I’ll just say that I spent the first two seasons rooting for the zombies. I wanted all of those characters killed and a new batch written in for season 3. Unfortunately my wish wasn’t granted.
The gun fight scenes are so annoying, sure they provide action but they seem to take up most of the episodes. Just shots of people shooting over cars, down hallways with no regards for ammo. And lets not even talk about tactics, cool we'll meet them in an open field like colonial times, just missing some cannons and muskets!
Peta is not going to be happy. The king's hubris was his downfall. I guess he began to believe his own legend. I'm sure he'll have a redemption story.
I think you are right on the money here. I was thinking at times, the gunfire is a metaphorical shorthand for the conflict. It symbolizes the conflict and is a shorthand for the hours of sneaking, cowering and parsimonious attention to ammunition this conflict would engender. But then I caught myself, and said "No this is just lazy or poor storytelling." Sure the gunfire provides noise and atmosphere, but it does the story and the audience no (Derek) Favors. Spoiler ALERT (why are you reading this page first, its like watching directors commentary before seeing the film) The endless peppering of the sanctuary complex with bullets was ridiculous - ammunition has to be spared. Why go to the trouble of building an environment of scarcity and the being such a spendthrift when it comes your last scraps of ammo (I mean the last season painstakingly built around Neegan stripping resources from Rick etc. This was repeated with the peppering of the car where Carol lay, and the aforementioned car chase scene. Rick would have been eviscerated by the heavy calibre machine gun (50 calibre) Equally the Negan invincibility issue alluded to by many above me. I once again bought into the notion of Negan playing a long-game, being the mastermind that could play the long-game, who much like O'Brian in 1984 can crush hope make 2+2=5 and keep his enemies like Rick closer than his friends. He seemed a sinister figure who would corrupt Rick and break him much Ivan Drago and make him a subservient satellite of Neegan. THEN I saw how he just struts like a latter day Ric Flair provoking people. For crying out loud he almost got killed by Carl, one of the most strategically ineffectual, emotionally knee-jerk characters in the show. His standing in front of Rick AND people with hunting if not sniper rifles entirely takes me out of my initial thoughts. He is not Machiavali, but a poker player who bets the max on every hand. Once this has been noticed, it is hard to ignore, and it does dumb down what can be a high concept show. WHAT I DID LIKE. The small touches. The look of fear in Carol's eyes when she was under the torrent of machine gun fire. She was scared to death, and despite the power and capability she has, I felt this in no way diminished what is human nature. The scene of the mutilated hand ripped off the body at the start. The juxtaposition of the King's playing the role of a wartime leader vs the consequences coming to roost. The rhetoric that was I feel a deliberately hammy mixture of Martin Luther King, Shakespeare and WInston Churchill. Once again Carol's distance from the crowd when they come home to embrace him shows how she has seen the disance between the fascade/persona and reality of the King. She asks has he ever killed anybody? She is battle hardened. Finally one metaphor that was beautiful and grotesque, was the King being buried by the sacrifice of his "subjects" The savior had the best line about his people following him still in death as they chase him to the gates. Like a King Lear who has lost his kingdom due to folly and pride, the dead rise, like personification of his guilt to chase him (don't ask me how much PTSD this would cause). He has to see the face of every soul he has lost, twisted in the diseased ravages of the walker sickness pursuing him, attempting to gnaw at him like the guilt gnawing at his soul. The link with the mother still having the flower in her arm band from her child is poignant and minimalistically poignant. And call me a softie, but the death of Sheeva got to me, even if it was every cliche up to and including old yeller. He literally lost his spirit animal, that gave him self respect and mana.
I'm about as interested in this show right now as a GM in the NBA is interested in taking Deng on in a trade.
Spoiler So Rick's surrounded by guns, hands tied, with the Trash People leader just inches away from the walker head, and they give up? LOL. All it would take is one shot to either the walker head or Rick and back in the cell he goes. This show is ridiculous.
My problem is they got me invested in a few characters back when the show was good. It's like the Call of Duty franchise. The early good ones kept me buying the series long after I should have quit. Although I will say the new Call of Duty is good.
OK. Regarding the midseason finale... Spoiler I haven't watch since season 3, but one of my least favorite characters of all time on television is Carl. I made a deal with a coworker who still watches the show religiously that if Carl dies, I'll watch it again so I can savor every moment Carl is on screen knowing he will die. I heard he got bit in the midseason finale. Is this a situation where they will be able to save him by cutting something off, or is he dead? I'm thinking about welching on the deal anyway as I don't think I could take bulldozing through what has by all accounts become an awful show. But in case I do decide to go through with this, is Carl a goner?
Spoiler I stopped watching after the opener, but I've been told he was bit in the torso so I have to think that means he's a goner.
Spoiler Yup, bit in the torso, no way to stop this unless they pull some stupid Glen dumpster trickery. Carl is such an annoying character but we've literally spent whole episodes for his character development all just to have him die from an off screen bite? What a waste of time. Apparently the actor has been wanting off for awhile to go back to college so who knows.
