The Walking Dead: What Lies Ahead   Rewatch 
December 18, 2014 5:40 PM - Season 2, Episode 1 - Subscribe

The Group stops to have a tailgate party on their way to Fort Bennett, but it gets crashed by a throng of ne'er-do-wells. T-Dog gets a boo-boo. Sophia goes for a jog.
posted by escape from the potato planet (9 comments total)
 
I need to rewatch this still. But I remember being annoyed by how bumbling T-Dog is. I mean, come on, writers. This character's sole role is to make things worse for everyone else? If that's the case, at least make it because of some character trait, and not just physical clumsiness/bad luck.

Also, the Zombies were still terrifying in this episode. I miss that about the show. I know I keep saying that.

And I guess I'm not alone in wondering this, but why didn't all the dead people in cars also become zombies?
posted by natteringnabob at 4:45 AM on December 19, 2014


And I guess I'm not alone in wondering this, but why didn't all the dead people in cars also become zombies?

I think it is like asking why no one used the shuttlecraft in Star Trek before it was introduced. At this point in the series, the operating principle still seems to require being bitten. Sure, Jenner whispered something to Rick at the end of the previous episode, but the viewers are not privy to it for several more episodes (although it is not hard to guess).
posted by ricochet biscuit at 12:16 PM on December 20, 2014 [2 favorites]


tdog gets a boo boo...hahaa!
posted by cashman at 1:17 PM on December 20, 2014


And I guess I'm not alone in wondering this, but why didn't all the dead people in cars also become zombies?

My personal fanwank was always that the people in cars sustained a lot of head injuries during their crashes, though ricochet biscuit is doubtless correct.
posted by mordax at 5:13 PM on December 21, 2014


Ok. As much hate as this show gets, that last scene was amazing. That is all.
posted by natteringnabob at 7:14 PM on December 21, 2014


I think it is like asking why no one used the shuttlecraft in Star Trek before it was introduced. At this point in the series, the operating principle still seems to require being bitten.

I think this is being generous, and the real explanation is somewhat lazy storytelling. This issue of everyone becoming zombies after death is well-established in the comics long before filming begins on season 1 of the series. Unless they didn't necessarily intend to make that a part of the show - which seems unlikely given what happened and Kirkman's involvement. I think it's sort of forgivable, since avoiding this would require making a pretty concerted effort in their set dressing and making sure bodies are few in the cas. But to me it seems like just a lack of foresight.

And I don't think the zombies are less terrifying now, they're just different and rightfully so. They're still new here, and coping with them still feels temporary. As I've said many other places, I much prefer the zombie as a metaphor for a never-ending existential threat that never allows you to let your guard down and turns friends into enemies. So I am biased.

But it makes perfect sense for them to make that change over time, and they have to in order for the characters to have time to embrace the "this will never get better" sense of long-term dread. Personally this is the point in the series where I started to get annoyed with the characters not seeming to absorb that. I felt like they really missed a chance to tell that transition with the locale they go to in this series, where we could have one group in serious denial and the other thinking they're not in denial, but having to confront that they're not in reality either.
posted by phearlez at 9:10 AM on December 24, 2014


Personally this is the point in the series where I started to get annoyed with the characters not seeming to absorb that. I felt like they really missed a chance to tell that transition with the locale they go to in this series, where we could have one group in serious denial and the other thinking they're not in denial, but having to confront that they're not in reality either.

There's a point later in Season Two where Rick tells Shane that winter is coming and the cold weather will probably slow the zombies down. And the zombies should rot over time which means that they'd become less and less ambulatory and less and less of a threat. And they haven't made it to Fort Benning yet, so they don't know if there's pockets of sanctuary and the old world out there. And there's the simple math, keep killing zombies and eventually there won't be anymore zombies.

So it seems pretty reasonable to me that at this point (day 67, Rick's day 7) the survivors would still have hope of returning to normalcy, however slim. It's more ridiculous that nearly two years after the peak of the outbreak the zombies are still roaming around in similar numbers.

As for the zombies being more or less terrifying, it seems like they aren't written as a serious threat anymore. In the earlier seasons, anyone could get bitten at any time. Come Season 5, any member of the group who's left can evade or kill the zombies. Unless you do something stupid, (like go into deep water where you can't see the bottom, in a food pantry that's infested with zombies), you probably aren't going to get bitten. They're more like a convenient plot device now when tension needs to be ratcheted up or a scene needs to be pushed a particular direction, and even then they don't seem like a real threat.

So it probably actually is lazy storytelling. :) Or, rather, the show isn't really about zombies, it's about what people will do in this sort of stressful situation.

I'm rereading your comment now and maybe we're saying the same thing sort of. It's just the attitude of the main characters that has changed, not the zombies.

I felt like they really missed a chance to tell that transition with the locale they go to in this series, where we could have one group in serious denial and the other thinking they're not in denial, but having to confront that they're not in reality either.

Isn't that the main thrust of this season's story arc?
posted by natteringnabob at 6:11 PM on December 25, 2014


I think that math is a little too simple. Thinking everyone kills 10 a month is probably generous and the whole zombie metaphor is the conversion of allies and the never-ending, plodding threat that never gets tired. They only need to "get lucky" once and you're one of them. You need to be careful every single second. That's the whole point of the threat. Yes, you are mostly safe "unless you do something stupid" but you never get to be sloppy or stupid for a moment.

Then there's also the question of the clusters. Single roamers you can pick off, but when they outnumber you a hundred to one there's little you can do. You also go to sleep next to someone who could start eating your face unexpectedly if they die in their sleep.

Is it survivable, sure. And you're right that often there's some storytelling sloth where that bad break happens at JUST the right moment, though I think it's not too common. The zombies have become a threat the way being out to sea is, as something that has to be coped with but often can be managed. But since it's somewhat omnipresent it's always going to be the thing that is the bad break if the bad break isn't caused by living humans.

As far as whether that's the thread of season 2, eh. Maybe it's meant to be but I don't feel like it is. The soapy nature really comes through in this season, IMNSHO, and I don't feel like Rick's crew confronts how jackassy they are on their own - it's all blamed on Hershel's choices and I'm not sure I think I see them grow.
posted by phearlez at 8:44 AM on December 26, 2014


Fort...Bennett? No.
posted by agregoli at 12:21 PM on June 2, 2016


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