After episode 4 drop I'm trying to figure out what the hell is happening with this show and most of the others on a second season, episode 4 titled "Feisty Friendly" gave us some decent moments but I still feel like season 2 keeps under performing compared to season 1 even though the last two episodes are feeling better than the mess we got at the begining. The whole thing with Dama having this weird control over Hershel still feels off to me, like I get that she's supposed to be this master manipulator but the way she has him wrapped around her finger just doesn't sit right, it's like watching a kid being brainwashed and nobody seems to notice or care, and why Maggie havent confront him and smack the sht out of him?.
- IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt33480028//
- Platform: AMC+
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This episode focused heavily on meeting Bugal who lives in some fancy museum and apparently has been running walker fights for entertainment, which sounds cool in theory but the execution felt kinda predictable because you could see where things were heading from miles away, I mean a 26-0 Zombie? cmon it has to be a guy doing the "fighting". The series is still too predictable for my taste and while there were some good moments Im still left with the feeling that we are just going through the motions instead of getting something truly exciting. Negan and Maggie finally had their meeting which was nice to see but it felt rushed and didn't have the meaning or emotion I was expecting, maybe because we have seen them interact so many times before that it has lost some of its impact. The whole methane storyline continues to be the north of the story but honestly I'm getting tired of hearing about it every single episode and I just want them to move on to something more interesting.
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The whole walker fighting ring situation that Bugal has been running was the only puzzle to solve on this episode and it turns out the guy has been cheating this entire time by using an actual human being dressed up as a walker instead of a real one, the thing that got me sick is how he kinda train the guy on eating rats so he could basically "eat" zombies, I know he was not eating them but very when you have to stab them with your face. The poor bastard named Tony who used to be Bugal's bodyguard before everything went to shit was basically being forced to act like a walker and fight other walkers for entertainment, which is probably one of the most fucked up things I've seen on this show so far. Tony didn't say a single word during the entire episode but his story was probably the most tragic part of the whole thing, here iss a guy who was loyal to Bugal and ended up being turned into some kind of sick entertainment for people to bet on while Bugal kept all the spoils of war. The reveal that he wasn't actually a walker was pretty obvious for me because his movements were too coordinated and he seemed to respond to things in ways that walkers normally don't. Honestly I first believe it when the Croat mention it and then Negan figured out the truth and used it as leverage against Bugal it was a smart move, showing that even though he has been playing nice he is still got those manipulative skills that made him dangerous in the first place, although he play with fire here because he was not 110% for sure at first just until the fight was over, he was risking gambling away a methan factory. The whole scene where Bugal kills Tony at the end was brutal after the guy had already served his purpose and could have been set free but instead he gets his throat slit because Bugal doesn't want any loose ends, this only shows how disposable people are to these leaders who only care about maintaining their power and control, Tony deserved better than being treated like a disposable toy.
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The meeting between all these different faction leaders was supposed to be this big tense moment but it ended up feeling more like a bunch of kids arguing in a playground, but I guess it is what it is, this was suppose to be how things would play out and Dama knew it when she warn Negan not to let Croat screw up things for her. Bugal wanting a second methane factory built in his museum was an interesting power play but the Croat being suspicious about the walker fights felt like he was just jealous that someone else might be getting more attention than him. Probably the most interesting aspect of the series is how things work out between Dama, the Croat, and Negan continues to be weird because you can tell there's tension building but nobody wants to make the first move, it's like watching a really slow game of chess where everyone is afraid to actually play. Negan putting up the walker fight as a way to settle things always a gambler looking for a way to turn the situation to his advantage while making it seem like he is being fair but there is always a trick in the works. It was during the fight when he jumped into the arena to help his walker it was obvious he was up to something and thats the exact moment he figured out that Bugal's champion wasn't what it seemed to be. Then Negan whisper Bugal at the end was probably him telling you "I got you btch" and was probably enough to tell the cat was out of the bag and he knew everything, reason why even though Bugal wins he drops the idea of a methan factory.
Personally for me the best part and most intense one was the scene with the revelation that Dama used to be some famous critic in New York before everything went to hell some cool interesting background information but it doesn't really change anything about her character or motivations, although I realy thought she was to slit Benjamin right on the spot before he could finish his story. Hershel meeting up with Dama again at the end just proves that Negan was right about not being able to trust him, which puts Maggie in an impossible position of having to choose between believing her son or accepting that he might be working against her, I'm sure she knows she cant trust him but she is in denial or think she fan somehow fix him instead of confronting him. The whole firefly story between Maggie and Hershel was supposed to be this touching mother son moment but it felt forced and didn't really add anything meaningful to their relationship, truth is that I was distracted at that moment and didn't even matter to me, it was while making this recap that I find out about it. Now Ginny getting a gun and planning to kill Negan is another subplot that looks unnecessary because lets face it another kid who got his parents killed by Negan has come back to put a bullet on his head? getting old I think, like they're just adding more drama for the sake of having drama instead of focusing on the main story that is suppose to be New Babylon against Dama but that story at the moment has been put in pause.
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