The Walking Dead (S5) - First half of season thread

[JohnnyHopkins]

Yeah, they did. That's the exact story told in the comics. Abraham came back from a run to find his wife and kids being attacked by members of their group. He brutally killed them all because of it, and the brutality of it scared his wife and kids, making them afraid of him. Then then snuck off on their own, only to be killed by walkers. Abe was about to kill himself after he found them, when he found a 'mission' to occupy him and give him a reason to keep living. Enter... Eugene. And that's why he's taking it so hard, finding out Eugene is a fraud.

Oh, don't know why I don't even remotely remember that. Thanks for the FYI!

 

[TellerMorrow34]

Yep, I thought the Eugene "reveal" wouldn't happen until the groups merged (again). I surprised that it happened so soon.

The series doesn't handle the mini-group episodes very well. And now they've had two back-to-back that didn't feature our original core group– outside of Glenn and Maggie and they've been bit-parts.

Exactly. And we know we're going to have a third this coming week. That's just too much IMO.

 

[Stryker44]

And it will be 3 straight "bottle" episodes before we start having some larger group action.

A shame don't you think? Do people really care about the background of these characters, or do they want action? At this rate the TV show is not going to catch up to the comics.

 

[Doomsday]

I personally like how they are filling in the blanks with the character background stories. I dont need non stop action all the time. That said, I do think they could squeeze some of these shows down a bit, they seem to linger a bit longer then they need to.

As for Eugene, I think they decided to have him come clean, because it just felt pretty obvious that he was lying after all the little comments he made about being expendable etc. His character has been pretty annoying to me since day one.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

A shame don't you think? Do people really care about the background of these characters, or do they want action? At this rate the TV show is not going to catch up to the comics.

I think it depends on the character. I haven't warmed up to the Abraham group yet. As a result these flash-backs are much less meaningful to me than the ones of the first season.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

I personally like how they are filling in the blanks with the character background stories. I dont need non stop action all the time. That said, I do think they could squeeze some of these shows down a bit, they seem to linger a bit longer then they need to.

As for Eugene, I think they decided to have him come clean, because it just felt pretty obvious that he was lying after all the little comments he made about being expendable etc. His character has been pretty annoying to me since day one.

There was no question that he was going to have to fess-up at some point.

The problem is that it wasn't as a high-pressure moment as what I thought it would have been. Think of Carol's daughter coming out of the barn or when the group opened up the door to where Andrea was being kept.

This reveal was more like... Abraham "OK, I'm going forward to Washington." Eugene, "I'm a fake."

It was incredibly weak.

 

[blindzebra]

To me it kind of made sense to do it this way.

Imagine Rick's reaction? Bob dead, Carl and Judith at risk for no reason. That mullet would be sliding down the church wall after Rick made a grease spot out of Eugene.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

To me it kind of made sense to do it this way.

Imagine Rick's reaction? Bob dead, Carl and Judith at risk for no reason. That mullet would be sliding down the church wall after Rick made a grease spot out of Eugene.

I don't think so. And if there were some extra curriculars because of the reveal, well that would have made for some good TV.

Rick's portion of the group hadn't even decided to go to Washington until they arrived at the church. And Bob being bitten didn't have anything to do with going to DC.

Doing it the way they did made it about as uneventful as you could make it. Oh well. Over and done with.

 

[Stryker44]

Did Abraham kill Eugene with those strikes?

 

[Smith22]

Did Abraham kill Eugene with those strikes?

I'm guessing no. He messed him up pretty good though.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

I'm guessing no. He messed him up pretty good though.

Eugene's not dead.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Did Abraham kill Eugene with those strikes?

No, but Beth secretly Killed Eugene after spurning Daryl and leaving with strangers.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Episode 5-6... 11-16-14

It's all about Carol & Daryl.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Better episode than what I thought it would be.

Nice to see some past loose ends tied up.

The cigs brought back fond memories of the "X-Files".

 

[Kevinicus]

Worse episode than I expected. The van bit was just ridiculous.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Worse episode than I expected. The van bit was just ridiculous.

Agreed. The van part was the worst part of the episode.

But I thought the city-set was excellent. Nice change of pace from the rural/woods sets that we've had since season 1.

 

[Doomsday]

What I dont get is, why didnt they cover themselves in zombie guts so the walkers couldnt detect them? Carol did it to get into Terminus, why take a chance of getting cornered in a big city? Guess it would be less drama, and make it harder for them to drag it out to a full episode. The last 2 shows could of been covered in one episode in my opinion, at least they are behind us now and the show can move forward.

 

[Kevinicus]

What I dont get is, why didnt they cover themselves in zombie guts so the walkers couldnt detect them? Carol did it to get into Terminus, why take a chance of getting cornered in a big city? Guess it would be less drama, and make it harder for them to drag it out to a full episode. The last 2 shows could of been covered in one episode in my opinion, at least they are behind us now and the show can move forward.

Agreed. A lot in last night's episode wasn't even new. Just showed us things we already knew happened.

 

[blindzebra]

The trouble some are having is that they want an action/horror show but keep forgetting it is being written by someone with a real artistic vision.

Fire, ashes and rebirth was what the episode was about. We are seeing these characters as they are. As they were since the apocalypse started. As they were before the apocalypse. All combined with clues about who they will become.

The show has had several of these thematic background elements in the past.

We had the Terminus/Auschwitz parallels.

The Of Mice and Men story with Lizzie.

Cain and Abel between Rick and Shane.

For me it is fun trying to find these little easter eggs hidden within a zombie show.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

The trouble some are having is that they want an action/horror show but keep forgetting it is being written by someone with a real artistic vision.

Fire, ashes and rebirth was what the episode was about. We are seeing these characters as they are. As they were since the apocalypse started. As they were before the apocalypse. All combined with clues about who they will become.

The show has had several of these thematic background elements in the past.

We had the Terminus/Auschwitz parallels.

The Of Mice and Men story with Lizzie.

Cain and Abel between Rick and Shane.

For me it is fun trying to find these little easter eggs hidden within a zombie show.

True.

Some folks think each episode should have the same amount of action as a 90-minute zombie movie and that simply isn't the case.

There were a number of "easter eggs" that connected this episode to the scenes of downtown Atlanta in season 1, which if you were simply looking for next "bite" or "kaboom", you were bound to miss.

I thought the pack of cigarettes were a wonderful touch.