S09.E10: Omega

[nodorothyparker]

Airdate 2019.02.17

Quote

Daryl learns more about the masked group's leader.  A search begins for two missing friends.

MOD NOTE:

This thread is for discussion of the episode.  Not spoilers, what happened in the comics, or news of cast comings and going.  If you didn't see it happen onscreen, it doesn't belong here and will be removed.

[MrsRafaelBarba]

Okay so, yeah. 

[maystone]

I still can't warm up to Henry, but I liked pretty much everything else about this ep. I like the actor who's playing Lydia, and though the story of her history was a bit rushed, I like how she handled what she was given. It's great to see Daryl back in form, and I think that he and Lydia have good chemistry - not that I mean that in a romantic way at all. Dear god. I really liked getting the explanation for why Carol let her hair grow, and while I'm not a fan of the wig, I can live with it for the sake of what it means. Also becoming fans of Yumiko and Magda.

I can see that Alpha is a sociopath, but seriously - her "horde" looked to be about 12 people, tops. I think Hilltop could take 'em, you know.

[UGAmp]

You’d think with lady who plays Alpha being the voice of Ruby (according to IMDb) on Max and Ruby (Ruby and Max!) for a few years would help her 1) have a consistent accent and 2) a convincing accent with all the voiceover work. However, it was absolutely was all over place and awful to hear.

I’m not saying Lydia was a great actress but managed to play crazy relatively well. I kept hearing the Matchbox 20 song “I’m not crazy/I’m just a little unwell” every time she was on the screen. 

Glad to see the new group also consists of idiots to keep the show consistent. Let’s sneak out at night time with few weapons and stand around in an open area while discussing our non-plan with walkers shuffling around twenty feet away after one of our group almost gets eaten. Great plan y'all!

I think the actress who plays Tara has gotten slightly better over the years (and that was the lowest of low bars she set for herself) but I’m not looking forward to her being Maggie 2.0. 

[Cotypubby]

Ok so when the group was looking at night for Luke why did the deaf girl call the black teen boy “my sister”? (I have no memory of their names since we only met them at the end of last year.)

[tiredofwork]

So the Rick crew, and the other allies defeated the most vicious, well trained, well armed, well organized, ruthless , countless in numbers horde known as the Saviours and they are now intimidated by some dead skin wearing freaks who it appears don't even have a pistol?   Don't the good guys still have a large armory of weapons?  Don't they have a freaking bullet factory?  Where is the challenge to wipe these freaks out?  Should be easy peasey.

I know one thing, they better not be so lost in tactics that the look to Negan to defeat these freaks.  He better not get that redemption arc.

[timesywimesy]

9 minutes ago, Cotypubby said:

Ok so when the group was looking at night for Luke why did the deaf girl call the black teen boy “my sister”? (I have no memory of their names since we only met them at the end of last year.)

Because Angel Theory, the actress who plays Kelly, is not a boy. 

Edited February 18, 2019 by timesywimesy

[AngelaHunter]

9 minutes ago, tiredofwork said:

Where is the challenge to wipe these freaks out?  Should be easy peasey.

I guess the 'Love Everybody" Rule of Rick and Coral Grimes has long since passed into law.

I'm really pissed because I was eagerly looking forward the "The Fair" and now we'll never get it. 😞

Henry has annoyed me since we first saw him as a wee tad. The annoyance has grown as he has. Wow, the PTB really and truly expect him to be accepted as a new, shiny Carl. It's so damned insulting.

5 minutes ago, timesywimesy said:

Because Angel Theory, the actress, is not a boy. 

I would never have guessed. Not even the elaborate 'do or the earrings clued me in.

[Yakima]

39 minutes ago, Cotypubby said:

Ok so when the group was looking at night for Luke why did the deaf girl call the black teen boy “my sister”? (I have no memory of their names since we only met them at the end of last year.)

Because the black teen boy is a girl (surprised me too).  Would love to see her and her stupid slingshot as walker food.

[Cherokee Rose]

28 minutes ago, tiredofwork said:

Don't the good guys still have a large armory of weapons?  Don't they have a freaking bullet factory? 

I don't think so. I thought they referenced having little to no guns, bullets and the necessary raw ingredients to make bullets. I thought Eugene was filling old casings with his powder during the AOW; but at some point, even old casings are gone/unusable. Time has taken a toll... on everything.

I also think perhaps our groups have become soft, whereas the Whisperers have been living in the wild, surviving and killing the entire time. Our group is more focused on building a civilization. Doubt they train as much, and certainly not as a group working together... they're all spread out and don't even get along. Even the 4 new people were still living out in the world... though how they survived this long with slingshots and such... IDW. But, they were still alert all the time and fighting. The top two seem like skilled fighters. They keep saying Luke is a "survivor", but he didn't fight that well back at their old camp. I haven't seen his skills yet.

Perhaps our groups, esp. Hilltop, have gotten lax, not only with fighting skills due to no real threats, but lax even watching out for threats. Though Daryl planned to watch Henry sneak Lydia out, no one else in the entire camp saw them walk out of the prison. It's like they trust the locked cell too much. The originals would not have (except when poor script writing allowed it), and would have had guards posted, people around...

Also, so much of the population seems young, and it doesn't seem like they've gone to "Rosita's school of fighting" that the Alexandrians "attended". I think Rosita need to consider re-opening it. We've yet to see how bad the whispers are....

[tennisgurl]

Henry is just such an idiot, I just cannot believe he is the kid who was raised by Carol and Ezekiel. He is so hilariously gullible, he would probably be the one guy still sending money to the Nigerian Prince through his yahoo email address. "Oh yeah, have the name and location of my settlement! Oh, and here is where we keep our weapons, passwords, and my credit card number!" 

The Whispers as a threat that can show up and make demands seems pretty ridiculous (they have, what, six people?), when Hilltop can just wipe them out in three seconds, but they are at least more unique than just another random bunch of assholes here to talk at us for thirty years before they kill people. What should make them scary is how they blend in with the dead, not how they roll up and make threats like any other group. 

While I am not here at all for teen romance hour, the actress playing Lydia is at least pretty good at playing crazy but somewhat conflicted. And they actually gave Darryl something to do beyond be dirty! NR did well with the material, and while I am not super invested in Lydia, the scenes between them were alright. The whole "dad was eaten by a zombie saving me, he was weak!" thing was lame, even for a ridiculous level Darwinist, so I am glad that it was bullshit. 

I also kind of liked that it looked like the dad was going to go all crazy and the mom would be more caring and protective at first, and would kill her husband to save her daughter, but having it end up being the other way around, with dad trying to take care of the daughter and mom going crazy and violent, was a decent twist. For this point in the show anyway. 

Yeah, great idea, wander around in the dark, in the zombie filled forest, with minimal weapons, going after a clan of wackjobs in human skin, with basically no plan! Super smart idea!

[Iguessnot]

Isn't this the second time Henry has gotten ahold of prison keys? Do they just hang them at the front door for anybody to take?

[tennisgurl]

8 minutes ago, Iguessnot said:

Isn't this the second time Henry has gotten ahold of prison keys? Do they just hang them at the front door for anybody to take?

It reminds me of the Mayberry Jail where they had a giant set of keys right by the one jail cell, and town drunk Otis would just wander in and out, locking himself in and out, to sober up!

[Cherokee Rose]

10 minutes ago, Iguessnot said:

Isn't this the second time Henry has gotten ahold of prison keys? Do they just hang them at the front door for anybody to take?

LOL. You're right! Great catch!! I think they've gotten so lax and trusting, that they expect people to follow the rule. The group has forgotten the old days, and is "soft". Perhaps, that's the biggest threat from the Whisperers? Though, I suspect more is coming. Hilltop can't possibly believe that there will be peace with them, can they?

[heisenberg]

The obvious missing link...   Carl.

The hole thing would have been 100 000 000 000 000 000 X credible if Carl was there instead of Judith?  Henry?

After all those years I can now understand  all the complains about not being able to see anything when it is dark (Most of the time)  I used to have a Panasonic plasma tv who was performing very well with the contrasts in black gradients,  now I have a samsung 4K recent tv and I can't see sh*T...  Welcome abord they say...

Edited February 18, 2019 by heisenberg

[Cherokee Rose]

26 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

kid who was raised by Carol and Ezekiel. He is so hilariously gullible

True. Exactly why all-wise Carol wanted Daryl to be with him. Henry takes after his 2nd dad, who never fought much before the war.

28 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

(they have, what, six people?),

I suspect the Whispers have a lot more than 6 people, and in many locations. And, as they blend in and actually use the Walkers to the their benefit, how will you see them coming.

I suspect Alpha is a super judge of character, like Carol (may even have watched HT before); and knows they won't shoot at them, when they have a baby. I wonder if HT actually has as many weapons/bullets as they say. The group that went into DC, a while back, used mostly hand fighting implements.

Do we know how many guns the whispers have under their outfits?

Also, with all the youth and children at HT--can they fight? Have they been trained? The farmers and such likely have no fighting skills. That's why they needed to be led and protected. Maggie and others trained them for the war, but many years have since passed. And, someone has to protect all the children.

Hilltop has no idea if there are more whisperers in other locations. If they led a herd towards HT, there could be ramifications. HT would have walkers and whispers to fend off. When fighting previous groups, those groups had to watch out for walkers, too. The whispers have the luxury of not having to worry over walkers.

Alpha didn't come to control all those people and keep them alive all this time without being intelligent, even if she's cruel and crazy... which is an even more dangerous combination. Underestimating the Whisperers and Alpha would probably bring their demise.

I wonder if when Lydia said that groups couldn't make it behind walls, it was not only cause her original group didn't, but because the whispers didn't allow other groups to exist in camps/walls... perhaps even took them out.

44 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

And they actually gave Darryl something to do beyond be dirty! NR did well with the material, and while I am not super invested in Lydia, the scenes between them were alright

 Agree! :) Daryl can probably relate to the whispers, more than anyone else--due to his pre-za background, and having lived out in the open these recent years.

[Cherokee Rose]

6 minutes ago, heisenberg said:

The obvious missing link...   Carl.

Agreed! Henry is too gullible, too young, and no real experience with the current world. The tension between Carl and Lydia would have been far superior. And Judith is still far too young to play any meaningful role in things.

[Mu Shu]

7 hours ago, Cherokee Rose said:

I don't think so. I thought they referenced having little to no guns, bullets and the necessary raw ingredients to make bullets. I thought Eugene was filling old casings with his powder during the AOW; but at some point, even old casings are gone/unusable. Time has taken a toll... on everything.

I also think perhaps our groups have become soft, whereas the Whisperers have been living in the wild, surviving and killing the entire time. Our group is more focused on building a civilization. Doubt they train as much, and certainly not as a group working together... they're all spread out and don't even get along. Even the 4 new people were still living out in the world... though how they survived this long with slingshots and such... IDW. But, they were still alert all the time and fighting. The top two seem like skilled fighters. They keep saying Luke is a "survivor", but he didn't fight that well back at their old camp. I haven't seen his skills yet.

Perhaps our groups, esp. Hilltop, have gotten lax, not only with fighting skills due to no real threats, but lax even watching out for threats. Though Daryl planned to watch Henry sneak Lydia out, no one else in the entire camp saw them walk out of the prison. It's like they trust the locked cell too much. The originals would not have (except when poor script writing allowed it), and would have had guards posted, people around...

Also, so much of the population seems young, and it doesn't seem like they've gone to "Rosita's school of fighting" that the Alexandrians "attended". I think Rosita need to consider re-opening it. We've yet to see how bad the whispers are....

Judith had a firing weapon.  And watching her with it was preposterous.

Ah em elpha.  Gimme back mah dottor, elsens ah will make you lissen to mah band, slipknot, fer haours and  haours . 

Yep, middle aged woman body slamming grown men.  As likely as Judith and her gun.  At least make alpha somewhat threatening.  She’s sort of a dim looking dumpling. 

Tara as a leader is fucking ludicrous.  

[SamBeckett]

7 hours ago, heisenberg said:

The obvious missing link...   Carl.

The hole thing would have been 100 000 000 000 000 000 X credible if Carl was there instead of Judith?  Henry?

After all those years I can now understand  all the complains about not being able to see anything when it is dark (Most of the time)  I used to have a Panasonic plasma tv who was performing very well with the contrasts in black gradients,  now I have a samsung 4K recent tv and I can't see sh*T...  Welcome abord they say...

I have a Samsung Smart TV, too. So you think it’s the TV that causes the night scenes to be nearly unseeable? I realize you’re not Mr. Samsung, but why make a TV like that?  Is there anything we poor Samsung owners can do? 

And to keep this on topic, I liked the show. I normally don’t like episodes where things are slowed down to give us history. But I liked getting to new the new “good guys) (I’m still learning their names. Another season or two, I’ll have them down. Of course, by then they’ll be killed.)

As to the Whisperers, okay, we now know Alpha, and maybe with her history we can see how the Whisperers came about. Maybe I missed it, but I still don’t know what their plan is. Sure, I get “surviving.” I get using the skins as a way to avoid detection. But c’mon people — you’re among the Walking Dead 24/7. What happens if you sneeze? Or fart? You’d be dead — just because you farted. There’s not enough Xanax in the world that would calm me enough to live among the dead.

And where do the Whisperers sleep at night? Do they work in shifts? When do they eat? Go to the bathroom? Tell dirty jokes?

[sigmaforce86]

1 hour ago, Mu Shu said:

Tara as a leader is fucking ludicrous.  

You had too many words, I fixed it for you.  I just can't stand her but I can't stand the actress either so I don't know if it was someone else playing her (maybe playing her better) would I like Tara a little more?  They already had decent leaders for Hilltop and good actors playing them and TPTB can't seem to either keep their actors or figure out what to do with half of their good characters.  

It's hard to watch two episodes that basically slowly and carefully build up the threat we've already known was coming for months now.  Seems to be a fine balance between blowing through your plot lines too soon and draaaaging out the story to force it to last a certain amount of episodes.  Right now unless something happens next week, they're dragging it and between this and what happened before the break they're exceeding they maximum episodes they can get away with that basically boil down to send out a search party, search party doesn't come back, send out a search party to search for the search party then sound out a rescue party to rescue the search party (repeat until there's nobody but two toddlers and a rabbit left in Hilltop).  

Credit where it's due though - the jailhouse talk especially between Lydia and Daryl were well done and it's nice to see Daryl back in fighting mode instead of the weird isolation we saw earlier.  With six episodes left for the season we're hopefully about to get a little momentum going now.

[oakville]

8 hours ago, heisenberg said:

After all those years I can now understand  all the complains about not being able to see anything when it is dark (Most of the time)  I used to have a Panasonic plasma tv who was performing very well with the contrasts in black gradients,  now I have a samsung 4K recent tv and I can't see sh*T...  Welcome abord they say...

I have the same problem with my Samsung TV. I can't see the scenes at night very well.

[mightysparrow]

I don't know why they just don't hand Alpha's brat over and call it a day.  Hopefully they aren't going to keep Lydia around because she had a hard childhood.  Too bad, so sad, things are tough all over, kid.  The only person who apparently didn't have a difficult childhood is Prince Henry, who seems to think the ZA is ALL ABOUT HIM.

I keep hearing what an ultimate badass Carol is.  Then why is her kid such a fucking waste of skin/  A tough chick like Carol would be able to figure out that Zeke is strictly for decorative purposes and have made sure that Henry was trained in how to survive in the ZA.  Maybe Carol's caught what did Michonne in.  Now that she's getting regular dick, that's all she cares about.  She seems to have given up on grooming.

Henry's sense of entitlement is really overwhelming.  He gets an itch in his pants so he releases a prisoner, someone who had a hand in Jesus dying, out for a stroll and a midnight snack.  And when he finds out that grown people, who have better things to do with their time, have been covering his ass the whole time, does he say 'thank you'?  He just mentions Daryl's friendship with Carol as if HE'S entitled to the benefits of that friendship.  Does he know how that friendship was built?  The blood and sorrow it took?  I bet he doesn't because it seems like bad news isn't allowed to go near Henry's shell-like ears.  Morgan would never have let Henry out like this.  He would have kicked his ass on a daily basis because Morgan hasn't forgotten what it feels like to lose a child.

I've lost count on just how many kiddies have been put in the ground simply because they were NEAR Carol.  It would be very upsetting if she decided to break the cycle with Henry.

My tv isn't fancy but it's perfectly fine.  Nobody on this show knows how to light for shit.  In the flashback scenes, I couldn't tell which man was Lydia's father.  I thought Alpha killed him at least twice before he ACTUALLY died.  It doesn't help that the casting department sent out a call for dark-haired men of a certain height and build.  All those guys looked alike.

[Boofish]

I knew Carl Grimes. I watched Carl Grimes.  Henry - whose last name I don't care about - you are no Carl Grimes. 

I actually enjoyed the rest. The Whisperers may not have the numbers or the weapons but they are an interesting threat.

Welcome back Darly!

[Macbeth]

I am just going to enjoy the small nugget of gold in a pan of rocks.  

At this point the Whisperers are better than Negan. 

And the dialogue between Daryl and the Lydia was stellar.  I can't remember the last time I liked a piece of dialogue on this show. 

I also really liked the story about why Carol grew out her hair.  However, that story is being ill served by that ratty wig. 

[AngelaHunter]

28 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

I had to turn my head when they started eating worms.  I can't watch that shit.

Me either! And again with the worms? We already saw Daryl do it, something which grossed me out more than anything else on this show and still makes me sick to think of it. Eating worms and pee pants and shitting pants and jerking off and balls and dicks - these writers really are adolescents, aren't they?

24 minutes ago, mightysparrow said:

  The only person who apparently didn't have a difficult childhood is Prince Henry, who seems to think the ZA is ALL ABOUT HIM.

Why wouldn't he? Seems Carol turned into a helicopter Mom, coddling her baby and maybe overcompensating for the loss of Sophia. You did no one any favours, Carol, not us and certainly not Daryl who has that whiny bitch irritating him and who should turn that brat over his knee and open a large can of WhoopAss on him.

3 hours ago, SamBeckett said:

I have a Samsung Smart TV, too. So you think it’s the TV that causes the night scenes to be nearly unseeable?

I  just got the same TV, but couldn't see anything in the night scenes on my LG either. We can't see because the scenes are too dark. Even JDM commented on the darkness after that stupid Coyote/Roadrunner nonsense with him and Rick.

And why, during the last scene last night, was everyone on the wall, including Daryl, looking so stunned and frightened at a band of filthy ragamuffins standing there wearing rotting flesh on their faces? They don't even have to worry about getting their windows shot out.

[mightysparrow]

28 minutes ago, Boofish said:

I knew Carl Grimes. I watched Carl Grimes.  Henry - whose last name I don't care about - you are no Carl Grimes. 

I actually enjoyed the rest. The Whisperers may not have the numbers or the weapons but they are an interesting threat.

Welcome back Darly!

If the show thought an adolescent male character was so important, they should have kept Carl, instead of palming off this snivelling little punk on us.

Edited February 18, 2019 by mightysparrow

[oakville]

I liked the scenes with Lydia & Alpha in the shelter. It showed the chaos during the early days of the ZA. No one realized that the dead body would turn and attack Lydia's dad. It was confusing when they replayed the scene & Alpha killed her husband.

[iMonrey]

They really need to do a better job explaining about the Whisperers because so far they don't make a lick of sense. They walk around wearing walker skins because "it's a new world" and that's how they think they're supposed to roll? WTF? 

I get that Lydia's mom is crazy but how did she get so many people to follow her crazy ass? Is there more to them then just wandering around in walker herds acting like walkers? 

It seems like the show expects us to take an interest in these people simply because they are creepy and weird, like that's supposed to scare us somehow. It's not enough. We need to see that they have some sort of purpose besides just being odd. I can think of no real reason why they should be a threat at this point.

[mightysparrow]

And while we're on the subject of too fucking stupid to live, how about the search party that starts in the dead of night and thinks a flashlight and a hearing impaired person (so they have to shout) are useful additions?  Show clearly has a lot of hope invested in these characters, but so far it's wasted. But from what I saw on TD, they must have come cheap.

I agree it was good to see Daryl get back in the game. Reedus must realize he's going to have to actually earn all that money being thrown at him.  Hopefully, Daryl won't get the sads if Henry skins his knee.

12 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

They really need to do a better job explaining about the Whisperers because so far they don't make a lick of sense. They walk around wearing walker skins because "it's a new world" and that's how they think they're supposed to roll? WTF? 

I get that Lydia's mom is crazy but how did she get so many people to follow her crazy ass? Is there more to them then just wandering around in walker herds acting like walkers? 

It seems like the show expects us to take an interest in these people simply because they are creepy and weird, like that's supposed to scare us somehow. It's not enough. We need to see that they have some sort of purpose besides just being odd. I can think of no real reason why they should be a threat at this point.

Well said. 

Edited February 18, 2019 by mightysparrow

[SamBeckett]

6 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

They really need to do a better job explaining about the Whisperers because so far they don't make a lick of sense. They walk around wearing walker skins because "it's a new world" and that's how they think they're supposed to roll? WTF? 

I get that Lydia's mom is crazy but how did she get so many people to follow her crazy ass? Is there more to them then just wandering around in walker herds acting like walkers? 

It seems like the show expects us to take an interest in these people simply because they are creepy and weird, like that's supposed to scare us somehow. It's not enough. We need to see that they have some sort of purpose besides just being odd. I can think of no real reason why they should be a threat at this point.

I think the problem is — and I hope I explain this right — is that with evil, you lose something when you try to explain it. It then becomes more human, or more sympathetic (ie., Oh those poor dears! They went through so much. Let's give them some soup!), and in the process less frightening. (I think Stephen King, or someone else, said something like that). It's best just to let it remain the image, such as the first couple fo times we saw the Whisperers. We knew they were somehow different from true Walkers, but we didn't know how. (Well, those who were spoiled knew.) But the first time we saw them, they were creepy!!! No doubt about it.

But now we're going to learn about them, and their history, their story, their explanation. (Hopefully, we won't learn their dick-size!)

Couple that with the scene last week when Daryl deliberately hit the Whisperer in his leg with an arrow. Daryl has already figured out how to deal with the Whisperers. (Sure, that won't work if you get swarmed.) Thing is, in my mind, the Whisperers are already losing some of their spookiness. And the more we find out them — their family life, for Pete's sake?!? — the less inclined I will be scared by them.

To me, the Wolves (remember them?) were the best villain (though there was a little explanation). They were in and out and super-violent, and seemed to be purely evil ... and random.

[mightysparrow]

33 minutes ago, SamBeckett said:

I think the problem is — and I hope I explain this right — is that with evil, you lose something when you try to explain it. It then becomes more human, or more sympathetic (ie., Oh those poor dears! They went through so much. Let's give them some soup!), and in the process less frightening. (I think Stephen King, or someone else, said something like that). It's best just to let it remain the image, such as the first couple fo times we saw the Whisperers. We knew they were somehow different from true Walkers, but we didn't know how. (Well, those who were spoiled knew.) But the first time we saw them, they were creepy!!! No doubt about it.

But now we're going to learn about them, and their history, their story, their explanation. (Hopefully, we won't learn their dick-size!)

Couple that with the scene last week when Daryl deliberately hit the Whisperer in his leg with an arrow. Daryl has already figured out how to deal with the Whisperers. (Sure, that won't work if you get swarmed.) Thing is, in my mind, the Whisperers are already losing some of their spookiness. And the more we find out them — their family life, for Pete's sake?!? — the less inclined I will be scared by them.

To me, the Wolves (remember them?) were the best villain (though there was a little explanation). They were in and out and super-violent, and seemed to be purely evil ... and random.

You explained it very well.

I just think the Whisperers are stupid. Michonne had the right idea to making living with the walking dead work.  Neutralize a couple so they can't chew you to pieces and go about your business, using your zombies as protection and pack animals. This shit isn't just crazy; it's stupid and stupid gets boring after a while. 

I liked the Wolves. They were TERRIFYING. I would have liked to learn more about them, but Gimple never lets us have nice things.  We had the Wolves for a second and we can't get rid of Negan.

Edited February 18, 2019 by mightysparrow

[Bryce Lynch]

14 hours ago, Cotypubby said:

Ok so when the group was looking at night for Luke why did the deaf girl call the black teen boy “my sister”? (I have no memory of their names since we only met them at the end of last year.)

I had the same reaction.  I couldn't remember if the she was a boy or a girl until the deaf girl said, "my sister".  

[Bryce Lynch]

1 hour ago, oakville said:

I liked the scenes with Lydia & Alpha in the shelter. It showed the chaos during the early days of the ZA. No one realized that the dead body would turn and attack Lydia's dad. It was confusing when they replayed the scene & Alpha killed her husband.

Yes, the various versions of the story were very confusing.  Jessica Liese on RHAP said that she thinks the last story was the true one, because Alpha shaved her head instead of the husband shaving his beard and when we see her she is bald (looking like Anakin Skywalker with his Darth Vader helmet removed, according to Rob).  I think that theory makes sense, but I am not sure I care, because this show has become so unbearable.  

1 hour ago, icemiser69 said:

They should be easy to kill, especially in herds of  walkers.  Any injury ought to cause the walkers to turn on them.

I guess the idea is that as long as they are covered in walker skins, the walkers think they are walkers.  

[Bryce Lynch]

1 hour ago, icemiser69 said:

Didn't they piss most of them (bullets) away shooting at windows?

It doesn't matter how many bullets they have if most of the people at the Hilltop haven't been trained to defend themselves.

What ticks me off is that Hilltop looks like it has about twenty people, tops.  Can't TPTB bring on some extras (people) to make the various communities look more full?

LOL about them wasting the bullets on those evil windows.

But, hasn't it been about 6 years since then?  They could be running low on ammo, but didn't Eugene have bullet casting and reloading operation?  Couldn't they duplicate that?  Of course, by this point the casing may have been fired too many times to be reloaded and they might not have access to powder.

Still, I would think there would be an almost infinite supply of ammo in homes in the US, especially in the South.    

[mrspidey]

14 hours ago, tiredofwork said:

So the Rick crew, and the other allies defeated the most vicious, well trained, well armed, well organized, ruthless , countless in numbers horde known as the Saviours and they are now intimidated by some dead skin wearing freaks who it appears don't even have a pistol?   Don't the good guys still have a large armory of weapons?  Don't they have a freaking bullet factory?  Where is the challenge to wipe these freaks out?  Should be easy peasey.

I know one thing, they better not be so lost in tactics that the look to Negan to defeat these freaks.  He better not get that redemption arc.

Their strength lies in the walkers they surround themselves with. We've seen them direct herds. They're their protection as well as their weapons of war.

Our guys would run out of bullets before they got them all. There's a reason they never fight herds. 

Obviously, if you want to parlay, you don't bring those walkers with you. I am also pretty sure that this dirty dozen wasn't all of the Whisperers. 

[NeganAndLucille]

Probably the worst TWD episode of all time, the end of this episode should of came alot sooner. Mostly of back and forth scenes with flashbacks in between.

Beyond this terrible episode i'm interested where this new enemy came from and I assume Alpha has the numbers, perhaps her own "horde" lurking around not yet revealed.

[nodorothyparker]

MOD NOTE

Do not discuss sneak peeks, trailers, etc., from The Talking Dead or elsewhere here.  Those things haven't happened yet within the show universe, so yep, they're spoilers and will be removed.

[econ07]

I liked the episode and the eeriness of this new enemy.  They don't act like any other group has to this point, so that makes them unpredictable and dangerous.

Also like the backstory we did not get with Negan.

[heisenberg]

6 hours ago, SamBeckett said:

I have a Samsung Smart TV, too. So you think it’s the TV that causes the night scenes to be nearly unseeable? I realize you’re not Mr. Samsung, but why make a TV like that?  Is there anything we poor Samsung owners can do? 

The important word is "Plasma".   Plasma tv's were really good for it.  Now all the tv are working with leds and so on.  I just got my tv and I did not calibrated yet.  Maybe I will be able to fix this with the proper settings,  I don't know.

[AngelaHunter]

43 minutes ago, heisenberg said:

The important word is "Plasma".   Plasma tv's were really good for it.

Yeah, whole other thing. My Samsung came perfectly calibrated, but when scenes are filmed in total darkness, or darkened to look like night, I can see no way to improve on that. I think it has nothing to do with brand of Smart TV.

[hacman00]

The Whisperers may not have the numbers but remember they've got 2 hostages hidden away somewhere. 

[AngelaHunter]

5 hours ago, mightysparrow said:

I just think the Whisperers are stupid. Michonne had the right idea to making living with the walking dead work.  Neutralize a couple so they can't chew you to pieces and go about your business, using your zombies as protection and pack animals.

I never got how that worked either. Why would walking between two zombies on chains protect you any more than would walking between them with no chains? That wouldn't do anything to hide the fact that you are warm-blooded meat.  Covering yourself with zombie guts and blood - that makes sense as it would disguise your "fresh" odor with the smell of rotten flesh, but Michonne's modus operandi left me puzzled . I mean if it were so fool-proof, why isn't everyone doing it?

[Mu Shu]

5 hours ago, mightysparrow said:

You explained it very well.

I just think the Whisperers are stupid. Michonne had the right idea to making living with the walking dead work.  Neutralize a couple so they can't chew you to pieces and go about your business, using your zombies as protection and pack animals. This shit isn't just crazy; it's stupid and stupid gets boring after a while. 

I liked the Wolves. They were TERRIFYING. I would have liked to learn more about them, but Gimple never lets us have nice things.  We had the Wolves for a second and we can't get rid of Negan.

The Whisperers were creepy in the fog, now they just look like some aging dumbasses dressed up for a Slipknot concert.

  I hate Negan, but had he come up from behind and whacked her in the head during her “Ah ehm Elpha” speech, I would have given him a second chance. 

[Iguessnot]

8 hours ago, icemiser69 said:

That hook on the wall was too close to the cell Lydia was in, presumably where the jail cell keys hang.  This isn't Mayberry, they ought to know better.  They don't have an Otis (town drunk) letting himself in and out of a jail cell.  There ought to be a place where keys get checked in and out, not just hung on a wall.  In old westerns they used to hang the keys on the wall where prisoners would come up with various ways to get them and escape.

I noticed them focusing on the hook, but I didn't make the connection that the keys were missing, though I thought the hook was awfully close to Lydia. I thought a fight would ensue and someone's head would be on that hook.

[Iguessnot]

4 hours ago, heisenberg said:

The important word is "Plasma".   Plasma tv's were really good for it.  Now all the tv are working with leds and so on.  I just got my tv and I did not calibrated yet.  Maybe I will be able to fix this with the proper settings,  I don't know.

I think the hdr is the important factor for these 4k tv's. I picked up a TCL 55P605 two years ago when Best Buy had them for $500 and I don't have any problem with the dark scenes. 

[spiderpig]

Not the horsies!!!

But it was better than last week's yawnfest.

[maystone]

1 hour ago, icemiser69 said:

Or if the Whisperers skin Henry.

So do I have this right?  The  newbies leave camp by lifting up a bunch of logs that were nailed together and go through a tunnel?   The last time I saw that was on Hogan's Heroes when they were using a hollowed out tree stump to get back into Stalag 13.

That's been used a number of times at Hilltop. When Rosita and Sasha snuck out to kill Negan (seems like a decade ago), that's the way they went. And apparently that's how the ridiculous teens sneak out to booze up and taunt walkers. Now the scene I would like to see is those three trying that asshattery again - except this time they come up against a Whisperer.

[Giselle]

Alpha looks like Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now.

[tennisgurl]

12 minutes ago, Giselle said:

Alpha looks like Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now.

*Looks at perspective Negan redemption arc* "The horror...the horror..."

[Cherokee Rose]

19 hours ago, icemiser69 said:

It doesn't matter how many bullets they have if most of the people at the Hilltop haven't been trained to defend themselves.

So very true. I don't think most of them can defend themselves, not even the adults.

And, yes, they shot a ton of bullets at the Sanctuary... and that was, what, 5 years before where we are now? So, likely some limits on bullets. Have a feeling there is going to be more hand-to-hand conflict with the whisperers. You think?

17 hours ago, Bryce Lynch said:

Can't TPTB bring on some extras (people) to make the various communities look more full?

They do seem to have background people, just not any main characters to which we have the slightest bond. Was kind of disappointed that the Tammy lady was back, as she didn't add much in the first half of the season. I'm hoping she's not becoming a main character.

Seems to me, that instead of dragging out Rick's demise, and spending all that time at the camp/bridge in the first half S9... that maybe they should have brought the four new people in earlier, and maybe developed some other characters. That way, when the whisperers did show up, we knew some of the characters, and maybe even had some attachment to them. It's hard to care, when we hardly know anyone.

I like Magna and Yumiko, and seems like there is a good backstory there; but perhaps they could've introduced them and their backstory in the first half season. What do you think? So many episodes about uniting the communities didn't really matter - at all - when they were going to do such a huge time jump afterwards. It made those early S9 episodes pretty much useless.

Edited February 19, 2019 by Cherokee Rose