The Walking Dead (AMC + Darabont) - Page 26

It is only natural that it will take a little while before we get more depth to these characters when there are so many of them (and more to come). It was the same deal with the comics, it took a good while to really get to know all the characters.

It's mentioned in the comic, and I don't think this is a spoiler in any way since it doesn't affect any character, but basically what they learn is that any noise draws them in. Someone earlier mentioned the car alarm. They just head toward the noise, and even if it stops they keep moving in that general direction. They may bump into others who move along with them. If another noise happens they readjust their direction, and before you know it, a bunch have shown up together.

You have a fairly large group of people who have a fairly comfortable existence - they have water, shelter, enough food, and they're not being attacked by zombies. They feel safe and they let their guard down. Zombie time.

This would actually have been a decent plot point, but the fact that a zombie showed up the day before (or possibly the same day, I'm a little unclear) should have meant that they were on a full alert. Instead of showing human failing,you're showing people too dumb to live.

To say nothing of the aforementioned running back to camp.

This is true except for The Wire, Friday Night Lights, Breaking Bad, and the number of authors I rant about, like Don Winslow and Lawrence Block. Those topics are "You like it or you're stupid."

That's ridiculous. Everyone loves Breaking Bad.

Watched the episode, caught up on the thread. NickP needs to be eaten by a zombie. Seriously, Nick, you are a fucking yappy lapdog in this thread. Give it a fucking rest man.

I'm with Jeremy that the vato reveal, while tensely set-up, deflates faster than a flan in a cupboard. So much shit is thrown against the walls and stuff that ought to stick is never referenced ever again. Grenade in tank? Gone. The guns were important to Rick, yes, but no mention of the walkie-talkie?

Back to the "Mexicans" keeping old folks safe though, Rick's group are brought to the vatos in a "burnt out" manufacturing looking area. Where is the hospital? Why would these guys think they are there to steal food and medicine when this looks like one of those old abandoned factories that get gentrified into overpriced loft apartments? Wait, follow us though our network of tunnels and gardens connecting these three city blocks of buildings to the hospital we are trying to protect from you. Someone already mentioned they were in a completely different part of town looking for the guns. WTF? Not really lazy, just bad storytelling.

The writing remains stellarly uninspired. The acting was much better this episode. My problem with Lost was there was a point midway through the first or second season where you could tell the writers never expected the show to be a hit and they were just making shit up as they went along to get a breather during the off season to actually formulate a feasible structure to the show. You can tell that these six episodes were poorly put together in many places. More places than there ought to be is what people keep bitching about.

So many scenes are stilted and/or just idiotic. Lori getting up and kneeling by Jim then back up and leaving without saying anything? The vato yelling at Daryl in the middle of the alley with zombies just right there? I give a shit if your homies are around the corner with a car. Run back to camp? Are there no more fucking cars between the camp and the city? "I remember what my dream was"? Jesus.

I like the lack of zombie action, the tension is there wondering when the shit is gonna go down. On the other hand though that is going to wear thin with mainstream audiences.

Just weird how uneven and uncohesive(?) the show is.

Why is it that when I read this thread, I can only imagine NickP only doing three things with his entire life?

1) Watch the Walking Dead again and again.
2) Posting
3) Masturbating

At least they're actually showing why people would actually start going to Rick for leadership, instead of it just randomly occurring like it did in the comics.

That last scene really got to me, it felt so REAL. The lack of dramatic stings in the soundtrack is one of my favourite parts of this show, it lends so much more weight to the scenes where something horrible happens rather than killing all the tension with a cheesy "Dun dun DUN!" or violin squeal.

And I have to say these are some of the greatest zombies I've ever seen, definitely not the kind of quality you would expect from a TV show. No jaw girl looked so ugly she actually made me gasp, and all the little details on the zombies like their lips or parts of their faces rotting away to show the bone unerneath are so well done. We sure have come a long way since Night of the Living Dead.

I'm REALLY curious about whether or not the zombie attack on the camp was a set up, I can't wait to find out. A large group of zombies shambling uphill as their easy food sources run out could have happened on its own but WHERE WERE THE CANS?!?!?

If Merle did manage to set up a zombie attack on the camp after cutting off his hand, cauterizing his own fucking stump, and making it all the way back with significant blood loss that would make him one of the toughest motherfuckers of all time. I guess we just have to wait and see, it's been ages since a show got me this excited to know what happens next.

We're 4.5 hours into the show. Keep in mind, Lost's first season was about 24 hours of television. In Lost time, we've lost the Pilot and the Marshal.. how was the character development on those two, at 4.5 hours, before they died?

I know it sucks we have 6 episodes instead of 13, 22 or 24 but for what it is and how much it has given us, this is an outstanding series. Amy's death may have been predictable but how about the impact on her sister? that will linger. Sure, Ed died but how about the impact the widow and his daughter? are they going to hold Shane responsible, after all.. if he wasn't beaten up would he have been in the tent? Ramifications. This could be the shift from Shane being the leader to Rick being the leader..

I'd love it if you stopped posting shit like this before dissing other people for being dumb.

Yeah, I think it was this past episode where they made a point to show people stringing up cans along the perimeter. Merle saw zombies approaching camp and managed to take some of the cans down. I hope thats the extent of his involvement. Because if he actually DID take a truckload of zombies up to camp from the city or something, I'm gonna have to start doing some nitpicking here...

I need to sleep too.

1. A glass-sided tank, bowl, or the like, in which NES cartridges are kept.

Frankly I'm amazed that Merle could even drive what must surely be a stick shift truck without the use of his right hand. That's even more badass than the initial sawing and cauterization. At this point I wouldn't be surprised if next time we see him he has a variety of Swiss Army stump attachments like Han in Enter the Dragon (e.g. hook, claw, morning star with chain, and for non combat situations a mini confederate flag)

*snerk*

I really should stop reading this thread before I get around to actually watching the show (I've got it on iTunes), because I'm not ever gonna be able to take Merle seriously after that visual.

I'm liking that, judging by the conversation, the show seems to be wildly diverging from the comic's arc, though. This means this isn't all shit I've read before. Definitely don't remember any Merle, or any fake vatos protecting old ladies or whatever.

I wonder how so many people can think that Merle had something to do with the zombies attacking the camp. Everyone seems to have a jump to conclusions mat except me.

The camp is surrounded by noise-making devices. None of which were triggered. It's not that big a jump to think that he's got something to do with it. Daryl himself says the camp is likely in danger from Merle's Vengeance.

Daryl's quote about Merle potentially taking vengeance on the camp.

The fact the the zombies didn't set off the noise detecting cans, indicating they were possibly disabled.

The number of zombies and how quickly they show up. These one's just shambled into the camp. They weren't fast moving, so it's hard to believe that nobody noticed them making their way to them during the day, especially with Dale on the RV keeping watch.

I don't think it was Merle, though.

This was not a good episode. For once, I completely agree with the tag team review. The writing was just way too inconsistent. Blame that on Kirkman, though.

Damn skippy. It's a natural conclusion to jump to, haha.

I'm not fully sold that it was Merle, as I mentioned earlier he would have to be a super bad ass to be able to pull all that off, but I know SOMETHING is going on. The cans were mentioned too specifically for them to be absent now for no reason, someone at least took them down to make the camp more vulnerable, and actually leading the zombies straight to them isn't a huge stretch either.

Darabont definitely wants us to think it's Merle, but for all I know that could be a clever mislead. The references to the noise making devices in earlier episodes aren't any different than that obvious shot of the hacksaw falling close to Merle when he was handcuffed, it's all clues and foreshadowing we're supposed to be piecing together one way or another.

Oh hell, after reading WG's post I'm thinking it was Ed. That's the guy digging the graves, right?

Nah, Ed is the wife beater who got eaten first. Jim is the grave digging guy.

And I'm not sure about that, it seems too obvious somehow. Not that this show is trying really hard to avoid the obvious and expected but still.

And anyway, they tied him up during the day and the attack happened at night. The only way he could have done it is if they have a really really shitty night watch set up and no one noticed all the cans were missing, or if he had an accomplice who did it after he was subdued. And neither of those scenarios seem likely to me.

At this point my safest guess is that they were sabotaged by some totally new person/people we haven't even seen before. Damn it I wish I had read the comics first.

Jim was digging the graves. Ed was the wife beater/child worrier who got his head parts chewed first.

I don't know. Jim seemed pretty sincere about the dream and everything else, but you never know until you know.

I actually thought the graves might have prompted a kind of symbolic funeral situation where people like Jim could lay their families to rest, if that makes sense. Say a few words in their memory.

EDIT:

WG - none of this is in the comics. Probably why everyone's obsessing over it so much, heheh.

Oh hell, I'm gonna catch a ration of shit from Jackson for not keeping the names straight. Jim, alright. He's my guess until the next episode at least.

Or Shane disabled the traps knowing an attack would call Rick's Atlanta trip into question and thus earning brownie points with Lori.

No, not really... I just think the walkers stumbled through an area where there were no cans while we're meant to think Merle had a hand in it. Surely the entire parameter around the camp isn't rigged up, right? Just certain areas? Otherwise how did Glenn drive back into camp without triggering them?

I'm content to just watch the next two episodes and see, though.

HEY-OOOO

...with the other one in Glen's backpack!

::facepalm:: I'm so ashamed of me.

If it turns out that Merle somehow herded the zombies to the camp, I'm giving up on this show. Seriously.

This Sunday's episode is directed by Ernest (Surviving the Game) Dickerson.

When is there a perimeter line shown with "noise detecting cans?" I've watched them all at least twice by now and I haven't seen anything like that set up unless I'm totally blind. I thought the first person that mentioned "noise detecting cans" was joking.

You're totally blind. Seriously, watch 'em again.

Gotta shout out again Glenn's fantastic body language as the hand went in his backpack. A million words couldn't have done that moment justice.

Episode 3 around the 5 minute mark you see Jim putting up cans and wires somewhere in camp. As the Latino guy that was trapped in the department store meets his family and says "some new guy, crazy vato.." you see the cans behind him. So it looks like the cans are set up at the tree line to the right of the road if you are sitting at the camp fire(9:30ish minute mark of Ep 3) it's worth noting that the RV \ watch nest is to the LEFT of the road. Same episode when Carl screams (23 minute mark) you see the cans by the deer that was attacked by the geek. Now, this was also to the RIGHT of the road. What it looks like was they expected the natural terrain to protect them from the left of the road and set up warning devices to the right. Which, if you look there are steep cliffs and drop offs (when Lori goes to get Carl from frog hunting), makes sense. However, it looks like the geeks all came from behind the RV (where the cliffs are) and to the LEFT of the road, where the tents that Rick was sleeping are. Looks like that was their weak spot because in the rewatching I didn't see a single can line set up there.

So there you have it.. the cans weren't taken down because there were no cans there. At least not visually. Gotta give them credit, in rewatching, you really get a scope of the camp, the layout etc...

Hey Snaike. Could you please email a pdf with the basecamp layout and your notes attached! That would be a great help in rewatching last episode :-)

Here's the Quarry for reals

And according to Google maps, the nearest gun shop (Georgia Tactical) is 47 minutes away by foot. Discuss.

Also known as Ernest "I directed the Fort Myers opening sequence of George A Romero's Day of the Dead" Dickerson. Respect!

Guns: Just said this on Devin's site, and this thread moves too fast for me to keep up completely, but my assumption on "where are all the guns?" is that the majority of the looting happened during Rick's coma. If things go south on a large scale, the guns will be snapped up VERY quickly. In fact, I'd wager many stores legitimately sold out of firearms in the very first stages of the crisis, before any looting even began.

He seems to enjoying it more than the Chud gang.

I don't agree with him on Shane being justified in subduing Jim. That was just loony and amusing. But I can buy that it happens. I just don't think we're meant to believe Shane is correct in doing this. The ending proves this. I think it's more of a commentary on the fine line between protecting and controlling someone, between security and freedom.

Crossbows man! Crossbows! Daryl has shown me the light.. the weapon is silent, retrievable ammo and in a pinch, you could build your own ammo. Good luck making your own shotgun ammo! I say head on down to the Bass Pro shop and pick yourself up a ton of crossbows and bolts, camping supplies, some windup led flashlights, knifes a shit ton of knives and shapeners, etc.. Go medieval on their zombie asses! Head to a midieval weaponry shop and get yourself some mail armor, pikes, etc.... bite through that you zombie fucks!

That certainly sounds plausible, but from a storytelling standpoint it seems strange that they made such a big deal of the cans in the first place if their absence isn't an important part of the sneak attack. All the important story points have been clearly laid out beforehand so far with a lot of telegraphing to the audience, so I'm not convinced that this will be an exception.

In a show with so much cheese and hamfisted exposition I'd be really surprised if they gave the viewers enough credit to figure out the layout of the camp and how the attack happened on our own.

I couldn't believe it when all of them, one by one, left Jim all alone bound to that tree. It gave me horrifying images of him getting torn apart by a wandering zombie, utterly helpless. I figured that's where they were going, to hammer home the judgement towards authority figures handcuffing people. Lucky for Jim I was wrong.

Not to nitpick the show. I'm loving it. Outside of the clunky opening scene, I thought Vatos was fabulous.

No they haven't. Points are raised by the handful then just left right where they appeared on celluloid. As abysmal as the writing is on this show I would bet dollars to donuts the cans aren't even mentioned because of the direction the zombies came from.

You mean like the grenade Rick found in the tank? I'm betting he's going to pull that out in the season finale and conveniently save everyone when they're seconds from being zombie chow.

Or the season finale is him pulling the pin with the zombies closing in on him, then fade to credits.

The two things I most want to see are 1) somebody turn and 2) how Rick makes use of the grenade.

I hope he uses it just for Merle.


Rick and Merle on the floor in a ball, fighting for the grnade. Merles stands up, raising the grenade in his fist. Victorious.

"I beat you, Rick! You sonofabitch! I BEAT YOU!"

"Did you . . . ?" Rick opens his hand and reveals the grenade pin.

Merles looks at the grenade, "Oh, sh-"

Rick turns and walks away in slo mo from Bay-splosion.

You deserve a gold star.

Bonus points if Rick puts on sunglasses while walking away from the slo mo Bay-splosion.

No, he'd put on his sheriff's hat as he walked away in slow motion.

Haha, touche.

I just had a strange mental image of what it would be like if everyone in this thread started co-writing the next episodes of The Walking Dead. It would turn into the hideous love child of Michael Bay, Uwe Boll and George Romero. The horror....

You say horror. I say Emmy.