The Walking Dead (Official Thread)

[buxfan4life]

Why is it that every character is supposed to make split-second perfect decisions in a zombie apocalypse? The point of the show is that the characters cannot make calculated decisions from the couch like we are. If every character made great decisions in every situation in accord to rationale non-zombie-world logic like some are purporting the show should follow by, logic is sated, but not a TV script. We watch TV for entertainment. Get into it, but not every strand of logic will be sufficed. TV shows are about character reactions based on the given circumstances, not what viewers sitting on their couch would do if given the time to think about it outside of the show.

That said, I can see Shane being conflicted...killing Otis, somebody he didn't know, in a situation where only one would make it out alive, versus killing your best friend for no immediate survival reason, is an entirely different situation. Could it be that Shane wanted to kill or be killed? He was thinking about it but when Rick called him out, he didn't know what to do? As a viewer, it is fair to say what YOU would have done, but to say the show should script based on your reactions as a human being in a non-apocalyptic setting is more far-fetched than the inverse imo.

I take it from this rant you are one of the infinite monkey writers. :p

 

[Magua]

I take it from this rant you are one of the infinite monkey writers. :p

I'm no fan of the writers either but I also don't think it's the worst show ever as some of you make it out to be. If it's so bad...stop watching it.

Obviously they're doing something right considering how many viewers it has. I find it entertaining and watch it even though I know it could be a lot better.

 

[localyokel]

Do we all need to stop watching M*ch*g*an football, too, since we're not generally complimentary about that, either?

Maybe the mods need to make an "all in/not all in" thread division for TWD now.

 

[BUCKYLE]

I'm no fan of the writers either but I also don't think it's the worst show ever as some of you make it out to be. If it's so bad...stop watching it.

Obviously they're doing something right considering how many viewers it has. I find it entertaining and watch it even though I know it could be a lot better.

It has it's moments. The reason it's so popular is because it's about zombies and the first season was great. The first half of the second season is fucking absurd. It's getting better again. That doesn't mean that we should just quit making fun of the ridiculousness because "we don't know how we'd react in that situation".

Why is it that every single zombie we've seen has growled and moaned the whole time they're on screen except for the one that got Daleface? He was standing in tall grass in the dead of night with no one in shouting distance yet he gets got by a walker. Sucks for Daleface that Carl had to run into and fuck with the only known Ninja Zombie on Earth.

 

[NeuteredBuck]

I found the death twist interesting in Dale's final episode:

He spends the entire episode pouring his heart and soul out to anyone that was willing to listen that it is wrong to kill the kid from the other clan.

Then at the end he literally gets his heart exposed (ripped out) by a walker.

Pretty cool.

The only negative with the show is Laurie and Carl. WTF is she doing all the time that is so important that she never knows where her 8 year old son is in zombieland? I mean Rick is constantly off doing something to actually save the group and the only productive thing we ever see her do is a wipe off a dish now and then. Does she cook and do dishes 16 hours a day?

 

[fanaticbuckeye]

There is not near enough concern for repopulating the earth. I mean, for serious. That would be my whole premise during Zombie apocalypse.

 

[BUCKYLE]

I found the death twist interesting in Dale's final episode:

He spends the entire episode pouring his heart and soul out to anyone that was willing to listen that it is wrong to kill the kid from the other clan.

Then at the end he literally gets his heart exposed (ripped out) by a walker.

Pretty cool.

The only negative with the show is Laurie and Carl. WTF is she doing all the time that is so important that she never knows where her 8 year old son is in zombieland? I mean Rick is constantly off doing something to actually save the group and the only productive thing we ever see her do is a wipe off a dish now and then. Does she cook and do dishes 16 hours a day?

Yeah, I'm sure the same people responsible for it being bright daylight at the end of one episode where Grimey, Glenn, and Peachy were hiding out in the bar, to pitch black three a.m. at the start of the next were using Dale's death as a metaphor.

How long would it take you to cook for and clean up after like 25 people three times a day?

 

[buxfan4life]

I'm no fan of the writers either but I also don't think it's the worst show ever as some of you make it out to be. If it's so bad...stop watching it.

Obviously they're doing something right considering how many viewers it has. I find it entertaining and watch it even though I know it could be a lot better.

Guess the little smilie with the tongue sticking out escaped you since it was a tounge in cheek response RB's rant.

Why don't you stop reading this thread since it seems to upset you greatly that some of us watch the show and enjoy pointing out some of the more absurd things we see.

In other words, use you own advice before giving it to others.

 

[Bucklion]

Why is it that every character is supposed to make split-second perfect decisions in a zombie apocalypse? The point of the show is that the characters cannot make calculated decisions from the couch like we are. If every character made great decisions in every situation in accord to rationale non-zombie-world logic like some are purporting the show should follow by, logic is sated, but not a TV script. We watch TV for entertainment. Get into it, but not every strand of logic will be sufficed. TV shows are about character reactions based on the given circumstances, not what viewers sitting on their couch would do if given the time to think about it outside of the show.

That said, I can see Shane being conflicted...killing Otis, somebody he didn't know, in a situation where only one would make it out alive, versus killing your best friend for no immediate survival reason, is an entirely different situation. Could it be that Shane wanted to kill or be killed? He was thinking about it but when Rick called him out, he didn't know what to do? As a viewer, it is fair to say what YOU would have done, but to say the show should script based on your reactions as a human being in a non-apocalyptic setting is more far-fetched than the inverse imo.

I'm sorry, but this is utter horseshit not based on you or your opinion (meaning your opinion is not what I am attacking), but by the writing of the show, which is what I have a problem with. You and I can disagree on Shane, and that's all well and good, for example, but when the writers build him up for, oh, say 20 episodes as a single-minded sociopath who spends all of his thoughts singularly on taking Bitchtwinkie and Karl for himself and everything away from Rick and becoming the unquestioned leader of the group, making his life "perfect" in his eyes (as perfect as it can be in a zombie apocalypse, anyway), and further he then decides that NOW is the time, based on...well no one knows what, but NOW is the time to take everything I want and get rid of the only person standing in my way...it is utterly ri-fucking-diculous to even suggest the possibility that he doesn't cap Rick and be done with it. He's already said he wants Rick's family. He's already said he wants to be the leader. He's already said he thinks Rick is going to get them all killed. If you are going to write the show that way, from the middle of season 1 on, then don't all of a sudden turn him into some conflicted Richard Simmons wannabe who strums a citar and thinks about his inner feelings first at the moment of truth. Complete inconsistency with their own narrative like that is utterly fucking horrible and is all on the writers. Shane is the one character that has never been conflicted, he is the anti-Dale, he is absolute in thought and intent. So I am sorry if I point out that turning him into Dale at the end is ridiculous, but it is. What I would do is utterly fucking irrelevant. What Shane would do, based on what his character has been for the entire show, is the only thing that is relevant. And it isn't that. Not even close.

 

[Bucklion]

There is not near enough concern for repopulating the earth. I mean, for serious. That would be my whole premise during Zombie apocalypse.

Slim pickens thus far, but I'd be all up and after that blonde if I could...at least it would keep her from shooting people

 

[Magua]

Guess the little smilie with the tongue sticking out escaped you since it was a tounge in cheek response RB's rant.

Why don't you stop reading this thread since it seems to upset you greatly that some of us watch the show and enjoy pointing out some of the more absurd things we see.

In other words, use you own advice before giving it to others.

I know you were not being serious, and even though I quoted your post I wasn't necessarily directing my thoughts AT you. It was more in general since that's what this entire thread has become. I also clearly stated in my FIRST sentence I don't think the writing is very good either.

I also don't care if everyone here hates on the show, because it doesn't bother me. I just felt like the thread needed the coin flipped over and someone actually say they like the show. This is a message board, people come here to speak their mind (including me) so carry on with your merry self.

I also agree with BUCKYLE that 1st season was great, first half of 2nd season was dogshit, and now the last month or ish it has gotten good again IMO.

If anything I have said here leads one to believe I am "upset" - then clearly you don't follow any of the game threads on these forums as you'd know the difference between me simply saying there are SOME people that enjoy the show and me being upset.

 

[Merih]

I like the show and watch it every week. It could be alot better, but I enjoy it still.

 

[RB07OSU]

Haha my response was not aimed at anyone in particular. If you think it is the worst writing ever, OK. I can criticize it like anyone else, there are some inconsistencies in the plot (ie Buckyle's point that a walker snuck up on Dale...they don't always moan but usually do with a human buffet O'Dale in front of them). As for characters, I don't think the acting is all that bad besides Lauri. I think the reactions are consistent with what someone would do in that situation. There can't be some homogenous survival-only response, or the show would get boring, although it really did get boring in the first half of season two. Either way, I analyze the show, just not to the extent that I can't enjoy it.

 

[Bucklion]

Haha my response was not aimed at anyone in particular. If you think it is the worst writing ever, OK. I can criticize it like anyone else, there are some inconsistencies in the plot (ie Buckyle's point that a walker snuck up on Dale...they don't always moan but usually do with a human buffet O'Dale in front of them). As for characters, I don't think the acting is all that bad besides Lauri. I think the reactions are consistent with what someone would do in that situation. There can't be some homogenous survival-only response, or the show would get boring, although it really did get boring in the first half of season two. Either way, I analyze the show, just not to the extent that I can't enjoy it.

Oh I know, and if I didn't at least enjoy it some I wouldn't watch it

The problem is it isn't the worst writing ever from start to finish...the end result just is. It's like a person playing chess who can set the board up like a Grand Master but has no tactics to back it up once the pretty pieces stop moving around...I see them repeatedly setting things up well and then farting on our Christmas tree with the payoff. AMC must have the same writers for most of its shows, because it was the same thing with The Killing. I loved that show for a while, and the acting is really good...but every time they teased a story development, they just turned it into a red herring and withdrew in one episode. It's like Skinemax softporn...good buildup but repeatedly no money shot

 

[RB07OSU]

I'm sorry, but this is utter horse[Mark May] not based on you or your opinion (meaning your opinion is not what I am attacking), but by the writing of the show, which is what I have a problem with. You and I can disagree on Shane, and that's all well and good, for example, but when the writers build him up for, oh, say 20 episodes as a single-minded sociopath who spends all of his thoughts singularly on taking Bitchtwinkie and Karl for himself and everything away from Rick and becoming the unquestioned leader of the group, making his life "perfect" in his eyes (as perfect as it can be in a zombie apocalypse, anyway), and further he then decides that NOW is the time, based on...well no one knows what, but NOW is the time to take everything I want and get rid of the only person standing in my way...it is utterly ri-[censored]ing-diculous to even suggest the possibility that he doesn't cap Rick and be done with it. He's already said he wants Rick's family. He's already said he wants to be the leader. He's already said he thinks Rick is going to get them all killed. If you are going to write the show that way, from the middle of season 1 on, then don't all of a sudden turn him into some conflicted Richard Simmons wannabe who strums a citar and thinks about his inner feelings first at the moment of truth. Complete inconsistency with their own narrative like that is utterly [censored]ing horrible and is all on the writers. Shane is the one character that has never been conflicted, he is the anti-Dale, he is absolute in thought and intent. So I am sorry if I point out that turning him into Dale at the end is ridiculous, but it is. What I would do is utterly [censored]ing irrelevant. What Shane would do, based on what his character has been for the entire show, is the only thing that is relevant. And it isn't that. Not even close.

This all presupposes that Shane's character was simply a sociopath, which I don't think was the intent of the writers. The apocalypse changed Shane as a human being and he had turned, but still had some conflicted feelings. Sure he wants that life, but he isn't sure he can kill his best friend to get it. That clearly came out to me...he had contemplated it since the first season but could never go through with it, yet he could kill Otis or anyone else in the way that wasn't his best friend. Further, Rick just saved his life and I don't think that fact had worn off on Shane. It's even been suggested that Shane wanted Rick to kill him out there (I don't think I buy that though). Regardless, I just don't see his character the way you do.