AMC's "The Walking Dead"

[Your Mom]

I found Andrea pretty insufferable in the first half of the season and her whole romance with the Governor was pretty creepy and gross and I'm not sure that was just because I already knew what kind of guy he was

[StanLane]

Regarding Rick's hand; along with it being one of Kirkman's biggest regrets it wouldn't it also be pretty hard to hide for however long he has left on the show? It's a bit different with Merle because they just put the extension on but with Rick just having it bandaged up it'd be pretty hard to hide without it looking weird.

Can't wait till tonight to watch this. I hope Darryl gets out alive but I suspect his situation is a set-up so Merle can lead The Governer to the prison.

I wonder if The Governer has a tank? It'd be a cool way to cap off an episode with The Governer and his gang rolling up like they did in the comic

[Herr Matzat]

Comic Spoilers

They won't take Rick's hand on the show, it's one of Kirkman's biggest regrets in the book.

Than why have the build up with Rick costing Merle his hand? This issent Spider-Man Movies and Cartoons rehashing the Gwen Stacy death with MJ surviving in her place.

[Gazz]

Because Merle (secondary character) isn't Rick (main character)

[Herr Matzat]

That made no sense.

[Jimmy]

Because it builds tension between Merle and Rick; also showed that Rick wasn't exactly a white knight in shining armour and it also informs the audience what kind of a man Merle is considering he had the stones to chop off his own hand instead of accept death. There's a bunch of reasons they can build it up without having Rick lose his hand.

[Herr Matzat]

But thats based on the assumptions that the viewer actually read the comic, otherwise there is just a "i don´t like you" tension that "always" (well, the few minutes that they met) was there. I think if you build up something iconic, albeit in a different way, from the comic starting with Episode one of your TV Show you sort of should go through with it.

But than again this also is the show that, in it´s "best episode", clarified again that zombies are drawn in by blood (even dead meat) and noise just to have a pack of zombies walk away uninterested when the beelding screaming Lauri is giving birth right after that... so who could be able to suspect what this writing team is heading for.

I don´t mind "it" not happening, it dos not make the show better or worse in anyway. I just see a buildup and i kinda expect it to happen within the Season.

[E-C-Bub]

Merle will probably try and take Rick's hand, only to be stopped. This way you get your "Oh shit here it comes!" moment, but then also enough of a stray from the comic to be original. Since Merle would be the one to take the hand in the tv series, not The Governor, you gotta take in to account that the comic book didn't have Merle, his character dynamic, his brother Daryl, and his character dynamic. It's a completely different situation.

[Jimmy]

I haven't read the comic and I still felt that way before I learned Rick loses his hand.

[MalaCloudy Black]

Sneak peek!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipoOV49o74w

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

Bloody hell, I'd forgotten this was returning tonight, didn't realise it had come around so soon.

Should be a cracking return.

Edited February 10, 2013 by JohnnyPerfect

[E-C-Bub]

Glen Mazzara basically revealed on Twitter one of the things that led to his dismissal. It was said to be creative differences, and he tweeted/re-tweeted a lot of people asking about flashbacks. He called them all stupid for wanting to see flashbacks, because they don't propel the story. He then deleted all of them. The only one that remains is someone asking if we'll see a flashback for Michone regarding her pets, to which he simply responds "Cool idea."

Flashbacks have their place, especially in a story like that. One of my favorite things to see was the survivors leaving the city just as it was being napalmed. It's interesting. It fills in the gaps, and if done correctly, can propel the story forward. If Mazzara leaving means we get to see more gems like that, I'm all for it.

Also, as showrunner, he was supposedly terrible at scheduling things and production had to be halted multiple times because Mazzara and his team weren't through writing what was being filmed.

[Herr Matzat]

I doubt it. What do Flashbacks do for a Story like this? It´s a fairly cheap and unsurprising (since you know who´ll make it out alive) way to put gore on screen without having to change the current status quo of who is alive. And since they actually stuck with killing more and less important people regularly i don´t know why they would need that.

And as for the story... who cares? It´s the Zombie apocalypse, do we need to see Glen driving Cars before? Do we need to see how everyone did something bad to stay alive and lost friends and family? Or should the focus be on what happens now and how they develop getting deeper into the new world every day?

And unrelated stuff, even if cool to look at - what dos it do for the story? How many times do you need to see Millitary droping bombs on shit and how dos it help the story? I mean, even if it was not well written, the webseries on bicycle girl was a cool idea and i don´t mind them telling the story of an iconic Zombie inbetween Seasons. But what did we see anything propelling forward here?

The comic only had one origin story and it was not well received. A, i think 6 page, Michonne Comic Published in Playboy America, later re-released packed together with her first appearance in the ongoing series. Besides that it only diverced once from whats going on directly relating to Ricks group when they had a few pages of Morgan celebrating Chrissmass with his Son... well, and the infamous Issue 75 bonus pages. >_>

[E-C-Bub]

Flashbacks can be very entertaining. What do they do for a story like this? Anything they want them to do. The obvious answer is Suspense vs. Surprise. If they reveal that a member of Tyrese;s group is a rapist or pedophile in a flashback, we as the viewing audience will now constantly be like "HE CAN'T BE TRUSTED!" it's suspenseful. That's just one example to what a flashback could do. Also, The Rise of the Governor was an entire graphic novel dedicated to the characters origin, and it was extremely well received.

It depends on the type of flashback it is.

You also hate everything, and weren't hugged enough as a child.

[Herr Matzat]

The Rise of the Governor wassent a graphic novel. (it also is not the only "not a comic" book released, but in itself it´s a totally different deal if you do something in the current continuity or if you ad something outside of it later on. Be it to cash in, be it to promote the new Season, be it because you just want to tell more about a character, be it as a fanservice about a character that was well recved)

I also think TWD is at it´s strongest here (in the comic) because you are with Rick and his Group and don´t know what a new outsider is bringing. They had everything from rapist, liears, traitors to genuinely frinldy people. It´s played of in the comic consequent and therefore works very well every time they meet something new, there is always suspicion... sort of like Homeland (yes, i know Homeland had flashbacks, please don´t make me go into why it´s a different thing if you only have two main characters carrying a way different Story.)

[E-C-Bub]

Whatever it was. It exists and was well accepted.

Edited February 11, 2013 by Voyeur

[Herr Matzat]

You do realise though that it was not part of the ongoing Series right? It´s something that came many (5-7 depending on which book of the Series) years later. It´s a fan service. It´s having fun with a character the writer liked to write. It´s cashing in. It´s just like the promotional WebSeries. It´s nice to have if you want a little extra.

It´s not even a flashback because there is no flashing back. In itself it´s a totally different Story that, for a short time, happens to cross with the Comics Storyline (sort of like the Game had Glen and Hershels Farm pass by but all together a unrelated story is told).

But why do i even try? You obviusly don´t even know what you are talking about.

[E-C-Bub]

The Rise of the Governor was used to fill in the gaps and history of a character that the fans wanted to know. The same purpose a flashback on the TV series would have. I for one would love to see the fall of the prison touched upon during an episode or the rise of Woodbury. There is a purpose to it.

[arwrestling]

So i thought the episode tonight was great... The end was... Errr.... Anticlimatic though... If anything it further serves to show why Rickis an incompetent leader at the moment. Very much wondering where they are heading with Andrea though... She flipped flopped all Season from weak, to strong, to hot headed, to calm, to paranoid, to comforting... Just a very odd haracter progression. Hell in just this last episode she seemed like she wanted to kill The Governer in one scene and then is covering his ass in the next! But Rick needs to figure his shit out. He is doing exactly what Hershel did to him when they got to the farm. I mean he flat out told Michone they'd patch her up and ditch her, which is what Hershel told him about Carl and for what he got a lot of flack from Rick... Just pisses me off.

[Ruki]

It was an...ok episode. Possibly the weakest of season 3 thus far. It's not bad, just not what I was hoping after a 2 month break.

I really do like how Rick is falling further and further into insanity with every passing episode, though. How long will they let a crazy man run the group?! And who the heck is going to take over?!