TWD 3x09 "The Suicide King" episode discussion...**SPOILERS WITHIN**

[Cykotic]

Glenn doesn't know what the governor might or might not have done to her... he just hasn't a clue what to do next. and isn't Glenn becoming a lil badass - - - Updated - - - someone just reminded me of morgan and dwayne from episode one... what do you think happened to them?

[Moon Knight]

Glenn doesn't know what the governor might or might not have done to her... he just hasn't a clue what to do next. and isn't Glenn becoming a lil badass - - - Updated - - - someone just reminded me of morgan and dwayne from episode one... what do you think happened to them? That's hard to answer w/o spoiling the book. If they even go that route. I must say, the Governor walking in that cloud of smoke with gun drawn was pretty bad ass.

[bassman]

hang on... was that a certain someone? as in Lori? WTF is going on with Rick? That was Lori. They actually brought Sarah Wayne Callies back for that quick and dark scene for some odd reason. Anyway...It's just a continuation from the telephone calls. He's slipping. someone just reminded me of morgan and dwayne from episode one... what do you think happened to them? We may or may not know more about that before long.

[facestabber]

I can understand Daryl's decision. Merle is blood and the last time he saw him was prior to Merle having to cut off his hand. Now admittedly it's a big contrived because let's face it Daryl will go back. I loved Maggie with the precision AR firing. Though sweetheart aim for the idiot with the eyepatch. Pretty cool episode. I prefer the level headed Rick. Hate to see a good man fall from grace.

[Zombie Snack]

A good episode, but for me it was a bit of a letdown. I guess I was just hoping for a little more after the mid season break, and then watching the marathon leading up to the return of The Walking Dead. Again I thought it was a good episode, just not the balls to the wall, oh my god, whoa episode I had hoped for to launch the second half of the season.

[MinionZombie]

A solid episode - Lori's face looked well creepy in those shadows, not sure if it was just me or not, but it looked like they tweaked her face in the computer or something, to make her look a bit 'off', if that makes sense? So we've had Shane make a cameo reappearance, now Lori - who next? T-Dog - and back to having no lines? There's a lot of stuff the characters have to deal with in this episode, so it can't be all runny/jumpy/shooty, although we got some good bits of that up-front. There's a lot of debriefing for these guys, and a lot of people new to our group who have to earn the Ricktatorship's trust first. It's good that Rick & Co know Andrea is alive and vice versa. It makes sense of Daryl to go off with Merle - he is blood afterall, and he's been wanting to find him again ever since 1x03, they've been brothers their whole lives and that means something, even if Merle is an abusive elder (Carol's speech to Beth about abusive relationships was a good bit to add in there to further justify it). Naturally Daryl is gonna come back to the prison, because he'll discover that Merle isn't such hot shit after all - the Ricktatorship has allowed Daryl to become his own man, rather than an enduring underling. He doesn't want to go back to square one again. However, you can't just skip over such a thing, you've got to let the characters deal it out - the preview scene for the next episode suggests Daryl's regretting his decision too. Interesting to see two very different sides of Woodbury - one minute they're baying for blood like animals, and the next they're in total panic and looking to escape - it'll be interesting to see how it develops from here. Clearly the majority of them aren't in-the-know about TG's dark side (and Andrea has only just discovered it in the last 12 hours). Good to see Andrea fighting her corner - I've never understood the hatred she gets from some folks - Andrea isn't privy to watching episodes of The Walking Dead herself. Also - Glenn - dude's going dark. Pizza boy no more, that's for damn sure! The darkest moment of the episode - and the best gore moment - was definitely him stomping that undead head right-the-hell-in! ... Here's an interview with Glen Mazzara about 3x09: http://dailydead.com/exclusive-glen-...dead-season-3/ Who's got their boner pants on?!? (I do, I do.) I did, but then they were propelled across the room like an elastic band. Pretty cool episode. I prefer the level headed Rick. Hate to see a good man fall from grace. Although it's good that you feel so connected to the character that you don't like to see him suffer - again, interesting stuff. This is really Rick's first major challenge. It has, relatively speaking, been a cake-walk until now. It makes sense too, barely any time has passed since Lori's untimely demise, and in such a horrible way, and he's not had the time to stop and deal with it. A good episode, but for me it was a bit of a letdown. I guess I was just hoping for a little more after the mid season break, and then watching the marathon leading up to the return of The Walking Dead. Again I thought it was a good episode, just not the balls to the wall, oh my god, whoa episode I had hoped for to launch the second half of the season. Like I was saying above, there's a lot the characters have to deal with at this point. It wouldn't work if we skipped over all that, or decisions made afterwards wouldn't feel as earned, but I kind of know what you mean - although I'd wager an element of it is getting so excited for the new episode. Nothing can live up to the sheer hype and excitement. A solid episode, I thought. Here's some memes I knocked up for 3x09: http://deadshed.blogspot.co.uk/2013/...dead-3x09.html

[Trancelikestate]

Well, we had flyboy in the last episode, did no one else catch the airport zombie at the hole in Woodbury's fence?

[bassman]

Well, we had flyboy in the last episode, did no one else catch the airport zombie at the hole in Woodbury's fence? I caught that, but wondered if it was intentional because he seemed to also have some damage that I don't think the Airport zombie did.

[Zombie Snack]

LOL, I announced to everyone in the room watching, that is an homage to the airport zombie!

[Andy]

Sooo... we taking bets that daryl and meryl show up at the prison just in time to help fight off the governors army? :P

[Legion2213]

WTF is the problem with Glenn and maggie? Did I miss something? He's having a "man crisis" because he couldn't protect Maggie...and then she got all "Charles Hathcock" while he was lying about being injured. Daryl better be back within the next episode or two..as for Rick, the man has some "issues" to work through (one of them being that tidy little blonde daughter of Hershels).

[AnxietyDilemma]

LOL, I announced to everyone in the room watching, that is an homage to the airport zombie! I noticed that right away and was going to post about it here last night but thought maybe I was imagining things or looking too far into it. Glad to see that it wasn't just my imagination.

[krisvds]

What a disappointment! This series has been on the verge of becoming a messy, guilty pleasure but this new episode has really put some nails in the coffin. First: Daryl: the moment where he had to choose between his brother or the ricktatorship was anything but tense or dramatic. It felt odd, blunt even. I imagined a tense, dramatic life or death situation, not talking heads by the side of the road? And why complain about his leaving? Merle is his brother after all and it's pretty obvious taking the guy back to the prison is a no go? Andrea. That little speech in woodbury was b movie, comedy gold. This woman finds out that not only are her friends still alive but two of them were being kept hostage by the madman with the undead heads - collection, and all she can think of is 'don't shut me out now Philip ?! Who writes this shit? Woodbury: every scene set in the town is really badly staged. Take a look at the opening 'gladiator' fight and the crowd watching. This is 'generic nineties action fest - bad'! The governor: the man is not evil, he is silly; that moment where he just walked out into the streets to put the bullet in the guy's head, turns his back and then the reaction of the onlookers had me laughing out loud. Brilliant timing! Rick's little hallucination at the end, again was so badly handled it felt anything but scary or intriguing. It's just stupid. Glenn and Maggie? Really? Why? No explanation whatsoever for the silence... Glen freaking out and stomping the zombie's head, again, seemed out of place. Are they really playing it for laughs. I still kinda enjoy watching this show, but it's like watching Macgyver with zombies or something: cheesy fun.

[MinionZombie]

Well, we had flyboy in the last episode, did no one else catch the airport zombie at the hole in Woodbury's fence? I was wondering if it was a homage or not. It wasn't spot-on, but it was quite close, so yeah, I'm assuming it was an homage. as for Rick, the man has some "issues" to work through (one of them being that tidy little blonde daughter of Hershels). Grubby bastard. What a disappointment! This series has been on the verge of becoming a messy, guilty pleasure but this new episode has really put some nails in the coffin. First: Daryl: the moment where he had to choose between his brother or the ricktatorship was anything but tense or dramatic. It felt odd, blunt even. I imagined a tense, dramatic life or death situation, not talking heads by the side of the road? And why complain about his leaving? Merle is his brother after all and it's pretty obvious taking the guy back to the prison is a no go? Andrea. That little speech in woodbury was b movie, comedy gold. This woman finds out that not only are her friends still alive but two of them were being kept hostage by the madman with the undead heads - collection, and all she can think of is 'don't shut me out now Philip ?! Who writes this shit? The governor: the man is not evil, he is silly; that moment where he just walked out into the streets to put the bullet in the guy's head, turns his back and then the reaction of the onlookers had me laughing out loud. Brilliant timing! Glenn and Maggie? Really? Why? No explanation whatsoever for the silence... Glen freaking out and stomping the zombie's head, again, seemed out of place. Are they really playing it for laughs. 1) Daryl's their family now, and he feels the same way, but Merle is literally his family, and he's known Merle for his entire life, not just 8-12 months (albeit in hardcore conditions). He wants Merle to come with them, but Merle buggered that right up and naturally the others don't want Merle there, but they do want Daryl, but this is Daryl's blood - his own brother - and deep down Daryl knows Merle is an abusive son of a bitch, but as Carol was saying, it's one of those abusive relationships where Daryl (or indeed Carol with her ex) are the supplicant. 2) The speech itself wasn't very rousing to me either, or at least, not boosting enough to earn the 180 from the crowd. It needed some work. 3) I didn't find fault with this moment at all. Since the invasion and the loss of Penny-Z, the Governor's last shreds of humanity have gone. He doesn't care for public speaking and the politics anymore, and again, this is only mere hours since his battle with Michonne in which Penny-Z was put down. Plus he's got an eye out, so he's not exactly in a stable head space. 4) No explanation? They gave plenty of explanation. Glenn knows that The Governor did something to Maggie, and while she swears she wasn't raped, Glenn doesn't know that for sure - Maggie could just be telling him what he wants to hear - plus he was tortured, they attempted to feed him to a walker, and then Merle is brought back, plus Glenn feels guilty/angry about not being part of the rescue party for Daryl because he was too injured, and yet Maggie did go in to help rescue Daryl. There's a lot of darkness going on in his head at this point - a shit-ton of craziness has happened in the last 12-or-so in-show hours - and him stomping the walker's head right-in is a physical expression of it all. How is that out of place or played for laughs?

[krisvds]

They gave plenty of explanation. Glenn knows that The Governor did something to Maggie, and while she swears she wasn't raped, Glenn doesn't know that for sure - Maggie could just be telling him what he wants to hear - plus he was tortured, they attempted to feed him to a walker, and then Merle is brought back, plus Glenn feels guilty/angry about not being part of the rescue party for Daryl because he was too injured, and yet Maggie did go in to help rescue Daryl. There's a lot of darkness going on in his head at this point - a shit-ton of craziness has happened in the last 12-or-so in-show hours - and him stomping the walker's head right-in is a physical expression of it all. How is that out of place or played for laughs? Sure, I get all that. It's supposed to be a gut wrenching, dramatic moment for poor Glenn as he loses his cool and all ... I just rewatched the scene. I'm sorry, but to me it's just another in a long line of cheap 'let's have a cheap gory close up of head being stomped to bits' scene. The performance, the timing, ... might just be me, but I found it awkward. As far as overall writing, characterisation and mise-en-scène (can't come up with an exact English equivalent, forgive me, mother tongue and all ...) the series is a mess. This was just one example of a moment that's supposed to be tense and just falls flat.