Walking Dead TV Show **Spoilers** (comic talk only in spoiler tags)

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**gorgon**

That's an equally funny interpretation of the back seat thing.

**easysauce**

pretre wrote:

Yep, this was a key part of the Alexandria swarm in the comics; they figured out that Zombies aren't the real threat since any dedicated group of individuals with hand weapons can stand their ground and kill a ridiculous number of them. I'm glad they brought this over from the comics.

Yeah I wouldn't say its unrealistic at all too.

Rick only trusted his core group of people to fight, and not run or break formation (which is basically the key to just mowing through hordes)

The only thing I have an issue with is that so many people are still using knives as opposed to more practical hand weapons and rudimentary shields.

I am still cheering for an appearance of some medieval reenactor or someone finding a suit of plate maille armour to go, well, medieval on the zombies for a while.

**Alpharius**

Good point - and they kind of did that back at the Prison, using the Riot Control Gear...

...but I like your idea better.

Just maybe not so much during a typical Georgia summer!

**gorgon**

To me, full plate seems like a good way to get yourself buried in zombies.

But phalanx or legion-style combat, with shields to push and hand weapons over the top would probably get a lot of work done. Would have to watch the crawling biters, but that's what greaves are for.

**Shadow Captain Edithae**

Theres a character in the comics who happens to be a blacksmith and he'll probably be introduced this season.

**pretre**

Shark Suits, Riot Shields and Machetes...

**easysauce**

gorgon wrote:
To me, full plate seems like a good way to get yourself buried in zombies.

But phalanx or legion-style combat, with shields to push and hand weapons over the top would probably get a lot of work done. Would have to watch the crawling biters, but that's what greaves are for.

Its actually shocking how mobile you can still be, compared to modern soldier load outs armoured suits are nothing.

The "hard core" survivor's are all packing weapons and enough ammo + bags and such, so as long as they were dedicated troops, having a "tank" who literally can be taken down by a horde but not die while the rest play clean up could be really useful I think.

But yeah, a bunch of em with basic wood shields, tight mobile formations and basic hand weapons would do wonders and be easier to aquire.

I just don't get why the author never really explores that facet of zombie combat, guns are wayyyy over emphasised and are far too easily utilized by people with little to no experience with them.

Spoiler:

The realism of being able to mow down zombies in hand to hand, while a bit exaggerated, is still far closer to reality then how easy they make amateurs popping headshots at moving targets appear.

what I wonder about is how they are going to handle the wolves vs neegans group. we still do not know much about either group, other then they are hostile and out in force.

**Shadow Captain Edithae**

Its not even mentioned till later by neegan...

Spoiler:

how stupid it is that rick and crew still use guns against the dead at all. which is something of importance, and I think, greatly shows just how practical neegan really is.

To begin with, yeah. But in response to the threat posed by the Saviours...

Spoiler:

**easysauce**

right but there are lots of instances where for some reason rick or crew decide to shoot Z's rather then smack em and the crew, even total gun noobs, seem to have become expert marksmen before their close combat skills really developed.

either way, really good episode, entertaining and well shot I think it does justice to the comics.

Jesus is on point!

**KamikazeCanuck**

yakface wrote:

I was kind of shocked to come on here and see everyone raving about how much they liked that episode. Most of the reviews online seemed to agree with that sentiment. I thought I was going crazy because I more or less hated the episode, but I finally ran across one reviewer that more or less sums up my overall issues with it nicely:

http://io9.gizmodo.com/here-s-what-was-wrong-with-the-walking-dead-s-mid-seaso-1759186419

The big, huge problem I have is that the threat of the zombies seems to dramatically shift from 'OMG they're going to kill us' to 'we can kill hundreds of them if we just try' based solely on what is needed at a given moment.

Having our pack of zombie guts heroes find a nice quiet spot in the middle of the city where they can talk without attracting any walkers? No problem...the zombies just wander around aimlessly near them without noticing their talking, despite it not being that particularly quiet. Then all of a sudden when the zombies 'need' to kill people, they lunge out and bite the Wolf guy on the arm or tear Sam apart. But then when its time for Rick to go crazy and start killing zombies, all of a sudden its possible for a small group to take on hundreds, if not thousands of walkers at once? Its completely bat guano crazy by the standards the show has set for itself. And when Abraham and Sasha show up, they can suddenly mow down dozens of zombies in an instant right in front of Glenn without hitting him? Its just lazy. It didn't need to be blocked like that except to give another cheap scare about Glenn possibly dying.

The worst of all? Darryl setting the lake in the middle of the town on fire? Are you kidding me? I remember back when we were talking about the quarry in this thread, I suggested that they should have simply lit the walkers in the quarry on fire, and someone said that it would be too dangerous because any walkers that would escape would surely start a wildfire. And yet here we are in the MIDDLE OF THE TOWN and the zombies are being set on fire and somehow this is a miraculous cure to save everything! And when dawn arrives, nobody fighting hundreds of zombies by hand has apparently been killed, and no flaming zombies managed to set anything on fire.

I feel like more and more TWD is simply deciding what they want to happen, and then are perfectly fine and dandy with bending any and all realism and internal standards they have previously established to make that thing happen. The first half of this season I felt like they were really starting to go that direction (with Glenn's 'death' for example) and this latest episode was the absolute worst offender yet.

As the reviewer states in his article, exactly what number of zombies are supposed to be a credible threat after this episode? The next time someone gets killed by a handful of zombies (or even like the Wolf guy did in this episode) its just going to feel so cheap, because its been established now that a group of people with hand weapons should be able to kill dozens, if not hundreds of walkers without taking a single loss.

I wasn't a big fan of it either but for different reasons. I just think the comic did a better version of that family's death. In the comic Rick sort of sacrifices his new lady-friend to save his son. That should have just happened right when they left the house. That's why it was stupid that they could have a huddle in the middle of a giant zombie horde but when one kid whimpers he is slowly eaten. Also agree about the giant fire pit of death. Pretty sure zombie always prioritizes a tasty human right in front of him over a some loud bang. Zombies seemed to act differently in that episode than others.

However disagree about the big battle where they all just dig deep and fight. That really is a part of the overall storyline where the community realizes they can deal with almost any zombie situation as long as they keep their heads. I even think it is realistic. Thirty people should be able to systematically cut through many hundreds of zombies. They just slowly shamble towards you after all. I find that more realistic than a horde for some reason only eating the non-main character half a group even though one of them fired a gun.

So all the townsfolk should be hardened zombie killing machines now that have fought for their land. Except for some reason the Mayor's son seemed intimidated by one zombie again. He seems to have forgotten he killed like a hundred last episode. So maybe you concerns a out internal consistency are valid.

**Shadow Captain Edithae**

That 'one zombie' happened to be his dead mother, Deanna, the former leader of Alexandria. Its no wonder he hesitated. And it also explains Carl's weird behhaviour when he refused to put down Deanna's corpse - he recalled having to kill his own mother to stop her reanimating and felt that Deanna's son Spencer should do it.

She reanimated at some point in the attack, and somehow wandered out of her house through the breach in the walls into the woods instead of following the herd to the battle or the burning pond. Her body was also barely touched, which makes no sense because she died fighting a horde of walkers that should have chewed her body into a bloody pulp.

It was such a weird plot hole, that I felt sure it was a hallucination, and Spencer was mistaking some other walker for his own mother. But Michonne recognised her too.

**Frazzled**

pretre wrote:
Shark Suits, Riot Shields and Machetes...

In reality you would just need motorcycle leathers, a homemade shield, and a nice ice axe.

**Shadow Captain Edithae**

Frazzled wrote:
pretre wrote:
Shark Suits, Riot Shields and Machetes...

In reality you would just need motorcycle leathers, a homemade shield, and a nice ice axe.

Duct tape works just fine, as Milton from Woodbury showed us.

**KamikazeCanuck**

Shadow Captain Edithae wrote:
That 'one zombie' happened to be his dead mother

No, the one before that. Michonne had to step in and take care of it.

**Alpharius**

Yes, the "Swiss Cheese Neck" walker!

**Shadow Captain Edithae**

KamikazeCanuck wrote:
Shadow Captain Edithae wrote:
That 'one zombie' happened to be his dead mother

No, the one before that. Michonne had to step in and take care of it.

He thought it could be his mother, he was out there looking for her. If his mother was alive, or if her body had already been recovered and buried, he wouldn't be hesitating.

**Mr Morden**

Frazzled wrote:
pretre wrote:
Shark Suits, Riot Shields and Machetes...

In reality you would just need motorcycle leathers, a homemade shield, and a nice ice axe.

In reality the Zombies would be unlikely to have the strength to hold on to people with rotten teeth, lack of muscles and tendons, or even break the skin never mind tear off huge chunks of flesh....

A Roman Legion style force would be quite fun to see in operation and should have no issue with Zombies - in fact Romans Vs Zombies would be a good film.

Cavalry on the other hand would be a liability in direct combat as unless very well trained its unlikely the horses would go near them without panicking. They would be good for the real use of most cavalry - scouting......

Spears, shields and the like would also be a no brainer in reality but they have to try and make them seem dangerous in the show/comics.

**Shadow Captain Edithae**

So...The Hilltop...

Spoiler:

**Wyrmalla**

Mr Morden wrote:
Frazzled wrote:
pretre wrote:
Shark Suits, Riot Shields and Machetes...

In reality you would just need motorcycle leathers, a homemade shield, and a nice ice axe.

In reality the Zombies would be unlikely to have the strength to hold on to people with rotten teeth, lack of muscles and tendons, or even break the skin never mind tear off huge chunks of flesh....

A Roman Legion style force would be quite fun to see in operation and should have no issue with Zombies - in fact Romans Vs Zombies would be a good film.

Cavalry on the other hand would be a liability in direct combat as unless very well trained its unlikely the horses would go near them without panicking. They would be good for the real use of most cavalry - scouting......

Spears, shields and the like would also be a no brainer in reality but they have to try and make them seem dangerous in the show/comics.

There's a series called Crossed, which is in a similar setting (at one point someone says "don't you dare you zombie", the Crossed are worse). The infection's passed by bodily fluids, so one navy guy wonders about Scotland dressed in a wetsuit.

We'll ignore that he also wears a kilt on top of that as well... Or that his face is exposed and plays bagpipes in order to draw the Crossed' attention. Heh, would post pictures, but that series as hardly work safe.

Though aye, in saying that, if you search "Crossed: Wish you were here", you'll find two free multiple volume webcomics for free on the main site. There's also a good load of print volumes as well, though whilst sharing a similar setting to the Walking Dead (+100 takes place far after the outbreak), the tone's a *bit* different and largely cynical.

**Mr Morden**

Best warn that the Crossed series is totally NSFW!!

**Wyrmalla**

Oh yes, I should have opened that the story involving the kilt wearing guy also opens with two survivors starting at one of the Crossed getting off with a dolphin...

Great PA fiction though.

**Sinful Hero**

Hilltop is in view. Story is moving right along.

Also looks like
[comic spoilers]

Spoiler:

**gorgon**

Yeah, Maggie saying that there'll be a price was...ominous.

(comic spoilers ahead)

Spoiler:

Anyway, I liked the episode. It was great to see the Hilltop, and I thought they did a good job creating a sense of a storm brewing underneath the optimistic revelation of the Hilltop.

**AegisGrimm**

I still have to say the best part of this season was the Savior gang in the opener.

'Naw, you know what? On second though I think I'll just-" BANG!!! The sick and twisted part of me laughed out loud at the suddeness of the tenseness breaking in that scene.

**Shadow Captain Edithae**

AegisGrimm wrote:
I still have to say the best part of this season was the Savior gang in the opener.

'Naw, you know what? On second though I think I'll just-" BANG!!! The sick and twisted part of me laughed out loud at the suddeness of the tenseness breaking in that scene.

I had the same reaction in school watching The Crucible when the protagonist is up on the gallows, begins reciting the Lord's Prayer and then SNAP. So did the entire class in fact.

**AegisGrimm**

Yeah, I actually jumped a bit when the Saviors bit it. I was dead certain those three were not getting killed off, but that is the least of the ways I expected they'd get out of it, lol.

**KamikazeCanuck**

Pretty militaristic episode. Liked it, just think at least one of the Alexandrians should have got shot or killed. These guys are better than SEAL team six.

**Shadow Captain Edithae**

KamikazeCanuck wrote:
Pretty militaristic episode. Liked it, just think at least one of the Alexandrians should have got shot or killed. These guys are better than SEAL team six.

Oh you sweet summer child...Things are going to VERY bloody very soon.

**gorgon**

I figure at least 3 regulars will expire. Gimple promised a few "hard left turns" from the comic though, so we'll see how it plays out.

(big comic spoilers ahead)

Spoiler:

For all the action, it was kind of a poignant episode as a few characters dealt with the gravity of killing another human being (in Carol's case, many human beings)...in the face of the real storm to come.

**Shadow Captain Edithae**

I think Lucille will definitely happen, but it'll probably involve somebody else. I mean, come on, it was a notorious moment from the comics that cannot possibly be omitted.