Apple Podcasts
Stitcher
Google Podcasts
PocketCasts
RSS
Support us on Patreon!
FTWDTT 062 – You’re Still Here (S5E11)
You’re Still Here Talking Through You’re Still Here!
On this episode of Fear the Walking Dead Talk Through, Kyle, Mark, and I talk through You’re Still Here. Fear the Walking Dead Season 5 Episode 11 was written by the Mallory Westfall & Alex Delyle, and directed by K.C. Colwell.
We start with a discussion of the last episode… that also discusses this one
Normally, when we get feedback about the past week’s episode, we try to stick to last week and prior episode discussion, but we found ourselves relating Aaron’s feedback to the episode we had just seen. Normally, we give you the time that we start talking about this week’s episode in case you want to skip ahead, but I’ll say that it’s worth listening to a lot of that discussion to get insights about this week. That aside, discussion about this episode begins at 35 minutes 44 seconds into the episode.
The good, the bad and the ugly
There were a few things I really liked about this episode. I enjoyed the use of the riot gear weapons and the first shot of the cold open and a few tie ins to past episodes. I also liked the confrontation between Logan and Morgan, and there are signs that Al may be able to help Morgan finally get past the loss of his family, which he has just got to snap out of at this point.
On the other hand, the stuff with Wes and the mystery manuscript connaisseur, while well-acted, was weak to downright confusing. I said on the podcast that it felt like the writers declaring their love of some screenplay or TV pilot they had written that never got made. And why Wes would kill a guy over the manuscript and just leave it there with him… was a, “what did I just see?” kind of moment. I just didn’t buy it, and neither did we or any of you that sent in feedback. Even now, I still don’t get it. It didn’t feel right. I also think they screwed up Alicia being screwed up. She should be traumatized by certain gnarly walkers, like the first one we see this episode, not all of them.
Send in your feedback!
Please leave your feedback! We got a TON of feedback again this week, so keep it comin’! Next time, we’ll cover any additional feedback we get for S5E11 You’re Still Here, and then talk through Fear the Walking Dead, Season 5 Episode 12, titled Ner Tamid. Get your feedback in by 6 PM Eastern/5 PM Central on Tuesday, September 3, 2019. One of the best ways to submit feedback is on our Facebook group. You can also send us an email at our new address walkingdeadtalkthrough@gmail.com or call our temporary voicemail at 216-236-5449.
Ratings are up!
Proving that you ARE still here, 😉 S5E11 You’re Still Here got a 0.43 in the 18-49 demographic, with 1.435 million viewers, which is up from last week’s 0.38 and 1.368 million viewers.
Subscribe to us!
Please remember to subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts or whatever is your podcast client of choice. Subscribing to us helps us move up in the rankings, so it’ll help us out tremendously! You’ll also get new episodes when they’re released. And while you’re in there, leave us a rating or review! It only takes a few minutes and it also helps us out! And join our Facebook group!
Blog comments…
“On the other hand, the stuff with Wes and the mystery manuscript connaisseur, while well-acted, was weak to downright confusing.” – I very much agree on this; first and foremost if the guy liked the story why didn’t he just ask to keep reading it instead of going through all of that to finish it? Actually I guess the real first question should be how did he get it to start reading it, he tells Wes “I just wanted to finish it.” so was he a friend of Wes’s before they fell out over the book or did he steal it once before to start it? How did he know Wes even had it? He didn’t seem open to talking about it and the book was finished so it’s not like he was working on it during the apocalypse because he was driven to finish it. And then you have him kill the guy for it yet walk off the next second saying he could keep it if he was willing to die for it – what?! You do this whole big build up and then just drop it?! So annoying! Also it felt really convenient that Wes was the painter so they could use him in multiple plots too; sure financially I get it saves you casting someone else but it felt easy that Alicia says one week she’s going to find the painter and the next she does.
As you said it was a well done scene on the actors part and I like that the painter wasn’t what Alicia thought so she had to find her own balance but it just felt really manufactured and thus took me out of the moment as a whole.
Steve from AIM FOR THE HEAD said it well this week when he said this episode was just way to much convenance on everyone’s part; from all the guns and ammo being left at the station, to Strand can’t see but he kind of can to do what he needs until Alicia changes her mind on killing walkers, and all the way to Wes as the painter it just felt so easy for the characters and thus it made the episode boring. I love Alicia and Strand so I can’t say this episode was a total miss for me as much as it was for Steve but I definitely get his points as I’d probably give this a 6 on the whole because while some things were interesting like Wes not changing because Alicia said they were usually paid off in a “What?!” way such as the book just being left by Wes after all he did to get it back. Great acting work this week but the writing is still frustrating; I know these are young writers but still it does not take a genius to know that police station wouldn’t have that much ammo left or guns, you would have to have two officers maybe with a great budget to have that much stuff still left and then assume no looters came by ever which we know isn’t true given the cots so people knew things were there. The riot gear being left you could get because it’s non lethal but even that is a stretch as it’s a defensive tool still; I believe it’s Kyle who says each its all too perfect for the reality of the situation now as has always works along with batteries and they always find what they need when they do so things don’t get too tough for them unless the writers want it to for drama then it just seems out of place. #RescueDaveEricksonFromDevelopmentHell!
Al is going to be too busy wanting to kill Logan over those tapes to help Morgan I feel! Speaking of those tapes, why is she now putting them in a vault instead of keeping them in her truck? She’s always been about having them close by so what’s up? Again writing for action not characters! Clearly the writers just wanted to do something with a bank vault so they wrote Al using a vault this week.
On to the podcast…
Ok here’s a question I’ve been thinking on with this whole gas fields thing: who’s making the gas for this group? Last I check no one knew how to make gas so are there manuals for the machines still in the plant? I feel you could easily mess up this process. Are they just doing diesel and one grade of gas or is there someone saying they need to make 87 and 93 at least because you might get better mileage out of one grade instead of the other? Is there an ethanol versus non ethanol option? Ha. Are they manufacturing kerosine while they’re at it? I know that was more than one question but I couldn’t help but ask who is doing this; this is the luckiest group skills wise and the unluckiest group sticking together wise. 🙂
Bring on the tangents guys; you can get good stuff from them! 🙂
I have to say it was nice of Alicia to do the whole Madison nod with the “no one is gone until they’re gone” motto on the tree, but also – way to rub salt into the forever open wound with that move show! #TeamAlwaysBringBackMadison!
The only thing I can come up with for the ending of this episode is they had Wes leave the book just so Alicia could read the last page as otherwise they wouldn’t know he was the painter; it was a round about way of setting up her seeing the painter wasn’t perfect and again she has to find her own balance instead of looking for it in someone else. It’s a lot of “for plot” writing more than writing to the characters and having Alicia never find the painter and come to that realization on her own.
No to Wes/Alicia! Come on writers you’re hitting all around it but Al/Alicia is right there – get the mark! 🙂 Sadly I could see them doing it by having Wes be the good guy again and more like who Alicia could date because romance and again they seem to be doing more plot for plot rather than writing to the characters but will see; he makes a good counter to her ideas at least so you can do them as frienemies if nothing else.
Samora said she was part of the group in her tape so we could see her; she was definitely interesting and I love they’re making unique characters like that and exploring how different people deal with situations. I’m sure some would write her off but as she says she has a skill that’s really helpful when you think about it so while some could see her as a burden she’s actually a plus for others. Clark’s was good and I really liked Ed’s for some reason. Jody’s was really great near the end for why she didn’t say anything until the end but I kind of feel she and CJ and Earl are dead because all of them couldn’t have made it; we’ll probably never see Ed again given where he’s going so maybe CJ or Earl made it instead and we could see them given people magically meet up in this series currently but yeah knowing Samora is with the team makes me want to see her in a scene interacting with people.
I liked Christian in “Twilight” but you’re not going to top Jennifer Lopez as Selena.
Happy birthday Mark! 🎂