S09.E09: Adaptation

[nodorothyparker]

Airdate: 2019.02.10

Quote

The group unmasks a disturbing and dangerous new threat.  An escaped captive revisits his past.

 

Reminder:   This thread is for discussion of the episode.  If you didn't see it happen onscreen, it's a spoiler and doesn't belong here.  That includes media reports of cast comings and goings.

[TV Anonymous]

(...)

Never mind.

Edited February 11, 2019 by TV Anonymous

[RedDelicious]

F*cking Judith. 

[AngelaHunter]

Weel... the live posting was good. The show? Not sure. I couldn't be bothered even to turn on my CC, so missed a lot of dialogue, and caught not a word of the convo between the Whisperer and the Mumbler - Michonne and Daryl respectively. Not interested in Negan's instrospective "I Used to Rule the World"sojourn, Rosita's disgusting hurling or her delicate condition, couldn't care less about Henry in jail or that girl or whatever the Osso Bucco guy was talking about - an arrow or something. I dunno. 

[CletusMusashi]

I wish Negan had died and Gregory had been taken prisoner. Negan's storyline with Negan just says "Hey, look! Negan's here! Isn't Negan cool?" But the same overall story with Gregory sliming and weaseling his way around until he came running home again... that might have been fun.

[AngelaHunter]

1 minute ago, CletusMusashi said:

I wish Negan had died and Gregory had been taken prisoner

I just wish Maggie's necktie party had had more attendants - Negan, Gregory and even little Henry. One fell swoop!

[oakville]

I think the scene with Alpha & her group at the end was terrifying. I couldn't make out what she said at the end when she pulled the gun on Alden .

The Whisperers are baffling.

There was too many scenes with Negan.

Why was Judith wandering outside Alexandria by herself. ?

I can't figure out why Michonne is still upset at Hilltop & the Kingdom.

[CletusMusashi]

Maybe the zombie in the "Smithers, release the hounds!" scene was actually another zosplayer. I mean, he certainly wasn't a very aggressive zombie.  When Negan slammed him against the doorframe he just went all surprised and straight-necked like "Dude, what the hell?" but then by the time he was locked in the kennel he remembered that he was carrying pepper spray and a telescoping nightstick.

Edited February 11, 2019 by CletusMusashi

[Shriekingeel]

I didn’t mind the Negan’s Big Adventure parts. I found them more interesting than The Four New Buffoons—how on earth have they survived the ZA to this point?—or the painfully soapy Eugene/Rosita story. “Sands through the hourglass” indeed. 

I must confess I find the Negan/Judith scenes as charming as the writers hoped they’d be. *hides*

[Audpaud]

Welcome Back Show, I for one lol, have missed you! 

Daryl isn't doing bad, but I think Carol should be put in charge of questioning Lydia. Actually, Carol should be put in charge of everything. (Except Henry, evidently).

[BellyLaughter]

So big bad Negan escapes only to realise there's no one to bash to death, rape or feed him so he surrenders to a child??  So laughable it's sad.....stop trying to redeem the irredeemable....

Edited February 11, 2019 by BellyLaughter

[Iguana]

Hours after the episode and less than a page of posts. Huh. How times (and the level of interest in Walking Dead) have changed.  

The Whisperers are legitimately creepy, I will give the show that. Almost everything else, not so good. Everything Negan and Judith was unbelievably on the nose, and sometimes simply unbelievable. What was Judith doing on that road by herself?  And if they are going to have her pointing a gun constantly, she needs to figure out how to hold it steady if it’s going to be at all intimidating.  The waving about was distracting and made me think it was going to go off accidentally.  

So Rosarita is pregnant after funtimes with the doctor, in a relationship with a minister, and is the recipient of the love confession of a smart but socially awkward friend. Hellllllll, no.  Hey writers, if I wanted to watch a soap opera I wouldn’t be watching a show about surviving the zombie apocalypse. 

Still don’t give a shart, much less a crap, about Henry and his journey to adulthood.  

[spiderpig]

Well that was a great big nothingburger. Stand around and talk. Ride around and talk.  Too much Negan.  Too much Tara.  Best actor in this ep was Jesus, and he played a corpse! 

[oakville]

5 hours ago, Iguana said:

Still don’t give a shart, much less a crap, about Henry and his journey to adulthood.  

Henry gave up too much information about the location of the Kingdom to Lydia.

He needs more training in being a "good cop" interrogator.

[Kdawg82]

I admit I actually enjoyed this episode. I'll even go with my willing suspense of disbelief that Negan is meandering, having killed nothing in five or six years --therefore being slightly awkward about the walkers. We know If it were real life,  the chances a guy like Negan who did the things he has done, reforming or losing himself that deeply most likely wouldn't happen. Definitely not in less than 15 years locked away. 

Whisperers are SO creepy and what we need to up the creep factor on this show. Daryl knows that chick is lying and good thing. Using Henry to draw out Intel is AWESOME. Can't play Daryl out like that. This show may be picking up a little bit from the toilet swirl it's been lately. It's just a little Shakespearean with the endless cycle of characters going outside the walls and someone going looking for them and on and on. It's like, when will they learn?! Waiting an extra day before sending out a search party for the search party for the other group is probably best. 

[AngelaHunter]

1 hour ago, icemiser69 said:

Nagen locked the walker in with the dogs and the dogs lost. 

That scene was dumb in so many ways, plus it seems TPTB stole it from "The Omen", but  minus the suspense, the terror, the good acting or any comprehension of what they were doing.

1 hour ago, icemiser69 said:

one episode later we are right back into the shit where people are getting kidnapped or trying to avoid capture and the end result is other protagonists going out on search and rescue missions most likely getting killed. 

Pretty sure I mentinoned  years ago how sick I am of seeing people taking turns with the gags and the blindfolds to the point where it's long since become, "Oh, not again!"

1 hour ago, icemiser69 said:

The other disturbing part for me was when Enid's main squeeze was riding on his horse with the blade of the spear facing upward. 

Hee! Reminds of one time when Rick was orating at his crew with a gun in his hand. He kept pointing it at his own people.

[theredhead77]

I thoroughly enjoyed Adaptation. Alpha and her crew are super creepy. I'm so glad Daryl thought to shoot the walkers in the leg to identify humans vs walkers. 

Yes, Negan is a murderous rapist and a horrible monster. Judith doesn't, and shouldn't know the extent of his crimes. She knows him as the man who did something to be locked away but also speaks kindly to her and helps her with her homework. I like their interaction. 

I also liked seeing Negan in the wild, realizing people weren't waiting for him to come back.

1 hour ago, icemiser69 said:

I didn't need to hear the yelps and I assume deaths of the three dogs that were chasing Nagen.  Nagen locked the walker in with the dogs and the dogs lost.  If TPTB want to rehabilitate Negan, they can't have him offing animals.  He has to find a way to save and rehabilitate animals.

This really bothered me but I am very glad it was off-screen, hopefully they learned from their mistake showing Sheba's horrible death. That said, those dogs went farel and trying to kill him. I'm surprised they haven't run into more packs of wild dogs and now want to know how Dog has gone this long without turning farel.

[mightysparrow]

The show's campaign to 'redeem' Negan is really putting me off.  I find it hard to believe that in such a close community, Judith wouldn't know WHY Negan has been locked up for practically her entire life.  She lives with people who were Negan's victims AND his accomplices.  We've seen the tension that's created.  The show got rid of Dwight because it would be hard to make Negan all cute and cuddly if there was a walking and talking testament to what he would do if he wanted to fuck a man's wife.  I'm sure there are a lot of people who witnessed Negan throwing a man into a furnace for merely TALKING to his own wife.  I can't believe that one of them hasn't sneaked into Negan's cell and slit his throat.

I find the relationship between Negan and Judith very disturbing.  It looks very much like 'grooming' to me.  WHERE ARE THE ADULTS?  Judith is the offspring of Saint Rick Grimes and NOBODY knows what she's up to in her spare time?  None of the people who rode with Rick all that time can be bothered to spend a little time with his daughter?  Carol is 'raising' Henry (and doing a terrible job, by the way) yet she doesn't know that the daughter of TWO of her closest friends is hanging out with a rapist/mass murderer?  Bullshit.

The show can put JDM on chat shows and talk about buying a little girl a fondue maker and show as many pictures of him in cute bear costumes but it won't change the fact that Negan is a monster and should either be DEAD or the show should LET him be the monster he is and stop shoving his redemption tour down our throats.

[SamBeckett]

When did Michonne become Clint Eastwood, in that she mumbles so, so dramatcially? Yeah, she sounds like a bad-ass, but how in the world does anyone understand what she's saying? Could you see her facing down two bad guys in a saloon — they'd constantly be asking her to repeat herself!!!  "What's that you're saying? Oh, you're going to kill me. Oh, now I heard you."

38 minutes ago, theredhead77 said:

This really bothered me but I am very glad it was off-screen, hopefully they learned from their mistake showing Sheba's horrible death. That said, those dogs went farel and trying to kill him. I'm surprised they haven't run into more packs of wild dogs and now want to know how Dog has gone this long without turning farel.

 

They only run into a pack of wild dogs when the script calls for it.

Edited February 11, 2019 by SamBeckett

[SamBeckett]

3 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

Technically, Judith is the daughter of Shane and Lori.

I do agree that someone should be keeping an eye on Judith.  I don't know why she is allowed to run all over the place with a revolver in her hands.  I am surprised that the antagonists haven't kidnapped her yet.   The adults get caught all of the time, and Judith can wonder all over the place without being in any danger of some bad element even sneezing on her.

Problem is, who is left to take care of Judith?? Yes, I know there are people, but who are THESE people??? Have we ever met them? Nearly all the "leads" are dead or have jumped to other shows, or getting one another knocked up. They'd be better going the original Michonne route and taking out the jaws and cutting off the hands of two Walkers and chaining them to Judith. Two built-in babysitters. She could even name them. Godfrey and Ismarelda. 

[Colorado David]

bah dull episode IMO. Riding, mumbling, exploring.

[Jel]

How are there still so many walkers after six years?  Don't they have some sort of life cycle where they eventually run out of steam and progress from walkers who walk to walkers who lie down. Or something?

Also, their festering, decrepit, advanced periodontal diseased teeth would barely be able to stay in their mouths and would definitely come out with one bite, and that would be the end of that. There should be way more toothless walkers at this point and way more walkers who can't really muster up the energy to get up. I get that it's horror and not science fiction, but I feel there needs to be at least some logic involved in this stuff.

[MDL]

 I missed the very end of the previous episode, where Jesus was killed, and the beginning of this episode, where they began transporting his body "back home".

My question:

What was done, if anything, to keep him from turning into a walker?

[sarthaz]

Honestly, Negan may be the only character I find interesting at this point. I know that's blasphemous, but I'm just so freaking tired of all these people. And I certainly don't have one, let alone two, shits to give about any of the new characters or Henry or Enid or guy-with-beard or guy-at-funeral-I-didn't-recognize. At least JDM can act.

The Whisperer ambush was creepy. Been a while since the show has had something legitimately scary.

[Ohwell]

Who in their right mind lets a child walk around alone in the ZA?  Especially with a gun?  I can just imagine her tripping and the gun goes off and wounds her.   That would make her a nice, tasty little morsel for a walker.  I like that scenario.

The short, heavier guy with the arrow was in a movie called Scenic Route that I watched last night.   Josh Duhamel was also in it and it was pretty good.  

[Persnickety1]

50 minutes ago, MDL said:

 I missed the very end of the previous episode, where Jesus was killed, and the beginning of this episode, where they began transporting his body "back home".

My question:

What was done, if anything, to keep him from turning into a walker?

Adam shanked him in the skull whilst they were at the cemetery.  

Which is more than he did for Eric, whom he let wander off doing the zombie shuffle as he gazed longingly after him.  That's always bugged the crap out of me for some reason.

On another note, I actually enjoyed this episode.  I've made a concerted effort to try to look on it as a new show since it bears little to no resemblance to the TWD I fell in love with back in season 1.  

Edited February 11, 2019 by Persnickety1

[Pixiebomb]

“Where were Judith’s caretakers”you ask?  All dead. Taking care of Judith is the kiss of death. Ask Beth, Mika, Tyrese, Coral. I’m shocked that Father Gabe is still kicking around. 

Edited February 11, 2019 by Pixiebomb

[SamBeckett]

There's something about THIS Walking Dead, I guess because of all the younger actors, that makes we suggest we change the name to The Walkiing Dead 90210.

It's almost jarring to see Daryl and Negan (him so for many reasons) and I just can't wait for Carol -- It'll be like an open house at the old folks home, with all the youngsters running around.

Edited February 11, 2019 by SamBeckett

[nodorothyparker]

I'll give the show credit that this new group is genuinely scary at first glance, which it hasn't managed in a very long time with assorted nutbars and asshole wannabe warlords running around wildly wasting ammunition.  They're unsettling and our characters are doing a decent job being unsettled by them in trying to figure out just WTH they're dealing with.

That said, the show is going to have to come up with a damn compelling reason WHY anyone would be expending this kind of energy to do this when what's left of humanity has mostly regressed to a pre-industrial age.  "We're good people."  "She's a single mom."  The living don't belong in this world now or whatever.  None of those really cut it.  Nor is it going to be enough if eventually the big reveal is that this is yet another person or people who lost their wife, husband, third cousin, dog, fish, etc., and went crazy.  That's been rinsed and recycled enough already.  What are they hoping to get out of this?  The Saviors, for all their hamfisted overacting and tedious assholery made some kind of sense in a world where pre ZA resources are getting harder to hunt down and everything else is becoming more and more of a chore to make.  Nine seasons in, nihilistic killing for the sake of killing just isn't interesting.

Daryl is at least smart enough to realize dead girl face would probably talk to Henry yelling impotently from the next cell, but did he think to clue Henry in on that?  He was giving up an awful lot of information pretty easily to someone he knows was just part of getting Hilltop's leader killed.  At this point, I don't know if Henry's naive hothouse flower routine is indicative or being raised by two people who'd already lost too much and did the equivalent of bubble-wrapping him or it's a larger indictment of these communities that appear to have mostly sat behind walls for most of the six-year time jump.  In the meantime, the ASZhats seem to have given up all pretense of paying any attention to Judith, who gets to hang out unsupervised with a serial murderer and torturer whenever she isn't out wandering the roads with a gun that any adult could easily take off of her at any time were he so inclined.  That's a level of child neglect Lori Grimes would be deeply impressed by and would have made Carl envious.  

Whoever's still living at Alexandria apparently also didn't notice the one and only prisoner they have strolling around out and about for what may have been hours before finally wandering off.  I think we were supposed to see Negan's long walkabout only to come back on his own after realizing that everything that he had built was dead and gone as poignant, and it might have been with a different character.  But it's too late for that.  We were forced to sit through two seasons of him merrily raping and murdering and torturing people, including some we cared about, for funsies as he monologued and monologued some more about what a great old time he was having.  He's never been sorry.  There's never been any real atonement, and no, sitting in a cell for however many years while people he victimized had to cook his food and shovel his shit to keep him alive doesn't count.   Trying to turn him into some sort of antihero doesn't fly.

[iMonrey]

I was on the fence about coming back to this show after the break and I'm still on the fence. (The one thing it has going for it is that there's nothing on Mondays I want to watch so I have time.) 

But my biggest fear seems to be coming true, which is that the show thinks it can make Jeffrey Dean Morgan its new star. I don't know if it's Scott Gimple or Angela Kang or some AMC exec but  whoever thinks Negan can be the new lead character has something in common with Dick Wolf - they have never heard of the concept of character assassination. The very idea that this character could be redeemed and somehow palatable as the primary protagonist is offensive to me after the torture I sat through over the past two seasons. 

I barely know who anyone is anymore or what their deal is. I don't know how I'm expected to care about a bunch of new people either. 

[diebartdie]

9 hours ago, Iguana said:

Hours after the episode and less than a page of posts. Huh. How times (and the level of interest in Walking Dead) have changed.  

Yes, the level of interest in the show is way down, that is very true. Something else that is true though is people getting really turned off by reading posts about this show (or any other) that are just pointless dragging of the show. I know I come here for thoughtful discussions, even about how "terrible" the show is now. More and more though it seems to be post after post of "I dont watch this shitty shit show any more, my time is way too precious for such shitty shit BUT I'm here to tell you again just how shitty this shit show is! Yes, I have NO IDEA what the show is about anymore but I dont have to because this is a shit show." Or "Oh I can't be bothered to pay even the slightest bit of attention but here, let me write 14 gotdamn paragraphs about how shitty this show is now!" Damn, who cares? Dont watch the show, do watch the show, whatever, who cares? Whatever.

This season, so far is WAY better than the last two seasons. This show has ALWAYS had th very best make up effects but also the weirdest, sloppiest story telling (yes, even in that tiny little season 1). Fuck it, let's talk about those dogs. I was thinking about them when I watched the shitty shitty show last night. That one big black one had cropped ears. How would that be a thing? I mean dogs generally live 8-15 years. All those dogs looked young and healthy so clearly, they were born wild and free and were all younger than Judith. Aint gonna be no cropped ears on dogs that late in the ZA. Ah well, this shit show has ALWAYS had a weird relationship to time, it's part of its funky charm.

Speaking of charm, how cute was it seeing all that vomit? Oh boy, up close and personal, can't you just smell it? Why was Negan vomiting, is he pregnant by Said as well? Damn. Now there's a slash fic for ya! OH and my man Aaron is seriously ROCKING the Old Testament prophet beard! Oh yeah, Jesus coulda just crawled up in there, no walker would have ever found him!

I like this shitty, shitty show again. That to me is really amazing because I was pretty much done with it (and when I say "done" I mean it, no reading recaps for me, no posting on forums about it if I dont watch it) but so far this season, Im good with it.

Except fr Carol's hair, that's gotta go.

[Nashville]

2 hours ago, icemiser69 said:

The only thing that is working in the walker's favor is that he is going to keep biting until those dogs chew through the walker's skull and eat his brain.   Even in that scenario, I would think the walker would kill all three dogs, but the walkers body would sustain significant damage.

If that was a normal human, the dogs would have ripped that human to shreds, no problem.

I don't like watching any animal violence.  I am tired of it.

Not only that, but the notion these dogs would simply go after a walker without distinguishing it from a living human is nonsensical.  The feral dogs have managed to survive in a walker-packed environment for 6+ YEARS without getting bit, so they’ve obviously learned (probably from repeatedly seeing other less-wary dogs get ripped to shreds) to avoid attacking the rotten-smelling things - so why would they suddenly forget all that now?  Do the dogs hate Negan just that much?  Has someone been showing the dogs reruns of the last two seasons?  Enquiring minds want to know.  😛

1 hour ago, MDL said:

 I missed the very end of the previous episode, where Jesus was killed, and the beginning of this episode, where they began transporting his body "back home".

My question:

What was done, if anything, to keep him from turning into a walker?

Immediately after cover support arrived (in the form of Michonne, Kimiko, et al) Aaron went to Jesus, verified he was dead, then earspiked him.

20 minutes ago, nodorothyparker said:

Whoever's still living at Alexandria apparently also didn't notice the one and only prisoner they have strolling around out and about for what may have been hours before finally wandering off.

That aggravated the shit outta me; it’s FULL DAYLIGHT OUTSIDE, and the only people up and about are the prison escapee and one kid? No guards???  No garden farmers getting an early start on the day, even?  Give me a fucking break.

[Macbeth]

1 hour ago, MDL said:

 I missed the very end of the previous episode, where Jesus was killed, and the beginning of this episode, where they began transporting his body "back home".

My question:

What was done, if anything, to keep him from turning into a walker?

In this universe - Jesus does not rise again.

[AngelaHunter]

2 hours ago, SamBeckett said:

When did Michonne become Clint Eastwood, in that she mumbles so, so dramatcially?

She can't seem to speak above a rasping whisper either. Maybe it's part of the "Badass 101" handbook, so that no matter what mundane things you might be saying, e.g. "It's your turn to clean the bathroom",  if you lower your head, glare and whisper unintelligibly, those around you will think, "Ooh, she must be saying something really badass!"

Maybe that's why Judith runs amok, out on to deserted highways while trailing a murderous nutcase who she was permitted to hang out with while he was in the slammer. Michonne tells her what not to do, but the kid can't understand a goddam word.

These "Whisperers" may look a little scary at first glance but they make zero sense, IMO. So they cut the faces off of walkers, wear them and wander aimlessly around, but what is the business plan? What does it accomplish for them? We saw them walking straight into Daryl's arrows. Maybe I'm just not seeing it.  "She's a single mom"? What the actual fuck? I don't even know where to start with that.

Everything feels regurgitated and to me, the actors are looking self-conscious at the drivel they're given to spout. Or maybe they're just bored stiff.

18 minutes ago, diebartdie said:

All those dogs looked young and healthy so clearly, they were born wild and free and were all younger than Judith.

I was thinking the same. They looked actually overfed. Not a rib in sight. That's what I was saying about the stupidity of the writers or other PTB that they don't even think about such things. Look at wild dogs anywhere in the world. Not a one has so much padding that ribs are never visible.

[TV Anonymous]

How long has it been since the zombie apocalypse? Ten years, perhaps? It is amazing that after all that time Luke is still unable to defend himself against walkers, and is still alive. Has his group been carrying him all around?

[Mahamid Frauded Me]

I have to admit, the trailers for the new season with the Whisperers was creepy AF... oh and Rosita is a ho

Edited February 11, 2019 by Mahamid Frauded Me

[Macbeth]

6 minutes ago, Nashville said:

 Do the dogs hate Negan just that much?  Has someone been showing the dogs reruns of the last two seasons?  Enquiring minds want to know.  😛

I think you are onto something.  The dogs realized that Negan was back in their universe and decided suicide was the logical choice.

[sarthaz]

1 hour ago, Persnickety1 said:

Adam shanked him in the skull whilst they were at the cemetery.  

Which is more than he did for Eric, whom he let wander off doing the zombie shuffle as he gazed longingly after him.  That's always bugged the crap out of me for some reason.

On another note, I actually enjoyed this episode.  I've made a concerted effort to try to look on it as a new show since it bears little to no resemblance to the TWD I fell in love with back in season 1.  

I needed context clues to figure out who "Adam" and "Eric" are, and I just take you at your word that those are their names. That's how many characters are on this show that make no impact on me.

[marcee]

I, too, am having logistical problems with the Whisperers as a "thing". Yes, it's creepy and interesting... but at the end of the day, what is the purpose? If they spend their time slowly shuffling around in the midst of zombie hordes when and where and how do they get food and clean water. Everything's been stripped bare. If they're not growing food or taking time to purify water... how are they surviving? If they're caring for their hordes, how are they caring for themselves? If they really believe the world belongs to the dead, why don't they just join the dead? I can't imagine a long term strategy for this story that makes any kind of sense.

Negan didn't bother me this episode... but maybe that's 'cause I just saw him as Daddy Winchester last week and he gave me the feels.

[sarthaz]

1 hour ago, nodorothyparker said:

Whoever's still living at Alexandria apparently also didn't notice the one and only prisoner they have strolling around out and about for what may have been hours before finally wandering off.  

The only explanation I could come up with is filming issues with a kid. Like they couldn't get the scene right while it was dawn and got stuck filming it in broad daylight. BC otherwise, WTF. 

[Imnotmaggie]

Ugh.. i hate that my favorite show has turned into this mess. I have been a HUGE lover of this show since the beginning.  I'll admit that I struggled through seasons 6, 7, and 8, but I  kept with it. But... dear lord.. this mess?... Its time to give up.  I understand that the showrunners and writers were trying to be "cool" and "edgy" by killing off main characters. Unfortunately,  the only thing that they accomplished for me was to make  the show less engaging every time we lost a character that I was emotionally invested in.

I only care about 1/10th of the characters that are still remaining.  Its just not worth my time anymore.  

[OoohMaggie]

After the admittedly excellent graveyard introduction to the Whisperers, the hope for continued excellence was cut down by the nonsense between Laughing Boy and Superbrat.

He escapes in the dark yet walks around doing who knows what, obviously waiting for kiddo to finish her Cheerios, then attempts an exit, and despite looking around, fails completely to hear or see her approach, uuhhhh.  

Why didn’t the writers just have her follow him out a little while after he left her room? That would at least be believable and would explain why she could creep up on him, but no, they keep choosing the ‘Oh Please’ way of doing things. As for Negan’s Steve McQueen scene I’m lost for words.

it really is two steps forward and five back with this show, it’s so frustrating that Kang hasn’t lived up to the promise initially showed. The examples of annoying, frustrating, shoddy writing would have been so easy to fix, most of us here could genuinely do better and knowing that just adds to the frustration.

With the main characters, the ones most of us only care about packing up and leaving / getting killed, the show has got to get a grip on the nonsense.

The prospect of maybe seeing ‘our’ characters for an hour and a half once a year, in the proposed upcoming movies, won’t be enough to keep  the old guard watching a show about people we have no interest in, unless they get a grip and see where they’re going wrong.

Edited February 11, 2019 by OoohMaggie

[Persnickety1]

55 minutes ago, sarthaz said:

I needed context clues to figure out who "Adam" and "Eric" are, and I just take you at your word that those are their names. That's how many characters are on this show that make no impact on me.

Seriously.  Right about the time I actually started to remember Eric's name, he was killed off, which I think probably says a lot more about the craptastic character development on this show than my memory.  

I think that's why season 2 (the farm season) was my favorite, lots of great fleshing out of the characters and getting to know them and what made them tick.  Of course, except for Daryl and Carol, all of those characters are gone.  

For the past couple of seasons, I've not even bothered to try to remember most of the new characters' names because I really could not care less if they're killed off.  I think the only new character I've come close to liking is Siddiq, and he gets so little air time I can't warm up to him, either.  

Like a few posters above, I couldn't help but notice that Michonne has been given the Crown of Grunting Glory.  

I finally was able to understand Dirty Daryl's grunts and mumbles without the use of closed captioning, and now I'm probably going to have to to back to using it to decipher Michonne's dialogue.  

[Persnickety1]

2 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

I don't think the problem was losing the main characters.  I think the problem was that the writers didn't really attempt to build up any of the newer characters to replace the main characters until they started losing the main characters.

I think they could have done a lot with Jesus.  A wasted character that could have been built up as someone special if they had only reduced all of the time spent on Nagen's speeches.  That also would have helped reduced that levels of hatred that Nagen receives.   Sure, people would still be pissed that Nagen killed Abraham and Glenn.  I just think that more people were pissed that Nagen had a case of the "can't shut the hell ups". 

As far as Nagen episodes go, this episode was much more watchable than most.  That is, except for the dogs getting eaten.

Bingo!  

And conversely, they then shove a character like Neil into a scene, kill him off, and apparently we're supposed to have some sort of reaction to his tragic demise.

Instead I think most of the viewers were sitting there like I was, saying "Who the fuck is Neil???"  

That being said, I think so far Kang is doing pretty well with the shitshow she was given to salvage.  I'm hoping she's still in the process of fixing what Gimple/AMC broke.  

[SamBeckett]

You know — The Whisperers. Now how does that work? Do you put on the same face-mask every morning, or do you skin a new one every day? And do you mingle with the same herd? Or do you pick a new herd every day? Maybe there's new and better dynamic in the herd today as opposed to the one yesterday. Do you name the herds? How about the people in the herds? Do you try to be buddies with other herd members? Do you exchange vacation pics? And a practical question — What do you do when you have to pee??? How do you extract yourself (pardon the pun) from the herd to do that? Maybe the entire herd goes to the same tree and pees in unison. Nothing says "herd" like peeing together. Then, at the end of the day, do you clock out and leave the herd? Do you go home and pop some popcorn? This is the kind of stuff TPTB needs to give us. 

[Ohwell]

I found it hilarious that Negan was able to find another fucking leather jacket and it fit him just right.

Rosita does look beautiful with the longer hair.  I guess I wasn't paying enough attention that she was pregnant.  Who is the baby daddy?  

Michonne and that hot mess that's on her head.  I wish she'd just get a haircut.   

Also, I really didn't care that the dogs got eaten.  It's eat or be eaten, and they lost.

[AngelaHunter]

1 hour ago, sarthaz said:

I needed context clues to figure out who "Adam" and "Eric" are, and I just take you at your word that those are their names.

Same. I have no idea who they are.

1 hour ago, icemiser69 said:

I was watching Supernatural and all I saw was Negan.

I saw a preview of the horrid movie "Rampage" starring the greatest actor of our time, Dwayne Johnson, and JDM is doing his Negan schtick there too. I think he has become his character and is unable to turn it off.

[Persnickety1]

18 minutes ago, Ohwell said:

I found it hilarious that Negan was able to find another fucking leather jacket and it fit him just right.

Rosita does look beautiful with the longer hair.  I guess I wasn't paying enough attention that she was pregnant.  Who is the baby daddy?  

Michonne and that hot mess that's on her head.  I wish she'd just get a haircut.   

Also, I really didn't care that the dogs got eaten.  It's eat or be eaten, and they lost.

Baby's daddy is apparently Siddiq, conceived in a pre-Gabriel carnal escapade.

I actually was rolling my eyes and laughing during the scene with the dogs.

Most well-fed, well-groomed, fresh-from-herding "wild" dogs I've seen on this show.

At least the pack of wild dogs that the crew shot and grilled a few seasons ago looked like savage mongrels.  

These three last night looked extremely...well cared for.  

Edited February 11, 2019 by Persnickety1

[AngelaHunter]

54 minutes ago, Persnickety1 said:

Instead I think most of the viewers were sitting there like I was, saying "Who the fuck is Neil???"  

Aww, you have to bring up Neil, just when I was finally coming to grips with his death, whoever the fuck he was.

[Ohwell]

12 minutes ago, Persnickety1 said:

Baby's daddy is apparently Siddiq, conceived in a pre-Gabriel carnal escapade.

Ok, so is she with Gabriel now?  I was washing dishes and missed some of this stuff.