TWD 7x06 "Swear" episode discussion... **SPOILERS WITHIN*

[MinionZombie]

Please keep all talk of episode 7x06 "Swear" specifically inside this thread. If you have a theory for a following episode, please use the "spoiler tags" (visit the HPOTD FAQ to find out how to use them if you don't already know). Similarly, if you're going to discuss plot points from the comic book, please use "spoiler tags" - not everyone is up-to-date on them, and some people don't read them at all. Enjoy! Directed by: Michael E. Satrazemis Written by: David Leslie Johnson "A new community is discovered."

[JDP]

According to Nicotero, the mummy-like "sand zombies" in this episode were a homage to the zombies in Fulci's Zombie

[Moon Knight]

According to Nicotero, the mummy-like "sand zombies" in this episode were a homage to the zombies in Fulci's Zombie Definitely were Fulci inspired haha.

[MinionZombie]

Loved the Fucli zombies stuff - the whole bridge thing rocked. An intriguing location with a bit of implied story to it, and some great walker action (with excellent design - the sand pouring out of the mouth of one of them - yuck!). They looked fantastic and made for a striking sequence - the 'zombies shuffling through the town' scene in Zombie Flesh Eaters (Zombie aka Zombi 2) echoed somewhat. Nice to have Tara back in action - seeing her fall back over the bridge was very effectively staged. So now we've got another community. So that's: 1) Alexandria, 2) The Hilltop, 3) The Kingdom, 4) The Saviour's Gaff (forget the name - does it have one?), and now 5) Oceanside! With all these new locations and characters, it's no wonder the story is structured the way it is, although it does affect the swiftness of the pacing - that 'bottle episode' effect as mentioned in last week's thread. It was an interesting new location and is visually quite a change (the production did a great job realising it), and it's nice to get a location next to the water. That little kid (Rachel) - as soon as she was boasting about how it took one kill and not two I hated her, bloody psycho kid moppet, and so eager to snuff out Tara ... "it's what we're supposed to do", whatever, the kid's a nutjob and I instantly despised her. Cyndie (the adult with her) on the other hand is much more interesting ... the rest of them? I'm neither here nor there, but their strict policy of 'shoot all strangers' is totally understandable (if a bit overly harsh) from their perspective. Interesting bit of moral back and forth for Tara and Heath here, particularly Tara when she was challenged by Cyndie. That look on her face, before switching back into a more justified expression ... I wonder how she'll change after hearing the bad news back in Alexandria ... but where's Heath? And what does "PPP" mean? I'd imagine at the mid-season break we'll get some kind of 'fight back' tease - a hint that secret preparations will be getting made - to tide folk over 'till 7B. There's a lot of 'setting up' to do right now, but ultimately I think the payoff is going to be worth it. ... TWD 7x06 Memes:   http://deadshed.blogspot.co.uk/2016/...dead-7x06.html

[kidgloves]

Enjoyed this episode. Always enjoy watching Tara jiggle as she runs . Can we are a proper scavenging episode this season please. - - - Updated - - - There's heavy sarcasm above in case no one gets it. One of the worst episodes in modern history of TWD. Bad on every level

[shootemindehead]

Just off the back of that episode and I have to say that I thought it was pretty meh. Nothing episode, nothing characters and going nowhere. The only saving grace was Tara, who I find sort of funny in a querky way. I'd buddy with her in the zom apoc. 'The Walking Dead' needs to kick it up a notch though. They haven't come close to the opening episode yet, in terms of entertainment and we're at the halfway point of this series.

[MinionZombie]

I feel the next two episodes will crank things up a notch or two - they need to heading into the mid-season hiatus - and there needs to be some level of reward for all this scene setting. I wouldn't say this was a "nothing" episode at all, nor the 'worst', but it was a bit skimpy on progression - introducing yet another community at this point didn't help in that regard (ideally it would have been earlier or later, and perhaps in an extended episode that cut back and forth between two main plot threads, this and something else back with our regulars). The whole bridge bit was pretty darn rad, and I liked the organisation of Oceanside (they had a plan in the event of strangers turning up - the dog training clickers, the lookouts hidden in the trees). So there was some good internal logic going on there, the trouble came with its position in the season thus far - but to say there was no purpose in this episode is literally nonsense. Alexandria have no weapons at all - Oceanside has a whole shack full of them - and while Tara is keeping quiet for now, I doubt that'll last. Plus we needed to find out more about Tara and Heath's excursion. The issue, as I've said, is the placement of the episode - I would like to see more episodes that feature two main story threads told more efficiently than too many episodes where it focuses solely on one plot strand. At times that can work, but at other times it'd smarten up the pacing to be able to follow two stories during an episode. Also of note - this episode was 49 minutes long, so a good 6 or 7 minutes longer than usual.

[Moon Knight]

Enjoyed this episode. Always enjoy watching Tara jiggle as she runs . Can we are a proper scavenging episode this season please. - - - Updated - - - There's heavy sarcasm above in case no one gets it. One of the worst episodes in modern history of TWD. Bad on every level Worst episode to date is stretching it. "Still" and "Slabtown" are worse imo. However, that's the problem this season and the ratings show it. They need to think twice about this bottle episode formula this season, it's dragging everything down. Game of Thrones has tons of characters and they don't need bottle episodes to develop characters. You know AMC is aware because they tried hiding the fact it was a Tara episode during last week's promo. Hopefully this is the last one. Also, looks like you get your scavenging episode next week. Rick is finally back!!!!! He's still the main character right? Sigh. - - - Updated - - - I'm also not getting enough Rosita this season, dammit.

[kidgloves]

Worst episode to date is stretching it. "Still" and "Slabtown" are worse imo. However, that's the problem this season and the ratings show it. They need to think twice about this bottle episode formula this season, it's dragging everything down. Game of Thrones has tons of characters and they don't need bottle episodes to develop characters. You know AMC is aware because they tried hiding the fact it was a Tara episode during last week's promo. Hopefully this is the last one. Also, looks like you get your scavenging episode next week. Rick is finally back!!!!! He's still the main character right? Sigh. - - - Updated - - - I'm also not getting enough Rosita this season, dammit. The main problem with this episode for me was that it was in the woods AGAIN. It's so obvious that this is where Rick and Co are going to get the guns from. Painfully obvious. Why the hell would Tara keep quiet after what she went through with Oceanside? It makes no sense. Another fake out death, this time with Heath. Atrocious dialogue.

[Moon Knight]

The main problem with this episode for me was that it was in the woods AGAIN. It's so obvious that this is where Rick and Co are going to get the guns from. Painfully obvious. Why the hell would Tara keep quiet after what she went through with Oceanside? It makes no sense. Another fake out death, this time with Heath. Atrocious dialogue. Edit: I'm gonna delete my original comments. At the end of the day we just view the show differently. Peace.

[MinionZombie]

It wasn't a fake out death for Heath - the camper van has left and there was that "PPP" thing left behind (and it seemed to me as if Tara knew what that meant). His glasses are left behind and broken, sure, but I don't think it's a case of death for Heath. At most it might be a case of him being captured by The Saviours somehow ... but I think it was all more to do with him escaping several walkers that were coming down on top of him (there was likely a tussle, his glasses got knocked off, and he split) ... although in that scenario why would you necessarily have time to leave a clue behind, unless it's referencing something from earlier on in their journey (like a location - so essentially a 'meet me here' message). It's a bit sloppy though, because Tara went over the bridge with two or three walkers on her. I wonder if Heath thought she might have died ... or did he try and look for her? I guess we'll find out in due course. The last few episodes have felt a bit 'inessential' pacing wise - as in, they don't strike me as "appointment viewing" - in stark contrast to the premiere episode which had "appointment viewing" written all over it. The way the story is unfolding at the moment it's sufficient to not watch it immediately - to do "time shift" viewing of it ... so the initial figures are dropping somewhat, but the overall figures are pretty darn healthy (I do wish web authors would at least provide that information in their clickbait-titled articles!)

[Buzzbomb]

I quite enjoyed this one - Tara seems to have picked up Glenn's moral compass & her acting also reminded me of Carol at times... One query - did the number of cars on the bridge change? I thought when Heath & Tara first climbed onto the barricade there was one car parked at an angle... but when she returned later, there were several cars parked parallel, so they could do the running over the top bit... It's probably me getting things wrong again. My money's on Heath getting picked up by the Saviors - he's not known to them, so it may be an angle to help Darrell get out?

[kidgloves]

Edit: I'm gonna delete my original comments. At the end of the day we just view the show differently. Peace. Always peace with you Moon. This stuff is all healthy discussion. You should know me well enough to know I'm not the aggressive type. It's all good man. Have an opinion brother.

[Moon Knight]

Always peace with you Moon. This stuff is all healthy discussion. You should know me well enough to know I'm not the aggressive type. It's all good man. Have an opinion brother. Yessir, it's all opinions and healthy discussions. I came off silly and whiney haha. With that said, this one just came off as middle of the road for me. You brought up good points. - - - Updated - - - It wasn't a fake out death for Heath - the camper van has left and there was that "PPP" thing left behind (and it seemed to me as if Tara knew what that meant). His glasses are left behind and broken, sure, but I don't think it's a case of death for Heath. At most it might be a case of him being captured by The Saviours somehow ... but I think it was all more to do with him escaping several walkers that were coming down on top of him (there was likely a tussle, his glasses got knocked off, and he split) ... although in that scenario why would you necessarily have time to leave a clue behind, unless it's referencing something from earlier on in their journey (like a location - so essentially a 'meet me here' message). It's a bit sloppy though, because Tara went over the bridge with two or three walkers on her. I wonder if Heath thought she might have died ... or did he try and look for her? I guess we'll find out in due course. The last few episodes have felt a bit 'inessential' pacing wise - as in, they don't strike me as "appointment viewing" - in stark contrast to the premiere episode which had "appointment viewing" written all over it. The way the story is unfolding at the moment it's sufficient to not watch it immediately - to do "time shift" viewing of it ... so the initial figures are dropping somewhat, but the overall figures are pretty darn healthy (I do wish web authors would at least provide that information in their clickbait-titled articles!) Agreed. People aren't watching immediately; no reason too because fans at this point already know AMC's formula. An episode focusing on only Tara isn't really essential and urgent viewing. I assumed Kidgloves meant the Walker that was supposed to be Heath. Thy kinda used that tactic before and even on FtWD. However, when I saw the hair... Yeah they got me.

[MinionZombie]

Oh the 'Heath' walker ... yeah, I knew it wasn't Heath the moment I saw it because that trick has been pulled before. I did half-wonder if maybe that was Heath, but being that he's pretty new to the show as a character and hasn't done an awful lot of stuff, it would have been an awful waste of a solid supporting character from the comics.