If the show just tracks the comic books, can't really blame the plotting on the current show writers.

Huh? The show hasn't tracked the comic books since halfway through episode 1. There is very little about the show that is similar to the comics these days. Just to give you an example, in the comics, at this point in the narrative Carol is dead, Sophie is alive, Tyrese and his daughter are dead, Andrea is alive, Dale is alive. This whole secondary camp where the Governor was never existed in the comics. Nothing from this season happened in the comics.

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really dumb episode, really dumb season. if i had a tank i would aim for people. they shot the windows out ooooooo thats so scary and ineffective. and since youre trying to take over the prison, why not just smash the whole gate down and use the tank to turn the place into rubble, that makes perfect sense.

and the governer should come back as a zombie and eat carl, that would be awesome.

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

well yeah, cuz IIRC in the comics the governor eventually gets around to blowing up the jail, gets killed Himself, and then they're off and wandering again. i only really watched this show early in season 1 cuz it was cool when they blew up the CDC without asking questions like "whaaaa happen?" but then it became clear that A) AMC had a non-brba/madmen hit on their hands and thus B) they gotta milk this for all it's worth and therefore C) there's gonna be a shit-ton of filler and padding and pontificating because if they go and hit the major plot points from the comic they've used up a good % of plot, which they definitely don't wanna do because this is a huge hit we're talking #SixSeasonsAndAMovie and all that, so hey, at least they allow you to stare at lauren cohan and her oh-so-sexy underbite for that much longer, eh?

btw sorry to anyone who reads this and then goes looking for lauren cohan's underbite and then realizes once you see it you cannot unsee it. you can ready the img meme about the fat neckbeard basement dweller guy filling out a webform to say that supermodel X is only a 4/10... this ain't the case. as some of us have an undercover regal underbite going on lauren cohan is like a heroine to us, i tell you what!

tl;dr = i'm an asshole who doesn't watch this show and yet i've gotta condescend about it, so basically from what i've gathered this show is the veritable norse god of filler episodes and as such the characters are fleshed out as being so much more than zombie food, and i reckon by now they've gone and pissed off tha guv so he's eventually gotta destroy the jail and get them back on the road until they find another house/shed/barn/prison/fortified-location after ~4 episodes because this show can't risk having too much happen and shooting its wad and thus leaving AMC with the hellbent desire to push even more comic book men on us.

AMC: smoke 'em if you got 'em..... that is, of course, after you've split up 13 episode seasons into two annual 7-part-halves because if people are gonna pay $50 for the blu-ray/dvd,well shit, midaswell make them buy "the season" twice as much for a lightly lower price on each half (i.e.a typical $75 season collection is now two $49.99 half-seasons) and uhhhhh stay tuned cuz we're AMC and we know drama and HBO aint got shit on us! boardwalk empire = there's only so many times you can see paz de la huerta naked b4 you realize she's gotta be a dirty whore that would cause your dick to fall off!

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i jus watch online for free.99 cause im not dumb like the bluray people

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

Disappointing to see Herschel go but it was bound to happen. Should be interesting to see how
many directions people scattered to and who is with who. I was pretty satisfied with how things
turned out and was getting very tired of the prison. Looking forward to seeing how the second
half plays out.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Overall it was a pretty terrible and pointless half season. Everything they did this season could've just as easily been accomplished last season with the Woodbury conflict. I really don't understand the point of spending all that time on Woodbury only to half ass the ending and then come back this season with 5 episodes of nothing followed by 3 rushed episodes of the Governor resurfacing only to have the same ending that we were supposed to get last season.

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I'm getting back into this and just saw this episode.

My interpretation is probably a little more psychological than intended but I took the abuse of the fat zombie to be him releasing his anger towards Lori, for her unfaithfulness and ultimately getting pregnant, possibly with another person's child. That child now ultimately killed her and will undoubtedly slow up the group. He stabs at the belly so many times for a reason and I don't think it is as simple as the zombie eating his wife. You see almost no fat zombies in this show and all of them are clothed. There is a reason they chose to feature a big bellied zombie at this particular moment. Rick is working through his anger. I think my interpretation dovetails well with the telephone calls.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Continuing my catchup, I may have to change my view on Andrea...that is a GREAT ASS in the scene where she is just in her bra and panties

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I seem to remember that scene and wondering if it was a body-double but that might have been a later scene.

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You know me like that.

It was just before the dressing down Maggie got at the hands of the governor.

She has such punchable face I had no idea there was a dumper worth looking at...but then the door opened and BAM! I do have to say it is not very realistic that a woman who had been through close to two years of apocalypse including the last eight months living in the open would have frilly underwear that complemented a butt so well.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

That and the Joe Rogan weight lifter bit

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I don't know how philosophical/psychological they get in their analysis during The Talking Dead but Rick's descent into the basement of the prison at a time of crises and re emergence as a new man is Joseph Campbell level, classic hero archetype stuff.

I think they need to shift Herschel's role from being a follower to being the archetypal mentor/wise elder. Obviously I am behind you guys in this story but they seem to be doing that when he tells Rick he is wrong in his original decision not to let the people stay in episode 9. Maybe not and they will late dead Lori end up playing that role for him.

I am getting a little bit of a Hamlet vibe with the Lori ghost although I think Rick has already gotten past his days of ruinous indecisiveness. Right now, he is decisive but bordering on the impulsive. I think Lori ghost will be pushing him to be just in his decision making.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I don't know what her back story ends up being but in two cases she has put herself in increased peril in order to benefit children. She brought baby formula to the prison when she was already too hobbled to be carrying anything and with Penny. Even if Penny was not a zombie, Michone needed to be moving quickly at that point, not saving someone...but she stopped to help.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I don't want to say too much and ruin it for you but you've definitely hit on some themes that you will see again.

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You know me like that.

Dolphin, I hope you can get caught up for the 2nd half of this season. Some interesting insights.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

I don't know if it is different writing in this season. Sure it is a different Rick but it is an entirely different approach to the whole show.

The basement thing really struck me. It is like Luke Skywalker's going to Yoda's planet, Gandolf falling into the pit with the demon or a hero's descent into the underworld in ancient stories.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

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Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

She has becoming the obnoxious do gooder woman in a bar fight who gets in the middle of everything and yells "break it up" only to be slugged in the face by both sides.

I am now at the point of the meeting between Rick and Governor and I do want to defend the writing of her character a little. The non verbal communication between her and the Governor is the critical part to their relationship. We know the Governor's words are not to be trusted but I think they intentionally have him give away his true feelings with close ups on his face. Same with Andrea...and it has happened a lot over the past few episodes. She is playing him. He is playing her. Yet at the same time they are conflicted because I think they do have true affection. The also love the ideal of Woodbury (not necessarily what it is).

Here is my thought on this for the moment: Andrea is positioning herself for a coup. She is winning the affections of the people. They are obviously relying on her more. She does not yet have the backing of the military. If she can get that, the Governor is a dead man. In this way she can welcome Rick's group into the town, make herself the leader and try to push the city towards the ideal that she spoke about.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Thank you to the writers. I feel that I have gotten closure on one of my original reasons to be dissatisfied. They tied up the loose ends with the guy who originally saved Rick. I'm not completely happy with how it was written but I am please it was addressed in a fair manner that forwarded the story. He was kind of like Greek chorus providing a respite from the story line to tell you that despite all these little battles, this ends bad for everyone at the time of death.

My other original complaint remains: no one discusses the back story on the disease. They missed the opportunity to reveal at the CDC and it isn't coming back. The only hope is to have a flashback or possibly Milton.

Does Milton remind anyone else of John Ritter when he had to play up the part in order to live with Chrissy and Janet?

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

As an aside,

-these women are all pretty toned for being malnourished and in constant jeopardy. Like I said before Andrea was a surprise, I was on Maggie from the beginning but here is the shocker, I think I'd be hitting Michonne first. Tight body.

-the writers really need to do some research on PTSD and children. Carl should be showing signs of this in his actions.

-I thought it was great for Michonne to tell Rick to stop obsessing on the ghost as, after all this, everyone is seeing things

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

The best ways to disorient are to reduce space, reduce sensory perception and have loud sounds. They did all that...to a group of untrained people who were already frightened. It was kind of Three Stooges like as they all ran out.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I don't buy the Governor being a physically tough guy. He's a rail thin, 50 year old middle manager. His strength was in being charismatic. I don't think he could take Merle and I do think Milton would have given him a battle.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

agreed it makes no sense. and how did they not shoot rick when he was standing there talking to them at the fence? they just started shooting and like a minute later rick dives behind a bus... i would have blown his head clear off before he could take 1 step back...

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

gd is talking about the end of last season, I believe. He won't know what you are talking about.

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You know me like that.

When does anyone know what Ike is talking about most of the time?

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Gunny Highway was jacked even as an old man. Look at Eastwood movies when he was wearing a t shirt and you could see bulging muscles...and he was a trained killer, which makes it more believable that he has the moves to outmaneuver Swede

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Back on Sunday. I think I am going to have to go back and do a little recap with the last few episodes
from the first half of the season. Sunday is pretty damn good TV with this and True Detective for the
next 5 weeks or so.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Thought it was a decent return episode. Learning a little more about Michonne's backstory as imagined
by the TV show. Was interesting to see Carl feel like he didn't need his dad anymore because he was
slowing him down, but realizing in the end he isn't as tough or smart as he thought he was and is still
a kid.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Loved the episode! Great to finally see some backstory on Michonne, my only complaint being that they rushed through it in a dream sequence instead of a straight flashback. Hopefully they revisit and show what happened to her two friends and her son. Really liked her story this ep. She immediately goes back to what she did to survive at the start of the outbreak and eventually she realizes that by hiding in plain sight amongst the zombies she is essentialy becoming a zombie herself. They did a great job driving that home with the zombie-Michonne doppleganger. Loved when she realized this and then killed all the zombies and then backtracked to the road so she could follow the footprints and seek out human interaction. Would've liked to have seen the door open and the teary reunion at the end, felt like we were cheated a bit there.

Great Carl ep, good to see him realize he's not as tough as he thinks he is.

Can't wait for next week and the storylines for the rest of the crew.

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