The Walking Dead Season 3 - Page 13

In 12 - 13 years, the zombie craze will have died down, and then come back. They always come back... they're fuckin' zombies!

 

 

I can see a Christmas Eve American Horror Story being a bit awkward as well. 

I imagine a Walking Dead Christmas Special would play out like this.

 

Watch Revolution - you'll love it.

That's what I was thinking when they all got out of the car.  "They left the wiry prisoner with all the wimmens?!?"

 

Well, the original Star Trek did a town full of kids* if I remember correctly (*or so it seemed) but as for a series sort of in the same ballpark as The Walking Dead, the original "Crossed" series by Garth Ennis did something along those lines that was *very* disturbing indeed.

 

If anyone would like to read a free webcomic along the lines (though more accurately 28 Days Later) of The Walking Dead (legally), one of the follow ups/spinoffs to Crossed called Crossed: Wish You Were Here is a very high quality, well done job (admittedly it's not the most pleasant reading though). You don't need to have read the original series as it fills you in along the way (it's set in the UK, while the original was in the US).

 

http://www.crossedcomic.com/category/the-webcomic/

 

(On the right side is a link to Freakangels, which is an earlier unrelated free series they did). 

From what I've read, Christmas may be coming early to the characters of The Walking Dead.

 

Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)

For those who didn't see it.

Just read "The Road to Woodbury" (one of the prequel novels written recently by Robert Kirkman), as well as a summary of "Rise of the Governor," which I guess is s'posed to be Phillip's origin story. Surprisingly well-written, actually, for a tie-in novel... but if the Governor in the comics is anything like he is here, I have to say I think we fans of the TV show got the longer end of the stick on this one. Cause, umm, he's pretty ridiculous. x-/

All caught up.  Can't believe the difference between S2 and this one.

 

Liking it a lot so far.  Also preferring the TV shows Gov to the comic book one who was ridiculously eeeeeeeevil from the outset.  I'm liking Phil's layers, or rather his amazing talent for dissembling.  Having said that I was pleased they kept his "I'm bugfuck insane" Futurama head gallery though, and especially his eagerness to find out if Merle had Michonne's head to add to it..

 

Speaking of which, I'm finding Michonne, on the other hand, is just too far the bitter loner, to the point where it's actively distracting.

 

I am liking the setup they've got going for the different sides people (specifically Merle, Daryl and Andrea) are going to have to choose.

 

But seriously, the next one then a break till February??

 

k'sake.

 

 

The first time I recall this was with Battlestar Galactica but I'm sure someone started the trend before then. Who was it? Can I blame Lost? Because I want to.

Lost did the 6 episode mini season at the beginning of Season 3. Were they the first?

 

Every season of South Park is split in half and stretched out over the year as well.

Network television has been doing the mid season break forever, Thanksgiving to the New Year is typically a dead zone, it's not new.

Spoiler....

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don't read if you want to know anything about tomorrows show

 

 

 

 

Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)

Nah, it's been around for a long, long time.

 

We're spoiled now by cable shows that air for 13 straight weeks. Network TV has been and still is dominated by shows that either air in multiple chunks (where I learned the term "hiatus"), or are never on more than a couple of weeks without a rerun. Put 22 episodes into 52 weeks and that's what you get.

 

In this case, they're just avoiding Christmas. TV becomes a wasteland every year in Dec/Jan. Showtime and HBO also scheduled their shows to avoid Xmas. Personally, I don't get it. It's dark, cold, wet, and I'm trying to avoid my relatives... it's the perfect time to watch TV!

Well, Christmas and a little something called the NFL Post Season.  

 

 

The Super Bowl is the only NFL Postseason game that would affect TWD. Otherwise the NFL has their games Sat afternoon/evening and the usual Sunday slots. 

I know that as far back as 1996 or so, syndicated shows like 'Highlander' would do nine or ten straight episodes in the fall (read: before December), re-run most of those, then come back for five or six more in January,  re-run those, then do a final five or six-episode stretch after that. The breaks between new eps were longer, but at least you didn't get that "one or two new episodes followed by a week or two of re-runs" nonsense that network shows typically have in March and April.

 

'Enterprise' had a similar pattern (2001-05), though I don't remember DS9 or Voyager doing it. And 'Smallville' started doing it at least as far back as season two or three, though I can't remember if other WB shows (say, Buffy or Angel) did the same. So, basically, I'd say the practice started out with syndicated shows in the mid-to-late 90's (and possibly before), then migrated to the fledgling networks. Basic cable shows like 'Nip/Tuck,' which typically did longer seasons than HBO or Showtime but shorter ones than the major networks, initially aired their episodes in one big chunk each year, but with the advent of TWD, it seems the practice has now migrated to shorter cable shows as well. The only premium cable show I recall doing it was 'The Sopranos,' during its last season, but the last season of that show was much longer than previous seasons had been. (About 20 or 21 eps, I think, compared to the usual 13).

 

Not for one of the conference championship games.  I think the NFC one was on at 6:30 central time last year on Sunday.  Better they just hold off and play them all in consistant weeks, instead of being scattered like Lost.   Having this two month break, they can treat the second half almost like an entirely new season.  You get to have a premier and a finale again.  

Well, I know for a long time the networks have never gone several weeks in a row without a rerun (see: Lost Season 2, the most infuriating season to ever watch in real time. Tons of reruns and very little plot momentum) but I'm referring to shows that go uncut for a large part of the season then take a several month break.

I think Syfy's longer shows - those with 20 episode seasons, like Battlestar Galactica, Stargate, and so on - have been doing it for quite some time, airing them ten and ten, while shows with shorter seasons (like Haven) run all in a single block. Most of AMC's shows run in one block, except for Walking Dead and the latest season of Breaking Bad - the former because it's so popular, and the latter because they're doing an extra-long final season. Other than that, WB/UPN/CW shows have been doing it for quite a while, airing them 10-6-6 or something to that effect.

 

ABC tried a somewhat similar tactic with 'Lost' - airing the first 6 episodes of Season 3 as a block, then running the rest of the season later - which really pissed folks off, so they shortened the last three seasons of the show and aired each one in a block, seven or eight months apart. It's still a pretty unusual tactic for a network show; the only others I can think of that did anything remotely similar are NYPD Blue on ABC and 24 on Fox, which took to airing their seasons uninterrupted from January to June for a while.

 

I can't imagine watching the first three episodes of that season in real time, must have been brutal. Thank God for Netflix + Hulu

way to leave us with a cliffhanger.... and ruin it 

Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)

I was kinda hoping the episode would end like that episode of The Simpsons where Lisa and Bart play each other in hockey.  The crowd is shouting KILL KILL KILL and the Dixon brothers just walk out and hug each other.  Oh well.

Another good episode with a lotta happenings packed in like turkey stuffing. There were maybe 2 weaker eps this half season but overall a clear improvement over season 2.  The show is back, baby.  ^________^

 

 

Leaving aside nitpickings and contrivances others will discuss, I like the way the writers have turned around Carl's character. He went from an annoying memeable kid to getting some nice coming of age moments with having to take charge in tough circumstances and the nonverbal romance subplot between him and the younger farmer's daughter.

So, what was the logic of leaving all the kids back at the prison with the pervert convict and the lady who keeps almost dying?

 

The old guy with one leg was there in case shit got too crazy.

Oh yeah, that makes sense! Haha.

Did anyone else think that shoot out was pretty uninspired and non-exciting? And who do they kill? The black guy. Right after they introduce another one (CUTTY! Who I'm excited to see, but still). 

Don't @#$% with Hershel - he'll stick yo ass in his barn.

I actually really liked this episode, but there was a lot of unintentional hilarity.  Actually, that might be why I liked it as much as I did.  The dispatching of black guy #2 to pave the way for black guy #3.  The Governor and Michonne fighting on the floor, rolling through piles of nipping zombie heads.  The fucking Shane hallucination.  

I literally said out loud to my Dad right after they killed the black convict "Man, what the hell? They kill off the black guy they've had to make room for this one, then they kill him off, the same episode they introduce the new one."

 

I mean, all 3 of them could have co-existed, and it would be awesome. What's happened with that is all sorts of messed up.

 

Still, it was an awesome episode to end for the "mid-season break", and I'm glad that The Governor sold out Merle. Now Merle can be on Team Prison, and hopefully not get killed at the end of the season. This show need Michael Rooker. I just hope they don't cap off Daryl, as he's been a big fan favorite, and word's been that another regular will bite it (no pun intended) before the end of the season.

 

 

Great reveal with Tyreese at the beginning, and I'm wondering if they're going to go the route with his daughter and that kid that they went in the comics? I read further up that The Governor in the show is much better than the comics one, and I agree. He's more layered here, and not some cackling megalomaniac like in the comics.

 

 

You guys may think this, but CLEARLY the show's writers do not. They even tried to rationalize the the aquarium full of heads tonight! (And -- surprise, surprise -- it actually worked on Andrea!!) I think the presentation of the Governor as a character is even more of a mess after this episode.

 

But, hey, on the flip side, Glenn made shanks out of a zombie's arm bones ... which was FANTASTIC. So there's that. Okay, off to work on a review ...

I like the Governor as a character. It's clear that he broke as a human being when his daughter died. He's just that tricky kind of crazy where he can put up a good front. He was probably always that kind of guy we all know who thinks of everyone outside our borders as a "them" that we must protect ourselves against. It's just that now he has the power to act on that paranoia and lacks any reason not to.

 

I just wonder how much crazier he'll get now that his little ankle-biter has a mouth on both sides of her head...

 

And yeah, Glenn was badass - I also liked how Maggie started out shocked but also let him work without even asking what he was up to.

 

They've also tried repeatedly to push Michonne as badass, but her sitting in the Governor's office in the dark, waiting for him, was her best moment to date.

 

I dug that Merle's lie completely screwed him, but a minor plot issue is how the Governor knew who Daryl even was. Merle doesn't seem like the kind of guy to go around whipping out his wallet and showing people family pictures... 

 

But a half season of all good episodes! Anybody who says they saw this coming is a damned dirty liar!

Black Character Down

 

Let's hope, for Michonne's sake, that the introduction of the new Black Female Character doesn't continue the trend.

Good episode.

 

What they're doing with the black characters on this show is really bothering me....I mean it's so obvious that it's becoming comical.  It's like the producers are just filling quotas rather than characters.  And how many romances have there been on this show with all the non black characters...even Carl is starting to notice dat ass on the 17 year old.  Blacks are just stock muscle here, filling grave duty and Recon missions.  I can't believe we're in 2012 still having to watch this shit.

Y'all know that the Governer has already engineered Merle and Darryl's escape, so that Merle can act as their 'Trojan Horse' into the prison, right?

 

I hope that's not a spoiler...

nope, just an edumacated guess.

 

They are also turning Carl into the most sensible character.  He went from a character i wanted eaten like his mom to someone to actually root for.  Now if they could only do the same for Andrea.
 

Very good (albeit older) essay about the race problem on this show.

 

 

Some snippets...

 

 

I also just realized Michonne fills the best friend/magical negro stereotype to Andrea.

Edited by Ambler - 12/2/12 at 10:54pm

THUD REVIEW: THE WALKING DEAD -- "MADE TO SUFFER" (S3E8)

 

A brief sample:

 

Last week, I wrote that everything was set up for a series of “Hey, what are you doing here?”-style revelations, although, surprisingly, things didn’t quite play out that way. I thought for sure Michonne didn’t name-drop Merle at the prison so the writers could squeeze extra drama out of Merle and Daryl coming face-to-face in this episode. Instead, Glenn breaks the news to Daryl that Merle was behind his kidnapping, so the two brothers are already aware of each other’s involvement once Daryl is captured and the Governor turns on Merle at the end of the hour. Additionally, Andrea spends the episode wanting to take some shots at the “terrorists” invading Woodbury, but she never finds out what’s really going on, at least until the very end we she sees that the captured intruder is, in fact, Daryl. (Still, I’m sure the Governor will pat her on the head have neat answers for all her questions when the season’s second half kicks off. Remember, she still has no idea Glenn and Maggie were being held prisoner.) Odd, though, how the episode leaves Andrea in the dark and immediately puts Merle and Daryl on the same side opposite the Governor without some kind of face-off between the two. Odd and not very satisfying.

 

Oh shit.  Didn't even think of that.

 

Regarding black prisoner's death, I had completely forgotten about the introduction of Tyrese at that point and was all like, "What the fuck?  They killed the ONLY black guy on the show" and then after a hard second, I laughed when I realized that "conincidentally" it conincided with the introduction of the new guy. Really, Walking Dead writers?

And it seems like the only character development for T-Dog at all was Merle being a racist asshole in the first season and T-Dog's drug-induced hallucinatory state where he stated that the gropu hated him because he was black, or he referred to himself as a deregatory black stereotype.  I forget, that season is way back in the memory banks.  But it was clearly race-based and unbelievable.  Those are the only true character beats I can remember for him, and maybe it's my own faulty memory but to have those two episdoes be the only reference for the character shows a lack of creativity and pigenholing on the part of the writers.   Add that to his sacificial death for a white character he had no interaction with and it becomes a telling problem that highlights how bad this show has been at developing characters. 

 

It's still fun as hell to watch though (with the graphic deaths and awkward comedy), I gotta give them that, and it's definitely becoming a better show, character development included.

Isn't this the same show where they offed three white main characters within roughly the same span of episodes and none of them were particularly noted for being well-written either?

The only thing that's weird (and funny) about the T-Dog -> T2-Dog -> T3-Dog sequence is how linear it was, as each replaced the last. There have been tons of thinly sketched and briskly dispatch white characters.

 

If anything, this season is set to fix the "T-Dog issue"; with Michonne and Tyrese, there's likely to soon be TWO major black cast members on the show. TWO!!! 

 

No offense to the other actors, but by casting Cutty from The Wire, they've also invested a character with an actor worth giving screen time to. Black or white, that's the part I'm focused on.

 

Oh, and the Governor's not staging his contempt for Merle. Merle told him Michonne was dead, then she showed up in his office, cut out his eye and "murdered" his daughter. I have no idea how they're going to sidestep that cliffhanger, but I'm 99% sure there will be no "Trojan horse".

 

Plus, what kind of shitty Trojan horse would Merle make anyway? Everyone but his brother hates him. It would be like sending in a Trojan Pile of Kindling.

Most of the charcters on this show have been poorly developed, T-Dog's case reeks of race-baiting and the writers not knowing how to write actual people.

 

It goes way beyond characters merely being offed, though the precision of the black character introductions/deaths is so appalling that it borders on parody.  The entire show has a disturbing streak running through it regarding not only race but sexuality and masculinity.  And poorly written does not excuse damaging racial stereotypes that any idiot should see as completely inappropriate and downright offensive, not just to minorities, but anyone with half a conscience.  The poorly written white characters do not align with the same historically offensive stereotypes present in minorities like T-Dog and the other black characters as best friend-magical negro (Michonne)/hired hand mute (T-Dog, black lady from season 1)/angry, one dimensional (Michonne)/cannon fodder (T-Dog 2.0)/ etc, etc.

 

The article I posted really is worth a read.