Westworld: Les Ecorches – Action, Suspense and One Stupid Soldier.

Warning: Major Spoilers for the Episode.

In my review of the previous Westworld episode Phase Space I predicted that the seventh episode of season two, Les Ecorches, would be “absolutely insane” and I was right.
Les Ecorches was an insane episode with many exciting moments as Dolores led her army into the Mesa to retrieve her father Peter Abernathy.
What followed was a bloody battle that had many intense scenes, like the moment where Dolores confronted Charlotte and Stubbs.
This scene was probably the best in the entire episode with Charlotte attempting to go toe to toe with Wyatt-Dolores and fail miserably.
Speaking of Dolores, can someone give Evan Rachel Wood an Emmy?
She has given a fantastic performance all season long, showing both vulnerability and moments of disturbing savagery.
This is most apparent in her scene with Charlotte where she goes from comforting her father to preparing to torture Charlotte with a miniature buzz saw.

Dolores Wyatt — Evan Rachel Wood gives an excellent performance in the scene with Dolores’ confrontation with Charlotte.

However, it was not just Dolores’ storyline that was really good this episode.
First there was Bernard who was having a rough time in both the past and present timeline.
In the present his existence as a host is discovered by Charlotte and the others who force him to tell them where Peter Abernathy’s brain is and in the past he had to deal with Anthony Hopkins in his brain.
Ford took over Bernard’s mind to make sure his plan for host domination continued accordingly, leading to some brutal moments from Bernard being controlled by him.
If this was not enough, another important revelation came for Bernard when it was revealed the scene we got last episode of Dolores checking him for “fidelity” was actually to get him to act exactly like Arnold, which means Dolores created him just as much as Ford did.
So my prediction that this scene was actually in the future and Dolores was trying to make Bernard Arnold was wrong.

Bernard and Dolores — Dolores testing Bernard for “fidelity” was to make him closer to Arnold.

The final great storyline this episode was Maeve’s whose confrontation with William was nothing short of enthralling.
I actually thought William was going to die this episode when Maeve made Lawrence remember how he killed his wife in the first season.
However, then the team Sizemore called in arrived and gunned down both Maeve and Lawrence.
Sizemore will most likely save Maeve next episode but it looks like Lawrence is done for, sadly, considering all the hosts’ backups were destroyed in the Cradle.
This also means that Angela, Peter and Clementine are dead for good as well.
Although there are some shots of Clementine from the trailer that have not been seen yet so I wonder if this was just footage for the trailer or if she somehow survived.
Speaking of Angela though, her death was the one scene that really brought down the episode for me.
She seduces a soldier and takes a grenade from him, blowing them both up, along with the Cradle.
In my opinion, this was the stupidest scene in all of Westworld.
This soldier knew how dangerous Angela and the other hosts were because he had seen them kill his fellow soldiers and yet he let her get close enough to grab his grenade.
He walked up to Angela, talked with her and let her touch his gun and kiss him, right before she grabbed it.
What did this guy think was going to happen?
While it was a nice callback when Angela said, “welcome to Westworld,” before she blew them both up, the soldier’s stupidity ruined the scene for me.

The soldier falling for Angela’s act was terribly written, a rare case for Westworld.

It is a shame that this scene happened because without it this would have been perfect.
It had many fantastic performances, the highlight being Evan Rachel Wood’s, intense action and plenty of deaths.

Is The Walking Dead Finished?

You know, I tried to be optimistic about the future of The Walking Dead in my season eight review but now the future for the show is not looking bright.
I swear, every time I say some good might be on the horizon for The Walking Dead news has to come out and completely dash my hopes and, unfortunately, this time the news I am hearing may very well kill the show.
This is because Andrew Lincoln, who plays Rick Grimes the main character, and Lauren Cohan, who plays Maggie Rhee another central player, have both been reported to be leaving the show in season nine.
No matter how you look at it this is nothing short of an absolute disaster.
This means the show will be losing three of its most important characters in two seasons, the other being Chandler Riggs’ Carl, whose controversial departure in season eight, I felt, was completely unjustified.
Granted, this time it appears to be the actors’ choice to leave, unlike Riggs’, but this will still have dire repercussions for the show that I honestly do not think it can bounce back from.
When I first learned about Cohan’s departure I was not happy because of the effects this would have on the story, combined with the effects of the recent loss of Riggs, but I still thought the show could recover if it was done right.
However, when you add the departure of Lincoln to this, I believe the final nail in the coffin has been delivered.
While Cohan’s departure is a great loss, if Lincoln or Riggs had remained the show may have been recoverable because there would still have been a reliable character to put the show on their shoulders.
If Rick died in the comic then it would be able to continue because Carl could take his place and if Carl died instead it could go on because of Rick, but losing both characters creates a vacuum that cannot be filled.
Not to mention the dramatic impact Maggie dying at this point in the show would have as well.
Having three major characters leave in just two seasons will hugely disrupt the storylines they are involved with in the comic and the characters that are left, after they are gone, are not strong enough to keep the show going.
It does not matter if Melissa McBride (Carol) or Danai Gurira (Michonne) decide to stay and it certainly does not matter if Norman Reedus (Daryl) takes over as the lead.
They are just not leading material like Rick and Carl were.
Speaking of Reedus, as I said, in my Top 10 Worst Changes From The Walking Dead Comic to the Show post Daryl Dixon has more than overstayed his welcome.
There is so much story revolving around Rick, Carl and Maggie in the future of The Walking Dead, as can be seen by the comic, that it makes it impossible for the show to continue with any meaning after all three of them have departed.
The show can try to continue, as I am sure it will, and many fans of the show will continue to watch it, but it is unlikely than anything will change for me.
I will watch the show through to season nine to see these characters’ departures but after that I will find it difficult to care about the story anymore and many fans may feel the same way.
This may cause The Walking Dead show to implode, if it is not doing so already from the numerous departures.
But hey, at least the comic is still going strong so there is that.

Top 10 Best Changes From The Walking Dead Comic to the Show

10. Rick’s reaction to Lori’s death

This scene is one of the most emotional moments in The Walking Dead and we never really got a moment like this in the comics.
That is not to say that Rick’s reaction to Lori’s death was not well done in the comics but, due to the chaotic nature of Issue 48, we never got to fully see Rick’s devastated reaction to his wife’s death play out.
However, in the final moments of Killer Within, we got this reaction with Rick breaking down completely when learning about Lori’s death.
Watching him just collapse into a ball of tears was devastating to watch.
Now to be clear, I am not referring to the imaginary phone conversations Rick has with Lori after her death as part of his reaction because I was disappointed with how the show handled that.
I am only referring to Rick’s initial reaction to Lori’s death, which was expanded on from the comics in this scene.
Rick’s learning of Lori’s death is one of the most impactful moments of the show and was a great change from the comics.

9. Hershel Greene

Hershel is the first of quite a few characters who were actually improved upon from the comics.
That is not to say that I disliked Hershel’s portrayal in the comics, but how he was done here was far superior to that.
While the Hershel of the comics was more of a strict religious man, the TV Show version is more merciful and, before Tyreese and Morgan, served as the moral compass of the show.
While, not being as memorable during his introduction in season two, in seasons three and four he was truly given room to shine.
In season three, he took the character of Allen’s place in losing his leg, however, unlike him, he survived.
Hershel’s character growth is especially apparent in the epidemic arc of the fourth season, which we will get to later.
During this arc Hershel was of vital importance, as can be seen with the fantastic episode Internment.
This made his death in the episode Too Far Gone, one of the best episodes of The Walking Dead, harder to watch.
It was a great death, which was handed to him from Tyreese in the comics, and was a great way for him to go out.
Hershel will only be the first of many characters I mention in this list who was improved upon from the comics.

8. Sophia’s Death

The way Sophia’s storyline was handled in the show generates a rare feeling for me because I love both this version and the comic’s version equally.
In the comic Sophia is still alive and actually outlived her mother Carol but in the show she dies in season two in a gut wrenching scene that, at the time, was the saddest death The Walking Dead had given us.
Watching her emerge from Hershel’s barn as a Walker and Carol having to be held back by Daryl as Rick is forced to put her down was very heartfelt.
Sophia’s death had pretty big implications for the show as well because it drove Carol to become the character that we all know and love today, don’t worry I will get to her later.
However, like I said, Sophia is still alive in the comics, which I found rather surprising when I started reading them.
In the comic Sophia is a likeable character but not one that is of great importance to the plot as she is basically a side character.
Her death in the show served a purpose to the story and was really sad to see but did not effect any major storylines going forward thankfully.
But, as I said, I like both her fates in the show and comic equally so her death in the show serves as a nice deviation.

7. Gabriel Stokes

Gabriel being higher on the list than Hershel is strange because I like show Hershel better than I like show Gabriel.
The reason for this is because, while I found Hershel to be likeable in the comic, I did not like Gabriel.
He started off interesting, just like he would in the show, as he was a priest who locked his flock outside the church to die when the outbreak started so he could survive.
After this, however, the Gabriel in the comic did not get much of a chance at redemption.
Yes, he did have a great moment where he was faced with the exact same situation as when he indirectly killed his parishioners, in the No Way Out story arc, only this time he did the right thing.
However, this was a small moment and Gabriel mostly faded into the background after this so this one scene did not really make up for all the terrible things he had done beforehand.
Gabriel in the show, on the other hand, not only redeemed himself but become a key member of Rick’s group.
He has helped the group of multiple occasions both through fighting to protect them and giving them moral advice.
His growth in the show is by far its best redemption arc and a definite improvement on the comic.

6. The Epidemic Story Arc

It has not just been characters and their fates that the show has improved upon but storylines as well.
The epidemic story arc is a prime example of this.
This arc was used in the show to bridge the gap between the Governor’s failed attack on the prison in the season three finale and his successful one in the season four mid-season finale.
However, rather than being filler, this was a compelling way for the fourth season to kick off and was a stroke of genius on the writers’ part.
How do you fight an epidemic in a zombie apocalypse?
This arc not only increased the level of tension in the show, from the fact that any character could get sick, but also advanced character devlopement.
Hershel was giving a leading role in this arc, making his future death all the more painful, and Carol was also given more advancement through her bond with Lizzie and Mika and her williness to do anything to make sure the prison community survives.
Overall, the epidemic story arc is one of the most inventive storylines the show has done so far.
It made me care for the characters more and made the show more intense.

5. Terminus

Terminus is without a doubt the best change in a storyline The Walking Dead TV Show has ever made.
The show turned a small group of cannibals from the comic into a community of them, and implications of that were terrifying.
This change gave us some of the best episodes The Walking Dead has given us with A and No Sanctuary.
These episodes were absolutely fantastic with great action, gripping character moments and a fair share of gruesome moments.
Once again, this small story arc also gave more characters like Carol time to shine and introduced us to some of the most chilling villains the show has given us.
Gareth, the leader of Terminus, was charismatically disturbing and even gave the Governor a run for his money.
Terminus may have been a short moment in the story overall but it still gave us some terrifying and chilling moments, making it one of the best additions to the show.

4. Shane Walsh

Shane went from a slightly forgettable character who only lasted one volume in the comic to the best character in the first two seasons of the show.
He was the first character who realised the depths that people would have to go to in order to survive.
He was also a big redeeming factor of the filler filled season two, as I loved his character arc.
Watching his relationship with Rick slowly go downhill was rather tragic to watch, especially with how it ended.
This was a massive improvement on the comic because Shane trying to kill Rick there came a little out of left field.
In the show, however, Shane lived a season longer so his antagonism with Rick was given time to fully develop and we got to see him slowly fall into a form of madness, due to his obsession with making Lori and Carl his family.
The scene where Rick is forced to kill Shane is one of the best deaths in the series.
Overall, Shane was a vast improvement on his comic book counterpart.

3. Daryl and Merle Dixon

I know this may seem strange to have Daryl and Merle be on this list, considering I put Daryl at number ten on my top ten worst changes list.
However, like I said there, while Daryl has more than overstayed his welcome and takes away from important characters in the comic, he is still the best character created for the show in the first five seasons.
During this time, we got to see Daryl develop from an angry hothead into a well developed and caring character, despite his rough exterior.
His brother Merle was also a fantastically flawed character with a great role in season three.
Watching Merle have to decide between his bother and Woodbury was interesting to see and it was evidently clear how much both brothers had changed when they reunited again.
Their broken trust all culminated in the episode This Sorrowful Life, where Merle was killed by The Governor.
This led to another one of the saddest moments in The Walking Dead when Daryl discovers Merle as a Walker and has to put him down, taking out all of his grief and rage on him.
Daryl and Merle were two great characters for the show.
Merle served his purpose perfectly and departed when the time was right and, while I cannot say the same for Daryl, he was still the best character of the first five seasons.

2. Carol Peletier

I really have the applaud the shows’ treatment of Carol, who went from an unlikable character in the comic for me to the strong survivor we know and love.
The Carol in the comic was a weak character who fell into insanity after Tyreese cheated on her with Michonne.
This caused her to even go as far as to suggest a polygamous marriage with Rick and Lori, dying not long after this.
Robert Kirkman, the writer of The Walking Dead, was probably trying to show the depths that people could fall into in the apocalypse but there have been other characters Kirkman has done this with, with much more success in my opinion.
So it was absolutely refreshing to see the shows’ take on Carol, which was a complete reversal of what we got in the comic.
The Carol in the show has gone through phenomenal character development in her years on the show, going from an abused housewife to a tough as nails survivor.
She really grew into her own in season four and became one of my favourites in the season five premiere No Sanctuary.
Carol has only got better and better as the show has gone on, being a huge improvement on her comic book counterpart.
I even considered her for my number one choice but there was just one change done better.

1. Morgan Jones

It was a close call between Carol and Morgan but, at the end of the day, Morgan stands as the best change The Walking Dead TV Show has ever given us, for me.
The Morgan in the comic felt very useless.
Aside from helping Rick when he woke up from his coma, he had almost no purpose and it kind of felt like Kirkman did not know what to do with him.
After meeting up with Rick and the group after the fall of the prison, Morgan got in a relationship with Michonne… and that is about it really.
I am serious, he did basically nothing else of importance until he died in the No Way Out story arc.
In comparison, the way Morgan has been done in the show is miles better.
Upon his return he had a point, serving as the moral compass for the group.
Not long after came the origin of his moral compass in the episode Here’s Not Here, which is my favourite The Walking Dead episode.
Many fantastic episodes of the show have been Morgan centric, like Clear and Bury Me Here.
He is such a great character that the creators decided to send him over to the sister show Fear The Walking Dead, a decision I was wary of at first but am now glad about because he really fits in with the current story.
Morgan has gone from one of the weakest comic book characters to one of the greatest characters in the show and because of this he is the best change The Walking Dead has made from the show to the comic.

Westworld: Phase Space, a good episode with a lot of twists.

Westworld delivered one of its weakest episodes of season two with episode six Phase Space.
However, this episode really shows why I love Westworld so much because even when you get a weak episode it is still really good.
There has yet to be a bad or even okay episode of Westworld yet, it is that good.
So, while Phase Space was not as good as some of the previous episodes we have got in season two, like Riddle of The Sphinx and Akane No Mai, it was still really well done and set up a lot of great events to come.
This can clearly be seen with the first seen which was a complete mind screw.
At first it looked like they were replaying the first scene from the first episode of season two, Journey Into Night, with Arnold talking to Dolores in the past.
However, in a complete “wait what?” moment, it is revealed that Arnold is actually a host and that Dolores is having him reenact their conversations to test for “fidelity” as she puts it.

Dolores and arnold — Dolores testing Arnold (Bernard?) for fidelity, whatever that means.

This was a very surprising moment but not the most surprising.
That award goes to Robert Ford being alive, having transferred his consciousness into the Cradle, a virtual world used to test hosts.
This explains how Ford has been able to communicate through other hosts like the younger version of himself and Lawrence’s daughter.
I wonder exactly what Ford’s plan could be.
He mostly seems to be trying to stall Delos for now but what else is he planning and how does Bernard fits into it all?
What is interesting though is that the opening scene also takes place in the Cradle, which you can tell by the different aspect ratio so that means Dolores is experimenting on Arnold inside this system.
As for Maeve’s story line, she finally reunited with her daughter but, surprise, surprise, they have programmed a different mother for her so she does not remember Maeve.
Even though I did see this coming, it was still tragic to see that after all Maeve has been through to find her daughter she has to rebuild their relationship from the ground up.
The other interesting part of this episode came from Teddy’s transformation.
It turns out that what Dolores did to Teddy was turn him from the sweet gunslinger into a cold blooded killer with almost no mercy.
This is an interesting change for Teddy, especially since he is aware of what Dolores has done to him.

Dark Teddy — I wonder what Teddy’s violent transformation holds for him in the future?

Other than this though, Phase Space was just good.
We got to see Dolores journey to Westworld headquarters with her army to save her father and Maeve and her group leave Shogun World, where there was an entertaining samurai duel Musashi had.
Speaking of Musashi, one interesting thing to note is that, although Akane and Musashi decided to stay in Shogun World, their world’s version of Armistice, Hanaryo, played by Tao Okamoto, decided to come with Maeve to Westworld.
I wonder why she did this but maybe it will be explained later.
Finally there was the aftermath of William being reunited with his daughter Emily.
This led to a very emotional scene where we almost saw William shed tears…. before he abandoned Emily.
Father of the year William is not.
Overall Phase Space was a good episode that set up a lot of events in its opening and ending scenes.
I am really excited for the next episode because it looks absolutely insane.

Top 10 Worst Changes From The Walking Dead Comic to the TV Show.

I love The Walking Dead. I started watching the show before the third season aired and started reading the comics shortly after.
Initially, I really liked the changes that were made from the comic to the show because as I got ahead by reading the comic, things happened in the show that I would not expect.
However, as time went on, I began to see that many of the changes that were being made in the show were far inferior to what had happened in the comics or just plain stupid.
Not every change they made was like this but there are certainly more bad than good changes, in my opinion.
The comic is definitely the better of the two stories and given how far the show has fallen in recent years I have decided to do a top 10 list on the worst changes from the comic to the show.
This list will also shortly be followed by a top 10 list of the best changes.
Before we start though, I want to mention that this list is inspired by the YouTube video, The Walking Dead – TOP 5 WORST CHANGES FROM COMIC TO SHOW by RNS Entertainment.
I would also like to give a few quick dishonorable mentions to the CDC storyline from season one and Eugene’s portrayal.
The CDC story line was not bad, it just did not fit with the story that the show and comics are trying to tell.
But it was entertaining and did make for some interesting callbacks in the future of the show so I left it off the list.
As for Eugene’s portrayal, they have turned a very important character from the comics into an unlikable selfish jerk in recent seasons.
However, the reason it missed out on the list is because there were worse changes, which we will now get into.

10. Daryl Dixon

Put down your pitch forks and let me explain.
Me putting Daryl on this list does not mean I think he is a bad character.
On the contrary he is the greatest character created for the show, however, he has definitely more than overstayed his welcome.
Daryl was my favourite character in the show up to season five but from season six onwards his character has been in a slow downward spiral, with him constantly making stupid decisions and coming across as an aggravated hothead rather than the lovable hero of prior seasons.
However, although this is a problem, it is not the main reason he is at number ten.
The real reason for this is that his presence undermines important characters from the comics.
In the show, after Shane dies, Daryl becomes Rick’s right-hand man and it has stayed that way ever since.
In the comics, however, Daryl does not exist so after Shane dies Rick does not have just one but multiple right-hand men.
First there was Tyreese and then Abraham after him.
Both Abraham and Tyreese became very close to Rick and thus had more involvement in the story but in the show, because Daryl is Rick’s right-hand man, these two characters do not get this time to shine and are basically secondary characters.
This is unfortunate due to how both are much more important in the comics.
So, while Daryl is a good character, his presence undermines that of Abraham and Tyreese.
Like I said though, Daryl is an incredible character in the first five seasons so he only comes in at number ten.

9. The Prisoner Story Line

The prisoners lasted around 36 issues in the comics, while in the show they lasted ten episodes.
That alone shows how underused they were in the show, despite there being more of them.
In fact, three of the prisoners are killed off within the space of the first four episodes of season three.
This was a huge disappointment, considering how important the prisoners were in the comics.
There was Thomas, a serial killer who murdered two of Hershel’s daughters, Dexter and Andrew, who tried to kick Rick and the others out of the prison and finally there was Axel, the wisecracking biker with his own catch phrase, “you follow me?”
In comparison, how the prisoners were utilized in the show was very disappointing.
Dexter and Thomas seemed to be merged into a single character named Tomas, who only lasted two episodes, and Axel was nowhere near as important as he was in the comics, even though he was the last prisoner to die in both the show and comic.
The one saving grace of the prisoner storyline was Oscar, a character created for the show.
Oscar was a great character with a lot of memorable moments, like when he saved Rick by killing Andrew in Killer Within.
Unfortunately, Oscar only lasted eight episodes before kicking the bucket so his presence was short lived.
Overall, the prisoner storyline was very disappointing because the prisoners were not as much of a threat as they were in the comics and the ones that turned out to be good guys did not last long enough for the audience to get attached.

8. Tyreese

Now we are getting into the characters who were done poorly in the show, compared to the comic.
Tyreese is one such character, however, unlike other characters we will be seeing further down the list, I do not actually hate Tyreese in the show.
Had his name been anything other than Tyreese, I think I would have really liked his character.
But he is named Tyreese so I have to compare him to his comic book counterpart and, unfortunately, this Tyreese ultimately fails to capture what made the one in the comics such a great character.
The Tyreese in the comics was tough as nails and absolutely ruthless when he had to be.
He was also a flawed character as seen through him cheating on Carol with Michonne and his violent fallout with Rick, but this made him all the more compelling.
The Tyreese in the show, however, did not have these qualities.
Instead he served as the voice of reason to the group, going as far as refusing to kill, something the Tyreese of the comic would never do, considering he strangled his daughter’s boyfriend to death after he shot her.
There is also his friendship with Rick, which is barely explored in the show, due to Daryl taking his place.
This makes any interaction they have not very memorable and their big fight not as impactful as it was in the comics.
Overall, the Tyreese we got in the show was a good character but he was just not a good Tyreese.

7. The Prison Massacre

The problem with the prison massacre in the show was that it was not a massacre.
When this attack happened in the comics it was an absolute slaughter.
I am not kidding when I say at least eight of the central characters die during this section of the comics.
Can you imagine what that would have been like if it had been adapted for the show?
It would have made it look like Walder Frey gave a generous toast to the Starks during the Red Wedding in Game of Thrones.
This would have changed everything had it been on the scale that it was in the comics.
That is not to say what we got was not good though, at least the second time around.
There were actually two prison attacks in the show and if the first one had been the only attack, then this would have been much higher on the list because it was a massive disappointment.
The second attack was done much better, with great action and the hard hitting death of Hershel.
However, Hershel was the only main character of Rick’s group to die.
Every other important character made it.
The way the prison massacre was handled in the show made it feel very toned down and I do understand why since killing off around eight central characters at the same time could have caused the show to loose a lot of its fan base.
Still, there were a few characters they could have killed off in the prison attacks to make it more meaningful so it would stand a chance when comparing it to the comic.

6. Dale Horvath

Talk about missed potential.
In the comics Dale was a very important character who was a lot tougher than he looked.
He was also a very complex character and if pushed could be prone to anger, as seen with his reaction to Ben and Billy’s death.
However, we also got to see his softer side through his relationship with Andrea.
That’s right, they had a romantic relationship in the comic.
But, while Dale was a long running and important character in the comic, his time on the show was very brief in comparison, lasting almost two seasons.
This was not the only problem because, just like Tyreese, the Dale that we got was nothing like his comic book counterpart.
He was more like a grandfather figure than the rugged potential leader and he had none of Dale’s complexities in the show, due to him and Andrea’s relationship being a father figure and daughter one instead of lovers.
We never got to see them be a family when they adopted Billy and Ben or any of their heartfelt moments.
The Dale that was presented before his death in the show was a weak character who came across as more annoying with his constant moral speeches, rather than endearing and, unfortunately, his death meant he could not grow out of this and turn into the character so many of us loved in the comics.
The impact he had on the group was pretty much lost in the show.

5. Beth Greene

If Daryl is the best character created for the show then Beth is without a doubt the worst.
To put it simply Beth was a terrible character.
She showed promise initially, going through a tense situation in season two that she thankfully came out of but after this she just became useless.
All she did in the third season was sing and then did nothing for the first half of season four, until she was paired up with Daryl for the second half.
You would think that pairing up one of the worst characters with one of the best would help improve that character but you would be wrong.
This is because the paring of Daryl and Beth resulted in the worst episode of The Walking Dead ever, Still.
This episode was complete filler, with Beth just wanting to get drunk in a zombie apocalypse of all things.
Then Beth was a central player in the hospital arc of Season 5 and featured in numerous episodes, those of which where she was the main focus, like Slabtown, were done rather poorly.
However, the reason Beth is not higher is because of her death in the season five mid-season finale, Coda.
Beth’s death is one of the saddest The Walking Dead has ever had.
Not because she was a good character but because of everyone’s reactions to it.
Watching Maggie and Daryl break down into tears over Beth’s death was absolutely crushing and made me cry, surprisingly.
However, while Beth’s tragic death did redeem her slightly for me, she was still a terrible character before this and I feel the show is better without her.

4. Cliffhangers

And to think The Walking Dead once had good cliffhangers.
Seriously, if you look at the first five seasons the show had really good cliffhangers that left viewers both satisfied and wanting more.
Cliffhangers like the ones in seen in A and Too Far Gone were fantastic.
But then season six came along and a rather nasty trend of terrible cliffhangers ensued.
Glenn’s fake-out death and Sam calling out for his mother, only to cut to black, were some of the many bad cliffhangers seen.
This all culminated in what has to be one of the worst cliffhangers in Television history.
In the season six finale, Last Day on Earth, Negan did eenie, meeny, miney, moe, to decide who he was going to kill.
However, it to cut to a P.O.V shot of the person he chose and as Negan hit this unknown person with Lucille, the screen cut to black and made the audience feel like the cliffhanger might have well as been a giant middle finger.
This cliffhanger was absolutely insulting because it took one of the most tense moments from the comic and transformed it into a ratings grab to make more money off the season seven premiere.
Unfortunately, the show’s cliche of terrible cliffhangers did not end here, even extending to cliffhangers for ad breaks, which killed all the tension.
At the end of the day these cliffhangers make the show feel like it is just in it for the money and that they are scared of viewers losing interest.
The show-runners’ should really take a cue from Robert Kirkman because cliffhangers in The Walking Dead comic leave the reader both satisfied and wanting more.
This is what a cliffhanger should be and not leave the viewer wanting more but unsatisfied, which is what is currently happening with the show.

3. The Structure of Season Seven and Season Eight

Season seven and season eight have probably been the most problematic seasons of The Walking Dead.
This can be seen with their persistent drop in ratings from what was usually expected of the show.
These two seasons covered Negan’s story when he first encountered the survivors.
Season seven covered the build up to All Out War and season eight was the war.
I can remember coming into season seven thinking we were going to get both the build up and All Out War in one season.
However, when I realised the show would be doing this in two seasons I knew there was going to be trouble.
There was just not enough content with this storyline to pour into two seasons so the writers had to come up with additional storylines to put in like Jadis and the scavengers, and Oceanside.
Unfortunately, these story elements came across as filler that was just used to lengthen the story as the Scavengers are all dead now except for Jadis and Oceanside did virtually nothing significant during the war.
This is sadly not the only case of filler in these two seasons as episodes were spent gathering supplies for the war and conflicts were extended just to make the run time longer.
This made these two seasons feel very overstretched and like they took too long to get to the point.
Season seven should have just featured the build up and then All Out War as one, instead of it being stretched across two seasons.
This would have flowed much more cohesively and made the story much more exciting.
The decision to split the Negan arc into two seasons, I feel, really damaged the show in terms of its ratings and quality.

2. Andrea

Up until season eight, this was the worst change The Walking Dead show ever made.
I watched the first three seasons of The Walking Dead before I started to read the comics.
During this time, my least favourite character was Andrea.
She was mean, annoying and constantly making stupid decisions like not stopping The Governor and how she handled the Beth situation in season two.
I was really glad when she got killed off but even that was done poorly because she wasted precious time talking to Milton when she should have been getting out of the situation.
So, imagine my surprise, when I read the comics and found out that Andrea was one of the best characters.
She was extremely skilled, being a sharpshooter, and was very compelling.
She even went on to become Rick’s love interest in the comics, instead of Michonne.
I have no idea what happened with Andrea in the show but they took one of the best characters and presented her in a completely unlikable fashion.
For a very long time Andrea’s portrayal was what I considered to be the worst deviation The Walking Dead show had ever made from the comic… but then number one had to come along.

1. Carl Grimes

What. Were they. THINKING!?
Seriously, Carl is one of the best characters in the comic and for the first six seasons you have him do nothing of interest and then you kill him off in season eight, right before his big comic book arc?
In the comics Carl is the second most important character next to Rick.
We got to see him grow from a young innocent kid to a cold blooded killer, before he had to reshape himself in order to fit in with the new society his father was building.
This, however, we did not get in the show.
We got hints of it, yes, when Carl executes the innocent Woodbury soldier boy who was trying to surrender but, other than that, there was nothing that showed Carl going down his dark path.
All his big moments were given to other characters so by the end of season six Carl had done almost nothing substantial.
It looked like they were starting to give him more to do in season seven, with him going through with his assassination attempt on Negan, like he did in the comics but then, in season eight, it happened.
Carl died.
Had I done this list before season eight, Carl would be on it but he would be considerably lower.
Carl’s death puts him at the number one spot, not just because of how important he is to future story lines, but also, because of how pointless his death was.
They could have found another way for Rick to decide to not kill Negan.
Carl did not need to die for that to happen and now it looks like they will be giving his great comic book story to Henry in the show, a side character.
What they did with Carl is easily the worst character change and the worst change overall from The Walking Dead comic book to the television show.

However, all that being said, not all of the changes in The Walking Dead from the comic to the show have been badly done.
There have actually some pretty brilliant changes that have not only been as good as what was presented in the comic but better.
So, it would only be fair that I count down the top 10 best changes in The Walking Dead show as well.
You can expect to see that list soon.

Solo: A Star Wars Story Will Make you Smile… but Also Roll Your Eyes.

There seems to be a lot of varying opinions about Solo: A Star Wars Story.
I have heard people say they hate it, I have heard people say they love it and I have heard people say it is good but with some bad moments.
If anything I think I fall into the final category because when watching Solo: A Star Wars Story I found myself grinning at its brilliant moments and rolling my eyes at it stupid moments.
Directed by Ron Howard, the film is actually very different from every Star Wars movie so far because, instead of it being about galactic space battles and the Force, it is a heist movie that centers around the origins of Han Solo and his friendship with Chewbaca.
That last thing I mentioned is something the film absolutely nails.
I loved how Han and Chewie met in the film and how they became such close friends.

Han and Chewbaca’s relationship is one of the best things about this movie.

As for Han Solo himself, the actor they got to play him, Alden Ehrenreich, does a good job with what he is given.
I had heard rumors, while the film was being made, that he was turning in a terrible performance but this was not true at all.
The problem I had with Han was more due to the writing because sometimes it did not really feel like our main character was a young Han Solo.
On some occasions it certainly did feel like him but, more often than not, he felt different.
However, what the film got wrong with Han, it made up for with Lando Calrissian, played by Donald Glover.
This was perfect casting and Glover did an absolutely fantastic job at portraying the charismatic, previous owner of the Millennium Falcon.

Donald Glover does an absolutely fantastic job as Lando, he was the perfect casting choice.

As for the other actors, like Ehrenreich, they do a good job with what they have given but, aside from Glover, there are no other fantastic performances.
Like I said though, Solo: A Star Wars Story had moments that made me grin at its brilliance, like when Han and Chewie met or when Han acquires the Millennium Falcon.
However, like I said, the movie does have some very stupid moments.
For example, the film actually explains how Han got his last name and the explanation was so dumb I literally facepalmed myself.
This movie also has a twist that had no purpose in the story and feels like it was used solely for fan service, rather than betterment of the story, and left me very confused.
This was an example of how not to do a twist.
Overall, Solo: A Star Wars Story had some truly excellent moments like the meeting between Han and Chewie and Glover’s portrayal of Lando, however it also had its colossally stupid moments that brought the movie down for me.
It is enjoyable but you will probably roll your eyes a bit in the theater.

Westworld Delivers Another Fantastic Episode at its Midway Point.

I swear, every time Dolores becomes my favourite character Maeve just has to do something that overtakes her.
It is like a constant tug of war between the two, where one minute Dolores is my favourite the next it is Maeve.
Well, once again, Maeve has been reinstated as my favourite Westworld character with season two episode five, Akane No Mai.
The halfway point of the second season delivered another fantastic episode here, with most of it taking place in the newly introduced Shogun World, which had a lot of interesting surprises.
The first of these surprises came as Maeve and her group are marched into a village and encounter a very similar scenario before they realise that the hosts who have them captured are actually plagiarized versions of themselves.
Maeve’s version is Akane, played by Rinko Kikuchi, and Hector’s is Musashi, played by Hiroyuki Sanada.
Both these new additions to the cast did fantastic jobs, especially Kikuchi as Akane and watching the robbery scene from Westworld play out in Shogun World fashion was fun to watch.

Rinko Kikuchi did an excellent job this episode as Akane and I hope she joins the main cast.

After this we get the most important revelation of the episode when Maeve learns she can control hosts with her mind, using her new powers to force a ninja to kill himself.
This all culminates in a thrilling sequence where, after Akane brutally murders the Shogun for killing her world’s version of Clementine, Maeve forces the Shogun’s men to kill each other with her mind.
The episode ends on an exciting cliffhanger as Maeve prepares to take control of the entire Shogun army.
These moments, along with a few close moments she had with Akane, made Maeve my favourite Westworld character once again.

Aside from this, we also got some interesting moments with Dolores and Teddy.
Throughout all of their interactions this episode I had the sense that Dolores was probably going to do something terrible to Teddy and, after all the build up in previous episodes, this came to fruition.
After sharing an intimate moment with him, Dolores has one of the captive technicians change Teddy’s code because she knows he will not make it in the coming war.
Hopefully, what she did to Teddy will make him more interesting because I have honestly never really been attached to him.
Akane No Mai was another fantastic episode that introduced us to Shogun World and made Maeve my favourite character again.
It was not as good as Riddle of the Sphinx but it was still excellent.

Deadpool 2: Hilarious From Start to Finish to Mid-Credits

Tell me if you have heard this one, a time traveling Cyborg goes to the past to kill a kid before he can commit horrible crimes in the future.
Yeah it sounds a lot like the plot to a Terminator film doesn’t it?
However, what Deadpool 2 has but a Terminator film never could was everybody’s favourite merc with the mouth to make fun of the similarities.
Directed by David Leitch, Deadpool 2 is the highly anticipated sequel to the original Deadpool, the surprise hit that took Deadpool from his embarrassing debut in X Men Origins: Wolverine to his lovable, foul mouthed, fourth-wall breaking self that we know and love.
And there is definitely plenty of fourth wall breaking to be had in Deadpool 2, with Ryan Reynolds killing it as the titular hero.
No one can deny it at this point that Reynolds was born to play this character.
As I stated, the film features Cable, the time traveling cyborg who is played by Josh Brolin, going to kill a kid named Russel, the kid who will commit horrible crimes and is played by Julian Dennison.
However, due to a both tragic and hilarious series of events, Deadpool gets thrown into the mix and fights to protect Russel by forming a new “derivative” superhero team, known as X-Force.

Deadpool and X-Force — Deadpool forms the X-Force to help Russel…. oh boy (If you have seen the movie you know what I mean by that).

Deadpool 2 is a blast of comedy from start to finish, with hilarious meta jokes and entertaining action sequences, with more than a few surprises along the way.
Reynolds is not the only excellent actor in this as Brolin and Dennison also do great jobs in their roles and are funny when they need to be.
As for returning characters Collosus, played by Stephen Kapicic, and Negasonic Teenage Warhead, played by Brianna Hildebrand, it was good to see them again.
Although, I will admit I was a bit disappointed with how Negasonic and her newly introduced girlfriend Yukio, played by Shioli Kutsuna, were utilized because these two characters felt very underused.
The real standout new character though was Domino, played by Zazie Beetz, whose superpower of luck was very cinematic, no matter what Deadpool says.

Domino proves once and for all that luck can be cinematic.

As for the comedy, it was spot on and had me laughing numerous times to the point that it hurt.
Numerous films were referenced and parodied from Logan, to Batman V Superman, to even Basic Instict.
Probably the funniest moment of the entire movie was the mid-credits sequence, which is probably the best one ever done so make sure to stick around for it.
However, although most of the jokes were hilarious there was one right at the end that went on way longer than it should have.
Overall Deadpool 2 was a blast to watch.
Is it better than the first one?
I am unsure at this point but it definitely depends on how you view the first film on whether you will like this one or not.

Westworld: The Riddle of the Sphinx, Best Episode Ever?

For the first three episodes of Westworld season two I would have said they were great but were not really living up to the level of intrigue I was having for the first season.
But then The Riddle of the Sphinx had to come along and potentially be Westworld’s best episode so far.
I loved this episode.
It was a great watch from start to finish that had many memorable moments.
For starters, it was revealed that Elsie Hughes, played by Shannon Woodward, is actually alive, having been chained up rather than killed by Bernard, on Ford’s orders.
Now, even though Elsie being alive was spoiled for me, (thanks a lot Simon Quarterman) I was still glad to see her come because I enjoyed her character last season.
Although, I do wonder why Ford ordered Bernard to keep her alive because he did not seem to have a problem disposing of people who got in his way in the first season, like he did with Theresa.
So, maybe Ford kept Elsie alive for some special reason.
We will just have to wait and see.

Elsie returns — Elsie’s return was spoiled for me but it is good to see her back.

The real star of this episode though was William who went through a large amount of change both in the past and present timelines this episode.
We first see William talking with Delos, who is confined to a room and being experimented on somehow.
It is later revealed in the episode that Delos died of a disease and they transferred his consciousness into a host.
This slow realization that Delos had been turned into a host was great to see play out, along with William’s changing mindset over the years.
At the beginning of the experiment, William is shown to be hopeful at creating immortality for Delos but as the years go by and he turns into the William we all sorta hate and sorta love he becomes disillusioned with the idea.
This led to a great scene between the older William and Delos, where William revealed his wife Juliet’s death to her father.
This scene had terrific performances from both Ed Helms, as William, and Peter Mullan, as Delos, who breaks down after learning of his daughter’s death, only to be found by Bernard and Elsie in the future timeline, which was a great twist by the way.
Speaking of this future timeline, William’s story here was also a standout as it is revealed he actually does have conscience, who knew?
We get to see this when, remembering Juliet’s death, he decides to save Lawrence and his family from the Confederado Major Craddock.
This was a great sequence and really gave us insight into William’s mindset.
Back in season one, when William murdered Lawrence’s family, he did not have a problem with it because they were not real and could not actually die in his eyes.
Now, however, they can die permanently and this, combined with memories of the past, made him decide to do the right thing, basically telling Craddock that he was death himself.

However, as Ford points out through Lawrence’s daughter, this does not redeem William entirely because of just how many atrocities he may have committed on hosts previously.
But hey, maybe William could potentially redeem himself more this season, especially after encountering his daughter.
That’s right, you heard me because in this episode the theory of Grace being Emily, William’s daughter, turned out to be correct in the final moment of the episode.
This has some interesting implications for the future because Emily has been said to blame William for her mother’s death.
William’s arc this episode was just fantastic as we got to see him at his worst, with Delos, and at his best, when he saves Lawrence’s family.
Speaking of Lawrence, who is played by Clifton Collins Jr, he also seems to be showing signs of consciousness because he remembers that William once told him about Emily.
I also wonder if Delos achieved at least some form of consciousness by the time he was discovered by Bernard and Elsie, since it has been established that hosts gain consciousness through suffering.

crazy Delos — Delos was really shown to have lost it by the end of the episode.

In this facility though, Bernard also discovers there was a new consciousness that he was supposed to put into a host body.
There has been much speculation as to who this could be, like Ford.
The most likely though is probably Arnold and it is him we are actually seeing in the future timeline instead of Bernard.
Overall, this episode was fantastic from start to finish.
It had great twists with the Delos scenes and the reveal of Emily, brought Elsie back and had a fantastic character arc for William.
This may be the best episode Westworld has ever had.

Westworld, Season Two Episode Three: More Reunions Than in Reunion.

Warning: major spoilers for the episode

Westworld delivers its best episode of season two yet with its third episode, Virtu e Fortuna, which honestly had more reunions than the previous episode that was actually titled Reunion, but we will get to that later.
This episode actually started out, rather surprisingly, in another park, however, not in Shogun World but in a British Colonial India style park.
It is here where we meet a mysterious women named Grace, played by Katja Herbers, who looks to be pretty important in the series going forward.
I have heard numerous theories that this woman may be The Man in Black’s daughter but I personally think this character has some relation to Theresa, considering when we first saw her she was smoking the same was Theresa did before her death.
When the episode opened with her I actually thought the woman was Theresa in the past, due to her smoking.

It was through Grace that we learned how the host tiger ended up on the beach in the season premiere as she fell off a cliff with it before being captured by Ghost Nation.
As for the main storylines with Dolores, Bernard and Maeve, there were plenty of great moments.
For starters, Bernard meets up with Charlotte again in the future timeline and is it just me or does Charlotte know Bernard is a host?
She was acting really suspicious of him.
Cutting back to the past timeline, Bernard and Charlotte attempted to capture host Peter Abernathy, played by Louis Herthum.
This lead to a hilarious scene where Bernard reprogrammed the host Rebus, played by Stephen Ogg, to be the most chivalrous gunslinger in the west.
This also has a rather sad implication because Bernard watched Rebus get shot trying to protect a host in the season premiere.
After this, both Bernard and Peter were captured by Dolores’ army, leading to the best scene of the episode where Dolores reunites with her father.
This was a very emotional moment and both Evan Rachel Wood and Herthum gave excellent performances as the two reconciled briefly before Peter began jumping between multiple Westworld identities again.

Dolores and Peter Abernathy reunite in a very emotional scene.

Then came the battle at the Confederate fort, where Dolores and the Confederados faced off against Delos Security.
Dolores, however, betrayed the Confederados, leaving them to die and later ordered Teddy to kill the surviving Confederado Major Craddock, played by Jonathon Tucker.
However, Teddy lets him live, which will undoubtedly cause problems in the future.
I am confused as to why Dolores let all the Confederados die though.
Wouldn’t she need them for her army?
Also, the reason she let them die is kind of weird, saying they did not deserve to make it.
The Confederados had been programmed to act cruel, just as every other cruel host in Westworld so they are just as much victims as the other hosts.
Finally, there is Maeve’s storyline where, as I said earlier, there were more reunions than in the previous episode.
Maeve’s group met up with Armistice, played by Ingrid Bolso Berdal, Felix, played by Leondardo Nam, and Sylvester, played by Ptomley Slocum.
This lead to the funniest moment of the episode though, when Hector saw Armistice burn someone to death with a flamethrower and states in amazement “she has a dragon!”

Maeve and Hector — Hector had one of the funniest moments in the entire episode.

It is with these characters that the final moments of the episode play out with them being ambushed by a Samurai.
Overall, Virtu E Fortuna was the best episode of season two so far.
It had great action sequences and even better character interactions.