The Walking Dead: Discussion Thread

[Vee]

Carol's allowed to be more than one thing.

[Antoyne]

I despise this turn in Carol.

[ChitHappens]

Exactly where did it come from?  What sparked it because I obviously missed something. 

[Vee]

It's been developing since she met Morgan at the very least, but to me it goes back to Lizzie, Mika and Sam.

[marceline]

I'm guessing two things. Sam's death and Maggie's pregnancy. IMO, Carol's Achilles heel will always be kids because of Sophia. She tries to harden them up in the hopes that they'll be able to survive but in this case her attempt to harden Sam up is what killed him. Even if she doesn't know that he words were in his head were what made him freeze, she has to know that she damaged him. I suspect that's why she visits his grave. Carol's seen a lot of dead kids and one of them she had to kill herself. I think Maggie's pregnancy has brought the person she used to be back up to the surface and it's screwing with her. Throw in Morgan's pacifist stuff and the fact that this was essentially a paid assassination and I can see where Carol's getting squirrelly. That doesn't mean that I think they are writing it well but MM is playing it beautifully. In the hands of a lesser actress, it would be driving me crazy.

[DRW50]

JSS was where it really started - not the Morgan stuff, but how broken she was in the moments when she was on her own.

[quartermainefan]

But she was always more than one thing.   She didn't need this garbage writing to make her the character that every TV critic and seemingly half the audience to all agree is the best written character on the show just as she was.    At this rate, I half expect that guy with the deep voice to run the coming attractions like this:

 

"Next Time, on a Very Special Walking Dead..."

 

 

[DRW50]

She needed it to remain a viable character. Carol pretending to be a weak woman but actually being a heartless Rambo isn't something that can sustain her as a character. 

[quartermainefan]

Tonight's was ok.  Denise going I think was a waste of a good character.   I can see why the show doesn't want to lose its regular cast, but killing non-stop all the new additions seems like squandering a lot of potential. Since Alexandria we saw--was his name Noah?--Deanna, and now Denise, and all could have been worthy additions to the cast.  Carol's story continues to be arbitrary nonsense.

[DRW50]

I am at my limit with emo dumbass Daryl and with these cheesy fakeouts. Obviously he won't be dead. If Rosita is dead because he's so damn stupid, I'm going back on hiatus.

[Juliajms]

^ You really don't think he's dead? I was figuring he might be since the actor got a new show on AMC. Plus would they want to do another fake out after Glen? I'm also worried Maggie might be eaten from the inside, if her baby is dying. Hopefully she's not far along enough for that.

 

Anyway, I didn't much care for this episode. It was a bunch of people who should know better being stupid and putting other people at risk.

[DRW50]

That show only runs a few episodes, so I'd be surprised if he left for that, but who knows. I just think it's a fakeout.

[quartermainefan]

This was a dumb episode.  Everyone goes marching out trying to find more and more reasons to be separated.   And how many times can that one guy get the drop on these people?  Glenn is worried about Daryl being killed so once whatshername joins him, Glenn and Michonne decide to just go home?    I don't even know what is up with Rick and Morgan.   They go gallivanting  around in the middle of nowhere and then Rick decides his shift is over so he is going home, leaving Morgan to go searching alone for Carol--who they think may be bleeding.  They didn't even bother to check that barn.   Morgan is in the middle of nowhere, if he finds Carol injured what is he supposed to do with her?  Rick took the car.

 

Carol's writing grates.  Here she can't bear to kill anymore so she goes looking for situations where she has to kill.   What gets me is this hamfisted sledgehammer terrible writing where the show wants to make sure we see she has layers.   She always had layers and we didn't need to see tears to see it.   It's just dumbed down writing in the age of Lifetime where everyone needs to cry and narrate their every thought.   Fifty years ago Star Trek's most complex character was Mr Spock.   The show trusted the audience to see he had layers without weepy, tear filled monologues making sure the audience knew there was more to the character than just what he said.  Here, the show doesn't trust itself or the audience to see that Carol isn't one dimension so they give her some tears and an out of nowhere emotional crisis so they can hang a neon sign saying "DEPTH HERE---A LAYER IS BEING REVEALED".  It makes no sense and comes from nothing in the character's history, and only weakens her, not make her more interesting.

[DRW50]

I think part of the problem is a lot of viewers did see her as one-dimensional - as Rambo in female form. It's clumsy at times but I think they had to address Carol's writing because you couldn't keep her where she was last season.

[DRW50]

One of the main things that annoyed me with this episode was Rick now saying he agreed with Carol killing Karen and David (which he has never said up to this point, and even just 4-5 episodes ago, when he was on the road with Daryl, he seemed to have a more open approach), being so, so confident in telling Morgan they'd be fine against Negan, etc. I get the idea of setting up for a fall, but it was such blatantly clumsy plot-over-character. It reminded me a lot of the first few seasons. Disappointing.