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

Leadbelly

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I was meh on it.

In one way it was a surprise and in one way it wasn't.

I feel exactly the same.

In hindsight, that character was the most expendable and was probably obvious. But I also mistakenly thought spending so much time on Beth had a purpose beyond manipulating audience emotions. In terms of storytelling, it was not especially brave or interesting. It was also a conveniently tidy resolution, where 100% of the hospital people were totally okay with Dawn getting killed. Made it doubly meaningless.

The pathetic part about Beth's death is she didn't even get Dawn somewhere fatal from 6 inches away. It was borderline suicide by cop.
 

Leadbelly

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Granted I haven't read the comics, so this may be how they go, but a few complaints.

So all the episodes we just had with Beth and the cop lady were basically totally pointless.

Also they haven't made any progress of anything. They are back in Atlanta which is where the series started, so they are just going in circles. Why don't they try life outside of the freaking state of Georgia? Maybe life is better out there.

Especially when you consider Abraham's group made it from Houston to Atlanta in the time Rick's group has gone from Atlanta to Atlanta. And Noah made it from Richmond to Atlanta in that time. Heck, I think Morgan's making better time and he's walking not especially fast.
 

MichaelWinicki

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I feel exactly the same.

In hindsight, that character was the most expendable and was probably obvious. But I also mistakenly thought spending so much time on Beth had a purpose beyond manipulating audience emotions. In terms of storytelling, it was not especially brave or interesting. It was also a conveniently tidy resolution, where 100% of the hospital people were totally okay with Dawn getting killed. Made it doubly meaningless.

The pathetic part about Beth's death is she didn't even get Dawn somewhere fatal from 6 inches away. It was borderline suicide by cop.

The show has had issues judging arc-length. You go too long and folks become bored (prison/governor). You go to short and it feels like important parts of the story were left out (Hunters/hospital).

Personally I'd rather have them ere on the side of longer just because it creates better characters.

Herschel's farm was long... and many were unhappy with the length of time the group spent there but in my opinion in gave the best mid-season finale and the best end of season episode of the entire series. Why? Because we had enough background to care about Herschel and Maggie and all that. The hospital/cop thing was so short you couldn't care about any of those characters.

Yeah, the Beth-death was kind of a throwaway.
 

DanteEXT

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Finally got to watch the episode last night. Well, all but 2 of the last 4 minutes. Stupid DirecTV lost signal right as Beth got shot and picks back up with Morgan at the school.

What a pointless death to a character I liked on the show. All I got to say about the midseason finale.
 

Stryker44

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Did it bother anybody else to see Daryl portrayed as bawling after Beth's death? It is counter-intuitive to how they have portrayed his character otherwise.
 

Stryker44

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Also wonder if Noah wound up staying at the hospital or going with Rick's group after Dawn's death.
 

MichaelWinicki

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Did it bother anybody else to see Daryl portrayed as bawling after Beth's death? It is counter-intuitive to how they have portrayed his character otherwise.

No... I don't think it creates a confusing character portrayal.

Daryl cried after he found that Meryl had been killed, changed and he had to put him down again.

He was greatly bothered by the Sophia incident.

Daryl's "I'm a tough guy who has an emotional side" is what has made the character as popular as it is. It's not all Daryl badass all the time.
 

speedkilz88

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I didn't see anyone else come out from the ward. I would think there were a lot of mistreated people ready to bolt when given the opportunity.
 

TellerMorrow34

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So I watched the episode last night, after hearing all weekend that the show was going to have a shocking death that would devastate fans of the show.

So let me get into this real quickly.

From all the build that I was hearing about how it was going to be this big death to a main character I was thinking it had to be someone really important to the group. To be quite honest Beth is not important to the group at all. She has always just sort of been a character who was there. She was neither important or someone who you really give a second thought about. It was always like...oh yeah Beth is there. Just sort of a glorified secondary character, IMO.

So right out of the gate I can tell you I wasn't moved by the fact that she died. It did absolutely zero for me personally because I have zero emotional investment in the Beth character. It was basically like if the girl with Abraham died or even that girl that has been helping Glenn since they left the prison died I'd be like...meh. Whatever. Next.

So from that standpoint it was a huge let down after all this talk about how it was so shocking and important.

Now beyond that let me make some points about the whole situation as it pertains to the other characters and the reaction it gave me to their reactions. I'll start off with Darryl as he's important to the show.

I was far more moved and saddened by Darryl's reaction to the death than I was to the death itself. Seeing his look and the tears and how it shocked him was very sad. I felt bad for his character just because they wrote it perfectly, IMO, how he reacted. The scene at the end with him carrying her out was just so sad because I just see that hero character whose just had something so horrifying happen to them and you can just see it in his reaction and his body language. I thought that was very well done.

Carol and Rick - Their reactions to the death are also pretty good. Carol's wasn't quite what I expected it might be but to see her crying and trying to help Darryl I liked that. The look of shock on Rick's face was perfect, IMO. I think it sets up exactly what I was saying before I feel is the situation they're going to go with when it comes to Rick. He's going to now be questioning the fact that once again he chose to do things in the kinder way, trying to allow everyone to live, and once again it's cost one of his people. I think it's going to be one of those things where Rick is going to step much closer to the point of being saying "To hell with this. From now one we're going to do things the way I say and we're not going to worry about doing it the nicest way anymore." You couple that with the fact that when he was on his own he ran into, and killed the cop, cause he wouldn't listen shows he's stepping toward that already.

Now to the reaction of Maggie....

It was stupid. All the way around. When they first tell her they found Beth and they've went to get her the fact that she's suddenly happy like she's been concerned, in the least, about the well being of her sister was dumb. It was also stupid because at that very point it gave away instantly who was going to die. As soon as they were all "Oh they've found Beth and they've went to get her" I knew she was the one that was going to die.

The main reason being that Maggie has shown absolutely zero care, or concern, for whether her sister was alive or dead the whole time since the prison. She hasn't brought it up, hasn't cared, didn't bother her and was only concerned about Glenn. It was dumb that she was written to have absolutely no care or concern about her sister and then to write it like I'm supposed to believe she's so happy or it's a relief to know she's alive was dumb.

Then you get to the end and you watch her collapse and cry and all that. BS. I'm not buying that. Why would I? You haven't cared for even one moment since the prison and now I'm supposed to believe you're completely devastated by this turn of events? Get out of here.

That was just a terrible job done by the writers in regards to her character this whole time and then to tie it up like that...even more ridiculous. I mean for Christ sakes she showed far more concern for Eugene and his well being than that of her own sister.

Now all that said I sort of liked the first half of this season but not nearly as much as other seasons. I felt like they dragged way to much stuff out, did way to much slow build on some stuff that wasn't important, and just basically seemed to drag their feet and waste time.

Just like all this stuff with Beth this season. Now you're going to try and build her into a secondary character I'm supposed to care about? Please. It was boring. It added nothing and I didn't like or feel anymore for the Beth character than I had prior to that stuff.

Oh and on top of all that the reason that Beth died was just stupid. It made absolutely no sense and there was seriously zero reason, and made no sense, that she even did what she did in the end. It was just thrown in there for no reason.
 

Angus12

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Especially when you consider Abraham's group made it from Houston to Atlanta in the time Rick's group has gone from Atlanta to Atlanta. And Noah made it from Richmond to Atlanta in that time. Heck, I think Morgan's making better time and he's walking not especially fast.

That would make sense if the group was actively trying to get somewhere, but they weren't. They stayed at Herschel's farm thinking they could live there. Then did the same at the prison. They weren't trying to GET anywhere.

On the other hand, Abraham's group had one thing in mind. Get to D.C., and get there as quickly as possible. Quite a difference in the two groups.
 

TellerMorrow34

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That would make sense if the group was actively trying to get somewhere, but they weren't. They stayed at Herschel's farm thinking they could live there. Then did the same at the prison. They weren't trying to GET anywhere.

On the other hand, Abraham's group had one thing in mind. Get to D.C., and get there as quickly as possible. Quite a difference in the two groups.

Exactly.

People making that comparison and trying to act like Rick and his group have been trying to get somewhere and just haven't it makes me really question rather they've even actually watched the show or if they just read things and comment off that.

Anyone watching the show could easily tell, without any effort at all, that Rick and his group have never spent any real time trying to get somewhere. They wanted to go the CDC in season one, they went. Season two they tried to stay on the farm cause they believed that they could rebuild and live there.

After that was taken they went to the prison and then did everything possible to rebuild and stay there for good. They made no effort to leave the area or go anywhere.

So, yeah, Morgan and Abraham and people like that who have destinations in mind for where they want to go of course they're covering more ground in getting to those places because they're actually seeking out those places. Rick and his group are not.
 

Aikmaniac

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I'm just curious on what the group does next. Do they travel west? I would doubt they travel too far north due to winter and lack of shelter.
 

Stash

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The problem is that the writers of the show did not have the Maggie character show any sort of interest in what became of her sister over the course of many episodes. She (Maggie) was risking life, limb and others to find Glenn, but nary an emotion or even a word was spent concerning her sister. If someone watched the first 7 episodes of season 5 they would not have thought that Maggie even had a sister.

The writers dropped the ball on the cop/hospital arc and they dropped the ball on Maggie/Beth relationship.

Boy did they ever! And I've really been enjoying this season otherwise.

So much about the entire hospital establishment and set-up was completely lacking and I find that level of lazy story-writing insulting.

And, other issues aside, the hospital setup sure looks like a better living situation than what Rick and Co. had been dealing with outside the city, I don't see how they could simply walk away from it so easily or quickly.
 

Aikmaniac

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The good news is they have several vehicles to use for travel (or to siphon gas from)
 

TellerMorrow34

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Boy did they ever! And I've really been enjoying this season otherwise.

So much about the entire hospital establishment and set-up was completely lacking and I find that level of lazy story-writing insulting.

And, other issues aside, the hospital setup sure looks like a better living situation than what Rick and Co. had been dealing with outside the city, I don't see how they could simply walk away from it so easily or quickly.

I can understand where you're coming from on that living situation being better.

But I get the mindset that Rick and his group are in. They're not going to force people to be with them, or stay somewhere, and they're not going to trust people who are running a place that does. Rick and his group simply couldn't fit in with such a group, or environment, because they're not going to be ordered around or sit back and watch while old people are bullied and female wards are raped.

Now I could see a reasoning for Rick and his crew to go in and take out all the bad people and take the place over and stay there. That would make sense but I'm guessing since they're trying to follow the comics to a some degree that they simply aren't doing it because then it stops them in a place that isn't where the comic goes.
 

Phoenix

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Well I for one was really sad at Beth's demise. I had no idea a major character offing was in the works and so it really took me by complete surprise. And then to see Emily on Talking Dead after that, it was very difficult to watch. Yeah, something might have gotten in my eye... :(
 

speedkilz88

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Well I for one was really sad at Beth's demise. I had no idea a major character offing was in the works and so it really took me by complete surprise. And then to see Emily on Talking Dead after that, it was very difficult to watch. Yeah, something might have gotten in my eye... :(

Like BHF stated earlier. They made it pretty obvious with Michonne announcing that Beth was alive that something was going to happen to her. You can go back to Bob talking about how everything was going to go back to normal once they got to DC and the cure would be found. It's an old tv show tactic. Frankly it's another sign of bad writing since it's been done so much in the past.
 
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