Since a day has passed I’ll go into more detail on episode 7. Pope is full of more shit with each passing episode. He complains that as war vets they couldn’t afford to keep places to stay, but they had no problem conquering a place and slaughtering its residents. And the mic drop was that they’re only hunting Maggie to make sure she never comes back to retake the place. I give credit to the actor for not half-assing it, but Pope is just another crazy cult leader like Alpha. I can’t say I loved Alpha, it’s just that Pope suffers from taking after so much of her. The Reapers themselves are nobodies besides Leah and Carver, who’s obviously being set up as the resident asshole who’s gonna die a horrible death he deserves. Which I’m fine with, he’s really despicable, but still. They’re not an interesting threat especially now that we know they’re a bunch of hypocrites hunting Maggie to be petty. That said, I like seeing Pope angry like a child since he’ll get what’s coming to him. I just want someone to make him realize he’s full of shit before he dies. The Commonwealth stuff was okay, but I’m confused about the Stephanie deal. They are investing a lot into the decoy Vs real Stephanie thing. Eugene is pretty dumb if he can’t realize by now that’s not the real Stephanie he spoke to. I’m guessing it’ll come out if Eugene tries to initiate intimate contact with her, but I dunno. This fake Stephanie is playing along with it far longer than I’d have expected presumably to get Alexandria’s location out of Eugene. I like that Yumiko is being forceful and slightly controlling of her brother in that it’s consistent with how she always tries to take charge of things. She doesn’t seem to respect that he’s happy as a baker and keeps pushing him to return to the medical field. It may be for Ezekiel’s sake, but Yumiko doesn’t seem to indicate it nor does she seem to care for Ezekiel enough. Or at least she would’ve brought it up by now. I do feel sad for her brother though, presumably now he’s going to be forced to be a doctor thanks to the Commonwealth’s strict class structure and all, and just needing doctors. Which I get, Alexandria can’t keep a doctor for more than a season. Speaking of structure, hoo damn did they nail the casting of Sebastian Milton. Man, did that character translate perfectly from comic to screen. What a piece of shit. It’s awesome that Eugene actually punched his ass, reminding us of what Abraham did to him years ago. Lance is also shaping up to be another shady piece of shit like his comic counterpart, albeit he seems nicer and less smug and condescending most of the time. All this and I haven’t gotten to the meat of the episode: Maggie and Negan. That’s a crazy thing to ask, and even cooler that Negan is training them to be Whisperers. I thought we were gonna lose Elijah at the end. But it all came down to that brutal conversation. As it happens so many times, TWD can’t bring itself to do any meaningful advancement on certain story arcs until a season finale. It’s unfortunate we’re still doing this so late in the game and it just means TWD will have to have it as part of its legacy. But man, what a scene it was. Negan proved once and for all that despite all the stanning, he doesn’t regret a damn thing he did, and instead regrets he didn’t kill more people than he did. What a ballsy move and yeah, the honesty is awesome. Negan has his peace with it, and now he’s trying to give Maggie hers. I haven’t liked that Maggie has been made out to be unreasonable by some viewers who act like Negan is the voice of reason all the time. But this scene when Negan makes no apology for killing Glenn should shove that aside some, while still being nuanced enough. This is what we’ve needed from this arc. It took way too long.
Episode 8 was tense, not the best, still has some dumb TWD stuff. Very much a “wait until February” teaser, but not without a big moment. It was great to see Whisperer tactics put against the Reapers. Loved seeing the callback to Jesus’s death when the “walker” ducked and stabbed the Reaper. Generally each hero was badass. Gabriel was a great shot, Negan and Maggie fighting back to back was awesome. To the end, Spoiler Pope remained a hypocrite and I’m glad Leah of all people killed him, and forced him to die moments after harping about how he is God. That said, it’s kinda cool that this only created a bigger monster in Leah, who is not crazy and is instead motivated by genuine love for her “family”. That might just make her more dangerous than Pope, and honestly it’s super interesting. It’s diabolical to see her ready to continue the crusade against Maggie just because she wants the food and supplies for the people she lost to the Reapers. But props for not giving Leah a quick redemption like I thought they might. Fuck Carver, though, who was practically drooling learning Daryl was indeed a traitor. Can’t wait for him to die. I was not expecting Leah to become the big bad of the Reapers, but let’s see it. Also, this keeps Daryl free for Connie! The subplot at Alexandria didn’t really cover much. The heartwarming moment with Virgil and Judith was lost on me since it was used as the preview from last week. Nice to see Dianne again for the first time in a year. Rosita going out and killing walkers was badass, but it ended weird because then it went offscreen, but then we’re expected to be impressed after a quick fakeout death I guess? At least Rosita is getting plenty to do. Poor Gracie is starting to fall into the stupid kid category. Aaron did a good job raising a good person as a single dad, but it’s sad that evidently he didn’t train her for battle and survival as Michonne did with Judith. I really have to see Michonne’s parenting textbook after Rick left because it’s a miracle to see a child so well adapted to survival and still so put together and good. Good job, Michonne.
Part of me thinks that the whole Alexandria falling to bits and open to attacks is leading to them moving. Potentially to the site where the Reapers are. If only to open a story where the Commonwealth send troops to Alexandria to assess the threat they represent, only to find it broken in shambles and potentially deserted.
I’m thinking along those lines. I think Commonwealth is gonna pull up on Alexandria, and Pamela will offer food, supplies, resources, etc - if they agree to fold in under her power. Alexandria will vote yes out of desperation, and that will cause strife from survivors who don’t want to answer to somebody else, or fear another Savior racket.
Walking Dead World Beyond had a pretty brutal character death that was actually very well done. Everything was horrific, even if the character probably did deserve it. I actually feel uncomfortable and upset about a TWD death for the first time since… hell. A long time. Surely since Glenn. Nobody I really cared about got dropped in the pike massacre. Siddiq’s death was upsetting. But I dunno, this one was so well done and hit home for a few personal reasons. And also that’s just a really shitty way to go, Spoiler moments after betraying your lover and his family, and after thinking you succeeded in saving everyone’s lives, your project failed. And then you’re condemned to die like the rat. Considering that’s how pretty much 80% of humanity died, completely helpless and unable to fend off walkers. Pretty much trapped like rats. And it’s just… I don’t know, I feel sick.
Fear TWD was so dumb. Why TF would Spoiler Morgan try to kill Strand?? It’s so fucking dumb. I’ll take this over “all life is precious” Morgan but it seems like a stupid idea for melodrama’s sake.
Anyone watch World Beyond? I'll admit I was just half-ass watching this season, but what was that ending about?
I’ve been casually watching it just for the CRM and Jadis stuff, and it’s been worth it since I have a vague idea on what happened to Rick now. However I have not watched the final episode on AMC+, were you referring to that? Or the penultimate episode that aired last night?
Because Spoiler Strand is literally human garbage that will turn on anybody at any moment for even the slightest chance at furthering his own cause. And actually tried to kill Morgan / leave him for dead in the sub.
I just wanted to recommend Kingdom and Sweet Home, both on Netflix, if you are looking for a good replacement since the show is ending.
No, believe me I get it. I just think it was a stupid strategic move to make Spoiler and to not even try to wash it off his thumb. He’s still in the lion’s den and he doesn’t try to eliminate the evidence. He was away from everyone for a time and he could’ve washed it off. Strand either needs to lose everything or his life but I think Morgan just made a dumb call to try to assassinate him when he did. Sure, there may not be another opportunity, but again, super risky and stupid.
I THINK I've seen the bit you're on about, and if it is the same part, I think it's to establish a source of the virus in the TV Universe. I think they have an endgame in mind in explaining it all, even if it's still years away.
I meant the last ep on AMC+ Were we supposed to know who the characters are? We know one in the video.
Gotcha. Not doing AMC+, I think it’s gonna blow if the final episode of the main show really is released a week before the airing. That’s gotta be an experience everybody sees together.
This isn't GOT, alot of people checked out so doubt it's gonna be a cultural phenomenon at it's ending...when there's gonna be 3 more WD spinoffs anyways
It’s still a big show that at its peak was one of the definitive shows of the 2010’s, so the ending is still going to carry a lot of fanfare.
No doubt it was a big show, I used to watch it and then Talking Dead afterwards, but like most I have tuned out and maybe watch it months later when there is nothing else on.
The show still gets good ratings from what I understand even if it’s not the highs it got before Negan killed Abraham and Glenn and the subsequent rise of streaming. Just because you tuned out doesn’t mean everyone did, it’s still going to be something of a pop culture event when the mothership show ends.
