I haven’t read the comics, but it seems like they can always fall back on the comics if no good ideas come out of the writing room. So if the plot starts to follow the plot of the books, they’re running out of creativity, which I guess shows how talented they aren’t.
Also, since Darryl doesn’t exist in the comics, maybe the cannibals having undetectable hunter skills is a bit more believable. But if they just lifted that plot line without considering the changes they’ve made in the TV show (such as adding a character with badass hunting/tracking skills), that shows more laziness in the writer’s room, I think.
I thought it was established that everyone is already infected. If you die from any cause, you turn. Bites kill you faster, maybe through infection I guess, but everyone is already infected with the Zombie.
While it’s true that all deaths lead to zombie-ism, the only successful “cure” for a bite was Herschel’s amputation. Bites are apparently auto-zombie, unless immediately addressed.
I’m pretty sure they were hinting hard at Bob being bitten in the fight with the under-water walker. He came away from that conflict with a pronounced limp he didn’t have previously (and which nobody else seemed to notice), and his interactions with Sasha and the group went from and almost happy “things are going to go back to normal” and cute little love bites to a melancholy “one more time” and pensive introspection outside followed by tears that almost certainly would have presaged suicide if it were not for BONK! from the Termites.
It could be the ultimate irony that the Termites save Bob Herschal-style by chopping off his infected leg before it has a chance to sicken him. I’m not sure the writers are bright enough to go there, but it would be cool. And yeah, the oh so obvious alliterations to cannibalism at the end were painful. It’s pretty obvious what they were doing, we didn’t need an evil villain monolog about it. He may as well have twirled his moustache and said “We’re so glad you could be the guest of honor at our Bob-B-Q!”
Adolpho
4385
I thought the same thing about Bob’s leg, especially when they showed the foot (made me think of Hershel) - it would be complete irony if the leg both fatally poisoned the Termites and then saved Bob’s life. But you’d think if he had been bit, they would have seen the actual bite mark when they were prepping their meal.
Yeah, that would be tough to miss.
hepcat
4387
Unless it was on the other leg. Or under his shirt sleeve. Or on his side. It didn’t look like they fully undressed Bob for his amputation.
corsair
4388
That’s the passive version. The active version that brings on death comes from a bite. Once that is in your system, will it transfer, via ingesting your infected flesh, the active (I.e. rapid zombiefaction) virus? I suppose it could be two entirely different diseases (zombie bite juice simply poisons you and you die), and they only appear related - but given the tandem development that would require, it would seem unlikely (dual weaponized viruses would be the most likely scenario if that was the case).
hepcat
4389
I believe Metaphaze hit the nail on the head. It’s not auto-zombie, it’s auto-death if you get bit. Everyone is going to become a zombie when they die, but a bite is like poison and kills you within a day or so…at which point you get up and all living humans look like giant pork chops on two legs.
They did make a point of showing the pistol tucked into the back of Bob’s waistband as he walked over to the tree to have his cry, so he was almost certainly planning to blow his brains out (or at least contemplating it).
“Hungry? Try a piece of your friend.”
corsair
4392
Apparently the bite is simply horrific infection, best dealt with by amputation. The zombie virus itself weakens your immune system, thus aiding the infection. But presumably with the proper drugs and care (simply not available in the ZA) you could survive. It just seems that a bite is the cause of going zombie because the one follows the other. Of course, that means that the just died should not have this mouthful of rotting, necrotic bacteria yet and it should be far more possible to survive a bite. It also means that going around with zillions of open wounds like our heroes do is probably going to snowball into fatal infections, so I’m not sure the rationale matches the outcome. As depicted, it makes more sense that the bite actually triggers an active zombie changeover rather than merely death.
But bottom line for Bob, eating diseased flesh is probably going to give your stomach a turn, but not in itself make anyone a zombie. He might be tasty, but Bob’s Revenge will be a mad dash for the Imodium…
The concept that the Termies have now turned from trappers to active hunters seems hard to swallow (hah! see what I did there!), at least from a practical standpoint.
As far as I know, zombie-ism doesn’t effect any other animals. So if you were going to be active hunters for purely sustenance reasons, it would seem much more effective to go after deer and such since 1) they’re probably more numerous than non-zombie humans at this point and 2) they’re hell of a lot less dangerous, since any surviving humans are probably pretty damn tough.
Now, I’m okay with these guys being a bit crazy, but it seems like in the immediate aftermath of the Termie explosion, they’d be going for easier game as their principle food source, with a side of human as opportunity presented itself.
tgb123
4394
I’m willing to accept that the Termites already had a sub-group of experienced hunters. We just never saw them in the previous episodes. OR the Termites started as hunters, and while they got good at it, were better at trapping so stuck with that instead.
Either one works for me.
Adolpho
4395
Just because Bob had a gun doesn’t mean he was going to off himself - who wouldn’t carry a gun in the current setting? It’s a dangerous world.
I think the Terminus folks talk a good game about just doing what it takes to survive, but it’d be hard to convince me they weren’t out for a little revenge. They didn’t track and follow Rick’s group all the way to the church just for sustenance. They want payback.
Oh, yeah - Mr. Psycho Barrista is certainly out for revenge despite his “it’s nothing personal” bit. And agreed about the gun, but the whole tenor of the episode made me think he had been bit and that he was looking back at the church in tears as a fond farewell. None of that means it has to be that way - maybe the church just reminded him of his times before the ZA and it was too hard to take and he didn’t want to share his bad feelings with people who were feeling so positive.
hepcat
4397
If they come up with a plausible alternative reason for Bob’s actions after the zombie synchronized swimming contest, I’ll be suitably impressed.
corsair
4398
Tainted meat. Hmmmm, carefully unresolved. Ah well…
So what was up with the D-Man’s last line when Michonne asks about Carol?
LockerK
4400
Cliffhanger so you’ll watch next week and see who pops out (ie: with or without Beth), I didn’t read anything more into it. The previews for next episode kind of blew that, though.
I’m glad that they appear to be done with the Terminus dudes, once they blew the settlement to pieces there was no desire for me to see more of them. My main curiosity now is what sort of crazy circumstances are going to bring everyone back together again – hard for me to believe they’d write off two mainstays and 4 minor characters in the same episode. For that matter, why the hell would Maggie agree to go to DC when her sister is still out there, presumably alive?
