Man, I know the apocalypse can be a rough neighborhood….what with crazy one-eyed bossmen, colonies of cannibals, and just the general this-doesn’t-look-good crowd of dangerous survivors….but, geez….Rick and Co. are now just as bad as any post-apocalyptic gang of scumbags? Rick coldcocks a guy, takes his gear, takes his food, and threatens to kill him…and all the guy did was, unfortunately, use some language that was somewhat similar to what the folks at Terminus said. “Community for all” and “Stronger with you than without you” and all that jazz.
On the bright side, this episode was at least a somewhat better episode than the last couple that seemed to focus on experimental direction and storytelling.
Clearly, the end of the world is going to be rife with trust issues. Especially 18 months after the world flushes itself and you’ve spent the last year and a half being hunted, hounded, hungry, hurt and hopeless. But still….that was pretty thuggish behavior. I suppose it’s to show how the character of Rick has changed over time, or something like that.
Slightly better tactics than usual with a 2-man rule being shown, and more finger-off-the-trigger discipline than I’ve seen in a while. Thus far, these first three episodes of the new season seem pretty lame. I think I could have skipped the last three episodes and felt like I haven’t missed anything.
Oh, and probably more than anything else, the blogosphere will be burning up with much teeth-gnashing over the showing of a pair of gay guys kissing. You can show heads being impaled, limbs being ripped off, and cars literally covered in blood, but two guys kissing…thats objectionable. I kinda like the idea of them introducing a couple gay characters…(Everyone forget that there’s already a gay character in the group? Tara.) ..makes things seem a little more real and certainly opens up some previously unexplored story lines. When the end of the world rolls around there’s gonna be all sortsa folks running around trying to survive…men, women, blacks, whites, religious, non-religious, etc, etc. Stands to reason that there’s gonna be some gay folks and couples out there as well. I’d worry less about ‘what’ folks are and more about whether they’re ‘good’ or ‘bad’.
All in all, probably the strongest episode of the season in terms of story and plot development. Now that the ‘Alexandria Safe Zone’ storyline from the comics has been picked up I look forward to seeing how it develops.
No problems with new gay cast members. What’s gotten into Glenn, trying to be another Shane?
You heard kids in the end, but in the preview none were in sight, and Rick needs a beard trim at least, if not a shave and shower.
After Terminus, I think that he was justified. He lost Beth and Tyresse in a span of 17 days.
The preview didn’t look that happy for the gang, take a look at the official web page.
Carl’s going upstairs…. tease
I read one theory/interpretation that they want you to keep looking for the next ‘Big Bad’ for a while, before you realize it is Rick.
I can see Rick knocking him out – he was establishing command in front of his troops against an obviously intelligent and verbose stranger. Taking the fgear is simply a security check. He had a flare gun – hello? signal reinforcement much, right?
Remember on the road when aaron saw the flare and was like “OMFG this is over let me know out now!” We all thought that he was reacting to some impending attack/ambush by his crew against Rick’s Walking Dead. In reality he was afraid for his BF.
I admit I was pissed at first until I looked up the comic book canon and saw that this episode was not some LBGT message-push; this was a character that was already in the series.
What do you think about the close up of Rick relaxing – FINALLY – when he heard the kids playing? Was a nice change from his always squinty grimace right?
I’ve not read the comics so I have no idea what’s coming – I guess you have since you know it’s in the comic?
I’m half expecting another trap like Terminus but we’ll see. I realize they’re closer to DC now, and I think the store ends when they get there so I think this may be the last season? Hope not…but.. I’m preparing myself.
All I know is that if both my zombie and vikings shows end in the same season I may die… 🙂
I think they’ve gone a bit overboard in showing Rick as shifting from Good Guy/Protector rolled in Badass to a Neutral/Neurotic about to crack. Having no comic info, I am going along for the ride but…no reason for all of them to go into the camp at once. That seems ludicrous. And certainly not with the baby. But they are trying to show everyone as crossing over a line and needing a respite.
Having read the comics I have a pretty good idea of the direction the show is going to take now. Without any spoilers I think the next “Big Bad” makes The Governor look like a pussycat. I also knew about the gay characters and was pleased to see that they included them in a way that was kinda natural (like in the comic) rather than making a full episode of in your face gayness like some shows do. I know that this show kills characters that are alive in the comics and keeps ones alive that should be dead so there’s still plenty of surprise. I’m hoping this story arc develops a little more smoothly that I felt it did in the comics. I’m also interested in seeing how the inclusion of Daryl and his unique character type is going to influence upcoming events.
Without any spoilers I think the next “Big Bad” makes The Governor look like a pussycat
******
You ain’t whistling’ Dixie.
Trigger warning folks – major character will die if the writers et al hold true to the comics.
Nice Buffy reference btw.
Major characters indeed. The most horrifying thing I have ever seen in a comic book. I still avoid that page whenever I re-read the comics.