The Walking Dead returns...

The guys in the bar struck me as more desperate than evil, but it looks like we might find out more about their motivations next week. I was a little concerned that the discussion about Fort Benning and DC, etc. was going to be an excuse to have the group stay put at the farm for the rest of this season, which I'm sure would be good for the budget, but I'm not so sure about the viewers.

I don't know what Lori was thinking she'd accomplish that Rick and Glenn couldn't, particularly when she apparently didn't even know where the town was.

On Talking Dead they had a viewer poll regarding which character you'd want leading your group - Rick, Shane, Daryl or Hershel. I was expecting Daryl to win and was shocked when Rick got like 54% of the votes to Daryl's 34%, Shane's 11% and Hershel's (lol) 1%. I wonder if Rick's badassery at the end of this episode didn't elevate him in a lot of viewers eyes.

please let lori be dead please let lori be dead please let lori be dead please let lori be dead please let lori be dead...

i know.. i know.. but i can hope...

***SPOILER ALERT***

excellent fake out at the end as well. Bringing in Michael Raymond-James (soooo good in the criminally underappreciated Terriers) was a great touch. Here I was thinking he's going to make a great new addition to the cast, how he would affect the leadership dynamic between Rick/Shane/Hershel... then BAM! right through the head. That was awesome.

The commercial for next week indicates that Lori is alive for at least part of the episode, but she does appear to be in a rather nasty predicament.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ultraamann excellent fake out at the end as well. Bringing in Michael Raymond-James (soooo good in the criminally underappreciated Terriers) was a great touch. Here I was thinking he's going to make a great new addition to the cast, how he would affect the leadership dynamic between Rick/Shane/Hershel... then BAM! right through the head. That was awesome.

I didn't know who the actor was, but even his five minutes on screen impressed me more than 90% of the other actors on this show have in the last season and a half. I expected to get at least a few episodes of tension out of those two.

I figured that the two guys were scouts for a larger group. They were asking too many pointed questions, and were too observant about what was going on. It seemed to me that this wasn't the first time that they've done that, so I expected them to be the first contact for a larger group. Get in, find out what you can, go back and report. Yes, they were a little too aggressive, which ended up getting them killed. Maybe they've had better luck with previous groups, who were more trusting.

Now, I have to wonder, will Shane change his opinion of Rick based on what Rick did in the bar? Will it quieten him down for a bit, so that he's no longer on everyone's list?

It's going to be more like Rick stirred up a hornet's nest. I'm betting the zombie cook off at the farm will end up attracting this other group.

So what's worse? Large crowd of dumb walkers or small group of armed, unfriendly people?

If they're using the comic as a basic skeleton while putting their own spin on certain elements, I can see the scouts as being part of the Governor's group. They may have said the base was overrun to dissuade visitors because they're using it for supplies/shelter. Also, an attack by some of the Governor's people on the farm could be what drives them to leave and discover the prison.

I'm wondering why in the world Rick, Hershel, and Glenn stuck around the bar, since in the previews you can see it was nighttime or at least dusk when they're having to hide and fend off the scouts' buddies.

I think I just may have puzzled out Lori’s motive in going to get Rick. It is exactly because she thinks the girl is being zombified.

At this point, there’s four men on the farm. T-Dog and Shane are out burning the zombie corpses. Dale’s doing whatever Dale does, and Daryl is off being mad at the world. If the girl turns zombie, it is bad for all. However, if Shane realized she’s turning, at this point, he’s likely to go in and kill her right away. The other girls there will do everything they can to stop him, which means somebody else is getting hurt. Dale won’t do it. T-Dog has been mostly talk this entire time. And Daryl is off being mad at the world. So Lori wants to go get Rick, tell him her suspicions, and have Rick be the shield between Shane and changing-girl.

At the end of all this, I see Hershel and his zombie daughter dead, with Maggie and the other boy joining the group to go onward.

Regardless of the time of day it's still going to seem a little bit strange that they got caught flat-footed in the bar without some reasonable explanation. We can assume that Rick firing his gun might attract Walkers so one would think that the smartest thing they would do is just leave immediately after killing the two guys. For some reason (according to the preview) they stay in the bar long enough for other people to arrive.

Either those other people were already literally waiting outside for their friends as soon as they went into the bar or Rick and company strangely decided to wait around to get caught there. Either of those possibilities just seem a little too contrived to me. *shrugs*

I don't think it would be too contrived to have the rest of the scouts' group waiting at least within running/gunshot distance. Reason being, the scouts get the info and either find out where the camp is (and kill off the guys in the bar) or get led to it. The remainder of their group follows them to the camp if the scouts are led to it. The scouts act from the inside to take out the known trouble. The remainder then come in when a signal is given and mop up the survivors.

It doesn't have to be a "large" group. It could only be like 4-5 guys outside. If they sent in the entirety of the group, that could definitely be seen as a threat and would put Rick's group immediately on the defensive.

One person would be seen as a bit suspicious IMO as likelyhood of survival for most people would be small. Sending in two is a good compromise for security of the scouts and can be seen as a reasonable chance for survival in the wild.

The scouts would not, in all probability, be there to "lure" Rick & Co. outside to a larger group. Their job is to find out where the camp is and possibly get taken there. The remainder of their group follows at a distance, staying out of sight, and attacks at night or after the scouts have disabled the security of the group. Play on the "humanity" of the target group to offer sanctuary and help to the scouts, and then turn on them.

That's why you send in a smaller scout force to eliminate the major threats within the target group. And while that camp might have dozens of people, there's the good possibility that a large number of them are exactly like Herschel prior to his epiphany. The scouts kill off the guys like Shane and Rick early on, sneak out, and sneak in the rest of their group.

The scouts are also there to find out how many people are in the community. Too many and they wave off their friends. And even if there is dozens in there, all it would take is a few people with decent medium to long range rifle skills to drastically thin the herd.

Just got around to watching this, and discovered the reason I should never look forward to a career as a gunfighter.

Rick's putting the third bullet into the big guy...

Me: "Lookout, he's (the skinny guy) going for his gun!"

Excellent episode though. I liked that they sort of breezed past the mopey crap with Dale and Carol. A little drama's okay, but too much and I'll just watch something else.