The Walking Dead (Season 3)

Discussion in 'Movies, TV and Music' started by JohnnyFutbol, Sep 22, 2012.

  1. Dante

    Dante Moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 19, 1998
    Upstate NY
    Club:
    Juventus FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Thanks, sorry for the misspelled words.

    I've got to admit, that episode drew me back in. Like someone said, they were making up for the boring second season.
     
  2. SirManchester

    SirManchester Member+

    Apr 14, 2004
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    the show is relatively good at the intense zombie kill action, not so much on the character drama. a welcome return in context.
     
  3. SpencerNY

    SpencerNY Member+

    Dec 1, 2001
    Up in the skyway
    Yes. To some extent I think the character drama has been hurt because they have not made an attempt to tell us anything about who the characters were before the zombie event. "Lost" utilized flashbacks to enrich all of their characters and it told the view a lot about why characters were motivated to act the way they did. With this show it still feels like we are working with blank slates with a couple generic characteristics thrown in. Who the heck was Glenn before the zombies? Was Lorie a b*tch hoe back in the day? So how was it growing up with Daryl and big racist bro? In order to get drawn into these characters we really need to care about them and I don't think they've done a good job with that at all, aside from maybe Herschell, Rick and Shane.

    Fortunately the series is entertaining enough that the weakness of the characters isn't a deal breaker.
     
  4. Val1

    Val1 Member+

    Arsenal
    Mar 12, 2004
    MD's Eastern Shore
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    No no no, a thousand times no. That was the problem with Lost, all the backstory got in the way of showing what they're doing about being stranded on the island. This show is about what people do when faced with the unbelievable. I don't care who Glenn was. What matters is what is he going to do now.
     
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  5. Felixx219

    Felixx219 BigSoccer Supporter

    Nov 8, 2004
    Kansas City, MO
    Club:
    Kansas City Wizards
    Nat'l Team:
    United States

    I both agree and disagree. I do not think it was a problem for Lost. I actually think that is what made LOST so great. However, the Walking Dead isnt about the character's past, it is about present time so it would not be a good fit for this show.
     
  6. Matrim55

    Matrim55 Member+

    Aug 14, 2000
    Berkeley
    Club:
    Connecticut
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Good god, no. This show needs to be a pure survival story, not a love triangle circle-jerk.
     
  7. SirManchester

    SirManchester Member+

    Apr 14, 2004
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    For a format like this, I think it could theoretically benefit from flashbacks filling out characters. For all its exposition we don't get much about these characters in the present. To help contextualize the vast emptiness we see, flashbacks could be useful.

    Then again, better writing for the present can also solve the problem.
     
  8. SpencerNY

    SpencerNY Member+

    Dec 1, 2001
    Up in the skyway
    :thumbsdown:

    ...and you got that from me asking for some character development?
     
  9. Belgian guy

    Belgian guy Member+

    Club Brugge
    Belgium
    Aug 19, 2002
    Belgium
    Club:
    Club Brugge KV
    I think Matrim is referring to the Shane-Lori-Rick nonsense from last season. ;)
     
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  10. SpencerNY

    SpencerNY Member+

    Dec 1, 2001
    Up in the skyway
    Then you missed the whole point of the backstory in Lost. It served to give us an idea on what made the character's tick and added to the whole drama of the thing.

    Lets just say that when Hershell, Glenn or anyone else who might get eaten by a zombie gets eaten by a zombie I should really give a crap. I don't care about any of these characters that much at this point and I think the writers are at fault.

    So far I'm getting a better feeling about this season and am hopeful that they are going to flesh the characters out a bit more.
     
  11. SpencerNY

    SpencerNY Member+

    Dec 1, 2001
    Up in the skyway
    Yes, that was super lame and nearly unwatchable, as was the Sawyer, Kate and Jack love triangle on Lost. I sure as hell wasn't calling for that kind of character drama though.
     
  12. Felixx219

    Felixx219 BigSoccer Supporter

    Nov 8, 2004
    Kansas City, MO
    Club:
    Kansas City Wizards
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The characters backstory in LOST was part of the story and their journey on the island. It was a big part of who they were there. In this WD world, their past life has little impact on who they were because they will never return to that. It is no longer relevant. They are new people now.
     
  13. SpencerNY

    SpencerNY Member+

    Dec 1, 2001
    Up in the skyway
    Your past has a huge effect on who you are, Zombie Apocalypse or not. We'll agree to disagree on that I guess.

    Are you satisfied with the character development thus far?
     
  14. Felixx219

    Felixx219 BigSoccer Supporter

    Nov 8, 2004
    Kansas City, MO
    Club:
    Kansas City Wizards
    Nat'l Team:
    United States

    I think it is sufficient to the type of show that it is. I think we know what to expect from each character and what they are capable of.
     
  15. Demosthenes

    Demosthenes Member+

    May 12, 2003
    Berkeley, CA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Flashbacks are not character development. This show is failing in the character development department, but it's not because of lack of backstory.

    Character is revealed through action and choices. There is no reason they can't develop these characters well through their actions and their choices. What reveals a person's character better than how he or she reacts in a crisis? The problem is one of bad writing, not lack of backstory.

    As for the premiere... I was worried about the loss of Shane, but you could immediately see how it helped the show. The focus moved from interpersonal tension to zombie survival tension, and it was a tremendous improvement. That's what the show should ideally be.

    I did think it was hilarious that you had Lori bringing up very valid concerns about her baby, and Hershel being like, "Oh don't worry about that." And just when I'm thinking they've made Lori be reasonable and tolerable, she goes and starts whining about "Rick hates me because I told him to kill Shane" or some nonsense that literally NOBODY cares about. But otherwise they stayed away from that BS, and as long as they can do that the show will be much more watchable than last year.

    Their stupidity still bothers me, though. Their tactics in taking the prison yard and the cell block were fairly idiotic. And why did they bring Hershel with them when they ventured deeper into the prison? What possible good could he really serve, being older and slower, and being the only person with medical knowledge and therefore way too valuable to lose? Yet again, thick-headed contrivances designed to build drama and tension and requiring the viewer to accept a lot of questionable decision-making.

    But Michonne was cool.
     
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  16. gmonn

    gmonn Member+

    Dec 8, 2005
    Yeah, still stupid. There are some things worth seeing (Michonne with her pets) but basically nothing worth listening to. Will definitely be fast forwarding through these this season.
     
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  17. yasik19

    yasik19 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Chelsea
    Ukraine
    Oct 21, 2004
    Daly City
    Finally saw the opener. Pretty brutal. Me like.
     
  18. Val1

    Val1 Member+

    Arsenal
    Mar 12, 2004
    MD's Eastern Shore
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    The stupidity of characters in shows like this never ceases to amaze me. In Lost, the survivors had polar bears (!), a cloud monster, and a second group of survivors on the island, yet never (in the season and a half I watched) once set up a lookout. In Walking Dead, Dale would set up lookout, yet somehow he failed to notice a huge zombie herd until they were right upon our plucky crew. There should have been a watch every night, even on Hershel's farm.

    What I liked about this episode is that it finally shows the group dividing up responsibilities, even to include Carl. And they finally got silencers, the lack of which had my daughter screaming at the TV when I showed her the very first episode.

    Heretofore, the group has not really talked about how to solve their crisis, leaving each character to suffer in silence in their own personal hell. And I'm a classic Myers-Briggs introvert, but these guys need to communicate more. Everybody goes off half-cocked doing their own thing. And the one time the one guy who did strive for this communication, Dale, did this, he got killed. Unless you're a Mad Max Road Warrior, doing your own thing in the Zombiepocalypse is going to get you killed.
     
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  19. Felixx219

    Felixx219 BigSoccer Supporter

    Nov 8, 2004
    Kansas City, MO
    Club:
    Kansas City Wizards
    Nat'l Team:
    United States

    Honestly, I find how this all went down is totally realistic. Just think about it, the group was on the run and dealing with missing people, going back to Atlanta, etc. Just when they got the issue with Sophia settled, the shit with Shane happens and then the raid on the farm.

    The group and people individually never really had time to figure shit out and organize themselves. Now that they have had several months with everyone surviving and having to really put things together, they have started to figure it out. That's about how things would go down for most people in a sudden zombie apocalypse. You may think you would be making ideal decisions but I guarantee you, you would not.

    People have this idea that in these situations that people are going to be operating and optimal capacity physically and mentally when most people would probably just crumple and not be able to figure anything out. The fact that it took them several months to figure out how to truly survive in this world is much more realistic than they figuring it from Day 1 or even Day 60. 99% of the people criticizing the actions of the people in this show and how they are acting would probably be dead in the first few days from doing something stupid.
     
  20. Val1

    Val1 Member+

    Arsenal
    Mar 12, 2004
    MD's Eastern Shore
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    I have no illusions that I would make correct decisions, or that I would act rationally if my wife and kids had survived with me. I expect that I would be a slow learner as far as learning when someone is beyond help. Once Rick decided to go back into Atlanta to retrieve Merle, I would have been right alongside him. But I do know that it would take me no more than a day to get a watch set up. If I had been crippled and landed on the Lost island able to walk, I sure as heck would have communicated that.

    I have no idea if I would make the correct decisions. But we would know why we were doing what we were doing.
     
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  21. Dante

    Dante Moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 19, 1998
    Upstate NY
    Club:
    Juventus FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    One thing is for certain, the entire group is made up of some of the best sharp shooters anywhere. Even Carl, using a pistol and making head shots over 50 feet away.
     
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  22. Demosthenes

    Demosthenes Member+

    May 12, 2003
    Berkeley, CA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'm not talking about their overarching long-term decision making. Obviously they have no idea what to do or where to go, and are making decisions ad-hoc. I have no problem with that.

    I'm talking about their moment-to-moment decision making. Like making camp at the edge of a woods within a few short miles of a city infested with millions of zombies. And a quarry blocking one of your avenues of escape. I think even in a crisis situation, most of us would have the wherewithal to say, "Zombies could easily approach us through these woods without us seeing them until it's too late. We should continue moving until we find a more defensible place to settle." I guess a lot of people wouldn't think that way, but those people also wouldn't survive.

    In this episode, the stupidity was in choices the characters made to create drama which tactically made no sense for them. For example, when they were outside the prison yard, they found they could attract the zombies to the periphery and kill them through the fence using jabbing weapons. They could have killed every zombie in that prison yard that way, without wasting any ammo and with minimal danger to themselves. Any of us would have done it that way. But that doesn't make exciting television. So they send Rick into the prison yard and risk his life and waste a ton of ammo instead. Similar thing when they move into the first cell block. They fight all those zombies in the outside area, when they could have lured them to fence and killed them through the fence. Only the zombies wearing helmets and body armor had to be fought hand-to-hand.

    On the whole I thought this episode was more enjoyable than anything from last season. But it still bugs me to have unjustified poor tactics just to create more action.
     
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  23. usasoccerhooligan

    May 1, 2005
    I think the main reason for that was the opening in the other fence. Rick was running in to close that. Remember, they don't know how many zombies are in that other yard or how many zombies are along the outside of the prison. It's understandable that they'd like to push in to that other field to give them a second fence between them and the outside. I know I wouldn't feel comfortable sleeping with zombies on both sides.

    Now the way they pushed into the cells was pretty dumb, taking Herschel and all. Granted, Herschel is a hell of a shot.
     
  24. Footer Phooter

    Jul 23, 2000
    Falls Church, VA
    I'd head for the hills. Literally. Claim the high ground, then attempt to defend it.
     
  25. Buzz Killington

    Buzz Killington Member+

    Oct 6, 2002
    Lee's Summit
    Club:
    Kansas City Wizards
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    another fairly brutal episode tonight, although I felt they rushed the tension between Rick and the prisoners. I thought they would have let that go for another episode or two before having that break down.
     

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