Well said. And honestly, I liked this episode much more than last week (still good). Tara/AM is so funny, I love her sense of humor and chill vibe. Ps, lol @ her attempted fist bump with Natania and flipping off that Rachel bitch :zombies_lol:

 

The stealthy way that she glided thru the woods..Automatic weapons fire could not hit her, not even a shot gun at close range- miss... WTF, I thought it was an old A team episode.

What ? Is next week an ENTIRE episode of Judith's thoughts as she lays in her crib?

 

I think the problem is we had 6 divisions of main characters:
1) Rick's group at Alexandria
2) Maggie and Sasha at Hilltop
3) Carol and Morgan at the Kingdom
4) Heath and Tara
5) Daryl at the Savior Compound
6) Jesus and Carl in the truck

Now I'm not saying we should jump to see what all 6 are up to each episode..but I think it is hurting the show by giving each group their own episode. Especially when the seasons are so short to begin with (only 2 episodes left I believe!)

 

I agree, the writers almost seem like they arent capable to jump from group to group within an episode. You dont have to land in all 6 places in one episode, but you dont have to stall a whole EXTENDED episode by staying in one spot....even if it is an introduction.

 

Be patient everyone.

I really believe that the season starting with episode 7 will pick up and start featuring multiple characters doing multiple things.

 

I'm looking forward to this one tonight. I've not re-watched a single episode from season 7 yet but reckon this is going to be worth a second watch!

 

Yes, this is what separates this show from Game of Thrones. That show has people scattered across a few COUNTRIES, and they manage to weave the individual stories together within the span of one episode... Sure, some get left out, but there never is an episode that feels barren of facets to explore. This is what we need to shoot for here, as the world opened up and scattered our characters like leaves in the wind.

 

I totally agree.

 

I was not feeling last nights episode and this is a rarity for me. It was not because my favorite character/s were not featured. It just felt disjointed. Maybe partly because we have not seen Tara and Heath in such a long long time, maybe because it was so far removed from our usual locations. It just felt off to me upon my initial viewing last night.

I do hope that all of the above positive posts prove to be correct. I always want to see this show succeed episode after episode. Up until last nights entry I have really been enjoying this season. I am one of those people who is fortunate that I do not mind the bottle episodes.

I do think that after reading some of my posts in the live thread that I was too harsh. I pulled a Daryl Dixon, had a knee jerk reaction and reacted accordingly without allowing myself time to digest and think about what I just watched.

Thanks for the posts on looking to the positive!

 

I agree. I just read an article by Scott Meslow who said it was the best episode so far of the season because it had correct opposing themes. I guess if it's written according to his rules of what screenwriting should be, it's great, even if people fall asleep during the episode. I did and so did my nephews, a first. I am not invested in either one of these two characters (Tara and Heath) in any way shape or form. Not to mention, I cant stay interested in a show that i watch for an hour each week. I fell in love with this show when I could watch season after season on a binge.. I'm not satisfied with a weekly cliffhanger.

 

I agree with [MENTION=17192]Dnae[/MENTION] in that I appreciate the posts in this thread that have different views from mine, and are helping to me to see this episode in a different light. Because to be honest, I didn't like last night's episode at all. I like Tara and Heath, although they aren't my favorites -- I want to know what happened to them. I like that Season 7 is showing us in different episodes where the characters are. It reminds me of Season 4 after the Governor destroyed the prison, and the group was split apart, and how eventually they make their way to Terminus and find each other. That's what I'm hoping for: that Negan's rule will eventually reunite our group.

As I said above, I appreciate the different responses to this episode. My reasons for not liking it: I didn't care for these new characters. I didn't feel anything towards them. When I watch a t.v. show or a movie or when I read a novel, fanfiction, poem -- I want to feel *something* and last night, I felt *nothing*. On one hand, I want to be proud of these women for holding their ground, even after Negan slaughtered their men. But that never came to my mind when watching the episode. In fact, I didn't feel anything when it was revealed that Negan killed their men. I just didn't feel anything for their situation. If anything, I felt annoyed with that little girl Rochelle/Rachel --she was more annoying then when Carl was a kid. I didn't like the female adults -- they were over the top trying to kill Tara, then they were like "here's some soup, let's be friends." Yeah, okay. The humor felt forced. Maybe it was the writing for the episode, maybe it was the actresses, maybe it was combination. I really don't know.

We've had other episodes where we meet new characters who show up for one episode only such as in Season 2 "Nebraska" when Rick, Hershel, and Glenn meet Dave and Tony. The two guys were swarmy and really spelled bad news before Rick killed them. We also had Season 6's "The Same Boat" with Paula, Michelle, Molly, and Donnie <--and I *loved* that episode and the characters and wished we could've seen more of them.

We had bottle episodes, like when we see how Morgan meet Eastman ---and I really liked it.

This episode didn't cut it for me. I binge-watched Season 1-6, I've been looking forward to watching each episode of Season 7. This episode was the first time that I actually looked at the clock, waiting for it to be over. I'm hoping that when I rewatch the entire season, that this episode falls into place for me. Right now, it's just out there as the first episode I didn't like.

 

I found this episode more engaging than the Kingdom episode. I was pretty bored throughout the first half of that one. This one held my interest because I didn't know what was going to happen to Tara. With the Kingdom episode I pretty much knew that they were there to stay.

 

That's an interesting take, westwingnut. I didn't know what to expect with either the Kingdom episode or this one. There's definitely a difference where you know what to expect with the characters vs not knowing what's going to happen. I can see how that difference would either make a fan like or dislike an episode. Thank you for that point.

 

I just think the story was not strong enough on it's on for a full episode. Maybe if Hiltop or the Kingdom could have mentioned "there was another group that used to be under Negan but they're gone..." I don't know. I think we know wher the guns are coming from now.

As far as time passed from Heath and Tara leaving I am guessing it's been two weeks since Abe and Glenn died.

 

I preferred this to the Kingdom introduction as well, maybe because I like the character of Tara better than Carol and find her more engaging? It was also a more unique community, IMO.

 

Honestly, I was a bit bored. Yes, I wanted to know what happened to Tara and Heath, but I didn't need a whole episode for that. I know this is important for later, but there are only 16 episodes. We need to move this along a bit. If we have 26 episodes, no problem, but not with only 16.

 

I was contemplating making a thread saying the same thing, but am now glad I did not because I don't think I would have been able to say it as well as you did. Personally, this episode offered up a lot to entertain me:

1.) I have never really been a Tara fan, so when I saw this episode was all her I was not too excited. However, I was thoroughly engaged early - especially with the walker avalanche - and never lost interest. This was mostly due to...

2.) We met a new community! And at that we met one that - had the show followed the comics - we would not have met until after AOW. To me, whenever a new community is met that is an awesome thing. Not only that, but Oceanside showed a unique perspective on their dealings with Negan and how they've survived. Plus, they will obviously offer up tremendous help come AOW as they're the only ones with guns, and a lot of them at that.

3.) It wrapped up nicely. They may have rushed Tara getting back to ASZ a bit, but now that saves us from another episode of her just trying to make it back, or someone looking for/stumbling upon her, or ten minutes of her crying for Denise or Glenn or Abraham. By bringing her back to ASZ it shortens those 6 worlds previously mentioned to 5. And I highly doubt they'll do an entire episode on Heath, so my guess is he'll wind up being found in the middle of another episode soon enough.

 

One thing I did like was Tara bringing in little spots of comic relief to the show. Abraham was good for that and Glenn did it from time to time as well. This show is so dark all the time that these little spots of comic relief are very needed and I think Tara does a good job of that.

 

Nope & nope. Nothing against bottle episodes, had nothing against Tara per se, but that was poor writing, and shitty acting (Tara, Heath, that group's leader, and the little girl were all atrocious IMO). The fact that she's miles from her group, lost her friend in a group of zombies, lost conscience, and is still making jokes and acting cool when her life is threatened was just stupid.
And her wandering in the woods with that "oh" face at everything she saw... And her no-reaction when she learns everybody died and they're now in a tone of shit... Nah, I don't ever want to see that episode again.