New Walking Dead season so far...

[Ishal]

So far... I'm actually pretty meh about it. Now, that's not really a bad thing for me. I don't watch any TV anymore so on Sunday nights if there is no streaming going on, I pretty much have nothing to do anyway. But that isn't exactly a good mark for the show, is it?

I stopped watching halfway through season 3 and watched the rest in one of the marathons they ran on AMC. The slog through the governor's arc was terrible at first. But, I found it ending on both a good and bad note. The bad note being the anticlimactic showdown of the Woodbury folks going in guns blazing, then running off. The good note of Andrea getting the axe and Carl not taking a chance with that kid.

This season so far, I'm still somewhat engaged. So for those who haven't seen it yet I'll spoiler tag the rest.

Spoiler

The hemorrhagic epidemic was interesting, if somewhat boring. But it did make sense within the situation. Honestly I thought after the governor conflict that seemed to drag on forever, they might move on to some other conflict. But now the governor is back. I don't know how I feel about that. I don't think they know how to use him as a character. It was obvious they left him alive to come back, but I didn't anticipate it so soon. Most of the other stuff about walkers around the prison and stupid decisions I can deal with. Hand wave it as a TV show with zombies and whatever else. But I was kind of hoping them to do something different when the governor left last season, that was a theme that seemed to be prevalent in the trailers leading up to the new season, at least it seemed so to me.

I guess my question would be, are any of you still engaged? New conflicts are fine, I'm not one to hate change and new developments, but it seems like the old conflicts were resolved off screen. I really wanted Carl to be at odds with Rick, still clinging to what Shane told him and his philosophies. I just hope they do something interesting with the governor, if they're going to use him, they should use him well.

 

[Laughing Man]

Yup I am.

I will readily admit that Season 3s run of Woodbury vs Prison was way too long given the way it ended but if they were planning to make The Governor as truly bad ass and terrible as he is made to be in the comic then what was shown in Season 3 didn't really portrait him as the truly terrible person he is meant to be. A lot of what he did was understandable given the situation and to be honest he didn't do anything that came across as being much worse than our 'heros' have had to do. It wasn't until the ending that we saw the really darkside, it just took a bit long to get there.

Spoiler

The season so far has been quite enjoyable. The epidemic in the prison is a good new angle you see them trying to protect themselves from what's lurking outside but the epidemic has shown two things

a). That the enemy could literally be anyone, family, friend, former rescuer, someone you've helped and all it takes is for them to get taken ill.
b). How far are the group willing to go save those that could turned out to be an enemy, we've had two extremes, Carol killing two of the first infected trying to prevent the ill ness spreading, while Hershel was in the middle of it all helping as much as he could.

As for the Governor's return well it depends what direction they go in but we could finally see the truly dark, devoid of morals and concious Governor that we didn't really see in the last Season

If the new Season has any issues it is that with so many new potential characters that got brought in from Woodbury they haven't brought in anyone new in which to invest in, besides the new black guy with the drinking problem, the main characters from the first 3 seasons still seem to be the primary focus and it seems that all the new characters are there primarily to act as zombie food.

 

[SOCIALCONSTRUCT]

I've never read the comics and had mixed feelings about the first season and wasn't particularly interested in watching further. Fortunately I eventually got around the second season and I thought it was excellent. The pacing and the gradual buildup of tension between the agendas of the different characters was really well done. I recall watching the episode where Shane opened the barn full of walkers and being stunned at how good it was. For me, the third and fourth seasons are entertaining but not nearly as good as the second. I guess I'm not digging the format of a continuously cycling roster of characters. But even the original characters were new at some point, so even factoring in their novelty the newer characters are not as interesting as the originals. It felt as if the show lost a lot of energy with Shane's death. Like him or not, I'd say he was the most interesting character of the series so far.

 

[sky14kemea]

I agree with how season 3 seemed to drag on forever. And the anti-climax of the, well, climax of the season was frustrating.

For the latest season: On the one hand, I'm glad there are some new faces, 'cause I don't want to lose half the old cast so early on, on the other hand...

Spoiler: show spoilers!

But Carol! Why Carol! D:
I really liked her, and how much she changed from the first season. I know what she did was pretty awful but honestly I understand why she did it, and I was torn between her side or Ricks.

I hope she isn't gone for good. =[

I'm also liking the friendship stuff between Daryl and Michone. I think they make a pretty bad-ass duo. Hopefully they'll stay together a bit longer.

Spoiler: moar spoilers

I'm "Ehhh" about the Governor. I disagree that they didn't portray how bad he was, he seemed pretty ruthless to me. But I'll admit I haven't read the comics, so I have nothing to compare it to. I'm not on the edge of my seat about his return, but it'll be interesting to see what he has planned.

Having said that, I'm still really into the show. Hopefully it won't rip my heart out. D:

 

[Silvanus]

I'm liking it enough so far. The first series was my favourite, but it's kept my attention since (the closest it came to losing it was the hundredth episode spent in that damn farm).

Two of my favourite (read: most compelling) characters are dead, them being Dale and Shane. I'm pretty eager to find out who'll take their spot in my list. The frontrunner would be Daryl.


But, yeah, overall, the season's not bad so far. There've been far weaker stints in the past, in both seasons two and three, and I've stayed loyal.

 

[Uhura]

The show has had its ups and downs, but I think this season has been pretty good thus far. Although...

Spoiler

I really wish they had wrapped up the Governor storyline for good at the end of last season. I'm pretty worried that his storyline this season is going to be shit (I mainly worry that his characterization will lack any nuance. The dramatic broody shots of him in the previews don't really help either). On the other hand, the epidemic storyline has been really interesting and I think the Carol storyline is very promising.

 

[mmmikey]

I really enjoyed season 2 and I think Season 3 started off great, which was a significant accomplishment given the epic season 2 ending. The first 4 episodes had me with high hopes for what the rest of the season had to offer. But between Michonne's one note acting, Andrea's stupid decisions, and Rick's mental breakdown it went downhill fast. I also think the prison was a bad location. They used the cell block waaay too many times for scenes, and its just boring and stale as an environment.

I think season 3 would have been better served by giving the Woodbury group some more legitimacy as a threat and a more fleshed out parallel to the Prison camp. The back half of the season was dragging itself to this final showdown that was incredibly anti-climatic.

I think they should've had the prison come to the point it is at now, compromised and the Governor dead by the end of season 3.

My main complaint with the new season is the sliding timescale of people turning to zombies and the red shirt quality of any new cast member. The medical center simultaneous zombification, or at least its revelation, of 4 different people was just too much. I suppose the constant idiotic moves by characters makes it harder to digest too. For example, why must Herschel close every cell instead of the people in it?

I can understand losing interest in season 3. This season is the testing point for me personally. If it fails to deliver in the way season 3 did I'll probably move on.