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 Breotan wrote:

 easysauce wrote:
Chaos, we dont know much, what we do know for sure is that *everyone on earth is already affected by the zombie curse/virus/magic/whatever before zombies start to appear.

There are some exceptions. If you have some sort of survivable wound, you can get stitched up and off you go. Yet a bite from a walker will cascade and kill you within a few days at most.

AFAIK the canon is that zombies carry a lot of nasty bacteria and viruses incubating on their bodies, with them being walking bags of rotting meat. When you get bit, you're contracting a crap load of deadly diseases all at once, overloading the immune system. The reason it seems to have a 100% fatality rate is because all bite victims so far (on TWD at least) lack access to intensive medical care, medical facilities and medicine. It's the apocalypse, society has broken down and the things you need to survive a bite are hard to come by now. Theoretically, it may be possible to survive a bite under ideal conditions, i.e. in a well staffed and supplied hospital. However, I've been away on holiday for the last fortnight and haven't caught up yet, but I know from the promos that one character (liza?) Ends up in a hospital. Have there been any new revelations?

The lack of a cure for bites actually features as a plot point in the comics when a hostile group poison their weapons with zombie gunk. Get cut by a poisoned weapon, and its the same as being bitten. So the slightest wound is fatal.

 Hulksmash wrote:
@Chaos0xomega
@Gorgon

I'm looking forward to learning more about Madison and Travis. I feel like are going to grow together in interesting ways. I also think it's interesting that she didn't seem particularly surprised at his brutal attack of the soldier like some of the others were. I feel that while we don't know about them they fit together because of how much they know about each other. I don't see the writers playing the unexplored past plot lines with these two which will be nice.

Also really liking Nick more. Out of the people in the house the only one I truly was annoyed by is now dead. Now we're down to meh's (Salazars daughter, Travis's son) and people I like. So I'm looking forward to next year.

Nick's little game there with Strand and the key was a small but important moment. And very much in character, I think. Strand is a guy who craves control, but Nick is streetwise and wouldn't allow himself to be a puppet. Nick would do things on his own terms.

*IF* Nick can ever get himself clean, he's a potential team MVP. And Strand, being a great salesperson and assessor of people, already knows that about Nick. Those two have a very interesting relationship.

Maybe I'm just a blind optimist, but I felt like all along some of the stuff that fans complained about with these characters were intentional choices by the writers and actors that will make more sense later. From what they were saying on Talking Dead, it seems that things are indeed headed that way.

Remember "Why would Madison and Travis just charge into that church?" But maybe it's not the first time Madison's been in a place like that. Hell, Madison doesn't seem to flinch at much of anything...which is more than a little curious. And there's reason to think that Travis has spent some time in bad places and is confident about handling himself. You're right...their bond might partially be about having been through some stuff before they met.

Having them not tell their neighbors about COBALT was definitely a interesting (and incredibly coldblooded) choice. I think there's probably some societal commentary there, but I also got a sense during the driving scene that it was meant to suggest that Madison and Travis weren't quite like everyone else...that they weren't just creatures of suburbia, happy in their bubble.

Well, theres generally a bit of a disconnect regarding Cobalt on the show. The only person who seemed to have any knowledge whatsoever of Cobalt and what it meant was Reynolds (and presumably the missing/dead LT Moyers), otherwise the dudes that bailed out after Moyers died/was fragged/was abandoned probably would have RTB'd to evac on the 'last helo out' instead of trying to go it alone driving in a world without working gas pumps.

chaos0xomega wrote:

On top of that, not only did the main cast demonstrate military ineptness by breaking the rules and doing their own thing because they were convinced of their own moral superiority over their protectors, but they outright & intentionally took a course of action to kill military forces and destroy the safe area, and in the process likely killing all their neighbors/those who weren't part of their little selfish clique of special snowflake survivors. In other words, the main cast felt the military was so inept/the military executed its job so ineptly, that a group of donkey-caves intentionally sabotaged the entire operation in the most idiotic of ways (which would have been fully preventable if the military was less inept to begin with), in the process killing dozens of soldiers and innocent civilians (intentionally, mind you) and as a result exacerbating their own situation and putting them in greater danger. At least in most other zombie fiction the survivors that are at loggerheads with the military authorities policy unintentionally get everyone killed by doing something stupid and selfish, but no, in FtWD, they had to take it to a whole new level and have them make conscious and rationalized decisions to help speed up the end of the world.

I will say that finding out you're going to be terminated does kind of eliminate your civic duty to support your country and military. They were operating respectfully until;

1) They got knock knocked and the military took members of their family without explanation and with violence. In the middle of the night and wouldn't tell them where they went.
2) They were lied to. Daniel didn't get to go with his wife amongst other issues like no one being willing to discuss where people go or when they might come back.

That happens, they happen to luck upon Cobalt which is a plan to "humanely" kill the people remaining in the camps, and they take actions that no one can fault them for. I think it's interesting that you think they have a moral obligation to let people kill them instead of protecting their families.

Also I'd point out that you don't know that they intended for all the soldiers and civilians to die. Maybe they underestimated the threat of the herd. Maybe, because the soldiers protecting them managed to keep them safe they figured any main base would be able to handle the distraction? Additionally only Daniel, who is shown as a total cold blooded crazy, saw the actual numbers walkers. Not that I think they wouldn't have made the same decision but you see Madison and Travis willing to help take a few seconds to open the cages so people can get out that were being held. Which is more than the military was going to do for them. Especially considering that last conversation Liza had with the doctor regarding who gets to be kept safe.

1) They got knock knocked and the military took members of their family without explanation and with violence. In the middle of the night and wouldn't tell them where they went.
2) They were lied to. Daniel didn't get to go with his wife amongst other issues like no one being willing to discuss where people go or when they might come back.

While I could see why they, in universe, might be upset and bothered by this, at the end of the day from what we see (and as a result, what they also see) there wasn't actually anything really shady going on in this department.

That happens, they happen to luck upon Cobalt which is a plan to "humanely" kill the people remaining in the camps, and they take actions that no one can fault them for. I think it's interesting that you think they have a moral obligation to let people kill them instead of protecting their families.

Which, like I said, only one person apparently knew about. That plan also makes zero sense, since (as far as we know) the majority of the surviving population exists in said camps (unless the military has established a massive safe zone of sorts in the flyover states somewhere with hundreds of thousands/millions of personnel and civilians living safely within it), killing them in order to pull back and consolidate so that they can continue fighting is pointless, because at that point they no longer have a purpose to continue fighting, except for their own personal survival, in which case they would probably be better off taking, at the very least, able bodied civilians with them as conscripts and/or comfort women/breeders, particularly given the disproportionately large number of males (the majority of whom are in their late teens and early 20s) relative to females.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, as a sidenote, they were prepping patients for airlift out of the safe zone, whos to say they wouldn't also take uninfected?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Further sidenote: Season 2 is essentially going to be TWD on a boat it seems. If FtWD was supposed to cover the collapse of society, then it doesn't seem like they intended it to last more than 7 episodes or whatever, because after that it seems as though we find ourselves with a group of survivors trying to eke out a living in a post zombie world where the concept of something like a government or a military no longer exists. Unless at some point they happen across a carrier group or something out at sea and fall into the evil mustache-twirling clutches of the survivng US government.

chaos0xomega wrote:

Also, as a sidenote, they were prepping patients for airlift out of the safe zone, whos to say they wouldn't also take uninfected?

Further sidenote: Season 2 is essentially going to be TWD on a boat it seems. If FtWD was supposed to cover the collapse of society, then it doesn't seem like they intended it to last more than 7 episodes or whatever, because after that it seems as though we find ourselves with a group of survivors trying to eke out a living in a post zombie world where the concept of something like a government or a military no longer exists. Unless at some point they happen across a carrier group or something out at sea and fall into the evil mustache-twirling clutches of the survivng US government.

I don't think they would have left survivors in their fenced compounds without protection if they meant to get everyone out. The fact that it was so easy for the soldiers to go AWOL further points to the local chain of command being completely non-existent. It was interesting to hear the Dr talking on the radio about the base people were being evaced to.

Yeah, next season is going to be shades of Dawn of the Dead and Waterworld mixed together.

Really liked this episode, the mr strand character is awesome I really am liking him, the idea that they are going to board his yacht should make for some interesting shows as then they can travel a bit along the coast and make landings/explore different things.

When the series started I was pretty on the fence, wasnt too good for the first two episodes, but still watchable. Now I am really starting to like it, mostly because the people dont represent the creme de la creme of society.

The scene where the family leaves the now abandoned safe zone, but wont even warn their neighbors, strikes me as chillingly realistic.

So where ricks group is a bit too altruistic at times to be believable, this group acts almost entirely out of self interest which is something I personally dont agree with, but ultimately a more realistic depiction of how 99% of modern suburbanites would react.

 Breotan wrote:

 easysauce wrote:
Chaos, we dont know much, what we do know for sure is that *everyone on earth is already affected by the zombie curse/virus/magic/whatever before zombies start to appear.

There are some exceptions. If you have some sort of survivable wound, you can get stitched up and off you go. Yet a bite from a walker will cascade and kill you within a few days at most.

??exceptions?? to what?

Of course people can still survive normal wounds, I never said otherwise, but anyone who dies for any reason will come back as a zombie with no exceptions barring severe head trauma.

I wouldnt say 'no exceptions'. We see, throughout TWD, that quite a few people end up basically being eaten, but not entirely, leaving behind a half-consumed rotting carcass.

Its always been a bit of a head scratcher for me, since we see, at various points, zombies crawling around, missing the entire bottom half of their bodies, dragging their internal organs and entrails behind them, so its a bit of a question of, how much do you have to be missing to not reanimate, since there has to be some threshold beyond which, even without head trauma, reanimation is impossible.

chaos0xomega wrote:
I wouldnt say 'no exceptions'. We see, throughout TWD, that quite a few people end up basically being eaten, but not entirely, leaving behind a half-consumed rotting carcass.

Its always been a bit of a head scratcher for me, since we see, at various points, zombies crawling around, missing the entire bottom half of their bodies, dragging their internal organs and entrails behind them, so its a bit of a question of, how much do you have to be missing to not reanimate, since there has to be some threshold beyond which, even without head trauma, reanimation is impossible.

We've seen zombies that are literally just a head and so far no one who has died has ever not come back without head trauma of some kind.

The answer to your question is well established by the author in that the line between re animation and just another corpse is head trauma.

 easysauce wrote:

chaos0xomega wrote:
I wouldnt say 'no exceptions'. We see, throughout TWD, that quite a few people end up basically being eaten, but not entirely, leaving behind a half-consumed rotting carcass.

Its always been a bit of a head scratcher for me, since we see, at various points, zombies crawling around, missing the entire bottom half of their bodies, dragging their internal organs and entrails behind them, so its a bit of a question of, how much do you have to be missing to not reanimate, since there has to be some threshold beyond which, even without head trauma, reanimation is impossible.

We've seen zombies that are literally just a head and so far no one who has died has ever not come back without head trauma of some kind.

The answer to your question is well established by the author in that the line between re animation and just another corpse is head trauma.

There was the dead nurse in the hospital in Season 1 Ep1, when Rick wakes up. Her body was little more than a carcass, but her head and face were untouched.

 Shadow Captain Edithae wrote:

 Breotan wrote:

 easysauce wrote:
Chaos, we dont know much, what we do know for sure is that *everyone on earth is already affected by the zombie curse/virus/magic/whatever before zombies start to appear.

There are some exceptions. If you have some sort of survivable wound, you can get stitched up and off you go. Yet a bite from a walker will cascade and kill you within a few days at most.

AFAIK the canon is that zombies carry a lot of nasty bacteria and viruses incubating on their bodies, with them being walking bags of rotting meat. When you get bit, you're contracting a crap load of deadly diseases all at once, overloading the immune system.

Maybe, if the walker had rabies, but an otherwise normal person doesn't have enough "nasty bacteria and viruses" to kill anyone without dying to that same nasty stuff themselves in the first place. This suggests there's something else going on with the zombie virus other than reanimation.

 Shadow Captain Edithae wrote:

 easysauce wrote:

chaos0xomega wrote:
I wouldnt say 'no exceptions'. We see, throughout TWD, that quite a few people end up basically being eaten, but not entirely, leaving behind a half-consumed rotting carcass.

Its always been a bit of a head scratcher for me, since we see, at various points, zombies crawling around, missing the entire bottom half of their bodies, dragging their internal organs and entrails behind them, so its a bit of a question of, how much do you have to be missing to not reanimate, since there has to be some threshold beyond which, even without head trauma, reanimation is impossible.

We've seen zombies that are literally just a head and so far no one who has died has ever not come back without head trauma of some kind.

The answer to your question is well established by the author in that the line between re animation and just another corpse is head trauma.

There was the dead nurse in the hospital in Season 1 Ep1, when Rick wakes up. Her body was little more than a carcass, but her head and face were untouched.

Hardly the only example, but yeah, thats one of them.

I might be wrong, but iirc the only times we see head only zombies in the show, its the result of someone hacking the head off of an already reanimated zombie. As in, someone encounters a zombie shuffling around and takes its head off, and the head keeps... err... living. I dont recall seeing anyone dying by having their head cut off while they are still alive, but then their head turns out to a zombie.

Hershel.

Infection could be something to do with the brain- similar to Ant zombifier fungus thing. Just makes the host extremely chompy instead of climbing the highest tree. Transmitted through a bite, either saliva or it breeds on the teeth.

 Breotan wrote:

 Shadow Captain Edithae wrote:

 Breotan wrote:

 easysauce wrote:
Chaos, we dont know much, what we do know for sure is that *everyone on earth is already affected by the zombie curse/virus/magic/whatever before zombies start to appear.

There are some exceptions. If you have some sort of survivable wound, you can get stitched up and off you go. Yet a bite from a walker will cascade and kill you within a few days at most.

AFAIK the canon is that zombies carry a lot of nasty bacteria and viruses incubating on their bodies, with them being walking bags of rotting meat. When you get bit, you're contracting a crap load of deadly diseases all at once, overloading the immune system.

Maybe, if the walker had rabies, but an otherwise normal person doesn't have enough "nasty bacteria and viruses" to kill anyone without dying to that same nasty stuff themselves in the first place. This suggests there's something else going on with the zombie virus other than reanimation.

Oh defiantly the Z's bite is more deadly then normal human bites.

Its not explicit why the bites are so varied in deadliness, ranging from hershel surviving one due to quick medical care/luck, vs people turning into Z's less then a minute after being bitten.

But as you say its two separate issues, the fact that zombie bites are deadly is totally separate from people rising up from the dead regardless of method of said death.

Ref zombie reanimation times: IIRC the timeline for it can be up to three days, but at least a few hours. This could be effected by the circumstances of the infection - i.e. where the person was bitten, or perhaps down to the person themselves - i.e. if everyone's infected maybe some are more effected than others. ...If that makes sense. Now the show does take some liberties with this. For instance, for dramatic effect, Shane comes back fairly quickly. In the comics Rick doesn't find Shane again for weeks after he was killed. So, going by the comics, it takes hours at least to become a zombie from a bite. If you're killed however then, perhaps down to the immune system falling apart, you reanimate within minutes to hours at the most.

On zombie heads. No, anyone who's had their head cut off will still have their head turn into a zombie. As noted Hershel goes this way, as does Tyreese in the comics (then there's the Governor taking that soldier's head and the cabin in the woods with the two decapitated soldiers too). Actually one of the latest issues has this as a plot point (where the decapitated heads are used as a warning). Zombies aren't alive. They even appear as black bodies on infrared. That they happen to eat is just a coincidence (i.e. a zombie that's just a head would still eat you, but the bits would fall out of its stump). If it helps people with how the hell that actually works, beyond the writer just wanting to do something cool, then I donno. The zombies are made up of nanomachines. =P

I haven't been watching this series (because screw it for being a network show and me being cheap), but I've been wondering if its dealt with a plot hole of both the Tv series and the comics. In later material after it was revealed that everyone's infected it has people come back from the dead. In supplemental web episodes and flashbacks we saw this happening during the initial stages of the virus. What I wonder is if this show's done much with that at all? Youknow, the big reveal's already been made, so are they bothering to hide it? It stuck me as odd that nobody happened to notice the unbitten dead rising, even with the lack of survivors. ...Though now that I think about it the military were shooting the people they executed in the head way back during the hospital scenes from the early series (already having been made aware of the fact obviously then). Ah, plot reasons.

I remember Herschels death, dont remember his head turning zombie though, but ill take your word for it. Regarding non-bite zombies, I dont think the situation comes up until after the reveal, most people that die up to that point die as a result of being bitten or devoured iirc, and if they die from another cause the survivors generally dont stick around the corpse long enough to see them reanimate.

The finale was good - an enjoyable end to season 1.

So much so that I'm ow looking forward to FTWD Season 2!

Am not a fan for several reasons. In universe, the characters are all morally deplorable, this episode doubled down my view of that. They go driving through their neighborhood filled with their long time friends and neighbors and simply leave the gate open. They lure a horde of zombies to attack a hospital filled with innocent injured people who were about to be evacuated to rescue a couple other people and end up killing all the injured people and the soldiers defending them. Then they get told one person is dead and they sit there and argue about going to see the body which gets the one somewhat morally good character killed. The one character that is morally ambiguous seems like the only decent character in the show since and that's only because he acts like he has some sense and thinks things through, unlike the others which are dumb as rocks and act it. I wonder if its an intentional slight to make Californians look like selfish immoral morons?

Real world I dislike where its going because it has the potential to steal the main idea from John Ringo's Black Tide series which would stop that best selling series from becoming a show or movie in time. I hope he sues if it comes to that.

^Pretty much sums up my view as well.

Col. Dash wrote:
Am not a fan for several reasons. In universe, the characters are all morally deplorable, this episode doubled down my view of that.

See, that's why I like the show. Maybe Travis or Salazar will end up like the Governor (hell, Salazar is already there, minus the Woodbury army), and this is their origin story. I don't necessarily have to like a protagonist to enjoy a story.

Col. Dash wrote:
Am not a fan for several reasons. In universe, the characters are all morally deplorable, this episode doubled down my view of that. They go driving through their neighborhood filled with their long time friends and neighbors and simply leave the gate open. They lure a horde of zombies to attack a hospital filled with innocent injured people who were about to be evacuated to rescue a couple other people and end up killing all the injured people and the soldiers defending them. Then they get told one person is dead and they sit there and argue about going to see the body which gets the one somewhat morally good character killed. The one character that is morally ambiguous seems like the only decent character in the show since and that's only because he acts like he has some sense and thinks things through, unlike the others which are dumb as rocks and act it. I wonder if its an intentional slight to make Californians look like selfish immoral morons?

Real world I dislike where its going because it has the potential to steal the main idea from John Ringo's Black Tide series which would stop that best selling series from becoming a show or movie in time. I hope he sues if it comes to that.

Well given my deep misgivings about the characters in the first two episodes this means I won't have to waste any more time on the show or trying to get to see the next few episodes

 Shadow Captain Edithae wrote:

Col. Dash wrote:
Am not a fan for several reasons. In universe, the characters are all morally deplorable, this episode doubled down my view of that.

See, that's why I like the show. Maybe Travis or Salazar will end up like the Governor (hell, Salazar is already there, minus the Woodbury army), and this is their origin story. I don't necessarily have to like a protagonist to enjoy a story.

Its not about liking the protagonists, its about the protagonists being unbelievably stupid and foolish.

 Mr Morden wrote:

Col. Dash wrote:
Am not a fan for several reasons. In universe, the characters are all morally deplorable, this episode doubled down my view of that. They go driving through their neighborhood filled with their long time friends and neighbors and simply leave the gate open. They lure a horde of zombies to attack a hospital filled with innocent injured people who were about to be evacuated to rescue a couple other people and end up killing all the injured people and the soldiers defending them. Then they get told one person is dead and they sit there and argue about going to see the body which gets the one somewhat morally good character killed. The one character that is morally ambiguous seems like the only decent character in the show since and that's only because he acts like he has some sense and thinks things through, unlike the others which are dumb as rocks and act it. I wonder if its an intentional slight to make Californians look like selfish immoral morons?

Real world I dislike where its going because it has the potential to steal the main idea from John Ringo's Black Tide series which would stop that best selling series from becoming a show or movie in time. I hope he sues if it comes to that.

Well given my deep misgivings about the characters in the first two episodes this means I won't have to waste any more time on the show or trying to get to see the next few episodes

Well, we did also find out on Sunday that it is set in a decidedly Middle Class Neighborhood...

chaos0xomega wrote:

 Shadow Captain Edithae wrote:

Col. Dash wrote:
Am not a fan for several reasons. In universe, the characters are all morally deplorable, this episode doubled down my view of that.

See, that's why I like the show. Maybe Travis or Salazar will end up like the Governor (hell, Salazar is already there, minus the Woodbury army), and this is their origin story. I don't necessarily have to like a protagonist to enjoy a story.

Its not about liking the protagonists, its about the protagonists being unbelievably stupid and foolish.

So shows should only depict very intelligent and wise characters?

The average person isnt really that smart, and half the people are below average, it actually makes a lot of sense to have a show with at least some of the characters making stupid and foolish decisions, *especially* since they are in a stressful non normal situation.

Col. Dash wrote:
Am not a fan for several reasons. In universe, the characters are all morally deplorable, this episode doubled down my view of that. They go driving through their neighborhood filled with their long time friends and neighbors and simply leave the gate open. They lure a horde of zombies to attack a hospital filled with innocent injured people who were about to be evacuated to rescue a couple other people and end up killing all the injured people and the soldiers defending them. Then they get told one person is dead and they sit there and argue about going to see the body which gets the one somewhat morally good character killed. The one character that is morally ambiguous seems like the only decent character in the show since and that's only because he acts like he has some sense and thinks things through, unlike the others which are dumb as rocks and act it. I wonder if its an intentional slight to make Californians look like selfish immoral morons?

Real world I dislike where its going because it has the potential to steal the main idea from John Ringo's Black Tide series which would stop that best selling series from becoming a show or movie in time. I hope he sues if it comes to that.

Real world I don't see it going that route. Ringo's series (which I love and have also referenced) probably won't ever make TV. To expensive by far for it work. Not to mention liability issues and how to reconcile the arguably main character to something allowable on TV and have her retain her charm

As for the in universe I disagree on pretty much all counts with you. In regards to warning the neighbors the last time they tried to help a neighbor they missed their chance to evacuate and avoid all of this. Additionally they have until morning until "Cobalt" goes into effect. They don't have time to persuade a ton of people to come with.

Regarding the gate yes, they left it open. This is still early. They don't really understand the threat and have been told there is a 6 mile clear zone. Not to mention maybe they thought it'd be faster for people when they run for it when "Cobalt" starts if the gate is open? We dont' know their thoughts so assuming they didn't think about it is as valid as assuming they did. Personally I think it comes down to not understanding the world yet. Not fully.

As for the hospital you do realize these people don't know what you know right? It's a group that has been lied to, had their people taken in the middle of the night, and who have found out their supposed to be killed when the army pulls back. They are concerned with their family and that's it. Because the government pushed them into this by their actions.
.
Overall I'm not seeing morons. I'm seeing people willing to do what it takes to keep family safe and who take steps that allow that to happen. Including using resources available to them to overcome someone who is oppressing them. Do they make some mistakes and sometimes hesitate at the wrong times? Yep, just like normal people would. Calling a young woman a moron for wanting to see her mother's body (when that's important to their culture) seems a bit strong. Overall it's seems like a smart and resourceful core of a survivor group, up to and including coping with killing one of their own for being bitten within less than 2 weeks from normal society to it's collapse while spending the majority of that secluded from the actual collapse.

I love how people get mad at people for trying to save everyone that can't be saved and then get mad when they don't. It does show you can't please everyone

I'm somewhat annoyed that they had the main cast sequestered in safety behind fences for the better part of a week. The premise of this show is supposedly to show the collapse of society as the infection "spreads" (or more accurately, begins to manifest its main symptom - reanimation). And yet they copped out by taking the easy cheap solution by having most of it take place off screen during a time jump. It seems we had 3 episodes of social collapse (the first half of the season), and then a time jump to after the social collapse, when the last bastions of civilization are a handful of scattered military outposts.

As of the finale, it seems like the group are in a similar position to what Rick Grimes was in, in Season 1 Ep1 of TWD. Society has already collapsed, everybody's gone. Theres little to differentiate between the two shows now besides the well preserved zombies. Unless in Season 2 we learn that Los Angeles isn't quite as deserted as it appears (meaning, there are still large numbers of survivors).

I've talked about this before, but I don't understand why some focus so much on the "smartness" of the actions of the characters in TWD dramas. I don't watch a western or a political thriller and turn it into a "what ya wanna do here is..." game.

Besides, a narrative featuring nothing but "the right decisions" (if those could even be identified) would make for pretty boring entertainment.

 gorgon wrote:
I've talked about this before, but I don't understand why some focus so much on the "smartness" of the actions of the characters in TWD dramas. I don't watch a western or a political thriller and turn it into a "what ya wanna do here is..." game.

Besides, a narrative featuring nothing but "the right decisions" (if those could even be identified) would make for pretty boring entertainment.

Because everyone plays Left 4 Dead and figures they're suddenly a zombie survivalist expert.

 gorgon wrote:
I've talked about this before, but I don't understand why some focus so much on the "smartness" of the actions of the characters in TWD dramas. I don't watch a western or a political thriller and turn it into a "what ya wanna do here is..." game.

Besides, a narrative featuring nothing but "the right decisions" (if those could even be identified) would make for pretty boring entertainment.

I think the problem here is that FtWD shows the preposterousness of the entire walking dead situation. The military has to be callous and incompetent, no one could have ever come up with the idea of the dead rising again, and most of the zombification has to occur offscreen(hordes appearing out of nowhere).