The Walking Dead Season 2 Discussion *Spoilers*

[sojourner]

24 inches is small? I feel so emasculated now.

[RJDiogenes]

Garak wrote:

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I really enjoyed Shane descent in to darkness, doing things I'm sure he never thought himself capable of during simpler times. I can't help but wonder if that kind of theme is being foreshadowed for the other survivors we are following.

Bloody Hell, I hope not. The humanity of the characters is what makes the show great.

The hanging zombie was super creepy, thought that was very well done. Definite waste of an arrow though.

Actually, I don't think so. Eventually that rope is going to break and you'll have another crawler on the loose.

propita wrote:

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So if vampires are about sex, is the current popularity of zombies reflecting the insecurities of society and the seeming loss of control?

The History Channel special draws a parallel to terrorism. Apparently, more than half the zombie apocalypse movies ever made have come after the terrorist attacks of 2001.

[DarthTom]

Sindatur wrote:

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Andrea, please continue outta the dark side next week, I love ya, but, you were getting on my nerves the last couple of episodes

Really? Dale is the one that gets on my nerves. I comletely sympathize with her dilemma. Who would want to live in a world populated by zombies that's gone to shit and opting out at the CDC would be a logical choice for many.

Dale's paternalism towards her I would find as annoying as she does. It's like shut the fuck up and worry about yourself instead of me.

[Silvercrest]

RJDiogenes wrote:

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The History Channel special draws a parallel to terrorism. Apparently, more than half the zombie apocalypse movies ever made have come after the terrorist attacks of 2001.

Good to know they're featuring some intelligent content. That channel has about as much history nowadays as Syfy has science.

[Colonel Green]

This season got off to a slow start, but this episode more than made up for it. Now if they can just find a way to get Shane to shoot Lori this show will be perfect.

[Mr. Adventure]

RJDiogenes wrote:

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The History Channel special draws a parallel to terrorism. Apparently, more than half the zombie apocalypse movies ever made have come after the terrorist attacks of 2001.

You could say the same thing about superhero movies. And I'm sure someone could explain how that is also connected to terrorism. Maybe there's a connection but I wonder sometimes if a cigar is just a cigar.

[propita]

sojourner wrote:

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24 inches is small? I feel so emasculated now.

OOPS! I thought you were working on a small screen that doesn’t show the whole webpage or something. I had a little 13” Dell that was like that. Won’t even discuss the shitty netbook I had. Doorstop.

Mr. Adventure wrote:

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You could say the same thing about superhero movies. And I'm sure someone could explain how that is also connected to terrorism. Maybe there's a connection but I wonder sometimes if a cigar is just a cigar.

I figured vamps were kinda fading (no pun intended), except for mostly teens. Zombies, meanwhile, seem to be proliferating (pun intended). Instability of society and all that.

[Sindatur]

Zombies are representative of those feeling entitled to "Entitlements"

[Silvercrest]

We... are... entitled... to... BRAINS!!!!

[Temis the Vorta]

Eventually that rope is going to break and you'll have another crawler on the loose.

Yeah, Darryl should have known just walking away was irresponsible.

And if Suicide Poet managed to climb up the tree to tie the rope around a branch while suffering zombie flu, Darryl could have scampered up to cut the rope and retrieve that arrow. Considering how infrequently these people come across sporting goods stores, they shouldn't be cavalier about ammo.

PS, on the topic of gunshots being a zombie dinner bell: how easy would it be to get your hands on a silencer?

Silvercrest wrote:

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Good to know they're featuring some intelligent content. That channel has about as much history nowadays as Syfy has science.

I was amazed at how much historical content they included, stuff about the fall of Rome and Ghengis Khan and zombie myths in ancient China, Arabia and Scandinavia. Maybe they should do more zombie documentaries.

[Garak]

RJDiogenes wrote:

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Bloody Hell, I hope not. The humanity of the characters is what makes the show great.

I disagree, I think it's the dire circumstances and uncertainty of survival that makes the show great. Besides, humanity is overrated when the vast majority of people on the planet are trying to eat you.

Actually, I don't think so. Eventually that rope is going to break and you'll have another crawler on the loose.

Crawlers are much more manageable, and it's not like they're going to stick around long enough for the rope to break.

[Sindatur]

Temis, good point about silencers. All the times we've been shown (as you so eloquently put it) that a gun shot is a "Zombie Dinner Bell", I've asked myself several times, why they haven't obtained silencers.

Definitely time for them to raid a Gun shop

[Temis the Vorta]

I think Shane is fundamentally weak.

That is the one explanation that fits everything he's done. Not evil, not stupid but weak. I also think he's self-hating. Now that I know he and Rick are childhood buddies, and Shane presumably was "the wild one," that raises the question of why he'd be friends with Rick in particular, and follow him into a career in law enforcement (which seems a natural fit for Rick, but not really for Shane).

I think Shane has latched onto Rick as someone who makes him feel better about himself. Shane was the bad one and Rick was the good one. Rick is more even tempered, and seems a bit smarter and more cultured. Shane trying to take over Rick's family when he thought Rick was dead was simply the next step in that process: becoming Rick. And that need hasn't abated - he was saving Carl because that's what Carl's "dad" would do.

And I don't think Shane would have shot Rick, in retrospect. Shane is an emotional lamprey who needs people like Rick, Lori and Carl in his life to bolster his shaky self-esteem. He has little self-awareness of any of this, and just operates on instinct, which makes him unstable and dangerous.

It's interesting to contrast Shane with Darryl. They're both the good-old-boy/redneck stereotype, but Darryl seems to have come through his deprived childhood with a strong sense of self-worth, maybe because he had no adult supervision at all.

I hope they throw Shane and Darryl together into a situation. Shane would probably despise Darryl as representing everything he hates in himself, and Darryl would be savvy enough to see right through Shane to the quivering weakling at his core.

[Sindatur]

Oh, and also, the next time they go into town, they need to stop by a Motor Home Lot and trade up that rickety antique of Dale's, LOL.

[Temis the Vorta]

Sorry, but, I gotta say I'm sure Shane knew exactly what he was doing shooting Otis in the leg, rather than killing him, IMHO, it was very obvious.

If so, it wasn't a very smart calculation. He had very little time to get the pack off Otis' back, and with Otis fighting back, he might not have made it before the zombies got them both. What if Otis had latched onto his arm and not his hair? Better to speed up the process and count on even a dead Otis to be enough of a distraction.

I would have shot Otis through the head and not because I'm nice.

I enjoyed the episode although I didn't buy Lori's speech about wanting Carl to die.

I bought it, just as I bought Andrea's reasons for not wanting to go on living. It's a tossup whether these people are all just being stupid, prolonging the inevitable.

Personally, I'd be one of the people who wants to go on living, but that's only if I could hit up a sporting goods store for a crossbow and take my ire out on the zombies. That would keep me motivated for a while.