Thursday, March 20, 2014

Episode 67 - Look at the Flowers

Episode 67 of the podcast deals with one of the most buzzed-about episodes of AMC's the Walking Dead so far.  We look at episode 14 of Season 4, The Grove.  Featuring a standout performance by Melissa McBride as Carol, the story is taken, in large parts from an incident portrayed in the original comics.  We disagree about how successful the show was with telling the story. We then turn to other thoughts and hit some random areas before finally wrapping up the festivities.
Please let us know what you thought by writing to us at mail@z-realm.com or by posting a message on our Facebook page.
Posted by The Z-Realm at 8:39 PM

3 comments:

  1. AnonymousMarch 27, 2014 at 3:17 PM

    I was surprised that people were so unenthused by the plot with Lizzie and Mika, but I hadn't seen the parallel plot in the comic book, and I wasn't distracted by HD visuals.

    I found the portrayal of Lizzie and Mika really compelling. And I liked all the different ways in which the other characters misunderstand Lizzie. (The scene in which Mika tries to get Lizzie to snap out of it and then is surprised to find that her sister is genuinely detached from reality was great.)

    I was a little surprised that Carol and Tyrese didn't snap and shoot Lizzie on the spot when it became clear that the baby was in danger. And I did wonder if the writers would go so far as to kill off Lil' Asskicker again. But that would probably have been too gruesome even for this cheerful episode.

    The theme of "survivors as walking dead" is hit really hard this episode, and I love it (maybe readers of the comic are more tired of the theme). Especially the dramatic irony of Carol's response to Lizzie's, "I know what I have to do now." ("It's ugly and it's scary and it does change you, but that's how we get to be here.") Mika and Tyrese are there to provide rejections of Carol-and-Lizzie's "you must become a 'survival animal' or a zombie" thesis. Mika just refuses to make such a choice even to the point of death. Tyrese demonstrates that people still have the power to forgive themselves and others, that you can still reclaim your humanity even after you've had to do terrible things to survive.

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    Replies
    1. The Z-RealmMarch 27, 2014 at 3:25 PM

      Great points all around, thanks for posting. I love the word Anvilicious too!
      I thought there was some great moments in the episode but your insight is very new to me. It makes me think that maybe a wrap-up episode of the z-realm, after we've had time to fully digest everything that happened during the season, might be a good idea. Especially with these types of comments and how they spur me to think of things in entirely new ways and to see things I had totally missed before.
      Thanks!
      Marty

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    2. AnonymousMarch 27, 2014 at 4:22 PM

      Thank you good SF! Perspicacious as ever. Why aren't you sitting nearby and whispering these perceptions into my ear while we're recording? We'll have to remedy that. You should totally read the comic. The murder of the psychopathic child motif is developed to a muuuuuuuch more disturbing, ambivalent and thus, satisfying, degree. Thank you for anvilicious! My favorite part about the explanation of the word's milieu is: "Frequently the element becomes anvilicious through unnecessary repetition, but true masters can achieve anviliciousness with a single stroke." Now I know what that feeling is when considering MOST of ms media. It's my mouth trying to sculpt the one word that describes it so well.

      Great comments!

      Olga

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