twilight-90710 Reviews

The Walking Dead: Hearts Still Beating (2016) Season 7, Episode 8

Much better than most episodes

[6/10 · 11 December 2016]

This episode was a much better portrayal of everything that is going on in the show, and the pacing and scenes were overall competently executed.

I will note to the readers of this review, that I am typically the person who rates these episodes between 1-5, specifically from the last two seasons.

Of course being a mid season finale with 18 minutes longer than usual episodes, The focus of the episode was to advance the plot significantly. This episode showed every character and story that is currently occurring in the show, which probably has happened maybe afew times in the last 24 episodes (Season 6 and 7). Seeing that in itself was a much fuller viewer experience. I have grown used to watching an episode and feel as if nothing has happened. Tara's episode afew weeks ago is a perfect example of that. We learned almost nothing relevant to the main story, and we learned nothing about Tara, so there was really no material in it besides setting something up to happen in 4 months. Episodes that are going to advance the main plot AND touch base with many story lines are going to be needed in the next 8 episodes to really pull this show back together.

The character development of this episode felt like it was actually a forethought into making it. We had character development in some small and larger ways occurring, and the thing that stood out this episode is that it came from everyone. Some of the development stuff that happened seemed alittle crude. Michonne talking to herself about killing Negan with a Savior right beside her made me actually laugh. I don't care if she ending up killing the Savior, some thoughts are best kept to yourself depending on who is in the room. A small issue in all honesty, nothing compared to previous infractions that have happened in the show. I liked the advancements to the Kingdom story-line, especially since they complement what later occurred with the changing of Rick's thoughts. If that had occurred last episode somewhere in that giant garbage pile, it would have seemed off.

There were a lot of moments in the show that just made me hit my head and say "why do you keep doing this?" The scene with Aaron and Rick on the boat, going to the canoe to go the houseboat that isn't that much further... over complication of an easy task to fill airtime is something that has happened most frequently with this show. Then comes Aaron and the "surprise walkers". First comes the one in the canoe. That one made me note to myself how much time is wasted in this episode before Rick saves him, since we all know a Aaron isn't going to die from that encounter. Next Aaron gets pulled into the water, and the cycle continues as we just count down the clock before we can begin watching something worth watching. The show isn't called "Close Encounters With Zombies", so why does this happen every episode?? To make my point clearer, Rick and Aaron saw the zombies in the water and they continued on, to get past them. I'm going to assume they are logical people, and logical people don't do things that incur a good chance of them dying. So if they know that they very likely aren't going to die, why do we as the viewer have to suffer through this time and time again with pointless zombie encounters. Too often now are zombies the afterthought of the show. They probably make the script and with a wet paintbrush flick paint randomly onto the script and add a close encounter with a zombie at the paint splash. I was extremely excited when in season 6 the focus started out to be about combating the zombie problem, but that was the focus of maybe 4 episodes and completely gone in 8.

Another scene that made me hit my head was when we were picking who gets to die. And like most times in this show, its the 2nd class characters who got a disproportional amount of screen time in the last few episodes that die. When its time for a "main" character to die (Rosita), the mood changes to "I'm going to mess up your face". He killed Spencer for says Rick won't follow your rules, but when someone actually tries to kill Negan, he just wants to mess up your face alittle. And that point reminds me of the "au naturel" moment when Negan, picks up the shell casing... takes time to examine it... determines its hand made... And finally demands to know who made it. He got that entire plot stripped down to the bone in a matter of seconds. Its almost like he is Santa Claus knowing exactly who was implicated in being Naughty. Its too contrived to be believable or watchable. After that moment that scene went down the dumps. Spencer's death overall wasn't too bad. It made some tenseness, especially with Rick supporters watching him do what he was doing. A redeeming factor for that was Andrew Lincolns acting. He is definitely the best actor of all of them. (beets Carl by a long-shot!)

Honourable mentions go to Fat Joseph, who like many viewers of this show, are just trying to get by. (Another example of a 2nd class character with disproportional screen time die)

I hope my 6/10 is a good rating. I haven't seen an episode this good in a long long time, and even this episode had major flaws. I hope we have a solid plot driven focus in the second half of the season.

The Walking Dead: Sing Me a Song (2016) Season 7, Episode 7

To Ridiculous, even for TWD

[1/10 · 5 December 2016]

I have been watching TWD since it started coming out some number of years ago. Never before have we gone through what this episode is. I believe in a previous review of mine, I said gave that episode a 2/10, because I was reserving the 1/10 for something even worse. Well ladies and gentlemen, here it is, and boy what a show!

I haven't been writing reviews about season 7 so far, as I did for many episodes of season 6. Quite frankly, its because season 7 has been alittle better than season 6, at least better than the specific episodes I felt inclined enough to review. This changed with last episode, being the giant cluster of garbage spewing from some TV scriptwriters fingertips. Now allow me to tell you why I think that.

First off; is anything that just happened even believable? Teenage "psycho" kid jump out of a truck saying "drop your weapons! I only want Negan" and as Negan appears, does nothing to him... like seriously? TWD is known for character mediocrity and idiocy, but this specific occurrence doesn't stop with one single moronic action. It doesn't even take 5 minutes before Carl is all wet about Negans power and looks like he is contemplate how cool this guy is. The very guy he wanted to kill 5 minutes ago!! The guy who killed a bunch of his friends!! The guy who is the leader of the other two guys Carl just murdered!! Is no one going to question this? or are we just supposed to take it as it is? you can't just skip this character development where Carl is suddenly a "psycho" who wants to be Negan 2.0, when all you did is give him a Cheetos-level cheesy line as he exits a truck and shoots a guy. That is not good television.

To put salt on this very fresh wound, here comes the series of absolutely brutal and cringy Carl-Negan scenes. Carl CRIES because Negan makes fun of his eye hole?! huh? wasn't Carl just set up to be a "pyscho"? Then here comes in Fat Joseph spewing terrible apologies unbecoming to the projection of what a "savior" would act like. Ask yourself, did that scene add anything to the show? it added to the point Negan was trying to make, but the point Negan was trying to make was literally that; I like to joke around! sorry for making fun of your eyehole! wanna be friends Carl!? Then lastly, Carl does full circle and starts acting "psycho" and says to Negan that he "can't" kill all the people at Alexandria. Okay Carl, I see you must have suffered brain damage with your eyehole injury, or your character is just supposed to be that stupid and illogical at all times. I guess the latter would show as to why you were the moron you were in season 2

I really want to talk more about the Carl-Negan garbage that was this episode (Carl singing, Wife scene, Carl giving Negan the tour of his house like they were best friends, etc) . But apparently there were other people present in the episode. The imbalance of the episode between the characters it focused on was embarrassing to watch. Ricks few scenes were made to look edgy and mysterious when really they are just doing almost nothing. That part should have been cut completely or just not spread throughout an hour long episode. Anything really that wasn't what they did would have been better. Michonne's scene was another example of how terribly spread this episode was. Two scenes, almost an hour apart, isn't really the best way to develop anything. It took me awhile to remember that Michonne was in the episode when the zombie-pile was shown. And I will also mention the atrocity that is Michonne's character in this episode. You told Rick not that long ago that you would try to make it work (work for Negan, that is), and the next scene we have of you, you are doing the opposite! There was absolutely no indication to the viewer that you weren't going to follow through with your promise, and that is bad television, where the viewer doesn't understand the characters we are watching.

it really worries me that as of this review, 45% of viewers gave this episode a 10/10. It worries me in the sense that no one knows what good television looks like, that they will just settle for this with whatever reason they have. I will continue to watch this show, mostly for the "bigger picture" story that the show sorta is, or I hope it will become. But for now, I do declare, that this was the worst episode of TWD I recall in my memory, as of December 5, 2016.

Fear the Walking Dead: Monster (2016) Season 2, Episode 1

Blah, Blah, Blah.

[1/10 · 10 April 2016]

Blah Blah Blah, Blah Blah. Useless talking 101 here. Not even a hint of any quality to redeem itself that at least The Walking Dead has (but isn't that great in itself) Here's why I'm giving this a 1/10.

The show itself if a low quality The Walking Dead, so it already lost the potential of being better than the original series. There is no mistake, Fear the Walking Dead is far different that The Walking Dead. Different pace, different focus, different quality. The first 5 minutes of this episode was a lazy attempt to get the show rolling after a quite forgettable first season. A splash of character idiocy, a pinch of crapping looking zombie fighting with some "intense" background killed the episode before it could really start. With me (and probably many others) forgetting most of the first season, it had a true potential to chose any path, and it chose a bad one.

After the startup, we enter a phase of just, as I said before, Blah Blah Blah, Blah Blah. Who cares. If this show isn't going to be a character driven story, unlike The Walking Dead was in its beginning, then just shut up and do something. And by something I mean something useful. The old dude was literally mopping the deck of a boat. The big discussion should have been "Where do we go", but that was instantly decided to be San Diego, after the captain said they should avoid people (news flash writers, San Diego is a city). The next big discussion was the boat of people that they should or shouldn't save. This discussion was used and thrown out the window in like 3 minutes. Its like these peoples humanity has disappeared almost completely. This is something that took 4 seasons to happen to the people in The Walking Dead, and now these people have thrown out the "humanity" discussion in a matter of 3 minutes. Talk about getting rid of useful dialogue.

So with the absence of both useful dialogue and events, we came face to face with uselessness. People talking to themselves, people giving people advice on how to change their bandages. People mopping the floor. People apologizing cause they are "sorry" something bad happened. The extreme laziness of the character development is utterly pointless since we all know that the show will rely on random crazy action scenes to keep it afloat.

Now with that said, the episode tried to redeem itself with its random action. So the random fog pulls in, and the whiny kid jumps into the water along with the junky, and just abunch of illogical stuff after that. The fog is clearly there to compliment the idiocy of these characters, and there ignorance when it comes to checking their surrounds. The Walking Dead is already bad enough for this, this show has just become worse. Then in conclusion to the events that unfold in the following 5 minutes, they believe there are already "pirates" going around hunting boats. Another mad rush to jump past any humanity that should be remaining in the world.

A big point I want to raise is how this show had a lot of potential. The Walking Dead really began after all these events when Rick woke up. So this show has the originality to show what TWD couldn't, and that is how people initially react to the outbreak. But with the constant rush to get into killing people and not preserving humanities willingness to help those in need, it has wasted its only hope at living in the world of the walking dead. And that is quite why I fear the walking dead, because if this is the kind of material that the world of the walking dead creates, I fear for the brains of those who made this garbage.

The Walking Dead: East (2016) Season 6, Episode 15

Don't Worry, You'll be Alright

[5/10 · 27 March 2016]

With only 2 more episodes remaining in this season of The Walking Dead, us viewers are looking for something to grasp to for a closing of this season, and with the lack of forgone main story, this episode makes the last few episodes look rather weak.

This episode has a much better pace to it than the previous 6 or so of this season. With a return of focus on main characters, we get a more solidified episode. Finally we are fully back to Rick, Michonne, Daryl and others that are established and a continued storyline can occur. I say this because many previous new characters have died and are nearly irrelevant to what is currently occurring. Denise and who she was isn't a prospect that matters now that she died. Most of the last episode can be seen a dead-weight to the main story, but to be fair, her death is a prompted event into current events. Anyhow, with our main cast in the spotlight we have a better dialog, we weren't as rushed to get into the action to kill everyone (I am referring to the first part of the episode that may have seemed slow), and my main point, we have a more established story, which will likely be used up next episode with a large cliffhanger ending.

I have mentioned before in other reviews that the show is rather scattered, and this episode was to, as it was jumping between 4 or 5 stories and perspectives, but given that the characters were more "relevant" to main story, I didn't feel like it was all that bad for this episode.

Some events this episode were fairly enthralling, Carol's encounter was exciting, and for me alittle surprising. There were of course some drawbacks from the events of the episode. I couldn't stand how these characters just stand about like idiots in the middle of nowhere and talk until some bad stuff happens (happened last episode with Denise). It happened with Michonne and Glen this time. For me this is where much of the "suspense" is from. The threat that these idiots will get screwed over because they are idiots. I want suspense coming from something truly suspenseful, not jump-scares. The Rick and Morgan scenes were nice, adding alittle more character development to Rick who is the alleged main character. There are some more examples of bad and good but I won't get into them, short review this time.

Now comes to addressing the elephant in the room. Daryl Dixon. If this were a different show, we might be discussing if Daryl is dead or not. But given that this is The Walking Dead, I'm debating if he shot Daryl in the shoulder or if he shot the Ketchup bottle beside him to make red stuff hit the camera. A sad proposition; but in all honesty a possible scenario. The more likely scenario, of course being Daryl being shot, also is a sad proposition, given that the last words of the episode being "You'll be alright". These words, I cannot express how unnecessary they are. Imagine an ending without them. We would be discussing if he is dead or not. The possibility of a Ketchup bottle scenario would be only discussed by crazy conspiracy theorists. For heavens sake these writers couldn't even threaten to kill Daryl Dixon, but can kill new characters in the blink of an eye. The inconsistency is the butcher of the show. Those three words brought this episode down from a six or seven to a sad five.

Well, I will end the review with that. Overall a better presentation of a Walking Dead episode. Many things improved, may things left to improve, and I suppose many unanswered questions that will leave us waiting till next week. 5/10.

The Walking Dead: Twice as Far (2016) Season 6, Episode 14

This episode reflect the show

[3/10 · 20 March 2016]

Watching this episode, I came to realize that it contains all the elements that this show has come to be, and by my 3/10 rating you already know those elements aren't good.

I had problems with this episode before we even got to the opening credits, and that is for two reasons. First, every episode it seems tries to accomplish something, and that is to make the show "obscure" (I don't know if that's the right word for it). What I mean is it always starts with pointless camera angles and music and scenes that don't fit in with the rest of the show. If the show was actually a well made and directed television drama, It would likely fit well, but the fact is, to consider The Walking Dead what critics would consider "quality" would be naive.

My second problem with the opening was the actual content of it. It seemed to me like they were trying to tell me these characters were getting bored. The repetitive scenes only told me as a viewer that their lives have become a schedule, and from other details they didn't seem to be enjoying it. And this is the great irony. The characters are as bored as the audience typically is without their needed action. It seems as when a Walking Dead episode happens without action the IMDb rating suffers as the audience gets bored.

So that was the first 4 minutes of the episode, and far from the only problems, and the reason why this episode reflect the entire show.

First off, the point of character idiocy and feeling of invincibility. Off they go running, by themselves, splitting up willingly, going into dark rooms and shinning your light at everything but the thing that will bite you. Risking your life for a cooler and of course almost dying. All of this is old. And it sure isn't adding up to anything except for certainty that something bad will happen to one of them and create a little bit of excitement or action for the episode, which is exactly what happened in this one.

Another point, and a big one. The show is stretching thin. Very thin indeed. The last 2 or 3 episodes have been mostly following what seems to be the main plot, though I can't tell for sure due to failures of a solid main story. This episode, However, has nothing really to do with anything (anything meaning what has previously just happened in the storyline). We go from dealing with a new settlement, taking out another, and finally saving some captives (all connected, not well, but nevertheless connected), to going on some loot runs, and planning on making bullets, and some mediocre character development dialogue. None of this connects to all that. We are now focusing on characters that weren't previously that important.

I am all for increasing the circle of characters on the Walking Dead to more than the invincible original/semi-original few, but only if the timing is right, and it wasn't. I don't care about Denise, or who she is or her brother if the main plot is about dealing with "Negan" and Hobo Jesus and other recent events. The fact is the show is spread so thin that all its plot points are spread thin that its hard to recognize a main plot at this point.

This idea of thin plot was continued right to the end with Carol leaving for no apparent reason. I say this because there was no reason. She was there at the beginning of the episode, then the irrelevant stuff to her happened, then she decided to leave. Nothing changed for her, The only thing I can think of is she smoked her pack of cigarettes and is off to find more. Such a noble quest of no longer killing people and finding cigarettes.

So I will leave the criticism with that, and say afew honourable mentions as to why maybe this episode was okay.

So the reoccurring theme seen in this episode is the idea that "I should have killed him". That of course was said by Darryl on his short conversation with Carol, as she was battling with her thought of killing people. And this episode proved Darryl right. He should have killed him, and that perhaps shows the viewers that Carol is being unrealistic with her new thought. If a moderate like Darryl thinks he should have killed someone, then Carol should accept the killing of people and continue it herself. Seeing a small point to this episode elevated it.

I will also say that bringing back that random guy from 8 episodes ago bought us a storyline for the next 2 episodes, so as sad as that is, its a plus for this episode.

Overall, this episode falls flatter than a pancake. I say pancake and not crepe because my rating is 3/10 and there is obviously room to go flatter. If a good solid story is found and an end to the increasingly thinness to the characters and story happens, then this show can get back to the better days of seasons 1-3.

*Walking Dead fans, Please do not downvote my review because you don't like my rating, please rate it accordingly to if it was an informative and well done review. Thanks*

The Walking Dead: The Same Boat (2016) Season 6, Episode 13

Here we go again

[2/10 · 13 March 2016]

Another Sunday night dedicated to finding out how this show failed to hit the bar of good television, and this episode hit so low it dug into the ground.

We started off the episode in the prospective of the ones capturing Carol and Maggie, with their apparent "strong" female leader with attitude that was probably the weakest attempt at a character I have ever seen, not to mention the other 3 with her. So after first "threats" to kill our beloved Carol and Maggie, the captors flee the scene to "think things through". Of course these tough captors have no real pack to their punch and aren't even convincing in wanting to kill Maggie or Carol at any point in this episode.

After getting settled in their new location, Carol turns nut crazy religious, at first giving the impression she is faking it, but right till the dirt nasty end "boss battle" (boss battle referring to that fight with the red-head with carol that lasted 5 seconds) she continues her hick personality after not really facing death in the face, in fact, given what has happened to their previous encampments in the last seasons, Carol was probably safer than she has ever been in the show.

Going back to the middle of the episode, we have 25 minutes of attempts to get to know these 3 women captors, creating an odd women oriented episode, given the lack of women found in the captors encampment last episode. It created an odd setting and didn't really show what these captors were "supposed" to be like. What they turned out to be is just a step-up from impolite. The interrogation with Maggie was closer to a heart-to-heart girl bonding moment than an actual interrogation. Cause ohhhh, this interrogator also had a child and had a hard life... like ohhhh.... I totally care.

I don't really feel like going into the redhead or the redneck woman much, since they all fall into the same pool of terrible character writing and uninteresting dialogue that proved to be a terrible episode.

The show rushed everything extremely quickly these past few episodes. We went from kidnapped to saved in the matter of 40 minutes. We allegedly figured out who Negan is, and figuring it out was pointless since it didn't matter who or what Negan is. All he was in a name someone muttered at some point in this season. Nothing more. The very smell of a continued plot line was sucked up and used in a matter of 5 terrible episodes. Next on the list is the "Hobo Magic Jesus Dude" turns out to be the second coming of Christ and they all go to heaven to fight off zombie god, alternating of course between episodes to focus on different characters to make the illusion we are having good character progression (which is definitely what happened this episode with Carol).

Well, I can't say a good thing about this episode. Just more pointless write-ins of characters to kill for cheap story that doesn't last more than this episode. 2/10 only because the show "The 100" is far worse than this so I reserve the 1/10 for that.

The Walking Dead: No Way Out (2016) Season 6, Episode 9

Was any of this even a surprise?

[3/10 · 15 February 2016]

After the few month break, a big return was expected, and unarguably delivered, but that doesn't earn a show a high rating. The show has turned to holding the audience hostage in threats to killing lovable characters and overall misleading, along with completely illogical character actions.

We ended the 8th episode with some cliché posing of the characters on the house porch while some tense background music played, and this evolved into the group of characters navigating through the zombies, and ended with the whiny kid for some reason uttering the word "Mom?" (probably to tell her he forgot his favorite cookie recipe at the house) and endangering the whole group. Of course this "cliffhanger" wasn't actually used, in fact completely ignored by this episode, as if it never happened.

Of course, not a big deal in itself. Calmly uttering "Mom?" probably wouldn't attract the horde and rain hell down upon the group of survivors, but it proves misleading and holding the audience hostage to watch this episode to find out what happens.

Now the more prominent failure of this show appears, and that is the cheap rating boost of killing random characters. We start this episode with Darryl, Redhead, and Tyreese's sister (yeah, I don't pay attention to names much). They for some apparent reason, decide to stop on the road when a biker gang (as if that would exist 2 years after the end of the world) is on the road. Biker gang gets hostile (unsurprisingly, but the group probably thought they were out of sugar for their cake they were making) and threatens to kill our lovable characters. but Boom! here comes Darryl with that Bazooka and blows all the bad guys away! Hurray! 10/10 moment! This scene "totally" added to the show.

Next comes the killing of the family that was navigating through the zombies with Rick and Carl. They all die, but not like I would care, as they have been in this show for less than a full season. This is caused by more character illogicality, in the whiny kid this time. It was minutes ago that the kid said he would be fine navigating through, but then, after some close up camera shots of zombie's mouths that were "pretty scary", the whiny kid falters and starts whining again and here we go, cheap ratings by killing some characters we were supposed to like after being with them for a season. Well done writers, I can't see why anyone wouldn't give you a 10/10 for that.

There is more of this kind of thing, like threatening to kill Carl, which wasn't convincing AT ALL, threatening to kill Glen again, which wasn't convincing AT ALL, and more of this low quality rating boosting stuff that is supposed to be interesting.

The only thing I will give credit for this episode is near the end, where Rick's anger drives him and soon the rest of the town to fighting the zombies, and soon they are all reunited and fighting as one, proving to Rick that this town can save itself (but one must note that is was mostly Ricks people that were fighting). Anyways, cheap ratings boosting, proves to be about a 3/10