You're certainly allowed to be critical, you just don't seem happy. The return on investment seems to be negative for you. Why bother?
I'd like to be that optimistic but I'm remaining skeptical, but I really like the show as it is now.

Racist! ;p

I thought everyone figured out by now (after over 5 years here) I'm just not a very happy person in general- at least by a normal person's definition of happy. I over analyze and over think just about every excruciating detail/aspect of my life save a few. That's not to say I'm not happy though. Being critical and thinking about how I would do things different gives me great pleasure. So in a sense the more I appear to be negative/complain (as interpreted by other people) the happier I usually am. Unless of course I'm just mad at someone/something and then I rage/dwell...

how people are surprised by this is beyond me, the man has it in his signature after all

I guess for me this is, and always has been, just an OK show so if it goes south I don't care too much. It's not on the level of Breaking Bad, Boardwalk Empire or Game of Thrones. When those dive, I'll be pissed.

I've bailed on shows after investing. I just couldn't watch. They started strong and crashed. I had better things to do with my time (Dexter). I've also stuck through some just becuase I needed to know what, no matter how shitty and lame, happened (Fringe.)

As a friend put it, "the eleven-year old me would have gone ape shit for this show," and I try and put myself in that mindset. I was 12 when I finally saw Dawn of the Dead on VHS in 1983. My head would have exploded if I had this show to look forward to every week. As an adult I can appreciate the balance between action and character drama, and I think both of those aspects are being handled well now as opposed to last season. Who knows what next season will bring, though.

I can understand why it's easy to be jaded because we have SO MUCH of this stuff nowadays. Plus there's the comic to compare to, but let's face it, this isn't a comic. They're less likely to kill people because there are actual actors behind those roles, not just ink. They're going to be spending most of their 22 episode season at the prison and inside the Woodbury homes because changing settings and shooting outside is expensive.

I'm also continually surprised by the boundaries they're pushing, even as a basic cable show. As I mentioned earlier, there are regular zombie disembowlings, we've seen a full shot of a still-living human being decapitated, a gruesome leg amputation, a child "putting down" his own mother, and this week there was a bit of explicit foreplay. Galactica had some baby killing and Mad Men has trotted out blowjobs and handjobs here and there. I'm wondering what's next.

Crap! Damn my detective work! I just found some major major spoilers online now. Screen caps and all (and definitely NOT fake). Brutal stuff. I really have to stop going on forums. Won't post anything here because I know you guys don't want to know. Well this show is definitely about to pick up. Over and out.

I didn't think the filler episodes could get any worse. This last one takes the cake.

Andrea: Hmmm I could end this right now with a clear shot at the governor. On second thought we'd have no big battle, drama in this episode and the next ten, nor will I get strapped to that chair eventually. Lets not take that shot. Oh and while leaving the governor in that zombie filled building during my run, I'll just not bother stealing his truck and driving to the prison.

Tyrese: Wait what do you mean you need these walkers to attack the prison group? Oh you just want to scare them? Well its all good then, my bad!

I realize this show would not exist if we didnt have constant bad decisions, but its almost done to comical proportions with poor writing. Walking Brain Dead should be the name of the show. And yes I watch it for comedy gold each week now.

So yeah watch this and you'll never think of the Governor in the same way again:

Weirdly enough that video confirms the high level of acting talent on The Walking Dead.

I loved this last episode, it was the best in a while. Just the hunt scene with the Gov and Andrea was awesome. Forget the show and it's storyline, forget that shit, that scene was classic zombie movie stuff. The music, the whistle, the lack of shit talking, just straight up hunting in a dark warehouse full of zombies. Awesome.

Andrea I've hated since day 1 and how hasn't she died? Ugh. I want her dead so hard. She's the stupidest idiot in the history of TV show characters ever. I know she'll get out and be the one to kill the governor (I assume) but screw that, kill her now. How does one character ignore so much fucking obvious shit through 3 damn seasons and live? It's not even just this season, it's every season, she's always making shit head calls.

I get Tyrese and his sister being a little naive here. They're new, they finally have some safety, Rick was nuts and kicked them out, they WANT to believe. Even after questioning this shit.

Now if they went through what Andrea has and still bought that BS that's one thing. But they've only seen a little bit and are just fooling themselves, which I understand. If they see some more and still buy it then they're dumb. But a few little things in the face of trauma and wanting hope? I can't hate on them for that. It's human. It made sense on Andrea's part too for the first few episodes she was there. But by the time of the midseason she should have ditched them. There was way enough signs by then to get out.

You know maybe Roger is right. Maybe I should finish out the season and just stop watching. This show almost feels like a bad relationship you know you need to get out of but you care too much to just quit. Essentially this show (to me at least) keeps making promises that it fails to deliver. Maybe I just remember the good times when I was invested in characters I cared about (Shane, T-Dog) and even ones that annoyed me (Dale, Lori). I just can't seem to care about the new people, or what the original cast has become. I like Frank Darabont and the original writers, the new writers just suck. I'm sorry they do. I just have a hard time believing any of the actions on the screen ever. People just aren't that stupid even in a zombie apocalypse. The way they stretch things out is not clever at all. I know they have to do it but the character dilemmas are mostly BS.

I wanted to give Walking Dead a chance since I read the source material. I learned from watching Lost that maybe I cut out too early. After season 1 of Lost I loved the show. Season 2 was good but they started going in circles and I just could not take that dividing the season in half BS, barely giving us anything, so I stopped watching. Years later I started watching during the the second half of season 5 and then bought the bootleg box set and watched everything leading up to season 6. That marathon run made me invest in the show/characters again and even though the ending was ultimately so so, I didn't have to watch and be fed little tidbits of filler episodes. I controlled the pacing because I could watch everything at once and didn't have to wait weeks or months to get into the next episode or season. Maybe I need to do that with Walking Dead?

I think Walking Dead just got too popular too quick. AMC sees it as a cash cow that people will watch regardless of how poorly it's written. Also I find the younger demographic the show appeals to can only see how cool it is, and any criticism of it's writing is met with a juvenile "you're just a hater!" highschool regurgitation (kind of like this board right? ). Maybe I just can't relate.

It bothers me that zombies' skeletons are strong enough to help them walk around and push over things, but you can still squish their skulls with one kick or sever their backbones with telephone wire. Oh, yeah, and Michonne can just decapitate them using just one arm. How is she keeping that sword so sharp and shiny? It's not as simple as maintaining a pocket knife. And why doesn't anyone get it that when a head is severed from a body, it can't moan any more?

Nitpicks aside, I liked how Rick's one question to Merle drove everything in this episode. Why does he (or anyone else, for that matter), do what they do? Rick changes his mind three times about Michonne, and eventually finds his moral footing again, but for how long? Merle ends up performing a reprehensible act, and then attempts a noble one, but why? It certainly wasn't anything Michonne said. The Governor often lies just for the sake of lying, even when there is nothing to gain. The characters don't always act in predictable, logical ways. I can accept that. In a strange way it actually adds realism to the show when it needs it.

There are things that someone could read into the Governor's finger biting, and the stuff last episode with the speculum on the torture table and the chains set up for Michonne (this is Georga, after all). I don't think there's anything actually being said here, though.

Also, what a wave of nostalgia when that bald flannel-wearing zombie stumbled out of the hotel. Cheap but fun.

I was thinking "malicious psychopath." Loved this episode. I don't care about the flaws anymore. I enjoy every episode. Gonna miss you-know-who.

Have a drink. Enjoy.

I hope Daryl dies so all the little fanboys and fangirls can go cry into their pillows.

YES! I'm glad I'm not the only one who caught the Romero nod.

Another overall flaw, if they cut the face off or shoot it in the jaw THE BRAIN IS STILL NOT DAMAGED! IT'D STILL BE COMING AT YOU! And I don't care how long they've trained, head shots are hard, BS they get such accuracy all the time. But it's all just nagging. Good episode overall. Fun show.


I would only want this if Merle lived. That'd make people reeeaally hate Merle. And I loved Merle. I love Daryl too but not because he's some bad ass. Because, time and time again, he's the only one with common fucking sense. Can't hate on that, though it's fun to watch fanboys get upset.

I understand that tv and comics are completely different mediums so what works on one doesn't necessarily translate to the other. Admittedly I tend to over analyze and never having read the comic, I wouldn't know if it was as random and poorly paced or so good that it makes people hate the show even more. I enjoyed this season overall but it really has been geared towards the lowest common denominator.

Anyone notice the rims on the car Merle was driving changed twice while he was driving it?

I was also wondering why someone with a pimped-out ride like that would have Motorhead in the car. Maybe Merle just kept a CD with him just in case. ;p

I would actually like to see the season end with the Governor killed and everyone in the prison killed except for Rick and Carl. Get back to Lone Wolf and Cub with zombies. From a practical standpoint, though, I don't see how they'd be able to fill an hour every week with just two characters.

I'm with Roger kill off the whole cast save Rick and Carl. Only I'd add crazy Morgan to that mix!

I'm curious as to how you read his actions. All I got was crazy finger-biting bastard. With the way he's been preparing torture chambers I'm not surprised he'd brush off biting someone's fingers off.



this small scene was awesome!!

...and it became even moreseo once you realized why he was casting caution to the wind, there. I know there's disagreement on this point, I there are times when I think the acting and cinematography in this series are fantastic. The way that Michael Rooker (Merle) suggested that Rick, Daryl and Michonne actually did get under his skin was so subtle and perfect. When Daryl said "I just want my brother back" it almost sounded like Merle was going to cry for a sec there, but through his stoic front, which he quickly recovered. Good stuff. As one reviewer said...

No kidding...I never thought that would happen.