CaptainFoamerang

I simply exhausted my day's store of patience this morning on an actual family matter, to the point where I don't feel like tolerating all the passive aggressive comments.

I really hope you're not trying to put words in my mouth, because I am in no ******* mood today to let that slide.

Perhaps because Cyclops' crimson beams come from the same dimension as Cytorrak?

It's kind of like a South Park Wal-Mart scenario where we want to hate it but it'll get our business anyway and the whole time we'll be telling ourselves that one more customer can't help them that much.

To me it applies so long as the character is old enough to have developed a personality. They shouldn't take it for granted. It's why I didn't really care when Jaqui or Sophia died and why I doubt I'll care when T-Dog dies.

Unfortunately I can't check. I went to look at my DVR and it looks like the first episode or two of this season was swapped out because of the 5-episode-maximum per series option. Anyone know where I can find them?

Perhaps I'm not expressing myself in a manner to properly convey my line of thinking so I'll just lay it out like this:

Sophia talking = Sophia's personality taking shape = Characters forming relationship with Sophia = Audience forming relationship with Sophia = Audience caring about her fate

It seems like the writers just glossed over nearly all of it and took the last part for granted. They didn't even bother to swap out her dialogue for any meaningful moments with her. It's lazy writing.

That's the connection that we are forced to make to supplement their lazy storytelling. One of the more general issues with the show is the lack of commitment to things, and in this instance they didn't commit to making us care about Sophia any more than they did the red shirts that were killed on the night of the fish fry, because we care about the ones we know and we didn't know her. And, if there was a commitment to simply using her death as a symbol and a device to drive the characterization of others, the plotline would have been over sooner, affording more time for the fallout.

Also, if you'll notice, I've not been jumping on people for disagreeing with them about their opinion of the show. I asked a question then remarked on how they missed out on character moment opportunities.

You can if you want.

The fact that they blew up the significance of her being missing and dead, thereby increasing her profile without any characterization to prop it up is simply indicative of what's wrong with the show. If the people behind the show are going to invite scrutiny by having a show to discuss the show and proclaim it as character-driven, then they should put their money where their mouth is, that's all.

I would say just use all of the box office from The Avengers to buy back X-Men and Spider-Man, if possible. Or at least work out a deal where Marvel can produce the movies and Fox and Sony retain ownership of the rights and they split the take.

That's assuming, of course, that common sense can be used to defend this show's missteps.

Uh, it's not a "sticking point" (since we're clearly into the using-air-quotes-to-annoy-stage of this discussion). I just said it was something I noticed and I asked if anyone remembers her talking.

I didn't say she should talk everyone's ear off. I said if they went the whole show without her talking it would've been a missed opportunity for the writers--at minimum--to touch on why she never talked and use this as part of her character rather than rely solely on the fact that she's a child to make her death and turning into a zombie tragic.

It's probably really easy to say that when she has no character. She was a blank slate. But, hey, let's just throw all these character traits at her and see what sticks.

We don't know what she was like in the comic before her father died or how extensive the abuse was. I was just speculating on how her character might have changed after his death, and I freely admit I was speculating. Why won't you?

And I would argue that you're wrong because they misappropriated screentime that could've been used to develop more of an attachment to this character, who was newly freed of her abusive father, that was instead used on a meandering search plotline.

Then why didn't she talk?

The thing is, though, that's just speculation to supplement the lack of aforementioned groundwork.

Oy, this again.

I'm not upset because they changed it. It's just irritating that they can't preserve storytelling strength as they're making the changes.

Also, in the comic we meet Sophia after her father's gone when her and her mother probably became more free-spirited or didn't face abuse to the degree they implied in the show.

So not giving her any dialogue and not explaining her lack of communication or touching on it during Carol's conversations with the other parents when they were camped outside of Atlanta or during the search while she was missing was "'adequate groundwork?" Not to mention they implied she was getting along with Carl in their play sessions without any communication issues, and she had an abusive father in the comics as well and that background didn't affect her ability to speak.

The fact that they don't seem to have even touched on why this girl never speaks was a missed opportunity, which I guess has gone down the toilet with all the other moments should could've had with Carl.

We can make up all sorts of reasons why she didn't talk, but for them to not bring it up when her presence (or rather lack of presence) this season became so integral was a failure on the writers' part.

Does she actually have any dialogue though? I don't remember her talking at all in the first season and I just watched it. What about season two?

Also, kind of weird that they didn't touch on that. Seems like if they were going to play on the dead/zombified kid angle they might as well have said she was mute if she doesn't have dialogue.