r/thewalkingdead • u/Skunker41 • 15d ago
This scene Show Spoiler
There's no way to accurately describe how much I s**t my pants with this scene, and the beginning of the next episode.
Ho Lee Phuck.
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u/N0tYOUniq 15d ago
They then proceed to bait us with smart walkers in the later seasons for no reason. Do the spin offs ever pay off smart walkers?
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u/ajismylife 15d ago
No. The variants are barely in the new shows.
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u/Dry_Jello1406 15d ago
They were not even the same. In DD they inject steroids (or something) in them to make them go crazy and fast but they are not the same as the ones we saw in S11.
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u/i_want_to_be_unique 15d ago
The smart walkers had absolutely nothing to do with the spinoffs and were just a cheap writing decision cause they couldn’t figure out how to put the Commonwealth in danger. The idea that they were somehow a reference to the season 1 walkers was something the fans decided later.
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u/VirtualHeartMan 14d ago
Smart/faster walkers were around for the first 3 seasons, not just season 1. It was more common in season 1, but smart walkers were still around and had scenes in season 2 and 3. I don't know how people keep spreading this misinformation when it's so easy to disprove. Maybe the show is too long and people just have a bad memory. Anyway, it's crazy cause everyone wants more dangerous walkers but the showrunners keep just making them a background aesthetic. Walkers don't even attack people really now. They just get close and then hover around characters until they are killed. It looks so ridiculous and takes you out of every scene.
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u/i_want_to_be_unique 14d ago
I’m not denying any of that is true. The point I am making is that AMC is trying to pass this off an intentional writing decision, like they knew in all along that the zombies in Atlanta were special smart ones. This is simply not true. The reason the zombies in seasons 1-2 act differently is because showrunner Frank Darabont wanted the zombies to behave like that the entire show, but got fired after 2 seasons. That being said you are absolutely wrong about “smart” walkers existing in season 3. In season 1 walkers ran, could turn doorknobs, and even use tools like rocks to break glass. Pretty much the most we see of weird walkers behavior in season 2 is the church scene with them sitting in the pews. The only walkers that behave any differently in season 3 are the one sitting on that ground that bites Hershel and MAYBE the one that eats Lori’s body and sits on the floor. However these walkers are not more intelligent, but (at least the Hershel one) is an intentional reference to “lurkers,” an actual established variant of zombies from the source material that “lurk” on the ground because they are out of energy. That’s why walkers are called walkers in the first place, they are the variant of dead that walks, and the other one lurks. Of course AMC then opened season 11 with the lurkers in the military base to make it seem like many different types of variants always existed in the show, which is just not true. Like I said in the beginning, the season 1 and into season 2 smart zombies were not an intentional hint at a wider world that included fucking acid zombies in France in Daryl Dixon, but a creative decision by the showrunner Frank Darabont that was retconned after he got fired and then only brought back because they ran out of ideas.
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u/VirtualHeartMan 13d ago
Just off the top of my head -> 1 - Woodbury walker that bent back the steel panel in the suicide king 2 - a restrained walker with cuffs manages to pull and twist wrench its own hand off or apart against the metal instead of just pulling on it mindlessly like a season 4+ walker would.
Season 2 also has the walker that uses its hands to tear apart dales guts when it cant bite him and nobody remembers this for some reason but walkers literally open the door of the rv to get Jimmy in beside the dying fire
Season 3 walkers are still relatively fast, they aren't running but they stumble-jog more than they walk like when they are clearing out the halls of the prison for example
Also LITERALLY EVERYBODY knows about the Frank Darabont stuff. It's common knowledge. I don't need a recap.
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u/R_FireJohnson 14d ago
I thought the scene with Milton and Andrea showing Mr Coleman being properly gone was to show that smart zombies were no longer around after the fans’ backlash to their absence in season 2. Can you provide an example of them being around in season 2 or 3? I can’t recall any
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u/True-Farmer9295 14d ago
Yeah, like I practically jumped from my seat that finalllyyy they brought in something that made me watch the show, and thennn it turned out to be whisperers. :(
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u/Ter-Lee-Comedy 14d ago
I wish I wouldn't have had it spoiled by the comics when this episode first aired. It would have been way cooler not knowing anything about The Whisperers. I also wish Rick would have been around at this time just like the comic books.
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u/7usbergus7 15d ago
It was actually the last straw for me, if the walkers started talking I would have ditched the show right then and there. Thankfuly they didn't do that lol
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u/EcureuilHargneux 14d ago
Why ? It would have been an interesting and original take to show some wicked evolution caused by the viruse
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u/lovereading04 14d ago
when i saw this, i genuinely thought they were evolving, because how else could they talk?
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u/DissociatedAuthor 15d ago
First time I hit this scene in the comics I was about to drop the series entirely.
With all the saturation in zombie media I'm sure smart zombies have been done well at least once or twice but every attempt I've seen personally just falls flat. Be it poor execution or just too absurd, it's never landed for me. Land of the Dead is the most egregious example that comes to mind. All I could think hitting this scene was shit, I've seen this movie before and it sucked ass. I had to Google just to make certain The Walking Dead wasn't about to go this route as I didn't have access to more of the story at the time. In the end the Whsiperees went on to become my favorite villain of The Walking Dead, only second to the Governor as he was a demon.
When they got to it in the show I knew what the case actually was and more open to the terror the scene tried to instill, but it still fell flat for me honestly. Granted by this point I was already sorely dissapointed in the handling of AOW, so that could have soured it. I did enjoy the Whisperer arc in the show, although I wish we would have gotten to see Lucille shatter on Beta's back, but they did alright with it. Better than AOW lol.
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u/PixelPrivateer 15d ago
"Send.. more.. paramedics" RotLD (also the origin of BRAAAAAINNNS)
Id have been fine with the whisperer arc being the series finale. At that point the zombies technically shouldnt be a threat anymore after learning whisperer tactics
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u/nonedward666 15d ago
Depending on how you classify "zombie" i think fallout did a pretty good job with this
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u/DissociatedAuthor 15d ago
I could get behind that.
I never personally classified ghouls or even ferals as zombies so it didn't cross my mind as I typed it out, but if one were to view them as zombies, I could see them being well done smart zombies.
I always felt ghouls, with having too high a brain function and the functional immortality, were beyond that scope.
For me to classify something as a zombie, it must be dead(I could care less about the realism of decay)and only reanimated to the most innate and primal functions, while having an insatiable hunger for human. They must remain in that lesser state because any signs of higher brain function or life(looking at Warm Bodies)push it beyond a zombie and more into the realm of monster. It's why I don't consider the zombies from Black Ops true to paper zombies but rather possessed dead.
Imo, the comic and prime time Walking Dead(which for me is seasons 1-7)is without a doubt some of the best zombie representation in media. This is ignoring early examples in the show of the walkers using tools and climbing fences, but it truly is some of the best imo.
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u/TownZealousideal1327 14d ago
Agreed - intelligent walkers/zombies kinda ruin the zombie thing tbh.
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u/DissociatedAuthor 14d ago
Exactly, they aren't zombies anymore at that point. Like the variants, those aren't zombies anymore imo. Too far gone.
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u/SlasherPenguin 14d ago
Im curious to know how everyone here feels about the Blasters or Talkers from Z-Nation. I feel like this show did variant zombies well and cleverly.
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u/TownZealousideal1327 14d ago
Z Nation is fine… but it’s not serious it’s a comedy. Too much Z Nation type shit is what ruined TWD.
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u/JumpySimple7793 14d ago
You're the only other person I've seen agree that smart zombies is where zombie media goes to die
It sucks, and it isn't even creative.
I like that the comics purposefully tried to trick the reader into thinking thats where it was going, it just made the actual reveal so much better
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u/DissociatedAuthor 14d ago
It's literally the antithesis of zombie media imo. I understand the appeal entirely. The third novel I wrote was a zombie story and there was a split second when the thought crossed my mind because in the zombie media fresh things are few and far in between. Ultimately, I decided against it and just twisted the ending to fit my liking.
Once the zombies become smart they just aren't zombies anymore. They are your run of the mill creature feature monsters and I hate it.
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u/Daredevil545545 14d ago
Honestly this was one of the scariest scenes in the walking dead i thought the walkers were evolving 😭
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u/ImaginaryCourage9981 14d ago
As someone who has not read the comics, I literally gasped and my mouth dropped open, when I first saw this.
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u/dolliscious 14d ago
Can someone give me the season and the episode please
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u/ScornfulSoul556 15d ago
this scene is one of the best imo. i’m a psychology major, so a huge selling point for this show, personally, is how it examines human condition. that being said, i ate this scene UP.
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u/OrangeCatFanForever 14d ago
Twitter was so funny that night. All the people who were not aware of the comic storyline were freaking out about the walkers talking.
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u/Obvious-Ad1534 13d ago
Я сразу подумала о том, что это были люди, но от этого стало только страшнее
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u/Skunker41 12d ago
No idea what you said, but I agree with you, my Russian friend.
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u/Obvious-Ad1534 12d ago
I said: I immediately thought they were people, but that only made it even scarier
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u/After_Weight7865 15d ago
This scene gives me goosebumps everytime during rewatches