The Walking Dead Season 2 Discussion *Spoilers*

I believe the comic book broke the zombies down into lurkers who go dormant when there's no stimulus around and roamers who just aimlessly wonder about. You also end up with big herds like the one that was following the RV.

 

Why? I think they're great at adding tension. Slow zombies just don't seem like much of a threat to me when you can just power walk away.

 

"Death Valley" had a walking zombie closing in on two cops, members of the "Undead Task Force," who we're talking and stopping and talking and stopping. Every time they stopped, the zombie was catching up; every time they started walking, the zombie was left behind. Until they kept talking and one cop easily turned and just blew the zombie away. They continued their conversation like nothing big happened.

Funny show.

 

We've seen with Morgan's wife that the zombies seem to retain some memories of their past lives (probably strong connections like family), as shown by her recognition of her own house after being some distance away, and repeated attempts to open the door. It's not enough to override the hunger impulse and prevent them from killing loved ones obviously, but they do retain some sort of unconscious connection.

Another example from the pilot would be the other deputy that Rick didn't like continuing to hang around the sheriff's office long after being turned.

The zombies milling about the school/aid center included soldiers and FEMA personnel who had manned it, so they make sense. But the others could include parents of students at the school (or teachers) or people who lost loved ones in the medical clinic.

The roaming herds on the freeways could be commuters, and their aimless walking could be because they're unconsciously continuing the journey homeward unless they come across a new food source.

 

That makes sense, I guess, especially the parents trying to find their children. But there's so many of them. You'd think something would have drawn them away by now....

 

An alternative could be that they're instinctively or mnemonically drawn to food traps; ie. places where healthy people are likely to travel for medical supplies, food, water, transportation, fortifications, etc. That could explain the large zombie presence just off a main thoroughfare in Atlanta, roaming the freeway, surrounding the CDC and the FEMA aid center, and wandering way up to the reservoir and source of fish/game in the hills that was the group's former camp.

 

Your alternative theory is more complicated than your first one; your first one was also similar to the one I proposed on the previous page.

With respect to the zombies finding the reservoir camp, the humans generated noise, and there was traffic in and out of the place, some of it noisy too. At the time, I thought they were generating enough stimulus to attract zombies.

 

You mean this?

That's nothing like my first proposal at all. It makes no mention of personal memories coming into play and cites no specific examples like Morgan's wife's attraction to her home. If anything, it's like the second proposal in saying that they're attracted to places humans are likely to go; the one you're now calling more complicated.

Nor do I see how either are particularly complicated, since they simply rely on memories and/or instinct, and the former has been clearly demonstrated in the pilot.

 

Maybe I misunderstand your second theory, but it sounds to me as if that requires some sort of strategic reasoning, which I presume to be absent in zombies.

Having a feeling of recognition in the face of something one has been previously exposed to requires and involves memory, but that is not the same thing as fully recalling what it is. That's why I didn't go so far as to say that the zombies were remembering anything. I don't think the memories are clear at all, but they are vague and at best dreamlike.

However, as far as I know, people don't instinctively want to sit in church; they are indoctrinated to do so. I thought the zombies were congregation in church and around FEMA, because they vaguely recognized those places as being important. I don't think that's the same thing as saying that they have any memories of those places, even if they were actually in those very places before, but I find it similar to the idea that they do, since it depends upon the zombies retaining some of their social conditioning.

 

When we saw all the zombies at FEMA, I wondered if there might be survivors holed up there. Heck, nothing says there aren't.

I am also wondering why they aren't besieging that farm by now.

 

Betcha Andrea won't be giving up any guns anymore.

That made me think that they'll pursue the idea that some people are naturally immune, since that's how species survive plagues.

Zombies can be a huge threat because you can't always be on your guard against them; their numbers can overwhelm you; and they induce such terror that their victims might not be able to respond effectively (I thought Andrea might have had a gun when the zombie attacked, and just been so panicked she didn't think to use it.)

Those factors make zombies enough of a threat. I don't think we need to add speed to that list.

 

Do we know if these zombies need to digest food? Bicycle girl may not have had much left of her digestive tract, but she was still going for it. Obviously the undead need to get energy from SOMEWHERE, but is it from the act of eating the living? Has the comic book covered any of this?

One wonders, if this is a virus, that the virus iteself metabolizes eaten flesh once it gets to the esophagus. Then the virus would collectively be able to animate its host body after doig so. It's not like zombieism is an exact science, but as far as we know, it's not black magic in The Walking Dead.

As for speed, I was thinking that lots of the dead lurkers would simply able around the area they reanimated, such as the FEMA facility, until some source of food came along. And if it's been a couple months since anything living was in the area, they may have been getting desperate for a new food source, but without the wandering instinct that the herd zombies have, they were ambling in wait for some fresh meat.

Mark

 

We've seen Zombies run before. Apparently they can run when they're in a group and get agitated.

 

I dunno. A single guy with a decent hunting rifle, good vantage point, and a couple dozen boxes of ammo could easily take out hundreds upon hundreds of them. The fact that zombies are dumb and slow would make manipulating their movements and setting traps fairly simple too.

This video makes an interesting comment about slow zombies being a deeper commentary on human failing (e.g. they only get you when your group is dysfunctional enough to let them) but personally I think that reasoning leans far too heavily on allegory for scares. One of the biggest problems with horror already is that it relies on people doing stupid things to advance the plot.

 

I prefer slow zombies, since they rely more on horror than terror, if you know what I mean. They're relentless, and you have time to think about it rather than just jump and panic. But I didn't think the zombies at the school moved too fast, not like the super-speed zombies in the Dawn Of The Dead remake. How fast they move probably just depends on the state of damage or decay; a new or undamaged zombie can probably move nearly as fast as a living human.

That would work, too. It may all depend on which memory echoes are strongest. If somebody's strongest memory is to save their kid, they'll go to the school; if somebody's strongest memory is where people congregate-- now associated with feeding-- they'll migrate to the city. If somebody's strongest memory is of feeling safe in church, they'll go sit in a pew.

 

A single guy can't watch his own back. At the very least, people should travel in groups and while one person does the sniping, one or two others serve as lookouts.

That's why I can't believe Otis was out there hunting on his own. To hunt, you need to concentrate your focus on your prey. How can you do that, worrying that something else is concentrating on you as prey?

 

Caught up with this show today after reading the first 12 volumes of the comic series.

Love Daryl as an addition, he's a much more interesting character than I figured at first. And surely at some point Merle's gonna come back and be a problem?

The only real disappointment I have with this show is its version of Andrea - she's such a piss-poor reflection of the comics Andrea.

 

Andrea actually gave Dale a very pissed off look. And I was thinking, whoa, waitaminute, now you're pissed off because a Zombie attacked you, when you were pissed off about being alive still alst week Make up your mind woman.

 

That zombie couldn't have attacked her if she had blown up with the CDC.

Given the situation, I'm not inclined to criticize anyone for being irrational.

 

Eh...with that bag of drugs, I'm sure there's something in there she could overdose on, if she still wants out. I can still easily forgive her, if she straightens up, but, I don't think much of her this season so far.