The Walking Dead; 8.03 "Monsters" (open spoilers)

Norman Reedus is on Talking Dead tonight.

So, they’re really going to drag this out. Hoping for at least one or two memorable episodes this season. So far, I haven’t seen one. I’m sure no one suspected The King’s constant instance that no one would die wasn’t presaging a bunch of folks dying.

I am so glad Aaron got the baby. Daryl has gone all no talky just shooty, am I right? I am not sure about Morgans sanity, but Jesus needs to stop with peacenik crap. They dont live in a Utopian commune, they live in hell on earth. Of course I loved it, but I am a fangirl, after all!

Meh. Yes, they sure are dragging this out. At least this week’s episode wasn’t as blatantly stupid as some of the more recent ones.

In a way, it’s interesting that they’re bringing in the morality aspect, but morality is something that is borne of stability, prosperity, and leisure. It’s nothing more than a self-indulgent luxury when the raiders are taking your food and killing your people.

Jesus and Rick are guilting others into taking too many personal risks in order to soothe their own mental demons. The gain is likely minimal, especially given that people who have been systematically subjugated need a lot of rehabilitation before they can be safely integrated into a functioning community.

No, Rick and Jesus, you are not at all like the Saviors. Thanks for playing, though.

As to the counterattack on the Kingdom. Did anyone not see that coming? Ham-handed foreshadowing is often overused by the writers. Unfortunately.

Has anyone else also become too accustomed to the gratuitous killing off of well-developed (or at least semi-developed) characters?

I’m a TWD junkie too because the subject matter has so much potential and the early work pulled you in, but at times I get really frustrated with the writing.

On the other hand, it IS a comic book series after all. Maybe I expect too much.

I should point out that the Kingdom’s ambush was largely dependent on the Saviors taking the Kingdom’s forward party prisoner and not just massacring everyone on sight.

What is it with Morgan’s character? Stone cold non killer, then stone cold never let them live, just varies wildly and unrealistically polar positions…

Was it just an excuse for Jesus to do some martial arts or something…

Knew the gay boyfriend was going to die from the moment he went into battle…

Daryl shooting the one who surrendered and promised to escape was a bit much.

An interesting episode. I found Rick killing the guy last week then discovering Gracie in the next room was far more powerful than the Morales scenes. I did like the Morales/Rick scenes mind you, just not as impactful. I did find his comment that “Friendly Officer Rick” died somewhere along the way to be insightful. Daryl’s ending on that scene was perfect. To paraphrase “I know who that is. Doesn’t matter!”

The ending scenes with the Kingdom were pretty well foreshadowed. What I didn’t get was in the conversation with Rick, Daryl, and the Savior survivor - who came the day before and moved the machine guns? Did he say it was Simon?

As for Gregory, as much as I wanted them to shot him at the gate I knew they wouldn’t. The show wasn’t going to have Maggie kill him then and there considering they obviously were setting up some moral crisis at Hilltop with the Savior prisoners all episode. I do agree with Jesus’ comments that they have to live with these people in the future but I think they’ve shown that there is a difference in the Saviors between Neegan and his leadership/leaders and the general population who toils for points. To me, anyone with a gun… no prisoners, no mercy. The rest… welcome them into the community.

I really hate that Gregory guy, but I can see Maggie having alot of scenes with him that wiil show her leadership abilities. And, where the hell are Michon and Carl? Main characters they aren’t showing, why? I wonder where Gabriel is. I want to see Negan and what he is plotting.

They should name this the 100 Years War because that’s what it feels like it’s taking.

I feel bad for Morgan. Clearly two writers are fighting over his character so he gets written completely differently depending on who is writing. Either he refuses to kill to the point where it is clearly detrimental or he wants to kill everyone he sees.

Good bye poor Guy who we forgot from the first two episodes but still got more characterization than T-Dog. We hardly knew you.

Now the Good Guys are killing Prisoners and people they promise not to kill. But they’re really broken up about it so they are still the Good Guys.

Is this the 1000th time the show has covered “It is really us who are the True Monsters” territory? I mean c’mon.

People who keep saying it’s “Just a comic book” should know the Comic Book it’s based on is much much better written. It’s at least plotted better.

I just assumed that it was a precursor to slaughter. I was wishing that Ezekiel would just shut the fuck up!

Michonne got beat up VERY badly during the attack last season and is still recovering, Carl got left behind to take care of Alexandria.

I expected people near him to begin dropping dead in their tracks.

I continue to have a lotta problems with this show, but let’s talk about Andrew Lincoln’s go-to expression when he’s confronted with a bad guy in his face. In his attempt to convey emotion, he ends up looking slack jawed and vacant, and I half expect a long rope of drool to spill out over his lip.

In other news, Maggie’s apocalypse hair is looking super cute these days.

Remind me again who’s baby Gracie’s is?

We don’t know. Probably the guy Rick killed last week, a saviour.

Then how do we know her name?

It was written on the wall next to her crib. The guy Rick killed who was guarding that room was presumably the father.

So Aaron gets a baby. That is so special, I think Daryl should raise her, myself.

There are now, what, two gay males on the show? Jesus and Aaron? Will the writers make them the next gay couple, or will they start following the “token black character” format, and only allow one at a time now?

Is it just me, or was Lennie James (Morgan) really having trouble acting this week? He’s usually better than this episode.

They’ve already got a different meme for black characters, it’s pretty much “the next one to die queue”.