# The Walking Dead; 2.12 "Better Angels" (open spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 12, 2012, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-12-better-angels-open-spoilers/615502 "2012-03-12T00:25:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-12-better-angels-open-spoilers/615502/121 "2012-03-12T19:18:37Z")
> [@Fubaya](#): > > I didn’t think of that, but it just means everyone has to sleep in their own room with the door closed. Couples could decide if it’s worth the risk. Our heroes can’t do that at the moment, but it’s something that can be dealt with fairly easily in the future. Of course, that sucks for couples, but the odds of someone dying while you’re in bed with them is pretty low so anyone who isn’t old would likely be ok. Your horror imagination needs some tweaking. Sure, couples would most likely have to sleep in separate rooms with the door closed and all that. Sucks, but people will adapt. However, what happens if a fetus dies 6 months in utero? Hmmmmm? No horror/chills with that? ---
**Author:** ![Scupper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Scupper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scupper)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-12-better-angels-open-spoilers/615502/122 "2012-03-12T19:21:58Z")
> [@BlinkingDuck](#): > > However, what happens if a fetus dies 6 months in utero? Hmmmmm? No horror/chills with that? Okay, I keep trying not to think about that AND YOU ARE NOT HELPING! ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-12-better-angels-open-spoilers/615502/123 "2012-03-12T20:14:03Z")
Not like a six month fetus has teeth or the strength to do any damage, it would just be very very creepy. ---
**Author:** ![Scupper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Scupper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scupper)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-12-better-angels-open-spoilers/615502/124 "2012-03-12T20:42:21Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > Not like a six month fetus has teeth or the strength to do any damage, it would just be very very creepy. Zombie strength, man. The strength of its convictions. ---
**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:** [March 12, 2012, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-12-better-angels-open-spoilers/615502/125 "2012-03-12T20:53:43Z")
> [@theR](#): > > Yes it can. Rick kept having flashes of a walker going berserk and whatnot while he looked at Shane’s dead body. That’s because he knew Shane would come back. They also were trying to show his discomfort at what he had to do next but then he got distracted by Carl and was probably also supposed to be somewhat in a state of shock… > [@Fubaya](#): > > I saw the gnashing zombie teeth as what was going on in the dead Shane’s brain as he reanimated. The way they showed him as they flashed the zombies makes me think it was going on in his head, not Rick’s… Interesting, I was wondering what the flashes were supposed to mean and it never occured to me that it was _Shane_’s mind that was doing that. > [@HazelNutCoffee](#): > > If people automatically reanimate after death, why have we seen cars full of dead people that apparently have stayed dead? 😕 Either they simply weren’t infected when they died, or they did reanimate but were trapped in the car with the windows rolled up in a Georgia summer and baked to (re)death. I assume being turned into jerky is just as effective in the long run as a head wound. > [@BlinkingDuck](#): > > Your horror imagination needs some tweaking. Sure, couples would most likely have to sleep in separate rooms with the door closed and all that. Sucks, but people will adapt. > > However, what happens if a fetus dies 6 months in utero? Hmmmmm? No horror/chills with that? Well the farmhouse isn’t big enough for everyone to have their own bedroom. Also small children would need to be locked into some sort of cage to sleep. I’ve don’t recall miscarriages ever being address in any zombie film. Well the remake of **Dawn of the Dead** did have a zombie baby, but the mother was already bitten and a zombie when she gave birth. Also that wasn’t an “everyone who dies reanimates” scenario either. A zombie infant is disturbing enough (though IMHO it gets downright comical if the audience is allowed to actually see it), but a fetus reanimating inside it’s mother’s womb? Who far along would the pregnancy need to be for it to reanimate anyway? Would embryos & zygotes be a threat as well? ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-12-better-angels-open-spoilers/615502/126 "2012-03-12T21:01:24Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Interesting proposal. Perhaps. That scene with the soldiers shooting civilians in the hospital…I believed then that they were infected (bitten)…when in fact they were infected all along by your theory! The other explanation for the hospital scene that I had considered at the time was that the soldiers were somewhat rationally ordered to kill everybody there in a “shotgun approach” to exterminate everybody that might be sick due to the zombie virus. But I still think there’s something to the theory of a not-so-dormant virus. It goes a long way to explaining how society deteriorated so quickly. The other niggling question to consider is the whole genesis of the zombie virus. Could it have been some sort of bio-weapon deployed by a hostile nation? CDC experiment gone awry? ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-12-better-angels-open-spoilers/615502/127 "2012-03-12T21:10:33Z")
> [@whole\_bean](#): > > Also, nice that Mr. Law-and-Order lets his kid keep a stolen gun. I find it completely plausible that Little Mister Unsupervised went back for the gun, but when Rick told him to keep it all I could think was "Did you really just GIVE him DARRYL’S gun? Really? Like you don’t have another gun you could give the kid? What the hell? ---
**Author:** ![oft\_wears\_hats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7993a0/32.png) [@oft\_wears\_hats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oft_wears_hats)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-12-better-angels-open-spoilers/615502/128 "2012-03-12T21:34:46Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > I find it completely plausible that Little Mister Unsupervised went back for the gun, but when Rick told him to keep it all I could think was "Did you really just GIVE him DARRYL’S gun? Really? Like you don’t have another gun you could give the kid? What the hell? Yeah. I mean, a scene where Rick discusses it with Darryl would have been boring and flow-breaking (and there’s already plenty of that to go around), but Rick could have tossed out a throwaway line like “Keep it. I’ll talk to Darryl.” ---
**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:** [March 12, 2012, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-12-better-angels-open-spoilers/615502/129 "2012-03-12T21:40:02Z")
My niggling nitpick for this week’s episode - the way those idiots were trying to nail boards. _Tink tink tink…_ - I think you would have needed a sledgehammer to pound a nail through those boards Shane had, and the other guy was just playing with those nails. Anyway, back to the more important stuff. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![stegon66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@stegon66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stegon66)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-12-better-angels-open-spoilers/615502/130 "2012-03-12T21:47:47Z")
> [@](#): > > I wouldn’t be surprised if they introduce a new character as a foil to Rick in the next season. Y’all do know the Governor shows up next season, right? 😃 ---
**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:** [March 12, 2012, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-12-better-angels-open-spoilers/615502/131 "2012-03-12T21:50:51Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > I find it completely plausible that Little Mister Unsupervised went back for the gun, but when Rick told him to keep it all I could think was "Did you really just GIVE him DARRYL’S gun? Really? Like you don’t have another gun you could give the kid? What the hell? When did he go back and get it? Before Dale died? We’re expected to believe that he went back to the same woods where the zombie that he’d effectively freed was roaming? Stupid. So after Dale died, then? When? Dale died at night–surely even “Shittiest Mom Ever” at least keeps tabs on her kid at night after a zombie attack. The episode resumes the next morning, and Carl gives the gun to Shane early in the day. Even then, if Carl did go get it that morning, they have to show us why we were supposed to take note that it was dropped. Remeber, they focussed on it when it dropped, so we were supposed to say, “Hey, Carl just dropped the gun he stole from Darryl. Wonder how that’s gonna play out.” Folks on here were speculating that Randall would find it, or Darryl would reach for it and it wouldn’t be there. But no. Next day, Carl has it. No explanation. No purpose behind the drop other than to create a plot hole, calling for one more fanwank patch. ---
**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:** [March 12, 2012, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-12-better-angels-open-spoilers/615502/132 "2012-03-12T22:00:12Z")
Anybody else disappointed with the zombie makeup on Randell & Shane? It should’ve been much subtler IMHO. Hell, Shane was only dead for a few minutes; he should’ve have had zombie makeup on at all. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-12-better-angels-open-spoilers/615502/133 "2012-03-12T22:03:19Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Anybody else disappointed with the zombie makeup on Randell & Shane? It should’ve been much subtler IMHO. Hell, Shane was only dead for a few minutes; he should’ve have had zombie makeup on at all. Shane didn’t, other the white contacts (and the blood from being stabbed). ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-12-better-angels-open-spoilers/615502/134 "2012-03-12T22:07:37Z")
> [@whole\_bean](#): > > When did he go back and get it? Honestly? I don’t care. I mean no disrespect, I’m genuinely curious; why on earth do you watch this show? ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-12-better-angels-open-spoilers/615502/135 "2012-03-12T22:23:08Z")
Is there anything that explains why a horde of zombies is descending on the farm all of a sudden? Is it just a random thing? ---
**Author:** ![Scupper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Scupper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scupper)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-12-better-angels-open-spoilers/615502/136 "2012-03-12T22:24:33Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > Honestly? I don’t care. I mean no disrespect, I’m genuinely curious; why on earth do you watch this show? Agreed. How can this be such a huge showstopper for people? He got it when he wasn’t on camera. Big deal. My question is why the two punks in the bar didn’t reanimate, since they had plenty of time to do so. I don’t recall whether they were headshot or not. I don’t find it _upsetting_ that they didn’t, though, since we don’t really know anything about how this works other than that it worked on Shane and Randall _sans_ bite. Maybe it only works that way on brunettes, or people who haven’t had alcohol in their system for more than 48 hours, or people whose first names come after “Quentin,” alphabetically. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-12-better-angels-open-spoilers/615502/137 "2012-03-12T22:25:54Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > Is there anything that explains why a horde of zombies is descending on the farm all of a sudden? Is it just a random thing? Did you read through the thread? Its been postulated by many that its a combination of the increase in noise they’d been making lately what with all the gunfire and hammering and yelling, along with the fact that (Herschel?) one of the characters mentions that one of their natural barriers, the creek/river or whatever was causing the walkers to get stuck in the mud, dries up “this time of year”. ---
**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:** [March 12, 2012, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-12-better-angels-open-spoilers/615502/138 "2012-03-12T22:27:43Z")
> [@whole\_bean](#): > > The episode resumes the next morning, and Carl gives the gun to Shane early in the day. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that Carl got the gun right before giving it to Shane. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-12-better-angels-open-spoilers/615502/139 "2012-03-12T22:28:39Z")
> [@Scupper](#): > > Agreed. How can this be such a huge showstopper for people? He got it when he wasn’t on camera. Big deal. > > My question is why the two punks in the bar didn’t reanimate, since they had plenty of time to do so. I don’t recall whether they were headshot or not. I don’t find it _upsetting_ that they didn’t, though, since we don’t really know anything about how this works other than that it worked on Shane and Randall _sans_ bite. Maybe it only works that way on brunettes, or people who haven’t had alcohol in their system for more than 48 hours, or people whose first names come after “Quentin,” alphabetically. That’s an interesting point re: the guys in the bar. I don’t think they were both shot in the head, but maybe they were. If they weren’t, then that’s some sloppy editing to introduce this new twist like that with no explanation on the second to last episode of the season. It’ll be interesting to hear the characters discussing this new wrinkle in the next episode at any rate. ---
**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:** [March 12, 2012, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-12-better-angels-open-spoilers/615502/140 "2012-03-12T22:29:52Z")
> [@Scupper](#): > > My question is why the two punks in the bar didn’t reanimate, since they had plenty of time to do so. I don’t recall whether they were headshot or not. They clearly showed us headshots on both. Rick killed the guy who was behind the bar reaching for the gun with a perfect headshot, spun around and shot the fat guy in the chest, then stepped closer, aimed at his head, and shot again. EDIT: I think that week’s thread also had a couple mentions of Zombieland’s “double tap” rule in reference to the bar shootout. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-12-better-angels-open-spoilers/615502.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-12-better-angels-open-spoilers/615502.md?page=8)