Spoilers The Walking Dead Season 10

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by JD, Jul 20, 2019.

  1. EmoBorg

    EmoBorg Commodore Commodore

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    I think that the dead Whisperer is gonna cause problems for Alpha's people. With her mask still on, they might think she is still one of them.
     
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  2. The Wormhole

    The Wormhole Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Really good episode this week. With Walkers choking up the gates of Alexandria, Alpha request a meet at the border with the leadership. Alpha definitely has a messed up sense of priorities, crossing the border into Whisperer territory to put out a forest fire is punishable, but Carol attempting to murder her is okay. But damn, I got to say, when it got to the point in the meeting when Alpha and Carol were at each other, that part was equal parts creepy and suspenseful. Definitely a well done scene, easily the highlight of the season so far.

    Carol's dreams and hallucinations definitely add an element of confusion and questions to the episode which kind of adds an element of fun to it, and I say that as someone who usually can't stand these kinds of "what's real and what isn't" kind of mindfucks. The revelation at the end that there really was a Whisperer after her is kind of predictable but didn't detract from my enjoyment of this at all.

    Aaron and Negan's subplot was also enjoyable in that it gave some insight into both of them, and indeed is the first time we see any kind of real interaction between them aside from the Eenie-Meenie-Mynnie-Moe incident. So it makes sense that Aaron is so hesitant to trust Negan, and Negan being his usually boisterous cocky self certainly doesn't help matters. Things definitely take an interesting turn when Aaron becomes blinded and Negan ends up looking after him for the night. Slight nitpick though, Aaron falls asleep with his mace arm still attached. I mean I get he doesn't want to disarm himself in a remote house with only Negan for company and defense against Walkers, but if he tosses and turns in his sleep he runs the risk of slicing himself up.

    Eugene and Rosita's storyline. I liked when it started, particularly with the comparisons to extreme fatigue being similar to being drunk. As someone who has grappled with insomnia in my day, I can confirm the accuracy of that statement. Mind you, I'm not sure I buy that it wasn't until now that Eugene realized he never really had a chance with Rosita. I mean, I guess I can buy he was always holding onto faint hope that something might develop somewhere down the line, but to hear Rosita say as much through "drunken/tired honesty" shouldn't really be the crippling blow it is to him.

    Siddiq's PTSD should be addressed more directly very soon, but at the moment I do like they're using it to develop the friendship between him and the new doctor who relates to Siddiq's plight because of his experiences as a combat medic in Iraq.
    Eh, I don't see that being much of an issue. I doubt this is the first time a Whisperer died while separated from the rest of the pack with their mask still on. At most it'll cause momentary confusion, but I imagine they'll catch on quickly enough.
     
    Last edited: Oct 21, 2019
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  3. CorporalCaptain

    CorporalCaptain Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Good season, so far. This was my favorite episode so far.

    The home ec book cover was fantastic!
     
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  4. Admiral2

    Admiral2 Admiral Admiral

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    Written like someone who's never had that kind of hope dashed. Lucky you. For others, a hope like that can be so deep and persistent and downright defiant that the reaction to having it utterly shattered couldn't possibly conform to the logic or common sense applied to it by disinterested third parties.

    So yes, intellectually I can understand that Rosita needed to draw a line in the sand. Personally, I hope Eugene can find it in him to cut all ties. Starting over can be twice as difficult if you try to do it from within somebody's friend zone.

    And in anticipation of some of the responses I'm going to get, no, that's not a mature response, but sometimes it is necessary.
     
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  5. crookeddy

    crookeddy Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Rosita didn't do anything wrong. I think what people are saying is that it's unrealistic that Eugene finally gave up after hearing those words. It's harder than this to make someone let go of an irrational hope.
     
  6. Random_Spock

    Random_Spock Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I've had more than enough of the Whisperers. Especially Alpha. She gets on my nerves. I don't envy Carol right now with all of her issues. I'm wondering how that'll shake out in the end.
     
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  7. kitik

    kitik Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    As others have said, best episode in a long time. And actually scary in parts too! How rare.

    After the season premiere, it was obvious that if it was the real world, Rosita would have had a restraining order to keep Eugene away from her.

    Lovely little dream/reality flipping going on there, unreliable narrators are the best narrators.

    Michonne was wondering why Alpha didn't just kill the lot of them when Carol tried to shoot her. I was wondering the same thing. Also wondering what's up with the waves of walkers. The Whisperers seemed to claim that it wasn't them. Is it an obvious lie, or are they actually telling the truth.
     
  8. kitik

    kitik Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Also, the world should be running out of walkers at some point. Simple math. Our limited cast alone has probably killed like a million.

    Of course, we're watching a show where the season premiere showed a walker with a gigantic board or something sticking out of it just casually walking out of the water. Obviously suspension of disbelief is required.

    Also, that school this week. Just how many large buildings like that are just sitting around unexplored, within walking distance for our heroes?
     
  9. TREK_GOD_1

    TREK_GOD_1 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Heh! Yes, she would--or she would just kick his ass, since we know she has the skill to do so.

    But in all seriousness, Eugene cannot be so clueless to think she was just going to turn to him--a man she often disrespected--after she broke up with Abraham, or when she moved on to Father Gabriel. Its as though he's so lacking in basic life experience that he placed blinders on to prevent him from acknowledging the truth.

    Either Alpha has other plans for the heroes, or she's still holding out hope that she can reclaim Lydia. Or maybe she realizes that in a full-on war, the Whisperers cannot use mindless zombies as a force if they're just mowed down. A time will come when the walkers will be lured away to the point where the Whisperers wont have the mass numbers on their side, and will need to fight for themselves.
     
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  10. crookeddy

    crookeddy Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Eugene sometimes feels like he's written as a "loser" by someone who has never met a real life "loser".
     
  11. The Wormhole

    The Wormhole Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I was just about to say something similar, but then I realized Eugene would probably enjoy getting his ass kicked by Rosita, so maybe the restraining order would be the better option.
    I would believe the Whisperers when they say they aren't behind the Walker surge at Alexandria. The Whisperers aren't really strategists nor do they play a long game. If they wanted to unleash Walker Wrath on Alexandria/the Communities, they'd just send the mega-herd like Lydia indicated at the town hall meeting.

    As for what is causing the Walker Surge, Eugene had a theory it was related to the satellite crash, though he was cut off before he could really elaborate on it. Though I kind of wonder if they might not be setting up some new storyline, perhaps involving the people Maggie's with or perhaps enemies of theirs.
     
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  12. Trekker4747

    Trekker4747 Boldly going... Premium Member

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    There's 300 million people in the country and 7-billion people in the world and everyone who dies becomes a walker. They ain't running out of anything any time soon because the cast has killed "like a million."

    The episode for me was okay, I didn't really care for the sub-plot with Carol popping Necco wafers and they dreams/delusions she was having. I did like the story with the Aaron and Negan and with Michonne.

    I do wonder who/what is sending the waves of walkers towards Alexandria if it's apparently not The Whisperers.

    Good enough episode, better than last week.
     
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  13. Zenogias

    Zenogias Lieutenant Junior Grade Red Shirt

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    Man, I have to say season 10 has been a nice surprise. I had almost totally written this show off, and was nearing escape vector, but this latest episode.. It was pure fire. The Daryl/Carol arc was some of the best stuff they have done in many years, loved the horror vibes.. A legitimate jump scare.. Wait, you can actually get scared watching the walking dead?!? You wouldn't have known from the last few seasons.

    Will stick around for the rest of the season purely on the merits of this one episode, because it was that good. Hear's to hoping they can maintain this quality, and not revert back to the freshman writer shenanigans.
     
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  14. Starkers

    Starkers Admiral Admiral

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    Aside from the Alpha/Beta slump this season's been really good so far.

    Looks increasingly like Siddiq had some involvement in the massacre given the flashback to a bloody knife and Alpha saying something like "that's it". Not intentionally, but it wouldn't surprise me if Alpha didn't make him do some of the beheading, one just hopes his comrades were dead at that point but he is really (and understandably) fucked up.

    How many times has Carol experienced mental health dips now? Obviously from a real world perspective that's what happens to people, but in narrative terms it is getting a little repetitive now.

    Not a great episode for Eugene, and a shame Rosita had to be that blunt given she's always been pretty clear.

    I do wonder who (or what) is sending the walkers their way. Would be interesting if the Whisperers started being overwhelmed by Walkers they couldn't control.
     
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  15. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

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    Okay, so Carol has a bit of a pill problem. That kind of came out of left field. I wonder how it got started. Did she find some crates of Schedule II narcotics in the hold of her boat, or what? It seems unlike her to get caught up in something like that, and I wonder where it will lead. Her hallucinations were kind of interesting, especially that scene of domestic bliss with Daryl.

    Similarly, the doc is seeing things, too, but in his case it looks more like flashbacks to Alpha's massacre. Seems to be a combination of trauma and survivor's guilt. I wonder if any of the communities have any behavioral health providers among their citizens. Probably not, because they're not generally the type of people who would survive a Zombie Apocalypse. :lol: But what was really interesting was that it was his asshole assistant who understood what was happening and came to his aid. I wonder how that relationship will develop.

    And speaking of assholes, we have Negan who is congenitally unable to stop being an asshole, yet seems to be genuinely attempting to adjust to his new status quo. Or is it a plot? It's been six or seven years since he was deposed and locked up and he's just seeing the light of day now. Could he still have ambitions of taking over? Or does he just not care anymore? In any case, he saved Aaron, although it seemed like he was thinking over his options at first.

    Meanwhile, the Whisperer plot trudges on, with Alpha demanding territorial concessions, and Carol failing to assassinate her-- but succeeding in wounding one of her followers. I think that the three Whisperers that Carol saw were real, and that this girl was one of them-- but are they doing Alpha's bidding or are they rogues?
     
  16. Trekker4747

    Trekker4747 Boldly going... Premium Member

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    She was popping prescription caffeine pills, hardly a "Schedule II narcotic."
     
  17. TREK_GOD_1

    TREK_GOD_1 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    His path foward--and how the heroes relate to him if he (or Alpha) reveals the nature of his participation: if he was physically forced to make a killing strike (to "get his hands dirty"), he might earn some sympathy, but if he acted out of fear for his own ass, one or more of the community members will not care that he's a doctor when they're cutting his head off...

    She has no options for help; after the past couple of seasons, she's lost belief in so many things (faith, people, a real future) that she does not know what to do, other than isolate herself, which is no long term solution.

    Not a shame at all; Eugene is so incredibly hard headed in the face of facts, that by now, he is a largely unsympathetic character. He never respects boundaries (Rosita's relationships with Abraham or Gabriel) or the fact that Rosita never moved him out of the friend zone even after the breakup with Abraham. Up the moment she dropped the truth bomb on him, he would continue preying on her.

    In short, he deserved her honest view.

    They would be; unless they're using some sort of artificial means to guide walker, eventually, large numbers would break away, even if distracted by noise, another stray human, etc. Alpha cannot force their movements.
     
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  18. The Wormhole

    The Wormhole Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Interesting thought, I hadn't considered that. I just figured Siddiq was worried Alpha left him alive for a specific purpose and was worried when she would come to collect on that debt. I mean, I know I said earlier that Whisperers don't play a long game, and they don't, but I doubt that's something Siddiq's traumatized perspective fully comprehends, so that could have been messing him up. But the idea that Alpha made him partake in the beheadings is truly messed up. I like it. Definitely opens up some interesting story possibilities there.
    I kinda see what you're saying here, it does seem every few years they have Carol hit rock bottom only to have her claw her way back to dominance by the end of the season. But in this case, I don't think there was any avoiding this from a narrative perspective. After all, a year ago Carol was living a perfect fairy tale life, married to a king raising a loving son with their own kingdom. Now, that kingdom is gone and she's split up with the king following the death of their son. If anything, it would have been stranger if she wasn't plagued with mental health issues following that.
     
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  19. publiusr

    publiusr Admiral Admiral

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    Those might not have been solar panels--but radiators.

    It could have been a RORSAT
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosmos_954

    This season opener seems inspired by Operation Morning Light.

    The Russians are building even more powerful versions.
    http://www.thespacereview.com/article/3809/1

    So the nuclear threat from FEAR maybe something here--even though "Eugenius" blew it off. Throw a reactor into the heard, and Whisperers become normal walkers...We may see Eugenes end this season

    Maybe P G& E can hire them...
     
  20. TREK_GOD_1

    TREK_GOD_1 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Only if it turns out he willingly participated in the beheadings when offered that as a way out, and we see flashbacks of the outrage/betrayal from the victims, particularly Enid, who probably learned Carl was mortally infected while looking for / saving Siddiq.

    ...and its not just Henry's murder or the break up of her marriage; that hallucination on the cookbook cover--featuring every child she's lost--was the flare shot up that she's never healed from any of the losses. Also of note, her age and haircut calls back to her 1st and 2nd appearance look, probably indicating a period where her true nightmares began with Sophia, and how everything since has often taken a turn for the worst with the children in her life.
     
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