TWD 4x09 "After" episode discussion... **SPOILERS WITHIN**

[Legion2213]

Just spotted a really horrible error in the opening shot (38 to 42 second mark)...if you have it recorded, check out the top down view of all the walkers wandering around...there is one that is meant to be dead lying on the floor, but the scale is way off!!! If it was standing up it would be about 12ft tall!

[MinionZombie]

Just spotted a really horrible error in the opening shot (38 to 42 second mark)...if you have it recorded, check out the top down view of all the walkers wandering around...there is one that is meant to be dead lying on the floor, but the scale is way off!!! If it was standing up it would be about 12ft tall! haha! You're right! Green shirt, blue jeans - waaaaay off-scale compared to the others. Maybe they thought it looked too small otherwise, so they enlarged it, but now that I've seen it, it does look a bit daft. Hadn't noticed that (it's right on the bottom of the opening frame) as I was distracted by the burning tank - although I was hoping to see the tank commander guy walked around as a walker (or see his munched-on body).

[Legion2213]

haha! You're right! Green shirt, blue jeans - waaaaay off-scale compared to the others. Maybe they thought it looked too small otherwise, so they enlarged it, but now that I've seen it, it does look a bit daft. Hadn't noticed that (it's right on the bottom of the opening frame) as I was distracted by the burning tank - although I was hoping to see the tank commander guy walked around as a walker (or see his munched-on body). It's like some kid dropped his action man in among his star wars figures...or maybe it's a Tyrant a la Resi Evil

[thxleo]

Was it just me, or during the scene where Michonne is walking through the woods with the gaggle of walkers, the puppet zombie in that single shot ... was that a reference to An American Werewolf In London? It looks an awful lot like the guy who gets savaged by the wolf at the beginning and then appears all mangled as an undead version of himself in the porno cinema. You can see a couple more glimpses of the puppet in this video. Gotta love a bit of zombie puppet work. MZ, that is indeed dead Jack from American Werewolf in London. Another zombie cameo from Greg, who loves that stuff!

[rongravy]

Overall I loved it. Herschel's head made me let out a big "Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww." I'd love to have that badboy. My beef is with the Michonne pet walkers, too. First, the whole not smelling fresh meat because two docile walkers are tagging along. Cringe worthy... And someone already mentioned their immediate peacefulness as soon as they lost the ability to rend flesh. Those walkers around her should've torn her to shreds. I did like her flashback, very nice. But they need to shitcan the whole smell deal. If they can see you, you should be toast. I know it's not my show to command and make the rules, but come on.

[Morto Vivente]

I've really enjoyed season 4 so far and last night's episode was another to add to the list. Although, the whole smell/camo issue seems contradictory. I remember Nicotero saying that for the season 2 finale they removed the extras' breath vapour from the shots because zeds don't breath... Okay fair enough. However, if they don't breath, how can they smell anything? I just tried smelling my sweaty armpit without breathing, nothing, not a whiff. Am I missing something here?

[sandrock74]

I don't think its outright smell that zombies go by but some undefined new "detection sense" that they use. This sense can obviously be "scrambled" by moving at their same pace, staying quiet and in the presence of docile walkers. As it is, it didn't seem to take the other walkers too much time (you know, for walkers) to hash out the human in their midst once Michonne started to move in a coordinated manner and make some noise. Almost like they suspected her but their "detection sense" was being screwed with (like Dutch covering himself in mud to avoid the Predators infrared vision). Remember, the whole smell idea was just a guess by the survivors, not some scientific evidence that was presented as fact.

[zomtom]

I thoroughly enjoyed the episode. It certainly wasn't as good as the mid-season finale but it was still a solid episode. I really enjoyed Carl's storyline. Who would believe he was a little prick just two seasons ago? Totally loved Michonne's backstory. Now I can understand her character a little better. FINALLY. somebody tells Rick off and the sombitch has to be unconscious!! I just wished they actually showed the scene of all three reuniting at the end. Loved the acting by Carl and Michonne. It's a damned shame this show doesn't get any love from the Emmy's or the Golden Globes.

[ProfessorChaos]

Who would believe he was a little prick just two seasons ago? some of us still feel this way in season 4 It's a damned shame this show doesn't get any love from the Emmy's or the Golden Globes. there's just too many other great show on tv, as we're in the "golden age of television".....breaking bad, game of thrones, boardwalk empire, homeland, mad men, downton abbey.....the list goes on and on of other shows that are more deserving.....perhaps for special effects for walkers, but one thing that's starting to really annoy me is the constant hissing, snarling, and teeth-gnashing the walkers do. i find walkers, ghouls, zombies, whatever you want to call them way creepier when they moan or don't make any sound at all. and it also seems that almost all walkers sound alike, almost like a "laugh track" used for sit-coms. THEY ALL SOUND ALMOST EXACTLY THE SAME...kinda distracting.

[shootemindehead]

Oh me too!! It was a great episode.. . . I just have one major problem with the whol Micchone thing. I can understand her two previous zombies on chains being so docile. They had been around her so long that they no longer saw her as food and were no longer aggresive. But these two new ones. . . one minute they are impailing themselves on spikes to get her. . . and then . . all pf a sudden. . just because they no longer have arms or jaws. . . they are docile little kittens? Makes no sense. THEY don't know they can't eat her, they are brainless automotons. How would they know they no longer have the means to get her and ingest her? And why would they just go where she wanted them to just with a little guide rope? Shouldn't they be chasing her? Instead she is somehow able to follow just behind them and all the other zombies just dont pay her any attention? Silly Agreed, and that was going through my mind too. Again, bad writing. I also just don't get why the other zombies would simply leave her off. Why? If the pet zombies thing works, then why wouldn't walking amongst a load of zombies quietly not work just as well?

[MinionZombie]

I think with the pet walkers, they're kind of the 'lead' to other walkers ... the pet walkers aren't causing a fuss, so why should any of the others? The other walkers are taking their cue from the pets. Yes, the whole smell deal has been a bizarre addition that seems very confused/contradictory ... it's far from a deal breaker, it is what it is, I'm not really fussed about it generally. Nobody has tried 'walking like a zombie' on the show really, and that might look a bit daft, but then I'd imagine no survivors would really want to test that theory. It didn't really seem to work for The Governor during his opening montage in 4x06 when the walker went for him, albeit in a rather sedate pace, so maybe it worked to an extent that it didn't get the walker all riled up, but the walker still went for him.

[shootemindehead]

The smell thing we can still let go, as it were, because the characters could be wrong, if you get me. I go into the show with the caveat that we really don't know what attracts the zombies to their meal. The characters may think it's smell, but it could be something else setting them off. With the pets though, we have Michonne gawping at her zombie lookalike and nothing's happening, when they've been set off on a lot less. It's just not a very good setup or good writing and unnecessary too, as that whole set up is written just to give her some sort of bollocks epiphany anyway. It's another notch in the foundation of what is a good show over all. I keep saying it but there really does need to be an oracle, of sorts, who acts as a logical naysayer to cheap writing. For instance, instead of having Michonne and her instant pets, they could just have had her skipping through the woods avoiding the zombies. She could then stumble upon her lookalike and have pretty much the same reaction. Perhaps she's hiding in some bushes and watching affixed from a short distance. She could then be attacked and her slaughter can ensue then and there. It's the same outcome, less awkwardly done.

[bassman]

Easily the closest comic-to-film episode since Darabont's Days Gone Bye. So many awesome comic moments. Really got the comic nerd in me smiling. Nicotero has come really far with his directing skills since the first webisode series. Very, very nice episode. The Michonne dream sequence was top-notch.

[facestabber]

Overall very happy with this episode. Expected and content that Michonne returned to pay her final act of respect by ending Hershel's misery. I felt Michonne couldn't let Hershel's situation go unresolved. I have a good feeling and connection with Michonne. I hope now that we know her back story we don't lose her soon. Dissapointed that the Gov's corpse wasn't being torn apart ala the horse from 1-1. Some of the Walker rules get bypassed and a recently dead corpse should be devoured.

[MinionZombie]

I'd totally forgotten, but someone pointed out elsewhere that the opening shot of 4x09 mirrors the closing shot of 1x01 - a tank swarmed by walkers viewed from above. As for 'not ending the episode with Michonne, Rick, and Carl meeting' - it's better to go out on more of a punch note. Seeing that re-team is inevitable anyway, so why do we need to see it happen? The episode would end on a trailing-off moment, rather than a nice sharp moment ("it's for you"), which also somewhat ties into the broader themes of the episode. A nice touch that I didn't initially quite pick up on was, as Nicotero explained, that Carl turns his head and exposes his neck to what he thinks is his walker-ised father - he doesn't want to go on without him, so he'd rather die, and is fully prepared to let that happen. Great episode for Chandler Riggs, too - he's just getting better and better on the show - and when, with the start of Season 4A, they were talking about how they thought Riggs was ready to basically head-up his own episode, I was thinking of just this sort of thing, anticipating Volume 9 of the comics would come into play sooner or later. So it was cool to see the lad get the chance to essentially lead a whole episode. I think the father/son themes were stronger here in this episode than they were in the equivalent part of the comics as Riggs is older than his comic book counterpart (although I did notice in Volume 19 that Carl seems to have aged, somewhat suddenly, by a year or two's worth), and - like I was saying before - around about that age of 13 is when boys start challenging their fathers ... it's just that here it's in the wake of a horrible tragedy that has torn their world asunder once more, so it's even more amped-up. Very pleased with the episode, and I agree with bassman, Nicotero's direction is getting stronger with each episode he does. Pleased to see that next week's episode will be Tricia "Clear" Brock's third episode.