TWD 7x10 "New Best Friends" episode discussion... **SPOILERS WITHIN*

[facestabber]

After another watch I can say I hate the scavengers. It got worse second view. Add that Rick Grimes hasn't trusted new people in recent seasons and now is trusting this group? This will backfire.

[MinionZombie]

After another watch I can say I hate the scavengers. It got worse second view. Add that Rick Grimes hasn't trusted new people in recent seasons and now is trusting this group? This will backfire. Erm, his trust levels were on the rise again - he'd realised that the native Alexandrians were also part of his team, and he was a part of their team. He'd also connected with The Hilltop, and is on friendly enough terms (albeit without a deal being worked out) with The Kingdom. So he's not the closed-off Rick he'd been earlier in season 6. I will say that the leader of The Scavengers irked me - that arrogant sort of tone she gave off, it's kinda smug, and it grates on me. The 'walking about' bit felt overly theatrical and I wasn't keen on that either. As for not bothering with the supplies on the boat - that was explained - The Scavengers don't go out of their way to get supplies. They don't get involved in other people's business unless there's a really good reason (or a deal) on the cards. They have some weird philosophy about how they let things come to them. Generally not that impressed by The Scavengers. I don't hate them, but I don't like them either. Wasn't keen on Oceanside either (except for that one reasonable lady who Tara got on well with). The Hilltop and The Kingdom are both fine and dandy by me - I enjoy those locations and characters. Season 7 has definitely been the most uneven season since Season 3 - but that said, Season 3 also featured some of the greatest ever episodes (3x01, 3x04, 3x15 to name three). Thus far with Season 7 I've thoroughly enjoyed 7x01, 7x02, 7x03, 7x08, and 7x09. The others have been up and down (7x06 was a decided series-wide low point for me).

[JDP]

As for not bothering with the supplies on the boat - that was explained - The Scavengers don't go out of their way to get supplies. They don't get involved in other people's business unless there's a really good reason (or a deal) on the cards. They have some weird philosophy about how they let things come to them. But their "explanation" does not make much sense. So they don't care enough about other people's business but yet they spy on them waiting for the opportunity to take things away from others once they have gone through the actual risk of getting them? Ahem! Pardon me, but that just means they are a bunch of cowardly opportunistic thieves, nothing else. Hardly the people that you would expect to want to join a motley "army" that is going to openly butt heads with a much larger group of organized ruthless thugs.

[facestabber]

Erm, his trust levels were on the rise again - he'd realised that the native Alexandrians were also part of his team, and he was a part of their team. He'd also connected with The Hilltop, and is on friendly enough terms (albeit without a deal being worked out) with The Kingdom. So he's not the closed-off Rick he'd been earlier in season 6. I will say that the leader of The Scavengers irked me - that arrogant sort of tone she gave off, it's kinda smug, and it grates on me. The 'walking about' bit felt overly theatrical and I wasn't keen on that either. As for not bothering with the supplies on the boat - that was explained - The Scavengers don't go out of their way to get supplies. They don't get involved in other people's business unless there's a really good reason (or a deal) on the cards. They have some weird philosophy about how they let things come to them. Generally not that impressed by The Scavengers. I don't hate them, but I don't like them either. Wasn't keen on Oceanside either (except for that one reasonable lady who Tara got on well with). The Hilltop and The Kingdom are both fine and dandy by me - I enjoy those locations and characters. Season 7 has definitely been the most uneven season since Season 3 - but that said, Season 3 also featured some of the greatest ever episodes (3x01, 3x04, 3x15 to name three). Thus far with Season 7 I've thoroughly enjoyed 7x01, 7x02, 7x03, 7x08, and 7x09. The others have been up and down (7x06 was a decided series-wide low point for me). No doubt necessity has lowered Rick's standards for allies. The Kingdom was easy choice as Morgan was living there. Though philosophically different than Rick, Rick knows that Morgan is a good man and therefore trusts him. Hilltop was somewhat easy as well. Jesus was in the bedroom with naked and sleeping but more importantly vulnerable Rick & Michonne. In a perverted sense Jesus earned their trust by his voyeurism LOL. Other than numbers what has the garbage kids done to earn Ricks trust? FG looked in complete distress. He wasn't being treated very well IMO. When the saviors eventually find the garbage kids what ethical code do they appear to live by which indicates that they wont simply side with the Saviors? The Saviors can show a larger and much better equipped group than a guy with a hatchet and 6 shooter. Oh and Michonnes Katana. Rick telling stories about the Boogeyman isn't gonna be enough. The garbage folk haven't experienced the brutality of the Saviors. Its similar to Gregory and Hilltop talking about Negan and the Saviors and Team Rick just blew them off as a bump in the road. Rick is too trusting here and he should know better.

[Moon Knight]

The Scavengers are well... scavengers. That's what they do. She explained it to Rick haha. They just take. Rick is looking for numbers and surviving this long with such a well put together system they must be doing something right.

[AcesandEights]

[MinionZombie]

The first hipsters of the zombie apocalypse? They're certainly smug enough for it.

[Tricky]

I'm still watching the series but I'm not really liking all these weird new groups and characters that I don't really care about. I've not read the comics as far as the series is at so I don't know how it plays out in them, but I'm really not into "The Kingdom" or the scavengers, they're just too odd and don't really fit with the way other groups including our main group were in earlier seasons. I'll stick with it, but in all honesty I hope the series moves past these odd communities soon.

[Moon Knight]

I'm still watching the series but I'm not really liking all these weird new groups and characters that I don't really care about. I've not read the comics as far as the series is at so I don't know how it plays out in them, but I'm really not into "The Kingdom" or the scavengers, they're just too odd and don't really fit with the way other groups including our main group were in earlier seasons. I'll stick with it, but in all honesty I hope the series moves past these odd communities soon. Don't worry. Honestly, this part of the comic was kind of a lull for me but it does get much better. If done RIGHT, things get pretty horrific.

[Neil]

Kind of feels like the wheels were spinning this week, and things felt a bit silly. I agree... The new group just felt like writers got carried away, and not very realistic/believable etc... Couple of other parts of the episode were interesting, but felt a bit like a fill in episode.

[shootemindehead]

Don't worry. Honestly, this part of the comic was kind of a lull for me but it does get much better. If done RIGHT, things get pretty horrific. Yeh, this series is suffering from a bit of a "calm before the storm" syndrome. Series 8 will probably concentrate of the proverbial hitting the fan. That is if we assume it follows the logic of the comic. In any case, this year is destined to go down as the worst series since the second one, I feel. It's still enjoyable, but I'm getting fed up making internal excuses for its shortcomings.

[Tricky]

I agree... The new group just felt like writers got carried away, and not very realistic/believable etc... Couple of other parts of the episode were interesting, but felt a bit like a fill in episode. They're really odd in a way crappy religious cults are always portrayed on TV, the way they all silently slope along behind the exceptionally weird leader and circled around Rick and co, then stood there not saying anything until they repeated what she said. The Walking Dead started as what I considered to be quite a realistic take on the zombie apocalypse theme in the way characters behaved and the overall bigger picture of how society has fallen apart and I loved it, but now I'm at a stage where I'm watching it half heartedly while hoping it goes back to how the first 5 seasons were. I don't want to give up on it but it's slipping down on my priorities of series to watch at the moment behind things like Black Sails, The Man in the High Castle, Game of Thrones etc

[Moon Knight]

Yeh, this series is suffering from a bit of a "calm before the storm" syndrome. Series 8 will probably concentrate of the proverbial hitting the fan. That is if we assume it follows the logic of the comic. In any case, this year is destined to go down as the worst series since the second one, I feel. It's still enjoyable, but I'm getting fed up making internal excuses for its shortcomings. I can agree with that. There are plenty of things I hate about this season.

[MinionZombie]

Yeh, this series is suffering from a bit of a "calm before the storm" syndrome. Series 8 will probably concentrate of the proverbial hitting the fan. That is if we assume it follows the logic of the comic. In any case, this year is destined to go down as the worst series since the second one, I feel. It's still enjoyable, but I'm getting fed up making internal excuses for its shortcomings. I think Season 2 has been getting a better and better reception as time has gone on. Undoubtedly, week-to-week, 2A was slow as hell and suffered from a lot of padding (and the mess that was the whole situation surrounding the first episode - cobbled together from the original 2x01 and 2x02). Season 2B really kicked things into high gear, however, and watching Season 2 on your own schedule helps paper over the pacing troubles of 2A. I think Season 7 - thus far - can be considered as uneven as Season 3. There's some awesome stuff in there, but there's also too much filler scattered around and certain elements that different people dislike for different reasons. Oceanside and The Scavengers don't feature in the comics (unless one or both are shaping up to become other, future plot points in the comics). Tricky - I know what you mean - The Scavengers feel a bit cliche with their 'post apoc theatrics' ... their leader's general smugness irks me, I must say. These elements needed much more work, to be frank. The Kingdom and The Hilltop are doing well, though (both featured in the comics). I have a feeling Season 8 will be focused on the coming war ... but we'd better get at least a satisfying preamble and initial skirmish by the end of this season. I'd imagine another between-seasons cliffhanger is in the offing, which will likely piss some viewers off, but perhaps reward AMC with high figures for 8x01. Then 8A (perhaps even into 8B) could be dominated by the war, showing us a relatively condensed period of time somewhat akin to Season 6A. In some ways it's difficult. Team Rick need to be under Negan's thumb for enough time so it's not a case of 'boo hoo, we are Negan' and then two minutes later they're all of a sudden back to Team Rick mode - that'd be silly - but the pacing of 7A was definitely troubled (7x06 has become the focus of my ire in that regard within the context of 7A). If they had ended Season 6 with the deaths of Abraham and Glenn, we could have perhaps had a time jump to find everyone a chunk of time into a Negan dictatorship and gotten back towards fighting fit shape quicker ... but that has problems, too. You'd miss the initial loss of leadership from Rick, you'd miss the breaking apart of the team, you'd miss the chance for the characters to grieve their losses, and you'd leap into action against The Saviours too quickly in terms of screen time and the impact of their arrival would be considerably weakened. Basically, neither approach is without problems.

[facestabber]

Tad off topic but I loved season 2. And that is because it felt like the ZA. The group felt isolated as if the world had ended and the farm was their safe sanctuary. Admittedly season 2 had to have the ramped up second half for it to work. The Sophia reveal is still a punch in the gut to watch. 2 worked because I felt dread. Many episodes were with minimal walkers but you knew they were coming and the group feared them. Now the Walkers are more of a nuisance as bickering humans forgot how to be humane. In short, for me, the show is losing its magic. Still love the characters and will still watch.