7.16: The Walking Dead - The First Day Of The Rest Of Your Lives

[ctg]

I read an article today which suggests that there will be a time jump of 2 years at the start of next season.

They assumed things wrongly. Nobody would be happy with that resolution.

 

[Culhwch]

Dat tiger though.

Also we state calling Jadis and her pals the 'trash people', and then my wife started singing it like the 'crab people' song from South Park, and now I can't get it out of my head.

But seriously, dat tiger.

Satisfying episode. I give it nine tiger maulings out of ten. I deducted one because Danny Zuko and the T-Birds are still around. I hope they don't last more than one more half season.

 

[ctg]

The Walking Dead's Season 7 finale contained no shortage of explosive moments, twisting fans as it built toward a fateful confrontation between Rick Grimes and Negan. There were deaths, reveals, and people coming to terms with the terrifying reality they live in.

And while some moments may resonate with the show’s viewers more than others, one moment stood out as a shock—especially to series star Andrew Lincoln.

While speaking with EW about the seventh season finale, Rick’s actor indicated that he likes to be kept in the dark for many scenes relating to future developments in the show, and that certain betrayals become a lot more believable on the screen because of his lack of knowledge.

Like, specifically, when Jadis and the Scavengers turned on the Alexandria crew. Lincoln said he had no idea that their betrayal would happen, even when they were filming scenes leading up to that moment.

“I’m serious when I say that I don’t ask for any information,” Lincoln said. “I don’t want to know. Obviously, if there are things like his relationship with Michonne I would prefer to know that there are seeds being sown, but with big reveals like this, I love learning on the day. I think it’s much, much stronger.”

While preparation is one thing, Lincoln made it clear that certain moments are much more authentic when they’re real.

“Because no matter how good you are, there’s an inherent sense that you might play something that may signal,” Lincoln said. “I read it, and I went, ‘Ooooooh, it’s so smart!’ Because you know what the writers did is they put that really good joke in before and it diffuses, and it’s such a smart way of going, ‘Oh, they’re never do that,’ because you just think, ‘Oh, they’re funny.’ It’s so good because it deflects and then it reveals.”

Lincoln said that he didn’t see it coming, which contributed toward his character’s reaction appearing as genuine as it was.

Andrew Lincoln Never Saw One Twist Coming On The Walking Dead

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Scott Gimple was asked what his team was forced to cut from the season finale, and the showrunner said he was very sad to see one scene go.

“There is a lovely scene with Rick and Carl with Michonne and I’m hoping I put it in the deleted scenes,” Gimple said.

“I’m pretty sure I did,” he continued.” That sets up that moment a little bit between Rick and Negan. And I don’t feel we needed to set it up. But it was a lovely scene that kind of did. It was strictly about time. This was already an hour and a half episode. This was sort of a long scene and it wasn’t 100 percent necessary, but I really did like it and I believe it will be included as part of the deleted scenes.”

The Walking Dead Showrunner Says A 'Richonne' Scene Was Cut From The Season 7 Finale

 

[Phyrebrat]

My honest thoughts on a show that I love:

I have to echo ratsy's sentiments on page one. I mainline TWD normally, three or four episodes at a time. For me this is by far the weakest season, and many interesting pathways have been dropped. For me, I've been enjoying FTWD much more - the trippy drug-addled slow-boil of season 1 was excellent and I feel the love for Nick and Victor the way I used to for Carol, Darryl and Rick. Everyone's lost their teeth lately, it seems, and those who have been using them (Rosita and Sacha) have been following two-dimensional cutout motivations, and have been a little unrealistic.

Don't even get me started on the tiger... I think it must have walked on set from The Phantom Menace, not least from it's glossy rendering, but also from it's Deus Ex Machina timing at the end.

For this series to recover, it needs to make Negan someone we come to like or love. Right now he's a strutting popinjay with constant inauthentic actions and reactions.

I love(d) TWD so I really hope this is not the grey mush that we can expect from future seasons, particularly:

No Ezekiel-like characters. Jadis and Ezekiel were far too eccentric to both appear in one series at the same time. TWD has shown us over the years how people have become. To devolve into a slang that is nether patois or creolised is just nonsensical. I mean, how many decades has there been an apocalypse for? Those kind of things don't just pop up overnight.

Ezekiel - whilst I loved Ep2 for it's levity and humour following Ep1's traumas - after a few epsiodes of seeing him, I just couldn't get past the faux medieval chat. Someone would have said 'Stop speaking like a pr***.' Certainly, when he was first talking to Carol, his idiosyncracies were fun because we could see Carol's reactions to his self-delusion; that chemistry worked, but when he was talking to Morgan in this episdoe, I was cringing. When he outed himself as a zookeeper would have been the natural place for him to stop speaking like that. We'd had our little giggle, and his dialect was no longer relevant. Or rather, the joke had passed its narrative usefulness.

Tiger - A step too far. When I saw the tiger I immediately thought about the giraffes scene in The Last of Us, and how well that was handled. Getting hold of a military tank might be OTT, but a tiger was just ludicrous IMO. (I know Shiva was very popular with others, so I'm the minority here, but...)

But I wonder how much of my negativity comes from my reaction to episode 1. I think it's the closest I ever came to feeling violated by a show. Abraham was sad-ish, but the Glenn scene was so horrible, I'd had discussions with friends along the lines that I might not be able to watch TWD anymore; the thought of seeing Maggie and the others deal with Glenn's murder was too harrowing a prospect so I just waited about 2 months. I was really impressed with the second episode; the lightness it brought was an immense feat, and so my expectations for S7 were (im)possibly high.

pH

 

[Judderman]

You make some good comments there Phyrebrat. Some series do tend to go more towards silliness later in their runs and hopefully the likes of Ezekiel in season 7 will be all we get of that, and it is not the sign of what is to come. Obviously it comes from the comic but some things may not translate well from paper to TV.

 

[ratsy]

Great thoughts Phyre.

I felt like this season was more comic focused. I havent read them but Ezekiel, and his speech, the tiger...the garbage people and their strange way of talking, and then Neegan. All of them are ridiculous, and not real enough to take seriously. So the season took a show that had our hearts, and our affections, where we genuinely care for the characters, and has kind of turned it into a caricature of itself. The comic book feel does not fit for me. And that is why I think I was so disappointed by this season, and unless they give us something real again, it will not get better.

 

[nixie]

Ezekiel, I've convinced myself he was either a fantasy reader, a fan of medieval Europe or Arthurian legend in his previous life and put his mannerism and speech down to him wanting to play the part.

The junk yard people grate on my nerves.

I'm happy to go along with the Kingdom and love the tiger even if the timely intervention was a little too convenient. The junk yard speech and their tribal ways however do not make for good viewing.

 

[Culhwch]

Yeah, I don't know how anyone involved with the show thought the trash people were a good idea. I don't know that I have seen any positive reaction to them at all. I'm happy to suspend my disbelief, but as has been noted there's just no explanation why a whole group of people would go that way only a couple of years into the apocalypse. The Kingdom is easier to buy because even though the leader is an eccentric, the rest just speak and act normally. With the trash people, dozens of people had to buy into this weird cult-like society.

And it could easily have been avoided, as well. You could simply have them as is, but without all the weird theatrics. Otherwise, you could create another community that is currently outside the Saviours' influence, who agree to help the Alexandrians and then double-cross them for what Negan presents as a better deal. Then next season you can have that community realise just what it is they bought into, and the audience then gets a little bit of satisfaction in seeing them suffer as payment for their betrayal...

 

[Gnrevolution]

I've not read them myself but I gather the trash people were not from the comics, which makes their inclusion all the more weird for me. At least they tried to explain Ezekiel, but the trash tribe, no idea where or what they came from...

 

[ratsy]

If the trash people were NOT from the comics, then it is that much worse to have them in the show!

 

[ctg]

If the trash people were NOT from the comics, then it is that much worse to have them in the show!

They aren't and neither is the Oceanside. Both of those tribes are new and not in the comics. It's just ASZ, Hilltop and the Kingdom against the Saviors and hordes of zombies.