Walking Dead returns tonight

[NewJeffCT]

However, since the threads seem to have died off in the first half of season 8, I'm not going to do my regular Sunday night updates here on DU anymore.

[FarPoint]

1. This season is more dragged out....

Wash, rinse repeat....So, I'm just going to wait until Netflix adds this Season and binge watch...Plus, I just hate the long commercials on Cable viewing... I'll try watching tonight.

[mainstreetonce]

2. Hope you might answer questions if we have any

Thanks for watching

[Iggo]

11. We DVR it at 6, then watch it later at 8 or 9.

That way we can zip through the commercials.

But that also meant I couldn't join in the DU Walking Dead thread until long after the episode was over.

[Basic LA]

27. That's exactly how I watch it.

There are complaints & questions about each episode, but I'm hooked & always look forward to it. Glad it's back.

[Iggo]

28. Couldn't miss the "Oh My God Carl, Die!" episode, now could I?

[Basic LA]

29. Longest death scene in history.

I remember old TV comedies that would spoof protracted death scenes in movies. They could never have imagined this.

[Iggo]

30. Hilarious.

[Laffy Kat]

3. Sigh. I don't know.

Part of me wants to watch, the other part will miss Carl too much. Just don't know how much more I can take.

[Stargleamer]

4. . . . whereas The Grateful Dead live on only in memory.

[Miles Archer]

5. I think the threads were appreciated...

...and I say that as a very minor fan who didn't watch the show every week.

I got to the point where I sort of stopped caring about what happened.

It's kind of like the "Fargo" TV series.

I found the first season, with Billy Bob Thornton, to be freakin' awesome.

Didn't enjoy Season 2 as much.

Liked Season 3 less than Season 2 and am now indifferent to Season 4 (even though I don't believe it's in the future).

Don't really care about Rick finding his center, or then losing it and finding it again and losing it again. I don't care if he kills Negan. I'm particularly sick of Negan.

I think that I felt the same way a lot of people did...the Abraham and Glen slaughter-thon was the "OK, I've had enough of this" turning point.

But I saw your threads go up weekly and think you're to be commended for your efforts.

[NewJeffCT]

7. There have been rumors

that they'll eventually kill of Rick and have Negan/Jeffrey Dean Morgan take over as the main character.

Also, supposedly, Lauren Cohan (Maggie) has signed on for a lead role in a new ABC TV series.

[bettyellen]

13. Oh noooo. Im so sick of Neagan. But....

I think I like these threads better than the show itself.
The camaraderie!

[NewJeffCT]

9. I think the start of season 6 was where the show started to lose it to me

the first 6/7 episodes was the exact same story told from the perspectives of different characters. I didn't think it worked all that well, though they mid season finale where the Wolves attacked Alexandria was a good end to that half of the season.

But, the first half of season 8 was the same trick - the attack on the Sanctuary told from several different angles. I used to watch a show called Once Upon a Time, but when they tried that "everybody wakes up with no memory of what happened" a second time, I dropped the show.

I think Scott Gimple likes pulling fast ones of comic readers - killing off Andrea and Dale early, turning Tyreese from a bad ass right hand to Rick to a wimpy "moral center" character, and now killing off Carl. However, while we've seen some of the iconic comic book moments in the show, they're kind of thrown in there without the story flowing that way naturally.

[Solly Mack]

6. I've recently caught up on this season and will watch tonight.

Carl never was my favorite but it certainly is a bold kill move of a character. He's pretty much been Rick's reason to survive, even more so than Judith.

Sorry about missing your threads but I didn't want to read what I wasn't watching. I hate spoilers for the most part.

Your threads were always appreciated.

[NewJeffCT]

8. Carl is still alive in the comics

and played a key role in the comics after the Saviors/All Out War arc. Robert Kirkman had previously said that he thought Carl was the one most likely to survive to the end - in the comics, that is.

Also, Lauren Cohan (Maggie - also alive in the comics) - is supposedly moving on to take the lead in a new ABC series.

[Solly Mack]

18. I still read the comics. Didn't know about the actress who plays Maggie though.

[Iggo]

10. Aw.

Thanks for all the previous threads, though.

I appreciate the work you put in.

[bettyellen]

12. Oh man! And the episode at 8 has new content in ONE MINUTE!!!(now)!!

[bettyellen]

14. Kick, for the last TWD thread and the end of poor Coral!

[bettyellen]

15. Is ANYONE GOING TO HUG OR KISS POOR CORAL?

[NewJeffCT]

16. Judith did

I think

[bettyellen]

17. I must have blinked. Poor kid!

[Solly Mack]

19. Bye, Carl.

Oh, well.

Team Judith!!

[brokephibroke]

20. Did not like the drawn out death scene

I was actually rooting for the bullet to the head sooner.

[NewJeffCT]

21. it went on for a while yes

but, Siddiq did give him the medication to at least slow down the fever, so they had an explanation for it in the show.

One thing I did like was that they finally started talking about running out of ammunition. The first half of season 8 was seemingly a non stop barrages of bullets from automatic and semi-automatic weapons.

[brokephibroke]

25. That Eugene and his mass production!

[Baitball Blogger]

22. I'm still a fan, though I see it going through a major transition.

How it ends is another story.

Carl didn't "beat this world" but he passed the baton to Judith. Now Rick has Judith to do everything for, like he did for Carl.

The end game is pretty obvious. Fulfill Carl's wishful dream of a stabilized world while in the nightmare of Walking Dead.

The dream sequence was interesting, seeing it from Carl's pov. People who were dead were there, but Carl wouldn't have known that. Judith walking up to Negan either shows foreshadowing or the fact that Carl was being overly optimistic about making alliances with former enemies.

And, of course, the big tell of a kid looking into the future was the massive age difference between Rick and Judith. It meant that he was more able to see Rick as an old man, than Judith as a young woman.

Siddiq is going to have trouble with Rick and Michonne. They will always see him as the cause of Carl's death. Of course, if he's the doc that saves the widdow's baby, there might be redemption.

Walking Dead has a natural end. A sustained, liveable community. We might see two more seasons to establish that end.

[NewJeffCT]

23. good input

I'm hoping they do find something peaceful and sustainable. I had always speculated that Rick would die saving Carl on the way to this place, but that won't happen now.

there has been speculation that the show might skip over "The Whisperers" storyline and head straight to The Commonwealth, which is a large established community of about 50,000 people. The Whisperers made me stop reading the comics regularly - just another shade of bad guy and one that didn't seem at all logical to me - they more or less permanently wear zombie skins and guts and herd large groups of zombies to attack those that oppose them. I didn't see people sinking that low that they would go the route of wearing blood and guts all the time (among other things)

[Baitball Blogger]

24. Agreed. Tired of the crew always fighting the anthropological throw-backs.

I could see that zombie costume hook work for a one time twist, but not another tribe annihilation story. They need to rise from the ashes from fighting Negan. He had a lot of people who were ready for something different.

[tymorial]

26. I used to love it.

But they got to Alexandria and I became quickly bored. I haven't enjoyed it since. I continued to watch to the end of last season. I found the end of last season to be so boring. My wife still watches though so I know what has happened.