The Walking Thread! (May contain spoilers)

[NRRork]

This one I liked a lot better. It's just a shame that it's only really picking up steam just in time to go on break for several months.

Though I WAS kinda hoping it was gonna end with Negan

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

killing Spencer for trying to make a deal with him behind Rick's back.

Pretty sure that's coming next week, though. I'll have to check the comics wiki again to be sure. I've never read the comics, I just got the cliff notes version from reading the wiki.

[Pak-Man]

As someone who's been enjoying this season, the critical response to this episode surprised me. It had lots of the two things the critics like to slam the most- Negan's sadistic song and dance and Carl causing undue complications- but most reviews are saying, "Ahh! Now we're back on the right track!" I enjoyed it nonetheless and can't wait for the mid-season finale.

When Negan was requesting the song, I SO wanted Carl to bust into a spirited rendition of "Easy Street."

[NRRork]

I think the part with Coral and the big gun would've been a lot better if he were still just a little kid like he was in the comics at the time. He was only like ten or eleven still, but Chandler Riggs is going to college next year, he's almost a man. A big problem with taking a year to advance the plot five days.

Not as big a problem with little Judith of course. They can just bring in another baby and no one would be the wiser ^_^. HER worst problem right now is, you know, being a toddler with the name of a 75-year-old grandmother of four. . .

[NRRork]

Oh, for God's sake. Killing off a hated character should've been easy and made so many people happy, and they STILL found a way to fuck it up!

First, they insult our intelligence with the sad music and sad faces to make us THINK we're supposed to be sad, and then they immediately pass the idiot ball to Rosita and she just runs with it.

Ah well, they had a nice Sweeney Todd "my arm is whole again" kinda thing when Daryl gives Rick his gun, and at least we're finally moving forward again-- I would've been fine with them taking their time if they had done something more interesting.

Also, DEAR GOD: even freshly showered with a new change of clothes, Daryl is a greasy, sweaty mess. I think he gets covered with sweat and grease the same way Homer Simpson will shave, but two seconds later his beard grows back. Or like, a freshly bathed and clothed toddler.

[NRRork]

Wow, I think that's the first time I've seen Rick Grimes smile since. . . have we EVER seen him smile on this show?

I liked it, though. I think it moved the plot forward about as much in this one episode as the whole season had up until now had. There's been a lot of talk this back half is gonna way different from what we saw last fall, and, hell, just go over the past page or two in this thread to see what I thought of THOSE episodes (teal deer: I didn't care for most of them).

[NRRork]

The Garbage Pail Kids (that's the fan nickname, and I'll go with it until they give us something more official) are kind of a weird group, but seeing Rick fight the Mouth of Sauron is something I've been looking forward to for awhile. It was a little out there, but it was fun.

Daryl's appearance was kind of off last week, but a few minutes into this week's episode and now he's back to the Daryl Dixon we all know: encased in filth, grease, and sweat. ^_^ I have to accept that his shirt has SLEEVES, but I'll get used to it. And the CGI tiger liked him, because of course.

It was a fun episode. Definitely a laying-the-pipe kind of episode, but a lot of good character moments.

[Pak-Man]

That one was kinda goofy in a good way. It's good to see the show have some fun now and then. Next week looks rough, though.

[MrTorso]

ALIENS DID IT!

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/nCJ39vTjT54" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/nCJ39vTjT54</a>

[Pak-Man]

Eugene and They Might Be Giants. Two great tastes that taste great together.

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I enjoyed this episode. From the preview I was dreading an episode where poor Eugene gets the Daryl treatment, but Negan clearly knows which prisoners to torture and which to convert. I'm a fan of Eugene's character, so I'm disappointed by his decision, but I'm not sure if I buy it, either. I want to believe he's planning something that will take Negan down from the inside, but you can never really tell with him.

[NRRork]

One of the better bottle episodes for sure, and a pretty good episode altogether, really.

I like Eugene and say what you want about Negan, at least he sees how someone like that can be useful. So much of this show seems to only value how good you are at bashing a corpse's skull with a machete. This guy knows things like the best crops to grow, how to MacGyver shit, how to improve fortifications, how to make BULLETS, etc, etc.

So, fine, he's a wimp and a dork, but smart people have their uses too. A guy like him is just as critical in reviving society as the zombie killers and I feel like the show misses that opportunity.

The comics go a good job with this kind of thing, in the comics he not only learns how to make bullets,

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he teaches them to build things like windmills and devises ways to patrol for and control herds of walkers and steer them away from settlements

.

[MrTorso]

I just like how Eugene like that EASY STREET song that was used to torture Daryl!

[NRRork]

That was a fun, lighter episode. . . as far as this show goes. Too much in a way. Well, not in and of itself, but the show has made me cynical. Good things happening to the characters makes me worried. I spent the last third of the episode wondering what god-awful setback was gonna come and erase the gains they made.

Like were they gonna get intercepted by a large group of Saviors who decided to go ahead and take their tribute right then and there? I don't trust this show anymore.

[Pak-Man]

I felt like they were playing with that a bit so when Rick took his tumble, there would be juuust enough doubt.

[NRRork]

Well, THAT was definitely one of their more padded episodes. And kudos to them for boldly doing what everyone else already predicted was gonna happen.

[NRRork]

I called last week's episode padded. . . and it was, but TONIGHT, dear god.

I hate to be so critical of the show because when they nail it I'm quick to heap praise as well, but dammit, this is just so much filler when they should be ratcheting up the drama and tension. This is Herschel's farm level feet-dragging here.

I can't wait to see All Out War play out on the show, but I shudder to think how much they drag THAT out. I'll admit they're in a bit of bind: they couldn't have done the introduction of Negan and the coming war in just one season. That would've been a little TOO rushed, but it's not really enough for 32 hours either so they had to extend it a bit.

But they could've filled it out with BETTER stuff.