TWD 5x06 "Consumed" episode discussion... **SPOILERS WITHIN*

[MinionZombie]

Please keep all talk of episode 5x06 "Consumed" 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! Episode 506: “Consumed” – “Stakes are high when members of the group must go on a rescue mission in a familiar location.” Directed by: Seith Mann, Written by: Matthew Negrete & Corey Reed

[Legion2213]

The Slab towners picked the wrong person to try and bully into servitude/submissiveness. Carroll has been there, got the t-shirt and stoved it's head in with a pick axe! Hoping the confrontation/rescue won't see the slab town group wiped out though, Dawn isn't evil, she has ditched her moral compass (who hasn't at one timeor another in this universe), but I think she is salvageable.

[MoonSylver]

Dug this episode. Not a ton of action, but the quiet moments were good. McBride & Reedus have a quiet chemistry that is compelling. The scene where they were standing looking out the window at the ruins of Atlanta talking gave me a very "Dawn, after the mall is taken" vibe. The bridge scene was crazy. Everything is falling into place about like I expected, but it's nice to see the blanks get filled in. Their conversation at the window raise one of the first "new" ethics/morality-type questions I've gotten out of the show, at least in a while: Carol listed a litany of all the people she's been, and how each of them has been burned away as circumstances have changed. Daryl reassures her "we ain't just ashes". My instinctive reply (in my head) was "ain't we?" How much can a person go through, how much can they change, as the result of trauma, before all that's left is "ashes", the burned out ruins of a human being?

[Doc]

I have mixed reactions to this episode. On one hand, I enjoyed the trek through a urban setting with the threat of walkers lurking around every corner and the exploration of the ominous and silent dead city. It was a nostalgic trip in a way. Bringing back the spectacular the scope and epicness of the first season. The opening with Carol was a promising prelude and the initial chase to follow some of the 'Slabtown' folk was grabbing. The other side, completely hates how both the beginning and end of this episode were completely dependent on incredible and implausible coincidences for the plot to even go further. And the worst aspect being, the interaction and dialogue between Daryl and Carol that once again presents anti-naturalistic dialogue and jacked-up soap melodrama that Walking Dead still occasionally loves to indulge in. Also, I hope this episode isn't a setup to Carol's demise. Seriously, it almost seems to be telegraphing it....

[MinionZombie]

Totally dug this episode. Excellent Carol/Daryl stuff, really good themes, nice to see the back-and-forth filling in some gaps in Carol's story. Cool walker kills, numerous chilling moments (e.g. the mother and daughter walkers that must have been hiding out - as humans - in that crisis shelter when the shit went down) ... Daryl taking the book on surviving child abuse ... the stuff about 'burning away' the different versions of yourself ... the walkway camp site (IIRC that was an element from the first tie-in TWD novel "Rise of The Governor") ... lots of awesome stuff in this episode. Great to see an urban setting, too - visual callbacks to the infamous way into Atlanta, as well as Rick's tank - interesting to get a verticality to proceedings. Different textures, different obstacles, different ways of surviving and fighting, and interesting to see that only parts of Atlanta got bombed out. Although I disagree with Doc on the 'convenience' factor. The prison gets set alight and it'll make a big smoke plume; Carol's nearby so she's going to spot it sooner or later, and considering there's few people living in the vicinity - and the smoke is in the direction of the prison - it's highly possible that it's the prison. You're not going to just stay in the office building and not investigate. As for her getting hit by the car (I'm assuming these are the two things you took issue with, Doc?) - it's just a pure accident - that car's roaming the streets, she's in a rush to cross, she didn't look both ways before she crossed, the occupants are probably paying more attention to everywhere around them rather than directly in front of them at all times, so the probability of hitting Carol rises. One irk for me though - the van fall - I loved the scene but the physics are screwed up. The van would have landed on it's roof because it was front-heavy with the engine and two adults, and there was no weight in the back ... and, not having a roll cage or anything, it would have flattened considerably ... however I'm willing to overlook that as we so often see wonky physics in film/tv, and it did allow us to have that super cool moment after a few seconds of silence when the walkers just started tumbling down and splatting on top of the van. So it looks like we're getting a hospital show-down for the finale, which should be jolly good fun ... but I would like for us to then get the group together ... while I don't particularly mind, this has been three episodes without Rick or Michonne or a bunch of others ... but then again we're rewinding time to show simultaneous events that were happening elsewhere, so it's the only way to do that, but I would like for the back half of season five to bring everyone back together again ... ... although, again, that said, they were together for the first three episodes so it's not totally split up. It'll be nice to see the group all pulling in the same direction sometime soon, though. The biggest problem with having everyone together though is finding enough time to let everyone shine, to get in some back stories, and to not let the biggest characters take all the screentime away from the smaller characters (remember how T-Dog got sidelined in season two). - - - Updated - - - The more I think about it, the more I enjoyed it. Reedus and McBride have fantastic chemistry on-screen. TWD 5x06 Memes: http://deadshed.blogspot.co.uk/2014/...dead-5x06.html

[MoonSylver]

One irk for me though - the van fall - I loved the scene but the physics are screwed up. The van would have landed on it's roof because it was front-heavy with the engine and two adults, and there was no weight in the back ... and, not having a roll cage or anything, it would have flattened considerably ... however I'm willing to overlook that as we so often see wonky physics in film/tv, and it did allow us to have that super cool moment after a few seconds of silence when the walkers just started tumbling down and splatting on top of the van. Yeah, that was the only complaint I had as well, & I couldn't quite put my finger on why, other than it landed SO precisely flat, but that was it. I imagine that was a hard enough gag to pull off as it was (particularly on a TV budget), so I wrote it off in my mind that it did a 360 roll in the air as it fell. The other might be the car hit at the end, but meh. And yeah, the walker rain was awesome.

[MinionZombie]

I watched the making of featurette on AMC's YouTube channel, and the van stunt went wrong the first time - they wanted for it to land on the wheels, but it tipped even with the adaptations they made to it, so they had to do a second take where they used a crane holding the van up in the air, hence why it lands so flatly on the ground. There seemed to be a slight tilt, but it would have been nice for more of a tilt forward, but still landing on it's wheels - but I guess when you're having to bash these episodes out in, what, a mere eight days then you've gotta get the shot or not get it at all, so little things have to be sacrificed to avoid having a big black hole in your edit. Looking at the bit where Carol got run over - it seems to be a pedestrian zone (red brick underfoot, bollards etc) - so you wouldn't necessarily be thinking that a car would be coming like you would with a normal road, even in the zombie apocalypse. Another thing I really dug with this episode was a sense of spatial familiarity - not just the visuals from season one (Rick's tank, the road into the city ... and apparently Merle's rooftop was in there as well as the fence Rick & Co cut through when they go back for Merle, but I didn't initially notice those last two on my first run-through) - where was I? Oh yeah ... but also in terms of the city being familiar to the characters (e.g. the help centre that Carol had been to before the apocalypse), so they're able to use real-world knowledge of the area to help themselves. I dug that, it's a small detail, but I dug it. Also nice that we could actually see what the hell was going on and it wasn't shrouded in complete pitch darkness.

[Trancelikestate]

Van physics aside, I hate to say it, but I doubt our hero's would be walking away from that fall AT ALL. At the very least a fall from that height in a vehicle would compress the hell out of your vertebrae and at most break numerous bones and or just snap your spinal cord entirely. It was a cool stunt and because it's fiction I'll let it go but one thing I do as I watch this show or any other thing for that matter is I think what I would do and what the realistic options would be. Taking the van to the ground wasn't one of them. Def an awesome episode though. I had a feeling coming back through the pad locked doors gun first was a bad idea haha.

[UndeadHippo]

Hey all, been lurking here for a while. finally decided to join up and contribute. nice to see our heroes' great track record with vehicle accidents continues in this ep, as Darryl and Carol manage to crash a stationary van. Also, did Darryl really just stick that crossbow bolt in his mouth straight after pulling it free from the pinned up walker? Tasty.

[AcesandEights]

I really enjoyed this episode. A good mix of action, exploration, personal drama and conversation. The cityscape at night with all the walkers was nice and scary. nice to see our heroes' great track record with vehicle accidents continues in this ep, as Darryl and Carol manage to crash a stationary van. Well played!

[MoonSylver]

I watched the making of featurette on AMC's YouTube channel, and the van stunt went wrong the first time - they wanted for it to land on the wheels, but it tipped even with the adaptations they made to it, so they had to do a second take where they used a crane holding the van up in the air, hence why it lands so flatly on the ground. There seemed to be a slight tilt, but it would have been nice for more of a tilt forward, but still landing on it's wheels - but I guess when you're having to bash these episodes out in, what, a mere eight days then you've gotta get the shot or not get it at all, so little things have to be sacrificed to avoid having a big black hole in your edit. Yeah, I figured they probably hoisted it on a crane & dropped it. Interesting that they'd tried it a different way & couldn't get it to come out right. So my feeling of cutting some slack: confirmed. Looking at the bit where Carol got run over - it seems to be a pedestrian zone (red brick underfoot, bollards etc) - so you wouldn't necessarily be thinking that a car would be coming like you would with a normal road, even in the zombie apocalypse. Interesting & fair enough point. I was thinking more in terms of the coincidence of the timing, but since they were out prowling about looking for Noah, maybe they were sitting down the street, saw someone coming out & gunned it, looking to hit him? Who knows. Minor niggle I won't fuss over, really. Another thing I really dug with this episode was a sense of spatial familiarity - not just the visuals from season one (Rick's tank, the road into the city ... and apparently Merle's rooftop was in there as well as the fence Rick & Co cut through when they go back for Merle, but I didn't initially notice those last two on my first run-through) - where was I? Oh yeah ... but also in terms of the city being familiar to the characters (e.g. the help centre that Carol had been to before the apocalypse), so they're able to use real-world knowledge of the area to help themselves. I dug that, it's a small detail, but I dug it. I didn't catch any of that. Everything was moving too quick. Also nice that we could actually see what the hell was going on and it wasn't shrouded in complete pitch darkness. That I have to disagree on. The night shots were as black as the inside of a baboon's asshole in a coalmine (just...trust me on this: I know things...). I'm getting seriously tired of a DP that can't light night shooting for dick. Get a frigging day for night lens & shoot at high noon if you can't do better than this for fucks sake. At least then I could see what's going on. Van physics aside, I hate to say it, but I doubt our hero's would be walking away from that fall AT ALL. At the very least a fall from that height in a vehicle would compress the hell out of your vertebrae and at most break numerous bones and or just snap your spinal cord entirely. It was a cool stunt and because it's fiction I'll let it go but one thing I do as I watch this show or any other thing for that matter is I think what I would do and what the realistic options would be. Taking the van to the ground wasn't one of them. Def an awesome episode though. I had a feeling coming back through the pad locked doors gun first was a bad idea haha. Yeah, as much as I dug the stunt, it's straining at the limits of my credibility. But, like you, I'm willing to give a little for the sake of fiction. Hey all, been lurking here for a while. finally decided to join up and contribute. nice to see our heroes' great track record with vehicle accidents continues in this ep, as Darryl and Carol manage to crash a stationary van. Takes a certain level of skill to do that. Also, did Darryl really just stick that crossbow bolt in his mouth straight after pulling it free from the pinned up walker? Tasty. I thought of that too. At least he's gripping it in the middle, but still, I wouldn't want the nasty ass thing near my mouth. Not the first time he's done it either. Still, this is the guy who eats possum & killed a man over road kill... BTW, welcome.

[facestabber]

Hey all, been lurking here for a while. finally decided to join up and contribute. nice to see our heroes' great track record with vehicle accidents continues in this ep, as Darryl and Carol manage to crash a stationary van. Also, did Darryl really just stick that crossbow bolt in his mouth straight after pulling it free from the pinned up walker? Tasty. Welcome aboard. I lurked for a long time as well before joining. This is a great place to post and read. Good call on crashing stationary van. Gotta admit it can be amazing that our survivors continue to survive at times. I enjoyed this episode. Two great characters. Got a lot more but am so sick I don't have energy at this time

[shootemindehead]

Great episode. Was watching when playing DayZ and I got blasted...so F you Carol'n'Daryl!!!!!! But, yeh...the van. Fkn 'ell. Really like the way Carol's character has journeyed, if I can use such a bleeding awful term.

[Morto Vivente]

Good episode, I usually like the exploration episodes, and the dead-cityscapes after 3 seasons of mostly rural settings was a welcome change. Carol still carrying a copy of Tom Sawyer around was also a nice touch. My problem with Carol's accident is the fact that you'd most likely hear a car approaching a mile off, or even just the engine running, bearing in mind that the city is a ghost-town. Still, not enough to spoil a quality episode.

[AcesandEights]

But, yeh...the van. Fkn 'ell. Yeah, the van was a bad bit. Not a bad set piece idea...though definitely unnecessary, but I agree with what most have said earlier in this thread. Trancelikestate typed most of what went through my mind, almost word for word, when I watched that scene play out. Nevertheless, a well executed episode, and at least I know they adfmitted to having issues pulling off the van drop the way it was meant to go down. I had a feeling coming back through the pad locked doors gun first was a bad idea haha. Oh, hell yeah...and she didn't even really do a proper look first.