The Walking Dead on AMC (part 2)

Even though the two people who died in the finale (what were their names again?) weren't terribly important to the show, it's still incredibly disturbing watching innocents eaten alive by zombies (at least maybe they bled out from their jugular fast so didn't suffer too much?). I know this is something I should get over, especially since I love so many films in this genre, but for some reason it still affects me. I had the same reaction when Otis bought it earlier in the season. Anyone else get this disturbed by "death by zombie" scenes? I really can't think of a worse way to buy the farm (pun unintended) than to be eaten by a horde/herd of zombies.

 

A zombie fetus eating it's mother from the inside out is lame and cliche? Do share with us what horrors lie down the road that make this scenario lame.

 

Please don't. Or put them in spoiler tags, at least.

Didn't the zombie birth happened already in Zach Snyder's Dawn of the Dead remake?

 

Yes...and it was very creepy.

 

The Lori character is puzzling. She seems to be very unpopular, both here and with anybody I talk to the show about. I never discussed the comics in a forum, so I don't know if she was as unpopular with readers as she is with viewers, but I didn't like her in the comics and I don't like her on the show.

I think the way you see her may be what Kirkman intends, but I don't think he achieves it at all. I think she's poorly written.

 

I'm assuming ridernyc is referring to stuff that happens in the WD comics which, as we know, the series may or may not always follow closely. I'm not looking for names but just examples of what he is referring to that would make a zombie-fetus chewing its way through its mother's insides and emerging through the mother's belly Alien-style look "tame". I get the shivers just typing the words.

I did not see Dawn of the Dead so if it has been done before then I get his point. However, everything we're seeing on WD has been done before. I'm just thinking about an especially grotesque ending for this particular character. ewww....

 

I don't want to read that [insert horrific event here] might happen in season 3 or 4, with or without names, and I doubt many do. I want to be surprised about it when it happens. If you want to know, maybe ridernyc can PM you some examples.

I totally agree, and more than that, I think she's poorly acted. I didn't like Sarah Wayne Callies when she was on Prison Break, and I don't like her on The Walking Dead. She might be a sweetheart in real life, but in both roles, she just gives off a very unpleasant vibe.

Lori in the comic had sex with Shane once, the first night they escaped, and it was a heat-of-the-moment, needing something to forget that the end of the world was here and her husband was dead type thing, whereas show-Lori repeatedly sneaked off into the woods to get railed from behind mere feet away from her son, which just immediately cast her in a bad light in many people's eyes, mine included.

 

ok.

 

Didn't know this. I missed the entire 1st season. Definitely sheds a different light on her.

 

Or gets stillborn and is... ZomBaby!

Many possibilities.

 

I’ve been finding it really interesting seeing the different types of fans of this show and what they want out of it. I’ve seen fans on TV saying they want “more zombie action.” I’m not really into zombie movies and the like. What I end up liking about “The Walking Dead” is very slightly “Lost-ish” aspect or a slightly mysterious back story that we still don’t know about, and of course just the day to day conflicts they run into. I think the episode with Rick, Glenn, and Hershel in the bar being confronted by the party looking for their dead friends was more intense than the scenes with dozens of zombie killings.

This next point is firmly in the category of making a useless, self-evident observation, but as I’ve now become interested in several “Cable” TV series, I’m finding it really annoying that anywhere from 6 to 12 episodes *per year* now constitutes a “season.” I know there are all sort of budgetary issues involved. But if a network TV show still can wring out at least 21 or 22 if not 24 episodes per year, I don’t know why some of these cable series only get 12 or 13 or two “half seasons” of 6 each, etc. We talk about seasons of things like “The Walking Dead” and how much plot development we get each “season”, but even though things may move at the same pace per-episode on this show as they do on any other show (which is debatable of course), it seems slower across a “season” per year if we only get 13 episodes.

The first two “seasons” of “The Walking Dead” still don’t amount to one full season of a network TV show (I realize the first “season” was very abbreviated as they were waiting for it to be picked up). I dig the show but having to wait a half year for six episodes is kind of weird, relatively speaking. Don’t these shows every worry that they can kill the momentum of a show, or that some viewers might lost interest or forget about the show six months later? I know this show is really popular, but I wonder if any other cable shows have died due to this type of production format.

I’m thinking of something like “American Horry Story” which ran, what, 12 episodes? It ended up December, and apparently will premiere in October again. Wouldn’t they worry a bit that a show that ran half of a “regular network season”, and then takes 9-10 months to return, might lost some fan interest?

 

I love the show in general, but sometimes the things they do just defy basic logic and common sense...

For example, the only solution to the zombie herd is to shoot them one by one and waste precious ammo? That didn't work anyway, and now they don't have much ammo left. It's a farm, there's plenty of equipment. How about some combine-zombie action or at least pickup truck-zombie action? Mow 'em down, demo-derby style, seems logical to me....Use the best tools for the job...They go a short distance and now at least one of their vehicles is out of gas? Huh?

Then at the end around the campfire...One of the last scenes shows a big-azz prison in the dark nearby...Really? So not one person on the farm, especially those who live there, ever had the thought that they were super-vulnerable and should move to "higher-ground"? They live next to a friggin' prison and no one thought of taking advantage of it?!??!

I still watch it, but sometimes stuff just has me shaking my head...

 

Lots of examples of nonsense...such as not having a pre-determined rallying point if they had to flee the farm...thats survival 101 stuff.

 

What about the big reveal that Rick tells the rest of his people and is now causing them to turn against him (CDC guy informing him that everyone is infected)? Not sure why that's a big deal.

Have we the viewer or any of the characters on the show seen anyone become a zombie while they were still alive?

Have we the viewer or any of the characters on the show seen anyone not become a zombie after they had died (other than those torn to shreds and gobbled up)?

I believe the answer to both questions is no.

The premise is similar to NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. The dead come back to life because (presumably) of the effects of an errant satellite. In the WALKING DEAD, the dead come back to life because of an infection. When Rick told his group that they were all infected, I was half expecting someone to yell out "No **** Sherlock".

 

If everyone now has the virus maybe the newborn baby will have some immunination or something in her/him

 

That would very quickly become zombies under-the-truck action > truck-gets-stuck action > zombies-swarm-the-truck action > trapped-in-a-death-cage action.

They don't live "next to a prison". Rick said he'd been driving for an hour on fumes. So the prison is at least an hour away from the farm.

 

I'm pretty sure I know where the large prison facilities are within three hours drive from my home town. There aren't many and they aren't hard to miss.
Hershel should know this.

 

I don't disagree with any of these thing. All I was pointing out is that I thought this season was average. It wasn't anything special to me. The season ended and I learned very little about their struggle and their growth.

I think the biggest winner of the show was Andrea who went from a background character,
to I give up,
to I want to live,
to a bad ****,
to a bad **** with a concience.
We now know something about her character. She has a history and growth. We are invested in her.

The rest? No one else on the show really moved.

Glen settled down, took on more group related responsibility.
Rick became a little more hardened.
Hershal became a little more hardened.
Meagan, nothing, we don't know her.
Lori, nothing. We learned she's manipulative but she didn't change.
Shane, gone after big changes. I didn't care for him but it was a good ride.
T-Dog, nothing.
Dale, gone with no growth.
Darrel, found himself but has no meaning yet.
Carrol, nothing.

I'm looking forward to this show going somewhere next year. I'll give it three maybe four more episodes then I'm done.

 

According to the "Talking Dead" discussion after the finale, they had originally planned to bump-off Herschell (spelling?) this season but it didn't seem to work right with the scripts as they were writing them. I don't know his fate from the original comics, but I'm glad they kept him around too. He seems to provide an interesting contrast with some of the other characters.

 

So why didn't they all follow him when he took off down the road. Your logic is flawed. Big difference between 5 zombies and a few thousand.

 

And you had the alien baby climbing out of the womb in the second V mini series. It's been done over and over again in various sci-fi and horror movies.

 

Hershel: "This is my farm, I'm not leaving it."

The farm was a very safe location until the season finale. Heading out for a two-hour drive to a prison full of convicts and potential zombies probably didn't seem like that safe of a bet until they had no choice.

I do totally agree with you about a disappointing lack of character development, though. I was not very impressed by this season, only in small doses here and thre. Andrea was developed the most, you're right.

 

I'm sure that the zombies started following the people as they were leaving but a stumbling zombie can't keep up with a vehicle going fast. Now if some brave soul was driving slightly faster than a zombie I bet he could lead the zombies as long as he wanted too.

Chad

 

I had a terrible vision of our survivors in 5 or 6 cars, suddenly surrounded by a horrendous swarm of 100,000 walkers... kind of like being in the jungle and attacked by millions of Army ants...

 

Got sucked in to this show on Sunday for the first time. Had never heard of it before then. Watched it all evening. Pretty entertaining. Lots of dynamics within the group so that there is more to the story than just zombies. For what it is (a comic book) I like it.

Why I get a kick out of watching a zombie get it's head blown off or receive an arrow through the skull I don't know? It's like watching a video game. But I love those so there's my answer.

The prison opens up a lot of possibilities along with the hooded girl in the forest. Nice ending point. Looking forward to next season.