The Walking Dead: Season 8

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Yeah, I know who y'all are talking about with the salary increase thing. I don't think this person is going to get their way but we'll see. I think this is the first person to make a stand like this on this show, isn't it? Very interesting but I don't see a good outcome for the character if this person keeps pressing. Oh well.
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"Miss Jean Louise, Mr. Arthur Radley."



Looks like the ratings this season--while still high--are around the lowest since season two. Was already pretty sure the show had peaked, but it's possible it could drop off more suddenly than expected. The last two weeks, in particular, saw a pretty steep decline.



"Luck don't live out here."
Looks like the ratings this season--while still high--are around the lowest since season two. Was already pretty sure the show had peaked, but it's possible it could drop off more suddenly than expected. The last two weeks, in particular, saw a pretty steep decline.
Still the biggest money maker for AMC I believe. They're gonna milk it until it goes red.



Still the biggest money maker for AMC I believe. They're gonna milk it until it goes red.
Yeah, even though I'll stick with it till the bitter end, there's something to be said for Britain's way of having maybe a two-season show, or making their seasons shorter as compared to American shows. For the most part they don't wear out their welcome and I'm afraid that TWD will do that if they don't start playing with the story lines. I say don't stick strictly to the comics and do more of your own thing, which they have done to an extent. I swear, I'm one of the biggest apologists for the show, but seeing Rick last night just running wildly at Negan's overturned car, firing wildly, not even aiming at anything in particular and wasting bullets, almost had me in fits. Wait until you see a damn target, then pull the trigger. One head shot. Done! But Jeffrey Dean Morgan is popular (and I love the guy, too) so I think they're going to milk Negan for all he's worth. Everyone on the show (except maybe the person holding out for a bigger salary) seems to be happy so I don't see them getting rid of Scott Gimple, the showrunner, and right now, I think he's the biggest problem. Everything seemed to flow a bit better before he came along with his firm grip. Only time will tell, I guess.

That said, I'm really looking forward to Fear the Walking Dead with new cast members coming along that I like, including Maggie Grace and Garret Dillahunt, so it looks exciting.



We've gone on holiday by mistake
Yea I had literally no concern for Negan or Ricks safety, they are trying to get the 2 most interesting characters together on screen and we ve had 2 quite silly fights in recent episodes. I was briefly amused when I thought Rick might kidnap Lucille but nope.

The car chase was pathetic, looked like they were doing about 30mph then they skip filming the actual crash itself. I thought Negan was gonna show up and kill Simon at the end but garbage woman showed up at the exact right place and time and was able to kidnap Negan just before Rick came out. Amazing.

Clearly anyone with creative talent has long abandoned this shell of a once great show.
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We've gone on holiday by mistake
Quite a good episode. Nice to see "the walking dead" actually have an impact on the story.



Yea I had literally no concern for Negan or Ricks safety, they are trying to get the 2 most interesting characters together on screen and we ve had 2 quite silly fights in recent episodes. I was briefly amused when I thought Rick might kidnap Lucille but nope.

The car chase was pathetic, looked like they were doing about 30mph then they skip filming the actual crash itself. I thought Negan was gonna show up and kill Simon at the end but garbage woman showed up at the exact right place and time and was able to kidnap Negan just before Rick came out. Amazing.

Clearly anyone with creative talent has long abandoned this shell of a once great show.
What's funny is how they gave the "car chase" so much hype (in previews and on "Talking Dead")... like a car chase is something special, or just so outside the universe of Walking Dead as to make it somehow unique or interesting.
Instead they just need more Maggie with her shirt off scenes (ala back when she got kidnapped by the Governor) before she starts to show!



Pretty good episode, but again, Rick runs out of ammo from shooting wildly and this time he does it twice! And once, he had a machine gun and ran out of ammo (or am I thinking of the previous episode...or both episodes) and throws the machine gun aside! Keep a spare clip with you, dummy! Okay, I know, in this case it was an all-out battle and you go with whatever is handy and use it, but Rick has a terrible habit of not aiming and firing blindly and wasting ammo. Okay, rant over.

Yes, this was great stuff, with a real Night of the Living Dead vibe to it. And I totally wasn't paying attention to the whole "germ warfare" thing going on, even though the Survivors were clearly shooting bow and arrows. But it was a bit dark after Maggie killed the lights and I couldn't tell what was going on. I know that Daryl yelled "Tara" but I could not tell at all that she got hit. All you could see is a person in the distance against a car. Then a closeup of a person filmed over their shoulder holding their wound, but again, couldn't see that it was Tara. So some of that battle was a bit muddled. And when Tobin had a fever, I totally missed that hint until they showed the alarm clock's time then I thought something was definitely up.

All-in-all, a fine episode that gave us the goods.



We've gone on holiday by mistake
What's funny is how they gave the "car chase" so much hype (in previews and on "Talking Dead")... like a car chase is something special, or just so outside the universe of Walking Dead as to make it somehow unique or interesting.
Instead they just need more Maggie with her shirt off scenes (ala back when she got kidnapped by the Governor) before she starts to show!
Tara >> Rosita >>>>> Maggie imo



Pretty good episode, but again, Rick runs out of ammo from shooting wildly and this time he does it twice! And once, he had a machine gun and ran out of ammo (or am I thinking of the previous episode...or both episodes) and throws the machine gun aside! Keep a spare clip with you, dummy! Okay, I know, in this case it was an all-out battle and you go with whatever is handy and use it, but Rick has a terrible habit of not aiming and firing blindly and wasting ammo. Okay, rant over.

Yes, this was great stuff, with a real Night of the Living Dead vibe to it. And I totally wasn't paying attention to the whole "germ warfare" thing going on, even though the Survivors were clearly shooting bow and arrows. But it was a bit dark after Maggie killed the lights and I couldn't tell what was going on. I know that Daryl yelled "Tara" but I could not tell at all that she got hit. All you could see is a person in the distance against a car. Then a closeup of a person filmed over their shoulder holding their wound, but again, couldn't see that it was Tara. So some of that battle was a bit muddled. And when Tobin had a fever, I totally missed that hint until they showed the alarm clock's time then I thought something was definitely up.

All-in-all, a fine episode that gave us the goods.
Agree about the muddledness. You'll have to see my "Dislike of Technology" thread - where I talk about all the dark scenes in Walking Dead. For some reason, well-lit scenes look fine (like typical HD), but all the dark scenes look grainy & slightly pixelated - can't tell if it's the show or the TV or the cable signal, but well lit shows (such as sports) all look like typical HD.



Yep. I had just watched The Beguiled (the new one) a few nights before and a lot of it was so dimly lit I wouldn't have been able to know anything that was happening if I hadn't have had the captioning function on that told who was talking and what they were saying. A few, and just a few of the scenes were lit enough so I could follow the action but damn, who lit the set? And didn't Coppola see how dim everything was when she made her final edit? I know the story calls for candle light in the era it was set in, but c'mon! We know it's the Civil War era and I've seen many movies where houses used candle light but the director was smart enough to show us the candle but light the set and photograph it so we could see what was happening.

Back to TWD. Here's how I barely followed what was happening:
Daryl yells, "Tara!" then a guy jumps in front of him and he shoots him.
Simon and Dwight are shown running in slow motion.
Then we see Simon making some gesture like he's throwing something and I don't know who he hits or if he does hit someone.
Due to later talk between Daryl and Tara, Dwight has hit her with some weapon (arrow or spear, I don't know) but I never saw Dwight do anything. I see Simon running away, but again, where was Dwight?
We see someone slump against a car, and can only assume it's Tara because earlier Daryl had yelled her name. But there was no immediate, clear scene of her being hit after he yelled her name.
We see (supposedly) Tara holding her wounded shoulder/side? but filmed blurrily over her shoulder. Only a vague smudged profile of the face led me to believe it was her.
As for slumping against the car, Alanna Masterson said that the stunt guys pulled her with a wire inside the car! Huh? Somebody's got their story wrong. It looked like it was against the car to me. Also, I could have sworn I saw a blurred image of a person in the distance trying to tend to Tara. Yet we were never shown a closeup or told who it was, if anyone.
I believe we saw Simon with a gun before the attack which led me to believe it was going to be a total fire-fight, not an arrow, spear-fight.

Yet, despite it all, I liked it, with the walkers shambling around in the dark, biting people. That was good stuff. They should do more of it.



Last episode wasn't too bad. Still, yet again, Negan escapes death---this time he's let go! And Lucille is fine also, despite being threatened twice this back-half of Season Eight. I know it's setting it up for Simon's comeuppance at Negan's hand but, I don't know. If this has been posted before, I apologize, but it's potential good news:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/insertc.../#598c56d953f2



We've gone on holiday by mistake
Felt like a series finale. Some lame attempt to set up Jesus Daryl and Maggie vs Rick and Michone. Yea like that is ever really gonna happen. Suppose that might be the last thing to do, a civil war? Last thing we need is another Governor/Negan.

I think TWD will be held up as a good example to other shows that 5-7 seasons is about the right amount, go past that and it's downhill in terms of credibility. Many great shows stopping in that 5-7 bracket.

I mean where does the show even go now? I know they have a new person in charge and on a positive note it can't get any worse.

Thoughts on finale;

-Good job for Mullet boy that all the Saviours fired at the same time.
-Underwhelming Amazon s save the day with Molotov cocktails....wut?
-As if you don't kill Negan Rick slaughters Saviours one week, next spares Negan?? Hmm
-Why was Daryl so pissed at Dwight??
-Maggies plan ROFLMAO.
-Where is Maggies baby bump?

Might just read up on comics so I can stop watching.



Felt like a series finale. Some lame attempt to set up Jesus Daryl and Maggie vs Rick and Michone. Yea like that is ever really gonna happen. Suppose that might be the last thing to do, a civil war? Last thing we need is another Governor/Negan.

I think TWD will be held up as a good example to other shows that 5-7 seasons is about the right amount, go past that and it's downhill in terms of credibility. Many great shows stopping in that 5-7 bracket.

I mean where does the show even go now? I know they have a new person in charge and on a positive note it can't get any worse.

Thoughts on finale;

-Good job for Mullet boy that all the Saviours fired at the same time.
-Underwhelming Amazon s save the day with Molotov cocktails....wut?
-As if you don't kill Negan Rick slaughters Saviours one week, next spares Negan?? Hmm
-Why was Daryl so pissed at Dwight??
-Maggies plan ROFLMAO.
-Where is Maggies baby bump?

Might just read up on comics so I can stop watching.
The taking down of Negan felt terribly anti-climactic... but then the epilouge helped negate that a little (I thought it would've been funny if Gabriel, half blind, just bashed Negan's skull in with his bare hands right in front of Rick, Maggie and Rosita!)

Last month I wrote this (bolding parts that now seem a bit prophetic)...

"Basically, they need to get the drop on Negan... but then NOT kill him. Something would happen where Negan's presence would save the day, and they'd realize he's a greater asset as a living weapon under their control than if they were to simply kill him.
Of course, starting out, Negan would have to be treated as a prisoner, but in time he could effectively become the wolf living amongst the sheep - and what we saw in Carl's dream would become a reality. And when Negan becomes a step-dad to Judith, he slowly gains her loyalty and indoctrinates her. It would be like what happened in Battlestar Galactica (original) when Baltar was captured and went back to living with humanity. Lots of people would still want Negan dead, so the show's drama would then derive from the idea of is the greater threat from without or within.
"

Who knows if they'll follow the rest of this course.

Where can the show go now that they've explored bunches of scenarios and any new adversaries would just seem like a rehash of what they've already done?

1. The virus mutates so that all animals now turn into zombies! Birds, squirrels and kittens will start attacking - looking for human flesh. Even mosquitoes will die, turn zombie, and transmit the disease, so humans will start to turn into zombies after just a mosquito bite. No one will know who will turn next or when - and they'll get super paranoid with mosquito bite checks and looking for ticks!

2. The military shows up (hey we saw the helicopter already)... and say they've reestablished control. But it's not the military it used to be, since nothing is what it used to be after the zombie apocalypse, rather its a dictatorship! So Rick & Co. become the "Rebels" and the show basically becomes The Postman with zombies!

Yeah, it seems like Maggie's been pregnant for a year and still has the body of a super-model!



I enjoyed it enough. I knew from peeking at the comic's wiki page that Negan would be captured. I missed the whole cutting of the throat thing the last time I was at the wiki, but I just rechecked and it did happen in the comic. I wish Rick had killed him outright. It would have been a surprise for the comic fans and a victory for the show fans. But, Jeffrey Dean Morgan is very popular in general, if not his character, and I think it will go along with what Captain Steel said about "the wolf living amongst the sheep."

When all the guns misfired, I totally thought just for a second that people were shooting the guns out of their hands like The Waco Kid in Blazing Saddles!

I'm not convinced that Daryl and Jesus are against Rick and Michonne. I know Maggie was upset they didn't kill Negan, but I can't see turning her into a scheming person, unless maybe you add up her attitude this season where she executed a prisoner in the wire cage at the Hilltop, but I'm not buying this change. I mean, good girl Maggie is suddenly The Godfather? They didn't develop her turn to traitor nearly enough. Plus, I've read an interview where the new show-runner, Angela Kang, is planning on going ahead with this story even as they negotiate with Lauren Cohan over the money situation. I totally cannot see Daryl betraying his "brother" Rick. Jesus, maybe, but then again he's not for killing people. So why would he go along with Maggie in a plan to kill Negan?

Captain, I'm with you also on the women from Oceanside suddenly just showing up. It would have made sense if they'd shown Aaron with them, having finally won them over and convincing them to help but I didn't see Ross Marquand there at all. He was lying sick on the ground the last time I saw him. It will make sense if they tell about it when the show starts up again, but...in the comic, right after the war with the Saviors ends
WARNING: spoilers below
there is a two-year time jump, with Negan "rotting in a cell" like Rick promised. And the interview I saw about the new show-runner strongly hinted that they're going to do "something different" unlike anything they've done before. But Angela Kang has been with the show since Season 2 and according to Scott Gimple, "knows the show inside-and-out" and the comic also. So one can only guess at how she's going to untangle things. Because if there IS a sudden two-year jump, then she can't go ahead with the "bad Maggie" plan. They could do that at first, then jump ahead.
We shall see.

There is also something supposed to happen after the war, with
WARNING: spoilers below
a new group of enemies called "The Whisperers" attacking our heroes. They are people who pretend to be Walkers, then attack the good guys. Several critics who are fans of the show have been cited as hoping they'll get to that story soon.


Captain, I laughed at your idea about all the animals getting the zombie virus. I like zombie shows where anybody or anything can turn.

I had an idea that would have been interesting, I think, if I may be so bold. In Season One, Glenn and Rick wore zombie guts to blend in with Walkers. They did it again in Alexandria when the stupid brat was calling out, "Mom, mom?" and thankfully got eaten. And it seems like they did it in-between those events. And Negan and Father Gabriel wore the guts but only Gabriel got sick. Then the guts used by the Saviors on the Hilltop people infected many of them. So I was thinking that maybe there could be a mutation in the virus where certain people like Rick and Negan are immune to the guts. Then again *sigh* Father Gabriel only wore the guts and got sick, but the victims at the hilltop were penetrated with zombified arrows and spears, so I guess that was just like getting bitten and contracting the virus. I don't know. I think I'm overthinking everything! Grrr!

One last thing---I was impressed with the size of the Walker horde Rick pointed out in the distance. I wish they'd still get a scientist on the show who could throw out ideas on what drives them in herds like that. I'm still holding out hope for somebody to eventually be found out to be immune and humans going after that person or persons to get an infusion of blood from them.

All-in-all, I was glad they stopped the Savior war last night and I hope they don't do the
WARNING: spoilers below
two-year time jump.



We've gone on holiday by mistake
Good job Daryl has anti bacterial wipes for all his arrows that he repeatedly uses to kill walkers then game.

Also whatever happened to the Kingdom feeding the dead to pigs they gave to the Saviours? Nothing ever came if that



We've gone on holiday by mistake
I don't wanna be specific because this could be spoiler-y, but if you Google around there's a bit of controversy over a cast member with another show lined up who wants a pay increase, and it sounds like they might let them leave. What you're describing is definitely a big problem to any show built around a group of characters, which most are (there's no House without Hugh Laurie, for example), but TWD is uniquely equipped to do without quite a few of its main characters if it has to.
Made the news today across the board that it's Andrew Lincoln leaving a few episodes into s9.

No point preventing spoilers at this point as I don't think anyone is really that invested anymore to care much. Plus its plastered everywhere today.

Will be a shame I guess, TWD was fairly great s1-5. I rewatched 1-6 recently but had literally no desire to go as far as 7, in fact I didn't even finish 6.

Would be surprised if TWD makes it past s9 or 10.



I think 2-3 more seasons. They'll make a go of it with Norman Reedus.

This actually might be the best thing to happen to the show, since it forces some major deviations from the comic book, anyway.



"Luck don't live out here."
I've grown to not really like Daryl, so I personally don't see him being able to pull off being the lead. But hey, I've been committed to watching the show no matter how bad it gets, so I'll be watching it until the end regardless.
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