The Walking Dead *TV Spoilers!*

[Mattrick]

The season premiere for The Walking Dead was solid. It's amazing how much better TWD is than Fear right now. Characters having real conversations, questioning themselves and others, people hesitant to make decisions. The photography was also really solid. It seems the show has taken a new interest in how the show is presented which is something that really faltered in seasons 7 and 8.

They did a great job of establishing the mindset of key characters and the fear they've lived in and the PTSD of Siddiq. The satellite was a cool event that serves to continue the plot of the radio. I like how they encountered The Whisperers expanding their radio range and they had to cross into their borders for something else that will serve to expand their radio range. It ties in well to the theme of isolationism that Alexandria and now all the communities are dealing with. Considering The Larger World led then to cross paths with Negan before, expansion definitely has consequences in this world.

I'm still not sure if that was actually Alpha at the end. I think it was by the look Alpha gave, but I also wonder if that was just Carol seeing what she wanted to see.

Of course it was Alpha. They built to that moment the entire episode.

I questioned it because according to the trailers Carol starts having visions of dead Henry, and Daryl wasn't standing beside her so only Carol saw it, which could signify she imagined it. I don't think she did, just because that look was exactly what Alpha would do, but it's still a possibility.

[mae]

[Iwritecode]

Why do we need another spin-off exactly? And this time it's just a bunch of kids instead of grown adults?

[Mattrick]

It's about one of the big communities going forward. It's only 10 episodes so it might be a limited run series, but they haven't announced what their overall plans for it are yet. As it currently exists, its job is to introduce us to the large community of Monument.

[Still Servant]

I don't care about Alpha or Beta. Please no more episodes focusing just on them.

[webstar1000]

I don't care about Alpha or Beta. Please no more episodes focusing just on them.

I have to agree. I didn’t wanna know anything about them. It was weird and not needed. Filler I guess....

You know I always wished that TWD would have done the A La Lost and did flashbacks of everyone before the fall of society and to where they are now. An episode would be perfect of those flashbacks... I loved that part of lost


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Iwritecode]

I'm just the opposite. I thought it was interesting. I like the fact that as much as these characters try to look, act and feel just like the walkers, they are still human.

I just wish they would've explained who they guy that Lydia killed was to Beta. Brother? Friend? Son? Husband? Or did they explain it and I just missed it?

[Mattrick]

Yeah, I loved the episode. Gave just the right amount of history to help expand on their motivations and they did a great job introducing Gamma. I loved that they worked the Whisperer who was told to leave her baby into it. Some great gore in the episode when the woman at the beginning gets her nose bitten off and when Gamma's sister gets eaten. I liked the twist that Alpha told everyone, even Beta, that Lydia was dead. Alpha having that weakness makes her far more interesting and unpredictable.

I think my favorite touch in the episode was seeing the opposite of the good guys and how The Whisperers have affected them. Beta talked about how the pack was whispering about the allure of a different way of life beyond what they were living. It makes sense. I also liked the mirroring of trauma caused by Alpha after seeing Suddiq getting triggered by a spider and Gamma's sister being triggered by a walker wearing a baby carrier (I wish more walkers had something unique like that going on). It also established a jealousy between Beta and Gamma. Also I fucking love that Gamma is wearing the clothes Enid was wearing when she died.

I thought it was a great episode. Then again I love the 2 Governor episodes too and I know a lot of people weren't fans. I just thought this episode accomplished so much and told a solid story as well.

[Still Servant]

I don't care about Alpha or Beta. Please no more episodes focusing just on them.

I have to agree. I didn’t wanna know anything about them. It was weird and not needed. Filler I guess....

You know I always wished that TWD would have done the A La Lost and did flashbacks of everyone before the fall of society and to where they are now. An episode would be perfect of those flashbacks... I loved that part of lost


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I always wanted more of that. I feel like now many of the characters feel like they sprung out of the ground once the zombies popped up. I like it when we get little nuggets of who they were prior to things going to shit.

[Mattrick]

I don't care about Alpha or Beta. Please no more episodes focusing just on them.

I have to agree. I didn’t wanna know anything about them. It was weird and not needed. Filler I guess....

You know I always wished that TWD would have done the A La Lost and did flashbacks of everyone before the fall of society and to where they are now. An episode would be perfect of those flashbacks... I loved that part of lost


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I always wanted more of that. I feel like now many of the characters feel like they sprung out of the ground once the zombies popped up. I like it when we get little nuggets of who they were prior to things going to shit.

I'm okay with it coming up in dialogue (there's an example of it in the new episode that airs on Sunday), but I largely think it's utterly irrelevant and the longer the show goes (in terms of the show's timeline) it's more and more irrelevant. The apocalypse has changed pretty much everyone so short of someone having a practical skill from their pre-apocalypse lives, like smithing, I don't see any real reason to show it unless they built an interesting story behind it.

Also, the episode that airs on Sunday is absolutely great.

[Brian861]

Why do we need another spin-off exactly? And this time it's just a bunch of kids instead of grown adults?

Gonna have something for the YA crowd

[Brian861]

These "villains" annoy the shit out of me. They are like modern day cult leaders followed by mindless drones. With Negan and now these whispering clowns. Makes me want to drive a spike through her ear and yell, "Shut the fuck up already, you crazy bitch!" And walk away into the sunset while the group all stands around looking at each other and chant, "Now what?" Pathetic.

[webstar1000]

I don't care about Alpha or Beta. Please no more episodes focusing just on them.

I have to agree. I didn’t wanna know anything about them. It was weird and not needed. Filler I guess....

You know I always wished that TWD would have done the A La Lost and did flashbacks of everyone before the fall of society and to where they are now. An episode would be perfect of those flashbacks... I loved that part of lost


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I always wanted more of that. I feel like now many of the characters feel like they sprung out of the ground once the zombies popped up. I like it when we get little nuggets of who they were prior to things going to shit.

I'm okay with it coming up in dialogue (there's an example of it in the new episode that airs on Sunday), but I largely think it's utterly irrelevant and the longer the show goes (in terms of the show's timeline) it's more and more irrelevant. The apocalypse has changed pretty much everyone so short of someone having a practical skill from their pre-apocalypse lives, like smithing, I don't see any real reason to show it unless they built an interesting story behind it.

Also, the episode that airs on Sunday is absolutely great.

I agree. What a great episode..... was that Gama at the end that opened her eyes?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[webstar1000]

These "villains" annoy the shit out of me. They are like modern day cult leaders followed by mindless drones. With Negan and now these whispering clowns. Makes me want to drive a spike through her ear and yell, "Shut the fuck up already, you crazy bitch!" And walk away into the sunset while the group all stands around looking at each other and chant, "Now what?" Pathetic.

Wow. For me? The best villain has always been the Walkers... but my second? Is the Whispers.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Brian861]

These "villains" annoy the shit out of me. They are like modern day cult leaders followed by mindless drones. With Negan and now these whispering clowns. Makes me want to drive a spike through her ear and yell, "Shut the fuck up already, you crazy bitch!" And walk away into the sunset while the group all stands around looking at each other and chant, "Now what?" Pathetic.

Wow. For me? The best villain has always been the Walkers... but my second? Is the Whispers.

I'm down with the Walkers. They are just doing what Walkers do

[Mattrick]

I think The Whispers are great. Not just in concept or in execution, but also in what they bring out of the central cast of heroes. They're easily my favorite villain in TWD. I love Negan but more as a character than a villain. We're going to be seeing the real value The Whisperers this season.

[Mattrick]

I thought episode 1004 was another solid episode. I like that they've found ways to inject little character moments into episodes that are about much larger things, such as Eugene/Rosita's conversation about their relationship and this week with Magna and Yumiko. The latter is especially not necessary, but it gives those relatively new characters some development (Magna/Yumiko have surprisingly had little development compared to Connie/Luke/Kelly considering Magna/Yumiko are the central characters out of the group) to build on. I like the aspect of Yumiko being Magna's lawyer since it was established in S9 Magna served time and it gives their relationship some context.



Negan and Lydia really stole this episode though. This Lydia is quite a bit different than comic Lydia, mostly because she's not anchored to Carl like she is in the comics. It's pretty established right now too that she is 100% allied with Alexandria where as in the comics her moment of putting any unease about her allegiance is put to rest later in the story when things start popping off. The scene with the squirrel was great and the scene where she's ambushed is a great remix of when Rick is ambushed by his own people in the comics. I like that Negan seems to have won over Aaron and while he hasn't won over Daryl (and he probably never will), but Daryl is convinced Negan was on the right side this time. Negan clearly has some things to prove to everyone, but now that someone let him out and he's free, did he burn that bridge? He already escaped and returned once and nothing came of it. Negan accidentally killing Margot was a nice touch and seemed to be a remix of how a semi-central character is killed by Rick in the comics by accident.



The Michonne and Ezekiel stuff was pretty well done too. I really loved the line where they were talking after the kiss where Michonne said, "Besides, it would never work. We're both too stubborn." and Ezekiel replied, "Maybe in another universe." Michonne and Ezekiel are a couple in the comics and they ARE too stubborn and it doesn't really work. Normally I wouldn't like such a tongue in cheek easter egg to the comics like that. However, both actors really gave some weight to that exchange, as if both mourning how things worked out for them in the comics and dreaming of what could be in a different life. It was beautiful.



The paranoia aspect of The Whisperers is going quite well. I like that whenever something happens people automatically think it's them. All someone has to do is question if it's them and Earl is OF COURSE ITS THEM! It's pretty accurate to how something like this could play out in real life. I was also afraid the painted "Silence the Whispers" was only directed at Lydia, but then we see it's painted all over Alexandria. I'm curious on how they're going to develop that or this was basically all they're going to devote to it. The context of the graffiti is different in the comics. Here, it's angry, frustrated townspeople acting out, but in the comics it's a deliberate propaganda campaign. I do hope they work that into the story because it's one of my favourite aspects of this arc in the comics.

As for the paranoia aspect, it's starting to infect the fanbase too. Much like how people thought Enid was a spy for the wolves because they were dumb and took a simple line of dialogue out of context...and then they doubled down on that by saying Enid was a spy for The Saviors, which made even less sense. Now everyone thinks there is a Whisperer spy in Alexandria because Alpha knew they'd crossed the border three times. Of course, it couldn't be that they killed dozens of walkers on the other side of the border in the winter and it couldn't be Alpha left some Whisperers behind to patrol the border and report any crossing; it couldn't be the Whisperers just saw Aaron and Michonne cross the border; it couldn't be that Alpha personally saw Carol on her side of the border: No...THERE'S A SPY! First it was Siddiq because he's dealing with PTSD so that obviously means he's working for Alpha because he can't just be traumatized...that's too simple. And then it was Dante because Dante is new and is sharing scenes with Siddiq SPY CONNECTIONS!!! and now they are saying the character who broke Negan out is a Whisperer spy. EVERYONE IS A SPY! MICHONNE IS A SPY! EZEKIEL IS A SPY! IT'S CALLED THE SPYING DEAD NOW!

I mean, all you need to do is think for five seconds and realize that A) All the proposed spies are in Alexandira who was so isolationist they made Magna's group settle at Hilltop so they obviously didn't take in anyone new and B) None of the communities would take in anyone knew after the pike deaths BECAUSE the masks could let Whisperers sneak in - anyone who isn't recognized will probably be thought to be a Whisperer. The whole theory the fanbase won't shut up about and changes week-to-week when it doesn't come true is so asinine. This fanbase sometimes...not very bright at all. Zero storytelling logic applied.


Also Judith and Michonne fighting walkers side by side was great.

[webstar1000]

I agree. ANOTHER solid episode. I really wish she had handled the whole Negan arc. This show runner is BAD ASS and I love her work. She is a story teller... big time. I just hope we come to an end someday. I really do.... I worry that this 'rinse, repeat' way about the show will continue for a long time to come. They beat the baddie, another comes. Over and OVER.. I think after the Commonwealth story from the comics is done... AMC is too.

[Mattrick]

I think they have a plan for after The Commonwealth storyline from the comics, so it's hard to say. I can easily see TWD going to 15 seasons, maybe beyond that. But Fear, the Rick Films and the third show are establishing the greater universe we'll enter with The Commonwealth.

[Still Servant]

I wish I could get into this season as much as you guys seem to be. I fall asleep 2 or 3 times every episode. It takes me days to watch it. Not sure why.

[Mattrick]

I'm surprised you're not enjoying it. I think it's just continued the momentum from last season and is just getting better. The episode airing Sunday is another solid episode.

[Still Servant]

I'm surprised you're not enjoying it. I think it's just continued the momentum from last season and is just getting better. The episode airing Sunday is another solid episode.

Me too because I was fine with last season. I have to stop watching it so late. It's messing with the flow of the episode having to keep restarting and fast forwarding.

[kingfan2323]

First good season in years with plenty of episodes left to screw it all up OR cement it as a comeback season. Time will tell.

looking for: The Terror S/L,
Dead Zone 1st/1st F or NF, Boy's Life S/L

[Mattrick]

Last season was the combeback season. This is the season that is re-establishing it as one of the best shows on TV like it was during seasons 4/5

[webstar1000]

Last season was the combeback season. This is the season that is re-establishing it as one of the best shows on TV like it was during seasons 4/5

Agree AND for the first time.. I sincerely liked and enjoyed Negan and his character.