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Good news: “Walking Dead” devotes full hour of screen time to its two most unlikable characters
Hotair ^

Posted on 03/18/2013 8:09:50 PM PDT by chessplayer

Time for the weekly grumble thread. Just the other day I was thinking, “You know what would really perk this show up? An entire episode devoted to its most annoying, chronically boring character, who hasn’t done a single interesting thing since season one. The writers need to kill a few hours anyway while we’re waiting for the big finale between Rick’s gang and Woodbury. Here’s their chance to have Andrea finally figure out that the Governor’s a sadistic megalomaniac, just like the rest of the world did 20 episodes ago.” And then, as if by magic, there it was last night — the show that I’d dreamed of, essentially “Sleeping With the Enemy” with some zombies tossed in. My only regret is that there weren’t a few more scenes of Michonne silently glowering at people, which never gets old. We’ll have to make do with just that one by the campfire.

The big chase scene in the warehouse was fine, but let’s face it, no one watching it seriously believed the Governor would be eaten. That might have happened in a show about the zombie apocalypse, where life ends brutally and unpredictably even for the most significant characters, but that’s not what this show is about. This is a show about the survivalist soap opera among Rick and the gang with zombies as backdrop. And since the soap opera requires a Final Conflict with the Governor, that’s what we’ll get. Coming next week: To save the prison, Rick must battle the Governor’s tank of sharks with frickin’ laser beams on their heads.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: thewalkingdead; walkingdead
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To: JoeProBono
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21 posted on 03/19/2013 7:20:49 AM PDT by RetSignman ("...a Republic if you can keep it")
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To: Deathtomarxists
"a show about zombies?"

No. It's not.

22 posted on 03/19/2013 7:35:47 AM PDT by CatherineofAragon (Support Christian white males---the architects of the jewel known as Western Civilization)
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To: RetSignman

23 posted on 03/19/2013 7:38:48 AM PDT by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet - Mater tua caligas exercitus gerit ;-{)
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To: House Atreides

Yep, agree. Sunday’s episode was excellent. Andrea’s a huge irritant, but I admit it killed me to see her get so close to home. And now I’m rooting for Milton to get out of there, but I don’t think the poor guy’s going to live long.

As for Andrea not taking the truck, the guv either had the keys or she didn’t know how to hotwire.


24 posted on 03/19/2013 7:39:38 AM PDT by CatherineofAragon (Support Christian white males---the architects of the jewel known as Western Civilization)
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To: chessplayer

Here’s how I’d like to see the season end:

Huge battle between the groups and with walkers. Carol, T-Dog, Milton, killed/eaten - along with other members of Woodbury group.

Then the final battle between Rick and the Gov. Rick kills him. But the Gov is so evil that he needs to be killed twice. He comes back as a Zombie and eats Andrea. Then he gets killed again by Daryl. And of course we want to see the Gov get eaten by walkers - in graphic detail.


25 posted on 03/19/2013 7:52:42 AM PDT by privatedrive
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To: Brooklyn Attitude
I also complain about every episode, for the same reasons. I am sick and tired of people saying things like "this show is about people, not zombies", or "this show is about the characters, not about how to survive". Making the show realistic in terms of people's behavior would add to the character development, not replace it. Painfully poor decision making is nails on the chalkboard, at least to me. I have a hard time really caring about any of the characters (including Daryl -- sorry ladies), because they are all idiots.

I think that the show's popularity is more a reflection of other shows on tv, than it is a reflection on "The Walking Dead". I watch it, because it is generally well-casted, has a good (in a dark way) atmosphere, and avoids many of the pitfalls of similar shows (no 20 something beach-blonde nuclear physicists, no 110 pound female who can go toe-to-toe with Chuck Liddell, no Jeff Goldblum, and the kids are seen more than heard).

My question: Why did they make such a big deal of the fact that they are all infected? So a new post-death ritual is created. Instead of pennies on the eyes, put an icepick in the brain-pan. Hardly a big deal, given everything else that has gone on.

It wouldn't take much to morph this show into one of the best of all time. And it would make the good aspects of the show even better. But as it stands now, it is merely a parable in which the village idiot inherits the earth.
26 posted on 03/19/2013 9:39:16 AM PDT by jjsheridan5
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To: jjsheridan5

“It wouldn’t take much to morph this show into one of the best of all time. And it would make the good aspects of the show even better. But as it stands now, it is merely a parable in which the village idiot inherits the earth.’

I agree with everything in your post.


27 posted on 03/19/2013 11:08:45 AM PDT by Brooklyn Attitude (Obama being re-elected is the political equivalent of OJ being found not guilty.)
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To: Eye of Unk

“mostly it teaches stupidity. Stupid weapons priorities, food and shelter, lack of military style training etc”

You mean like the first season when they were living outdoors and half the time no lookout was posted, and there were no tripwires or alarms. Why not find a nice defensible home that is now empty and live there instead of in the woods?


28 posted on 03/19/2013 11:18:22 AM PDT by Brooklyn Attitude (Obama being re-elected is the political equivalent of OJ being found not guilty.)
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To: privatedrive

“Carol, T-Dog, Milton, killed/eaten”

T-Dog’s already been killed and eaten... you must be thinking of Tyreese.


29 posted on 03/19/2013 4:32:47 PM PDT by Boogieman
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To: Boogieman

Personally I am enjoying the thought of Andrea trussed up like a Christmas goose.


30 posted on 03/19/2013 4:36:12 PM PDT by Lurker (Violence is rarely the answer. But when it is it is the only answer.)
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To: Brooklyn Attitude

They had alarms in the season 1 camp. You could see them in the background, wires with empty cans on them strung between trees. They even got set off during the attack, problem is there were too many.


31 posted on 03/19/2013 4:37:25 PM PDT by discostu (Not just another moon faced assassin of joy.)
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To: jjsheridan5
It wouldn't take much to morph this show into one of the best of all time.

Third season. Most shows don't last that long, or if they do, don't get any better.

To use the cliche of the day, it is what it is. Maybe the best zombie show ever on television.

It would be hard to be more than that consistently, especially if you kill off the characters who provide the drama.

32 posted on 03/19/2013 4:46:55 PM PDT by x
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To: jjsheridan5
"My question: Why did they make such a big deal of the fact that they are all infected? So a new post-death ritual is created. Instead of pennies on the eyes, put an icepick in the brain-pan. Hardly a big deal, given everything else that has gone on. "

Not knowing could have been a very big deal. Say two people are in bed and one of them dies in his/her sleep....

33 posted on 03/19/2013 5:05:22 PM PDT by CatherineofAragon (Support Christian white males---the architects of the jewel known as Western Civilization)
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To: CatherineofAragon

Then you don’t go into bed with anyone else, at least to sleep (once again, I apologize to the ladies — this includes Daryl).

Simple precautions could easily prevent 99% of the problems stemming from sudden death. Have people sleep in locked rooms — non-zombies can let themselves out, but the newly minted zombies would be stuck. Don’t go into a locked room until the person on the other side says their name. Obviously there would be situations arising from things like car accidents, but, overall, with reasonable precautions, common communicable diseases pose a far greater threat than the threat of sudden deaths leading to new outbreaks of zombieism.

What bothers me about this is that it is so unnecessary. It doesn’t advance the plot, it doesn’t add to the character development. There is no shortage of ways to realistically provide danger. And this type of poorly thought out writing runs throughout the series, and detracts from an otherwise compelling story.

What would be really interesting, however, would be this: the disease is airborne, but can, at any time, cause death. Here you have a situation where at any moment, the person sitting next to you can turn. What is more, every person knows that they are fatally infected. Now that would provide a more realistic cause for concern.


34 posted on 03/19/2013 7:48:34 PM PDT by jjsheridan5
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To: Lurker

She’s my least favorite character on the whole show, but I’ve learned from other shows that the female character who is a useless and annoying know-it-all is not going to be killed off. She’s a proxy for a certain target demographic, so we’ll probably be stuck with her until the final episode. Basically, she is Walking Dead’s version of Kate from Lost.


35 posted on 03/20/2013 5:52:22 AM PDT by Boogieman
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To: chessplayer

You know it’s a good show when people complain and still watch it.


36 posted on 03/20/2013 6:01:51 AM PDT by Blackirish (Forward Comrades!!!!!!!!!)
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To: jjsheridan5

I think the only point of them all being “infected” is that they know that they will all come back from the dead as zombies unless they are killed in a certain way. Death, as we know and understand it, is gone.

It kind of complicates things, though, because why is it that you start to “turn” if you are bitten or scratched by a zombie, but you won’t “turn” if you are injured in a more normal way.


37 posted on 03/20/2013 10:25:00 AM PDT by ConjunctionJunction
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To: JoeProBono; RetSignman
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38 posted on 03/20/2013 10:27:42 AM PDT by ConjunctionJunction
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To: jjsheridan5
"But as it stands now, it is merely a parable in which the village idiot inherits the earth."


39 posted on 03/20/2013 11:08:02 AM PDT by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet - Mater tua caligas exercitus gerit ;-{)
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To: fr_freak
but with some HORRIBLE accents

At least 3 of the main characters are played by Brits.

That being said, their bad fake southern accents aren't really any worse than fake southern accents done by yankees.

They couldn't find any actors from the south?

40 posted on 03/20/2013 11:21:11 AM PDT by Trailerpark Badass (So?)
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