# The Walking Dead; 2.10 "18 Miles Out" (open spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 27, 2012, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-10-18-miles-out-open-spoilers/614102 "2012-02-27T01:21:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-10-18-miles-out-open-spoilers/614102/81 "2012-02-28T00:29:45Z")
> [@andros](#): > > Far north edge of Georgia, tail end of the Blue Ridge. Cold(ish) and regular winter snow. Shoot a couple hundred miles northeast of Atlanta and you have a decent chance of spending the winter in snow. Nah. North Georgia gets only a little more snow than Atlanta. Which is to say very little. There is no place in Georgia where a snowmobile is going to come in handy on anything more than a _very_ occasional basis. > [@alphaboi867](#): > > The outbreak started in the summer (or early spring) none of the usual winter supplies (snowblowers, salt, shovels, ice scrapers, etc) are going to be in stores. They aren’t going to be able to raid the local Home Depot for snowblowers and the like. What kind of winter supplies do stores in Georgia even stock when the season hits? What is this “snowblower” of which you speak? Winter supplies are rarely needed here, and most stores don’t bother with them. > [@ExTank](#): > > Maybe my Georgia geography is rusty, but if they were headed to Ft. Benning from Atalnta-area, wouldn’t they be going south? > > ETA: IIRC, Benning is down in the SW corner of Georgia, fairly close to the GA-AL state line. It’s over on the Alabama line, but not that far south. It’s near Columbus, southwest of Atlanta. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-10-18-miles-out-open-spoilers/614102/82 "2012-02-28T01:08:16Z")
Have they said how old Maggie is? It’s hard to tell the age of a character from the age of the actress, but I was wondering if she’s supposed to be high school age or more like 20. I think Randall is under heavy suspicion and possible death sentence from fraternizing with armed Yankees, which is still a felony on some small towns in Georgia. (And not without some good reason, just a bit dated.) ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-10-18-miles-out-open-spoilers/614102/83 "2012-02-28T01:15:49Z")
> [@whole\_bean](#): > > All of this could easily have been avoided by having Shane leave a clue, just a clue. Maybe a slip of then tongue. Maybe an inconsistency in his retelling of the story. Something. Anything. That’s what thw writers did. Shane came back with Otis’ gun, which Dale picked up on. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-10-18-miles-out-open-spoilers/614102/84 "2012-02-28T01:27:50Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Have they said how old Maggie is? It’s hard to tell the age of a character from the age of the actress, but I was wondering if she’s supposed to be high school age or more like 20…) I think she’s in her early 20s. She made a comment about coming home from college once and having her mother find her birth control pills and freaking out and throwing them into the pond. She could’ve easily been the hot senior girl Randall had a crush on his freshman year (in which case of course Maggie would’nt know who he his). ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-10-18-miles-out-open-spoilers/614102/85 "2012-02-28T01:30:12Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Have they said how old Maggie is? It’s hard to tell the age of a character from the age of the actress, but I was wondering if she’s supposed to be high school age or more like 20. Didn’t she say something a few eps back about the time when she came home from college, started getting frisky with a boy while the family was at church, then getting caught by little sis who proceeded to cover for her with pops? That, assuming it was a few years back, would put her somewhere in the mid-late 20’s at least, methinks. > [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > What was up with the “the cold of winter should kill them off” speech, anyway? First, you’re in Georgia, not the Yukon - it doesn’t get that cold there, does it? Secondly, I find his reasoning suspect - if _dying_ doesn’t slow them down, why should getting a little chilled? I think he was just indulging in some wishful thinking. He also said something about how last year had been particularly “wintery” didn’t he and how how he was hoping this year would be too? Was “last year” (they’re still in 2010, right?) very wintery in Georgia? I don’t know if anyone else watches Talking Dead (other than the one who posted about Kevin Smith’s Young and the Deathless joke :D) but I loved the story from the actor who plays Herschel about how he used to watch Walking Dead with his 97 year old mother BEFORE he was cast on the show and how much she loves it. Apparently there’s a picture of her (when she was younger) someplace in the farmhouse set. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-10-18-miles-out-open-spoilers/614102/86 "2012-02-28T01:31:14Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > I think she’s in her early 20s. She made a comment about coming home from college once and having her mother find her birth control pills and freaking out and throwing them into the pond. She could’ve easily been the hot senior girl Randall had a crush on his freshman year (in which case of course Maggie would’nt know who he his). Oh, your post wasn’t there when I started, but you’re right, it was something about birth control, not getting frisky. My bad. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-10-18-miles-out-open-spoilers/614102/87 "2012-02-28T01:47:41Z")
Atlanta gets an average [2.1 inches](http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/online/ccd/snowfall.html) inches of snowfall per year. But to be honest, they’ve had worse ideas than snowmobiles. ---
**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:** [February 28, 2012, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-10-18-miles-out-open-spoilers/614102/88 "2012-02-28T02:56:43Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > I think she’s in her early 20s. She made a comment about coming home from college once and having her mother find her birth control pills and freaking out and throwing them into the pond. She could’ve easily been the hot senior girl Randall had a crush on his freshman year (in which case of course Maggie would’nt know who he his). A nitpick - it was her sister who freaked out about the birth control pills. > [@TBG](#): > > \ > I don’t know if anyone else watches Talking Dead (other than the one who posted about Kevin Smith’s Young and the Deathless joke :D) but I loved the story from the actor who plays Herschel about how he used to watch Walking Dead with his 97 year old mother BEFORE he was cast on the show and how much she loves it. Apparently there’s a picture of her (when she was younger) someplace in the farmhouse set. That was me. 🙂 The picture was in the surgery room, I think he said. ---
**Author:** ![meanoldman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@meanoldman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meanoldman)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-10-18-miles-out-open-spoilers/614102/89 "2012-02-28T04:01:46Z")
Randall only says he knows Maggie…and says that she would not remember him. Does it _look_ like the area would support a big high school? Small town / farm town high schools, you know all the other kids, even if you do not hang out with them. Plus, Randall says that he knows Maggie’s father. He did not say he knew Herschel. Randall didn’t say he knew Beth. Or Jimmy. All he did was throw out one name that he probably overheard while convalescing on the farm. He’s guessing and bluffing. And I am guessing the the writers want us to think that some time had passed, a week or more, since they un-skwered Randall and then drove him out 18 mile. And I think the zombie syndrome has to be airborne. One only needs Shane’s account from this epi to surmise same. Shane says (as I recall) '… that at first there were just wild or weird rumors. Then, next thing you know, the military was shooting people, not walkers, people! Then there were walkers everywhere. ’ You can’t get those numbers, that quickly, without it being airborne. ---
**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:** [February 28, 2012, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-10-18-miles-out-open-spoilers/614102/90 "2012-02-28T05:00:37Z")
> [@meanoldman](#): > > \ > > You can’t get those numbers, that quickly, without it being airborne. Especially if Madagascar shuts their damned borders. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-10-18-miles-out-open-spoilers/614102/91 "2012-02-28T16:29:28Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > That’s what thw writers did. Shane came back with Otis’ gun, which Dale picked up on. How did he know it was Otis’s gun? If I recall, Dale wasn’t there when Shane and Otis left Hershels for the school. Also, even if he knew, how is that proof that Shane killed Otis? Isn’t it possible that Shane and Otis switched guns? In the last episode guns were forever being dropped and picked back up. And if that was the one thing, then for the love of God, have Dale tell that to Lori when he’s making the case that Shane shot Otis. This serves two purposes: 1. it reminds us (the viewer) how Dale knows; and 2. it’s what would happen in real life–if I was to come with you with some sort of theory that was at odds with the way things were being portrayed by others, wouldn’t you expect me to present evidence? ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-10-18-miles-out-open-spoilers/614102/92 "2012-02-28T16:37:44Z")
I think the key point is that Shane came back with BOTH guns. ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-10-18-miles-out-open-spoilers/614102/93 "2012-02-28T16:40:07Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > He also said something about how last year had been particularly “wintery” didn’t he and how how he was hoping this year would be too? Was “last year” (they’re still in 2010, right?) very wintery in Georgia? Yes, it was a very severe winter by Atlanta standards. It snowed several times and for one week in January snow and thick ice shuttered most businesses. Was it anything compared to the winter in [insert northern town]? Probably not. Suffice it to say, on a numebr of occasions it would have been plenty cold enough to: 1. a freeze a person and therefore freeze a zombie; 2. make walking difficult. ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-10-18-miles-out-open-spoilers/614102/94 "2012-02-28T16:42:45Z")
> [@Sister\_Vigilante](#): > > I think the key point is that Shane came back with BOTH guns. Which episode is this, where Dale sees Shane with both guns? Also, did Shane and Otis only have two guns? How did Dale know Shane had Otis’s gun? ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-10-18-miles-out-open-spoilers/614102/95 "2012-02-28T16:52:32Z")
Rick gave Otis his revolver for their mission and Shane brought it back. Shane said they were low on ammo and down to pistols when Otis dropped back to cover him while he escaped. I don’t know if that made Dale suspicious, but that version couldn’t add up unless Otis was going to cover Shane’s escape with kung-fu. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-10-18-miles-out-open-spoilers/614102/96 "2012-02-28T16:54:13Z")
> [@whole\_bean](#): > > if I was to come with you with some sort of theory that was at odds with the way things were being portrayed by others, wouldn’t you expect me to present evidence? Well, in court, perhaps. I don’t see ordinary human interactions working like that necessarily. ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-10-18-miles-out-open-spoilers/614102/97 "2012-02-28T21:08:46Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Well, in court, perhaps. I don’t see ordinary human interactions working like that necessarily. Generally, and I’ll admit it’s been a while since it’s happened to me, when someone I know accuses someone else I know of murdering someone else who was generally believed to have died in an accident, I, at the very least, politely request some sort of substantiation for the claim–this is quite common in other contexts outside of courtrooms. > [@Fubaya](#): > > Rick gave Otis his revolver for their mission and Shane brought it back. Shane said they were low on ammo and down to pistols when Otis dropped back to cover him while he escaped. I don’t know if that made Dale suspicious, but that version couldn’t add up unless Otis was going to cover Shane’s escape with kung-fu. How did Dale know Rick gave Otis his revolver? I thought Dale was back on the interstate when Otis and Shane left for the school. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-10-18-miles-out-open-spoilers/614102/98 "2012-02-29T00:16:23Z")
> [@meanoldman](#): > > Randall only says he knows Maggie…and says that she would not remember him. Does it _look_ like the area would support a big high school? Small town / farm town high schools, you know all the other kids, even if you do not hang out with them. It could be a “feeder” system with a more local elementary and maybe even jr high/middle school, but then kids from all over the area are brought in to a single massive high school. State College in Pennsylvania is one such district that I’m aware of (State College is the name of the city and school district, the actual college is Penn State). You can live way out in the boonies, but still go to a school where there are just way too many people to know every Tom, Dick, and Randall. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-10-18-miles-out-open-spoilers/614102/99 "2012-02-29T00:23:34Z")
> [@whole\_bean](#): > > Generally, and I’ll admit it’s been a while since it’s happened to me, when someone I know accuses someone else I know of murdering someone else who was generally believed to have died in an accident, I, at the very least, politely request some sort of substantiation for the claim–this is quite common in other contexts outside of courtrooms. > > How did Dale know Rick gave Otis his revolver? I thought Dale was back on the interstate when Otis and Shane left for the school. You are over-the-top committed to your belief that it simply must be stupid writing. It wasn’t. They did exactly as you complained they didn’t, and you’re now trying to rules-lawyer away the clues that you missed. Dale noticed the gun. Dale asked Shane about the gun and grew more suspicious at Shane’s response. Later, Dale flat-out accused Shane of killing Otis, and not only did Shane not deny it, he reacted with a seeming self-satisfied Jack Nicholson “You can’t handle the truth!” expression on his face. THAT is the evidence Dale brought to Lori. He stated it outright to Lori. I don’t know how you missed every piece of this chain, but it was all there. Find different evidence to smugly declare the writing stupid, there’s plenty to choose from. ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-10-18-miles-out-open-spoilers/614102/100 "2012-02-29T00:48:45Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > You are over-the-top committed to your belief that it simply must be stupid writing. It wasn’t. They did exactly as you complained they didn’t, and you’re now trying to rules-lawyer away the clues that you missed. > > Dale noticed the gun. Dale asked Shane about the gun and grew more suspicious at Shane’s response. Later, Dale flat-out accused Shane of killing Otis, and not only did Shane not deny it, he reacted with a seeming self-satisfied Jack Nicholson “You can’t handle the truth!” expression on his face. > > THAT is the evidence Dale brought to Lori. He stated it outright to Lori. I don’t know how you missed every piece of this chain, but it was all there. Find different evidence to smugly declare the writing stupid, there’s plenty to choose from. How did Dale know Otis had Rick’s gun? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-10-18-miles-out-open-spoilers/614102.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-10-18-miles-out-open-spoilers/614102.md?page=6)