It was a more compelling hour than I'd initially expected, with the great Richonne opening bit and the wonderful stuff with Lauren Cohan and Sonequa Martin-Green who always deliver. Jesus was also very solid. Even the kids and their tiresome twee indie teen love affair in the apocalypse (the skates were too much) brought it in their big scene, which I didn't expect from the exceptionally mediocre girl playing Enid, who I only find tolerable with Maggie. I like Carl but I usually have little time for those two together; that said, Chandler Riggs was selling the intimacy of that big moment and it was pretty real.

 

The night sequence with the car, the music and the pack of zombies was exceptionally shot and cut, with a great showcase for Sonequa and Tom Payne - and again, TWD is utilizing a pool of underrated film and TV directors of color, including this week's director Darnell Martin. To me this stuff is what the show is best at these days, showing people working together with a common goal to defeat tough odds, whether in battle there or in building a community. That may not be cool enough for Robert Kirkman but it's what the show always seem to angle towards on its own, and it's what interests me about Maggie, Sasha and Jesus at the Hilltop. Maggie giving Gregory her full name was also great. And Carl and Jesus looks like fun.

Still not feeling it.   This was just more of the same only now we watched newbies contending with mini-Negan.  One was enough.   I liked Jesus last year, but integrate him into the main dynamic, not devote an episode to "The Jesus and whatever the other guy's name is Show"    I can't honestly say I care about Hilltop and how and if it survives.  Why did we spend an hour on their politics?   And then there is Carl and Enid.  The course of young love never runs easy, but haven't these two been acting out the same scene for a year?

 

Mini-Negan:  Why?   Was the original Negan so fascinating the show decided what was needed was a clone?  The scenes between mini-negan and whatever his name is was total FF material.  Newbie meets even newbier.   And when did Jesus become so close with Maggie and Sasha?   I don't recall them even meeting. 

 

 

About the only thing the show did right was at the bookends:   Carl being unable to play darts is a nice touch, and then pairing Carl with Jesus.   That's how you are supposed to integrate characters into the show, not the army of newbies the show has assaulted us with all season.   We've seen five episodes so far.  By my count the Saviors and their one-dimensional broken record cruelty has been on in some fashion each and every one.   Now the show wants to make going concerns of the blond guy with the burned face, Negan, the wife they share, the guy who runs Hilltop, Jesus, and who the heck knows who is coming next.   Whatever happened to Carol?  What about the wolves, did the show just drop them?   And when 40 Saviors and Negan came knocking on the door last week just standing there waiting to be ambushed, why didn't Alexandria just shoot them and end this tedious and goes nowhere storyline?

Edited November 21, 20169 yr by quartermainefan

Both those characters you mentioned were there last season, along with Jesus.

17 hours ago, quartermainefan said:

Still not feeling it.   This was just more of the same only now we watched newbies contending with mini-Negan.  One was enough.   I liked Jesus last year, but integrate him into the main dynamic, not devote an episode to "The Jesus and whatever the other guy's name is Show"    I can't honestly say I care about Hilltop and how and if it survives.  Why did we spend an hour on their politics?   And then there is Carl and Enid.  The course of young love never runs easy, but haven't these two been acting out the same scene for a year?

 

Mini-Negan:  Why?   Was the original Negan so fascinating the show decided what was needed was a clone?  The scenes between mini-negan and whatever his name is was total FF material.  Newbie meets even newbier.   And when did Jesus become so close with Maggie and Sasha?   I don't recall them even meeting. 

 

 

I don't really love the way the main cast is isolated in their own little bubbles, but I don't see that changing any time soon.  I think we're spending time on their politics because all of these groups are going to have to come together to fight Negan. That's not looking like an easy thing to achieve with Gregory in charge. Jesus or even Maggie is going to have to take over. I'm not really looking forward to Jesus and Carl headed towards Negan. If I were Rick and Carl survives this, I think I might kill him myself.

Edited November 22, 20169 yr by Juliajms

OK, so they give us a 70 min episode and then it's all Tara. I'm losing patience with this show.

I haven't really bothered with the show this season but I always liked Tara. I keep figuring she'll be dead each season and am surprised when she isn't. If it's any good I'll have to check it out. 

You should check it out Carl. My issue isn't with Tara, I like her too. I'm just frustrated with the bubbles people are in and the show's inability to focus on more than one local at a time. If you don't take issue with that, then I think you would enjoy the episode.

8 minutes ago, Juliajms said:

You should check it out Carl. My issue isn't with Tara, I like her too. I'm just frustrated with the bubbles people are in and the show's inability to focus on more than one local at a time. If you don't take issue with that, then I think you would enjoy the episode.

 

The bubble aspect is something I enjoy about the show, but it's more the repetitive nihilism and ponderous writing that made me lose interest. I'll try to watch it at some point. 

I wasn't expecting a Tara centric episode to appeal to me, but I actually thought it wasn't bad.  

4 hours ago, slick jones said:

I wasn't expecting a Tara centric episode to appeal to me, but I actually thought it wasn't bad.  

 

 

It was the best episode this season so far.   And this episode was different than all the others in that a certain monotonous villain and his cookie cutter evil henchmen weren't on.   Perhaps there is a connection.

6 hours ago, Juliajms said:

You should check it out Carl. My issue isn't with Tara, I like her too. I'm just frustrated with the bubbles people are in and the show's inability to focus on more than one local at a time. If you don't take issue with that, then I think you would enjoy the episode.

 

 

I had forgotten all about Tara, but this episode did a good job of fleshing her out and now I think she can be a going concern as a major member of the cast.   I wish she pointed out to that group that if they kill every man they come in contact with that the long term prospects of the group surviving more than a generation is pretty nil.   That notion was mentioned on Battlestar Galactica:  after almost the entire population is wiped out the president tells the admiral he needs to forget about war and think about that the people left need to start making babies, and later the admiral jokes that it eventually might come to a military order that people start making babies.   Those women tonight will have a tough time replacing people when the oldest start to die out if they intend on killing everyone they meet.

Good lord, who's bright idea wa it to focus an entire episode around Tara? She is literally the most boring character on this show and serves no purpose. Quite possibly the worst episode of the series

Which one is Tara?  As long as I've been watching this show, I should know this. 

 

 

5 minutes ago, ChitHappens said:

Which one is Tara?  As long as I've been watching this show, I should know this. 

 

 

this one

 

17 minutes ago, Cheap21 said:

Good lord, who's bright idea wa it to focus an entire episode around Tara? She is literally the most boring character on this show and serves no purpose. Quite possibly the worst episode of the series

 

I'd say that's Daryl.

I didn't see the entire eppy but was pissed that I wasn't familiar with any of the characters. Still trying to figure if this chick has ever been in a significant scene.