The Walking Dead Season 6 Discussion

[TREK_GOD_1]

I suspect that the horn is the teenage girl, trapped in a car and honking the horn for help, not knowing about the Zombie Cattle Drive-- or just being stupid.

Unless Enid is a plant for a threat yet to come, it would make no sense for her to blow the horn--she's experienced in the ZA world enough to know that sound attracts zombies. Blowing a horn might draw an army of zombies to the car before any humans could reach her.

You thought the teenager was Enid, but Jesse's angry son (who will learn how to use a gun) shoots to the top of the ticking time bomb outliers of season 6, along with Nicholas, Deanna's son Spencer, and possibly Morgan. Yes, Morgan. I can see him going along the same lines as his statement in "Clear"--

"'Cause if you got something good, that just means that there's someone who wants to take it."

--to make the point that he has gone from being that person building arms to defend the prison, to the kind of person he was fighting against--again the Governor's world view:

"In this life now, you kill or you die, or you die and you kill"

Rick might not have heads in fish tanks, or set zombies after victims tied to a chair, but he's too willing to kill to protect "his" world. Others have lost as much, but are not taking the road that ends with absolute state of "war," and seeing everyone as a threat.

Adding to that, his new stand against letting anyone else in (the conversation with Daryl) saying they need to take care of themselves is cold-blooded--particularly after he was saved and/or taken in by:

• Morgan in the pilot.
• Hershel at the Greene farm.
• Saved by Carol when he was seconds away from death at Terminus.
• Given shelter by Father Gabriel.
• Shelter provided by ASZ.

How can anyone have so many people save his life over and over again, and give him shelter, only to become completely offensive about security and viewing all others as a threat--other than being another form of the Governor?

Anyway, great start to the season. Massive Zombie Horde. Lots of interesting character stuff

Yes--it will definitely fuel the external threats to come. Daryl and Morgan might end up being the odd men out, with a possible, final rift separating Daryl from Carol.

Daryl is now walking the same path as season 3 Andrea and season 5 Tyreese about not wanting see people die / trying to find peaceful resolutions. That is such the opposite of Rick that I would not be surprised to see Daryl leave to form another community.

I did wonder why they didn't try to destroy the Zombies trapped in the quarry. Build some fertilizer bombs, drive them off the edge. They could have destroyed thousands of them.

Good question.

 

[Silvercrest]

Rick might not have heads in fish tanks, or set zombies after victims tied to a chair, but he's too willing to kill to protect "his" world. Others have lost as much, but are not taking the road that ends with absolute state of "war," and seeing everyone as a threat.

How far is Rick from being Shane now?

 

[Scout101]

Well, Shane was RIGHT, he just got there too quickly for the rest of the group. He'd fit in just fine today. At worst, he just didn't have the hesitation before doing whatever needed doing.

 

[Ryan8bit]

And let's face it — in the TWD-verse, Murphy's Law gets invoked even more than in real life.

That's basically what it all comes down to at the end of the day. We could criticize their plan all day or come up with different ones, but not much of that matters when characters usually end up doing what the plot demands, whether it makes sense or not.

But it can be fun to think of what ifs with the scenario anyways.

Well, Shane was RIGHT, he just got there too quickly for the rest of the group. He'd fit in just fine today. At worst, he just didn't have the hesitation before doing whatever needed doing.

He wouldn't still fit in fine with the whole rapey, I'm gonna kill my allies to help me escape, I'm gonna try and kill my friend and take over mentality.

Those are the ways in which Rick and Shane differ, and probably always will.

 

[Silvercrest]

Shane was right to adopt his ruthless expediency and pragmatism. But he was rapidly losing any sense of lines and when not to cross them. Both Rick and Shane were willing to kill someone else because they coveted their wives. If Shane had done it, he would have immediately claimed his prize. Rick actually killed the guy and still didn't want to cross that line.

If Shane was in charge today, he'd agree with protecting their own and not wanting to bring in any others. Whereas today Rick still wouldn't shoot Otis in the leg and leave him for the walkers ... probably.

 

[kitik]

You thought the teenager was Enid, but Jesse's angry son (who will learn how to use a gun) shoots to the top of the ticking time bomb outliers of season 6, along with Nicholas, Deanna's son Spencer, and possibly Morgan.

At this point, I would really like to see Nicholas survive the whole season and become a useful and trusted member of the community. It would be so cliche to see him killed off next episode, or to see him turn on Glenn again.

Adding to that, his new stand against letting anyone else in (the conversation with Daryl) saying they need to take care of themselves is cold-blooded

I don't think it's that they're not going to let anyone else in, it's just that he doesn't want to go out actively looking for people. If some family of 4 shows up at their front gate in a few weeks, I don't think they'd be turned away.

That's basically what it all comes down to at the end of the day. We could criticize their plan all day or come up with different ones, but not much of that matters when characters usually end up doing what the plot demands, whether it makes sense or not.

Yeah, safe to say that whatever the plan was, it would have gone wrong. Because tv shows.

But it can be fun to think of what ifs with the scenario anyways.

Sure.

I like the idea of sending them over a cliff (especially since they had a cliff handy), but if the herd was ever to stop for some reason, like say a car horn, the people would have been in a ton of trouble. Plus, as we saw, Morgan had to get actively involved with sending some walkers over the cliff. You can't scale that up by a thousand and still be hands-on.

Similarly, you can't let them through the trucks and kill them one by one. Even if you say there were only five thousand, that's still way too many to take on. You saw how quickly things can get hairy just clearing a dozen out of the farm supply store. You would never ever want to take on a herd of that size by force.

As for building bombs, that quarry was so huge that they would have needed lots and lots of large bombs. Probably more supplies than they had available. And on top of that, any really big bombs would have attracted every zombie within a 50 mile radius. The bigger the bomb you can imagine or suggest to get rid of the quarry walkers, the more walkers would have been attracted to it from the rest of the entire state.


We just have to remember, we're watching a tv show. If the plan is to live in a prison with secure walls and fences, we're going to see the problems with that. If the plan is to get on a boat and sail to an island, we're going to see the problems with that. Whatever the plan is, it's going to go wrong. Because tv shows.

 

[sojourner]

They should have gotten some farm equipment. drive in there with some of those big harvesters that you always see and just mow them down by the truckload.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

I know we have combine accidents all the time, but I'm pretty sure you wouldn't be able to grind bodies up like that all day long. :P

Very good episode. Definitely worth the extended run time, and didn't feel stretched at all to fill it. The use of black and white was great - but what happens when they show those special marathons of TWD with the episodes IN black and white..?

Mark

 

[sojourner]

I know we have combine accidents all the time, but I'm pretty sure you wouldn't be able to grind bodies up like that all day long. :P

Mark

Why not?

 

[Trekker4747]

Combines/Harversters are mechanical machines that are not infallible and considering the number of walkers that were there it's likely that any farm equipment used would have succumbed to malfunction before a dent was even made. Especially since they're not made to grind up hundreds of human bodies filled with bones.

 

[sojourner]

Considering the condition of the walkers at this point, I doubt they would put up much more resistance than your average corn stalk. Combines are designed to work for hours/days on end without major maintenance. A few of those things could probably have taken down most of that herd.

Anyone know a farmer that has experience with that kind of equipment that could give a more realistic assessment of a combine as ultimate anti-zombie machine?

Imagine the battle of Yonkers if they'd had a skirmish line of 20 or thirty combines!

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Combines/Harversters are mechanical machines that are not infallible and considering the number of walkers that were there it's likely that any farm equipment used would have succumbed to malfunction before a dent was even made. Especially since they're not made to grind up hundreds of human bodies filled with bones.

Hence, why I suggested the steamroller

 

[cylkoth]

The use of black and white was great - but what happens when they show those special marathons of TWD with the episodes IN black and white..?

Mark

The black and white segments will be in color, and the color segments in b/w!

 

[Tosk]

Rather than trying to destroy the herd en masse, I would have just blown up the ramp out of the quarry. Or at least blow up a big enough chunk of it that walking out was not possible.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

How far is Rick from being Shane now?

Last season, I said he reached the Shane level by obsessing over married Jessie (even not knowing her as long as Shane knew Lori), and building boiling hate of Pete to the point of stroking the handle of his gun. So, he's already there, but it's almost a guarantee that the roadblock will be her son or Morgan....and who knows how that will end.

Shane was right to adopt his ruthless expediency and pragmatism. But he was rapidly losing any sense of lines and when not to cross them. Both Rick and Shane were willing to kill someone else because they coveted their wives. If Shane had done it, he would have immediately claimed his prize. Rick actually killed the guy and still didn't want to cross that line.

Shane did not have the roadblocks Rick faces. If his plan (as seen in "Better Angels") worked, there would have been suspicion, but at that point in the post-Dale group dynamic, any one of the members were not so invested in each other, that they would stand against Shane.

Glenn would have more than happy to stay at the farm with Maggie; Daryl--not believing in the group (as much) turns into an exhaust trail down the highway, and Carol, T-Dog & Andrea? Anyone's guess.

At this point, I would really like to see Nicholas survive the whole season and become a useful and trusted member of the community. It would be so cliche to see him killed off next episode, or to see him turn on Glenn again.

Agreed. I expect Jessie's son to become a problem, but Nicholas was not spared--he was saved. That big distinction should make him eternally grateful to Glenn.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I did wonder why they didn't try to destroy the Zombies trapped in the quarry. Build some fertilizer bombs, drive them off the edge. They could have destroyed thousands of them.

But that wouldn't automatically solve the problem. These are walkers. You can't stop a walker without causing massive head trauma, and you can't focus the blast of an explosive enough to make sure the walkers in the blast radius are stopped completely. If half the walkers survive the blasts with just a couple of bruises, you've still got a herd of walkers that will eventually march on you.

A few bombs dropped in around the edges could have destroyed enough walker heads to reduce the number by thousands, and more would have been immobilized.

And on top of that, any really big bombs would have attracted every zombie within a 50 mile radius. The bigger the bomb you can imagine or suggest to get rid of the quarry walkers, the more walkers would have been attracted to it from the rest of the entire state.

That's a good point.

Rather than trying to destroy the herd en masse, I would have just blown up the ramp out of the quarry. Or at least blow up a big enough chunk of it that walking out was not possible.

Yeah, that would have been a better idea.

 

[Ryan8bit]

Anyone know a farmer that has experience with that kind of equipment that could give a more realistic assessment of a combine as ultimate anti-zombie machine?

I used to do work for a farm equipment company, and they had a machine that wasn't a combine, but basically a skid loader with a giant saw blade attachment on top. They made a video of it completely destroying a car. I'm sure it took on some wear after that, but it was a demonstration that their stuff could basically cut through anything.

I imagine that with their standard combines or cutters that can handle thick, hard trees, that they could mow through brittle zombie bones fairly easily and without too much damage. The machines would likely need maintenance after a certain point though. One would not be enough to take care of 50,000 I don't think. But they made several different types of machine.

 

[sojourner]

The more I think about it, the more I want them to have a scene where the wolves attract a herd to the gates of town. We see Rick and company watching over the fence looking apprehensive. The wolves at the edges watching with glee.

Rick - "Alright, do it."

Sound of diesel engine firing up and the gate on the fence opens revealing one of the biggest industrial combines you can imagine. The blades on front come to life and it slowly moves forward mowing down walkers.

Close up of random wolf, eyes going wide - "Oh shit!"

Rick watching from fence - "Yeah, I thought so." as the wolves abandon their attack.



But our little group on this show has never shown that much forward thinking.

 

[shapeshifter]

I wish they'd led the front of the parade back to the top of the slide where they were falling into the pit. That'd keep em busy for a while.

 

[Silvercrest]

Haw! A herd chasing itself in an endless circle. I love it!