The Walking Dad

[lemmings]

Dumb redneck:

Spoiler:

Cuts off hand, looks at the door. "Nope, not going that way, bunk of geeks over there"

Oh look, a fire escape!

Frack, it has a ladder!

[grythyttan]

Spoiler:

The moment I saw the hacksaw I knew he wsa gonna cut his hand off. It just seems like that kind of show. And it reminded me a bit of T-bag from prison break.

[SecondTalon]

Spoiler:

Yeah, cutting his hand off seems like a barmy thing to do, when he could have cut through the chain probably a lot faster.

I did notice that they're not calling the zombies zombies. It's odd because they did call them zombies in the comics.

Yeah, but they also usually call them Roamers or Lurkers depending on their behavior. So they may just be giving different names to them, which is fine.

[Midnight]

I dug the finale.

[SlyReaper]

Well, none of that happened in the comics.

Spoiler:

And Shane didn't die. What the hell?

All in all, I liked the finale.

[SummerGlauFan]

Well, none of that happened in the comics.

Spoiler:

And Shane didn't die. What the hell?

All in all, I liked the finale.

Well, they did say they weren't going to follow the comics too closely.

And considering how dark the comics get, I doubt you could do that on a major network.

[Endless Mike]

They might not have a hard time since the finale had the most viewers EVER among the most important demographic for a cable show.

[smokebubble3x]

One of the most dramatically awesome series I've ever seen on television. So sad it's over, the whole thing went by pretty f***in' fast imo.

[colinrmitchell]

Yeah, cutting his hand off seems like a barmy thing to do, when he could have cut through the chain probably a lot faster.

I'm sure that handcuffs are made out of stainless steel, which is much harder than regular steel.

Hacksaw blades are flimsy, and just hard enough to cut mild steel.

Taking the hacksaw to the stainless steel would dull it quite quickly, making it useless for cutting even bone.

Cutting his hand off was the only option, I think. Although he could have just tried removing his thumb and slipping out, first, before removing the whole hand.

[Ryom]

It was also pointed out he could have cut through the thin metal pipe/bar connected to the handcuff much faster. He chose the worst option available when there were better ones. It was the writers attempt at drama, unfortunately it wasn't handled correctly for it to be so. Could be poor writing, could be poor directing.

[grythyttan]

And he could've been panicking because zombies were clawing their way through the door and were going to be chewing on him very very soon.

[colinrmitchell]

That's true, the angle iron (or bolt) that he was cuffed to probably was mild steel, and so he could have hacked through it with the hack saw.

I had to appreciate his guts to cauterize it with those little catering candles.

[xdegenerate]

Yes I think they just wanted to express to the audience how tough Merle was, so that when he appears on screen in season 2 you expect the worst. But really, what's the worst a guy with one hand can do, eh? We all know one hand is only good for one thing..

[cephalopod9]

But really, what's the worst a guy with one hand can do, eh?

Obviously that depends on whether or not he replaces the missing hand with a chainsaw.

Season 2 started. Are people watching it?

It's been... kind of stupid.

[SecondTalon]

But really, what's the worst a guy with one hand can do, eh?

Can't tell if serious or read the comic and trolling.

[Iulus Cofield]

But really, what's the worst a guy with one hand can do, eh?

Obviously that depends on whether or not he replaces the missing hand with a chainsaw.

Season 2 started. Are people watching it?

It's been... kind of stupid.

The show has come down with LTP disorder. I'm expecting, since next week's episode is the last until February, that they'll actually do something besides drag out the same character development subplots for another 5 hours.

[roband]

Necro.

Spoiler:

WOWEE. Considering they didn't have much ammo, Hershel's shotgun was doing a good job of reloading itself!

Excited for S3, I understand that the person with the chained zombies is a character from the comics, looks exciting.

[SecondTalon]

That would be Michonne. Which, of course, means nothing to people watching it and people reading it just orgasm'd a little.

[roband]

Yep, the /r/TheWalkingDead subreddit kinda threw me a few spoilers about that (I wasn't expecting chat about the comic, for some stupid reason) but I can't wait til autumn to find out more.
She looks badass.

Spoiler:

Zombies on chains, with no arms. Fucking awesome

[pseudoidiot]

I'm very slowly but surely acquiring the comics. I've just finished the second issue. Or tbp. Or whatever. Fuck, I don't know how comics are classified.

[SecondTalon]

Issues are 22 to 30 pages, depending on the company, and cost $1.99 to $4.99, depending on the company.

Trades collect 6-9 issues in a single book for $14.99-$24.99, depending on a shitload of factors.

Somewhere in the title pages it should have copyright information listed as "Originally printed as The Walking Dead issues #1-#7, August 2004-Feburary 2005" or something like that.

[pseudoidiot]

Trade paperback apparently.

Ooh and TFAW has most of them on sale a little. Dammit, don't need the temptation!

[Larry]

So, does Season 2 end well then?
I got most way through S2, until

Spoiler:

Carl takes Darryl's gun out of his saddlebag

then turned it off in exasperation.

[roband]

Keep going. It's worth it.

[novax6]

I disagree, thought S2 was a giant waste of time, and wouldn't have bothered after the first 4-5 episodes if my gf hadn't kept watching.

Of course I didn't really care for the 1st season either after the pilot, so if you loved that maybe you'll still like the 2nd season.

[Jave D]

Anyone saw the third season opener?

[Iulus Cofield]

It was good.

[freezeblade]

I liked this episode.

Spoiler:

man. that chopping off of a leg was one of the burliest things I've seen on a major TV show. I mean seriously. Me and the girl are zombie nuts, and no stranger to blood and guts, but that was quite shocking.

[Tyndmyr]

I disagree, thought S2 was a giant waste of time, and wouldn't have bothered after the first 4-5 episodes if my gf hadn't kept watching.

Of course I didn't really care for the 1st season either after the pilot, so if you loved that maybe you'll still like the 2nd season.

Yup. Pilot was good, first season was spotty(there were elements, like the tank scene, that were pretty good). Second season had some serious pacing issues. Have not yet seen season 3, but so far, I'm told it's fast. I don't know if this is just the "seasons starting, watch us please" effect, or a serious change of pace. I figure I'll give it a while, and return to watching only if I'm relatively assured it's the latter.

[hawkinsssable]

I'm probably in the tiny, tiny minority here, but I loved season 2's pacing. It's hard to compare it with season 1, since they were handled so differently, but I think I even preferred it. The whole first half half had this calm-before-the-impending-storm vibe that contrasted nicely with season 1 and paid off beautifully in the mid-season finale, and the mix of action / character development in the second half felt pretty close to perfect to me. It gave the writers a chance to explore all kinds of worthwhile stuff they wouldn't have been able to if the group was still wandering around from shelter to shelter.

But then, I've always preferred - actually, I'm not sure how to describe it. Comfortable fiction, maybe? The kind where you have a fairly consistent world you can get to know quite intimately.

Season 3 looks to be amazing. I totally wasn't expecting...

Spoiler:

... the guy I mistook for this season's big bad to be killed in the same episode his character was introduced. I felt awful for the 2 other guys that died, but he seemed to be pure psychopath.

Have not yet seen season 3, but so far, I'm told it's fast. I don't know if this is just the "seasons starting, watch us please" effect, or a serious change of pace. I figure I'll give it a while, and return to watching only if I'm relatively assured it's the latter.

Since I preferred s2 to s1 I'm probably the wrong guy to be giving advice, but: the first two episodes are tense, gory fun the whole way through.

[Izawwlgood]

Just finished season 2... All I can say is, what the fuck writers? It's like you took all that great characterization and subtle story telling and painfully difficult decision making and just... stopped? The second half of S2 was just abysmal, each episode being just another 'Oh for fucks sake' after 'No you fucking halfwits, don't DO that'. I understand they were trying to emphasize a chaotic climax, but man oh man, was it poorly executed.

[Larry]

That's exactly what I was thinking.
The finale and aftermath I quite enjoyed, but everything else in the second half of season 2.... hnnnngggg.

"What Not To Do: The Show"

[ArgonV]

Spoiler:

So, the governor...
Why did he shoot the soldiers They'd be very useful protecting the village. Just to show he's evil? (Not to mention the idiotic way they got killed. Seems rather unrealistic they'd get ambushed that easy)
What's with the tea? It got shown/mentioned explicitly a few times, so it's gotta be relevant, right?
And the aquaria... Just, why?

[roband]

Spoiler:

So, the governor...
Why did he shoot the soldiers They'd be very useful protecting the village. Just to show he's evil? (Not to mention the idiotic way they got killed. Seems rather unrealistic they'd get ambushed that easy)
What's with the tea? It got shown/mentioned explicitly a few times, so it's gotta be relevant, right?
And the aquaria... Just, why?

I can't help on ANY of these points. Looking forward to the next episode.

[freezeblade]

Spoiler:

So, the governor...
Why did he shoot the soldiers They'd be very useful protecting the village. Just to show he's evil? (Not to mention the idiotic way they got killed. Seems rather unrealistic they'd get ambushed that easy)
What's with the tea? It got shown/mentioned explicitly a few times, so it's gotta be relevant, right?
And the aquaria... Just, why?

Spoiler:

Well, in the comics (which they haven't been following, so might be moot) the governor is pretty much a psycopath, so this is showing that he's a loose cannon, and very much a sadistic motherfucker. Also notice how cool and collected he was lying to the people in the compound.

[Jave D]

Spoiler:

So, the governor...
Why did he shoot the soldiers They'd be very useful protecting the village. Just to show he's evil? (Not to mention the idiotic way they got killed. Seems rather unrealistic they'd get ambushed that easy)
What's with the tea? It got shown/mentioned explicitly a few times, so it's gotta be relevant, right?
And the aquaria... Just, why?

Spoiler:

Well, I think it's pretty obvious the guy has control issues. He has his little tinpot dictatorship, just the way he likes it, and so that makes not just the walkers a threat, but other survivors. With the soldiers, had he invited them in, they could question his authority (which seems to be force of personality winning him the loyalty of guards as well as hearts and minds), and they had enough force as well as legitimacy in order to contest his decisions, or even to replace him with one of their own (the way Rick took over when he found Shane's group in season 1). This way, he eliminates them as a threat and takes their goods. He doesn't seem to need any more guards, who would drain food and other resources.

The aquaria... yeah, I dont know. I think the point there is the guy's a bloody nutcase. But I already see that he has some eerie parallels with Rick's character... like how Rick might have turned out if Rick had control over a larger group (with more Shanes) and if Rick was a bit more insane.

[hawkinsssable]

(Consider this post double-spoilered because of comparisons to the comics / books)

Spoiler:

The Governor, according to the tie-in Kirkman novel, led a coup against the national guardsman that previously held Woodbury and ruled using fear and dickishness. He could potentially justify slaughtering the army guys to himself in terms of protecting the community from a resurgence of that kind of horror, even if the whole 'mad with power' thing plays a much greater role.

Everything else? He seems to have shut himself off completely from everybody else ("Never say never", "... never"), so maybe, iunno, the fishtank thing just makes sense to him.

I don't think killing the soldiers was just to demonstrate that he's evil. I think it was equally meant to show that 1. he can't cope with anybody challenging his authority, and 2. he's genuinely dedicated to maintaining his lovely little community and making sure it stays a good place (/the way he likes it)

Spoiler:

The aquaria... yeah, I dont know. I think the point there is the guy's a bloody nutcase. But I already see that he has some eerie parallels with Rick's character... like how Rick might have turned out if Rick had control over a larger group (with more Shanes) and if Rick was a bit more insane.

I always kind of looked at it like Rick and the Governor were two sides of the same coin, and if Rick had gone down a certain path he could have ended up exactly like that guy. And so I had a story in mind of how he became that guy and what caused him to be that bad of a person.

[roband]

Can we have different spoilers labelled for the comic compared to the show? Or just no comic spoilers in this thread?

I intend to read them at some point in the future and I understand they differ very much from what has happened in the show.

[hawkinsssable]

Can we have different spoilers labelled for the comic compared to the show? Or just no comic spoilers in this thread?

I intend to read them at some point in the future and I understand they differ very much from what has happened in the show.

I fixed up the formatting and explained things a bit more clearly after the forum didn't quite react to double-spoilering the way I thought it would. Hopefully nothing was spoilt.

[roband]

Another tip, you shouldn't use red text. Mods will be angered

I mean I'd like to see something like:

COMIC SPOILERS:

Spoiler:

Stuffs about comic that I can't post because I don't know. Oh - they killed Shane much quicker in the comics, weird that they strung it out for so long in the show.

SHOW SPOILERS:

Spoiler:

I wonder how many zombies the sword-lady had to chop the arms and jaws off before she learned how to make them not want to eat her.. And how many she has seem starve to death.

See how they differ?