Tales of the Walking Dead..... AMC announces yet another spinoff

[shootemindehead]

Thought Jadis was a shit character myself, and she didn't get any better in The World Beyond. So I don't think Mini is missing that much.

[MinionZombie]

Thought Jadis was a shit character myself, and she didn't get any better in The World Beyond. So I don't think Mini is missing that much. Aye. Just gimme the jist and that'll be fine. She was pretty bad in TWD Season 7. All that stupid talk from the trash heapsters was just an annoying affectation out of some Z-grade European post-apoc rip-off from the 1970s and was totally ill-fitting. They at least utilised the character far better in season 9, albeit in just a few episodes. - - - Updated - - - Episode 3 ... ... another big shrug. The river boat setting was interesting, the idea of these people living decadently as the world crumbled (not that that hasn't been explored elsewhere before), but it had some potential that was ultimately squandered on a rather confusing collapse of that little enclave. After that it felt really pointless and the introduction of The Whisperers felt super rushed and super underwhelming, particularly as the origin of Alpha's mask was barely even enough to be labeled as "throw away". Quite disappointing, but generally on-trend for this swing-and-a-miss spin-off.

[JDP]

This episode was actually better than the first two, but rather unnecessary. We already had a "background story" for Alpha and Lydia (and Beta.)

[shootemindehead]

Aye. Just gimme the jist and that'll be fine. She was pretty bad in TWD Season 7. All that stupid talk from the trash heapsters was just an annoying affectation out of some Z-grade European post-apoc rip-off from the 1970s and was totally ill-fitting. They at least utilised the character far better in season 9, albeit in just a few episodes. So Jadis has managed to get out of the wild and become a top dog in the Civil Republic's police force where she holds enough sway to be of importance. She's dropped "all that stupid talk"* and has a kind of Gestapo presence around the place. She also mentions that she made some "alliances" while part of the trash street kids and it didn't turn out so well. But she implies that she was instrumental in handing over Rick to the CR, which was nothing that we didn't already know, and because of that it has allowed her to survive further. She says of Rick in TWD that she had "an A" , which meant a subject A. I think this was because the CR were looking for subjects to study the effects of reanimation in their experiments, but I can't recall the details of that. She says he's a B later on so he would avoid bested tested on. Being "tested on" meant getting bitten and using a gas to prolong the turning in the hopes of finding a way to stave off reanimation. We don't see Rick in 'The World Beyond' though. There's absolutely no reason at all to watch 'The World Beyond' because it was, at best, a 6 episode story dragged out, ahem, beyond stretching point and laced with teen angst and other crap that never needed to even exist. It was ok seeing what the Civil Republic were up to with regards to the experiments, but...again ahem...beyond that it had nothing to offer. *She mentions that the new language and theatre was all part of her creating her own mini civilisation (but this was something that never worked for me in TWD).

[MinionZombie]

Thanks for the mini briefing, Shoot. This episode was actually better than the first two, but rather unnecessary. We already had a "background story" for Alpha and Lydia (and Beta.) I was thinking about it last night. It takes place after the episode in the basement (in which "Dee" kills Lydia's father), but it seemingly takes place before the episode where she first encountered Beta. This episode feels like it actually takes power away from Dee/Alpha, because I'd always assumed that she was the originator of The Whisperers, not someone who just stumbled across them and then something happened between the (very few and rushed) lines of the final moments of Tales of TWD 1x03. The climax was handled so sloppily that it was barely comprehensible and, I feel, damaged Dee/Alpha's story and it certainly didn't jive at all well with the flashback episode to the introduction of Beta. That episode really seemed to introduce the idea of wearing a dead person's face, as if that was the beginning of The Whisperers, so this dodgy mid-way prequel just muddies the waters and feels like it was based on what someone could remember of past episodes of TWD rather than reviewing them very closely for exactly what happened and when. It just felt muddled and I never really understood the relationship between Dee/Alpha and the lady who ran the river boat. I never really understood the dynamics of that boat at all, and then I don't really get how/why the lady of the boat specifically failed Dee/Alpha and Lydia. She wasn't the one trying to take over the boat while shooting a load of random cannon fodder characters, leading to its downfall. Felt pretty pointless, really. I would have much preferred an episode that followed on from that flashback episode with Beta, to see them actually creating The Whisperers ... or, you know, how about instead an episode following on from the Negan prequel episode that showed a more fleshed-out version of the creation of The Saviours (as seen in the Here's Negan graphic novel)?

[JDP]

Thanks for the mini briefing, Shoot. I was thinking about it last night. It takes place after the episode in the basement (in which "Dee" kills Lydia's father), but it seemingly takes place before the episode where she first encountered Beta. This episode feels like it actually takes power away from Dee/Alpha, because I'd always assumed that she was the originator of The Whisperers, not someone who just stumbled across them and then something happened between the (very few and rushed) lines of the final moments of Tales of TWD 1x03. The climax was handled so sloppily that it was barely comprehensible and, I feel, damaged Dee/Alpha's story and it certainly didn't jive at all well with the flashback episode to the introduction of Beta. That episode really seemed to introduce the idea of wearing a dead person's face, as if that was the beginning of The Whisperers, so this dodgy mid-way prequel just muddies the waters and feels like it was based on what someone could remember of past episodes of TWD rather than reviewing them very closely for exactly what happened and when. It just felt muddled and I never really understood the relationship between Dee/Alpha and the lady who ran the river boat. I never really understood the dynamics of that boat at all, and then I don't really get how/why the lady of the boat specifically failed Dee/Alpha and Lydia. She wasn't the one trying to take over the boat while shooting a load of random cannon fodder characters, leading to its downfall. Felt pretty pointless, really. I would have much preferred an episode that followed on from that flashback episode with Beta, to see them actually creating The Whisperers ... or, you know, how about instead an episode following on from the Negan prequel episode that showed a more fleshed-out version of the creation of The Saviours (as seen in the Here's Negan graphic novel)? Dee/Alpha is a bit nutty. She tries to blame the boat lady for all of what happened because she felt that she was "stealing" Lydia from her, and then to top it off, she would also not believe her when she caught the bartender guy signaling his confederates lurking around the swamp waiting for the right moment to try to take over the boat. It turns out that Dee/Alpha was right about that one, but she is wrong about the boat lady wanting to steal her daughter. Lydia is terrified of her mother and wants to distance herself from her, the boat lady was just complying with what she wanted. Dee/Alpha obviously refuses to acknowledge the situation and places the blame on the boat lady.

[MinionZombie]

Dee/Alpha is a bit nutty. She tries to blame the boat lady for all of what happened because she felt that she was "stealing" Lydia from her, and then to top it off, she would also not believe her when she caught the bartender guy signaling his confederates lurking around the swamp waiting for the right moment to try to take over the boat. It turns out that Dee/Alpha was right about that one, but she is wrong about the boat lady wanting to steal her daughter. Lydia is terrified of her mother and wants to distance herself from her, the boat lady was just complying with what she wanted. Dee/Alpha obviously refuses to acknowledge the situation and places the blame on the boat lady. Aye, that's what I was figuring. The storytelling was just sloppy and rushed, though, too scattered at times, and woof, those closing few minutes just stank.

[Harleydude666]

Jesus, why are you guys torturing yourselves watching this crap

[MinionZombie]

Jesus, why are you guys torturing yourselves watching this crap I suppose with this particular one it's the fact that it's a different story each week, so there's a weird kind of hope that there's be a good one or two to come along soon. Although three duds in a row isn't a great record, is it? To be fair, 1 and 3 weren't as stupendously awful as episode 2 ... but they weren't much cop either. Only three more to go ... ... we'll see if they can go for six duds in a row.

[MinionZombie]

So - episode 4... Probably the best so far, but that's not saying much. I enjoyed the idea of a guy studying the walkers like a species of animal, figuring out their migration patterns and so on, using tech to follow them and so on (although surely a drone flying that close to a walker(s) would actually distract them???) However, it doesn't quite sustain the episode, especially as I didn't really gel with the other character introduced ... I just didn't get much out of their interactions, and each of them seemed to flip-flop their attitudes an awful lot. I think this is going to be the problem with these episodes as there's not enough time to really get to know anyone, so you can never connect with them, their stories become a bit generic or even cliched, and boom it's all over. They're trying to put too much into an episode almost, if anything they need to strip back on some stories and really keep it quite simple, a very small idea, where 45 minutes feels like a full telling of that very small and contained idea. These stories, though, feel a bit rushed for 45 minutes, but also not interesting enough for anything longer. Anthony Edwards' character would've been a nice supporting character in the main show, for instance, as part of The Commonwealth so they have the best information available to avoid and deal with hordes of walkers - even re-directing them, which could lead to interesting story potential of sparing one area but destroying another and the collateral damage that results. That could've been really cool on the main show. The bit I liked most was his hideout, stacked on top of those shipping containers - although, really, a knife piercing the side of it to make for a foot hold??? Hmmm... Also, when he pushed the ladder up and then left the hook in full and reachable view - eh? Just have a little nook that'll hide the hook lying horizontal so you'll know where it is but nobody else will.

[Neil]

When there's actually episodes worth watching, let me know... In the meantime I'll carry on watching For All Mankind

[MinionZombie]

When there's actually episodes worth watching, let me know... In the meantime I'll carry on watching For All Mankind You'll probably be waiting a while...