The Walking Dead Season S05 E14 - "Spend"
Oct. 26th, 2021 10:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wembleyMy girlfriend got me into The Walking Dead. I thought, "Well, I could keep complaining about how fandom's moved to Twitter when Dreamwidth is still right here but not actually post anything... or I could actually post something."
If you've already seen the show, would love to get your thoughts in comments, though I'm unspoiled (this is my first watch and I haven't read the comics). I have been spoiled for the following things:
SPOILERS:
- Negan's a bad guy who kills Abraham and Glenn (I watched that episode with my gf because she has a crush on Negan)
- Rick dies
Anyway, here are my very obnoxious thoughts:
SPOILERS:
But first, some context on why my thoughts will be very obnoxious:
So after Battlestar Galactica (2003) and Six Feet Under, I said no to all shows that would ever make me feel bad ever again. This was like a twenty-year embargo, nearly. No upsetting prestige dramas. No Game of Thrones. No nothin'. Seriously, all I watched for a good long stretch was, like, the entire CW line-up, minus, obviously, The 100 (well, I ended up making it like three seasons in when it hit Netflix. Sorry,nicole_anell. <3)
Then around 2012 or so, I started becoming a horror fan, and by now, I'm definitely a horror fan, as in, I binge horror movies. So I can now handle a) the insane amounts of zombie gore in TWD that I would not have been able to handle when it came out (although I have to say, even TWD takes me aback at times); and b) the bleakness of this show.
No, actually, that's a lie. I can barely handle the bleakness of this show. Bleak is my least favorite tone. I hit Terminus aka We Were Fools To Be Kind Because That Caused Mass Rape And Became Cannibals As A Result (I don't care about cannibalism, I do care about the first part of that long sentence, it makes me mad) and was like, "That's it, I'm out, GF let's just watch your favorite Negan episodes together."
But then I saw that [SPOILER] happens and therefore I'd only get two seasons to see [SPOILER], who is my favorite, so, back I went.
Anyway, this season, the Alexandria season, is really great and it's making me so mad, lol.
- Me, literally less than a day ago on Twitter: I don't trust humans and think we're, on balance, bad
Also me: RICK, COULD YOU HANG ONTO YOUR ETHICS FOR AT LEAST FIVE FUCKING MINUTES
This really isn't a show to watch if you want the characters to follow the better angels of their nature, except they dangle that carrot in front of me by doing it some of the time! So I keep hoping they won't act like complete assholes!
That's also one of the least enjoyable parts of reading fan comments on this show in some venues. I get that one of the main appeals of apocalypse tv is people imagining what they'd do. And I get really irritated at internet tough guys being all, "Hey, life out there's rough, you can't be weak." IT'S! NOT! REAL! Also, one thing that was interesting to see during COVID is like... so, like many fools, I watched Contagion (2011) right when the pandemic started, and over time I was struck by how much more pessimistic the film was vs. real life (to be fair: in America, one of the richest countries in the world). Like... society didn't break down. We didn't loot stores for N95 masks. At first we were not donating vaccine to other countries, and that was horrible, but now we are, and it seems to be going all right? Basically, as cynical as I am about human nature, kindness during extreme hardship is not some pie-in-the-sky out-there thing. It's not more fanciful than zombies. Anyway, if the zombie apocalypse happened, I would piss myself and die immediately.
(Is "I would piss myself and die immediately" the "I'm voting Green to stay morally pure instead of sullying myself by voting Democrat" of the zombie apocalypse? Wait, what the fuck am I talking about?)
Anyway, The Walking Dead.
- RICK, YOU BETTER NOT CONQUER THIS TOWN, I'LL BE SO MAD
I like that they make it an actual question, though. Like, a narrative hook.
- Carol's descent into being... not a monster, that's too harsh, but this person who is convinced that being completely coldly utilitarian is the only way to be, has been fascinating, but also... I don't want to say frustrating, like with Rick, who bounced back and forth, Carol's arc has been very straightforward. And the actress is a delight. I just... can someone not be an asshole for five minutes
That said, again, she is a delight.
- Also, the mystery about whether the abusive dad is actually abusive or whether something else is going on, and if they'll kill him is interesting.
- I like that things are actually happening this season, vs S04 which was just unending snapshots of misery. Apparently S03 got a lot of hate, but that was probably my favorite for similar reasons?
- According to old AVClub comments, the most hated characters were Lori (I get it, but it was the writing, not the actress), Andrea (why???) and Beth (why???). Gosh, I wonder what these three characters have in common.
- This show really, really does not like having more than one or two Black men in the cast at a time. Bye, Everybody Hates Chris, we hardly knew ye.
- Daryl is Pig Pen. I think if he showers, he actually gets dirtier. He is a plant person. Dirt appears on his skin. It cleans him, he is like an elephant.
- People on AO3 really, really, really wanna fuck Daryl. I do not want to fuck Daryl.
- At least his new bike does not have a Nazi sticker on it????
- I like Daryl, ish! I just, you know. Am not horny for him.
- The writers actually had Rick talk about "broken windows theory" positively without pushing back against it. When did this air? The think pieces about how BKT was racist as fuck had to be available then, right?
Okay, I googled it, and it looks like all the stuff about how it's bullshit are actually from 2016. And these scripts were probably written in 2014. Still. Ugh.
- I will also vent my spleen here, as I did on Twitter, about my disgust at the whole... Like, as a writer, I get "Carol was 'weak' as an abused wife and now she's strong!" as an appealing arc, and I understand that it's not common knowledge that the most dangerous thing a woman in an abusive marriage can do is leave, because that's when the husband is most likely to murder her (Google it), like that's even less known than the fact that Broken Windows is racist garbage.
But now every time I see this, "Why don't these women just leave, how do we explore the ~*~*~psychology of it", I get so mad. No one is weak for wanting to not be murdered!
- There are now three (3) gays!
- I always get super delighted when people who only know Hugh Laurie from House get shown clips of him as Bertie Wooster. Well, I just got Laurie'd because I had no idea Andrew Lincoln was British. Also, I'm so glad he shaved his beard off, dude is handsome.
- PoorKORL Carl. Ad infinitum.
- I'm glad Sonequa Martin-Green got a paycheck but man, I'm glad she left to do ST: DISCO, Burnham's a much more interesting character.
- YAY TOVAH FELDSHUH.
If you've already seen the show, would love to get your thoughts in comments, though I'm unspoiled (this is my first watch and I haven't read the comics). I have been spoiled for the following things:
SPOILERS:
- Negan's a bad guy who kills Abraham and Glenn (I watched that episode with my gf because she has a crush on Negan)
- Rick dies
Anyway, here are my very obnoxious thoughts:
SPOILERS:
But first, some context on why my thoughts will be very obnoxious:
So after Battlestar Galactica (2003) and Six Feet Under, I said no to all shows that would ever make me feel bad ever again. This was like a twenty-year embargo, nearly. No upsetting prestige dramas. No Game of Thrones. No nothin'. Seriously, all I watched for a good long stretch was, like, the entire CW line-up, minus, obviously, The 100 (well, I ended up making it like three seasons in when it hit Netflix. Sorry,
nicole_anell. <3)Then around 2012 or so, I started becoming a horror fan, and by now, I'm definitely a horror fan, as in, I binge horror movies. So I can now handle a) the insane amounts of zombie gore in TWD that I would not have been able to handle when it came out (although I have to say, even TWD takes me aback at times); and b) the bleakness of this show.
No, actually, that's a lie. I can barely handle the bleakness of this show. Bleak is my least favorite tone. I hit Terminus aka We Were Fools To Be Kind Because That Caused Mass Rape And Became Cannibals As A Result (I don't care about cannibalism, I do care about the first part of that long sentence, it makes me mad) and was like, "That's it, I'm out, GF let's just watch your favorite Negan episodes together."
But then I saw that [SPOILER] happens and therefore I'd only get two seasons to see [SPOILER], who is my favorite, so, back I went.
Anyway, this season, the Alexandria season, is really great and it's making me so mad, lol.
- Me, literally less than a day ago on Twitter: I don't trust humans and think we're, on balance, bad
Also me: RICK, COULD YOU HANG ONTO YOUR ETHICS FOR AT LEAST FIVE FUCKING MINUTES
This really isn't a show to watch if you want the characters to follow the better angels of their nature, except they dangle that carrot in front of me by doing it some of the time! So I keep hoping they won't act like complete assholes!
That's also one of the least enjoyable parts of reading fan comments on this show in some venues. I get that one of the main appeals of apocalypse tv is people imagining what they'd do. And I get really irritated at internet tough guys being all, "Hey, life out there's rough, you can't be weak." IT'S! NOT! REAL! Also, one thing that was interesting to see during COVID is like... so, like many fools, I watched Contagion (2011) right when the pandemic started, and over time I was struck by how much more pessimistic the film was vs. real life (to be fair: in America, one of the richest countries in the world). Like... society didn't break down. We didn't loot stores for N95 masks. At first we were not donating vaccine to other countries, and that was horrible, but now we are, and it seems to be going all right? Basically, as cynical as I am about human nature, kindness during extreme hardship is not some pie-in-the-sky out-there thing. It's not more fanciful than zombies. Anyway, if the zombie apocalypse happened, I would piss myself and die immediately.
(Is "I would piss myself and die immediately" the "I'm voting Green to stay morally pure instead of sullying myself by voting Democrat" of the zombie apocalypse? Wait, what the fuck am I talking about?)
Anyway, The Walking Dead.
- RICK, YOU BETTER NOT CONQUER THIS TOWN, I'LL BE SO MAD
I like that they make it an actual question, though. Like, a narrative hook.
- Carol's descent into being... not a monster, that's too harsh, but this person who is convinced that being completely coldly utilitarian is the only way to be, has been fascinating, but also... I don't want to say frustrating, like with Rick, who bounced back and forth, Carol's arc has been very straightforward. And the actress is a delight. I just... can someone not be an asshole for five minutes
That said, again, she is a delight.
- Also, the mystery about whether the abusive dad is actually abusive or whether something else is going on, and if they'll kill him is interesting.
- I like that things are actually happening this season, vs S04 which was just unending snapshots of misery. Apparently S03 got a lot of hate, but that was probably my favorite for similar reasons?
- According to old AVClub comments, the most hated characters were Lori (I get it, but it was the writing, not the actress), Andrea (why???) and Beth (why???). Gosh, I wonder what these three characters have in common.
- This show really, really does not like having more than one or two Black men in the cast at a time. Bye, Everybody Hates Chris, we hardly knew ye.
- Daryl is Pig Pen. I think if he showers, he actually gets dirtier. He is a plant person. Dirt appears on his skin. It cleans him, he is like an elephant.
- People on AO3 really, really, really wanna fuck Daryl. I do not want to fuck Daryl.
- At least his new bike does not have a Nazi sticker on it????
- I like Daryl, ish! I just, you know. Am not horny for him.
- The writers actually had Rick talk about "broken windows theory" positively without pushing back against it. When did this air? The think pieces about how BKT was racist as fuck had to be available then, right?
Okay, I googled it, and it looks like all the stuff about how it's bullshit are actually from 2016. And these scripts were probably written in 2014. Still. Ugh.
- I will also vent my spleen here, as I did on Twitter, about my disgust at the whole... Like, as a writer, I get "Carol was 'weak' as an abused wife and now she's strong!" as an appealing arc, and I understand that it's not common knowledge that the most dangerous thing a woman in an abusive marriage can do is leave, because that's when the husband is most likely to murder her (Google it), like that's even less known than the fact that Broken Windows is racist garbage.
But now every time I see this, "Why don't these women just leave, how do we explore the ~*~*~psychology of it", I get so mad. No one is weak for wanting to not be murdered!
- There are now three (3) gays!
- I always get super delighted when people who only know Hugh Laurie from House get shown clips of him as Bertie Wooster. Well, I just got Laurie'd because I had no idea Andrew Lincoln was British. Also, I'm so glad he shaved his beard off, dude is handsome.
- Poor
- I'm glad Sonequa Martin-Green got a paycheck but man, I'm glad she left to do ST: DISCO, Burnham's a much more interesting character.
- YAY TOVAH FELDSHUH.
