The Walking Dead | Season 8 | Episode 2 | The Damned [AMC] [SPOILERS]

NUTZZ

The Walking Dead - Season 8

Episode 2 - "The Damned"

Airdate - October 29th on AMC at 9/8c | October 30th on FOX UK at 9PM

The allied communities enact a plan; Rick encounters a familiar face.

Promo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5k0dPIuvq8

jonon9

Anyone get a Naked Gun or Hot Shots feel.

brianregan09

3

Shooty shooty bang bang ☹

biggebruv

1

OMG wtf this show is F###ked imo terrible episode

Jesus mowing down people then changes for 1 person who held him at gunpoint

Lame "action" sequences of people firing guns WOW!!

Eskimo talking rubbish

as far as I'm concerned now this show ended with Vegan bashing all there heads in and the group is no more SHOW OVER

it will only get worse from now on if I had to guess

Wibbs

3

Given the lacklustre critical response, even mauling by many critics and viewers of last season and the drop off in ratings I really thought the show runners would give themselves a collective kick up the backside and sort out the plotting and writing (and in this episode's case the directing) and come back better, or at least improved, but oh my, they really haven't. That was IMHO one of the low points of this show since it started. Awful on so many levels, with little to recommend it.

biggebruv

1

I don't know what it is but the show lost something when negan arrived they need to scrap this story and that character because it's not working onscreen.

also the show is stale to even look at it's needs to move to a brand new location or seasonal time in the weather

I have a feeling rick will die this season I think Lincoln wants out to focus on family and maybe some movie roles

Mc Love

1

Just probably the worst episode of twd I've ever seen

Wibbs

3

To be fair they have taken one criticism on board and that's lack of action in the previous season. At least now it's moving and more is happening, though much of it seems like filler. Don't get me started on the shootouts that make Imperial stormtroopers look like crack shots...

I think another aspect is play and there's little they can do at the stage after last years crawl fest and that is audience fatigue with the setup and characters. Chopping and changing character motivations like they have with Morgan don't quite ring right and won't help IMHO. Ezekiel is too "comic book" too. Or Rick and Michonne just hooking up cos no particular reason doesn't ring true either.

They need to drop the pretentiousness like the broody music and faces overlay at the head and tail of this episode. Dial back on the speeches. They just don't appear to have the writing chops for it.

If it were me I'd go off the comic script entirely. I'd also kill off at least half of the characters. Again IMHO there are too many and too many strings for audiences to care about or follow. Again to get away with that you need very tight plotting and writers(and directors).

sonofenoch

https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2017/10/29/the-walking-dead-season-8-episode-2-review-this-is-getting-ridiculous/#7c4bd26e1a85

"I don't understand what's happening with The Walking Dead. I don't understand how it's come to this, how it's fallen so far.
"An episode like 'The Damned' ought to have been exciting, tense and surprising, with lots of action and the return of a character we haven't seen in years.
"Instead, it was confusing, with very little tension and lots of oddly forced moments. This is how TV shows die, not with a bang but with a whimper. What we're watching isn't high-stakes drama, it's a slow-motion train wreck."

DoozerT6

Oh dear. I haven't seen the episode yet, but this season (albeit only two episodes so far) has not been boding well.

Agree with others: they really need to change things up a bit: perhaps see some tiny strands of civilisation rebuilding, perhaps meet some actual army guys on patrol who tell them that there are plans afoot for some sort of national government plus a nationwide 'walker task force' or something. They've been just drifting for a long time now, moving from baddie to baddie. Personally I think the time has come after seven (into the eighth) seasons for the world to attempt to move on a bit.

Would love them to see a fighter jet streaking across the sky or something, with no explanation and no further development for several episodes. Or to pass someplace where there are clear signs of recent, professional building work going on, or even newly-raised fencing around a site. Just little nuggets like that....

jonon9

Agree with others, its time for the show to move on to new pastures and drop some of the baggage its all becoming too stale, im even at the stage where I couldnt give a monkey what happens to Rick. If this is all thats left to do in the land of the walking dead then its time to end the show before it crashes and burns.

Unearthly

The episode was full of action but had no tension. There was never any moment when you felt something significant would happen to a relevant character.

Dull

DoozerT6

What was with all the extreme close ups of Rick and co? I think Jesus will live to rue his decision

to spare the saviours.

I always kinda thought that

Morales

would reappear somewhere. That just felt unfinished to me, even back then.

shnethb

7

I didn’t follow things too close tonight. What was it all about. What was the objection of attacking and killing all those people.

bear1

This episode made no sense.
Too much was going on to know wtf it is they trying to accomplish.
The shoot out.. sweet jaysus I think the poster with the naked gun clip is an accurate account of that entire bull****.
Morgan.. enough said.
Rick, yet again getting into ****. And was he seriously just going to leave the baby there?
Morales, is this guy really needed?
I hate that I've invested 8 seasons of my life to get to the same ending of an episode you'd find in season 4.
A poster had a good idea of throwing us some suggestions that civilisation is continuing behind guarded walls.
The army, maybe even sounds of jets, rumours of a city protected.
Anything! This tit for tat with negan has just exhausted me and if this is how this season is going then I think it's my last.

CastorTroy

So am I the only one who doesn't have any idea who Morales is? Google tells me he was with the original group but still don't remember him.

Well at least Morgan got over his issue of not killing or using guns.

I think one thing that might help people enjoy it more is if we knew what the plan was for each group. Did they ever say? As far as I know it's just "Kill them all" but seems Rick and Daryl are suddenly looking for weapons in the building that Aaron and co are fighting in front of.
And it seems the savious that became zombies have all been dealt with quickly.
Once again Rick and Daryl show off their great marksmanship with 2 headshots that Rick couldn't do last week with Negan

Blazer

It really is awful muck at this stage. I’m wondering did they fire the real writers a few years back and hired their own kids to do it or something. That was definitely one of the worst episodes I ever watched.
The discrepancies between shootings is farcical. People that couldn’t hit a barn door are experts marksmen shooting moving targets in the head with one shot in another scene.

sonofenoch

Have to laugh at the after show bull! they talk like they're making some groundbreaking tv


Totally oblivious to the crap they're churning out

Roger Hassenforder

So many wtfs?

What the fcuk?
When the fcuk?
Where the fcuk?
Why the fcuk?

And finishes with a Who the fcuk?

Utopia Parkway

That episode had a hell of a lot of shooting and killing. Yet somehow still managed to be kinda boring.

Agree worth the Forbes review that it was also confusing. I hadn't a clue what was going on half the time apart from a lot of shooting. Although maybe that's because I'm just not engaged with the show as much as I was before.

maximoose

Yeah, I think I'm done with this now.

Confusing episode, all over the place. The opening slow-mo shot was cringeworthy. Back to splitting everybody up and dragging out what could be done in half an hour over several episodes it looks like.

Crappy side drama between Jesus and Tara, who cares.

Morgan is confused again, great.

And again, back to ignoring the 'cliffhanger' at the end of the first episode (not that anyone really cares about Gabriel)

It's just bizarre how they've managed to make such a mess of this.

bear1

Blazer wrote: »

It really is awful muck at this stage. I’m wondering did they fire the real writers a few years back and hired their own kids to do it or something. That was definitely one of the worst episodes I ever watched.
The discrepancies between shootings is farcical. People that couldn’t hit a barn door are experts marksmen shooting moving targets in the head with one shot in another scene.

Didn't they fire the main director or producer back in it's prime?
I mean if you compare the calibre of the 1st and 2nd season it was simply top notch and it had my hooked.
Now... feck off

GBX

2

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

That episode had a hell of a lot of shooting and killing. Yet somehow still managed to be kinda boring.

Agree worth the Forbes review that it was also confusing. I hadn't a clue what was going on half the time apart from a lot of shooting. Although maybe that's because I'm just not engaged with the show as much as I was before.

I have to agree with you UP:

A lot of shooting and killing but very one sided in terms of those actually getting shot and killed. Too one sided.

Too disjointed in terms of making sense - I too have lost interest but am watching it now for the sake of watching it.

Fox Hound

Never stop a binge watch of Stranger Things season 2 and dive straight into an episode of walking dead on TV, it will actually make you hate what this show has become.
I couldn't believe what I was watching. this show has lost everything I used to love. this episode had no tension, no drama, and worst of all characters have just become so boring. I am not here to bash the walking dead to death, I just want to point out what I have seen happening to this show,
Unfortunately this episode was horrible, the writing was so lazy. The first evidence of laziness in this episode was, Morgan getting "shot"...This was an attempt by the writers to build tension, and drama, however instead of trying to figure out a clever way of doing this, they just had Morgan play dead, and then hop up with not a scratch on him. I thought this was pretty bad, and also was a little insulting to the audience.... because two seconds before this Morgan says "I don't Die"...its like the people at AMC are just churning out any old sh*t and as long as us dumb idiot viewers are just staring mindlessly at the screens and tuning in every week, then who the hell cares right??.... Rick and the Gang running around shooting for the whole episode, that's great action right??? unfortunately nope its not....its only good when it means something. I found myself watching most of this episode not caring about anybody in it. because 
A. lots of side characters (that are bordering extras) took up a lot of screen time, and did a lot of shooting and killing, and 

everybody that died was somebody that I didn't care about.
 so essentially all the drama and action in this episode came off as mind numbing and boring.  A 40 min episode dedicated to all out action doesn't mean much to anybody if we the audience aren't invested in anything, its sad because the last two episodes have probably cost a fortune to make, (which will also put a lot of pressure on people that actually care about the show) With all the real life locations, CGI tigers, so much actors and extras, and then to contrast that to the below clip in stranger things season two, which is just two mins long, and written in such away it was able to build up more of an emotional connection from me than the last two episodes from walking dead, (again sorry about all the comparisons to stranger things, I just spent most of the weekend watching it so its fresh in the head :-) )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mjKv4ydU8k

I think the Walking dead have forgotten why we all like this show, its because of scenes like the this , scenes that mean something, scenes that writers have taken the time to build up and execute correctly...scenes like when Rick Killed Shane, or when they found zombie Sophia in the barn and rick Had to kill her.....

for me it feels like these are episodes Full of Filler,....Just rushed lazy writing, to keep us occupied until we can get to the end of the season where inevitably Rick and Negan will face Off,....which they will probably also mess up......I think I might give up on walking dead for awhile, its a pity because I feel Negan can be the saving grace if they have good quality episodes built around him . well that's my two cents on the matter :-) ill probably get bashed for some of my opinions on this, so please be gentle boards :-)

frash

2

maximoose wrote: »

The opening slow-mo shot was cringeworthy.

It was like watching The Angelus

Guffy

2

Wheres the poll... 4 that was a 4 at best

Hande hoche!

3

That Forbes link was handy in figuring what was going on. When I saw the metal sheeting attached to the cars in the trailer, assumed they were going to be used to herd zombies around the place. Was not to be the case, instead used as ridiculous cover. The naked gun comparison is spot on.

The show would benefit from getting rid of the King and his cronies. End up only half watching those parts.

helimachoptor

Pretty poor ep, as said above, lots of action but no story.

shineon23

I was wondering if anyone else found this in the most recent season or Fear TWD and this season of TWD.

I find myself feeling as if I've missed the lead up to something or I'm sipp7 to take for granted that a conversation happened off screen.
I first noticed it in the first scenes of S3E1 of Fear where an 'action scene' was shown in a sped up flashback.

Seems very lazy writing, especially as there is so much filler in each epiaode, it's not like they need to be cutting corners to get more in each episode.

ziggyman17

laughable show, had so much promise when it started....Its now become something like The A Team from the 80's....

Lone Stone

I remember when rick had that shoot out in the bar back in s2 just him and some guy that was tense and got my Adrenalin going and show hasnt been any good since s3-4 for me anyway, i haven't watched the new episodes this season felt kinda done after the last season. All the negative reviews makes wonder what the main actors actually think of the show for reals.

shutup

Where were the group Carol and King Ezekiel were in going?
They seemed to be following someone as they found his blood on a leaf.

jonon9

shutup wrote: »

Where were the group Carol and King Ezekiel were in going?
They seemed to be following someone as they found his blood on a leaf.

I thought they were just chasing one lad.

duffman13

1

I used to love the show, I only twigged the new season was out because I noticed a thread on boards. Sat down and watched the two episodes back to back and honestly felt like I'd missed a huge scene somewhere but nope it was just confusing.

It's pox having invested so much time into the premise of the show and the characters that is has sunk to this. If Negan doesn't die soon the show is done, it's time to move on from Alexandria at this stage one way or another

duffman13

1

shutup wrote: »

Where were the group Carol and King Ezekiel were in going?
They seemed to be following someone as they found his blood on a leaf.

It was the lookout for an outpost, he hid behind a car and chucked a grenade then did a legger. He then got eaten by the ****in lion, what a weird episode!

NUTZZ

7

Poll added...later than usual!

shineon23

duffman13 wrote: »

It was the lookout for an outpost, he hid behind a car and chucked a grenade then did a legger. He then got eaten by the ****in lion, what a weird episode!

Is that some sort of animal racism?

The lady is a tiger to be fair. :D

HangSandwitch

What the fcuk. Worst. Episode. Ever

biggebruv

1

I'd like to see the script

Smokey shots with blue steel impressions of the cast

pew pew pew
bang bang bang
rraaarrr munnniccchhh munnnicch
bbbooom
plosions

again Smokey shots with blue steel impressions of the cast

alchemist33

4

One simple scene at the start of last weeks episode would have helped - show us what their plan is. I know it takes away some of the mystery of the grand scheme, but at least we'd know what the stakes are. Instead they tell us it's really important Carol's group find their man, but we don't really know why because it's just a mess of people shooting at people in god-only-knows how many sites, with god-only-knows some number of baddies driving around the countryside who must for some reason be kept in the dark about the attack. Which is odd as they're making a helluva lot of noise at the other sites.

As for the lingering slo-mo shots of our heroes, I'm all for a bit of artistry but a story has to earn the right to do that. You have to work up to it and maybe do it towards the climax. But not now at the start of the season where it looks like they're force feeding us the idea that it's all so deep and heroic and we should really, really care. Because I care less and less at this ham-fisted writing and direction.

And the last scene, which I'm sure I was meant to be on the edge of my seat for, I was "oh my God, it's... it's... it's... who?"

nc6000

1

This was in The Guardian's episode recap and explain who Morales is :

"Let’s begin with some housekeeping: we last saw Morales back in season one. He’d explained that he didn’t really fancy a trip to the CDC to look for the cure, and would rather take his family to Birmingham, Alabama. At the end of the second episode of season eight, a disheveled Morales was left pointing a gun at Rick’s face. So we can safely assume that the decision to leave didn’t work out too well for him."

snowgal

7

Im in a small minority who liked this episode I think! Yes there was lots of problems and lots of shooting no one but I liked the tension of it and skipping from scene to scene. I thought it was better than the first one. Anything for me is better than last season, I really didn't like it....I think their building up to some significant deaths this season. But,,,agree with some previous poster, Negan needs to go. Since hes arrived the whole tone of the show has changed and I dont think he fits in with The Walking Dead style.

ebbsy

7

snowgal wrote: »

Im in a small minority who liked this episode I think! Yes there was lots of problems and lots of shooting no one but I liked the tension of it and skipping from scene to scene. I thought it was better than the first one. Anything for me is better than last season, I really didn't like it....I think their building up to some significant deaths this season. But,,,agree with some previous poster, Negan needs to go. Since hes arrived the whole tone of the show has changed and I dont think he fits in with The Walking Dead style.

I liked this episode as well. Morgan goin nuts as well was entertaining.

TerrorFirmer

Another top notch travesty from AMC. It's hard to make sense of how it's managed to continue this freefall into total absurdity but everything in that episode was unbelievably sub-par - from direction, to scripting, to acting and most definitely the choreography.

I've seen recent Steven Seagal movies with better action and more heartfelt emotion.

On paper it really should have been a great episode but somehow it's gone from gritty, prime-time TV to a dodgy straight-to-DVD action flick and the result is nothing means anything whatsoever. The episode was literally embarrassing to watch - Jesus and Tara's 'good cop, bad cop' routine, Morgan's 'Terminator' impression, the junk-yard shoot-out, those early 90's slo-mo facial shots (at one point I was like "who the **** even IS that guy in this montage" - just ****ing kill off half of these extras masquerading as pivotal characters)

It's easy to blame Negan but it's not Negan. He was a good character for a few episodes with tons of promise, can't really blame the actor or the character for this shambles of a script that's being dragged out. He's gotten annoying but he's far from the worst thing about the show now. The first episode of the last season seems so, so far away now - remember all the promise it held?

Before I came to this thread the one image I had in my mind was Frank Drebin in the Naked Gun having the extended shootout with the guy behind the bins two foot away. It had me laughing in the Naked Gun, and it has me laughing again in The Walking Dead.

This show makes me so unbelievably angry! It's easy to tell yourself you'll just stop watching but having invested so much time in the characters to date, you obviously want to see what happens and where they end up - if such a point ever arrives.

Then again, it's not unique in how far it's fallen. Anyone ever watch Dexter? The quality of that once superb show also fell off a sheer cliff edge after season 4 and managed to limp on to a full 8 pitiful seasons (rallied briefly in s7 but went all out with a spectacular misfire for s8).

The writers are doing a pretty solid job with Fear the Walking Dead so I'm perplexed as to how the higher budget, vastly more popular show has an output of this caliber.

bear1

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Another top notch travesty from AMC. It's hard to make sense of how it's managed to continue this freefall into total absurdity but everything in that episode was unbelievably sub-par - from direction, to scripting, to acting and most definitely the choreography.

I've seen recent Steven Seagal movies with better action and more heartfelt emotion.

On paper it really should have been a great episode but somehow it's gone from gritty, prime-time TV to a dodgy straight-to-DVD action flick and the result is nothing means anything whatsoever. The episode was literally embarrassing to watch - Jesus and Tara's 'good cop, bad cop' routine, Morgan's 'Terminator' impression, the junk-yard shoot-out, those early 90's slo-mo facial shots (at one point I was like "who the **** even IS that guy in this montage" - just ****ing kill off half of these extras masquerading as pivotal characters)

It's easy to blame Negan but it's not Negan. He was a good character for a few episodes with tons of promise, can't really blame the actor or the character for this shambles of a script that's being dragged out. He's gotten annoying but he's far from the worst thing about the show now. The first episode of the last season seems so, so far away now - remember all the promise it held?

Before I came to this thread the one image I had in my mind was Frank Drebin in the Naked Gun having the extended shootout with the guy behind the bins two foot away. It had me laughing in the Naked Gun, and it has me laughing again in The Walking Dead.

This show makes me so unbelievably angry! It's easy to tell yourself you'll just stop watching but having invested so much time in the characters to date, you obviously want to see what happens and where they end up - if such a point ever arrives.

Then again, it's not unique in how far it's fallen. Anyone ever watch Dexter? The quality of that once superb show also fell off a sheer cliff edge after season 4 and managed to limp on to a full 8 pitiful seasons (rallied briefly in s7 but went all out with a spectacular misfire for s8).

It shouldn't be like that though.
The producers and writers owe more than that to the fans who stuck by the show.
So many ah wtf moments are happening that they only way my interest would spike is if something extraordinary happened.
From crappy lion cgi, to killing off interesting characters, to ****e finale after ****e finale.
It's always the same premise, find safe place to live. Meet tribe who want that same safe place. Fight between tribes. Ricks tribe get knocked down. Ricks team grow balls. Ricks team win.
Repeat.

CastorTroy

Is it the same people involved with Fear the Walking Dead? Could be like the Berlanti DC shows. Arrow was good then Flash started and Arrow declined, then Legends started and Flash declined.

kylith

What the fk happened in that episode? Anyone?

sonofenoch

kylith wrote: »

What the fk happened in that episode? Anyone?

They all went on a works paintball day.......great fun was had by all

storker

2

Wibbs wrote: »

They need to drop the pretentiousness like the broody music and faces overlay at the head and tail of this episode. Dial back on the speeches. They just don't appear to have the writing chops for it.

This.

The moody closeups (which seemed to channel Picnic at Hanging Rock...wha'?) and mysterious flash-forwards appear to be a way of increasing uncertainty and tension. In a show about a world full of the living dead where the the most of the remaining living people are out to get you too, such gimmickry shouldn't be necessary, and if you need to use it, you're doing something very, very wrong. Like letting transition years students do the writing...

Blazer wrote: »

It really is awful muck at this stage. I’m wondering did they fire the real writers a few years back and hired their own kids to do it or something.

I think the rot started when they got rid of Darabont.

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

I've seen recent Steven Seagal movies with better action and more heartfelt emotion.

Ouch!

What I miss most about this show is the tightness I used to get in my stomach when watching it, and the rush to see the next episode. Now I can wait a week or more and my main emotion when watching it is irritation, when it used to be nervous tension (I tend to really dive into the stuff I watch).

It's become boring, poorly written and poorly-executed. Gunfights reminiscent of the A-Team. Brain-damaged decision making. Characters whose motivation seems to be to do whatever will make things more awkward for everyone else, just because. Tara should have just shot that guy. Doubtless we'll get a big debate next about what to do with all those prisoners, when the only sensible thing is to shoot them. That's assuming they don't do a mass escape because wait for it...one of Rick's gang has a brain fart.

"This isn't who we are". What? People who make smart decisions? Y'all got that right. Hershel's words keep on coming back to me: "It's a miracle you people made it this far...". You nailed it, Hershel.

LandoCalrissian

Was a massive fan of this show but its been running on fumes for a while now

1st 2 episodes seems to have just been people running around like a playground game of war - could only have been worse if they were making the gun noises with their mouths

At this stage TWD is a show I have on while flicking through the ipad

All suspense and tension is now gone for me

What the hell happened?????????

LandoCalrissian

And another thing

"I hope you got your sh1ttin' pants on"


God it was just the pits