Watched it on AMC's player online. My deep thoughts:

1) why do all these networks need custom video players in this day and age?
2) why do all these networks' custom video players suck so much in this day and age?
3) why are all the FTWD characters at best really boring, and at worst completely unlikeable?

I give this pilot 7 horrible online video players out of 10; I don't even know what that means.

Didn't see anyone mention Rick badly cutting his hand. They made it reasonably obvious his hand was cut and bleeding badly for some reason, and anyone who has read the comics (I actually haven't but know enough to be aware) should find this event potentially interesting...

Also I doubt Glenn is dead, but he should be. I don't like flip flopping unless there's a very good plot device in place (as I believe there is in something like GoT) and in TWD I don't see any escape from Glenns fate except some classic/lazy deus ex machina

I feel like it was supposed to be the midseason opener. The passage of time and jarring change in tone was odd for only being one week apart from the last episode. Feels like someone made the decision to move the midseason finale in between the two dark themed and violent episodes for a better cliffhanger (that seemed a bit forced and impromptu with the weird "mom" timing conflicts and other inconsistencies between episodes)

Was a good episode imo, but it didn't feel like it fit quite right in the pacing. Took the whole episode to find out we were two months later (unless I missed that mentioned earlier) but it would have felt correct if we had waited a few months for the episode itself.

I don't like this thing Carol is doing where she's getting all wound up over killing people (theoretically the worst people we've met!) and seemingly regressing a bit. She became such an independent badass, saving the entire group from Terminus, and ultimately getting shit done that others couldn't/wouldn't do, even going so far as to 'fake' being nothing more than a housewife in Alexandria. I don't enjoy seeing her start to second guess herself all over again.

That said, the acting from Melissa Mcbride this week was great, even if I disliked the character arc. She really sold her "pretend weakness" mode but at the same time conveyed (to the audience) that it isn't 100% a facade anymore - she is potentially 'weakening' while still trying to show determination when necessary (boom! headshot!)

The more I think about it the more I think Carol is going to die this season finale. Someone pretty much always has to go and her death would hit hard, and could probably conclude her actions and remorse in some sort of redemptive way. Saving Maggie's baby seems to be the likely trade there.

Still a shame imo. She's by far the second best character in the series imo....

Regardless what happens, one thing I hope they don't do is trivialize all this Negan/Saviors stuff in the next season. They spent like what 1-1.5 entire seasons hyping Terminus, left it on a great cliffhanger, introduced a very compelling villain in Gareth at the start of the next season, then resolved Terminus in like one episode, and concluded Gareth after like 3 or 4. Was very disappointed at that.

We've now spent half a season building to Negan (and with limited knowledge of the comics the hype of Negan from the comic fans has ALWAYS been high) so I sure hope it can deliver a good solid plot arc next season that lasts more than the premiere and a follow up episode.

Looking back on this season I feel like the show needs something to anchor it a bit more, and it's been the lack of a true villain that has held it back imo. The wolves, the saviors, zombies, these are lately all just fodder for chaos and conflict and are mostly interchangeable in my mind (especially since I know exactly zero names as they are almost all immediately dealt with in any given incident).

I think we need a longer lasting Governor/Gareth/Negan type character to really focus a plot line and bring some storytelling to the antagonists. Otherwise its just an endless revolving door of 'oh we're being attacked by _________ today".

The #1 issue I had with FTWD was that 100% of the characters started off essentially unlikeable and then continued to make dumb moves that made me dislike them more.

If they somehow manage to correct that in an episode or two I might get into it, but as it stands FTWD is not something I will watch much past a couple more episodes at this point.

Does ANYONE actually care about Abraham/Sasha/Rosita like, at all? I've hated Abraham and his tryhard-tough-but-ineffective facade since he was introduced, Sasha is just frustratingly moody and inept when the show requires it, and Rosita is literally pointless. The new character Jesus is 100x better written and more interesting than these other 3 combined even after seasons of exposure...

Am I just not invested in large aspects of the series anymore or are these just painfully annoying and pointless characters?

Fair enough and I do agree, but when parts of the show, or in this case almost the entire episode, specifically revolves around them it feels pretty forced to me.

There's no way Carol survives this season imo - I would bet she gets captured (again) next episode, and eventually killed (possibly others as well) by Negan in the finale.

Man the Negan hype is huge - I honestly don't expect them to deliver on it just due to the unrealistic expectations I've built up over how 'bad' he is. For years I've been reading "Just wait until Negan...." and all season it's been "Negan is coming"... at this point killing Carol isn't even all that shocking or upsetting in the context of the show.

Six episodes is nothing - not even half a season of a full fledged 13 episode season run. I've abandoned shows after far more commitment than a measly six episodes. Six episode commitment = lifetime viewer for you? I find that hard to believe.

If it was confirmed to me right now in an advance review that this season of FTWD will be exactly the same crap as those six episodes I won't even threaten - Ill tell you right now I won't tune in even to the premiere.

Interested to see who dies next week. I feel like Carol OR Darryl is inevitably done for, but Carol's plot kinda went a different way this week than I anticipated. Glen is probably safe as long as there is a dumpster nearby

I also feel like there will be a casualty in the Abraham love triangle... could just be a guilty hope tho.

Can't wait to finally see what this Negan character is all about. Been hearing about him for years - hope he delivers.

I definitely don't think he is yet - they seemed to add the "He'll be fine" line after the fade to black probably because of all the crappy cliffhanger "deaths". Next week might result in his death though; it looked like Darryl was bait next week in the preview, and based on what the character seems to be about, I'm guessing Negan is looking to "make an example" of someone.

I'm not sure if this is intentional or just sloppy storytelling - Rick has seemingly been on a bit of a 'humanizing' or 'complacency' journey as far as leadership goes and it's resulted in a ton of bad decisions throughout Alexandria. I tend to lean towards poor story telling though since they haven't really made a 'thing' about it (unlike with carol) and he still tends to act as needed when he's directly involved (shooting wolves, stabbing Hilltop guy, shooting at a runaway this week)

For what it's worth, it looks like FTWD is heading towards this 'at sea' idea. At least, the finale suggested it, and the previews seem to indicate that direction.

Without knowing exactly what this character is all about, I've heard the Blu-ray will feature a less restrained cut of his debut. They've done this a couple times I think in TWD where they put in F-bombs on the home release in place of less 'offensive' verbage from the aired version. No clue if that makes it's way into the Netflix version which would be the only home version I'd tap into.

I do find it a bit odd that we can have peoples faces, guts, and limbs literally eaten/smashed/cut off on screen, but a few F-bombs is beyond AMC. Put a special disclaimer before the episode on excessive profane language and let er' rip I say!

The problem with these types of solutions in any form of entertainment is that if they are really such a great idea, there's no story left to tell.
If they decide to try this 'easy street' solution there will always have to be some way it goes wrong - usually by people doing stupid shit to ruin it - which fits right into the horrible FTWD character behaviour frankly.

This is exactly what my brother harps on and there's no excuse.
You built a wall, you can stand on the wall, make ONE spear ---> you literally just killed 100% of the zombies at your wall over the course of the next ~45 minutes.

Although the hilltops and saviors seem to carry spears as of last episode... and Alexandrians put spears on vehicles now which makes NO sense.... why on earth would you want the zombie you hit to stick with you?!

In a real zombie apocalypse (with these shambling non-running zombies) a spear/polearm/halberd would be your go to weapon, with firearms restricted to killing other humans unless absolutely necessary to use on zombies.

I think the 'theory' is that the blunt force trauma to their mush brain/skull kills them.

It's BS imo which is another reason I hate Morgan - another character that was hyped up over a couple seasons, who then showed up and proceeded to be a huge obstacle and not much else. Plot wise, what purpose does he even serve? Aside from 'omg he was in the first episode' he has contributed nothing but proof he isn't a fit in the show/universe... even his speech about how the Wolf he captured saved Denise so 'people can change' is such shit - the only reason she needed saving was directly due to Morgan's selfish and unrealistic actions (twice!) and it's debateable if he did it for himself or not.

Would be interesting to see Negan deal with Morgan and vice versa - Negan seems to be a fan of hitting things with sticks too

Without knowing anything about the plotline in the comics, I feel like Negan is about to prove Rick correct and make sure society and order is the last thing on the group's mind... If anything I feel like it's more likely Morgan will be forced to realize what might be required in this new world.

Despite the few issues over this season it has kept me entertained better than some seasons past - at least stuff is happening and I'm compelled to be interested in how it turns out.

Thank you

Not allowed - just edit I would say

I appreciate your efforts but I don't need my concerns addressed in any way by the comic
If I was wanting that I'd have started reading it years ago, but I'm content to wait and see how the show goes. I just like BS'ing about stuff I'm interested in, the good and the bad.

I still say Morgan is crap

Still, even pointing out the differences with the source material can indicate (or indicate a source material departure of) the next steps in the plot.

For instance I found out that GoT has skipped over a key character in the show that was in the book - now the consensus is that exact character isn't coming to the show, but for me a comparable substitute character showing up in the same context has significantly less 'wow' factor just by knowing what the 'universe' of GoT might hold. I'd rather not have known about the book plot at all in this instance.

Disagree 100% in the context of a 'show' discussion.

Bingo (imo at least)

That said, I can understand the desire to discuss the comparison and similarities/differences but there are dedicated spaces for that discussion. The comparison is often fascinating from the context of what works/doesn't work in specific entertainment mediums.

Once TWD has run its course as a show I fully plan to seek out the key differences for curiosity sake, but I don't really plan to read the comics.

Dumb question.... is FTWD based on the graphic novel too?

It is a spoiler and I'm tired of "in the comics _____ happens" but frankly with the stupid cliffhanger ending the show did, there's no way it's Rick anyway imo

My thoughts,

- Negan was awesome; best 10 minutes of this part of the season no doubt. The acting from Andrew Lincoln (Rick) sold the situation more than anything.

- Rest of the episode was 'meh'; should have been a 60 minute episode and the Carol/Morgan plotline continues to meander to nowhere, with the only breadcrumb now being a bunch of football padded horsemen.

- Cliffhanger was beyond dumb; they needed to show someone dying after all this hype, and frankly it should have been multiple people as it's been since carl's eye got shot that we have had a 'big death' and I don't know if anyone was sad to see that family go anyway.

With the way they did this, it basically rules out anyone important as the death will be anticlimactic as hell next season, even if it starts right from that scene. My guess is we will actually be doing a "6 months later" opening where Rick and Co. are subservient to Negan, and we find out 'oh so-and-so is the one who died'. This to me means its likely going to be Aaron as he's the closest to a forgettable 'Red Shirt' in this situation, but I could see Eugene, Shasha, Rosita, or Abraham as well. Despite the old "anyone can die" mentality these shows like TWD and GoT tend to push, TWD is certainly becoming pretty safe for main characters imo.

If they'd have SHOWN it this episode, it could have been (almost) anyone. Now it pretty much has to be a Red Shirt because there will be no shock in Season 8 premiere, just 'wtf it was ___?'. The death of the main characters deserve more than this imo, but frankly TWD has been inconsistent enough that I guess they could try it this way.

For the record, despite the issues, I enjoyed this season. Stuff actually happened that kept me entertained.

There were some pretty rough patches back in season 3-4 if I recall where I almost abandoned ship where it seemed like the plot stalled out and we were just going though the motions. This season had issues, but it was entertaining.

Looking forward, as I said before, I hope Negan can last a season or two. This show needs an antagonist with a name, a face, and a motive that can persist past a few opening episodes. Would love to see Rick and Co. hit the road again with the intent of rallying for revenge; probably with Carol's Riders of Rohan who, while interesting, looked a little silly frankly.

I didn't watch FTWD. Based on the lukewarm responses I've read online I will be bowing out of that series.

See you guys in season 7 of TWD!

I got into this last year on Netflix (here in Canada-land it comes out episode by episode the day after airing in the US - only way to watch it legally here afaik) and I was admittedly 100% ready to hate all over it...

It is in fact one of the better apocalyptic/sci-fi shows going right now. My ONLY gripe is it does touch on the whole young-adult/hunger games/'teenagers can do anything' genre a bit heavily in the earlier episodes, but it's never insufferable enough to overshadow the more compelling plot lines.