Safe Slaughter
My first gripe with The Walking Dead is that it’s only on once a week. Damn, that show is addictive.
My second gripe is more of an actual gripe. You know how those zombies are highly contagious ‘n junk, right? For instance, in the last episode they were worried about shooting the zombie in the well and contaminating the water supply.
Well then why in the hell is everyone so cavalier about killing the zombies and letting their juices splatter all over their faces? I’m a bit of a germaphobe, but if I were in that world, I’d be the guy in the HazMat suit. Barring that, I’d at least have a gimp mask, or something!
In the season opener. The sexy blond lady stabs a walker with a screwdriver, while screaming at it, with blood spattering all over her open mouth. In the latest episode, the black dude smashes the poor water logged zombie without even thinking about the resulting splash.
There are many more such instances from both seasons. How hard would it be to have the characters at least pull a scarf up over their mouths before Al Caponing the walkers? What’s with all the unprotected slaughter?
Obey the rules of your own universe
When you’re crafting a story, it’s so important to obey the rules of your own universe.
Say you have enchanted stone warriors in your story who can crash through solid cement walls. Well then you can’t have those same warriors succumbing to a punch by Brendan Fraser in the next scene! It takes the believability down a notch.
So here are some things I’m genuinely confused with about The Walking Dead. If there are any super fans out there, perhaps you can enlighten me.
1. What are the walkers attracted to?
In the first season, the zombies could smell the humans. There was even one scene where the good guys had to smear themselves with zombie guts to disguise themselves.
Yet in this season, whole herds of zombies can pass by a bunch of sweaty humans hiding underneath cars. Hell, they even passed by the black dude who had a gaping wound in his arm. Couldn’t they smell the blood? Isn’t it like the scent of freshly cooked popcorn to them?
Quick, hide under a car!
In Season 2 it’s like a zombie forcefield.
2. Are the walkers alive or dead?
So I kinda liked the scientific explanation of the walkers at the end of season one. There’s some small primitive part of the brain that is still alive or some such. That avoids the supernatural angle.
But then that raises all kinds of questions. If a small part of the brain is alive, then doesn’t that mean the zombies are alive?
They eat food. We saw the contents of one of their stomachs. So does that mean their digestive system is still working? Maybe these zombies just need a better PR guy.
3. How do you become a walker?
In that big traffic jam they find themselves in this season, there are a bunch of dead bodies just lying around. What did they die of, starvation? Wouldn’t the zombies have feasted on them while they were still alive? And if they did feast on them, wouldn’t that have turned them into zombies?
And if the zombies feast on bodies until there’s almost nothing left, then how come most of the walkers are so intact?
—
I love The Walking Dead. These are smallish issues, but they do reduce my enjoyment of the show.
Anyone else have a problem with these things, or do I just need to access more of my zombie brain while watching?
I think you’re right to question these things. In a show that is driven by fans of the comics, fans of zombies, and the newly infected audience, I don’t see a good reason to not abide by the rules of your own story.
I can offer one explanation for your “hiding under cars = force field” scenario.
These Walkers use a combination of sight, sound, and smell as far as I can tell. They had to cover themselves in guts and walk like them so that they’d blend in when there was no way to go unseen. However, if unseen, they aren’t even on the Walkers’ radar. Maybe it’s best to view it as a tiered system?
They see or hear something moving.
They go explore the source of the sight or sound.
They use their senses to confirm whether it’s something edible/living or just another walker.
My suspicion is that they’re not using smell to detect prey so much as they are determining that they aren’t another walker.
Hey PlucharC,
You’ve provided the most plausible explanation of the car force field phenomenon I’ve heard so far. That makes sense. Now let’s see if The Walking Dead follows that set of rules from here on out.
Thanks for the response!
I would say the rule that supersedes the rules of the universe you’ve created:
1. Keep the viewer$ coming back for more.
Much of drama is emotion, so emotion will usually trump logic because that’s what people respond to *first*. If we’re on a first date, the other person will go out with us again depending on how they feel, not what they think (unless there’s another agenda, like gold digging, for instance).
I echo PlucharC’s points, and you make great points that I would hope they would work out, but we’ll never see the characters in HazMat suits because we’d be denied key emotional moments visually… and therefore viscerally.
Which reminds me of the word viscera for some reason…
Hey Scott — Agreed. Emotion can override a lot of things. But all things being equal, a show that engages emotion AND logic is better than a show that engages emotion alone.
I was facetious about the Hazmat suit (and possibly the gimp mask). They’d never allow that — similar to how we’ll never see a season of Survivor that takes place in the Arctic.
But seriously, how hard would it be for the characters to pull up a scarf to cover their mouths, for a brief moment, before a zombie killing mission? Or at minimum, react fearfully when zombie splatter gets on their faces?
And who says zombie splatter can only give you one thing? Why not the gamut from deadly down to, I don’t know, a zombie cold?
Or “Jim, I’ve got zombie toes. Do I just walk it off?”
You know what bothers me the most about this season? It’s turned into a soap opera with a guest zombie appearance per episode (not counting flash backs). I think the series is toast if this is how it’s going to be from now on. Just my opinion.
Oh, and about the smell… and sight … how exactly would that work in a mass of fleshy sensory organs that are rotting? I’ll give ’em eyesight, but sense of smell? The nasal cavity has got to be a ball of pus and they don’t breath, right?
I agree with the emoting soap opera elements. I like characterization with the best of them, but the extended agonizing over kids’ fates in particular just goes on and on… and I’m a parent.
I know they have budget issues and can’t rent a city every episode, but let’s move this caravan!
Hey Nate (and Scott),
I agree. Things have definitely slowed down on the zombie front. Hopefully it’s a slow burn leading up to some amazing action. Or maybe it’s just a result of AMC’s budget cuts. If they’re still mopin’ around grampa’s farm in the next episode, I’ll become concerned.
And as for the smell — you’re right, how exactly would that work? Yet we’ve seen the zombies smelling in the first season as a form of identification. That’s definitely one of the big problems with going the scientific route versus the supernatural route for the zombie explanation — it’s much more limiting. Strangely enough, it’s also less believable, as it keeps butting up against logic and the rules of the universe they’ve already established.
Thanks for the feedback!
I have similar questions about the logic of the Walking Dead also. I suspect some of the contradictions are set up deliberately by the writers to cause exactly what we are doing: debating about the show. Now matter what the debate, it’s good “buzz”. Anything to keep peoples interest in a show when it’s over is good.
Okay, that opinion is debatable so I won’t go any further with it. It could be just crappy writing. (Or simply deliberately throwing out logic for cinematic effect or budget)
Here’s my 2 cents on your 3 questions.
I’ll answer them in reverse order as that way one will lead to another.
3. How do you become a walker?
I believe that isn’t the real question you meant to ask. We all know you become a walker from physical transition of the virus (it’s not airborne) it must be transmitted through saliva or blood. There are many real viruses that are spread the same way, each with different levels of how easy they can be spread. The basic rules are a small amount of either blood or saliva in your blood stream is instant infection (from a bite or contusion). Contamination through the mucous membranes (blood or saliva in the eyes or mouth) and possible contamination through blood or saliva on the skin is possible. The problem is that is has never been made perfectly clear yet in the “Walking Dead” world every possible way the zombie virus can be specifically transmitted.
Some viruses can be transmitted through a simple touch of dry skin on dry skin, (of course others are so sensitive that they can be transmitted through close proximity, (airborne viruses), or even by being carried on an inanimate inorganic object (getting a cold from touching an infected doorknob) Most viruses are actually transmitted these latter, easier ways but that would not make for good cinema, unless the point was to wipe out everyone except the immune as fast as possible and focus on the survivors living in the post apoc world (as opposed to focusing on “trying not to get the virus”). BBC’s “Survivors” is one that comes to mind that uses the more realistic way of airborne transmission to good effect. (everybody dies quickly except the immune and the extremely isolated in artificial environments.)
Becoming a Zombie always is transmitted through physical means. It would be stupid if it was airborne. That would take out the “bite” factor that is key to the Zombie genre’s success.
What I really think you were asking is “what’s with all the dead uneaten bodies?” That situation doesn’t make much sense to me either, especially if they were uninfected. I won’t even try to come up with an explanation for that right now, hopefully it will be explained in future episodes. If not I’ll come up with something to justify the crappy writing.
The conclusion I’ve come to is that zombie infection only happens with blood to blood transmission. Saliva and through the mucous membranes might not be enough. That’s the only way I can wrap my head around it. It seems ridiculous that they seem careless when smashing zombie heads when they are afraid of the blood even getting on their skin, but it seems they are realizing that skin contact doesn’t matter. I just wish they would make it more clear.
2. Are the Walkers Dead or Alive?
What is your definition of alive? Spiritual? Biological? One of the definitions of “Alive” is simply “animated”. It’s a relative question that brings in spiritual debate whether the Zombification is supernatural or scientific.
In The Walking Dead it’s made clear that the brain dies. All the synapses that make cognitive thinking and bodily functions shut down, resulting in clinical brain death. The body is dead.
Then the virus takes over the motor part of the brain and uses the body as a host. The body reanimates but is now a vehicle driven by the virus. It is alive, but not the same lifeform it once was. What makes something alive only means that a spiritual or mental or artificial force is moving a “body”. If my brain could be implanted in a car and I still had all my current thoughts, but the car was now my body, wouldn’t that make it “alive”. Is that any different than when I drive a car now? I essentially make the car “come to life”. Does “life” have to rely on biology?
It’s all relative to your spiritual believes really. Take Wall-E for instance. he’s just a robot, no biomechanics, but he’s alive.
One theory is that the zombie virus can only live in the body while it is still “alive” so it’s main purpose is to make the body find food. If the virus just sat in a dead unmoving body, after time the body would dry up and decompose and the virus would die having nothing left to live off of being primarily a parasite.
Another motivation of why the zombies want to eat you could be just for the sole purpose of spreading. Maybe eating for sustenance has nothing to do with the virus and it is just a primal instinct left over in the human brain, the main purpose being the “bite” to spread the virus. The left over primal instinct (remember dude’s wife continually returning to her house?) brings up another point. There is still something left of the “real person”. Is it just residual memories? Is the person’s soul still in the body? Are they trapped knowing what is happening, not able to control? can they control a little? Just that opens up volumes for debate.
That brings up the point of why they eat? Is it just to spread the virus or do they really need the sustenance? Does their digestive system work? but they don’t breath and their heart doesn’t pump, or does it? I think it all does. Depending on how intact the body is would determine how long the zombie would live. All it needs is the brain and nervous system to move. but without a digestive system and a working heart the body would shrivel up and dry up and decompose within weeks. This brings up a whole new world of zombie debate. How much of the bodies systems that sustain life are working, what systems does the virus depend on for longevity?
Look up time lapses of decaying body experiments, it happens faster than you would think. Ever seen a deer on the side of the road dead that the DNR or DoT neglects? It doesn’t last very long (even without scavengers). In reality (a very twisted reality where there actually were existing zombies) I believe the problem would readily fix itself. The zombies would decompose very quickly (within weeks). There would be no flesh for the nervous system to control (it would all fall off the skeleton or be too mushy to pull on the bones). Animated skeletons are not zombies. Although there is plausible scientific explanation for the zombie theory (look up zombie insects and parasites(real world), it’s quite interesting) I’m sure moving skeletons can only be explained by the supernatural.
3. What are the walkers attracted to?
In the walking dead definitely smell. Pluchar’s theory of sight and sound first and smell to confirm makes sense but the plain truth is that the writers of Walking Dead are not sticking to their rules. There are times when only smell attracts the zombies. Sounds always definitely does. But there are times when smell doesn’t. Maybe it depends on the “mood” of the zombie at a given time. That’s the only explanation i can come up with for the zombies blood thirst at one moment and their indifference to scent at another. (perhaps it depends on the level of decay of their sensory organs)
Smelling isn’t only dependent on the nose either. You have to think of how smelling works. Small particles of something float in the air and land on special nerves in your nose. Those nerves send a signal to your brain”hey guess what I found in the air”. Those nerves could be anywhere. You could smell with your bellybutton if you were wired right. Some animals/insects “smell” with antenna, some with their tongue some with their skin. It all depends where the “smelling” nerves are branched out to from the brain. It could be possible that the zombie virus (being a virus that directly manipulates the nervous system, hence the walking) could manipulate the way your body smells (detects particles of something in the air). A zombie may still smell with his nose, but if it rots off he may be smelling with his eyes or ears.
just opinions, what are your thoughts?
RRL
Great breakdown. It brought to mind a big question for me:
Isn’t there sometimes (or always?) a supernatural component to zombie animation? And when there’s not (like here?) are there real scientific facts backing up how these lifeforms are able to what they do?
Did anyone wonder how mummies got around? Or wondered if Frankenstein’s monster could really exist.
I think I prefer a supernatural power source, because that lets the writers just have them do whatever will scare us the most. Fewer rules, more anarchy and more thrills.
I’m wondering when they’ll get to the prison (as in the comic book series). Cuz that, my friends, is some bad-assery going down there. Plus a couple of the coolest characters make their debut there.
Also, side-note: if I’m not mistaken, in the comic book series, the whole zombie thing is completely metaphysical: unless you’re shot thru the brain, you become a zombie no matter HOW you die.
Great post Vector — I’ve promoted it to the main blog here.
Dan — Now I’m looking forward to the prison set piece! That’s interesting what you say about the zombie thing being metaphysical in the graphic novel. Can anyone confirm that?
It’s a much more freeing way to go and would explain why the walker bodies are so intact. You could still go the scientific route with this explanation by saying that there’s an airborne virus that is only interested in recently dead bodies.
You could go ‘scientific route’, but why? I love the metaphysical nature of it–something on THIS planet, in our souls, in our psyches is poisoned. That’s huge, and it takes balls to write. It gives the series much more size, asks bigger questions, approaches existentialism, instead of just… zombie-ism. 🙂
Dan — Well the “why” comes from the rules that The Walking Dead has already set up. They went with the scientific route explanation toward the end of last season, and now they’re locked into it.
I like both approaches. The George A. Romero approach which is more like the metaphysical one you cite, is also valid, thought-provoking and fun.
Yeah, Trevor, I guess I’m still hooked into the actual comic book series. The whole CDC thing never took place in the comic book–that was purely for the tv show. In fact, the ones I’ve read never even discuss the how or why of the zombies. They’re too busy trying survive…
The “farm” storyline IS in the comic book. Some cool stuff should be going down very soon ::)
I’m nit-picking here, because I LOVE the AMC television series, too. Now, as for that train wreck that followed it the other night….
My husband and kids, and I, all said “Wait a minute!” or “No way!” when each of those scenes appeared that smacked of inconsistencies in the WALKING DEAD universe. I think it’s just bad writing. And it does take away from complete satisfaction with the show. It’s as if the writers are saying, “Oh, the audience will just have to go into stupid mode with us, since we can’t write a consistent universe and it’s us showing a stupid moment in our creative abilities.” That really frustrates me. Another event not mentioned yet that was really a “Oh, Wow. No way!” was the final discovery in the barn of the young girl turned zombie. We all said, “Now, if the Old Veterinarian was capturing these walking dead and housing them in the barn. Why would he be written as not occurring to him, or his family who were doing the capturing, that a young girl had been recently captured and was in the barn?” Wait. It’s plausible that he did not want to tell the visiting group about what he was up to with Walkers in the barn. But once the secret was out, why did he not then tell the group that they should look at the girl in the barn? I think because the writers didn’t know how to get from point A to point B without taking short-cuts.
Really, the writers are spoiling the quality of the viewer experience by just slopping these episodes together and seemingly winging it.
Also, the Deputy’s wife has been written to be so annoying. Her son is dying and she questions the only man alive who can help him? I wanted to slap the writers for making her such an asshole. Then there’s the old man who wants to run the blonde woman’s life– Com’on! He’s given lines to deliver saying that she can’t have a gun? in a post-apocalyptic world of walking dead? And why was she written to just accept it? Not believable. The RV owner is also an asshole. And the Deputy, all those ideals and noble thoughts that keep him from seeing the danger to the others because he just has to do the “right thing”.
We’ll be watching the 3rd season, don’t get me wrong. But I hope Stephen King asks them what the hell is the problem with the writers.
Hey Deena,
Thanks for the comments and insights. You’re right — it was a little strange that the Old Veterinarian dude wouldn’t tell the gang about the girl after the barn secret was exposed. But maybe he was just waiting to see if the group could live with the zombies. He knew what they would do to the girl if they found her like that.
I’m sure his thoughts will be articulated when the series resumes. There have definitely been a few story bumps, but hopefully it’s smooth sailing from here on out (for the viewers — not the characters).
Re what you write about infection. Remember the initial scenes with the scientist when he is doing tests? He gets a hole in his suit and the computer system freaks out and torches the lab and he has to go through an intense cleansing procedure. I think the computer even says something like ” breach, virus has been determined to be airborne” or something. I can’t remember exactly what happened (does anybody else?), but at the very least, it is strange the scientist would have everything torched at the slightest possibility of being exposed to the same air as an infected specimen, but the main cast runs around getting sprayed in guts and crap. + I think the dialogue about the two cop zombies not having any bites and Rick’s response might have been an indication that the virus is not just spread through blood and that Rick knows it (perhaps what the scientist told him at the end of season 1 ???). In any case, the initial Scientist scene and this latest “no bites” scene seem to be the two crucial points so far and perhaps the real reasoning behind this latest episode.
Hey Matt! Good call on the connection there. I’d forgotten about that scene with the scientist dude. You’re totally right. They’re obviously setting up some other transmission method.
I think it’s time for another Walking Dead Gripes post. I have a couple whopping issues with the last few episodes — while really enjoying them all the same. I think that’s why these issues strike such a chord — the show is otherwise brilliant. It’s like a wearing a ten thousand dollar suit with a mismatched tie. As Alex Dunphy would say, “Awww, sooo close.”
Regarding the girl in the barn: Hershel says Otis was the one who would capture zombies and put them in the barn. Since Otis only was with the group for a short period of time and entirely focused on helping Carl, no one mentioned that Sophia was missing. It’s completely plausible that Hershel didn’t know that Sophia was in the barn.
I haven’t read the comics, but in the TV series, zombies seem to rely less on smell than on other factors, which seems logical to me. Humans have an extremely limited sense of smell compared to other organisms; it seems more likely to me that a herd of zombies could walk by people hiding under cars than sniff out individuals hiding in the woods. The explanation of zombie smell given by Andrea in Atlanta was essentially ‘we don’t smell dead, so they can tell we aren’t zombies’. It would seem more far-fetched to assume that the virus can somehow drastically increase the sensory perception of the zombies.I still have no real idea of how the zombies found them at the camp outside Atlanta… the car alarm? the fire? the smell of cooking fish?
An explanation for how the zombies seem to be so well-preserved and less decayed than should be expected under normal circumstances is described in the book by Max Brooks, “The Zombie Survival Guide”. His explanation is that decomposing organisms cannot survive (at all or as well) on the infected tissue, essentially preserving the corpse for a longer period of time. Heat and exposure increase decay, but only because it improves the conditions needed for bacteria and insects to consume the body.
Hey Kristen, great insights.
The girl in the bar — check. That makes sense.
The smell — yup. It does seem far-fetched that the virus would somehow increase their sense of smell, yet… In the episode a couple weeks ago, Shane uses the blood on the door of the bus to attract the walkers.
Well preserved zombies — hmmm. I’ve read Max Brooks’ hilariously detailed Zombie Survival Guide. What I still don’t get is why the walkers seem to be so intact. Every time we’ve seen one attack someone, it ends in a feeding frenzy where they get ripped apart. Surely not all the walkers were merely scratched or barely bitten, or to escape and become a walker somewhere else.
Good point about the recent sense of smell example in the bus… and again, if they are that sensitive to the smell of blood at least, that again brings up the lack of continuity with T-Dog’s gaping wound on the freeway.
You are right about the intact zombies… the only one I can recall who was not mostly intact was the bottomless female-zombie in Rick’s hometown. I have a few related ponderings…
(1) Any zombie with missing or non-functional legs (for lack of tissue) wouldn’t be very mobile so wouldn’t have the ability to really move around and attack others (and therefore wouldn’t really make for good tv). Since they also are less likely to feed, maybe they can’t sustain themselves as long as other zombies, assuming that feeding is necessary for “survival”.
(2) While what we mostly see are these massive feeding frenzies in groups where we assume the whole victim is consumed, a smaller group of zombies likely wouldn’t be able to consume a person’s worth of flesh. When Daryl kills the walker they think might’ve attacked Sophia and they open up his stomach, his big meal was a woodchuck. That might mean that an attack by one or two zombies, even if they attack full out, can’t physically consume enough tissue to cause that much damage to the victim. They also seem to target the internal organs (the horse in Atlanta, the cow in the field, Dale?)… Maybe through the ripped, tattered, bloodstained shirts, many of them are missing those parts instead of more visible tissue? (I’m reaching on this one).
(3) If even large groups of zombies attack a single victim, we never really see any piles of bones or anything laying about. If they went back to the school, I wonder if they would find the skeleton of Otis laying there, or if he would be a reanimated mass of whatever is left.
Yeah, T-Dog’s gaping would still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Speaking of T-Dog, brotha had one whole line in the last episode! Seriously, they need to either utilize that character or kill him off.
(1) So we’re just not seeing most of the disemboweled walkers?
(2) It’s interesting isn’t it? What causes the zombie herd? Is there still some primitive need to belong to a group? Was that lonely walker out in the field a nerd zombie with no friends?
I like where you were going with your theory of massive trauma lurking beneath clothes — but yeah, it’s a bit of a stretch.
(3) Hmm, good question — Do they pick the bones clean, or just prefer to eat the viscera? Reanimated Otis — yes, that would be interesting to see! And very edifying.
@ Trevor, what did you think about the last few episodes? I am really annoyed with the female characters. Carol simultaneously encourages Daryl to usurp Rick while acknowledging herself as a burden… why stir the pot and cause drama when you may alienate yourself and be left vulnerable? Lori’s behavior when Rick told her what happened with Shane made me furious – she’s the one who told Rick that Shane is dangerous and they are not safe, and how Shane thinks that she belongs to him. Even Maggie having a breakdown while driving the car is annoying. I’m getting really fed up with women playing passive, useless roles and putting themselves in vulnerable, dangerous circumstances (Lori in the car, Carol roaming around by the woods…). Andrea is the only strong female character, but she’s only fallen into it because she is “damaged”. I’m heated that all the men are level-headed (mostly) and all have skills/abilities to contribute to the group, but all the women are dead weight.
I agree. But is that the fault of the writers or women?
I kid.
Hey Kristen – While I enjoyed the action of the finale, some of the characters are driving me crazy — both men and women.
– Lori trying to co-opt Daryl all the time is annoying… as is driving off on unnecessary missions. Still can’t figure out why she went on that wholly unnecessary solo mission to bring Rick back from town (other than as a forced writing convention to add drama). And yeah — she’s the one that told Rick that Shane was dangerous, so WTF?!
– Shane and Rick trying to force a handgun on an improperly trained kid.
– Carol trying to get Daryl to turn on Rick after he risked everything to force the group to stay put so they could find Sophia. Why the hell would she want to suddenly take off on the group?
– T-Dog not wanting to turn around and go back to join the group. Maybe he was hoping to take off with a couple of hot mamas cuz he hasn’t had any in months.
– Glenn being all distant with Maggie. Seriously dude?
– Andrea being all tough — but only because she’s damaged. You’re so right about that. And what was up with her tough love suicide assistance in that one episode? That was ridiculous. If people had treated her that way, she would have been dead several times over.
I wasn’t too bothered by Maggie having a breakdown. There have been some close calls, but she’s still been pretty sheltered on that farm.
And they cheated: you couldn’t tell if Lori was upset that Rick told her their son had to kill Zombie Shane (disturbing); or because he killed someone important to them; or because he killed someone she loved more than she knew until perhaps that moment.
I do like that Rick took on some of Shane’s characteristics, but I’m not totally buying the new macho dictatorship – uh, people can just leave, no yelling or threats are needed.
Question: does that hooded chick’s armless zombies keep other zombies away?
Scott- I think you encapsulated that moment perfectly. I’m sure Rick’s character was thinking all those things. And I guess we won’t have an answer until next season.
Hooded chick is apparently a bad ass from the comic. But yeah, I was immediately curious about that too. Plus the fact that the Zombie’s mouths seem to still be fully functional. So what’s the benefit of the armless Zombies (other than to look badass)?
So the new season has started and is off to a good start… the group looks like they have learned a lot on the seven or so months on the run… but I gotta say, they still make some mistakes that I just cannot understand. For example, when they found the prison and got inside the first gate, why didn’t they keep luring zombies to the fence and stabbing them in the eye/head through the links, rather than risk their safety in hand-to-hand combat? I can appreciate the thought that the fence might be overrun, but I’d assume a prison fence would be pretty well reinforced. I suppose more and more zombies from the inside area might’ve been lured into the centre field, so I can also appreciate the need to get in there, get the inner gate secured, and then rest easy for a night. Here’s where things really started getting to me. I know that with Lori about to burst that ideally they need to get into the prison and get some semblance of safety, but I still don’t get how they are deciding to blindly enter into unforseen territory and just hope for the best. Why not open those doors, scout a little ways in, and then retreat into the open? Lure them out into the cleared area where you can fight appropriately! This rings especially true during their mission to find the cafeteria. Serious flaws her… (1) Never send your doctor into combat if you don’t have to! Especially when you are depending on him to deliver a baby any minute! (2) The group went in to the dark corridor seeking out zombies to kill with the plan of killing them, but ran away every time they encountered any. With safety inside the cell block secured, why not lure them out? If there are too many to close the door, retreat to behind the cell door and get back to stabbing them in the eye socket. (3) How are they not stabbing every single corpse they pass in the head automatically? I’m not putting the blame on Hershel per se, but a bunch of them stepped over or walked by that zombie (at least on the way out of that corridor, if not once before on the way in)…. shouldn’t that be habit by now? It looked like they did it when securing the cell block (the cuffed corpses with head wounds lying in the opened cell doorways)… why not consistently? Thoughts?
Hey Kristen,
I think Rick’s little group of survivors certainly could have used you as a strategist! I completely agree with you. Perhaps after you’ve been wandering a zombie-filled wasteland for weeks, with no toilet paper and nothing to eat but bugs and the occasional can of Spam, you’d be a little off your game too. 🙂
I’m gonna chalk up their lack of thoughtful zombie precautions to exhaustion, dehydration and starvation… Though that black dude, who never gets any lines, sure seems like he’s managing to maintain his rotund figure. Perhaps he’s found Hurley’s secret stash of food.
I think we’re also feeling a bit of the writer’s hand in the episodes — just to ratchet up the tension. I’ll take that any day over staring at each other and bickering on a farm for weeks on end.
Theories on the “tea” in Woodbury? It hasn’t been prominent, but the Governor thanked his little scientist lackey, saying something about needing him for his special tea. Andrea seemed to get quite… smitten with the Governor around the time of tea consumption, while Michonne remains cynical and tea-less. The preview of the next episode showed a bunch of the townspeople in Woodbury raising colorful glasses (I am presuming them to be filled with “tea”). Ideas?
Excellent hypothesis Kristen. I hadn’t picked up on that. But there’s gotta be something going on to keep Merle in line so well. He’s far from his intimidating season 1 self.
You may be on to something… Maybe he makes tea out of the pickled heads of the zombies he’s keeping. It’s like a partial zombification to make people complacent.
Midseason break poll: Is Merle going to try to kill Daryl and Daryl is forced to kill his brother in self defense? Or is someone else going to try to kill Daryl and Merle is going to show his good side and die to save his brother? Or some other alternative? Is the prison crew going to save Daryl and execute Merle? I mean, clearly after what he did to Glenn and Maggie, Merle can never, ever be part of the group. I feel like Daryl can’t die on the show… he is wayyyy too popular a character to kill off this soon…. right?
Hey Kristen, great questions! My feeling is that Andrea will intervene and stop the execution. She’ll say something to the Governor like, “If you do this, we’re over.” But I certainly look forward to seeing the brotherly interaction. Where do their loyalties lie?
As far as Merle not being able to rejoin the group — it’s possible he’ll end up doing something to redeem himself. He could also say that he was interrogating Glenn so roughly because he really wanted to find his brother. It sure would create some interesting tension. But you’re right, Daryl’s way too popular to kill off… but this is The Walking Dead after all. Anything’s possible.
Overall, a stellar 3rd season thus far. In my opinion, it’s comparable to, or better than, the 1st season.
For the 3rd question. The zombies that are still mostly intact are actually people who got away after they were bit. Take T-Dog for example, in the prison in the third sean=son he sacrificed himself to save Carol (Which was stupid. Bitch should’ve died). He didn’t run after he got bit, therefore all the survivors found of him was his bloody shirt. Now take Jim in season 1. He got bit there at the rock quarry on the side and didn’t tell no one. The group found out the next day and tried to take him to the C.D.C, but he couldn’t make the trip so they left him by a tree. It’s not known as to whether or not he is a walker, but Sophia in the 2nd season, she was bit only on the neck and managed to get away. She was found towards the middle of the season in Hershel’s barn full of walkers, as in fact, a walker. The people who died of starvation and didn’t turn is because they died before the infection got air born, so that’s why there not up and eating people. Question 2, technically the walkers are dead. They only move and eat. Their hearts don’t beat, their blood is blackish not red, and they don’t die if you shoot or stab them anywhere but the head. They don’t feel pain, and they don’t have the part that makes them human, only primal instincts. Question 1, Zombies are attracted to smell and sound. When the group hid under the cars, they couldn’t smell them because of the decaying bodies and gas fumes from when T-Dog was siphoning gas out of the cars. After T cut his arm, Daryl killed two walkers and put one over T-dog and one over himself. The coagulated blood from the walker masked the sent of T-Dog’s blood because the smell of decay is so overpowering. There you have it. Hopefully now your questions are answered.
Great responses, anonymous! I have a hard time refuting them. Thanks!