The Walking Dead Discussion Thread: Season 4 Episode 1

N/A

[ConjunctionJunction]

I will be out and about tomorrow afternoon, so I'm posting the discussion thread now.

[Brooklyn Attitude]

“Possible mechanism would be a prion based micro-virus that is normally consumed by healthy white blood cells.”

As you likely know prions and viruses are 2 completely different things, but the idea of a virus with prion coat proteins would be pretty scary.

“Note: pigs are a pretty close match systemically for humans. Our guts and immune systems are close enough for something like a Z-virus to cross over ala zoonotic transmission in reverse.”

I think there is a connection between the sick pig, the sick animal in the woods and maybe even the dead deer. If a mutant virus starts infecting animals, it might have a lethal effect when the animal is consumed by humans. Remember that Patrick thanked Darryl for the deer he brought in from the hunt. Things get a bit more complicated when you cant hunt or raise animals for food, not to mention the potential for zombie animals.

[Dead Corpse]

What made me think prion was the link to spongiform encephalitis and kuru.

Especially kuru in this case as it was thought to have been from cannibalizing infected brains.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuru_%28disease%29

[Hot Tabasco]

So, the adult pig died. And the kid died. Are the deaths related in any way?

It was basically a farmers lesson rick was trying to teach to Carl. Don't get attached to your animals because they're going to be your food.........I don't think why it died is really an issue here, the lesson was taught and Carl learned it as evidenced when he tried to tell the little girls not to give names to the walkers for the reasons he explained to them.

If Violet the pig was ill with a virus, the three babby pigs in her pen would likely have been lying ill too, and they weren't.......

[Hot Tabasco]

The sudden ceiling failure that just happened to coincide with the foragers being in the store.

The walkers heard the crashing of the bottles in the store and started heading to where they heard the noise come from. The combined weight of the congregating walkers was too much for that unsupported area of the roof and it caved it.

I've seen it happen with snow........

[CatherineofAragon]

"Speaking of Carl—how old is he? I’d say 15."

I just looked up the actor's age; he's 14. So yes, very close.

[CatherineofAragon]

"Agreed. Carol (and for that matter, Beth as well) are probably going to show some pretty intense character development this season. Beth’s response and reply to Daryl telling her about Zach’s death was something you wouldn’t have seen in Season2 Beth. She’s developed a very detached attitude about living through a ZA. Not quite sure what that prolonged hug with Daryl portends. I hope nothing. I just don’t see a Daryl/Beth romantic paring."

Last night on "Talking Dead", the WD showrunner said that the scenarios we saw in this first episode will set the tone for several stories that play out this season, including that of Daryl and Beth. I take that to mean something will be going on there, whether it's on both their parts or only hers. If both, he's going to be robbing the cradle, and we might see Carol become jealous.

He also said starting next week, things are going to get very intense, very fast.

The woodswoman looked half rotted herself, I agree. This new sickness angle is going to be interesting, IMO.

[aimee5291]

will you put me on the Walking Dead ping;its a new season

[HanneyBean]

Sounds like it’s going to be a wild ride for the group - hope I’m ready for it. It will be hard to say goodbye to some of these characters if they are killed or die, but you come to expect it with this show.

(((Fervently hoping Daryl isn’t going to rob the cradle....)))
:O

[ConjunctionJunction]

Added!

[laplata]

Thanks, Catherine :)

[Hot Tabasco]

One of the problems I'm having with WD is the audio dialog. (It's not just WD, it's in other dramas that I watch too) There are many times when I just can't understand what the character is saying because they seem to be mumbling.

One example is the woods girl saying something last night (before the death scene) and I had to play it back three times. I still couldn't figure it out........

[Optimus Prime]

The CDC guy said everyone in Rick’s group was infected, but that doesn’t mean that everyone on Earth was infected. That kid’s circumstances at the time of the outbreak may have allowed him to escape the initial event which spread the infection unscathed, only for him to later get it through other means besides airborne. Although good point on the animals. It does seem like it’s possible the virus is mutating to affect animals.

[Dead Corpse]

The woodswoman looked half rotted herself, I agree.

Eating Walker meat maybe?

When barbecuing your Zeds, please ensure you have cooked them all the way through with an internal temp of at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit.

[Optimus Prime]

The thing of it is that he immediately reanimated as a Walker. It usually takes a few hours, with Shane being a bit quick because, according to the writers, he was in a murderous rage when he died and so there was more "life" in that corpse. Nobody has ever keeled over dead and reanimated literally two seconds later, though. He died, hit the ground, and then a moment later his eyes were open again. So I think whatever killed him has to be related to the Zombie Virus, since it not only killed him but reanimated him instantaneously.

[Optimus Prime]

That's my thinking for the most part, except that I think that a large portion of the population suffered from the Active stage version of the virus right from the start. From everything we've heard on the show, it seems the apocalypse happened quickly and nobody really knows how it came about. It was a sudden onslaught and then civilization collapsed. There's simply no way that could've happened if all the virus did was reanimate those who died, because not enough people die every day to produce the necessary amount of Walkers to utterly annihilate civilization so quickly. It had to have killed some people right away, and probably a large segment of the population.

Let's assume I'm right and Patrick was uninfected, but was recently infected with the Zombie Virus. He was dead in less than a day after he started showing signs that he was sick, and his reanimation was practically instantaneous. And from previews it looks as if he's now going to be running into the cellblock and start munching on his sleeping roommates. If that is the Zombie Virus then that perfectly explains how things went down. Large swathes of the population died from the virus in less than a day after they were infected and then IMMEDIATELY reanimated and went on a rampage, likely killing or turning everyone around them. That would explain how the zombie hordes got so big so quickly and why no one really knows how it went down, because those who likely witnessed the effects of the disease were the first victims of the reanimated zombies, and with the speed with which those people died and reanimated there simply wasn't any time to study the situation. It seems that it went from business as usual to thousands of zombies one day, to millions of zombies the next day, and downhill from then on.

[Brooklyn Attitude]

“The CDC guy said everyone in Rick’s group was infected, but that doesn’t mean that everyone on Earth was infected.”

We dont know if CDC guy specified just everyone in Rick’s group or if he meant everyone living. In any case since that time everyone we’ve seen die (even without being bitten) has come back. I think even Morgan and the Governor mentioned that everyone turns.

[HanneyBean]

I have the same problem with the audio on shows, too. I’ve resorted to using the closed captioning option, and it helps.

Same with movies - I always use subtitles on DVDs. Alot of people don’t like them, but you get used to it over time I think.

[discostu]

The CDC guy said everyone was infected, which implies the world. An even strong implication when you remember he was in communication with other disease centers throughout the world until everybody went dark one by one as the zombie situation took them out. Sure there might be some pockets that were isolated from whatever spread it, but anybody in an area with zombies are clearly not in one of those pockets.

[RandallFlagg]

The thing of it is that he immediately reanimated as a Walker.

I don't know if it really was immediately. After he cools off in the shower (Presumably because the zombie virus victim develops a massive fever), he drops. Then, the scene of others sleeping in their cells cuts in, then it cuts back to him lying on the floor with a bloodied face. A good amount of time might have passed between shots.

[Hot Tabasco]

I’ve resorted to using the closed captioning option

Do they actually pick up the mumbles?

I've watched TV while on the treadmill at the gym and the stuff that comes across the subtitling is absolutely laughable. But then again, it's usually live feed on news broadcasts......