This is show is fucking doomed. The dreadful pacing will be its demise.

i agree 100%

well written review

@jridle73 said:

Tonight's episode of the THE WALKING DEAD goes beyond Thunderdome but doesn't go anywhere interesting. "Hostilities & Calamities" is, instead, by-the-numbers TWD dreariness incarnate, like a greatest hits package of many of my past criticisms of the series.

1) Filler - Yep, this was yet another filler ep featuring yet another one-line plot in which nothing of any real consequence happened. Eugene is taken to the Saviors' compound and Negan, recognizing his skills, gives him a privileged position. This was the explicit reason Negan took him; if any further explanation had been necessary, a competently written series would have disposed of the matter in half a sentence in a later ep.[1]

2) Slam on the Brakes, Throw Out the Drag-Weights - After two eps in a row that had moved at a relatively reasonable clip,[2] this one brings all that momentum to a screeching halt for that static filler story, which ever-so-slowly deals with entirely irrelevant events that occurred prior to the stuff we've been watching for a few weeks now.

3) Repetition Is The Soul of TWD - TWD has a terrible habit of repeating exactly the same material over and over again and this entire ep was just a rehash of material previously covered this season in "The Cell" and "Sing Me A Song." Eugene take the place of Daryl and Coral from those eps, hanging around the Savior compound, learning how things--the same things--work, recovering Negan's marital arrangements and its discontents, watching Negan do his one-note '60s Batman villain act, going among the workers, learning the hierarchy, seeing the nicer apartments Negan's favored are granted (the apartment Eugene is given appears to be exactly the same apartment Negan used to try to tempt Daryl over to his side). It even replicates the scene from the Coral ep wherein Negan gathers his workers to dispose of someone whom he believes has crossed him. In this case, the fellow is killed rather than merely being burned nearly to death. The b-plot replicates the material from those early eps regarding Dwight, the melodrama with his wife and his rocky relationship with Negan, which is yet again challenged and to which he yet again decides to cling. We even get a brief reprise of the dreadful pop tune Dwight previously used to torture Daryl...

The full article is here.

They need to reduce the season orders to 12. There's usually 4 eps. per year of total filler that could be done away with entirely. Then they need to focus on moving the story along more quickly. The first half of season 7 could've been done more than sufficiently in three episodes, leaving Rick and company to start plotting their revolt in the fourth. I still love the show and don't think it's exhausted itself by any means. They just have too much time to go off on tangents, and slow burn stuff that really isn't complicated enough to explore on slow burn mode. And they should save their 90 minute specials for episodes where there's just too much going on to squeeze it all into 60 minutes.

@chrisjdel said:

They need to reduce the season orders to 12. There's usually 4 eps. per year of total filler that could be done away with entirely. Then they need to focus on moving the story along more quickly.

No, that wouldn't matter. The decision to put so little work into the writing, which is the real problem here, is intentional. Properly plotting a television series takes time; it will always be easier to just fill in entire episodes with one-line-item plots you dreamed up in 2 minutes than to put in the work, and the writers on TWD have learned over the years that viewers will watch whatever they serve up, whether it's any good or not. They have no motivation to earn the paychecks they're getting. Reducing the number of eps wouldn't help. If TWD only did 7 eps a year, four of them would be filler eps just like this. That's how the show has been since season 2. It's just that it's now finally starting to wear on viewers.

The first half of season 7 could've been done more than sufficiently in three episodes, leaving Rick and company to start plotting their revolt in the fourth.

Most of the first half of season 7 could have simply been eliminated. The midseason opener should have been episode 2--they should have been ready to form a resistance right from the beginning. The VERY little substance the first half of the season contained could have been integrated into the first two or three eps of the midseason.

And they should save their 90 minute specials for episodes where there's just too much going on to squeeze it all into 60 minutes.

The 90-minute eps are, by this point, just there to squeeze in extra commercial time. TWD struggles to even fill an hour. There's no reason at all it should be running over its timeslot so often--that's just AMC milking it for all the ad revenue possible before it dies (which is why overtime eps have so proliferated while the ratings are plunging).

@Robgoblin_TheBanned said:

i agree 100%

well written review

Thanks. I try.

@jridle73 said:

@chrisjdel said:

They need to reduce the season orders to 12. There's usually 4 eps. per year of total filler that could be done away with entirely. Then they need to focus on moving the story along more quickly.

No, that wouldn't matter. The decision to put so little work into the writing, which is the real problem here, is intentional. Properly plotting a television series takes time; it will always be easier to just fill in entire episodes with one-line-item plots you dreamed up in 2 minutes than to put in the work, and the writers on TWD have learned over the years that viewers will watch whatever they serve up, whether it's any good or not. They have no motivation to earn the paychecks they're getting. Reducing the number of eps wouldn't help. If TWD only did 7 eps a year, four of them would be filler eps just like this. That's how the show has been since season 2. It's just that it's now finally starting to wear on viewers.

The first half of season 7 could've been done more than sufficiently in three episodes, leaving Rick and company to start plotting their revolt in the fourth.

Most of the first half of season 7 could have simply been eliminated. The midseason opener should have been episode 2--they should have been ready to form a resistance right from the beginning. The VERY little substance the first half of the season contained could have been integrated into the first two or three eps of the midseason.

And they should save their 90 minute specials for episodes where there's just too much going on to squeeze it all into 60 minutes.

The 90-minute eps are, by this point, just there to squeeze in extra commercial time. TWD struggles to even fill an hour. There's no reason at all it should be running over its timeslot so often--that's just AMC milking it for all the ad revenue possible before it dies (which is why overtime eps have so proliferated while the ratings are plunging).

Spot on, that's exactly how I feel. I'll just add that IMO it's not that the formula it's starting to wear on wievers, it's that in the past they at least tried to tell a coherent story, now they don't bother anymore.

@Il_Melandri said:

Spot on, that's exactly how I feel. I'll just add that IMO it's not that the formula it's starting to wear on wievers, it's that in the past they at least tried to tell a coherent story, now they don't bother anymore.

It's a coherent story. It's just dull and drawn out with fillers stuffed in there. IMO it is simply the network trying to fit in as much commercial time as possible so it is beneficial to them to slow-walk the story as much as possible. I completely understand it from their perspective. Here you have me, a person with very little patience for story that crawls at a snail's pace (Lost comes to mind) and yet here I am STILL watching the show. The majority of the zombies (pun intended) that watch the show would surely string along. This is the major disadvantage that commercial networks have vs. paid network in the scheme of quality art. The art suffers dramatically (again pun intended) due to the money people getting in the way pushing for more and more commercial time. This is why HBO, Showtime, etc., shows will almost always be better than commercial network shows. They only have to worry about attracting subscribers and not advertisers.

Totally agree about HBO and Showtime. They focus on what the viewers want.

As for this filler episode, it was mildly interesting, but I must admit that dozed off a bit during Dwight's little journey. I'm just not interested in Dwight. At all.

@movie_nazi said:

@Il_Melandri said:

Spot on, that's exactly how I feel. I'll just add that IMO it's not that the formula it's starting to wear on wievers, it's that in the past they at least tried to tell a coherent story, now they don't bother anymore.

It's a coherent story. It's just dull and drawn out with fillers stuffed in there. IMO it is simply the network trying to fit in as much commercial time as possible so it is beneficial to them to slow-walk the story as much as possible. I completely understand it from their perspective. Here you have me, a person with very little patience for story that crawls at a snail's pace (Lost comes to mind) and yet here I am STILL watching the show. The majority of the zombies (pun intended) that watch the show would surely string along. This is the major disadvantage that commercial networks have vs. paid network in the scheme of quality art. The art suffers dramatically (again pun intended) due to the money people getting in the way pushing for more and more commercial time. This is why HBO, Showtime, etc., shows will almost always be better than commercial network shows. They only have to worry about attracting subscribers and not advertisers.

I don't know. This season feels disjointed to me. I don't mind at all a non-linear storytelling. I even enjoy it when properly done. Maybe the overall arch is still coherent and maybe I'm just too bored to notice.

I liked season 2 because of the slow pace, so I can get behind a take-your-time approach, but this is getting ridicolous. Yes, commercial networks have to chase after advertisers, I get it, and I get that they want to milk the cow as much as they can, but I've never felt so cynically manipulated before. I believe there's always a middle ground, and while I'm still here watching the show, like you, I won't bother with another filler ridden season. Enough is enough. I also can't stand Morgan's Negan, so Season 8 could be my turning point.

Anyhow, I believe the true problem lies with the enormous success and the zombies that keep watching no matter what. As Jriddle73 said, AMC knows that wievers will watch whether the show is good or not. Other networks still manage to look after their commercial needs and produce entertainment, why not AMC? (Rethorical question ;-))

I've watched quite a bit of this show pretty much out of order but it didn't really matter...I'm glad it never "hooked" me. I recently watched an episode and the commercials were REALLY REALLY annoying. I mean downright abusive to the viewer. Some commercials are to be expected but the amount is far too excessive. Plus a person can tell that they're just dragging all of this out and milking it. I'm proud that I stopped watching LOST after four episodes when it first started. I could tell that the show was just going to jerk me around and I was right. I like episodic TV with maybe an overarching theme...but where each episode is satisfying.

I liked BREAKING BAD but even some of that was filled and could have finished in 3 seasons.

@Rachael Tyrell said:

As for this filler episode, it was mildly interesting, but I must admit that dozed off a bit during Dwight's little journey. I'm just not interested in Dwight. At all.

Well I don't wanna spoil too much but Dwight will play an intricate part in things to come. This is what they are trying to set up.

@me1701 said:

I've watched quite a bit of this show pretty much out of order but it didn't really matter...I'm glad it never "hooked" me. I recently watched an episode and the commercials were REALLY REALLY annoying. I mean downright abusive to the viewer. Some commercials are to be expected but the amount is far too excessive. Plus a person can tell that they're just dragging all of this out and milking it. I'm proud that I stopped watching LOST after four episodes when it first started. I could tell that the show was just going to jerk me around and I was right. I like episodic TV with maybe an overarching theme...but where each episode is satisfying.

I liked BREAKING BAD but even some of that was filled and could have finished in 3 seasons.

OMG, Lost was the fkn worst! I wish I had the wherewithal as you and quit after 4 episodes but sadly I let myself get tortured for 3 seasons before I finally quit. Commercial TV just blows and I am so glad paid networks are kicking their ass in quality storytelling. TWD season 1 and 2 were excellent and really only the last two seasons have been pretty bad. I really am about to give up after this season.