The Walking Dead Season 6

The Walking Dead continues to be an amazing show and I will continue to watch, but so many things bother me about this show. I usually wait until September Zombies to post this, but I couldn't wait this time. Here are my spoilery thoughts about this past season.

The Good

* The Season starts with a bang

There are more zombies than I have every seen before on screen and the inhabitants of Alexandria try to move them along before the whole horde comes bashing down their door. The first couple of episodes are amazing and fast paced. First you think everything is going well and then something goes terribly wrong. The danger isn't only from the zombies, but also the Wolves that attack in the middle of this zombie horde situation when Alexandria is vulnerable. The scenes are tragic, exciting, and emotional. Solid beginning.

* Carol

Carol always a delight to watch. I remember hating her first season, but she's grown so much since then that it's crazy. When they want to, the writers can actually develop their characters when they aren't writing manipulative bullshit. Carol goes into kill mode when the Wolves attack, even disguising herself as a Wolf to get around unnoticed. It takes an emotional toll on her and it's clear that she doesn't enjoy killing but will do so to survive. She goes through a whole crisis and tries to take the high road by leaving her enemies alive, but time and time again, she is forced to kill for the wellbeing of herself and her loved ones. There's a scene when the Saviors capture her and she starts to freak out. I thought it was an act to make them think she's more vulnerable than she is, but she was really panicked thinking about being forced to kill them. That episode was pretty meh except for Melissa McBride's amazing performance. Her folly in separating herself from the group leads to the discovery of another hopefully not insane settlement that have horses and armor.

* Morgan

I don't like Morgan's opinions and I think he's incredibly naive, but I respect him a lot. He is willing to disagree with Rick when everyone else kind of blindly follows him. Even when it's ignored, he voices his opinion on what is right. I think he's completely wrong and it's been shown over and over again throughout the course of the show that when you leave enemies alive, they will come back with a vengeance. Morgan is sincere and kind, even in the face of great opposition. It's nice to have a foil to Rick and someone to be the voice of reason and humanity. It's just sad that it's not plausible or realistic in practice.

* Sam and his family's death

In No Way Out, Sam has a panic attack in the middle of a horde of zombies (after seeing a zombie about his age) and is graphically eaten by zombies. Then his mother and brother are also eaten due to emotion and stupid actions. I personally had no issue with Sam's death. It was a bit gratuitous and it was the first time a child had been killed in full view of the camera, but it was realistic. He was abused and lived through a zombie apocalypse. It gets to anyone at any age, but if you act thoughtlessly as he did, you die.

Children's death in fiction seems to hit people in a vulnerable place and it causes them to overreact over fictional children dying. It essentially acts as censorship because of the huge outcry. Even now, very few films and TV shows will include children's deaths because of people's reactions even though they die just like everyone else. The characters are finding out time and time again that when they decide to spare instead of kill, those people come back to kill them. It's a game of survival that they simply won't win with mercy.

* Rick

Rick is always an interesting character. My favorite Rick scene is when he just killed the wannabe assassin at the Hilltop; he's covered in blood, looks at the horrified Hilltop people and says "What?: like it's totally normal to slaughter someone in front of their loved ones. His evolution from badass at the beginning to scared shitless at the end was amazing. I know a lot of people complained about their whole road trip encountering larger and more elaborate Savior blockades as they go, but I found it effective. It shows just how much power, people, and resources Negan has and completely destroyed Rick mentally before he even saw Negan. I'm eager to see his reaction next season.

* More moral quandaries

The episode Not Tomorrow Yet has Rick and his group being the aggressors for the first time in the series. The Saviors have butted heads with them a couple of times, but not escalated as much as Rick's decision to kill them while they sleep. Although it's obviously squicky to kill defenseless people, it's a good plan. I've seen fans act as if they are suddenly attacking unprovoked, but Daryl and a few others almost died when they were confronted on the road by Saviors. They also stole Daryl's bike, weapons, and supplies. They are extorting half of what a whole settlement makes to not kill them and they hold some hostage and murder a few people whenever it suits them. These are obviously bad guys, so it may be distasteful, but it's necessary if they want to secure victory.

* Negan

Jeffrey Dean Morgan is amazing. Whether he's a tragic patient on Grey's Anatomy or a morally grey superhero in Watchmen or a delightfully evil mastermind in The Walking Dead, he always manages to be somehow likeable and he commands attention whenever he's onscreen. Unfortunately, the anger around the season final cliffhanger obscured the fact that the whole season build up to Negan lives up to the hype. In the 5 or so minutes he's onscreen, he (accurately) pegs Carl as a future serial killer and takes his sweet time getting to his point. He shows he has all the power. He can kill every single one of them right now if he wants, but he won't because he wants them to work for him. This one death plus the road block tango shows how extensive his influence and resources are. Negan does it all with a smile and completely at ease. I look forward to seeing more of Negan in the next season. Hopefully we'll see how he is when things aren't going his way.

The Bad

* Denise's death

It is pretty despicable to kill this fairly innocuous lesbian character to give Darryl guilt. She hadn't been super present, but in terms of a minor characters had a pretty decent storyline. I get and even agree that anyone can die, but this is just dumb. Two characters (Denise and Eugene) who have very little skill and experience killing zombies just suddenly want to prove themselves and put themselves in danger for not very good reason despite never having an interest in it before. If Eugene died, no one would have really cared. Denise only died because she has a relationship with Tara and she isn't a major character. The comic books are all about how anyone can die, but the show makes it clear that Rick, Michonne, Daryl, and Maggie are all pretty safe. Denise was specifically killed to make that audience feel like Daryl is in danger without actually killing him off and pissing off a bunch of fans. It's a shit reason to kill off a character and a disservice to Denise and her development. It's only a small step forward from the writer's trick last season where a mostly absent character that no one cared about would get one episode of development right before they died just to make it hurt the audience more.

* Cliffhangers

I usually don't mind a good cliffhanger, but the way The Walking Dead does it is horrible. Glenn's fate was unclear at the end of episode 3. We see him surrounded by walkers with gore spurting everywhere with no indication that it's from him. I figured he wasn't dead, but his fate wasn't confirmed until episode 7. That's ridiculous. It went on so long that I didn't care that much anymore. That jumbo episode with Morgan was so annoying and pointless as a result because at that point everyone cared way more about Glenn and his fate. That sucks for Morgan and it sucks for the audience.

Then the season finale was complete bullshit as well. After a bloated episode that had way more commercials than interesting moments, there was no resolution for the audience. The comic book set up the perfect scene to end on (pictured below): Negan walking away from beaten to death Glenn and saying "Ta Ta" while everyone screamed and cried. Perfect. What we got was some unknown person dying that we won't know about until October. It's disingenuous to the audience and seems to be a ploy to keep viewers. It's one of the biggest shows on TV. It probably lost more viewers with this ending than if they just showing who died. The team has also been hyping this scene all season and it isn't even complete. Now the writers have the opportunity to change the victim if Glenn's death isn't seen favorably or maybe unfavorably enough. Gimple, one of the smug writers, stated on Talking Dead that it doesn't matter who died; what matters is that someone died. It does matter. No one will care if Aaron or Eugene dies quite honestly and the whole season build up and 6 month wait will be an even bigger let down than this season finale. For all of this to be worth it, a major character has to die or it's worthless. The whole thing is incredibly manipulative and the audience deserves better.

I hope the writers learn something from this season and actually give the audience more. If this goes on, I might just stop watching again, but I like a lot of the season despite the flaws. The show has gotten loads better since I stopped watching the first time (right in the middle of the Governor's second season), but if the writers don't wise up, their audience might not be quite so vast in future seasons.

The Walking Dead: Season 5

Well, I couldn't wait and bingewatched season 5 as well so I could be all caught up for season 7 and Fear the Walking Dead. Here are my spoilerly thoughts on the season,.

The Good

* The Opening Scene of Episode 1

Fuck. No punches are pulled. It's crazy and gory. I have so many questions yet I'm so horrified by everything that's happening. Terminus is obviously a super fucked up place and what Woodbury really should have been two seasons ago. I'm glad they finally explored an organized place that is nefarious and uninterested in doing anything but survive at any cost.

* Carol

I didn't think I could like her any more than I already do. She singlehandedly saves Rick and the group from the Terminus psychos. She is smart and capable, but still has feelings, old wounds, and a caring side. She makes mistakes, gets exhausted, and always stays human, but her bravery despite her fear and against such odds is wonderful. I'm so glad of her existence after the abhorrent treatment of Andrea a few seasons ago. Her past confronts her when a wife beater is allowed to continue his abuse at the Community. It really highlights how much she's changed in addition to the deft way she manipulates people into finding her inconsequential and weak,

* What is moral?

At the time, Rick's drive to kill all the Terminus psychos seemed a little extreme. After Bob's leg is on the spit being eaten by those same people Rick wanted to kill, his fervor doesn't seem so misplaced. Carol wants to at least injure a man for stealing her and Daryl's weapons, but Daryl stops her. Is she right to do so? Should she just accept dying due to lack of resources instead of fighting for her livelihood back?

* Bob

I kind of hated him last season when he got people killed to get alcohol to fuel his addiction. He completely turned it around this season and became a productive member of the team. So then of course he dies. But before he did, his cackling at the cannibals eating his tainted meat was priceless.

* Beth

Beth used to just be there: not a horrible character, but not great either. Last season, she became someone interesting and now she's a badass. She may not be the most physically strong person, but she's clever and knows how to survive. Her quiet strength in the face of the idiots at the Grady Memorial Hospital earned her so many brownie points. So of course she's killed and I cried everywhere.

* Grady Memorial Hospital

Beth is essentially kidnapped and held hostage by a group of delusional people who think the world will just get better one day. It quickly becomes clear that there's something rotten there. The police officers are the ruling class and can do whatever they want: hit, rape, kill, and even enslave people. The worst is that they manipulate people into buying into their bullshit. The leader, Officer Dawn Lerner, seems earnest, but then doesn't hesitate to beat a man for something she knows he didn't do or force medical attention on someone who clearly doesn't want it. It's interesting to see how people with dubious morality cope and control others in this situation.

* The nonlinear plotlines

It's cool to see a little bit of what everyone is doing. I liked the variety and it was much better done than in past seasons. It jumps to each group pretty evenly without staying with anyone too long.

* The struggle to trust people

Lots of people along the way have been evil or cannibals or just batshit nuts. When a new opportunity at a community pops up, they aren't as eager as they were before. Terminus and Woodbury really burned them, so it's surprising to me that so many of them are eager to risk their lives.

* The first gay couple on the show

Eric and Aaron are just adorable together. Aaron fights to sleep next to his boyfriend during the night despite Rick's concern and his itchy trigger finger. I'm glad the show didn't change just because some homophobes went on Twitter to complain.

* The Alexandria Safe Zone

Deanna just exudes genuine niceness and I do believe she nice, but too nice.. She puts her idiot, privileged son in his place and seems to succeed at being fair and good at managing the community. Later in the series, she's shown to be just terrible. Her idiot son and her inept people cause deaths. Deanna allows corrupt people do what they want because of their usefulness to their community. She allows a woman to be beaten because her disgusting husband is a surgeon. Her solution to wrongdoers is to exile them instead of kill them. The whole thing is revealed to be horribly run, easy to circumvent their rules, and ripe for taking over. I hope Rick's group takes over and runs it competently. They know how things work and have tried being merciful before. It always bites them in the ass with people coming back for revenge.

It's so bizarre to see clean people, normal looking houses, and nice clothes. It broke my heart when Carl seemed lost when the other teens wanted to do normal teen things. It's also interesting to see if they really do have good intentions or not. So far, they've proven themselves to be inept and are just waiting around for someone to take them over. Sasha's reaction at the dinner party was perfect in showing the absurdity of these people's inane worries over life on the outside. That life that can quickly become their lives with only a few mistakes. These people have been insulated from reality. They simply haven't had to be brave or make hard decisions. When things go bad, these people are quick to let others die and save their own skins.

* Rick

Rick may sound crazy, but he's right. He's become broken a little (maybe a lot), but it's made him strong and he knows how to survive. How far is too far though?

* Wolves

New villain for next season!  W's on walkers' foreheads and mutilated corpses have been present in the last half of the season. They seem creepy as fuck and super bad news. Can't wait for next season!

The Bad

* Gabriel, the Idiot Priest

Father Gabriel hid in his church and allowed people to die outside of it before Rick's group even met him. The priest is icked out by everything that reminds him of reality: the hard decisions, the necessity of weapons, protecting themselves, etc. He treats Rick's group like they are monsters when he is in reality much more monstrous because he stood by and let his people die. There's way too much of him. He runs around scared outside and then expects the group he just escaped from to come and save him. He offers Maggie solace, but he doesn't know anything about her grief. Ugh. Just annoying. Then he tells Deanna that Rick and his group are literally Satan and they want to destroy the community. Really??? But wait, there's more. He lets walkers into the community and then goes all crazy on Sasha when she just wanted some reassurance.

* Tyrese's, Bob's, and Noah's Deaths

Tyrese's death seems unnecessary and anticlimactic after Beth's death plus the hallucinations of other dead characters just came off as gimmicky. All the others are just more contrived emotions and don't really give much to the story.

* Super fast character development right before their death

The Walking Dead writers seem to only care about character development for minor characters right before they die so it hurts more. It would be nice if they just organically developed instead of using something that should be an inherent part of the story to hamhandedly emotionally manipulate the audience.

Overall, The Walking Dead is the first season in a long time that I had so few complaints about. I'm glad I powered through season 4 and I can't wait to see what season 6 holds in store.

The Walking Dead: Season 3

This last season of The Walking Dead was a mixed bag for me: lots of good stuff and lots of cringe inducing stuff. This post contains major spoilers for Season 3.

The Good:

* Merle and Daryl -  Daryl is an amazing and popular character. Although he started out rough around the edges, he proved to be a loyal friend and a central part of Rick's group. He shows more of his softer side through his growing friendship with Carol and helping care for Judith, Rick's baby. He is still fiercely loyal to his brother and opts to abandon the group, but returns later to help Rick save Woodbury. Daryl is one character that keeps me interested in the show. Merle is racist, offensive, violent, and tortured Glenn and Maggie for the Governor. Normally, I would not like him, but his exit from the show was poetic and made up for all of his previous actions. He viewed himself as just as horrible as everyone else did, but proved himself to be a good person willing to sacrifice himself to save his friends. His last encounter as a zombie with Daryl was the most heartbreaking scene of the whole season.

* Glenn and Maggie - This couple is the most consistent bright point in the whole series. Their love is unwavering and even if they fight occasionally, they are always there for each other. I just love their relationship!

* the Governor - The Governor is the deliciously evil, two faced villain that makes this season special. At first, he seems to be a great guy that just wants to make a normal, safe place for people in the midst of the zombie apocalypse. Under that Stepford husband exterior lurks a depraved mind. It's revealed that he keeps his undead daughter chained up, brushing her hair and singing to her as if she was alive. He also has fish tanks full of heads (both from zombies and living people) and he won't hesitate to kill or torture or use anyone for his own ends. He maintains his "good guy" facade to the residents of Woodbury to keep them on his side and keep them against Rick's group until he finally breaks and slaughters his own men. The Governor has just the right amount of insanity, manipulation, and delicious evilness to maintain a threatening presence for the entire season.

* Michonne - Michonne is an amazing character both in the comic book and on TV. I would say she's the strongest character on the show in general. She has the most ingenious methods of survival, the best being having 2 zombie pets with arms and jaws ripped off to keep other zombies away. She wields a katana with expert precision and isn't afraid to do what has to be done, no matter how unpleasant. Her voice of reason kept me sane watching this season with so many horrible decision-making going on.

* Carl - Carl is a horrible character who does stupid things and gets in trouble because he doesn't stay where he is supposed to. However, at the end of the season, he kills a young man from Woodbury who was possibly going to surrender. After Rick confronts him, he shows no remorse and insists that the kill was necessary for their safety. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the next season and how growing up during a zombie apocalypse can affect children.


The Bad:

* Andrea - UGH! Andrea is still alive in the comic book and easily one of my favorite characters. In the show, she's dead, but not before having everything that makes her awesome become completely obliterated. It all started in previous seasons when she encouraged depressed people to commit suicide and shot at her friends. In this season, she starts by ditching Michonne after being saved by her and staying by her side for 8 months for a seemingly idyllic town and a guy she just met. So then she falls for the Governor and even after a huge amount of red flags (including seeing the fishtanks full of heads), she STILL doesn't see how horrible he is. Even her death scene is terrible. She has pliers to get herself out of the restraints in sight, but she spends way to much time talking to and staring at Milton. I really don't understand why the writers took such a strong, amazing character and ruined her.

* Woodbury - In the comic book, the whole town is complicit in pitting humans against zombies for entertainment. This is an important point because the people of Woodbury are not innocent in that situation and can't be trusted by Rick's group. The horror is much greater in the comic book because it shows how bad it's gotten when people are willing to kill for entertainment. The Woodbury in the show is just as innocent and unaware as Rick's group (except for Milton, the Governor, and the small group of followers that helped torture Glenn and Maggie). The Governor consisently manipulates them and lies to them, so after it all goes down, many of them go to the prison to join Rick's group. I just found this aspect lacking and it could have been much more horrific.

The Walking Dead season 4 starts October 13th on AMC. What are you looking forward to? What are your thoughts on Season 3?