[Rclark]

Because the show was "realistic" up to that point ala Dawn of the Dead.

Imagine watching that old classic and at the very end, randomly, Superman shows up at the farmhouse, freezes the zombies with his super breath...

You'd be like WTF was that? Which was my exact reaction to Walking Dead's season ender.

 I feel like if they're going to start introducing wizards and superheros this is the part where I check out. I was into it for the Dawn of the Dead type storytelling they had right up to that ludicrous ending. I was outraged. The story had so much promise and now they dilute it, now the writing can be lazy and just crap.

[chrisby]

The story had so much promise and now they dilute it, now the writing can be lazy and just crap.

I felt the same way about last season of True Blood, and just to switch networks for a moment, while popular to the end for some folks (my wife included)  it took me far less than their full series run to simply not care about McNamara /Troy et al on Nip/Tuck, or Carrie and the girls on SITC




 

[wilsynet]

Potential spoiler alert for those who have not watched Walking Dead Season 2.

Imagine watching that old classic and at the very end, randomly, Superman shows up at the farmhouse, freezes the zombies with his super breath...

But it isn't super breath; it's a sword.  If a new character had shown up with a gun, would that have been OK?

[Rclark]

spoilers.

There was no need to go to that well. If you're going to be all comic-booky, do it from the beginning. Have sword wielding mystical hooded wizards with armless pets that live in the middle of the forest, right out the gate The way that character was introduced, does not fit at all with the level of realism so far. It is assumed now that this super being defeats that entire horde  . A complete sudden left turn. More like a left turn into an oncoming semi truck.

Lame lame lame.

Nobody would have showed up. She was in the middle of the freaking woods. Dozens and dozens of zombies on her tail. Would have been eaten.

[wilsynet]

But there are no wizards (yet anyway).  You don't think a sword is realistic?  A sword is a perfectly serviceable weapon in the hands of a trained swordsman.  And while the sword is no longer a popular weapon of choice, there are people who still do this.

Surely it's possible that a trained sword wielding person may have survived into the zombie apocalypse which is Walking Dead.

[Rclark]

*** SPOILER ALERT.


 Sword? Sure.

 Hooded Jedi figure leading two swaying, armless, subservient zombies like some Hindu god, and who presumably goes on to singlehandedly slaughter or incapacitate dozens of now fast moving zombies? Not so much.
 
 It is so completely bizarre given the up until then realistic tone of the story, and the presumably realistic lives lived before the zombie infestation. It is the textbook definition of a deus ex machina.

[Letitroll98]

Not to pick on Rclark, using his quote cause it's the latest to represent this whole discussion, but...

It is so completely bizarre given the up until then realistic tone of the story

...isn't this a story about zombies????  Kinda high handed to claim the high moral ground of realism when the whole frackin' show is about....ZOMBIES!  They can have a spaceship land full of wizards from Hogwarts and it isn't any less fanciful.

PS I have a sword and it would be my weapon of choice in a post apoplectic world.  You don't need to scrounge up any bullets for it as time goes by.  I'm really, really sure I can kill the appropriate target with it.

[Rclark]

 Right. Obviously. That's why I say "realistic" in quotes. Zombies are just almost believable, in some form or another.

 What I'm saying is you have this realistic tone of the story, they have real lives, dirty, gritty, human stories. You don't get a sense of this being a comic book universe.

 You get a sense, after over 20 episodes, of this being a "realistic" occurence, like Dawn of the Dead, everything is based in reality, and somehow zombies come into being via some virus, etc.
 
 What happened in the last few minutes of the last episode is completely alien to any of that.

[wilsynet]

Hoods and swords were invented before Lucas conceived of Jedi Knights.  In fact, not only did they exist independently, I bet sometimes people both carried swords and wore a hood.  =)  Anyway, it didn't remind me of Jedi Knights, but perhaps you didn't have the same background of comic books, fantasy novels and RPGs that I had as a kid.

You were unhappy with the last few minutes.  Maybe they'll surprise you in next season's premiere and the sword wielding hero will be less of a problem than you think as they integrate the character into the story ...

[ajzepp]

I guess I focus on two things: First and foremost, I want to be entertained. If they have to make the jedi zombie whisperer shoot lasers out of her butt to do that, I'm cool as long as it's entertaining. Second, I've been operating on the notion that this show is based on a comic book, so I tend to give it a bit more license than I would another type of show. 

But as others pointed out, all she did was make a brief appearance. She may or may not follow along with her story arc from the comic since the show has already proven that it's doing it's own thing at times.

[Rclark]

 As you can tell I was pretty upset over it... felt good to vent. I typically don't watch tv dramas but this one was/is great. I haven't read the comic so I can only imagine what sort of fanciful flights they take in that.

 I'm just hoping the next season doesn't suck.

[Letitroll98]

And to sort of bring the whole thing back on topic, I've cancelled my HBO and Showtime a few months back and don't miss it one bit.  There are plenty of great series on free TV like Being Human, Wilfred, The River, Alcatraz, Grey's Anatomy, New Girl, Deadliest Catch, Through the Wormhole, etc. that all my TV time is completely filled up. 

[chrisby]

Not to pick on Rclark, using his quote cause it's the latest to represent this whole discussion, but...

...isn't this a story about zombies????  Kinda high handed to claim the high moral ground of realism when the whole frackin' show is about....ZOMBIES!  They can have a spaceship land full of wizards from Hogwarts and it isn't any less fanciful.

Same could be said about vampires, lycans, fae, alien babies from Krypton, skin-job Cylons, intersecting alternate universes,  etc ;  haven't we surrendered our disbelief at the front door?  I mean particularly if we allow for a "reboot / enhancement" to already supernatural characters and powers in the quest for escapist entertainment,  what the frack do we expect?

each of us will decide which worlds are worth (re)visiting - I look for the conviction and craft with which the performers in front of and behind the camera ply their art in telling a story, however fantastical, and sometimes they just loose steam