The Walking Dead (New Show On AMC)

[Nottso]

I was upset that T-Dogg was killed off. I was hoping for Merle to come back, go after T-Dogg, and for Darrel to defend T-Dogg.

[TracyThom]

If I understood last week's episode, everyone was under the assumption Carol was dead. In the preview for this week's show, it looks like the crew discovers that Carol may not be dead. I came across this meme and thought it was fantastic.

 

[align=center]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a128/ChicagoProWrestlingMessageBoard/GZTJX.jpg[/align]

[homer]

Ha! That's pretty funny. She's another one that needs to go. She has no connection to anyone now that Daryl shot her down. Let her get ripped up for all I care....or turn her into a badass, that might be cool.

 

Anyone else not know that Rick is actually English? I sort of thought he was based on how he approached the southern accent but wasn't sure.

[Raw Biz]

Ha! That's pretty funny. She's another one that needs to go. She has no connection to anyone now that Daryl shot her down. Let her get ripped up for all I care....or turn her into a badass, that might be cool.

 

Anyone else not know that Rick is actually English? I sort of thought he was based on how he approached the southern accent but wasn't sure.

 

Yeah, he had a small part in Love Actually.

[pretendastronaut]

So, we're one episode away from the mid-season finale, and again I'm sitting with mixed emotions about this show.

 

In general, I think this season has been good, but I'm also somewhat disappointed in it. I think Michonne's character is annoying so far (though ironically she's probably really close to the comic character), and they've failed to make me care one way or the other about the Governor. In truth, at this point I'm far more interested in Merle getting a beat down than the Governor.

 

I don't know, maybe I'm biased from having read the comics. They've tried to focus to much on showing him as the good guy the town-people see him as, and showing bits of who he really is, but it has failed to come off as intimidating in my opinion. The comic was reversed, we really only saw the vile side of him, and some of the characters talked about how he presented himself as a good guy to most of the citizens. I've read reviews that say he's a great villain because he's manipulative and some that feel he's now vile because of what he did to Maggie. I'm just not feeling it from him right now, but there is a lot of potential still there.

 

Also, they've been doing a far share of silly detail stuff lately. Like, how does a crazy guy who supposedly doesn't realize the zombie apocalypse is upon us, survive in the middle of "the red zone" for all of this time? And how does a bite from a zombie give you an infection that kills you, but having rotting zombie entrails all over your exposed gunshot wound, doesn't give you an infection? Nitpicking, I know.

[RobDeer 45]

Great point about open wounds Pretendasntro. I always found myself thinking, don't let blood get on you or in your mouth when they were slaying walkers, but I really didn't think about it all the way through. You'd think that would trigger things. Also, why does a bite that doesn't kill you, make you turn? I mean they are all infected already..... I'm guessing I'm missing something obvious.

 

I really love the show and I find myself being ok with the bad parts. I kind of laugh them off and sweep them under the rug. I do think the character development needs to start getting deeper. I was hoping for flash backs like on lost, to really understand the characters. I agree that the constant addition and then killing off of people can't last forever.

 

I do think they could really go with this a long time. So many possibilities, so many states, cities, areas, scenarios. To do that though, they need to make us like, hate, and understand more characters.

 

I'm hooked and really hope they can find ways to continue on improving the show.

[young guns]

It has something to do with the bite giving you a fever and that killing you, I think. In the first episode thats the way Morgan explained it. Im guessing its some sort of bacteria thats present in the mouth but not the blood.

[chadomac]

I'm strongly considering giving this show another chance this winter. Can someone tell me that they have decent character development now so that I actually care what happens to the people on the show? That was my biggest problem with it.

 

I watched about a season and a half of it, I think. I remember dropping off shortly after that refuge center with that doctor blew up and the blond girl stayed behind. I thought about how that scene was supposed to be emotional because I was supposed to care that she was staying behind and killing herself... but I did not care at all. And I quit shortly afterwards.

 

BUT... a LOT of people have told me that the show got way way better shortly after I stopped watching. And it's tempting me to get back into it. Do you guys agree with that sentiment or no?

[thebruce44]

The character dev hasn't gotten much better. They have had a TON more action and violence though. Its gotten to be enjoyable instead of something I make myself watch to relive the comics.

[stoutdude04]

Andreas character is a mess.

[pretendastronaut]

Character development is still the show's biggest weakness. And that's not to say they're still awful at character development, it's just to say they're not as awful. (That scene with Carol and Rick in the jail cell last week, was surprisingly emotional, with hardly any words spoken and I wouldn't have thought they could pull that off.) But they've gotten better at pacing and tension.

 

This is slightly spoiler-ish (and thus intentionally vague) if you haven't read the comic or seen the mid-season finale, but there was such a prime example of this failing in tonight's episode. When Michonne is waiting in the dark, awaiting her confrontation, in the comic, that carried weight, it meant something and you wanted her to be there, but in the show, they've failed to establish a good reason for Michonne to sit and wait in the dark like that, but they threw it in anyway, so they could advance the story, not because it advanced a character narrative that you could feel. I hated that they even put her in that spot on the show.

[Raw Biz]

Honestly, I think people are being too picky with the character development stuff. I never read the comics so I don't know how everything went down in them but it's a show about zombies. I'm just grateful something different (i.e. not a cop/legal procedural) is on tv. I'll admit the first half of season 2 was really slow but this season has been 10 times better so I think we're just being a bit too picky at this point.

[TURBO]

Honestly, I think people are being too picky with the character development stuff. I never read the comics so I don't know how everything went down in them but it's a show about zombies. I'm just grateful something different (i.e. not a cop/legal procedural) is on tv. I'll admit the first half of season 2 was really slow but this season has been 10 times better so I think we're just being a bit too picky at this point.

 

This.

 

I watch this show each week and love it. I look forward to it, and view it as entertainment.

 

I also think people are far too picky, this isn't life and death. It's a great show!!

[radman12484]

I actually thought it was an intense scene with Michonne going into the governors place. We knew why she was there and kind of had the feeling she was gonna find his kid in there. I can't wait til February.

[pretendastronaut]

I can be too picky when I'm on the show about crazy dudes in the woods and nonsense like that, and I label it as such myself. But I don't think expecting the show to be able to develop characters is being to picky. I'm not saying that the show isn't entertaining, and I've previously pointed out they're doing better than the hiccups they had in the end of season one and beginning of season two. They've become good at making an entertaining show, but the character development is what could make it a great show.

 

When I think of shows I would label as great, they have strong complex characters that you can feel, wrapped into a complex and entertaining story. A zombie story can certainly exist without strong characters, but we've seen that. The strength of The Walking Dead in the comic and in the video game (which is really fantastic), is in understanding that it stands apart because it's a story about people first and foremost and the lengths they will go to survive within horrible chaos and the choices their new reality makes them face. For all of the mess in how the Sophia storyline was handled last year, the outstanding payoff was a result of the characters and the horror they had to face, not the zombies themselves.

[chadomac]

Say what you will about LOST (I will say that season 1 and the final season were great... not so sure about everything in-between).... but it's an example of great character development, especially the first season with the flashbacks. Those flashbacks helped you get invested into a character, and then you grew to really care about some of them as events unfolded on the island or you learned more about their past. Some of the best character development I've ever seen in a TV show.

 

Oddly enough, one of my critiques about the first season or so of Walking Dead was that it reminded me of the worst parts of LOST... 45 minutes of nothing really happening... then something finally happens JUST to rope you into watching the next episode. And then of course the first 45 minutes of the next episode would be just as dull.

 

Enough people have told me to give it another try - I'm going to get back on the train and try to look past the character thing.

[thebruce44]

Honestly, I think people are being too picky with the character development stuff. I never read the comics so I don't know how everything went down in them but it's a show about zombies. I'm just grateful something different (i.e. not a cop/legal procedural) is on tv. I'll admit the first half of season 2 was really slow but this season has been 10 times better so I think we're just being a bit too picky at this point.

 

Every good zombie anything I've ever seen or read wasn't actually about Zombies. This is no different, its about its characters. Since that isn't going too well, its defaulted to zombie entertainment. Not bad for an hour every Sunday, but with the story it draws from and with the network its on I think we have every right to want more.

[homer]

It seems most people that have complaints about the show are those that read the comics. I never read them and have loved the current season.

[Baldkin]

I don't sit down and watch it anymore. There is too much slow pacing, nothing to draw me in. I will turn it on while I am cooking or cleaning or whatever and just go from there. I never feel like if I miss something it will be a big deal at all.

 

Homeland and Dexter both require my full attention.

[pretendastronaut]

Every good zombie anything I've ever seen or read wasn't actually about Zombies. This is no different, its about its characters. Since that isn't going too well, its defaulted to zombie entertainment. Not bad for an hour every Sunday, but with the story it draws from and with the network its on I think we have every right to want more.

 

This. Times two.

 

Homeland and Dexter both require my full attention.

 

Not to derail this thread, but Homeland is fantastic television. The complex journey they've taken us on with Brody is a shining example of how great characters bring a show to a new level.

[Raw Biz]

I think ultimately all I care about is being entertained and The Walking Dead is able to do it. If you need more character development, then so be it. But I think the show has been good to great almost its entire run (except for most of the first half of season 2).

[Buckethead Brigade]

http://pabsttheater.org/show/walkingdeadcastandcreators2013

Cast and Creators at the Pabst Theater...Meeting Norman Reedus (Daryl) is worth going itself

[thebruce44]

If you want an idea of how powerful it can be to see a main character killed off, go watch a show like Breaking Bad or Sons of Anarchy. My girlfriend cried for about 30 min last night when her favorite character in SOA got killed (we are behind so its not a spoiler). When Lori died, I didn't feel much of anything. Take away the Zombies and I wouldn't even be interested. This is a show that is going to kill off a lot of people, and that could be a lot more intense.

 

Yes, its entertainment like a mindless action movie. It has its place, but it could be so much more and I wont feel like I'm being a source material snob in vocalizing my wishes.

[chadomac]

We're mid-way through Season 2 right now. Shane just let the barn open and the slaughter occurred. The action has picked up a bit more than I remember in season 1, so hopefully that continues.

 

I won't care when Lori dies either, because they haven't made her likeable in any way.

[Raw Biz]

If you want an idea of how powerful it can be to see a main character killed off, go watch a show like Breaking Bad or Sons of Anarchy. My girlfriend cried for about 30 min last night when her favorite character in SOA got killed (we are behind so its not a spoiler). When Lori died, I didn't feel much of anything. Take away the Zombies and I wouldn't even be interested. This is a show that is going to kill off a lot of people, and that could be a lot more intense.

 

Yes, its entertainment like a mindless action movie. It has its place, but it could be so much more and I wont feel like I'm being a source material snob in vocalizing my wishes.

 

I watch both of those shows so I'm not sure what your point was. I love SOA, probably one of my favorite shows right now. I agree that The Walking Dead could be a lot better, though I don't think it's all because of character development. All I'm saying is I think people are being a little too picky because I actually have seen more character development this season than last. So I think the show is definitely trending upward.