Abraham Ford – Simon’s Incoherent Blog

The Walking Dead: Season 6, Episode 14 – Twice As Far

“You wanna live, you take chances. That’s how it is.”

vlcsnap-2016-03-21-19h00m14s443

(SPOILER WARNING!)

After the tumultuous events of the last couple of weeks, this week’s Walking Dead was one of those “take a breather” eps so common before the Stonking Big Finale. Not filler exactly, as there was plenty of character development and groundwork laid for plots to come; nevertheless, it was an uneven episode. There was plenty of good stuff here, but it all hinged on an unlikely display of stupidity by our veteran survivors as they chose the worst possible time to go on two inadvisable foraging trips with two comparative rookies. Continue reading “The Walking Dead: Season 6, Episode 14 – Twice As Far”

The Walking Dead: Season 6, Episode 12 – Not Tomorrow Yet

“We know exactly what this is. We don’t shy from it. We live. We have to kill them all.”

vlcsnap-2016-03-12-16h28m46s792

(SPOILER WARNING!)

There’s an old military maxim, coined in the 19^th century, that no plan survives contact with the enemy. Switching gear from Western to war movie again, this week’s ep of The Walking Dead was a textbook demonstration of that, as we followed Rick and his meticulous planning to lead the gang to Savior HQ, with the ultimate objective of killing them all in their sleep. Continue reading “The Walking Dead: Season 6, Episode 12 – Not Tomorrow Yet”

The Walking Dead: Season 6, Episode 11 – Knots Untie

“Your world’s about to get a whole lot bigger.”

vlcsnap-2016-03-03-18h35m50s346

(SPOILER WARNING!)

I frequently bang on on this blog about how The Walking Dead tends to appropriate the tropes of both war movies and Westerns (outside of its obvious genre of post-apocalyptic horror). It was at it again this week, and like a couple of weeks ago, the most obvious source of inspiration was The Magnificent Seven. Continue reading “The Walking Dead: Season 6, Episode 11 – Knots Untie”

The Walking Dead: Season 6, Episode 6 – Always Accountable

“If you have a roof over your head… if you have food, you have walls – you have choices. And without Walkers, and bullets, and shit hitting the fan, you’re accountable for them. You’re always accountable.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

Still wondering if Glenn’s really dead? Well, I’m afraid you’ll have to wonder at least one week longer, as this week’s Walking Dead caught us up with yet another narrative strand in the gang’s long, long day. This time, we found out what happened to Abraham, Sasha and Daryl while all the other bad shit was going down back at the town; and as ever, the script (by Heather Bellson this week) gave us a satisfying balance of undead action and character development. Continue reading “The Walking Dead: Season 6, Episode 6 – Always Accountable”

The Walking Dead: Season 5, Episode 5–Self Help

“We don’t stop, we don’t go back. We’re at war, and if we stop, we lose.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

Another week, another group of survivors in The Walking Dead. Having sensibly split up the ever-growing gang of main characters, it looks like showrunner Scott Gimple’s approach for this year is to jump between numerous storylines involving each group. If nothing else, it presumably means that some of the gang will get a bit more time off; after all, we haven’t seen Andrew Lincoln for two episodes now.

Continue reading “The Walking Dead: Season 5, Episode 5–Self Help”

The Walking Dead: Season 5, Episode 3–Four Walls and a Roof

“Nightmares end. They shouldn’t end who you are.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

Seemingly already sure on its feet three eps into the new season, this week’s Walking Dead was a solid story that advanced the plot nicely while providing some thrills, scares and action. After the pyrotechnic spectacle of the season opener and the more thoughtful tone of last week, this was effectively a low key but tense real-time siege thriller along the lines of Assault on Precinct 13 or Rio Bravo, contained within bookend scenes that continued to explore the theme of where the characters are going, and how far they’ve become removed from the people they used to be.

Continue reading “The Walking Dead: Season 5, Episode 3–Four Walls and a Roof”

The Walking Dead: Season 4, Episode 15 – Us

“There ain’t no ‘us’”.

(SPOILER WARNING!)

After the very dark territory of last week’s little side trip, this week’s penultimate ep of The Walking Dead’s fourth season gave us a much more conventional bit of storytelling. You couldn’t exactly say it was light relief, not in this show; but there were no shock twists, and nobody we cared about died. More importantly, after weeks and weeks of angst-ridden soul-baring, this ep suddenly seemed to (finally) get the plot moving again. Question is, where to?

Continue reading “The Walking Dead: Season 4, Episode 15 – Us”

The Walking Dead: Season 4, Episodes 9 & 10 – After / Inmates

“You were wrong. I’m still here.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

Hello again, faithful readers (all several of you)! As usual this time of year, my reviews have been delayed by a sojourn to sunny Los Angeles, and the Gallifrey One Doctor Who convention. Consequently, I’ve missed covering two eps of The Walking Dead since it returned from its mid-season break, so I figured I’d do them both in one bumper post – with this week’s to follow tomorrow – jetlag permitting!

Continue reading “The Walking Dead: Season 4, Episodes 9 & 10 – After / Inmates”