S08.E02: The Damned

[halgia]

Quote

The allied communities enact a plan; Rick encounters a familiar face.

[Tesla]

Forget Eric; what happened to Baby Gracie?? They had better save her. 

[tawny411]

What was that ending? Enough with Rick's life in danger. We know he's OK. He better save that cute baby. 

[Tesla]

Also, who is Morales again?

[WritinMan]

Man, Rick really sucks at searching buildings.

And I swear, whenever Ezekiel talks, it's all I can do to not fall asleep.

[econ07]

They needed to let us in on the plan with some kind of map to build tension ... now it's just a bunch of people willy nilly all over the place.  Even Lucas does a better job of building tension in Star Wars than this show.

[Rosiejuliemom]

1 minute ago, Tesla said:

Also, who is Morales again?

He was in the group Rick encountered at the store in Atlanta. Along with Glenn, Andrea, T-Dog, Merle, and Jaqui.

He and his family split from CDB when they left for the CDC.

I always wanted him to come back, but not like this.

Edited October 30, 2017 by Rosiejuliemom

[TigerLynx]

I love that Shiva is kicking ass and taking names, can recognize a bad guy, and take him out without one single stupid idiotic unnecessary speech.  Even if it doesn't make sense, she puts the humans to shame.

I like the action and the plan.  The yakking not so much.

King Zeke needs to stop talking like that.  It just sounds dumb, and could someone please get that thing off the top of his head.

Apparently, Negan's bad guys cannot shut the fuck up either.

Jesus is an idiot.

Morgan is having another breakdown?

King Zeke decides to have another philosophical conversation with Carol now?

So were Rick and Daryl set up, or was Dwight?

[bosawks]

Rick getting captured is beginning to become a little “Perils of Pauline”.

It’s only a matter of time before Daryl unties him from train tracks....

[econ07]

1 minute ago, Tesla said:

Also, who is Morales again?

Think he had a family on the hill where Laurie, Shane, and the initial Atlanta survivors held up until Rick joined them with Glenn.  When they left the hill, Morales left in a car with his family to try to find other relatives in  another state.

[MrsRafaelBarba]

2 minutes ago, Tesla said:

Also, who is Morales again?

Part of the OG Atlanta group in season one.

His weapon of choice against walkers was a baseball bat.

Wife and two kids, probably dead Now.

 

Opted to head for Alabama, had family there.

[TigerLynx]

Just now, MrsRafaelBarba said:

Part of the OG Atlanta group in season one.

His weapon of choice against walkers was a baseball bat.

Wife and two kids, probably dead Now.

 

Opted to head for Alabama, had family there.

I don't know why, but this summary made me laugh.

[MrsRafaelBarba]

Francine's death was just confirmed on Talking Dead.

[Rosiejuliemom]

Just now, MrsRafaelBarba said:

Francine's death was just confirmed on Talking Dead.

Yup. Farewell, Francine. You were a character.

[DearEvette]

5 minutes ago, bosawks said:

Rick getting captured is beginning to become a little “Perils of Pauline”.

It’s only a matter of time before Daryl unties him from train tracks....

Except it isn't even that suspenseful.  Y'all know Rick is gonna be fine.

I rather liked Morgan going into Beast Mode. 

Carole and Ezekiel just need to do it already.

[Tesla]

Thanks.  My memory is terrible.

[ShadowHunter]

Another member of the first team at the end. Sometimes when a marathon would be on I would wonder what happened to the Morales family. His daughter is the one who gave Sophie her doll.

Jesus and Tara do not make a good team up.

Morgan is slipping. He should have killed them though. They are going to Surrender lol.

Somebody help the baby! Please!

[MrsRafaelBarba]

Just now, Tesla said:

Thanks.  My memory is terrible.

You're Welcome.

[Jaundiced Eye]

It's never a good sign when you catch yourself looking at the clock, hoping that the episode will end soon. 

[Lamima]

4 minutes ago, Jaundiced Eye said:

It's never a good sign when you catch yourself looking at the clock, hoping that the episode will end soon. 

This was me....wanting to get back to the baseball game. And my team isn't even in it.

[WritinMan]

3 minutes ago, Jaundiced Eye said:

It's never a good sign when you catch yourself looking at the clock, hoping that the episode will end soon. 

I know! For all the fighting, the episode was quite dull. As someone above said, it might have been nice to know what the goals were so we could have a better idea of what was happening.

[Dodginblue]

So Jesus decides to introduce some kind of Geneva Convention rules here, which clearly wasn't discussed with anyone else before the attack started and means there isn't any plan for how to manage these captured people, who they have zero reason to trust will just go along meekly and do what they're told.   The opposite, actually, given what happened with the guy in the closet.

I think it's fine to bring someone back from past seasons but hopefully there's going to be some kind of back story,  even if it's just a few lines of dialogue to explain how he got from there to here.  I mean, the writers have no problem introducing philosophical chats randomly in the middle of a battle so they should be able to give Morales a chance to make his appearance seem like something other than a pointless gimmick.

Good, no Negan.  Bad, no Michonne.   

Things I continue to find amusing about this show:  cars that run when the storyline needs cars that run.  Lots and lots of ammo when the storyline needs lots and lots of ammo.   Dead people who reanimate in minutes when the storyline needs dead people to reanimate in minutes.  

Melissa McBride is so pretty. 

Edited October 30, 2017 by Dodginblue

[CletusMusashi]

Well, it wasn't particularly good, but it was better.

No Negan speeches, no weird time lapses or dream sequences, and when they didn't shoot bad guys at least they bothered to explain why.

I give this one a C. Last week wasa good solid F.

[RedheadZombie]

23 minutes ago, TigerLynx said:

I love that Shiva is kicking ass and taking names, can recognize a bad guy, and take him out without one single stupid idiotic unnecessary speech.  Even if it doesn't make sense, she puts the humans to shame.

I like the action and the plan.  The yakking not so much.

King Zeke needs to stop talking like that.  It just sounds dumb, and could someone please get that thing off the top of his head.

Apparently, Negan's bad guys cannot shut the fuck up either.

Jesus is an idiot.

Morgan is having another breakdown?

King Zeke decides to have another philosophical conversation with Carol now?

So were Rick and Daryl set up, or was Dwight?

Morgan?  It kind of looked like Rick is going nuts again.  Sweat dripping down his drenched curls, dazed look in his eyes, realizing he just killed Gracie's daddy.  Perhaps killing "himself"?  He better not leave that baby girl behind to be munched on by her turned father.

[Lamima]

At this point they are just stalling us because the show is catching up. Lame.

[blaksheba]

7 minutes ago, Jaundiced Eye said:

It's never a good sign when you catch yourself looking at the clock, hoping that the episode will end soon. 

Concur... it's only been two episodes so far, but this war is boring.

[Valny]

1 minute ago, blaksheba said:

Concur... it's only been two episodes so far, but this war is boring.

I was half watching this ep because it was shooting,running around rinse and repeat.  What a snoozer.

I didn't trust that guy Tara wanted to kill. I'm surprised he got off easy with a gun clocking from Jesus. Those kinds always seem to come back and do damage. 

[thuganomics85]

Damn, Morales?  Talk about reaching way back there, show!  I do vaguely remember him, but I don't know if I care enough to have him be a significant character going forward (assuming next week doesn't start with Rick somehow killing him.)

Better then last week at least since there is actually some action going on and a general idea of what is going on here.  Of course, it seems like the plan is simply a) have a massive shootout at one location to distract the Saviors and b) have two or so teams sneak into other places and try to take them out.  I could tell that one is suppose to be where they store the weapons and the other is where they store the medicine, but I'm still trying to figure everything out.

I like you, Jesus, but taking all these prisoners can actually be very problematic.  And I feel dirty that I'm almost on the side of Tara of all people.  Although I cracked up over how both were just like "I'm telling my boss on you, and they'll fix it!"

So, after a near death experience, Morgan's basically turned into John Wick with all of the headshots and killing.  Hey, I can dig it!

Ezekiel is such a ball of ham, but I still enjoy his cheesy speeches compared to Negan's.

Eric is such a goner, so they can make Aaron suffer this go around.  It's your turn now, buddy!

[DearEvette]

7 minutes ago, Dodginblue said:

Dead people who reanimate in minutes when the storyline needs dead people to reanimate in minutes. 

As the seasons progress I have noticed that people reanimate pretty quickly.  I remember when Andrea's sister died, she seemed to take forever to reanimate. 

A good explanation would be that the longer they are into the ZA, the more infected they get, hence the quicker they reanimate.

As confusing at their plan is, I do think it is smart that a piece of it that we've seen so far is that they are weaponizing the walkers.  It was a good strategy to preoccupy the saviors so much with their firepower and the need to defend themselves so much they don't think about the dead in their own midst turning on them.

[mxc90]

Tara could have finished the guy herself but expected Jesus to do it. I wonder if he'll be her or someone else's doom in a few weeks.

Every time Ezekiel goes on his "diarrhea of the mouth" moment, I'm expecting/hoping/praying a sniper to pick him off.

[ShellsandCheese]

5 minutes ago, blaksheba said:

Concur... it's only been two episodes so far, but this war is boring.

Yes! It's because this war should have been over two seasons ago. The showrunner's have never seemed to understand that what works in the graphic novels does not work on the show. TV and Lit are two very different mediums. All of the story lines with major villians (with the exception of Terminus, which ironically enough was a storyline that probably could have lasted a little longer) have been un-necessarily long and tend to veer into "been there done that" territory. There's no dramatic tension which is necessary for this type of story on TV because we all know that Rick is not going to die. 

We are two episodes in and it's not clear what the point of episode one or two was. What is the group doing exactly? How is this going to help them achieve their goal(s)? Why didn't they just shoot Negan last week and then deal with the rest of the saviors -- many of whom would have buckled after their loss of their leader. It makes no sense. 

[Unusual Suspect]

Aww, Andy. Aka, the cute blue-eyed Hilltopper that was next to Morgan.

And I hope Eric is OK. 

Lots of gunplay, but I found it hard to keep track of each running battle. Who's where, and what each battle was for.

I love Ezekiel, and his poetic speechifying. Dude has a tiger, he's earned the right to be the king.

[mmecorday]

Quote

It's never a good sign when you catch yourself looking at the clock, hoping that the episode will end soon. 

Or when an ad for "Stranger Things" comes on, you think to yourself, "I should be watching that instead!"

When I was in high school, my English teacher told us to read the soap opera recaps in the paper so that we would know how NOT to write. So I'm going to recap tonight's episode old school soap opera recap style:  The Alexandrians shot at Negan's people, Negan's people fired back; Rick and Daryl explored a building, Rick killed someone then found himself on the wrong side of the gun and the person holding the gun was Morales from season 1; King Ezekiel thinks that he's in a battle with Negan over who can talk more; Shiva killed a bad guy; Morgan can't die; Eric got shot.

[ShadowHunter]

It was nice to see Carol smile at the end. It does not happen that often so I take note.

Still shaking my head over Jesus acting like a fool.

[Lady Iris]

What'd I just watch? Tons of gunfire and sweaty Rick. Jesus brings the pretty so that's good.

[peach]

I mostly checked out of this show last season.  I kept it on my DVR and fast forwarded to parts that interested me.  This season they were promising to bring the action, and I'm just folding my laundry on Sunday nights anyway...so I was down for sweaty, murderous Rick tonight.  But I cannot take another iteration of "that's not who we are" and let's just knock out and tie up this proven bad guy.  It's season 8.  Tara should have shot Jesus after that.  How are they supposed to take on as many captives as they have soldiers? 

I also hate that Carl stayed behind and isn't moving into a bigger leadership role.  He should have been Tara's partner, and Dean would be good and dead.  Also miss Michonne but I get that she's got other stuff on her plate.

[Tesla]

1 hour ago, thuganomics85 said:

 

Eric is such a goner, so they can make Aaron suffer this go around.  It's your turn now, buddy!

I agree that Eric is probably a goner, but they are clearly trying to off him to set Aaron free for Jesus.  Also, since they are subtle as hammers on this show, they telegraphed his death with gratuitous and overdone camera focus constantly.   If you didn't expect it before, you did by the fifteenth lingering camera shot. ?

[Anela]

1 hour ago, bosawks said:

Rick getting captured is beginning to become a little “Perils of Pauline”.

It’s only a matter of time before Daryl unties him from train tracks....

Isn't that Penelope pitstop? :) 

I haven't watched this yet. I just checked to see if the spoilers were true, about morales, and the deaths. 

[iRarelyWatchTV36]

Jesus, Jesus!  'I'm going to war with you all, but I'm not killing anyone or letting you all kill (if I'm around to stop it) either.  I will win this war through pacifism!!'   Welcome, the new King of Idiots.

I thought was Rick was a badass..... until I watched grown men, who are used to killing and all other kinds of immoral shit, running scared from Morgan and Morgan giving absolutely no f*cks as he mowed them down like a video gamer boss.  'He don't die', indeed.

Rick - or someone - better save that baby.  Not gonna lie, the way he was reacting for a while there, I was slightly expecting him to shoot the baby.  Taking the whole 'kill them all' thing to the extreme.  If he didn't kill the baby himself, he will have killed it by proxy, because when they're all done there, that kid will be abandoned and die of starvation & dehydration - or if its really lucky, will be a walker's snack bite.

 Tara - or Morgan - shouldn't have put up with Jesus' shit.  When it comes to adult enemies who wield weapons, it's kill or be killed.  No other substitutes or paths.  I had to laugh when Tara smacked Jesus down later, after he said that Maggie listens to him.  "Yeah, well, why don't we just go take this up with Rick?"

So long Francine.  She's had bad luck.  First she got dumped by the crane, and now she's dead - soon to be a walker?  

Guessing Eric's number is fast approaching, considering that was a stomach shot and the blood was pouring out.

Trying to figure out why the Savior lady leader, that Aaron's group attacked, let the former-ally!walker eat her.  She didn't have a hand gun or knife accessible to deal with it?

Morales.  That smacks of a gimmick by TPTB.  "How can we surprise the audience?  Hey, what's (Morales' characters real name) doing these days?  Let's serve him up as an offering to Rick's continually rising kill count!"  

What's going on hair-mop, I mean Daryl?  Was that last set of sequences with him supposed to be him losing himself in the memories of being locked up at The Sanctuary??  God, how lucky were we as an audience to not hear Easy Street to accompany his (supposed) flashbacks.

I'm happy that she's happy, but I don't like the Carol-King Ezekiel grouping.  She seems very tame in his presence.  I want my Carol all crazy mad and ready to kill every last one of them sumbitches!

Edited October 30, 2017 by iRarelyWatchTV36

[Unusual Suspect]

3 minutes ago, Tesla said:

I agree that Eric is probably a goner, but they are clearly trying to off him to set Aaron free for Jesus.  Also, since they are subtle as hammers on this show, they telegraphed his death with gratuitous and overdone camera focus constantly.   If you didn't expect it before, you did by the fifteenth lingering camera shot. ?

Yeah, and that sucks. And yet, is it wrong that I am totally down for a hot Aaron/Jesus makeout scene? Probably won't happen.

[iRarelyWatchTV36]

The Aaron/Jesus talk reminded me of that scene when the guy was holding him hostage.....

It looked like he was trying more to slow dance with and creepily sniff Jesus' hair, instead of wanting to harm him with the gun.

[maystone]

Overall this was a very confusing episode. Where the hell were Rick and Daryl? And when they first entered that building (apartment complex? municipal offices?) Weren't there a half dozen guys tagging along with them? Or was that another building? And what happened with Daryl after finding the Merle-esque handcuff escape room? I get that it freaked him out, but then we don't see him again until the end, and then both he and Rick appear to be outside (but those were close ups, so it was hard to tell).

I'm not a blood thirsty person, but I gotta tell you that I would have taken no prisoners. Who's got the facilities to keep them all, the extra people to guard them well, and the extra food to feed them all? The Kingdom sounds like the logical place, but it also apparently has all of the children still left alive. OK, Seaside has some little kids, but The Kingdom seems to have cornered the child survivor market. Who in their right mind would keep a dozen or so sociopaths locked up next to their kids? This is not going to end well.

Things I liked: Ezekiel's "Fake it til you make it, baby" aside to Carol. And that Carol actually smiled at the end. I miss the Carol of early S2 who joked around with Daryl and the others. I understand that a ton of terrible things have happened to her, but it still would be great - even just for a little while - if she got her smile back.

I like that Morales is back. He was a good guy back in the day, a voice of reason in the group, and he seemed to be in a leadership role with Shane. I want to hear what happened between leaving the group in Atlanta and now. My hope is that Rick and Daryl and Carol will help turn him back.

Shiva!

I think I get what Rick's plan is: take out the smaller outposts, snap up the weapons stores, and more importantly weaken the Saviors self-confidence that they're untouchable and stir up some semblance of hope among the workers/slaves that maybe they could rebel against Negan. Mostly they're succeeding, I think.

Things I disliked: They killed Francine! And with it my ship of her and Diane a little further down the road. Damn. I'm not going to believe that Eric is dead until they force me to confront it. Although if he does die, that could become a powerful pairing of Aaron and Tara as two vengeful warriors determined to take out Negan and the Saviors

So, TPTB - show us that baby Gracie is going to be safe, that Eric lives, and for the love of all that's holy, please help your audience know what we're actually watching.

[Rosiejuliemom]

I'd like to petition to keep the Savior who actually surrendered around for a while. He wasn't too bad to look at and might have a working brain. 

[TrininisaScorp]

I actually feel like there is something compelling here.  But, the pacing and the layout of the storytelling makes it drag on and feel boring.  If we don't understand their plan, why do we care about the journey?  They made this mistake last season too!

What did compel me:  An old coworker and friend play(ed) Andy, and I was in suspense seeing if he would survive the raid.  Alas, poor Andy...

It also feels like a lot of retread..."Morgan is going crazy"  "Rick is disgusted by some of his savagery" "A moral character questions the murdering they are doing".  We've done this...what's new about it, and why do we care?  I'm struggling (already!) with all the tell and no show.  

I may be in the minority, but I love Khary, so I'm all in in King Zeke's crazy theatrics.  And I love Shiva to bits.  Seeing Carol smile (a tiny bit) was so jarring...Melissa McBride is a beautiful woman, why can't Carol have a moment of feeling human?  

I get that she's currently in the awesomeness of Wakanda/MCU, but I genuinely miss Michonne 's (and Dania's) presence.  

I did gasp a little when we saw Morales.  It was unexpected, but a nice callback...I guess that doesn't bode well for his cute family.   Also....I need them to save the baby.   

[Black Knight]

I don't even remember Francine. Did she come from the women's seaside group?

Jeez. Normally I'm more on the side of "it's not necessary to always kill, even if it's a zombie apocalypse," but this is the start of a war where the other side still has the bigger numbers and more weapons and your side does not have the facilities, personnel or supplies to maintain a huge prisoners-of-war group, Jesus. I normally like him, but he was such an idiot tonight. I thought maybe he would have learned his lesson after the first guy basically laughed in his ear, but then he had to go and multiply that exponentially.

I also normally like Ezekiel, but he was another one I found annoying tonight with his dialogue (which usually amuses me).

Morales! I've always wondered what became of him and his family after they left in S1.

[Sentient Meat]

Whoever told the writers or producers that we liked characters wandering around blithering like LARPers should be smacked upside the head.  This is the Walking Dead, not Critical Role... and what may have been charming initially in small doses is really taking me out of the show.  This episode was like playing a boring shooter video game, where your players had to walking through endless corridors, looking into every room.  The problem is that there are no establishing shots to explain the context of anything, so all dramatic tension is reduced to a guessing game.  A well crafted show would let the characters know the numbers and placement of the enemy so you would know whether to feel nervous or not.  Instead, this played like someone flipping a coin, where if you opened a door you might be as likely to find something as not.

What I always loved about the show was the characters, and the occasional suspense sequence... not this poorly executed action show that aspires for an artsy quality but instead comes off as silly.

Thank God I enjoyed Stranger Things and Mind Hunter this month because this show has been a severe disappointment so far.

And one last thing, just because you change the person showing mercy from Morgan to Jesus, doesn't make your idea any fresher.  It's still recycling the same debate... try something new next season.

[Nashville]

45 minutes ago, Black Knight said:

I don't even remember Francine. Did she come from the women's seaside group?

Remember right after CBD arrived at the ASZ when Abraham went out with a wall maintenance crew?  

And Abraham rescued one of the workers from being overrun by walkers, when the rest of the ASZhats were ready to run screaming back home at the sight of a walker and leave the trapped worker to survive or die on their own?

That worker was Francine.

[GreyBunny]

7 hours ago, Rosiejuliemom said:

I always wanted him to come back, but not like this.

No kidding.  Despite the season 2 cut scene, I had hoped he hooked up with the Vatos and they all went west and created their own happy paradise for seniors and chihuahuas.  

Well, except for Shiva, everything sucked again.  The best part of both episodes was Stewart.  I'd much rather watch an hour of him pushing people down the stairs.  I don't care who, as long as Stewart gives them each a big ole fuck you shove.

Edited October 30, 2017 by GreyBunny

[ShadowSixx]

The best thing about the episode was NO DAMN NEGAN

Jesus when it comes to the Saviors you shoot first then ask questions later. Jesus should have let Morgan shoot that long haired asshole.

Rick runs into Morales from S1. Thought he would never be shown again yet there he is with the Saviors. His kids probably died along with the wife unless his wife is one of Negan's wives.

I knew something would happen to Eric with as much screen time as he was given. I don't really care because Eric been pretty much useless the whole time he's been on the show. Him out of the way opens the door for Jesus & Aaron.

Can they get that atrocious wig off of Ezekiel? It's really distracting.

I'm wondering how does Shiva know who to attack and who not to attack. They need to explain that. 

[Miles]

Whose idea was it to film a closeup of Ezekiel petting the air and then cgi a tiger under it? I mean seriously. The CGI for the tiger is pretty good and you probably could have gotten away with it from far away, but a closeup? Between this and the nonsensical storylines I'm not 100% sure that cocain must be cheap as hell whereever the writers are. Or was that the director?

So our heroes are there to kill everybody and only Jesus keeps them from doing so. Yet they wouldn't kill Negan last week, when they had the chance. This just keeps getting worse and worse.

I saw it coming from a mile away that the guy Rick killed was protecting children. Thought there would be a few more and slightly older, but same dif, I guess. Not very creative there.

Other funny thing: Woman goes down, one of the gay guys wait 5 seconds for the camera to swing up to him again, then finally screams her name. I actually did laugh out loud when I saw that. That was the worst direction I've ever seen anywhere. Who directed this episode, a three year old?

Speaking of which. The guy Morgan woke up next to, who was supposed to be dead, but was so clearly still alive. There is a reason they usually close the eyes in movies and TV shows when somebody is supposed to be dead. You can easily see in the eyes if somebody is alive or not and ittakes some serious work to hide it, which wasn't done here... that you could see him breathing didn't help.

Edited October 30, 2017 by Miles