'The Walking Dead- TV show ONLY! Only spoilers allowed are about PAST TV episodes!

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Yamer

2 pretty 'meh' episodes in a row. I get what they were trying to do in each one, but I don't really think they executed it very well.

If it's all a way to set up, emotionally and narratively, the upcoming episodes with 'Aaron' then it might be ok. Guess we'll have to see how next week plays out.

This episode was definitely nothing more than filler and I've never been a fan of sitting through an hour of the characters in self pity mode but at least they threw us a bone at the end essentially saying; "hey we know this episode had nothing going on but we got the good stuff coming next week".

[Fire of the Phoenix]

Show's been bad since the Terminus story wrapped up. Like 6 bad episodes in a row, last night was the worst episode in the history of the series IMO. I fell asleep watching it twice, I have never fallen asleep watching this show, but it was just that boring. Literally nothing happened, it was 100% filler. Finally a hint at a new direction at the end of Sunday's episode, maybe the end of the season can be salvaged. Such a shame because before the last 6 episodes the show IMO was better than ever. Last half of season 4 and first 4 episodes of this season is the standard I hope they can make it back to.

[KTrain]

I might be the only person to enjoy the last episode. You really felt the effects of the group being constantly beaten down.

With many TV series these days I find it's better to judge seasons rather than episodes. Show that the group is hitting rock bottom is necessary for the story to advance and give the rest of the season more weight.

Not every episode needs to be action packed.

[The Big Chill]

Was a pretty slow episode, but I liked that they addressed some of the things that would really be an issue in a situation like this. Food and water is something that rarely gets mentioned but would likely be a constant issue. Their mental state as they try to deal with this radically changed world and the loss of everyone and everything they know. Their realization that they may never get back to something resembling their lives before the outbreak.

It's unrealistic to have every episode be like an action movie, and despite the episode being quite slow, I liked it. It showed the desperate and fragile state they're currently in.

[Ben_in_Canada]

What bugged me about the episode was the walkers at the barn door.
Was this a dream sequence? I know they showed the girls walking around the morning after and there were bodies all over the place and downed trees and stuff but it just seemed so random that one moment they were all holding the doors closed and the next they're back sleeping all over the barn?

[Inglewood Jack]

I knew this one wouldn't be popular...hate it or love it, at least we can all agree that the episode made us feel some of the hopelessness and monotony of shambling towards Washington on foot?

I also want to know what the heck was up with that barn attack. big zombie horde, thunder, desperate pushing against the mud and then...a beautiful morning where you could practically hear the rooster calls in the sunlight? when they came out to see what happened it almost looked like an apartment-sized boulder had smashed a path through the forest. you'd think if something suddenly interrupted the attack, they would have gone out to see what was going on that same night, instead of just being like, eh we're tired of pushing, we'll sleep in and check it out tomorrow.

maybe the new Aaron guy is a wizard and cast Meteor 2 on the zombies. until someone comes up with a more plausible explanation, let's go with that.

[OutOfTheCube]

Yep, essentially the group was saved by three 'acts of god' in a matter of hours. First a group of dogs randomly emerges from the forest for food, then a torrential rain storm just when they're all hitting the limits of thirst, then a tornado (or something) saves them from a zombie horde.

Who knows, maybe it was shooting for some kind of religious undertone. There were some other religious themes with the black priest guy too.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

This episode was definitely nothing more than filler and I've never been a fan of sitting through an hour of the characters in self pity mode but at least they threw us a bone at the end essentially saying; "hey we know this episode had nothing going on but we got the good stuff coming next week".

The episode was really about showing why the group would consider going into another random encampment after everything they've been through with previous efforts.

Life on the outside wandering around is just really bleak. After Terminus, it wouldn't make much sense to have them just join up with someone else so easily. When the alternative is a slow death, you have to consider every offer.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Ben_in_Canada

What bugged me about the episode was the walkers at the barn door.
Was this a dream sequence? I know they showed the girls walking around the morning after and there were bodies all over the place and downed trees and stuff but it just seemed so random that one moment they were all holding the doors closed and the next they're back sleeping all over the barn?

Originally Posted by Inglewood Jack

I knew this one wouldn't be popular...hate it or love it, at least we can all agree that the episode made us feel some of the hopelessness and monotony of shambling towards Washington on foot?

I also want to know what the heck was up with that barn attack. big zombie horde, thunder, desperate pushing against the mud and then...a beautiful morning where you could practically hear the rooster calls in the sunlight? when they came out to see what happened it almost looked like an apartment-sized boulder had smashed a path through the forest. you'd think if something suddenly interrupted the attack, they would have gone out to see what was going on that same night, instead of just being like, eh we're tired of pushing, we'll sleep in and check it out tomorrow.

maybe the new Aaron guy is a wizard and cast Meteor 2 on the zombies. until someone comes up with a more plausible explanation, let's go with that.

I took it to be a dream. It represented to me the contiual push this world has against the group both emotionally and physically.

I didn't mind the episode. As mentioned, there has not been much about the difficulties of everyday living, and necessities of life, food/water/shelter.

You can't have everyshow be a blow doors off. This episode was forplay for next week. You simply can't jump right on the clitoris all the time.

I reckon Aaron is a friend. The scenes from next week i think are Rick et al, fighting the enemy of Aaron (I suspect Morgan has met with them).

[Cali Panthers Fan]

I honestly never know what to expect from episode to episode in terms of styles, themes, plot, character development, overarching story philosophy. So in that terms this show is almost always a success.

That being said, that was a terribly executed episode with horrible pacing. People are right saying that not every episode needs to blow the doors off, but it would be great if it didn't put me to sleep too. You can have a slower episode that has very interesting and intense material. The only thing of interest was Rick's speech about them being "The Walking Dead", but there was no follow up conversation from the rest of the group other than Darryl's poetic "We're not them."

I was pretty let down by that episode which had so much potential from a thematic perspective.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by Cali Flames Fan

I honestly never know what to expect from episode to episode in terms of styles, themes, plot, character development, overarching story philosophy. So in that terms this show is almost always a success.

That being said, that was a terribly executed episode with horrible pacing. People are right saying that not every episode needs to blow the doors off, but it would be great if it didn't put me to sleep too. You can have a slower episode that has very interesting and intense material. The only thing of interest was Rick's speech about them being "The Walking Dead", but there was no follow up conversation from the rest of the group other than Darryl's poetic "We're not them."

I was pretty let down by that episode which had so much potential from a thematic perspective.

The lack of build up and no respect for their audiences' intelligence really annoyed me with this episode. There was no build up in previous episodes, nothing just a wham "we need an episode where they're hungry!!".

Then you have the complete lack of subtlety when getting the point of "we are the walking dead". All episode they're shellacking across the road, even their zombie trap, they have they're arms down, like zombies. They brow beat us with this point. Even Rick's exposition seemed way too over the top, I half expected him to wink at the screen when he was done.

[Erick Estrada]

Was I the only one when Maggie was fiddling with the key in the trunk thinking the whole time she could just go to the drivers side door and use the trunk release?

[ken0042]

Depends. Was the release manual (like a cable) or electronic? The ignition was in the "on" position, so the battery would certainly have been dead by then. The only way would have been a manual release, and I haven't seen those in a while.

[dino7c]

most recent episode was the worst yet, incredibly boring and mostly pointless

[Daradon]

Originally Posted by KTrain

I might be the only person to enjoy the last episode. You really felt the effects of the group being constantly beaten down.

With many TV series these days I find it's better to judge seasons rather than episodes. Show that the group is hitting rock bottom is necessary for the story to advance and give the rest of the season more weight.

Not every episode needs to be action packed.

I think the majority of us know and agree that not every show needs to be action packed.

The problem is the writing and the actors (and probably the directing) don't have the ability to make episodes like this interesting.

I for one, am more about building plot than most of the summer blockbuster movie goers. (Not singling anyone out, as most seem to agree with me anyway) I like long dramas, slow scenes with tension, trippy sequences and artsy films. Shows like Breaking Bad, and Game of Thrones are some of the best at that (though even still kinda Hollywood to other stuff I also like). The acting carries it. Makes a five minute monologue edge of your seat stuff.

The fact of this show is that they SUCK at all of that. This is an episode that a good director could make interesting. It was not interesting. It was almost painful. And not in a good way, edge of your seat way. More like in a shoot me in the face sort of the way.

I agree wholeheartedly with those that say, the idea was good, the execution was horrible. Boring episode, total filler, kinda thinking I should bail on the show now. Cept the ending was interesting.

Damn I'm a sucker.

[KTrain]

A parallel I'm noticing with the comics (this is NOT a spoiler at all) is that the comic stories don't seem to written for individual issues anymore. They're geared towards the trades so there seems to be many "filler" issues but when read together as a trade they feel like a flowing story that feels better as a whole.

I wonder if they're taking the binge watching trend into their writing. I find when I binge watch a show I don't notice slow episodes because I'm on to the next one so quickly. We're waiting and analyzing between episode when it's probably better to be watched bach-to-back.

It's poor writing if that's the case and they may be trying to be a show they're not. At least for the audience they have.

I enjoyed the episode for what it was and what they tried to do. But I'm also easily pleased and don't over analyze acting or writing.

[speede5]

I didn't mind it. I didn't love it either, but all in all I was fine.

That dream sequence was poorly done, it had to be a dream, but having walkers strewn all over in the morning confused the audience.

I too think some of these episodes are better when binge watching, but I don't think it's intentional.

New directors from week to week really messes with artistic continuity.

[Hockeyguy15]

It wasn't a dream sequence guys, from all the articles and blogs I've read anyway.

[Inglewood Jack]

I think KTrain got it, intentionally or not they might be writing and pacing these things more for Netflix binge style consumption for whatever reason. I read somewhere that if you spaced out a show specifically designed for Netflix out into weekly episodes and made viewers wait and digest each one individually, it quickly becomes a frustrating process cause you feel that very little progress is being made. but watch it the way it's meant to, over a single lazy weekend and the slow stuff kind of just blends in and you only remember the awesome.

why they'd do that for something like TWD I'd have no idea, unless they're using writers that have done too many net shows and forgot how traditional pacing should work. but the weekly model I still think is socially the best because we all get together in between episodes to praise/bitch about stuff. if they just released the whole thing and we did it at our own pace, these threads wouldn't be what they are now.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by speede5

That dream sequence was poorly done, it had to be a dream, but having walkers strewn all over in the morning confused the audience.

It wasn't a dream. When I watched it again with my wife and CC on, the caption said "wind blowing hard" or something like that, and if I listened carefully I could hear the windstorm.

So basically in an episode that everybody complained was more filler than anything else, one of the biggest complaints is that the took out one of the big chunks of filler.

We missed 5 minutes of them talking about how lucky they were; how localized the storm was and/or how the path of the tornado just missed the barn.