# The Walking Dead; 1.05 "Wildfire" (open spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 29, 2010, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-1-05-wildfire-open-spoilers/562234 "2010-11-29T01:05:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-1-05-wildfire-open-spoilers/562234/121 "2010-12-01T02:31:08Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > [It’s been done.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Set_%28TV_series%29) Oh yeah - I wanted to see that, and missed every episode (and as far as I know, it’s not available in North American region dvd format yet - waiting on that). ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-1-05-wildfire-open-spoilers/562234/122 "2010-12-01T02:32:12Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Yeah, that “100 miles in the other direction” quote sounds familiar, so I’m thinking I misunderstood. I set the DVR to record it tonight so I can see exactly what they said. Check what was on the signs at the CDC, too - something official about the plague, but I didn’t get a good look at it. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-1-05-wildfire-open-spoilers/562234/123 "2010-12-01T02:35:43Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > You can’t assume they are familiar with Dawn of the Dead and should act like you see in the movies. To them this is all new and strange and unprecedented, and at every turn is wholesale unending chaos. I expect no such thing, as they usually act stupid in the movies too. I would just hope that the survivors would have some brains, as it seems the zombies ran off with those of this bunch. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-1-05-wildfire-open-spoilers/562234/124 "2010-12-01T02:52:36Z")
People not acting stupid would not be realistic at all. They didn’t survive because they were smart, when the world goes to hell you survive because you got extremely lucky. Rick was in a freaking coma the whole time, what brains did that take? ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-1-05-wildfire-open-spoilers/562234/125 "2010-12-01T02:55:13Z")
That’s the thing - I would prefer a narrative about people who survived because they were smart. Crank up the threat of the zombies if necesary to keep it interesting. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-1-05-wildfire-open-spoilers/562234/126 "2010-12-01T03:06:57Z")
Smart people would be perfectly safe with plenty of food and water and surrounded by other capable and well balanced people and would weather the zombie apocalypse in relative comfort without much trouble. You can watch that show if you want, i’ll stick with the one were people act like normal human beings. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-1-05-wildfire-open-spoilers/562234/127 "2010-12-01T03:09:45Z")
Eh, you could invent plenty of problems that smart people would have trouble overcoming. And it’s not more realistic to expect that people be irrational and stupid - we’re talking about survival of the fittest here. There’s some luck involved, but with 99%+ of the population wiped out, a significant fraction of the remainder of people alive will be alive because they were capable enough to do so, which means not dumbasses. This still leaves room for people not really knowing how to handle the events that surrounded them - for instance, the scout’s insistence that “our people” be buried, and everyone’s hesitation to kill what’s his bitten. But it does rule out people doing shit like “well, let’s go into the city at dusk and hope the CDC is open and if not, whelp, we’re fucked”. It’s not even really within the characters they’ve already established, who are at least smart enough to have some semblance of a plan before taking action. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Evil\_Prince\_Zorte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@The\_Evil\_Prince\_Zorte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Evil_Prince_Zorte)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-1-05-wildfire-open-spoilers/562234/128 "2010-12-01T03:26:21Z")
> [@](#): > > That’s the thing - I would prefer a narrative about people who survived because they were smart. Crank up the threat of the zombies if necesary to keep it interesting. I think in this case it is going to be ordinary people (like you and me!) who lived because they were lucky. Over time they will either die, get broken, or become hardened, savvy survivors who will do whatever it takes to keep themselves and each other alive. It’s a little like the need to have Rick wake up from a coma. It’s the story about what happens after the zombies win, and not the war itself. Rick had to sleep through the outbreak so he can discover the resulting hell and react to it in our stead. Likewise, these people he found would have already discovered what smarts, courage and resourcefulness they possessed during the outbreak and ensuing chaos. But we would have missed it because we slept through the war with Rick. So instead they made it through by dumb luck so they can begin to discover what kind of survivors they really are now that Rick (and we) have found them. It’s still early and they have only been through one major zombie attack, so there is still a larger percentage of stupid. At the moment it’s mostly just Glen and Daryl who have the brains and the balls. In the comic, Andrea became quite the badass and I’m looking forward to seeing that happen in the show. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Evil\_Prince\_Zorte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@The\_Evil\_Prince\_Zorte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Evil_Prince_Zorte)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-1-05-wildfire-open-spoilers/562234/129 "2010-12-01T03:38:36Z")
Part of the problem with the bad plan of going to the CDC is people are looking to Rick as a leader because he is a cop, but he is the least experienced among them when it comes to the new world order. It may be a little hard for them to remember that, when he is still wearing his hat and badge, and is the only visible reminder of an authority capable of protecting them. It’s also early enough that they still have hope that there could be someone out there to save them. If the next step is to look for help, Rick’s plan was more promising. More zombies, but closer versus a long journey they might not survive anyway. What they can get at the CDC is confirmation that there is no government or military left (“France was the last to fall”) and their only hope for survival is themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-1-05-wildfire-open-spoilers/562234/130 "2010-12-01T03:43:03Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > What about: > > Boston > Seoul > Coney Island > San Francisco > Tokyo > Burbank > Death Valley > Toledo > Decatur > Seoul > Honolulu > > ? I can not let this go unacknowledged. Bravo, sir! Bravo! ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-1-05-wildfire-open-spoilers/562234/131 "2010-12-01T04:24:41Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > and where all the gas and food went. Obviously you’ve never been in a Southern city under hurricane warning. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-1-05-wildfire-open-spoilers/562234/132 "2010-12-01T04:38:19Z")
> [@lisacurl](#): > > Obviously you’ve never been in a Southern city under hurricane warning. 😉 It is amazing how quickly all of that stuff is gone in a panic. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-1-05-wildfire-open-spoilers/562234/133 "2010-12-01T04:47:57Z")
> [@lisacurl](#): > > Obviously you’ve never been in a Southern city under hurricane warning. 😉 It’s true; I haven’t. 🙂 Still, all the food is in the houses, not in the stores, but it’s still there. When you’re starving, and there might be zombies in the houses with the food, you go get the food - CAREFULLY! ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-1-05-wildfire-open-spoilers/562234/134 "2010-12-01T04:55:21Z")
> [@The\_Evil\_Prince\_Zorte](#): > > Part of the problem with the bad plan of going to the CDC is people are looking to Rick as a leader because he is a cop, but he is the least experienced among them when it comes to the new world order. It may be a little hard for them to remember that, when he is still wearing his hat and badge, and is the only visible reminder of an authority capable of protecting them. I think you’re partially right but I think Rick continues to wear the uniform to remind himself of how he should behave. Rick has actually shown himself to be a pretty decent leader. He stresses the importance of getting along when he meets the group in Atlanta, he’s the one who doesn’t just give up and comes up with a solution leading to their escape, and when he’s on his way back to town for Merl and the guns he’s pretty quick to listen to Glenn and take his advice on how to get things done. Shane has been the defacto leader of the group and his leadership has been severely marred by his paralyzing fear of losing more people. He won’t even make the effort to put up a sign warning people coming into Atlanta to stay away let alone try to think of a plan to help members of his own troupe stranded in the city. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-1-05-wildfire-open-spoilers/562234/135 "2010-12-01T05:16:45Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > In their defense they were a bit occupied at the time. I don’t know if I’d stop to pick stuff up while I was on the look out for walkers to come bite me in the ass. Plus - why would anyone in that group actually know how to use a military rifle? Why would they have ever held one before? Rick and Shane aren’t SWAT cops. It’s not a stretch to suggest that a lot of the characters would have gone hunting at some point - and cops will know how to use handguns. Grabbing an unfamiliar weapon that may or may not be loaded, may or may not be broken, and _certainly_ didn’t save the last man to carry it doesn’t seem worth any special risk. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-1-05-wildfire-open-spoilers/562234/136 "2010-12-01T05:34:07Z")
Guns aren’t as complicated as you think they are. Passing up military rifles and ammo would be quite stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-1-05-wildfire-open-spoilers/562234/137 "2010-12-01T07:58:53Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > Plus - why would anyone in that group actually know how to use a military rifle? They’re not that complicated to use but I bet a lot of people would have trouble disassembling one for proper cleaning. As **SenorBeef** said it’s silly to pass up rifles and ammo though I give them a pass simply because they had other things on their mind at the time. Stopping to salvage weapons scattered throughout an area with a high probability of intense walker activity seems like a fool’s errand. ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-1-05-wildfire-open-spoilers/562234/138 "2010-12-01T10:30:32Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > I want a story about a group of tough, smart survivors managing to make it on the ragged edge, not a bunch of stumbling idiots who manage to luck their way into not dying yet. Going to the CDC, arriving at dusk, and then saying “welp, that didn’t work, I guess we’re all fucked now, anyone have any ideas?” is just painfully stupid. Someone should’ve told the sister to move, and if she wouldn’t, shot Amy in the head. This shit is serious. You don’t survive the apocalypse by being wishy wishy and just hoping shit will go your way. > > Or, at least, if they’re dumb, they should get punished for it. Amy biting her sister would’ve been satisfying… although to be fair, I guess the Fish Fry Massacre is an example of this. I agree with this 100%. I think Darryl is the character showing most promise so far. He wanted to shoot Amy from a distance. ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-1-05-wildfire-open-spoilers/562234/139 "2010-12-01T15:11:36Z")
Good news, everyboby! All of the writers have been fired. ([Cite](http://tv.ign.com/articles/113/1137550p1.html)) ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-1-05-wildfire-open-spoilers/562234/140 "2010-12-01T15:50:00Z")
> [@Palooka](#): > > Good news, everyboby! All of the writers have been fired. ([Cite](http://tv.ign.com/articles/113/1137550p1.html)) “Freelance writers”? Doesn’t sound good to me… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-1-05-wildfire-open-spoilers/562234.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-1-05-wildfire-open-spoilers/562234.md?page=8)