Don't Dead Open Inside - S02:E03

   As the preface this week, I wanted to point out something that I just realized (and I'm already two episodes in!), I'm terrible. The underlying theme of last season was to dehumanize zombies. This season, they humanize them. It becomes very apparent this episode when Darryl and Andrea go searching for Sophia. The reasoning is still slightly unclear (as of this episode), but seeing as the purpose of last season was to help them "cover" for themselves. They are slowly growing accustomed to their new lives, and losing a small sense of their humanity. It's odd given the amount of serenity in this season; but that's also the main factor that shows them losing their humanity. It's not that the world is becoming more peaceful, it's that their brains are just not fearing the world anymore. So, I now present to you my rendition of:

Save the Last One

   (Shane and Otis)

   They run into the school and are being hunted by people. They get themselves cornered in the gymnasium. They talk for the few seconds they have before the mob of people break through the doors (they decide to split up). The crowd doesn't notice Shane and they chase Otis. While Shane sneaks outside, everyone follows Otis.

   After a while, Otis and Shane get back together, but Otis is still being chased by people. As they shamble off together, the crowd starts firing a few shots at them. A lucky shot hits Otis, and he goes down; meanwhile Shane's head gets grazed by a bullet. Shane, wanting to continue the charade of life for the group, dismembers Otis and leaves him for the crowd. Otis cries out until they silence him by destroying his brain. They try to chase Shane, but he is already hiding and wasn't able to be found. Let's be honest, it was at night, so they weren't keen on looking to much for a zombie that was already trying to get away from them.
                                                                                                   
   Shane starts heading back to Hershel's farm.

   (Highway Crew)

   Now it's night time (remember that they didn't actually spend the night that they said they did last episode), Carol is crying like a baby for her baby. Neither Darryl nor Andrea can take it anymore. They leave to get some peace and quiet. While out walking they come across a man who hanged himself. He just did it and is struggling to breathe when they come across him. He flails around trying to avoid them as best he can. Darryl and Andrea talk about Andrea's decision last season. In the meantime it distracts them as they eat the flesh off his legs and him die. They didn't even realize what happened because they were distracted.

   They return and Andrea replaces Dale as watch.

   (Farmhouse)

   Back at the farmhouse, Rick tries to convince Lori that everything will be okay. Lori thinks it's better is Carl dies, Rick knows what it would mean if Carl "dies" and suggests that it's better for him to live. Lori gives a valid reason for her suggestion; when she asks Rick for his reasoning, he stays silent.

   T-Dog and Glen arrive and offer/get whatever help they can. Shortly after, Carl wakes up. He tells his mother about the deer, and then has a seizure. Rick uses this opportunity to tell Lori that THIS is the reason why Carl should live.

   After a painful night, Carl is in "dire" need of an operation, or he's going to die. Just then, Shane arrives with the supplies. Hershel goes through with the operation successfully. Shane, careful to keep his wound out of sight showers upstairs. While he showers, he examines his wound.

   A chunk of his skull is missing. In order to cover it up, he finds a razor and starts to work. He cuts a few layers of unseen skin off and attaches them over his wound. Then he covers that with a new hairstyle. All the while he is haunted by Otis' death.

==xx==

   This was a good episode, and I can't wait to continue this season. One thing is that Hershel seemed to try and push the surgery for Carl. He knew that the surgery, without the supplies, would result in Carl's death and lead to some food (which he subconciously wanted). Obviously, this didn't happen, but it's the reason for such a push. I mentioned a lot in the preface, so there's not much to go on here except just some questions:

*How come Carol didn't cry like this last "night"? ANSWER: There wasn't a last night.

*IF zombies are more active at night, how come Darryl and Andrea didn't come across any (dangerous) zombies?

*If you pay attention to how Otis and Shane leave, you'll notice that Shane (obviously) didn't need to shoot Otis. There were no zombies ahead of them, they were all behind them. They wasted about a minute fighting, so where was this terrible need to buy time? Why did Shane shoot Otis or, what actually happened?

*Just how big is Hershel's plot of land? It seems very big, but everyone navigates it very quickly. Which leads to:

*How did Shane know how to get back to Hershel's farm? Unless the farm was visible from where Shane was, he must have been very far away. They were far enough away that gunshots couldn't be heard by the farmhouse people, but near enough that Shane knew how to get back? I'm going to research into this because I'm sure Otis mentioned somewhere a rough estimate as to the distance but my daughter and I are currently too busy with My Little Pony (so it'll have to be later).

That's just about all of the questions I had during the episode. I hope you guys enjoyed it!

Don't Dead Open Inside - S02:E02

   It's Wednesday, and that means another post about the Walking Dead.

   Last week Carl was shot. This week, with minimal zombie interaction (I jest), we see how two different groups react to each other. Let's dive in and find out what surprises are in store.

Bloodletting:

   Zombie Rick is running while carrying Carl in his arms. Rick is frantic, Carl is in shock, Shane is dragging Otis, Otis is apologizing. Now, one thing they forgot to mention, they never point out which direction Otis was when the deer was shot. The deer was shot, Carl was shot; Otis did not fire the shot. Here's what happened prior to the episode:

   Carl and deer get shot, Rick goes to Carl. Otis heard the shot and comes towards the noise, Shane starts looking for the source of the shot. Otis and Shane meet and Otis sees Shane as human, Shane sees Otis as a zombie. Shane knows that there are only humans hunting out here and accuses Otis of shooting the deer and Carl. Otis, more Otis' brain very vulnerable to the power of persuasion, instantly accepts that as true. Thus the current scenario.

   Otis apologizes and directs these three towards a nearby farmhouse, he yells "Hershel will help your boy!" At the farmhouse, Hershel reveals that he has the ability to save Carl, but it requires immediate action and blood. Shane calms Rick down and the family at the farm help come up with a plan for getting everyone together. Rick gives blood for Carl (because the bullet fragmented), Shane and Otis go to a nearby school for supplies, Maggie is sent to get the group in the woods. While Hershel waits for supplies, the surgery is put on hold (causing Carl to need more blood). Rick and Hershel get to know each other better, and Lori soon meets up with them. Now, Hershel is revealed to be a Veterinarian.

   This brings us to the group in the woods. The gunshot was heard by the group and Lori fears that the rest of their group is involved. They are more on edge, and while looking for Sophia, Andrea is attacked by the hunter that shot the deer. He was too ill-prepared to handle multiple zombies (which is why he left the deer in the first place), and the group help defend Andrea as the meet Maggie (from the farm). Maggie takes Lori back to the farm and gives directions on how to get there to the others. The others go to Dale and T-Dog, before bring everyone back to the farm as a base.

   This brings us the Dale and T-Dog. T-Dog was injured last episode (I think I skipped that part). When Dale does a closer inspection of T-Dog's arm he finds the arm "heavily infected" and T-Dog has a "fever". Really, Dale was just finally seeing the zombiism in T-Dog's arm (but given that was the only thing he was looking for, the arms was the only thing that look infected. The fever was because zombies obviously can't sweat in the sun so T-Dog's face is obviously going to be hot). When the group comes back to the cars, Daryl gives T-Dog Merle's "stash". Seemingly better for now, everyone heads to the farmhouse after leaving a message for Sophia.

   Now at the school, the FEMA shelter, this is where it gets really tricky. The FEMA shelter is run mostly by scientists who are VERY LIGHTLY armed. Shane and Otis start a fire in one area, and all the scientists flood that area to put out the fire. Meanwhile, Shane and Otis get supplies from the supply cart. Once both sides are done, Shane and Otis try to leave but are spotted. All the scientists start looking for the few weapons they have, and none of them are very good shots. They quickly run out of ammo and Shane and Otis run into the school to get out of the open.

==xx==

   I hope you enjoyed this take on Bloodletting. A few questions I asked during the episode.

1) Just how far away was Otis from the farm? Honestly, I would think that Carl would have died long before reaching the farm.

2) Why was Otis out hunting, when they live on a farm, and have a nearby town to scavenge from?

3) How did Sophia get so distracted that shouldn't couldn't make it back to the highway and was out of earshot of everyone (when she got lost)?

4) DID OTIS gather SOPHIA and then come back to look for MORE? OH, the scandal! And,

5) What's the deal with gathering people anyways?

Until next week, have fun!

Don't Dead Open Inside - S02:E01

   I bet you guys thought I forgot about this huh?
   Nope.
   But I did take a break. I decided, that if I went faster than the new episodes came out, I would run out of new material that wouldn't contain spoilers for all but the most dedicated fans.

   Next time, I promise I will make a post about it, but I didn't think about it until after the fact, and it was already after the fact so there we go.

   As a quick summary, the theory is that Rick actually died in the hospital and returned as a zombie. What we see as zombies are actually humans, and what we see as humans are actually zombies. Basically, the group (which are zombies) are remembering their human lives, and their decaying brains are interpreting their world to help perpetuate the idea that they are, in fact, survivors.

   The overall theme last season was that the group was de-humanizing zombies to try and humanize themselves. They were trying to explain humanity. In season two, an overlying theme is that they are trying to find their humanity. Without going to in-depth now: the search for Sophia, meeting Hershel and the "perfection" that is the farm. Before we being I wish to remind you of two things first:

1) At this point, both Rick and Shane know that everyone in the group are zombies. Rick was told by Dr. Jenner; Shane figured it out. Neither are telling the group.

2) This will contain spoilers (in some weird twisted way), so I recommend watching the actual episode first. Without further delay, I present:

What Lies Ahead:

   Rick starts by Walkie Talkie-ing Morgan about the groups plan to mobilize. One thing I want to point out, is that the Walkie-Talkie doesn't even work. Zombie Rick just "thinks" it works, this becomes important later and is something that I forgot to mention above. I am going to write as if the zombie theory is correct. I'm not going to say, you see this, but this is happening, I'm just going to say the "this is happening" bit.

   Again, Rick talks to Morgan using the broken Walkie-Talkie. He almost reveals the truth about their condition, but he decides it's better to keep that information from people. That would ruin their humanity, and plus he doesn't quite believe it himself yet.

   The group makes their way down the highway towards Fort Benning. They come across hundreds (maybe thousands) of cars blocking their path. Despite this obvious road block, they press forwards. Why? The dinner bell is ringing; they smell humans nearby.

   Now, they act as if they are in an RV, but there are a few things that disprove this. Glen says they should turn back, but T-Dog says that the can't spare the fuel. I know, right? No fuel in a car graveyard. Once people start to realize what they are doing, the RV all of a sudden breaks down. Thank goodness for the coincidence, or was it really them making an excuse to retain humanity? Back to the theory.

   They stop and spread out looking for supplies, when their supplies find them. The group of humans using this car graveyard as a supply depot, heard something and are coming to investigate. The group panics and hides under, in, and around the cars (there are a lot of dead bodies in case you didn't notice).

   One of the guys thinks that the RV seems a good place to explore, and goes to investigate; Andrea is torn. She doesn't understand the feeling she has (the hunger for brains). She panics, but Dale gives her enough of an excuse that she can pretend that she was killing a zombie. Then she eats his brains. For a quick recap of how this works:

   Both Andrea and Dale see what they presume is a zombie. Andrea has a "broken" gun, and Dale has a "screwdriver" (he was fixing the RV remember).
   So, Andrea knows that she can't put the gun back together so she has no ability to hold to humanity AND kill the person investigating the RV. In this action, had she killed the person, she would ultimately be admitting that she was a zombie (this freaks her out). But, when she sees Dale and remembers that he was "fixing" the RV, her brain conjures up this falsity that he gave her a screwdriver. This allows her mind to kill the person in a way that lets her feel human; meanwhile all that's really happening is that she's killing him and eating his brains. Dale was too worried about the moving horde to notice. Let's get back on track.

   Once the horde of people pass, Sophia comes out of her hiding place and surprises some stragglers. They all go running into the woods (Rick chases after them). After a while the stragglers realize it's two people to one zombie and they gather their wits enough to chase her. Rick finally catches up to Sophia and hides her. When the two people come across Rick they still see only one zombie and so they decide to chase him as well. Rick gets the better of them, but finds Sophia missing. At this point, Sophia lost herself to the disease. We don't know why, but we have some proof of it later.

   Rick gets a small group to look for Sophia, and soon it's just Rick and Daryl tracking Sophia. As Daryl tracks Sophia the entire time they mention that there is only one set of tracks. They also mention that the tracks get lighter. This means that there is no outside force causing Sophia to alter her direction AND that Sophia is either losing weight, or making less defined steps. This is technically speculation, but if they were tracking her, the steps should be getting more defined as they got closer, not less (less time passes to distort the tracks. I'm not a hunter so this could be wrong).

   Rick and Daryl stumble upon a hunter and kill him and eat him and his woodchuck.

   Once back at the highway the group is torn with a decision. Press onwards, or look for Sophia. Give into their instincts, or retain their humanity. At first, everyone is quite keen on staying; this changes later. They form a group and Andrea and Dale argue about not wanting each other's blood on their hands. Given the stalemate, Shane uses this time set a no guns policy. This will greatly help the group retain their humanity (they need to hear gunshots in order for their brains to justify themselves shooting a gun; see last season the camp raid). Shane also distances himself from Carl and the rest of the group; he is planning on leaving before he accidentally reveals that he knows everyone is already a zombie. This kind of behavior is also evident in the fact that Shane was constantly disagreeing with Rick last season, but now is overly agreeable with him. He wants the group to retain its humanity as much as possible, so he chooses to support decisions that support them having humanity.

   As they hunt for Sophia, they hear church bells in the distance. They get really excited for two reasons: they could lead to Sophia; they could be literal dinner bells. They hurry after the noise and find a small group of survivors taking time to pray. The group overwhelms the three soloists, and dines. When they can't wait for Sophia any longer they split up again leaving Shane, Carl and Rick behind.

   The group going back to the highway are irritable partly because they left some leftovers for the other three, and partly because they are missing a large piece of their humanity (Sophia, being a child, was important to them).

   Meanwhile, Dale explains that he was not exactly fixing the RV, that it's been fixed since yesterday. I don't believe they really spent the night, and thus making this statement false (As a side note, if they did spend the night, they REALLY glossed over it in the show). Where did they all sleep? Who kept watch? Why didn't Andrea look for her gun then? So many questions come up if they actually spent the night.

   Finally, Carl got shot and his dad went ballistic (puns, I know).

==xx==

   This was a long episode. Things that I question about the episode (that I haven't yet pointed out):

* When Carl was shot, why was there so little blood? Why was Carl so peaceful looking so soon?

* Why did the "zombie" even climb into the RV? If you say it was because it smelled human, then why couldn't it smell human when Andrea was in the bathroom (originally)?

* Why no baby zombies?

I hope you guys are looking forwards to my interpretation of season two, I'm really looking forward to delving into the whole farm scenario, and the final confrontation between Rick and Shane!

Don't Dead Open Inside - S01:E06

   I apologize for the delay!

   I wanted this post to be special, as it is a defining moment in the series both as a finale and as a massive convincing point to my theory. With this speciality, came indecision and with this indecision, came delay. In short, that's why today's Walking Dead Wednesday is on Thursday. Enjoy the season one finale of Walking Dead.

TS-19

   First off, the way Shane "protects" Rick is abysmal. Any zombie with half a brain could have gotten into the room. But, I'm above that now. Also, this was back when they were human. Rick HASN'T died yet.

   Jenner is a mysterious man. He keeps making logs of his research and progress. He stays locked inside a barricaded building that is almost ready to explode. The timer counts down as the power is used up, which means that the less power used the longer it takes to reach 0. If I was running on a clock, and had no intention of leaving the facility, I would have shut down the power to the outside long before Jenner did. But, that also adds to his character development as well.
   Per this theory, we know that Jenner is dead, is a scientist, and had had a partner at some time. The building is abnormally clean and has an immense amount of food. These are all things that I'm going to touch on in this post.

   Jenner was telling the truth about the scientists once the apocalypse happened. Most left, some "left", and barely a handful stayed. Originally, he and the other staff were alive, but at some point they all died. Here are some scenarios:
1) The same reason that the building was going to blow up in the first place, infected the remaining staff. They didn't initially keep the top side locked which let people in and a raid gone wrong left everyone dead except Jenner.
2) Everyone becomes infected, and Jenner realizes this. Because he doesn't quite understand zombiism yet, he thinks he'll starve as a zombie. He plans ahead; he kills the remaining staff and keeps them fresh by putting them in the refrigerator.
3) Jenner got infected from his wife, but doesn't tell anyone. One night he wakes up as a zombie and eats the remaining crew. Then he keeps them fresh by storing them.
4) The staff don't even realize that they're dead. They simply wake up one day and keep on experimenting. Slowly they die do to accidents (that fire seemed rather intense), until only Jenner remains.
*My personal choice is roughly aligned with option 3* (One person turns and kills others. This way, Jenner knows that there were zombies in the facility, but he thinks he got them all. What he doesn't know, is that he died and turned.)

   Whichever seems more believable to you, I just want to point out that the facility is abnormally clean for post-apocalyptic. This is their human brains recognizing this place as a haven for them. They ignore all the disgusting mess that is sure to be in some of the rooms, and replace it with perfection.

   The important part is, Jenner doesn't know that he's dead. He knows that he's alone, on limited time. He keeps all the power running for observational purposes. He studies the zombie outside and sees many people fall outside the walls. He also finds a lone zombie walking the halls on surveillance. Knowing the danger, he goes to investigate, but he never finds the zombie. Through several iterations of this, he slowly realizes something. The zombie is always where he was at the time of surveillance. HE IS THE ZOMBIE.

   This horrible truth make him realize that there is no hope for him, and he finally starts shutting down the facility to conserve power. He might not survive, but he is still going to try and find a cure (using the remains of his wife). One thing he continues to do, is to monitor outside to see the state of the world. What he didn't realize, is that he'd find another group of zombies as well. They came banging on the doors, looking for solace, and that's when Jenner had to make another decision.

   He knew the truth, that they were zombies, he also knew that this place would blow up shortly. He was torn between two terrible choices. Let the live, unknowing, outside, or let them die inside, but knowing the truth. He finally decides to let them in, and seals the door behind them.
   A side note: the zombies outside were sleeping, right? Wrong. Those were all dead bodies. If zombies slept, we would have noticed by now. As of now, zombies are mobile until death as soon as they are "born". Thus, those are strictly dead bodies. That means, all the commotion they were facing outside was a group of people looking to raid the facility.

   Once inside, Jenner tries his best to appear scientific to this group. Obviously, he tells them everything he knows except that they are dead. That's part of the reason that he traps them inside. He doesn't want them to find out, he thinks that the truth would be too much to bare. The group convinces him otherwise and people start to make their choices. Rick thanks Jenner for all of the generosity, but Jenner pulls him aside and whispers, "We're already dead."

   The group escapes, and starts their journey towards season two.

Don't Dead Open Inside - S01:E04 and S01:E05

   I'm back with another two episodes of my Walking Dead conspiracy. If you guys enjoy the show, they are doing a marathon right now on AMC, until about 4am Thursday! Start watching!

Vatos

   AT CAMP:
   Andrea and Amy are sitting around a lake remembering their human lives. Meanwhile, everyone is scared that they find Jim freaking out about a number of holes he found atop a hill. They assume that he dug them, but Jim really doesn't remember (he didn't; they were there). Jim recounts the moment he was torn from his family. They had escaped while he was bitten by a zombie, and left for dead. Shane keeps questioning Jim about the holes and even ties him to a tree. Jim honestly can't remember why the holes were there, because he didn't dig them (it's complicated mentally though).

AT ATLANTA:
   Meanwhile, Rick and those searching for Merle are now attempting to recover Rick's "guns". They discover another group of zombies in the process. In the confusion, Glenn is taken, they capture someone in return. They find this group through some interrogation techniques like showing a dismembered hand (the one Daryl kept for later). The kid wants the hand (but doesn't? again, it's complicated mentally for these zombies at this time), but they refuse to tell him unless they find their bigger, more organized, group of zombies.

   Guillermo explains the situation. It boils down to this: they both aren't convinced that the others are zombies (Zombiism is still relatively recent this is the third day from Rick's perspective, but it's probably been four MAYBE five days tops) Needless to say, all the bodies are too fresh. They don't trust each other, but they also don't want to kill each other. Suddenly, and old lady zombie comes downstairs and interrupts. This confirms it for Rick's group, which in turn confirms it for the other group.
  
   Guillermo explains how the staff just "left" the old people to die. Really, they were chased out and or eaten by the already dead people. Rick wishes the group well, and gives them "guns". Now, when I say guns, I really mean "insanity" in that they allow their dying brains to continue to think that they're human. They leave, but are forced to walk all the way back to camp because somebody stole their truck.

   The people who dug the holes on the hill come an attack the camp. There are losses on both sides, but eventually the zombies win (especially when Rick and group shows up). In the aftermath of the attack, Jim remembers digging those holes; this was Jim's camp before he was a zombie. We don't learn too much about this, because Jim dies shortly, but it's true. Mmhmm...


Moving right along...

Wildfire

   Rick warns Morgan that Atlanta is not overcome by the dead. He warns that the living haunt the city, and that maybe there is a cure for this disease. He tells hims that they're going to look at the CDC for a cure. At this point, they are actually more interested in the people finding the cure, not the cure itself.
  
   Andrea is mourning her dead sister. Everyone tries convincing her that she's dead, and that they shouldn't waste good meat, but Andrea rebels. She waits until nobody wants to eat Amy, before she eats her brains (it is more justifiable that way).

   Jim is physically shaken by his revelation (he just learned that his current life has been a lie), and shies awkwardly away from the group. Jacqui notices, and forces Jim to reveal his bite. Jim is frantic; he knows that he is a zombie, but that nobody else knows that they are zombies. He reveals his bite, and slowly thinks of ways to isolate himself from the group (to protect them from the truth).

   The group, after a heated debate, conclude to go to the CDC. Morales and family disagrees and goes to follow family. On the road to the CDC, Jim becomes progressively worse and begins dreaming of the night he became a zombie. As he remembers more and more of his zombie actions, he gets more feverish and frail. When the group stops, he tricks them into leaving him alone. He kills himself and his demented memories of his life as a zombie. Shane, however, is slightly unnerved. He knows something isn't quite right, but he doesn't know what.

   Jenner, the scientist, is making videos of "science". He's all alone, in the slowly failing lab. He specifically notes, blowing his brains out (so he can eat them) before he sees the group hoping to come into the locked facility. Jenner notes the time on the clock, hesitates, and finally lets them in.

   I'll get into more detail about the CDC in the next review; I'm saving the best for last. But this episode starts to show that zombies are capable of being reminded of their zombification. This is obviously a very traumatic experience both the first time and in recollection, which is why Jim became so sick so fast.

Happy New Years everybody!

Don't Dead Open Inside - S01:E03

   This theory is still in it's infantile stages, but it will soon grow. It has a lot of strong support in the first season and I'm eager to share all of these points with you. If you are actually starting to follow along (whether from curiosity, entertainment, belief or any combination therein), try watching ahead of my reviews and see if you can start to point the same kinds of things that I do. Discovery is most of the enjoyment; anticipation only goes so far.

   There's nothing too distinctive about this episode except for a few points. This episode almost runs as it implies.

   Without further ado, SPOILER ALERT! *kinda*

Tell It to the Frogs:

   Merle starts off talking to himself. Reliving some of his favorite memories. Some people, who previously gave up trying to get after Merle, try again. Merle tries to get the toolbox that is nearby, but it is too far away.

   The group returns to their base camp. One their way there everyone realizes that Merle isn't with them. Morales says it's better this way. Shane tells Carl he'll teach him how to catch frogs to eat. Finally returning to camp, everyone reunites with their families.

   That night they sit around campfires and try to avoid being seen by people. Ed complains about being cold, not realizing that it's not the appropriate time of year for that kind of weather. Shane keeps the fire and tension down.

   Lori and Rick spend some time together, Lori can't believe it. The next morning, Rick awakens and hears the children scream. The camp comes across a hunter eating a deer. They beat the hunter up and decapitate him. Darryl comes by and says that he has been following that deer for miles, and eats the brains of the decapitated head.

   They tell Darryl about Merle and he goes ballistic. They calm him down, and tell him that he was cuffed to the roof but still alive. They get a small group together to save Merle.

   Shane and Carl "catch frogs". Lori and Shane get into an argument while Ed "guards" the women. The Merle group argues about whether to go for guns or Merle first. They go to get Merle, but Rick reminds them that they need the "guns".

   Shane beats up Ed almost breaking his face in. Shane almost lost it and was on the verge of eating Ed's brains. It was a close call, but he finally found the (dying) humanity in his mind and stopped. Meanwhile, at the very end, you see that Merle's hand is dangling from the pipes, chewed off the cuff.

Notes:
   This episode, due to low zombie activity, runs very similarly to the way they intend it to.
   If Darryl WAS hunting that deer for miles, why didn't he know that it was attacked? Why did he do nothing to stop the "zombie" from mauling and eating it? Was he hunting the deer? Or the zombie?
   Shane beats Ed up so badly, because he loses all sense of humanity. His humanity is strongly based off of Lori, who all of a sudden rejects him. His sense of humanity gone, he realizes his hunger for brains. It becomes apparent next season, that Shane REALIZES that he's a zombie along with the rest of them.
   Also, Merle chewed his hand off. The group imagines the saw there, because that would have been the human way to do it.
  

Don't Dead Open Inside - S01:E02

   Convinced yet? I don't blame you if you aren't; it's a pretty hard sell.

   This episode has a ton of flaws in regards to my human/zombie theory; but it also has some defense against it to. Nevertheless let us continue with episode two...

   (Again, just note that I'm writing entirely based on my theory. If you want to compare, watch the episode at the same time. Also, if you haven't noticed by now, SPOILER ALERT *kind of*)

Guts:

   Rick starts in the tank talking to Glen. Glen points out that if Rick waits too long the people upset about the horse, won't be upset and will hunt Rick again. Rick understands and follows Glen's advice.

   When Rick leaves the tank, somebody notices and shoots at him. Rick jumps off the tank and runs for Glen. Rick and Glen run through the alley and climb up a ladder. The reason that people stop chasing them up the ladder is because of a powerful acid lining the rungs. This is residue from Rick and Glen having just climbed up the ladder. (Sound odd? This is part of the "Left 4 Dead" theory in the notes below.)

   Glen leads Rick into their cage of a store after mauling two random people. Andrea is angry and tries to eat Rick's brains (he's a very new zombie, it has barely been a day), but everyone convinces her that he's a zombie just like everyone else. They point out that they are stuck in the store with hundreds of people trying to get in.

   They hear gunshots and head up to the roof. Merle is standing guard atop the building and people are shooting at him. They obviously miss, but everyone is furious that he is standing out in the open like he was. He gets upset and starts his racist rant, and Rick takes him out and cuffs him to the pipes.

   They try to escape through the sewers, but people sealed them in. These people, living in the sewers, know that zombie are dangerous and do not want to treat them the way others have been treating them. They have been ostracized and "exiled" for it (it still doesn't mean they're wrong though). The sewer people prevent the zombie group from escaping, so they are forced to concoct another plan.

   Rick FINALLY gets hungry, and he also thinks of an idea to get them out of their cage. They bring the bodies of the two people they killed inside and Rick explains his plan.

   They gut the bodies, and then put on their skin. This way, they look fresher and more like people. The two of them put white lab coats over their new coats (to cover up the loose hanging bits) and together they make their way over to the construction site. Off the bat, people notice that they are weird, but the world is full of weird people so they leave them alone. When it starts to rain, some of the more observant people notice (through the wet lab coats), that there are loose dangling bits underneath their clothes. They are force to make a break for it.

   They run over to the site and get in a truck. They drive away. Glen, just so happens to find his "dream car" and drives it as a distraction to the people. People are curious about the loud noise and are torn. Do they want a picture with a group of zombies, or do they want a picture of a zombie driving a car? They pick the car.

   In the meantime, Rick drives the truck in such a way that the rest of the group can escape except for Merle.

Notes:
   Pay attention to the way people word things in this episode.
   When the "zombies" are trying to break the doors down, one of them has a rock. What zombie would hold a rock? What is the point? How does a rock benefit a zombie in any way (if they are trying to dehumanize them of course. Everyone knows rocks can be very helpful in any situation)?
   The "Left 4 Dead" theory: Here zombies are individuals with different powers due to mutations. Rather than having specified classes like they do in L4D (tank, witch and choker etc.), zombies just have some natural supernatural abilities. In this case, zombies are slightly acidic. This is why zombie bites cause you to catch a fever and die. You are really being poisoned with an acid that burns you from the inside out. People can't climb the ladder because the acid burns through their hands (they'll also later become zombies). The acid doesn't affect zombies the same way snake venom doesn't affect snakes.

Don't Dead Open Inside - S01:E01

   My theory with how they are going to end The Walking Dead?

   Rick is dead, and has been a zombie working with other zombies throughout the series. Together, their decaying minds try to piece together a sense of humanity in their no-longer-human lives. In short: What WE see as human characters are actually zombies, and what WE see as zombies are actually human survivors. The groups we follow are all zombies whose minds are trying to hold onto their past human lives. Yes, this is sort of version of the Matrix. Don't blame me; blame the producers for using this cliche.

   Does that sound crazy? I'm sure it does, but hear me out. There is a method behind this madness!
   The base evidence is this, they entire show is about the characters de-humanizing the zombies. There are often references about them not being human, they are quick to push the fact that they have no memory of their previous lives.

   So what helps this theory along? Let's find out! One disclaimer before I start: This is intended to be used with the show. I'm writing completely in my theory, so it will be your job to watch the show and see what the show is actually portraying.

Days Gone By:

   In the very beginning of the episode, a little girl picks up a teddy bear. She see's Zombie Rick and wants to give him her teddy bear, because she feels bad. He starts to attack her, and she struggles for her life, but it isn't enough. Zombie Rick eats her.

   (Living) Rick Grimes gets shot and dies (well that was quick); he awakens in a morgue. He works his way over to a girl who just fell off her bike, and she broke her leg mostly immobilizing her. Rick doesn't eat her now, because he has no way to justify her death humanely. He, as a zombie, could eat her, but he is unarmed and unwilling to accept that HE is the zombie and that SHE isn't. He leaves to find a chance to "arm himself".

   Traveling along, he finds another zombie, Morgan (with his dead son Duane). Morgan and Rick realize that there must be other zombies out there. Morgan explains that humans only hunt at night because the zombies have terrible eyesight. At that moment, a group of humans try to lure the zombies out with a car alarm; it doesn't work. Morgan's wife tries to get into the house. She looks in the eyehole and even tries the door handle, but the Zombie Morgan had securely blocked it off. Morgan helps Rick by arming him and teaching him how to kill humans. Rick helps Morgan by giving him some guns.

   Remember that police officer that Rick called immature for wanting to be on the cop shows? It turns out that he survived the zombie apocalypse. They THINK they shot him, when really he was shooting at them, and they just maimed and ate him. Then, Morgan and Rick part ways. Zombie Rick, now armed, is able to justifiably eat the girl because now he has a "weapon". When he gets to the farm, he starts eating the horse, but it runs off. He chases it all the way to Atlanta.

   People see this wounded animal and take it away from Zombie Rick. The reason all these people were standing around idly in the streets in the first place was, because Glenn, another zombie, was spotted and everyone was hoping to get a picture. At this point zombies aren't feared as much as they are popularized. When they take the horse from Zombie Rick Instead, they see him and chase after him to get a picture with a real zombie. Zombie Rick then climbs into the tank (the tank was there to help settle massive riots in the city; you know how disasters are). The soldier was so excited to see a zombie up close that he pulls out a camera, and Zombie Rick takes that time to eat him. Glen acknowledges Zombie Rick and offers to help him out of this paparazzi scenario, and the episode ends.

Notes:
   What about the power outage, and overturned cars? A very terrible end of the world storm happened. I mean, why would zombies overturn a car? What's the point? No, a terrible storm wiped out the power grid to, at least, Atlanta. This is evident in the thunderstorms that you see when Rick is "driving".
   When Rick gets to the farm house witht he dead people, he ignores all of the potential food, supplies and weapons that a farm would obviously have and goes straight for a horse? The only source of living meat? *cough*ZOMBIE*cough*
   Everyone tells them that they HAVE to kill the zombies by killing the brain. In real life, there would also be headless zombies so this is obviously incorrect. This is each zombie justifying their thirst for brains. Remember, whenever they are "shooting" someone, or whenever they are "driving/riding" something that is just their brain making a "human" justification for some event that occurs.
   At the end, when the camera pans out, you see people smashing the side of the tank. If Rick WAS human and the other people were zombies, then they would have gone for the easier meal (the horse), rather than simply banging wildly on the tank.

If you're not convinced by the end of this episode, that this is a possibility, then you need to stick around for more "Don't Dead Open Inside" posts.

Happy Friday!

Don't Dead Open Inside - Introductions

Do you watch The Walking Dead?
Do you love The Walking Dead?
Did you read the double doors the same way I did the first time you watched the show?

Then you are not alone!

This series will be my interpretation of The Walking Dead series. Before I get started you will need to know two things:
1) This will, obviously, contain spoilers. If you don't want to spoil anything, then don't read this blog or at least the ones that pertain to episodes you haven't watched.

2) This is a conspiracy theory of the direction the show should take. I love the show, but I have always wondered how it should end. I have decided, and it is final. This will be a wacky interpretation, but I will find evidence to support it if it's the last thing I do. Worse comes to worse, it sparks up discussion and causes you to rewatch the series with a different view.

If you understand both of those things, then you should feel comfortable reading my posts, Don't Dead Open Inside.

Season One: Episode One - Days Gone By