The Walking Dead

[Blastin]

"You must spread xp around before giving to Danny Alcatraz again..."

Second episode keeps up the great work thus far. Already some pretty major changes from the comic as far as new characters. And Glen finding Rick while having a bunch of the camp mates with him. In the comic Glen was alone.

Thought they did some good foreshadowing of how different Shane and Rick are with Shane's attitude about the folks in the dept sore being as good as dead.

Thank god they already green lit season two...

 

[Hand of Evil]

Very pleased with the second one, did some great moral questions.

 

[LightPhoenix]

I'm ambivalent on this episode, mostly because I've read the comic. This episode diverged a whole lot from the comic, and IMO not for the better. Ignoring that, I thought it was a pretty decent episode.

I'm gonna throw my specific comments behind a spoiler block, since the comic informs the show. There will be slight comments on future arcs based on the comic, so don't read if you want absolute non-spoilerage.

[sblock]There were two things that I really didn't like about the episode based on the comic.

The first is Glenn bringing others into Atlanta. That's just not something Comic Glenn would do. One of the whole points of Glenn's story is that he starts off as something of a loner, and that's part of what makes him good at scavenging. Of course, that framed the whole episode, so it was tough for me to really get into it.

The second is Lori's relationship with Shane. This one I'm trying to give the benefit of the doubt, since Lori does in fact sleep with Shane in the comic. The big reason I'm hesitant is because it's clear in the comic Lori thinks it was a mistake, even before she found out Rick was alive. Still, in the comic, it happens before we're introduced to the group, and I'm liking that we get to see a bit of them before Rick does.

I kept expecting a lot of the non-comic people to die. Hell, some of them barely got names, and I don't think Zoning Lady did at all. I'm hoping the people that die in the comic still die in the show; their deaths are a big part of the story.

There were two beats I loved in the episode. Andrea and the gun was a nice touch, especially given her character arc. Same with Rick and reciting the guy's info.[/sblock]

 

[Blastin]

I hand kinda the same thoughts about the "new" characters: "heh....new zombie snacks."

It should be interesting to see if they are going to be red shirts or if they will become more part of the story. The conflict because of the brothers (one of whom they left on the roof) should be interesting.

 

[Sutekh]

Rooftop guy is more likely to be dehydration dead than a fresh zombie because of their inability to climb . Ive always found Michael Rooker to be a forceful actor , and as soon as I saw him with the rifle I knew his character was going to be antagonistic. He does it well.

I think what Rick fails to understand is that just because situations change, someone with deep set values (such as Racial hatred) arnt going to just change. I think its something a lot of tv shows dont really ever touch but the Walking dead needs to because of its very nature. It could be said the zombies are the ultimate equals, black and white zombies abound and none is any tougher than another.. or weaker.

My thoughts

* As soon as the Sewer system was mentioned I knew that plan was gonna go bad. In a dark enclosed space with a walker? Freaky!

* The cutting up of the zombie? I was on the train watching this and my face definetly showed signs of disgust.

 

[Fast Learner]

I think what Rick fails to understand is that just because situations change, someone with deep set values (such as Racial hatred) arnt going to just change.

I am of the firm belief that most racism (and homophobia, misogyny, religious intolerance, etc.) is based in fear. Fear of the other, the unknown, the ones you don't know how to rank yourself against (in the case of dominance), the ones whose beliefs are different from yours but just as deep (and how can that be?), the ones you can't understand because you don't speak their language, etc. People don't like to be afraid and adjust by transforming it into anger and even violence.

In desperate situations like this such fear will only be multiplied. It's possible that, given enough time and a lack of support by people like you (because there just aren't enough around), such fear will subside and attitudes can be changed. If there are others with the same fears, though, they'll end up multiplying yours and you theirs, turning fearful anger into deep, violent hatred.

Hard to say if there are enough people in this zombpocalypse world to re-form hate/intolerance groups, but it wouldn't be surprising.

 

[Janx]

...snip...

It's possible that, given enough time and a lack of support by people like you (because there just aren't enough around)

I'm sorry, but this reads like you just called sutekh a racist.

Suggesting that racism would die in ZombieLand if there was a lack of support by people like sutekh is how that reads in English.

I assume that's not what you meant to imply.


As for Racism being Fear based, I just don't buy it. While there's prolly some racists quivering in their bed worrying about the whatchamacallits getting with his women and taking his job, and racists using fear of "what the watchamacallits are gonna do", most of the die hard racists strike me more as sociopaths seeking dominance. And Sociopaths aren't really afraid of anything.

Ultimately, the racist on the roof is the bad human you shoot at his first sign of trouble during the Zombie Apocolypse. He got better than he deserved because he wasn't wired as the kind of human that was going to help rebuild society, regardless of his zombie-killing prowess.

 

[Krug]

Well in a way it's good that they deviated from the comic book. Being too faithful can be a bit of a crutch. I agree that Glenn should be more of a loner, but happy to see an Asian character who isn't a kungfu nerd for once.

 

[renau1g]

Well in a way it's good that they deviated from the comic book. Being too faithful can be a bit of a crutch. I agree that Glenn should be more of a loner, but happy to see an Asian character who isn't a kungfu nerd for once.

Yeah I was glad for the divergence as well. I've already read the comics so a simple re-hash of that (as good as the comic is) would likely be less appealing for me than the way they're going. I just hope that the expected "red shirts" deaths don't impact other deaths that may or may not occur to main characters. (ok it's a zombie series, of course someone bites it).

The great thing with the comic was that you were attached to many of the characters before their deaths. There's currently too many to get attached to and I hope they "thin the herd" soon.

 

[Janx]

Well in a way it's good that they deviated from the comic book. Being too faithful can be a bit of a crutch. I agree that Glenn should be more of a loner, but happy to see an Asian character who isn't a kungfu nerd for once.

For TV series, I think it's even better that it diverges from printed material. A TV show, in theory, needs more episodes than a book might provide if interpreteted directly.

Furthermore, the ways something is told in one medium doesn't always make for good telling in another. Hence LotR's divergence from the novel.


Thus far, the show to me is all about Rick, and only forks to other characters because they're going to intersect with him. In this case, his budddy who's doing his wife. I'm OK with that.

Since they showed the tool box get dropped with a hacksaw, you just know the racist guy is going to get to it (or chew off his hand). So that'll come back, along with his brother.