Hocus Pocus

Here's a little article I wrote for my university's paper for a 90s nostalgia column, about Hocus Pocus.

It’s Just A Bunch Of Hocus Pocus

      Werewolves. Witches. Hobgoblins. All creatures that anyone inclined toward the supernatural learn to look out for as we creep closer to All Hallows’ Eve. But 20 years ago, a movie gave us something else to be afraid of when the full moon looms overhead: Virgins with lighters. 

     That’s right: Hocus Pocus was released two decades ago, and we’re all getting old. A feeling Winifred Sanderson and her sisters can sympathize with, seeing as they went through all the trouble of collecting dead men’s toes and biting off pieces of their own tongues to conjure a literally life-sucking potion. 

     Yet even child homicide doesn’t prevent Winnie, Mary, and Sarah from being the most beloved witches in pop culture (give or take a Sabrina). And can we be blamed for loving them so? Bette Midler’s over-the-top campy goodness as Winifred can only—just maybe--be matched by Jessica Lange’s work on American Horror Story. Then you have Sarah Jessica Parker’s sultry idiot Sarah with her inability to see a boy without throwing her hands on her chest, and Kathy Najimy’s dumb-yet-dutiful Mary, riding a vacuum cleaner and being inexplicably and hilariously part dog. Of course I could spend days talking of the glories of the Sandersons, but let’s get back to that virgin with the zippo. 

      Max Dennison’s California, laid-back, tied-dyed point of view is apparently “keep it in your pants until Allison and her Yabos put out” and everyone makes sure we remember it. Seriously, take a drink every time someone says “virgin” with a strange hint of disgust and you’ll be drunk before you can say “I Put A Spell On You.” 

    Even little sister Dani—played by Thora Birch, now 31, with an impressive set of Yabos of her own—can’t hide her disdain for her brother’s status. “What happened?” “A VIRGIN…lit the candle.” Thackery Binx, that mangy feline, spends his eternal life protecting the candle from “Airhead virgins” yet puts the blame on them when he finally reunites with his ghost sister who wants an explanation for his centuries-long stint eating sewer mice. “Sorry, Emily, I had to wait 300 years for a VIRGIN to light a candle.” It’s a bit contradictory and a weird message to put into a Disney movie, but hey, it was the Nineties. 

     Besides virgin-shaming and multiple attempted child homicides, Hocus Pocus has all the classic Halloween tropes and then some: black cats, cauldrons, spell books, bullies stealing candy (ICE!), jack-o-lanterns on haystacks, a mom in a Madonna costume, THE DEVIL HIMSELF (sort of), even a Zombie! It also ages pretty well--much to Winnie’s delight I’m sure--and is entertaining as ever, as people from the past flung into the strange world of sprinkler systems, firemen, and city buses is never not funny. And I didn’t even get to touch on the majesty of the musical number. It may not be as quotable as Mean Girls, but it is definitely up there on that list, seeing as I find every opportunity to say “Dost thou comprehend?”, “Tis FIRM!”, “Oh, look. Another glorious morning. Makes me SICK!” (reserved for Mondays), and the coup de grace of “AMUK! AMUK AMUK AMUK AMUK!” 

     So, what are your favorite quotes and moments? Let me know on Twitter @a_ferretti25! Hocus Pocus will be on ABCFamily the nights of 10/26 and 10/27. Have a Happy Halloween. Watch out for virgins.


Here's a link to the university's webpage version. http://www.dailycampus.com/focus/nostalgia-101-the-wonders-of-the-90-s-a-bunch-of-hocus-pocus-1.3097284#.UmXNE_l4w_g

Walking Dead Season Two Episode 10 "18 Miles Out"

How can I not make a comparison to Breaking Bad when they give me a title like this? It’s very similar to “4 Days Out”, a phenomenal episode. The structure is thinly similar. The two main guys drive out a ways, have some conversations, problems arise. What was great about this episode was that it was the most self-contained so far. Most of this season has suffered from extremely slow pacing. All the episodes on the farm have be weirdly disjointed yet very connected to each other. Some stuff happens, the episode is over, and the next one picks up where we left off, which was pretty much nowhere special, and some more stuff happens. This time we skip ahead some time, we get 2 stories that have beginnings and endings, and only a small group of the cast is present. It feels right, like a nice little chapter instead of the exceedingly long paragraphs of the episodes before it.

We left off last episode with Lori Lady Macbeth-ing and Rick serious-acting-face-ing. This time we start in media res (that’s the correct term, right?) with Shane and Rick being attacked by some zombies at a school and Fence-Spike-Randall tied up and crawling for a knife. This cold open worked for me, it created a sense of momentum that they’ve been struggling with maintaining.

But before I talk about that story I want to discuss what the ladies are up to. Beth is potentially becoming a character with all the focus she gets this week, but her story is more of a means to get Lori’s, Andrea’s, and Maggie’s opinions about suicide (and to get catty). I have mixed feeling about this whole plot. I liked getting a chance to hear more from Andrea about this, ever since the CDC event, all we’ve seen from her on the topic is snippiness at Dale. I agree with her arguments to, I might not want someone to kill themselves but in the end it’s not my decision to make. And of course it was wonderful to have someone finally call Lori out on her bullshit. “The men can handle this on their own.” “You’re in my face over skipping laundry?”  Lori, the 50’s called, they want their antiquated ideas on gender roles back. That’s not the only annoyance Lori brings to the table. Remember when Carl was shot and she felt it would be better if he just died? That’s her son we’re talking about, and now this girl she barely knows wants to end it and she’s all gimme the knife, life for everybody? I understand Rick changed her mind about Carl, but this didn’t sit well with me.

Meanwhile, in more action heavy portion of the episode (because MEN!), the Rick and Shane conflict finally comes to a head, and by that I mean they hit each other in the face a lot. First, Rick lays it on the table. He tells Shane he knows what he thinks of him, that he doesn’t believe he can protect his wife and kid, he knows about him and Lori and the baby, and too bad, brother, nothing you want to happen is gonna happen. Shane pouts in the car like a reprimanded child while Rick discusses winter survival strategies and how they should be using guns less against the zombies. It was nice to see Rick exhibiting some leadership skills, he’s been slowly stumbling less in regards to being a leader of the group.

Anyways, they almost get rid of Randall until he divulges that he knows Maggie, meaning he possibly knows where the farm’s at, meaning the leg of their plan just got impaled on a fence post. Shane decides to shoot him, Rick stops him, and the manliest kerfuffle begins. Then the zombies wake up when Shane chucks a huge wrench toward Rick. Then awesome zombie kerfuffle begins! A great moment with Rick when he gets buried under a pile of zombies (is this a metaphor?) , Randall cuts himself free, and Shane gets stuck in a bus. It looks like Rick and Randall were gonna leave Shane behind, but of course Rick doesn’t and saves Shane, proving two big things.  1. Rick’s approach to life is better for other people (in this case, Shane, himself) than Shane’s is and 2. Rick is actually a lot better at protecting people than Shane believes/wants to believe. Rick gives Shane a speech that’s essentially a reiteration of the first, they drive home with Shane pouting again. We end this story just like it began. So they had a confrontation. Some feelings came out. They had a nice brawl. Does this solve anything? Nope. But it was super fun to watch, and it gives both of them a little more to think about. Is anything resolved? Nope.

Not yet.

Other thoughts:

-Shane, to Rick: “You can’t just be the good guy and expect to live. Not anymore.” “I’m not the good guy anymore.” Let’s see how true this is.

-Love the POV shots of Randall in the trunk. They need to do fun camera work more often. *coughlikebreakingadcough*

-Rick to Shane, about what to do with Randall:  “He’ll be locked up in the barn. Unless you BUST it open.” Ooooooo too soon?

-that brawl was really awesome. I loved how they slowly started to sound like zombies themselves. Also, how’d that first gunshot not wake up the walkers?

-What’s up with those two dead zombie cops with no bites. Uh oh.

-In the zombie gross-out corner: Them running over the head and squashing it. In the words of Rachel Ray: Yummo!

Walking Dead Season 2 Episode 9 "Triggerfinger"

I have less words to say about this episode and I don’t know why. I didn’t like it less than last weeks. But I don’t think I liked it more. But, don’t get me wrong, it was awesome. The scenes where Rick, Glenn, and Hershel were fighting with a group from Dave and Tony’s crew were as intense as anything. One of the reasons for this being that we’re dealing with enemies with fully functioning brains, and not mindless corpses with horrible skin. Zombies are dangerous enough, but they don’t use either GUNS or INTELLIGENCE. Also, I would be remiss to not mention poor Randall, the kid that got his leg impaled on a fence spike. It fulfilled the necessary amount of violence and gore that we require as bloodthirsty television viewers, and it also can be chalked up as yet another example of Rick being badass and being willing to do what no one else is.

I told Shane to move over last week, and Andrea nicely explains why. It’s not that Shane is making the wrong decisions, because really what he did to Otis, lying to Lori about Rick, wanting to abandon the search for Sophia, and unleashing the barn zombies were all the right call. “It’s [his] presentation that leaves something to be desired,” explains Andrea. “Have you ever considered a lighter touch?” she asks of him. I liked scene a lot. It reestablishes the connection that Shane and Andrea have, what with their being outcasts, having decisions made for them, etc. But of course I still don’t want them to leave. Though that’s something I don’t think I have to worry about happening.

Besides the action in town and that scene, I didn’t really like the rest of the episode. I think it’s because I don’t like any of the characters. Not that I dislike them, it’s just that I barely know enough about most of them to care enough to like them.

That’s why so many conversations seem…arbitrary and scenes seem so disconnected from each other, and that’s why so much of the action is driven by these people being stupid. Okay, not all of them. There’s Rick. He’s the good guy. He wants to do the right thing, and the inner conflict comes out of the fact that “right thing” has shifted drastically far away from what it used to be and what he knows. Then we have Glenn, the Everyman, the kind of a nerdy guy. And I like him because he tries to do the right thing, like Rick, but isn’t always up to his own standards (like tonight when he gets scared and hides because Maggie feels). He’s also very resourceful, and I hope he continues to get more to do. Then there’s Shane, who has a lot of potential as the “crazy, on the edge guy,” but his amount of crazy changes depending on how much the writers needs him to be crazy about in any given episode. And then there’s everyone else, whom I can’t even describe as much as the other three, and I only used two sentences. I mean, Dale was cool, but now all he has is his desire to get Shane kicked out of the group. Lori is whatever negative, unhappy conversation the writers come up with, and her opinions are really whatever the opposite of her scene partner’s (except tonight with Rick, which I’ll get to). Daryl has potential because he’s awesome, but now he’s going crazy. Carol, with her daughter dead, only exists because apparently no one else talks to Daryl anymore. Maggie loves Glenn. T-Dog is black. Ok, there’s Andrea, who I like almost in spite of myself because of those blue eyes. I guess she’s pretty defined too, what with her views about life/death and her journey to becoming strong.

The fact that I barely know anything about these people is made even more annoying by that fact that this show’s writing has them literally stating how they’re feeling. This isn’t a bunch of complaining, this is me trying to flesh out why I’m sometimes having issues with the show. Because the action and the zombie stuff is always top-notch, so it has to be the characters, right? Well, I hope we work on that (can we just kill T-Dog and Carol now? Please? They aren’t necessary at all anymore. T-Dog never was). Besides, I like this show, even though I have problems with it. No show is perfect (except maybe Breaking Bad). I also have faith that it’s going to continue to get better.

Which brings me to that final scene between Lori and Rick. This works extremely well, especially with the look on Rick’s face that we linger on long enough for me to get really uncomfortable and scared. He’s creeping closer and closer to that edge. It’s exciting and chilling. And I love Lori going all Lady Macbeth with Rick; she’s exploiting his need to prove himself to her (and Shane) in order to get rid of a potentially tricky problem before it gets any worse. Granted, her choice of argument here, that Shane doesn’t believe Rick can protect Lori and Carl, works well enough, she adds on to that her and the group’s general fear of Shane. She doesn’t have to add that, but what she could have added was the fact that SHANE TRIED TO RAPE HER. Remember that? Am I the only one who does?? Telling Rick that would get him to do the deed right quick. Do we not because we still have four episodes left to go? Come on Lori, I know your head may be a bit jostled after that car crash, but still.

Other thoughts:
-speaking of that car crash, which was just plain silly, we get our weekly dose of fun zombie stuff. The zombie sticking his head into the hole of the windshield and scraping off his face was grossly awesome.

-The sound editing continues to be one of the best things about this show. The sound of Randall’s leg being ripped up off that spike. *shudders* 

Walking Dead Season 2 Episode 8 “Nebraska”

Naturally, we pick up right where we left off last time, looking down the barrel of Rick’s awesome gun. Now we have to deal with the aftermath of what when down when the barn zombies were unleashes, and Sophia punched us in the gut with her little zombie hands.

Overall, this episode was just…depressing. And I like depressing. But this show already has enough nihilistic undertones in any given episode and this one went a touch overboard with it. EVERYONE’S SAD AND IT’S A TOTAL BUMMER TO WATCH.

Thankfully, we still get good ol’ Walking Dead stupid arguments and unrealistic plot developments. Hershel decides to pick up drinking after 20 some-odd years and never having it be mentioned before. And Beth is, well, Rick puts it best: “in some sort of state.” So Rick, being Rick, decides to go and bring Hershel back. Glenn, being Glenn, decides to tag along. All of a sudden this becomes an issue, mostly because Lori’s there so naturally decisions can’t be made without an argument first. Thankfully Rick shows some development. Because this is not like his selfless search for Merle way back when. He needs Hershel for the sake of Lori and their unborn baby (I hope it’s a girl so I can make more Breaking Bad comparisons). Then we have Maggie, who has clearly been spending too much time with Lori, and so has to argue with Glenn about him going (Geez, the writing for the women on this show…). I don’t understand why Maggie is scared for Glenn to go. It’s a run they’ve made more than once before, easily, and if she’s so nervous for Glenn, shouldn’t she be at least twice as nervous that her father is there by himself?  It feels like a conflict for the sake of conflict. Which is further supported by Lori changing her mind, like, an hour later, going to get Daryl to go to bring them back. And the only reason she goes to get Daryl is so we can see how he’s dealing with the whole Sophia situation. Because Lori decides to go by herself without telling anyone, and manages to get into a car accident without the help of a cell phone. Lori’s character annoys me, because everything she does just makes me so away that I’m watching a television show character, and not an actual person. I might as well get over this, seeing as it most likely won’t change (that is, if she’s still alive, which I’ll have to wait until next episode to see, but come on, she’s totally alive).

Speaking of people I have to get over: Dale I don’t like how he just magically puts together what happened between Shane and Otis, but I do like that it gets to Lori, who has much more of a reason to believe it’s true (remember that time he tried to have sex with her at the CDC?), even though she initially defends him for the purpose of denial.

Back to the good stuff. Rick continues to prove Shane wrong by being able to get stuff done. He manages to convince Hershel to go back home. And of course, just when they get up to leave, Dave and Fat Tony walk in. “Oh hey! New people!” was my reaction, and from Glenn’s face that’s probably what he was thinking too. After some pretty friendly, if not slightly awkward conversation, things start to get a little…off. (And that actor who played Dave did a GREAT job, making that situation change levels of awkwardness, making it become increasingly hostile). Fat Tony pees on a wall, and Dave gets less and less subtle with his conversation. It was very suspenseful throughout, because Dave and Tony aren’t necessarily bad guys, but they’re suspicious, and the audience as well as our heroes are trying to gauge how suspicious. Rick realizes what’s going on and kills them, reinforcing that he’s the guy that can and will get stuff done (Move over Shane, Rick’s becoming quite the badass himself). Let’s just hope those gun shots don’t attract zombies. Or worse. This scene was a nice--or, to our heroes, probably a bleak and unwanted--reminder that zombies aren’t their only danger.

Other thoughts:

-Shane getting angry with Hershel, accusing him of knowing Sophia was in the barn. I believe that Hershel didn’t know, and that Shane is just trying to get some blame off himself for what he did.

-Carl: “He did the right thing: shooting her like that. I would’ve done it too.” AHH CARL STOP GROWING UP SO FAST.

-I’m worried about Daryl….

-Unfortunately, for her, I’m not worried about Carol. I mean, I don’t know anything about her, and now that Sophia’s gone, she really has no purpose.

-I did laugh at Dave calling them “Lame-Brains,” but do we need all these unnecessary terms like Walkers and geeks? What, Zombie isn’t good enough for you people?

This week in zombies: 
-Nice shot of Andrea piercing dead Mamma with a scythe.
-The arm falling off the truck was a nice touch as well.

Walking Dead Season 2 Episode 7 "Pretty Much Dead Already"

The cold open got me really excited. The secrets out the zombies are banging on the doors. We’re gonna have an action heavy episode! Credits roll, and whole middle of the episode was just the same as last week’s. the pot is boiling but not boiled over yet and I thought we’d have to wait another week until the lid finally blows off (I am really committed to this pot on a burner analogy and I have no idea why) But then, the last nine minutes. Oh. My. God. Yes.

But let’s slow my rolls here and talk about the other stuff first. Glenn’s revelation about the barn moves the dynamic between Hershel’s and Rick’s people from somewhat strained to an all-out conflict. And conflict is good. It also brings the series main dichotomy (Rick versus Shane) to the forefront in the most successful way the show has so far. Glenn’s news gets Shane super angry because it gives him something to focus his rage on. ON the other hand, it gives Rick another opportunity to play the diplomat with Doc. Shane is shouting about how they’ve got to “take care of the problem before the problem takes care of [them]” and Rick is getting more and more desperate in his conversations with Doc. You can see that Rick has gotten more and more strained, and his wife’s pregnancy isn’t helping that strain. Rick is getting close to the edge, and while I know he won’t turn into Shane any time soon (or ever), I’m still nervous about what’s gonna happen when he reaches that edge. And speaking of edges, Shane’s confrontation with Dale in the woods serves to bring Shane to the edge of his rope too. (Do ropes have edges? I guess it would be the end of his rope. Rope? Vines. Vines?)

The series is pitting Rick against Shane (now more with (a little) subtlety but eventually it has to lead to a head-on conflict); humanitarian versus brute force survival. Shane’s intensity, which comes across as bad-assness and aggression, is really just a way for him to deny responsibility for his actions. As long as he tells himself there are lines he won’t cross, he can justify his behavior as it being necessity. Conversely, the more lines he does cross, the easier it will be to do whatever it takes to get what he wants. And so for once, Rick’s desperate attempts to hang on to some of the ways of the old world don’t seem quite so sadly misguided and useless. It’s the only way left to avoid becoming a monster. But we aren’t done yet.

This escalates with Shane and the others all having guns. (and notably none of Hershel’s people have any.) And while I, like season3 Gustavo Fring, don’t believe violence to be a positive motivator, an argument can only really go one way when one side has a gun. And if Shane wasn’t angry and hell-bent enough at that point, he turns around to see Rick helping Doc bring two zombies back to the farm. If Shane were a large, sassy, African American woman, this would be the moment where he would say “oh HEEEEELLL no! Somebody hold my earrings.”

Leading to the fantastic final scene (I LOVE shouting) where Shane unleashes the zombies and him, Andrea, T-Dog, Daryl, and Glenn do what they have to do, while Hershel and the others watch as their family and friends get gunned downed mercilessly (though hopefully now Hershel got the message that they aren’t human anymore, thanks to Shane’s demonstration of how bullets affect living people). All goes quiet for almost long enough where you would expect the arguing to ensue again or for the episode to just end. But no. Sophia creeps her way out of the barn. She’s of course a zombie, and probably has been for a while. This is a classic reveal, an unexpected punch in the gut. Besides that, it makes me feel bad for shitting on the writers, because they apparently had this in mind and weren’t just stalling with this Sophia plot for seven episodes. Sophia is the last piece of proof that will shatter Hershel’s delusions of cures. More than that, this shows that Rick’s fervent determination to keep the ways of the old world alive is almost as much of a delusion as Hershel’s. In the old world (our current world, thank God), you look for a missing child for as long as you can. You believe they’re alive, maintain hope, and that hope is considered right and noble. This is something Rick believes, something Shane has been struggling with. But when Little Miss Gut Punch walks out of the barn, Shane is just as frozen as Andrea and everyone else. Fittingly, it’s Rick that does what has to be done.  

Other thoughts:

-some nice stuff between Glenn and Maggie this week. Loved that Glenn manned up and told her that he wasn’t sorry about telling everyone and that he would rather she hate him and be alive than be dead. And that beautiful moment at the barn when Glenn’s about to help shoot the Walkers but first looks at Maggie, and she, with tears in her eyes, nods yes and lets him do what must be done.

-also, loved the cinematography in this episode. It’s been pretty good overall, but I noticed a lot more fun stuff in this ep, like the eyeball-close shot into the crack in the barn, the camera creeping up and over the top of the barn as Shane looks around. Also many of the shots during the final scene had some beautiful angles. I want to make one my wallpaper.

Walking Dead Season 2 Episode 6 "Secrets"

Secrets secrets are no fun unless you share with everyone. I love how Glenn knows the secrets and then he reveals that he’s a bad liar. Because of course he is. Why have the secrets be revealed to someone who isn’t at risk of sharing them? That’s no fun and has less dramatic potential. The drama explodes when secrets are revealed. And while the pot has yet to boil over on the “Zombies in the Barn” burner, Lori’s secrets are finally out (to the person who needs to hear them, of course).

But before that happens, we have to have her be stupid first. It’s not necessarily stupid for her to assume that they’ll be staying at the farm for a long time, so telling Rick isn’t as urgent, but when she does find out that Rick has been keeping this secret she says the stupidest thing ever. “I don’t understand how you could keep something like this from me.” Which is such a stupid thing to say for so many reasons.

Though this pregnancy thing as a whole is an example of how dumb these people are. Everyone who knows that Lori’s pregnant is telling her to keep the baby, and how important it would be to have a baby as a sign of hope and good in a world gone to shit. I disagree with this. Of course, my opinion doesn’t matter. Neither does Dale’s, neither does Glenn’s. Neither does Rick’s really. The only opinion that matters is Lori’s. But, of course she the only anti-pregnancy one, because, classic Lori, she has to have the opposite of the popular opinion in order to create drama (Like with Carl and wanting to learn how to shoot). But that’s not why these people are stupid. She’s not just going to have the baby. She’s going to be pregnant for nine months. She’s gonna be slower, fatter, more vulnerable, more of a weakness to the group as a whole. No one is thinking about this, everyone’s too busy pushing their anti-abortion agendas and waxing romantic about the joy of a baby.

I have my issues with Lori, but I agree with her reasons for not wanting to go through with the pregnancy. But other stuff happens this episode too, so enough about her stupid unborn baby.

Glenn knows about the zombies in the barn and now Dale does too, because cut the bullshit and spit it out Glenn. “You’re old. Er..you’re…you know things.” Too bad Maggie’s bucket of peaches and jerky didn’t work to keep him quiet for long. I can’t wait for everyone to find out, because shit is gonna hit the fan and it better be glorious.

I mentioned how I didn’t like how Dale handled the Lori situation, but luckily his discussion with Hershel was better. The main conflict here is the different definitions that our group and Hershel’s have for the Walkers. I love the hope and faith Hershel has; the commitment to his family members, which makes this all the more difficult. He believes they’re sick, comparing them to paranoid schizophrenics, and waiting it out for a cure.  But our group isn’t sheltered like the people on the farm; our group knows of the harsh realities of this zombie predicament. They aren’t humans anymore, there isn’t nor will there ever be a cure, and they are too dangerous to be left alive. The plot development stops there, but, like I said, I’m sure next week shit is gonna go down and things will take a turn.

Also, Andrea gets trigger happy and feels the power that comes with murdering undead abominations. That energy, on top of her emotion-heavy advanced gun training lesson with Shane, releases itself in with a sex sesh in the car on the way back to the farm. And I could only be happier if the camera stayed there longer and showed how wonderfully angry and tension-relieving it was. Of course they didn’t have to, because when they get back to camp both Andrea and Shane try so little to hide it that Lonely Island’s “I Just Had Sex” could be heard coming out of their ears.

Which leads to another unfortunate Dale development, where he’s all distrustful of Shane now. I understand that he saw Shane point that gun at Rick way back when, but I feel like it’s a leap too far for Dale “sensing” that Shane is lying about Otis, no matter how upset he is with Shane for plowing Andrea. It doesn’t matter that his suspicions are right, it’s lazy writing for him to have said suspicious without sufficient evidence. Also, Dale, you don’t want to mess with Shane. You just don’t. 

Walking Dead Season 2 Episode 5 "Chupacabra"

I’m glad it’s looking like we’ll be picking up the momentum next episode, what with the zombies in the barn and all. It seems every episode I change my mind about how I want the pacing to be, but I think I’ve decided I’m okay with one or two lower episodes, but we can’t be having long stretches of no progress. Well, I can’t even call it “no progress,” because there isn’t really any central goal right now. Yes, yes, that’s kinda the point of the show. But I need some things to be moving forward. Five episodes Sophia’s been lost. Only really Rick and Daryl care at this point, I don’t even think Carol cares all that much anymore. She’s not even real anymore. She’s just this…idea now, used to create storylines like having Daryl go search some more and having Rick and Shane debate about the cores of their personalities.

Also, so many people are dumb. Let’s go one at a time. Glenn, my dear buddy Glenn. He gets the cold shoulder from Maggie and starts pouting like a child. Then he goes to talk to Lori about her pregnancy for God-knows-why, she obviously doesn’t want to discuss it. So then he goes to Dale and starts asking if everyone is on their period. Really. You think Maggie doesn’t want to fuck you again because she’s PMS-ing? That’s a strange level of arrogance coming out of you Glenn. Plus, you know Lori is pregnant, she doesn’t have to worry about her time of the month anymore. And then he just pulls Andrea into the mix too, because why not? Andrea is just bitchy; it has nothing to do with her menstruation.  Stupid Glenn. And you were so good last week.

Maggie is also pretty dumb this week. Telling her dad he doesn’t have to treat her like she’s 16, and then turns around and starts passing notes at the kids’ table about a coital rendezvous spot. That’s not the dumbest part though. She asks him where they want to do it. Even she freakin’ lives there and knows the area better. And there’s that barn full of zombies she doesn’t want anyone knowing about. Maybe she should’ve set up the meeting place. Don’t just make someone do something stupid for the sake of drama.

Oh yeah, Andrea shoots Daryl. Which is stupid. Not because she couldn’t tell it was him, I mean, he looked like shit and was walking like a zombie. What was stupid of her was that she shot when Rick and the gang were super close to Daryl. She’s not a good shot (as we see when she, thank God, only grazes Daryl) and even if it was a zombie, she might have shot one of the non zombies. Dumb.

I agree with Doc. I wouldn’t want these people hanging around me place much longer either. Making dumb decisions, taking my horses without asking. Also I want them to get off the farm and have some things happen to them. I liked Daryl’s scenes (EXCEPT GODDAMN IMAGINARY MERLE GODDAMMIT) because nothing that happened to him was due to him making a stupid mistake. Too much of what happened this episode was because someone did something stupid. Of course, this might all be intentional fodder that will be used to bolster Doc’s desire to get them to leave. But I want these people to be put into situations because of the circumstances they are living in and not because they’re making mistakes.

Other thoughts:

-Another flashback cold open. Showing the military destroying Atlanta and Lori/Shane/the gang watching. Seems completely unnecessary to me. Didn't provide anything for the rest of the episode. Just random. 

-So Daryl was actually wearing sleeves this episode because he had a premonition that he would need to rip them off from bandaging purposes later.

-Rick, becoming self-aware, thanks to Shane and that Dairy Queen waitress. “My good intentions are making us weaker that I can’t make the hard decisions for the good of the group. Maybe I’m holding on to a way of thinking that doesn’t make sense anymore.” This means progress and character development? Or does this just mean that now that Rick knows what he’s like, he can really roll up his sleeves and commit to it? There’s slightly more drama in the latter option, but it’s in the category of frustrating drama.

-"It's a wonder you people have survived this long." Honestly though.

Walking Dead - Season 2 Episode 4 "Cherokee Rose"

I really enjoyed this episode. It was consistently entertaining. Everyone had some good dialogs, surprisingly and refreshingly few of which were about zombies. Shane and Andrea discuss gun safety, Daryl tells a nice story about a flower to comfort Carol, Glenn and Maggie delightfully have sex in a drugstore. Rick and Doc get to take a walk around the property, as the two Scoutmasters of their respective troops, and discuss the overall situation. What I liked about these conversations was that they were much more organic than previous episodes (especially the first season, where the writers were apparently just like, oh, we can’t just have zombies for an hour, we need these people to say things and then barely tried). Okay, maybe drugstore sex isn’t the most organic development, but Maggie is awesome, Glenn is awesome, and I’m glad I’m getting more time with the both of them. And how could Maggie not resist Glenn after his manly display of well-diving zombie-wrangling?

Which brings us to the zombie-of-the-week. I thought it was a deliciously disgusting situation, and that zombie may have been the grossest so far. Everything is grosser when wet. Fact. But as fun as it was to laugh at them for stupidly thinking a decayed body would have the structural integrity to be lifted up and over that well, I found the whole thing ridiculous. We saw Rick and Doc walk around that whole farm, there has to be other wells they have access to. Also, um, there’s a zombie in that well. Getting him out won’t make the water any gross, regardless of if it’s “contaminated” or not. They should’ve just given up and moved on to a different well. Instead they risk Glenn’s life? Really? Whatever, Glenn’s a champ and gets his part of the job done and then gets laid. If we’re keeping score that’s Glenn: 2, Everybody else: 0.

Then again, maybe your decision making skills aren’t as top notch when your malnourished wandering around in the hot Georgia sun.

I’ve noticed how wishy-washy I am when it comes to the pacing on this show. I want it to go faster, because when things slowed down the quality dropped, but now things have been slowed down and the quality is getting better. Though I’m not sure how much longer I want them to stay at Doc’s farm. And come to think of it, Doc isn’t so keen on them staying much longer either.

But that brings us to this episode’s “twist.” Lori, using the world’s fastest response pregnancy test, finds out that she’s pregnant. Of course, this could just be a false positive, but I hope it’s not because that would be plain lame. This isn’t the best “twist” the show has done, especially following Carl getting shot, then the truth about Shane and Otis. But this doesn’t mean it’s bad, because I’m not asking for the twists to get more and more crazy until an episode ends with aliens coming down and eating the zombies. Being pregnant during the apocalypse is, I can only imagine, a crazy unsettling thing, and hopefully this will give Lori some better stuff to work with here than just being Negative Nancy (not to be confused with Debbie Downer Andrea).

This Lori situation now changes things. Doc doesn’t want them staying for too long. Rick might be Rick and respect Doc’s wishes and have them head on to Fort Benning (that is, if they ever find Sophia). But Lori needs to tell Rick. Because giving birth at the farm with someone who’s more qualified than anyone else to deliver a baby is flat-out better than any other option I can think of (That, or go zombie-infested elevator birth, or go home. (Thank you Abed)). But do we want to be there for 9 months?? That’s probably not gonna happen, from the perspective of it being a TV show. They can’t just have them at the farm for the rest of the season, with zombie-of-the-week

Oh yeah, Carl is awake and now has Sheriff Woody’s…er…Katara’s….er…Rick’s hat. Because we needed more scenes of how adorable Carl is. 

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-That’s not a good look for you, Shane. Sorry not sorry.

-Ouff. Otis’s funeral. Asking Shane to say some words. Once again, being put in that position where he has to make a decision that he doesn’t want to make. He has to lie. And has to wear Otis’ clothes.

-Can we hurry up and find Sophia? It was serious, then kind funny, and now it’s just getting annoying at this point. Maybe it’ll loop around to being funny again?

-Hi, my name’s Daryl. Sleeves? What? What are sleeves?

-Hi, I’m Andrea and my resting facial expression is the saddest grimace you will ever see.

-“That’s Glenn, our…’Go To Town’ expert” Yes. Bring Maggie. Go to town with Maggie.

   “I hear you’re fast on your feet and know how to get in ‘n’ out.” WINK WINK.

-Also liking the dynamic between Shane and Andrea. Hey, we both consider ourselves outcasts, let’s hang out.

-Ewwwwwwwwwwww zombie in the well. Ewwwwwwwwwwwwww. It looks like a Muk and Oogie Boogie tried the Fusion Dance. (Yeah, that was a lot of references. Pokemon, Nightmare Before Christmas, Dragonball Z)

-Wait, “we need live bait.” And they look at Glenn??? Why??  “doin’ ok?” “yup doing great! …livin’ the dream…” GLENN FTW

-IDIOTS! You should’ve guessed he was gonna rip in half! Y U SO STUPID??

-Daryl for the win again. I still think Glenn got MVP for this ep, but Daryl comes in a close second with the story from which the episode gets its title.

-Carl you perfect optimistic angelic little shit. And I mean “shit” in the most endearing way possible. “I’m just like you now dad, we both got shot!” AND he gets the hat.

-Do pregnancy tests give results that fast?

-We open with a funeral, an event of death. End with a positive pregnancy test, an event of life. Yet both are tragic. Another good bookend-ing.

Why Puppets?

Tonight's COMMUNITY features the cast as delightful felt puppets going on some sort of musical, hot air balloon adventure. A question I've asked myself since finding out about this Puppet-sode is "Why?" "Why are they doing a puppet episode?" While I can't really delve too deep into this until after the episode airs (TONIGHT AT 8PM ON NBC WATCH LIVE AND #GETFELTUP), I think I've found an answer. An answer that might not satisfy everyone, but I think it's the best answer. Why puppets? Why Sara Bareilles? Why Jason Alexander in a wig? WHY? This answer, as are the answers to most of life's questions, has been told to us by Abed. Why puppets? Because "the universe is an endless, raging sea of randomness. Our job isn’t to fight it, but to weather it together on the raft of life. A raft held together by those few rare beautiful things that we know to be unpredictable…us."

So let's all get up in that raft, #getfeltup, and enjoy the episode. 

FERRET OUT *drops mic*

Walking Dead - Season 2 Episode 3 "Save The Last One"

This week on The Walking Dead: Shane gets a haircut. Hate to compare to Breaking Bad again (ok, maybe I don’t), but when Walt shaves his head (and then decides to continue to do so) it was so much more powerful than this. At least it’s not another flashback cold open.

Andrea, I like you. I want to keep liking you. Stop acting like a bitch to Dale.

I hope badass horse-riding, baseball bat wielding lady becomes a more major character. All these other bitches be bitches. (I think her name is Maggie? But I’m not sure)

Daryl got lost when he was younger than Sophia, no one knew he was gone, 9 days in the woods, eating berries, wiping his ass with poison oak, found his way back, “went straight to the kitchen and made [himself] a sandwich.” I’m so glad Daryl is awesome. The hanging zombie was pretty cool, too.

YES. This Rick/Lori scene. This is what I love. Lori thinks that maybe it would be better if Carl were to die. So he won’t have to live in the world they’re in anymore. So he won’t have a life that’s only fear, running, and survival. “Ending up just another animal that doesn’t know anything except survival.” But wait, didn’t Lori not want to give up? Wasn’t she one of the many begging Dr Jenner that there had to be another way? Rick brings up, trying to figure out how this 180 in her thought process occurred. For just one second, she forgot Jacqui was dead. And then it hit her. Jacqui is dead and doesn’t have to witness any of these atrocities anymore. She doesn’t have to be afraid. A life of fear or no life at all? How much do we value life--others or our own? At what point is living no longer the better option? Rick disagrees. Jenner surrendered. He gave up. Is that what he’s supposed to do? Just give up? Give up on his son? He might as well give up on everything. He won’t. It is completely not in Rick’s character to do so. But when Lori pleads him, “tell me why it would be better,” …he can’t come up with an answer. Mmmmm delicious philosophical quandaries. (Even though I love the wonderful questions it raises, this is just another example of Lori doing/feeling the opposite of Rick (and sometimes Shane). Also, it’s almost completely insane for her to want her son to die. But this is the end of the world, and I can imagine people’s ways of thinking will be forcibly twisted and altered just like everything around them.)

 “I don’t know if I wanna live. Or if I have to. Or if it’s just a habit.” Another “Hm. Very Hm.”moment for me.

Dale asks Carol to keep watch, hands her his rifle. “I don’t know how to use that.” WELL MAYBE YOU SHOULD START LEARNING, WOMAN. I CAN’T THINK OF A BETTER TIME TO LEARN HOW TO USE A GUN THAT THE FREAKING ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE. This is why Sophia ran away, Carol. She was tired of your shit (No, I’m sorry, that’s really mean).

Yay, some quality Glenn time! Oh, a conversation about God’s existence? Yes please! Zombies feed on flesh, I feed on philosophical discussions! So much feasting for me in this episode! I’m glad we’re spending more time with Glenn. I like him and need more reason to. 

Rick finally is able to answer Lori’s question. “He talked about the deer. Something beautiful, something living.” There’s still a life out there for them. Something still worth fighting for. Rick is filled with so much hope that Lori’s uncontrollably tear-bending (I refer to Rick as Katara in my head. Yip yip.) Of course, she’s convinced. We can’t have her wanting Carl to die for too much longer, we need to move on to other plots soon. Looking back, as good as the previous scene with Rick/Lori was, narratively, it was there just so Rick can be hero-champion and change his wife’s mind. I’ll allow that because both scenes were really well done. If the first one wasn’t good, this would be a different story.

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:O So it’s decided. Shane is the bad guy. Or is he? Though I do like the opening scene more now, a little. It bookends the episode nicely. (Don’t be so quick to critique, Anthony!) Shane shaved his head because that’s where Otis grabbed him. Nice. Now it has meaning and significance.

Maybe reviewing as I go isn’t the best way. No. I should just make my stray remarks and comments as I watch and then get to the meaty stuff afterwards. You’re welcome, for the glimpse into my thought processes.

Choices. The (not-so-subtle) theme of this week was Choices. Some choices are slightly inconsequential. Carol chooses to cry herself to sleep and chooses not to know how to use a gun. Daryl chooses (initially) to not kill the hanging zombie. Glenn chooses to pray (and also not hit on Maggie as much as he should have). All fairly simply made. But Choices aren’t always so easy. 

(I could talk about Andrea and Dale’s choices at the CDC, but that was several episodes ago.) Dale chose to withhold Andrea’s gun. He wants her to be alive and stay alive. But is that his choice to make? Dale might want Andrea alive, but it is Andrea’s life and her choice. So he chooses to give her back the gun. He asks for her forgiveness, learning the error of his choices. She’s not even sure if she wants to live, wanting to forgive someone isn’t on the top of her list right now. Her choice to forgive Dale is left unmade. More importantly, her choice to continue living is also undecided.

We may not agree with peoples’ decisions, and we may offer our opinions, yet when it comes to someone’s life, that final choice is to be made by the owner of that life. But what if the life in question is one you created? One that is unconscious and can’t offer its opinions?

Lori wants to make a choice. She gives her reasons, states her case. But her say isn’t the only one. Rick wants Carl to live. He gives his reason, states his case. (DEER!! He talked about the DEER!! It’s a metaphor, Lori!!) The choice isn’t really Rick’s to make either. But unfortunately, the luxury of having Carl decide if he wants to live or die isn’t available. Rick ultimately chooses to let Lori make the choice.

Then we get to Shane. He isn’t a bad guy. He doesn’t want to be a bad guy. But circumstances are forcing him to make choices. Let’s look at his choice. He chose to sacrifice Otis. This decision makes enough sense. Those medical supplies needed to get back to Carl. Shane is obviously faster. It was clear that they both weren’t able to make it. A decision had to be made. It was necessary. So, in a certain way, he made the right choice. Yet, he sees those marks on his head where Otis grabbed him. He sees the grief of Patricia. I’ll make another connection to Breaking Bad. Walt didn’t start off as the bad guy. He was a good guy that was forced to make difficult yet necessary decisions. More and more, these decisions had to be made, for justifiable reasons (protecting his family, mostly). Eventually, he becomes the bad guy. Do I have to quote it? I will. You either die the hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain. So Shane may have made a necessary decision, but it’s not the sort of decision a person can make too many times and go on being human.

This shit’s getting good, folks. If this can get me to think about these types of things every week, we can reach Breaking Bad levels of good.

Walking Dead Season 2 Episode 2 "Bloodletting"

Live-notetaking this ep. That’s most likely not the proper term. Thanks Twitter.

Don’t like the flashback. We’re slowly piecing together the events that followed that first scene (not the opening one, the first “real” one) where Rick gets shot. We got that, then Shane in the hospital at the big zombie/military incursion, now we’re going back to immediately following the accident. The purpose of this one? Show Lori’s feelings about Rick pre-zompocalypse? Make it seem easier for us to believe she would get with Shane? I feel like it wasn’t needed, or rather, wasn’t successful. The part where she’s talking to that lady about her fight with Rick was working, but then Shane shows up, and she manages to spin it around to look like she’s the one who’s suffering. Yeah, she should be upset and telling her son his dad’s been shot isn’t the most fun thing, but, once again, it just makes Lori look like a jerk.

Also, nothing can beat the awesomeness of the cold open flashback in S3E5 of Breaking Bad, “Mas”, or the one that flashbacks to Walt and Skylar buying their house. In fact many of the cold open flashbacks of Breaking Bad, so I hold flashback cold opens to a high standard.

Daryl continues to be awesome. Lori continues to get on my nerves.

Not sure if I’m feeling the dialogue between Shane and Rick at the….house with convenient doctor and medical supplies. I’m fine with the plot contrivance that a doctor is there, just don’t know how else to describe the house. Like, yes Rick, Lori needs to know. Fine. But you’ve been told like 10 times that Carl needs you to be there because he needs your blood. Or he will die. If you leave he will die. How is this an issue right now? How about get Shane to go? Why doesn’t Shane go?

Another mission to a place probably overrun with zombies. Oh, this is why Shane doesn’t go to get Lori, he needs to be there to go with Otis to the school that’s “maybe better now.” Hopefully this one will yield better results than the one for Merle. Then again, I’m kinda happy they didn’t find that One-Handed, Redneck, racist sommbitch. Anyway, I’m calling it now, they either won’t even leave for the school this ep, more likely, they’ll get then and then BOOM CLIFFHANGER.

WOW. Leave it to the black guy to get racist about the whole situation. Is that racist?

“She’s having a tough time.” Understatement of the fucking universe. It’s the zombie apocalypse, if anybody is having anything less than a “tough time” I’d like to know the drugs they’re taking and where they found them. But I do appreciate Dale defending Andrea. I like their relationship, even though Andrea doesn’t seem to reciprocate.

“It’s nature correcting itself. Restoring balance.” Hm. Very Hm. I wanna elaborate on this eventually, but not know. Hopefully this idea will be brought up again.

Ok, so guy’s a vetrenarian. It’s not completely different. I’d still trust him. The end of the world is no time to be picky. Still too much bitchin’ coming out of Lori’s mouth. It’s like her whole character is mostly there to yell at Rick and Shane, whoever’s closer.

“T-Dawg’ll die. No joke.” The seriousness of his condition is dampered by the fact that his name is “T-Dawg”, hence the need for the addition of “no joke.”

Daryl Ftw! Not giving up on Sophia, having a big ol’ bag o’ drugs. (Was that blue meth? Oh God, does Breaking Bad end with Walt becoming a zombie??)

BOOM CLIFFHANGER SONOFABITCH

Didn’t really this episode. Too much time was spent with an unconscious Carl. I know that’s a huge deal, but it didn’t work for me because I know for a fact he doesn’t die, so I guess it’s not the episode’s fault. But what is the episode’s fault is how most of the conversations were irrelevant. Dialogue is getting better, but nothing that was said this episode really mattered. Is T-Dawg being paranoid about being the only black guy something I should care about? No. Is Carl gonna die? Obviously not. Is Shane gonna leave? Probably not. Is Sophia gonna turn up? Idk. That only one of those questions doesn’t have a predictable answer is not okay. Basically I want the pacing to pick up again, because the more they slow it down, the more time I have to scrutinize and find the things wrong with it. And I need more…of a grand scheme. It feels directionless. Just repeating happenstances. Maybe they don’t want to have an overarching plan, make it more…realistic? The main idea is Survival, and making up how to do that as you go along and face the obstacles. But this is a serialized drama. It needs…serialization.

And since it doesn’t, that’s why they have to resort to cliffhanger after cliffhanger to get us to tune in again. Previously, I was annoyed with the cliffhangers because I felt them unnecessary, seeing as I plan on watching more and didn’t need a kid getting shot the last second to motivate me to do so. Now, I’m annoyed with them because they’re doing it purpose because they know they have to. This is all of course, for the people like me, who analyze TV too much. For the people who just wanna see zombies and gore, they’re gonna keep coming back. So give me more zombies and less conversation, and make that less conversation worth it.

Everyone says it gets better, and I know it will. It’s just frustrating waiting to get to that point.

Walking Dead - Season 2 Episode 1 "What Lies Ahead"

IT WAS GOOD! Lots of good character moments. That scene between Dale and Andrea was great. I like Andrea’s character more and more, same with Dale. He’s probably the best character so far. But that discussion was brilliant and a great sign of the good changes in the writing staff. Brings up such important topics. Who is Dale to decide how Andrea should choose to die? Forcing her to not stay at the CDC by making her feel guilty, after all the guilt she already has with Amy. I understand Dale’s intentions were pure, which is why I’m not as mad at him as Andrea is. But really glad we had another moment to discuss what it means to be a Survivor, what it means to survive, and the choices we have in this catastrophic scenario.

Super awesome zombie stuff!! That herd walking past as they all hid under the cars! So suspenseful! It seemed to go on forever and that made it fantastic! I peed a little when the zombie came into the RV when Andrea was in it. Brilliant.

I like Lori, but she’s getting mad at Shane for every reason she should, but at weird times. First she gets mad at him for treating Carl badly, then about his sexual assault (which she should be mad about firstly and mostly), then about him saying he’s gonna leave. I just feel like the whole Lori/Shane plot is too soap opera-y for my taste. And she’s also mostly negative to Rick to, except finally for the scene where she defends him, I appreciate them giving the character some positive-ness. I feel like I don’t LIKE enough of the characters yet, and they know this and are working on it. Daryl, thank god, has gotten better and better, I feared he was gonna be a Merle clone, but luckily not, (also Merle is just over with now I hope, bye bye S1 writers, bye bye s1 poor plot plans). 

Speaking of plot, Sophia’s gone missing and they still haven’t found her. The opening scene of the series was Rick shooting a little girl Walker in the head, so this show is not above having Sophia end up dead or worse. I honestly have no idea where we’re going with it though. But I will tell you right now that if Merle show up I will flip over every goddamn table and burn Utica to the ground.

Back to Shane and Andrea wanting to leave. Idk how to feel about this. I feel like they won’t. If they do, will we be divided our time between the two groups much like we did in the first few episodes of season one? I think I want one group, especially considering their numbers are getting smaller and smaller.

And really ZOMG CLIFFHANGERS EVERY TIME. CARRRRRRRLLLLLLLLL!!!

Walking Dead - Season One

So I finally started watching The Walking Dead on Friday and made it through season one. While watching I took notes on my feelings toward it. I've decided to blog my notes about it because why not. These notes are really unorganized and just thoughts that came to mind during or immediately after episodes. Once I start my season 2 ones maybe they'll be more focused and organized. Minor spoilers, maybe major, well it doesn't matter you probably will only read this if you have already watched.Well, here we go.
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Finished episode 3. The pacing is weird, the dialogue isn't good. But the action is top notch and the emotions are there, even if the dialogue has a tough time with making those emotions come out in a way that’s not cliche and hackneyed and lame. Of course, some of the problems may have to do with the 6-episode order and not knowing if they’ll get a second season so they probably had to rush some things, slow down others, introduce too many characters, figure out how much of the story you want to tell etc. Because the pilot was fantastic and then there was an immediate drop off in quality. I hope we see Morgan Jones and his son again.

Really annoyed that the search for Merle has to be stretched out some more. Of all the plots to make take forever...

When they focus on the survival psychology themes I love it, though like I said, the dialogue can use some work. I imagine most people watch for zombie killing, which is fine, I love the zombie fights/interactions, and I’m sure given more time they’ll be able to incorporate the two less clunkily. 

Initially I didn’t like the scene where they were gonna chop up the dead body to cover themselves in the smell, when Rick when through his wallet to find out who that zombie was, beause, I mean, theres a time and a place. Considering what they were about to do, maybe learn the personal history of a zombie whose ribs you aren’t about to hang around your neck. At the same time, if you’re gonna have someone’s ribs around your neck, maybe you should get to know them? Anyway, I didn’t like that initially, but I did like that they took a moment to acknowledge that these zombies wer ein fact real human beings with lives at one point. That’s dealt with previously with Morgan Jones’ wife. And we’ll see where it goes depending on this Andrea/Amy and Jim situation. (only just started S1E5 as I write this), but mostly the zombies are treated like the faceless, multitudinous enemy drones of a video game or movie like Star Wars or the Avengers. Which, I guess is the point. Allows more focus on the main characters, and that may not be what the show wants to be, but some more references to the fact that their enemies were themselves would be a nice look into the psychology of dealing with that fact. (right after I wrote this I went back to watching and they touch in this with their discussion on how to deal with Jim, so yay!)

Also, I initially wanted to know all the when/how/why or the zombie apocalypse, and idk if we’ll get that, and I also dk if I want to know anymore. Now knowing generally the kind of show this wants to be/is sofar, the when/how/why isn’t important. It happened and here’s the new reality. Also, based on how this show does dialogue, idk if I want any heavy exposition.

The sound editing is delicious. 

Finished S1E5 Do they not trust themselves or the audience enough? Is that why they finish each episode with a cliffhanger? Like, I’m gonna watch more, no need to FORCE me to watch me by leaving a sentence unfinished. Really great stuff with Amy/Jim, though. Really humanized the zombie process, which was something I was looking for.

S1E6 finale. Aw man! I had just gotten over wanting flashbacks/origin info!

Still don’t know how to feel about Shane. I dislike him but. Is he a villain? Yes. But no? Humanize him by his cliché-ly drinking in the shower? But he’s better than Rick in some ways. Rick is righteous to a fault. I agree with him in his values and morals, but sometimes his righteousness clouds his decision making. Shane understands the need for both authority and singularity among the group. Practicality over righteousness. Good stuff. But even though Shane may not be as righteous, he’s probably the more emotional one. Which makes him slightly more complex and gives him depth. Yay three dimensional characters! 

Andrea :C all’s she’s done in like 2 episodes is look all sad. She’s got the eyes for it. I feel for her, one of the only characters I feel for at the moment besides Rick.

Just finished the finale. Really liked it because there was little zombie, a very small and somewhat necessary amount of exposition. Characterization of Shane, which was needed. Better dialogue and heavy themes of what it means to be human/alive. Sorry that the doctor died, he was a really good actor and brought a higher level of acting that I feel the show still needs.

Then I read that the entire writing staff was changed after this season. Which, to me, is actually good news. Because I found that to be the biggest problem for me. The pacing and tone went all over the place, hopefully they’ll get new staff that will unite in a more focused way, perhaps having the showrunner take more responsibility in filtering it through. 

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Next I'll write about the premiere of season 2. and maybe after that do a couple episodes at a time? Whatever. 

Agree with what I'm saying? Disagree? Something you want me to talk about? Comment and let's talk about it!