@Paul Schober said:

Seems to be why the producers are so loath to kill off major characters.

Actually, I caught an interview with the creator where he confessed that one of the reasons they slowed down in killing off characters was because they were becoming personal friends with the actors and began to realize that when you kill them off you no longer get to work or hang out with them. Crazy but true. Here's a link to that portion of the interview if you want to check it out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHxtDtZOgRA&feature=youtu.be&t=785

Right before it he also makes a joke about dragging the show out "until the audience finally moves away" (to be fair said by the Film Theorist interviewer), but I think this joke speaks to the problem with pacing: they do not seem to be following a pre-determined story arc, or if they are they keep "extending" it. Just some thoughts to add to this verbose conversation.

@Oldnewbie said:

As far as recalling stuff, can you recall the name of the young black man with the braids who went with Tara and got separated from her before she found Oceanside? Unless you take notes I would imagine no. Yet I still wonder what happened to him. Was he eaten? Turned? Hiding out somewhere?? He just vanished. (And yeah I recall Tara coming across a body on her way back that COULD have been him but it was never certain.)

Heath!! He was played by Corey Hawkins, the actor who portrayed Dr. Dre in Straight Outta Compton. He made me like a rather lackluster character. It is funny how he just never was accounted for, one way or the other. I guess I'll assume he's dead now.

I think Heath will be back next season. I agree that the writing here was terrible, to leave that thread hanging. All the while spending so much tome on the Rosita/Sasha revenge storyline.

@Nubyan said:

@GrandTardigrade said:

It seems to me that this show does best when the primary group is together. There are so many characters that when they try to develop them all, while they are separate from each other, it just takes much more time. This season seems almost like a prologue to the next season, instead of a season itself. That's not good.

Or perhaps some viewers just have attention deficit syndrome. Too many moving parts make it hard for them to follow.

Just a thought.

Seriously? Nice try at the ol' ad hominem. Most times when people resort to personal attacks, they have nothing more to add but are desperate to be right. Ironic since there isn't really a right or wrong here; just difference of opinion. Please try to address the issues and avoid personal attacks, or maybe just say nothing if you've got nothing beneficial to add.

I've got nothing to verify this but I think they left Heath's outcome unknown because they want him to come back. The actor is on the new 24 show so maybe there were scheduling conflicts and he couldn't finish Heath's story on TWD. Perhaps TWD want him to come back and hopeful that scheduling conflicts won't continue?

@GrandTardigrade said:

I've got nothing to verify this but I think they left Heath's outcome unknown because they want him to come back. The actor is on the new 24 show so maybe there were scheduling conflicts and he couldn't finish Heath's story on TWD. Perhaps TWD want him to come back and hopeful that scheduling conflicts won't continue?

I'd like that, but they should at least have mentioned him one way or the other. Or did they? It seems like Tara got back to Alexandria and looked at Eugene. Then, they cut to her reacting to the news about her friends and girlfriend from Rosita. And not a word was ever said about Heath.

Fyi...the attention deficit syndrome comment was not a personal attack. As I mentioned, it was a thought.

@Nubyan said:

Fyi...the attention deficit syndrome comment was not a personal attack. As I mentioned, it was a thought.

That's interesting because it was a direct response to what I said about the pacing of the show. I could almost guarantee that, yes, some viewers of TWD have ADD. That will be the case with just about every show. However, I do not have ADD and even if I did it shouldn't automatically disqualify me from critiquing the pacing of the show. Thoughts are things inside our head. When we have a thought and turn it into words, either verbal or print, it is no longer just a thought; it has become communication. Regardless, I can choose to believe that you meant no attack. But please realize that the way you expressed yourself was viewed as a form of personal attack by not just me but others as well.

@Oldnewbie said:

Now that was unnecessary. Sounds like a typical liberal political debate trick; turn the issue into something personal against the opponent.

It's actually a common tactic in any debate not just political and it is a sure sign that the one using the tactic is losing. It's called an ad hominem.

Not caring for the way a show or story is paced has zero to do with ADD (as it is correctly named, Attention Deficit Disorder, not syndrome). No the problem with TWD last season was no budget to truly show how vicious or active the Saviors were. Otherwise we'd have seen their other compounds, more instances of violence, a better idea of why Negan wields such power over so many (with the Governor we had a clearer picture of why everyone followed him but Negan? No. One guy with a baseball bat does not a ruler make). Well, I guess they could have some better character development with Negan but I think most people know what a bully is and what their tactics are. I honestly think they wasted too much time showing us how much of a SOB he and the Saviors were. It was like, "OK we get it already. These people are dicks." Where the writing utterly failed is creating an intriguing plot that gets the audience wondering and thinking so that they cannot wait for more. You don't need a huge budget for this (although it doesn't hurt to have one). The writing has become dismal and I honestly do not know how these people can call themselves writers.

As far as recalling stuff, can you recall the name of the young black man with the braids who went with Tara and got separated from her before she found Oceanside? Unless you take notes I would imagine no. Yet I still wonder what happened to him. Was he eaten? Turned? Hiding out somewhere?? He just vanished. (And yeah I recall Tara coming across a body on her way back that COULD have been him but it was never certain.)

His name was Heath and he is actually a main character in the comic book and the ONLY reason I know his name. The SJW agenda kinda shot him by the wayside as his character was the one dating Denise the Dr. but they had to shoehorn in a lesbian couple with Tara.

@GrandTardigrade said:

@Nubyan said:

Fyi...the attention deficit syndrome comment was not a personal attack. As I mentioned, it was a thought.

That's interesting because it was a direct response to what I said about the pacing of the show. I could almost guarantee that, yes, some viewers of TWD have ADD. That will be the case with just about every show. However, I do not have ADD and even if I did it shouldn't automatically disqualify me from critiquing the pacing of the show. Thoughts are things inside our head. When we have a thought and turn it into words, either verbal or print, it is no longer just a thought; it has become communication. Regardless, I can choose to believe that you meant no attack. But please realize that the way you expressed yourself was viewed as a form of personal attack by not just me but others as well.

Yeah, it was. But you're not the only one with the complaint about pace. There's a whole thread on the subject.

If I was personally attacking you...you would know. Take my word for it.

You know, I knew someone would think that. I thought about putting a disclaimer of sorts on my comment, but then I said...nah. I should have listened to the voice in my head.

Again, I was not personally attacking you or anyone in particular. I had a thought and I shared it.

My sincere apology to anyone who thought I was personally attacking them.

@GrandTardigrade said:

I've got nothing to verify this but I think they left Heath's outcome unknown because they want him to come back. The actor is on the new 24 show so maybe there were scheduling conflicts and he couldn't finish Heath's story on TWD. Perhaps TWD want him to come back and hopeful that scheduling conflicts won't continue?

Whatever happened to recasting? Used to be done all the time!

@Nubyan said:

Fyi...the attention deficit syndrome comment was not a personal attack. As I mentioned, it was a thought.

And still you got it wrong. Must have missed my comment. It is ADD aka ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER. Thank you.

@Oldnewbie said:

@Nubyan said:

Fyi...the attention deficit syndrome comment was not a personal attack. As I mentioned, it was a thought.

And still you got it wrong. Must have missed my comment. It is ADD aka ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER. Thank you.

ADS and/or ADD. It is the same. I did not miss your comment. I was responding to the term I used.

Are we done? Because I believe I've already apologized.

@Nubyan said:

My sincere apology to anyone who thought I was personally attacking them.

No worries

@Oldnewbie said:

Whatever happened to recasting? Used to be done all the time!

I guess they could have done this. Probably wouldn't be too hard with Heath who'd been in like 5 episodes and played a support role instead of a primary role. Maybe they didn't want to risk upsetting fans with a switcheroo. Or maybe they thought people would forget and just didn't care, haha