The Walking Dead Season 3

the writing's not improving much. lot of this has been mentioned, but
- michonne (who seems to be determined to do the series in her best Booker T impersonation) is again the anchor dragging the show to a stop. so not only is she a ninja, she can take a greater beating than most of the other characters have got.

You call that a beating? That wasn't a beating. A beating is what Glenn got from Merle. A beating is what Daryl gave Randall. What happened between the Governor and Michonne was a straight forward two-sided asswhooping (meaning, both sides whooping each other's asses equally, ending with Michonne getting the last lick in with the piece of glass before she could kill him).

- apparently this ninja thinks the best thing you can do w/ a sword is choke someone w/ it

When you're sword is knocked away and you have an enemy intending to kill you, you improvise with what you got.

- i'm betting from the amount of blood etc that she's severed every tendon in the fingers of the hand that pulled the glass out, though i'm betting that'll never be addressed.

Honestly, you consider that farfetched? Try Rick breaking every bone in his hand beating the psycho prisoner to near death, it healing up and Rick admitting that he won't be able to use it correctly the right way again after that, yet he still used it like not a single bone was broken afterwards (this is in the comic).

- hey, i'll just stay in the room in plain sight, so when he does come in, he'll be right by the door and could easily escape/shout for help/shoot me before i can get up off this chair i'm in trying to look so grim and cool.

More like, "I'll sit right here and when he opens the door, I'll cut his freakin' head off before he realizes it."

- apparently although Booker/Michonne is about 2ft taller than zombiebrat the Gov didn't have a clear enough shot to put one through her head or shoulder.

You could make the same argument about Glenn not shooting Merle when he had his knife at Maggie's neck. But the big thing you're missing is the fact that the Governor is NUTS. He doesn't see Penny as a walker. He sees her as a still living person. That's why he stood down, because he was scared that Michonne would harm Penny (which in his head, would be Michonne hurting his still alive daughter).

- what IS it w/ zombiebrat anyway? total lack of zombie behaviour when she should have been squirming and thrashing all the time to get to michonne or the Gov for meat.

Same thing with Michonne's husband and his best friend (the two walkers that were with her). Basically, the "zombiebrat" as you call her, was used to her father in the same manner as those two were to Michonne. And, the only reason why "zombiebrat" reacted to Michonne after she pulled the hood off was because she didn't see Michonne until she put the hood off, much in the same manner as Michonne's husband and his best friend didn't react to the Governor and the group that came out to the helicopter until they were in their line of site.

- apparently there's massive gaps in the prison walls that they casually announce that walkers can get in through etc, but they don't seem overly bothered about that.

Especially with a whole lot of other problems that they've had to deal with, such as trying to clear out as much of the prison so they can get around to handling the hole in the fence, Rick losing his wife and the group losing T-Dog, and the fact that they now had to go rescue Maggie and Glenn from Woodbury.

- total skate-over of Darryl's capture, for whatever reason :-/

Which I'm sure they wanted because they needed something to draw people back for the next episode in February.

- is it really logical that a wall guard would just wander into a building shouting for people to come out? By HIMSELF?

There's no indication that was a wall guard, dude. For all we know, that may have been the guy who handled the food distribution for the town (that the Governor made mention of a few episodes back) and the building that the Atlanta group went through was the food distribution area (which would explain why he had a key and no weapon on him).

- why in ******'s name is Rick intent on always holding his pistol w/ the barrel drooping to the ground? did it supposedly look cool in a poster or promo still so they make him do it all the time? is that long barrel just too heavy?

Probably because its heavy. That or he's also taking into account recoil when he knows he's about to fire the gun. But most likely due to it being heavy.

re some other comments, i've done aikido, akijustsu and iaido. Kendo and fencing would not help you use a katana correctly. iaido teaches drawing and cutting as one movement. some of the moves in our school taught locks and throws, but it was from a hand grab etc that was trying to stop your draw your sword - you'd turn the grip into a wrist lock and move to draw and cut etc, but the iaido class was to teach iaido, it didn't teach hand to hand. i can't speak for anyone else's schools, but for hand to hand i had to take different classes/disciplines. it does not, however, teach you to do an oh-so-clever twirl before a cut, nor does it suggest the best way to wear a sword is across your back.

But wouldn't fencing help lay down the groundwork on how to use a sword, how to approach an opponent, building up strength in muscles in the arms to allow you to lift up a sword, how to keep your guard up while handling a sword, how to keep the blade steady when handling it?

And when you're trying to run for your life when you've got a whole herd after you, are you really going to want to have a sword on your hip where you're most likely to trip on it, or have it on your back where you'll least likely to trip on it?
 
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But wouldn't fencing help lay down the groundwork on how to use a sword, how to approach an opponent, building up strength in muscles in the arms to allow you to lift up a sword, how to keep your guard up while handling a sword, how to keep the blade steady when handling it?

And when you're trying to run for your life when you've got a whole herd after you, are you really going to want to have a sword on your hip where you're most likely to trip on it, or have it on your back where you'll least likely to trip on it?

Fencing wouldn't help nearly as much as think it would. Fencing teaches nothing about actual sword combat, the most you could say it teaches you is possibly dueling but even that's possibly a stretch. It certainly doesn't do much to build up your arm strong strength to handle a real sword, fencing blades are nothing like a real sword and weigh a fraction of the weight of the types of swords they're based on, the rapier and cavalry sabre and are as light as a feather compared to a typical medieval long or broadsword and the techniques are completely different too. Still, it is better than nothing and if you're particularly proficient in either foil or epee you could probably learn to stab zombies in the eye with either a real rapier or a fencing blade with the tip sharpened, but that's hardly the most efficient way of taking out a zombie. A sabre fencer could potentially be more effective but the weight difference between a fencing sabre and a real one is immense and the handling is much different as a result of the weight.

As for carry, it could be argued that drawing a sword from the hip is more efficient and quicker than drawing from the back. A swordsman with a katana trained in the art of iaido can draw their sword and cut at the same time in one swift move when drawing from the hip. Plus, if wearing a sword on the hip was such a trip hazard then why does every culture that used a sword wear theirs on the hip on a regular basis, both militarily and in civilian usage? Typically, the only time people wear their swords on their backs is when either the sword is too long to wear on the hip, for concealment, or they're doing some sort of activity where a sword on the hip would get in the way but in most situations a sword on the hip isn't much of a trip hazard.
 
As for carry, it could be argued that drawing a sword from the hip is more efficient and quicker than drawing from the back. A swordsman with a katana trained in the art of iaido can draw their sword and cut at the same time in one swift move when drawing from the hip. Plus, if wearing a sword on the hip was such a trip hazard then why does every culture that used a sword wear theirs on the hip on a regular basis, both militarily and in civilian usage? Typically, the only time people wear their swords on their backs is when either the sword is too long to wear on the hip, for concealment, or they're doing some sort of activity where a sword on the hip would get in the way but in most situations a sword on the hip isn't much of a trip hazard.

Noise. Having carried a sword on the hip, I can tell you it slaps loudly if you aren't careful. Granted, with how loose Michonne's baldric is, I doubt hers is any quieter, but usually a back carry is more silent, which is handy in walker/Woodbury infested areas.
 
Even though season 3 is WORLDS beyond the first half of season 2, the way it's navigating around the events of the comic are starting to really bug me.

Michonne is a great example. She's reacting to the governor as if he's the same guy as in the comic. He isn't. He hasn't done the same things and certainly not the same things to her. I think that's why she's bugging so many people. Her anger seems unwarranted.

Also, I kinda wish they'd stretch this out a bit. I loved the prison arc in the comic and they need to establish it as an actual sanctuary. They need to get their gardens growing. More people need to be there. Thank God new people showed up because it was starting to seem pretty sparse.

There needs to be a reason for them to protect it. At this point, Hershels farm was more important.
 
Fencing wouldn't help nearly as much as think it would. Fencing teaches nothing about actual sword combat, the most you could say it teaches you is possibly dueling but even that's possibly a stretch. It certainly doesn't do much to build up your arm strong strength to handle a real sword, fencing blades are nothing like a real sword and weigh a fraction of the weight of the types of swords they're based on, the rapier and cavalry sabre and are as light as a feather compared to a typical medieval long or broadsword and the techniques are completely different too. Still, it is better than nothing and if you're particularly proficient in either foil or epee you could probably learn to stab zombies in the eye with either a real rapier or a fencing blade with the tip sharpened, but that's hardly the most efficient way of taking out a zombie. A sabre fencer could potentially be more effective but the weight difference between a fencing sabre and a real one is immense and the handling is much different as a result of the weight.

As for carry, it could be argued that drawing a sword from the hip is more efficient and quicker than drawing from the back. A swordsman with a katana trained in the art of iaido can draw their sword and cut at the same time in one swift move when drawing from the hip. Plus, if wearing a sword on the hip was such a trip hazard then why does every culture that used a sword wear theirs on the hip on a regular basis, both militarily and in civilian usage? Typically, the only time people wear their swords on their backs is when either the sword is too long to wear on the hip, for concealment, or they're doing some sort of activity where a sword on the hip would get in the way but in most situations a sword on the hip isn't much of a trip hazard.

Spot on! Couldn't agree with you more. :thumbsup

Noise. Having carried a sword on the hip, I can tell you it slaps loudly if you aren't careful. Granted, with how loose Michonne's baldric is, I doubt hers is any quieter, but usually a back carry is more silent, which is handy in walker/Woodbury infested areas.

Since your only references so far have been video games or fictional characters, have you ever carried and unsheathed a full size sword from your back?

There's maybe a handful of swords throughout history that were intentionally carried across the back (the katana is not one of them), and of those none were meant to be drawn from that position. It's simply a matter of body mechanics. The proportionally average human's arms are not long enough and the shoulder joint doesn't fully rotate enough. You're more likely to cut the back of your own head or shoulder than successfully draw your sword quickly. One of the few things about Michonne they've done well is that she typically removes her sword from her carrying position then unsheaths it.

As Riceball pointed out, nearly every sword carrying culture world-wide belted it to their side for good reason. If you find it cumbersome, off-putting, or a tripping hazard, then likely the fault is with you and not the mount.
 
One of the few things about Michonne they've done well is that she typically removes her sword from her carrying position then unsheaths it.
Yes I have tried to draw a sword from that position, and I'm aware that the way Michonne draws it is the proper way to do so. (Believe me, it was flipping hilarious.) I'm just saying, for walking without excess noise, having it tightly strapped against your back is the quietest way to go. For combat you'd have to quickly loosen the strap, but that's the tradeoff.
 
Noise. Having carried a sword on the hip, I can tell you it slaps loudly if you aren't careful. Granted, with how loose Michonne's baldric is, I doubt hers is any quieter, but usually a back carry is more silent, which is handy in walker/Woodbury infested areas.

Plus, the times that swords were carried on the hip, there wasn't much need to run (I mean, have you ever heard of a samurai having to run for his life on foot?).

Michonne is a great example. She's reacting to the governor as if he's the same guy as in the comic. He isn't.

You mean, "He isn't... yet." (remember, he's just lost Penny and the Atlanta group attacked Woodbury. With a combination of those two details, there's a good chance the Governor as we know in the comics may be just getting started after the Mid-Season return).
 
For the next few episodes, AMC posted a quick synopsis

Episode 9 – The Suicide King
Rick tries to rescue one of his group members. Woodbury is in disarray after a recent attack. New guests staying in the prison are a cause for concern.

Episode 10 – Home
The group is preparing their next step. Rick goes in search of his lost friend and meanwhile, Daryl and Merle are wondering if they themselves made the right decisions. The governor of Woodbury tries to restore order in the town and is planning to punish the people responsible for the chaos.

Episode 11 – I Is not A Judas
Rick and the group are forced to make a decision now that their safety is no longer guaranteed. Andrea feels uncomfortable now that Woodbury has become a police state.
 
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