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THE WALKING DEAD: Season 1 on AMC (avoid comic book spoilers)

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anaron said:
With great ratings and the guarantee of 13 episodes, I'm optimistic about it providing a bit of breathing space for the writers to structure and embellish a stronger kind of show.
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I think that's the key for S2. With the short episodes (~45min) and only a 6 episode order for S1, they've been trying to introduce so many characters at once that a lot of them haven't been fully developed yet. The initial scenes with Merle (and a few other characters) are pretty heavy handed by necessity.
 
That was a great episode.
Amy, holy shit, no prominent character is safe at all.

Was anyone else surprised to see never before seen characters get eaten too? I didn't even know they had so many people on camp.
 
OK, I haven't read anything in this thread and I'm about 30min into the episode, but I will say that (show spoiler, about 30min in)
all mexican dudes love and respect their grandmothers...this is the truth.
:lol
 
Worst episode so far. Cannot believe they wasted so much time on such one-shot characters like the gang. At this point it seems as though they're setting up Merle as the big bad for next season. I really hope they don't go the easy route of making
Merle the Governor, but I have the feeling the tidy parallels between Merle losing his hand and Rick losing his hand will be too tempting for the show runners to ignore
.
 
vitaminwateryum said:
Thought it was a pretty great episode aside from the awful opening scene with Andrea and Amy in the boat.
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Eh, it wasn't bad. It set up for the one girls death. But the whole "FATHER TAUGHT US DIFFERENT BECAUSE WE'RE DIFFERENT! HAW HAW! *tears up*" was a bit ham-fisted.

I hope they don't end the whole story arc with Merle by the end of this season.
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I kinda do, I like Deryl a lot better than him. But that's because Deryl has some restraint and isn't a total racist toward T-Dog. Merle if he was around and they were looking fro Deryl would've grated on me by now.

That said: Convenient blood-trail for getting off the roof (the zombies wouldn't have came up that way, seriously?), stopping the blood flow while using an oven is D: and "wait, what? He wouldn't be screaming in pain due to the heat? Seriously? BIG BALLS, MAN." As well as getting out of that tiny little hole while one handed. The whole window wasn't broken. Surely, he'd have some cuts while trying to haul his frame and one-handed ass out to drop two stories onto the stairs.

That said, the ending killing off the sister was nice. "The day before her birthday" made it feel like "well, that sucks. :/" and had the impact/punch needed for me to continue watching.

Also I've been watching the Breaking Bad re-runs after the Central replays. Are they replaying them any other time besides midnight EST? Because I've gone from the pilot to episode 4 season one to damn near the finale of one and I'm like "wait, what?" :lol

I wouldn't say it was an "awful episode" just poorly paced. If it had a season long arc to build the pace around these things (like the Atlanta gang forcing the camp dudes to get meds for them in return of Glenn), and have episodes on the survivors while having a "meta" plot (Merle) over-arching enemy or goal, I think it'd be way better than it is currently.

That said, holy shit at the zombie designs. They seem to get better every episode.
 
My only complaint for this episode was that the custodian wasn't a tougher, bigger dude who knew how to act. I also had no idea that the Boondock Saints guy was in the cast, that was pretty awesome. I'm also disappointed to find out that it's a short season and I'm hoping they don't use the rest of the main story arc having the rest of the survivors trying to find Merle.
 
That episode was good. I dont know if Merle led them there or not. We know its a pretty significant drive to get up to where the camp is and they would have heard the vehicle coming. Either way it was good. Sucks about Amy but it does show no one is safe. Was bad ass though having Rick and them suddenly busting out of the woods gun blazing to save the day.

Merles brother is actually pretty tolerable overall. He has a bit of that redneck bigotry but its also obvious he still has enough respect like when Glenn is making his plan to get the bag and hes floored by how glenn has it all worked out. Funny enough twist on the gang with the evil killer dogs heh
 
Leunam said:
luxarific, you are insane. :lol :lol
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I just hope Merle dies in episode 6. I really don't want to see him next season. Daryl's fine and fills the redneck Southern asshole stereotype slot the show seems to think it has to include quite nicely.

EDIT: just saw the preview for episode 5 on AMC's website. I think they did a great job casting Andrea.
 
The pilot was really outstanding, and while the following episodes have been good to great, they haven't been on the same level (for me). I'm hoping that they polish up the dialogue in general as they work on the second season.
 
Veidt said:
That was a great episode.
Amy, holy shit, no prominent character is safe at all.

Was anyone else surprised to see never before seen characters get eaten too? I didn't even know they had so many people on camp.
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I loved all the carnage but I hope they don't repeat the "red-shirts slaughtered" thing too much in the future. It's acceptable right now since the series just started (and cause they also killed a main character in the attack) but if we get to season 5 and they pull some bullshit like Lost's flaming arrow attack I'll be pretty pissed :lol
 
Sean said:
I loved all the carnage but I hope they don't repeat the "red-shirts slaughtered" thing too much in the future. It's acceptable right now since the series just started (and cause they also killed a main character in the attack) but if we get to season 5 and they pull some bullshit like Lost's flaming arrow attack I'll be pretty pissed :lol
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I tend to think this was to start culling the extras to make the main cast more flexible for being on the move. I cant imagine staying around is an option because its unknown atleast right now how all those zombies showed up and there was plenty of loud noises let alone burning flesh to attract more based on the unknown of how they got there.
 
Probably my second favorite episode overall (right after the pilot). I think this episode had all the elements of the previous three episodes. It felt lengthy and satisfying.

Unlike some here, I loved the twist with the gang and the nursing home. It brought more depth to those characters instead of making them complete stereotypes.

On the other hand, the only parts that weren't really needed was some of the lines with Andrea and Amy (the boat scene) and I don't really like the no-names around the camp. I feel if they want to have throw-away characters, make them more like Amy (and Ed). I think the issue here is money but I would rather have a small group of characters that the audience is familiar with than a small group of characters in the midst of no-name characters that change appearance and die off daily.
 
I have to admit I laughed really hard when that random red-shirt comes out of the woods and gets bitten.

She was never seen on camera prior to that scene.
 
catotheyounger said:
Even if Kirkman wrote this episode?
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I thought I was getting The Walking Dead. Not The Walking Dead Unlimited.

Why license something if you're not going to even try? You all are welcome to like it. I was expecting the story I love.
 
krypt0nian said:
I thought I was getting The Walking Dead. Not The Walking Dead Unlimited.

Why license something if you're not going to even try? You all are welcome to like it. I was expecting the story I love.
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So why not just re-read the comic books if you want the same story over again?
 
krypt0nian said:
I thought I was getting The Walking Dead. Not The Walking Dead Unlimited.

Why license something if you're not going to even try? You all are welcome to like it. I was expecting the story I love.
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:lol :lol :lol
you're the kind of straight-up line-for-line image-for-image adaption demanding "fan" that ruins adaptions.
 
Heroic nursing home defenders? WHAT?!

What a mess. I don't even like the comic much, but all of this stupid shit they're coming up with here is so much worse than following the basic plot of the source material, of which there is plenty to go around.

I was in awe of how hard the shark was being jumped when the little old lady came out to end the standoff. And then all that setup with the hole digging just for an exceedingly obvious cringe-worthy final line.

Terrible. First the stupid caricatures they've inserted, now the nursing home. All of the TV-original material is laughably bad.
 
UltimaPooh said:
So why not just re-read the comic books if you want the same story over again?
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I plan to. Better than this laughable crap. The Walking Dead is unabashed deepest hole depressing shit. Not this made for TV after school special nonsense.

big ander said:
:lol :lol :lol
you're the kind of straight-up line-for-line image-for-image adaption demanding "fan" that ruins adaptions.
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If you're willing to accept grandma saves the day and nursing home bad guys I guess you get what you deserve.

Oh I forgot. lol lol lol
 
EviLore said:
Heroic nursing home defenders? WHAT?!

What a mess. I don't even like the comic much, but all of this stupid shit they're coming up with here is so much worse than following the basic plot of the source material, of which there is plenty to go around.

I was in awe of how hard the shark was being jumped when the little old lady came out to end the standoff. And then all that setup with the hole digging just for an exceedingly obvious cringe-worthy final line.

Terrible. First the stupid caricatures they've inserted, now the nursing home. All of the TV-original material is laughably bad.
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ok....but didn't you love the carnage toward the end tho??
:lol
 
EviLore said:
Heroic nursing home defenders? WHAT?!

What a mess. I don't even like the comic much, but all of this stupid shit they're coming up with here is so much worse than following the basic plot of the source material, of which there is plenty to go around.

I was in awe of how hard the shark was being jumped when the little old lady came out to end the standoff. And then all that setup with the hole digging just for an exceedingly obvious cringe-worthy final line.

Terrible. First the stupid caricatures they've inserted, now the nursing home. All of the TV-original material is laughably bad.
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You didn't think the slaughter at the end got rid of most of the caricatures? I enjoy nearly every character left.
I'd like to think the heroic nursing home defenders is going to be the one nice group we're going to see in society for seasons to come. It'll be good to think back to that when we meet some real sociopaths.
 
Crazy episode, not the best overall but that's not saying much as they are all awesome and thoroughly entertaining. And I don't know why some people are falling the Mexican gang thing pointless. They obviously introduced them to use them in the future. Yeah it could have started out better since it doesn't make a ton of sense to beef during the end of the world but his reasoning wasn't terrible. And they turned about to be good dudes.
 
big ander said:
You didn't think the slaughter at the end got rid of most of the caricatures? I enjoy nearly every character left.
I'd like to think the heroic nursing home defenders is going to be the one nice group we're going to see in society for seasons to come. It'll be good to think back to that when we meet some real sociopaths.
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What? It only got rid of the wife beater, sister, and a bunch of people that I assume drunkenly stumbled into their camp at the most inopportune time.
 
BamYouHaveAids said:
What? It only got rid of the wife beater, sister, and a bunch of people that I assume drunkenly stumbled into their camp at the most inopportune time.
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The wifebeater was the worst offender. I don't feel like any of the remaining characters are caricatures. Maybe Merle slightly, but we have no idea where he is. And he's still compelling (see the scene of him on the rooftop).
And getting rid of redshirts allows the show to have a much better focus on characters that matter.
 
I absolutely hate this show now. I'm a big fan of the comic series, and I actually thought the pilot episode was top notch; but the rest has been extremely disappointing. They are straying too far from the comics, and aside from T-Dawg none of the new characters are remotely interesting. The acting is dreadful: that custodian guy really had me laughing--and don't get me started about the opening scene. I do love Rick, Shane, and Glenn: their acting is okay. I also love the action scenes--especially the zombie scene in the end.
 
The vatos with hearts of gold storyline was typical Hollywood drivel in an otherwise exciting episode! Daryl has become one of my favorites. Not as big of a bigot as his brother, and it was impressive how he was able to snuff out his anger at TDog and turn it into detached amusement at the discoveries of Merle's escape and employed survival techniques. :lol

Also glad to see that wife beater, Ed, be eaten. I think the story also alluded to him being a child molester. Did anyone else get an "oh no" feeling when he grabbed his daughters hand and told her to stay and "keep daddy company?"
 
PartlyCloudlike said:
Also glad to see that wife beater, Ed, be eaten. I think the story also alluded to him being a child molester. Did anyone else get an "oh no" feeling when he grabbed his daughters hand and told her to stay and "keep daddy company?"
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Thats the vibe I got.
 
Jesus, this is getting more unbearable with each episode...

The boat scene with the reminiscing about family and crying, you knew one or the other would die. A scene that fucking awful doesn't exist otherwise.
Also, the scenes with her being eaten, dying, and her older sister crying over her body were embarrassingly bad. "I story requires me to die now so I'm just going to let this zombie walk up and start munching on me."

The old man giving the speech about winding his watch, how cliche. I'm pretty sure there's a similar scene in every post-apocalyptic tale. "We're all going to die but I still do X to maintain normalcy."

The guy who beats his wife gets killed, big surprise.

The hispanic gang that's all hard looking... but is really protecting an old folk's home :lol :lol
They're fixing up some cars to take the old people... where exactly? Away from the retirement home that is secured and has some level of medical facilities?
The young gang type dudes come by to check up on their old relatives and end up staying? Really? Who are these gangster looking young males who during a zombie infection decide to check up on grandma at the retirement home?
Did anyone think for a second that they were really going to be the bad guys? They would have to be white or at least multiracial for that... whereas this was apparently a hispanic-only retirement home for some reason. There should have been a sign out front "Shady Acres Retirement Home: Must have gangster-looking hispanic grandson to live here"

I'm just wondering if Michael Rooker will be back... I still can't believe they wasted him on an overtly racist redneck character who for some reason the others decided to take on their important scavenging mission... even though he refuses to take orders, is unpredictable, constantly makes racist comments, and attacks other members of their group. What could have possibly gone wrong there?
 
HK-47 said:
What was awkward?
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The way she didn't even try to jerk back and react to the zombie. it seemed to pin her with no force at all and... i could see that being excusable if the attack happened faster but it seems like she should have been able to kick that zombie away at least. Now, i know people panic put people don't usually panic and do nothing. They either fight or the flee and she did neither... just kind of gave into the zombie, or so it seemed.
 
Every week, after South Park and the Walking Dead I make a bowl popcorn. I get on GAF and I read what everyone has to say about the past episode. Sometimes, it's more entertaining then the shows itself.

I really liked this episode, though. I thought the hispanic guys were a little overboard, ese.

The ending scene was so good, things were way to tranquil and easy going at the camp for it not to happen.

Next week should be good!
 
I thought it was pretty well established that they acted like gangsters to keep others from taking all their medical supplies and shit.
 
Doomsayer said:
I got my dogs at satans yard sale. LOL
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holy shit :lol

i didnt even register how terrible that was because i was stunned at the granny scene

also that guy who kept saying "esse" plays that same character in everything lol
 
yeah that esse guy's so typecast. I feel bad for him. What if he makes a Wrestler-style Mickey Rourke movie and gets nominated for an oscar.

I could picture him playing a transvestite for some recognition and differentiation.
 
Discotheque said:
yeah that esse guy's so typecast. I feel bad for him. What if he makes a Wrestler-style Mickey Rourke movie and gets nominated for an oscar.

I could picture him playing a transvestite for some recognition and differentiation.
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I got dez highheels at satans yard sale esse


no really, they'd probably typecast him as a snarky latino transvestite with a whole lot of sass and nothing to lose
 
krypt0nian said:
I plan to. Better than this laughable crap. The Walking Dead is unabashed deepest hole depressing shit. Not this made for TV after school special nonsense.



If you're willing to accept grandma saves the day and nursing home bad guys I guess you get what you deserve.

Oh I forgot. lol lol lol
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Maybe they could take some notes from Smallville. You'd like it more then, right? :lol
 
Hey lets hang out with our kids next to the crazy guy tied up to the tree, nothing awkward will come of that. I mean really, digging graves because he had a dream and his line at the end, so horrible.
 
The line that made me cringe the most was when that tard who was digging the holes says "now I know what my dream meant" or something like that.

The only enjoyment I got out of this episode was just the sheer ridiculous sight of a bunch of vatos defending an old folks home (I guess their top priority in an apocalypse is to check on gran-gran....seems inplausible to me but good for them. Such nice young boys) and also the ending zombie rape fest.

Chalk me up as someone else who found that opening scene fucking horrible. Me and my sister were just begging for a zombie to come out of the water and grab the chick Jaws-style.

That would have been amazing. Make me show-runner. Darabont ditched already anyways.

I'm still watching for sheer entertainment, but this isn't drama. It's like b-movie cheese. Music is good though. Whenever the episode kicks into the opening theme it's so cool
 
Not surprised to see some naysayers, this is gaf after all, full of know it alls. Whatever, I'm throughly enjoying this TV show which is hitting all the right notes far as I'm concerned. It improves on the comic book considerably, especially the dialog and character development. Shane is a much better character here than in the comic book. The actual drama is also near note perfect instead of melodramatic (another flaw of the comic book). Acting by the blond chick (I'm horrible with names) is just at the high level that I wanted to see.

I also like the matter of fact racism, and the hiding behind stereotypes as front was very interesting by that group in the 4th ep. I also liked the part about forced leadership. Like it or not, this show must deal with racism and tribalism that is totally avoided in the comic book. There's nothing to stop people from just telling others what they really feel like about other races. I like a drama show to be progressive, willing to explore some moral dilemmas, and develop some interesting characters.

I'm sold. Totally satisfying. I don't want this show to follow the comic too closely either so that's a plus. The comic itself has many flaws but delivers on a serious storyline that is completely unpredictable and unforgiving. This show looks to improve considerably on the flaws of the comic book while living up to the best parts of the comic book. About as well done as I could have ever expected.

Nice watching this on the DVR after a great episode of Dexter, now I'm walking around looking for my next drama fix like junky. Can't wait until next week.
 
How long can something this awful go on?

Surely people who are watching it expecting something on the level of Breaking Bad and Mad Men will eventually be turned off, right? Or will being the only game in town as far as zombies are concerned be enough? How are the ratings so far?
 
Last time they had to go out amongst the zombies, they smeared themselves with zombie blood, which worked for a long time. The ONLY problem with that strategy was that it started raining and the blood began to wash off. So when they went after the guns, why didn't they cover themselves in zombie blood again? It wasn't raining so there would have been no problem with that strategy.

In fact, shouldn't they be doing that every time they're ever near zombies, throughout the rest of the show? What is the downside?
 
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