Do Olympic archers even aim at moving targets?
— Alan
I thought the point of the scene with the “archery expert” was that she was freaked out about shooting a zombie which, to anyone who hasn’t been “on the road” all these months, still looks an awful lot like a human being. Some people have a hard time with stuff like that. She was obviously freaked out, no? And it afforded Andrea a chance to demonstrate her skillz & win back a few coolness points which, at this point, she sorely needs.
CSL
3023
I know he volunteered but he wasn’t with Michonne and the Oscarnauts. It also looked like he was the guy left behind to close the gate as they sped out of the prison in their vehicle. So he should be “safe” in the prison.
It doesn’t really matter why she fucked up, either way they have a huge unrecognized safety problem because if she hasn’t proven herself against walkers, why was she up there unsupervised in the first place without a known-reliable second?
Andrea was (at that time especially) just a random person, not the archery girl’s babysitter, the fact that she happened to be there to fix the situation was luck at best and then on top of that she got chewed out for what she did (presumably The Governor did not know how badly archery girl failed).
Either the writers are hinting that The Governor is a lot more incompetent than he seems superficially or they themselves are a bit incompetent because otherwise that scene doesn’t make a lot of sense.
I don’t think it’s the former. Woodbury has been shown to be a fairly efficient place run by semi-professionals… or at least by people who follow the (reasonably strict) rules.
The scene was there to show that Andrea is (a) still reveling in her new found love/competence in guns and violence, and (b) still chafes at authority.
Archery-girl had a quiver full of arrows and a back-up to deal with a lone walker; she would have downed the thing eventually. Andrea has neither the patience nor the desire to wait for the “safe” conclusion… or at least that’s what the scene said to me.
The Governer’s whole point is that he isn’t afraid of the “biters” and his settlement is a projection of that. Only the show is playing up the absolute (comically absurd?) dark side of that lack of fear. But underneath all the sleazyness and irredemable evil, he really just wants to find a way to hold his zombie daughter again. Aww?
If his daytime wall sentries seem a little lackadaisical it’s probably only because they regularly witness spectacles like Merle fighting some dude while surrounded by 6 zombies and beating them all one handed. How hard can it be?
An also-unproven “backup” who didn’t even have a ranged weapon and could only kill the walker by breaking the town rules about going over the fence.
And I’m pretty sure archery-girl could have had infinite arrows and still not killed the walker. Even the one hit she sort-of registered lacked sufficient force to penetrate the walker and after the second shot, she was visibly panicked and clearly defeated. Having a bunch of arrows doesn’t really help you in that situation.
Again, I’m not sure which it is but either the people in Woodbury are overconfident and slightly stupid or whoever wrote that scene is.
MrPerson
3028
While she was comically incompetent at something for which she should have trained, and that does suggest the town is more vulnerable than it appears at first glance, that particular walker wasn’t really presenting much of an immediate threat. It’s on the other side of a wall.
corsair
3029
I think it is supposed to be telling us something when you add all the pieces together - Woodbury isn’t particularly badass unless they get the drop on you. A lot of them simply wouldn’t have survived without a walled encampment. Ten of Rick’s group cleared the prison when 7-8 times that amount of Gov’s group thought it beyond them. Battle-hardened vs. surface gloss.
MrPerson
3030
Agreed. All Woodbury really has going for it is that shabby wall, a few psychopaths to get brute work done, and a charismatic cult leader.
They haven’t really done much to ensure their survival, and instead are focused on leading “normal” lives and their weird research projects.
They should be securing the immediate area (there shouldn’t be zombies within a stone’s throw of their wall), and setting up a wider perimeter and scouts so they have an alert of incoming swarms (like the one that took down the farm) so they can either redirect them or relocate. A large swarm would most likely roll over that low wall.
Instead they are just sort of sitting around enjoying the good life and waiting to get wiped out by a small disaster.
Yes, Woodbury is either poorly written or written intentionally lacking in overall preparedness. If it were my friends they were holding hostage I would scout a suitable back entrance to the town, then have some of my party lead a sizeable herd of walkers towards the front gate of Woodbury causing enough of a distraction to occupy the guards and put everyone else in fearful lockdown. Then my party sneaks in the back, locates and liberates the prisoners, and is gone before Woodbury has finished scraping walkers off the walls.
The total lack of any security beyond that front gate is weird. How do they have any warning that walker herds or even other survivors may be approching? There should be a somewhat secure perimeter around the town, with sentries and overwatch to provide warning. I’m also curious how they secured the buildings. Did they simply wall up all the alleys between buildings and completely cover all possible back entrances to the buildings bordering the town square? It seems like they have no problem living with multiple walkers wandering around literally right outside their back doors.
It’s very amusing to think the Governor really thought he could have his kid back. It’s like with Herschel and his group back when.
I’d ask someone who thought that way “Okay, let’s say we COULD make your daughter sort of remember you enough to not try to eat you, so what?”. Seriously, how does that make any part of the situation better? You have the rotted corpse of a relative shambling around, have fun!
It’s a bit frustrating to see Michonne leading them on the rescue mission and not telling them any of the 1000 relevant details they might want to know before they set out. Everything from how to walk amongst zombies to “hey, you remember Andrea?”.
hepcat
3033
I’m sure that if I lost a child to a world in which the living dead were walking around, I’d be able to believe a great many things if it meant I could have that child back.
Why would she? Either she doesn’t think they know Andrea (a bit unlikely, assuming Andrea told her details of the group and she connects the dots with the names) or she doesn’t trust them enough to share. If it isn’t apparent, she ain’t the trusting type.
I also wouldn’t assume that on-screen time constitutes the entirety of their discussions: “There’s a town. Let’s go. Attack!”. Presumably, the viewer is to assume a bit more went on behind the scenes. On walking with zombies, Rick already knows that trick from Atlanta. Hence no demands to know how she made it to the fence.
They also don’t seem to be particularly worried about a random death event due to accident (not involving brain destruction) or random health event such as a heart attack, which is stupid. Sooner or later someone is going to die unexpectedly on the inside, and then they’re f00ked.
They also don’t seem to be particularly worried about a random death event due to accident (not involving brain destruction) or random health event such as a heart attack, which is stupid. Sooner or later someone is going to die unexpectedly on the inside, and then they’re f00ked.
I’m not sure what you mean by this. They’re less than 100 of them, which is a pretty small group to keep tabs on. In what way are they supposed to demonstrate that they’re “worried”? Showing an on-screen roll-call every morning?
Rick’s group doesn’t seem to be taking extradinary (on-screen) measures, either.
IMO, this seems like a nitpicky complaint.
If she doesn’t trust them, why even go to the prison? To get sewed up by a guy you don’t trust? Why hold back info that can only help them help you?
She also knows about more than smearing zombie guts on yourself, that’s the low tech way to do it. She knows about leashing them and not needing stinky guts in the first place. You think if she mentioned a one handed guy they need to keep an eye out for, the same guy who personally kidnapped their friends, Daryl wouldn’t have said a peep about it the entire episode?
The writers are pulling a page from Lost, and not having characters talk about topics which are vital to them all, just so we can have shocking “OMG, it’s Merle!” and “Andrea!” kinds of scenes later.
I don’t get why one would suddenly expect Michone to be loquacious or become a boy scout troop leader helping them earn their badges. I She’s paranoid (which don’t mean they ain’t out to get her) and she’s pointing the group at those who done wrong her.
And yes, the writers want to have the suprise element. That doesn’t mean that she isn’t being in-character. Again, the woman ain’t the sharing type, which is wholely consistent with what’s been shown.
If anything, I’m more skeptical that she’s so quick to trust Rick’s group, given her reaction to Maybury. But, I can chalk that up to enemy-of-my-enemy and them not trying to sugar-coat things (which obviously rubs her the wrong way). Ultimately, I’d say she clearly hasn’t put her trust in the group.
Perhaps. I could nitpick all day.
Why would anyone linger even for a second near non-moving walker, as they do about once an episode here? Zombies are like a walking Category A pathogen! Treat them as such! Jesus!
Mark Zuckerberg from Zombieland would be extremely disappointed in these people and so am I.
