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That premise may be convenient but it still does not account for ALL of the main characters utter inability to grasp their reality as to what is taking place. Their actions and responses within the context of what is happening and what a number of characters have witnessed first hand is completely unbelievable and unrealistic. Cases in point after watching the excruciatingly boring second episode: They have been warned and know from personal experience the infected die, are reanimated and rabidly attack, seek to kill and infect "the undead, 'normal' people" and yet the mother/guidance counselor lady sees the infected, obviously dead principal of the school and what does she do? Does she run, even after being warned again by zit nerd boy? NO, she walks right up to this guy with WHITE DEAD EYES, MOANING AND SALIVATING LIKE A RABID RACOON, tries to reason with him and then neively says "you're going to be alright, we'll get you 'treatment'"... to which he responds by trying to EAT HER! The point is, even without using the dreaded "Z" word, or supposedly having no concept of zombies whatsoever, the main character's actions do not make even the slightest of common sense! = This can be attributed to lousy writing, and it has been lousy thus far.

For example; the ONLY PERSON who has an inkling of ANY idea as to what is happening is zit nerd boy. Now, we could chalk it up to misfortune the first time guidance counselor lady meets him and he warns her in great, cryptic detail as to what is going on and she brushes him off as "wild pubescent imagination running amok." HOWEVER, the writer's in their wisdom have guidance counselor lady meet him again AFTER SHE AND MEMBERS OF HER FAMILY HAVE WITNESSED FIRST HAND EXACTLY WHAT HE HAD BEEN WARNING/TELLING HER ABOUT... when she fortuitously meets him a SECOND TIME AFTER THE EVENTS HE HAS BEEN WARNING HER ABOUT HE IS STILL TELLING HER IN GREAT DETAIL, MORE INFORMATION ABOUT WHAT IS TAKING PLACE, AND WHAT IS YET TO COME. It is obvious to everyone watching the episode that zit nerd boy is a treasure trove of information on the subject of what is happening, what is yet to come and how to prepare/survive. Does the "wise" guidance counselor lady ask him ANYTHING? Does she take advantage of his understanding of the situation? NO, not at all. He tells/warns her to stalk up on food, there is plenty there for the taking, she knows their familie's plan is to head for the hills, supposedly for as long as it takes for this to "blow over", of necessity that takes a lot of food/provisions but what is her answer to his plea? "I don't need it, we have food at home"! Riiiight; the society/world in which she is living is literally ending before her very eyes and, this supposedly wise guidance counselor lady does not see the need for extra food and is totally oblivious to the fact that they will need all of the food and supplies she can get her hands on; this in spite of the fact she instinctively knows she needs to get her hands on drugs, by any means possible because she knows drugs will be in short supply/unavailable.

In spite of zit nerd boy knowing what is happening, what is yet to come and the importance of getting his hands on as much food and supplies as possible; after principal bite me attacks and is finally "put down" by wise guidance counselor lady they both leave the school building EMPTY HANDED! Neither of them took a single can from the stash they worked so hard to amass for zit nerd boy. This is unconscionable, on the part of the writers, especially given the fact that zit nerd boy knows full well what is to come. Someone may say... "but there were possibly more zombie walkers in the building and they needed to leave". My answer is: they didn't SEE any, and even if they had, they still would have had time enough to take SOME much needed supplies.

Even after principal bite me's attack, zit nerd boy continues to provide valuable information about what is happening, what is to come and how to prepare... does guidance counselor lady finally wake up and ask him QUESTIONS about what he knows, what is going on, what to do and how to survive? NO, DUMBO proceeds to drive him home and drop this poor kid off knowing full well that he is home alone and on his own! Instead of realizing his inherent worth to himself and her families very survival and insisting he come with her, by not taking "no" for an answer, she instead abandons him to his unenviable fate, but hey the writer's made sure that she asked him if he was going to be "alright," to which he answered "yes". Sure, zit nerd boy is gong to be alright until the first mass of zombies,.... opps, I mean "walkers," come along.

As for the cast of characters; frankly they aren't very likable and there is very little reason to root for their survival. You have a drugged out, addicted, loser son; a weak, limp wristed "boy friend"/father figure that is detested by his biological son and largely ignored by his potential step kids. A biological son who is angry and self-centered, an ex wife who is very angry, has an attitude and also self centered; a "thick as a brick" guidance counselor lady mom who appears to be completely clueless, but hey, she has a big heart showing leniency to zit nerd boys bringing a knife to school and tolerant/bending backwards to give her drug addicted son a break. Next you have a swarmey, self absorbed little sister who is put out feeling she continually gets the wet end of the empty lolly pop stick because mommy is continually lavishing her attention on drug addicted loser son.

Ok, looking at this "cast of characters", do the viewers really care about any of them surviving and living past the first few episodes, let alone the first season? I thought not.

Now let's look at the second set of characters holed up in the barber shop: Wheel-chair mom is already dead, she just doesn't know it yet; that is unless her husband becomes Superman; throwing her over his shoulder, and fighting off the rabid, attacking hordes of "Z's", opps, I mean "walkers". Ah, the heck with it; "a rose by any other name is still a rose"; they are ZOMBIES, there I said it because, despite the protestations of the writers; that's exactly what they are.

The Spanish barber dad may last awile, he has a certain Herschal vibe going on, the innocent spanish daughter will probably survive to provide a "love interest" for angry biological son, besides it would be un PC to kill off the entire "imigrant family". As for the survival of very angry Spanish ex wife... that's a toss up depending on how long the writers want to keep her around for added "friction" to stir the plot when there is a lull in the action, which is virtually all the time so far.

Given the mental acuity of the main characters, they should rename the show:

"Fear the Living Imbicle's!"

It is too bad really, given the potential the show's premise had, not to mention the ultra cool commercials showing distant shots of LA deteriorating into chaos. What happened to that show? Where is THAT SERIES? WE WANT THAT! That is what we were promised but this is what we got... talk about "bait and swtch"! But who knows, maybe they will eventually kill off everyone and start with a fresh new cast of characters from a different part of LA during the same time line who can actually THINK and ACT on their feet, characters who have some semblance of an understanding about what is taking place and how to survive, since it isn't "rocket science" that wouldn't be too hard to do, but knowing how much AMC has riding on this cast of misfits, it is highly doubtful. On the up side, they could always do a successful spin off with zit nerd boy given the fact that he appears to be the only one in the entire series that as a clue about what is taking place, what is coming and how to survive/protect one's self. GO ZIT NERD BOY!