WalkingDeadFamily.com

Monday, November 28, 2016

The Walking Dead: Season 7 Episode 6 WDF Review

Episode 6:  Swear

It's really hard to believe we're already just two episodes away from the mid-season finale.  Where did all the time go?  We haven't made a whole ton of movement in the story progression department, but we have a lot of new information to chew on, since so far it's been all about character development.

This time we're catching back up with Tara and Heath, and while we lose track of Heath for the time being (rumor has it the actor has taken other work that conflicts with his TWD filming schedule, and they may be leaving his story line unresolved "just in case" he wants to come back).  So, we're actually really just focusing on Tara and what happens to her after she gets separated from Heath.  Get ready for groans from the fandom, folks, because we're being introduced to Oceanside, yet another group of survivors who've been more than harassed by The Saviors.

Oceanside is made up entirely of hardened women and children.  Why?  Because The Saviors decided to punish them by killing all of their men.  We seem to be catching a whiff of a theme here.  They escaped The Saviors by sneaking away from their camp in the middle of the night and setting up camp in an Oceanside motor lodge village, where Tara happens upon them after being swept up in the current when she falls from a bridge (which is how she is separated from Heath).  Therefore, they're trying to keep their village a secret so The Saviors can't find them again... and that means killing anyone that finds them on sight. 

There's a little bit of another challenge to our suspension of disbelief here since if we were sneaking away from The Saviors, we wouldn't stop to set up a new camp until we were hundreds of miles away where it would be highly unlikely The Saviors could follow with a group that large that far.  Hey, Team Family made the trip from Atlanta, so it stands to reason that one can make it back out again, right?  We suppose there's the argument that there's always baddies to deal with but Negan's tyranny would be pretty hard to top.

For the most part it is a fairly slow paced episode, except the action scenes where Tara finally escapes their grasp to run to safety.  By the end of the episode she makes it back to Alexandria to finally be told about both Denise's demise and The Lucillings by a forlorn Eugene at the gate.  Although Rosita pressures her for information about where she's been, Tara holds true to her promise not to speak of Oceanside to help ensure they stay hidden.

Here's the rub:  Oceanside has a massive cache of weaponry.  It's hard to say that if Rick found out about it he'd be on his way there to take it all from them, but our guess is not.  He is aware by now that Negan is too smart to simply be out-gunned and impressive as it was the Oceanside armory didn't look to be able to out-gun them anyway.  Oceanside will likely play a large part once the mass revolt known as "All Out War" begins, but sshhhhhh!!!!  We're not supposed to know about that yet.

Speaking of AOW, we do appear to be headed straight in that direction, though AOL is sure to encompass more than one episode and our Season 7 Finale will likely be just the first shots, if that.  TWD fans shouldn't be so excited for AOW to happen so quickly anyway, since the conclusion of it could signal the natural conclusion of the series.  Not that we have any clue whether or not that's the case, but it will have been 8 seasons by the end of AOW and even the best shows don't last much longer than that.

Now that we're all depressed at the thought of a series finale, we'd like to help you usher in the Holiday Season and be the first to say "Happy Holidays" to our peeps.  We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are gearing up for both the mid-season finale and Santa's visit.  Be good little boys and girls, and remember to shop http://www.woodburyshoppe.com/ directly for all your TWD Christmas gear rather than other  less awesome online retailers!

http://www.walkingdeadfamily.com

Monday, November 21, 2016

The Walking Dead: Season 7 Episode 5 WDF Review

Episode 5:  Go Getters

Those who detest single-campus episodes (our word for those episodes that focus entirely on one group and never check in with the others, sometimes erroneously referred to as "bottle episodes" but that term doesn't really apply to most episodes described as such) should've been happy that we spent time in both Alexandria and at The Hilltop this week.  Granted, it was all done in the context of the story of Maggie and Sasha at Hilltop, but you at least got to see Andy's sweet, sweet hiney face.

In this episode we are establishing that Maggie is going to become the leader of Hilltop.  She starts by having a miraculous recovery to a life-threatening condition in relation to her pregnancy within a few days of arriving at Hilltop... the writers probably shouldn't have tried to go there since they needed her to be involved in the action.  Practically having just woken up, in the middle of an attack orchestrated by The Saviors, she climbs atop a FEMA trailer and starts directing the other players in a not-too subtle attempt to establish her authority and problem-solving skill.  Later, Jesus basically states that Gregory isn't fit to lead but that he isn't either... hinting that someone else would be as if raising his paddle to nominate Magsters right then and there.  Wait, don't we need a flag-waving convention for that?

Meanwhile back in Alexandria, Carl again spies Enid sneaking over the wall.  She starts off on foot toward The Hilltop to check on Maggie, and when she gets in a sticky spot with a walker Carl suddenly shows up in a car to run it over.  We'd ask when Carl learned to drive but he did do quite a number on the car trying to run down that walker.  Again the pair set off on foot but quickly find a backpack containing roller skates... and off we go on a pre-teen date straight out of 1986; the only things missing was a Journey song and a mirror ball.  They roll down the road holding hands and eventually share their first kiss outside the walls of The Hilltop Colony, hidden from view of The Saviors who are there to collect supplies.

Aside from establishing Maggie's authority for her upcoming story line, we establish Carl's disdain for living under The Saviors' rule and his determination to take action on it.  He climbs into the back of the truck loaded with things specifically obtained for Negan himself, and is later joined there by Jesus who is taking the opportunity to find out where Negan lives (at the behest of Sasha, an effort she specifically doesn't want Maggie to know about).  We end the episode with the two being trucked off to their Negan-filled destinies while inside The Hilltop, Sasha, Maggie, and Enid sit down to a tasty dinner.

This episode was all about laying the groundwork for the remaining story lines in the season.  The reviews are very mixed... from declaring this to be one of the worst of the season so far to excitedly proclaiming this episode to be the best.  This episode does tax the hell out of the viewers' suspension of disbelief thanks to a number of very convenient coincidences and a bit of over-reaching, but if you can get past that, you will be pleased at the amount of forward progress we've made in the story.  It might have come off awkward to some but it will help ensure later episodes can keep barreling forward on the tracks that were laid.

Next week we catch up with Heath and Tara in an episode many fans are already dreading.  There will be lots of dialogue between the two characters as they deal with failing on their supply run and their personal aftermath of the outpost ambush.  We also presumably get to find out how Tara ends up on the beach shown in the sneak peek.  The general consensus is that these two characters aren't compelling enough to focus an entire episode on, so we'll have to see what we end up with next week!

Happy Thanksgiving to all our US fans!  Stay safe, don't drink and drive or debate the election results, and for heaven's sake don't support stores who force their poor employees to work on a major holiday by being open on Thanksgiving Day... just save it for actual Black Friday (it will be okay, we promise)!

http://www.WalkingDeadFamily.com


Monday, November 14, 2016

The Walking Dead: Season 7 Episode 4 WDF Review

Episode 4:  Service

During the fourth (and feature length) installment of Season 7, we catch back up with Rick and crew in Alexandria to be witness to Negan's first official visit... albeit an early surprise since he promised to give them a week and apparently less than that has passed in show-time.  A lot of people were looking forward to this episode for some cathartic grieving, but remember Maggie is at Hilltop with Sasha and we won't see her again until next week.

We're already seeing a lot of flack for the show, once again, spending entire episodes focused on one group rather than weaving the stories together.  Remember though, this show has never really participated in that style of writing and it would feel quite odd to start now, seven seasons in.  Yes, yes, it drives us crazy too... remember good old Woodbury?  The episodes spent entirely in that town made us nuts and since we didn't particularly care for those characters, to be perfectly honest, those episodes bored and disappointed us.  The good news is that we are much more fond of each of the characters splintered off into each of the now FOUR camps.  We are far more interested in catching up with Carol and Morgan than we were Andrea, even if The Kingdom isn't our favorite of the camps.  However, we are still aggravated that we have to sit and wait for the wheel to spin back around to check in with Maggie who, in this episode, was declared to be dead in order to protect her from being claimed for Negan's harem.

Back to the episode... it is just as excruciating as expected to watch Rick have to grovel to Negan.  He is forced to hold Lucille for Negan throughout the visit, which Rick spends mostly looking like a beaten dog.  They are robbed of even their mattresses, which Michonne later finds in a smoldering pile beside the road... a move designed specifically to weaken and humiliate, though it is a terrible waste to burn something that has to be replaced every 10 years that they're not exactly manufacturing anymore.  Our survivors are burglarized of every bit of dignity they may have still owned.  

Carl fires a warning shot at The Saviors who've come to raid the clinic of all, yes all (not half as promised) of the supplies.  This prompts Negan to demand they hand over all of their guns.  How this kid got away with that is beyond comprehension, except that it appears to be a nod toward the comics in which Negan is excessively fond of Carl.  One thing is for certain; every action toward The Saviors has an incredibly disproportionately terrible reaction.  Olivia is threatened with her life for not keeping the gun registry up to date (because Spencer has been playing his hoarding game again and hidden two in the A/C vent in his house), but fret not, in the nick of time Rick discovers them and hands them over to save her.  This subplot was a little confusing since the episode starts with Michonne packing up a hidden gun and sneaking off to have a little target practice, so if you weren't paying attention you might've thought the missing guns were with her and that Olivia's fate depended entirely on Michonne making it back in time.

While Rick has clearly understood the gravity of the corner they've been backed into, there are those who are still dangerously defiant.  Having realized Negan intended to confiscate all of their guns, Rosita obtains one off a walker in the woods and later issues a command to Eugene to make her some ammunition for it, so his fate as the munitions manufacturer of the comics comes one step closer to fruition.  Once she returns from target practice, Michonne reluctantly gives up her rifle when Rick wants to use it as a demonstration of good-will (since it was undocumented in the gun registry they could have secretly kept it but hand it over anyway), but later she only half-promises that she will submit to the new rules, saying she'll "try".  Rick's point is sobering but valid:  now that all of their guns are gone, if The Saviors find any hidden or catch anyone with one, someone will die... and it may not even be the person who broke the rules that gets the bat... so we are left knowing Rosita has this ticking time bomb in her pants.

And Daryl *sigh*.  Daryl has been dragged along and made to help gather up supplies from The Alexandrians.  He doesn't say a word the entire episode, even when asked to plead his case for why Negan should grant Rick's request to let Daryl stay in Alexandria.  Dwight has confiscated Daryl's bike as another piece of bait to lure Daryl over to the dark side, but Daryl just spends the whole ordeal looking broken and lost.  And, now that they've had to lie about Maggie being dead to keep her away from Negan (something else we're certain will come back to bite them), Daryl believes that both Glenn and Maggie are gone.

And Carol still has no idea any of that went down.

EDIT:  And, Rick admits he believes Judith is Shane's bio-baby.  Not sure how we forgot that one.

Did anyone else find it a bit odd that Father Gabe had just dug an empty grave for no apparent reason?  Do we arbitrarily make fake graves now, is that a "thing"?  Did he have some kind of prophetic vision to tell him we might need to fake a death?  If The Church Lady were part of his congregation she'd be talking about how conveeeeenient that was.

The naysayers are already proclaiming this to be the "worst episode" of the season so far.  Actually we thought episode two was a bigger drag than this one, but we haven't seen anything yet that would make us scream foul or be bored.  They could have sped up the pace a bit and accomplished the same amount in a normal-sized episode, but there were a lot of smaller tidbits baked in.  We get into the head-space of several characters in addition to establishing how committed Rick is to following Negan's rules.  We see what life under the rule of The Saviors will truly be like and how most people feel about that.  And that, our friends, is a bitter pill to swallow.  Fortunately for us, The Saviors took all our pills.

http://www.WalkingDeadFamily.com

Monday, November 7, 2016

The Walking Dead: Season 7 Episode 3 WDF Review

Episode 3:  The Cell

Norman Reedus fans were undoubtedly happy this week, with the show practically opening on a side shot of a naked and dirty Daryl, alone in "The Cell".  Our episode follows Daryl's experience back at The Sanctuary following "The Lucilling", captive of The Saviors but more specifically, Dwight.  As much as this episode was about Daryl, it served even more as character development for our favorite (or not so favorite depending on your perspective) forest dwelling motorcycle stealing crotch sammich.

Dwight is shown demonstrating his higher position in the camp by scavenging sandwich supplies from other survivors for his own use.  He gets first dibs because he is apparently one of Negan's top ranking henchmen and everyone else gets their supplies by earning them in trade.  His fried egg masterpiece is just a bit more appetizing than the dog food sandwiches he serves up to Daryl, who is being kept in a dark, empty gray room with loud, obnoxious music playing to keep him awake.  It is clear we are to understand that this is The Saviors' attempt at breaking Daryl down and assimilating him into the "Negan Collective".

Past that, we begin to understand what happened to Dwight and his wife, Sherry, after they stole Daryl's bike & crossbow, leaving him for dead in the burnt forest last season.  After their "escape gone wrong" during which they attempted to take Daryl hostage, they had decided to return to The Sanctuary and beg for forgiveness.  Once back at The Sanctuary, now without Tina (who was killed along the way if you remember, and was apparently promised to Negan as a wife), Dwight and Sherry were punished by a) the ironing of Dwight's face and b) the forfeiture of Sherry into Negan's "harem".  Toward the end of the episode, Dwight is shown to have begun to realize that living in the hierarchy of The Sanctuary may actually be worse than death when he puts down another Sanctuary escapee in what appears to be a mercy killing.

Daryl on the other hand is left to deal with the guilt of causing Glenn's death (due to having taken a swing at Negan).  He tries to escape, he's given an ultimatum, he's beaten, but still won't back down.  At the end of the night we leave him back where he started; in that cell to await more torture... but not before laying a profound line on Dwight to hopefully shake him back into the reality that he's still human.  "I get why you did it... you were thinking of someone else," he says.  In a world completely absent of sentimentality such as The Sanctuary, perhaps that's all the prodding Dwight needs to come around to Daryl's side.  Or not.

All in all it wasn't the most compelling episode ever, but Norman did a wonderful job conveying Daryl's inner struggle and Austin Amelio (Dwight) was sufficiently emotionally vague to keep us guessing at what he's really thinking.  If Dwight is to become the major player he is in the comic, this episode was necessary to establish some of his back story and provide the embers of a change of heart toward favoring Team Family.  It was always going to be an uphill battle to convert Dwight from last season's jerk into someone we can sympathize with, so this was an entirely necessary episode whether you liked it or not.

Next week is the long awaited return to Alexandria to catch back up with Rick and crew.  It's an extended episode (unheard of for episode four).  Don't get too excited; they may have just needed more time to cover that story... it may not be that something particularly riveting happens.  It does look like Rick and crew will get their first look at Daryl since he was taken at least, so it won't be a Reedus-drought episode for those of you worried about that.

In the meantime, we have two big events this week... Election Day (GET OUT AND VOTE FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE, LEST WE END UP WITH A NEGAN IN THE WHITE HOUSE), and a long holiday weekend.  Stay safe, folks!!


http://www.WalkingDeadFamily.com