# The Walking Dead; 2.07 "Pretty Much Dead Already" (open spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 28, 2011, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-07-pretty-much-dead-already-open-spoilers/604298 "2011-11-28T01:30:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 15
**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, 2011, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-07-pretty-much-dead-already-open-spoilers/604298/281 "2011-12-01T13:02:29Z")
> [@Feyrat](#): > > Nothing of the sort has been made quite clear - in fact, the opposite. We’ve seen Walkers eating a deer, and when they cut open the Walker’s belly to see if he ate Sophia, they found woodchuck. Clearly they DO need to eat, though the nature of that “need” is unclear, and clearly they ARE catching wild animals when they don’t have people. Ehm. It’s clear that they want to eat. That’s not the same as that they need to eat. As in, need to eat in order to survive. The fact that even hanged or locked-in zombies, who have had no opportunity to eat are still fully functional, indicates that they don’t “need” to eat, at least within the timeframe of the post-apocalyptic world so far. ---
**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, 2011, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-07-pretty-much-dead-already-open-spoilers/604298/282 "2011-12-01T13:14:28Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > Seeing as how they continue to decay, it seems to me that the day will come when they are all gone. They have to “die” eventually because their brains will turn to soup, and logically that really shouldn’t take too long at all. Where do you see this? ---
**Author:** ![stegon66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@stegon66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stegon66)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-07-pretty-much-dead-already-open-spoilers/604298/283 "2011-12-01T14:23:37Z")
> [@](#): > > In fact, I reiterate my earlier proposal - use cars to run zombies over in large numbers, maybe look for a truck with a snowplow attachment or something, and ba-ba-ba-blammo, just drive through and over bodies like a confused senior citizen on a boardwalk. This is done in the online prose series Adrian’s Undead Diary. > [@](#): > > I also really hope we find out about the long term re: zombies. Seeing as how they continue to decay, it seems to me that the day will come when they are all gone. They have to “die” eventually because their brains will turn to soup, and logically that really shouldn’t take too long at all. And this is covered in Romero’s Day of the Dead. I think it was estimated the zombies would last around eight years before being incapacitated by decay. TWD universe is similar so I imagine it’s about the same. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-07-pretty-much-dead-already-open-spoilers/604298/284 "2011-12-01T14:24:45Z")
> [@mr.jp](#): > > Where do you see this? See what? the fact that zombies are decaying? You mean you don’t? Wasn’t this made crystal clear by Zombie-in-the-Well-That-Splits-Like-Biscuit-Dough-When-Squeezed? ---
**Author:** ![stegon66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@stegon66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stegon66)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-07-pretty-much-dead-already-open-spoilers/604298/285 "2011-12-01T14:35:16Z")
> [@](#): > > (If it helps you, may I suggest adding “I have read the Walking Dead comic books. Worship me!” as your sig line? Would that give you the validation you so obviously crave?) And you can use as your sig “I insult other members for no good reason.” :rolleyes: The title of this thread does say “open spoilers” so I assumed it was now okay to talk about the books. If not, my bad. And yes, there is another thread but that seems to have fallen by the wayside. Still, my post - which you obviously didn’t get the point of - didn’t fucking spoil anything. Christ, get off your damned high horse. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-07-pretty-much-dead-already-open-spoilers/604298/286 "2011-12-01T14:50:13Z")
> [@stegon66](#): > > And this is covered in Romero’s Day of the Dead. I think it was estimated the zombies would last around eight years before being incapacitated by decay. TWD universe is similar so I imagine it’s about the same. It’s still pretty ridiculous. What should be happening is each walker is surrounded by a constant cloud of blowflies and whatnot, gradually scavenging their dead flesh down to nothing. And compulsive eating out of desire, not out of need? Is that a zombie thing or just an American thing? ---
**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, 2011, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-07-pretty-much-dead-already-open-spoilers/604298/287 "2011-12-01T14:55:27Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > See what? the fact that zombies are decaying? You mean you don’t? Wasn’t this made crystal clear by Zombie-in-the-Well-That-Splits-Like-Biscuit-Dough-When-Squeezed? Well, that one was in a well. It might just be a result of being thoroughly soaked, not of decay. I don’t really know if I see progressive decay. There are two options. 1. They decay somewhat after dying, and then whatever magical force enables them to move also stops decay. 2. They decay progressively, and at some point are unable to move. 1. might be more likely in the show, but I haven’t seen it conclude that it works like this. ---
**Author:** ![stegon66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@stegon66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stegon66)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-07-pretty-much-dead-already-open-spoilers/604298/288 "2011-12-01T14:56:17Z")
> [@](#): > > The next step is taking a huge caravan into town and raiding the everliving crap outta the Home Depot. Farm Tools = Anti-zombie weaponry. Pitchforks, shovels, sledgehammers, a freakin’ scythe would be perfect. Avoid the chainsaws tho… waste of gasoline. Well, ok, ONE chainsaw. Because chainsaws are cool. I dunno, give me a good length of skull-crushing steel pipe. Sledgehammers are heavy and you need more accuracy than might be possible in a melee situation. Scythe? Cool-looking to be sure but probably not too useful for zombie fighting. Pitchfork? Meh. Try to run those points through an eye socket during a fight. Shovel? Better, but you’d have to hit them damned hard with the edge of the blade (which might get stuck). Seems like there’d also be an accuracy problem due to the curve of the blade. Smacking them with the flat of the shovel might not stop them unless you really hit them hard (which is gonna tire you out quickly). Chainsaw? Ditto the coolness, but messy, awkward and loud. Steel pipe? Durable and heavy enough that you won’t have to over-exert yourself on the killing stroke. Voila! I need a life. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-07-pretty-much-dead-already-open-spoilers/604298/289 "2011-12-01T14:59:52Z")
> [@stegon66](#): > > And you can use as your sig “I insult other members for no good reason.” :rolleyes: Poor baby got him’s feewings hurt. Don’t act like a jerk and it won’t be an issue. > [@](#): > > The title of this thread does say “open spoilers” so I assumed it was now okay to talk about the books. If not, my bad. Don’t be coy. You know full well this means open spoilers for the TV show, not the books. You were specifically instructed by a mod on that point in the last _Walking Dead_ thread. > [@](#): > > And yes, there is another thread but that seems to have fallen by the wayside. Guess what? If you post to that thread it pops right back up to the top. > [@](#): > > Still, my post - which you obviously didn’t get the point of - didn’t fucking spoil anything. Christ, get off your damned high horse. Has it occurred to you that people who are enjoying the TV series might want to go read the books? And that they might not appreciate you spoilering the hell out of those books? I’ve read the books too, but I don’t feel the need to come blustering into the TV threads with a basketful of book spoilers. Luckily my sense of self-worth is not wrapped up in having read something others have not. ---
**Author:** ![stegon66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@stegon66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stegon66)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-07-pretty-much-dead-already-open-spoilers/604298/290 "2011-12-01T15:02:39Z")
> [@](#): > > I don’t really know if I see progressive decay. This may be due to budgetary constraints. We’ve seen a few instances of advanced decay - the half-zombie woman in the first ep - but for the most part I think we’re just going to your average zed make-up job. ---
**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, 2011, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-07-pretty-much-dead-already-open-spoilers/604298/291 "2011-12-01T15:06:01Z")
> [@stegon66](#): > > This may be due to budgetary constraints. We’ve seen a few instances of advanced decay - the half-zombie woman in the first ep - but for the most part I think we’re just going to your average zed make-up job. It may easily, I agree. I was thinking about the half woman in the first ep too. But it seemed to me more like she was cut in half, maybe by a traffic accident or something, than that she lost half of her body due to decay. I think it’s definitely possible that there is progressive decay, even probable, but can’t think of anything that makes it certain so far. If it turns out that there isn’t, I wouldn’t have a problem with that. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-07-pretty-much-dead-already-open-spoilers/604298/292 "2011-12-01T15:11:46Z")
> [@mr.jp](#): > > It may easily, I agree. I was thinking about the half woman in the first ep too. But it seemed to me more like she was cut in half, maybe by a traffic accident or something, than that she lost half of her body due to decay. There is a little [webisode series on AMC](http://www.amctv.com/shows/the-walking-dead/video#!type_minisode/season_2) which explains how the half-zombie from Episode 1 wound up that way. ---
**Author:** ![stegon66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@stegon66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stegon66)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-07-pretty-much-dead-already-open-spoilers/604298/293 "2011-12-01T15:22:31Z")
> [@](#): > > Don’t act like a jerk and it won’t be an issue. I wasn’t trying to be a jerk, I was enjoying discussing something I like. > [@](#): > > Has it occurred to you that people who are enjoying the TV series might want to go read the books? Point taken for that one, though I doubt many will bother given the task of reading and collecting 80+ issues. The trade paperbacks would be a much better option but there are currently fourteen volumes. > [@](#): > > Don’t be coy. You know full well this means open spoilers for the TV show, not the books. You were specifically instructed by a mod on that point in the last Walking Dead thread. No I didn’t know. I know there had been some discussion on the topic of allowing/disallowing book discussion in these threads but had lost track of it and assumed the matter had been clarified. Like I said, my misunderstanding, my bad. Still, my post of topic did not spoil anything - I made sure of that. I made what I thought was a legitimate point as well. Yes, I sometimes forget that others are anal about spoilers which is fine, but you’re really acting juvenile with your petty insults. I’ll try to remember: anything even remotely spoiler-related is forbidden, personally insulting other posters: perfectly okay! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![stegon66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@stegon66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stegon66)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-07-pretty-much-dead-already-open-spoilers/604298/294 "2011-12-01T15:26:47Z")
> [@](#): > > It may easily, I agree. I was thinking about the half woman in the first ep too. But it seemed to me more like she was cut in half, maybe by a traffic accident or something, than that she lost half of her body due to decay. Spoiler contains plot elements of TWD webisode and George Romero’s Day of the Dead: I always assumed she’d been torn apart (like Rhodes in Romero’s Day of the Dead). We don’t see her ripped in two in the webisode but I assume that’s what happened. She is definitely decayed though. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-07-pretty-much-dead-already-open-spoilers/604298/295 "2011-12-01T15:27:53Z")
**stegon66** , my impatience with you is because you are feigning ignorance. You know full well not to bring book spoilers into this thread (having been instructed on that point last week) yet here you come with book spoilers in a post that smacks of gleeful mischief. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-07-pretty-much-dead-already-open-spoilers/604298/296 "2011-12-01T15:30:11Z")
As for the half-zombie: I think the webisode tells us that, well, she got et. Or at least her bottom half did. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-07-pretty-much-dead-already-open-spoilers/604298/297 "2011-12-01T16:19:59Z")
> [@Disgruntled\_Penguin](#): > > Fubaya’s cutesy Colonel Sanders impression was off putting and all it was was a regurgitation of an opinion already expressed. You presented your point better than Fubaya did to me. We just disagree. I was just having fun. Don’t get me wrong, I’m firmly in the “don’t give a shit” camp on the Shane argument. ---
**Author:** ![stegon66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@stegon66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stegon66)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-07-pretty-much-dead-already-open-spoilers/604298/298 "2011-12-01T16:29:02Z")
> [@](#): > > stegon66, my impatience with you is because you are feigning ignorance. You know full well not to bring book spoilers into this thread (having been instructed on that point last week) yet here you come with book spoilers in a post that smacks of gleeful mischief. And my impatience with you, aside from your juvenile insults, is your assumption that I’m doing so out of “gleeful mischief.” I am not. Sometimes I get carried away discussing something I enjoy, but I’m certainly not coming here with malicious intent. I don’t get up in the morning and think “Ha ha! I’m gonna spoil TWD for everybody! Mwa-ha-ha-ha!!!” As for the spoiler in my post of contention, that wasn’t a show spoiler, but a book one (and really, not a major one) which I figured was okay since this thread is about the show which differs in many aspects from the books. Still, as you said, some may be interested in exploring the books so I promise to keep mum on those from now on. Seems to me you’re just looking for an excuse to be insulting. I guess the mods find that acceptable behavior? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-07-pretty-much-dead-already-open-spoilers/604298/299 "2011-12-01T16:55:13Z")
The both of you, please stop bickering. No spoiling the series with info from the book. No sniping or implying motives to someone who does. Please stop arguing back and forth about this here. If you want to continue to gripe about it, you may open a Pit thread. Ellen Cherry ---
**Author:** ![BeeDubU2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BeeDubU2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeeDubU2)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-07-pretty-much-dead-already-open-spoilers/604298/300 "2011-12-01T16:55:26Z")
> [@mr.jp](#): > > Well, that one was in a well. It might just be a result of being thoroughly soaked, not of decay. I don’t really know if I see progressive decay. There are two options. 1. They decay somewhat after dying, and then whatever magical force enables them to move also stops decay. 2. They decay progressively, and at some point are unable to move. > > 1. might be more likely in the show, but I haven’t seen it conclude that it works like this. I see them similar to Goldie Hawn and Meryl Streep in “Death Becomes Her”. I know, it wasn’t a great movie, but the premise remains the same. did anyone besides me even see that movie? At any rate, I can see the zombies not decaying, but just falling apart from abuse. They are clumsy and single minded, a bad combination for preservation. Most of the z’s we’ve seen with missing parts look like they’ve been knocked off, pulled off, or some other such. Anyway, that’s my fanwank, and I’m sticking to it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-07-pretty-much-dead-already-open-spoilers/604298.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-07-pretty-much-dead-already-open-spoilers/604298.md?page=16)