The Walking Dead: Discussion Thread

[gtru1981]

Thank god! 12 more days! Been so bored on Sunday nights

[Ann_SS]

Great news! We are getting marathons of season 1 (Feb 3) and 2 (Feb 9), repeated on a couple days. I will be recording and rewatching over the summer when I have the time.

[DRW50]

I might tape those to try to get someone in my family to watch the show. I just hope they won't hate me for it. This show seems to turn some people a little nuts...

[Ann_SS]

LOL! It is the complex human drama underpinning the zombie munching that creats the nuttiness.

[Vee]

Are they rerunning Season 3 thus far? I'm almost caught up.

[DRW50]

Yes. The hate or love some fans feel for characters seems to be very...unfiltered.

I'm with Vee on wanting to know if the first half of season 3 will be repeated. I didn't see all of those.

[Ann_SS]

I checked and found a partial season 3 marathon (4 episodes) on Feb 10th. The remaining 4 episodes probably will follow, but are not on schedule as yet.

[Ann_SS]

Just a reminder that the season one marathon on starts today at 3:00 p.m.

[DRW50]

They showed a two or three minute tease for the next episode:

[DRW50]

TWD Super Bowl ad with a familiar face.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jFHgpUmQ_Uo

[Ann_SS]

I love this ad. It made me laugh.

[London]

Loooooooooooved seeing my bb and he's so precious.

[DRW50]

Another sneak peek, this time at the prison.

Glen Mazzara (nice of him to even still do these) interview on the last half of season 3.

http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/02/04/the-walking-dead-glen-mazzara-season-3/

ET and TV Line on the upcoming episode.

http://www.etonline.com/tv/130069_The_Walking_Dead_Exclusive_First_Look_2013_Premiere/index.html?page=2

http://tvline.com/2013/02/04/the-walking-dead-season-3-spoilers-andrea/#1/TWD 1/

Hines Ward will be playing a zombie on the show. (no spoilers that I could see)

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/ae/tv-radio/hines-ward-to-appear-as-zombie-on-walking-dead-672163/

Edited February 4, 2013 by CarlD2

[DRW50]

Just about done with season 2 - I was surprised by just how fantastic much of the later episodes of that season are. I saw the earlier stuff as a show with a great concept and fantastic actors, with somewhat middling execution.

There were so many touches in 18 Miles Out that on paper I would have questioned but which worked out so beautifully in the episode, like contrasting the ugly Rick/Shane fight (and Rick choosing to spare Shane's life in spite of knowing deep down how much Shane wants him dead) to Beth's suicide drama. The fight between Lori and Andrea was very good, as they were both right and both wrong, and the episode let both of them stay gray. I especially liked the last scenes in that story, where Maggie, understandably, told Andrea to stay the hell away from Beth after not stopping her suicide attempt, and Lori told Maggie that even though she didn't agree with Andrea, Beth had been able to make her choice. Then you get one last shot of Andrea, obviously very conflicted and yet proud as she's walking away. This way of thinking she has now is something even she knows isn't completely right, but it's all she has, and she's trying to make it work for her.

I loved that one of the first shots was Shane looking out the window to see a walker in a field, and one of the last shots was passing by on the way back to the farm and seeing the walker in the field again. I also loved the shot of Shane in the broken glass window during the fight, truly a monster, in every sense of the word, to the point where even he was briefly startled.

The Randall story is somewhat clumsy in that it's obviously just there to cause the characters to agonize, and Randall himself is not overly interesting, but the actor does a good job, especially in the scene where he nearly talked Carl into freeing him. And the torturing scene with Daryl - something that was necessary, yet not glamorized. Daryl wasn't written as being cool because he tortured people, it was just who he was.

Carol's increasing anger and frustration (pushed forward by Daryl repeatedly belittling her attempts at friendship) is one of those tiny plots that only needs a few scenes to move you.

I didn't like Dale and I mostly felt like his moral voice role was sometimes tacked on, as they had to mostly have him squawk at the injustice of it all without actually doing anything to move the story along. However, I thought Jeffrey DeMunn did a great job in his last episode (especially the tears in his eyes as he realized they were still going to kill Randall, and then the last scene when he was dying). The final scene where Daryl instinctively stepped in to kill Dale because he knew Rick couldn't do it..."Goodbye brother," it just broke my heart. I also like that Carl is allowed to be a little punk - I still feel sorry for him sometimes, because he's forced into this world where he has to make the right decision every time and if he doesn't, ugly things will happen.

The episode where Rick quickly realized what Shane had planned and waited until he could strike first - Andrew Lincoln was [!@#$%^&*] phenomenal in those scenes. Just emotional pain and chaos everywhere, and the last vestiges of Rick's conscience laughing at him. "You made me do this!" I think Rick loved Shane more than he loved anyone, even Lori. He forgave Shane so much. The affair, the lies, the power plays, everything. Only when he knew that Shane was leading him into a deathtrap did he finally strike, and you could tell that it basically broke him, for good.

The only real complaint I have with this season is how they demoted T-Dog from having any real role in the group, barely even any lines. They went from having him make one of those "I'm the only black guy, so I need to mention this" lines (not all that well-written, to me) to barely giving him any lines at all. By the end of the season I barely remembered he was still on the show. I thought that said more about the show's view of a black man than the earlier speech did.

My only other serious complaint would be killing off Patricia. I thought the woman who played her was one hell of an actress. The show seems to cast goodish, OK-ish actresses in central roles, and stronger actresses in the supporting roles. It's a little frustrating, to say the least.

Edited February 5, 2013 by CarlD2

[gtru1981]

5 more days! Thank god!