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  • I've added the trailer -- or A trailer, anyway -- to our video section. From the looks of it -- and show runner Scott Gimple didn't deny it on EW radio -- Our Gang will convince some or all of the Termites to go with them to D.C. And it looks like Beth has fallen in with brutal Commies!

  • No love for TWD's season premiere yet? Well, I'll give it some!

    * It was a nice done-in-one -- no hanging around Terminus, many plot points wrapped up and on to this season's journey.

    * I loved how the Termites had bureaucratized evil. They're all just accountants at heart.

    * Michonne doesn't get her katana back? Waaah! She made a sort of Darth Maul two-ended sabre, but I hope she gets her sword (or one like it) soon! Maybe they'll pass a sporting goods store ...

    * OK, OK, Carol's a badass. Still don't see why online people are calling for her to be leader. It takes more than badassery to get people to follow you, or to make good decisions.

    * We'll see some of the Termites again, according to the promos, and Rick & Co. clearly WON'T kill them out of hand. It'll be interesting to see how Rick is restrained from doing so.

    * Hope we see Beth next episode, even if she doesn't get to hook up with the main gang now (which is getting pretty sizable!)

    * You wanna talk about badass? Rick shooting all those Termites in the back, and leaving the wounded for the Walkers.

    * Eerie seeing how the Termites intended to kill Glenn, given what happens in the comics.

    * The walkers really do look a lot more decayed, don't they? Stands to reason.

    * Finally, FINALLY heard some flies in this episode. This world should be covered in flies.

    * What was the final fate of the guy who threatened Judith? Was he beaten to death or just beaten unconscious or what? I didn't catch that. It's sorta important, because it tells us whether Tyreese is over his dysfunction about killing humans or walkers (and where did that come from?)

    There's more to talk about that, but I'll turn over the microphone.

  • Yes, they really moved things along, didn't they? It was great to see the Terminus story line wrapped up so quickly. I thought about the katana, too. Beth's fate was the only thing really left hanging, but I can't complain when so many things were wrapped up.

    It looked like Tyreese was beating the guy to death. It was left open, but he told Carol the guy was dead. Rick was in such vengeance mode that I was a little surprised he got talked out of going back and finishing off the Termites (love that term, BTW). I think reuniting with Judith softened him this time.

  • No love for TWD's season premiere yet? Well, I'll give it some!

    I was away over the weekend celebrating all the wonderful things that the capital city of the Buckeye State has done for us, or something like that. So it took me a little while to get to it. That it was the first episode made it a little easier to take, since I'd already waited so long.

    It was a nice done-in-one -- no hanging around Terminus, many plot points wrapped up and on to this season's journey.

    It was great for that reason. I figured Carol might sneak in and let them out, or they were going to bargain with the Termites or find a way to get a truce, maybe with Eugene's scenario. Nope, Carol blew them to Kingdom Come and Rick led the escape.

    Carol deserves a lot of credit for the escape, but without Rick's knife and attack, they'd still be kneeling at that trough and Carol might have run into that line of advancing automatic rifles.

    I loved how the Termites had bureaucratized evil. They're all just accountants at heart.

    Conan's description on TD was dead-on and hilarious. They were killing indiscriminately--and I understand that there's no way to know who's legitimately benign and who is just hiding evil. The group seems to agree that there has to be another option between being the butcher or the cattle.

    Michonne doesn't get her katana back? Waaah!

    Carol finding the weapons room made the perfect opportunity to pick up both signature weapons rather than just the one. I guess that shows that it pays to be the sex symbol. Granted, all that added, unusable weaponry would've been a burden. Hopefully, she'll find some more, although a season being Darth Maul would mix things up.

    It takes more than badassery to get people to follow you, or to make good decisions.

    She made good decisions--she didn't believe the Termite, she left Tyreese and Judith at a safe distance while she scoped things out, her entire battle plan (which granted could've gone south if the guy with the scope got a bead on her). She executed a plan and pulled it off perfectly. 

    Even with Terminus Mary, she wounded Mary then let the walkers in, which eliminated Mary and cleared a path for her so she could move forward without a backward look. 

    But yeah, not the leader. Rick's the leader and Darryl and Carol are part of the planning committee. Some people I think are upset with Rick's wishy-washiness and bad decisions up to now, but I think much of that is past. Although going back into Terminus, as satisfying as it might have been, wouldn't have been a good decision.

    We'll see some of the Termites again

    Obviously Gareth is out there somewhere, if only because he's been hyped as being on the show. If I were Gareth, I'd keep an eye out for that red-handled machete..

    Hope we see Beth next episode, even if she doesn't get to hook up with the main gang now (which is getting pretty sizable!)

    Me not so much. She's gotten so little screen time that my interest in her is negligible, and it takes away from the others. That group has so many possibilities with all the new people and being on the road. I'm curious where Beth is, but I won't be disappointed if they devote her time to the rest of the group.

    FINALLY heard some flies in this episode. This world should be covered in flies.

    I can see that they should be there and why they don't put them in. But at some point, the buzzing should alert them that there's a body around or something organic, even if we don't see them. Should the walkers be covered in flies?

    What was the final fate of the guy who threatened Judith?

    I assumed he was beaten to death, although Tyreese could've stabbed him, too, at the very end. I presume he came to realize that his hesitation nearly got Judith killed, and he reconciled that he must kill to protect those he loves--which the others realized long ago. I hope he gets to be stronger, as he's the weakest link for sure. I even thought there was a chance he was going outside to his death, except they probably would've teased that if it was going to happen.

    I have to say it: That gigantic fireball full of flaming, flying walkers made me a little giddy. The time for talking, hiding, worrying and plotting just ended.

    -- MSA

  • I really liked it. I'm very glad they handled Terminus quickly -- it was a totally unexpected move, and I was gearing up for most of a season in captivity. Getting out of that, and moving on, lights a real fire.

    And I was very surprised to see someone I presume is Negan at the end of the episode. Please don't hurt Glen!

  • Who/where was Negan? I must have missed that. (I actually wondered if the people who terrorized Terminus might turn out to be Negan's crew. Although they're probably dead -- and filet mignon -- at this point, so maybe not.)

    And someone standing behind Glenn with a baseball bat was scary, and felt a lot like foreshadowing. To tell you the truth, I hope that's the only time we're going to see it, as the card has been played and Glenn's death in the comics was (as I often rant) bad writing. I'd just as soon it didn't happen on the show. And not just because I didn't like the comics storyline, but also because Steven Yeun is a strong presence and losing him as an actor would hurt the show.

    And I don't think it would be chickening out on their part to leave Glenn breathing. They've shifted big character elements before, and I think we've all been pleased with the result. For example, the missing hand was taken from Rick and given to Merle. Andrea's role in the comics has largely been filled on TV by Daryl (as Rick's second in command) and Maggie/Michonne (as kick-butt women). (In the comics, Maggie is a spineless whiner who blames Rick for everything.) So, I think they could let Negan kill someone else without too much fuss, especially if it helps maintain the quality of the show. (But God help them if they kill Daryl.)

    As to the flies, MSA, I understand also why they don't have them, but I did enjoy the nod this time. Because this world would be full of flies -- not to mention roaches, rats and other vermin. I don't know if flies would swarm walkers, although they do appear to be decaying, so probably. And we did see a dog eating a walker once, so they must smell pretty good to dogs, which means they're probably ripe enough (and not poisonous) for just about any vermin, flies included. But they'd also be swarming all the people and animals the walkers kill, plus -- and this is a big one -- all those unattended kitchens. Just thinking of my own kitchen, there's bread on the counter, lots of non-canned food in the pantry, fruit in the fruit bowl ... it would be a vermin banquet as that stuff goes bad over the first few weeks and months of the apocalypse. Then comes phase two, as food goes bad in the refrigerator, begins to decay, gasses expand and the thing blows open, offering another round in the vermin banquet. So, yeah, this world should be covered in flies, roaches and rats.

    But I'll settle for the buzz of flies now and then!

    Also, my wife and I were pretty dazzled by the flying fireball of flaming zombies, as were several people at work the next week. I haven't any idea how they can top that, but I'll be watching to see!

  • The guy who opened the train car in the second "Then" sequence -- I think he said something like, "No, you're not alright" -- had a hairline very similar to Negan's, and I don't think that was an accident at all. If there wasn't some foreshadowing in those sequences, I doubt they would have shown them. It's actually a pretty clever way of building Negan up as the big bad before he even meets them, I think. I wouldn't be surprised if we see more of his devastation before we encounter him.

  • It will be interesting to see who dies next. They were getting down to a real core of likable people that were going to be hard to kill off. Now they've added a few T-Dogs back into the group (I'm looking at you, Bob and Tara) so there could be some losses without being awful. But Glen and Maggie are awful cozy, and that's a bit too hopeful for TWD.

    Some people think they built up Carol so well so she would *really* be missed when they killed her. Tyreese isn't exactly pulling his weight, but he's such a comics fan-favorite that I'm hoping his Judith epiphany turns him into a more valuable member.

    I'm not sure a hairline is enough to identify a character, but it's a possible reason they showed us that scene. The Termites said they lost control but got it back, and it's possible some of those people escaped when the counter-attack occurred. If so, it'd mean there's both Negan (or whomever) and Gareth roaming the countryside along with our guys.

    Speaking of rotting food in houses, how did everyone become walkers? Did virtually everyone just die in their homes and come back? It seemed to happen pretty fast if  a few people died, turned into walkers and then went door-to-door killing everyone just enough for them to turn. And then most of them got out of their houses and closed the doors behind them.

    I would guess that most bread and stuff like that got taken by scavengers in the first few weeks, although some of it must've rotted before it was found. This far in, though, a lot of that would probably be gone or decomposed. Except the Wonder Bread, of course. That stuff should still be in good shape.

    -- MSA

  • And twinkies!

    But yeah, I've wondered also about A) the sheer number of walkers and B) all the nice, neat homes with everything in place.

    As to A), I'm with you MSA -- how come so many got bitten just enough to become walkers without being wholly devoured, or alternatively, died en masse and turned? It's in the same category of my question as to how the U.S. Army fared so miserably against the walkers, while a group of Georgia crackers end up so good at it. In fact, Rick and Carl did pretty well against a horde of walkers with one automatic weapon each ... how come any given company of rangers or even National Guard, all with automatic weapons, plus grenades and probably armor support, couldn't do as well? I can think of one explanation, actually: a 1917-like flu epidemic simultaneous with the walker virus outbreak. Then lots of folks would be dying of natural causes inside a given shelter while walkers were massing outside. Maybe the zombie virus itself killed and turned a sizable percentage outright, and what we're seeing now are the people who had more resistance? That still doesn't cover all the bases for me, but it's a start. It would take some kind of perfect storm to turn the world in the time that Rick was in a coma.

    B) As to the neat homes, I'm guessing evacuation. Sure was a thorough one! And everyone left their homes so tidy!

    Of course, I don't ask these questions to criticize -- most of it falls under "suspension of disbelief," like how Rick & Co. manage a perfect, zombie-stopping head shot every time they take one, whether it be knife, gun, arrow or screwdriver. I ask because I like the show, and speculation is fun.

    One more thing about the refrigerators: They'd explode at different times, so for a while there'd be random explosions in the distance all the time. (There'd be other kinds of explosions and fires, too, as various systems or storage failed without human maintenance.) Which would just be one more layer of weirdness to the zombie apocalypse.

  • OK, just watched the latest episode. My prediction: Bob got bit in the food bank, and that's why he's outside crying.

    Dunno what that means for Gareth and the others, who, um, just exposed themselves to that.

    Also: Surprise, Tyreese didn't kill the Termite last episode. (Should've.)

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