The Walking Dead, Season 2.

[Chino]

Starts in 15 minutes! 

[Chino]

My jaw hit the floor at the end.

[MasterLomaxus]

I just discovered this show today.  I was able to watch most of the 1st season, and then the season 2 premiere.  It was awesome

[PuffyPat]

Love the show, although there are many differences from the comic. That aside; I still love it.

[Zoom E]

The ending was definitely a  shocker! It was a great epiosde, though it really grossed me out when they were disembowelling one of the walkers.

[Ravenheart]

Great start to the second season. I am tossing and turning in anticipation for next week's episode.

[HarlequinForest]

Awesome episode.  It had a similar tone to the pilot, which hasn't really been replicated in any other episodes.

[TheVoxyn]

I'll have to wait until next week to watch it since I shall be going away for the week but I'm really looking forward to seeing it.

Also, fix the annoying typo in the topic title .

[MykeHavoc]

The first act was excellent. The middle was slow, and the very end was predictable. But all in all, a very enjoyable experience. I also rewatched season one prior to the start to re-familiarize myself with the characters again as well as reestablish emotional ties and connections to them.   

[Zook]

Anyone know if Netflix will stream the new episodes the day after they air, or will I have to wait until the season is over?

[MykeHavoc]

They will not air season 2 until a day before season 3 debuts.

[Zook]

They will not air season 2 until a day before season 3 debuts.

Well that's a whole lot of horse shit right there.

[MykeHavoc]

You could, ya know, watch it NOW while its on

[Zook]

We have one of those converter boxes that picks up mainly spanish channels, although I will be changing my internet into possibly a bundle to save money, but I'm sure CenturyLink doesn't bundle just TV and internet. I don't need a fucking phone when I have my cell.

So, I actually can't watch it now. Would be cool if AMC did what ABC did with LOST and stream them on their website. The buffering was a bitch, but at least I got to watch the episodes.

[MykeHavoc]

Do you not socialize? You've gotta have a friend or two who you could get together with on Sunday nights.

[Zook]

Not really. I'm not sure if my brother gets AMC either. My aunt might, but then, we don't get to pick our schedules at work anymore. FML.

[Zantera]

Really excited about this.
Going to see the episode tonight, will be back with thoughts.

[Spitfire]

It was a pretty fantastic episode. Budget-wise, they obviously spent quite a bit on production. Middle bored the whole group (About 8 of us watching in one living room ) but the beginning and end was fantastic. I really hope the series picks up as it progresses. Over twice as many episodes as last year's season, so we've got a lot of material to view. Overall, I'm really excited, and it was a very enjoyable premier. 

[Chino]

One thing that kinda irked me was all the emphasis on that church. We had to sit through two pretty lengthy prayers. Both of which seems stupid and pointless. I mean, for reals, look around. 99% of humans are either dead or eating the living.... Do they really think God still cares? 

I'm really curious to see what happens with that guy's (one with the crossbow) brother. Remember he he escaped from the handcuffs on the roof during the first season?

[gmillerdrake]

One thing that kinda irked me was all the emphasis on that church. We had to sit through two pretty lengthy prayers. Both of which seems stupid and pointless. I mean, for reals, look around. 99% of humans are either dead or eating the living.... Do they really think God still cares? 

I'm really curious to see what happens with that guy's (one with the crossbow) brother. Remember he he escaped from the handcuffs on the roof during the first season?

Loved the opener as well. Again, I just really dig the underlying symbolism and message behind it all. Obviously they are going to have to keep 'faith' as a theme due to the horrific nature of it all...how could God let this happen and so forth, but for Rick to ask for a sign and then be 'given' this Majestic, Strong Buck that for some reason doesn't take off running and allows his son to approach...almost touch...then BAM!

 To me there are a few ways to interpret that. I'm leaning towards "yes man is a beauty and wonder, a miracle in itself but had become to arrogant and proud (Buck allowing kid to approach) and in order to protect him from himself 'I' (God) had to destroy him  and a casualty of that innocence (the boy) would be affected?

  Maybe reading way too much into that and be completely off base with that interpretation, but the mood of that scene told me that there was more to it than two guys and a kid seeing a Beautiful, strong Buck.
And concerning the 'lost' one handed man....I would think that sooner or later he will surface. Probably in a position of power or holding something the group desperately needs.
 
  The season clips look to contain a great deal of interesting story....I doubt this series will disappoint.   

[MykeHavoc]

The implication is that Carl's injury will eventually lead to the group's salvation for the time being. As you saw in next week's preview, they find help. The hunter's father is a doctor, and that leads them forward in the story.

[GuineaPig]

Meh.  Same problems as before.  Don't think I'll watch the rest of the season.

[Zook]

Meh.  Same problems as before.  Don't think I'll watch the rest of the season.

Did you ever elaborate on these "problems"? I can't remember.

[GuineaPig]

Meh.  Same problems as before.  Don't think I'll watch the rest of the season.

Did you ever elaborate on these "problems"? I can't remember.

Some pretty bad characters.  Some pretty bad dialogue/moments between characters.  Characters being dumb in order to service the plot.  Generally just handling the characters in a tone-deaf manner.

This episode was a step up in some respects (the highway set-piece was pretty good, although it was pretty convenient for no one to see massive horde coming at them until they were 30 m away), but was pretty tepid for the most part, and could've used some editing.  Don't see why it was a 90-minute episode (other than to increase the number of ads).  Also, tonight struck upon a pet peeve of mine: when shows (typically shitty procedurals) put a kid in peril in an attempt to up the emotional stakes.  Tonight's episode did it twice.

Other things that annoyed me: Rick's opening recap was lame, contrived, while still directly avoiding a plot twist despite having no reason to do so.  Also, bad accent is still bad.  And the whole "prayer undercut by ironic twist" trope got done twice-over, just like ye olde "kid in peril" trope.

[gmillerdrake]

I guess I'm just easily impressed because I find the writing to be more than adequate and the characters 'feel' real to me. They are developing nicely IMO and I think the production is still top notch despite having a chunk of change taken away to support the MAD MEN creators money grab.
  I guess my level of expectation is lower than yours GuineaPig. I'm fairly certain I will watch this series until it no longer exists.

[lateralus88]

Damn, I completely forgot the new season was starting this week. Hopefully a re-run is on soon so I can catch it.


@GuineaPig: I notice there are issues in the shows overall production and acting, but not enough to turn me off of the show. You sound more nitpicky than I do with most movies. Not to be rude or anything.

[GuineaPig]

I can imagine a bottle episode of this being the worst thing ever.

[Zantera]

Just saw the episode, was pretty good.
I expected it to be 90 minutes long from what I had read, but I assume that was with commercials and breaks etc counted for? Seeing as mine was 64-65 minutes or something, with those breaks cut out.

I really enjoyed most of the highway-scene, it managed to creep me out a bit, because it's not really the safest place to hide under a car, so a lot of suspense there.
The middle-part did get a bit slow, not that surprising because I think it was a bit the same in S1, and it can't just be all action, seeing as something has to drive the plot forward.

Despite really enjoying the first episode of S2, I do feel annoyed with a few minor things.
For starters, the characters.
People in movies/TV shows doing stupid things for no reason has always been very "American" to me, especially in the horror-genre.
Take the black guy who cut open half of his arm, for what reason? He was running around like a fool instead of just rolling under a car. Good job there!
Then we have the kids... as always, the kids are the most stupid characters of all.
Mostly in this case, it was the girl, because the end was a bit of a WTF, I kinda did expect something to happen, but for the characters themselves, it wasn't really something they could see coming.
Anyhow, instead of just waiting a few minutes for Rick to get back, the girl just has to run off deep into the woods, when she could just as easily had run back to the highway.
For starters, why did she act so stupidly in the beginning? "Oh hey, the walkers are probably gone now, lets roll out!" which caused the walkers to spot her in the first place. 

I also don't really care for the Christian-aspect of the show. I know a lot of people in America are Christian and believes in God etc, but when I don't myself, that part just becomes rather uninteresting I guess.
Several minutes were spent on prayers that didn't really add much, which was a bit of a shame.

[Zook]

Meh.  Same problems as before.  Don't think I'll watch the rest of the season.

Did you ever elaborate on these "problems"? I can't remember.

Some pretty bad characters.  Some pretty bad dialogue/moments between characters.  Characters being dumb in order to service the plot.  Generally just handling the characters in a tone-deaf manner.

This episode was a step up in some respects (the highway set-piece was pretty good, although it was pretty convenient for no one to see massive horde coming at them until they were 30 m away), but was pretty tepid for the most part, and could've used some editing.  Don't see why it was a 90-minute episode (other than to increase the number of ads).  Also, tonight struck upon a pet peeve of mine: when shows (typically shitty procedurals) put a kid in peril in an attempt to up the emotional stakes.  Tonight's episode did it twice.

Other things that annoyed me: Rick's opening recap was lame, contrived, while still directly avoiding a plot twist despite having no reason to do so.  Also, bad accent is still bad.  And the whole "prayer undercut by ironic twist" trope got done twice-over, just like ye olde "kid in peril" trope.

Aside from the kids who are rarely good actors to begin with (I hate kid actors), the acting is pretty damn good. I don't have a problem with any of the adult character's acting. I thought the black guy cutting himself was going to attract all the zombies, but it never really happened. Oh Well. There's nothing wrong with Rick's accent, but I didn't like his opening recap either. It didn't sound like the other times he talked on the walkie. If I didn't watch the behind the scenes stuff, I never would have known he was British or whatever. Kids will always be dumb. The prayer shit didn't interest me, but there will never not be some kind of god element on TV shows, so I'm used to it. I didn't see that ending coming. Things I was expecting from the deer: Half eaten zombie deer (hey it could happen) or zombies coming out of nowhere to attack the deer. KIDS ARE STUPID. I didn't think the adult actors besides the woman from The Mist were really acting stupid at all.

The end.

[gmillerdrake]

It's impossible not to have some sort of God theme either in support of , against or questioning in a show that is depicting something like that has happened in The Walking Dead. It's almost madatory considering the implications of 'the dead' rising and what not. Being a Christian I always find it interesting how shows like this handle that element and I thought the 'Church' scene was very well done and depicted the different ways God may be viewed in an apocolyptic scenaria such as that.
  Concerning the girl child and how 'dumb' her actions were, I think the character Shane summed it up best when he said something to the effect of her being a child suffering from extreme trauma. She wouldn't think as clearly as an adult, she'd want to get back to her mother ASAP, she prematurely left the safety of the under carriage of the car for that reason or out of a relieved fear.
  I've never had an issue with any of the actors/actresses on the show including the kids, in fact 'Carl' and his acting has been pretty spot on for me. I think they've all been great. I have had and will probably continue to have issues wit the dialouge they are given as actors to speak. At times the writing is spot on fantastic (the denied death speech between the blonde and old man, she that was great IMO) and at times it is just horridly predicable. But I can take it cuz I like the show alot and for me it usually makes up for itself.

[GuineaPig]

I don't have problems with a religious element.  I have problems with bad (and repetitive) writing, and the use of stupid clichés and melodrama.

Also, the writers had a chance to save this episode by someone making a joke about the futility of praying to the world's most famous zombie.  And they missed.

[Zook]

Also, the writers had a chance to save this episode by someone making a joke about the futility of praying to the world's most famous zombie.  And they missed.

And that's not bad writing? Imagine that woman's reaction to that...

[MykeHavoc]

Meh.  Same problems as before.  Don't think I'll watch the rest of the season.

Did you ever elaborate on these "problems"? I can't remember.

Some pretty bad characters.  Some pretty bad dialogue/moments between characters.  Characters being dumb in order to service the plot.  Generally just handling the characters in a tone-deaf manner.

This episode was a step up in some respects (the highway set-piece was pretty good, although it was pretty convenient for no one to see massive horde coming at them until they were 30 m away), but was pretty tepid for the most part, and could've used some editing.  Don't see why it was a 90-minute episode (other than to increase the number of ads).  Also, tonight struck upon a pet peeve of mine: when shows (typically shitty procedurals) put a kid in peril in an attempt to up the emotional stakes.  Tonight's episode did it twice.

Other things that annoyed me: Rick's opening recap was lame, contrived, while still directly avoiding a plot twist despite having no reason to do so.  Also, bad accent is still bad.  And the whole "prayer undercut by ironic twist" trope got done twice-over, just like ye olde "kid in peril" trope.

Aside from the kids who are rarely good actors to begin with (I hate kid actors), the acting is pretty damn good. I don't have a problem with any of the adult character's acting. I thought the black guy cutting himself was going to attract all the zombies, but it never really happened. Oh Well. There's nothing wrong with Rick's accent, but I didn't like his opening recap either. It didn't sound like the other times he talked on the walkie. If I didn't watch the behind the scenes stuff, I never would have known he was British or whatever. Kids will always be dumb. The prayer shit didn't interest me, but there will never not be some kind of god element on TV shows, so I'm used to it. I didn't see that ending coming. Things I was expecting from the deer: Half eaten zombie deer (hey it could happen) or zombies coming out of nowhere to attack the deer. KIDS ARE STUPID. I didn't think the adult actors besides the woman from The Mist were really acting stupid at all.

The end.

The also made it look like he stripped an artery and was bleeding out. I thought for sure he was dead. He just disappeared for a while and then magically pops up later. I was quite confused

No TV is ever perfect. It is marred by so many issues that a lot of feature films don't have to deal with to such an extent. I cut TV a lot of slack, and Walking Dead is currently the only show I give a shit about. Is it perfect? No. But its better than just about anything else.

[HarlequinForest]

o.O

It might be better than anything else in the horror genre...  Drama is not this show's strong-suit.

[Heretic]

I really enjoyed the premiere, it kept me interested the entire time and everything was very intense. The atmosphere it created was fantastic as well. Looking forward to next week's episode.