Yeah, this series is really testing my patience with all the exposition. We're almost at the mid season finale and almost NOTHING has progressed, I mean the end of the last episode gave some hope that something will happen, but I'm gonna need things to progress a bit faster. Really as much as I love Negan's character, I feel like we need to see a weakness soon so there's not literally no hope at all for the others (having said that, perhaps we already have with his affection for Carl).

They're finally doing something! Happy to see the mid season finale pick up the pace and I'm really looking forward to the other half. The past few episodes all feel like they've been setting up for this so at least we're at a point where things can start happening now.

Edited December 14, 20168 yr by Jacob Marley

REALLY good mid-season finale. I'm glad they didn't have Daryl emotionally reuniting with Maggie like I feared they would. It woulda been TOO much to handle :cry:

So this returns from its break very soon and I have seen barely any buzz like usual for it. I really feel like this season is killing the show, Negan is hard to digest as we haven't seen any real reason for him being 'evil' and his monologues have become very tiresome and repetitive already.

 

I feel like the show needs to get back to basics of building some characters that we grow to love and root for. It could really do with a change of scenery, the woods and small towns have become very stale feeling. On the run/campervan, the farm, the prison, the first 4 seasons changed it up nicely.

Even the cast have been complaining about filming the first half of the series :lol: Lennie James has come out and said that he found it horrific because he was away from the regulars for such a long period of time.

 

Apparently the second half of the season is a huge change in pace and direction to the slower focused first half, so yay for that!

The first ep of the 2nd half of the season was one of the better for a while for me and for 2 reasons. Firstly no Negan, it was a breath of fresh air to not have him and his hammy performance in an episode, it gave the characters chance to breathe. Secondly it was a fast moving episode, it was 10 minutes here and 10 minutes there. Rick and co visiting Hilltop and The Kingdom and asking them to join them to fight the saviours in the first half of the season would have been three quarters of an episode each easily.

 

I hope they keep this pace up and it doesn't get dragged down again in showcasing a single character for entire episodes and the plot moving on an snails speed. Oh and the less Negan right now the better. We know he is evil and the big bad and we have seen enough of that to know what a threat he is, they don't need to keep showing us.

The first ep of the 2nd half of the season was one of the better for a while for me and for 2 reasons. Firstly no Negan, it was a breath of fresh air to not have him and his hammy performance in an episode, it gave the characters chance to breathe. Secondly it was a fast moving episode, it was 10 minutes here and 10 minutes there. Rick and co visiting Hilltop and The Kingdom and asking them to join them to fight the saviours in the first half of the season would have been three quarters of an episode each easily.

 

I hope they keep this pace up and it doesn't get dragged down again in showcasing a single character for entire episodes and the plot moving on an snails speed. Oh and the less Negan right now the better. We know he is evil and the big bad and we have seen enough of that to know what a threat he is, they don't need to keep showing us.

 

The episode just moved at a fast pace, had some fun in it and had a big group of characters. The show is at its best when the core characters are on screen.. together!

 

I think Negan is fine, but we don't know what motivates him. I think he needs to show a side of his vulnerability. For me the show is at it's best when it adapts the source material loosely, I think the latter half of season 4 and the beginning of season 5 are my favourites of the show. Terminus was definitely my favourite arc.

 

Can't be much worse than 7A though, such an absolute bore of a season.

The episode just moved at a fast pace, had some fun in it and had a big group of characters. The show is at its best when the core characters are on screen.. together!

 

I think Negan is fine, but we don't know what motivates him. I think he needs to show a side of his vulnerability. For me the show is at it's best when it adapts the source material loosely, I think the latter half of season 4 and the beginning of season 5 are my favourites of the show. Terminus was definitely my favourite arc.

 

Can't be much worse than 7A though, such an absolute bore of a season.

 

I really don't need any in depth on Negan, I thought I did but this ep just confirms I need him gone. It was a waste of time when they tried to flesh out the Gov with those 2 eps on him in season 4.

 

You are right though the cast all together and going on 'adventures' is what makes the show. When they are working together and acting smart, instead of doing dumb stuff alone. I hope they take Negan down as soon as possible and in the ensuing battle Hilltop and The Kingdom are ruined, so we can have the gang move on and find somewhere new.

I think the latter half of season 4 and the beginning of season 5 are my favourites of the show. Terminus was definitely my favourite arc.

 

Yay I'm not alone!

I'm watching these episodes at the moment - I disagree I miss the prison!

The prison was a great back drop to the series. You still had the woods and outdoors whenever they ventured out which complimented the dank dark prison so well. It really gave a great insight as to how bad things were when they want to move into a prison to stay alive and safe.

The Walking Dead is basically like taking up smoking. Initially it seems exciting and edgy but after seven years you realise it's basically a bad habit that you can't kick even though you realise just how dumb, repetitive and pointless the whole experience is

After real hope with the first ep back after the break being good, the 2nd one was just awful. At absolute max we are 2 years into the ZA, the group Rick encountered was like a parody of The Tribe or something terrible like that. Why was the leader of their group talking like communication had become only something people do if absolutely needed. I mean she actually at one point said 'Your words now' 'guns alot' 'we open cans and sometimes it's rotten' and 'Want something now' who speaks like that? It made it feel like some am-dram thing.

 

The spiky walker being undone by some falling bags of rubbish was lame.

 

They basically explained Carol's whole 'wanting to be alone story line' when he said if it was Carol she would have not stood for what Negan has done, so they have sidelined a character because she would actually have not fitted in with the story line. Which is lame, I don't buy any of what she is saying and never have nor the reasons for not telling her what has happened bar to exclude her from the plot.

Edited February 23, 20178 yr by sammy01

After real hope with the first ep back after the break being good, the 2nd one was just awful. At absolute max we are 2 years into the ZA, the group Rick encountered was like a parody of The Tribe or something terrible like that. Why was the leader of their group talking like communication had become only something people do if absolutely needed. I mean she actually at one point said 'Your words now' 'guns alot' 'we open cans and sometimes it's rotten' and 'Want something now' who speaks like that? It made it feel like some am-dram thing.

It's weird because based on the way Carl has aged for example it definitely should've been a lot longer and I sort of assumed a similar length of time had passed in the series as has in reality since season 1 but after looking it up apparently officially we're on day six hundred and forty something. I can live with it because as weird as it seems you can get weird culty people but her use of language did seem a bit forced when she was talking and it could've been done a lot better. I liked last week's a lot more overall (not much seemed to happen this week) but hopefully next week will pick up.

 

They basically explained Carol's whole 'wanting to be alone story line' when he said if it was Carol she would have not stood for what Negan has done, so they have sidelined a character because she would actually have not fitted in with the story line. Which is lame, I don't buy any of what she is saying and never have nor the reasons for not telling her what has happened bar to exclude her from the plot.

Ah I don't like this but I can understand it, after she said there "wouldn't be anything left of me" the implication being if she had to fight/ kill so many saviours she would've done so much killing it'd have a serious psychological effect on her. I sort of understand why Daryl lied about Abraham, Glenn etc- to protect her mental state. It's not how I'm used to seeing Carol though and I hope she does come back properly before too long.

It's weird because based on the way Carl has aged for example it definitely should've been a lot longer and I sort of assumed a similar length of time had passed in the series as has in reality since season 1 but after looking it up apparently officially we're on day six hundred and forty something. I can live with it because as weird as it seems you can get weird culty people but her use of language did seem a bit forced when she was talking and it could've been done a lot better. I liked last week's a lot more overall (not much seemed to happen this week) but hopefully next week will pick up.

 

Ah I don't like this but I can understand it, after she said there "wouldn't be anything left of me" the implication being if she had to fight/ kill so many saviours she would've done so much killing it'd have a serious psychological effect on her. I sort of understand why Daryl lied about Abraham, Glenn etc- to protect her mental state. It's not how I'm used to seeing Carol though and I hope she does come back properly before too long.

 

 

She just completely took me out of the moment with the way she was talking, I kept thinking why is she talking like that? It was like she hadn't had human contact in decades, which she obviously has.

 

As for Carol this is the woman who was willing to kill people of her own community when she thought they were infected in the prison illness storyline, blew up terminus killing loads, killed Lizzy as she was so warped etc. I just don't buy this whole story line for her.

 

I mean there are pluses, the gang being mostly together is so much better to watch and Richard shows promise.

Ok I'm 99% sure the last episode was supposed to be the first one back after the mid season break but they switched the order due to the criticism over Negan and lack of seeing the group together. It is the only explanation I can think of for skipping back in time to when Daryl had just escaped after what has transpired with him the last couple of eps.

 

I can totally see why they switched it up too as it was another Negan over load, with more ridiculously hammy delivery from him and more leaning (can the man stand up straight?). As well as being an episode based on just 1 character, which people are getting bored of.

Idk I really liked that episode, besides they weren't just focussing on Eugene (who I'm actually liking more and more as the series goes on), there was a lot more of Dwight and his backstory and you got even more of a sense of what life's like at The Sanctuary. I think Negan's over the top acting is an essential part of his character, he needs to be swaggering with confidence to be able to pull off and maintain the operation based on fear he's got going. It's remarkably sinister how quickly he can switch from his intimidating fake chumminess to srs/ possibly murderous.

 

Also in the most recent episode it was really good to see walkers actually being mildly scary again (in that fairground/ army camp). :lol:

 

I agree it's great to see the group back together and it feels like things are actually picking up a lot and there's a real sense of hope for the main characters which is what S7-A desperately needed but never really got. Not sure what the hell is wrong with Rosita though, way too hot headed at the moment and honestly I have a feeling that whatever she's planning with Sasha's going to backfire and have repercussions for the rest of the group. We'll see though.

She just completely took me out of the moment with the way she was talking, I kept thinking why is she talking like that? It was like she hadn't had human contact in decades, which she obviously has.

 

As for Carol this is the woman who was willing to kill people of her own community when she thought they were infected in the prison illness storyline, blew up terminus killing loads, killed Lizzy as she was so warped etc. I just don't buy this whole story line for her.

True but that kind of thing will have a toll on an individual, especially considering how different she was pre-apocalypse, she gained the ability to do all those things but she's not a sadist without a conscience so I don't think it's unrealistic for her to be on the brink of a mental breakdown.

My fear is Rosita and Sasha will be the big season finale, they go against Negan and lose one or both die and the Negan story goes on till at least mid season 8. It would be the Gov retread.

That wouldn't be so great but I doubt it, we've still got 4 episodes to go this season and I don't think even TWD (tbf only S7A really did this) would drag a short term storyline like that over 4 episodes. I don't think they'll be rid of Negan though at the end of this season, I think they'll defeat him perhaps and regain their independence (not for sure but could well happen) but I think the saviours are going to be around for a little while more.

JDM confirmed a while back he'll be in the 8th season so he's gonna be around for a while yet

 

Sasha and Rosita are so obviously dying in the finale :lol: