FEAR The Walking Dead - Season 4 discussion...

[MinionZombie]

This is gonna be better than season 8. Telling you, MZ, Fear has been steadily getting better and better and now it’s a completely new show. I’ll know for sure after the next episode. Steady on, lad. Fear got "steadily better"? I don't agree with you on that, it just went downhill for me, which was a bummer. I never felt all that fussed about the antagonists, the regular characters that I did like started to do stupid or annoying things - even Madison was on shaky ground for a spell there - and it was so chock full o'filler too often. It always felt drawn out. There were certain characters or episodes or parts that I quite enjoyed, but I was ready to pack it all in by the end of Season 3 - only the drastic changes have brought me back out of curiosity and I've been rewarded with a groovy 4x01. We'll see how it goes from this point forth...

[Moon Knight]

Let me explain better. Seasons 1-2 weren’t really doing it for me. Season 3 though? That’s where the show started to pick up. Fear to me at this point isn’t any worse than the main show. Where the main show is killing me with it’s formuilac format like having Rick constantly away from the group to the same narrative being told over and over, Fear at least takes chances with its storytelling. Both shows do share similar faults of course like the need to constantly separating everyone; a flaw I really hope both shows fix. S8 did a good job of staying away from complete bottle episodes and that’s why it was superior to S7. In the end all I’m saying is that Fear isn’t the bad show it once was. It actually does feel different than the flagship program. Loving the new characters so far.

[MinionZombie]

Fear at least takes chances with its storytelling. Now that they've got a new showrunner, have done a massive time jump, and have inserted a whole bunch of new faces (plus Morgan). And did you forget the major death mid-way through Season 8 of TWD? That was a major shake-up shocker. I don't get this 'same thing over and over' criticism of TWD either, especially in relation to All Out War, as AOW has been different from any previous conflict with a climax that, again, is unlike any previous clash with antagonists and "what comes after" is, likewise, different from any previous conflict. The problem with FearTWD in the 2nd and 3rd seasons was it abandoned it's reason for being (to show the initial outbreak) and then went about retreading ground that TWD had already done (e.g. crazy Chris, various moral quandries). Now, though, 4x01 feels like a new show - for the better - but I just hope they can maintain that from this point forth. VIEWING FIGURES - the live airing figures showed a good bump for FearTWD. Season 3 had closed with 2.23m (after a series low of 1.99m for 3x11), but Season 4 kicked off with 4.09m ... there'll be the 'lookie lou' factor to take into account, so we'll see what next week brings, but of course these - much like with TWD - are just the live figures.

[Moon Knight]

The same thing over and over I was referring to is plot elements like “Are we too far gone?” “Should we kill or not kill?” “Can we come back from this?” and how many times has Rick gone from good guy, to murder jacket Rick, back to morally good Rick. MZ, you got me mistaken haha you know how much I defended the show. But the four points I made above are issues to me that are always present somehow. On way or another. As far as taking chances- I should have said they don’t shy away from gore and violence as much and yes they even added the two F bombs we were promised. Okay that above point was kinda tongue in cheek.

[MinionZombie]

The same thing over and over I was referring to is plot elements like “Are we too far gone?” “Should we kill or not kill?” “Can we come back from this?” and how many times has Rick gone from good guy, to murder jacket Rick, back to morally good Rick. As far as taking chances- I should have said they don’t shy away from gore and violence as much and yes they even added the two F bombs we were promised. 1) Yeah, we've had Rick swaying a bit, but you could also argue it's a seesawing world and scenarios he's dealing with change. However, all those things were repeated on FearTWD as well, to far lesser effect, both in terms of their execution as well as the fact that TWD had already covered them. 2) Really? Where were the f-bombs?

[Moon Knight]

1) Yeah, we've had Rick swaying a bit, but you could also argue it's a seesawing world and scenarios he's dealing with change. However, all those things were repeated on FearTWD as well, to far lesser effect, both in terms of their execution as well as the fact that TWD had already covered them. 2) Really? Where were the f-bombs? For Fear? Nick dropped one as did Madison. I agree, though, Fear did rehash some of the same themes TWD has done. Either way, I'm pretty hyped for this new season of Fear. I think it doesn't get a fair shake as of late but that's just my opinion. Both shows has flaws but I still enjoy them both tremendously.

[MinionZombie]

For Fear? Nick dropped one as did Madison. Oh, in FearTWD? Ah, I thought you were talking about the supposed f-bombs they were gonna drop on TWD at some point in Season 8 (but then never happened despite the tee-hee-hee tease they made of the whole thing, along with the *gasp* naked walker! )

[Moon Knight]

Oh, in FearTWD? Ah, I thought you were talking about the supposed f-bombs they were gonna drop on TWD at some point in Season 8 (but then never happened despite the tee-hee-hee tease they made of the whole thing, along with the *gasp* naked walker! ) Haha yeah, dude, false advertisement!

[MinionZombie]

4x02 "Another Day in the Diamond" Directed by: Michael E. Satrazemis Written by: Andrew Chambliss & Ian B. Goldberg Can episode two live up to the fresh new feeling of 4x01? Let's find out...

[Moon Knight]

I liked it, but, reserving judgement until we see what the heck happened with the Vultures outside their camp. Ffs we literally just went through this. Hopefully there is a twist. There has to be! I also hope Madison isn’t dead.

[JDP]

The episode was quite short on explanations as to how they got from the whole mess at the dam to the baseball stadium. They obviously will stretch these explanations through "flashbacks" in several episodes.

[MinionZombie]

Solid episode. Enjoyed it. Liked little details such as the exploding baseball distractions and the three presses on the walkie talkie. Do you reckon that girl poisoned the crops, or was it just a convenient bit of bad luck for The Diamond that the Vultures could throw into their spiel?

[Moon Knight]

Solid episode. Enjoyed it. Liked little details such as the exploding baseball distractions and the three presses on the walkie talkie. Do you reckon that girl poisoned the crops, or was it just a convenient bit of bad luck for The Diamond that the Vultures could throw into their spiel? I was asking the same thing. I don’t believe she did anything to the crops after thinking about it. It’s still possible though. I don’t mind them slowly peeling back layers of the past to give us the full story as long as it’s engaging. Nice to see them work together the way they were. Makes them look smart.

[MinionZombie]

Nice to see them work together the way they were. Makes them look smart. Aye. I'd like to see more team work on TWD as we've had too many rogue agents amongst the group sodding off to do what they want instead of planning as a group, or regrouping before charging back in. I'd like to see that sorted out in Season 9. Yep. As long as the before/now structure is backed up by engaging storytelling, characters, and week-to-week cliffhangers to keep you invested, then it should be okay. I do hope that it won't mean the "now" segments with John, Morgan, and 'Al' get sidelined (i.e. for fear of giving away spoilers of the "before" segments - e.g. at this point we don't know if Madison is okay or not as she isn't part of that group, but surely she'll be alright as she's the Rick of FearTWD and an incredibly important role, but they want us to ponder and worry about that ).

[JDP]

I just re-watched the episode again, and noticed something I forgot to point out before: the strategy of this "vulture" gang seems rather risky. Camping right within shooting distance of the people you are trying to intimidate into giving you their stuff does not sound like a very a good plan. And these guys are not even bothering to take cover behind their vehicles, nothing, they just sit around drinking beer in plain sight. If you are the group "under siege" it seems like all you have to do to get rid of these clowns is put all your snipers ready in position and start shooting them down. If some of them manage to run for cover, then take down their vehicles by shooting their engines & tires so they can't use them. Now they are paralyzed and can't move around. Sitting ducks. They will sue for peace soon enough.