The Walking Dead!

[Clipper]

Finished season 6

 

s6e15 - The one where it feels like they repeated the last episode

 

More wheel spinning as we wander around the woods alot. Carol becomes a one woman killing machine briefly which is a bit of stretch given she was up against 4 men with automatic rifles and she had a pistol!

 

Daryl chasing down Denise's killer makes no sense but is needed to get him and a couple of others out of Alexandria - clumsy.

 

3/5 (mainly for the Carol Morgan stuff)

 

 

s6e16 - The one where the finale is almost brilliant

 

Except it is 25 mins too long. This didn't need to be a double episode (I have said that about others I know). The majority of the runtime is about the buildup.

 

Maggie's emergency means Rick's group have to make a run to hilltop. They try to sell a misdirect about saviours attacking Alexandria with the main crew gone but this doesn't hold up to much scrutiny and is dropped early on.

 

Once the RV starts meeting roadblocks the tension builds and the sense of dread is palpable, the pace is a bit too slow (see above regarding not needing a double episode) but the payoff is great. The way the writers take Rick's hardened brutal group and just exposes them, makes them vulnerable and then shows them to be weak is brilliant. They aren't actually weak, their brutality has humanity still underpinning it which the saviours do not have at all.

 

I wasn't sure how I'd react to Negan on rewatch, but he is really well played. Yes I know chewing scenery etc but he just nails the character so well that I forgive him for it.

 

4/5 (loses a mark for pacing in the first 45 mins)

 

Overall this season is a 4/5 - the first half is quite middling but the 2nd half is a stonker.

[Clipper]

Season 7

 

It is a strong-ish start to the season and rewatching the beginnings of Negan is a delight, yes they have a tendency to overindulge the character's OTT image but it is a glorious performance. I know at the time critics were not kind and accused the series of turning into "torture porn" and being unnecessarily cruel to established characters but I just don't think either view holds water unless you have a particularly weak stomach.

 

The main problem I can see are we are losing Morgan, he is wasted as Carol's sidekick. Such a good character but I can see that it is hard to get him more involved in the saviours plot as he doesn't really fit.

 

S7E1 - the one where... "yikes his eye is out!"

 

I am torn on this one. Making the audience wait 20-30 minutes (to find out who Negan offed) beyond the several months they already waited is a shit trick. However the scenes between Negan and Rick are pretty damned good. I err on the side of show us the reveal then do the Negan/Rick stuff.

 

It is also a bit bloated as an episode, once they get back to the group at daybreak it just grinds on a bit. The problem is that you cannot maintain that tension for a 50 minute episode you will wear out your audience, you need to vary the pace and this is unrelenting and grim.

 

3/5

 

S7E2 - The one where... "is that a fucking tiger!"

 

I will be upfront and say that I really enjoy Khary Peyton's performance in Walking Dead, his light touch and amiability is just a breath of fresh air compared to everyone else being all angsty.

 

The setup of the Kingdom is absolute daft but this is from a comic book so it is to be expected and they sell it well. Carol's reaction is brilliant and she is the audience at this point saying "what the fuck?".

 

Good scenes with saviours and how the Kingdom deal with them and just a nice fun episode.

 

4/5

 

S7E3 - The one where we are living on easy street

 

This is one of the strengths of early season 7, we get a light episode with the Kingdom and then it is back to dark and brutal with Dwight's attempts to break Daryl. This is a tough watch at times and for all of Reedus' faults his ability here to convey so much with barely a word uttered is impressive.

 

Obviously the episode is also a nice little insight into the Saviours structure and society and it is as fucked up as you might think it is. Negan is present but not overbearing which is welcome and it gives space to Dwight and the baggage that haunts him - and causes him to first punish Daryl because he klnows he is trapped as much as Daryl is. The scene with Negan needling Dwight over his wife is both brilliantly played and really horrible.

 

4/5

 

S7E4 - The one where it is the Negan show

 

Negan and saviours visit Alexandria and Negan asserts his dominance over Rick and everyone else. This is a horribly self indulgent episode for Negan and probably the first time I thought "hmmm you are overplaying this point" the constant showboating starts to grate. I think the writers knew they were onto a winner with the Negan character and really wanted to play it to the max but the danger with that overexposure is it uncovers the flaws and it can become too much. Also it is another long episode and this adds to the self indulgence.

 

As a result of this showboating it is easy to forget the more subtle moments like the deception over maggie, Michonne's field trip and what it means and even Carl's flashpoint.

 

 

3/5

[El Pibe]

On 10/03/2023 at 11:34, El Pibe said:

In a shocking turn, I'm really enjoying season 10 after picking it back up.

 

Genuinely surprised.

 

Just noticed that Season 11 doesn't appear to be included with Prime. That's annoying.

 

Finished season 10 last night. I felt like it ran out of steam a little towards the end.

 

Edit: Reading back through the thread, it sounds like it might have been partly due to the impact of Covid on filming, which makes sense, although doesn't excuse Carol and the rat. /edit

 

I think that was partly due to there being so many strands to the story that momentum built only to then drop away as the focus changed in the next episode.

 

On the plus side, I spotted that season 11 is on Disney+ so I can crack on with this and get it finished off.

[Clipper]

Had forgotten to update this as I am not watching as many episodes at once at the moment as I am shorter on time... so here we go as the trend of dips before finale/mid season finale continues.

 

S7E5 - The one where we do the rounds - pt1 Hilltop

 

Sasha and Maggie go to Hilltop, Gregory is an arsehole, the inhabitants are incompetent at combat despite the fact they have Jesus.

 

It is just a meh episode that is just ticking over the story. The Saviour attack is surprisingly dull considering how explosive it is - I think the lack of setup or buildup does not help here.

 

2/5

 

S7E6 - The one where we do the rounds - pt2 Oceanside

 

A little unfair as this is our introduction to Oceanside but it feels similar in tone to the last episode and is similarly meh. I like Tera as a character but the writers do not know how to use her well and some of her asides fall flat. Also using her character to introduce Oceanside is not the best choice given the character's foibles. The whole things feels a little flat and OCeanside itself feels (and alwasy felt) undercooked/underdeveloped.

 

I love the ending however which is played so well and so lowkey.

 

2/5

 

S7E7 - The one where Negan and Carl go head to head

 

Back to the overacting dog and poney show that is Negan's saviour lair. The cartoonish villainy of Negan doesn't grate as much with me on this one and some of the cruelty he heaps on Carl and Dwight is particularly nasty and fun.

 

There is not much progression here as the episode just shifts pieces towards our mid season finale. Also , yet again, an extended episode that didn't need to be extended.

 

4/5

[El Pibe]

...and I've joined the apparently small club of people who have watched every episode of this show.

 

I've quite enjoyed whizzing through seasons 10 and 11. It's a far more enjoyable watch when it's there to binge as and when, rather than waiting a week to see what happens with a plot line only for Carol to spend 45 minutes making soup.

 

I thought the Whisperers story finished quite well and that Beta was good fun.

 

The stuff with Pope and his gang felt far too familiar and I was pleased when that was wrapped up.

 

Then...the Commonwealth. Blimey. It gave the show a nice new impetus and I think I enjoyed that, although I agree with comments that it ended up feeling quite rushed.

 

The ending reminded me of Game of Thrones where it felt like various spin-offs were being setup.

[Broker]

Yeah I felt that all in it was a good experience to watch without the wait between episodes. It definitely suffered from a lack of a central protagonist in the last few seasons though, two central characters just disappearing for a spin off that maybe we’ll see one day was too many.