Season 4 Episode 9 "After" SPOILERS

dr.kenneth noisewater · 11-02-2014 12:11AM

Bit slow for a comeback episode, hopefully we'll get a break from Karl and Rick for a few episodes!

naughto · 11-02-2014 12:16AM

will some 1 just shoot that little f1cker of child named karl i cannot hack him at all,little sh1te is all he is.
not a bad ep besides as stassy siad that was a lot of food in the houses and the corflakes looked fresh even after a few yrs.

MadYaker · 11-02-2014 12:30AM

It was alright I suppose. The scene with Karl and the walkers was a bit predictable, that whole part had me thinking "what a f*cking idiot". It was a bit slow over all and I would have liked to have seen more of the other characters.

How Soon Is Now · 11-02-2014 01:00AM

This might be a bit two convenient but remember Michonne s original zombie buddys where both black...... see where i am going with this

Also i see no issue with the way there playing things its nice to see everyone in separate groups and given more time to focus on there characters and how they deal with situations by them selves.

Kinda similar to what Lost did where they broke up certain parts of the original big group and you ended up with some interesting storys and situations.

Also an episode without Darryl the fan boys/girls will be up in arms ffs!.

giggii · 11-02-2014 01:54AM

Nervous Wreck wrote: »

I find it strange how people would dread the idea of it taking a few episodes for the group to reform when we've seen them side by side for 3.5 seasons already. Surely, seeing them try to find their way back to each other is, at least, a slightly interesting divergence from the "I'll take a team and go get supplies" excuse they've been pedalling for 3.5 seasons to have the group separate a little?

I don't think the idea itself would be dreaded... if it were done right. A few episodes showing the separated groups would be fantastic on terms of a character development point of view, if we were shown a bit of action, and some semblance of a progression in storyline, but from past experience TWD does not do that at all... Generally the storyline becomes painstakingly drawn out, with no story development whatsoever, and, judging by the most recent episode, it seems to be going down that route once again.

I'm a constant defender of this show, but it's flaw is that it can do a phenomenal character episode, or an amazing action-packed episode, but not both at the same time (or very rarely at the most, a few episode come to mind that have excelled at both, but they are rare...), and at this point of the show both aspects have to be expressed equally, or it isn't going to work at all

parttime · 11-02-2014 02:03AM

Show was always sloppy, with a few exceptions.

sparkthatbled · 11-02-2014 10:04AM

Smaller groups is fine, taking time to reform the group is fine, but at least give them some kind of actual stories. The plot of this episode was ridiculously thin. Some people seem to think that anyone who criticises an episode just wants zombie gore non-stop, but I certainly don't. I want some clever writing acted well and you can have unexpected things happen without someone having to die. This is a good opportunity to show adaption and growth in characters but so far they are simply reverting to type, I just don't get how that is ever supposed to lead to an interesting storyline. I'll reserve total judgement until I see how the rest of them are doing but I honestly don't know what to expect. The first half of the season was so good, really lifted it out of the mire it got itself into last season, I hope they get it back on track soon.

LifeSaabItch · 11-02-2014 11:15AM

Quite enjoyed it, Okay the Karl/Zombie and just getting away is way too predictable.

Must admit, The scene with Rick hoarsely trying to call Karl was very well put together and did make me think he had turned.

wandatowell · 11-02-2014 12:47PM

LifeSaabItch wrote: »

and did make me think he had turned.

Ah surely not. There's no way Rick will be killed off any season soon. He's the central charactor.

Cork boy 55 · 11-02-2014 04:05PM

Great comic adaptation.
I watched it twice, its really well shot(effects, cinematography , costumes)
The overall tone is probably what I liked the most about the episode. There was an actual presence of danger and the feeling of survival was very strong. I don’t know if the rest of the season will have this, but it would be a nice change of pace. The was excellent cinematography,
with some beautiful shots and the entire episode was just well constructed in general.
The bit where someone knocks on the door and they react with terror drawing guns and hitting the floor shows how ****ed up the world is now.

Michones Walker disguise method,
When she was shown in the season 3 with the walker pets she also had
a heavy duty cloak with a large hood which was smeared with walker blood
This aspect of the method is forgotten
Its supposed to be two walkers deformed + the cloak/hood.
Two walkers on their own might work some of the time especially at a distance. but close up you need the cloak
which they decided to forget this time, sloppy

So. Michonne didn't have Judith. But I cannot WAIT for next week!!!

Ultimate Ultan · 11-02-2014 04:10PM

It was a slow episode in fairness. I did enjoy Michonne walking with the walkers. It seemed like she had given up being with others, and got two new decoys and prepared to survive alone. While on this journey, she had an internal one too, and realised that she needed others to live properly. Otherwise she'd end up like the black female walker with dreads that we were shown.

I think the best part of the episode was where they showed the clips from next week. Looked exciting, but then edited highlights always do.

Zero-Cool · 11-02-2014 05:22PM

Show is going more the way of the Comic which I'm really happy about. I saw that episode more about Carl taking care of Zombie Rick then Carl fighting off that zombie and losing his shoe. I agree bit late for a Michonne backstory but now I want to know what happened at that camp!

End of the episode has Rick back to (almost) normal so they were able to wrap up that arc in 1 episode which is good. I think it was an important story to tell and walker rick was done really good.

username123 · 11-02-2014 08:57PM

I liked it. I enjoy the quiet rambling round a dead world although it baffles me why so many houses are a shambles - they aren't 1000s of survivors, it's small rag tag groups, why has every house been ransacked!

It also baffles me how strong some of the walkers are now and why there are not rotting corpse zombies all over the place, surely after this length of time that's what we'd see?

Carl is a bit boring. Liked a bit of Michonne backstory.

Would have been happy to see Rick bite the dust in that episode.

Bacchus · 12-02-2014 09:36AM

Grimebox wrote: »

Carl walking backwards with two walkers and something goes wrong. Anyone else and their dog see that one coming? What is the point of that scene?

The whole episode was about Carl basically transitioning from the shielded, whining, "child with gun" into someone with an actual appreciation for the world he is now in. Rick has always protected him or saved him and Carl has gotten cocky/reckless. His Dad tells him to think, be careful and not make rash decisions. Carl dismisses this while out on his own. Twice in this episode he put himself in real danger. It nearly got him killed the first time but he "won" (still cocky). The second time he barely "won" again (still cocky). When he thinks Rick has turned in the end the walls come down. He's not the brave little cowboy he thinks he is. It was very well played out IMO.

Grimebox wrote: »

It's too bad the kid who plays Carl isn't a very good actor. I really enjoyed his "coming of age" story in the comics where he must fend for himself. I'm glad they attempted to include it

P.Walnuts wrote: »

Carl heavy episode = much fast forwarding

Would normally agree with the Carl hate but I thought the actor was superb in this episode and Carl has really developed into a serious character. At times he looked like a little badass. Now that the chip is off his shoulder, he'll hopefully become much more interesting.

pc7 · 12-02-2014 10:25AM

wandatowell wrote: »

Ah surely not. There's no way Rick will be killed off any season soon. He's the central charactor.

See the way it was building I was getting really excited and antsy thinking OMG they are going to do what no one will be ready for or thinking could ever happen and kill off Rick. And then they didn't! Didn't think it was too bad, I find Karl and Rick quite annoying, liked that they've started to give Michonne a bit of emotion too. They've left the door open for more to come out in relation to her husband/child/camp etc. All in all not too bad, probably give it 6.5/10, it was always going to be hard to follow up on episode 8, that was just awesome.

bogmanfan · 12-02-2014 02:45PM

On the issue of Michonne's pet walkers - why are they so docile? She has removed their arms and jaws so they can't attack/bite her, but why aren't they still trying? If the show has taught us anything, it's that the walkers are single minded in their focus on biting humans, even when it's just a severed head. Seems weird to see the two lads just strolling along behind her.

Timmyctc · 12-02-2014 03:30PM

The michonne walker thing is stupid. Real stupid like. There were stages where shes was <2 metres from hostile walkers and > that from her own yet no interest. Carl is an awful **** actor too. My hate is fairly Carlcentric tbh

Liamalone · 12-02-2014 04:45PM

When Michonne's previous set of walkers were explained previously it did that they gradually became 'docile' after a period of time but yet here it's remove jaw and bingo! Job done.

Shabby, par for the course with TWD imo, so much so I didn't even realise it was back until a few hours ago, I used to be counting the days for the earlier series

Grimebox · 12-02-2014 05:23PM

Bacchus wrote: »

The whole episode was about Carl basically transitioning from the shielded, whining, "child with gun" into someone with an actual appreciation for the world he is now in. Rick has always protected him or saved him and Carl has gotten cocky/reckless. His Dad tells him to think, be careful and not make rash decisions. Carl dismisses this while out on his own. Twice in this episode he put himself in real danger. It nearly got him killed the first time but he "won" (still cocky). The second time he barely "won" again (still cocky). When he thinks Rick has turned in the end the walls come down. He's not the brave little cowboy he thinks he is. It was very well played out IMO.

Would normally agree with the Carl hate but I thought the actor was superb in this episode and Carl has really developed into a serious character. At times he looked like a little badass. Now that the chip is off his shoulder, he'll hopefully become much more interesting.

Then they have him sitting on the roof ignoring the walker behind him at the end of it all? It's like he learnt nothing. He has gone from fake cocky bravado to incompetent to foolishly ignoring danger in one episode. Such a messy arc.

Celtic Tiger · 12-02-2014 05:26PM

Decent episode, definitely not as bad as some of the previous filler eps we've seen.

I liked the Michonnes flashback scenes. Hopefully we'll get to see more scenes of what happened to characters at the start of the outbreak when the sh*t hit the fan. There was a pre credits scene in season 2 that had Shane, Lori and Carl stuck in traffic on a road when a helicopter flew by and started bombing Atlanta. More of that please. I'd love to a see a flashback of Daryl and how he survived. Perfect excuse to get Mearl back for an episode too

briany · 12-02-2014 08:26PM

People seeing Michonne with her two neutered walkers.

"Hmmmmm, that doesn't make sense."

Upon seeing a severed walker's head still being very much alive and chomping, despite that flouting all the established rules of biology and physics.

"Hmmmm, yeah. That's fine."

Even the idea of walkers is ridiculous (as is much horror fiction) but they are, of course, a well established and much loved horror sub genre. The Walking Dead doesn't have much internal consistency with walkers, bending the rules as a certain scene may warrant.

Keyzer · 12-02-2014 10:21PM

I enjoyed this episode even if it was a bit sparse. Some scares, some development of Carl and Michonne back story.

It was always going to be about the aftermath of the prison and how they pick themselves up or fall down again.

But...

My fear is the next 6 weeks focus on each sub group for an episode. Some of these characters I really don't care for, a failing on the writers parts I blame that on. Same characters in the comics I like to see survive.

I don't know why they haven't tried to develop the story using the seasons as characters. Having them deal with a tough freezing cold snowy winter would be enjoyable.

Keyzer · 12-02-2014 10:24PM

expectationlost wrote: »

the way rick says Karl?????

bodhi085 · 12-02-2014 10:38PM

Episode 10 spoilers yet?? Can we post them if we know them?

Paddy Cow · 13-02-2014 01:27AM

bodhi085 wrote: »

Episode 10 spoilers yet?? Can we post them if we know them?

Not in an episode 9 thread! Start an episode 10 thread and put SPOILERS in the title and post away to your hearts content :P

Keyzer · 13-02-2014 06:00PM

Popularity of this show must be waning, very few replies.

When is it on normal tv?

briany · 13-02-2014 06:21PM

Keyzer wrote: »

Popularity of this show must be waning, very few replies.

When is it on normal tv?

Think the latest episode has already been on SKY. Don't know the story with terrestrial TV.

I'd be surprised if there was a fan exodus right now. The last round of eps ended pretty strongly. Maybe it's going to take a little while for everyone to remember that it's on.

Grimebox · 13-02-2014 06:35PM

I imagine most people haven't realised its back yet

Paddy Cow · 13-02-2014 10:10PM

briany wrote: »

Think the latest episode has already been on SKY. Don't know the story with terrestrial TV.

I'd be surprised if there was a fan exodus right now. The last round of eps ended pretty strongly. Maybe it's going to take a little while for everyone to remember that it's on.

Sorry but that sounds contradictory. Since the last episode was pretty strong, you'd expect the fans to be invested in the next episode.

pixelburp · 13-02-2014 10:17PM

briany wrote: »

People seeing Michonne with her two neutered walkers.

"Hmmmmm, that doesn't make sense."

Upon seeing a severed walker's head still being very much alive and chomping, despite that flouting all the established rules of biology and physics.

"Hmmmm, yeah. That's fine."

Even the idea of walkers is ridiculous (as is much horror fiction) but they are, of course, a well established and much loved horror sub genre. The Walking Dead doesn't have much internal consistency with walkers, bending the rules as a certain scene may warrant.

Just because the premise isn't realistic doesn't mean the worlds internal logic and rules get a pass whenever the writers won't / can't come up with something better. Sloppy is sloppy; yeah zombies of this sort are fictitious (though variants and tangents do exist what with the cordyceps fungus and the like so they don't completely break biology), but moments like the neutered walkers and their constant use as a stealth threat get very annoying. Oh hey, do you think Carl might get ambushed by a zombie while he leads the others awa... oh.

Anyway, Walking Dead's back. Looks like it's picking up where it left off too; every time it does something really clever, it does something stupid to compliment. Michonne's suddenly docile pack mules was an incredibly jarring moment, and clearly only happened so she could have her little personal growth moment while in the middle of that herd - but said personal growth was very well done and showed how strong this show can be when it lets the visuals do the work (I've said it before, but season 4 has been a very quiet season with precious little dialogue - in a good way). Her dream sequence was also very effective, made for a nice change of tone, and it dropped enough hints to layer the character that little bit more.

I would have much preferred to follow her story to be honest rather than Carl's because yeeeeeesh, that kid can't act. To be fair, the writing around Carl ain't great either but coming out of his mouth the words lose all power and credibility.

Another side note about the show's strengths btw: something it consistently does well, and this episode was no exception, are the little vignettes and stories of other survivors that pepper the background of events. The world feels so much richer & tangible because of moments like the note left on the napkin by 'Joe Jr.'

Season 4 Episode 9 "After" **SPOILERS**

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Season 4 Episode 9 "After" SPOILERS