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[WaffleTaco]

I think the problem this season has is arguably going to be that they have to have character development and realise that they are going to have survive by killing zombies/and other humans. This is going to have to be somewhat slowly developed or something horrific is going to have to happen to a character. Also one of the original LA9 will have to be killed off, my guess is still Salazar or Strand. I feel it might be Strand since he seems to be set up as the Shane character of this season. I am also wondering who is going to be added to the cast...in S2 of Walking Dead, there was three characters of the group killed with adding three as well. If we imagine the same here, I am going to guess Strand goes...he is there to harden the group to the realties of humans. If I had to guess another maybe Salazar, as he seems like the survivor who is there until the main group can do that on their own. That's two down...I think they might just leave at that until some new people join. I foresee a Chris-Alicia relationship maybe happening by the end of this season or next. I am basing this off similar ages, with both being vulnerable for different reasons. It will be probably a half season arc, with a season arc at most. I am guessing Travis goes by the end of S3, Alicia by S4. This is only if this show gets this far. If the OG Walking Dead end it after the Negan Arc around S9, and this show is relevatively popular, they will probably push it to S7...if not it will with a split season in S5....these are my assumptions.

 

[Surfinn]

Some impressions after watching this premiere:

The opening 5-10 minutes are some of the best the show has ever done, very, very impressive stuff from the action/sense of dread/seeing zombies slowly approach with no visible escape route/cinematography, everything was very well done.

Now.. before continuing, I will say, overall, this was much more solid than what TWD accomplished with its average episode of season 6 (with exceptions of a few good episodes) from dialogue, to pacing, to cinematography. And that's saying a LOT, considering all we did was spend time with characters on a boat for about 30 minutes. The dialogue (not the drama, though) is a HUGE, HUGE step up from what we normally see in TWD, and even if these characters are often unpredictable and moronic (more on this later), the time we spend with them doesn't feel wasted.

Onto the characters. Everything was going pretty much perfectly until we get the forced/abrupt drama where Travis gets socked by his son. That kid can't act and ruins just about any scene he gets. Coupled with his incredibly moronic decision making, I hope he goes first. Anyway, after this scene, we start to fall into the "all of these characters are stupid idiots" territory we've seen so much in TWD and FTWD.

Everything from Alicia completely trusting a stranger who's clearly sending red flags to Victor not being incredibly pissed and taking away the radio from Alicia, to Nick and Travis' son randomly jumping into the water just in time to advance the plot and get our characters in the ocean was just atrocious.

Looks like the writing/characters remains at TWD/FTWD typically shitty levels.

However, the dialogue is more interesting than anything we got out of 90% of TWD S6, so that's something I suppose. I just hope they get the characters figured out and writing ironed out.. and fast.

And also.. why force yourself onto a boat for episodes at a time? I thought the point of moving to LA was to have a LOT of interesting options for the zombie apocalypse? Now we've confined ourselves to a boat for god knows how long? I hope this isn't going to be a new farm from TWD S2.

 

[Moofers]

And also.. why force yourself onto a boat for episodes at a time? I thought the point of moving to LA was to have a LOT of interesting options for the zombie apocalypse? Now we've confined ourselves to a boat for god knows how long? I hope this isn't going to be a new farm from TWD S2.

AMC wants to run this show as cheaply as possible. Putting it on a boat is a great way to do that. Welcome to the new farm.

 

[Mega]

Did we forget this is AMC? There's no way Alicia dies. On looks and charm(?) alone, she will become the show's Daryl. There will probably be a brief relationship with Chris before he meets his timely end and Alicia gets paired with Real Boyfriend, a taller, more attractive guy that the audience doesn't loathe. Chris is just Andrea levels of shit and can't/won't be salvaged.

Nick is the other mainstay. Free of his annoying addiction and toughened by the apocalypse, he will grow on audiences. The rest are a toss. Strand is being set up as not so generous, maybe a bad guy, so who knows if he lasts?

The episode itself was pretty boring and dumb. Regardless of how new and fresh they are to the zombie apocalypse, I'm not buying that these people could be so incredibly stupid. We have limited supplies and space, let's take on a dozen+ strangers who are possibly infected, who may possibly overpower us and kick us off our own vessel. Let's leisurely swim in the ocean with bad shit happening around us. Let's swim deeper in water we know is zombie infested and into a capsized boat with zombies... for reasons. Let's reveal everything including our position to a creepy stranger who clearly has ulterior motives and is asking a lot of leading questions. Let us allow the girl to continue unsupervised with the radio (and run down the battery too).

I was losing it at the tremendous levels of stupidity. The parents in particular are really lax, spineless really, about controlling their damn kids during a crisis where smarter adults should be exerting their authority and clamping down on dumb shit.

 

[KibblesBits]

The show's subtitle will probably unofficially be: Learning the Hard Way.
But what hard lessons are in store? Death? Loss? Mutilation? Theft? Piracy? Guess we'll have to wait and see.

 

[Surfinn]

I'll also add that:

Just because these people haven't experienced a zombie apocalypse doesn't mean they have a automatic green light for being idiots. Alicia immediately trusting the dude on the other side of the radio was just common sense 101 violation. 90% of kids grow up with the "don't talk to strangers", and unless you're 3 years old, it makes no sense to contradict this obvious principle.

The biggest issue here is that the characters are still unbelievably idiotic and unrelatable in their actions. In a show where we're supposed to relate to and root for the main cast (or at least the majority of them), they're doing an abysmal job of making everyone feel like real people (aside from some generally solid dialogue). They often seem like realistic individuals in their conversation, but their actions suggest otherwise.

Kind of sick of all this shitty/unpredictably silly writing (in both shows). It really shouldn't be this hard to make good characters who drive the story. Should it?

 

[Sadist]

Welp, not very good. Strand is the only one on the show making sense. But he is overplaying the whole "cool dude with deep voice" act which makes him act like some cartoon character.

Daniel and Ophelia just along for the ride. Travis and his peeps... well, Travis already learned something; he will only take care for his own. Even drug addict Nick. D'aaaaw. Maddie flip flops between personalities which seems unbelievable, but I'll put that in the "zombie apocalypse makes brain go mush" category of the five stages of dealing with the Zombie Apocalypse. Alicia being dumb is out of character though. Isn't she supposed to be the intelligent one?

Oh well. New facts: In the Walking Dead universe we already had walkers, geeks, biters... now floaters made their debut!

 

[roflwaffles]

This show doesn't work because I don't care if anyone dies.

 

[Surfinn]

This show doesn't work because I don't care if anyone dies.

Yup. In a show like this, in order to judge effectiveness, you have to ask yourself: do I care if any of these people die? And if the answer is no, after an entire season has passed, you know they're failing.

I think I care about Travis a little and if Nick would stop acting like an idiot for no reason, he could be up there too.

 

[Korigama]

This show doesn't work because I don't care if anyone dies.

This is a pretty concise summary of my problem with it as well. Going into the new season, I had a difficult time even remembering most of their names.

 

[Mad Season]

I'm just happy the one son finally took off the old man's jacket

 

[vityaz]

This premiere was kind of a bummer.

Of course, Young hot girl could not help but chat it up with stranger boy over the radio.

Then the mother being nice..
"Go ask your new friend"
Oh, okay, mom.

Strand is the only likeable character, even if he turns out to be "evil"... I'll still root for him. Old guy Daniel is also cool.

Also, water zombies was kind of funny. Reminded me of the shark wrestling zombie from the classic ZOMBI 2:

 

[harSon]

They're pretty shameless about playing up the fact that Alycia Debnam-Carey is attractive. The extended long takes of the extreme close ups of her face is pretty ridiculous Lol.

 

[Ovid]

I'm just happy the one son finally took off the old man's jacket

I know lol. That shit annoyed me.

Shit had blood all over it and everything.

 

[someday]

Are the writers of this show unable to create tense moments without making the characters insufferably idiotic?

This is a Walking Dead universe staple. There seems to be no other way, even in a world with zombies.

And why do people want Alicia and Chris to hook up? It's gross. She's 17 or 18 and he's like 14 years old. They aren't close in age at this stage. He's still a little boy.

 

[cw_sasuke]

Holy shit...so many stupid moves in less than an hours - the show seems to be continuing where they left last season. Right now im still watching it because it reminds me of a train wreck...still hope it gets better but man some of these interactions ... -.-

These people just want to die - its really a turn off.

 

[Marty Chinn]

The biggest issue here is that the characters are still unbelievably idiotic and unrelatable in their actions. In a show where we're supposed to relate to and root for the main cast (or at least the majority of them), they're doing an abysmal job of making everyone feel like real people (aside from some generally solid dialogue). They often seem like realistic individuals in their conversation, but their actions suggest otherwise.

I find this statement to be pretty ironic. People don't want realism. They want things to be actually unrealistic by being in a position to judge and expect based on knowing it's a show, knowing what the stakes are, and being able to figure out what the most ideal thing to do in an all knowing position and often with hindsight.

 

[cw_sasuke]

I find this statement to be pretty ironic. People don't want realism. They want things to be actually unrealistic by being in a position to judge and expect based on knowing it's a show, knowing what the stakes are, and being able to figure out what the most ideal thing to do in an all knowing position and often with hindsight.

There can be something between realistic all knowing characters and straight idiots though.

 

[Air Zombie Meat]

Just dull. No surprises really, pretty much how I imagined the first episode would play out. Too early to judge yet though, hope they can turn it around and give people a reason to care.

 

[AngmarsKing701]

Nick doing dental work on that zombie with the motor boat engine was the best part.

As usual, we have a thick slab of teen angst and the typical "let's help everybody!" group up against the "it's every man for himself, and this man owns the boat" ... group? guy?

Clearly we're still in the early stages where some people want to behave like civilized humans who tend to try and help each other out in a catastrophe. Those who don't learn an important lesson in that process will be culled.

I like Strand. He's Shane without the bolts loose ... so far.

 

[Surfinn]

I find this statement to be pretty ironic. People don't want realism. They want things to be actually unrealistic by being in a position to judge and expect based on knowing it's a show, knowing what the stakes are, and being able to figure out what the most ideal thing to do in an all knowing position and often with hindsight.

Meh, this is lazy counter criticism. These characters are idiotic. This has nothing to do with being all knowing. There's basic standards for intelligence the show constantly fails to achieve for its characters.

The writers sacrifice common sense in order to drive the plot forward.

 

[harSon]

I would watch the show if it were just strand by himself, narrating the shit out of some dialog while looking like Isaac Hayes.

 

[TAJ]

I lol'd when a character said that the teen girl was best-equipped to deal with the pre-zombie world.
Yeah, someone who falls for obvious social engineering that wouldn't even fool my 69yo dad is totes a woman of the modern world.

 

[~Kinggi~]

That was one weak premiere, and I'm saying that as someone generally liked S1.

I am the same. Liked S1, this was weak.

 

[Mega]

I find this statement to be pretty ironic. People don't want realism. They want things to be actually unrealistic by being in a position to judge and expect based on knowing it's a show, knowing what the stakes are, and being able to figure out what the most ideal thing to do in an all knowing position and often with hindsight.

The characters lack very basic common sense. In an attempt to drum up cheap scares, fabricate close calls and even cause unnecessary deaths, the writers compromise the show by having the characters do highly idiotic things when actual solutions are painfully obvious to any lay person. Lacking the survival instincts we all have, it makes them inhuman and pulls you out of the show. None of this is about the viewer's hindsight or greater overall knowledge of the situation. It's just awful, lazy writing.

 

[Marty Chinn]

Meh, this is lazy counter criticism. These characters are idiotic. This has nothing to do with being all knowing. There's basic standards for intelligence the show constantly fails to achieve for its characters.

The writers sacrifice common sense in order to drive the plot forward.

The characters lack very basic common sense. In an attempt to drum up cheap scares, fabricate close calls and even cause unnecessary deaths, the writers compromise the show by having the characters do highly idiotic things when actual solutions are painfully obvious to any lay person. Lacking the survival instincts we all have, it makes them inhuman and pulls you out of the show. None of this is about the viewer's hindsight or greater overall knowledge of the situation. It's just awful, lazy writing.

I don't think so given how many times I see people complaining about things in TV shows and movies about the stupidity of characters. They always want them to do the smart ideal choice when they can make those decisions from a safe perspective and with some knowledge of what's going on. It's not unique to The Walking Dead. Heck bringing it back to this show, how many people are complaining about Alicia's on the radio in this thread? I find that to be extremely realistic and naive for someone to do. People only complain because they already know it's going to lead to something bad. People in real life aren't flawless. They make constant stupid mistakes but the common thing I see is they want characters to be superstars and always making the right choices. It's simply Monday morning quarterbacking.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

What Alicia did was so dumb, but, it's barely episode 1 of season 2. I think it's a bit unfair to expect these characters to already be as hardened and adapted as the ones in TWD. The apocalypse has only just started for them.

They pretty much have to go through some difficult learning experiences to become stronger characters (Daniel already went through them in his home country. Strand I have no idea, he comes across as a sociopath to me which probably helps him survive, since he has no emotional baggage). Alicia is about to have a hard lesson in being too trusting. Unfortunately for them, some people are probably going to have to die first.

I don't think the girl talking to Jack on the radio was bad. This is JUST as the apocalypse is coming, people are still going to be largely trustful of others and not immediately assume nefarious intentions from every angle. This new crew still has to learn some of that stuff through various experiences. I think a lot of people in real life would do that in the beginning or maybe try to help those stranded people on the boat.

Agreed. It's still the early days yet, so rookie mistakes are understandable - especially for Alicia, who was kept inside a safe little bubble for most of season 1. She hasn't been outside in the shit yet, not really, so of course she's still going to trust random people.

One's on basic cable and the other isn't. Shocking.

Which is why the comparisons are silly~

 

[someday]

What drives me nuts about this show and TWD to a certain extent, is that they don't just talk to each other. They could all sit down on that boat and discuss why they will trust others or not, they could discuss where they should go next, they could discuss why Travis had to shoot Chris's mom, and so much else. It makes no sense that they're all talking behind each others' backs and plotting when it's day fucking 2 for them being together.

Also, is Nick over his addiction already?

 

[User 479360]

The opening of this premiere was pretty shitty. It got better as it went along, though, and the latter half was a noticeable improvement over the first half. Decent/pretty good overall, but nothing special.

The characters' dysfunction is kind of dumb. As someone said, they should just talk to each other and hammer things out.

Nick being over his addiction so quickly is also kind of odd.

It's nice to see Alicia Debnam-Carey on screen again.

 

[HadesGigas]

Which is a very good reason not to give her or anyone else aboard a radio that can give away their position to people with a fast boat, guns and a radio direction finder. Like 99% of the artificial drama in series like these it could have been avoided by everyone staying together and talking to each other instead of leaving them alone.

Definitely horrible parenting the whole episode.

The father giving her that radio to basically just shut her up then ignore her the rest of the show. Even if she didn't do this, giving her a radio that was full of people screaming for help and dying seems like a terrible idea for her mental health.

Then neither of them keeping an eye on the boy grieving over his mother. The dad would try to talk to him a couple times then give up after like 10 seconds. Even after he lashed out at her "funeral".

And I'm not sure I remember either of them as much as said a word to Nick the whole time until the whole dive into the water scene. But the drug addict is the most well adjusted of the children, oddly enough.

 

[Mega]

I don't think so given how many times I see people complaining about things in TV shows and movies about the stupidity of characters. They always want them to do the smart ideal choice when they can make those decisions from a safe perspective and with some knowledge of what's going on. It's not unique to The Walking Dead. Heck bringing it back to this show, how many people are complaining about Alicia's on the radio in this thread? I find that to be extremely realistic and naive for someone to do. People only complain because they already know it's going to lead to something bad. People in real life aren't flawless. They make constant stupid mistakes but the common thing I see is they want characters to be superstars and always making the right choices. It's simply Monday morning quarterbacking.

A flawed or even an intentionally dumb dumb character is not the same as a poorly written one.

Complaints are common because a lot of shows happen to be poorly written and make silly leaps of logic to propel the plot forward, and we pick up on how unnatural that can be. When I watch Breaking Bad or heck, a show like Game of Thrones, I don't stew in my seat wondering why Guy stupidly did X when any person of moderate intelligence would have done Y. Well written characters do stupid shit and it doesn't frustrate us because it is within their established personality and followed a series of events that rationalizes where those characters ended up. Walt irrationally delves deeper into the world of crime because of his ego and arrogance. Jesse doesn't wisely skip town because he's compelled to do the right thing. Tuco randomly offs his goon to his own detriment because he's mentally unstable. All of this shit is bad decision making but it narratively makes sense in that world.

The complete opposite happens with startling frequency on TWD and we're seeing it again in FTWD. What purpose was there for Nick to wade deeper into zombie infested waters and into a capsized sinking boat with God knows how many more zombies in it? He was nearly killed by one and he pointlessly ups his chances of death for no reason other than an unconvincing throwaway line that he heard something... what??? And he's not brave and has no reason to be (he didn't fuss about not picking up the people stuck on the ocean). What reason was there for this dumb sequence of events other than to generate bullshit drama that could have been avoided and to come up with a contrived way of getting that log and show us the bullet hole riddled hull? It's hamfisted and stupid.

See, in a nutshell my problem with this shit is that these shows are supposed to be realistic, but they have the stupendous structure only possible in sitcoms... minus the comedy that justifies suspending all common sense. It's the cast of Threes Company jumping from one misunderstanding to the next, delving deeper into shit by not communicating basic vital information (for no reason), and getting stuck in ludicrous situations that could have been avoided if the characters acted with a semblance of rationality. It's bad comedy without laughs, making it feel quite pointless.

 

[eyeball_kid]

I was hopeful they'd turn things around in S2, but not looking good so far. I can't remember the last time I've hated a cast of characters so uniformly.

My guess: next episode the pirates are going to spray the yacht with bullets and damage the desalination equipment. This will conveniently set up the necessity to go to shore for water in future episodes.

 

[Surfinn]

I don't think so given how many times I see people complaining about things in TV shows and movies about the stupidity of characters. They always want them to do the smart ideal choice when they can make those decisions from a safe perspective and with some knowledge of what's going on. It's not unique to The Walking Dead. Heck bringing it back to this show, how many people are complaining about Alicia's on the radio in this thread? I find that to be extremely realistic and naive for someone to do. People only complain because they already know it's going to lead to something bad. People in real life aren't flawless. They make constant stupid mistakes but the common thing I see is they want characters to be superstars and always making the right choices. It's simply Monday morning quarterbacking.

No. Below:

A flawed or even an intentionally dumb dumb character is not the same as a poorly written one.

Complaints are common because a lot of shows happen to be poorly written and make silly leaps of logic to propel the plot forward, and we pick up on how unnatural that can be. When I watch Breaking Bad or heck, a show like Game of Thrones, I don't stew in my seat wondering why Guy stupidly did X when any person of moderate intelligence would have done Y. Well written characters do stupid shit and it doesn't frustrate us because it is within their established personality and followed a series of events that rationalizes where those characters ended up. Walt irrationally delves deeper into the world of crime because of his ego and arrogance. Jesse doesn't wisely skip town because he's compelled to do the right thing. Tuco randomly offs his goon to his own detriment because he's mentally unstable. All of this shit is bad decision making but it narratively makes sense in that world.

The complete opposite happens with startling frequency on TWD and we're seeing it again in FTWD. What purpose was there for Nick to wade deeper into zombie infested waters and into a capsized sinking boat with God knows how many more zombies in it? He was nearly killed by one and he pointlessly ups his chances of death for no reason other than an unconvincing throwaway line that he heard something... what??? And he's not brave and has no reason to be (he didn't fuss about not picking up the people stuck on the ocean). What reason was there for this dumb sequence of events other than to generate bullshit drama that could have been avoided and to come up with a contrived way of getting that log and show us the bullet hole riddled hull? It's hamfisted and stupid.

See, in a nutshell my problem with this shit is that these shows are supposed to be realistic, but they have the stupendous structure only possible in sitcoms... minus the comedy that justifies suspending all common sense. It's the cast of Threes Company jumping from one misunderstanding to the next, delving deeper into shit by not communicating basic vital information (for no reason), and getting stuck in ludicrous situations that could have been avoided if the characters acted with a semblance of rationality. It's bad comedy without laughs, making it feel quite pointless.

This, 100%. Exactly what I was about to write but you did the job for me.

This "Monday morning quarterbacking" shit is absurdly obtuse. No one is expecting the characters to be "superstars", just that they're relatable and intelligent enough to engross the audience.

No one is expecting a rambo or some sort of immersion breaking abilities.

 

[xrnzaaas]

Man I forgot how much I hated some people from the cast. It's more than being dumb, it's kinda like having a death wish. Strand should've left them stranded.

 

[backflip10019]

I fucking hate Chris. Hope he gets eaten imminently.

Nick is really the only character I find likable. And that's mostly because of his Johnny Depp mannerisms and James Franco looks.

 

[Surfinn]

I fucking hate Chris. Hope he gets eaten imminently.

Nick is really the only character I find likable. And that's mostly because of his Johnny Depp mannerisms and James Franco looks.

Same. Chris is an awful, totally dislikable character. Hope he goes fast. But in true WD fashion, I'm sure he'll stick around for a while and get more scenes to butcher with his atrocious acting.

 

[backflip10019]

Also, how has nobody had a conversation that went something like this:

Person 1: "Ok, can we just stop for a second here. What the FUCK is going on? This could be the end of the world. The fucking end of the world. The world has ended. And we're just here on this boat. Alone."

Person 2: "I'm terrified. I don't know what to do. I wasn't made for this. I'm a teacher for god's sake. I don't know if I can do this. I don't know if I can survive."

Nobody has expressed how absolutely insane and crazy the situation they're dealing with is. They've only communicated this by long, idle stares into nothing. It's like the whole show is written by aliens, by people who have never had a conversation before in their lives. It's infuriating to watch because a little dose of reality could make it a good show.

 

[WaffleTaco]

Also, how has nobody had a conversation that went something like this:

Person 1: "Ok, can we just stop for a second here. What the FUCK is going on? This could be the end of the world. The fucking end of the world. The world has ended. And we're just here on this boat. Alone."

Person 2: "I'm terrified. I don't know what to do. I wasn't made for this. I'm a teacher for god's sake. I don't know if I can do this. I don't know if I can survive."

Nobody has expressed how absolutely insane and crazy the situation they're dealing with is. They've only communicated this by long, idle stares into nothing. It's like the whole show is written by aliens, by people who have never had a conversation before in their lives. It's infuriating to watch because a little dose of reality could make it a good show.

I think it's because the realization has not hit them yet.

 

[RootCause]

Man I forgot how much I hated some people from the cast. It's more than being dumb, it's kinda like having a death wish. Strand should've left them stranded.

He really should've, these people are going to get him killed.

 

[Mega]

Also, how has nobody had a conversation that went something like this:

Person 1: "Ok, can we just stop for a second here. What the FUCK is going on? This could be the end of the world. The fucking end of the world. The world has ended. And we're just here on this boat. Alone."

Person 2: "I'm terrified. I don't know what to do. I wasn't made for this. I'm a teacher for god's sake. I don't know if I can do this. I don't know if I can survive."

Nobody has expressed how absolutely insane and crazy the situation they're dealing with is. They've only communicated this by long, idle stares into nothing. It's like the whole show is written by aliens, by people who have never had a conversation before in their lives. It's infuriating to watch because a little dose of reality could make it a good show.

What Waffletaco said. I think they expect to find a safe place and go back to their normal lives eventually. They are not yet accepting an end of world scenario followed by a search for a Prison or an Alexandria. It makes sense. They went from living at home under government quarantine, then to a seaside mansion and now a luxury yacht. Their sheltered living will fully crumble soon.

 

[dyergram]

Also, water zombies was kind of funny. Reminded me of the shark wrestling zombie from the classic ZOMBI 2:

Exactly what I was thinking. Ill actually be shocked if there isnt a zombie getting eaten by a shark this season. The motivation for the two dudes to jump in the sea was terrible but otherwise I quite enjoyed this premier this show is pretty good at building up the tension, I secretly want this to turn into a water world prequel.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

‘Fear The Walking Dead’ Season 2 Debut Ratings Steady With Season 1 Finale

Debuting for its second season on April 10, The Walking Dead spinoff snagged 6.7 million total viewers with 3.9 million of those in the adults 18-49 demo.

With those numbers, the Robert Kirkman and Dave Erickson-created FearTWD was pretty steady with most of its 6-episode first season and its October 4 S1 finale of last year. That “The Good Man” episode, which Kirkman and Erickson wrote, drew 6.86 million total viewers and a 3.4 rating among the demo. With a 3.1 rating, Sunday’s Erickson-written “Monster” dipped 3% in total viewers from the S1 finale and 9% in the key demo.

 

[DeaconKnowledge]

I don't think so given how many times I see people complaining about things in TV shows and movies about the stupidity of characters. They always want them to do the smart ideal choice when they can make those decisions from a safe perspective and with some knowledge of what's going on. It's not unique to The Walking Dead. Heck bringing it back to this show, how many people are complaining about Alicia's on the radio in this thread? I find that to be extremely realistic and naive for someone to do. People only complain because they already know it's going to lead to something bad. People in real life aren't flawless. They make constant stupid mistakes but the common thing I see is they want characters to be superstars and always making the right choices. It's simply Monday morning quarterbacking.

Agreed. It's why the constant criticism of shows like this is immensely annoying. The viewer has the benefit of hindsight via an entire other show to know that things are not going to improve, so they juxtapose that knowledge on characters who have no such advantage.

Simply put, none of the characters in this show know definitively that things won't improve. Strand and the older latino gentleman are highly pessimistic, but they are the only ones. They also have the benefit of age behind them - almost half the surviving casts are teenagers and young adults, and teenagers are almost always know it all idiots.

Asking Strand to take on the survivors is not dumb. It's human. The girl forming the relationship over the radio? Incredibly naive, but not out the realm of believability. Why WOULDN'T she do that?

 

[someday]

Agreed. It's why the constant criticism of shows like this is immensely annoying. The viewer has the benefit of hindsight via an entire other show to know that things are not going to improve, so they juxtapose that knowledge on characters who have no such advantage.

Simply put, none of the characters in this show know definitively that things won't improve. Strand and the older latino gentleman are highly pessimistic, but they are the only ones. They also have the benefit of age behind them - almost half the surviving casts are teenagers and young adults, and teenagers are almost always know it all idiots.

Asking Strand to take on the survivors is not dumb. It's human. The girl forming the relationship over the radio? Incredibly naive, but not out the realm of believability. Why WOULDN'T she do that?

You're probably right but that doesn't make it any less frustrating to watch. There has to be a way to make shows like this that don't rely on the characters behaving in ways that are purposely naive or stupid. And it is a cop-out to say that in this universe they have no concept of zombies when the entire audience is aware of them. You simply can't ignore that fact and place the blame on us for being restless.

The audience has also dealt with the other show constantly beating us over the head with "Trust no one" and "Kill or be killed." This was mitigated somewhat in TWD because Rick was in a coma and then immediately found people who knew the deal. I was willing to deal with the FTWD's crew in the first season and was a lot more understanding but instead of teaching the character's anything about the "new world order" they decided to hide them behind the military and ignore all that time. This group would have been a helluva lot more interesting had they been forced to deal with the world during those 9 days.

 

[Mario]

You're probably right but that doesn't make it any less frustrating to watch. There has to be a way to make shows like this that don't rely on the characters behaving in ways that are purposely naive or stupid.

The way I process things as I watch is to consider whether a character could have made a particular decision and not whether they should have made a different decision. If you can rationalise a pathway to a particular decision or course of action in the context of their character and the knowledge they have available to them, even if it is not the best one, then questionable decisions and strategies become more palatable. Note this approach actually made Prometheus much, much worse. Talk about stupid decisions.

To that end, I didn't really find the girl on the radio to be that much of a problem. She was actually hesitant to give out information and somewhat cautious, even after they had built a rapport. As a teenage girl, it is understandable her wanting to connect with someone given their situation and having just lost her boyfriend (and pretty much her whole world), and her becoming anxious for the voice on the other end being put in danger having just made that connection is reasonable. She was in fact being proactively manipulated the whole time into giving out more information than she should have. Naive, yes, but not "purposely naive", and completely in line with the character.

Suggesting picking up the passengers on the liferaft(?) wasn't "stupid" either, especially when disagreement and apprehension amongst several of the group shown. The group discussed it and ultimately the action taken was to continue (albeit Strand railroading the conversation but still). Indeed, we'll never know whether actually taking them on board would have been a good thing depending what skillsets, information, and supplies that group had.

In my view, the adults letting the girl continue to talk on the radio after her revelations, and swimming into the sinking boat were the only "stupid" decisions in my view and for the latter I didn't even feel particularly bad about it given the nature of that character.


On a slightly different tack, stupid decisions get much less of an eye roll from me than the heavily overused "oh no, I need to run away, but I turned, tripped and fell over, and now they are on me". That's the laziest way TWD continually puts people in danger.

The audience has also dealt with the other show constantly beating us over the head with "Trust no one" and "Kill or be killed." This was mitigated somewhat in TWD because Rick was in a coma and then immediately found people who knew the deal. I was willing to deal with the FTWD's crew in the first season and was a lot more understanding but instead of teaching the character's anything about the "new world order" they decided to hide them behind the military and ignore all that time. This group would have been a helluva lot more interesting had they been forced to deal with the world during those 9 days.

Skipping a bunch of days and the whole miltary confinement of the neighbourhood was the worst thing about season 1 and a huge missed opportunity. Indeed, I felt like they robbed the show of the whole premise of which it had been marketed, and there is no way to get that lost opportunity back (not without another series anyway).

 

[someday]

The way I process things as I watch is to consider whether a character could have made a particular decision and not whether they should have made a different decision. If you can rationalise a pathway to a particular decision or course of action in the context of their character and the knowledge they have available to them, even if it is not the best one, then questionable decisions and strategies become more palatable. Note this approach actually made Prometheus much, much worse. Talk about stupid decisions.

To that end, I didn't really find the girl on the radio to be that much of a problem. She was actually hesitant to give out information and somewhat cautious, even after they had built a rapport. As a teenage girl, it is understandable her wanting to connect with someone given their situation and having just lost her boyfriend (and pretty much her whole world), and her becoming anxious for the voice on the other end being put in danger having just made that connection is reasonable. She was in fact being proactively manipulated the whole time into giving out more information than she should have. Naive, yes, but not "purposely naive", and completely in line with the character.

I suppose I'm thinking about what I would have thought of in that situation. To me it seems realistic for an individual to realize that if you're living on a multi-million dollar yacht in the apocalypse, with a desalination system and a fully stocked bar, you might not spread that information to strangers. I don't know. Especially when you've already seen that your group isn't picking up strangers, you've seen that strangers are already really in desperate situations, and the guy you're talking to has stated that their situation fairly dire. I suppose that's what I mean by purposely naive. They're writing her character as someone massively sheltered but her brother is a heroin junkie, she's dealt with the death of a parent, and she went to a public, multicultural school. But, last season her mom and brother distracted her with a game of Monopoly so I guess I'm expecting too much lol.

I also think it was weird that this season Madison is the one who wanted to save a boatload of strangers and Travis is the "voice of reason." Last season, Madison is the one who accepted the "new world order" sooner than any other adult. She sided with Daniel in torturing that army dude, she didn't even bother to tell her neighbors about what was going on, she took maybe 2 seconds before beating the principal over the head with the fire extinguisher, she wanted to take out the Susan zombie, and she had no qualms about stealing drugs for Nick. This season, she's the softie that wants to save strangers and Travis is the one stopping her. It's a complete retcon of her character.

 

[FantasticMrFoxdie]

ehhh yeah that opener did nothing for me. I think ill give it one more episode, otherwise i'm out.

So much better recommended TV out there these days

 

[FUNKNOWN iXi]

For those interested, the latest DAY AFTER DEAD podcast is up.

Personally, I found the episode interesting and I'm excited to see more. It's unfortunate that they didn't spend more time with the military in the first season, and it's disappointing they jumped straight into the action at the start of this episode instead of showing us the bombs going off, but if the show continues with a fast pace compared to TWD, then maybe I'll be alright with it in the end.

This show doesn't work because I don't care if anyone dies.

That's actually what I find very exciting about it, no plot armor right now.

The way I process things as I watch is to consider whether a character could have made a particular decision and not whether they should have made a different decision. If you can rationalise a pathway to a particular decision or course of action in the context of their character and the knowledge they have available to them, even if it is not the best one, then questionable decisions and strategies become more palatable. Note this approach actually made Prometheus much, much worse. Talk about stupid decisions.

To that end, I didn't really find the girl on the radio to be that much of a problem. She was actually hesitant to give out information and somewhat cautious, even after they had built a rapport. As a teenage girl, it is understandable her wanting to connect with someone given their situation and having just lost her boyfriend (and pretty much her whole world), and her becoming anxious for the voice on the other end being put in danger having just made that connection is reasonable. She was in fact being proactively manipulated the whole time into giving out more information than she should have. Naive, yes, but not "purposely naive", and completely in line with the character.

Suggesting picking up the passengers on the liferaft(?) wasn't "stupid" either, especially when disagreement and apprehension amongst several of the group shown. The group discussed it and ultimately the action taken was to continue (albeit Strand railroading the conversation but still). Indeed, we'll never know whether actually taking them on board would have been a good thing depending what skillsets, information, and supplies that group had.

In my view, the adults letting the girl continue to talk on the radio after her revelations, and swimming into the sinking boat were the only "stupid" decisions in my view and for the latter I didn't even feel particularly bad about it given the nature of that character.


On a slightly different tack, stupid decisions get much less of an eye roll from me than the heavily overused "oh no, I need to run away, but I turned, tripped and fell over, and now they are on me". That's the laziest way TWD continually puts people in danger.

Yeah, this is how I feel as well.

Skipping a bunch of days and the whole miltary confinement of the neighbourhood was the worst thing about season 1 and a huge missed opportunity. Indeed, I felt like they robbed the show of the whole premise of which it had been marketed, and there is no way to get that lost opportunity back (not without another series anyway).

I agree on the missed opportunities, but I don't think it's lost forever. They could still show other cities or meet up with other groups that we learn more about their experiences as the show progresses.

 

[Marty Chinn]

I suppose I'm thinking about what I would have thought of in that situation. To me it seems realistic for an individual to realize that if you're living on a multi-million dollar yacht in the apocalypse, with a desalination system and a fully stocked bar, you might not spread that information to strangers.

I think the problem here is what's in the bolded. You know this is the apocalypse. They don't. They're still in a position to believe that even though shit got bad, that world might not be ending.

 

[Surfinn]

I think the problem here is what's in the bolded. You know this is the apocalypse. They don't. They're still in a position to believe that even though shit got bad, that world might not be ending.

If I saw dead people rising and eating the living (which is scientifically impossible), I'd assume I was in an apocalypse of some kind, just saying. But I get your point: it's really early on.

But as others have said.. AMC has already conditioned viewers to not trust others and make decisions that only make sense for hardened survivors, so I'm not sure why it's any surprise that people naturally connect the dots.

However, jumping into the water to "go for a swim", fully clothed, while a capsized boat conveniently floats by its just downright shitty writing. It's poor cause and effect.