I think if it's been aired and people haven't watched it then it is down to the person to risk being informed (sorry!)

The only DS spoiler that annoyed me was when they said someone had let slip about deaths, as in plural. Until that time it hadn't occurred to me that more than one may go, That was ages before the airing.

My point was I understand why people are moaning about it so why be surprised? I think it was ok and stated that it needed to shock in order to maintain interest. you said it yourself, nothing is off limits, so you expect no controversy? even hardened fans found it tough to watch

Haha sorry, just realised I read too fast and missed the crucial 'dont' in the second word of your post, so completely misconstrued your point. Sorry about that. I guess I just posted the same point again.

no worries I been skimming though some posts myself lol

Grim! Dads Army on catchup makes for a great chaser before bed.

You may be right. However "realistic" it may be, it wasn't pleasant viewing. If the next episodes are similar or are incredibly dark, I won't be watching simply because I didn't enjoy it.

I don't watch ISIS videos either, regardless of how real they may be.

The problem for the series is it may move from being a mass market programme to something very niche - with a cult following - with cancellation inevitable.

I'll be watching Episode 2, just to see!

That was a good episode to start this seasons proceedings

Oops
I have to be honest, though.
The Talking Dead > The Walking Dead

Oh, I went there.

Ohhhhhh!

I do actually love the panel of guests and it's great hearing how the actors feel about their lines and script reveals. It's a fast-paced fan rewarding show, and I love the zombie death montages.

I guess that's the point when you ask yourself how real you want a tv programme to be, I could see a few people switching off if each episode is like that! Hopefully there will be some balance but the story looks to be taking a very bleak turn, will be interesting to see where it goes.

''Taking it like a champ.''

He was always going to go strong after that.

Apologies if this has already been mentioned, but I've been reading that Michael Cudlitz, who played Abraham, has said that the rumour that the cast had filmed death scenes for every character was just that - a rumour. He said that they started it themselves as part of the plan to disguise who the real victims were.

Obviously everyone took a hit for the dream sequence, but taking him at his word, I suppose it could well mean the leaked footage of Maggie being killed was likely fan-made.

Watching Aftermath on 5STAR about the apocalyptic just days in to it and people have all ready turning on each other

I completely agree. I'm always making this point.

My partner (who isn't really into zombies and has never watched TWD) says he doesn't understand how I can watch that when I hate brutality.
Yes the point is when it's seeing all the different and unusual ways zombies can be despatched with various implements to the brain, then that's ok cos it's like cartoon violence. Like pantomime. We know it's not real. Zombies don't exist.

But when its man on man that's different. I hate brutality. I could never watch the film Hostel or Scum many years ago with Ray Winstone. I don't want to see some poor sod being tortured or beaten or kicked in the head or lying in a pool of blood while several people have a go. I think it's sickening and sort of violence porn.

So I was appalled on Monday watching the new ep. I cringed seeing heads been beating to a pulp and poor Glen's eye popping out. I felt wretched for them all especially poor
Maggie who had to sit there and endure that being done to the man she loved.

But zombies getting knifed in the brain? So what!

And before anyone predictably says well don't watch it if you don't like it, I love that show and have been watching it since day one. I just prefer to see zombies being slaughtered en masse rather than the living people we have come to know and love.

I don't think human on human violence this will become a theme for the show. I expect we can return to the normal zombie gore from now on. I reckon this is just a one off shock hideous moment designed to impact heavily on the rest of their lives.
We had to see it to understand.
And now normal service will be resumed.
Producers etc have all pretty much said as much and I see no reason to think otherwise.

I agree, the whole show has built to this moment, their lives will be changed forever

It was brutal but it had to be, this is a game changer and its now how do Rick and crew come back from this

If you think about it we've had human on human violence right from the start.... in the first episode Morgan's son hit Rick on the head with a spade

Is it explained anywhere - TD, WD website etc - exactly how they filmed the actual head bashing scenes (Abraham, Glenn and all the others)? The reason they were so brutalising, emotionally, is because they were so realistic looking, so I'm curious as to how they achieved that. I'm assuming the show doesn't have a Hollywood level budget to be able to use lifelike dummies and/ or tons of CGI, so presumably it was all (or mostly) using the real actors and real props. I can see that with the right sort of lighting and camera angle, and editing at just the right point, you can probably hide a lot of the tricks and effects used.

What I miss about the show is back story flashbacks. Or characters mentioing what they did before the outbreak. Havent had one in a long time. In my mind I like to think that Negan was a Manager at WholeFoods.

Well just back from America and I was fortunate that the house had AMC, Yippe so managed to watch the first episode, AMC were showing all the series back to back in the days leading up to the the new series, wall to wall Walking Dead! nearly filled up the HDD! but as we were on holiday only watched some of them and had to delete the rest. Thought the new episode was full of helplessness, Negan is such a Bar steward! looking forward to seeing how they cope with him! will see the rest of the episodes via my folks box eventually.

Well, the Governor was indeed the manager of a musical instruments shop, at least that's what the books tell us. Michonne was an accountant.

I know they sometimes use dummies. It was shown that all the times that Carl, or anyone else has had to be carried, they use dummies. Unless it is obvious in some shots that it is the actor being carried (Beth..) they are not real.

I gather that also goes for the head smashing.

I found it a tough watch and I can't say I really enjoyed it, in contrast to most of The Walking Dead up to that point. It took an already brutal show to an even darker place. I hope it doesn't become the new normal for the show. I hope we see something positive emerge from this low point in human depravity.

Dramatically, though, it was justifiable, even necessary, to show the torture and brutality as the consequence of what "our group" did to some of Negan's group.

Our group cold-bloodedly killing men in their sleep last season was just plain wrong. It wasn't justifiable morally, even in terms of "allowing anything that's necessary to survive". Every other thing they did as the protagonists up to that point I felt was justified. But not that.

I found Negan's strategy in keeping the group alive, especially Rick, frankly unbelievable. He's got a large, powerful group already and strategically could have taken the lower risk option of killing them all. Perhaps he's only dealt with less well organised and less ruthless groups than "our group" so far. Granted he doesn't know the group as we do, but he is still taking a big risk in leaving Rick alive. I suppose we're meant to think he's a psycho and just "gets off" on torturing and murdering people and that overcomes his logical thinking. The Governor was a much more credible antagonist. I suppose there's a lot more of Negan to come. Perhaps that will fill out his character.

I found the way Negan was played quite variable. It drew me out of the story somewhat when some of the postures JD Morgan struck and the mannerisms and the chuckling to himself reminded me of "Mad Dog" Tannen in Back to the Future Part III.

Interesting. Like I say, I didn't think the budget would stretch to having dummies for all the cast. I daresay if I re-watched and looked close enough, it'd be more obvious, but I don't want to know that badly.

He doesn't want to kill them all because they will be more of an asset to him in the long run than all those useless wimps up in the big museum house with Jesus etc.

Haha exactly. Living a warriors life now, but such mundane lives before. I dont read the comics so dont know if they mention Negans life before, but I like to think hes of the same ilk