AMC's The Walking Dead

Haven't watched tonight's yet. But re: zombie in the field from last episode, it made me think how normalized this stuff has gotten for Rick and Shane. Not that long ago, the idea of a zombie in a field -- a single zombie, not hordes of 'em -- would have been a five-alarm, holy-shit moment for their police force. Now? Eh, it's only one. No real threat compared to everything else that has gone haywire.

Heaven help us all if we reach the point where we shrug because it's only one zombie that we're seeing.

 

I thought for sure tonight's episode was going to end with Carl shooting that kid in the barn. Sad to see Dale go as he was a nice character to have to give the show a moral center and the debate in the living room was really well done.

Shame they only have two episodes left this season. Anyone know when it starts back up?

 

Loved the 12 Angry Men moment in the living room. Well done. But I will cheer when/if Carl gets it.

 

I'll kind of miss Dale (but someone from the group had to go sooner rather than later to kind of keep people on their toes), but every time he was on screen I always thought of the lawyer character he played on Law & Order (Norman something-or-other). That speech he had - which was good, and really provided the "human" element to things - was just another reminder.

Oh, and with Dale gone, who will provide the push back from now on? Maybe no one ... which could lead to ugliness down the road.

 

Same. Carl's the worst.

T-Dogg is becoming one of my favorite characters simply for his lack of relevance. "T-DOGG, GET A SHOTGUN!" ... Nothing. It's comical. He's the most token black guy I've ever seen in a TV show. And that includes South Park's Token Black.

 

Anyone else besides me think it was the zombie that offed our pal Dale when the shadowed figure was about to enter the barn?

As far as Carl goes, here's hoping it happens... and soon. Little Children of the Corn, Damien-like bastard deserves it.

 

So does the kid escape, find the gun Carl dropped at the creek and use it to kill one of the group?

 

That was a good scene in the house with the execution debate. Jeffrey Demunn did a fine job as Dale. And the death... I didn't see that coming. But I didn't really care that he died. Because I didn't really care about the character. I just kind of shrugged. The creative team did a good job trying to make us care about him in this episode, but they couldn't compensate for the little development they created in the character in the previous episodes. I mean, Dale wasn't even featured in the previous episode. I almost forgot about him.

There was a lot more of the same in this show - good and bad, highs and lows - like every other episode, and it's infuriating.

*Carol being pissed at an 11-year-old boy for saying something hurtful is fucking stupid. Grow up you fucking bitch. That scene with her all pissy with Lori had me literally laughing out loud. The actress seemed to have even checked out at that point because of the absurdity of it. God, just terrible.

*Let's get this straight: zombies are all over the place, hunting for flesh, it's the dead of the night, and the writers send a character wandering way the fuck away from all shelter and living people simply because he's pissed off. That's the dumbest thing ever. It's another heavy-handed effort.

*I can confirm the "T" in "T-Dog" means "Token"

*Again: Zombie world, they're hunting for you, potentially another group of living who are looking for their lost buddy, out in the middle of nowhere, and Carl randomly wanders off twice - once to the barn where his dad is about to shoot a guy and another time deep in the woods to find a walker? Fucking keep an eye on your kid; no parents and a large group of caretakers is that stupid. Especially twice. Watch your fucking kid. Yet, here we are. TWD writers going all heavy handed again.

I want to type more but I have to take a piss.

 

Also, Shane is a trained police officer. That means he knows not to argue, show dissent, talk strategy, or do anything out of basic procedure while a handcuffed person who's clearly a threat is just feet away. Yet, here are the writers showing us Shane and Andrea talking about taking over the farm with the prisoner just feet away in the barn. It's not stupid characters. It's stupid writing. Because it will eventually set up a time when the prisoner escapes and uses what he knows about the farm's societal problems against the persons on the farm.

 

We share damn near the exact same observations and opinions on this show, NDub.

Why I still watch is beyond me. I hate almost everything about it. I do like watching the kills, though. Maybe that's it. And this week didn't even have a good one. Unless you count Dale. I didn't hate that. One down, several to go....

 

Ha ha. Well, it didn't help that I watched season 3 of Mad Men in its entirety over the weekend, and then tuned into The Walking Dead. The latter never stood a chance. But there are so many holes and it's frustrating because the show has potential. That's why I keep coming back. I WANT to like these characters. I WANT to see good storylines. And I know it can be done considering the atmosphere (some of those shots last night by director Greg Nicotero were just fantastic) and source material. Plus, I love zombies. They're so atypical of the standard monsters. The enemy is literally endless. It can't be bargained or reasoned with. And it can't be stopped. The dire situation, so dreadful, is what draws me in. My god, this show could be great. But I hate that it's not.

 

I loved the scene with Carl and the scene with the zombie stuck in the mud. Zombies have gotten so normal for this kid and his natural curiosity takes over. But he lures the thing out and drops the gun -- leading to dire consequenses.

Whoops, welcome back to reality kid. It missed you there for a second.