Sorry. I really enjoyed that episode.

A lot of words but well said! I'll sum it up for you: The Walking Dead has turned into a boring, terribly written, pretentious waste of time. Time to move on.

Your rants are getting worse. FYI, a synopsis of the episode isn't really a criticism. If you want to criticize it, criticize how the action sequence didn't flow well, like it does in war movies. How the actors movement seemed too choreographed and not natural movements. That's what irked me when I saw this episode.

Other than that, it was standard TWD. Lots of drama, dialogue, and Negan.

@TheShredder said:

Your rants are getting worse. FYI, a synopsis of the episode isn't really a criticism. If you want to criticize it, criticize how the action sequence didn't flow well, like it does in war movies. How the actors movement seemed too choreographed and not natural movements. That's what irked me when I saw this episode.

Other than that, it was standard TWD. Lots of drama, dialogue, and Negan.

Hi Shredder!!

@TheShredder said:

a synopsis of the episode isn't really a criticism.

I know. That's why I don't do synopses "reviews."

@jridle73 said:

@TheShredder said:

a synopsis of the episode isn't really a criticism.

I know. That's why I don't do synopses "reviews."

So exactly what category are your blog entries? Are they just simply blog entries?

@LadyGigi said:

@jridle73 said:

@TheShredder said:

a synopsis of the episode isn't really a criticism.

I know. That's why I don't do synopses "reviews."

So exactly what category are your blog entries? Are they just simply blog entries?

I do criticism. My article on this ep, which I'll concede feels very disjointed and uneven to me, picked apart the ep's many problems that rendered it mostly a tedious exercise in inanity. Among other things, this ep not only suffered from Idiot Plot Syndrome throughout but its major events were all dependent upon ridiculous coincidences and unlikely events piled on other ridiculous coincidences and unlikely events piled on others.

Eugene has no idea how long his poison will take or even if it would work at all but for things to play out as they did, it has to kill Sasha before the convoy gets to the Safe Zone, no one must check on Sasha on the way while she's stuffed in a coffin (which becomes even more ridiculous when one throws in the convoy being stopped by trees across the road), and she must not only die but reanimate--something that can take hours--before Negan opens that door.

The Kingdom sets out for the Safe Zone to form an alliance but travels on FOOT, which makes no sense at all--it's done solely to keep them away until the right moment. Maggie is ordered to stand down but decides to bring the Hilltop force to the Safe Zone anyway and both they and the Kingdom arrive at exactly the same time, which also happens to be exactly the RIGHT time to save the day. And, of course, the Garbage People are only able to betray and capture Rick's force because Rick mindlessly opted not to call in the Hilltoppers in the first place, a decision that absolutely defies all reason.

Someone elsewhere said this was like a story written by a child and that's very true: this is how an 8-year-old constructs a story on the fly. Just a bunch of arbitrary rubbish and win-the-lottery-level coincidences strung together. On a major, allegedly professionally-produced prime-time tv drama, it's embarrassing.

Er... Just saying, no one asked who the snitch was because everyone knows it was Gregory ?

Plus, didn't the scene with Dwight end before the conversation ended ? I would not have liked to stand there listening to every goddarn detail of the saviors whatever and whatnot. He gave us a general idea. That was enough for me.

@jridle73 said:

@LadyGigi said:

@jridle73 said:

@TheShredder said:

a synopsis of the episode isn't really a criticism.

I know. That's why I don't do synopses "reviews."

So exactly what category are your blog entries? Are they just simply blog entries?

I do criticism. My article on this ep, which I'll concede feels very disjointed and uneven to me, picked apart the ep's many problems that rendered it mostly a tedious exercise in inanity. Among other things, this ep not only suffered from Idiot Plot Syndrome throughout but its major events were all dependent upon ridiculous coincidences and unlikely events piled on other ridiculous coincidences and unlikely events piled on others.

Eugene has no idea how long his poison will take or even if it would work at all but for things to play out as they did, it has to kill Sasha before the convoy gets to the Safe Zone, no one must check on Sasha on the way while she's stuffed in a coffin (which becomes even more ridiculous when one throws in the convoy being stopped by trees across the road), and she must not only die but reanimate--something that can take hours--before Negan opens that door.

The Kingdom sets out for the Safe Zone to form an alliance but travels on FOOT, which makes no sense at all--it's done solely to keep them away until the right moment. Maggie is ordered to stand down but decides to bring the Hilltop force to the Safe Zone anyway and both they and the Kingdom arrive at exactly the same time, which also happens to be exactly the RIGHT time to save the day. And, of course, the Garbage People are only able to betray and capture Rick's force because Rick mindlessly opted not to call in the Hilltoppers in the first place, a decision that absolutely defies all reason.

Someone elsewhere said this was like a story written by a child and that's very true: this is how an 8-year-old constructs a story on the fly. Just a bunch of arbitrary rubbish and win-the-lottery-level coincidences strung together. On a major, allegedly professionally-produced prime-time tv drama, it's embarrassing.

You should call Talking Dead when Greg, Kirkman or Angela are guest.

@velvet_roses said:

Er... Just saying, no one asked who the snitch was because everyone knows it was Gregory ?

No one knows it was Gregory and, in fact, it couldn't be. Negan had already said he knew what they were up to before Gregory had gone to the Savior compound--he'd already found out and cut some deal with the Garbage People--and Maggie, in Sunday's ep, notes that Rick doesn't know Gregory has left.

I would not have liked to stand there listening to every goddarn detail of the saviors whatever and whatnot.

These aren't some inconsequential details; they're central to Dwight's anti-Savior plan, the one Rick adopts. They're left out and the questions never asked solely so this question an remain a mystery. Like everything else, a completely ridiculous and arbitrary piece of plot construction.

In general, I don't fault coincidence in shows. I imagine that there are thousands of stories out there in this Zombie Apocalypse universe. Hundreds of survivor groups facing interesting challenges. Most of the stories would likely be short and/or uninteresting. The story with amazing coincidences is the only one worth watching I guess.

Despite this, I mostly agree with Jridle. The show's writing has been sloppy and drawn out. Alas, I cannot stop watching. I even watch the burn-out spin off, God help me.

@Horus Mazinga said:

In general, I don't fault coincidence in shows. I imagine that there are thousands of stories out there in this Zombie Apocalypse universe. Hundreds of survivor groups facing interesting challenges. Most of the stories would likely be short and/or uninteresting. The story with amazing coincidences is the only one worth watching I guess.

Despite this, I mostly agree with Jridle. The show's writing has been sloppy and drawn out. Alas, I cannot stop watching. I even watch the burn-out spin off, God help me.

It's so bad that it's good.

@jridle73 said:

These aren't some inconsequential details; they're central to Dwight's anti-Savior plan, the one Rick adopts. They're left out and the questions never asked solely so this question an remain a mystery. Like everything else, a completely ridiculous and arbitrary piece of plot construction.

Not sure about completely though. Most of the points you raise definitely are agreeable. But there are some moments in film where I just take things at face value because let's face it, zombies in themselves are not a real thing, so why should every other detail reflect reality as well? At some point, succumbing to the suspension of disbelief is not a sin.

As an example, do I think Shiva attacking the foe instead of the friend was believable? Hell no but it is what it is.

There's only one real beef that I have with this season and it's that they simply threw in way too much fluff and filler. I don't care what was going through Sasha's mind beyond about 30 seconds worth. Instead, we were hit with so much reminiscing of her time with Abraham that it had zero relevance to what was about to happen.

The isolated stories stretched out into a whole episode each, was equally ridiculous. As I've said before, Game of Thrones has way more complexity and yet they still somehow manage to encompass all the various stories and give them relevance to one another within the one episode.

The Garbage Patch Emo kids backstabbing Rick didn't come as a surprise, though it was a point of frustration.

The fact that it looked like Tara shot Rosita during the gunfight was probably the most laughable part of the whole thing. Well, actually, the genuinely funny part was when Emo leader said she will lay with Rick after. That had me in stitches.

But yes, while there are many things which were plain out ridiculous, sometimes, we need to allow a few things to slip. Otherwise, if I picked at every detail of every show I watched, there'd be nothing left to entertain me. Well, actually, I'll give Westworld and Breaking Bad that exception. Those two were VERY cleverly written and executed but they're more the exception than the rule.

@Horus Mazinga said:

In general, I don't fault coincidence in shows. I imagine that there are thousands of stories out there in this Zombie Apocalypse universe. Hundreds of survivor groups facing interesting challenges. Most of the stories would likely be short and/or uninteresting. The story with amazing coincidences is the only one worth watching I guess.

It's another indication of the generally very poor state of the writing. This last ep wasn't just a string of struck-by-lightning coincidences; it was a whole string of same piled on top of one another, with everything made dependent upon them.

@jridle73 said:

@Horus Mazinga said:

In general, I don't fault coincidence in shows. I imagine that there are thousands of stories out there in this Zombie Apocalypse universe. Hundreds of survivor groups facing interesting challenges. Most of the stories would likely be short and/or uninteresting. The story with amazing coincidences is the only one worth watching I guess.

It's another indication of the generally very poor state of the writing. This last ep wasn't just a string of struck-by-lightning coincidences; it was a whole string of same piled on top of one another, with everything made dependent upon them.

Speaking of that concept of every event dependent upon another....

I don't know how much of the board you read, but there is a heavy debate about the character Eugene. As you know from reading the comics, the Eugene on the show is nothing like what he is in the comic. I think the characterization of Eugene on the show is very much a plot device. His behavior sometimes has no rhyme or logic. It's like he really doesn't fit into the overall story. He's used to cause conflict for the protagonists.

In the past you have heavily criticized the characterization of The Governor. So I was wondering what your opinion of the writing for Eugene?