Frank Darabont to write/direct Walking Dead series for AMC

[Smoove_B]

The extra confusing part is the jump-cuts. I think they intentionally zipped around to make it look like Alpha was with both Daryl and Lydia (somehow), but in truth we never really experienced the events as they were unfolding or at least on a more realistic time scale. It still doesn't explain how some of the characters were abducted, but clearly that isn't what they were after with this *shocking* reveal. Instead, we were supposed to experience it just like the people coming up the hill did. I guess.

[Lassr]

You guys over think this too much. A knife to their throat, scream and I'll kill you, or knock them out...I didn't have to see how she did it.

Enid was the one that surprised me most. I liked her. I wondered if they'd kill the king, I didn't think they would since they are losing too many main characters and he's good on the show.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

[stimpy]

You guys over think this too much. A knife to their throat, scream and I'll kill you, or knock them out...I didn't have to see how she did it.

Enid was the one that surprised me most. I liked her. I wondered if they'd kill the king, I didn't think they would since they are losing too many main characters and he's good on the show.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

Great. So how did she get them all past the guards and out of the camp?

[Smoove_B]

Great. So how did she get them all past the guards and out of the camp?

She didn't need to get all of them out. She just needed a duffel bag.

[EvilHomer3k]

You guys over think this too much. A knife to their throat, scream and I'll kill you, or knock them out...I didn't have to see how she did it.

Enid was the one that surprised me most. I liked her. I wondered if they'd kill the king, I didn't think they would since they are losing too many main characters and he's good on the show.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

Great. So how did she get them all past the guards and out of the camp?

Prior to going into The Kingdom, she kidnapped Captain Kirk and forced Scotty to beam them out. I't pretty simple, really.

[rittchard]

Great. So how did she get them all past the guards and out of the camp?

She didn't need to get all of them out. She just needed a duffel bag.

lol!

I think we were supposed to assume more than just Alpha infiltrated and then they kind of just grabbed whoever might have wandered off alone.

I definitely thought they did a poor job of editing or something in that last half hour. I was pretty confused for a couple of the scenes. The timing didn't make sense unless Alpha could teleport and change her costume really fast. I can understand that they wanted to keep who actually died a secret til the end of the episode, but there had to have been a better way to edit it. The time jumps all of a sudden at the end of the episode were completely out of the blue (for me, anyway).

In retrospect, it's interesting because they really weren't that "bold" in terms of who they killed off. The majority were unknown characters, or like the poor Highwaymen, ones they literally just introduced last week.

Tammy was kind of a throwaway, I also had no idea it was a famous actress playing her lol. Killing Enid I think was the biggest waste of potential, but really her story became far less interesting once Carl died. I actually thought they'd kill her lame boyfriend instead so she certainly had a bigger impact. Tara was really the only "main" character we lost, but while she had kind of grown on me, I was never that big a fan. I thought they kind of telegraphed her death a bit with some of her scenes; she was just being a bit too proactive and leader- like lol. And lastly, the biggest surprise for me was poor Hornry. It certainly made sense that Alpha would want to take him out, but given how much of Carl's storyline he was getting, it seemed like he was going to become a new main character. Ouch, poor kid. That doesn't bode too well for Lydia either since she is Carl's girlfriend in the comics up til the present time. Unless they introduce a new angsty teen boy, it's hard to see who they intend to interact with her.

Most of my predictions were wrong. I thought Jerry was going to die, that probably would have upset more fans without impacting the storyline much. Ezekiel was of course a high possibility given he died here in the comics. As mentioned above, I thought lame boyfriend guy was a goner for sure, and I thought maybe Siddiq since he had trained Enid. Also i thought maybe Gabriel (though he could still bite it later like he did in the comics). Rosita probably bought herself a pass getting preggers. I suspect they toyed with killing one of the newcomers as well; for that matter what happened to Magna?

[Lassr]

I'm just saying if they showed how she did it then there would be no surprise at the end with all the heads on a stake. I knew it was coming because I read the comics but my wife did not and she was shocked. If it showed Alpha kidnapping these people then it would have ruined it.

I assumed not all of them were inside the kingdom.

So I don't know how she got them past the guards, maybe they'll have a flashback next season to show how. I agree it would have taken some ingenuity.

[hepcat]

We already knew Alpha had advanced laser wire technology, as we saw a couple of episodes back. So why is it so hard to believe that she used said laser wire to decapitate a half dozen or so people on who she used the old, “Look over there, what’s that!?” trick?

[rittchard]

I'm just saying if they showed how she did it then there would be no surprise at the end with all the heads on a stake. I knew it was coming because I read the comics but my wife did not and she was shocked. If it showed Alpha kidnapping these people then it would have ruined it.

I assumed not all of them were inside the kingdom.

So I don't know how she got them past the guards, maybe they'll have a flashback next season to show how. I agree it would have taken some ingenuity.

We know the 3 Highwaymen were captured outside. For the rest I don't think it would have been too difficult to stealthily knock them out as soon as they were alone or even in a pair. Kingdom was fairly depleted of guards and fighters already, and we know they were distracted with the fair and with sending more people to help Hilltop. Obviously it wouldn't be too hard to lure people (like Henry) to a secluded spot, and we had already seen the reverse of how easy it was for Ezekiel to sneak around the Kingdom a few seasons back.

I think an easy way to maintain the surprise but convey what happened would be to show a couple seconds of footage of each one getting kidnapped during the Siddiq speech scene where they showed them fighting. It would have been a harder edit but not really that difficult.

[EvilHomer3k]

They couldn't think of anything better than a blizzard in Georgia to move the story along?

[stimpy]

Craptacular season finale.
I mean....nothing....nada….zilch.
You're supposed to make us want to tune in again.
Useless episode

[disarm]

They couldn't think of anything better than a blizzard in Georgia to move the story along?

They left Georgia a long time ago...are quite a bit farther north after their attempt to reach Washington DC. That doesn't make the episode any less disappointing though...

[Smoove_B]

They couldn't think of anything better than a blizzard in Georgia to move the story along?

They're trying to get in on a pre-Game of Thrones series finale bump. Winter is coming, Carl.

[rittchard]

I think they should have done what they have in the past and do a 2 hour finale combined with last week's episode.

As a stand alone episode, I thought this one was pretty compelling, but as a finale it really lacked any major excitement/edge. I wasn't expecting much because I knew there's no way they would try to resolve the Whisperers so quickly. Having another confrontation (and/or death) so soon would have lessened the impact of last week's episode, which again is why I thought this worked better as a wrap up second hour to last week's action.

Still, while it played out rather low key, they set up a lot of crap for next year, subtle as it was. The Kingdom is gone. Hilltop has no leader (Maggie can't be contacted and is still waiting to see if Whiskey Cavalier gets canceled, Jesus and Tara are dead) and now The King has relocated his peeps there. Seems like a no-brainer as to who should take over? Henry's death and Lydia's presence has created a rift between Ezekiel and Carol, so much so she essentially divorces him, to the rejoice of all the Daryl/Carol shippers. They filmed two scenes that I recall with Ezekiel and Michonne, hinting at a possible relationship (recall they were together in the comic - then again since she's leaving the show maybe that's a non-starter now).

That they were forced to cross into the Whisperers zone was pretty contrived, but whatever, the conflict has to continue somehow and it made for some fun zombie in the snow slaying. I wasn't sure what the Alpha whipping scene indicated, did that mean they were prepping for war? With arm whips? I totally didn't get it.

The most important part of the episode, though, of course, was the freeing of Negan. Whether he's 100% free to roam now or not, he's clearly wormed his way into peoples' good graces by saving Judith and Dog, and that will be very important next year when they take on the Whisperers. But even more importantly, allowing him to interact with the core cast is hilarious, particularly given his history with characters like Father Gabriel and Eugene.

All in all I thought it was a decent finale in the aftermath of last week. I'm not sure what you all were expecting. Would you have preferred they had just left last week's ending as the finale? Actually that might have made more sense, then using this episode as the season premiere?

[hepcat]

When did The Walking Dead move to the Hallmark Channel?

[Kraken]

Nothing about this episode's premise made sense to me. They abandoned the Kingdom because the heat broke? Then walked through an unheated countryside to another place with no heat? Because they somehow know that there's an epic blizzard coming...in Virginia? (Or where are they now? Alexandria's in Virginia, right?)

At first I liked the zombiecicles, because I've said for years that all they have to do to escape the zombie threat is go north and wait for deep snow and a sustained freeze. But wait, suddenly zombies are erupting from snow that's somehow several feet deep?

Were we supposed to recognize the voice on the radio, or was that just a generic teaser for next season?

[rittchard]

Were we supposed to recognize the voice on the radio, or was that just a generic teaser for next season?

Just generic for speculation. In the comics, it was the beginning of the setup for the next major plotline/location. I'm hoping it was Maggie calling from the set of Whiskey Cavalier to get her out.

[hepcat]

[naednek]

Directv has been messing up my recordings, as I realized I missed a good 20 minutes from the previous episode. Last I saw was the mom was in the theatre with Lydia.

Why did the group leave the Kingdom? We're they attacked?

[hepcat]

The comic book just...I mean...they...

wow.

[Lassr]

The comic book just...I mean...they...

wow.

Are you reading the very latest edition (Vol 31 The Rotten Core)? I have not yet bought it...may have to do it quickly if there is huge wow moment.

[hepcat]

The latest monthly comic. I rushed off to get it after goddamn Yahoo had a huge semi spoiler on its news page. I friggin’ hate them. They do the same damn thing with movies and tv shows too.

[Jolor]

<lalalala>waiting for compendium 4<lalalalala>

[hepcat]

Avoid yahoo then.

[Isgrimnur]

That’s a good idea any day of the week.

[Remus West]

The latest monthly comic. I rushed off to get it after goddamn Yahoo had a huge semi spoiler on its news page. I friggin’ hate them. They do the same damn thing with movies and tv shows too.

I know the spoiler.
I do not have a copy of the comic.

[rittchard]

The comic book just...I mean...they...

wow.

Spoiler:

Hmmm not much of a surprise given the previous issue, was it? I actually thought Carl was going to die given the cover of the issue, so that's kind of what I geared myself up for emotionally. This was pretty dramatic but frankly it left me simply cold. I think the end result of Kirkman's sadistic desire to create characters we love and then find horrible ways to kill them in both comics and TV show, is that I have nothing left. It's like he/they killed that part of me that cared. I don't know the exact moment but I suspect it's when Carl died on the show. It actually makes for a great separate topic as to just what it takes to make someone become jaded, particularly in a case where you have a concurrent comic and TV show. I think it's different for different people but over the years, all my friends who used to be huge fans of the show quite watching. Most of them a few years ago, so I'm guessing around Glenn time frame. I'm actually thinking it might be time for me to quit the comic, not our of spite, but just because I clearly don't care much any more.

[hepcat]

Finally got around to reading issue 193 of the comic.

I did not see that coming either. How they kept that a secret is beyond me.

Not going to spoil it, but read the previous two issues before 193 before diving into it, at the very least.

[Jaymann]

What, did Coral come back as a zombie?

[Daehawk]

I think I quit mid way through the 5th season. Where they are at the church stuff I think. I read somewhere the people making it think they can go another 10 years. Dont think that but I dont watch either.

[rittchard]

First trailer of next year's new spinoff series out:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2 ... 6fa7e5570f

It looks....like a video game lol. Will this translate well to TV?

[msduncan]

I think I quit mid way through the 5th season. Where they are at the church stuff I think. I read somewhere the people making it think they can go another 10 years. Dont think that but I dont watch either.

I think it could. It’s numbers are down after losing all the Desperate Housewife fans with the Glenn thing, but it still has big numbers compared to others.

[rittchard]

Finally got around to reading issue 193 of the comic.

I did not see that coming either. How they kept that a secret is beyond me.

Not going to spoil it, but read the previous two issues before 193 before diving into it, at the very least.

Spoiler:

Did you read the afterword? Apparently he sent out fake info on the next 3 issues to throw people off, even including fake covers that they include at the very back of the issue. So basically it was just the two of them that knew until the very end.

I was pretty shocked as well, but I really liked what they did and how they did it. It was interesting to read about how fluid a process he (supposedly) had, and that the series could have ended far far sooner with a really bleak ending. And to read how he tried to force more storylines just to drag it out longer to a big even number like 200 or 300. But honestly the last year or so the stories were getting tired even in the comic. A couple of the new characters were interesting but certain plot points like Michonne finding her sister and daughter just seemed too contrived.

It makes more and more sense that the TV show seems to be losing it's original identity as it goes further and further away from the original vision of the series for whatever reasons. As I've mentioned before, I still maintain the number one worst decision was killing Carl, which really killed the soul of the story for me. Since we now know Carl was always intended to be the guy that carried the story to its end, it reads like an even worse and obvious mistake. My gut tells me there was a power play between the actor's father and the producers, and the producers used it as a way to show everyone on the cast they were expendable. This is totally just me reading between the lines from different interviews. I call total BS that they felt they had to kill him to "service the story."

Anyway, all good things come to an end and I think TWD had a great run with a fantastic ending.

[Lassr]

Finally got around to reading issue 193 of the comic.

I did not see that coming either. How they kept that a secret is beyond me.

Not going to spoil it, but read the previous two issues before 193 before diving into it, at the very least.

Spoiler:

Did you read the afterword? Apparently he sent out fake info on the next 3 issues to throw people off, even including fake covers that they include at the very back of the issue. So basically it was just the two of them that knew until the very end.

I was pretty shocked as well, but I really liked what they did and how they did it. It was interesting to read about how fluid a process he (supposedly) had, and that the series could have ended far far sooner with a really bleak ending. And to read how he tried to force more storylines just to drag it out longer to a big even number like 200 or 300. But honestly the last year or so the stories were getting tired even in the comic. A couple of the new characters were interesting but certain plot points like Michonne finding her sister and daughter just seemed too contrived.

It makes more and more sense that the TV show seems to be losing it's original identity as it goes further and further away from the original vision of the series for whatever reasons. As I've mentioned before, I still maintain the number one worst decision was killing Carl, which really killed the soul of the story for me. Since we now know Carl was always intended to be the guy that carried the story to its end, it reads like an even worse and obvious mistake. My gut tells me there was a power play between the actor's father and the producers, and the producers used it as a way to show everyone on the cast they were expendable. This is totally just me reading between the lines from different interviews. I call total BS that they felt they had to kill him to "service the story."

Anyway, all good things come to an end and I think TWD had a great run with a fantastic ending.

I just finished the final issues. I always like to make these books last but just read all of Volume 32 in an hour. hard to believe it is over...but a great ending.

[Isgrimnur]

Yahoo

During Saturday's New York Comic Con panel, it was announced that the AMC show was renewed for an eleventh season, as well as revealed that Lauren Cohan, who plays fan favorite character Maggie Greene, would be returning as a series regular.

[rittchard]

Is this where we cover the main series?

Season 10 premiere was pretty decent all around. Nothing spectacular, but a few standout sequences, a little sprinkling of everything for everyone I guess you'd say. I enjoyed the big training sequence, the Caryl interplay, Tomato Negan, Eugene and the baby, and Michonne with Aaron. Some of the fire stuff was pretty cool too, made for good visuals, and I look forward to seeing what tech Eugene got from the wreckage. I guess my only complaint would be it really feels like the show is bloated with characters which doesn't give individuals much room to shine. It's almost like an ensemble gone haywire, there are just too many things to look at so you just get a short glimpse of each one. Interestingly both Alpha and Beta are on the main cast list, wtf! I can't see this being sustainable, but I also can't see them just frivolously killing a bunch of people either, at this point it would just be too aggravating. I really worry how they are going to handle Michonne's exit, because aside from dying or being helicopter abducted it just doesn't seem like there could be any reason for her dumping her two kids. And who is going to take care of them once she is gone? I hope they have figured this out because it could be really ugly if not handled well. I'm guessing they paid big bucks to get Lauren Cohan back because they really need some strong anchors.

Maybe the best case scenario is they have Michonne leave with a group for some reason (it better be good!) and kind of clear some of the extras.

[Lassr]

Is this where we cover the main series?

Season 10 premiere was pretty decent all around. Nothing spectacular, but a few standout sequences, a little sprinkling of everything for everyone I guess you'd say. I enjoyed the big training sequence, the Caryl interplay, Tomato Negan, Eugene and the baby, and Michonne with Aaron. Some of the fire stuff was pretty cool too, made for good visuals, and I look forward to seeing what tech Eugene got from the wreckage. I guess my only complaint would be it really feels like the show is bloated with characters which doesn't give individuals much room to shine. It's almost like an ensemble gone haywire, there are just too many things to look at so you just get a short glimpse of each one. Interestingly both Alpha and Beta are on the main cast list, wtf! I can't see this being sustainable, but I also can't see them just frivolously killing a bunch of people either, at this point it would just be too aggravating. I really worry how they are going to handle Michonne's exit, because aside from dying or being helicopter abducted it just doesn't seem like there could be any reason for her dumping her two kids. And who is going to take care of them once she is gone? I hope they have figured this out because it could be really ugly if not handled well. I'm guessing they paid big bucks to get Lauren Cohan back because they really need some strong anchors.

Maybe the best case scenario is they have Michonne leave with a group for some reason (it better be good!) and kind of clear some of the extras.

From the comic:

Spoiler:

I'm wondering if she ventures out (on a mission) and finds the Commonwealth and her other daughter like in the comics, and stays a while

[msduncan]

On a side note— the little actress that plays Judith is talented and adorable. She owned the Talking Dead after the episode

[rittchard]

Sooooo.... Ep 2 of the season they go straight up into a full stand-alone episode featuring the origin of the Whisperers. While I found it a pretty compelling stand alone story (a bit over the top but that's OK in this case), I couldn't help but feel annoyed that with an ensemble cast this large and talented, they chose to ignore ALL of the characters on the second episode of the season, and just focus on two bad guys. I know they need to pad the season since they are losing Michonne soon, but this is a bit ridiculous. This would have been better if they put it off a few weeks, or maybe did it a half/half type of episode and still feature 1 or 2 of the main cast. At least put the real stupid Lydia in it.

Frankly it feels kind of like a slap in the face to all the core cast members, and even to some of the guest stars. It was a really long while before Negan got anything close to an episode like this, and IIRC it wasn't a stand-alone Negan episode. I imagine they got some good feedback on the actress who plays Alpha and decided to run with it, but this seemed a bit egregious. I was OK when they did something similar in Lost and were introducing new characters but (just checked) that was episode 7 of the season. All in all it makes me worry about the rest of the season because I honestly have not been particularly impressed with the Whisperers.

[Smoove_B]

It honestly feels like the show is running on fumes. I seriously have no idea how anyone involved has the energy to keep this up but they really need to consider wrapping this stuff up. Never thought I'd end up saying that about a show like this, but really...it's long due. Not another spin-off. Not another set of "Webisodes". Just...wrap it up and reinvest in something else.