This show inspires epic rants.

 

Aw, c'mon..... You know they came across some antibiotics there in the truckstop! ;-)

 

I’m trying to be positive about this season after being mostly disappointed last season with the flop of Madison’s supposed death and the failure of the Dell Diamond (y’all telling me the only way to escape the horde was drive your cars into them only to get swarmed and killed anyway? No other way to escape that stadium?!)

It wasn’t the best episode but it got enough interest out of me to ponder: will we see the kids again and what are they up to? Who is this CRM group and what do they want with Althea? Are they related to the radiation area/the walker barricades? How will they get the denim factory back from Logan? I will admit it was silly for them to do what they did to find Logan. Very risky and now look at what they did.

Side note, where is this season supposed to take place? Are they back in Texas? I thought the truck stop where everyone was dying last episode was in Mississippi? Did they end up turning back to Texas to find Clayton’s HQ aka the factory?

 

From Talking Dead I know they are filming in Texas. Whether the characters are in Texas, I don't know.

Also from Talking Dead,

They actually located the co-owner of the factory? I wondered why they were accepting his story that he is the co-owner. Any one could say that.

 

But WHY was Al out in the rain by herself. She says on the walkie, Yes! There's a story here!

What--she's working against a deadline? Someone's going to scoop her?

 

Little brother Dylan is the real life brother of Sam who liked Tip Toe Through the Tulips.

 

Ok, giving the episode more thought.

The good: I really like Logan as a new villain. Unlike the previous villain, he has a motive and his actions are understandable. I think he is going to be a lot of fun to watch as the story unfolds.

The new kids. I like them, they seem like they will be interesting and I can't wait to learn more about them.

The three rings. As I said earlier, I feel like this season isn't going to be about this group of survivors as much as this story is going to serve the overall story that connects this show to both TWD and the Grimes movies. By that I mean as we learn more about this "three rings" group, we aren't going to want to know more about them because it serves THIS story. We want to know more because it serves Rick's story. Either way, hopefully these writers don't screw that up.

Alicia. I love that she is feeling conflict about her chosen path. She wants to help people and continue her Mother's (season 4 only) legacy. Yet there is still that badass in there that just wants to kill anybody that attempts to harm her. I think Charlie will be a factor in where Alicia goes. She will be a constant reminder of what Alicia has been willing to accept, and if anybody can keep her on that path it will be Charlie.

The bad:

The writing is still shit. Again, Al knows how to fly a plane. Just because it was never brought up before doesn't mean she didn't have that ability, but it seems to have come out of nowhere as if the writers were thinking "Yea, she can fly a plane now" as if back story isn't important. This is something that could have easily been explained in a single line of dialog. Yet they went with "I'm a reporter".

Let's talk about the plane. It was unnecessary. They were going to one of Clayton's truck stops. These are all driving distance from one another. Even if the factory is the furthest point from that particular truck stop, it still couldn't have been that far. Clayton set up stops for himself, so it's not just a random stop. It's on his map and even in a rush they could have driven there. EDIT: Rethinking this, I do think some of the stops were in another state. So it's possible they are not even in Texas at that point.

Remember Alicia on the Abigail when she believed the guys on the other end of the radio about how they were in trouble...only to find out it was just a setup? Well obviously she doesn't remember it because this is the same exact thing. She literally fell for the same trick twice. Instead of questioning Logan's story, she just hopped in a plane with a reporter as a pilot and flew he happy ass to a truck stop. Then only half questioned it when they arrived and it wasn't surrounded by walkers, as Logan told her.

Morgan and the radio....this one is insanely dumb. At the crash site Morgan uses his walkie to contact Logan. When they arrive at the truck stop Morgan sees a radio and instead of using his walkie to try to contact Logan, he uses the radio. This is presumably the same GD radio that Logan was using to talk to Morgan in the first place. How the shit would he think this is a smart way to reach Logan? If he used his walke he would have heard his own voice over the radio. This would be like entering someone's home, picking up their phone and calling the house to see if they are there.

Strand's arrival at the factory was oddly edited. They were arriving somewhere with armed guards around the same time Logan was telling Morgan that he is at the factory and he's going to bring his people there. The way it was laid out, there was no indication that Strand, Sarah, and Wendell were back at the factory because we just saw Logan arrive alone and telling Morgan he is going to bring his people there. Yet they are apparently already there and have been long enough to clean out many of the supplies. So we get this stand off, another "how are they going to get out of this" moment....only to, once again like season 4, have ZERO explanation of how they got out of it. One scene they are having a stand off at their own home, the next scene it's night and they are drinking beer and Strand has the tapes. Only a few lines of dialog imply that they talked their way into retrieving some of their personal belongings. Like season 4, put them in a bad situation and don't bother showing how they get out of it.

I think these writers and show runners probably have some interesting ideas, but they lack the ability to properly tell the story. They have good ideas of how to put characters in a bad situation but they can't figure out to show us them getting INTO the situation and OUT of the situation.

 

Well, he did know the combo to the lock at the factory gate! He’s also the L in the C&L Freight Services company logo!

 

Hello again dear people.

4,5/10 for me. Pretty bad overall and I agree with most of what's been said here.

Two things that I don't think were mentionned:

1) why did Al needed so much time to figure out "there was a story there"? she looked straight at that weird armored costume. I don't know for you, but I knew right away there was something "there"....

2) assuming they can find a functional plane and fly it, why would they use it for such stupid stuff? You want to deliver boxes and help people? Fine, get yourself a FedEx truck and have your way. You get a ****ing plane? Come up with a plan! Go visit the North of Canada to see if there's something organized there, might want to fly low over Cuba and check how they manage down there too. Maybe try and plan a trip to Europe if you can get a big enough plane off the ground... Just seemed to me like such a waste of resources...

Anyway, nice to be back. And a song for the circumstances...

 

Yeah my bar isn't very high for the series, but as long as they provide a mediocre story with some decent action sequences and the overall plot keeps me interested then I'll be pleased. But if it takes the path of Season 4B I'll have to quit.

 

Someone explain to me how Althea knew there was a note in helmet head’s head.

 

Ah! The combo lock! Thank you.

As for the L, though, he could have been lying about that. His name could be Fred Winters. In fact, maybe he is Fred Winters who just used to work there and that stuff isn't his.

I like the moral conundrum they've set up, though.

 

There was a note?! I thought she wanted to take the helmet off to give him a death punch, so I was oblivious to what actually transpired. It was late....

Also, helmet head's head -- LOL

I bet I know what the note says, but it's so scary I'm not going to even put it in a spoiler.

 

It was the triangular circles thingy! I just don't understand how she knew to look for it.

 

Ah. I guessed wrong then. Maybe she was just generally prowling around, figuring out if there was or wasn't a story.

 

No, she was VERY interested in helmet dude. I need to rewatch like I said. LOL

 

Yes, I know she wanted to know more about him, so much so that she couldn't wait until morning. I just don't know that she anticipated finding what she did under his helmet.

 

She seemed pretty focused on his helmet.