I meant giving the finger to his past, so he can move forward without the burden of Merle's ghost or the misplaced guilt. doing nothing. Being nothing before the ZA is really pathetic, I'm just glad Daryl's grown up - finally.

 

Yeah, it was a bit boring. I suppose they needed an episode like this for greater character development, but I really felt like this instalment lacked the tension that is the norm on TWD. Seems like a bit of a 'lazy' episode, as you put it. But perhaps this is all a ruse and the writers inserted a slow episode as the calm before the storm?

 

The number of things you're wrong about in this one post is staggering, not the least of which is there are 16 episodes in this season. "Minimal character development"? The entire episode focused on character development. Beth went from a scared girl who didn't really care about even living and who was totally shutdown emotionally to a person who is emotionally open, willing to fight to live and confident in herself. Minimal character development my ass.

 

That's because you don't get it and you're obsessed with nothing but the action.

 

I believe that Daryl's aversion to drinking stems from two things not mentioned by you: Daryl's alcoholic dad & his alcoholic, drugged-out brother. I lived with two 'alkies' as a kid & i can tell you, watching them in action taught me early on what drinking can do to a person & if that person is an abuser (like Daryl's dad), the results of their drunken state are too horrible to describe. I think when he walked in his bro's shadow, he didn't drink much then either & when he did I'd bet he became aggressive & melancholy. I' doubt he did many drugs either -also because of his bro. I'm sure he did drugs & would have ended up Merle 2.0, but the ZA happened & it saved him from that -Go figure. I also think Beth wanting a drink triggered a particular reaction in him too, like making sure she didn't over do it & end up zombie-chow.

 

I think you may be confusing action with story. You can have a great story with nothing but two people sitting at a table talking (see: My Dinner with Andre). The story of The Walking Dead is the story about the people who've survived the Zombie Apocalypse, how they deal with the day to day reality of living in a post apocalyptic world. That includes things like how they deal with their home being taken from them, being separated from their friends and family and not knowing if they are even alive. You say this episode didn't advance the story -- this episode IS the story. How Beth and Daryl deal with the downfall of the prison, their separation from the rest of the group, and how they deal with each other IS THE STORY.

Despite the action sequences this isn't an action series, it's not about getting from point A to point B to point C, it's about the journey to point A and the journey to point B. It's not about where they're going it's how how they are getting there.

This wasn't a filler episode. This episode was bang on what The Walking Dead is all about. I like how "filler episode" has suddenly become the new derogatory term for an episode someone doesn't like because there was to much drama and not enough mindless violence.

 

I have to call shenanigans because there was a ton of character development, all you have to do is look at the characters in the first scene and look at them in the last scene -- they look like different characters.

So I'm left with the belief that you disliked the episode for exactly the reason you say you didn't, because of the lack of action. If you want to convince me otherwise come up with an explanation that doesn't involve untrue statements (i.e. that there was a lack of character development).

 

They think filler = bad because they can't wrap their heads around the concept that the main point of the show isn't the plot, it's a character study. It's not about the situation, it's about how the characters deal with their situation.

 

I get the feeling you're the type of person who would take pride in how quickly they were able to see everything in a museum.

 

Exactly! You nailed it. Still was a very good depiction of what show is all about.

 

Um, I did not say what you quoted above. This is not in any way how I feel. I would also never use the term "Filler Episode", choosing to use the term "Character Building". Not lambasting you, just pointing out that this is not at all how I feel so no one gets the wrong idea about me.

 

They already had food and water. Did you not see the snake?

You're missing the point, it wasn't about Beth wanting a drink it was Beth wanting a mission. She needed something to focus on and to focus Daryl on since he wouldn't focus on looking for the others. Being eighteen and facing her probable immanent death she looked at the bucket-list of her life and picked the one thing on there that could be accomplished and that she could get Daryl to agree to. Get a drink. The fact that it was a "grown up thing", something many kids do in order to affect being an adult, was also a factor.

Story wise it lead to Daryl taking charge "you want a drink, I'll get a real drink!" and taking her to the house with the still which lead to them both drinking and that lead to the emotional outbursts, the emotional breakdowns and finally to the the emotional resurrections.

"I want peanuts" just wouldn't have worked.

 

Oops, sorry about that. I pasted the wrong text in there. I've fixed it so that it's properly attributed.
Once again, I'm sorry.

 

She was sneaky, off camera she replaced the moonshine with water...

Seriously though I agree with you, your first ever drink is straight moonshine (and I don't care how smooth it is) is going to get a bigger reaction out of you that that! Perhaps the producers didn't want to risk adding any comedic element to the scene (e.g. Beth choking), but (as much as I dislike puking scenes) a scene of her puking her guts out would have been a nice touch.

 

No sweat, really, Just didn't want people to think I was "that guy".

 

LOL! That's the harshest put-down I've heard in a long time. I'm glad no one's said that about me!

 

That stuff burns! She should have turned deep red & started coughing & coughing -then took another drink, coughing a little less & 2 shots of the stuff would have not only have knocked her on her ass & made her loopy -especially considering how skinny she is & that they hadn't exactly had a big meal before hand, but maybe the wanted to focus more on the bonding moment than potential 'bazooka barfing'.

 

At least he didn't use this one: 'I can imagine all the books you've read simply by glancing at the cover'.
I've always liked that one - along with: 'I am disinclined to acquiesce to your request'.

 

Personally I liked this episode.

Good character development for what either is going to be long term characters, or, if either die in the near future, it might have more meaning now that both opened up to the viewer a bit.

This kind of episode, along with an ensemble cast is what any show needs to have a higher episode count each season.If TWD was just featuring Rick/Carl/Michonne/Glen and a few others, we'd get maybe 10 episodes a season... having a larger cast allows them to branch out, tell more stories, develop more backgrounds and essentially tell a larger story.

The back eight of this season as I see it are about what each split off group goes through to survive when they think that everyone else they've relied on are dead. Sooner or later most of them will meet up again but, when that happens, the dynamic will be much different; everyone who survives to that point will be a stronger, more compelling character/person than they were when the Governor drove his tank through the fences.

 

Its pretty clear to me you did not read my post. I didnt say there wasnt character development, I said there should be even more when the episode only focuses on two characters. They could have devloped 4 characters in the time they developed 2. Was glenn or maggie developed? No. Was sasha? No. Therefore there wasnt enough. There were only 2 characters well developed, and my standards are at about 4 when an episode gsts the whole time to do it since there is no focus on plot advancement.

Again, you dont have business telling others why or why not they liked something. If someone says they didnt like something for a reason, the polite thing to do is not claim they are lying. If you dont take my words for what im sayong, why bother even discussing it if im going to feed more lies about my opinions?

Again you havent attacked my arguement, and instead have to resort to attacking me personally by saying im lying about why I didnt like the episode.