Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Yes, but he is only saying out loud what he THINKS is going on. Jenner from the CDC didn't know the whole truth and only passed on a small brief amount of vague information. Which is turning out to be more like gossip than anything else. He said that France was close to an answer but ran out of time. And then he ran out of time too. To me I don't think anyone has the answer and the writers haven't revealed the truth yet. They might not ever tell us!

In most explanations of a zombie virus, it causes massive changes at the cellular level, hijacking the system to cause genetic mutation. Often it's the result of biological warfare experimentation gone awry.

I like the idea that everyone is infected. One of my biggest problems with the zombie apocalypse idea is the fact that it would be impossible to cause a pandemic that's spread by biting. I would assume that the virus is dormant until triggered, like the shingles virus that everyone who's ever had chickenpox carries. Death triggers it. Maybe a zombie bite causes a massive increase in viral load that triggers it.

I mean, the fact that zombies aren't real and can't actually be a real thing no matter what the theoretical cause of zombieism is sort of throws a wrench into this whole discussion. If a zombie exists, that means something that can't be a real thing caused it, so in order to enjoy stories of a zombie apocalypse we have to assume that a virus could make it happen because it's really just as likely as any other explanation.

Herschel was dead meat no matter what so I don't know why Rick cut off his leg except to be a dramatic badass. There's no way that wound wouldn't be horribly infected and kill him almost immediately, zombie virus or no zombie virus. Think of the crepe living in that thing's teeth.

Yeah, but the fact that they keep drawing our attention back to it is a problem. It would be like if Marty McFly kept asking Doc "How exactly does the flux capacitor work, again?" every five minutes. It doesn't make sense, and an explanation that cops to that fact (or none at all) is the best way out. "Hell is full" works much better than "It's a virus". Because if it's a virus and we're all infeceted we're naturally going to try to apply what we know about viruses to situations like Hershel getting hisself bit, and we're confronted over and over again with the non-sense-makingness of it all. This is especially a problem with a show that takes itself as seriously as The Walking Dead does--not so much a problem with something like Resident Evil, which actively seeks out and murders your suspension of disbelief.

i am willing to play by the rules of this hypothetical universe. i just want to be able to apply those rules consistently. like, if only the brainstem is active in zombies, wouldn't your aim have to be really, really specific when you shot them in the head or jammed a pipe into their eye or whatever, because pretty much everything around the brainstem is already dead?

I think it's okay the way it's presented in The Walking Dead, though, because it's obvious that the characters don't really understand how it works, either. Maybe someday we will be presented with an explanation by some sort of authority figure who knows what really happened, but (as far as I can recall?) all we really know right now is that everybody started turning into zombies, right? So I think it's OK if there are inconsistencies as long as the characters don't pretend like it makes sense.

I think we all get that we are discussing and debating a tv show that isn't real, that is about zombies which aren't real. But it's fun to do it anyway!

How much you wanna bet that in the next episode the first question out of everyone's mouth will be why the fork did you just cut off his leg? And then Rick will say "I'm not sure, it felt like the right thing to do, I don't know anything". OR "This is a Ricktatorship now, I do what the hell I want to do!".

Yeah, I think it's fine if it's clear that the characters are just trying to make sense of it. I don't think the CDC episode was handled well, though, because it did seem like the writers were just straight up telling us it was a virus. I suspect the (different) writers are backing off of that now, but they're kind of stuck with the idea of a virus floating around.

Ricktatorship. Good one.

You people are nerding up this thread so damn hard. I am laughing a lot right now.

Zombies in riot gear is one of the scariest things I've ever witnessed. forking crazy! And I still found myself wishing for Carl's death.

It would be serious cheating if the huge secret from the CDC guy were not the truth.

As a wise man once sang, just repeat to yourself "it's just a show and I should really just relax."

we're discussing the show because we like it! if you have something productive to add, feel free to do so. Otherwise, don't come into a thread specifically for discussing a tv show and tell me (and everyone else) "to relax." it's condescending and totally unnecessary.

He has a pregnant wife near to giving birth so at the least he wants the closest thing to a doctor left alive.

Then he starts fighting zombies with the bloody amputated leg? Because that is the only logical direction for scenario #2 to go. (at least in my warped world.) Well, I guess he could start fighting the other humans with it, too. Either way, LEG FIGHT! Which now reminds me a of a Christmas party of years past...

anyway. Zombies...don't overthink it. We're seeing the show from their points of view. Obviously no one knows what the fork is going on, so it wouldn't really make sense for us to know either. I just hope whatever turns people into zombies gets Carl, and soon. I even made up a fake spoiler to tell my husband. Lori had her baby. It was a zombie. As soon as it came out it ate Carl. Best show, ever.

forkin' Carl, man.

Maybe Herschel's one last deed before death will be bringing Lori's baby into the world, bloody stump and all!

And yeah, I am fine over-thinking the show and taking it seriously. I'm not out in the streets naked and deranged with a "SHANE WAS RIGHT!" sign. I'm in the Walking Dead thread, discussing, OMG, Walking Dead!

What would it take to make this happen?

Wow. That was taken totally wrong. I thought the whole mumbles posting thing was getting kind of out of hand. So maybe I took that wrong.

Sorry.

Maybe I didn't pick up that you weren't being that serious. and no, i didn't get that it was an MST3K quote. I just took what you said to essentially mean, "shut up, already!"

Honestly....not much.

I think both Herschel and Lori's baby will be gone by the end of the season. I don't think the writers will ask the viewers to believe that either could survive in that world without a safe haven and I think the writers have been showing us that those just don't exist in that world. At least permanently.

The writers also seem to like killing off characters the viewers have an investment in, rather than minor characters ( ie T-Dog ).

TV characters often get pregnant along with the actors who play them and the babies seem to conveniently go away after the actors have had them. I'm thinking of Peggy from Mad Men. I'm guessing that the actor who plays Lori is pregnant and her character's baby will go away.

Elizabeth Moss was never pregnant. Peggy's pregnancy on Mad Men was strictly the writers' choice. I have no idea about the actor who plays Lori, though.

I think pregnancy just adds an exciting element to any show. Unfortunately for shows, unless it's a show centered around the fact that there are kids...babies/young kids kind of just get in the way.

Oh, okay. Don't worry, if I want to be offensive, I will totally just go ahead and be offensive, and not try to couch it in any kind of vaguely subtle veiled reference. 8)

Totally off-topic, but here you go:




I still totally dig the riot armor zombies, and crossbow bolts and stuff bouncing off of their face shields, and that it was foreshadowed by finding a riot shield (which would be a GREAT thing to have during a zombie fight! I'm surprised nobody tried it before!).