TWD 8x02 "The Damned" episode discussion... **SPOILERS*

[JDP]

I'm drunk. But does someone want to tell me what the hell is going on? Basically this: for some reason Rick & company are making things over-complicated. They had Negan & his top henchmen cornered at their headquarters and directly in front of them within range of their guns, a great chance to end the war right then and there before it had truly even started, but instead decided to go about it the really hard way and take on the Saviors one outpost at a time. It makes for great action and tension and what not, which is obviously what the producers of the show want to keep us hooked every week, but logistically for the characters in the story it makes less sense. Anyone can see they are going to end up losing a lot of people by doing things the hard way.

[Neil]

I'm drunk. But does someone want to tell me what the hell is going on? My friend said exactly the same thing to me. He's confused about it to. Hence my question about the overall editing/story line of that episode! And of course it even goes back to the idea of not simply shooting Negan instead of blowing the piss out of an innocent window.

[shootemindehead]

Cheers lads. I may have to watch that episode again without the benefit of a belly full of Guinness, but I'm really not at ease with how this is proceeding at the moment. The course of events didn't make sense to me last night at all. Was that a flash back, flash forward, flash sideways? Has 'The Walking Dead' become 'Lost'? Or, did the events in Ep2 just directly follow Ep1? If that's the case, why did Rick bother with his "only Negan has to die" guff, when they're killing nearly everybody left right and centre? Except for a few odd souls here and there and especially one long haired fella, who you just know is going to be trouble in a few weeks time.

[MinionZombie]

No idea how anyone couldn't follow that episode. It was pretty linear in the plotting. There was nothing confusing about it. The overall plan? Is there some tidying up it could use as an overall arc? Sure. Was episode two hard to follow? No ... I'm frankly baffled by some of the comments here. Last week's flashbacks/forwards - again - not hard to follow, it's not like TWD is the first show to do 'flash-wherevers'. Do I know exactly what's going on? No, but neither should I - the peeling back of those particular layers has only just started. You don't tell a joke punchline-first and ditch the set-up. Novels don't run for 10 pages and then they're done. There's intrigue and mystery there to be gradually explored - how is this hard to understand?! Meanwhile the likes of Game of Thrones and Westworld (both great shows ... albeit one moreso than the other) have extremely complex narratives (possibly the most complex on telly at the moment), and nobody moans about it. ... Anyway ... Moon: the rabbit thing? Ooh, I didn't notice that! Perhaps Rick adopts the kid?

[Neil]

No idea how anyone couldn't follow that episode. It was pretty linear in the plotting. There was nothing confusing about it. The overall plan? Is there some tidying up it could use as an overall arc? Sure. Was episode two hard to follow? No ... I'm frankly baffled by some of the comments here. Last week's flashbacks/forwards - again - not hard to follow, it's not like TWD is the first show to do 'flash-wherevers'. Do I know exactly what's going on? No, but neither should I - the peeling back of those particular layers has only just started. You don't tell a joke punchline-first and ditch the set-up. Novels don't run for 10 pages and then they're done. There's intrigue and mystery there to be gradually explored - how is this hard to understand?! Meanwhile the likes of Game of Thrones and Westworld (both great shows ... albeit one moreso than the other) have extremely complex narratives (possibly the most complex on telly at the moment), and nobody moans about it. ... Anyway ... Moon: the rabbit thing? Ooh, I didn't notice that! Perhaps Rick adopts the kid? My take is they are attacking two locations at the same time, shooting as much ammunition as possible, trying to hit the least number of people and most windows? With Rick looking for weapons too... and... Oh I don't know... And then Morgan and his two mates at the door! So they open it, shoot a saviour, and then three more come around the corner. All three of them have their guns pointed in the right direction, at the saviours... And they do what? Pull the triggers their fingers are already on? No, the do nothing and even have time to look at each other instead, before getting shot. Couldn't they just have envisaged the three new saviours were a window? It just seems when there's characters wondering around at locations, and you're not quite sure where/why, something's not ideal I am intrigued by Morales saying, “It’s over, Rick. I called the Saviors back, and they’re coming.”

[JDP]

There shouldn't be a reason to be confused about the order of events. Episode 2 is obviously happening after what we saw in episode 1, for several reasons: 1- Rick and Daryl are searching for the location of the Saviors' heavy weapons so that they can't get to the Sanctuary and attempt to cut through the horde of zombies that have blockaded it. 2- The Savior posing as a worker who gets captured by Jesus and Tara asks if the families at the Sanctuary are OK, so he seems to know that it has been under attack. 3- People who died (the two guys accompanying Morgan in the raid of the Savior compound) or got badly injured (Eric) in this episode were seen alive and well at the siege of the Sanctuary in the previous episode.

[Moon Knight]

I'm drunk. But does someone want to tell me what the hell is going on? The Hilltop and Kingdon groups are crippling Negan’s forces by removing the various outpost. Rick and Daryl are looking for the Saviors heavy weaponry stash that Dwight had provided intell on. Rick killed a man who he thought was protecting the weapons but it turned out he was just protecting his child. Rick undstands what he just did and is blindsided by Morales who left the original Atlanta group in season 1. Apparently he’s a Savior now.

[shootemindehead]

No idea how anyone couldn't follow that episode. It was pretty linear in the plotting. There was nothing confusing about it.

[Moon Knight]

Sorry, Shoot, didn’t realize you got your answer on a different page. And yeah, watching drunk can do that to you haha.

[shootemindehead]

No worries moon. I might have to have a rerun of that episode later, or just leave the whole thing til half time and watch 7 in a row.

[Harleydude666]

So wait a sec. I’m supposed to believe that Rick and Morales meet up again 6years later when one of them was heading in the opposite direction in the middle of the apocalypse??? Talk about thin writing. Why does every loose end need to be tied up? I like always wondering what happened to Morales and his family. And I wished we never found out what happened to Beth. Some things need to be a mystery and keep the audience unsettled.

[MinionZombie]

But then think about it another way. There's only so many places to go to in the zombie apocalypse. Various routes will be impassable (e.g. freeways clogged up with cars abandoned near the beginning), and various locations will either be decimated or picked clean (so no point sticking around there). Morales' intention was to head where he was going, but that intention could have changed very quickly according to some kind of circumstance and they had to jet in another direction. With the Saviours having various groups out and about, it's 50/50 whether you'll bump into them. It's a dangerous world, so freely exploring isn't an option (you could lose your life just going for a stroll ... actually, Hershel's monologue from Season 4 suits this point ). Some of the Saviour's 'communities in servitude' will be specifically targeted, while others will have been stumbled upon. There are people from all communities who scavenge - sooner or later you're going to trip over each other as you're all scoping out the same dwindling number of potentially useful locations (see how Jesus entered the show).

[Harleydude666]

But then think about it another way. There's only so many places to go to in the zombie apocalypse. Various routes will be impassable (e.g. freeways clogged up with cars abandoned near the beginning), and various locations will either be decimated or picked clean (so no point sticking around there). Morales' intention was to head where he was going, but that intention could have changed very quickly according to some kind of circumstance and they had to jet in another direction. With the Saviours having various groups out and about, it's 50/50 whether you'll bump into them. It's a dangerous world, so freely exploring isn't an option (you could lose your life just going for a stroll ... actually, Hershel's monologue from Season 4 suits this point ). Some of the Saviour's 'communities in servitude' will be specifically targeted, while others will have been stumbled upon. There are people from all communities who scavenge - sooner or later you're going to trip over each other as you're all scoping out the same dwindling number of potentially useful locations (see how Jesus entered the show). I wish I could go with that logic but it’s way too thin, it’s a very big country out there. I think the show runners know the ratings are taking a big hit and now just trying to pull out all the tricks

[facestabber]

I wish I could go with that logic but it’s way too thin, it’s a very big country out there. I think the show runners know the ratings are taking a big hit and now just trying to pull out all the tricks How far off is it from Rick finding Lori and Coral after a horse ride, tank visit and the timing of a Glenn supply raid. As far as Morales goes, it doesn't bother me. I don't imagine things will end well as Daryl is in there somewhere and he won't be happy seeing Rick threatened. Morales is a story but I doubt they expected a ratings boost of significance because of it.

[Moon Knight]

I wish I could go with that logic but it’s way too thin, it’s a very big country out there. I think the show runners know the ratings are taking a big hit and now just trying to pull out all the tricks Haha Morales wasn’t brought back for ratings, barely anyone remembered who he was, so nah, I don’t think so. Big country yeah but not impossible to happen. If there is one thing that was thin it was Jeus and Tara going tit for tat about killing again. I’m so done with that argument.