"The Walking Dead" Season 4– Episodes 9-16...

[blindzebra]

In other words....slow parts kind of like...Oh I don't know...Life.

Boring parts where they are held up in prison because they want the most of a normal life as they can get in a zombie infested world?

That is part of life. Wanting a community. Wanting a family. Wanting a safe life.

Life is not all action. Life has it's boring mundane times where all you want is a normal life even in an screwed up situation.

Now maybe they can add in a military take down of a nation with a plot twist of a guy being dead the whole time but not realizing it while at the same time having a non stop jason statham character who has to keep his heart beat above a certain number or die.

Of course that is not what is going to happen and that is hyperbole on my part but it illustrates a point.

They are going to search for a long time for a missing child...most groups of people that are like a family would.
Of course they are going to stay on a farm as long as they could...most people would.
Of course they are going to stay in the prison where they think it is safe...most people would.

But you are still complaining because it is extremely slow. Maybe you are better off going back and watching shows like Spartacus where the blood is always flowing because it is all action.
Maybe this show is just not for you and you are wasting your time watching it.

Maybe it is a show about trying to live when you are really dying and among the already dead.

The show's title can be about both the zombies and the living trying not to be a zombie. All will die and the show is about the journey.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

The show's title can be about both the zombies and the living trying not to be a zombie. All will die and the show is about the journey.

The title for the show is actually about the people that are alive and not the zombies. Just a bit of trivia.

 

[JohnnyHopkins]

The title for the show is actually about the people that are alive and not the zombies. Just a bit of trivia.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

In other words....slow parts kind of like...Oh I don't know...Life.

Boring parts where they are held up in prison because they want the most of a normal life as they can get in a zombie infested world?

That is part of life. Wanting a community. Wanting a family. Wanting a safe life.

Life is not all action. Life has it's boring mundane times where all you want is a normal life even in an screwed up situation.

Now maybe they can add in a military take down of a nation with a plot twist of a guy being dead the whole time but not realizing it while at the same time having a non stop jason statham character who has to keep his heart beat above a certain number or die.

Of course that is not what is going to happen and that is hyperbole on my part but it illustrates a point.

They are going to search for a long time for a missing child...most groups of people that are like a family would.
Of course they are going to stay on a farm as long as they could...most people would.
Of course they are going to stay in the prison where they think it is safe...most people would.

But you are still complaining because it is extremely slow. Maybe you are better off going back and watching shows like Spartacus where the blood is always flowing because it is all action.
Maybe this show is just not for you and you are wasting your time watching it.

Maybe it is a show about trying to live when you are really dying and among the already dead.

It's the difference between a zombie-based movie and a zombie-based TV show.

When you only have 90 minutes you can bang, bang, bang with action from start to finish.

Where "The Walking Dead" has gone what? Like 44 1/2 hours so far. You simply can't go full-bore, balls to the walls action over 44 1/2 hours. And even if you could maintain that pace for a while, people are going to become jaded to the pace. They're going to expect more and more.

These slower paced episodes make the high-action episodes pop that much more.

 

[locked&loaded]

In other words....slow parts kind of like...Oh I don't know...Life.

Boring parts where they are held up in prison because they want the most of a normal life as they can get in a zombie infested world?

That is part of life. Wanting a community. Wanting a family. Wanting a safe life.

Life is not all action. Life has it's boring mundane times where all you want is a normal life even in an screwed up situation.

Now maybe they can add in a military take down of a nation with a plot twist of a guy being dead the whole time but not realizing it while at the same time having a non stop jason statham character who has to keep his heart beat above a certain number or die.

Of course that is not what is going to happen and that is hyperbole on my part but it illustrates a point.

They are going to search for a long time for a missing child...most groups of people that are like a family would.
Of course they are going to stay on a farm as long as they could...most people would.
Of course they are going to stay in the prison where they think it is safe...most people would.

But you are still complaining because it is extremely slow. Maybe you are better off going back and watching shows like Spartacus where the blood is always flowing because it is all action.
Maybe this show is just not for you and you are wasting your time watching it.

Maybe it is a show about trying to live when you are really dying and among the already dead.

I don't like the types of shows or action films that you seem to be insinuating I do...

anyway... The idea that they are trying to maintain a normal life doesn't give them license to achieve that normality in the most boring fashion possible...ie by hiding at a house..or a prison.

It seems to me that ever since they left the CDC the show has lacked any end goal. They added a little fight between the prison and the governor, and have been slowly jerking the fans around by moving the plot backwards (renewed governor story and now retracing michonnes story). I was surprised when they killed Hershel, I figured when the governor only got the sword halfway through his neck that Hershel would live because the producers were too afraid to kill anyone off.

If you want to defend the show by saying that it is a story about life and that life is sometimes boring.... I guess I really cant disagree.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

anyway... The idea that they are trying to maintain a normal life doesn't give them license to achieve that normality in the most boring fashion possible...ie by hiding at a house..or a prison.

That's fair enough... But what would make it more exciting yet realistic?

 

[locked&loaded]

That's fair enough... But what would make it more exciting yet realistic?

the book world war z tells a ton of different stories of people surviving. keeps it interesting...yet in walking dead we are restricted to Atlanta. But I understand this is different.

As far as keeping it interesting without adding more storylines... all they have to do is keep them on the road. Give them a destination. Who cares if its as cheesy as a rumor of a government safe zone in Colorado. It could be as simple as sending them out on constant missions to gather provisions. I mean think of how much cool scenery we are cheated out of by keeping the show in a house and a prison. In the first season when rick is in the over run city, remember how cool that looked?
Personally I would have rather watched michonne and andrea survive the winter on the move than the whole rick vs the governor.

 

[blindzebra]

the book world war z tells a ton of different stories of people surviving. keeps it interesting...yet in walking dead we are restricted to Atlanta. But I understand this is different.

As far as keeping it interesting without adding more storylines... all they have to do is keep them on the road. Give them a destination. Who cares if its as cheesy as a rumor of a government safe zone in Colorado. It could be as simple as sending them out on constant missions to gather provisions. I mean think of how much cool scenery we are cheated out of by keeping the show in a house and a prison. In the first season when rick is in the over run city, remember how cool that looked?
Personally I would have rather watched michonne and andrea survive the winter on the move than the whole rick vs the governor.

It still comes back to human nature. In a time where every day could be your last people are not likely to give up safe...even if it is only perceived safe...for an unknown.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

It still comes back to human nature. In a time where every day could be your last people are not likely to give up safe...even if it is only perceived safe...for an unknown.

Yep. No group, especially with kid(s) is going to take to the road and give up safe haven.

If our group of survivors were a bunch of single men that were use to doing outdoor work, well I could see them staying on the road... sort of a "Rt 66" meets "The Walking Dead".

 

[locked&loaded]

It still comes back to human nature. In a time where every day could be your last people are not likely to give up safe...even if it is only perceived safe...for an unknown.

I disagree. I feel that in this situation people would want to believe that somewhere out there civilization is doing well. That maybe over the next hill people are beating this, beating the zombies, putting themselves back together. maybe they have power, schools,heck maybe pizza parlors.... Not settle for a prison.

 

[locked&loaded]

kind of like the book the postman. there was a hope and a direction for the people in that book, and therefor the people enjoying the story. Walking dead has the group hidden away from the world, with no hope or direction besides getting baby formula, where a storyline goes to die

 

[MichaelWinicki]

kind of like the book the postman. there was a hope and a direction for the people in that book, and therefor the people enjoying the story. Walking dead has the group hidden away from the world, with no hope or direction besides getting baby formula, where a storyline goes to die

Yep, "The Postman" was a good story... I'd recommend it to anyone who has an interest in zombie fiction.

Keep in mind that this group's interaction with other groups that they've come across has turned into a life & death struggle... The group that wanted to come back with Herschel, Rick and Glenn to the farm, the Woodbury group, the new group the Governor showed up with. The pattern is well established. That itself isn't going to encourage a group to "hit the road" for something better (than Hershel's farm or the prison).

 

[TellerMorrow34]

I disagree. I feel that in this situation people would want to believe that somewhere out there civilization is doing well. That maybe over the next hill people are beating this, beating the zombies, putting themselves back together. maybe they have power, schools,heck maybe pizza parlors.... Not settle for a prison.

Your belief is that people would some how be completely stupid?

Even if you were wanting to hold onto some hope you'd have to be pretty stupid to think that your part of the world was the only part that got completely destroyed. They've been to Atlanta, and other areas, and seen where the military has been destroyed.

They've already been to the CDC where they found out there is no power grid and everything in the world, not just in the United States, has plunged into chaos. Then on top of all that they've already seen how people, in these times, will become extremely violent to take what you've already got. Also lets not forget that not everyone in the story is necassarily from this area. They've traveled and moved around and went from place to place just trying to find people.

So, yeah, I doubt very seriously they'd be out there roaming around the country side just hoping beyond hope that over that next hill there is a place that has just completely beaten this. That's thriving. Wait...not this hill? Well then definately the next one. Oh not this one either? Damn.


Yeah. Just don't see any people being that niave or dumb. They're going to find a secure area, they're going to make it their own, and they're going to do everything they can to protect one another. They chose a prison in this case because it would be fairly easy to defend and make safe, although they didn't do nearly as good a job at it as they should have.

The one thing I have been surprised by is that there wasn't more Woodbury type of places where people just simply took a section of town and basically turned it into a prison to live in a secure community.

 

[Phoenix]

 

[MichaelWinicki]

The one thing I have been surprised by is that there wasn't more Woodbury type of places where people just simply took a section of town and basically turned it into a prison to live in a secure community.

In truth there have been two of them Woodbury and Ric's home-town which Morgan turned part into a quasi-fortress.

And you would think with all the prisons, secure areas across the country if there was such an event that many of these would be used by survivors.

 

[locked&loaded]

Your belief is that people would some how be completely stupid?

Even if you were wanting to hold onto some hope you'd have to be pretty stupid to think that your part of the world was the only part that got completely destroyed. They've been to Atlanta, and other areas, and seen where the military has been destroyed.

They've already been to the CDC where they found out there is no power grid and everything in the world, not just in the United States, has plunged into chaos. Then on top of all that they've already seen how people, in these times, will become extremely violent to take what you've already got. Also lets not forget that not everyone in the story is necassarily from this area. They've traveled and moved around and went from place to place just trying to find people.

So, yeah, I doubt very seriously they'd be out there roaming around the country side just hoping beyond hope that over that next hill there is a place that has just completely beaten this. That's thriving. Wait...not this hill? Well then definately the next one. Oh not this one either? Damn.


Yeah. Just don't see any people being that niave or dumb. They're going to find a secure area, they're going to make it their own, and they're going to do everything they can to protect one another. They chose a prison in this case because it would be fairly easy to defend and make safe, although they didn't do nearly as good a job at it as they should have.

The one thing I have been surprised by is that there wasn't more Woodbury type of places where people just simply took a section of town and basically turned it into a prison to live in a secure community.

completely stupid? pretty ignorant to say...unless youre somehow a zombie survival expert? The idea that the only way to survive is to hide in a prison in Georgia for the rest of your life is....dumb. There are many different storylines that could end in survival for the group, I guess the walking dead just goes the route of boring hidden survivorss

This isn't a live real life survival show, I watch shows like survivor man to see him hunker down and live, which is understandable, because that is his real life. Conversely, walking dead is a tv show in a post a apocalyptic zombie world, which offers a ton of variables that could force the group out of hiding.

See, I don't mind that the group is taking stops at a farm and a jail and the CDC. But I do have issues with the variables and the pace that are 'forcing' the group out. At the farm the whole season teased the viewers with them leaving, but the only thing that was forcing them to leave was Herschel saying you couldn't stay there...and that went backkk and forthhh

As far as the jail goes, if the governor hadn't been reintroduced the only thing forcing the group to leave the jail was a sickness spreading around...and the should they stay or leave started going back and forthhh

The guy at the CDC tried to lock them in and kill them, and that seems like ages ago now. Theres no hope that a post zombies government is forming, or that people are experimenting with energy sources for their communities? for god sakes give them a goal besides the inherent one of survival. It helps with pacing.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Certainly there's no one correct answer as far as "show pacing". We could be following 100 groups and no doubt some would be more adventuresome and some would slow it down even more. Again the average age of the person in the group, the presence of children and even the % of male/female would determine how rambunctious a particular group was at venturing out in the world.

 

[CowboyGil]

In other words....slow parts kind of like...Oh I don't know...Life.

Boring parts where they are held up in prison because they want the most of a normal life as they can get in a zombie infested world?

That is part of life. Wanting a community. Wanting a family. Wanting a safe life.

Life is not all action. Life has it's boring mundane times where all you want is a normal life even in an screwed up situation.

Now maybe they can add in a military take down of a nation with a plot twist of a guy being dead the whole time but not realizing it while at the same time having a non stop jason statham character who has to keep his heart beat above a certain number or die.

Of course that is not what is going to happen and that is hyperbole on my part but it illustrates a point.

They are going to search for a long time for a missing child...most groups of people that are like a family would.
Of course they are going to stay on a farm as long as they could...most people would.
Of course they are going to stay in the prison where they think it is safe...most people would.

But you are still complaining because it is extremely slow. Maybe you are better off going back and watching shows like Spartacus where the blood is always flowing because it is all action.
Maybe this show is just not for you and you are wasting your time watching it.

Maybe it is a show about trying to live when you are really dying and among the already dead.

Right? The name of the show not only refers to the zombies, but to everyone in it. not my favorite episode, but nice to see some back story on Michonne.

 

[JohnnyHopkins]

I disagree. I feel that in this situation people would want to believe that somewhere out there civilization is doing well. That maybe over the next hill people are beating this, beating the zombies, putting themselves back together. maybe they have power, schools,heck maybe pizza parlors.... Not settle for a prison.

Remember that they were told by Jenner at the CDC that as far as he knew civilization was gone. The time between they were flushed from Herschel's farm and the Prison was about a four month period where they saw no signs of civilization and lived on the road with no safe haven. In all, by the time they reached the prison it had been about seven months since the CDC with no signs of civilization left. Add in that the eight months between season three and season four that Michonne had been on the road looking for the Governor and had obviously found no real signs of civilization. That's way over a year with no signs of civilization. I just don't see why they would leave the Prison to randomly look around for something that they saw had seen no evidence of up to that point.

I would suggest you check out the books and decide if you want to continue watching the show. After reading your criticisms, it doesn't sound like it would be. Kirkman (the creator of the Walking Dead) wrote the last episode himself and the episode is somewhat of the embodiment of the Walking Dead series. As others have pointed out, the living are the true walking dead. The series revolves around those characters and what they do to survive the apocalypse. The zombies will at times take a serious backseat to the conflicts of the living as long as Kirkman is involved.

The good news for you is that Kirkman and AMC are developing a spinoff that is supposed to focus on different individuals in each episode. That would probably be more your speed.

 

[blindzebra]

completely stupid? pretty ignorant to say...unless youre somehow a zombie survival expert? The idea that the only way to survive is to hide in a prison in Georgia for the rest of your life is....dumb. There are many different storylines that could end in survival for the group, I guess the walking dead just goes the route of boring hidden survivorss

This isn't a live real life survival show, I watch shows like survivor man to see him hunker down and live, which is understandable, because that is his real life. Conversely, walking dead is a tv show in a post a apocalyptic zombie world, which offers a ton of variables that could force the group out of hiding.

See, I don't mind that the group is taking stops at a farm and a jail and the CDC. But I do have issues with the variables and the pace that are 'forcing' the group out. At the farm the whole season teased the viewers with them leaving, but the only thing that was forcing them to leave was Herschel saying you couldn't stay there...and that went backkk and forthhh

As far as the jail goes, if the governor hadn't been reintroduced the only thing forcing the group to leave the jail was a sickness spreading around...and the should they stay or leave started going back and forthhh

The guy at the CDC tried to lock them in and kill them, and that seems like ages ago now. Theres no hope that a post zombies government is forming, or that people are experimenting with energy sources for their communities? for god sakes give them a goal besides the inherent one of survival. It helps with pacing.

Well you could stop watching.

Several of us have tried to explain this to you and failed...I will put it a new way.

Remember when Rick said, "I will not sacrifice you for the greater good because we are the greater good."

The characters in the show not only want to survive but they want to retain their humanity. That means you will have episodes about them struggling with what is right and wrong in this post apocalypse world. It means you will need episodes where you get back stories to show how they have changed. Michonne was a perfect example. She lost her son and lover, she became dead to the living and Andrea and the group at the prison gave her hope to live. Hershel getting beheaded and her ending his suffering pushed her back into the dead zone. Walker pets, walking with the herd, ignoring the foot prints of Rick and Carl all meant she was choosing death over hope. She saw the dreads walker and saw her future. She killed all the walkers and chose life. That is powerful stuff and a hell of a lot more interesting than the zombie Olympics roadshow you want.