[TV] AMC's The Walking Dead Season 4

Was the guy who was supposed to have the cure to all this in the box car? I don't remember seeing him off the top of my head. Or did he get killed and I can't remember?

And that was the biggest inside of a box car I can ever imagine.

 

So are the creators insulting our intelligence by still playing it up like it could be anything but cannibals? They didn't have one mention of it in Talking Dead.

The obvious clues:
1) Butchered human remains
2) All the obvious puns "Let me fix you a plate", "the more we take in the stronger we become"
3) The sudden attention to starvation and the lack of huntable game. Maybe my memory of the earlier seasons are fuzzy, but the main characters never really struggled with hunger/starvation. Yes the need for sustainable food source has been plot points with the farm and feral pigs and such but the character themselves have never really suffered through starvation/hunger until late this season.

Come on.

 

Yes, he was in the back left when Bull Randleman came in to frame, you could spot his mullet for a few seconds.

 

Ok, thanks.

 

I'm kind of surprised that those involved with the finale really thought that episode was going to appease fans at this point. It felt like they were actually protecting the remaining primary cast members and "good group" members even though they were rounded up like cattle. Maybe if they went one step further and actually had them do something like butcher and eat one of the "good group" members...that would have made the finale stand out? Even better....feed the BBQ-ed good group member back to the remaining good group members under the guise that they are still just eating regular BBQ. "How are those ribs there, Glenn? Yea...that's Maggie."

 

I think it is quite clear that they are probably cannibals. There is a reason they didn't eat the food when it was offered to them. Of course they aren't going to give it away on the Talking Dead, as it isn't confirmed - it is called a cliff-hanger.

As far as wild food getting rarer, with more people hunting it was only a matter of time. Also, walkers can and do eat wild game as well. The longer it goes on, the more rare food gets.

 

Y'all are weird. You guys really need someone to die in order to like the episode? Why? I don't get it. Nobody dies in Seinfeld.

 

Right. What I'm saying is that after making it SO SO OBVIOUS, it bothers me that the creators are still trying to play it off like it could be anything else and leaving it as a "cliffhanger". Come on, they're just insulting the viewers' intelligence.

 

The flashbacks weren't filler. There was a purpose. It was meant to serve as a contrast to what we saw in this episode. Rick took Herschel's advice and decided to become a farmer for the sake of Carl. This was the beginning of "p***y Rick". Last night's episode marked the return of "bad ass Rick". We were reminded of what Carl was becoming. He'd just shot a kid in the face and was completely indifferent to it afterwards. Then last night we saw that Carl thought that he was a "monster" and was afraid of his dad seeing the same thing. Completely different mindset from the Carl we saw in the flashbacks. "Farmer Rick" did in fact "save" Carl from being the monster he thinks he's become.

Now, we knew all of this before, but most viewers wouldn't have been thinking about that during the episode and they wanted that contrast to show how the characters have changed since the first prison attack.

Also, they used the flashbacks to subtly remind the audience that Herschel had given his watch to Glen, so when Rick freaks out over seeing one of the "Termites" with a pocket watch, you know why.

 

It is pretty obvious. The show doesn't even refer to zombies at all. Where the comic actually has people calling them zombies. The group now knows that everything is messed up there, they didn't really have time to act rationally and discuss what the people at Terminus are.

'Hey guys, I know they are shooting at us but don't you get the feeling that these Terminus inhabitants might be cannibals?'

Did you want them to shout out 'Cannibals! Cannibals!' as they were trying to figure out a path to escape?

 

EXACTLY! The flashbacks with Hershel were my favorite part of the entire episode. Well, that and Darryl offering himself as a sacrifice and Rick gutting the pederast.

I thought it was a great finale. They had been building to this place being the answer, and they found out it wasn't... however, even if it is a nightmare, it is a nightmare that brought them all back together - so they can fight.

IMHO the entire point of the episode was Hershel being the calming aspect of the crew, and when he died they lost sight of that. There was always a purpose as long as they had each other, and now they have each other again - and they've gained some good people in the process.

 

There's no cussing either.

Which apparently is needed to make a line meaningful or impactful on this show. Regardless of how Rick stated it that line at the end held great significance as to where Rick is mentally.

He ripped a guys throat out protecting his family and now he drew the line with that statement showing that he's off the farm boy crap and back to protecting and leading the group. I feel like this story line (season 6) will be the strongest of all.

 

Wasn't Daryl warned it was a trap?

 

I'm mainly speaking to the lack of attention to it in Talking Dead. I usually enjoy Talking Dead quite a bit (I do think it is way too long, should be a 30 minute show) and I even like Chris Hardwick because he brings a real fan's perspective of the show and call the actors and creators out with some inconsistencies of the show.

Last night's Talking Dead was seemed really inorganic and muted because it was obvious that Hardwick was instructed to not bring out the cannibalism clues at all by the creators, indicating that the creators still want this to be up in the air.

 

I don't really need a character to die (in fact I didn't really want any of the characters to die), or cannibals, but this finale felt lacking. Basically the entire 2nd half of this season felt like stalling, and the finale was more of the same. They literally could have told the entire story in 4 episodes and they stretched it to 8. The ratings are still off the chart, and it appears they are happy to just cruise.

No signs of Beth, Tyreese or Carol in a season finale?

 

I thought the episode was pretty terrible and the whole season was awful. But not like any of our opinions really matter.

Truth is, The Walking Dead will still get its ratings. People will still watch it despite lazy writing, bad action choreography, poor logic, and obtuse characters. It also benefits from a generous time slot and season where there's not much else.

 

The directing in this one was so much better than any of the other in the 2nd half of the season. And Carl's acting was somehow tolerable.

 

Great episode overall, but the ending for me was a bit clichéd.
I can't let one scene ruin what was an overall great episode. The character development this 2nd half of the season has been excellent. This was probably my favorite season of the show (maybe first was a bit better but eh). This new show runner has done a great job moving the storyline of each character, had a good mix of tension etc.

But I feel like this style is a turn off to all those meatheads wanting action 24/7.

I wonder if/how carol and tyreese manage to get them out. Where the hell is Beth? And who took her?

 

I really liked 99.9% of this episode. I just really love that line in the comics as it really lays down where, as you said, Rick is mentally. I think the one F-word there as a contrast to it never having been used on the show would have had a real impact that they missed out on. It was also a signal to the rest of the group, some of whom weren't present for the throat-biting scene, that Rick was back in a real way.

Eh, just my opinion.

Still enjoyed it.