I’m going to try to keep this short.
I like The Walking Dead. Almost all of my friends like The Walking Dead, though there’s also a large number who have recently decided to abandon the show. In general, we’re fans of The Walking Dead here at the Shattered Lens.
But tonight’s episode was a real chore to sit through. After all the hype and all the promises that something big was going to happen during tonight’s special 90-minute program, Service turned out to be a big bunch of nothing. Negan showed up at Alexandria. Negan acted like an asshole. Negan left.
THAT WAS THE ENTIRE FUCKING SHOW!
The thing is — we already know that Negan is an asshole. We know that he’s a bully. We know that he’s a sick and irredeemable bastard. And I’m not sure that the show really needed to devote 90 minutes to reminding us about what we already know. To be honest, the entire Negan terrorizes Alexandria thing could have been handled in 30 minutes. That would have left the 2nd half of the episode for … well, something! Something more than the same crap that we’ve been seeing since season 7 began! I don’t have a problem with the show being disturbing, violent, or even depressing. I do have a problem with the show being tedious and that’s the best way to describe tonight’s episode.
Quite frankly, I’ve had enough of neutered Rick. During tonight’s episode, Rick had plenty of opportunities to do something to stop Negan. When they were visiting the graveyard, he could have set up an ambush. When Negan was standing right out in the open, he could have had a sniper open fire. At one point, Negan even let Rick hold Lucille!
And Rick did nothing.
Where is the Rick who shot zombie Sophia without a hint of emotion? That’s the Rick we need! No more of this boring, teary-eyed, shellshocked Rick. We need our old Rick back and we need him now! If Rick can’t can’t lead his group, he needs to step aside for someone who can.
And Rick, for God’s sake, remember that there’s no crying in the zombie apocalypse!
There are only four episodes left before season 7 goes on hiatus. I am sincerely hoping that those 4 episode will amount to something than just four hours of Negan taunting Rick.
At the very least, we need at least one more episode with King Ezekiel and Shiva…
Through the Shattered Lens 
I haven’t watched yet (football games wont watch themselves after all!!) 😆 But there have been many slow times during the series run. I started watching almost from the beginning… a friend gave me the dvds for the first season (I had never heard of the show before that)… it was only 6 episodes… so I was easily caught up before season 2 started.
Season 2…. I liked Herschel.. I liked a lot of the people introduced from there.
But OMG was that slow at times… it seemed to me like “Farmville” ….zombie style.
There have been a few times when I almost quit watching… but kept going. I do like the show.. and will continue to watch. But yes.. slow at times no doubt.
Negan is a good villain, but I did get the sense they would over-play him from the first time we saw him. Just a bit too over-the-top IMO. I like most Tarantino movies… but admit sometimes he goes a bit far trying to be clever with dialogue.. Negan reminds me a bit of that.
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Just finished watching. Yep.. pretty much a Seinfeld episode… a show about nothing.
Writers… you really don’t have to try so hard to make Negan hate-able. We hate him already… dial back the almost comedic, forced dialogue. We get that his people are dicks too. Dumping a canteen of water on the ground or quibbling over some baloons doesn’t make that point more clear. If anything, it makes me chuckle a bit at the silliness.
Maybe in the future Rick’s group can find an uninfected puppy… then have one of Negan’s goons kick it for no apparent reason… just in case I forget they are dicks.
I like WD enough to stay with it… I really need to see how this plays out. But I have a feeling that the next few episodes until the mid-season finale will be more of the same. And that feeling is not just a gut feeling… it’s based more on past history. Wowser of a premiere… dial it back until the viewers are almost asleep… then hit them again at finale to make them want more.
And please bring Daryl back to the show soon… although I’m sure he’s enjoying receiving his script for the week on a 3×3 post it note…. sometimes blank.
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Yeah, it’s hard not to feel that all of the interesting characters have been shoved to the side to make room for Negan. And there’s just not enough layers to Negan to really justify neglecting Daryl for his sake.
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Why 90 minutes? Easy… money grab.
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As you know, I am out. This is what happens once the shark is officially jumped. Limping on in tedium until the final headshot
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I fear you may be right. Oh well — I’m a completist so I’ll stick around until the show ends. Kinda like how I stuck with The Office, even after Michael left. 🙂
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Yes! Of course, I suffered with you through that sometimes painful last season.
One thing to recognize – although the character of Rick is annoyingly following the script, I think this may be at times one of Lincoln’s finest efforts. It is not easy I’m sure to sustain his level of excellence and realism playing opposite a cartoon character
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Unfortunately I bought the season pass so feel obliged to watch to see what happens. The fact is I am past caring what happens. Will there be a rebellion? So what. Characters lurch from super strong to pathetic.. or from evidencing some humanity to immoral animals. Rick has totally capitulated, but I’m sure will lurch back to avenging angel, in the process someone ‘good’ will die. Real life? I can’t help thinking that anyone who ‘loves’ the Walking Dead isn’t the sort of person that would end up running with the Saviours. Negan is a joke…. the real scum are those backing him up. I’d be happy to see an episode where all the Saviours get burned alive… but is that really ‘entertainment’?
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I actually dislike Dwight and the other Saviors even more than I dislike Negan. Negan’s a psycho but his followers are people who are just to weak to take a stand against him.
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