The Walking Dead

[Jesse James]

I didn't mind the episode... 

They've been building up the group's callous nature now for a while, so I felt like this was actually a long time coming where something good in your face may go unrecognized simply because the Ricktatorship is in full swing and he's among the most scarred mentally at this point.  It makes you a survivor, and nobody WANTS to question Rick, but clearly others have been there before and are wanting to help him make the right decisions.

Actually I really enjoyed the last line, from Carol, since he made a tough choice regarding her...  She backs him up.  I thought that was some pretty brilliant writing actually considering she didn't do jack all episode till that last line.

Yeah I don't know how you clear a route...  I can't even tell where the hell they are at this point.  What state?  Maybe they were just saying we came down Route 16, killed walkers along the way, no herds, it's clear...  Whereas Route 23 has a herd on it?  I almost looked up the routes just to see what they're like, or if they're even real.

The arrow straight road thing, again I have no clue where they are, hah.  I just know here isn't flat like that on many roads here.  A few, but not many.  I suppose it's possible...  It wasn't like they were on that straight stretch forever, but they did show in last week's that they were on a pretty damn straight road that went on for a while it seemed.

Regarding the post-rundown thing, I was about to question that too, but it seemed to me they broke through the herd they were in, and wound up out on the other side a good distance from the last of the zombies.  It looked like some were following them, others maybe were going to come but a ways down the road, and maybe then they got distracted by the flare that made Aaron freak?  I think that's plausible in that situation.  They did seem to break through the zombies and be some kind of distance away from the last of them.  So I can buy them not having a huge problem to deal with, but one that overwhelmed just basically 3 armed people and a tied up guy.  I am ok on that one.  Much more so than the road issue...  definitely more than the storm thing.

I'd say arms stuck in the hood, for no real reason (why was the hood gapped up that much to allow arms in but not enough to detatch?  Not really possible.) and them somehow obstructing the car from starting then...  I guess they were trying to imply they were in the serpentine belt, but again that hood would've been unlatched to allow those to jam in, then jam down into the serp belt.  THAT is some unbelievable stuff to me.

It'd have been much more likely they broke the radiator and the car just overheated and blew up, and that stopped them.

On the flare, yeah I assume it was a trouble thing, and the other group drove to it (since they, I guess, stopped when the herd appeared and they lost Rick because Glenn hasn't learned NOT to take his eyes off the road in the zombie apocalypse).  I am guessing Rick saw the general direction of the flare and they went in that general direction, and lucked into finding the group there all safe with Eric.  It seemed like that whole sequence just went entirely too quickly...  time constraints on the show and all?  Could've probably chopped out some morale dilemma junk and done better explaining how they get from A to B though.

I liked the episode well enough, but it was a lot more of last week, I felt...  At least in pace and whatnot.  Some zombie killing that was fun, some slow dialogue and debate, character development (and introduction)...  It was ok to me, but could've been done better.

The Dale nods were great...  That car would be among your worst choices in the zombie apocalypse though, IMO.  Gas hog.

[BillCable]

Looks like all the roads are made up.  They'd likely take Route 1 into Alexandria.  Route 611 runs roughly parallel to it.  And I don't think you'd see the DC skyline while approaching Alexandria, as it's about 5 miles as the crow flies between cities.

[McMetal]

Yeah, those are all made up roads for sure.

I kept waiting for someone to speak up and tell Aaron, "You know, the last folks that offered to take us in tried to eat us, so yeah...pardon us for being skeptical." 

[Matt_Fury]

Looks like all the roads are made up.  They'd likely take Route 1 into Alexandria.  Route 611 runs roughly parallel to it.  And I don't think you'd see the DC skyline while approaching Alexandria, as it's about 5 miles as the crow flies between cities.

I figured they were on 495.

Good episode, I guess anyone who had to deal with the Termites and the Governor would have some trust issues.

[Jesse James]

The Governor was almost normal compared to what Rick dealt with in the post-prison world...  His kid was going to be raped, he ate a guy's throat out to kill him, he then slaughtered said would-be perv (all while watching Michonne threatening to be raped and Darryl beat severely)...  Then he gets to Terminus and he sees clean cut dudes with a seemingly nice set-up, but they are eating people and stuff, slaughtering people that don't really help them in any way other than jagoff jerky.

Oh and those guys aren't done, wound up eating your buddy's leg who was just a good dude.

Then he found a "society" where people who are powerful are basically keeping slaves, abusing them, and raping them, because they're people too weak to defend themselves and they feel it's their right since they "keep them safe"...  those people then popped Beth in the head.

Rick was pretty F'd up when he ran the cop down.

I think Aaron is pretty lucky he's alive, haha.  He'd better thank Glenn at some point, and Michonne.  He owes both, a lot.  Darryl and Abraham would've probably let the Ricktatorship run wild on him, and just take your **** and keep on truckin'.

[BillCable]

So kind of a filler episode last night.  Seemed like they were planting seeds for future arcs.  Overall enjoyable, just not much to react to.

[McMetal]

#CleanCutRick 

How the hell did those candy asses manage to stay alive for the past whatever-months? Carl nailed it - they are weak, and even worse, stupid.

I counted at least 3 people that are simply going to HAVE to die for this thing to work - Deanna's douchy son, his pal from the front gate that Daryl took down, and the mysterious front porch jealous husband that apparently wants to kill Rick for answering the door with no shirt on, LOL.

I could probably include the freaky backpack girl in that group too except it seems like Carl is doomed to fall in love with her so that will probably keep her around for awhile.

Loved Carol's interview...Junior League - hilarious. Throwing in that blurb about missing her big dumb husband, totally disarming. Yeah, nothing to fear from her folks. She's a people person! 

So the whole of NoVa (that's what we call Northern VA around here) was evacuated? There sure are a buttload of walkers hanging around, despite their claims otherwise. Seems unliklely they would be making a 53 mile arc around the compound with all the undead roaming around.

So WTF was that girl doing outside the camp? I'm guessing she is meeting someone outside and feeding or passing info to them. Maybe the strange woman in the house outside the gate that Carl glimpsed briefly. How did she get back in though?

Who took Rick's blender gun?!?!

What happened to Deanna's architect/professor husband?

WTF are they gonna do with Daryl?

That last one is especially interesting since there is no blueprint from the comic to go by here. I just don't see him hanging around long.

[BillCable]

So WTF was that girl doing outside the camp? I'm guessing she is meeting someone outside and feeding or passing info to them. Maybe the strange woman in the house outside the gate that Carl glimpsed briefly.

I'm pretty sure that was the girl he glimpsed.

And yeah, Carol's performance was awesome.

Something I forgot to ask - back a few episodes when dude was describing the wall, he mentioned the frame was built from "4-inch, rolled steel."  Does anyone know if that was a deliberate reference to Game of Thrones?

[Scockery]

Steel walls...but the supports are on the outside.
It actually hasn't been that long since the prison fell. A month? 6 weeks?
They showed some interviews with Deanna, but the really interesting one would've been Gabriel, as he's still somewhat uneasy with Rick's group...what would he say about them? Or they about him, is asked?

[GrandMoffNick]

Been awhile since I've felt this way but........ eh.

Carol with the little boy was creepy.

Rick kissing the married lady should set something interesting up. Though mostly it makes me sad we don't have the Rick and Andrea relationship from the comics going.

And I'm a little scared they may have "traded" Daryl for Jesus. I really like Daryl but Jesus is awesome. Hopefully I'm just reading something out of nothing.

[Matt_Fury]

Poor Buttons.

[JediJman]

Carol with the little boy was creepy.

Yes!  I get what she was doing there, but I Was just waiting for that kid to piss his pants.  Definitely NOT a people person.

Rick kissing the married lady should set something interesting up. Though mostly it makes me sad we don't have the Rick and Andrea relationship from the comics going.

I think they are missing Andrea bigtime.  She becomes so much more important in the comics that they either need to radically change storylines or set up other characters to take her roles.  Obviously Jessie is filling the role of Rick's love interest for now and maybe they'll keep her around longer than comic-Jessie.  And it looks like they're turning Sasha into the expert sniper.  I'm okay with it, but couldn't help thinking back to Comic-Andrea all through the episode.

And I'm a little scared they may have "traded" Daryl for Jesus. I really like Daryl but Jesus is awesome. Hopefully I'm just reading something out of nothing.

I wonder if a character named Jesus would be too weird for the TV masses.  It kinda makes sense to put Daryl in that role, at least for now.  Thought Daryl's skills are vastly different from Ninja-Jesus.  Maybe They are saving Jesus for the season finale?

Anyone have theories on the 'W' zombie?  Maybe it just stands for Walkers and was one of the tortured zombies from Aiden's team.  I couldn't stop thinking about it when Sam when stamping people with Alexandria A's though.  Is "W" a rival group or community?  I recall Aiden saying his group was attacked, but did he say by walkers?  Or was it maybe by someone else?  And who has the blender-gun???  Great setup work these last two episodes.

[GrandMoffNick]

Call Jesus by his real name..... Paul,  I think.

Two times in second half premiere painted on the wall somewhere was "wolves not far".

Gotta be the W. Please be "s-----s" by a new name for the show. Has to be.........

[BillCable]

Another episode of which I wasn't a big fan.

Carol gets snuck-up on by a fat cookie-seeking kid?  Rick ready to pop a cap in some physician's ass so he can get some?  Daryl becoming the least suspicious of the core because some dude likes horses?

I get Rick going darker, and that's an interesting turn, but the rest of them becoming incompetent this quickly just doesn't sit well with me.

[JediJman]

Another episode of which I wasn't a big fan.

Carol gets snuck-up on by a fat cookie-seeking kid?  Rick ready to pop a cap in some physician's ass so he can get some?  Daryl becoming the least suspicious of the core because some dude likes horses?

I get Rick going darker, and that's an interesting turn, but the rest of them becoming incompetent this quickly just doesn't sit well with me.

I'm actually really liking this last few. 

Carol's in a new area, trying to focus and hurry.  As someone with a lot of kids in my neighborhood, I've been surprised like that a few times in my own garage.  And I'm not focused on stealing guns with a party going a few houses down. This was a setup to show how dark she really is or what lengths she will go to, so I'm willing to overlook a sneaky kid.

Rick's been in a pretty crazy world where it's take or be taken.  I think that scene was meant to show how hard it is to just come back to a "normal" life after being on the run in that environment so long.  He didn't whip the gun out and point it.  I thought it was a good way to show how hard it is for him and the crew to assimilate.  Would be dumb and lazy if they didn't have some kind of adjustment issue.

Daryl has been in need of companionship since he lost Beth.  Brother's gone, Beth's gone, Carol's gone homemaker under cover.  Everybody needs friendship.  Daryl not taking a gun is more about him deciding to put some trust into something other than himself.

I thought all of these were really great character building moments.  I like the on-the-run action, but stuff like this is what makes us care whether they live or die.  Pretty good writing IMO.