#Addy x Negan

[waitinonfools]

[writesandfights]

Daryl Dixon and Addy Carver, ship or no?

[weapon13whitefang]

Liz Talks TWD 8x01 [Possible Spoilers]

So I went back and rewatched S08E01 and here are my few opinions on some things that caught my eye or that went through my mind. Keep in mind, these thoughts will be all over the place because I have so many things in my head.

But before I really get into that, let me just say that – for the 100th episode – I wasn’t too impressed. Now that’s not to say this was a bad episode. No as a story piece it was pretty good. It set up the top half of TWD and seeing all these different factions come together was needed. My favorite line was “I got your back” and the guy goes “you just met me” (or something like that) and I was happy because THAT is an important message in the show. Right next to “It’s not about you”.

And why is that important? Because later – in the next episode preview – we see Tara say “we have a job to do” and Jesus goes “we’re not here for revenge”. Each character has a motivation for why they’re fighting Negan. Whether to protect family, themselves, the future or whatever. And each fraction – Kingdom, Alexander, and Hilltop – have a different person they stand for (again either for themselves or for Maggie or Ezekiel or Rick). And hell some of them don’t even know what they’re fighting for, but they’re there and they’re gonna fight.

This season is called All Out War. A war doesn’t have to be just about what’s happening physically. In fact, a war can also mean what’s going on inside ones self. When people go to war, they start out one way. In the beginning of a war you see boys. By the end of a war, you see men with troubled or peaceful faces. War happens to the body and the mind as much as on a battlefield and I think that’s a big thing to keep in mind for this season and for each character; what is their own war and how is it going?

But anyway, the reason I wasn’t that impressed with this episode is that I was… Bored. Like the first half of the episode, until they drove the vehicles to the Savior Compound, I was bored. Because as someone who writes scripts and who studied scripts and film, I understand what’s going on and I just find it frustrating. What’s happening is the setup. We are setting up the season. We are setting up what’s going on and whose with us. We have three fractions vs one giant fraction. Rick and Maggie and Ezekiel’s team VS Negan’s team. We have the three fraction coming together and meeting for the first time and it’s one of those “hi nice to meet you this is awkward but I guess we’re partners” moments one might feel in high school or college when you have to partner up with someone you’ve never once talked to or even paid attention to. It’s awkward and uncertain… But this time you’re partners to survive in an apocalyptic world war of survival… No pressure.

So we have this set up happening… And that’s so boring. I’m not saying it isn’t needed! By God no, it’s needed. We can’t just suddenly be standing in the middle of the battlefield with Rick and Maggie and Ezekiel screaming orders while Negan is laughing and yelling about his dick (btw that scene was stupid but I laughed a little because JDM gets all the stupid lines) as he swings Lucille around. I mean I get that… They could do that but it wouldn’t work as well and all the crazy shit happening at once could leave people just as confused as it not happening at all.

But here’s the thing… They’ve been setting up this war since the beginning of Season 7 with Abraham and Glenn’s death. And it was topped off with Sasha’s death at the end of last season and Shiva coming into save Rick and Carl. I mean we’ve been ready for this war since season seven… More build up is… It’s kind of getting ridiculous at this point. It’s frustrating because I REALLY DO GET WHAT THEY’RE DOING but I do not like it because I’m getting tired of all this stacking and building. I love this shit but after a whole goddamn season of it, I’m just… I’m done.

But that said, I get it and I’m like “fine, fine okay whatever” right now. And when we see Negan step out of the Savior compound, I wasn’t as bored. Because now we were getting something fun. Negan’s swagger wasn’t as… Swag. He actually was slowly showing frustration because his call out plan didn’t work. Gregory didn’t come through because everyone had fallen behind Maggie (for the most part anyway) and Jesus. Gregory (Fuck this motherfucker by the way) was a useless trump card for Simon and Negan… Same with Eugene and Sasha last season. Negan is losing his trump cards slowly. Which THAT I found fascinating and fun to watch. Little by little he’s getting picked away.

Anyway, my main thought on this episode – my overall feel – is that it could’ve given us a lot more. I get building up the theme and the season. I get that they’re waiting to give us something big to chomp down on. But I need them to at least give me some meat on this pile of ribs because a girl can only lick a bone for so long you know? That’s my frustration with it. Not the episode itself. Not the storytelling device that it is. Just the lack of more.

And a lot of that might be that it’s the 100th episode. Episode 1 gave more than the 100th and that’s just kinda like “wtf”. Yes I know it was a brand new show back then. But that’s an excuse more than anything to me. I’ve seen this show give us amazing over the line episodes. This was a chance to do that while also setting up the season. They could’ve used next weeks episode as the kind of extra build up. That would’ve been more satisfying for me personally. You can still build up without taking away from the hype.

That said, I don’t hate this episode at all. The first part bored me but overall I liked seeing the visions of Old Man Rick (I don’t wanna call it future Rick or daydream Rick or whatever because that whole set up didn’t feel like a daydream or future view but more like a hallucination but not… So I’m just calling it a vision and Old Man Rick). I’m also laughing because people pointed out that older Judith’s eyes went blue from the brown they were when she was a baby and also wondering if that’s because Rick’s eyes are blue and Shane’s eyes were dark brown and Lori’s eyes were a very light brown and this is part of Rick’s vision that Judith is fully his child instead of falling on that belief that she’s Shane’s daughter. Either way, it made me kind of laugh but also go hmm.

I also liked the shot for shot image of Carl mimicking Rick in Season 1 and then Rick turning to see a young woman zombie with her face ripped open and wearing a light bathrobe and looking just like Summer – the little girl zombie Rick kills in the first season that was played by Addy Miller – only older. Was curious and looked her up on Twitter and sure enough, she’s the walker we see walking to Rick and Carl. Very very nice touch and that made me grin!

Eugene getting cut off was kind of deserved. I mean I believe he’s just grabbing information and playing a part because, hey, Eugene is good at that kind of shit like he did against Abe and his old crew. But I still think he’s being a real big piece of shit coward and needs to be SIT THE FUCK DOWN from time to time.

So no I didn’t hate this episode. Just got a bit frustrated with it.

Now for some fun little TD shit because I gotta nudge the water sometimes. I’ll probably do this any chance I can. Because I like TDers. Most of them have been nice to me and I find their metas fascinating sometimes.

Ticking clock noise in this episode and in next weeks episode and lots and lots of clocks.

Here’s a little fun nudges I wrote awhile back dealing with the trailer that I think is important for us to note. This is talking about the trailer In the trailer, we have the beating of an instrument in a sort of tribal-like setup. I found out from a friend – who is more musically trained than I am – that the instrument is most likely what is called a clave. AKA those wooden stick instruments a music teacher gives young kids to teach them how to learn music rhythm, to keep a beat. Since music is important, I decided to look into the clave. I did some research. Probably not needed and probably a bit excessive, but blame the scriptwriter in me. I found a blog that talks heavily about the clave and the first thing it discusses – besides telling us that the clave looks like a hot dog without the bun… So a hot dog – is that the clave “also refers to the 2/3 or 3/2 rhythmic glue that holds all the different polyrhythms together. You hear the rhythmic pattern and sound in all Cuban music, most Puerto Rican salsa, and a great deal of African music as well… The hardwood sticks have a sharp, penetrating sound that can be heard even over a large orchestra of loud, blazing horns.” (x) I found this information fascinating. As I said, trailer music I number one on the list of three important things in a trailer. That is because music – as well known – sets a mood. It sets a rhythm for the chosen images and cut-list of the trailer. A good example of how music can set a trailer is the infamous “Scary Mary” trailer (x) that can be found on Youtube – turning Mary Poppins from the whimsical musical and into a horror film. Simply by changing the music, they had an outline for a way to choose clips and make it seem that the classic Disney film Mary Poppins was instead a horror thriller. It’s still the same story, but the change in music makes it a whole other level of cinematography. That in mind, why the clave for this trailer? My thoughts go first back to the line “…The hardwood sticks have a sharp, penetrating sound that can be heard even over a large orchestra of loud, blazing horns.” Which is true. From 0:41 to 2:14 of the AMC posted trailer (x) we can hear the clave being played alone. No other instrument is with it. The music is the only clave’s being beaten to different rhythms to create a single sound/song. As rick begins to talk at 2:14, the clave’s – even muted, are not blocked by Rick’s speech. From 2:14 to 3:04, Rick’s speech is undertoned by the clave’s… This is important. This music – this instrument that can even be heard over larger sounds and can penetrate through it all – was chosen for a reason. What reason? Well, in my personal opinion, because it sounds like a clock and it sets up a feeling of anxiety. Also, according to my research and stated in the website above, the clave was created when slaves – who missed music – took two cuban carved pegs – pegs made to hold the ship together since nails were very expensive back in the late 1400s – and beat them together and discovered their sharp sound. “The Aricans started fashioning these pegs into smooth, round sticks that could be used as rhythm instruments.” (x). This sound also – to me – gives the whole things a sort of tribal feel. It makes me think I’m off running with a tribe. It’s like I’m on a hunt… And that’s what is happening. There is a hunt going on. Negan vs Rick. I mentioned that the clave also sounds like clocks. Like clocks ticking away. This show does love its time and clock. A ticking of a clock symbolizes many things. In media, it is often like that old saying “the clock is ticking”, meaning “time is running out”. This could be someones clock is ticking away to their death. A good example I like to use is ALL DOGS GO TO HEAVEN and how Charlie the Dog has a watch that represents his time on earth and he’s told his watch has stopped and meant his time is up. The clock stopped ticking for Glenn and he was eventually lost… Now it doesn’t all mean bad. “The clock is ticking” is also a saying that yes, your time is up. But that doesn’t mean your time is up in a bad sense. It could also symbolize an approach of someone or something. And since season 8 is supposed to be about the war with the Saviors (so it seems anyway), then the ticking clock sound can mean the time of approach of the war. A ticking away of a clock is also used in media to give narrative tension. To me – personally – we do get this. There’s something tensing about hearing the clave’s beat away like a clock. Like we’re Captain Hook and we hear the clock of the crocodile coming to get us. A post by Julie Eshbaugh gave the best example of explaining this tension. She said the ticking of a clock creating tension is a simple concept. And the concept is that “a certain task must be completed by a certain deadline or the character will fail and suffer the consequences of that failure… The addition of a ticking clock instantly creates increased tension. A challenge may feel relatively easy to overcome if time is not an issue. But take away the luxury of unlimited time and you immediately turn up the heat on your characters.” (x) Team Family is out of time. Negan has rallied together his Saviors and rallied Jadis with her Scavengers (a union that may have its own ticking clock hanging over it; a ticking bomb clock with how bull-headed Jadis and Negan seem to be just from their last seen exchange) and they have to rally together their plan of attack or risk their loss.  The clock is ticking on the approach – on the drop – of the war.Now as for that little bit of Team Defiance / Team Delusional in me that likes to peak out? Well, maybe this is the ticking – the final tick-tock – of Beth’s approach to team Family. She’s been linked with clocks and time before. Wouldn’t surprise me if this ticking clock was Beth’s clock ticking over team family… But again, that’s just me being a speculator.

The Weird Al song made me so confused/baffled, but @dynamicsymmetry pointed out how it’s interesting they used a Weird Al Song for a background song. Because a Weird Al song is a cover and a distorted version of an original song. Another One Rides the Bus is a parody of Another One Bites The Dust. He takes the songs and basically rewrites them with a new feel. The parody song resembles the original but it’s been altered to give a whole new mood. And to me, that’s kind of a good example of what they did with WHAWGO because they gave us this feel of a funeral for Beth but the feel was wrong because it was actually supposed to be a feel for Tyreese. See what I mean? Now of course not all music relates to Beth but Sunny pointing that out made me kinda pause and nod because yeah lol

Carl left a sorry note. Which can also be a nudge to Beth wanting to leave a Thank You note at the funeral home.

Carl talking about them needing hope because without it everything else isn’t enough. And I find it fascinating that it’s CARL that’s talking about Hope while driving around in the damn Phoenix van. I once said I think Carl is going to have a hand in finding Beth again and I still believe that if she’s gonna come back y'all.