TWD 2x13 "Beside The Dying Fire" episode discussion... **SPOILERS WITHIN**

[bassman]

The fact you can write so much about it and obviously have deep thoughts about the characters and situation does at least show the writers are obviously doing something right though. Post of the week, sir. I'll post more thoughts when I get home and have time to digest that novel up there...

[Doc]

ESPECIALLY when the body of the herd was 1) As compact as it was portrayed as being and 2) So close that in under a MINUTE after the shot Carl fired the Walkers were streaming en masse from the nearby woods close enough for Rick and Carl to see them as a wave of undead in that same under-a-minute time-frame. d) The herd busted through the fence in one place, yet streamed out in three different directions so thoroughly as to encompass the farm from three sides by random chance. I'm glad i wasn't the only one who found it this strange. I too was confounded how Rick and Carl got surrounded so fast by the walkers, and how it seemed they were coming out of multiple directions out of nowhere. :-/

[Wyldwraith]

To retort, The fact that I can and often do construct in-depth analysis of things I watch or read is indicative of nothing more than me being of an analytical mindset. However, I will concede that at times both the scriptwriters and the actors/actresses have done an absolutely superb job of evoking emotive reactions from many viewers, including myself. The core problem with the series (IMO) is two-fold. One, for reasons certainly open to debate as well as interpretation, writers and to a lesser extent the cast fail to maintain continuity of characterization. Two, the writers are pushing circumstances and the results of character actions (including the Walkers) consistently beyond the line where suspension of disbelief can be maintained in an engaging way. I say MAINTAINED because, much of the time, the characters actions/reactions to their circumstances and external forces acting upon the group ARE believable and reasonable. Unfortunately, during story events meant to convey and evoke strong emotion and dramatic tension, the writers and again the cast to a lesser extent breach the envelope of suspension of disbelief in such a way as to de-engage some viewers (like myself) from what's happening onscreen. Example: And this is a pretty minor if not trivial issue that nevertheless sucked me out of the story and into mentally reacting to the onscreen absurdity. During the Season 1 episode "Guts" when Rick and Glenn clamber over the fence while being pursued by Walkers once the rain ruined their "Shawn of the Dead ruse"...The first zombie to reach the fence grasps it and clambers over it with Spider-Man-like agility that outstripped the speed at which Glenn and Rick went up and over the fence by an order of magnitude. One could point to the gunfire/ammo-related issues as well, but that's not so much a problem for me. Changes in characterization of major characters are often incredibly abrupt, poorly supported by the plot, and very wishy-washy back-and-forth. Then there's the simply cringe-worthy dialog that sometimes pops up. Example: One moment Rick is authoritatively declaring his right to lead the group because "I killed my best friend for you people!" The next moment his dialog declares there was a major personal motive on Rick's part stemming from the things he stated about Shane. It's poor writing, and a) It can suck one out of story-immersion and b) It casts characters that become victims of this bad scriptwriting in a poor light for something they have no control over, yet they're the ones onscreen we see spouting this piss-poor dialog and characterization-related actions. Last, as I and others have said before, it's absolutely CRITICAL in a Zombie-Apocalypse-themed work of fiction that the audience is able to connect with, relate to, and come to care about what happens to the characters. As the # of hate-inducing characters in the survivor group grows, it becomes ever harder to elicit that caring about the characters fate. Without that caring about the characters all you have is zombie FX and action-hero-cliche firefights.

[Neil]

I'm glad i wasn't the only one who found it this strange. I too was confounded how Rick and Carl got surrounded so fast by the walkers, and how it seemed they were coming out of multiple directions out of nowhere. :-/ I can undersdtand how it happened, but it just wasn't put over very well in film. Another shot, displaying the farm from another angle, and another arm of the zombie group being drawn in by the sound of gunshots, would have helped.

[AnxietyDilemma]

I would've rather they not addressed it at all, regarding how the walkers made their way to the farm. Sometimes it's best if we're left in the dark, and with the way that they tried to tie everything together, it seemed far fetched and too storybook.

[Thorn]

I can undersdtand how it happened, but it just wasn't put over very well in film. Another shot, displaying the farm from another angle, and another arm of the zombie group being drawn in by the sound of gunshots, would have helped. This makes the most sense to me, more shots establishing herds converging on one location as had to have happened would have been nice, I really think the show would have benefited from another hour

[darth los]

I'm glad i wasn't the only one who found it this strange. I too was confounded how Rick and Carl got surrounded so fast by the walkers, and how it seemed they were coming out of multiple directions out of nowhere. :-/ But we're not supposed to question things like that remember? The dead are returning to life so little details like that don't matter anymore.

[Thorn]

But we're not supposed to question things like that remember? The dead are returning to life so little details like that don't matter anymore. Meh. It all matters, just matters to some more than others, we all have things that annoy us or our little pet peeves. Differences in opinion are to be expected, and in fact celebrated. If we all thought alike talking would be pretty boring.

[AcesandEights]

I would've rather they not addressed it at all, regarding how the walkers made their way to the farm. Sometimes it's best if we're left in the dark, and with the way that they tried to tie everything together, it seemed far fetched and too storybook. I completely agree, too much information all too often feeds nitpicking, second guessing and if/then Olympics.

[Moon Knight]

But what about Hershal's blazer?!?!

[Thorn]

But what about Hershal's blazer?!?! He found it in a car, or on the road, or in the vehicle they escaped in and put it on because it was friggin' cold. /thread

[bassman]

I'm still wondering how Fat Tony pissed on the floor. We never saw him drink anything. You can't fire without the audience seeing you reload!

[Sammich]

I would've rather they not addressed it at all, regarding how the walkers made their way to the farm. Sometimes it's best if we're left in the dark, and with the way that they tried to tie everything together, it seemed far fetched and too storybook. My interpretation is that the helicopter flying overhead in the beginning of the series and shown again in the last episode is was what initially caused zombies that saw it to start moving in the direction of the farm. Remember scene when they were stuck on the highway and hid to let that that big group of zombies walk by? One of the bigger herds that was attracted by the helicopter fly over was probably led to the farm by all of the cattle, noise and movement during the previous days. The group looks like it is travelling in the same direction as the herd migrations and they could eventually encounter a zombie Woodstock.

[rgc2005]

One thing the show is really not getting across is the idea that the survivors no longer live in a mechanized world and noise is bad. Sometimes I think producers should not attempt to explain an event unless they can really pull it off properly. Since they did zero patrols or intelligence gathering and walkers were obviously about once they lost Dale the worst look out in the history of look outs the entire farm should have been over ran before Lori missed Carl. Hershel and his family stayed safe because of the swamp and Maggie rode a horse to town. Once they started driving around and shooting guns all over the place the zombies slowly but surely zeroed in on the farm like a viral attack. No way in any universe would one helicopter flying over Atlanta trigger a swarm at least a gas tank's drive away. But we did see that zombies were attracted to the farm and Otis had to go out and round them up before they became and issue. Look at the barn shooting spree 12-15 walkers during the peak period of swamp protection. That said, I have read some stories in the fiction section regarding the geometric progression of a herd movement and the supposedly millions strong zombie herds moving across the continent. That is of course a mega-macro event we would never see on the show.

[Arco]

I'm sorry if this has already been discussed. I didn't see it mentioned in this thread. If everyone is already infected, why do they die from being bitten?