LOL, yeah. First we get to watch Rick & Co. go full berserker mode on a horde of Zombies in Alexandria; next, they’re a CQB outfit that would make Rainbow Six piss in their pampers
I kept yelling at them to check the goddamn doors and corners.
just in case
Lose the town doctor, gain Daryl’s crossbow, sensible plan to manufacture bullets, and Eugene “levels up” to stage 2 with a new natural attack on his character sheet.
Fun episode.
The show’s got its groove back for sure. Another great episode.
Yep, great episode. The last two promise to be a rocky ride.
Bleh, dumb episode with more dumb things, including really poorly staged action, particularly in the wake of the silly Rainbow Six* squad tactics shoot-o-rama we just had. But mostly, I’m disappointed Walking Dead has decided its best actor will take off to walk the earth or whatever, particularly since she leaves behind some horrible writing for a good-bye letter. “I can’t love anyone because I can’t kill for anyone”? Egad. Really, Walking Dead? You’re going to make Melissa McBride read that? I’m also bummed the show has shot its second best actor with a crossbow bolt through the eye. Oh, Merrit Wever, we hardly knew ye! Where’s a dumpster when you need one? I might have to watch that Nurse Jackie show she was on.
But, yeah, at least Daryl has his crossbow back and now random bad guy #14 (aka the one with the burn make-up) is probably being set up for a stirring revenge killing.
-Tom
- Sorry, scharmers, that was too good to not be stolen!
So the montage at the start was meant to indicate that many days have passed since the events of the Hilltop-Alexandria alliance and subsequent Neganicide. I think we’re also supposed to infer that Rick’s people believe they pretty much wiped out Negan’s entire group despite evidence to the contrary (and I guess Jesus and Hilltop have no idea of the extent of Negan’s empire either?). I mean, they’re posting sentries and stuff, but still sending out scavenging parties of only 2 or 3 people, which isn’t something you’d do if you thought there was an armed group out there looking for an opportunity to take revenge on you.
Eugene’s idea has merit, but how do they suppose to implement it? I’m going to guess the foundry equipment is too heavy or complex to move back to Alexandria, so that means fortifying the building and putting a garrison in place so raiders don’t come along and steal all your ammunition. Alexandria can barely defend itself, how are they supposed to secure and hold a second location?
And then poor Doc Denise. All she wanted to do was kill a walker, grab some meds and make Daryl and Rosita realize that they were both the ones who needed help, not her. Maybe this could be the start of Dar-ita? Nah, Daryl doesn’t have time for that stuff now that he has his bike, his crossbow and a mission to attend to. I guess bringing back a bike and a crossbow was enough to make Negan forgive and forget runaway guy’s past crimes. He was even leading the merry little ambush band. That alone should be enough to wake Rick and Alexandria up to the fact that Negan is still out there and really pissed off.
What was up with the walker in the apothecary? It looked like the women who ran the place had a broken foot, and was keeping her baby at the store with her when all hell broke loose? Then she had to kill the baby because the noise was drawing the walkers (nice touch with all the handprints on the storefront windows and doors), and that made her go insane, write on the wall and I guess kill herself? Makes sense I suppose, though why they would still be in the shop instead of having gone home when news first broke of a major epidemic is kind of weird.
As Carol is narrating her letter about leaving, we see a whole caravan lining up in Alexandria. Was that supposed to be related? Is there a big group leaving and Carol just decided to go with them? I didn’t understand that; I thought she was just heading out on her own.
And how was Eugene going to power all that equipment?
They’re now Rainbow Six … with angst.
What was up with the walker in the apothecary? It looked like the women who ran the place had a broken foot, and was keeping her baby at the store with her when all hell broke loose? Then she had to kill the baby because the noise was drawing the walkers (nice touch with all the handprints on the storefront windows and doors), and that made her go insane, write on the wall and I guess kill herself? Makes sense I suppose, though why they would still be in the shop instead of having gone home when news first broke of a major epidemic is kind of weird.
If I was an apothecary and I kept hearing about people getting terribly sick, staying at my store and selling medicines makes sense right up until I understood that “sick” meant zombies. That moment of clarity may have come too late.
My guess is that the caravan is set up for a supply/trade run to Hilltop (and probably to warn them Negan is still alive). As for powering the equipment, my guess is magical power lines coming from the solar panels. More seriously - I don’t know how much actual power is needed for blacksmithing work. I’d imagine it would certainly help, but ostensibly it seems like something that doesn’t require electricity. Hand feeding a furnace to get the heat high enough, machining could be done with a grindstone. This is all just talking out of my rear, however; no real knowledge of what’s involved.
When Durrell, Rozita, and an Actual Character That Remided Me of Real Human Beings (wot’s her name) strolled out of the pharmacy, the first thing I told my wife was, “It’s been several years since the onset of Day Z. Most of those meds are probably expired.”
She didn’t say anything back, of course. I just know that Sarah Northway is a better writer than TWDs current crop.
And TWDs writers got so close to getting true Geek Cred, but blew it. I’ts not “stage two”, it’s “level two”, you schmucks.
(Remember, kids, we diss TWD because we still love it. It’s when this thread goes silent that we know it has truly jumped the shark)
That occurred to me, as well. I understand that some meds just lose potency over time and so perhaps those are still useful but to a lesser degree than when “fresh.” Others? I’d be pretty darn scared to try them.
edit - and after looking it up, it seems like heat (such as one might experience in Virginia or Georgia without air conditioning) has a pretty strong influence on them going bad
This was the main thing that bothered me. They attacked Site A, but then a separate group of Negan’s people captured some of them. Then that group of Negan’s people call another site, and a third group of Negan’s people show up. Rick et all see this and know this. How in the hell do they think they even got half, much less all, of Negan’s people? How many sites does Negan control? They don’t seem to care. At the very least they know of FOUR large groups(the ones Daryl bazooka’d, the three from the attack). How many groups do they need to see before they realize Negan has a shiat ton of people? There’s no way they can all be wandering around out there in small groups unless they are supremely stupid.
Otherwise I’ve been enjoying this second half of the season. I like seeing them finally get hardcore like they should have been for a while now. Morgan cracks me up, with his jail idea. To keep someone in jail you have to feed them, clothe them, allow bathes or showers, guard them 24/7, etc. It’s a lot of work and resources and that’s for just one person. How many prisoners is he planning for? Who’s going to do all the work? What if the prisoner starts flinging poop at the guard? Morgan is an idiot.
But Daryl has his crossbow back, and we learn that it has a hella of kick. I mean the bolt went in the back of the head and came out the eye of the lady medic, from about 50 years, that is some serious kinetic energy.
Carol isn’t going anywhere, she is just doing her bipolar act.
Well I’ve reload 10,000 of rounds, at Gun Runners bench with hand loader perk, so I think that qualifies me as an expert. You really only need lead, which can be found in various pieces of scrap metal; caseing, which I sure everybody has been hoarding, and gun powder. Gun powder is conviently sold in jars at your local gun vendor. Oh and reloading bench which I am sure an RPG veteran like Eugene knows.
LOL - indeed, Strollen.
That was freakin’ hilarious. I wasn’t sure if some reference I didn’t get. After Eugene said something along the lines of “as any player of RPGs, computer or otherwise would know…” my ears perked up and I thought, hey, that describes me. Then he babbled on with something about stages and I figured, oh, right, that is something I don’t get. But it makes sense now. He was talking about levels?
By the way, I just reached stage 17 in The Division. I have a stage 80 engineer and necromancer in Guild Wars 2. My highest stage character in Grim Dawn is stage 27. I’ve been meaning to stage up a hardcore Diablo 3 character, but haven’t gotten around to it yet.
-Tom
The Walking Dead is in alternate universe in which they are known as stages, no levels.
Not mentioned yet… She didn’t get to drink her soda. :(
I don’t think the jail cell has anything to do with potential prisoners or “offering another option” at all. It has to do with Morgan needing the comfort of his own little cell back in the cabin in the woods. He’s retreating into nostalgia.
Lol, I hadn’t thought of it that way. I was thinking Morgan had some crazy idea that they’d take Negan prisoner and Morgan would rehab him, then Negan could be allowed to lead the saviors again but as good guys this time.
All I know is they’ve wasted the return of Lennie James to the series. Morgan had the potential to be a pivotal character, someone who could come in and help Rick and the people of Alexandria in a myriad of ways, and instead they’ve hamstrung him with this warrior’s code bullshit. Now they have him building a stupid jail cell so he can try to carry on the legacy of the guy who saved him from insanity. It’s dumb. Negan’s guys (and the Wolves) don’t act the way they do because they’re traumatized and need to be brought back from insanity, they choose to act that way.