corsair
4161
Wouldn’t that be, “Look at the rabbits, Lennie,”?
hepcat
4162
The writer’s cut of the book had a different ending.
re: cribbing from “Of Mice and Men”
If you’re going to steal, make sure you steal from the best, right?
I enjoyed seeing a Mice and Men reference but they did do it in an overly heavyhanded way. I’m of the mind that if you are going to reference something, don’t spell it out. The point is that some people will ‘get’ the reference. If they don’t have knowledge of the reference then spelling it out doesn’t help much does it?
I’m hoping for a Watership Down situation at Terminus. I’m thinking of the warren where the rabbits were safe from predators and had all the food they could eat. There was just one thing about living there…
hepcat
4165
corsair
4166
General Governor! Ummmm, General Woundwort!
Re: previous hints towards Lizzie needing a coping mechanism… they did exist, and in the prison, but AFAIK it was just the “count to three” one, not the flowers one, I think the flowers one first appeared in this episode, and yes it did seem to be a nearly direct reference to Of mice and men, but it didn’t bother me, I thought it was a nice homage.
Doh! And now I’ve shot the wrong guy!
-Tom
A busy week meant that I just finally got around to watching this episode last night. Wow, easily the best episode of the season.
I’d like to call out a couple things – first, I thought the girl playing Lizzy did a pretty good job in this episode: it can’t be too easy to play psychotic, and I think she sold it.
Second, the direction in the “playing tag” scene was fantastic. I don’t think that I’ve ever had such a “sweaty palms” moment in TWD as when Carol is screaming at Lizzy to get away from the zombie, and the walker is just. barely. missing. the oblivious girl.
I liked the burned zombies too. Nice touch.
And of course, great use of that Inkspots song, which of course has special significance for CRPG players, since it was used in the opening cutscene of Fallout (which I can’t BELIEVE that Hardwick got wrong on Talking Dead–he said it was Fallout 3).
I agree, great episode, although I do have one nitpick. That house had working gas for its stove, which isn’t impossible–a rural home might have its own propane tanks since it would be too far from the main gas lines. However, they weren’t referenced or shown. It would have been nice if the writers had explained why it worked. I know some viewers were very confused, not having any experience with off-the-grid living.
I don’t think they needed to be shown or referenced. On reflection it was actually clever. Propane tanks are still common enough in rural areas as to be reasonably easily thought of, plus it subtlety added a ‘reason to stay’ at that location, without having to explicitly spell it out.
I was surprised there was gas when she turned on the stove, but not so surprised I was stumped as to why, but we still homes in the hills <20km from the CBD that rely on propane.
I’m sort of between the two views. I had no trouble figuring out immediately where the gas was coming from… but they also had the scene where Carol is enumerating all the advantages of the site: pecans, a fence, a working well, etc. A half-second of additional dialog “…, a propane tank,…” would have eliminated any confusion. It’s even more weird in that they called out the well but later showed a couple scenes of them working it.
The only thing I can think that might explain it is the wonderful first scene of the cottage kitchen with the working stove, the full basket of nuts and the pastoral scene outside the window. All the visual cues seem to be meant to make you think this is a pre-ZA flashback… and then maybe make you think it might have been the first day of the ZA. And maybe they didn’t want you to figure it out until the second you see Carol turn on the stove? That’s the best I’ve got.
Also it distracted Mr. Chick long enough to stop obsessing on that awesome Mountain Goats song.
Not by a couple folks I know, lol. And I saw some comments about the “impossibility” of the gas on a couple other forums, too. I think Tin’s suggestion of a few additional words of dialogue in Carol’s little speech would have worked well, as would a simple shot of the tanks.
So, unlocked gates, no guards and a Martha Stewart clone cooking up who knows what on the grill…yeah, Terminus doesn’t look at all suspicious. Soylent Terminus is people…IT’S PEOPLE!!!
Decently action-filled episode that looks to be leading into some very interesting reunions for the season finale next week. I find it entertaining that the band of brigands are following Rick because they think he did them wrong. It would be the ultimate irony if Terminus turned out to be a terrible place and Daryl’s band of misfits ended up rescuing everyone in the end. CLAIMED!
Also, “So what kind of gamer were you? RPGs? Schmups? Sim racers?” LOL!
I was entertained by the gang’s leader admitting that this new world was made for him. A homeless scavenger stuck in a sausage fest with no woman, no kids, and no future- ain’t it great? I mean, that’s his pitch to Daryl right? Sure he may not have had a place in the world before, but he’s happy that no one has a place in the world now. A man with bigger dreams might instead be figuring out how to make a place, but not him. That ties into them hunting Rick, what else do they have to do with their time? Besides claiming crap in a world where crap is just laying around everywhere.
Looks like Tasha Yar is going to feed Beth to Maggie. :(
