🧟 The walking dead / Fear the walking dead / Flight 462

I was really looking forward to Fear the Walking Dead. There’s a whole load of drama in the slow discovery of the outbreak and the effect on towns and cities that was lost due to the (clever) opening of TWD. Also, TWD has really sunk into a mediocre soap opera with zombies in the background, which is what eventually happens to all long running series, not always with the zombies, but with whatever that series special thing is. In the end, there is never anywhere to go but versions of the same old plotlines surrounding character interaction. So we get the same old romantic conflicts, parent-child conflicts, crisis of self-belief problems etc that are all a bit samey.

FTWD gave them a legitimate chance to rewind the clock and go back to the fun, exciting starting bit and what did they do? They put the outbreak mostly into the background and focused instead on the family soap opera bit! It’s well made, but ultimately a wasted chance to give us something interesting and different in the world of TWD. I hope it improves, but the breakdown of civilisation is almost complete already, so what else is there left but the plot of TWD (and every other long running series) to be rehashed.

Now they’ll need to go to NY and restart all over again and try to make a sparse, tense and genuinely disturbing series about the outbreak.

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Yep, good points there, agree ‘Fear’ missed a trick, like you say it’s already got to the point of breakdown. I thought they would have focused more on the development of the people first getting the virus, where to start with people might have survived longer knowing they had it but hadn’t turned yet, or the turn was slower. I thought the end of episode 6 was a bit dissapointing as well.

I can see why people didn’t like FTWD so much, it was a bit of a missed opportunity in many ways. Would have been better if they’d made it an 8-10 episode season and fleshed out the bits between the city falling and the militarised zone being established. Ultimately though, I enjoyed it - I am a bit biased because I love TWD so much I guess I was just pleased to get another dose of the same stuff i’m used to. Looking forward to Season 2, hopefully they can do more with a longer run. I get the feeling that they wanted to put more into S1 but didn’t get the chance as they only had 6 episodes and it had to wrap up nicely at the end in case it wasn’t renewed.

As for TWD, loved Monday’s episode. Thought having the flashback scenes interspersed with Rick’s plot to lure the zombies away from Alexandria was a nice device to keep things ticking while not leaving any gaps in story from the end of last season. Interested to see what they do with the rest of this season - I know some casting choices for later on in the run and i’m excited to see them follow along with the comics again. Think we had diverted away a bit, so good to see it all get back on track in a way.

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Just found this, for fans of Carol. Worth going to the end of it for our favourite badass:

Well, another cracking episode this week, continuing the theme of inter-weaving stories from the the previous episodes. At the risk of a SPOILER, another original cast member perished. Gutted. Only a handful remain.

So many conspiracy theories circulating about said death…

It wasn’t a satisfying conclusion for said person (and out of character to get into such a situation), but it’ll be a massive cop-out from the writers if the character in question isn’t actually brown bread.

It seems that said cast member was pictured on set filming with a character yet to be introduced, so it appears they may be very much alive! Would be a complete cop-out tbh, killing that character off would’ve been a ballsy move that would’ve shaken up the show a bit.

That would be a complete cop out and lame as I have been in shock the last few days for nothing.

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Get well soon Jboy, get well soon!

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They may be lulling us into a false sense of security for a major character death later in the season instead… who knows? :wink:

Cant spare too many more major characters!

One thing the writers appear to be tying themselves in knots over is attempting to follow the graphic novel’s story, then just dropping threads with little warning and conjuring up something else entirely. I completely understand and respect that they’re two different takes on the universe, but in that sense it feels a bit like they should either forge their own path or follow the one that’s been cleared for them.

Having their cake and eating it is starting to get messy and unfocused. It’s a shame because Season 5 was one of my very favourites (which was even more pronounced as there’d been some pretty patchy, predictable stuff in the two previous). I really, really like the show (not so much when it feels like a soap, but I’ve grown to respect why those sections are there); it’s just starting to feel like they’re making it up as they go along.

I know what you mean Ant, but I am enjoying the approach in this series, with the inter-woven incidents from one episode to the previous one. I dont know if the director has changed but this, plus the lingering / deep check of key characters’ inner emotional battles at points seem to be new. Plus there is no shortage of grand scale action.

Well, watched the new (post the 3 month mid-season break) episode of TWD tonight. No huge spoilers from me but its all about the action: there is carnage on an epic scale and a good number of casualties along the way. Very little time for human interest (until near the end at least) or even too much dialogue but hold on tight for the ride!

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I saw last night that two people I know had commented on facebook they thought this was the best ever episode of the walking dead.

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[POTENTIAL MILD SPOILERS - though I’ll try to avoid specifics]

Thoroughly enjoyed the mid-season premiere. Knew all that was coming due to being up to date with the graphic novels but it didn’t really dull the impact. If anything I was more taken aback due to believing they’d bottle showing the crazier stuff on TV.

Really, really looking forward to the introduction of the character whose men Daryl, Sasha and Abraham met on the road. Quite the writers will handle the personality, actions and use of language I don’t know! Big chance for an actor to make a name for themselves though.

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I’ve read that Jeffrey Dean Morgan is to be the new villian.

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the-walking-dead-season-7-trailer

Which character would you prefer to have their head panned in by Lucille and why?

Scott Gimple so we don’t have to deal with any more fucking cliffhangers…

I gave up with zombie stuff years ago as there is something fundermentally flawed in the whole premise. Surely if they are undead then you cant kill them? They will just go on shuffling around no matter how many bullets you put into them or how many bits you chop off their corpse? Or have I missed something?