That I think is the greatest weakness they have right now. Hopefully they are paying attention to some of the feedback and they correct this moving forward. Waiting 4 weeks to see Rick Grimes, the show's protagonist, is like sitting your best player on the bench in the playoffs.

 

As much as I love Daryl, there is no way he's replacing Rick. Now this makes me miss him even more. Rick needs more screen time than the last few episodes

 

I agree with you [MENTION=6306]Stealth[/MENTION], I can't even imagine TWD without Andrew Lincoln playing Rick Grimes. Every episode he's in ups the bar from whatever episode of TWD HE WASN'T in. I also don't like seeing Michonne left behind in the church while Rick and Co. went to rescue Carol and Beth, I need my weekly FIX of my Michonne.
Actually I'm hoping Andrew Lincoln does what Reedus is doing, some movies in between seasons of TWD.

 

Can you imagine the direction the show would take if fanfiction merged with it? One of the suggestions I've read of the internet for the MSF are "Carol wakes up and tells Beth "Can't you see Daryl's in love with you?"" and I'm sure this is the reaction they expect:

 

I would prefer for Carol to wake up and mistake her for an enemy and slit her throat with the knife they didn't find and then look over and say something like "oh well, you would have slowed me down anyways" and then go into Rambo mode and finish off this pathetic group of cops and walk out the front door while Rick and Co. are still scratching their heads figuring out how to get in.

 

Tara was already with Glenn so I think she got a pass. Gabriel? He wasn't ready to kill him but he was heading down that path. That was before the Church and what was left of the Hunters. Since then, he has reached the end of that path.

The fact that Rick had to be told that 3 hostages are better than 2 in order to keep him from shooting a guy in the head after he is no longer a threat? I think that is an indication he is out there. I don't think that would be a normal reaction at all. The only options Rick sees right now involve killing first. He is single minded. He is reckless.

 

Well everyone wanted a more aggressive, decisive Rick Grimes. Now we have him and no one likes it. Also nobody in the group is following him so WTF do people want, the old Rick or new Rick Grimes??????

 

I didn't have a problem with Tyreese's plan. Noah told them that Dawn is just trying to keep things together. Why slaughter these people? It's not like they're dealing with the Gov, Joe's Claimers or Gareth's Terminus Cannibals. I think Daryl is concerned with Rick's humanirty. Remember the beginning of the episode Tyreese told Daryl about what went down at the church. Also the blood thirsty look Rick had in his eyes when he had the gun pointed at the big cop. Similar to what went down with Carl and the Woodbury kid. As a group they should step up and offer suggestions. Rick should not make every decision on his own.

 

Excellent post Wolfie!

 

Yeah, that part about Rick needing to be talked down puzzled me. Where did this sudden rush of recklessness come from? Had to be more than having Tyreese and Daryl go against his original plan. Maybe I missed some earlier signals.

 

I don't get it either. Some people on here seem to think that not killing that cop was the right move just to add another hostage when it seems more than a fair assumption that he is one of the "bad" cops and he just tried to kill Daryl. Gareth was no longer a threat in that church and I haven't seen many argue against killing him. Two hostages would have gotten the same reaction that three would have more than likely and a known threat would have been removed. The other two cooperated, but I'm willing to bet that the first chance this guy were to be given he would be right back to trying to kill them.

 

I totally agree with you [MENTION=66252]The Gov[/MENTION], I think Rick should have shot the bald bad cop right between the eyes, and like you said 2 cops hostages would have worked as well as 3.
I wish they would have went with the anti-hero's Ricks plan and slit the throats of the cops in the hospital and rescued Carol and Beth. That would have made for a much more exciting episode than the one we got in "Crossed".
This season is just frustrating, 3 epic episodes in a row then 4 episodes I couldn't watch more than once after a 6 month wait for season 5 to begin.

 

I feel exactly the same this season started off on a exciting high note and then plateaued with the last four episodes. The bottle episodes were bad enough and I thought that finally, last week, the suffering would pay off but...no. It's like you're sitting there just ...waiting for that rush of adrenaline and you wait ...and wait ... and think to yourself ...any minute now it's going to happen and then it doesn't and the episodes over and leaves you thinking ????
The last five shows have left me thinking WTF??? I don't know what is going on with this season but someone has definitely got their thumb up their a$$. To start with a great season opener with Gareth and the hunters and then just ditch all that and go off into this tangent for the last few weeks is just frustrating imo. The msf better shock the hell out of me.

 

I agree with you [MENTION=53841]Lady Nightshade[/MENTION] but that's an unpopular opinion around here and opinions like the ones we both expressed are not acceptable or tolerated on this site anymore. Watch yourself now, you may be labeled a "Troll, Snarky" or worse by the popular majority on this forum.
Just a little friendly advice from The Wolf.

 

Oh do bug off with your persecution complex Wolf!

I do agree with you @Lady Nightshade - I Liked the first 3 eps but it really did drop a bit and then just stay in one place for far too long... Although to be honest I hate hate hated how Terminus went down! and I know a few of us on the forum agree with that.

As far as threats and interest for the two groups they've shown so far - clearly Terminus was the one we were ALL hyped up for, and appeared more of a threat and made us interested to see it play out. Not this stupid Hospital Cops with their power trip.

The grittiness and charm of Gareth and his group was enthralling - the cops - not at all.

I think the writers should have drawn out Terminus a little bit, not necessarily the whole half season - but a bit more! I had more opinions on that typed out but figured I better stick to the topic at hand. Just wanted to reply with my opinion concurring with yours, and let you know there are others who felt the same way. Actually, I think if you go to any topic most people are saying they are a little let down by these hospital eps, and how the structured the season so far - Even if they did enjoy the majority of the episodes contents anyway.

 

Persecution complex? I don't have a persecution complex I'm just stating my opinion which is what LNS was responding to, she was agreeing with me. And I'll move on (bug off) when I feel like it thank you.
If you want to continue to argue with me bring it on.

 

persecution complex
noun

• an irrational and obsessive feeling or fear that one is the object of collective hostility or ill-treatment on the part of others.

 

I agree with the general sentiment of this post, although I don't have quite the same level of dissatisfaction. It's like 2A again, at a somewhat faster pace. I'm waiting for a really good MSF that will tie all these stories together with a bow.

 

There's a difference between liking a character and agreeing with all of their decisions. I really like the new Rick. But wanting to kill that cop was a bad decision. 3 hostages are definitely better than 2. Rick was just pissed off that that cop tried to kill Daryl. He just wasn't thinking staight at the moment. That's understandable. So although I don't agree with Rick's decision, that doesn't make me like him any less.

 

Absolutely agree! I love Machete Rick. I actually only got into TWD this season and went back and watched the rest on Netflix. I tried to watch at the beginning but couldn't get invested. I felt that Rick suffered from Vanilla Hero Syndrome. You could pretty much predict what he was going to do: the right thing. Every. Single. Time. This version of Rick is much more compelling because he really could go either way depending on the situation.
I'm not so sure about this version of Daryl, though. I get that he's evolving as a character, but it seems a little... I don't know. It just doesn't ring true.