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The Walking Dead

Callisto

Hellenismos, BTW
I remember Dallas and TWD cliffhanger doesn't compare. On TWD it's already known that Negan kills someone and how. Heck, AMC just released a pre-season teaser showing Rick's group cowering in the aftermath and Negan, standing over Rick with a dripping bat and then hauls him off, presumably
to cut off his hand.
That was not the case with Dallas, no one knew J.R.'s fate until the following season or who did it (his sister-in-law). But if TWD returns with Negan having some other reason for a dripping bat and kills no one, I have no problem admitting to being wrong.

To use or not use spoiler tags, that is the question since the internet has no shortage of thin-skinned individuals. Too often someone will complain if they're not used even in the case of speculation.
 

Acim

Revelation all the time
After re-watching a few episodes of S6....

Glenn, Abraham and Maggie. That's my prediction. I'll be happy if I'm wrong on all 3 counts, but I'm thinking it's 3, not 2 and (for sure) not 1.
 

Quagmire

Imaginary talking monkey
Staff member
Premium Member
After re-watching a few episodes of S6....

Glenn, Abraham and Maggie. That's my prediction. I'll be happy if I'm wrong on all 3 counts, but I'm thinking it's 3, not 2 and (for sure) not 1.

Not a bad guess.
 

Acim

Revelation all the time
My updated thoughts after S7:E1
First is that was the first episode I've seen with commercials. Dramatically changes the experience. Glad I had it for this particular one. Second, I watched it with long time fans which I had never done before. I've seen S1 thru S6 in the last 2 years, and for a second time in the last month. It was clear to me that I was more aware of plot stuff than people that had experience of waiting a week each time and essentially forgetting about last episode of S6 months ago. For me, that's days or no more than a couple months ago.

Third and onward has gotta be hidden. Sorry, but I will shut that s**t down:

Or put another way: suck my nuts. That's a perfect last line for Abraham, as "Maggie, I will find you" is perfect last line for Glenn.

I found the episode gut wrenching, even while I had purposely sought out spoilers and knew it was Abraham and Glenn that likely got Lucilled. Kinda knew Daryl was taken hostage, but didn't realize Daryl does essentially get Glenn killed. Didn't really see that coming, but made sense given spoilers I had heard of. Still, kinda thought Glenn would go out fighting and instead it fits in with what the narrative of this story is actually about.

I think it most gut wrenching that Rick was taken down a good notch or ten. I truly thought the hype of this episode and the 2 deaths would be revealed in first 5 to 10 minutes and then it would be back to life as usual. Instead, it was 55 minutes of let's completely and utterly break the spirit of Rick such that his arrogant self that thinks he can kill people and that won't come back to bite him is now no longer in control of his consciousness.

I honestly found the stuff the Negan character expresses to be spot on with what the Rick clan needed to hear. Granted it's atrociously immoral and IMO, insane logic, but relative to the narrative that is WD, it is what needed to be said. Those two (not particularly) needed to take it for the team, and Negan does go lightly on the group, even on Rick for what they had done. But I really wasn't expecting 55 minutes of psychological warfare on Rick (and the clan). That's why it made the episode so gut wrenching. The Carl scene turned out well, but was the straw that broke Rick's back and obviously needed to occur so audience could understand why tough guy Rick needs to shut that sh*t down.

Maggie is clearly the new leader of the group. Perhaps that takes another 2 seasons or so to fully play out, but she's the first to rise up and first to say we have to fight this. Because she surely does get it. Which is I think sub-text to what the narrative is trying to get across. Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I don't think it was accident to have Maggie be the first to her feet, especially now that she has lost everyone (other than rest of Rick's clan) that was close to her / family. Unless the show is going conflict free and it is all Negan all the time, Rick's clan will fight back and Maggie will be so inspirational in that, we may as well say Maggie's clan from this point on.

The popped eyeball of Glenn was something I never saw on TV show before, and maybe a couple times in film. Pretty dang bold to go that far, but it worked. Group I was with after about 8 seconds of watching that laughed (I didn't, but did relate to the humor). How utterly defeated Glenn and Abraham were was not easy to watch and yet, it was anticipated or even expected someone would get beaten.

I'm already somewhat aware (broad strokes) of where things are headed, and IMO it is clear that Maggie can no longer rely on a fighting Rick as well as it is possible Rick needs to be humbled for awhile longer, for the good of any upcoming visits Negan may pay to the group. If Rick is down for the cause (that Maggie will likely be calling forth), that's not known to me, but I'm sure at some point that will come back to him in S7, and with the other characters soon to be introduced, it ought to be an interesting ride. Btw, I'm yet to read a comic book version of the WD narrative.

Gotta add somewhere in here that I do think Morgan will be key character going forward as he currently represents polar opposite of Negan character. But Morgan could be more mentor than leader, so remains to be seen how that will play out exactly.

I'll also just add that now strikes me as a great time to get into the show as it happens week to week. I like all the seasons up to this point (no weak points IMO). But there really is Rick's character arc BN and AN. Before Negan, it is Rick's show. AN might still be Rick's show, but I get the feeling that's not entirely accurate and a new narrative is emerging, hence why I say now is a great time to get in and get immersed. Thought of putting this outside of spoiler tag, but BN wouldn't make sense as a reference, until you get to this episode, which is technically AN.
 

Acim

Revelation all the time
The most recent episode....

Mostly found it on the boring side, yet after the previous episode, it was a bit of relief. But this was first time I had to wait 7 days to watch the next episode and can now understand more why fans of the show disliked S2 when it aired. When you watch all of S2 back to back, I find it to be a very good season (seen it twice), but having to wait a week (or two) for certain plot lines to be addressed does make sense how one might find it boring. In the most recent episode (#2, from S7) we get nothing about what Rick's group is up to, and to not have any information there, does mean it'll be 14 days (at least) before we learn anything on that tangent.

Continuing on that first point, there's not much conflict in what's presented, and so Ezekiel and his clan currently come across a bit like Governor and his group, with them (leaders/fighters of the group) doing certain, secret things while the community does other (normal, life sustaining) things. Though, I'm thinking Ezekiel is around 5 times less nefarious than the Governor.

What I liked is possibly outweighed by what I found boring. Cause I can imagine rewatching this season on Netflix and not having to wait more than an hour or two to move beyond this episode. I like how the overall narrative is now really exploring what leadership means in the post apocalyptic world, and doing so not just with action but with understanding, subtext. I admit that it took me watching Talking Dead afterward to understand something from this episode that I didn't catch initially. When Carol first meets Ezekiel and is so thrown off by his antics, she's just giggling, resorting to her fake sweet self. Then Ezekiel offers her the pomegranate, the idea from TD was that he was referencing what is a sweet fruit surrounded by bitter fruit, or what metaphorically Carol is. Perhaps it's a bit of a stretch to interpret it this way, but I actually don't think so.

It's fairly clear to me in what we've seen so far that Rick and his group's world is getting much bigger, and that leadership is being presented to Rick's group in ways that they weren't really aware of until Negan came around.

The episode was also a bit magical. With Carol seeing the dead as humans (rather than zombie) upon moment they were killed is seemingly significant. How Ezekiel is able to make his (arguably BS) approach to leadership work is rather magical, and he explained fairly clearly why he does that. The tiger thing is certainly a bit magical. That Ezekiel was able to so quickly unravel Carol's BS facade and her doing the same is something that usually takes a few episodes to transpire, but this time it took minutes, which is nice (though not really magical).

There were a few other things that I didn't fully catch in this viewing and do think it'll make more sense as the season goes on and/or upon rewatch. Like the thing with the pigs. I understood that as Ezekiel has a methodical, almost effortless way of getting what needed to be done, done - whereas all previous leader types (i.e. Rick, Negan, Governor) would've likely gone route of slaughtering the pigs in a chaotic, but effective, hands on manner. Anyway, I saw that as being about leading the pigs to a walker, who they'd feed off and then die, which would make preparing them as food much easier. Yet a friend saw that as Ezekiel willfully feeding Negan's group tainted meat, but not telling them this. I see that as possible, and so would take further information from future episode to see how it plays out.

I'm also very curious how good of a fighter, if at all, Ezekiel is. I think we are lead to believe he is probably not very good, and in battle between him and Negan or him and Rick, he'd get his butt kicked, bad. But for all we know, that's a facade of sorts and he might be more like Master Yoda in that Negan, Rick or anyone else we know of really doesn't have a chance. Perhaps Morgan, maybe Jesus, but that'd be it.
 

Acim

Revelation all the time
My thoughts on latest episode. Good, but not great. Slow moving / too many commercial breaks, or perhaps I'm spoiled by watching all episodes before this season without commercials. The only real positive thing I take from this episode is how it is delving deeply into what it means to be a true/good leader in the post apocalypse.

Wish to note: There are no spoilers in what I wrote below.

Realized yesterday (a day after seeing the episode) that no way would Rick from S6 be willing to work with Ezekiel on Ezekiel terms. But a humbled Rick would be able to, seeing that he no longer is the only 'king-like' figure in the world. The whole humbling of a very arrogant Rick (in S6), I think is good for the story.

But how this all plays out is something that greatly interests me, while has me feeling skeptical. Things like:
- where's Maggie? She is first to stand up after the Abraham/Glenn killings, and now it's back to being Rick's show. To me this isn't huge deal, but not sure what to make of her character right now.
- Daryl. Whatever his current character arc is, it is playing out slow. Getting to point of you could just kill him off and why would it matter to the 'new world' or new story being told?

After this, it is a bunch of things, but given my desire to look at comics plot lines to understand Negan's backstory, and having a bunch of things revealed to me, I'm now where I was with say "Lost." Where I see the story as possibly going in a certain direction, but because of how utterly horrible Lost's ending was, I'm thinking writers of WD could end up disappointing. Such as my comment on Daryl above. It's either Daryl is waiting for his 'right moment' to harm Negan, or he's becoming so weak, why would it matter if he's killed off? He's not of any help to Alexandria (Rick/Maggie's group) currently. And just saw another article (not about comics) noting that Daryl hasn't done anything impactful in a fairly long time.

One thing I keep wondering about is when will writers show Negan's weakness? Usually writers do that. With Darth Vader, you learn fairly early on (no later than Empire) that he has a Master (the Emperor, thus does answer to someone else). With the Governor, you realized fairly early on it's his undead daughter. So far Negan has no revealed weaknesses, and that is interesting, but would make his inevitable demise hard to relate to, or leave a viewer wondering, why didn't someone do that years ago?

So, I'm rambling, but the show is getting a tad frustrating. It was a good episode, but given the new direction, I find things are fairly delicate in overall narrative. And given the direction I've seen from comics, it strikes me as having great potential to lose a whole lot of viewers because the show no longer has the heart / values it presented with it's core group of characters. Almost as if killing Glenn off was enough to kill the show off and what we are watching is a new show. Where importance of Daryl, Carl, Maggie, Michonne, Carol, and possibly even Rick are to be ignored? Currently any one of them could die and really, why would that matter going forward? Can any one of these characters and their previous renegade ways make even a slight dent in the new world order?
 

LuisDantas

Aura of atheification
Premium Member
My thoughts on latest episode. Good, but not great. Slow moving / too many commercial breaks, or perhaps I'm spoiled by watching all episodes before this season without commercials. The only real positive thing I take from this episode is how it is delving deeply into what it means to be a true/good leader in the post apocalypse.
S7E04 was a bittersweet episode to me. On the one hand I like the character work, but at the same time that brings home how much I wish the story wasn't so utterly paramilitary.

- where's Maggie? She is first to stand up after the Abraham/Glenn killings, and now it's back to being Rick's show. To me this isn't huge deal, but not sure what to make of her character right now.

The way I see it, Maggie is simply out of focus for the moment. It is not all that different from the way we alternated between Morgan- and Rick-centric episodes as of late. For several seasons it has been usual for episodes to focus on small subsets of the cast.

We simply have not seen Maggie in a while, but I expect that we will very soon.

- Daryl. Whatever his current character arc is, it is playing out slow. Getting to point of you could just kill him off and why would it matter to the 'new world' or new story being told?
I would expect the lack of the character himself to be difference enough. I still miss Noah, for instance.


After this, it is a bunch of things, but given my desire to look at comics plot lines to understand Negan's backstory, and having a bunch of things revealed to me, I'm now where I was with say "Lost." Where I see the story as possibly going in a certain direction, but because of how utterly horrible Lost's ending was, I'm thinking writers of WD could end up disappointing. Such as my comment on Daryl above. It's either Daryl is waiting for his 'right moment' to harm Negan, or he's becoming so weak, why would it matter if he's killed off? He's not of any help to Alexandria (Rick/Maggie's group) currently. And just saw another article (not about comics) noting that Daryl hasn't done anything impactful in a fairly long time.
I guess you are taking a more tactical view than I usually do. I don't particularly want the characters to be "necessary" on such terms.

If the comics are any indication (and we have taken a very sharp turn towards approaching the comics plots in recent episodes, to the point that I am a bit disappointed), there is quite a lot of plot ahead of us. But Negan is what he is. While there is a comics feature detailing his past, IMO that is quite inconsequential. He is a very plain, uncomplicated character - in the comics even more than in the TV series.


One thing I keep wondering about is when will writers show Negan's weakness? Usually writers do that. With Darth Vader, you learn fairly early on (no later than Empire) that he has a Master (the Emperor, thus does answer to someone else). With the Governor, you realized fairly early on it's his undead daughter. So far Negan has no revealed weaknesses, and that is interesting, but would make his inevitable demise hard to relate to, or leave a viewer wondering, why didn't someone do that years ago?
Negan has a huge, rather obvious weakness, one that in fact dooms him even more than it doomed the Governor, who had a very similar yet less serious weakness: he is entirely reliant on causing fear in others in order to survive.

That will turn against him sooner or later, as we have already seen lampshaded in all of the current season's episodes, and in S7E04 most of all. The rebellion against his sadistic ways is inevitable, albeit costly and very painful.


So, I'm rambling, but the show is getting a tad frustrating. It was a good episode, but given the new direction, I find things are fairly delicate in overall narrative. And given the direction I've seen from comics, it strikes me as having great potential to lose a whole lot of viewers because the show no longer has the heart / values it presented with it's core group of characters. Almost as if killing Glenn off was enough to kill the show off and what we are watching is a new show.
That is nothing new, though. We lose and gain characters constantly. I guess we attach ourselves differently to various characters.

Where importance of Daryl, Carl, Maggie, Michonne, Carol, and possibly even Rick are to be ignored? Currently any one of them could die and really, why would that matter going forward? Can any one of these characters and their previous renegade ways make even a slight dent in the new world order?
You talk like that is a bad thing. Is it?

I don't think so. It is actually refreshing to see a TV show that is finally letting go a little of the cult of the protagonist that so plague so many otherwise good works. The Walking Dead is a natural candidate for a less narcisistic narrative, but it hasn't really fulfilled that promise yet. Maybe it will begin to.
 

Acim

Revelation all the time
Negan has a huge, rather obvious weakness, one that in fact dooms him even more than it doomed the Governor, who had a very similar yet less serious weakness: he is entirely reliant on causing fear in others in order to survive.

I don't buy that as a weakness. What you're saying is more archetypal. I almost can't think of a villain where this isn't the case. I'm thinking off top of my head of: Hannibal Lecter, Smoke Monster, Vader, the Devil (LOL). I'm talking something that would be unique, and likely stemming from his past, which is why I was interested in his backstory. He currently comes across in the TV series as in infallible god. Have we seen him get hurt in any way? Even emotionally hurt? Every character on the show that has played role of nemesis to Rick has shown such a weakness, sometimes more than one (as was case with Shane). The Governor's wrestling with is own weaknesses made for some good viewing (at least I felt that the first and second time I watched the entire series).

With Rick, his glaring weakness in S6 was his arrogance, which was shown to us over course of 5 seasons as to why he was like that. But as I did re-watch the entire series recently, there's episode in S6 after Rick had killed off Negan's people and he's in bed with Michonne, where he says to her "the world is ours." That on re-watch is nearly the pinnacle of his arrogance. Though in the finale, you can see him prancing around and telling savior #2 guy, "this is your last day on earth." Yeah, how'd that work out?

Incidentally, the scene in bed with Michonne does have her and him sharing an apple which I found at least a little interesting as to how it could relate to Garden of Eden type stuff, but admittedly, that's taking it to deeper level that maybe the writer's didn't intend.

I guess we attach ourselves differently to various characters.

Definitely. I just saw first 6 seasons as tale about Rick, and now see this season as writers branching out to something that is hard to tell what it is about. I see it mostly about "leadership" so far in S7, and not necessarily only filtered through Rick's perspective.


You talk like that is a bad thing. Is it?

I don't think so. It is actually refreshing to see a TV show that is finally letting go a little of the cult of the protagonist that so plague so many otherwise good works. The Walking Dead is a natural candidate for a less narcisistic narrative, but it hasn't really fulfilled that promise yet. Maybe it will begin to.

I admit I talk like it's a bad thing, but it could be a highly respectable thing if done well. I do a little bit compare it to Lost which was somewhat doing similar thing when the island became a battle between Jacob and Man in Black. And given that story, I think they blew it (big time). Making it in the end about Jack, not to mention how easy it was for Jack to defeat the arch nemesis.

Whereas with Psycho, it is still the only tale I'm familiar with where protagonist is killed off midway through to tell a whole other tale. That takes some serious guts and yet, Psycho handles it very well.

Part of what I feel like I'm getting at is all of Rick's people went from what they were in S6 (go re-watch first 8 episodes of that season) to people that are nearly ready to bow down to Negan, and are not even a little bit resisting him. Thus, we aren't seeing anyone that has guts to stand up to the arch nemesis. So, it's a teeny tiny bit in direction of kill off all these weak characters and find us some who can put a dent in his armor. But without seeing his weakness(es), then if it is like Lost, it will be Judith when she's 6 years old who sticks her foot out, and trips Negan, and that leads to his death. LOL.
 

LuisDantas

Aura of atheification
Premium Member
I am not seeing the Lost parallels, myself.

While I wish the show dared a little bit more (and it so easily could), there is a very clear plot, while Lost in the final season was just making time pass.

I find it interesting that some people perceived the show as being about leadership (you are not the only one). That may easily be Robert Kirkman's take on it as well.

But I can't help but see the leadership issues as a side show to what is to me the true subject matter of the series: the way people react when they realize that their world is no more.

One of the most interesting aspects of TWD is that while it is clearly depicting the last few years of humanity, the storyline refuses to acknowledge that as a central subject. Up until issue #48 or so of the comic series it did. But perhaps unwisely it has since settled into a pattern of finding new survivors all the time, against all the numbers logic that the world as depicted imposes. I assume Kirkman realized that the series had the potential to last and decided to turn away from the doomsday scenario of the first four years.

Logically, even if the walkers vanished completely from Earth - and they ought to very nearly have, too, given that at least 95% of all people have been walkers for well over a year at this point and ought to have rotten to the point of being immobile skeletons already - the survivors are still facing what can only be described as the end of the history of humanity. Going by the logical consequences of the situation that we see, the average remaining lifespan of even seasoned and able survivors now probably around a couple of years, if even that.

It is just not reasonable to expect the current newborn to survive long enough to have children of their own, given how unwilling any of the survivor groups have been to engage in lifestyles that assure their survival. All of them, Rick's more than most except those of the nominal villains, have settled into an unspoken acceptance of a pattern of gradual erosion occasionally disturbed by larger conflicts. While Kirkman seems to have decided to ignore the logical consequences for the good of the narrative, the world he shows is one where people are far too predatory and inconsequential to survive into another generation. Only plot fiat protects them from dealing with famine and disease epidemics now. I guess he does not want to tell what would admittedly be a very depressing history of humanity's slow, painful extinction.
 

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
TWD does something very well.
They change things up.
Too many shows have the same flavor & pacing every week.
Not this one.
It doesn't get stale.
 

Acim

Revelation all the time
I am not seeing the Lost parallels, myself.

While I wish the show dared a little bit more (and it so easily could), there is a very clear plot, while Lost in the final season was just making time pass.

I find it interesting that some people perceived the show as being about leadership (you are not the only one). That may easily be Robert Kirkman's take on it as well.

Lost parallels is strong. Probably ought to be filtered as just me reading into it. I see some similarities, but they are clearly different concepts. I gotta admit though that the idea of Rick waking up in a series finale in hospital bed and Lori and Carl are there, along with Shane has occurred to me more than once. But given that this story comes from comic book lore, I realize this probably won't happen (and I rejoice).

I'll also just add that my latest criticism after most recent episode (Go Getters), I thought of alternate title for this season, "The Milking Dead." I think it is moving that slow and that they (writers) are just milking certain things now. I feel these first 6 episodes could've been whittled down to 3 episodes. The first episode of S7, I wouldn't change a thing. The next 5, I think could've had a whole lot changed or cut, and whittled down to 2 episodes. But it would take away a bit from the leadership thing that I do find intriguing. Gregory was certainly doing his part to show why Maggie deserves to be leader of The Hill Top.

But I can't help but see the leadership issues as a side show to what is to me the true subject matter of the series: the way people react when they realize that their world is no more.

One of the most interesting aspects of TWD is that while it is clearly depicting the last few years of humanity, the storyline refuses to acknowledge that as a central subject. Up until issue #48 or so of the comic series it did. But perhaps unwisely it has since settled into a pattern of finding new survivors all the time, against all the numbers logic that the world as depicted imposes. I assume Kirkman realized that the series had the potential to last and decided to turn away from the doomsday scenario of the first four years.

Logically, even if the walkers vanished completely from Earth - and they ought to very nearly have, too, given that at least 95% of all people have been walkers for well over a year at this point and ought to have rotten to the point of being immobile skeletons already - the survivors are still facing what can only be described as the end of the history of humanity. Going by the logical consequences of the situation that we see, the average remaining lifespan of even seasoned and able survivors now probably around a couple of years, if even that.

It is just not reasonable to expect the current newborn to survive long enough to have children of their own, given how unwilling any of the survivor groups have been to engage in lifestyles that assure their survival. All of them, Rick's more than most except those of the nominal villains, have settled into an unspoken acceptance of a pattern of gradual erosion occasionally disturbed by larger conflicts. While Kirkman seems to have decided to ignore the logical consequences for the good of the narrative, the world he shows is one where people are far too predatory and inconsequential to survive into another generation. Only plot fiat protects them from dealing with famine and disease epidemics now. I guess he does not want to tell what would admittedly be a very depressing history of humanity's slow, painful extinction.

Your take is something I can't dispute other than to say you (anyone) has to suspend such logic in face of how popular the narrative is in our reality. Personally, I don't buy idea of zombies at all in our reality, and yet realize the concept is wildly popular in last 40 years or so, more so in last 15 years. If willing to accept that, then I think stretching to accept a whole lot of other things is possible, but does admittedly strain credibility. I know I've pondered when watching the show that if other people on the planet have killed dozens of zombies like Rick's group has (and seemingly other groups on the series have, i.e. Negan's people and Governor's people), then there ought to be very few zombies left. Though, since they've made it clear that anyone who dies is zombified, then there are always new additions, but even that has counterpoint as most know to kill humans in a way that they won't be able to re-animate.

Another thing I'm not liking about this season so far, and relates to what has been 'basis of the narrative' in earlier seasons, is there is very little killing. LOL, as if that's a bad thing. But if killing dozens of zombies in first few seasons, or even a number of humans, it ought to carry through especially in what is arguably the darkest season so far. Because I have inkling on where things are going for this season, I realize I may soon have this lust for killing characters off, fulfilled, but still it seems like a whole lot of people are getting let off easy, and for reasons that aren't really clear, or at times a tad disappointing. I do think of this as minor complaint, but given how slow I think of last 5 episodes, it's been on my mind. It's almost as if as much of a jerk (to put it nicely) that Negan is, the fact that he's only killed 2 people since we've seen him on the series, means he's really not that bad. And given that this was payback for around 30 of his people getting killed, it's almost like Rick from S6 is the 'villain of the series' that is no longer around. So, it's all good guys, wrestling with leadership in a world semi-filled with zombies. Here's hoping they can work it all out, and realize that sharing is caring.
 

Acim

Revelation all the time
Not sure why, but had high hopes for "Swear" episode. I thought it was okay, but it left me with fairly negative impression for S7 overall. We've seen Carol and Morgan in 1 episode and I'm thinking we won't see them again until February. Things are just too spread out right now, and devoting a full episode to one camp's plot is iffy narrative strategy.

I found some negative reviews for the season online, plus learned that ratings are significantly down this season. Apparently the first episode of this season didn't go over all that well with some fans (too gratuitously violent for some). I thought it was the best episode so far.

I'm guessing they won't be showing any additional camps/kingdoms in this season, but between Hilltop, Alexandria, Sanctuary, and Oceanside, it seems like it'll be tough to bring it all together, though Oceanside could be left out for all I know, or care.

I still see this season as about exploring / defining leadership, and currently see Negan as the only compelling character on the entire show. That's not good when just a season ago, there were a bunch of compelling characters, and all of them main actors. I find Morgan and Maggie as characters that could be compelling, but so far we've seen them in one episode each (not including first episode, which was really about humbling Rick). Carol, Rick, Daryl, Michonne, Carl and maybe 5 or so other characters could make a come back in terms of reason to tune in, but other than Maggie, I'm thinking there might not be all that much to first half of this season.

I almost wish I had waited to watch the entire season on streaming service, binge watching the season in all of a week. After the first episode of this season, I think someone could tune into next week and really not have missed much in last 6 episodes.

Perhaps that's just me, but am curious what others think.
 

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
Tara - quick witted, & fleet of foot
Oceanside women - lie like Landau, & shoot like Republic stormtroopers
 

Parchment

Active Member
The post zombie apocalypse "Isle of Lesbos" could have been much cooler

31e7HbTTEvL.jpg
 
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Quagmire

Imaginary talking monkey
Staff member
Premium Member
I thought last night's episode was fairly decent (s7e10), other than the junkyard arc which was cheesy and made little sense.

I get the feeling the show is going to start moving in a more Mad Max direction now. At this point in the show, society has been offline long enough that people who would have been pushing shopping carts down city streets in the old world are standing at the top of the heap (in this case literally) in the new world. Quirkiness and unconventional thinking are assets now.

In a way, I think the junk yard makes perfect sense: plenty of stuff to recycle, plenty of rats and pigeons to eat, and in a world where all the shops are always open and everything is free who would bother a junkyard? Sounds like a pretty good place to hide.
 

Callisto

Hellenismos, BTW
The Scavengers are intriguing but make very little sense. Once again, the writers ignore the show's canon. The universe's timeline is only at the beginning of year 2 of an apocalypse in which over 90% of the population died off in the first month. Not only should there not be any shortage of viable food but a surplus of perfectly inhabitable, sanitary places to live. Every group we've seen should have already turned to farming.

The spike zombie was visually cool but ludicrous. They're in a hot humid region and have shown how mushy walkers get. Its body would not support all those heavy spikes jutting out, nor would it be able to home in on where Rick was with a helmet over its eyes. The walkers don't have keen senses.
 
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