S08.E05: The Big Scary U

[SchitHappenz]

I've been watching TWD from the very beginning and have loved it, but, enough is enough. 

The way this season has played out so far is enough to turn the quite a lot of fans off. 

No longer surviving in a world of Zombies, to one of confrontation after confrontation with living protagonists is maybe too far removed from the show I used to love. 

I'll keep watching for now, but it's no longer the show I would eagerly await the next episode for. 

[festivus]

On 11/24/2017 at 7:41 PM, AngelaHunter said:

Yes, but you're forgetting that we've been given a glimpse into Negan's sensitive side, with this touching tour de force poem he penned on the spot and recited for the benefit of his awestruck subjects:

"I wear a leather jacket.

I have Lucille

And my nutsack

is made of steel."

So, yeah - maybe everything else is poorly written shit, but don't try to say that is not golden. Bravo, writers. Oh, bravo!

Lol. How did JDM even get that to come out of his mouth without some barf coming out too? I hope they payed him a shit-ton of money cause he deserves it.

[Gobi]

52 minutes ago, festivus said:

Lol. How did JDM even get that to come out of his mouth without some barf coming out too? I hope they payed him a shit-ton of money cause he deserves it.

I carry a bat

And like Carl's hat

Keepin' it real

With a nutsack of steel

Singin':

We are, we are Negan!

SING IT:

We are, we are Negan!

Edited November 27, 2017 by Gobi

[Nashville]

52 minutes ago, Gobi said:

I carry a bat

And like Carl's hat

Keepin' it real

With a nutsack of steel

Singin':

We are, we are Negan!

SING IT:

We are, we are Negan!

Queen would be proud - or amused, at least.  ;>

[The Companion]

On 11/19/2017 at 10:02 PM, nodorothyparker said:

Dr. Carson is the doctor from the Hilltop kidnapped by the Saviors after Negan threw the Sanctuary doctor into the fire.  It's not like there's any real rush to line up a doctor for Maggie.  At the rate this story is moving, it will be another three seasons before she hits her second trimester.

It will feel like ten. It's not like she is showing or anything. 

On 11/20/2017 at 7:31 AM, JackONeill said:

And this to me is the greatest failure (from many) of this show.

When was it that Glenn and Abe were brutally killed? Like a day and a half ago in show-time? (I’m being sarcastic...but only a bit.)

Yet in real time, it’s been like twenty years. (Again, sarcastic.) We have a new president; people have married or divorced; kids have grown; other, better shows have come and gone. Yet this show is still at the same point in time it was, what, two years ago?!?

Now here we are watching the same old bull shit, and Negan is still alive. Whatever suspense, thrill, excitement, revenge, whatever-you-what-to-call-it, has been squandered in the interim. Honestly, I no longer care that Glenn and Abe were killed. It happened too long ago, and TPTB have failed to maintain any suspense. Yeah, I don’t like Negan. But you know what? This show has made it so I like NO ONE.

TPTB have, IMO, ruined what could have been a good thing.

When we stopped watching FTWD, these were basically my complaints. The pacing is off and none of the characters are likable. I think I might be rooting for the zombies. I remember asking how it was possible the shows were being produced by the same people. Unfortunately, TWD has now inherited the same problems. The worst part of it is that the Glenn scene feels even more unnecessarily manipulative. At this point, we aren't all waiting with anticipation to see Negan finally get his comeuppance for killing Glenn. We are just bored, and irritated. Are the characters still dealing with the emotional fallout? I have no idea because they are so inconsistent, and we are time jumping so much, that I can barely remember what the particular character is supposed to be navigating. It removes all of the emotional impact to make us wait three weeks to find out what happened in a particular storyline. 

On 11/20/2017 at 8:18 AM, nodorothyparker said:

Worse, the show has so muddied the waters of who did what to who and who started it and based subsequent storytelling on so much blatant stupidity that I'm struggling to know who or what I'm supposed to be rooting for anymore.  When your biggest baddest big bad is making more sense in calling out the initial attack on the outpost for what it was, murdering people in their sleep, and correctly identifying that your lead's greatest accomplishment seems to be getting people killed while that lead can't even be bothered to react to news that an ally he did his best to browbeat into joining him has been mostly wiped out because he's too busy getting into pointless fistfights with his lieutenant, that's a problem.  The Kingdom crew died for those weapons he so cavalierly let get blown up.  Original recipe Alexandrians like Eric died so he could hunt for those weapons.  The only answer the show seems to be able to come up with as to why anyone should be following Rick at this point is that he isn't Negan and offers up as evidence that he's running a disorganized cult of personality that falls apart 5 minutes after he's not sitting at the head of the world's worst staff meeting.  

I am definitely rooting for anyone who shuts Negan up, but I agree that they are doing a bad job putting together a cohesive storyline with a likable protagonist. Weren't weapons a difficult thing to acquire like a week ago (show time)? Even if they can't agree on what to do, surely they can agree to take them, store them somewhere off the road and decide. 

On 11/20/2017 at 9:36 AM, icemiser69 said:

He is definitely over compensating for something.

I get the feeling that he is a nutless wonder. 

It would be pretty interesting to make him secretly have some sort of injury there, but given the harem, I don't think that is where we are going. 

On 11/20/2017 at 1:31 PM, TigerLynx said:

I don't understand Rick's attitude about the workers, or Jesus about the Saviors who surrendered.  Before going up against a group with superior numbers, lead by a psycho, you should really have a game plan that everyone knows.  The plan seemed to be we have to kill Negan, even though every single time they've had a chance to do so, they don't do it.  When they first arrived at the main Savior compound, Rick made the offer that if Negan would give himself up to be killed, the others could live.  That seemed to be off the table once Negan declined the offer.  They left to deal with the other outposts, and killed people there.  Now suddenly Rick is worried about the workers, but killing people while they slept (something they did before they ever met Negan) was okay.  Pick a road and drive it already.  You don't win a war by half-assing around, having moral crisises in the middle of battle, and then after lots of people are dead go, "Hey, maybe we should be doing things differently."

This is the thing that is most frustrating. Compare it to GOT (don't, you will be disappointed) where we hear a lot of plans and see a lot of battles won and lost with strategy. There appears to be no strategy here at all. I am assuming the writers have some big reveal about some extra part of the plan we don't know, and they think that will be more dramatic. However, it would have been a lot more interesting to see strategic planning and then watch as the plan was altered. You would at least expect that they would have discussed what to do with POWs who voluntarily surrendered, how to deal with a major battle losses, how they planned to take the main stronghold of the enemy, etc. I have seen more strategy for a 4 year old's birthday party.

On 11/20/2017 at 5:26 PM, Gobi said:

Not for nothing, but in real wars the usual ratio of killed to wounded is 1:3. Granted, these morons don't know enough to seek cover, but on the other hand, neither side is all that good with aiming. Even with American Civil War levels of medicine (about what they have in the ZA), not all the wounded die.  And keeping a tripod mounted .50 caliber machine gun on target requires a lot of training. Just sayin', more people should be left alive.

The critical difference here is that the wounded become fatalities when the fatalities become zombies. Also, clean up of the battlefield in this case may mean killing people who might have survived with medical attention because of the risk of zombification. That being said, I agree that we rarely see non-plotcentric injuries.

On 11/22/2017 at 1:47 AM, Black Knight said:

The thing is, because we still don't know all of the plan, we can't judge whether Rick or Daryl are correct. Well, I suppose we can, because obviously Rick will defeat Negan in the end, but that's meta-show reasoning rather than in-show logic. Rick's never been a good strategist, but I don't recall Daryl ever strategizing at all, so I can't trust one's judgment over the other (plus, Rick did not come up with this plan all on his own, so just because he's not a good strategist doesn't mean that the plan isn't strategically good). I understand and sympathize with both arguments in the abstract - Daryl is worried about the numbers, Rick doesn't want to panic and impulsively deviate from the plan - but again, can't judge who is right in this instance because we don't know the plan. At this point in the timeline of the plaaaaaaaaaaaan, it may not be as much of an issue as Daryl thinks that they have lost the Kingdom's fighters (maybe their main assignment was to shut down the outpost, which Carol did handle). Then again, maybe it is. Who the hell knows, apart from meta-show "Rick will beat Negan eventually" reasoning?

SO MUCH THIS. We have at least seen them undertake large plans through careful planning before (e.g., the zombie pit). In this case, it legitimately feels like everyone has been given minimal orders (1. Don't shoot Negan even though he appears to be the linchpin. 2. Attack outpost A. 3. Good luck!!).  There are no retreat options, no signalling options in the event of a major retreat or surprise, no rally points or runners or scouts. Hell, they haven't even discussed what happens if people surrender. That isn't an unforeseeable event, particularly if we believe the workers are coerced. 

 

I used to love this show. I have reached the point where I have three episodes on my DVR. I don't even know why I watch anymore. I don't find Negan's story the slightest bit compelling. He appears to have always been a narcissistic bully. He cheated on the woman he loved (but he totally loved her because he couldn't bring himself to kill her), he coerces women to be his "wives," he is not funny or charming or interesting. He has somehow become the central plot point. The entire story is around him, and trying to defeat him, and listening to him. I don't know how much more I am in for.

[Mu Shu]

I feel like I have a traumatic brain injury watching this show.

The “innocent workers “, I.e, pee moppers.  Why are there so damn many of them?  You have the inner circle of 10 or less, you have fighters and scavengers, who are probably interchangeable.  They don’t produce things, they steal from others. So, what 50 People to keep up with scavenging/guard duty, 4 Janitors, 3 cooks, an engineer or two, and another 10 including doctor, harem, and whatever?  Why do they need hundreds of pee moppers?   How is someone mopily mopping an asset when food is scarce?

[Primetimer]

While trapped together in 'The Big Scary U,' Negan and Gabriel try to play missionary to each other. Guess who ends up on top.

View the full article

[ByTor]

On 11/20/2017 at 9:55 AM, Door said:

On 11/19/2017 at 10:15 PM, xaxat said:

Negan's obsession with phallic imagery is so repetitive and boring.

I blame the writers,

Who else could be blamed?  I don't think JDM is ad-libbing his lines.

[Nashville]

14 hours ago, ByTor said:

Who else could be blamed?  I don't think JDM is ad-libbing his lines.

Nah; if JDM was ad-libbing, the dialogue would be better.

[AngelaHunter]

16 hours ago, Nashville said:

Nah; if JDM was ad-libbing, the dialogue would be better.

I would certainly hope a mature man wouldn't be ad-libbing pee/poop/"my dick is bigger than yours" eye-rollers.

Nope, it's the writers, the same writers who (checked PTV's link) think men speak this way to each other:

Simon to Gregory (while handing over pancakes):  "You fill your belly with my love."

Even Rick wouldn't say that to Coral, or even to Judith. People don't fuckin' talk this way, you idiots, especially not two middle-aged men, not even this cartoon character or even to be sarcastic, sardonic or a faux-cute Snidely Whiplash.

Who the hell writes this cringe-worthy stupidity? Fanfic has better dialogue, ffs, even the totally illiterate stuff.

[Raven1707]

I've never read the comics, but I gather that more than a few cringe-worthy phrases & bits of dialogue have been lifted straight off the page.

*Jerry Seinfeld voice*  Kirkman!

[iRarelyWatchTV36]

I missed eps 4-8 "live", so caught up on them to get ready for the MSP........

Did Gabiel's illness come from the walker guts he (& Negan) used on themselves in the trailer, to get into the Sanctuary?  The heat of being locked up??  Combination of both???

[iRarelyWatchTV36]

On 1/16/2018 at 9:27 PM, AngelaHunter said:

I would certainly hope a mature man wouldn't be ad-libbing pee/poop/"my dick is bigger than yours" eye-rollers.

Nope, it's the writers, the same writers who (checked PTV's link) think men speak this way to each other:

Simon to Gregory (while handing over pancakes):  "You fill your belly with my love."

Even Rick wouldn't say that to Coral, or even to Judith. People don't fuckin' talk this way, you idiots, especially not two middle-aged men, not even this cartoon character or even to be sarcastic, sardonic or a faux-cute Snidely Whiplash.

Who the hell writes this cringe-worthy stupidity? Fanfic has better dialogue, ffs, even the totally illiterate stuff.

As a man, I can 1000% confirm this.  Guys do not talk like that to each other.  That line I highlighted sounded so creepishly pedophilic I about tore facial muscles with the severe cringing I did.  Saddest thing is, it was spoken by a middle-aged man to a man old enough to be going gray & thinning hair.  And you're left wondering, "the writers are actually paid to script this kind of disgusting dialogue!?".

..... considering what we learned about Xavier Berkeley (Gregory) this past offseason, it sounds like a go-to line for him.

Edited February 26, 2018 by iRarelyWatchTV36

[Nashville]

9 hours ago, iRarelyWatchTV36 said:

I missed eps 4-8 "live", so caught up on them to get ready for the MSP........

Did Gabiel's illness come from the walker guts he (& Negan) used on themselves in the trailer, to get into the Sanctuary?  The heat of being locked up??  Combination of both???

Good question.  Never answered.  Surprise!!!  :P