***OFFICIAL 'The Walking Dead' TV Series Thread*** (4 Viewers)

[cstu]

If Bob knew he got bit and was infected, why was he still kissing whats her name?? Silly Bob. Not sure if kissing would even spread it, but still, gotta think he would think twice on that one.

And if one more person thinks Tyrese killed Chewer I am gonna snap. The writers slapped us in the face with the knowledge that he did NOT kill him. he said he wouldnt, kept hitting him saying he wouldnt, then wouldnt let anyone make sure he was dead (obviously, cause he didnt want them to see he didnt kill the guy).

Side note...............they all meet up at that little shack, yet NOBODY from the group sets one foot in the shack to look for supplies or anything?? Not one thing?? Only woulda taken one person to notice the dude laying there, not dead, yet NOBODY went in??

Haha, now I sound like the other overanalyzers

Chad (Tyreese) said on Talking Dead that his character thought he had killed Chewer.

 

[The Ref]

You know what irks me? How many times have we heard the "get the mullet to DC" speach? How come nobody has told Duke that they already went to DC in season 1 and there is nothing there.

 

[ghostguy123]

If Bob knew he got bit and was infected, why was he still kissing whats her name?? Silly Bob. Not sure if kissing would even spread it, but still, gotta think he would think twice on that one.

And if one more person thinks Tyrese killed Chewer I am gonna snap. The writers slapped us in the face with the knowledge that he did NOT kill him. he said he wouldnt, kept hitting him saying he wouldnt, then wouldnt let anyone make sure he was dead (obviously, cause he didnt want them to see he didnt kill the guy).

Side note...............they all meet up at that little shack, yet NOBODY from the group sets one foot in the shack to look for supplies or anything?? Not one thing?? Only woulda taken one person to notice the dude laying there, not dead, yet NOBODY went in??

Haha, now I sound like the other overanalyzers

Chad (Tyreese) said on Talking Dead that his character thought he had killed Chewer.

Then apparently he is a clueless tart

 

[Disco Stu]

You know what irks me? How many times have we heard the "get the mullet to DC" speach? How come nobody has told Duke that they already went to DC in season 1 and there is nothing there.

Probably because they haven't been out of Georgia.

 

[flapgreen]

You know what irks me? How many times have we heard the "get the mullet to DC" speach? How come nobody has told Duke that they already went to DC in season 1 and there is nothing there.

That was DC?

 

[ghostguy123]

You know what irks me? How many times have we heard the "get the mullet to DC" speach? How come nobody has told Duke that they already went to DC in season 1 and there is nothing there.

Probably because they haven't been out of Georgia.

Yeah, no idea what Ref is talkin about.

 

[Disco Stu]

You know what irks me? How many times have we heard the "get the mullet to DC" speach? How come nobody has told Duke that they already went to DC in season 1 and there is nothing there.

That was DC?

CDC. Close enough for walking dead complaints...

 

[Psychopav]

CDC: Just like DC, only with more C.

 

[The Ref]

 

[comfortably numb]

It would be pretty funny when they head north if they hit the northern Georgia border and run into a huge military presence which has quarantined the area and find the zombie apocalypse was limited only to the small part of the world they have been wandering around in the last several months.

 

[flapgreen]

It would be pretty funny when they head north if they hit the northern Georgia border and run into a huge military presence which has quarantined the area and find the zombie apocalypse was limited only to the small part of the world they have been wandering around in the last several months.

THE END

 

[ghostguy123]

It would be pretty funny when they head north if they hit the northern Georgia border and run into a huge military presence which has quarantined the area and find the zombie apocalypse was limited only to the small part of the world they have been wandering around in the last several months.

That actually sounds like the ending to a pretty decent zombie flick.................patent it.

 

[bigbottom]

I don't think Gareth and friends cut off Bob's leg to save him in any way. He was clearly dinner. The question for me, though, is if Bob was bit does that come into play with the Termites? Maybe they all start dropping like flies and only Gareth is left which forces him to try and weasel his way into the group.

I can see that story line coming, or that Bob suddenly turns at some opportune time to keep a termite from killing one of the "safe" characters who must survive.

If they play up the tainted meat angle, I wonder how that matters since everyone is already infected? If everyone already has it, how would eating someone with it make it worse?

Zombies are walking petri dishes of bacteria. Their bites kill people because they cause a nasty bacterial infection, not because they cause a zombie infection. That's my take anyway.

 

[Jayrok]

I was also in the "zombie parts wouldn't kill you" camp, but just read this from the amc website:

While scouting the prison tombs, Hershel is bitten in the leg by a walker and Rick amputates to prevent the infection from spreading.

So a zombie bite yields a lethal infection.So now the question, if Bob was scratched/bitten, why didn't he chop his own leg off as soon as they got back to base? With that, I'm leaning towards DS's theory, recovering alcoholic going outside to deal.

Maybe it was his hip or the side of his torso..

 

[Jayrok]

If they play up the tainted meat angle, I wonder how that matters since everyone is already infected?

I still think Judith may carry the key to a cure. And I think it is possible that Rick is not infected. He was in a coma in the hospital when it all went to hell. Maybe he was immune to some degree since his body was shut down? And he passed his clean genes on to Judith?

 

[JamesTheScot]

yeah, I didn't get that last scene with carol and Darryl, explain to me like I'm 4th grader

Carol appeared to be running off.

Darryl followed her.

They see the car that Darryl saw kidnap Beth.

Smashes brakelights and chases after it.

"Carol, can we join your group?"

"Sure, but my group is jump-starting an old Buick I found out on the highway and taking off tonight"

I did think it was a little odd how Carol seems to be struggling to get back in with the group. I could see if she was pissed at Rick but that doesn't seem to be the case. It seems to be primarily/entirely about killing Psycho Lizzie which is odd because she offed the two people at the prison without batting an eye. I'm sure this will be explored as we go along but I did think it was odd.

Killing a child for any reason would be hard.

Pretty easy actually. I mean, they're so tiny.

I'm with Packersfan. I think it's a little ham-fisted and forced melodrama from the writers. Oh, is Carol really back or isn't she? Inquiring fans want to know! Let me wring my hands a gnash my teeth till next week's epidose!

It's stuff like that that kinda gets me pissed at the writers (whether it be the TV or comic writers). The world has gone to hell, there's no more infrastructure and the vast majority of the human population has turned into simple-minded eating machines wanting to chew your guts up while you watch...and that's not even just he zombies wanting to do that anymore. Yet the writers think we've got to have some contrived soap opera angles because the whole zombie apocalypse thing won't generate enough suspense and drama by itself.

I can see a stranger having some trust issues with any new group. But is there anything more safe than being in Rick's group? Carol has been around long enough to know the score and she's coldly rational enough to realize her odds of survival are definitely increased by sticking with the group. I just don't see someone so rational in that reality having the luxury of being pissy about a past slight. I mean, what is she going to do? Cruise the deserted roads of the zombiefied south to try and find another domestic violence partner to start a new family with?

Comeon, writers. At least put a bit of effort into trying to understand what people in this situation would find important and unimportant under the new paradigm.

 

[JamesTheScot]

If they play up the tainted meat angle, I wonder how that matters since everyone is already infected?

I still think Judith may carry the key to a cure. And I think it is possible that Rick is not infected. He was in a coma in the hospital when it all went to hell. Maybe he was immune to some degree since his body was shut down? And he passed his clean genes on to Judith?

I think the CDC kook took blood samples, didn't he? He was the one who told Rick that everyone is infected, IIRC. While the writers wrote him up as cracked up, you'd think he would have still had enough sanity about him to recognize the significance of finding someone NOT infected. That would give him hope. And it seemed like a lack of hope was what caused his descent into madness.

Also, do we know that Judith is genetically Rick's? Lori was just recently off her tryst with Shane when she found out she was pregnant.

And if the key to Rick NOT being infected was that he was in a coma during the outbreak, that shouldn't theoretically affect his genes. But I'm not a geneticist, so take that for what it's worth. But even if his genes did mutate, his altered genes could only be passed on a child conceived AFTER the coma. I don't know that Judith was conceived after he woke up. Can't say for sure. But my gut is that we didn't have many chunks of time passing until after Rick and the crew found Herschel's farm. Up until that point it seemed like the storyline had maybe just burned up a few weeks from when Rick woke up.

 

[comfortably numb]

It would be pretty funny when they head north if they hit the northern Georgia border and run into a huge military presence which has quarantined the area and find the zombie apocalypse was limited only to the small part of the world they have been wandering around in the last several months.

That actually sounds like the ending to a pretty decent zombie flick.................patent it.

Last episode directed by M Knight Shmalangadingdong

 

[Jayrok]

If they play up the tainted meat angle, I wonder how that matters since everyone is already infected?

I still think Judith may carry the key to a cure. And I think it is possible that Rick is not infected. He was in a coma in the hospital when it all went to hell. Maybe he was immune to some degree since his body was shut down? And he passed his clean genes on to Judith?

I think the CDC kook took blood samples, didn't he? He was the one who told Rick that everyone is infected, IIRC. While the writers wrote him up as cracked up, you'd think he would have still had enough sanity about him to recognize the significance of finding someone NOT infected. That would give him hope. And it seemed like a lack of hope was what caused his descent into madness.

Also, do we know that Judith is genetically Rick's? Lori was just recently off her tryst with Shane when she found out she was pregnant.

And if the key to Rick NOT being infected was that he was in a coma during the outbreak, that shouldn't theoretically affect his genes. But I'm not a geneticist, so take that for what it's worth. But even if his genes did mutate, his altered genes could only be passed on a child conceived AFTER the coma. I don't know that Judith was conceived after he woke up. Can't say for sure. But my gut is that we didn't have many chunks of time passing until after Rick and the crew found Herschel's farm. Up until that point it seemed like the storyline had maybe just burned up a few weeks from when Rick woke up.

I don't remember if he gave a blood sample at the CDC, but you're probably right.

 

[Cold Dead Hands]

I was also in the "zombie parts wouldn't kill you" camp, but just read this from the amc website:

While scouting the prison tombs, Hershel is bitten in the leg by a walker and Rick amputates to prevent the infection from spreading.

So a zombie bite yields a lethal infection.So now the question, if Bob was scratched/bitten, why didn't he chop his own leg off as soon as they got back to base? With that, I'm leaning towards DS's theory, recovering alcoholic going outside to deal.

I got the impression the infection spreads faster than that. Rick chopped of Hershel's leg pretty quickly. With Bob, they had to walk back to camp and such. It's also unclear whether he got bitten in the leg.

My guess is that he was bitten on the stomach and the infection is in his bloodstream now, therefore in the meat of the leg. Medium-rare Bob is deadly.

 

[JamesTheScot]

I don't think Gareth and friends cut off Bob's leg to save him in any way. He was clearly dinner. The question for me, though, is if Bob was bit does that come into play with the Termites? Maybe they all start dropping like flies and only Gareth is left which forces him to try and weasel his way into the group.

I can see that story line coming, or that Bob suddenly turns at some opportune time to keep a termite from killing one of the "safe" characters who must survive.

If they play up the tainted meat angle, I wonder how that matters since everyone is already infected? If everyone already has it, how would eating someone with it make it worse?

Zombies are walking petri dishes of bacteria. Their bites kill people because they cause a nasty bacterial infection, not because they cause a zombie infection. That's my take anyway.

Possibly. But does a "normal" bacterial infection secondary to a bite kill you in a few hours. We may want to page Dr. Bramel but my instinct is that it takes some time and you'd have traditional symptoms as the infection becomes systematic.

If you say " it isn't normal bacteria, though", that's the trap. They are already infected with the abnormal pathogen, be it virus, bacteria, etc. So for the infection to be the killer, so that THEN the zombie bug can reanimate you, it had to be the normal, everyday bacteria that kill you via infection.

To be honest, I think it's an unresolved problem created by the initial creators who decided to deviate from the traditional zombie-bite-as-transmission-vector angle. Someone came up with the novel idea of everyone being infected as a great plot twist and they got their jollies off on the irony of the living survivors already being zombies that just hadn't got ripe yet...thus being the walking dead themselves. Problem is they didn't really think it through as far as what that would really mean. But at the same time they couldn't then abandon the whole zombie-bite-infects-you scenario because think about how that detail alone drives a zombie movie plot. So they've had to try and mesh the bite angle and the universal infection angle. But they don't logically mesh.

If I already have rabies, how does getting bit by a rabid dog or me eating the flesh of a rabid dog really hurt me in terms of having rabies? So then they have to depend on these contorted explanations to reconcile what is a glaring problem with the internal logic (stressing the "internal" part) of the storyline. You can't use "willing suspension of disbelief" as a panacea. If we suspend our disbelief to accept the basic premise that a zombie virus has been unleashed causing the dead to reanimate, that doesn't mean every other aspect of life as we know it suddenly stops following the rules. The laws of physics, for example, aren't altered. And neither should the laws of biochemistry.

 

[Cold Dead Hands]

I don't think Gareth and friends cut off Bob's leg to save him in any way. He was clearly dinner. The question for me, though, is if Bob was bit does that come into play with the Termites? Maybe they all start dropping like flies and only Gareth is left which forces him to try and weasel his way into the group.

I can see that story line coming, or that Bob suddenly turns at some opportune time to keep a termite from killing one of the "safe" characters who must survive.

If they play up the tainted meat angle, I wonder how that matters since everyone is already infected? If everyone already has it, how would eating someone with it make it worse?

Zombies are walking petri dishes of bacteria. Their bites kill people because they cause a nasty bacterial infection, not because they cause a zombie infection. That's my take anyway.

Possibly. But does a "normal" bacterial infection secondary to a bite kill you in a few hours. We may want to page Dr. Bramel but my instinct is that it takes some time and you'd have traditional symptoms as the infection becomes systematic.

If you say " it isn't normal bacteria, though", that's the trap. They are already infected with the abnormal pathogen, be it virus, bacteria, etc. So for the infection to be the killer, so that THEN the zombie bug can reanimate you, it had to be the normal, everyday bacteria that kill you via infection.

To be honest, I think it's an unresolved problem created by the initial creators who decided to deviate from the traditional zombie-bite-as-transmission-vector angle. Someone came up with the novel idea of everyone being infected as a great plot twist and they got their jollies off on the irony of the living survivors already being zombies that just hadn't got ripe yet...thus being the walking dead themselves. Problem is they didn't really think it through as far as what that would really mean. But at the same time they couldn't then abandon the whole zombie-bite-infects-you scenario because think about how that detail alone drives a zombie movie plot. So they've had to try and mesh the bite angle and the universal infection angle. But they don't logically mesh.

If I already have rabies, how does getting bit by a rabid dog or me eating the flesh of a rabid dog really hurt me in terms of having rabies? So then they have to depend on these contorted explanations to reconcile what is a glaring problem with the internal logic (stressing the "internal" part) of the storyline. You can't use "willing suspension of disbelief" as a panacea. If we suspend our disbelief to accept the basic premise that a zombie virus has been unleashed causing the dead to reanimate, that doesn't mean every other aspect of life as we know it suddenly stops following the rules. The laws of physics, for example, aren't altered. And neither should the laws of biochemistry.

What if the infection-X is dormant and only activates in necrotic tissue. Then suppose active Infection-X can activate dormant Infection-X, thus zombie bites causing active infection.

 

[bigbottom]

I don't think Gareth and friends cut off Bob's leg to save him in any way. He was clearly dinner. The question for me, though, is if Bob was bit does that come into play with the Termites? Maybe they all start dropping like flies and only Gareth is left which forces him to try and weasel his way into the group.

I can see that story line coming, or that Bob suddenly turns at some opportune time to keep a termite from killing one of the "safe" characters who must survive.

If they play up the tainted meat angle, I wonder how that matters since everyone is already infected? If everyone already has it, how would eating someone with it make it worse?

Zombies are walking petri dishes of bacteria. Their bites kill people because they cause a nasty bacterial infection, not because they cause a zombie infection. That's my take anyway.

Possibly. But does a "normal" bacterial infection secondary to a bite kill you in a few hours.

Do you have an example of this happening on the show? I honestly don't recall one way or another. I do remember the one guy being bitten and ultimately left by the side of the road, but he took days to die if memory serves. When the zombie outbreak occurred in the prison overnight, I thought that all of the people had been killed before turning.

 

[El Floppo]

I don't think Gareth and friends cut off Bob's leg to save him in any way. He was clearly dinner. The question for me, though, is if Bob was bit does that come into play with the Termites? Maybe they all start dropping like flies and only Gareth is left which forces him to try and weasel his way into the group.

I can see that story line coming, or that Bob suddenly turns at some opportune time to keep a termite from killing one of the "safe" characters who must survive.

If they play up the tainted meat angle, I wonder how that matters since everyone is already infected? If everyone already has it, how would eating someone with it make it worse?

Zombies are walking petri dishes of bacteria. Their bites kill people because they cause a nasty bacterial infection, not because they cause a zombie infection. That's my take anyway.

Possibly. But does a "normal" bacterial infection secondary to a bite kill you in a few hours.

Do you have an example of this happening on the show? I honestly don't recall one way or another. I do remember the one guy being bitten and ultimately left by the side of the road, but he took days to die if memory serves. When the zombie outbreak occurred in the prison overnight, I thought that all of the people had been killed before turning.

Where are the WD nerds? Did we get a definitive answer as to whether a bite can turn you, independent of death? I'm not talking about a bite expediting death.

I know everybody has the bug and that death turns everybody into a zombie- but I still thought they showed people turning JUSt from the bite... but again- my memory sucks and I could be remembering any other zombie show/movie.

 

[shady inc]

new here and scrolled through the last few pages of the topic, but didn't see anything. so my question is - what do you think about Morgan Jones appearing at the end of Season 5 ep. 1/beginning of Season 5 ep. 2? I take it he will have a larger role going forward? It's been quite a while sense we've last heard from him

 

[kentric]

I don't think Gareth and friends cut off Bob's leg to save him in any way. He was clearly dinner. The question for me, though, is if Bob was bit does that come into play with the Termites? Maybe they all start dropping like flies and only Gareth is left which forces him to try and weasel his way into the group.

I can see that story line coming, or that Bob suddenly turns at some opportune time to keep a termite from killing one of the "safe" characters who must survive.

If they play up the tainted meat angle, I wonder how that matters since everyone is already infected? If everyone already has it, how would eating someone with it make it worse?

Zombies are walking petri dishes of bacteria. Their bites kill people because they cause a nasty bacterial infection, not because they cause a zombie infection. That's my take anyway.

Possibly. But does a "normal" bacterial infection secondary to a bite kill you in a few hours. We may want to page Dr. Bramel but my instinct is that it takes some time and you'd have traditional symptoms as the infection becomes systematic.

If you say " it isn't normal bacteria, though", that's the trap. They are already infected with the abnormal pathogen, be it virus, bacteria, etc. So for the infection to be the killer, so that THEN the zombie bug can reanimate you, it had to be the normal, everyday bacteria that kill you via infection.

To be honest, I think it's an unresolved problem created by the initial creators who decided to deviate from the traditional zombie-bite-as-transmission-vector angle. Someone came up with the novel idea of everyone being infected as a great plot twist and they got their jollies off on the irony of the living survivors already being zombies that just hadn't got ripe yet...thus being the walking dead themselves. Problem is they didn't really think it through as far as what that would really mean. But at the same time they couldn't then abandon the whole zombie-bite-infects-you scenario because think about how that detail alone drives a zombie movie plot. So they've had to try and mesh the bite angle and the universal infection angle. But they don't logically mesh.

If I already have rabies, how does getting bit by a rabid dog or me eating the flesh of a rabid dog really hurt me in terms of having rabies? So then they have to depend on these contorted explanations to reconcile what is a glaring problem with the internal logic (stressing the "internal" part) of the storyline. You can't use "willing suspension of disbelief" as a panacea. If we suspend our disbelief to accept the basic premise that a zombie virus has been unleashed causing the dead to reanimate, that doesn't mean every other aspect of life as we know it suddenly stops following the rules. The laws of physics, for example, aren't altered. And neither should the laws of biochemistry.

What if the infection-X is dormant and only activates in necrotic tissue. Then suppose active Infection-X can activate dormant Infection-X, thus zombie bites causing active infection.

After reading James' post I thought the same thing. Perhaps the bite acts as a catalyst for the dorman infection.

 

[bigbottom]

I don't think Gareth and friends cut off Bob's leg to save him in any way. He was clearly dinner. The question for me, though, is if Bob was bit does that come into play with the Termites? Maybe they all start dropping like flies and only Gareth is left which forces him to try and weasel his way into the group.

I can see that story line coming, or that Bob suddenly turns at some opportune time to keep a termite from killing one of the "safe" characters who must survive.

If they play up the tainted meat angle, I wonder how that matters since everyone is already infected? If everyone already has it, how would eating someone with it make it worse?

Zombies are walking petri dishes of bacteria. Their bites kill people because they cause a nasty bacterial infection, not because they cause a zombie infection. That's my take anyway.

Possibly. But does a "normal" bacterial infection secondary to a bite kill you in a few hours.

Do you have an example of this happening on the show? I honestly don't recall one way or another. I do remember the one guy being bitten and ultimately left by the side of the road, but he took days to die if memory serves. When the zombie outbreak occurred in the prison overnight, I thought that all of the people had been killed before turning.

Where are the WD nerds? Did we get a definitive answer as to whether a bite can turn you, independent of death? I'm not talking about a bite expediting death.

I know everybody has the bug and that death turns everybody into a zombie- but I still thought they showed people turning JUSt from the bite... but again- my memory sucks and I could be remembering any other zombie show/movie.

http://walkingdead.wikia.com/wiki/Zombies

InfectionAs previously stated, the zombie pathogen itself is not lethal, and zombie "infection" occurs due to high concentrations of antibiotic-resistant bacteria found in zombies, especially in their mouths. In the Walking Dead universe, every human being on the planet is believed to be infected, suggesting the disease is airborne or waterborne. Any time a human dies they will reanimate, bitten or not, unless their brain is destroyed. It is unknown if getting blood or saliva from zombies into human mouths will cause infection, but it is known that any contact zombie fluids make with open wounds, and possibly a human's eyes, will spread their lethal bacteria throughout the host's body.

Bites

Zombie bites are not necessarily fatal because of the zombie pathogen, but rather the unsanitary nature of their mouths due to diet and decomposition. Scratches cause similar infections for similar reasons.

It should be noted that zombie saliva and scratches are not guaranteed to kill, as both Tyreese and the Governor have come into contact with both and were unaffected. The deep, fatal infections left by zombie bites can potentially be avoided if the bite is on an appendage, which then must be amputated immediately after the bite. However, this does not always work, and bites on main parts of the body, or on veins or arteries, and always fatal.

 

[3C's]

All the talk about CDC I thought I was in the Ebola thread for a second.

 

[El Floppo]

I don't think Gareth and friends cut off Bob's leg to save him in any way. He was clearly dinner. The question for me, though, is if Bob was bit does that come into play with the Termites? Maybe they all start dropping like flies and only Gareth is left which forces him to try and weasel his way into the group.

I can see that story line coming, or that Bob suddenly turns at some opportune time to keep a termite from killing one of the "safe" characters who must survive.

If they play up the tainted meat angle, I wonder how that matters since everyone is already infected? If everyone already has it, how would eating someone with it make it worse?

Zombies are walking petri dishes of bacteria. Their bites kill people because they cause a nasty bacterial infection, not because they cause a zombie infection. That's my take anyway.

Possibly. But does a "normal" bacterial infection secondary to a bite kill you in a few hours.

Do you have an example of this happening on the show? I honestly don't recall one way or another. I do remember the one guy being bitten and ultimately left by the side of the road, but he took days to die if memory serves. When the zombie outbreak occurred in the prison overnight, I thought that all of the people had been killed before turning.

Where are the WD nerds? Did we get a definitive answer as to whether a bite can turn you, independent of death? I'm not talking about a bite expediting death.

I know everybody has the bug and that death turns everybody into a zombie- but I still thought they showed people turning JUSt from the bite... but again- my memory sucks and I could be remembering any other zombie show/movie.

http://walkingdead.wikia.com/wiki/Zombies

InfectionAs previously stated, the zombie pathogen itself is not lethal, and zombie "infection" occurs due to high concentrations of antibiotic-resistant bacteria found in zombies, especially in their mouths. In the Walking Dead universe, every human being on the planet is believed to be infected, suggesting the disease is airborne or waterborne. Any time a human dies they will reanimate, bitten or not, unless their brain is destroyed. It is unknown if getting blood or saliva from zombies into human mouths will cause infection, but it is known that any contact zombie fluids make with open wounds, and possibly a human's eyes, will spread their lethal bacteria throughout the host's body.

Bites

Zombie bites are not necessarily fatal because of the zombie pathogen, but rather the unsanitary nature of their mouths due to diet and decomposition. Scratches cause similar infections for similar reasons.

It should be noted that zombie saliva and scratches are not guaranteed to kill, as both Tyreese and the Governor have come into contact with both and were unaffected. The deep, fatal infections left by zombie bites can potentially be avoided if the bite is on an appendage, which then must be amputated immediately after the bite. However, this does not always work, and bites on main parts of the body, or on veins or arteries, and always fatal.

thanks BB- so the answer to my question is... no. Bites don't turn you- they kill you.

 

[Corporation]

A bite or scratch can not turn a person. It leads to their death which leads to the turn. I think the guys name was Tom in season 1 who had a fever for days, and they left him on the side of the road. Lizzie's dad was bitten and did not turn immediately. They cut off Herschel's foot to prevent the infection from spreading and killing him. There is not one example that I can remember of someone getting bit or scratched and turning before they die.

 

[Corporation]

Well I see a more definitive answer was given as I typed on the phone. At least it was consistent with my understanding

 

[JamesTheScot]

I was also in the "zombie parts wouldn't kill you" camp, but just read this from the amc website:

While scouting the prison tombs, Hershel is bitten in the leg by a walker and Rick amputates to prevent the infection from spreading.

So a zombie bite yields a lethal infection.So now the question, if Bob was scratched/bitten, why didn't he chop his own leg off as soon as they got back to base? With that, I'm leaning towards DS's theory, recovering alcoholic going outside to deal.

Maybe Herschel never told him how he lost his leg?

Have to think the ole "what to do if bitten" topic of conversation has come up around the campfire a time or two. Even if Herschel didn't personally tell him, you have to think someone did.

That's one of my issues with the writing. The reality is that this zombie virus would still remain a major and ever present antagonist in the survivor's world. But how little is there in terms of evidence that it is still in the forefront of the survivor's minds? There is a certain sense of "normal" in having to face walkers everyday for the last 18 months and people adapt to life altering changes in their existence, but that doesn't mean that the sense of worry about this mysterious infection has evaporated. So you'd think that when you meet new people, after you decide not to kill each other, you'd start sharing notes about both the virus and the walkers. How does it spread? How do you avoid walkers? What is required to kill them? Are there ways to trick them or tame them? Has anyone ever communicated with one? These are conversations that absolutely would be happening. And since not everyone had a sit-down with a CDC agent, you'd think Rick's group would have some pretty critical information to hand out and would once they thought you could be trusted.

So while I understand that a lot happens off camera, I also think there's opportunity there to still use the virus and survivalism in a plot advancing way. And while they are using Big Red and The Mullet as the "find a cure" guys, it's like they are using that to create more contrived drama between the characters instead of just letting the virus and basic survival itself still be part of the story.

I mean, why wouldn't everyone go to DC? What other plans do they have? How has trying to find a static, safe fortress worked out for the group so far? But here's the big ever present issues: food, water, shelter and safety. At some point the canned goods run out. So what are they going to do for food? Farming is the obvious answer. But that makes you not only static but also puts you out in the open. It's a multi-month commitment. And you can't raise corn in Washington D.C. in the winter. And how to do warm yourself in the north over a winter without making yourself a target for walkers and looters? And what happens to walkers in freezing temperatures?

So there is this huge potential to use the wander vs. stay argument, as defined in very rational and realistic survivalist terms, as a point of disagreement which then can create drama. But instead the writers have Carol wanting to wander off lone wolf style because of some introspective, frivolous and unrealistic psychological turmoil to be conveniently present when a mystery car drives past so that she and Darryl get separated from the group so that there will be drama and suspense over whether or not to leave now that Big Red has waxed eloquent during a toast and all of sudden convinces everyone else to move out.

 

[El Floppo]

I was also in the "zombie parts wouldn't kill you" camp, but just read this from the amc website:

While scouting the prison tombs, Hershel is bitten in the leg by a walker and Rick amputates to prevent the infection from spreading.

So a zombie bite yields a lethal infection.So now the question, if Bob was scratched/bitten, why didn't he chop his own leg off as soon as they got back to base? With that, I'm leaning towards DS's theory, recovering alcoholic going outside to deal.

Maybe Herschel never told him how he lost his leg?

Have to think the ole "what to do if bitten" topic of conversation has come up around the campfire a time or two. Even if Herschel didn't personally tell him, you have to think someone did.

That's one of my issues with the writing. The reality is that this zombie virus would still remain a major and ever present antagonist in the survivor's world. But how little is there in terms of evidence that it is still in the forefront of the survivor's minds? There is a certain sense of "normal" in having to face walkers everyday for the last 18 months and people adapt to life altering changes in their existence, but that doesn't mean that the sense of worry about this mysterious infection has evaporated. So you'd think that when you meet new people, after you decide not to kill each other, you'd start sharing notes about both the virus and the walkers. How does it spread? How do you avoid walkers? What is required to kill them? Are there ways to trick them or tame them? Has anyone ever communicated with one? These are conversations that absolutely would be happening. And since not everyone had a sit-down with a CDC agent, you'd think Rick's group would have some pretty critical information to hand out and would once they thought you could be trusted.

So while I understand that a lot happens off camera, I also think there's opportunity there to still use the virus and survivalism in a plot advancing way. And while they are using Big Red and The Mullet as the "find a cure" guys, it's like they are using that to create more contrived drama between the characters instead of just letting the virus and basic survival itself still be part of the story.

I mean, why wouldn't everyone go to DC? What other plans do they have? How has trying to find a static, safe fortress worked out for the group so far? But here's the big ever present issues: food, water, shelter and safety. At some point the canned goods run out. So what are they going to do for food? Farming is the obvious answer. But that makes you not only static but also puts you out in the open. It's a multi-month commitment. And you can't raise corn in Washington D.C. in the winter. And how to do warm yourself in the north over a winter without making yourself a target for walkers and looters? And what happens to walkers in freezing temperatures?

So there is this huge potential to use the wander vs. stay argument, as defined in very rational and realistic survivalist terms, as a point of disagreement which then can create drama. But instead the writers have Carol wanting to wander off lone wolf style because of some introspective, frivolous and unrealistic psychological turmoil to be conveniently present when a mystery car drives past so that she and Darryl get separated from the group so that there will be drama and suspense over whether or not to leave now that Big Red has waxed eloquent during a toast and all of sudden convinces everyone else to move out.

not to mention bottle rockets.

 

[JamesTheScot]

I don't think Gareth and friends cut off Bob's leg to save him in any way. He was clearly dinner. The question for me, though, is if Bob was bit does that come into play with the Termites? Maybe they all start dropping like flies and only Gareth is left which forces him to try and weasel his way into the group.

I can see that story line coming, or that Bob suddenly turns at some opportune time to keep a termite from killing one of the "safe" characters who must survive.

If they play up the tainted meat angle, I wonder how that matters since everyone is already infected? If everyone already has it, how would eating someone with it make it worse?

Zombies are walking petri dishes of bacteria. Their bites kill people because they cause a nasty bacterial infection, not because they cause a zombie infection. That's my take anyway.

Possibly. But does a "normal" bacterial infection secondary to a bite kill you in a few hours. We may want to page Dr. Bramel but my instinct is that it takes some time and you'd have traditional symptoms as the infection becomes systematic.

If you say " it isn't normal bacteria, though", that's the trap. They are already infected with the abnormal pathogen, be it virus, bacteria, etc. So for the infection to be the killer, so that THEN the zombie bug can reanimate you, it had to be the normal, everyday bacteria that kill you via infection.

To be honest, I think it's an unresolved problem created by the initial creators who decided to deviate from the traditional zombie-bite-as-transmission-vector angle. Someone came up with the novel idea of everyone being infected as a great plot twist and they got their jollies off on the irony of the living survivors already being zombies that just hadn't got ripe yet...thus being the walking dead themselves. Problem is they didn't really think it through as far as what that would really mean. But at the same time they couldn't then abandon the whole zombie-bite-infects-you scenario because think about how that detail alone drives a zombie movie plot. So they've had to try and mesh the bite angle and the universal infection angle. But they don't logically mesh.

If I already have rabies, how does getting bit by a rabid dog or me eating the flesh of a rabid dog really hurt me in terms of having rabies? So then they have to depend on these contorted explanations to reconcile what is a glaring problem with the internal logic (stressing the "internal" part) of the storyline. You can't use "willing suspension of disbelief" as a panacea. If we suspend our disbelief to accept the basic premise that a zombie virus has been unleashed causing the dead to reanimate, that doesn't mean every other aspect of life as we know it suddenly stops following the rules. The laws of physics, for example, aren't altered. And neither should the laws of biochemistry.

What if the infection-X is dormant and only activates in necrotic tissue. Then suppose active Infection-X can activate dormant Infection-X, thus zombie bites causing active infection.

After reading James' post I thought the same thing. Perhaps the bite acts as a catalyst for the dorman infection.

I was a bit loose in my language earlier that has led to a misunderstanding I think. When I talk about Bob turning, I didn't mean directly from life to zombie. I just meant in the general sense that he ends up being a zombie surprise in some convenient and contrived "gotcha" moment.

As for the time till death due to infection secondary to a bite, if it truly is just a "normal" death due to a systematic infection, why the urgency to cut off Herschel's leg? Didn't they have any way to fight off infection? They would have had to have dealt with that boogeyman back when Carl got shot. Rick's quick action seems to come from an assumption on his part that amputation rather than antibiotics is required. So Rick doesn't seem to think it's just an infection issue due to poor mouth hygiene. And Herschel doesn't either.

That's why I think the creators/writers have stepped on their ##### a little bit with this angle. Infection of wounds would be huge deal in a suddenly less sanitary world where medical infrastructure has collapsed. But it would be for any wound, not just a zombie bite. So anyone with even basic medical knowledge would think about having some antibiotics on hand. So Herschel, being a vet, should have expected that and given it some thought. So you'd think that they would have talked about during the slow days when they could gather around the campfire and talk about the important things in life...life surviving zombie bites. And you'd think that they'd have either tried to treat a bite victim with antibiotics or would be planning to do so. But we have no clue about that sort of thing and the writers could have used that type of situation to create suspense and drama but have ignored it.

 

[bigbottom]

Zombies are walking petri dishes of bacteria. Their bites kill people because they cause a nasty bacterial infection, not because they cause a zombie infection. That's my take anyway.

Possibly. But does a "normal" bacterial infection secondary to a bite kill you in a few hours.

Do you have an example of this happening on the show? I honestly don't recall one way or another. I do remember the one guy being bitten and ultimately left by the side of the road, but he took days to die if memory serves. When the zombie outbreak occurred in the prison overnight, I thought that all of the people had been killed before turning.

Bump for JamestheScot

 

[JamesTheScot]

You know what irks me? How many times have we heard the "get the mullet to DC" speach? How come nobody has told Duke that they already went to DC in season 1 and there is nothing there.

That was DC?

CDC. Close enough for walking dead complaints...

But the point still remains. It isn't like the characters got too busy running the kids to soccer practice and trying to find the perfect gift for grandma's birthday party this weekend to make a phone call. Lots of spare time to compare notes and experiences in the zombie apocalypse.

Do Big Red and The Mullet even know that Rick's crew was at the CDC in Atlanta? That absolutely would have come out by now and been a topic of conversation if not used outright as a challenge to the cure mission. Would have made for a nice scene, right? I'm just saying...

 

[Officer Pete Malloy]

Has anybody explained why they had to actually go down in the flooded basement instead of trying to dispatch as many walkers from up above as possible?

 

[The General]

Has anybody explained why they had to actually go down in the flooded basement instead of trying to dispatch as many walkers from up above as possible?

Yeah, that was stupid.

 

[bigbottom]

If we had a bunch of extra exposition comparing notes every time a new person was introduced to the group, I think that would be boring. Besides, they've already done the whole antibiotics angle with T-Dog and his sliced arm. Would the treatment of infections and the need for antibiotics be a HUGE issue for post-apocalyptic survivors? Absolutely. But hunting for antibiotics and dealing with infections and talking about treating infections (which has already dominated multiple episodes) would make for boring TV if it kept being recycled as a plot point.

 

[the moops]

That was gum chewer that was eating Bob's leg, right? Didn't Tyreese punch the #### out of his face in the previous episode? His face should have been all banged up. And it definitely has only been a day or two since they left Terminus cause you could still see the smoke from the blown up propane tank.

 

[FreeBaGeL]

Has anybody explained why they had to actually go down in the flooded basement instead of trying to dispatch as many walkers from up above as possible?

I think it's pretty clear that the current show-writers are far less creative in creating imminent danger for survivors from a bunch of loud, growling, slow moving zombies than the original ones were. That's why we now get people taking walks in the woods by themselves in the middle night during the zombie apocalypse, people trying to scurry away from an approaching zombie on their back rather than casually standing up and walking away, people getting "snuck up on" by a zombie loudly dragging its feet through rustling leaves and twigs, etc.

 

[kentric]

That was gum chewer that was eating Bob's leg, right? Didn't Tyreese punch the #### out of his face in the previous episode? His face should have been all banged up. And it definitely has only been a day or two since they left Terminus cause you could still see the smoke from the blown up propane tank.

Tyreese's punches looked tough, but we all know he's a bit of a girly-man for all his size.

 

[El Floppo]

Has anybody explained why they had to actually go down in the flooded basement instead of trying to dispatch as many walkers from up above as possible?

out of bottle rockets

 

[JamesTheScot]

If we had a bunch of extra exposition comparing notes every time a new person was introduced to the group, I think that would be boring. Besides, they've already done the whole antibiotics angle with T-Dog and his sliced arm. Would the treatment of infections and the need for antibiotics be a HUGE issue for post-apocalyptic survivors? Absolutely. But hunting for antibiotics and dealing with infections and talking about treating infections (which has already dominated multiple episodes) would make for boring TV if it kept being recycled as a plot point.

They had time for a scene highlighting Lori and Andrea getting catty over dish-washing duty.

But I had forgotten about T-Dog's arm. Had they really looked at the antibiotic vs. bite infection angle? It's a big deal.

I just want more antibiotic scenes telling me about the virus and less about some cowardly preacher's remorse. That cowardly preacher is at peace with being a cowardly preacher or he wouldn't have done what he did. Remorse is something we often express in terms of exposure of our sins to others who might pass judgement. Sadly, it's more often the result of having been caught than having done it. If anything, his survival would seem to have reinforced the correctness of his decision to do it. If he was convinced enough of it's merit to do it in the first place, what could have happened to him to make him regret it now?

He may want to keep it a secret for fear of being left behind or ostracized by Rick's group, but that's not true remorse. And it sure doesn't manifest itself in losing your mind and fleeing the protection of a barrier and skilled fighters.

 

[Vike Me]

Has anybody explained why they had to actually go down in the flooded basement instead of trying to dispatch as many walkers from up above as possible?

I assume they didn't want the noise from gunshots to attract more walkers?

Although that didn't seem to bother the Terminus peeps who squeezed off about 300 rounds just to herd dinner (including future shish kaBob) into a train car.

 

[El Floppo]

That was gum chewer that was eating Bob's leg, right? Didn't Tyreese punch the #### out of his face in the previous episode? His face should have been all banged up. And it definitely has only been a day or two since they left Terminus cause you could still see the smoke from the blown up propane tank.

it's like Igor's hump in Young Frankenstein.

 

[snogger]

Has anybody explained why they had to actually go down in the flooded basement instead of trying to dispatch as many walkers from up above as possible?

I assume they didn't want the noise from gunshots to attract more walkers?

Although that didn't seem to bother the Terminus peeps who squeezed off about 300 rounds just to herd dinner (including future shish kaBob) into a train car.

This is what I assumed.. They figured they could use the shelves as shields and kill off the walkers safely.. And it worked fine until Preacher boy saw his woman and went all causing the team to abandon their plan to save his worthless A##.

 

[JamesTheScot]

I missed a couple of pages of discussion here, so this may have already been covered...

To clarify (for me), we know all of our main character group is infected, but (I can't recall from the CDC episode) is EVERYBODY (i.e. the world) infected? If so, that would include the Termites and Bob, and the fact that Bob may or may not have been bitten wouldn't matter anyway. If the world is infected, then they've been cooking and eating infected folks for a while now and it has likely only promoted healthy regularity.

My understanding is that everybody was infected. However, the infection lies dormant until one either days or is bitten by someone who is dead and the virus is active.* So, as for the cannibals, I guess it wouldn't matter.

*Admittedly, I don't quite understand why the virus works differently if one gets bit but, well, if that weren't the case it wouldn't be a zombie show.

Do you have an example of someone being bit by a zombie and turning before they die?

My take is that something in the zombies bite (poison) kills you and the virus everyone is infected turns you after you die.

There's a certain oddity to how the virus works.

If a venomous animal bites, you, it's so you are incapacitated in some way so as to be easily eaten or easily avoided or both.

A snake bites a mouse so it can eat it. Or it bites you so you will leave it alone.

Even the Komodo Dragon, which interestingly enough is able to kill large animals do to the bacteria in its bite, can arguably be an example of cooperation between a pathogen and it's host. Host eats and survives, thus pathogen has a home and survives.

So a zombie bites a survivor because it is motivated and reanimated by this virus to eat a human. Why? The human is already infected. But yet the virus turns the bite victim into another zombie which then won't/can't be eaten by the zombie. The zombies eat only live or dead but un-animated flesh. So then how is the virus's agenda of basic survival advanced by reanimating a corpse when it can just live benignly in a live human just the same?

I appreciated the attempt in World War Z to define a motive. So what's the game plan here?

And given how long it takes for someone to get bit, die from the bite infection, and then reanimate, compared to how much more quickly that same victim could be torn apart and eaten by the attacking zombie(s), how are there so many ambulatory zombies roaming around? What are the odds that so many people could get bit, but yet not consumed, so as to then become another zombie that can move freely and join a herd? It it takes so long to die and then reanimate, but the infection otherwise lies dormant, how did it ever spread so far? With modern communication, the U.S. should never have been overrun. It isn't like one zombie can run people down like a Cheetah. It would have been pretty easy to contain the outbreak.

 

[JamesTheScot]

Has anybody explained why they had to actually go down in the flooded basement instead of trying to dispatch as many walkers from up above as possible?

I assume they didn't want the noise from gunshots to attract more walkers?

Although that didn't seem to bother the Terminus peeps who squeezed off about 300 rounds just to herd dinner (including future shish kaBob) into a train car.

This is what I assumed.. They figured they could use the shelves as shields and kill off the walkers safely.. And it worked fine until Preacher boy saw his woman and went all causing the team to abandon their plan to save his worthless A##.

You didn't need to shoot them. You just needed to get them within arm's or stick's reach of a sharp point. A chopped off broom handle would do the job handily. It would have taken maybe 10 minutes. Sharpen a stick, sit on the edge of a hole and taunt the walkers into stick range. Rinse, repeat. It's so easy, even a caveman could do it. It's what they did at the fence at the prison.

And how did they get down or up? Preacher collapsed the rotted stairs. What method allowed them all to get positioned behind their defensive line of shelves before the zombies saw them?

There was a whole lot of WTF in that scene.

It's like they tried to use the game of Mousetrap to catch a mouse rather than to just use a simple mousetrap.

 

[Notorious T.R.E.]

It would be pretty funny when they head north if they hit the northern Georgia border and run into a huge military presence which has quarantined the area and find the zombie apocalypse was limited only to the small part of the world they have been wandering around in the last several months.

That actually sounds like the ending to a pretty decent zombie flick.................patent it.

There's a series of zombie books like this based in Texas. Pretty solid.