AMC's The Walking Dead

They weren't trying to cut and run when Abraham and Glenn were killed. They were in two groups actually, before they were caught by the Saviors. One was looking for Michonne, if I remember right, and the other trying to get Maggie to the doctor at the Hilltop.

 

Trashus ex machina

 

More bullshit to stretch things out. It was ridiculous to have Rick and Negan both get through all that without being bitten or severely injured.

 

Negan's whole get nicked by Lucille and you get turned then surviving a car crash and fight with Rick and no one getting essence of walker was BS. But they are probably going to do what they did with Coral and be like "Ha! Fooled you!"

That said, I do like that Rick's two main cronies are getting mutinous.

 

I am so sick of the trope “In a world full of zombies, the most dangerous thing to humans is each other.” Just end it please.

That being said, I appreciate the show's attempt at being subtle. There are exceptions - i.e. Carl - but the undead are almost an afterthought now.

 

After the latest episode, I found myself wondering how different this series might have been if the zombies were FAST, the way they were in the remake of "Dawn of the Dead" (2004) or "28 Days Later" (2002). Our heroes and villains wouldn't be able to disregard them or move safely among them. Probably the show would have gotten more claustrophobic, requiring characters to hunker down inside safe spaces, and made "runs" next to impossible. So, short series that way.

But the walkers have been turned into nuisances now or maniacal tools, about as threatening as stepping over a pile of unbagged doggy doo.

 

Agreed, but the kind of extended examination of human behavior Kirkman intended really wouldn't be possible with fast zombies. That said, they are still a threat. Maybe that was the real point of killing Carl, to remind us how the characters are one slip away from being killed every time they face the walkers.

 

The declining threat of walkers makes sense, though. At the beginning of the series, people were still figuring out how to deal with them and adjusting to the end of the world. Much like the early stages of a war, nobody had figured out the right tactics for coping with them yet, beyond running for your life.
Now they're two or three years in and they've become part of life. Those who have survived this long have learned how to kill a single walker or two without putting themselves in danger, when to leave them alone and when to run, and that the walkers are mostly dangerous only in numbers. It's like seeing an alligator or a bear in the wild -- it's generally as much of a threat as you make it. To that end, the walkers are just another wild animal roaming the countryside at this point in the series.

More irksome to me is how they get an endless supply of gas for their vehicles, including the pickup trucks that get about 12 mpg. Gas is a perishable item, right? Six months, maybe a year and it does more harm than good to an engine. And judging by the way a lot of urban stations zip through their supply when a hurricane approaches, there would probably not be a lot left in underground tanks to siphon out in the first place.
So how do these yahoos cruise through the land like a bunch of carefree joyriders? How is it never an issue or even a concern? Is there a secret community in Northern Virginia with an active oil refinery?

 

This latest episode is a case study in why I think this show is just spiraling out of control. Warning, there are spoilers ahead:

Here are just a few things that just make you throw your hands up and scream WTF?!!?

Rick sees the Saviors and notices Negan has separated from the flock. Instead of letting everyone know he's got Negan and he can end the all out war, he T-bones him, then shoots blindly into his vehicle, then chases Negan into a zombie-infested warehouse. Either Rick is the absolute biggest idiot in the world or the writers want us to think he is.

Maggie and the Supremes are hanging out and some random lady in a van with two idiot bodyguards approaches. No lookouts see them coming? Really? Then, just when you thought they couldn't top the garbage people, they introduce Hillary Clinton's clone and her two lackeys. And they just want records. And they're willing to give up a binder full of the secrets to the future. Things like making fire, windmills, aqueducts, etc. Because you know there's no F'ing libraries in TWD land and this is all lost knowledge. (tip of the hat to Bald Move podcast for that observation)

I just want a little honesty. Not one person came back from the garbage people and said "How F'd up are these clowns?" Nobody looked at Hillary Clinton and her two lackeys and said "This lady is completely off her rocker wanting albums in the post-apocalyptic world."

I get that we need to suspend disbelief, but there are times when as a writer you should look at some of this stuff and say to yourself "Nobody is going to buy any of this."

 

In fairness, the HC clone does mention that it is medieval technology she's bringing back. I'm guessing many of the libraries 1) are in urban areas that aren't accessible anymore because of the walkers and 2) carry more books on modern tech that relies on modern infrastructure (such as internet and an electric grid).
To your point, Alexandria had figured that out already and I'm guessing some of those guys know how that was built up.

 

They probably had some idea, but if I remember correctly, Reg was the primary architect. They had the whole bit with him starting to share what he knew, then either he or the guy he was teaching were killed by the end of the episode. (I think that was the episode that Reg was killed.)

 

But I would imagine that little small towns have libraries. I mean my little Podunk town that I grew up in has a library (it's someone's old house that they donated, but still a library). I think they're just acting like all of this is lost knowledge when it's not really that lost. Just break into a Bass Pro Shop or Cabela's and there are a ton of books on survival and homesteading.

But that's not even the most ridiculous part of that whole scene. 1.) is them sneaking up on Maggie and the Supremes without a single lookout noticing them. 2.) is how stupid the Lackeys are and how weird HC clone is for wanting a couple of Rolling Stones albums in exchange for critical information. Really? That's gonna be the currency of the world in the zombie era? Albums?

Then again, this is a show where nobody ever runs out of gas, bullets or clean water.