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AMC's The Walking Dead [Spoilers!]
November 1, 2010 at
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Did you watch?
For a show on a non premium cable channel, I thought it was very good. I never read the comic, so I don't know how it compares, but I'll be watching every Sunday. pisses me off that I don't get AMC in HD though.
For a show on a non premium cable channel, I thought it was very good. I never read the comic, so I don't know how it compares, but I'll be watching every Sunday. pisses me off that I don't get AMC in HD though.
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Only Daryl for me.
Edit: Both Daryl and Carol are on The Talking Dead tonight so it's one or the other. I think it's Carol. I sure hope it's Carol. Although I read an article yesterday that says Norman Reedus is selling his Atlanta home sooooooooo.........
Edit: Both Daryl and Carol are on The Talking Dead tonight so it's one or the other. I think it's Carol. I sure hope it's Carol. Although I read an article yesterday that says Norman Reedus is selling his Atlanta home sooooooooo.........
Felt more like a penultimate episode rather than a season finale. It tied up some storylines and moved some chess pieces into play, but it just didn't have that season finale "hook".
The teaser for Fear TWD makes it look like a fun companion series. It might be neat if they have an episode or 2 occur before the full-on outbreak. I feel like it's been a while since we've had a movie or show that actually shows the outbreak happen from the start (haven't watched Z Nation, so I can't speak to that). I remember the beginning of the Dawn of the Dead remake being awesome, with the girl escaping her house, driving through the neighborhood as it's being overrun, and the overhead camera showing all the devastation.
There were some big overarching motifs in this episode, IMO.
- Light and Dark.
Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but it seemed so much of the episode played into this.
Gabriel's white shirt and black pants could represent his internal struggle with his faith, or with being a bad person and still chastising others for doing bad things. Even after killing a walker AND a person, his white shirt is still pristine.. it's kind of like, no matter what he's done, he still comes across on the outside as the staid man who can do no wrong.
Rick has had a white shirt on for most of his time in Alexandria. He's put on his constable gear overtop, but it seems like no matter what bad things he does, he can take those off and still have that white shirt underneath, that he's always doing whatever bad things in order to help people.
The snap transition from afternoon sun to dead of night was jarring, but I think it was intentional, to show how quickly a situation can go from sunshine (how Alexandria was operating) to dank, scary and dangerous (the reality of the world outside the walls, or now, inside). How a seemingly stocked truck yard filled with a lifetime of food could turn into a death trap that almost gets Daryl and Aaron killed. The Wolves are just proof that bad, bad people still exist out there, and that the light times are quickly going to turn to dark times.
- Reflections
Many shots this season have employed glass, mirrors, or reflections, most recently when Rick visits Jessie at her porch. The entire conversation is fixed on Jessie, with Rick's image cast by the windowpane reflection. Another memorable one is Tyreese entering Noah's house, with Noah's reflection in the shards of the broken front door.
In all honesty, I'm not sure exactly what these mean yet. Anyone else noticing these at least?
- Other notes
Carol rocks. "I want my dish back."
Rosita rocks. (pushes plate off the table) Oh, did you want it quiet, Abe?
MORGAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNN
after all the build-up and expectation of our standard season-ending body bag, we lost two ancillary characters and actually seemed to solidify relationships and alliances (between Rick and Deanna, Nicholas and Glenn, Gabriel and the group/reality). there were enough red herrings to stock a counter in the fish market, though: Daryl offering a magnanimous offer to Aaron, Glenn getting popped with no counter firearm in the woods before being swarmed with walkers, Rick being accosted by several walkers inside the walls.
that said, i'm excited for next season. i went into the Alexandria situation wishing for a sanctuary (temporary, of course) where the group could really explore where they currently sit on the "good vs. evil" meter, and we got that. one of the things i lamented about season four was the fact we lost Gareth and the Terminites so quickly. i love the idea of a known danger constantly looming just beyond the treeline, and i think it would have made for great suspense and conflict possibilities for the cannibals to be running wild and Rick's group to find evidences of their work, knowing that this second evil is lurking next to the walkers. now i'm excited about the wolves filling that role.
i'm assuming the two guys Aaron helped exile are the two wolves we see resetting the food truck trap. if that and the conversation one had with Morgan are any indication of their mindset, i think i'm going to enjoy their reign as the human-based threat to the group. these are people who seem to enjoy their work: true psychotics that the writers of TWD might have an easier time with than the supposedly more complex psyches of previous villains. threatening Morgan with an unloaded gun might show some deep-seeded conflict regarding violence against others or an ability to empathize with others. or they might just be out of ammo. after spending several episodes behind safe walls, Rick's group is starting to appear pretty ruthless, but a scale adjustment will probably coming as we see more of these marauders. it seemed they were content to leave Alexandria alone for now, either for ignorance or being unwilling/unable to breach its defenses, but i'm guessing the pics in Aaron's pack are the catalyst for them to investigate. the big question is numbers: do they have compatriots, or is it just them (and the woman with whom they were exiled)?
it has to be reemphasized each week: i love Carol. while her moral compass might not point due north, this is a person who is truly willing to do anything to ensure the group's survival. shoot a young, troubled girl in the head (causing great personal conflict and pain)? it had to be done. threaten and scare a small boy who is already dealing with an abusive home situation? without hesitation. physically threaten a man who ouweighs her by roughly a hundred pounds? check. show blatant distrust for those in her family who she perceives as having even a slight chance of siding with the enemy? check. she is all the cold, calculating, ruthlessly realistic qualities of Shane and the Terminus folks with just a shred of regard for the lives of non-family members. God help us all if that thread ever snaps.
Morgan is going to be disappointed. the Rick Grimes he knew was a good man, a man who would risk his life for a stranger. someone who would sit next to a person who wished him harm and talk them back into a worldview which did not include shooting at random people from rooftops. Morgan has been on a lengthy crusade to find this Rick Grimes, and the when he finally turns a corner to find a very foreboding community meeting, his first sight is his Holy Grail of a man shooting a restrained, defenseless person in the head. sure, explanations can be offered and justifications shown, but this has to be shocking. Morgan might need a minute.
you know how everyone in the group was worried about getting soft in Alexandria, losing some of the survivalist edge that kept them alive while walking unprotected in the forest? turns out they were right to be worried, and i'll bet nobody had Daryl in the "first to clearly showcase edge-losing" pool. the only thing that vegetable packing plant lacked was a sign saying "come on in! we swear this isn't a trap!" out front. a guy in a red poncho leads you straight to a place that seems to have very rare and valuable resources, then suddenly disappears to leave you in said space that has obviously had humans around, but no evidence of looting? as soon as they took out the token walkers in the parking lot and got to the trailers, it was painfully obvious what was about to happen, and Daryl simply missed it. somewhere in the beyond, Merle is shaking his head and saying something homophobic about Aaron.
do all of Alexandria's town hall meetings happen around a campfire? you can't convince me this place doesn't have one of those central community buildings that residents reserve for grandpa's 83rd birthday because they don't want to deal with taking a bunch of octogenarians to a restaurant. but crackling firelight is more dramatic, so we get treated to Deanna's first real miscalculation: she was counting on Gabriel's treacherous bomb shocking the residents into seeing the new visitors for the rogues they are, but the news was only met with a snarky quip from Jesse. Deanna was losing that crowd, and i thought we were going to be treated to a revealing meltdown until Rick showed up with hard (or at least mushy) evidence of her lack of proper leadership. one of the people with whom i watch the show pointed out her husband seemed to be her conscience and wondered aloud if she would now start to appear more ruthless without a trusted adviser softening her positions behind the scenes (Maggie might fill in?) personally, with the demise of both Noah and Reg, i'm concerned about the future of the architectural arts in Alexandria. Abraham can pick that stuff up and move it, but you know it's going to be a hot mess if he tries to actually build anything.
this felt much more like a mid-season ender than an actual season finale: lots of story threads were tied up or at least tidied up, but the dramatic deaths were far less significant and and cliffhanger far more subtle than normal. but that subtlety and lighter hand is indicative of where the show is right now, and i prefer it to the ham-fisted barrages we endured in previous seasons, so even without a real hook, i'm very much looking forward to the next season.
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