The Walking Dead

Definitely loved that season finale. Seeing some character development is awesome. The new Rick is bad ass. Lori, well, what can you say. She fucking whispered in Rick's ear that Shane needed to be dealt with, now she turns on Rick when he kills him in self-defence? COME ON. Obviously we're supposed to dislike Lori's character at this point, and the show is doing that job nicely. I guess she is also mad that Carl killed something, but hey, gotta cross that road at some point. I like how the comics did it, where Carl killed a zombie that was going to eat Lori. Got the "Carl kills things" out of the way before he shot Shane.

As for the next season, PRISON HO! Awesome. I wonder how they're going to treat Lori's pregnancy. There is a real sense of time-skip in the comics, where they spend quite a lot of time at the prison. I wonder if they will accelerate the time in the show as well.

I heard from some non-comic readers that the Michonne entry felt very shark-jumpy. Out of nowhere this black ninja shows up and saves Andrea. I, on the other hand, thought it was freakin' cool as hell. Gotta have some fan-service to the comic readers, and I ate that shit up.

 

Really need to get another epsiode to watch. Last I saw Rick killed two dangerous folks in self defense after finding the old veterinarian. That car flipping looked really bad and was a great cliff hanger ending.

 

Found on College Humor:
Ten Reasons why The Walking Dead should just kill Carl...

1. Carl, stay in the house.
2. Seriously, Carl. Stay in the house
3. Carl, I don’t want to yell but it’s the middle of the zombie apocalypse and we’re going to need you to stay close by.
4. Okay, buddy. Can you be a good little sheriff and stay put? I don’t know, guard the living room. Yes, okay here’s a special hat and you are officially on duty to protect the couch cushions. Just stay in the house.
5. Carl, I’d ground you but it seems a bit trite what with the hordes of Zombies outside trying to eat our faces.
6. Remember what happened when another little kid wandered off alone? You were here for that.
7. It’s great you’re keeping your childish rebellion alive but if one of the bad guys gets you, Daddy is going to have to shoot you in the head.
8. Please, Carl. Just stay here. I’ll be right back. Protect the couch cushions. Make some lunch. Get back to doing that math homework we inexplicably cared about 4 episodes ago
9. Carl, I’m not fucking around. Please, Carl. Just stay in the house. Do this one fucking thing. Just stay in the house for the next 5 minutes.
10. HAS ANYONE SEEN CARL?? HE’S NOT IN THE HOUSE.

 

AHAHAHA Fremen, that is fucking awesome.
Stupid Carl..... -_-
I feel like Carl and Lori were characters created poorly. That or....they're dumb as cows. DURRRRR. Lots of loopholes in their character personalities.

 

To be fair, Lori was just a small town Southern housewife. Then the world went to hell. Her marriage to Rick was on the rocks before the zombie apocalypse which explains her bedding Shane (to a degree). She's not a likable character--she's a bitch, to put it nicely. She's not ever gonna be anything but who she is. And she's exactly like her comic book counterpart.
Carl is harder to explain. He seemed a lot brighter in the comic books--but maybe on TV he takes after mommy more than daddy.

Robert Kirkman, the author of the comic books which is the source material for the series, doesn't really know how to write women, IMO. His 'badass' comic book women could be switched out for men. My hope is to see at least one female writer's name in the credits for season three. I'm not looking for soap opera, just a more clear ring of authenticity in the women characters.
Speaking of badassses: Here's the Talking Dead show that followed episode 13. We have Kirkman, showrunner Glen Mazzara, and, wearing her very best 'hooker heels, fidgeting madly, Laurie Holden who plays Andrea.


Episode 213 Bonus Segment: Talking Dead
Host Chris Hardwick discusses The Walking Dead episode "Beside the Dying Fire" with guests Glen Mazarra, Robert Kirkman, and Laurie Holden.

 

Yeah, thats exactly what I mean, though, Fangirl.
Dude who writes the comic series isn't good at writing women. Not many men can, though. Its all..I dunno. Its off. Something's wrong. The way Lori acts, its like a bipolar housewife. I swear to god she's bipolar. Hot and cold constantly. And so are many of the other women. That chick in the CDC that burned herself alive? Same thing. One sec screaming for her life, the next, gives up. At least Andrea's reaction to her sisters death was logical. Suicide seemed the best way out of the hellhole she was in. She found comfort in whatshisname though, who, died. -_-
Or how about the chick who was abused? Am I the only person who finds the way she acts really bizarre? I dunno, maybe my psychology courses rubbed off on me too much. Maybe the fact that my best friends are personality readers to perfection skew my perspective. Fuck if I know. But the women in this world, are fucked up, and annoying as HELL.
The talking dead is generally an annoying show, the host is, at least. Total douche. But I sometimes watch it. I wanted to see if they'd say anything of substance after the finale, but sadly, they didn't. Still, they did answer a few questions. So some people might find it worth watching.

 

I can't argue with a word you've said, Settie.
The women characters are cardboard cutouts.

Oh god, don't get me started on 'Carol'. She's utterly pathetic in the comic book. On the show, she's very strange.
Maybe Kirkman figured only guys would be reading so they'd be satisfied with poorly drawn women characters (pun unintended but I like it ). Boy, was he wrong. Chicks are said to make up about 40 - 45% of the audience--huge for this genre. I give credit to gamer girls. I think they are much more open to non-traditional TV fare. I never mastered hand-eye control so I don't game but I was brought up on 'pure' science fiction (vs. sci fantasy which I grew to prefer) and comic books with action heroes--perfectly prepped for this stuff.
I have high hopes for 'Andrea' and the new character, 'Michonne.'

 

Now that we know everyone is more or so infected already there's one thing that I haven't figured out yet. Do walkers carry the same viral/bacterial/infection? that causes the dead to turn? Someone earlier mentioned that everyone eventually gets infected through contact with walkers drooling or touching someone carrying it. When walkers bites or scratch the living they get infected with something that causes death right? So the dead are carrying something that affects the living that causes death. Now is this the same 'infection' that all the living are carrying or are there two completely different diseases we're talking about? I was thinking if everyone is already infected there's something that stays dormant until they die but it does nothing to them while they're alive. So is the disease that the walkers carry and spread to the living completely different than the one everyone alive is infected with? If it's the same disease how can a walker say bite someone and this person gets a fever and die but the same disease that everyone has who is living has no symptoms and is alive. Does that make sense or am I completely lost in my thoughts?

So is the infection that kills the living by being bit by a walker the same as the disease that everyone is supposedly infected with? The disease everyone is infected with doesn't affect them until death, yet there is a disease that the walkers are passing to humans that clearly affects them when they're alive with a 100% death rate. Are there different incubation stages or is the disease infectious or deadly during certain times?

 

Cardboard cutouts indeed!
I am a gamer girl. And I was brought up on Star Wars, Star Trek, and myriad of sci fi films and novels. One of my dad's favourites was Logan's Run. I've seen it half a dozen times myself. Like father like daughter. My preferences are along post-apocalyptic world stories, and time travel. Gotta love me some Marty! <3 I digress! Shit.
Sadly, I never got into comic books. I tried, but its just not my thing. Give me a normal book anyday. And I've read some fantastic post-apocalyptic world books.
I know I said it earlier, I am trying to take what happens on the show lightly, because its all in a male perspective, it seems, and its quite....twisted. As an avid L4D gamer girl, I guess my reactions to events in the game help me make decisions in the Walking Dead storyline that none of the characters think up.
But yes, I also have high hopes for Andrea and Michonne. Bad. Ass.
--- merged: Mar 22, 2012 at 2:00 PM ---

That paragraph made my head spin, but after a few read throughs I think I get what you're asking.
So, there is no real way to answer this question, just theories. Contagions and how they are controlled is what humans do better than actually understanding how they work in people. Science is trixsy!

Think about it this way: the common cold affects every individual differently. Some stay in bed a week, some get just a stuffy nose. Same applies to the flu, and many other bacterial and viral infections. People respond in different ways to the contagion, and express different side effects.
It all depends on a LOT of things: how healthy one is, their white blood cell count, do they drink and have a bad liver, is their pancreas functioning perfectly or not, how is their metabolism, blah blah blah....

In my opinion: the vague answer is no, its not the same disease.
The tricksy answer: I think its a viral mutagen that binds to certain proteins in the body. Dependent on the person's immune system, they are affected slowly, or quickly. I think, this far into the rate of infection in the world, those who had bad immune systems are already zombies. Those healthier, are still alive, but slowly dying.
I also believe there's a bacterial form, and a viral form. I believe the bacterial form is seen on the zombies themselves on their rotting flesh, which transfers through blood, bites, teeth, nail scratches, saliva....etc. If a zombie could sneeze, it'd spread that shit all over. ew.
I believe the viral form, which humans are more susceptible to, and are much less contagious in my microbiology studies, is on everything in this world. Ever had viral eye infection? All it takes is the wrong touch of a key or handle or chair or whatever the virus is sitting on, then for that contaminated hand to touch the eye. Boom. Diseased for a month.
So, in a way, every damn thing the humans touch has that viral infection on it. And all it takes is one touch to the face without first sanitizing to be infected.
Viral infections show less side effects than bacterial infections, and take longer to "incubate" in a body. They are also a hell of a lot harder to kill.

Well, that's my theory on zombies. Not for just the Walking Dead, but zombies in general.

 

Seriously, has there been one episode where they haven't told that kid to sit still and babysit the couch cushions or the RV sink only to find he wandered off. You would have thought that nearly being disemboweled by the zombie stuck in the mud would have taught him something. Nope, still dumb as shit and goes wandering off in the finale to find Daddy and nearly get devoured by a zombie herd.

 

Yea not exactly the best example of the english language. I like your idea of the virus killing those with weakened immune systems already. So do you think we'll see people with shorter lifespans? Or perhaps even getting sick to a certain degree be fatal after a certain point? Kind of like AIDS where should your immune system be strong you could be symptom free but later on succumb to it's affects at a much slower rate?

 

We are not gonna see it on The Walking Dead. It is highly unlikely that we'll delve into any AIDS-like scenario. The writers have made that quite clear. Frankly, I'm glad of it because it's a zombie horror, not a disease-of-the-week show.
However yes, people will have much shorter life spans, weakened immune systems or not, as we have already seen.

If it helps, these zombies are directly inspired by the work of George Romero (Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead). The story is less about zombies (and how you become one) and more about what you become when living in a zombie apocalypse. Can you sustain some semblance of your humanity in your quest to live or must you become much as the zombies themselves--mindless killing machines?

 

*raises hand* Mindless killing machine here.
Give me a rifle, pistol and a sword. Maybe a climbing axe, as well.

 

Fangirl, you probably know the answer to this..... I was out running yesterday and stopped and thought about this....
Why didn't the two bad guys in the bar "re-animate"? Were they both shot in the head?

 

Yes they were shot in the head.

 

Wish it would hurry up and come back on. Im starting to have zombie withdrawals.

 

Downloading "Triggerfinger" now. Should be exciting, there is no way that Rick and the other two have an easy path back to the farm from that bar. No doubt going to encounter both walkers and compatriots of those other two before the end of the episode.

 

Quick comment 4 minutes into episode 9 - I am not feeling much sympathy for Lori in her very rough situation but it certainly does grab my attention....now back to watching the first episode of Rockford Files on Netflix. I shall finish this episode on my ipod tonight at work and post my thoughts on the whole thing tomorrow.