I'm confused about the early scene with the opening credits where people are relieved to find others have survived. Does this mean we don't really have a cliffhanger as to whether the honking horn will create danger that could kill our gang? We already know that is a minor hiccup and the plan works out fine for everyone?

Editing to say Never Mind. On rewatching, I saw this was the return of Glen after being shot and beaten in the woods, etc. Just goes to show I didn't always follow the jumpy timeline.

 

I wasn't a fan of the overall storytelling structure of this episode. Jumping back and forth between the present day and flashback scenes (complete with a cliché and unattractive black and white filter) felt so disjointed and jarring. As soon as I was beginning to feel interested and immersed in a scene, we'd jump into another unnecessary flashback.

I'm not opposed to unconventional storytelling methods and experimenting with flashbacks, but the way this episode handled them didn't serve the story and was not very effective at all. It would have been significantly improved by instead picking up the episode with the scenes in the aftermath of 516 and showing all of the scenes in a linear order.

What really bugs me is that this could have been a pretty decent episode. There were several scenes I enjoyed and a lot of character interaction, which I always love. I'm just very disappointed that the ridiculous overuse of flashbacks and really bad structure of the episode spoiled it for me.

 

I feel like the writers fell asleep.

I feel like the writers really fell asleep or just got bored with the small town. For why bother to release the horde of walkers from the quarry when they could have just set the two semi trailers on fire...then continue to chuck wood and dead trees and other burnable debris onto the fire. Eventually the walkers would have walked themselves into the flames and piled up and clogged the hole created when the trailers burned down and the walkers in the back would have caught fire and then everythign would have just burned inside the quarry.

Rick makes a big point to say he doesn't take any risks and yet what does he do? Allows thousands of walkers out to run amok.

 

You don't think a huge explosion/conflagration would have just drawn even more walkers to the quarry?

 

Any walkers drawn in would still end up at the quarry where they would be able to be contained. They could have continued with the burning at where those semi truck trailers were at while another group built and fortified a wall of rock and debris. Several dozen fallen trees stacked atop each other plus a lot of those rocks shifted about could plug up one area. Then the far back area where the truck fell and opened up that entrance could have some sort of fortified gate set up to allow walkers in. Fill. Purge out with fire. Repeat.

I don't know. I just feel like the entire thing was super sloppy.

 

Ms McLeod totally made that episode. 1/10 would not watch again.

 

"Duh Rick! Duh! Duh! Don't talk to Ron like that Duh!" - Rons dumb mom

Yeah sure! We just let him die next time, stupid punk ass teenager.

EDIT: Overall a weak opening. I already miss Fear the Walking Dead too but I think they step it up!

Of course they need to do the most crazy plan they could do to make it "Awesome" but they got Daryl, a good hunter and they got trapmaster Morgan. They could have worked on placing traps on all exits. using molotovs that they tossed in. Even placed more vehicles and even digged out explosives to blow up should the walkers ever breach out. I imagine next episode will be about the Wolves attacking Alexandria and Carol get to show her A game again and pop some assholes in the knee....and head!

Also of course Carter (?) dies as soon as he starts to trust Rick and becomes more of a guy who would stand in line to help out.

Atleast this is more fiting to Rick than Travis and Daniel releasing 2 thousand walkers upon a military compound WITH their relatives inside.

 

The stupid "click" sound when Rick used the decocking lever on a FREAKING GLOCK when he didn't shoot Carter in the house. SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!

 

I normally do not visit the complaint department, preferring to surround myself with the positives. But tonight I have a complaint or two that I need to vent about. Will start out with one complaint and see if I feel any better afterwards.

I cannot believe I am saying this, but Daryl is my complaint. Do not get me wrong, I am not a member of the "get rid of Daryl" faction on this board. If/when he does die I will be very sad to see him go, my Rickyl fantasies will die alongside him. But seriously....I am growing tired of Daryl being the one to seemingly always jump in and be the one who says "Rick" in that way that stops Rick from doing something regretful. Granted last night when he had the gun pointed to Carter's head Rick did say (paraphrased) "I am good". Maybe it is because I am becoming annoyed with Daryl's implied perfection regarding most situations. Last night when that scene happened I literally groaned out loud and my daughter replied with "what? Rick is not infallible, his judgment call cannot always be the only way". Well neither is Daryl (i.e. siding with Tyreese on the Grady plan). Just once I wish the writers would have Rick buck up and deliver some sort of great Rickism retort to Daryl's seemingly flawless grasp on the situation at hand.

Rick is flawed, Carol is flawed, Sasha is flawed, Abraham is flawed. These flaws, these dark spots are what make these characters so interesting to watch, it is what makes me cheer for them. I have grown tired of sad Daryl, angsty Daryl. I want a flawed Daryl, I want a dark spot for Daryl, I want a moral struggle for Daryl, I want his character to become interesting (to me) once again

Maybe someone will read this post and offer me a different perspective, some food for thought. I certainly hope so!

 

Second complaint - Rick and Jessie scene

And believe it or not my complaint is not with Jessie, but rather the fictional love of my life Rick!

I think that Jessie was spot on in her chat with Rick where she let him know beyond a shadow of a doubt that there were boundaries where her kids are concerned and he is not to cross them. And that Rosita would be the one training her, and in turn she would train her kids. Still not a fan of her character, but it was Rick's behavior in their scene together that gave me my second groan of the evening.

Rick! Really? Behaving like a lost puppy around her. Sniffing at her heels, just begging for a pat on the head from her? Ugh!!!

 

I'm a huge Daryl homer and I agree with you. They have made Daryl so one-dimensional and heroic to the point of ridiculousness. However, given the results of the Rick vs Daryl thread, I'd say that a lot of people, myself included, think he's wrong on this one. I think his desire to go look for people is a little selfish since he'd rather be out there than in Alexandria. Plus he probably thinks that is all he really has to contribute to the group so he doesn't want his "job" taken away. So there may be some flaws in there rather than just the altruistic view of "we need to find good people" stance. But the show has not done a good job of showing it.

 

My only complaint was the F*ing commercials gawd damnit there were so many and so frequent !:zombies_censored:

 

Fantastic post. I completely agree.

 

Couldn't agree more. It was annoying as hell they way they did it. They could have easily opened with the same scene and then jumped back to Pete's death and remained chronological. The flashbacks didn't add anything to the story. Aside from being annoying they also felt surprisingly amateurish. Even worse, at times the black and white prevented you from seeing what was going on. Like when they first encountered the quarry. You could barely make out the walkers at the bottom or the walker falling over the edge that lunged for Ron. Not to mention the use of B&W was almost treating the viewers as children.

 

Yup. They already had them in a kill zone. The could have done any number of things to contain or destroy them.

 

What @Dnae said.
[MENTION=89821]Dyson[/MENTION] mentioned that the black-and-white approach made it difficult to register the impact that the writers clearly wanted us to feel when they panned to the walkers in the quarry. Ditto that. I had the sense that it must be a shit-ton based on all the milling around and Rick and Morgan's reaction, but visually...meh.

 

And again with [MENTION=17192]Dnae[/MENTION] being spot-on. Rick, you do know that you killed Ron's father, right? And that you're not actually going to step right in and take said father's place? I love how even Jessie was in this scene: I can see her being strong for both of her kids, despite the emotional chaos she must be in right now, and I think it was important for Rick to see that he's not the only one who can help her, and to protect her to the degree she needs/asks to be. She wasn't emotional, which actually gave her words more heft.

And how cool was it when she whipped that gun from her own back belt? Not awkward, not apologetic.

Hey--who's up for some scenes of Rosalita training Jessie? Standing behind her, reaching around to guide her hands, breasts gently but firmly pressed against her back, lips only inches from Jessie's ear as she whispers instructions? I'm calling it: Josita.

 

I miss having Madison as the main protagonist.

 

I don't get with the knowledge that they have why they never fully utilize it. Not a single person was covered in walker guts/ no walker protection from the jawless chained up walkers.

I know the plan had to happen in advance due to the truck collapsing but still they never utilize those strategies.

 

I don't think the plan happened all that "in advance", they had plenty of time to build up the wall and push all those cars to the sides of the roads and do all that other junk. That seems like they had a lot of time before the convenient road way collapse Rick spoke about in the house at the first half of the episode.

Also, I find it amusing that the group that came back from the supply run that kept them out for a few weeks had KNOWN about the quarry according to the guy but they never came back to report it. They just kept on their little run. And why are there people doing long vehicle runs when we are supposed to believe that NONE of those in Alexandria are able to truly know what it is like outside the walls. Aren't those who are doing these multi-week vehicle runs more than able to give knowledge of it? They must been doing it for a long while to be able to survive like they do.

I'm starting to have a hard time wanting to actually pay attention to the show anymore. I'm not a die hard comic fan. One who whines and complains about things being different from the comic (because why make a show of something the true legions of comic fans would already know -other then it would be awesome to see a lot of the stuff in the comics on the small screen -) but it's become so removed from the comic in the form of brutality that I am having a hard time believing that Rick and his band of "survivors" are the "right stuff" for Alexandria because "they seen some stuff."

I started to become annoyed way back when they killed Andrea off. Because at this point in the comics she's pretty much the replacement for Rick's wife and defacto step mom. But she was killed off. Okay, no real biggy there. Now Rick is basically forcing his way in as the Alpha Male of the pack by killing off the supposed abusive husband of his love interest he "zinged' over the moment he saw her.

I also was super dissapointed that they did not kill the baby with Lori. Hell. I was super dissapointed that they both weren't gun downed with a shotgun and blown apart. Instead of how Lori was killed.

I could rant a bit and go on. But my basic boiled down point is this. What Rick and them have seen and experienced in the show. Is NOTHING compaired to what happened to them in the comics. You give me THOSE character developments and things and you can have me believe that these end all be all Alpha Pack is what Alexandria needs.

And I feel like this sloppy quarry venture of releasing the horde and the sound coming from Alexandria drawing them in is going to be what eventually draws the other groups in which starts the War of factions and things.

So many filler episodes each season and now the first episode of season six just feels like another filler episode.