The Walking Dead: Strangers Show Only

October 19, 2014 7:59 PM - Season 5, Episode 2

The church and the food bank cordially invite you to a pool party!

(Not affiliated with nearby potluck barbecue.)

posted by Sys Rq (64 comments total)

I don't get the Allen Payne joke (in the posts' tags).

Anyway, I love that the show is still leaning on suspenseful moments. I love how they went through the church. Looked at what was on the walls. Looked in rooms. Saw what books were open. Looked for clues of anything untoward past the pews, near the pulpit. Scanned the area for some sign of malfeasance. And the music wasn't overpowering during the scene. Very nice.

I thought for sure someone was going to die this episode. They just kept being too happy, too many times. Of course it remains to be seen what Bob was crying about, though we all can guess. I was happy that Rick decided heading to Washington was a good plan, because I didn't need anymore drummed up conflict.

I have to say that these people, while they may have somehow just become accustomed to always being in danger, and just decided that if they die, they die, they still gallivant around the land like it's a post-soccer meal. Hello, other people have guns! Any time you're just strolling about, Rick, you could be in somebody's sights. When they went into the town to check out the food bank, they were just having a nice soothing walk, with minimal focus toward what could have been people aiming at them from any number of places. Uh, didn't that whole Morgan episode teach you anything?
posted by cashman at 8:23 PM on October 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

A Seth Gilliam joke, actually. (Allen Payne played Charmaine's boyfriend on The Cosby Show.)

And, yeah, for all the caution they took in the church, there's Bob out taking an unaccompanied midnight stroll like that could ever possibly be a good idea.
posted by Sys Rq at 8:44 PM on October 19, 2014

Ah, thanks. I also got pissed at Carol for going out there like she did, but then I realized what she was doing. I sure hope they get rid of Gareth soon. His whole thing just has worn out its welcome. Get going to Washington and have travails along the way. I'm done with the termites and this preacher.

One thing that has really made stare at Rick a lot, is watching Rick in the show's pilot, and then looking at him now. Visually he has just come such a long way. He looked fresh and clean shaven and nubile in season one. Now he just looks like the grizzled vet he is. I liked how Carol's collar bone is somewhat bony and looks appropriate given their condition, though really they all should look a lot more sunken and distressed from all their happenings. Somebody in the group should be traumatized and twitchy. But maybe if that was going to happen to you, it happened long ago and you didn't make it far. If you're still alive at this point, you either got really lucky, or you've developed ways to cope and live.

Still you think more of these people would have horrible nightmares and look like death warmed over from lack of sleep, stress of running for your life, horrific smells and sights, and constantly drinking creekwater and eating squirrels, nuts, and canned goods. And it's been 2 years and none of them have had access to a dentist, a doctor, nothing besides Hershel. But really, it's just good that the show is chugging along. I have to imagine the ratings are strong as ever.
posted by cashman at 9:00 PM on October 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

I have to imagine the ratings are strong as ever.

Yes. It's doing okay, to put it mildly.
posted by Sys Rq at 9:21 PM on October 19, 2014

Heh. I also thought everyone should have looked less well-fed. Bob and his GF are the closest and they're just regular skinny. Judith is apparently thriving on whatever they're feeding her.

I'm sure Bob was bitten. The minute they went in the water I expected something to happen. What if a walker lost its legs but was still hanging around under the water? They can't drown. Of course if the cannibals cut the bad leg (assuming he was bitten there) then he'd be okay. I mean as long as he lasts. Would they feed their victims their own flesh I wonder?

Carl has grown a lot. I hadn't realized just how much until I watched 'Clear.' Course he's almost as tall as Rick now.

I was tense for the entire episode. So much fun.

I'm glad Rick doesn't trust the guy but I wish he'd gone a bit further and told Carl that anyone can put on a collar and a black suit. I'm glad they got to be happy for a few hours though.
posted by Ik ben afgesneden at 9:33 PM on October 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

I second the "Bob was bitten" theory.

I'm glad they're finally bringing up the Beth thing with Carol and Daryl. Seeing the two of them kick butts is one of my favorite parts of the show.

I'm still curious to see how Morgan (the guy at the end of the last episode) is going to play a part in this season. Also, I feel like it's been a while since a main character has died, which makes me nervous.
posted by sleeping bear at 12:06 AM on October 20, 2014 [2 favorites]

Hey, can anyone verify that the Termite Tyrese supposedly killed was still alive?

Also, Gareth and his merry band come off as ridiculously cartoonish now. "Mmm, you taste better than we thought you would." Sheesh, who writes like that.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:15 AM on October 20, 2014

Robert Kirkman wrote that episode, so... yeah, a little cartoonish.

When we first saw the Termites, they showed a face behind the fire that looked terribly like the one Tyrese killed. But, I'm fairly certain that it was actually Gareth.
posted by 2ht at 5:22 AM on October 20, 2014

Never Mind - Chris Coy was apparently listed in the credits for the episode. So Tyrese did *not* kill him.
posted by 2ht at 5:29 AM on October 20, 2014 [2 favorites]

Oh man, Carol is going to be mad!

Robert Kirkman wrote that episode, so... yeah, a little cartoonish.

Ah, this explains why I never got into the comic book.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:34 AM on October 20, 2014

I figured that Tyrese left him alive but severely beaten.
posted by Jacqueline at 7:07 AM on October 20, 2014

Uh, didn't that whole Morgan episode teach you anything?

This sort of question is question #1 for anything in the horror genre.
posted by juiceCake at 7:13 AM on October 20, 2014 [1 favorite]

I guess my question would be... why did no one raid that cabin for supplies and see that he was alive? Wasn't he going to set off explosives to draw away the walkers? Anyway, small nitpick in the grand scheme of things.

I understand that the show has to constantly have the characters doing stupid things in order to put them in tense situations, since after all it is a horror and suspense show... but wading in waist deep zombie infested water? I can't think of many stupider things you could do in a zombie apocalypse.
posted by 2ht at 9:04 AM on October 20, 2014 [1 favorite]

What Gareth said to Bob around the campfire - about this being "poetic," but also that this is "not personal." And I can't help but wonder if it IS personal, in the sense that I wonder - had Bob maybe encountered some or all of the members of the Terminus crew at some point looong before all of this? When Bob was telling his backstory last season, he mentioned having been with another group before, and that he was the lone survivor. Hmmm...

I also hope Bob was secretly bitten in the water (this episode's theme is all about things being hidden) and that the virus with which Bob has recently been infected can somehow miraculously survive the heat of the flames and infect all of the people who are eating Bob's leg. But I doubt that will come to pass though.

Or maybe - if that's the leg that was bitten, cutting off that leg somehow saved Bob? Maybe that's what Gareth was getting at.
posted by hush at 9:18 AM on October 20, 2014

I'm amazed that those cool cat-eye glasses actually managed to stay on the rotting head of Gabriel's blonde former-congregant(?)-turned-pool-walker so that he could identify her without question.
posted by hush at 9:23 AM on October 20, 2014 [3 favorites]

Just cause you're a zombie, that doesn't mean you should let your appearance go.

I guess my question would be... why did no one raid that cabin for supplies and see that he was alive?

Because that would make sense and spoil the plot. Why didn't Carol doubleback and check the house after Tyrese prevented her from going in? Because that would make sense, be in character and spoil the plot.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 9:28 AM on October 20, 2014 [6 favorites]

had Bob maybe encountered some or all of the members of the Terminus crew at some point looong before all of this?

I definitely got the vibe that the Terminus people knew Bob from previous interactions as well.
posted by dogwalker at 10:33 AM on October 20, 2014 [5 favorites]

Another thing that would have "spoiled the plot" would have been for Daryl to tell someone that Beth was taken away in a speeding car and could still be alive. But, no. We needed Daryl and Carol to attempt a Beth rescue alone. Glad Daryl took out the taillights first.
posted by hush at 10:37 AM on October 20, 2014 [1 favorite]

While it's true that a lot of jarringly stupid actions were taken in this episode, (particularly people wandering off by themselves), I'm really happy that the fake conflict seems to be gone. Maggie not holding a grudge, Rick behaving with grace and manners toward Carol, Carol and Tyreese getting along, Carl encouraging Rick to make moral choices...

Nobody's even calling Eugene on his story, even though it sounds so completely ridiculous.

The show has come a long way since that horrible farm stuff.

Re: dialogue -
Yeah, not Kirkman's strength at all. (Negan is like 'bad dialogue incarnate.')

Re: Bob -
Agreed that it seemed like there was history. Gareth was entirely too comfortable calling him by name, and so on. Plus, if this had been a grudge purely for the destruction of the facility, I think he would've made some offhand mention of preferring to snag Rick, Daryl or Michonne, (since Carol was badass enough to wreak havoc without leaving witnesses). The trouble started when they arrived, not when Bob did.
posted by mordax at 10:39 AM on October 20, 2014 [1 favorite]

Nobody's even calling Eugene on his story, even though it sounds so completely ridiculous.

Sgt. Hatred's surprisingly effective pep-talk kind of got at the heart of it why he buys it, though: Be a mere survivor, or be a HERO!!!

Even if Eugene's Washington story is baloney (which it so obviously is), what's the harm? Going to Washington's not any different from what they'd be doing anyway -- constantly wandering around -- except they'd be going in a particular direction. Meanwhile, Eugene does seem to actually be usefully smart, which makes him more than just dead weight.
posted by Sys Rq at 10:58 AM on October 20, 2014 [2 favorites]

Being careful not to give away any spoilers from the comics, I wonder what the end game is for the show. Despite stellar ratings (more than the Broncos game? Whoa!), the show is entering its fifth season and won't go on forever. I expect at least two more seasons, but it would be a miracle if it went past S10.

Are the writers gutsy enough to "cure" the zombie plague? My guess is a big fat no, because that would kill any spin off material. So do all our main characters die? Do they continue drifting in a zombie infested world? Does a governmental force rise up and reclaim the world? Do they find safe harbor somewhere and live happily ever after? Do we finally find the answer to the biggest question of all... is Darryl gay?

Someone on the production team has to be thinking about this already.

I'm glad they're headed to Washington. But I'm not sure how long they can survive on the move with a baby.
posted by 2ht at 11:21 AM on October 20, 2014

My guess is a big fat no, because that would kill any spin off material.

NCIS: Walking Dead should be a thing.

Do we finally find the answer to the biggest question of all... is Darryl gay?

Based on how easily and readily Daryl hugged Carol and she responded, I wonder if they've already hooked up.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:29 AM on October 20, 2014 [1 favorite]

[Mods: this should be marked as "Show Only," to keep out comics spoilers]
posted by filthy light thief at 1:21 PM on October 20, 2014 [1 favorite]

[What he said.]
posted by Sys Rq at 1:46 PM on October 20, 2014 [1 favorite]

Mod note: Changed! That's definitely an OP-only sort of call, incidentally.
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 1:48 PM on October 20, 2014 [1 favorite]

[Nuts to that. Good call, filthy light thief.]
posted by Sys Rq at 2:02 PM on October 20, 2014 [1 favorite]

I'm surprised at how little I liked this episode. They're back to pretty much all conflict being generated by the cast inexplicably acting in plot-convenient ways.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 2:39 PM on October 20, 2014 [1 favorite]

[Thanks, restless_nomad. Until someone else specifically posts Books Included posts, I am personally assume the new Walking Dead FF threads are Show Only, for the sake of FF continuity. I recently bought the trade paperbacks up to #21, so I'll be catching up on those soon, and posting Books Included threads, if no one else gets to it first.]
posted by filthy light thief at 2:45 PM on October 20, 2014

The cannibals strike me as surprisingly simple in their motivations. I fully expected a cultish situation when we first saw Terminus -- some strange spiritual dimension to their acts. I guess not, though. Of course, you could easily see how people could become cannibals in extenuating circumstances, but Darryl's able to trap a string of rabbits every morning; food isn't in short supply. It kind of just seems like the cannibals are, like, total dicks.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 3:25 PM on October 20, 2014 [2 favorites]

Maybe it's like when you know you should go to the grocery store and pick up food and take it home and make it, but instead you run to McBob's and have dinner there instead. It's postapocalyptic diet laziness?
posted by cashman at 3:56 PM on October 20, 2014 [3 favorites]

Well, I was wrong about who had Beth because I thought Gabriel had her, though I suppose it could be someone connected with Gabriel in some way, but nonetheless, still wrong.

Gareth is now pretty much hipster Hannibal Lecter with the whole "let's have a conversation about something other than the fact that I'm eating one of your body parts until the big reveal" trip. I hope that Bob manages somehow to end that smirky little bastard while dying and/or turning.

And yeah, even if you don't have pissed-off Termites looking for you (which seems like a fairly predictable consequence of destroying their compound), going out into the pitch black darkness outside the sound-producing church during a zombie post-apocalypse seems excessively dim even for these characters unless you do have a zombie ankle bite to weep over. Bob doesn't seem at all feverish, though, so I dunno.

I try to explain away much of the plot-advancing dumbness by saying that all these people's cognition is undoubtedly compromised by chronic trauma, sleep deprivation, and malnutrition, but the fact that you're convinced that the stranger-minister is untrustworthy while implicitly trusting the totally dodgy and equally stranger Dr. Mullet seems . . . odd. I suppose it's just like Rick giving Corl the "you are not safe" lecture immediately before strolling around town like a big day-glo target.
posted by FelliniBlank at 4:26 PM on October 20, 2014

Sgt. Hatred's surprisingly effective pep-talk kind of got at the heart of it why he buys it, though: Be a mere survivor, or be a HERO!!!

This is true. And to be clear, I'm *happily* surprised by this, even though it's dumb. If I never have to hear Rick say something about 'seeing where the group stands' about something again, it'll be too soon. I like that they're just rolling with it instead of arguing.

The cannibals strike me as surprisingly simple in their motivations. I fully expected a cultish situation when we first saw Terminus -- some strange spiritual dimension to their acts.

The candles really, really pointed to that. I was hoping for some depth too. That said, I'll still take the Termites over the Governor. (Gareth may come across as a mustache-twirling black hat, but the Governor never felt even that coherently written to me.)
posted by mordax at 5:15 PM on October 20, 2014

Weren't the candles just an "eternal flame" type memorial to the lost Termites and a pledge to take care of the group in their names? I never really saw the inherent cult-iness of that.
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:35 PM on October 20, 2014

You do kind of have to wonder where they get all the candles, though. They must have gone through a thousand a day. Was there a candle warehouse nearby or something?
posted by Sys Rq at 5:47 PM on October 20, 2014 [2 favorites]

Tallow candles maybe? Made from rendered fat...
posted by 2ht at 6:04 PM on October 20, 2014 [9 favorites]

(Ooh! Maybe that's what that first fire was, the candle warehouse going up?)
posted by Sys Rq at 6:05 PM on October 20, 2014

I did think it was strange that the group just kind of lollygags around whenever they have to move. At least two of the characters were in the military at one point, and the military spends a not insignificant amount of time teaching people how to move through the woods while maintaining security and such. Having them spread out would have prevented the cool coming-over-the-hill shot though, so I can see why they did that.

I've got two theories about Bob's tears. One, he has an ankle bite. Two, he used to be part of the Termite's group, and is sad that they went all crazy. Maybe he betrayed them at some point. I think this is supported by the fact that Gareth knew his name was Bob. (Unless he introduced himself to the Termite's at the end of the last season. I don't remember.) Also, I think I remember Gareth claiming that it was "ironic" that Bob was the one they had captured. Was it ironic because Bob was about to die in the last episode and was once again in their clutches, or because Bob had previously wounded the Termites?

Lastly, the car that took Beth has a cross on it. Gabriel is a priest. Maybe there's a connection there. So many questions.
posted by A Bad Catholic at 8:00 PM on October 20, 2014

And now I will perform my duty as MeFi's resident Bible geek/WD fan. I noticed that a display board on the wall of the church listed five Bible verses. Here they are:

Romans 6:4 "We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."

Ezekiel 37:7 7 "So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone." (This is the famous 'Valley of the Dry Bones' vision--corpses reanimating and forming an army.)

Matt 27:52 "The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life." (This is a weird little side note in the crucifixion account. Only Matthew mentions it, and only here. As he depicts it, at the same time Jesus died, many tombs broke open and the righteous dead came back to life.)

Rev 9:6 "During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them."

Luke 24:5 " In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?" (The women were visiting the tomb of Jesus, and found it empty.)
posted by Pater Aletheias at 8:48 PM on October 20, 2014 [20 favorites]

On another note: I also assumed that Bob was bitten. When he asked for another kiss from Sasha before she stood up to hold Judith, that sure seemed like "good-bye." The teary walk fits that as well. I'm hoping that his turning catches Gareth and the Termites by surprise at some delightfully inopportune time next week.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 8:56 PM on October 20, 2014 [2 favorites]

I would totally hide in a post-apocalyptic church if Pater Aletheias was in charge.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 9:41 PM on October 20, 2014 [4 favorites]

By all means, come hide in my church.

I bet you're delicious.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 9:45 PM on October 20, 2014 [14 favorites]

Finally someone (here) is questioning whether or not Eugene is full of shit.

For my money, Father Gabriel made some kind of bargain for survival - that's what he's hiding and it's the source of his guilt. I suspect there is a connection to the car with the cross - perhaps he serves as a honeytrap to some other group. Darryl foreshadows it as much in this episode saying, "People are more dangerous than walkers."

Haven't read the comics. Not sure I want to.

Have decided, though, that AMC's next big show should be an adaptation of "Preacher."
posted by Thistledown at 5:13 AM on October 21, 2014 [2 favorites]

The Bob-B-Q was the most nightmarish the show has got, for me. I'm not sure I can watch the demise of Bob.

Me, too. I'm fairly immune to cable-TV depictions of horror, but that final scene got to me. It wasn't more gory than anything we've seen before, but the situation is terrifying on a really primal level.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 6:27 AM on October 21, 2014 [1 favorite]

I wonder - had Bob maybe encountered some or all of the members of the Terminus crew at some point looong before all of this?

If he had, it wouldn't have made sense for him to have approached Terminus without any suspicion/fear/dread last season. Maybe something happened offscreen around the time of his group's capture (between "Us" and "A") that caught Gareth's eye.
posted by cardboard at 6:29 AM on October 21, 2014

He really did Bob in that episode, I'll give him that. He bobbed in the water beneath the house, and they bobbed his leg.
posted by maxsparber at 7:00 AM on October 21, 2014 [4 favorites]

Sorry to hear it angrycat. Maybe use the name Mary. Or Otis. Perhaps Theodore.

So we had dead humans start eating the living humans. Then we had the living humans eating the dead humans, at Terminus. And now we have the living humans eating the living humans. Which got me to thinking about the dead humans possibly eating dead humans. So maybe they can figure out a way to make the walkers look at other walkers like food. I know in season one it was partially based on smell, and partially on sight. It would be neat if one of these people (not Eugene, anybody but Eugene) actually tried to come up with an idea to get this to happen.

Also, I was very disappointed when they asked Michonne how she learned to use a sword and her answer wasn't "BOOKS!". I was just so ready to fist pump, because it would have made perfect sense and have been awesome. Instead it was like yeah, I just kinda was around, and I had a sword, so I got good. It should have been the library, damnit!
posted by cashman at 7:02 AM on October 21, 2014

I thought it was a respectful if macabre call out to Bob's Burgers...
posted by juiceCake at 7:09 AM on October 21, 2014 [2 favorites]

2ht: I guess my question would be... why did no one raid that cabin for supplies and see that he was alive?

As my father-in-law would say, "it was in the script." Then again, that's his response to most any discussion about plot holes or leaps in logic where he can't be bothered to try and string a theory together from loose bits.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:32 AM on October 21, 2014

FelliniBlank: I hope that Bob manages somehow to end that smirky little bastard while dying and/or turning.

My wife reminded me that Hershel survived with a leg and a half, and probably would have continued to do fine, if it weren't for the Governator. But my thoughts about keeping Bob alive while only cutting off his leg was a more darkly practical one - live flesh won't go bad, which is good when you don't have a way to cure the meat like they did in Terminus.


FelliniBlank: the fact that you're convinced that the stranger-minister is untrustworthy while implicitly trusting the totally dodgy and equally stranger Dr. Mullet seems . . . odd. I suppose it's just like Rick giving Corl the "you are not safe" lecture immediately before strolling around town like a big day-glo target.

I figured Rick's discomfort with the Preacher is that he doesn't (directly) have blood on his hands and has somehow managed to survive this long, while everyone else has done things they would have never done before the outbreak. On the other hand, Sgt. Hatred is pretty clear about his intentions (beyond the whispered conversations in that group about what they'll do next).

As for "you're not safe," I think that goes back to Rick's comments to the Preacher - people are more dangerous than the walkers, because the walkers intentions are clear - to eat you. People? They could dress and act like people of god, but have a pact with devil-worshipers who are on their way to slaughter your group and take your loot. Hell (on earth) is other people.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:43 AM on October 21, 2014

Ugh, I too would have gagged/had nightmares after watching the bob-b-q scene (and agree that the bloodletting season opener was visually awful/unforgettable), but episode 3 of Syfy's weirdly addictive knockoff, Z Nation, already hit a home-run in that department for me.

Description here for the morbidly curious, but I'll be damned if I link to a video of it. My stomach just churned from remembering watching the scene in question a few weeks ago, and it's an image I'm not eager to revisit anytime soon.

As Zompocalypses go, I feel like AMC's Walking Dead played down the gore and cannibalism aspects of the storyline to respectable levels in previous seasons to focus on world and character-building, which was sometimes disappointing (or worse, boring) to comic fans. In S5, they appear to finally be diving face-first into the numbing violence of it all after building up a strong viewer base to see exactly how much we'll tolerate before it starts to affect the show's record-breaking ratings.

And y'all, my unquenchable sugar tooth and workout habits guarantee that I AM delicious.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 11:54 AM on October 21, 2014 [1 favorite]

Side note: perhaps one of the most gratifying aspects of the show is watching Korl grow up and mature physically into a young adult in real-time.

I know that his character's polarizing for a lot of fans - you either love him, or you outright hate him - but puberty's already pretty hellish without hiking through the End Times by your daddy's side. Chandler Riggs is bringing a lot of depth and nuance to his portrayal that's miles away from the child he was when S1 initially aired.

I looked for side-by-side photo comparisons, but quick Googling didn't turn up anything. The images linked above don't do him justice, but he's nearly as tall as Rick now.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 12:11 PM on October 21, 2014

I wasn't repulsed by the Bob-B-Q until I saw fat glistening on Gareth's fingers. Then I felt ill.
posted by MsVader at 12:13 PM on October 21, 2014 [1 favorite]

Unicorn on the cob: he's nearly as tall as Rick now.

I know! Somehow I only noticed that in this past episode. It's also interesting to see him become more like Glenn, in terms of recognizing that their strength (in self-defense/as a team) can allow them to trust people more, not less.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:58 PM on October 21, 2014

Korl

I believe we're supposed to refer to him as Carl Poppa now.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 1:59 PM on October 21, 2014 [6 favorites]

OMG at that lip reading. So good, Mr. Bad Example!
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 2:56 PM on October 21, 2014 [1 favorite]

I love the gore. The leg eating scene didn't bother because it's not a real leg. I may have been distracted by wondering, as I mentioned earlier, if he was bitten on that leg and the TV mechanics of how the missing leg was accomplished. Maybe when they bring smell-a-vision to TV? Until then, it's all good. Bring on more.
posted by Ik ben afgesneden at 3:03 PM on October 21, 2014

I found the ideas of the cannibals hunting them quite boring, actually, and hope they don't drag it out for the season. Yay, another conflict with another group of people. Now with more eating each other.

But then again, my perpetual gripe has been that people are far too willing to view every human as an enemy. Maybe I'm just too soft and would be the first to go in a zombie apocalypse. But I see human strength in our ability to form societies that work together, so much of the show just seems to go against what makes humans work.

Also, you try and kill someone, and they fight back, doesn't anyone day "fair point, we did try to murder you. And besides? You sort of p0wned us, maybe we'll leave you be.)

Count me in camp Bob got bit.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 10:32 PM on October 21, 2014 [1 favorite]

Since the production is so vested in filming in Georgia, I'd be very surprised if they pulled up sticks and moved elsewhere (say, Virginia).

Was Bob drinking wine with the others? I thought maybe he was weeping due to his alcoholism.
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 1:19 AM on October 22, 2014

Re: cannibalism and other poor decision-making: my theory for a while now is that the "walker virus" (or whatever agent is causing the change) has a wider impact than just converting the person into a walker when they die -- it has readily observable effects on the living, perhaps as a way of softening up the remaining humans. Antisocial behavior, irrational decision-making, short attention spans, a desire to taste human flesh (so far, this is an uncommon symptom, but I expect it to increase), extreme difficulty in forming stable groups of more than a dozen or so individuals unless the leader is psychotic, and so on. Basically, everyone we see on the show is an infected pre-zombie with something eating their brain.


Except Carol and Daryl. I ship them.
posted by Mogur at 4:01 AM on October 22, 2014 [5 favorites]

Oops, double. Please delete the first one. I'm sorry.
posted by Mogur at 4:02 AM on October 22, 2014

Now that you mention it, I've wondered the same thing, and actually thought they might go there a couple times. It would help to explain some of the bloody stupid decisions. But if it is, they're playing it close to the chest. It would be a rather enjoyable way to explain some of their choices, even if they are really just plot driven.

I really thought they were going that direction with Shane's story arch, and that was going to be the CDC reveal.

Alas, until there is a more specific hint, it's just wishful thinking.

I've often cynically wondered if they point of the show isn't to elicit a similar reaction to reality tv where the audience kind of hates the cast and the stupid shit they do. A few decades of reality tv and they're bringing those lessons to fiction.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 3:27 PM on October 22, 2014

It would help to explain some of the bloody stupid decisions. But if it is, they're playing it close to the chest.

Maybe there was a gas leak in the prison. And at the farm. And and and...
posted by Jacqueline at 6:36 PM on October 22, 2014

Weren't the candles just an "eternal flame" type memorial to the lost Termites and a pledge to take care of the group in their names?

I thought those were the names of all the people they'd killed and eaten.
posted by poffin boffin at 1:08 AM on October 26, 2014

Gareth and crew are post-apocalyptic Silicon Valley hipsters. Terminus was an internet startup, one of those fledgling social networks that didn't really know how to make a profit. At heart, of course, it was an advertising company (signs on trees). But after their social media campaign went viral, there was a hostile takeover. Gareth fought hard to get his own company back, Steve Jobs style. He had big plans to sell it until Carol blew up the stock. A bunch of people got fired. So now the plan is just to cannibalize their userbase as much as possible. Termin.us has pivoted to become Butchr.
posted by oulipian at 6:03 PM on October 26, 2014 [4 favorites]