The Walking Dead Season 3

[davejames]

Yeah I suspect if one were to watch these episodes back-to-back-to-back, Rick's breakdown would probably seem a bit more believable.

Plus it seemed obvious at the start of the season that he had already been pushed close to the breaking point during their long months on the road. It wouldn't have taken much for him to finally cross that line, and Lori's death was just the thing to do it.

 

[DarthTom]

Yeah I suspect if one were to watch these episodes back-to-back-to-back, Rick's breakdown would probably seem a bit more believable.

Even watching the episodes back-to-back sometimes it's still unclear to me how much time has passed.

As I said earlier - Carl's gunshot wounds 1 episode and then by another being seemingly 100% fit didn't make sense in terms of a timeline on the farm.

Another example - it's unclear to me how much time Rick spent in the hospital in a coma and then wakes up versus the timeline of Shane and Lori hooking up - them on the hwy etc.

I'm not a Dr. but even with an iv I wouldn't think even comatose patients couldn't survive without any care for more than a week.

So if that's true we are lead to believe Shane and Lori hooked up days after she thought Rick was dead - they go to the Hwy - Rick wakes up - and eventually within less than 3 weeks they all meet up again?

But the above isn't the impression the viewer is left with - at least the impression I got. I thought Rick was in a coma for a long time - perhaps a month [even though that isn't medically possible for him to survive that long] and then things move forward.

 

[RJDiogenes]

^^ That's why there have been theories that Rick is some kind of Zombie-- just not the flesh-eating, mindless kind. And that Carl inherited Rick's genes and that's how he healed so quickly and completely.

 

[sojourner]

And those theories are totally stupid.

 

[Thestral]

^ Yup.

 

[Scout101]

Then again, showing something that clearly makes no sense, and then refusing to explain it in any way, can't fault people for trying to come up with wacky theories to explain it.

Pretty obvious that Rick wasn't in his coma for just a day or two. Honestly, it looks like it would have taken more than a month for things to get as bad as they did when he woke up. Wasn't just an initial outbreak scenario, things had disintegrated into a pretty set-in zombie apocolypse by the time he woke up.

Not that it really matters, because he wouldn't have lasted a week without the support equipment, IV fluids, etc. "He was just lucky" is equally stupid. Because the writers didn't bother to explain the magic scenario, the viewers are trying...

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Even watching the episodes back-to-back sometimes it's still unclear to me how much time has passed.

So if that's true we are lead to believe Shane and Lori hooked up days after she thought Rick was dead - they go to the Hwy - Rick wakes up - and eventually within less than 3 weeks they all meet up again?

But the above isn't the impression the viewer is left with - at least the impression I got. I thought Rick was in a coma for a long time - perhaps a month [even though that isn't medically possible for him to survive that long] and then things move forward.

The series is all over the place on a realistic handling of time, and your Lori/Shane example is great proof. If Rick was not in a coma for long, then the Shane/Lori hook up is just plain disgusting, as both did not wait long to step over Rick's absent body.

On the other hand, if Rick was out for an extended amount of time (allowing Lori to think he was dead, and had been for some time), how did he survive when zombies had their way around town? Anyone laid out in a room would be no better than hot lunch on a craft services table.

 

[DarthTom]

Not that it really matters, because he wouldn't have lasted a week without the support equipment, IV fluids, etc. "He was just lucky" is equally stupid. Because the writers didn't bother to explain the magic scenario, the viewers are trying...

Exactly which is why viewers are equally as confused on the passage of time in the prison. Is Rick still going insane after a week - 2 weeks in the prison - how long?

Some of the posters here have suggested it's only been 1 week since Andrea/Michonne got to Woodbury - Lori dies - baby is born - they go get the formula - Rick has faux conversations with folks on phone - Glenn and Maggie are held prisoner - Tyreese and company show up - Daryl gets captured - Merle and Daryl head off into the woods - Rick sees Lori in wedding gown on prison balcony.

Like with Carl's amazing recovery - the passage of time simply doesn't make sense - at least to me.

 

[wissaboo]

there is nothing unusual about magicaly fast recoveries in the world of tv. I wouldn't worry too much about how fast carl was up and about.

 

[DarthTom]

there is nothing unusual about magicaly fast recoveries in the world of tv. I wouldn't worry too much about how fast carl was up and about.

Glen Mazara has gone out of his way several times in interviews to tell the viewing audience that they want the show to be a realistic as possible on how people today would deal with a fictional zombie apocalypse which of course must be a metaphor for how us humans may deal with a huge natural disaster that wipes out the majority of the population.


So, why would he tell fans he wants it to be as realistic as possible and then not try to come up with logical explanations for inconsistencies in the dialog?

 

[the G-man]

And those theories are totally stupid.

Correct. If Rick and/or Carl were "smart" zombies they wouldn't heal.

 

[Scout101]

When most of the show hinges on ONE hand-waving bit of magic, tough to state anything else with certainty. Just as easy to say that it's just the DEAD ones that don't heal, and if you had this OTHER magical strain / partial immunity, it works differently.

Since we don't know much about it one way or the other, the subject doesn't exist in real life to make statements about, and we've been shown things that don't quite add up, hard to definitively say right or wrong. Except to the REALLY stupid guesses, of course

I mean, what's YOUR definitive statement based on? Where's your source on how, uh, 'smart zombies' behave?

Not saying it's a thing, just that since they've carefully avoiding addressing the subject, hard to know for sure how things really work in this world.

 

[wissaboo]

there is nothing unusual about magicaly fast recoveries in the world of tv. I wouldn't worry too much about how fast carl was up and about.

Glen Mazara has gone out of his way several times in interviews to tell the viewing audience that they want the show to be a realistic as possible on how people today would deal with a fictional zombie apocalypse which of course must be a metaphor for how us humans may deal with a huge natural disaster that wipes out the majority of the population.


So, why would he tell fans he wants it to be as realistic as possible and then not try to come up with logical explanations for inconsistencies in the dialog?

well one explanation is they are too busy producing the show to be nitpicking the dialogue the way we are. And likely they are modifying things as they go so what they thought was going to happen in one episode doesn't necessarily really happen. Also, he likely was talking about the big story lines and direction of the show when he said he wanted it to be realistic, not the day to day time line.

 

[propita]

When most of the show hinges on ONE hand-waving bit of magic, tough to state anything else with certainty. Just as easy to say that it's just the DEAD ones that don't heal, and if you had this OTHER magical strain / partial immunity, it works differently.

Since we don't know much about it one way or the other, the subject doesn't exist in real life to make statements about, and we've been shown things that don't quite add up, hard to definitively say right or wrong. Except to the REALLY stupid guesses, of course

I mean, what's YOUR definitive statement based on? Where's your source on how, uh, 'smart zombies' behave?

Not saying it's a thing, just that since they've carefully avoiding addressing the subject, hard to know for sure how things really work in this world.

Well, there's likely not going to be an in-show explanation since there's no CDC left. Why not a mutation that heals tissue (albeit slowly) instead of killing tissue? Maybe not a mutation in the virus, but a mutation in Rick?

I can see Lori being with Shane pretty quick.
- Wasn't it implied that she and Rick had been having problems before this all went down?
- She knows Shane; Shane wants her...badly, for various reasons.
- If you think you're going to die soon, consequences don't seem to matter the same way.
- Shane was good with Carl and would protect him.
- Lori is one of those women who needs a man; she's pretty wishy-washy at times and needs an external anchor. Instead of getting stronger (like Carol, who isn't that sure herself, per the last episode), Lori weakened.

 

[Scout101]

Well, there's likely not going to be an in-show explanation since there's no CDC left. Why not a mutation that heals tissue (albeit slowly) instead of killing tissue? Maybe not a mutation in the virus, but a mutation in Rick?

Yeah, I know we're not going down the 'working on the cure' storyline, and I'm ok with that. Wouldn't mind a little more backstory at some point though, some flashbacks to the outbreak, what was happening, can have the news speculating as to cause, etc. I'm fine with it being permanent, just curious as to the details.

As for the rest, kinda my point. Since we know nothing about this, and Rick's survival in the hospital makes no sense by itself, there's no harm in speculating as long as it's not completely off the wall. It's non-explained, made-up science, so why can't there be an exception? Calling anyone that questions it stupid is, well, stupid.

I can see Lori being with Shane pretty quick.
- Wasn't it implied that she and Rick had been having problems before this all went down?
- She knows Shane; Shane wants her...badly, for various reasons.
- If you think you're going to die soon, consequences don't seem to matter the same way.
- Shane was good with Carl and would protect him.
- Lori is one of those women who needs a man; she's pretty wishy-washy at times and needs an external anchor. Instead of getting stronger (like Carol, who isn't that sure herself, per the last episode), Lori weakened.

Sure, makes a bit of sense. World was going to hell, all gonna die, why not?

Also, I haven't watched the pilot in a while, but is there any definitive statement about passage of time between Rick being shot and Rick waking up? As long as you can believe that it took a couple months before things got bad enough to be widespread and society to collapse, no reason Rick couldn't have been in the coma for a couple months prior to the hospital losing power and falling. Gives Lori more time to head towards Shane, lets the zombie thing start small and eventually avalanche, etc.

Makes about as much sense as anything, and that way the story can progress for a couple months, and Rick still only has to survive a human amout of time in the hospital without life support. Plus the slow burn gives the world time to go to hell, massive population die-off, zombies to rot a bit, and the few survivors to gain some small zombie experience before Rick wakes up.

Just idle speculation, though, and can't remember if they definitively say how long passes between being shot and waking up....

 

[RJDiogenes]

Then again, showing something that clearly makes no sense, and then refusing to explain it in any way, can't fault people for trying to come up with wacky theories to explain it.

Pretty obvious that Rick wasn't in his coma for just a day or two. Honestly, it looks like it would have taken more than a month for things to get as bad as they did when he woke up. Wasn't just an initial outbreak scenario, things had disintegrated into a pretty set-in zombie apocolypse by the time he woke up.

Not that it really matters, because he wouldn't have lasted a week without the support equipment, IV fluids, etc. "He was just lucky" is equally stupid. Because the writers didn't bother to explain the magic scenario, the viewers are trying...

Exactly. I've never read the comics, so I only have the show to go on. Based on that, there either is something funky going on with Rick's coma and recovery or it's the biggest plot hole the show has had by far. When Rick woke up, civilization was completely collapsed. He was weak, but not totally wasted away. He didn't seem to be overly starving or crippled with dehydration. It's a natural assumption to think that whatever caused the zombie plague saved his life.

Exactly which is why viewers are equally as confused on the passage of time in the prison. Is Rick still going insane after a week - 2 weeks in the prison - how long?

I believe somebody mentioned in the last episode that the baby is two weeks old.

 

[Pavonis]

Well, how fast do we think civilization would collapse? And how widespread is this apocalypse? The only place we've seen in the show is Georgia, more-or-less. Has the entire world collapsed? Or are there pockets of civilization still out there, even in the US?

 

[sojourner]

Also, I haven't watched the pilot in a while, but is there any definitive statement about passage of time between Rick being shot and Rick waking up? As long as you can believe that it took a couple months before things got bad enough to be widespread and society to collapse, no reason Rick couldn't have been in the coma for a couple months prior to the hospital losing power and falling.

The only problem with this is his gunshot wound was still fresh enough to re-open and start bleeding when he left the hospital.

Now, regardless of that. I don't read anything into the timing problems concerning Rick and Carl's wounds other than the writers not taking correct healing time into account. It's just your typical serial TV show plot holes.

 

[JD]

I've always been confused by some of the timeline issues too, but I thought that was just me. I'm thinking that Rick woke up at least a month or two after he was shot and there had been people in the hospital taking care of him until right before he woke up. I always got the impression from dialogue that a lot of time had passed.

Well, how fast do we think civilization would collapse? And how widespread is this apocalypse? The only place we've seen in the show is Georgia, more-or-less. Has the entire world collapsed? Or are there pockets of civilization still out there, even in the US?

That has been my biggest complaint with the show, the lack of development for the post-Apocalypse world. I understand that the show just follows this small group of people, but I still wouldn't mind getting at least some idea what is going in the wider world. How many people survived? Is there still any kind of government? Military? How wide spread was the infection? What's happening in other parts of the world or even just the US? I wouldn't think it would be too hard to find away to give an idea of what is happening in the rest of the world without taking the focus away from the group.

 

[RJDiogenes]

If there was any civilization left, they'd be able to pick up radio or TV or short wave or something. But they apparently haven't even tried anything like that in a while.