Episode 2: The Well
Weeeell, have we all sufficiently recovered? As difficult as it was to continue on after last week's emotional annihilation, we must dutifully soldier on. We knew from the previews that S7E2 would be much, much less intense, focusing on Morgan, Carol and the new crew at The Kingdom. Silly, even. It was a broad pendulum swing in the other direction, and although that may raise questions of consistency and pacing, personally we were in desperate need of that break after 701.
Melissa McBride delivers just what she needed to: She again attempts to manipulate the new people into believing she is a sweet and innocent victim, but before the end of the episode Ezekiel has called her out on the act. Finally. There have been times in the past when that act was down right creepy, but then it was likely supposed to be. You can argue that someone mired down in a giant farce like "The Kingdom" would be able to spot someone else putting on an act right away. But, then by that logic we would have to assume all actors are human lie detectors, so we'll just engage our suspension of disbelief and imagine that Ezekiel's acting sensibilities make him a better judge of character than most.
Morgan is trying to fit in and seems to be gaining esteem with the locals while Carol is still plotting to escape to go out and live on her own. What's up with that, girl? She spots a small house near the gates of The Kingdom and eventually decides to take up residence there, with Ezekiel's blessing after he catches her stealing provisions to take with her. In fact, he is her first visitor at her new little house, in a scene that is ripe with electricity between the two characters. Perhaps she will become his "Queen", though predictably she thinks his fairy tale community is simply ridiculous. We're glad someone does. If none of our characters acted like they noticed, silly would be the least of our worries.
We weren't exactly excited about a CGI tiger in the midst of an apocalypse but admit it was done well enough to pass, though still a far fetched idea. Ezekiel's explanation that he was a zoo keeper that saved the tiger's life once and thereby gained it's trust is believable enough, but a zoo keeper would know that she would need to be kept in a proper enclosure if not for his safety then for those around him. It's more of that silliness, but so is the whole Renaissance Fair Community. It's hard to imagine that many people would want to actively engage in such a fantasy when everything around them is life or death. Is it permissible only because of the juxtaposition against Negan's extreme terrorism? What do you think?
At the end of the day we needed the silliness to help wash out the taste of last week's episode before we move forward with more tension and grief. Next week we'll be treated to Daryl's post-Lucilling plight which looks to be Negan's attempt at assimilating Daryl into his army. Good luck, Negan. The Daryl-Haters are already out in full force but remember, every character is important and has a part to play in our big picture.
Until next week, y'all!
www.WalkingDeadFamily.com
Monday, October 31, 2016
Monday, October 24, 2016
The Walking Dead: Season 7 Episode 1 WDF Review
Episode 1: The Day Will Come When You Won't Be
Before we get started we'd just like to say our Senoia Video series is online. Go check it out!
Now on to the episode: Needless to say everyone knows this was a much anticipated, languished over episode following a cliff hanger that had a lot of fans grabbing for their torches and pitch forks. Our guess for victim #1 came to fruition quickly enough, and our hope that victim #2 was just a rumor was dashed before the half hour mark. It wasn't just who it was... in fact it was far more than that... it was how it played out and what it actually looked & sounded like on screen that took us through the emotional equivalent of a tumble dry full of rocks and shattered glass. To say it was brutal is a gross understatement.
This episode is more than intense. It is anxiety-attack inducing. It is crushing. It is devastating. And that was even with prior warning.
We won't do a play-by-play but our one criticism is that we could've done without the mini road trip for Rick and Negan. Aside from demonstrating that Rick had not yet been broken to Negan's satisfaction (which we already knew he wouldn't be), it really didn't serve a purpose and had an odd "what are we doing right now" feel. Other than that slight lapse, we didn't feel like it could've played out any other way in order to do what needed to be done... and what needed to be done was the establishment of a distinct demarcation line. There is now a "pre-Negan apocalypse" and a "post-Negan apocalypse" that would persist even if Negan were killed in the very next episode. The audience needed to be broken of any sense of security what-so-ever and reminded that there won't always be a way out presented just in the nick of time. You don't want this to be Indiana Jones. If you want a feel-good ending you're watching the wrong show.
"Team Family" as fans call them have now been taken to the brink of hell more so than ever before, presented with a series of heartbreaking ultimatums in a ruthless, humiliating, and demoralizing way that will affect them for the rest of their lives (or the series as the case may be). It doesn't transform the show into something new, but it transforms the characters into new people. Even the best of leaders must sometimes concede that someone else has gotten the better of them, and that's where the most compelling, human stories come from.
Inevitably there were immediately fans declaring that they would never watch the show again for one reason or another but we hazard against such rash judgments. There had to be a line drawn in the sand and that line had to come at the cost of one of our dearest emotional investments or else it wouldn't have worked. It had to be one of The Atlanta Five and there was no way around that. It needed to play out in that order as well. We needed to feel the sense that the worst was behind us only to suddenly, and with almost no warning, be confronted with something even worse... or two. And, if they got you to feel, they did their jobs.
Next week we are apparently catching back up with Carol and Morgan, which is a drastic change of pace... not something we normally appreciate but in this case the respite is much needed. With all this said we're going to go curl up in fetal position until then.
www.WalkingDeadFamily.com
Before we get started we'd just like to say our Senoia Video series is online. Go check it out!
Now on to the episode: Needless to say everyone knows this was a much anticipated, languished over episode following a cliff hanger that had a lot of fans grabbing for their torches and pitch forks. Our guess for victim #1 came to fruition quickly enough, and our hope that victim #2 was just a rumor was dashed before the half hour mark. It wasn't just who it was... in fact it was far more than that... it was how it played out and what it actually looked & sounded like on screen that took us through the emotional equivalent of a tumble dry full of rocks and shattered glass. To say it was brutal is a gross understatement.
This episode is more than intense. It is anxiety-attack inducing. It is crushing. It is devastating. And that was even with prior warning.
We won't do a play-by-play but our one criticism is that we could've done without the mini road trip for Rick and Negan. Aside from demonstrating that Rick had not yet been broken to Negan's satisfaction (which we already knew he wouldn't be), it really didn't serve a purpose and had an odd "what are we doing right now" feel. Other than that slight lapse, we didn't feel like it could've played out any other way in order to do what needed to be done... and what needed to be done was the establishment of a distinct demarcation line. There is now a "pre-Negan apocalypse" and a "post-Negan apocalypse" that would persist even if Negan were killed in the very next episode. The audience needed to be broken of any sense of security what-so-ever and reminded that there won't always be a way out presented just in the nick of time. You don't want this to be Indiana Jones. If you want a feel-good ending you're watching the wrong show.
"Team Family" as fans call them have now been taken to the brink of hell more so than ever before, presented with a series of heartbreaking ultimatums in a ruthless, humiliating, and demoralizing way that will affect them for the rest of their lives (or the series as the case may be). It doesn't transform the show into something new, but it transforms the characters into new people. Even the best of leaders must sometimes concede that someone else has gotten the better of them, and that's where the most compelling, human stories come from.
Inevitably there were immediately fans declaring that they would never watch the show again for one reason or another but we hazard against such rash judgments. There had to be a line drawn in the sand and that line had to come at the cost of one of our dearest emotional investments or else it wouldn't have worked. It had to be one of The Atlanta Five and there was no way around that. It needed to play out in that order as well. We needed to feel the sense that the worst was behind us only to suddenly, and with almost no warning, be confronted with something even worse... or two. And, if they got you to feel, they did their jobs.
Next week we are apparently catching back up with Carol and Morgan, which is a drastic change of pace... not something we normally appreciate but in this case the respite is much needed. With all this said we're going to go curl up in fetal position until then.
www.WalkingDeadFamily.com
Saturday, October 1, 2016
Exciting News
Hello everyone! We're back, fresh from another trip to Senoia, but this time we spent a week documenting everything we could find that we thought you might be interested in seeing. We spent five months planning our trip, gathering supplies and spending a ridiculous amount of money on camera equipment. All for you (that's a lie, we're tech geeks and really enjoyed all the toys :-P)!
The idea for our small video series evolved over time. At first we wanted to do guided tours of all the fan hot-spots and even booked appointments with a few owners/managers to appear on camera doing just that. But, what we ultimately decided was that in our videos, we wanted to focus on the first person experience of visiting Senoia for fans who may never get to visit. This way you can get as close as possible to the same feeling as you would have if you visited and saw the sights with your own eyes. Since most people don't get personal guided tours from business owners, we scrapped that idea and went with a more visceral, personal approach.
Although during our stay most of the filming was taking place at the studio, on the last couple of days we did get to see some activity at the Alexandria Safe Zone. There won't be much documentation of that, since fans are not allowed on the property and we weren't there to stalk the cast or burden production in any way. What we will show you is what the average fan can expect to see when they get to Senoia on any average week day. If you're planning a trip there, we hope we answer any questions you might have, even if you don't know you have them yet.
There are already a lot of videos available about the Senoia area, from individual fans to other fan groups and even AMC. Although since we're all excited about the same thing and we inevitably will duplicate something someone else has already done, we wanted to focus our videos in a specific way to hopefully provide something a little more that might be slightly lacking in an average fan video. We're really excited about what we came up with, and are working hard to edit everything together to post in the next couple of weeks... definitely before the Season 7 premiere!
Once we have everything ready to go we'll add a new page to the WalkingDeadFamily.com website that will contain all of the videos we've come up with. We hope you'll come back to check for them and celebrate the Season 7 kickoff in style with us!
The idea for our small video series evolved over time. At first we wanted to do guided tours of all the fan hot-spots and even booked appointments with a few owners/managers to appear on camera doing just that. But, what we ultimately decided was that in our videos, we wanted to focus on the first person experience of visiting Senoia for fans who may never get to visit. This way you can get as close as possible to the same feeling as you would have if you visited and saw the sights with your own eyes. Since most people don't get personal guided tours from business owners, we scrapped that idea and went with a more visceral, personal approach.
Although during our stay most of the filming was taking place at the studio, on the last couple of days we did get to see some activity at the Alexandria Safe Zone. There won't be much documentation of that, since fans are not allowed on the property and we weren't there to stalk the cast or burden production in any way. What we will show you is what the average fan can expect to see when they get to Senoia on any average week day. If you're planning a trip there, we hope we answer any questions you might have, even if you don't know you have them yet.
There are already a lot of videos available about the Senoia area, from individual fans to other fan groups and even AMC. Although since we're all excited about the same thing and we inevitably will duplicate something someone else has already done, we wanted to focus our videos in a specific way to hopefully provide something a little more that might be slightly lacking in an average fan video. We're really excited about what we came up with, and are working hard to edit everything together to post in the next couple of weeks... definitely before the Season 7 premiere!
Once we have everything ready to go we'll add a new page to the WalkingDeadFamily.com website that will contain all of the videos we've come up with. We hope you'll come back to check for them and celebrate the Season 7 kickoff in style with us!
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