as nasty and greasy has Andrea's (or Rick's, or Maggie's, etc) was, dreaded or not.  Hair is hair.  Since Andrea's hair seemed to be remarkably clean and fresh when they were on the run, we have to assume that the girls found clean water and soap someplace along the way.  Same with the prison and Terminus.  Frankly, only Daryl's hair seems to suffer from not being washed regularly.  Abe was seemingly able to find hair gel or something in order to keep his "do" done.  And FPP must have a lovely supply of razors in order to keep his dome smooth as a bowling pin.

[Ohwell]

Also, Morgan seems to be well-groomed, especially with his very neat haircut.