i really wish people wouldnt talk sense
you dont fit in here unless you moan about something

Whilst so far I've preferred this season to last, you can't just ignore the free-falling viewing figures (although they are still very healthy for a series in season 7).

I wish they would vary the episodes more and have something from different groups, in the same way GOT will show 2-3 areas per episode.

The problem now is after the first 2 minutes with these slower episodes you immediately know there's no hope of seeing the Kingdom, Hilltop, Rick etc (depending on the episode's focus).

Next week looks better and possibly the most progressive episode since ep1.

Thank you, it has been a while since anyone said that I talked sense.

I do feel that there are too many moaners on here now. I don't really understand why they bother to watch it if they hate it so much. No matter how much I like a show, once it goes too much off track I just stop watching.

if there was a clapping hands emoji i would use it right now! this is what i have said over and over again in the various seasons threads, if dont like it dont watch.

with regards to the ratings, yeah theyve dropped, theyre still high, theyre still renewing for at least another season or 2.

Great Post! yes agreed its all part of the bigger picture

Shows don't depend on weekly ratings anymore. Once they got over the big reveal in Ep. 1, there's plenty of people out there who'll be catching up in bulk at half-season or full season.

I've not really thought about where I'd like to see the story go in any great detail. I just want to be entertained, which personally I wasn't (in the last two episodes). I agree some important things are happening, but to me the episodes just dragged.

Very rarely had this with GOT who are playing a similar game of chess in their story telling. Suppose I am more invested into their characters, which outside the immediate Rick group isn't the case with TWD. I'd not give two hoots if Tara ends up walker food, so naturally outside meeting yet another group to not care about I really found this episode dull.

To vaguely answer the question, the show needs to ditch the comics and change the format. Settle, get roughed up by bad guys, beat bad guys, lose a few, move on, settle, repeat.. Its getting a bit tedious now. In fact I think it needs to start thinking about a permanent way out, an end game.

None of this helps to explain how the current storyline could be progressed differently. I suppose one of the biggest issues I have is the time taken to cycle around the groups. Take Tara for example. It was ages ago since she was last on screen. I'd even forgotten it was the dead 'doctor' women she was involved with. My memory is poor but not that poor, but I occasionally have to dip into here to help put things together. If I have to do that then I assume others will too. If you don't care/have forgotten about a character then what's the point of episodes solely around that one character.

Game of Thrones has managed to do it well (mostly), the writers of TWD have not.

Should go without saying that this is just my own view, no idea if others feel the same.

Totally agree with all of that. It's all about getting to understand Negan's sphere of influence, how he's broken down all the groups to dissuade them from fighting back and how presumably it's going to be an all for one and one for all military style coup from all the groups uniting to overthrow Negan's authority.

Thank you

Thank you

When I watch it, I see the biggest threat coming from within his group. In the Daryl week, we clearly saw that even within the group they are not equal. With the big Neanderthal thugs who will follow anyone to stay alive being Negan's main army. He would kill any of them without hesitation. And that is what I like about the show. The way you can think ahead and try to see a way out. I found the Daryl week harrowing, partly because of that damn song but also because it all seemed so hopeless. But with Daryl refusing to bow to his demands and even stopping him hitting him with Lucille, there was hope. The next few weeks have also shown that there is hope. As people keep saying, it has only been a few days/weeks since he killed Abraham and Glenn. They need time to figure things out.

The only thing I do hope is that they do not let Dwight come to their side. He has done too much now and he needs to go. And I don't like him at all.

Me neither. I actually thought that she would die and that's why the producers had given her her own episode.

I found her attempting to fist pump the leader of the group and then saying "We can work on that" cringe worthy. I'm sure the leader has more important thing to think about.

This was probably the worst episode for me personally and I'm finding series 7 lacking so far. I've watched series 1-6 3 times and have enjoyed every episode as imo they all had hidden elements that may have been overlooked on previous viewings.

I don't feel the same about some of the episodes in this series. I'll probably watch them again if I ever do a marathon session from the very start but I think I'm going to find some of them a struggle.

I generally agree with most of the above comments. I like the slower episodes when they focus on a character we've grown to love, but I can't for the life of me work out why we needed a full episode about Tara and Heath.

The characters are so far down the tree that I wouldn't have noticed if Tara or Heath had never been mentioned again.

Who's that?

Lets be honest, it was a Tara episode. Heath was more... supporting.

I'm sure AMC are attempting to tell their advertisers the same thing. However they're not going to pay the same rate for 10m viewers as they would for 17m.

I just hope the cast's salaries weren't increased to such an extent that that the drop in viewers and ad revenue makes the show less attractive to the network.

Maybe not, but plenty would. Frequently.

To be fair, it wasn't a Tara/ Heath episode. They were just a plot device to bring the sea community into it, because it adds to the number of people who have been terrorised and brutalised by Negan, and who might possibly be persuaded to team up with Alexandria, Hilltop, The Kingdom and who knows how many other communities yet to be seen to fight back. At the moment, it's not remotely plausible that Rick et al could start a war against Negan (at least, not that he could possibly win), but the more people that can team up - possibly coupled with rumbles of dissent within Negan's camp - the more plausible that becomes, but first, the show has to introduce those additional people.

They could've saved a whole episode by Tara turning up in Alexandria at the start and saying "I've just discovered a whole new community but they don't want any publicity".
Then Rick could have toddled over there, created chaos, get half of the women killed, blow up that bridge, wipe out several species of animal life, and then get the rest of the womenfolk to join him at Alexandria.

Then you'd just moan they are repeating stories

They are repeating stories. I've already seen this one on Z-Nation

Yes but Z Nation gets most of its story lines by paying 'tribute' to another parts of the genre. I like it though, not having a dig.

I think Walking Dead would benefit from having the army from some far flung country turning up and rounding up all the survivors, or the survivors finding a government hideout where society is being put back together. Dunno- it's difficult by season 7 to be original and/or please everyone.

The Oceanside people seemed to have quite an arsenal, but by god they were awful shots. I don't know, 20? 30 people? all firing at Tara with a shoot to kill policy and they hit nothing. A group like Rick's could put those guns to better use.

Negan's group had the upper hand because Rick didn't know how big they were at the time they got caught. Now they know who they are dealing with and how they "work" the area,

I must admit I thought that too. I have never fired a gun in my life and I think even I would have hit something. I also felt they told Tara far too much even though they new she was lying about working on a 'larder'

First rule of survival, don't give your whole game away when you first meet someone, even if you are planning to kill them anyway. But if they hadn't done that we would not know their story so I won't complain.

Yeah, they should have just let that little girl pan Tara's head in during the pre-credits bit. Then fill in with 40 minutes of Carol's cake recipes or Eugene making bullets.

I've watched the from the beginning and I didn't like the last episode, far too much airtime to a minor character and a boring side story too. But I'll watch in hope that it picks up again.

I really don't mind character building and slower episodes but that last one was weak.

we've seen Negan come and take all the weapons from Alexandria, we've known for a while that Heath and Tara went on a scavenging trip prior to this, we know that somehow Rick has to fight back against Negan but with what resources? Tara finds a community well stocked unknown to Negan, its not rocket science but its obvious that this may well have some bearing on the future of the show, If all we had was Tara suddently turning up back at Alexandria saying " wow i had a scary trip, fell of a bridge after fighting off a load of sand zombies and seperated from Heath, got swept away by the current and woke up near some community with just women, who have lots of fish and guns. managed to escape from them and find way back to the bridge to fine Heath gone" I'd be pretty pissed off that we didnt get to see any of this.