[Sonaliegh]

My little fangirl heart was squeeing as loud as anyone's tonight with Daryl and that baby, but I also think we might remember this as the moment Daryl Dixon jumped the shark.

There was no reason for him to be the one to feed the baby EXCEPT to pander to the fangirls. I just can not imagine that it wouldn't have been Maggie (or Beth or Chandler). The Daryl I thought I knew would have been anxious and "all business" to make sure the formula was prepared, etc. but then immediately handed it off to someone else to actually feed and hold the baby.

Even Glen Mazzara seems to admit that it was fangirl pandering in his tweet to Norman Reedus tonight "you owe me bro". (Norman doesn't need any help winning, or keeping, our hearts by the way.)

Again, I LOVE DARYL DIXON, but this moment was not the Daryl Dixon I love. I would have preferred to have seen him kind of awkwardly off to the side watching Maggie feed the baby with his "mission" accomplished of having provided the formula and all the necessities to make it happen.

Also, why not look for Carol first before digging her grave? She's not lost in an expansive woods like Sophia or lost after a zombie herd attack like Andrea. She's in a contained environment. At least look for her first. Clear out a few cell blocks before digging her grave.

I agree with what you said about Daryl. I love the character but I'm confused about his tone these days. Obviously, he's grown a lot over the seasons, but him handling the baby like that seemed out of character. Aside from catering to fangirls, I assume we can attribute it to his left over feelings about Sophia. Wasn't there a kid's name at the daycare that said "Sophie?" They showed him staring at it.

I just want them to be consistent with him. Norman's always saying how Daryl shouldn't get a love interest because he can't get close to people emotionally. Yet, we see this episode with him filling Rick's shoes as a doting dad? Bonding with a newborn is a pretty emotional experience. I didn't know about that one.

As for Carol, I'm surprised so many people have brought up her grave. You don't need a body to have one. It's like a memorial. When people die in war, and they never find their remains, their families still get them headstones. It's a part of the grieving process.

[lufflyness]

I'm sorry but that episode was weak. The only thing that saved it was Ricks meltdown. Plus when he found the bullet you couldn't even tell what it was. I'm not sure if it was the writing or the direction but it didn't feel right. After last weeks one I'll admit I expected more. Heavens knows I don't want to be one of those people whos always saying the sky is falling, but unless they actually start explaining some things then it just lost me.

Wow I totally disagree, I felt like almost everything was explained/portrayed perfectly without it feeling forced and I personally found it to be a better overall episode than last week (which was great because of the big events that took place but outside those moments felt like it had a few rough edges).

The only thing I didn't quite understand was digging the graves when they apparently had no bodies, but I guess they wanted to honor their deaths as best they could.

[Zprime]

Wow I totally disagree, I felt like almost everything was explained/portrayed perfectly without it feeling forced and I personally found it to be a better overall episode than last week (which was great because of the big events that took place but outside those moments felt like it had a few rough edges).

The only thing I didn't quite understand was digging the graves when they apparently had no bodies, but I guess they wanted to honor their deaths as best they could.

Oh I'm usually a firm supporter and always the positive one with who I watch WD with. Explaining what this could be or that. However this one I had nothing. There is no way a Walker could eat a whole human being in that amount of time. I could understand if you saw a few parts laying around. But there wasn't nothing. Plus from what we've seen Walkers never eat the whole thing. Theres parts left, even if its parts you can tell what part they are. It seems (to me @ least) that they are trying to hard to either cover up the fact that shes not dead..I mean on The Talking Dead the directior just flat out said Carol is a goner. Shes dead. But we've seen nothing of her, heard nothing of her. It just seems theres more going on here. Plus they keep going against the rules they've made up. That woudn't bother me much except it's on key things. Its making no sense.

[lufflyness]

Oh I'm usually a firm supporter and always the positive one with who I watch WD with. Explaining what this could be or that. However this one I had nothing. There is no way a Walker could eat a whole human being in that amount of time. I could understand if you saw a few parts laying around. But there wasn't nothing. Plus from what we've seen Walkers never eat the whole thing. Theres parts left, even if its parts you can tell what part they are. It seems (to me @ least) that they are trying to hard to either cover up the fact that shes not dead..I mean on The Talking Dead the directior just flat out said Carol is a goner. Shes dead. But we've seen nothing of her, heard nothing of her. It just seems theres more going on here. Plus they keep going against the rules they've made up. That woudn't bother me much except it's on key things. Its making no sense.

We don't know for sure it ate the whole body though... Just because we don't see it doesn't mean it's not around there somewhere.

If Lori ends up being alive in some way or is found as a walker I would find that to be really tacky, but I just don't see that happening.

[Creeper]

I rated the episode "good". I want to go to bed, but a few things before I go:

- I was kind of weirded out by dad-Daryl. Where did that come from? Maybe he had a much younger sibling? I can picture that he views a baby or child as "safe"..not someone he needs to suspect or distrust, no one complicated. But still. Don't think I like it.

- As far as Rick's meltdown on the bloated walker goes...is he enraged over the baby? Was that meant to be him butchering a "unborn baby" before it kills Lori? If so...wow, disturbing! I'm interested to see where they take Rick. So far, I'm freaked out!

- Where the HECK has Carol gone? I still think she is alive, but I'm just at a loss as to where she could be surviving. I certainly don't want a replay of the search-for-Sophia situation, but it could be cathartic(did I spell that wrong?) for Daryl to actually find her alive, since he couldn't find Sophia.

- I'm glad Andrea is seeing the light a little. Duh. She really just lapped up what she saw, and she should have trusted Michonne's instincts. On the other hand, Michonne should have filled her in better. Doesn't make sense why she wouldn't have, actually. I can also see Andrea's viewpoint of not being able to survive another 8 months. She was dying, after all, before they were found.

- Still a little bored by Woodbury. Still confused as to what their plan is with the baby. And why is there a mound of dirt for Carol's grave? Why didn't they just put up a marker? What did they bury?

Good episode, but not great.

[Apocalypse]

Omg, I thought for sure that Rick was going to find walker Lori, but then we see that fat walker instead.
Doesn't make sense that he ate Lori's body because, like everyone else said : Where are the bones? It's still disturbing to think that he ate her, which maybe explains why Rick as stabbing at the stomach?

I also like that they introduced the phone. I didn't think it was too early necessarily...

[mr teaspoon]

Pretty meh episode. Really all I took away from it is '...shit, we're definitely heading into some cringeworthy Beth & Carl dialogue in the future...'

[Stubbornly]

ive been hearing a lot of people say lori isn't dead. I mean I guess there are points to all of the ideas. I mean i guess if her son didn't really find the nerve to shoot her, and pretended to...but than how she could she survive bleeding the way she did? Unless carol found her maybe? It would be "too good to be true" I quote that because I personally never liked lori, and I'm glad to see her go. I'm mostly sad about T-dog I felt like wow finally let him talk a bit more and allow him to voice an opinion then kill him off? yay!

[Stubbornly]

- I was kind of weirded out by dad-Daryl. Where did that come from? Maybe he had a much younger sibling? I can picture that he views a baby or child as "safe"..not someone he needs to suspect or distrust, no one complicated. But still. Don't think I like it.

ah i feel complete opposite. I've never really liked daryl all that much. Just never felt it. But this definitely helped, I liked seeing that side of him. And I felt like he knew the mess rick was in, so he hardcore stepped up and even tried to stay positive. he shows hardcore leader skills. And I was very impressed by him.

[Zprime]

ive been hearing a lot of people say lori isn't dead. I mean I guess there are points to all of the ideas. I mean i guess if her son didn't really find the nerve to shoot her, and pretended to...but than how she could she survive bleeding the way she did? Unless carol found her maybe? It would be "too good to be true" I quote that because I personally never liked lori, and I'm glad to see her go. I'm mostly sad about T-dog I felt like wow finally let him talk a bit more and allow him to voice an opinion then kill him off? yay!

Thats the part that gets me. Even on this weeks Talking Dead it was about Tdoggs death. It feels like their throwing him up as a ruse so people won't think shes alive. If she is or not it doesn't matter to me. I'm iffy on her and always have been. However he even said Carol was dead. That just don't track b/c theres no way they would just show her run out and door, scarf on her head. Then they find tdoggs body and the scarf is on the floor but with no body. Plus they dig 3 graves. 3. So that means someone @ least had to go in and get tdoggs body to bury it. Ricks going all manic in there and then we have the walker that ate lori. Clothes, shoes, bones, wedding ring and all. No theres more here then what their saying. Or theres just alot going on off screen that would @ least help with the story flow. Even if they find Carol with Lori nursing her back to health or something its still not going to make sense until we see some kind of screen time on it. Plus even on Talking Dead the director said theres a cut sceen from the episode where we see Daryl & Maggie and Daryl kinda loses it over Carol. I mean why cut that?

[Judari]

My little fangirl heart was squeeing as loud as anyone's tonight with Daryl and that baby, but I also think we might remember this as the moment Daryl Dixon jumped the shark.

There was no reason for him to be the one to feed the baby EXCEPT to pander to the fangirls. I just can not imagine that it wouldn't have been Maggie (or Beth or Chandler). The Daryl I thought I knew would have been anxious and "all business" to make sure the formula was prepared, etc. but then immediately handed it off to someone else to actually feed and hold the baby.

Even Glen Mazzara seems to admit that it was fangirl pandering in his tweet to Norman Reedus tonight "you owe me bro". (Norman doesn't need any help winning, or keeping, our hearts by the way.)

Again, I LOVE DARYL DIXON, but this moment was not the Daryl Dixon I love. I would have preferred to have seen him kind of awkwardly off to the side watching Maggie feed the baby with his "mission" accomplished of having provided the formula and all the necessities to make it happen.

Also, why not look for Carol first before digging her grave? She's not lost in an expansive woods like Sophia or lost after a zombie herd attack like Andrea. She's in a contained environment. At least look for her first. Clear out a few cell blocks before digging her grave.

I don't necessarily think it was OOC for him to like the feed the baby. I think for him doing what he can for the baby is his redemption for not being able to find Sophia. From what we know Daryl didn't have a great childhood so I can see him having a soft spot for children, not so much paternal as he feels that they are defenseless and wants to give them the protection he didn't have. This clicked for me when I pieced together him looking at the "Sophie" nametag at the daycare center.

Also thinking about it more Daryl was probably the best fit to do it at the time. Carl I think fits the bill more as being the awkward one off to the side not knowing what to do. While I think he will fight tooth and nail for that baby, he is still a little boy and I don't think he knows how to approach her as he sees her as fragile. As for Maggie, honestly I think Maggie feels pushed into the role of being the caretaker for this baby more than her maternal instinct coming out. Maggie has always been a bit tomboyish so I could see her not being too thrilled at the idea of child rearing. However, she knows she is the only mature woman around now (we don't know where Carol is) and we have seen she feels a personal responsibility (out of guilt and pity) to Lori to care for the child. While I think she will step up as the main caretaker, I do think she would be more than happy to hand the baby off to anyone else in the group to give her a break.

Um, I'm pretty sure that big walker belly was full of Lori. I'm not sure what they buried in those three graves though since I don't think they found Carol's body (as I think she's still alive), Lori was eaten, and I don't think there was much left of T-Dog to bury either. I do think they should have included some kind of scene showing who/what was being buried instead of another scene of pandering to the Daryl fangirls of him putting a flower on the grave.

They are never killing Daryl Dixon. They are going to ride the Daryl fangirl train to the very end of the series. (I hope I'm wrong about this though.)

I know and my inner rabid fan girl is ecstatic about this. This show is mainly male focused so let them through a few bones to us ladies!

For the record, the flower scene I could have done without. If anything it confused me more as they never really confirmed what happen to Carol and if she did die, what condition her body was in or anything. Also it was just cheesy in general. The scene where Daryl was holding the baby is what did it for me though, loved that.

[samus88]

That was awful... the fat walker ate an entire human beign, skeleton included?

[PoleAxe]

Well, alot of time wasted in Woodbury again, this split show set up is NOT allowing either story to be developed.

The deaths of the 3 group members and the new baby are being trivialized by the continued scene rushing back and forth. It feels like the show is running out of steam. IMHO the vast vast majority of the good story is at the prison, and once again way too much face time for Andrea, we could have cut 90% of the dialogue there and still had the same "ho hum she is soooo tired wants to stay in Woodbury, hanging with the governor BS."

We really don't need Andrea or Michonne at Woodbury, the Governor and Merle could hold the scenes alone, hell they should have just made double the episodes, and named the other series TWD: Woodbury.

[Judari]

- As far as Rick's meltdown on the bloated walker goes...is he enraged over the baby? Was that meant to be him butchering a "unborn baby" before it kills Lori? If so...wow, disturbing! I'm interested to see where they take Rick. So far, I'm freaked out!

- Where the HECK has Carol gone? I still think she is alive, but I'm just at a loss as to where she could be surviving. I certainly don't want a replay of the search-for-Sophia situation, but it could be cathartic(did I spell that wrong?) for Daryl to actually find her alive, since he couldn't find Sophia.

- I'm glad Andrea is seeing the light a little. Duh. She really just lapped up what she saw, and she should have trusted Michonne's instincts. On the other hand, Michonne should have filled her in better. Doesn't make sense why she wouldn't have, actually. I can also see Andrea's viewpoint of not being able to survive another 8 months. She was dying, after all, before they were found.

- Still a little bored by Woodbury. Still confused as to what their plan is with the baby. And why is there a mound of dirt for Carol's grave? Why didn't they just put up a marker? What did they bury?

Good episode, but not great.

-That was my first thought too! However I don't think they wanted to show a dead cut open Lori carcass so they made some random walker come and literally eat himself into a food coma over her. The walker grew a "pregnant" like belly from eating too much. I interpreted Rick getting stabby as him wanting to get Lori out of it. He wanted to say goodbye to her body but was sent even further into madness when there were barely any of her remains left. He soon realized the futility of it though after a couple stabs and quit. At least I HOPE, if it was supposed to be the baby that is all types of wtf worthy.

-I'm also wondering just where the f is Carol!? I don't think we have another search on our hands though because I think the group found remains they believed to be hers. They found that headscarf among a bunch of remains and assumed the worst. I also think she is alive somewhere else in the prison. She doesn't have any weapons so basically she has to run, duck and dodge to get back which would take considerably longer than if she had an ax or a gun.

-I mentioned in another thread that a reason could be I don't think Michonne completely trusts Andrea yet. Michonne as the type who explains/justifies herself very often, she thinks its dangerous so she wants to leave end of story. If she lets Andrea know everything she has found then she might not trust Andrea to run off with her and not go try to get to the bottom of it. If that is Michonne's thinking then I agree because every issue Andrea has had with the Gov she has confronted him about and for the most part trusted his answer/explanation. Andrea is more vocal and not the type to hold her cards close to her, she lays them on the table which in this case would definitely get them in trouble if she said or found out the wrong thing.

-I think the slow pacing of Woodbury is a nice break from the fast pace of the prison. I know a lot of people don't like this split pacing but having it slow sometimes can make the fast paced scenes seem more real or authentic in comparison. The baby is going to be tough to deal with, I want it to survive on some level but I know it probably wont make it through the season.

[Serenity@sea]

Comic question

Spoiler

Were the gladiator arena scenes the same in the comic? I wasn't expecting a staged wrestling event.

[backwoodsroamer]

-That was my first thought too! However I don't think they wanted to show a dead cut open Lori carcass so they made some random walker come and literally eat himself into a food coma over her. The walker grew a "pregnant" like belly from eating too much. I interpreted Rick getting stabby as him wanting to get Lori out of it. He wanted to say goodbye to her body but was sent even further into madness when there were barely any of her remains left. He soon realized the futility of it though after a couple stabs and quit. At least I HOPE, if it was supposed to be the baby that is all types of wtf worthy.

This was how I interpreted the scene. Rick wanted to recover Lori's body. Realizing she had been eaten, he was going to cut her out of the walker. Then the futility of doing that and frustration made him stab the walker repeatedly in anger.

This would all be consistent with the behavior of someone losing a loved one suddenly. There is no right or wrong way for a person to react. In real life grieving persons act quite irrationally.

Trying to make the walker some sort of surrogate punching bag for the pregnancy is over thinking the episode in my opinion.

[backwoodsroamer]

Comic question

Spoiler

Were the gladiator arena scenes the same in the comic? I wasn't expecting a staged wrestling event.

Spoiler

No they were different. More violent and there was a chance of getting bitten. The tv arena was much tamer than the comics.

[BeardedOne]

I had my doubts about how they would portray the Gov and Michonne, but so far, they're doing a pretty good job, and Michonne actually resembled Michonne from the comics tonight.

I thought they handled Penny and the arena pretty well. Those two scenes could have looked real stupid, if not done right.

Daryl. AMC.....just....stop. Enough said.

Rick Grimes never lost his shit as depicted in this series. Disappointing. Makes the character seem weak.

Over all good job by AMC imo.

[Uninfected Walker]

I thought that sound trap Merle and the other Woodbury survivors used was ridiculous. So unbelievable that a group of ZA survivors would spend time and men on constructing such nonsense. For starters we have already seen plenty of opportunities for them to collect walkers without it, and second the engineering used to create that was so much more than needed, wind chimes would have served the same purpose.

[Major Tom]

I am sure Carol is alive and we will see her next week. I'm betting that when they find her she will be mad as a hatter from being alone and surrounded by walkers for a couple of days.

[Xaven]

I agree with most that the Lori/Fat Zombie seen was poorly written. I guess they didn't want to creep people out too much by showing a recent pregnant woman's remains so they just cop'd out and had a zombie eat every piece of her.

I think people are looking into the Daryl thing too much. He was never some beligerent redneck that only cared about himself. Early on he didn't know any of these people that well and his brother was left to rot on a rooftop and had to saw his own hand off. So if he was apprehensive about making friends I could understand. Throughout the rest of the series he has grown to show loyalty and compassion for his fellow survivors. He also was part of a close family that took care of their own (judging by his relationship with Merle) so it does not seem too far fetched for me to see him nursing a newborn baby, especially considering that these people are his family now and the only other people to do it were mourning the loss of their mother/wife.

As for Carol... this is by far the biggest blunder by the TWD writers in the entire series. If she turns out alive then they will have ALOT of explaining to do, and I do not see how they could possibly make sense of it. They wouldn't set themselves up for such an impossible task so I believe she is in fact dead. However, if that is true then they really dropped the ball on her death. I mean as previously stated, she ran out the door with the scarf on and then they find it next to T-Dogg's remains. So we can only guess she ran out, realized there was a swarm of zombies in the courtyard and ran back in, then was inevitably consumed by the zombies that killed T-Dogg, and I guess this prison has hungry zombies that ate her entire remains as well.

I was under the impression that out that door was the courtyard that wasn't far from where Herchel and Beth were in that caged entrance. So if Carol did make it out that surely would have seen her or heard her nonetheless. Granted I don't actually know the layout of the prison but I can't imagine how Carol wouldn't be able to make it known to the others that she was still alive unless she is trapped in the bowels of the prison.

I realize TWD already has "lore" or its story from the comics but I would enjoy the show much better if they were constantly on the road bouncing from place to place, scavenging what they can and meeting new people and places. However I understand that is significantly more difficult to cast and produce but I think it would be entertaining.

My apologies for making this post so long! I am a new poster here but I have read alot so I had alot to get out!

[keith2772]

I'm sorry but that episode was weak. The only thing that saved it was Ricks meltdown. Plus when he found the bullet you couldn't even tell what it was. I'm not sure if it was the writing or the direction but it didn't feel right. After last weeks one I'll admit I expected more. Heavens knows I don't want to be one of those people whos always saying the sky is falling, but unless they actually start explaining some things then it just lost me.

I agree. I don't really know why, but this episode didn't do it for me. My brother made a comment that it seemed like they just spliced pieces of footage together with no rhyme or reason, and the story didn't seem to go anywhere. Like the scene with Maggie and Daryl scouting the house for food. Not really necessary. They leave the prison and come back later after they find some stuff, that's all we need to know. I felt that scene was done to give Daryl some screen time and get a witty line in. When we only get 35 minutes or so of the show after commercials, there's no reason for fluff or filler, just get to the damn point.
I liked the scene with Michionne leaving Woodbury because it was a great scene to build tension; I was so convinced she was going to be shot (at). I like when things take a turn I didn't expect.
The walker eating Lori thing was cool, but a bit silly. As some are saying, "now the z's can eat bones" and the trail of blood insinuated that the walker dragged Lori's body somewhere to eat her. Why? Couldn't eat her ten feet away where she died? And now we have walkers with special abilities again. I though they said they were going to stop doing that.
When Michionne broke in to get her sword she hid behind the curtain when The Gov and gang came in. Then they show her gone and the open window like she jumped out like a ninja. They didn't see her, so why is that necessary? Could have showed her crawling out the window after they left, or waiting a few seconds and going out the way she came in. I don't like the walkers having "special abilities", and I don't like it when human characters have "special abilities" either.
That's why I voted the episode fair. I liked how some of the scenes were done. I felt the last few episodes were great, but this one seems like someone was hung over when they edited it.

[mr teaspoon]

The opening with The Governor and Penny - that's meant to be creepy, right?

I think it is, and I don't think it works. I was surprised to even see Penny, because comic readers know that was never going to make it to the show. This might be a case of watering something down to the point of 'why bother?'. I mean, isn't this basically what Hershel was doing with his barn?

[Judari]

I agree. I don't really know why, but this episode didn't do it for me. My brother made a comment that it seemed like they just spliced pieces of footage together with no rhyme or reason, and the story didn't seem to go anywhere. Like the scene with Maggie and Daryl scouting the house for food. Not really necessary. They leave the prison and come back later after they find some stuff, that's all we need to know. I felt that scene was done to give Daryl some screen time and get a witty line in. When we only get 35 minutes or so of the show after commercials, there's no reason for fluff or filler, just get to the damn point.
I liked the scene with Michionne leaving Woodbury because it was a great scene to build tension; I was so convinced she was going to be shot (at). I like when things take a turn I didn't expect.
The walker eating Lori thing was cool, but a bit silly. As some are saying, "now the z's can eat bones" and the trail of blood insinuated that the walker dragged Lori's body somewhere to eat her. Why? Couldn't eat her ten feet away where she died? And now we have walkers with special abilities again. I though they said they were going to stop doing that.
When Michionne broke in to get her sword she hid behind the curtain when The Gov and gang came in. Then they show her gone and the open window like she jumped out like a ninja. They didn't see her, so why is that necessary? Could have showed her crawling out the window after they left, or waiting a few seconds and going out the way she came in. I don't like the walkers having "special abilities", and I don't like it when human characters have "special abilities" either.
That's why I voted the episode fair. I liked how some of the scenes were done. I felt the last few episodes were great, but this one seems like someone was hung over when they edited it.

You bring up some good points. I agree that the daycare seen with Maggie and Daryl was a bit extra, they could have justified it by throwing in a bit of action instead of a opossum and it would have been a lot more forgivable. I think the scene where Daryl saw the "Sophie" name tag was important but overall they didn't need to spend so much time there.

I didn't even realize the whole dragging thing but you are right, the blood trail looked like a body had been dragged quite a ways. I personally think they did that to be a bit of a tease, I immediately thought of a Lori walker when I saw that the body had moved, but nope.

I also thought the window escape was a bit ridiculous. Also, probably unpopular opinion but I think she is almost a bit too badassed. Unless she has had sword training before (I can't remember from what I read via comic spoilers if she has or not) but she just seems a bit too indestructible and stealthy you would think she was a former spy.

[Serenity@sea]

The opening with The Governor and Penny - that's meant to be creepy, right?

I think it is, and I don't think it works. I was surprised to even see Penny, because comic readers know that was never going to make it to the show. This might be a case of watering something down to the point of 'why bother?'. I mean, isn't this basically what Hershel was doing with his barn?

I found that scene unbelievable because in order to maintain the surprise of her being a walker, we then had to believe that a walker sits there calmly having her hair brushed. That is until you pull a chunk of her scalp out.