Yuletide + Walking Dead
Dec. 12th, 2017 12:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lunabee341. Yuletide is did! Yay! Thanks for all your cheerleading. I really enjoyed writing this one, and I hope my recipient enjoys reading it.
2. So, here's my thoughts on the last few episodes of The Walking Dead, including the mid-season finale.
Okay, so good stuff first. I can't believe the show had the balls to kill Carl. Wow. I mean, from a Doylist perspective, I totally get why Chandler Riggs might be ready to leave the show. He started working on TWD as a young kid, and he's spent his entire professional career on this one show. It's time to do something else. I'm also not super cut-up about his impending death (he's no baby Judith, y'all); I cried in the finale, and I'm sure I'll cry again when he actually dies, but it's not a deal breaker. Chandler Riggs did a phenomenal job in these last few episodes; just blew it out of the water. I was so glad when he reached out to the lone guy and when he told his dad that he's going to have to start trusting more people. Too often, Carl has been a little Rick clone, emulating the worst of Rick, and I'm so glad that he got to become a better person than that. I thought in the episode where he was bringing the loner in that he'd gotten bitten but assumed I'd been wrong because he didn't act like he had; then I forgot about it. I wondered why Carl was writing a note to his dad and why he was trying to leave and assumed it was because he was annoyed with his father for being so high handed and exclusionary. At the end when I realized he was actually dying the whole time, wow! He took charge, saved everyone, offered himself up as a sacrifice, and he was dying the whole time. Very impressed with your send-off, Carl. I wish that Gabriel being sick meant that they were going to be able to synthesize a life-saving vaccine from his blood, but this isn't that kind of show, alas. I wonder if Carl will die off screen or if we'll see it. I also wonder if Rick will let this make him a better person or if he'll just spiral down again into almost unwatchable-ness for me.
Speaking of Gabriel, I do not get what's up with his sickness. They have all wallowed around in zombie guts so many times that I truly don't get why it would make him ill at this point. I hope that makes sense eventually.
I liked Gabriel pushing Neegan to find out stuff about him. He used to work with kids?! That he was married to a woman he ran around on doesn't surprise me at all, but envisioning him as a teacher is a road too far. I bet he was one of those asshole Little League Coaches. I also liked finding out that there was already a loose confederation of gangs and that he stepped into the void of leadership. I've been trying to figure out how he managed to amass so many people and resources, and that explains some of it.
Poor Ezekiel. I love that all his people pile on him to save his life. I love that Jerry lives and isn't ready for him to stop being the king. The conversation Ezekiel has with Carol where she admits that she's always acting was so awesome. At first I thought about Carol and persona as something she began when they got to Alexandria, but that's not true; she's always pretended beginning with being an abused wife. When Ezekiel says, "You made me feel real," and Carol responds, "You are real to me," I may have wept quietly a little.
Rick and Darryl fighting and losing all the guns and weapons in the trick was stupid.
Speaking of stupid, what was Tara and Darryl's stupid plan? I do not get what they were intending to accomplish. What was the point of the plan? They were impatient and fucked everything up. It was a damn siege and it was going to work. What a bunch of dingdings. So glad Rosita and Michonne bailed on them.
Speaking of additional stupid, if I never see the Trash People again it will be too soon. I hate the Trash People. They are terrible. It's been, what, three years at most, maybe four, since the start of the show? People do not lose the ability to speak language in four years. Why are they all barely verbal? I DO NOT GET IT!
Eugene. *sigh* Eugene. Part of him clearly wants to do the right thing. He doesn't turn in Dwight; he lets the doc and Gabe go. He's clearly guilty that he didn't kill Neegan when he had the opportunity. It's unclear to me whether he's being all "needs of the many" and buying into Neegan's bullshit about being a true Savior, or if he's working entirely out of self-interest. I don't get what the emphasis on the cut on Eugene's finger is about; at first, I thought it was going to be a sign that he was actually working with Dwight. When that clearly wasn't true, I thought maybe it was going to be that he gets infected with whatever's going on with Gabriel since he takes Eugene's hand.
Really worried about what's going to happen with Enid now that she's killed the Ocean People's Grandma.
I am absolutely done with Neegan always bouncing back, though. Done. I am a fan of Carl taking charge, of the people in Alexandria getting away, of the Kingdom refusing to give up Ezekiel and then all getting away, of Ezekiel finally snapping out of it and taking charge, of Maggie refusing to bend--but I AM FUCKING TIRED OF NEEGAN HAVING AN ENDLESS SUPPLY OF EVIL MEN TO DO HIS BIDDING. I am so so ready for him to fall.
Also, Neegan is such a dumb fuck. Alexandria is completely self-sufficient--power, water, etc. Blowing it up is so freaking stupid and such a waste.
Moments of yay:
"We're from Georgia."
Rosita exploding that dude with the rocket launcher.
Eugene trying to kiss Neegan's hand.
2. So, here's my thoughts on the last few episodes of The Walking Dead, including the mid-season finale.
Okay, so good stuff first. I can't believe the show had the balls to kill Carl. Wow. I mean, from a Doylist perspective, I totally get why Chandler Riggs might be ready to leave the show. He started working on TWD as a young kid, and he's spent his entire professional career on this one show. It's time to do something else. I'm also not super cut-up about his impending death (he's no baby Judith, y'all); I cried in the finale, and I'm sure I'll cry again when he actually dies, but it's not a deal breaker. Chandler Riggs did a phenomenal job in these last few episodes; just blew it out of the water. I was so glad when he reached out to the lone guy and when he told his dad that he's going to have to start trusting more people. Too often, Carl has been a little Rick clone, emulating the worst of Rick, and I'm so glad that he got to become a better person than that. I thought in the episode where he was bringing the loner in that he'd gotten bitten but assumed I'd been wrong because he didn't act like he had; then I forgot about it. I wondered why Carl was writing a note to his dad and why he was trying to leave and assumed it was because he was annoyed with his father for being so high handed and exclusionary. At the end when I realized he was actually dying the whole time, wow! He took charge, saved everyone, offered himself up as a sacrifice, and he was dying the whole time. Very impressed with your send-off, Carl. I wish that Gabriel being sick meant that they were going to be able to synthesize a life-saving vaccine from his blood, but this isn't that kind of show, alas. I wonder if Carl will die off screen or if we'll see it. I also wonder if Rick will let this make him a better person or if he'll just spiral down again into almost unwatchable-ness for me.
Speaking of Gabriel, I do not get what's up with his sickness. They have all wallowed around in zombie guts so many times that I truly don't get why it would make him ill at this point. I hope that makes sense eventually.
I liked Gabriel pushing Neegan to find out stuff about him. He used to work with kids?! That he was married to a woman he ran around on doesn't surprise me at all, but envisioning him as a teacher is a road too far. I bet he was one of those asshole Little League Coaches. I also liked finding out that there was already a loose confederation of gangs and that he stepped into the void of leadership. I've been trying to figure out how he managed to amass so many people and resources, and that explains some of it.
Poor Ezekiel. I love that all his people pile on him to save his life. I love that Jerry lives and isn't ready for him to stop being the king. The conversation Ezekiel has with Carol where she admits that she's always acting was so awesome. At first I thought about Carol and persona as something she began when they got to Alexandria, but that's not true; she's always pretended beginning with being an abused wife. When Ezekiel says, "You made me feel real," and Carol responds, "You are real to me," I may have wept quietly a little.
Rick and Darryl fighting and losing all the guns and weapons in the trick was stupid.
Speaking of stupid, what was Tara and Darryl's stupid plan? I do not get what they were intending to accomplish. What was the point of the plan? They were impatient and fucked everything up. It was a damn siege and it was going to work. What a bunch of dingdings. So glad Rosita and Michonne bailed on them.
Speaking of additional stupid, if I never see the Trash People again it will be too soon. I hate the Trash People. They are terrible. It's been, what, three years at most, maybe four, since the start of the show? People do not lose the ability to speak language in four years. Why are they all barely verbal? I DO NOT GET IT!
Eugene. *sigh* Eugene. Part of him clearly wants to do the right thing. He doesn't turn in Dwight; he lets the doc and Gabe go. He's clearly guilty that he didn't kill Neegan when he had the opportunity. It's unclear to me whether he's being all "needs of the many" and buying into Neegan's bullshit about being a true Savior, or if he's working entirely out of self-interest. I don't get what the emphasis on the cut on Eugene's finger is about; at first, I thought it was going to be a sign that he was actually working with Dwight. When that clearly wasn't true, I thought maybe it was going to be that he gets infected with whatever's going on with Gabriel since he takes Eugene's hand.
Really worried about what's going to happen with Enid now that she's killed the Ocean People's Grandma.
I am absolutely done with Neegan always bouncing back, though. Done. I am a fan of Carl taking charge, of the people in Alexandria getting away, of the Kingdom refusing to give up Ezekiel and then all getting away, of Ezekiel finally snapping out of it and taking charge, of Maggie refusing to bend--but I AM FUCKING TIRED OF NEEGAN HAVING AN ENDLESS SUPPLY OF EVIL MEN TO DO HIS BIDDING. I am so so ready for him to fall.
Also, Neegan is such a dumb fuck. Alexandria is completely self-sufficient--power, water, etc. Blowing it up is so freaking stupid and such a waste.
Moments of yay:
"We're from Georgia."
Rosita exploding that dude with the rocket launcher.
Eugene trying to kiss Neegan's hand.
no subject
Date: 2017-12-12 09:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-12-12 09:56 pm (UTC)And your comment just reminded me to tag for that. LOL
no subject
Date: 2017-12-13 01:28 am (UTC)The Carl thing is amazing. I believe I've read that Chandler Riggs wants to go to college.
Especially yes to the Carol and Ezekiel conversation.
no subject
Date: 2017-12-13 02:16 pm (UTC)I was hoping they'd get done with Neegan and do something else for spring but they're going to drag it out all season. If this continues into next season I will be super disappointed.
But who am I kidding? I'm ready for the show to end period. LOL End on a high note! Destroy Neegan and end.
no subject
Date: 2017-12-13 02:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-12-13 02:16 pm (UTC)