The Walking Dead Season 3

I thought Season 1 was underwhelming (except for the pilot), but Season 2 was awesome - especially the later episodes where the Rick and Shane conflict was brought to a head.  I'm looking forward to a new season of Noble Daryl and Morally Ambiguous, Slightly Unhinged Rick.
 

The video game;s story is so so so much better than the TV show. They made a more interesting and empathetic protagonist in 5 minutes than this show ever managed. The storyline is deeper, darker and far riskier.

I've never been that down on the show, but seeing how effortlessly they could be outdone by a video game with a fraction of their budget is just glaring.  If they don't step up their quality, I'm all for killing everyone off and bringing back Lennie James as Lee (continuity be damned).

What sucks is that any one on this forum could lay out a story map for a better Walking Dead TV show in about an hour.  Better characters isn't even really a challenge. 

Considering how much better the show got once Darabont was ousted (sorry Frank, I really do love you!), we have good reason to believe that this'll be the first legitimately good season.

Not to aquit the show or anything, but Telltale has proven that they're far above the level that generally passes muster for video game writing, so it's not entirely insane that their story based game series could actually be superior to a TV show.  These are, after all, the guys who handle Sam & Max and managed to not fumble the ball when given the responsibility of the Monkey Island license.  I also know they have screenwriter Gary Whitta collaborating with their reliable in-house writers for this particular series.

(By the way, I really need to play Telltale's The Walking Dead.  I've decided to make it the first series from them where I wait for all the episodes to come out before playing, but all the praise it's received is making the restraint difficult.)

Hey, thanks for doing my dirty work, Navidson! I appreciate it.

I'm going to get that Walking Dead game, as I hear nothing but good things, but probably not until all five parts are sold together and at a discount.

I think Evi is right.  The timing in the upswing of quality is just kind of suspicious...  The more they lean into the comic book and excitement and the kind of stuff you want to see in a zombie show, and the less they rely on grim reality the better the show gets. 

At least there's plot momentum in the books, right?

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Originally Posted by Freeman 

At least there's plot momentum in the books, right?

Yeah, but the characterizations are equally terrible. And the dialogue is worse.

The only thing the comic really excels at is world-building, but it gets an A+ there.

The show definitely got better as the second season progressed.  Much less wheel-spinning and shitty dialogue and more actual events that progress the story.  Also, I feel like I'm not going to miss Dale at all this season.  Prretty excited overall though, the whole prison storyline could be great.

I gotta second The Walking Dead game love here too. I dropped the show after the first season, my interest in the comic fizzed out after the fourth TPB but the game is astounding. I was waiting for all the episodes to come out so I can play it all the way through but the talk about it made give the first part a go. Damn. It's so much better than either of the other two incarnations it's not even funny. Having finished the first part and watched the "Next time on The Walking Dead" bit my stomach got tied in knots.

Everyone who has any love about this property should jump on this game.

Hey, we've got a premiere on Sunday.  Am I the only one still watching?

I will cautiously tune in to the premiere, but if Carl wanders off anytime during the hour, I'm out!

I'm in, but Carl or Laurie needs to be walker chow by the Christmas break. I got too many other bad shows to keep up on at this point to keep up with Ranger Rick and the Funky Bunch. I really only care about Backwoods Wolverine at this point in any case. They've squandered such a great premise with terrible bottle shows.

Why am I going to watch this? I don't know, but I am.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JMulder 

Why am I going to watch this? I don't know, but I am.

I don't want to come off as a "why are you guys watching this, it sucks!" commenter, but basically after thinking about it following last season's finale, I'm out. 

Hopefully you guys enjoy the ride going forward. 

Ok, I think I am officially excited for this show again.  Very solid opener.

Don't tell me that wasn't a good episode. That was as fine an episode of zombie pulping as anything seen yet in the series. And the prison setting is much more conducive to the genre than the previous season's.

She looks like Luna Lovegood.

 It was a good episode because there was a lot of zombie killing and an owl slaying to boot. I'm glad that is what episode focused on because these characters are that interesting or deep. The riot gear walkers was a clever idea. Hershel is an idiot. One would think that any survivors in this world would avoid dead bodies or make sure they're dead dead, not walker dead. That struck my as poor writing.

  Maggie looked hot.

Yeah, count me in as one who thought the zombies in riot gear was a brilliant idea. Never seen anything like that before.

Herschel getting bitten, and having his leg taken off was something that happened to Dale in the comics. It doesn't happen in the prison though. It happens in the parking lot, and at night too.

Great episode. Characters being pro-active!  Had this been a previous season, we would've ended the premiere with them finding the prison, spent an episode in the yard with Rick deciding to venture further inside by the end of the episode, the third episode would've ended with them securing the first batch of cells, the fourth episode would end with Herschel's bite, and the fifth episode would see them mulling over whether or not to amputate.

Mulleted Carl (Daryl's protege) can live for now, but Lori only exists as a vessel for a zombie baby. I think at this point though, my problem with her has more to do with the actress.

There were a couple of moments I wanted to call them out for not killing all they could through the fence before moving on, but I don't really want to watch a 5 minute montage of fence kills. Has me excited for the the next episode, and with what they've got coming up, I don't see the prison getting stale this season.

Also, SyFy's showing The Mist right now, turned it there right after, its a very confusing transition.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HypnoToad 

Great episode. Characters being pro-active!  Had this been a previous season, we would've ended the premiere with them finding the prison, spent an episode in the yard with Rick deciding to venture further inside by the end of the episode, the third episode would've ended with them securing the first batch of cells, the fourth episode would end with Herschel's bite, and the fifth episode would see them mulling over whether or not to amputate.

Hee. Yes.

Great season opener. A lot of great little character moments, tons of zombie killage, and the setting is perfect. Can't wait for next week's episode.

I am so happy that this episode rocked.  This is what the show has needed to be for a long time.

I really enjoyed the episode. One thing that did kinda bug me,though. Why would you send your only person with any kind of professional medical training on a dangerous mission?

I can picture how Rick told the group about that.

"Hey guys, you know that OLD MAN who is our only MEDICAL person? I think we need to send him into the middle of danger."

Jumping ahead in time a bit was a great idea. The characters look weathered, but it's cool to see them utilizing strategies they've picked up (drawing zombies to the fence, doing hand to hand combat in circle formations). Horror can be so much more engaging when characters don't act stupidly for the sake of plot movement.

Oh yeah, the end of season 2 almost makes it seem like they'd find the prison within a week or 2, but seeing that it took them several months, and we didn't have to go through seeing that, and instead we catch up with them a few months down the road is so much better. Mazzara taking over was definitely a good thing, and I say this as a fan of Darabont's.

I'm a little confused....

So Herschel gets bit and Rick goes all lumberjack on his leg.  Was taking the leg off really necessary given the knowledge that everyone is already infected

the walker virus (?), why should it matter if anyone gets bit? Is it that getting bit 'turns on' the virus?

Or, is it that after being bitten there is a chance of a bite related infection which, by extension would cause death = walker ??

I can't remember, but doesn't the bite kill you first? I think once you're dead, the infection takes hold.

 The bite will kill him. I guess by cutting off his leg will stop the spread of the infection/virus.

Whatever airborne version of the virus everyone is already infected with is clearly dormant at this point, so I don't think circumstances have changed much. A fatal bite kills quickly and a non-fatal one leads to death from fever in a few days, followed by nearly instant resurrection. This is something that some friends I watched the episode with were confused about, but I don't think everyone's slowly zombifying or anything. Without being bitten, they still won't turn into zombies unless and until they die. So, in other words, the virus already being present in everyone's system has no bearing on the Hershel's leg situation.

I'm glad folks liked the premiere, but let's face it, guys - the nonstop zombie killin' is gonna go away pretty quickly after this. Since that seems to be what most people enjoyed so much, I predict we'll be back to the standard TWD hatefest by the end of episode two or three.

The silent opening was a really nice touch, and I loved seeing how grim and weathered everyone looked. But at first I wondered if I liked it because none of the characters were talking.

But no, the rest of the episode was solid. Probably my favorite since sometime in season one, maybe even the pilot. There have been good moments from the show here and there, but this is the first one in a long time that felt consistent. 

Riot gear zombies=aces.

Decent opener.  They won me back to the season, I guess.  I still really, really need for Lori to exit the show in the most expedient way possible, though.  

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Originally Posted by Chaz 

 The bite will kill him. I guess by cutting off his leg will stop the spread of the infection/virus.

Everyone already has the virus, it's the bite that causes infection, which kills the victim.

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Originally Posted by Ratty 

Decent opener.  They won me back to the season, I guess.  I still really, really need for Lori to exit the show in the most expedient way possible, though.  

Zombie baby makes it way out of her...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kyler 

I really enjoyed the episode. One thing that did kinda bug me,though. Why would you send your only person with any kind of professional medical training on a dangerous mission?

He's also the only person who would know which specific things in the infirmary were valuable.

Quote:

Originally Posted by VTRan 

I'm a little confused....

 

So Herschel gets bit and Rick goes all lumberjack on his leg.  Was taking the leg off really necessary given the knowledge that everyone is already infected

the walker virus (?), why should it matter if anyone gets bit? Is it that getting bit 'turns on' the virus?

 

Or, is it that after being bitten there is a chance of a bite related infection which, by extension would cause death = walker ??

It's accepted by the group (and the comic, and the game) that a bite is so toxic as to be 100% (or near) fatal.

It's not very realistic (even for a zombie show), but considering they don't currently have antibiotics, it's close enough for me to let it slide.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MoonBaseNick 

Zombie baby makes it way out of her...

I -hate- that they brought that up, since that means it won't happen. Dammit, Lori!

All in all, than was a leaner, meaner, brisker show. While we're still kinda screwed by having the lead couple miscast (lincoln seems like he should play heels, and Lori should only play psychos), it's a good sign that this episode had so little to bitch about, and so much to enjoy.

One area that nobody should have complaints about is the effects team. The zombie work, the decapitations, the amputation... top notch stuff.

And yeah, Maggie can live forever in my book. Her glee at figuring out how to kill the walking dead riot police was adorable.

This was probably the best episode of this show ever.  At least since the pilot. 

This episode needed to be great.  Season 1 was all down hill from the pilot, and season 2 was 75% boring shit, the show runners have blamed it all on Darabont (Even though he's been gone since the end of season 1).  If this episode had been the typical boring slog, then it would have been pretty damned obvious that Darabont wasn't the problem.  Now, we'll see what the rest of the season brings.  I  really expect a lot from this show, this episode proves the potential is there.  The less Rick/Lori failed marriage angst the better.  The more Glen, Maggie, Michone, "cross bow badass Dixon", the better.

ETA:  I really enjoyed seeing these characters being competent and functional.  I understand that making mistakes is how you learn, and a world of zombie walkers is a whole new paradigm that would naturally have a sharp learning curve.   After idiotic shit like the zombie in the well misadventure and the constant infighting of season 2, however, seeing the group act like an efficient, practiced team of people who actually want to survive is a refreshing. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jackson 

This episode needed to be great.  Season 1 was all down hill from the pilot, and season 2 was 75% boring shit, the show runners have blamed it all on Darabont (Even though he's been gone since the end of season 1).

I am pretty sure he was let go right when S2 went into production or thereabouts...am I mistaken? But in S2, it's quite clear at the halfway point ("Nebraska," I believe) that Darabont's influence or oversight was being scrubbed. And while the following episodes aren't consistently great or even good, there's a definite uptick in their quality, both in writing and action.

I'd say that, other than the S1 opener, this was probably the best episode for the series. My personal favorite remains "Nebraska," but I'll concede that "Seed" (and the series opener) are overall stronger and more compelling shows.

I haven't read the comic, so I have no idea....was I supposed to be getting a lovers vibe from Michonne and Andrea? It seemed to be there pretty strongly, but that's also a very subjective call.

the riot gear was awesome.. just for showing everyone's decision on whether or not to put it on after it's been on a zombie.

Oh and that scene where they remove the riot mask and it rips the zombie's face off? Clearly someone deserves a brownie point for that. Great stuff.

I still feel that Season 2's "18 Miles Out," another Dickerson episode, is the one that's second to the pilot.

Quote:

Originally Posted by neaux 

the riot gear was awesome.. just for showing everyone's decision on whether or not to put it on after it's been on a zombie.

 

Oh and that scene where they remove the riot mask and it rips the zombie's face off? Clearly someone deserves a brownie point for that. Great stuff.

Agreed on both points. The zombie guards were a nice way to switch up the endless hordes of prisoner/civilian walkers. And that face peel....aiiieee, it was awesomely gross.

I wasn't a fan of the graphic nature of the amputation, though. That, to me, felt gratuitous. 

Any thoughts on the odd, budding....something...between Daryl and Carol? She's really obvious about wanting some hillbilly lovin', but he seems like he doesn't know what to do with ladyparts.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rene (Mr.Eko) 

Yeah, count me in as one who thought the zombies in riot gear was a brilliant idea. Never seen anything like that before.

 

 

Herschel getting bitten, and having his leg taken off was something that happened to Dale in the comics. It doesn't happen in the prison though. It happens in the parking lot, and at night too.

Left 4 Dead 2.

Just wanted to say, my bad, I posted in the season 2 thread.

Great episode.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelM 

Any thoughts on the odd, budding....something...between Daryl and Carol? She's really obvious about wanting some hillbilly lovin', but he seems like he doesn't know what to do with ladyparts.

It seems pretty obvious he has feelings for her, and vice versa.  Darryl is fiercely independent however, and he sees her as a liability.  The comic has dealt with the concept of strength in numbers and how the team is stronger than the sum of the parts in a number of different ways.  I expect that the show will explore this in even greater detail.  If Darryl gets an actual story arc this season when Merle returns I think that idea will be a strong part of it.   Darryl will have to chose between Merle and his adoptive family.

At some point our motley dis functional group of survivors are going to start to gel into an extended family/ tribal unit.  Darryl's acceptance of Carol will be a very symbolic part of that.