Episode 778: Mission Summary

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Dave

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Zombie Cliche Lookout: Stilted Teaser

Teasers and cliffhangers work great in zombie and other horrors stories, because they keep the audience engaged between chapters/episodes/story arcs. Of course, they tend to lose a good deal of the efficacy when the audience already knows what’s been held back. That’s a pretty big failure in planning if you were hoping to get a lot out of the mystery.

That said, a good writer (i.e. one far better than I) can still milk a fair bit of drama out of what individual characters don’t know. After all, the imbalance in knowledge between a set of characters can create a good deal of tension, especially where nerves are already frayed from things like lack of sleep,  poor nutrition, and an army of undead monstrosities yearning to consume the flesh from your still living body.

About this Episode:

After shooting and editing a couple of comics, I feel like I’m getting back to the groove of things with my photography. I feel like the first couple episodes had the color a bit washed out, but today’s episode (and Wednesdays, since I shot them back-to-back) looks a bit better. It’s amazing how much you lose after just a (relatively) short break.

Discussion Question: Something Missing?

Since we are now a couple weeks into the new season, you have likely noticed that I’m not covering The Walking Dead this year. There are a few reasons for that. Foremost, my free time is extremely limited these days, and I want to make sure I’m able to keep the comic on track. A close second, however, is how little I actually care for the show these days. It’s hard to spend the forty or so dollars to buy the new season on Amazon when I know I’m not likely to enjoy it.

I had expected a few comments on this, but didn’t get any. So I’m wondering, has anyone missed the reviews?

15 thoughts on “Episode 778: Mission Summary”

  1. Typo alerts: “Of course, the tend to lose a good deal of the efficacy” – change first ‘the’ to ‘they’ 😀

    “already freyed from” freyed–>frayed 😉

    “and an army of undead monstrosities yearning to consuming the flesh” change “consuming” to either “the consumption of” or “consume”. Dave’s choice. 😀

    “the grove of things” grove–>groove 😀

    Looking good otherwise, Dave! 😀

    • Fixed all. Thank you, sir.

  2. I thought Stewart knew about the wound in Murphy’s leg so why is the commentary in the mouseover text implying that he doesn’t know what the antibiotics are for?

    • He does. I was just making a dumb joke, as antibiotics are a treatment for some common STIs.

  3. Also, considering Sam was the elephant in the room, Russell is lucky he doesn’t know about that incident, as he’s going to be rather puzzled by the looks on Stewart’s face when he sees Sam! 😀

    • Yes indeed. Sam and Stewart last saw each other on pretty bad terms. Let’s see how a little time and space effected them.

  4. I stopped caring about TWD a looong time ago. I only miss reading your reviews 😉

    • Hah, thanks. I found myself really struggling with the show the last two seasons.

  5. I won’t blame you for not caring for TWD… It’s a big disappointment. The first 2 episodes are just awful… Just kill them all and finish it right here right now, Don’t care who wins…

    It feels like the previous 2 seasons and all the Saviors’ staging was for nothing… Seems like Alexandria alone could have destroy the Savior from day one…

    Oh and not to mention the rise of FTWD (at least for me). It’s getting better every season so far and it has a different approach than the mother show.

    • We’re seeing more of “Season 2” problems. The best season is still the first; great plots with plenty for effects. But then everyone that made it great got fired because they wanted to give half the money to make “Mad Men”. Granted it received wonderful ratings, but you don’t shoot one show in the leg to make another.

      The second season didn’t have the drive of the first. It usually was about two people talking about a third character that wasn’t there. Sophia dies because reasons. We just couldn’t get involved.

      Negan, in the comic, was a wonderful villain. He was like the governor, but had motivation. Something that drove him forward and made sense. When he was taken down from power, it was only because Rick baiting him into doing something good to make their world better and then sucker punched him with a blade. That shows a villain with depth.

      This Negan is manipulative, but you don’t feel the depth to him. He just has people follow him because reasons. Has the charisma of a cult leader, but lacks the real intelligence. Didn’t punish a guy who ended up killing a young man in the Kingdom, but in the comic he slays one of his own who tried (but didn’t) rape one of Rick’s members.

      There’s too big a difference to compare the two. Just to put in perspective, I had my DVR record the show last night (of me writing this) and I didn’t even remember until I read the comment section. If no one had said anything, I don’t know how long it’d take before I remembered.

      Now that’s bad…

      • That is pretty bad. I really do need to get caught up with the comic. The last one I read everyone was just getting to Alexandria. I’m probably three or four years behind.

    • That’s exactly what I was afraid of. They really think they have something with Negan, so they’re just milking the tension like crazy.

  6. re. no more TWD reviews.
    I liked having somewhere to come and discuss the latest episode, but I can understand if you haven’t the time or motivation. Or the money, were you paying that much just for the one show? It’s included in my TV package, if I had to pay extra I wouldn’t be watching either.

    I’ll keep watching for the foreseeable. But if this rumour is true I’m sure I’ll eventually quit too.
    https://io9.gizmodo.com/amc-threatens-us-with-50-more-years-of-the-walking-dead-1820081015

    • Yeah, we don’t have cable so we buy the odd show here and there. We don’t watch a ton of TV, so it’s generally not too expensive. TWD went up this year for some reason. Maybe the season is longer?

      That is a disgusting rumor.

  7. Holy crap. I feel so uncomfortable. I’m liking Twd just fine. Haha! 😀 I never have the “Popular” opinion. I’ve always liked your reviews, but i understand you not doing them. I just get worried, with botd ending and no more reviews. Where will we get our daily Dave? Will you quit this place and I’ll never see you again, or will you start something new?