3981

That would be a fun one for a web episode. It’s pretty easy for me to imagine: you’ve got a bog-standard school bus escaping from a firefight. A couple random bullets goes through the thin metal, wounds someone and kills someone else; an adult, a kid, whatever; probably near the front. No one notices the casualty because they are trying to ram their way out of the prison and staunch the bleeding of the wounded person.

A few minutes later, they’re clear of the prison and the wounded person has died. Let’s call him Bob. The driver stops the bus to take stock. There is much wailing and rending of hair, as well as the typical conversation of what to do with the soon-to-reanimate corpse. While they cluster around Bob’s body and try and pull his new widow away from him, the unnoticed dead guy gets up and rips the throat out of the driver.

There is pandemonium as they try and restrain the newly risen zombie in the close confines of the bus. Meanwhile, on the floor: zombie-Bob opens his eyes and reaches for the nearest living leg…

This stuff just writes itself.

I would name mine “Ripped Jugular” just to tempt fate.

Eh, big column of smoke in the sky and the booming of high-explosive shells from the tank is bound to attract the attention of both the living and the dead.

I give them some credit for the backpedaling and managing to keep the timing fairly clear early on - it was fun to watch Tyreese and the kids live out Daryl’s surmises from earlier in the episode. It’s a little less obvious with Maggie and Glenn: was Glenn unconscious for a full day before linking up with Tara (the bad-camp girl), or did he come-to right after the bus had pulled away? If he and Tara had walked down the road another half-mile would they have found the bus full of walkers, or the road littered with their corpses? If the latter, is Maggie already in the deuce-and-a-half?

3982

I thought it was a great episode. They picked up the pace to satisfy the folks who’ve been complaining it’s too slow, yet continued to explore the characters themselves and what drives them.

3983

So inane. That’s a classic instance of how TV sucks if you’re looking for any sort of rules-based world building or consistency. Any given writer will just do whatever.

“Let’s see, how can we get Glen to distract the zombies? I know, he throws a Molotov cocktail! Zombies love fire!”

But we got Melissa McBride back, so whatever. Zombies could be attracted to water for all I care. At this point, Walking Dead is never going to be an effective rules-based series.

-Tom

3984

I’m really surprised by the negativity - loved the episode and have really enjoyed the season in general - definitely my favorite showrunner to date, which surprises me greatly.

I love Darabont for starting the show, but there was too much goofy stuff in his tenure (the hispanic gang guarding the old folks? the CDC scenes in general, especially the false drama resolution, the very slow pace of the farm); and give credit to the guy who took over for picking up the pace in the end of the 2nd season, but characters like T-dog were just wasted, and I hated the arcs with the Governor, and with Andrea - hell, even Michonne was annoying - the 3rd season was a disaster, overall, and was losing me quickly). But this season has been smooth sailing - great resolution of the Governor’s plot, Michonne/Herschel and Carol getting character development (even Beth), Rick getting pummeled, a focus on reasonably self-contained and satisfying episodes – people acting moronic has been pared down – some great nods to the comic but not rigid fidelity – this show has finally become all I hoped for, frankly.

3985

I thought it was a good episode, and I was surprised to see so much negativity here. This wasn’t a lot of “running around in the woods to little effect,” any more than the prior episode was a lot of “running around in a town to little effect.” We saw all sorts of things happen, and we have some idea what’s going on with the primary characters now. I do think it would have been stronger if they’d been willing to push things a little further, i.e. Judith getting well and truly smothered, but that doesn’t mean I was unhappy or bored with what I was seeing.

I liked the narrative structure where we saw Beth and Daryl following a trail, and then we see what happened to the group they were following. I liked the return of Carol, and it was a surprise to me, and they made clear why it wasn’t a coincidence. I thought they’d permanently written her out of the show.

I didn’t need to conversion of the bus to a zombie bus spelled out. There were bullet holes, clearly they’d had fatalities, and the fatalities overcame the remaining survivors. I think they did a good job with making us wonder whether Maggie was struggling with Glenn’s zombie at the end, though as soon as they cut away without showing the face I knew it wasn’t him.

3986

I do find it silly that they didn’t follow the prime rule of road trips in a zombie film: you need to build a war bus. There were no chainsaw ports on the side of that piss poor bus they drove out of the prison. Nor was there a sniper nest on top of the cab. And don’t get me started on the missing front side thrasher.

Seriously, if they’d just gone outside wearing vests made out of rib eye steaks, they would’ve been more prepared. You need a war bus. Plain and simple.

3987

On the name of the town: “Terminus” was once the name of Atlanta, back when it was merely a town around the end of a railroad. They mentioned that on Talking Dead, and Wikipedia confirms.

3988

Same here. But it’s still Only TV. If they could kill of Rick, Glen, and maybe Maggie, Walking Dead might be as good as a good zombie movie!

-Tom
3989

I don’t think the zombies were attracted to fire, per se. The fire was making noise.

3990

Zombies were drawn to fire as far back as the original Night of the Living Dead, so I didn’t have a problem with that.

3991

I don’t recall zombies being drawn to fire in Night of the Living Dead. On the contrary. A flaming chair and later a flaming stick were used to keep them at bay. And I’m pretty sure after the pick-up truck exploded into flames at the gas pump, the zombies were still plenty interested in our hero, who had to fight his way back to the house. But if I’m wrong about that, I’d love to know. What made you think zombies were attracted to fire in Night of the Living Dead?

-Tom
3992

I was thinking specifically about the pickup truck/gas pump scene, and the zombies gathering around, but on second thought it may have been more of a tailgate party.bbq thing.

3993

As the Negative-Nancy in question, I should definitively state that I didn’t think it was a BAD episode, I just didn’t think it was a particularly good one by the standards of this season. I thought last week’s Carl, Rick & Michonne was really excellent, mostly due to some great character growth and themes. This week’s moved the plot along in a competent manner.

3994

I just saw this at a Rifftrax live event back in October. And yes, that was the case. They were swarming the truck because there were delicious, char grilled humans inside it.

3995

Zombies being attracted to fire in the Walking Dead world makes sense. It’s sound and motion, both of which attract zombies. My only criticism is that this is the first time we’ve run into that being part of the show. Seems like something you’d want to take advantage of on numerous occassions.

I’m a little disappointed that Judith is alive. Killing Judith off was, I thought, a bold choice and yet another nail in Rick’s mental-health coffin. Now instead of tortured Rick, we’ll have elated Rick when they’re reunited. Just feels like they’re backpeddling on a lot of their major moments from the first part of the season (Carl hates Rick: resolved. Judith is dead: resurrected. Carol has been banished: returned). I would have preferred that they run into Carol when they hook up with the new group or make it to Terminus.

That being said, still loved the last episode. Not as good as the mid-season kickoff, but still strong and very much back in the zombie-survival genre. No rest, zombies everywhere, people scattered. Just really good episodes.

3996

IF they’re reunited. Lizzie Bordan Jr. is still around, don’t forget. And she hates loud kids.

3997

Please, oh please, oh please, I hope they do that. Zombie baby!

3998

That would be an opportunity for some awesome character development … which means it likely won’t happen on this show ;)

3999

If a baby zombifies before they grow teeth, will they be like the jawless zombies that Michone was pulling around? Basically docile, never trying to bite. That could be quite an interesting development, which, I agree, means it would never happen :)

4000

I think it will, actually. The baby is an easy choice for a redshirt, and the added horror of a zombified baby (one of the better parts of the 2004 Dawn of the Dead) is just too delicious.