The first distance shot did look like the ruins of a smoking building (made from concrete slabs) it was only when we got the closer look it was clear to me they were the mattress'.


Admittedly I was watching on a computer screen in fairly low res.

I didn't find this depressing. These episodes are fine as long as you can interpose some joy and fun. I loved the episode when Daryl and Rick met Jesus. I watched how some fan changed the music to easy street when Daryl was pleading for him not to put on the music. I like Jesus and Ezekiel. They are pragmatists and will be able to come up with a plan. I noticed Rick was not totally broken and just needs good people to help him come up with a plan that has some chance of success. I have no doubt Dwight will turn and help them and Rosita and Eugene will make bullets.

They've now got four different communities, so could easily get a baseball league started.

Only Negan has a bat tho

Why does everyone think that Negan would have been killed a long time ago? He is providing hundreds of people with relatively safety, food and shelter in return for them working for him, he might have been a complete arse to some of them but im sure not the majority. Kind of like saying how come one of Hitler's men didnt kill him? or Stalin? or any other ruthless leader in the past

Not for the want of trying, though. In fact, history shows us that in pretty much every dictatorship being presided over by a madman, the leadership is challenged sooner or later, usually when the actions and motivations of the leadership threaten those directly below them in the hierarchy. We saw last week that those at the bottom of Negan's hierarchy are treated appallingly, but they're too far removed to be able to do anything, but even Dwight was showing signs of being dis-satisfied. It's not inconceivable that Negan was challenged in the past - it's not as if that person would stil be alive now if they had - nor that Dwight won't try it on at some future point, probably as a result of something to do with Daryl and Negan's treatment of his ex-wife.

i thought the bird was a plant too at first! I said t the other half' Oooh she has spotted a plane', !! then saw it was a circling bird,lol

Even when watching on a 50 " HD TV it wasn't apparent to me that I was looking at mattresses .It looked like something hard that had melted . Walking Dead seems to be taking itself too seriously now and has gone all "Art Movie" with poor storytelling in my opinion .

We were watching on a 50 inch HD telly too. I came to this thread to find out what it was we were looking at!

LOL, I'm glad it wasn't just me.

Once psychotic despots gain power they usually hide behind various layers of loyal subordinates - they certainly don't do the dirty business themselves, personally handing over weapons to their enemies that could crush the life out of them in a second. Let's get real here - the only thing that's keeping Negan alive are the writers. Annoyingly they seem rather pleased with themselves over this cheesie one-dimensional character - what other reason could there be for the endurance test of an extra 10 mins of pointless, poorly acted drivel last night ? I hope I'm wrong but it looks like we are stuck with him for quite a while yet.

Btw I had no idea it was the charred remains of mattresses either.( Sat 8 feet away from a 46" HD tv )

I think Negan's main problem is that he comes across far too cool and cocksure. In reality, a far better fit would be to make him more serious and paranoid - he must know that he is on borrowed time being such an arse?

This so much. For a big bad he is just so over-the-top and boring. I know that he has only featured in a few episodes, but right from his introduction I was praying for him to shut the hell up.


The Governor was a much more interesting, and layered character, particularly in series 3, I'll admit that the writing for his character went downhill in series 4 which was a shame. Unfortunately Negan has started off as a poor, and even worst, annoying viliain.


I think that if you have watched every episode of The Walking Dead from the first season then you don't really need to be told what the series is about.

Anyway, hopefully the writers haven't completely lost it, and things start to improve soon.

Well I'll be the voice in the wilderness - I'm loving the new season.

I am a very rare reader or contributor to this thread and the pointless negativity has reminded me why. We're four episodes in and have barely scratched the surface of Negan as a character yet apparently the good people of DS have him all figured out already.

If he comes across as a pantomime villain it's because that is how he sees himself. He sees himself as untouchable. Why would he ever show fear, or cowardice, or anything other than arrogance?

No you shouldn't but maybe needs reminding, if people thought that episode was depressing perhaps they're new to the show?

I'm with you, think it's been great so far and each episode has been different too.

Negan is an interesting character in my opinion, every time we see him it's like he's putting on a show and that's how he has to be. But the writing and acting is always good on this show, puts me on the edge of the seat every Monday.

You know he's not real, yeah? The criticism isn't about how Negan sees 'himself'. It's about how the writers and the actor portray him, and so far, he's come across as very one-dimensional, with all the range and depth of, as has been said, a below average pantomime villain. Maybe on paper and on the storyboard they see this as mysterious and enigmatic, 'untouchable' even, but writ large in 3D acting and spoken dialogue, to many people it's boring and repetitive.

King Ezekiel is a good example of a character who puts on a completely different personality in front of his subjects, but has been shown to be nothing like that when he lets his guard down (assuming this doesn't also turn out to be an act). If Negan in fact has a guard to let down, we haven't seen it yet. All we've seen is the arrogant, sadistic prick side of him.

True, I suppose some people will be jumping on to the series for the first time, in which case I would urge them to go back and watch from season 1, that way they'll see TWD pretty much at its best, and also how much both Rick, and Carl have aged .

Exactly. I don't think it's a binary choice - on the one hand 'grim and depressing' on the other 'kumbaya by the fire'. It's been a difficult balancing act but the show has so far managed to mostly straddle a middle ground, whenever it strays too far one way it tends to quickly self-correct. I don't mind 'grim and depressing' - Requiem For A Dream is one of my favourite films, my favourite TV series this year has been series 2 of American Crime - both way more depressingly realist than anything possible from a largely escapist comic based zombie show like Walking Dead. The problem for me is this cringecreature Negan - he seems totally out of context with all that has gone before, a one dimensional centrestage joke character totally devoid of any depth or nuance ( so far at least). Fair enough if people like him, I'm not seeking to persuade anyone otherwise. I'm just expresssing frustration and disappointment at the direction the show is taking, after 6 seasons that I've really enjoyed.

Honestly, if I were on the show I think I'd rather be beaten to death with Lucille than have to listen to Negan's inane ramblings for ninety minutes.

I'd also ask him how he expected the group to gather this stuff he wants without the necessary tools (guns) to do so? It is a zombie infested world after all. Even with guns Rick's group doesn't have the numbers to defeat the Saviours so that shouldn't be an issue.

It's been one full episode of it for gawds sake! I really don't know what people want from TWD - just a constant round of big zombie herds and big bad guys getting taken down every couple of episodes? It's tough to watch at times, it's not a heart warming feel good rom com.

If viewers could just try and watch the episodes instead of planning how they would change them...There were so many excellent elements to last nights episode, Rosita, father Gabriel and Megan's reaction to him, some of negans quips were hilarious, Dwights creepy interest in becoming Daryl, Rick talking about Shane and Judith. Negan finding the video tape of 'bad ass' rick and comparing it to broken rick was heartbreaking.

If you think that's all that happened then I urge you to either watch it again or give up on the whole thing!

I find Negan very interesting, tbh.
When he told Rick to be careful how he (Rick) looked at him, it was so tense.

I dont see any pantomime villain, I see a narcissistic madman who knows exactly how to cast fear in people's hearts. To break someone, you must find their weak point, and that is what he does.

Of course, this behaviour will only last for so long. But for now, it works. The people of North Korea, why don't they act? Because you can not simply kill the King, you will have to destroy the entire court.

Learn to spell.

Did anyone else think Darryl was blinking morse code?

There was a morse code poster up on Wall in Rick's house and Darryl was doing some fairly suspicious blinking when Rick was looking at him.