The Walking Dead - Season 6 Discussion

[Solo4114]

I don't think there was a group called the Wolves in the comics. There was a group that tried breaking into Alexandria, but they all got taken out. I'm not sure there were any surviving Wolves on the show, either.

Yeah, the "Wolves" in the comics weren't anyone important. Small scavenger group, I think their attack ultimately prompts the walkers breaking in to the compound (along with Jessie and Ron's deaths), but they aren't treated as some important separate group the way they were in the show.

Which really highlights something the show often does: it takes beats from the comics and turns them into loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong detours for the show, which just emphasizes how the show relies on filler, because it often only develops these beats fairly poorly. Honestly, the only one that I thought was decent was Shane's descent into madness at the Farm. Everything else that they've done in this regard has been eyeroll-inducing.

Examples of the "half-season slowdowns":

- Sophia is missing.
- Shane goes nuts while Carl heals up at the farm.
- The looooooooong walk to the Prison.
- Andrea is undercover at Woodbury/The Governor's backstory.
- The looooooooong walk from the Prison to Terminus.
- The looooooooong walk from Terminus to Alexandria.
- The roamer horde at Alexandria at the quarry/Did Glenn die?

The show does this stuff all the time, and it just gets tedious because the pacing for it is never right.

I don't mind this cliffhanger at all. You had to know it was coming. With this one though, you know someone is getting their skull bashed in. The Glenn things was stupid and unnecessary.

I agree.... "Who shot JR?"
That was the biggest buzz that summer and is STILL referenced 30 years later. Cliff hangers have been part of television history and used on so many season endings.
But what do you expect? Today the younger generations are used to getting what they want, when they want and don't recall the days of having to actually wait. The entitlement generation :lol

The issue isn't that it's a cliffhanger. Cliffhanger endings ARE accepted, generally, by modern audiences IF they aren't overused, IF the show generally has good pacing otherwise, and IF the show doesn't tend to resort to cheap audience manipulation gimmicks as a regular course of action.

Case in point: Is Jon Snow dead? Is Stannis? What's gonna happen to Dany now that Drogon took her from Mereen? All on Game of Thrones, all of which have generally been well accepted by the audience. Even the deviations from the books have been mostly accepted by the audience (e.g. the episode in Season 4 where Jon goes north of the wall to kill off Karl and the mutineers.

Why don't audiences rebel at this stuff? Mostly because Game of Thrones is an exceptionally well-told story with solid pacing throughout each season. TWD, on the other hand, regularly relies on trickery and padding out its seasons, and it wouldn't surprise me in the least if audiences are just fed up with it at this point.

I stopped watching after Glenn went missing this season. Not because I was "angry" at the show, but because I was just bored with it. I knew he wasn't missing. I knew he'd come back (probably so he could be killed off later or something), and it was just pointless manipulation. I also know the pattern for TWD seasons now:

10 First Half of Season:
20 Eps. 1 and 2: big action, setting up what you think will be a pretty cool, forward-moving season/half-season.
30 Eps. 3, 4, 5: pointless milling around, lots of talking among characters, characters behaving in ways you find out-of-character, not much being accomplished.
40 Ep. 6: big action, ending on a cliffhanger "to build tension."
50 Second Half of Season.
60 Goto 10.

 

[Monkey67]

I just wanted them to make good on their crap. I understand cliff hangers and oh just wait moments. But the show is lacking and the characters are getting stupid. Maybe some fresh blood is gonna make it better. Yes, for awhile until you realize that your still going in a circle every season. Same set ups with just different faces. If they wish to always do fake outs and cliff hanger Episodes than all one needs to do is watch the first 5 and last 5 minutes of each show. Personally I'm sick of it and been bored for a couple seasons. I hoped they would show Some one get smoked and the results of a twitching body there.


90 minutes of Rick driving the van around was just dumb. Ok it shows that the roads are all owned by the survivors. Yet Rick is in P.O. Mode, yet keeps running away. You should have drop the 1st clowns you meet on the road. Only 2 guys had guns the rest has just tools. The whole RV rolled out with assault rifles...boom boom boom. Ok everyone back inside and on we go. Rick knows that you can not beat the radio.

carol story wasn't too bad. I'll give them that.

 

[Feraud]

You're crazy. That was one of the best seasons in a very long time. Like since the very beginning.

Best season? Now who is crazy??
I am shocked anyone would defend this particular season. Especially this season! This season has been nothing but a long drawn out set up in what is becoming an over done trope for this show. Let's call it, " This Season's Big Bad Guy". All the lazy writing and out of character choices this season have been nothing more than a long drawn out waste of time to force these characters to end up kneeling in front of Negan while folks drool all season waiting for "Negan's Big Kill". Whoopee..

I know people are going to say,"But the Saviors and Negan are in the graphic novel". As if that justifies lazy, sloppy writing. The television show should not be beholden to the comic books if the tone and direction of the television show deviates from the source material. Especially if this is the level of writing it takes to get Rick's group to encounter the Saviors.

There are a lot of bits and piece and oddly dropped plot lines we can dissect. Let me sum up what I find totally unacceptable for this season. Rick's group is a group that not only encountered but DESTROYED both Woodbury AND Terminus. After all this...after all this experience we see the rookie decisions made in this season? Give me a script with moments of character bad luck, but don't insult my intelligence and have these characters who after six seasons and having literally been kneeling over a trough about to have their throats slits to be butchered and cannibalized run though another ridiculous obvious gauntlet with all that back roads nonsense last night and be conveniently handed to Negan.

If you want to talk crazy try and defend how this garbage is as good as season 1.

 

[kibosh]

Best season? Now who is crazy??
I am shocked anyone would defend this particular season. Especially this season! This season has been nothing but a long drawn out set up in what is becoming an over done trope for this show. Let's call it, " This Season's Big Bad Guy". All the lazy writing and out of character choices this season have been nothing more than a long drawn out waste of time to force these characters to end up kneeling in front of Negan while folks drool all season waiting for "Negan's Big Kill". Whoopee..

I know people are going to say,"But the Saviors and Negan are in the graphic novel". As if that justifies lazy, sloppy writing. The television show should not be beholden to the comic books if the tone and direction of the television show deviates from the source material. Especially if this is the level of writing it takes to get Rick's group to encounter the Saviors.

There are a lot of bits and piece and oddly dropped plot lines we can dissect. Let me sum up what I find totally unacceptable for this season. Rick's group is a group that not only encountered but DESTROYED both Woodbury AND Terminus. After all this...after all this experience we see the rookie decisions made in this season? Give me a script with moments of character bad luck, but don't insult my intelligence and have these characters who after six seasons and having literally been kneeling over a trough about to have their throats slits to be butchered and cannibalized run though another ridiculous obvious gauntlet with all that back roads nonsense last night and be conveniently handed to Negan.

If you want to talk crazy try and defend how this garbage is as good as season 1.

If you don't like a show based on written material, then don't watch it. This season was better then recent seasons because it did get back to the comics. This show is based on existing material, plain and simple. yes it deviates here and there (sometimes significantly) but the themes and major plot points are there. Take out the Negan arc and you lose like 2 years on comics. Rewrite the Negan arc, and you have a show that's not TWD.

And yes the Game of Thrones series does all this much better, but it's also based on better writing. TWD is a comic book.

 

[kibosh]

I just wanted them to make good on their crap. I understand cliff hangers and oh just wait moments. But the show is lacking and the characters are getting stupid. Maybe some fresh blood is gonna make it better. Yes, for awhile until you realize that your still going in a circle every season. Same set ups with just different faces. If they wish to always do fake outs and cliff hanger Episodes than all one needs to do is watch the first 5 and last 5 minutes of each show. Personally I'm sick of it and been bored for a couple seasons. I hoped they would show Some one get smoked and the results of a twitching body there.


90 minutes of Rick driving the van around was just dumb. Ok it shows that the roads are all owned by the survivors. Yet Rick is in P.O. Mode, yet keeps running away. You should have drop the 1st clowns you meet on the road. Only 2 guys had guns the rest has just tools. The whole RV rolled out with assault rifles...boom boom boom. Ok everyone back inside and on we go. Rick knows that you can not beat the radio.

carol story wasn't too bad. I'll give them that.

Do you people read the comics? Spoiler alert. They will keep going in circles. If encountering new groups all the time is getting to you, stop watching now. Save yourself, and us, the rants.

 

[joshvanrad]

This was entirely fine.

The thing that would **** me off, that the show has been known to do, is cop out with a time jump. I don't think they'll do that because anyone who read the comics deserves to see this scene unfold. BUT it is not beyond them to skip to the moments right after this scene, and it would **** me off royally if we didn't get to see one of the cast members have their head smashed in with Lucille.

I also hope they have the balls to do something genuinely impactful. If they killed Abraham or Eugene, I'd consider that a cop out. I want them to off a fan-favorite. I want to see Glenn, Maggie, or Daryl go. Anybody else is a waste of this scene.

 

[cayman shen]

I agree that this season was uneven, but far from the worst season ever. (The worst season was the one where they spent 13 episodes walking along the train tracks through the woods on the way to Terminus. My commute is more visually stimulating). But it certainly was uneven as hell. There were some great episodes. Unfortunately every time they gained my personal good will they squandered it with a few episodes of dull, foot-dragging filler. If they would just tighten the damn plots up, or if the whole group's story isn't enough to fill a season then give us more individual focus Hamburger Helper like the Morgan training flashback episode (carefully placed so as not to stall out the momentum of a major plot arc) then I might just stop wishing it was the writers who met Lucille.

I also agree they better not kill a red shirt. It's gotta be a main character. Offing Rosita or Aaron ain't gonna cut it.

 

[Solo4114]

Best season? Now who is crazy??
I am shocked anyone would defend this particular season. Especially this season! This season has been nothing but a long drawn out set up in what is becoming an over done trope for this show. Let's call it, " This Season's Big Bad Guy". All the lazy writing and out of character choices this season have been nothing more than a long drawn out waste of time to force these characters to end up kneeling in front of Negan while folks drool all season waiting for "Negan's Big Kill". Whoopee..

I know people are going to say,"But the Saviors and Negan are in the graphic novel". As if that justifies lazy, sloppy writing. The television show should not be beholden to the comic books if the tone and direction of the television show deviates from the source material. Especially if this is the level of writing it takes to get Rick's group to encounter the Saviors.

There are a lot of bits and piece and oddly dropped plot lines we can dissect. Let me sum up what I find totally unacceptable for this season. Rick's group is a group that not only encountered but DESTROYED both Woodbury AND Terminus. After all this...after all this experience we see the rookie decisions made in this season? Give me a script with moments of character bad luck, but don't insult my intelligence and have these characters who after six seasons and having literally been kneeling over a trough about to have their throats slits to be butchered and cannibalized run though another ridiculous obvious gauntlet with all that back roads nonsense last night and be conveniently handed to Negan.

If you want to talk crazy try and defend how this garbage is as good as season 1.

To be fair, the comic is WAY better about handling this stuff because it isn't saddled with the same pacing issues. The comic can get to the meat of the matter much faster, and often does just that. I think Negan is a great addition to the show, but the show engaged in its typical feet-dragging approach to actually getting him there.

You know why Season 1 worked?


Because it was only 6 episodes and they all moved along at a brisk pace. Although the opening half of Season 2 pretty much showed us what we should have expected, which was the whole "Hey, where'd Sophia go?" treading water arc. It's been largely the same thing since then.

Frankly, I'm tired of it. I might catch the show on Netflix, but I'm done watching it live, and even then, given how many episodes tread water in a given season, I'd rather get the synopsis and then just watch the episodes where **** actually happens. And even then, the show seems incapable of figuring out how to have characters who are powerful and knowledgable survivors somehow still manage to get outfoxed or outgunned or whathaveyou in a way that remains dramatic, rather than requiring them to either be the unluckiest of shlubs out there, or completely incompetent, or having their enemies veer between the Keystone Kops and psychic ninjas.

 

[DoubleD]

One of the better seasons for the TWD. I was starting to lose some interest after last season, but this season really got me back into the show. Great character development for some of the minor characters, and one or two of the major characters, as well as the introduction of some good antagonists.

My only gripe this season was the fake setup of Glenn dying, but I can live with that. While I would have preferred that we got to see who was getting the up and close introduction to Lucile I understand why they didn't show. My money is on Glenn as it's time to lose a major character and that will help to set the tone of next season. Loosing someone like Eugene or Abraham would hurt the group, but I don't think it would have the same effect on the them as loosing Glenn. Loosing him would have a deep impact on Rick/Karl/Daryl/Maggie and impact the story line from here on.

 

[Feraud]

I agree about the different pacing issues between a comic and television and why S1 worked very well.
AMC and the show runners know the packing of the various seasons are bad. It annoys me to see them stretching out seasons and writing character inconsistencies just to sell more air time. This is ultimately reflected in the bad writing.

 

[madmax]

BITCH NUTS, i think it's either Glen or Abe,Glen because it effects the originals Abe because he showed opend defiance to Negan,plus whoever it was looked Negan in the face after the 1st blow(he's taking it like a Champ)..more likely Abe

 

[madmikeee]

See I didn't feel like the comic held up over time either. The first issues, I was like a crack addict. Then, when Negan (Governor 2.0) arrived, and there was a dude with a pet tiger or something? And there were so many characters I couldn't keep track (or care), and panel after panel after panel of talking heads blathering psuedo-deep nonsense...well I just gave up. I think it may be time to give up on the show as well. I would have already if it wasn't a social thing I do over at my friend's house every weekend.

My thoughts on the comic 100%. I stopped after the friggin tiger. It was just too ridiculous, even for a zombie apocalypse. I was also tired of trying to maintain who was who with which camp doing what with whom when they actually hate them but love the other people...it went recycled character Soap Opera really fast after Neegan was introduced.

The other problem I have with the show is , where is the down time? They insinuate at times that months have passed with nigh an incident...why aren't we getting to see this? Get a little comedy back into it. People can only handle the over used melodrama for so long.

 

[Nexus6]

The other problem I have with the show is , where is the down time? They insinuate at times that months have passed with nigh an incident...why aren't we getting to see this? Get a little comedy back into it. People can only handle the over used melodrama for so long.

I wouldn't mind that either, but every time they do an episode like ^that^, all you hear from people who believe their opinions are important is: "OMG SNOOZE-ALERT! THIS EPISODE WAS AS SLOW AS MOLASSES! ZZZZZZ, WAKE ME UP WHEN SOMETHING HAPPENS! BOOOOORRRRRRIIIIIING!!!"

 

[Solo4114]

That's because it is boring the way they tend to handle those issues. And they're clearly included for padding and to drag out the season. Look, like it or not, the show is a zombie apocalypse survival show. Doing a series of episodes on Rick learning the finer points of blacksmithing would not be interesting, even if it played into relationships or scenarios that show up down the road.

I think the real issue with down time is that they often don't really address how long it's been between this or that episode, and then other times the next episode is literally the next day.

 

[firesprite]

Boy, I'm glad I mostly checked out of being emotionally engaged with this show a couple seasons ago. At this point, I mostly watch out of habit.

That said, as a writer, I feel that the level of respect the writers of the Walking Dead for their audience is pretty low. Well done cliffhangers are great, but you have to use them sparingly or risk pissing your audience off, as this episode has done. Additionally, it feels deeply disrespectful to the characters that people are supposed to feel invested in.

Lastly, it's a foolish marketing move. If they had shown us who it was that was graced with Lucille's "kiss", they would've had 7 months to have "memorials" and other tie-ins that would keep people talking about it in a potentially positive way, and have people ready to go for season 7, wanting Rick and the others to take their vengeance. As it stands now, whomever we lost, the audience will likely get MAYBE an episode to process the loss and be expected to move on.

 

[Riceball]

Who were the dudes in riot gear and horseback?

You mean football of hockey pads? Regardless, it's about high time we somebody out there with some common sense and wear armor. If I were in a zombie apocalypse one of the first things that I'd do is make or find myself some sort of lightweight armor, particularly for the arms and legs. At the very least I'd armor up my left arm to use like a police/attack dog trainer, you get the walker to bite on the armored arm thus holding it in place so you can stab or shoot it easier.

 

[Rylo]

I'd look at it like snake boots. Better safe than sorry. Always a sneaky ass zombie crawling in the grass or stuck in a bush.

I'd wrap up before heading out, too!

-Rylo

 

[kibosh]

You mean football of hockey pads? Regardless, it's about high time we somebody out there with some common sense and wear armor. If I were in a zombie apocalypse one of the first things that I'd do is make or find myself some sort of lightweight armor, particularly for the arms and legs. At the very least I'd armor up my left arm to use like a police/attack dog trainer, you get the walker to bite on the armored arm thus holding it in place so you can stab or shoot it easier.

Didn't they wrap up in duct tape before? Or am I thinking of a different show? I guess the tape supply would run out, but I bet you could find it in most houses. Heck, you could find all kinds of helmets and pads in any high school.

 

[Riceball]

One thing that I really liked about this episode, something that many might have overlooked, is that they finally have come to their senses and have worked out both a bugout plan and rendezvous site. I was really hoping that after this time Rick and gang have finally learned their lesson and realized that after losing how many homes and spending how much time wandering around trying to find each other because they never worked out a proper bugout plan and rendezvous site they really need both and it looks like they finally have. Hopefully, when/if Alexandria falls we see this plan actually work out and we don't another half season or more of them wandering around trying to find each other like in previous seasons.

 

[Riceball]

Didn't they wrap up in duct tape before? Or am I thinking of a different show? I guess the tape supply would run out, but I bet you could find it in most houses. Heck, you could find all kinds of helmets and pads in any high school.

I think you're thinking of WW Z where Brad Pitt wrapped his arms in phone books with duct tape. But you have the right idea, and even if you run out of tape there's plenty of other things that you could use, nylon webbing is all over, belts could be used too. You also don't have to hit a high school, just any decent sporting goods store would have what you would need, get yourself 4 pairs of shin guards and you're good to go, 2 for each leg, and 2 for the arms so you're covered front and back.