Thoughts on #FearTheWalkingDead... compared with #TWD! #TWDFamily

Anyone remember that show about a woman called Madison and her family and friends, surviving the zombie apocalypse in LA, Texas and Mexico?  Just wondered, because yesterday I finished Season 4, and felt like I'd been watching a different series from the one I started two months ago.

TWD obsessed though I am, I don't feel the same Fear The Walking Dead.  Then Morgan went off to join its cast, so it became a 'must'.  There were some great episodes earlier on, such as S2:8 Grotesque, in which Nick wandered off on his own towards Tijuana, and the episode in which Travis tried to stop Chris going off with those guys who killed him.  My problem with it was that I didn't really give much of a stuff about any of the characters apart from Nick and Madison.  I quite liked Strand and the stuff on the TEOTWAWKI ranch, but Alicia, Travis, Ofelia, Luciana and others left me fairly underwhelmed.

Then came Season 4.  Enter Morgan ~ and the show went from sunny to grey, with an almost completely altered cast.  I liked how the first half went back and forth in time to show how Alicia, Strand, etc had got to this point; it's a structure that's always effective, but it seemed a bit too neatly tied up.  Yesterday, though, I watched the final three episodes of S4, and came to this conclusion: it's the Happy Shopper version of the 'real' TWD.  It's just not so compelling.

Take, for instance, the two-character-only episode in the storm, featuring the so-cardboard-I'm-tempted-to-fast-forward-through-their-scenes Alicia and Charlie (also discussed on Teri Polen's blog).  Then compare it with the excellent TWD S6:4 He's Not Here, featuring Morgan and Eastman.  

....or the Rick/Carl ~ Daryl/Beth episodes of S4.  Or, of course, The Grove.  Triumphs of dialogue and characterisation, all. 

Afterwards, I went back and watched one of my favourites: TWD S5:9, What happened and what's going on, in which Tyreese dies, and I thought, this is just so much better.  Bottom line: I care what happens to these people, whereas even marvellous actors like Lennie James and Gareth Dillahunt have a job to make FTWD work.  

Don't get me wrong, I do like it enough to keep watching it, because, hey, it's TWD, but....several people poisoned with antifreeze for which the antidote is ethanol, and there just happens to be a tanker of it outside?  Then it's punctured with bullets and not one of them manages to stagger forward with a cup to collect some, despite having had the energy to despatch a whole load of walkers?  Carol would have sorted it out, no problem!  Or was this any more unlikely than Carol's saving the day at Terminus?  Maybe not, but that worked, while this just made me think, really?

I wondered if the whole 'escaping from the roof' thing was intended to mirror the fabulous TWD S1:2 Guts ~ but somehow, even though I'd only just 'met' Rick, T-Dog, Glenn, etc, when I first watched TWD, I cared more about what happened to them than I do about the FTWD grifter woman and her brother; I can't even recall their names.

I hope Morgan will save FTWD ~ if not, we will welcome him back to Alexandria, and he can bring John with him!

Talking of which..... yes, October 7th draws near!  I have watched the trailer but make a point of not reading spoiler articles; if you're an addict, you probably know more about what's going to happen than I do.  I still can't believe Rick's really leaving... I finished my TWD watching session yesterday with the last two episodes of S8, and got all damp-eyed about this, all over again.....

Review: THE KEY #TheWalkingDead S8:12 #TWD #TWDFamily

Last week: Review Dead Or Alive Or

Photos from amc official site

So Rick has about fifty chances to kill Negan and screws up every one of them.  Fair enough, he's not at his fighting best; he's probably starving hungry, and certainly out of his mind with heartbreak, so yes, maybe he can be forgiven for bad calls like shooting off all his ammo before he could see where Negan actually was, missing the opportunity to cut off his fingers, not bashing his brains in with the burning Lucille ~ and why, when he plunged after the weaponless Negan into the room marked 'eaters', didn't he fight his own way out and leave the Walkers to do their stuff?

I'll just shoot off all my ammo at a car door 

then face my enemy with a hatchet and my bare hands.

Maybe because he wanted to kill him with Lucille or the hatchet with which he was supposed to chop off Carl's arm... but I bet, when he walked out and found a big Negan-free nothing, he wished he hadn't got hung up on those details. 

Still, at least we got a car chase.  Not quite the Fast and the Furious, but...

I wonder if the janitor job is still open...

 😨😨😨😨😨

With Negan missing, Simon instructs the Saviours to expunge, redact and erase their Hilltop, Alexandria and Kingdom foes.  BTW, when Simon asked Gary Saviour what his name was, I really thought he was going to say 'Gary'.  Could have started off a whole new page in their history.  

Horrible nasty Gary Saviour

We could already see Dwight's brain ticking over, working out how he was going to let Hilltop know... I expect he will manage to save the day.  Did his wistful glance at Sherry's wedding rings and her tab end at the beginning indicate that she's going to show up soon?  Maybe she and Dwight will live, and join our gang ~ now, wouldn't that be nice?  And btw, isn't his burn make-up excellent?

I'm looking forward to seeing what transpires now that Negan knows Simon wasted the Scavengers.  Perhaps now that Jadis has abducted Negan, she will show him the Super-Mega-Zombie-And-Untrustworthy-Lieutenants-Masher?  Yes!  I seriously hope the writers have thought of this, too....

😱😱😱😱😱 

Not too sure about this windmill and crop manual storyline with the woman who used to be Karen Hayes in 24.  Is it in the comics?  I don't know; I stopped reading them because of the spoiler thing.  It seems a bit more comic-book-ish, though.  But it's good to have a bit of positivity, and it's not totally unlikely ~ we have to remember that there will be good people in the post apocalyptic world, too.  Not all women will morph into psychos like Arat, the evil Olivia-killer.

More stuff I liked in this episode:

• The talk between Daryl and Rick beside Glenn and Abraham's graves ~ good to see Daryl talking in more than three-word grunts again, and to see a bit of his compassionate stuff coming back.
• The conversation between Michonne, Maggie and Enid.  You can see Enid's point, but I am sure Michonne will prove to be right about Karen Hayes; I predict she will tell Enid that you can't just nick people's food, and that you have to trust some people because it's still who we arrr-rrr. 
• How fab Rosita looked in that sleeveless black polo neck.  When I am reincarnated I want to look exactly like her.  Or just be her.

More questions for the next 4 episodes:

• So when IS Negan going to find out that Gavin failed to secure the Kingdom?
• Have the writers forgotten about 'orrible outpost leader Regina who was written in at the beginning of this season?  She seems to have disappeared.
• What happened to Saviour Laura, the only one who saw evidence of Dwight's change in loyalties?
• Will Aaron turn up with the ladies of Oceanside in the nick of time?
• What use will be made of the Super-Mega-Zombie-Masher???
• Are we going to finally see an end to the Saviours War?  Please?  I know the rankings have been slipping over the last two seasons, and I think they will take another plummet if there's not a hint of a new storyline by the end of this one.

Here's something interesting ~ The Walking Dead deaths ~ Comic vs TV 

I will leave you with some reminders of happier times....

Review: DEAD OR ALIVE OR #TheWalkingDead S8:11 #TWD #TWDFamily

Last week: Review ~ The Lost and the Plunderers

Not quite such a fab episode as last week, but I'm sure it pleased those amongst us who want to see zombies not gunfights!

I was a bit worried at first; when Gabriel was doing his 'I called for help, help came' stuff again, I thought, oh dear, are we supposed to believe that the Man in the Sky is leading him and Dr C out of the wilderness?  Come on... but no.  Just when I thought 'this is getting a bit daft', as I did with Ezekiel and all his 'and yet I smile' ridiculousness in S8:4 Some Guy, the silliness/schmaltz got turned on its head.  As Ezekiel's 'motivational' over-confidence was but a vehicle to show us how delusional he was....

And yet he smiled... but not for long.

 
....so the smashed piggy bank revealing car keys, the Walkers getting trapped in the traps while sight-impaired Gabriel stepped over them, the bullet that somehow hit the Walker, not Dr C, were but lucky coincidences, and Gabriel's belief that God was delivering them to safety was nothing but optimistic, blind faith.  A moment later they were back in the Saviours' truck, and Dr C was dead.  

Gabriel was delivered to Eugene's workshop, where Eugene explained to Negan how, if he couldn't make enough bullets, they could kill their enemies by catapulting pieces of Walker over the walls of Hilltop ~ what, in the lame hope that some Walker innards will seep into their ears and up their nostrils?  Not sure how this is going to work; if I remember rightly, the Saviours used to eat the Kingdom's Walker-fed wild pigs, and nothing happened to them.  

Lucille has a good forage

I do love a dangerous journey, and Daryl and Rosita leading the Alexandrians through swamps filled with alligator-style Walkers ticked the right boxes.  Along with Tara (who has always got on my nerves but more so right now), the original Alexandrians (Tobin, Scott, Kent etc) are sure that Dwight is leading them into a trap, but Daryl and Rosita can see the bigger picture ~ and something tells me that Daryl doesn't want to kill him anymore.  Everything he did was for Sherry, Dwight says ~ and Sherry is, we are reminded, still out there, so I assume she will pop up just when she is needed, sooner rather than later!

Dwight gives himself up to lead the band of Saviours away.  He's fast becoming the hero of the hour - and I bet I was not the only one to find myself on his side rather than Tara's. 

Back at the Hilltop, Carol, Morgan and Henry sit on a log looking at the nasty Saviours, and Carol wonders if she feels so fond of Henry because he is actually Sophia's brother (Macsen and Madison Lintz).  Maggie presses her hand to her stomach and wonders when it's going to stop being totally flat, given that she must be into her fifth month by now ~ I'm guessing that Dr Siddiq will eventually save Glenn Jnr's life, so that we can forgive him for (indirectly) causing Carl's death. 

The Lintz siblings

But Maggie is no soft touch, and makes the decision to starve foolish Gregory and the captive Saviours, along with Alden the Most Slimy.

 Slimy Alden

The food situation is not too desperate because Jesus is out scavenging ~ maybe he will find a way of getting that supplies-filled truck out of the lake.... you know, the one that he and Daryl managed to let slip in S6:10 The Next World, when they were having their 'my dick's bigger than yours' tussle.

And so our gang finally get to the Hilltop, Daryl having remembered to take Judith from Tobin/Barbara first, to make the heartstring-tugging entrance we girls want. 

It's never not a good time to include this....

But although Carol springs forward to see her favourite man again (with you there, Cazza), it's not one of those wonderful TWD reunions we love so much, for we see Daryl mouth one word: Carl.  Poor Enid ~ her despair and tears were so real that my eyes watered too.  To those who say the show is not as good as it used to be, I'd ask you to compare that scene to Beth's ludicrous attempts at crying. 

I got to like Beth eventually, but her crying was baaa-aaad!

What next?  Will Sherry turn up with beer and pretzels just in time?  What's Simon going to cock up next?  Where is Ezekiel (I can't actually remember)?  Will Gabriel lose his faith?  What will happen when Negan finds out about The Kingdom?  Will Aaron arrive at the nick of time with Oceanside?  Will Jadis get to use the Super-Mega-Zombie-Masher again?

I hope all this, and more, will be answered next week!

Review: #TheWalkingDead S8:9 HONOR #TWD #TWD Family #TheWalkingDeadUK

Links to most of my other Walking Dead posts HERE


'It's not supposed to be like this.  I know it can be better.'

The end of a TWD era, as the Atlanta 4 becomes the Atlanta 3...

...and finally we get to see what Rick's red eyes in Episode 1 were all about.  Who could have guessed back then?  Soo-ooo sad....in my opinion Carl's death didn't quite trump the saddest ever TWD burial (Tyreese in S5:9 What Happened and What's Going On), but yes, I admit to tears when Rick told him he loved him at the end. 

Loved this shot

I thought Rick, Daryl and Michonne played it so well, with the best sort of dialogue, ie, not too much of it.  As usual, Daryl's hand-on-shoulder and odd, gruff sentences said all that was needed.  And Michonne's face when we heard the gunshot was heartrending. 

I've always loved the relationship between Michonne and Carl, since he first decided she was 'one of us' in S3: 12 Clear, and later when she told him about her baby, André.  Then there's the Crazy Cheese...

I have to say, I thought the meaningful conversation with Siddiq could have been skipped; I felt a bit 'who cares what he thinks?', not just because if it wasn't for him Carl would be alive (and I wonder how much of a problem this will be for Rick in days to come), but because he's a new character.  We just don't give much of a stuff about him yet.  They could have used that screen time to have Tara or Rosita, for instance, saying goodbye to him.  Or a bit more Daryl. 😉

Strange bedfellows

Back at the Kingdom, Gavin 'I never wanted all this' Saviour has to turn Ezekiel in, and our favourite drama queen tries to persuade him that he doesn't have to.  I wonder if Gav might have done the right thing had all his men not been killed by Carol and Morgan, who burst into Ezekiel's theatre with all the confidence of goodies who know that baddies are always terrible shots, and even if outnumbered 4-1, the goodies will usually win, if it's their turn to.  Negan needs to give his men some serious weapons training; even with constant fire, at fairly close range, they couldn't manage to do so much as graze Carol and Morgan's armour.

For those who are missing the Walkers, there was a nice bit of intestine ripping out by Morgan, just before he delayed killing Gavin for long enough to let wee Henry show off his skill with his aikido stick by shoving it through the Saviour's neck.  I imagine Henry will continue in his role as Carol's Sophia-replacement, like Sam, Lizzie and Mica before him.

Meanwhile back at Carl's deathbed:
'It was all for you, right from the start.  Back in Atlanta, the farm, everything I did was for you, and then at the prison, for you and Judith'.  Okay, that was the bit that made me cry!  Carl talks about when he gunned that kid down in S3:16
Welcome to the Tombs...

 ...and reminds Rick about afterwards: the prison in those 6 months twixt S3 and S4, when Rick brought Woodbury survivors in to join their community, kept pigs, grew cucumbers, put away his gun, and it all came good.  He says that he knows it can be like that again, because he's seen it ~ which is when we realise that the fantasy pictures of that idyllic community were in his head, not our glimpse into the future.  Yet it gives hope, not least of all that Rick won't go totally inShane again.  Not too sure about Negan joining the gardening detail, though....

'No more kids stuff'

To wrap it up... I'm guessing that the Saviours will be offed episode by episode; we've started with the could-have-been-a-good-guy, and will no doubt move on to Regina (you know, that bird with the muscly arms who popped up out of nowhere round the Sanctuary boardroom table in S8:1), then 'orrible Benjamin killer Jared, then Simon.... then.... well, you know who.  Will Eugene get his just deserts?  I hope he does, and that Dwight lives to fight another day on the side of the good, but I think it's more likely he won't. 

After all they've been through, to go out with a Walker bite.  Oh dear, and Enid doesn't know yet....

Daryl: 'All of us together.  We'll be their worst damn nightmare.' 

My summing up of the last 8 episodes and the clues that Carl had been bitten,  HERE