The Walking Dead.

[BillThompson]

Wife and I have greatly enjoyed the first two eps. Being in the TWD universe helps because I am a sucker for such things. But, I love the way they are showing society crumbling and the reactions to said crumbling. The characters all fit their roles pretty well, and I'm genuinely interested in how will survive and where the show will end up.

[JimBob Skeeter]

My wife and I are completely opposite.  We can't miss and show of TWD, but we really are very lackluster about this show.  Tobias is the only one that deserves to live, and, he'll be the first one killed.

[WholeFnMachine]

Am I the only one still watching the shitshow that is Fear the Walking Dead?

[BillThompson]

Am I the only one still watching the shitshow that is Fear the Walking Dead?

 

If you think it's a shitshow then sure. I've liked it a lot, whereas my wife really loves it and so far prefers it to The Walking Dead proper.

[OSJ]

Sorry, confirmed Walking Dead freak and I can't for the life of me get into Fear the Walking Dead. Oh well, I'd rather watch The Strain anyway...

[Eivion]

I'm watching both. I find both entertaining on some level though not necessarily good.

[Stennick]

I am so bored with this show. I'll give it to the end of the season but so far I felt like the first episode was the best episode. Its hard for me to believe that the boyfriend doesn't want her to kill the neighbor because they are "sick" when he was in the car where they ran that guy over proper a bunch of times and no fucks where given. He was also present when a guy took a shotgun blast to the walkers face. The walker his zero face and he doesn't so much as flinch he gets right back up. Despite all of this plus probably things I'm forgetting he doesn't want to kill anybody. Beyond that though I'm just bored. It seems like nothing happens the entire episode and then in the last 30 seconds something happens that seems like it might go somewhere. Its equally hard for me to understand why the military would be going into seemingly random subdivisions. I think beyond everything else though the first episode of The Walking Dead Rick was an interesting character, Morgan was an interesting character, Shane, Lori, the blonde chick I can't remember the name of, Glen, these guys were all way more interesting than nearly every character outside of the drug addict so far. I was really looking forward to this show but every part of it feels so dull, bland and boring. 

[BillThompson]

People are inherently very stupid, I encounter them every day whether it be on the ambulance or the fire engine. I think the people who have some level of intelligence underestimate how even those we consider smart tend to react to bad situations with the least bit of logic shown. But, more to the point, this show hasn't been about the characters, at least not yet. It's about the setting, the tone, and building the destruction of a world.

 

That's why I pretty much love this show so far. It's willing to take its time to set things up and establish a well thought out and thorough world. But, at the same time the episodes have stuff happening all the time as the wheels are perpetually in motion. I know my wife loves the show because she finds it legitimately scary. I'm not one to find anything film/TV scary, so I can't really comment. But she says it's the fact that no one knows what is happening that makes it scarier to her than TWD. Those characters have adapted, they understand their world. These characters don't, and that adds tension to the situations they find themselves in and the decisions they make.

 

Add all of that up and you have one heck of a show that I enjoy watching very much.

[Petey]

Count me on the side that doesn't like the show. I'm pretty much hate watching just because I don't want to feel left out in conversations with my friends, although it seems like a lot have already tapped out on the show. There are parts of the show that I think are decent enough, but I find almost every character to either be cliche, poorly written or a combination of both.

[Stennick]

This last episode is awesome but I still feel like the slow burn people have been talking about has been more implied than shown. It feels like we went from "hey something weird is going on lets go to the desert and wait it out" to the army showing up and shutting the neighborhood down all in one episode and now we're already at "everyone is dead". That seems really quick I would have loved to seen a slower burn but I just didn't think it was all that slow. The Army showing up would have been a good season finale I think. 

 

More things that didn't make sense. I haven't been in school in a very long time 15 years I guess. Would she really be able to get hardcore pain meds at a school like that? Also at that point weren't they still in the "hey we don't know whats going on something weird is going on lets go wait it out" mode? If so how does that warrant breaking into a high school and stealing the pain meds? It seems like to do that you would have to pretty much accept that it was the very last resort of getting help. 

 

Also unless I misunderstood why are they going to the desert? Isn't that the last place you would want to go in a situation like this? As far as very little if any shelter, very little if any water, very little if any available food. Aren't these the basics you want when looking for a safe house of sorts in a survival situation? Access to food, shelter and water. I get that there aren't many people out there but it seems like it wouldn't matter much when instead of being killed by zombies you die because you're in the desert with limited rations. 

 

I did actually enjoy this episode more than any of the others. Did we ever get to see her boyfriend turn into a zombie? She's over there nursing him back to health, she leaves, never goes back and I guess as best as I know we never got a follow up to that. I know he's a zombie or dead or whatever just seems like we'd get a throwaway scene of that. I was pretty certain the flashes were gunfire from the very start of the episode so when its the big reveal at the end of the episode I was just kind of like "oh ok". 

 

Still though its finally getting interesting even if none of the characters are connecting at all so far. With The Walking Dead I was pretty into Shane and Rick's characters from their first conversation in the car. For whatever reason they felt more "real". The dad/boyfriend seems very rigid to me and nobody seems "real" to me. Hopefully we start to see more character development now that they have already killed off the entire city within a few episodes. 

[BillThompson]

This last episode is awesome but I still feel like the slow burn people have been talking about has been more implied than shown. It feels like we went from "hey something weird is going on lets go to the desert and wait it out" to the army showing up and shutting the neighborhood down all in one episode and now we're already at "everyone is dead". That seems really quick I would have loved to seen a slower burn but I just didn't think it was all that slow. The Army showing up would have been a good season finale I think. 

 

More things that didn't make sense. I haven't been in school in a very long time 15 years I guess. Would she really be able to get hardcore pain meds at a school like that? Also at that point weren't they still in the "hey we don't know whats going on something weird is going on lets go wait it out" mode? If so how does that warrant breaking into a high school and stealing the pain meds? It seems like to do that you would have to pretty much accept that it was the very last resort of getting help. 

 

Also unless I misunderstood why are they going to the desert? Isn't that the last place you would want to go in a situation like this? As far as very little if any shelter, very little if any water, very little if any available food. Aren't these the basics you want when looking for a safe house of sorts in a survival situation? Access to food, shelter and water. I get that there aren't many people out there but it seems like it wouldn't matter much when instead of being killed by zombies you die because you're in the desert with limited rations. 

 

I did actually enjoy this episode more than any of the others. Did we ever get to see her boyfriend turn into a zombie? She's over there nursing him back to health, she leaves, never goes back and I guess as best as I know we never got a follow up to that. I know he's a zombie or dead or whatever just seems like we'd get a throwaway scene of that. I was pretty certain the flashes were gunfire from the very start of the episode so when its the big reveal at the end of the episode I was just kind of like "oh ok". 

 

Still though its finally getting interesting even if none of the characters are connecting at all so far. With The Walking Dead I was pretty into Shane and Rick's characters from their first conversation in the car. For whatever reason they felt more "real". The dad/boyfriend seems very rigid to me and nobody seems "real" to me. Hopefully we start to see more character development now that they have already killed off the entire city within a few episodes. 

 

To answer a few points,

 

My wife subs at a middle school sometimes, and even at that level she says that they have all kinds of shit they take from the kids in an easy to access lockup. Pain meds, narcotics, all kinds of stuff. The police consider the problem taken care of once the school confiscates it so removing it isn't a priority. As for her grabbing the drugs, I've seen parents do far worse and stupider things for their junkie kids.

 

The going to the desert thing kind of depends on what survivalist you are. There are some who would agree with you. There are others who would advocate getting to the desert, goal being to get out of the city and away from people as quickly as possible.

 

And I thought it was pretty clear that the flashing light early in the show was an SOS. Same thing when we see it again in the middle of the show. Couple that with Madison's venture into the DZ and the implication, to my wife and I at least, was that the soldiers are shooting everything regardless of infected/zombie/clean, and that they either got to that building in a routine sweep, noticed the SOS themselves, or acted upon the words of Travis even though they don't want him to know that.

[Technico Support]

Well they're in L.A. so "go to the desert" might mean Palm Springs.

 

I thought Reuben Blades' character was going to torture that soldier strictly through Old Man Stories.  Jesus Christ this fucking show.

 

Charismatic Black Tuxedo Dude is the best character on the show and he was just introduced in the penultimate episode.

 

It's weird hearing Elizabeth Rodriguez speak without the New York Latino accent from OitNB.

[Stennick]

I agree in fact Tuxedo Dude was so awesome. When we first see him I thought he worked FOR the Army. After a good episode two weeks ago this last episode was back to being dull as shit. This has been the most boring apocalypse in recent memory.

[Petey]

I've mentioned that I don't care for the show but I thought the finale was good. The way Kim Dickens yells her son's name still sounds terrible and forced but whatevs. Curious to see what Tuxedo Dude is all about.

[Technico Support]

The finale was the only episode that really felt like The Walking Dead.  Armies of zombies + despair will do that.

[BillThompson]

I liked the finale, but I'm glad this show feels distinctly different from The Walking Dead. It shouldn't feel like that show.

[MonteCarl]

No discussion yet on the Season 6 premiere episode?

 

After 90 minutes, the main thing I left the episode thinking was "I guess they still have helium tanks and balloons in the zombie apocolypse"

[Technico Support]

No discussion yet on the Season 6 premiere episode?

 

After 90 minutes, the main thing I left the episode thinking was "I guess they still have helium tanks and balloons in the zombie apocolypse"

 

LOL my wife said the same thing.  "Where'd they get the helium?"  My only answer was, "well they also have flare guns."  Yeah, it's pretty amazing that Alexandria has exactly what they need when they need it.

 

My wife got very annoyed that they didn't just turn the quarry into a BBQ pit and burn the walkers. Would have been much less time consuming and much less of a risk.

 

Other than that, a pretty big pile of "Meh..."

 

Maybe the smell of burning walkers would attract more walkers?  Shit, I got nothin'.  I enjoyed the episode and after the snoozefest that was Fear the Walking Dead, I felt the 90 minutes really flew.  I enjoyed the comedic moments, like Professor Mullet respecting Heath's hair game and Morgan still being batshit crazy, pestering Michonne about his missing peanut butter protein bar.

[offspring515]

I assume they are leading this giant horde of walkers to attack the wolves and Rick's "we gotta get them before they come for us" line is referencing that.

I have nothing to back that up but it's the only way this plan makes more sense than lighting those mofos up.

[AxB]

Possibly they think there's supplies in the trucks and they want them. Possibly walkers don't really burn that easily... I mean, it takes a hell of a lot of head to cremate one human body, let alone thousands of them. And the giant smoke cloud and smell of cooking meat would then draw living people (and possibly walkers too), which is the opposite of what they want.

[nate]

... I mean, it takes a hell of a lot of head to cremate one human body ...

Wouldn't it depend on the amount of friction? As my Chinese Prob & Stats instructor might say: There's probably a fair ratio involved.

[elizium]

Enjoyed the first episode, but a lot of the cg looked really wonky to me. Not that I expect movie quality effects, but the truck falling and some of the overhead shots of the herd looked pasted in from somewhere else.

 

Was Ethan Embry in the show last year? Seems weird that they'd bring him in just to kill him off ASAP. Not that Ethan Embry has much else going.

[Stennick]

Yeah I was gonna say they have no idea who the Wolves are. At best they know some walkers got some W's carved in them. I'm not real sure what their endgame for the walkers is but something tells me a giant semi blowing its horn when I assume coming straight at them is going to make whatever plan they had null and void. Which would be sort of aggravating we watched and hour and a half of them herding these walkers without any real payoff. 

[cwoy2j]

 

I assume they are leading this giant horde of walkers to attack the wolves and Rick's "we gotta get them before they come for us" line is referencing that.

I have nothing to back that up but it's the only way this plan makes more sense than lighting those mofos up.

 

Nah. They dont even know who the wolves are or where they are hiding.

 

They were simply herding the walkers from a dangerous spot to one further away from the town.

 

 

Yes they do. Morgan briefed Rick on The Wolves. They may not know exactly where the Wolves camp out but they're aware of them due to Morgan and they know where the Wolves put all of their walkers b/c that's where Daryl and the other guy were trapped.

[cwoy2j]

Possibly they think there's supplies in the trucks and they want them. Possibly walkers don't really burn that easily... I mean, it takes a hell of a lot of head to cremate one human body, let alone thousands of them. And the giant smoke cloud and smell of cooking meat would then draw living people (and possibly walkers too), which is the opposite of what they want.

 

Also walkers were getting out past the trucks and one of the semis had already fallen into the quarry. You burn all of the walkers and you have flaming walkers roaming all over the countryside bumping into stuff setting things on fire before succumbing to the burns (if they do). If a bunch of walkers start a giant forest fire that threatens the community, it's not like they can call the fire department to come put it out.