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‘The Walking Dead’ – Season 7, Part 2 – Sundays on AMC

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Member
Yeah Negan took everything from Alexandria. That one dude who shot Ben and took Morgan's staff though is a good enough reason to hate them. Plus, they're some school yard bullies at the end of the day so everyone who's forced to give stuff to them don't like them.

Is that really all there is behind Richard's hatred of the Saviors? It seems insane that he was willing to get Carol killed, willing to get himself killed, and relatively ok with Ben being killed.....over what? Some guy who was an asshole at their weekly tribute exchange?

I felt like his "I waited too long one time and then my daughter died so therefore we should start a war against a much more powerful enemy" speech rang kind of hollow.
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
Is that really all there is behind Richard's hatred of the Saviors? It seems insane that he was willing to get Carol killed, willing to get himself killed, and relatively ok with Ben being killed.....over what? Some guy who was an asshole at their weekly tribute exchange?

I felt like his "I waited too long one time and then my daughter died so therefore we should start a war against a much more powerful enemy" speech rang kind of hollow.

Rick wanted to start a war. Richard agreed. Ezekiel and Morgan didn't. Richard was going to use Carol (and himself) as bait to spur Ezekiel into agreeing with Rick.

It seems a little weird to me that Negan is letting the kingdom get away with giving them 12 melons per week, when it seems like the Saviors have completely ransacked Hilltop and Alexandria.

Well there was the pigs earlier in the season that Morgan and crew had to round up in DC to give them. So it seems like they do these runs daily or near daily for them.
 

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Member
Rick wanted to start a war. Richard agreed. Ezekiel and Morgan didn't. Richard was going to use Carol (and himself) as bait to spur Ezekiel into agreeing with Rick.

Maybe I'm mixed up on the sequence of events then. Didn't Richard want to take out the Saviors even before Rick arrived? I thought he was already trying to cajole Carol into starting a war prior to when the Alexandria group showed up.
 

Surfinn

Member
She was on the verge of a mental breakdown and when she left Alexandria no one had died (no one cared about Denise except for Tara), so she could go on pretending everything was fine. Once she found out that several of her friends had died, and there's a massive war coming where even more will die, she could no longer go on pretending.
One big problem I have though is that she had a change of heart before she even learned about Alexandria. Again, very similar to what we saw when she initially whipped out her murder confession diary, she seemed to flop back literally overnight.

I think she still would have gone back before she learned about Abe and Glenn.. It was already eating her up. My problem though is that nothing has even changed at that point. They spent far too much development and way too much time for it to make any sense (jumping from "I can't be around anyone" to "I'm back"). She just suddenly flip flopped. I guess you could say it was largely due to Daryl briefly showing up but it's still weak justification at best, considering the full context of her development and reasoning as a character.

And, again, I think those deaths would have pushed her further away since she left for the exact reason of having to kill and protect people only to lose them anyway. She wanted no part of it anymore.
 
Is that really all there is behind Richard's hatred of the Saviors? It seems insane that he was willing to get Carol killed, willing to get himself killed, and relatively ok with Ben being killed.....over what? Some guy who was an asshole at their weekly tribute exchange?

I felt like his "I waited too long one time and then my daughter died so therefore we should start a war against a much more powerful enemy" speech rang kind of hollow.

We've seen how they roll. They'll kill somebody if they don't give up goods. That's a good enough reason to want them dead. That story about his daughter is what motivated him to start the war before things got worse. However, he was willing to go to an unhealthy extreme to prove that by sacrificing people. Not everyone is completely sane in a world where you're forced to live on instinct and little thought.
 

border

Member
We've seen how they roll. They'll kill somebody if they don't give up goods. That's a good enough reason to want them dead.

But The Kingdom can provide the goods, and without sacrificing much of their own prosperity. It doesn't make much sense to start a war, when the result of that war is going to result in many deaths that wouldn't have otherwise happened had they kept the peace. Richard's actions do not seem really that reasonable or rational. You can definitely want them dead, but at the same time understand that initiating a war would result in catastrophic casualties.

That said, I'm willing to accept the explanation that the loss of his daughter and the stress of living in the post-apocalypse have kind of eroded his ability to be rational and reasonable. The entire plan to hide 1 melon and get shot in the face to start a war was outlandish and crazy anyway.
 

xelios

Universal Access can be found under System Preferences
Oh Morgan finally decides to become more than the stupidest, most stubborn and one-dimensional character on the show. Too late, I can't stand to see your face anymore.
 

ElyrionX

Member
Is that really all there is behind Richard's hatred of the Saviors? It seems insane that he was willing to get Carol killed, willing to get himself killed, and relatively ok with Ben being killed.....over what? Some guy who was an asshole at their weekly tribute exchange?

I felt like his "I waited too long one time and then my daughter died so therefore we should start a war against a much more powerful enemy" speech rang kind of hollow.

Ummm it's not hard to see that there is a good chance the situation with the Saviors will deteriorate significantly in the future.
 
It seems a little weird to me that Negan is letting the kingdom get away with giving them 12 melons per week, when it seems like the Saviors have completely ransacked Hilltop and Alexandria.

It's pretty easy to see why Ezekiel doesn't want to go to war. Whatever they're paying the Saviors is basically a pittance, and no skin off their back. I certainly wouldn't start trouble over a dozen melons or a few pigs per week. I'm not even sure how Richard came to hate the Saviors so much, now that I think about it.

The problem is that it's never going to stop there. It's not a cooperative effort where the Kingdom are willingly giving. One slight, even perceived, and the toll is raised. The saviors are clearly not shy about taking lives for the toll.

Do you think the saviors are going to be happy in two weeks when they come for their tribute and the King says "sorry, had to burn all the crops, come back in 5 months"?
 

Chumley

Banned
Why own't Morgan just die already

I'm so tired of Morgan's shit

tumblr_m2oto7SGwf1qzv4vio1_400.gif
 

ZeoVGM

Banned
They better not be planning to kill Carol and Morgan. Rick's going to need more soldiers on his side, and they're the two most interesting characters on the show.

Major comic spoilers:
anyone get the feeling they might give Holly's death to Morgan
?

I sure as hell hope not. It might work in the comic but they can't keep killing off interesting/likable characters.

Say what you want about the cast feeling too "safe" but I feel as if killing off both Glenn and Abraham hurt the show in the long run.
 
I sure as hell hope not. It might work in the comic but they can't keep killing off interesting/likable characters.

Say what you want about the cast feeling too "safe" but I feel as if killing off both Glenn and Abraham hurt the show in the long run.

Show will die if core characters aren't killed off.

Glenn for example had been narrowly escaping death since the first season. He had some ridiculous plot armor. World is not believable when long term characters repeatedly find their way out of scrapes while just introduced mooks bite it repeatedly.

Part of the allure of shows like the Walking Dead (and Game of Thrones) is the idea that no one is safe, and a favorite character's eventual death sparks the need for revenge from the viewer, which keeps them watching.

TWD's main cast is getting far too bloated and there are far too many "untouchable" characters. If this war that's been brewing for the season doesn't take out at least a small handful of beloved characters then the whole thing was for nothing.
 

ZeoVGM

Banned
Show will die if core characters aren't killed off.

Glenn for example had been narrowly escaping death since the first season. He had some ridiculous plot armor. World is not believable when long term characters repeatedly find their way out of scrapes while just introduced mooks bite it repeatedly.

Part of the allure of shows like the Walking Dead (and Game of Thrones) is the idea that no one is safe, and a favorite character's eventual death sparks the need for revenge from the viewer, which keeps them watching.

While I partly agree in that not everyone can be safe forever, it only works if people give a crap about the surviving characters.

And considering ratings are noticeably down (and falling almost every episode this season), the bolded part certainly isn't true.
 
While I partly agree in that not everyone can be safe forever, it only works if people give a crap about the surviving characters.

And considering ratings are noticeably down (and falling almost every episode this season), the bolded part certainly isn't true anymore.

The show is 7 seasons in. Ratings are bound to fall. Not everyone watches diligently each week just to complain on message boards like some of the people in this thread love to do.
 

ZeoVGM

Banned
The show is 7 seasons in. Ratings are bound to fall. Not everyone watches diligently each week just to complain on message boards like some of the people in this thread love to do.

You don't need to be overly defensive of the show like that. There's no reason to get upset and go after people who are being negative about the show. They are fans and want the show to be good. Just be honest about the situation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Walking_Dead_episodes

Saying it's because it's 7 seasons in is an excuse. This was the most anticipated storyline in the series and the hype was through the roof. Ratings are dropping because people are not happy with the quality of the show on a week-to-week basis.

You don't go from the ratings of seasons 4-6 to the sudden drop in season 7 simply because "the show is 7 seasons in." You know the reason is the quality of the show itself.
 
Whenever I stop by this thread I'm always surprised to see so many people constantly shitting on the show and nitpicking on every little thing, even if the episode was actually fun/interesting. Why even watch it then? It's been going on for like 7 seasons now? It's been an inconsistent mess since the beginning and I doubt there's going to be a random spike in quality anytime soon. So why still watch it? Is it simply to have something to bitch about? Maybe it's a form of stress relief? So many questions!

Anyway, was a pretty fun episode. I'm pleased both Morgan and Carol got much-needed wakeup calls. I think they're both very interesting characters and I'm very eager to see them wreck shit up now.
 
You don't need to be overly defensive of the show like that. There's no reason to get upset and go after people who are being negative about the show. They are fans and want the show to be good. Just be honest about the situation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Walking_Dead_episodes

Saying it's because it's 7 seasons in is an excuse. This was the most anticipated storyline in the series and the hype was through the roof. Ratings are dropping because people are not happy with the quality of the show on a week-to-week basis.

You don't go from the ratings of seasons 4-6 to the sudden drop in season 7 simply because "the show is 7 seasons in." You know the reason is the quality of the show itself.

You're exaggerating the precipitous drop in season 7. There was a considerable drop from the first episode of the season, sure, but the overall drop is not as drastic vs. previous seasons.

I also disagree with the perceived quality of the show. TWD's ratings increased since season 2, where almost literally nothing happened for half the season. It has improved by leaps and bounds since they changed showrunners. It's just a guess, but aside from the S7 intro which was the highest rated episode of the show EVER, the showrunners have been playing it far too safe, killing only fringe characters while the main cast manages to slip past danger on a weekly basis. I also feel people don't like seeing the group in a position of weakness, and I know some were turned off by the brutality in the opener.
 
The Saviors are unpredictable though. Richard did all of this because he had a certain image in his head of how things would go, and all it took was that one dude to shoot at someone other than Richard for his plan to foil. It's too idealistic to think that everything is going to go a certain way dealing with The Saviors because they just don't operate like that. They are the dictators so they can do whatever they want even if it doesn't make sense. What Richard did was too risky. I don't know what should have been done to convince Ezekiel to go to war with them, but sacrificing one of their own including Richard himself wasn't the way to go.

Morgan really liked Ben and his death triggered the flashbacks so I can see why he reacted the way he did.


But the Saviors are assholes. Did Richard fucked up ? Yes he did. Heck, I feel like Darryl could've killed him for treating Carol's life.

But for Ben ? It's not like Richard wanted this to happen. Heck, if Ben did shut up, he wouldn't have been the target here. And it's even more messed up that Morgan brutally killed him this way, bashing his head like a crazy because he made a mistake, thinking he'd be the one to die, because then again, they're dealing with assholes who'd kill someone over a missing melon. Otherwise, if Morgan is up to his thinking, Rosita should be killed. Right, after all, she tried to murder Negan, thinking she had nothing to lose and Olivia was the one to bite the dust. Or Rick should be killed too, according to Morgan's logic, considering he's the one who attacked the Saviors which then killed Glenn and Abraham.

Was Richard an asshole ? Yes. But I feel like the way Morgan did that felt unwarranted compared with the whole situation. You basically have the guy who stayed calm with assholes beating the shit out of his friends for a missing food, trying to save a guy who was planning to kill everyone in Alexandria and would refuse to kill under the ultimate last ressort... But couldn't help to brutally kill a guy who messed up by accident, thinking of going down but failing and taking another guy instead.
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
Maybe I'm mixed up on the sequence of events then. Didn't Richard want to take out the Saviors even before Rick arrived? I thought he was already trying to cajole Carol into starting a war prior to when the Alexandria group showed up.

Yes. And then Rick showing up was his "yeah, this could work" spurring Ezekiel himself moment.
 
You don't need to be overly defensive of the show like that. There's no reason to get upset and go after people who are being negative about the show. They are fans and want the show to be good. Just be honest about the situation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Walking_Dead_episodes

Saying it's because it's 7 seasons in is an excuse. This was the most anticipated storyline in the series and the hype was through the roof. Ratings are dropping because people are not happy with the quality of the show on a week-to-week basis.

You don't go from the ratings of seasons 4-6 to the sudden drop in season 7 simply because "the show is 7 seasons in." You know the reason is the quality of the show itself.

The group of people that cause ratings to rise and fall aren't the same group that saw this as a highly anticipated storyline. Most of the those people have no clue what storyline exist in the future.
 
She was on the verge of a mental breakdown and when she left Alexandria no one had died (no one cared about Denise except for Tara), so she could go on pretending everything was fine. Once she found out that several of her friends had died, and there's a massive war coming where even more will die, she could no longer go on pretending.

Im more curious why she went back to the Kingdom instead of Alexandria. I guess she must super have a thing for Ezekial and didn't want to go talk to Rick and Co. like at all.. you know the group she has been with since the start and has just learned that one of her close friends died, and other long time companion has died, and figured she got the complete story from Morgan.
 
Looking back did Carol even have that many scenes with Glenn and Abe?

Like scenes of character development shared between those characters. I'm trying to remember.
 
Looking back did Carol even have that many scenes with Glenn and Abe?

Like scenes of character development shared between those characters. I'm trying to remember.

Not sure about Abe, but Glenn has been with her since the beginning, even if the show didn't show many scenes with them both having moments, it would be pretty implied that they would have a strong connection.
 

Nielm

Member
Honestly, I agree with what George A. Romero said a while ago:

You've described The Walking Dead as ”a soap opera with a zombie occasionally". For people who don't like that show, it seems to sum up their feelings.

That's what I don't particularly like. Even though I think Frank [Darabont] did a great job. I don't know what the hell happened there, something political no doubt, when they canned him after the first season.
 

border

Member
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Walking_Dead_episodes

Saying it's because it's 7 seasons in is an excuse. This was the most anticipated storyline in the series and the hype was through the roof. Ratings are dropping because people are not happy with the quality of the show on a week-to-week basis.

You don't go from the ratings of seasons 4-6 to the sudden drop in season 7 simply because "the show is 7 seasons in." You know the reason is the quality of the show itself.

Ratings were already dropping in Season 6. The show peaked at 5, but it's not like S5 was truly masterful television anyway. Go to the thread there and you'll find just as many people whining about filler episodes and the show's meandering nature.

I think people are just fatigued with the franchise, and it's just not the event it used to be. People are more comfortable binge-watching on Netflix since they aren't as afraid of spoilers as they used to be. Of course it's still like the highest rated drama on television so let's not pretend like it's dying either.
 

Surfinn

Member
Honestly, I agree with what George A. Romero said a while ago:

You’ve described The Walking Dead as “a soap opera with a zombie occasionally”. For people who don’t like that show, it seems to sum up their feelings.

That’s what I don’t particularly like. Even though I think Frank [Darabont] did a great job. I don’t know what the hell happened there, something political no doubt, when they canned him after the first season.

I think the show, and even the comic, has had a pretty big problem with maintaining the zombie threat, ever since the group has made it to a "stable" place (Alexandria).

As much as this universe is about people, they shouldn't forget the other half of the equation. And I think the effectiveness of the show decreases when zombies aren't a direct threat, at least generally. Now that's not to say they should be constantly getting attacked and on edge but I do think there should be more of a balance there, instead of essentially having the threat contained and totally focusing on the human drama.

But I think the big problem comes from the later sections of the story naturally not being as gripping as first dealing with and coming to terms with the reality of the situation.

This shit is hard to write, I think we can all agree with that. Seems very difficult to keep things fresh after years and years. Though I think the comic does an infinitely better job keeping people engaged.
 

border

Member
Honestly, I agree with what George A. Romero said a while ago:

You’ve described The Walking Dead as “a soap opera with a zombie occasionally”. For people who don’t like that show, it seems to sum up their feelings.

I think very few of the show's critics actually complain that there aren't enough zombies. It's telling that every other zombie show doesn't get a fraction of the interest that TWD does, even if/when they lean harder on zombie elements.

Also, I don't think George Romero understands what a soap opera is.
 
I'm guessing they do this for budgeting and logistical reasons. If you have your top-tier main cast actors in every episode, that ends up being pretty expensive, I imagine. Also, TWD can be a real grueling shoot, so it probably helps to that not every actor needs to be out there every day, covered in blood and sweat and grime in the nasty, humid Summer heat getting eaten alive by bugs.

This is probably one of the reasons we got a nearly full Tara episode. Required basically none of the main cast and was probably relatively cheap to shoot. Though, as much as some people hated that episode, it was nice to give an underdeveloped character some time to shine.

that makes sense but if the ratings were going higher and higher ever since season 1, then the budget should have been getting upped as well, you know?
 
Why own't Morgan just die already

I'm so tired of Morgan's shit

I'm more tired of Rosita's shit.

How often can she mope around with a permanent scowl on her face, pouting and stomping around like a petulant 4 year old because nobody will let her kill Negan?

Honestly, I think its just Alexandria in general is getting pretty boring. The Savior/Negan episode with Eugene was interesting. The Morgan episode with the Kingdom was interesting. Rick and Michone just killing zombies willy nilly like its Left 4 Dead and every interaction with the Garbage People just puts me to sleep.

At least with characters like Morgan, they're conflicted and his whole no kill shtick at the very least is a different perspective from everyone else in the world. Somebody like Rosita just wanting to kill Negan and in the process screw over everyone else associated with her is just a boring attitude we've seen a million times before.

But generally speaking, I don't quite understand the love some of the earlier seasons get. Season 1 was good, but 2 had the whole damn farm melodrama. 3 and 4 had all of the rubbish with how they mangled the Prison and Woodbury. Generally I think the show has gotten a little better in how they're adapting material from the comic and that's made it a little more interesting to me at least. But the problem with the whole "no one is safe!" dynamic with the show is that it rings hollow. You know that Rick and Michone are off limits. If anybody dies it'll be new characters that haven't been around very long.
 
I'm more tired of Rosita's shit.

How often can she mope around with a permanent scowl on her face, pouting and stomping around like a petulant 4 year old because nobody will let her kill Negan?

Honestly, I think its just Alexandria in general is getting pretty boring. The Savior/Negan episode with Eugene was interesting. The Morgan episode with the Kingdom was interesting. Rick and Michone just killing zombies willy nilly like its Left 4 Dead and every interaction with the Garbage People just puts me to sleep.

At least with characters like Morgan, they're conflicted and his whole no kill shtick at the very least is a different perspective from everyone else in the world. Somebody like Rosita just wanting to kill Negan and in the process screw over everyone else associated with her is just a boring attitude we've seen a million times before.

But generally speaking, I don't quite understand the love some of the earlier seasons get. Season 1 was good, but 2 had the whole damn farm melodrama. 3 and 4 had all of the rubbish with how they mangled the Prison and Woodbury. Generally I think the show has gotten a little better in how they're adapting material from the comic and that's made it a little more interesting to me at least. But the problem with the whole "no one is safe!" dynamic with the show is that it rings hollow. You know that Rick and Michone are off limits. If anybody dies it'll be new characters that haven't been around very long.

Rosita is annoying as crap. Really one of the worst characters on the show. "I screwed up once and it got someone killed, so lets try that again so I can get even more people killed!"
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
L+SD ratings:

Season 7

Episode 1: 17.0 million 8.4 A18-49
Episode 2: 12.5 million 6.1 A18-49
Episode 3: 11.7 million 5.7 A18-49
Episode 4: 11.4 million 5.4 A18-49
Episode 5: 11.0 million 5.2 A18-49
Episode 6: 10.4 million 4.9 A18-49
Episode 7: 10.5 million 5.0 A18-49
Episode 8: 10.6 million 5.1 A18-49

Episode 9: 12.0 million 5.7 A18-49
Episode 10: 11.1 million 5.3 A18-49
Episode 11: 10.4 million 5.0 A18-49
Episode 12: 10.2 million 4.7 A18-49
Episode 13: 10.7 million 4.9 A18-49
 

Surfinn

Member
L+SD ratings:

Season 7

Episode 1: 17.0 million 8.4 A18-49
Episode 2: 12.5 million 6.1 A18-49
Episode 3: 11.7 million 5.7 A18-49
Episode 4: 11.4 million 5.4 A18-49
Episode 5: 11.0 million 5.2 A18-49
Episode 6: 10.4 million 4.9 A18-49
Episode 7: 10.5 million 5.0 A18-49
Episode 8: 10.6 million 5.1 A18-49

Episode 9: 12.0 million 5.7 A18-49
Episode 10: 11.1 million 5.3 A18-49
Episode 11: 10.4 million 5.0 A18-49
Episode 12: 10.2 million 4.7 A18-49
Episode 13: 10.7 million 4.9 A18-49

Turns out people really like Morgan/Carol? Glad to see the slight bump.
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
I'm guessing they do this for budgeting and logistical reasons. If you have your top-tier main cast actors in every episode, that ends up being pretty expensive, I imagine. Also, TWD can be a real grueling shoot, so it probably helps to that not every actor needs to be out there every day, covered in blood and sweat and grime in the nasty, humid Summer heat getting eaten alive by bugs.

This is probably one of the reasons we got a nearly full Tara episode. Required basically none of the main cast and was probably relatively cheap to shoot. Though, as much as some people hated that episode, it was nice to give an underdeveloped character some time to shine.

Series regulars are compensated for every episode that the series produces, even ones that they don't appear in.
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Im more curious why she went back to the Kingdom instead of Alexandria. I guess she must super have a thing for Ezekial and didn't want to go talk to Rick and Co. like at all.. you know the group she has been with since the start and has just learned that one of her close friends died, and other long time companion has died, and figured she got the complete story from Morgan.

She and Morgan are the only two people who can help Ezekiel get properly mobilized.

Really thought it was a budget thing.

People are always quick to blame the budget when they have an issue with the show, but it usually isn't even a factor~


same lol
 
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