Walking Dead 3/11/12 "Better Angels"

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In regards to the bar shooting, 2 things that can contradict you.

The first shot didn't fully kill him, so he put a bullet in his head so the guy wouldn't shoot him (even if it was a long shot)
Also, he doesn't know if a Walker goes and bites the guy now if they leave, he could be 99% dead and come back as a Walker himself, so eliminate that risk.

Both of those scenerios can be played out w/o that guy or everyone already having the virus.

 

Whether the whisper was "all of you already have it" or "some of you already have it", the "actionability" is the same. [Rick] would have been warned to expect that anyone would/could resurrect, regardless of how he/she ultimately dies.

If the scientist told him which specific group member(s) tested positive for infection, then that could be actionable.

However, if the scientist already knew that the entire populous was already infected, then why did he bother testing the group at all?

 

How could he be expected to know that? He might have known that all the personnel at the CDC were infected and perhaps the soldiers protecting the lab, but I don't think the infrastructure was in place to do random sampling of the greater Atlanta population (much less the people in rural areas).

 

Exactly. And he hadn't wandered outside the CDC to test anyone else.

 

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For some amount of time didn't he have communications with other CDC/WHO offices? I thought he mentioned that.

 

I would HIGLY recommend you read World War Z (which is mentioned in just about every episode thread) to illustrate how easy it was for the military to be overrun by an undead army.

 

Perhaps he knows the virus is airborne and has a long lifespan or somesuch? It's true he couldn't factually say that everyone is infected, but something that was highly contagious, didn't kill the hosts quickly, and could linger outside the host for a while could get you to that "statistical everybody". The CDC should have all the tools to do those fancy projections on the maps with the evil red clouds that expand dramatically.

 

Yes, but what could they have added to the discussion? They could test the people at the labs, but even if they were all infected, I don't think that provides enough information to make educated guesses about the population as a whole.

 

What I mean by going insane, is that I believe many of the surviving humans in the situation they are now in would quickly lose their mind. It seems almost impossible to deal with life the way it now is. I believe that people would be far more likely to behave as the group of 30 does, rather than how Ricks group carries on.

 

If the CDC guy told Rick everyone is infected, Rick would not have just stabbed Shane in the belly and walked away. He would have also stabbed/shot him in the head.

And I don't think he would have backed down from shooting Dale in the head.

 

Just finished that last week, for sure a must read for zombie fans and fans of this show.

 

His confrontation with Shane required a quick kill, stabbing Shane in the heart seemed liked the quickest way, moving up to his cranium could have meant Shane could have dodged or evaded the stabbing.

If the CDC guy told him that everyone was all ready infected, Rick could be doubting that news and decided to wait and see if Shane turned. He also may not be ready to break the news to everyone else.

I think Rick pausing to kill Dale could be just fatigue. He took care of Sophia, is fighting with Shane, may have news that they're all infected already.. Give the guy a break.

 

I know the quick reaction was the stab to the belly. I think he would have followed that with a head shot. If he was told it could take anywhere from 3 minutes to some amount of hours to change, he would not have walked away from Shane without securing him or finishing him, or at least watching his back as he walked away.

As for Sophia, she was already a walker, so there was no question in his mind she needed to be shot in the head.

 

The scientist would reasonably be expected to know whether the virus is airborne or not. If it's not, then the entire population couldn't have it, could they?

 

Yes, I agree that it's possible for the scientist to know that the entire population couldn't have it. (All it would take is one person at the CDC to be virus-free.)

But you suggested that perhaps the scientist knew that the entire population did have it. That's a very different thing. For example, even if the virus were airborne, that doesn't mean it is necessarily ubiquitous.

 

The guy just killed his BFF, his sons godfather, partner, etc... Give him a break for not thinking rationally.. Either he was just super emotional at the moment, felling guilt and was trying to figure out how to break the news to the group, waiting to see if Shane tuned, or a combination of the above.

 

Slightly off topic: I had a really hard time getting into this book. Does it start out slow, or am I just missing something?

 

I think Rick was not quite in his right mind after killing Shane. I'm sure he was still grieving, and then when Carl showed up and was pointing a gun at him, his mind wasn't exactly on how fast Shane was going to turn.

As for Dale - he didn't back down, he was just overwhelmed. As the leader of the group, anytime something bad goes down, it's on him. I'm sure he would have ended up shooting Dale if Daryl hadn't stepped up.

 

It never gets all that action-packed, but I found it truly fascinating in its imagination and attention to detail.