stingermck

That's where I am at now. I freely admit I hate watch TWD. For every good episode there are 5 boring ones for me.

I have seen Rick and crew on their knees far too many times now, with Rick having that goofy look on his face. Time and time again they pussy out in a situation, live with it for awhile, then suddenly rally at the end like terminators.

Find the farm, chill, all hell breaks loose.
Find the prison, chill, all hell breaks loose.
Find Woodbury, chill, all hell breaks loose.
Find Terminius, quickly chill, all hell breaks loose.
Find Alexandria, chill, all hell breaks loose.

Its. the. same. story. every. season.

DRG

As I expected, the cliffhanger approach essentially muted this episode of emotional impact for me. It usually takes me a good episode into a new season of a show for me to reconnect to the characters, so this 'come back from a hiatus and reveal a death' wasn't so shocking or emotional as it was 'just tell me who dies already'. I was curious, but not as connected as I was in those final moments of last season.

I'm not really thrilled at the prospect of Rick & co. being Negan's bitches for a whole season. I just can't see how watching them squirm under his tyrannical rule will be at all enjoyable as a viewer.

raven56706

see thats just the thing... its a new start and a different way now. Rick was just badass for awhile and now the shit has changed. The villian is a real badass fucker. Now we see how they handle it

Troy Stiffler

Yes! I call it the Gilligan's Island Syndrome. When I was a kid, watching Gilligan's Island, I always thought they would get off the island. That was part of the joke. It became more and more disappointing each time, that I gave up hope. Fool me once, twice, three times, etc. etc. Eventually I stopped watching and stopped caring. Seems silly, but I loved that show.

I haven't watched TWD since mid last season. I'll get around to it sometime. I hope they figure something out and don't run it into the ground. The possibilities are endless.

There's so much good TV right now. If Rick and his little buddy are going to bum around the east coast, while the doofuses out in Los Angeles refuse logic and make terrible decisions at every turn, I don't know if I have interest anymore.

stingermck

Like they always do. Rally in amazing fashion in the end.

Negan should have just went down the line, and they make it his show from here on out.

dom56

Very intense and brutal episode. Was real hard to me watch Glenn and Abraham take a beating death by Negan. The final shot of Glenn's corpse was too much for me to watch.

dom56

Jeffrey Dean Morgan who play Negan must getting a lot a hate letters and tweets and death threats.

Dan

Yes, Negan is a sadistic character, but I think it's perfectly OK to say that the episode itself was overly sadistic and hostile to casual viewers who aren't invested in the comics and/or aren't keen on this level of drawn-out suffering and gore.
J. Lynch's episodes have been equally graphic, but far less sadistic, if at all. It's hard to explain.
This is clearly a line in the sand for the crew to say, "This is where you can leave, because it's only going to get worse."

There's nothing wrong with deciding to be on either side of that line, in my opinion. People don't deserve to be ridiculed for disliking it, though. Not that either poster quoted above is doing so, I'm just saying in general.

I'm going to keep watching, of course, because I'm genuinely interested in how they flesh out Negan's character. He's a great psychopath, sure, but I'd like to see what drives him. To be honest, the most exciting moment of this episode for me was when Rick had that quick 'vision' of the rest of the crew getting killed by Negan. Before I realized it was just his imagination, and not reality, I thought that would have been a bold-ass way to carry out the season... no more Daryl, Michonne, Rosita, Maggie, Carl, etc. We'd then be left with Rick, Carol, Morgan, Jesus, plus whoever Xander Berkeley plays (name escapes me), etc. I'd have been excited for that to be the next chapter of this show. Obviously, that didn't happen, because despite this show taking risks in the "how far can we push the brutality" department, they're still very much risk-free in the "how do we actually progress the story" department.

As others said, we'll probably get maybe 4 or 5 episodes worth of useful story progression out of the 16 episodes in this season.

I also think, given time to digest the show long-term, the S6 finale, and the S7 opener will end up as some of the least-re-watchable episodes in the entire series. I mean, aside from most of Season 2.


One more thing.
I know y'all think Glenn is dead, but... come on. They've played this game before. If you watch the scene closely, you can see that he's hiding underneath Lucille the entire time. The blood and gore is just Abe's. Glenn sneaked out when no one was looking and put a zombie's body there in his place. You'll see!

nodeerforamonth

I'm wondering if most people here haven't seen a zombie show or movie before and are just watching this series because it's "hip and cool". It's supposed to be brutal. It's the zombie apocalypse.

zuffy

This is how I felt too. Just brutal and not entertaining.

stingermck

Some people just don't enjoy that level of sadistic violence, and that is OK.

"But Zombies!" is becoming a tired rebuttal for people who have problems with the show.

Dan

Ky-Fi

Yep. And I think of the scene in the movie The Untouchables, where DeNiro as Capone takes out one of his men with a baseball bat to the back of the head at the dinner table. It was totally brutal and shocking, and it showed you what kind of a character he was--but it was done in about one minute of screen time, not most of a 1 hour episode.

Sgtsnake

I assumed it would be violent as Negan has to get his point across as to who the type of person he is but damn....Brutal.

I agree I'm sure we will be bored until they find a way to kill Negan or escape then move to the next tough guy then rinse/wash and repeat. I'm assuming at this point they will renew for a ninth season soon enough

Defiant1

We're in for an entire season of JDM giving long and slow monologues, aren't we?

cleaver

I agree with this except that Glenn's fake out death took the emotion out of it. I think the stretching it out so far took the emotion out of it, though it did make it tense and I still enjoyed it. But I've spent however many month ready to lose Glenn, Abraham, or Eugene, it's hard for me to feel any sense of loss over it, versus like when they killed Cutty out of nowhere or the sisters.

Draven

I guess I chalk that up to the standard TV trope that if you don't see a body, then the person might not be dead. The same thing happened when people were thinking Judith was eaten when the prison was overrun since they showed us a bloody baby carrier. And it was several episodes before we saw she was okay, but I can't believe anyone actually thought she was dead. That just comes from a lifetime of TV watching - if the writers want a character dead, they show them die. And if they don't show it, 90% of the time that character is coming back.

devilshalo

Why does Trump have so many supporters?

DWilson

If a Comic Book character can be described as "chewing scenery", than that describes Robert Kirkman's "Negan". Kirkman apparently loves writing dialogue for him and he pretty much talks non-stop.



I had been reading the collections and I knew there was a major death coming around Issue 100 (though I didn't know who), but Glenn's death was one of the few times where the death of a character in a comic has affected me, - I was stunned for a minute. Partly because of the character but also because of the brutality of it, -there was a panel of Glenn's head partially crushed, eye popped out, and him gurgling. The artist's less "polished" line-work was actually an advantage here, as it made it more horrifying.

sracer

I'm wondering if you have ever watched The Walking Dead before or you just tuned in to the season opener because "the comics are hip and cool". It is quite clear to regular viewers that this particular episode was far more disturbing than any previous episode.

devilshalo

So I was there at Talking Dead. I thought it was interesting that there were more of the cast there that didn't make it to the stage. The actors that play Carol, Gabriel, Morgan, Jesus, Dwight, Tara and Ezekiel were there, too.

Abraham.. it always seems to be the person that has their "come to Jesus" moment is the one to get killed. He came to terms with the world and was ready to commit to Sasha.

Glenn.. finally. Being there at Talking Dead for his fake out death and the way they dragged it out whether he was alive or not. Took some of the sails out of his death here, but they did give him a moment. When he turns to Maggie and says "I'll find you." That was heavy.

I get the breaking of Rick. I question the others. Maggie seems to be the only one willing to stand up, but at this point, what is there for her to live for? I get her motive. Herschel, Beth and now Glenn all gone. And if that's the way the world is, she doesn't want to bring a kid into this fucked up world. I'm surprised Sasha doesn't feel the same. Carl may be the only other one. Darryl will have to lay low to formulate a strategy (and he'll be dealing with the guilt of Glenn)

It's a hard restart to a series that was getting a little stale. Like Negan said to Rick, you were top dog for a long time, how's it feel now? You're mine.

thematahara

But where does it end? I stopped watching the series two seasons ago when I realized that this story has no where to go. It's just a group traveling from A>B>C with the occasional "shocking" death thrown in.

I enjoyed the first 3 seasons somewhat, but the more I realized this was just the group going from one place to the next, I just couldnt keep watching.

The only "reason" I can see for the existence of this show is to keep watching just to see who dies next.

Game of Thrones is bleak, but the journey has an eventual conclusion that, in theory, justifies the deaths and sacrifices.

This is just waiting for the next death while changing the location and protagonist.

I'm not trying to shit on anyone that enjoys it, but I would like to know what keeps people watching week to week.

Draven

Couldn't that argument be made about really any show though?

The issue with a zombie show that isn't actively trying to cure the zombie virus is basically about a group of survivors surviving until they find a place to permanently stay. And every time this group finds a good place to stay, everyone watching freaks out that it's getting "boring".

I mean, you look at something like a detective or medical show and you could say that all they are doing is solving cases and curing patients until they stop the show. That's basically what's happening here too.

raven56706

oh of course, absolutely. I think the thing different here is Rick is someones bitch now. We haven't see that before. Ever before. Now its Rick dealing with Negan and doing everything Negan wants until they can. From what im hearing, Next season will most likely be their last. Scott wants some finality.

The mid season finality will most likely be Ezekiel meeting Rick.

clckworang

I know everyone is taking sides on this episode, and I'll be going to the side that liked this episode.

Yes, I know people are tired of hearing the familiar refrain that this is a zombie show. Well, I'll go a step broader. This is a TV show in the horror genre. If it's truly doing its job right, there should be moments of shock and brutality. There should be moments that cause a visceral reaction, and this episode clearly accomplished that goal. I'm a seasoned horror fan, and this was one of the only times that this show caused a real reaction from me. I was very happy to see the intensity level finally go way up on this show.

All that being said, I understand this won't be for everyone, but it did help me to get re-engaged in the show, even if that might be temporary.

As for the repeating plots, I don't see that changing any time soon. The nature of these characters' lives is that they will most likely never have a permanent home again. They will always be struggling, whether it be against the undead or the living who want to take what they have. The name of the show is meant to be as much of a reference to our group of survivors as it is to the undead. This will be their ongoing struggle, and I can't see it ending. There will always be another threat and another home.

I certainly understand many of the gripes and that the level of violence in this episode might have gone too far for the sensibilities of many viewers. It will be interesting to see if this has an impact on ratings. I bet not.

Also, a few things about Negan. Yes, his scenes were sadistic, but that was the point. He needs to push these people into submission but without affecting their productivity. I also wondered about letting rick Rick leave. I thought maybe he would cut off Rick's hand to finally break Rick, but the thing with Carl was pretty damn effective. I think the reason to keep Rick is to allow him to do Negan's work for him. With Rick there, he could continue to keep the others in line and working toward the new cause, and there wouldn't be a power vacuum that the group might feel needs to be addressed. Plus, we know this is far from Negan's first rodeo. He might have dispatched previous leaders and realized it caused too many problems and that he needs that established authority to keep things together.