Slainte Mhath: Above they are putting their speculation in spoilers for future episodes. Possibly based on some people’s knowledge of the comics. I don’t think anyone is spoiler tagging yesterday’s episode above yours.
Oh crap, I read yours, you also are speculating on future episodes based on knowledge of the comics. I wish I hadn’t read that glimpse. I guess your spoiler was warranted too, just not your comment above it. :P
WHEN DOES DARYL GET HIS CROSSBOW BACK???
-Tom
Hey now, he just got his motorcycle back. Getting the crossbow too would be too much awesome for one episode. ;-)
Rock8man - I’ve never read the comics. I’m speculating based on all the “how many times can we almost kill Glenn” stuff from this season combined with the unavoidable related spoiler that already leaked months ago pretty much everywhere people discuss the show. Honestly, I think the show has shown it has the balls to deviate from “comic script” significantly, so I don’t even consider that spoiler to be a given at this point.
Oh, there’s something new. I guess I’ve avoided that one so far.
That episode was one of the best of the entire run. Carol is my favorite character, and Melissa McBride walked the line perfectly between play-acting helpless and a genuine crisis of character. Alicia Witt was also terrific.
Yeah… they really aren’t the good guys anymore. If that phrase even means anything at this point.
I agree that was a pretty darn good episode. Really loved the acting all around, and that line was well delivered
Just realized that Alicia Witt played the creepy Ali Atreides kid in Lynch’s Dune.
Agreed. I love that they made that transition in only two episodes so effectively. They were hinting at it a little when they found Alexandria, that Rick and his group are now the wolves preying on the weak. But it seemed to be put aside for a season, but the idea just came back with a vengeance. And so effectively.
I do wonder though. “We’re all Negan”. Some kind of society of people named Negan maybe? Intriguing.
I’m at the point where I nearly lose it everytime I see someone with a gun decide to walk within arm’s reach of their target. It’s such a ridiculously stupid TV trope that happens so often. Ug.
I really like watching Melissa McBride. She’s easily the most talented actor on the show. By a country mile. But I have no idea what the writers think they’re doing with her character. Carol goes from a hardened badass chick version of Daryl, willing to terrorize children and execute prisoners, to whatever crisis of conscience the script is trying to sell all of a sudden? It makes no sense. It’s even more contrived than her budding romance with random dude #41. But to McBride’s credit, she’s doing her best to sell it. This episode was all about watching a good actor getting jerked around by bad writing, but working her ass off to give it credibility. Someone needs to put her in movies. Good movies.
Ah, that’s who that was! No wonder the casting was so terrible; she was already famous! I thought she was godawful, by the way. She hasn’t come very far since her line readings in Dune.
I did like the other two women in the party. I wish we could have kept those actors around longer.
Well, Mr. Grapes, what else do you expect from ridiculously stupid TV? :)
-Tom
Agreed on Melissa McBride, easily the best pure acting we’ve seen on the show has come from her in multiple episodes (“Look at the flowers…”). While the writing is ham-fisted, I do get what they are trying to do with her character. After the death of her daughter she gradually became hardened to the new reality of the post-apocalyptic world, and we saw her turn into a complete bad-ass willing to do just about anything (Terminus was a great example) to protect the few people she had left that she trusted and loved completely (Rick, Daryl, etc.). When the group arrived at Alexandria Carol refused to let go of that mantle, instead putting up a false front and waiting for the other shoe to drop in Alexandria. When the threat eventually did materialize, it was from outside (Wolves), and I think they’ve shown pretty clearly this season that the promise of what Alexandria could be has finally penetrated Carol’s armor. Her interaction with Morgan was the final crack that had led to this new realization that maybe she didn’t have to be such a suspicious, cold and heartless hard-ass all the time. Sadly, I think this most recent episode may have proven that yeah, she really does if she wants to survive and protect those around her.
I think that is what I really like the most about this entire season so far. Sure, there have been some ridiculous moments, but the overall theme has been Rick’s group slowly relaxing and letting go of their mistrust and anger as they struggled to first save Alexandria, and now to rebuild it to it’s original potential. They have pretty much all bought into the promise of Alexandria, and now they’re doing what they are doing with Negan’s group to allow that promise time to be fulfilled. Somewhere in the process they stopped being “the good guys” though, and the toll that takes could be a steeper price than many are willing to pay.
So now Rick’s group has killed Negan’s road gang, his collection point outpost, the scavenger crew (assuming that’s what the women were doing) and the scout crew that answered the call to come to the killing floor. How many freaking people can Negan have left?! And what is this “We’re all Negan” bullshit? Is the show seriously going to go with Negan as a “concept” rather than an actual person? It will be interesting to see if Rick’s group believes they’ve actually eliminated the threat at this point, and just how many people Negan’s group actually has and what sort of counter-offensive they might mount. I suspect Daryl’s encounter with the fugitives from Negan’s camp might come into play in the next couple of episodes.
paraphrased:
(meant in the spirit of good humor - contrary opinions from critics are almost always good to read, in contrast to the gaggles of cut & paste reviewers)
It’s complex, but I thought it worked. Playing the helpless, out-of-place mommy is her go-to trick for hiding in plain sight. But here, she was trapped in a room with three other women. Two of them seemed like normal, nice folks. The third was a hardened killer. Watching them made her think about what has happened to her. That panic attack could be seen as either play-acting or crisis, or both.
Watching McBride interviewed about that scene directly after, she said she played it as both. She also implied it was tough to pull off, and there may have been some light criticism of the writing in there. I thought it was fantastic. When she’s pointing the gun at Paula (Witt), and she said “This is what I was afraid of,” I think it’s a combination of “Neither one of us is a mom anymore – we’re just killers,” and “I’m sick of killing people.”
The logic of the apocalypse dictates that they have to keep killing, though. The kill floor scene was pretty rough.
I agree that she’s the best actor on the show. Though Brighton Sharbino (Lizzie) may have taken that spot for a couple of episodes ;)
The kill floor scene was nasty, but I couldn’t help thinking that it was too convenient. I mean, I spill a tiny bit of gasoline on the floor of my garage when filling up my lawnmower and the garage smells like gas for hours, they poured the contents of two full gas cans on the floor of an enclosed room, it should have reeked of gas so bad nobody would willingly set foot inside, dark or not.
Springtime in rural Georgia? I’ll bet their allergies were stuffing up their noses ;)
Alternatively, maybe the whole place smells like gasoline and dead bodies, given the number of zombies and the fact that it’s their fuel depot.
Someone explain to me what the deal is with wanting to know “where they got the bike?” Is it important? Or just some dick-waving so the other guy can posture with his best “what’s it to ya?” I can’t remember under what circumstances Daryl lost his bike but I’m assuming it was that ‘Daryl episode’ where the runaways get the drop on him only to have to maneuver away from a larger group but I don’t recall the specifics or why it is anything more than ‘someone took it from him and now they took it back’.
And do we agree that “Neegan” or whatever was just an inspired bit of make believe by The Saviors et al; they created a sort of ‘bogey-man’ to spook others and bluff about how big and prepared they are?
Lastly do we know whether or not that crew that showed up for support is the last of them or could there be others of Clan Neegan? I can’t remember whether madame secretary had talked to or referred to any others. But though they seemed to understand that our gang had taken over / killed everyone in / The Saviors main hangout (and references made to losing all their guns) - they didn’t act like it was completely the end of their run; that somehow they were going to recover, persevere. Which implies to me that they are a part of a (much) larger outfit. Because if you are just 3 able-bodied folks and a gimp and you know that the base got run over, why are you so confident that when the other, what, 5? friends show up it’s going to turn the tide?
Is it important? Are you kidding? It’s so Daryl can GET HIS CROSSBOW BACK!!!11!! Why am I the only one concerned about this? What the heck is wrong with you people that you’re soooo okay with Daryl not having his crossbow? I can’t believe this isn’t a major concern every episode. I mean, I know Daryl’s being cool about it by taking up rocket launchers and guns and knives and other things that are less cool than his crossbow, but this indignity can only stand for so long.
-Tom
So how were those zombies on a pole supposed to work as a booby trap? The Wolves semi trailers, I get. But the stationary zombies on a pole in a hallway? Huh?
They probably just didn’t realize this was an episode where the main characters were competent.