The Walking Dead Season 5

[the G-man]

Instead of heading to DC, maybe they should have looked for an Amish farm to fortify. If they could defend against others (living and dead), the Amish should be well suited for this world.

As someone who lives more or less in Amish country (for example, my neighors up the road are Amish), the idea of the Amish as being totally nondependent on modern ways is more a romanticized myth than reality.

They might not use electricity in their homes or drive cars but they still rely on a fair amount of post-industrial tech in producing their crops. For example, they typically allow power in the barns to comply with pasterurization requirements.

They also have the same medical requirements you or I have. If one gets injured they need a doctor every bit as much as we do.

Realistically, they are probably not that much better suited to a post apocalyptic world than the average organic farmer.

 

[Velocity]

You read more into what I said than was meant. Whether they use a modicum of electricity or not, they are still more used to self reliance than most people today. Their farms would still be workable and provide resources, like windmills to pump water and they are used to doing most of their own repairs and making what they need. That's not to say they don't buy things from towns, too. And I lived near/worked with Amish and Mennonite people too, in Illinois, which is why I thought of them. Their skills in woodworking, building, etc, would be very valuable in this new world. If they weren't all overrun and eaten before they knew what was going on.

 

[Reverend]

It's been a few years now. That's plenty of time for massive herds to wander out of the city and start roaming the countryside like locusts. Having a farm out in the middle of nowhere may seem easy to manage if you're only dealing with a few dozen at a time, but when a herd of ten thousand comes shuffling through, you're pretty much fucked.

We did see that one large herd out at some random rural farm in the episode this season where the Abraham/Glenn group ran out of steam at the end of their journey to get Professor Pants On Fire to DC.

But out in the middle of Montana, it's safe to assume that there are no huge herds. It's not like the population of Chicago or Minneapolis would wander off to the Dakotas or anywhere else in the northern plains.

And if there is a large herd somewhere in Montana or South Dakota or wherever, there's likely only going to be one. If you run into them, you can just go 50 miles away and feel relatively safe.

The problem with going too far north though is the winters. They don't have the luxury of storing up food over the summer to prepare for winter. Iowa/Nebraska/Indiana/rural Ohio or Illinois still sounds like the best bet to me. Actually forget even rural Illinois or Indiana. The further west the better. Find some nice big wide open farmland where you can see for miles. The further west the better. Keep going until the walker numbers noticably decrease.

Just at random, I looked up populations in Kansas ranked by county, and there are counties out there with less than 2000 people. If our group can take a prison, they can clear 1500 (less actually, since many would be beyond the point of reanimation) walkers to claim an 800 square mile county. Or hell, go one state north and there are a bunch of counties in Nebraska with less than 1000 people. Head to the places where the population density is less than 1 person per square mile.


Though it does seem logical to assume that isolated households in the middle of nowhere would be rather survivable compared to city dwellers.

That's the thing about herds though, they don't tend to just sit still. Leaving aside the fact that setting up a farm in the middle of a wide open plain would make you a very obvious target to every marauding group to wander within sight of the campfire smoke, it would also require considerable fortification. Even building a halfway decent fence would take a major investment of time and labour, resources that need to be spent on actual farming. Even if you managed that, as we saw at the prison maintaining the perimeter is a constant war of attrition and it doesn't take long for the walkers to start piling up.

So sure, even a year or two after the first outbreak you *might* get away with only encountering a few dozen small herds. You *might* be able to maintain the fence all year round come floods, gales and storms. But sooner or later, one really bog herd will wonder through and nothing short of a twelve foot deep concrete moat and a six foot thick solid stone wall will stop them from trampling that into oblivion and contaminating the water supply.

It's simply not a long term prospect. Unless you can find some isolated plateau with fertile soil, fresh running water, surrounded by impassable wasteland and with a medieval castle up on top, you best bet is still something like a stadium, an old sea fort or just anywhere that can't simply be overrun by sheer numbers.

 

[Silvercrest]

You wouldn't need to seriously fortify against herds if your territory was fenced off and wide enough that your activities were out of earshot/sight range/smell distance of any passing walkers. They won't build up at the fence if you don't attract their attention. Well, and your fence would need to avoid long flat stretches like at the farm. It would help avoid incidental buildup if the fence was shaped so as to deflect passing walkers. Lots of curved surfaces and so on; i.e. they keep bumping into it and they eventually get turned a different direction and wander off that way instead. I'm not sure if that's possible on the scale needed, though.

What I'm suggesting wouldn't help at all against marauders. But if we pretend there are no marauders, does anyone else have theoretical suggestions on anti-herd fences/barriers?

 

[Reverend]

^In a word: stilts. That's why the parking structure idea works so well. All you have to do is destroy the street level ramps and you're totally safe from walkers. You could have a thousand of them right under you and it wouldn't matter. Those things tend to be packing in close to the surrounding buildings so you could bridge the gap the have an easy egress if downstairs is swamped. Hell, with enough time and manpower you could do that for a while city district, clearing one building at a time, destroying/permanently blocking off all ground floor access and bridging to the next one so you can move around more or less freely without ever touching the ground. Use the roofs to grow crops, collect water and as lookout posts.

You're still at the mercy of marauders, but that'd be true just about anywhere. At least walkers will be permanently removed as a direct threat. No need to maintain a perimeter or noise-maker pits.

Actually, typing that gave me an idea that might make the farm scenario viable. If you put noise makers just out past the outer fence at intervals so that walkers are attracted by one, then another, you could have it set-up so that they all just end up circling the farm. Not a bad barrier against unwelcome visitors.

Still, it can't be 100% effective all the time and as soon as there's a bad storm the whole thing would need rebuilding.

 

[kitik]

Of course as fun as it is to think about, the last thing we'd want is a tv show about a group that had found a perfect way to survive. That would be boring.

Gotta have the problems and the drama.

 

[Velocity]

There's no "happily ever after" on this show.

 

[Velocity]

the last people they trusted in a camp tried to eat them. Has Michonne forgotten this?

 

[sojourner]

Damn, almost teared up when the sound of children playing started up.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I'm watching The Talking Dead but have to admit I've been trying to glean what I think of Feig re:Ghostbusters. Also weird seeing "Michonne" out of character, she looks so different.

 

[Morpheus 02]

I'm watching The Talking Dead but have to admit I've been trying to glean what I think of Feig re:Ghostbusters. Also weird seeing "Michonne" out of character, she looks so different.

Well, Feig seems to be a fan of the genre in general. It sounds a bit like he'll add some "seriousness" to it?

Michonne looks different...also, interesting seeing Danai talk a lot, in analyzing the show. Not that Michonne is dumb (she was a lawyer, right), but she usually only has a few lines, and not the center like she is on Talking Dead

the last people they trusted in a camp tried to eat them. Has Michonne forgotten this?

No, she hasn't forgotten, but as Danai said on talking Dead...what's the probability of never finding another group like Rick's?

There's no "happily ever after" on this show.

Well, not until the very end of the show (hopefully)...and more like "new normal"

 

[Trekker4747]

Watching Danai on "Talking Dead." What a marvelous woman.

Interesting episode, I honestly would have expected them to drag out the trip to the ASZ until the end of the season, showing Rick, the group, and Aaron experiencing some troubles along the way doing rounds or getting to the ASZ. Surprised they're there already and interested to see where the last batch of episodes leaves us.

The night-time run to the the ASZ and the encounter with the walkers in the woods was some great stuff.

Rick still remains more-or-less reasonable and open to other ideas and opinions.

Okay, Aaron, you don't like applesauce. I get that. I mean, I like it but whatever. But if I'm faced with a man who's more-or-less shown an intent to kill me if things go sour, and I intend for him to trust me to eat this thing I do not like and/or to feed to his infant daughter, I'd eat it. Short of being allergic to it, there's little reason to not eat it to not only earn some trust but to not come across as elusive and potentially threatening. Which, really, the guy was doing quite a bit of.

You can really tell of the budding love/relationship between Michonne and Rick.

Though it's a newer model, the inside of Aaron's RV looks a lot like the inside of Dale's RV.

So, here's something I didn't get about the RV.

Why did it die? Vehicles don't run off the battery the alternator provides power for the engine's process and vehicle functions. The battery just helps starts the vehicle. If the car dies due to an electrical issue during travel then that's a problem with the alternator, not the battery. (Though the failure of the alternator leads to the failure of the battery.)

So, when the RV died it's pretty much toast. Yeah. they can swap out the batteries, but the vehicle won't run long off the battery alone even if you conserve the energy enroute if the alternator is toast.

Nice node to Dale as Glenn mentioned knowing how to work on the RV.

Actually pretty interesting to see the portrayal of a male homosexual couple on a TV series. Here, almost touching how the two interacted with one another. Wonder how well that's going to go over with other viewers, though.

It was really touching to see Rick's reaction when he heard the kids playing on the otherside of the ASZ's walls.

So, they made it to the Alexandria Safe Zone, so what's going to fill out the rest of the season? The fall of the ASZ's leader and the rise of Rick as their leader? Will our next big-bad make his appearance?

 

[Evil Twin]

All I'm anxiously waiting for is Rick to finally get a shave and a haircut. And Daryl and Carl too while they're at it.

 

[DarthTom]

Damn, almost teared up when the sound of children playing started up.

Aaron says earlier in the episode that, '....no sounds come from the community to attract the Walkers...' While the children sounds were a nice touch the writers flubbed the dialogue on that one.

Overall good episode and we finally have them out of GA thank goodness. Having not read comics, it will be interesting to see where they take the show from here.

Flare walker incidentally was awesome. Kudos to the effects team on that one.

 

[bbjeg]

^Flare walker was pretty cool.

The episode before last nights was lacking in my opinion but this one was pretty good. Personally, I wouldn't have trusted that new guy, what with the majority of the people they met being horrible cunts, but I hope they get a home base to work out of again. I like it more when they focus on smaller traveling groups than when they're moving as one big group.

And I totally thought Glenn was done for, ever since I saw the trailer a week ago.

 

[Mojochi]

All I'm anxiously waiting for is Rick to finally get a shave and a haircut. And Daryl and Carl too while they're at it.

Well, if nothing else comes of this, you can expect some of that. I imagine the actors are probably sick of it too. This season, Rick "Grimey" Grimes has gone full on hobo & Daryl's been looking like a dirty anime character for 3 years. Ironically enough, TWD falls prey to some movie magic with Gabriel, in that bald heads on black guys require no maintenance. & how the hell is Carol's hair still as short as it is? lol

It's an alright episode this week. It sort of makes all the misery in weeks past look contrived though, for the purpose of making the re-acclimation that much more stark. Truthfully, things have been just as grim long before Beth & Tyrese or Terminus

And yeah.... that gun Rick stashed in the blender cup? He'll be needing that, someday

 

[kitik]

I find myself glad that I've intentionally not read the comics too far ahead.

 

[Ryan8bit]

At least there are some wild cards for comic readers though. Sasha, Noah, Daryl, Carol, Tara, and Judith could make for new stories. Although it seems that currently Sasha is on track to be comic Andrea, at least in the sharp shooter sense.

I liked this episode. It seemed to pick things back up from the last two slowish episodes, and didn't seem like filler or the unnecessary death of a character. Well, I guess Tyreese's death was necessary in the sense that they needed to get rid of him before Alexandria to complete his arc. Although he probably still could've fit in.

 

[Random_Spock]

Damn, almost teared up when the sound of children playing started up.

Aaron says earlier in the episode that, '....no sounds come from the community to attract the Walkers...' While the children sounds were a nice touch the writers flubbed the dialogue on that one.

Overall good episode and we finally have them out of GA thank goodness. Having not read comics, it will be interesting to see where they take the show from here.

Flare walker incidentally was awesome. Kudos to the effects team on that one.

Definitely! That was one of the highlights of this episode.

It was ok, but it seemed a little dull at points. Any zombie fighting aside.

One of the highlights was when Michonne talked to Rick and let him know to let go of how he was dealing with things before.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Overall I liked this episode, the trip on Highway 23 was pretty intense and the flare zombie was badass.

That's what I don't understand about this show. Some episodes, Rick and the group are portrayed as the baddest of badasses, you better not screw with us, or you'll receive a knife at the base of your skull, check all corners and keep those guns raised! And not two episodes before, they're portrayed as roaming neanderthals that don't have a shred of common sense and get killed off for the stupidest of reasons.

Also, did anyone else keep thinking that Aaron was Topher Grace?