* Some have expressed controversy regarding Michonne, even going so far as to call her a "ninja", and while her sudden arrival amidst Merle's search party was a bit of a stretch in terms of believability, it was still good fun. I can't imagine this scene will further endear those struggling to accept her character though.
* Merle's mean streak - interesting to see that, while relatively a bit cuddlier in earlier episodes, there is a darker side to Merle (perhaps we'll see more of that next week too). He isn't above murder to suit his own means, nor lying to his boss. While Daryl has thrived out from beneath Merle's shadow, he has always maintained a line in the sand - indeed he's become more human as time has passed - so it's interesting to see the flip side represented in Merle.
* The phone - it was good that this wasn't played out too long. Wisely they kept it to a mere episode-and-a-bit, but it was a nice touch to have Hershel also hear that the phone had a tone to it, which temporarily gave credence to the possibility that we might see a departure from the comic version of the phone subplot. Probably better too that they didn't overplay the 'insane Rick' card as that could have worn thin if left to dangle too long. It was also good to see Rick go through a range of emotions - his own path of accepting Lori's death - from utterly desperate to escape the prison, to realisation and acceptance of his failings.
* Andrea's bloodlust - interesting to see that Andrea isn't so squeaky clean. To be fair, she doesn't know that The Governor has a bunch of severed heads in fish tanks, nor his zombified daughter, locked up in his safe room, and hypnotised by the possibilities of the good side of Woodbury, it's entirely justifiable that she would gradually move closer to The Governor - a man who is practiced at patient poisoning of hearts, minds, and souls. Andrea was eager to learn how to shoot, and her inate skill with a firearm was found relatively late in season two - might we see her bloodlust being nurtured, rather than utilised for survival?
* The new girl - she's no Daryl Dixon with a crossbow, but will she eventually become a main cast member? I'd be up for that happening ... as long as it wasn't at the expense of a longer-serving cast member. We've already stacked up considerable losses.
* One of the best things about Daryl Dixon is that we get mere snippets of his back story at rare occasions, but they're so well drawn. Efficient snifters of information to gradually shade in the details - and, again, a chance for the human characters to cope with death. It's important to not let these characters become flippant about the losses of those closest to them.
* "You know, end of the day, relaxing" - Oscar got perhaps the best line of the episode. That moment really made me chuckle.
* There was an interesting sense of hope to the climax of this episode too, despite the prospect of horrible things to come - Rick's moment with his new-born daughter, and Daryl finding an exhausted Carol (good too that they didn't drag out the "where's Carol?" plot line too).
BEST GORE MOMENT:
Walker guts waterfall - in a sticky spot, Michonne slicing open the gut of a walker was gleefully icky. Likewise, Michonne's "GO BACK" message - crafted from body parts - was rather inventive.
BEST TWIST ON THE COMICS:
It looks like we'll be seeing a subtle but potentially powerfully dramatic twist in the next episode - Glenn and Maggie have been captured by Merle and are being interrogated. In the comics it was Glenn and Michonne - this is an interesting tweak, particularly because this will get personal for Glenn. How exactly they'll handle what's to come will be fascinating - things got pretty damn dark in the comics around about this point.
THE CLIFFHANGER:
Michonne, clad in zombie guts, arriving at the prison is seemingly all a part of tying these two disparate storylines together in a sort of 'character exchange'. The 'zombie smell' element used in 1x02 "Guts" is back - which might be a bit controversial for some viewers - but it does prove to be a memorable image, not least for Rick's viewpoint as his first introduction to this stranger carrying a shopping basket.
Originally Posted by erisi236
Actually, this episode kind of pointed out something a little strange. How many of the group would still be alive had they bothered to remember that smearing a little zombie guts on themselves would make the dead ignore them?
Seriously, it was in the 2nd episode, and then the idea just went away, and here it is brought up again.
But then you'd have to be walking around all the time with zombie goo all over you ... not very hygenic. I'd rather be (relatively) clean and keep an eye & ear out for trouble.
Originally Posted by Moon Knight
I'm just gonna assume Michonne was injured and didn't want to take the chance and attack Merle and make things worse for everyone. Plus, it was a good way for her to find out about the prison and get the supplies there and meet the old gang.
Prof Chaos, in your show spoiler, I was thinking the same thing. I really do hope it doesn't go that route.
1) Merle has a gun, and a bullet's loads faster than a katana wielding badass on-foot from like 15 metres away.
2) A theory I have regarding that:
Daryl will torture Glenn a bit, but nothing really bad, or perhaps nothing major - perhaps more intimidation - particularly if he wants to find his brother.
As for Maggie - it seems that yeah, she's taken the place of Michonne, and I'd wager that The Governor (we saw him entering the 'cell' with Maggie in the preview of next week's episode) gets his sick kicks with poor Maggie ... however, I dearly hope that Maggie survives, and Glenn can help her exact some twisted revenge - it makes sense in a way, to make that whole bit more personal to Glenn. Also, you could tie-in Maggie's attempted suicide from later in the run - like she returns to the prison traumatised and tries to off herself, but Glenn saves her and she has to deal with the mental trauma of it all.
Poor Maggie - I dearly hope she survives, but surely she must, there's so much more to do with the Glenn/Maggie relationship, and we've already lost so many people as it is.
Based on the beating Glenn takes in the preview for next week I think the gloves are off. If anything like the spoiler happens to Maggie I hope Woodbury burns to the ground.
One thing that irks me about the portrayal of Maggies character is that she's always so cleaned up and pretty looking for being in the situation they're in.
Im absolutely LOVING this season.
Im also finding the Governor extremely likable and believable and that has me very confused. I can remember reading an interview months ago either with Morrissey or Mazarra and whoever it was said that we would see HOW the Governor became the character from the comics and I guess this is what we are seeing now. That little giggle that Morrissey does gives me the willies every time I hear it. Its a great way to communicate to the audience that somethings not quite right under the mask. I noticed that he asked Merle for Michonnes sword and HEAD. We know what he wants to do with the head, don't we?
I still think the show struggles with characterisation, clunky dialogue and poor logic in certain cases though. The whole Carol situation was handled very very badly. Really hamfisted across 3 episodes and I didn't believe that she was dead for one moment because it was telegraphed so obviously.
2 episodes to the mid season break already? Jeeez. Dramatic story changes ahead methinks.
The body is the instrument on which imagination plays.
anybody else really hoping they deviate from the source material and kill andrea off soon? her character was so awesome in the comics, but this tv version is just a constant letdown and source of frustration. so poorly written and played....
We're led to assume the store where Merle kidnapped Glenn and Maggie was close to the prison. Before Merle shows up and Michonne is watching them, Glenn mentioned something about the prison being a "straight shot" from their location.
We're led to assume the store where Merle kidnapped Glenn and Maggie was close to the prison. Before Merle shows up and Michonne is watching them, Glenn mentioned something about the prison being a "straight shot" from their location.
Never read the comic and intentionally so now. I want all the material to be fresh as much as possible, although from what I understand the writers stray somewhat from the comic version. That kind of thing may have pissed off Tolkien fans with the LotR trilogy, but it looks like TWD fans like the changes in the televised series pretty much.
Odd that Michonne would know that zombie duo "Irk & Dirk" in chains masked her living scent, but that the zombie inards splatted and smeared all over her wouldn't logically have the same effect.
Last edited by Ragnarr; 20-Nov-2012 at 12:46 AM.
Reason: ed
"When there's no more room in Taco Bell, the unfed will walk the Earth!"
Never read the comic and intentionally so now. I want all the material to be fresh as much as possible, although from what I understand the writers stray somewhat from the comic version. That kind of thing may have pissed off Tolkien fans with the LotR trilogy, but it looks like TWD fans like the changes in the televised series pretty much.
Odd that Michonne would know that zombie duo "Irk & Dirk" in chains masked her living scent, but that the zombie inards splatted and smeared all over her wouldn't logically have the same effect.
Good observation, I didn't even register that factoid. Guess there is a good reason for hanging out here all the time, though my wife wouldn't buy it.
As far as the comics, I've read the wiki stuff on it, that's it. Sometimes it helps, sometimes...
I would've liked to see the stuff Dale went through, like hooking up on Andrea, and the whole cannibals eating his leg and all that. I kind of wish they wouldn't stray as much, the things I read I always can't wait to hopefully see them played out.
I also didn't want to see Carol go so soon, before she went into heat, so to speak. Guess she can't try to three way with Rick and Lori now, maybe Daryl is gonna have to take the brunt force of her lustful lustiness...
These next two episodes are gonna be brutal. I can feel it. I'm actually worried about the two lovebirds!
"That's the deal, right? The people who are living have it harder, right? … the whole world is haunted now and there's no getting out of that, not until we're dead."
That kind of thing may have pissed off Tolkien fans with the LotR trilogy, but it looks like TWD fans like the changes in the televised series pretty much.
Some do. But I've seen die hard comic fans on the web flip out over very minor changes. Some people can't grasp the idea that when reading a comic your mind fills in the blanks, and when a TV show is created from that comic, the way the blanks are filled isn't according to your specific ideas. Others would totally prefer a panel by panel recreation of the comics.
anybody else really hoping they deviate from the source material and kill andrea off soon? her character was so awesome in the comics, but this tv version is just a constant letdown and source of frustration. so poorly written and played....
Yes, I agree, we were talking about this in one of the last episode threads.
She is a generic, cookie cutter, "Smarmy bitch" character. She has the exaggerated head swivels, the cheap sassy attitude, she constantly over acts, over-emotes both with her voice infliction and body language, does those annoying pauses in conversations, like she's thinking about what to say next...it comes across as really fake and forced. She's portrayed as the generic blonde bitch found in every modern drama series. Her personality is just way too condescending and abrasive in the show. And she also has that constant, self-satisfied, smug look on her face, with those grand canyon ass-crack dimples making her look like the Joker or some shit, which just kind of multiplies all the other poor qualities of the character, as portrayed on the show. Not saying the actress isn't GOOD, but she really messed this role up.
Andrea in the comics was much more "girl-next-door" and friendly. She got bitchy when she HAD TO, like when she was getting into arguments with Allen about his mental condition after losing his wife, but she was still very likable at all times. She was also much younger. Why the fuck is she in her late 30's / early 40's in the show? Wasn't she in college in the comic?
The worst Andrea moment in the comics I can remember is when she's doing that annoying, drawn-out speech about making clothes for the people when they first reach the prison. I cringed reading it. If you took that speech, added some smarmy bitchiness and over-acting, multiplied by annoying conversational pauses where she briefly looks away from the person she's talking to and turns back to look at them mid-sentence, double, and then melted together with over-acting and man-hands, you'd get the Andrea in the show.
This next episode is gonna be tense. Ricks group is going to get jaw dropping intel about the gov, Andrea and Merle's survival and the capture of Glenn and Maggie. Unfortunately for our group they lack the personnel and firepower to approach Woodbury head-on. Can they send Daryl in and use the brother angle to infiltrate Woodbury?
I hate to say it but it sure would be nice to have Shane to confront Woodbury and the gov.
The smell thing is pretty annoying and I hope it just goes away again.
There aren't enough expletives available for me to demonstrate how utterly stupid the smell thing is.
It's a real shame they chose to bring this back, as it's probably the dumbest thing I've seen in the "zombie world". Apart from ceiling crawlers and raptor screams, but they don't even register to me, as films with that crap get binned by me.
I was really hoping that they'd dropped that nonsense.
If the zombies can smell their victims, then how come the zombie couldn't smell Rick and Co under the cars in S02E01, or how come Andrea wasn't sniffed out by the zombie in the camper van?
Not only does it give the protagonists a "get out", it also makes tense "hiding from zombies when they're really close" moments redundant, as the zombies can "smell" their victims? Or not...or they can...or...whatever the f*ck!
The whole idea is as dumb as a box of frogs and liable to get the show into some serious WTF moments, as it appears and disappears at random.
Stupid bloody idea.
Apart from that the episode was grand.
I'm runnin' this monkey farm now Frankenstein.....
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Originally Posted by erisi236
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