Carl getting and losing the gun is theme for the two episodes. He takes it when he wants to be brave and wander around in the woods. He loses it when he gets freaked out by the zombie. He gives it to Shane, saying “I don’t want anything to do with guns any more” to show he’s still freaked out. His Dad gives him a pep-talk about being a man, and Carl takes the gun back. Then in the final scene, he finds his courage again, takes the gun and goes out into the night to find his dad and shoot Shane.
Focusing on dropping the gun wasn’t because it was a plot point, but because his losing it was symbolic.
(Granted its kind of a stupid piece of symbolism, but I’m pretty confident thats what the writers were doing)
It’s not a plot hole, it’s a red herring. You are correct in saying it is bad writing, but incorrect in your dissection of it.
Simply put, it didn’t need to happen, but it does not cause any actual logical inconsistencies by happening. A proper plot hole is a mistake can’t be explained without excessively stretching the reality of the fictional universe it occurs in. This one can easily be explained.
In a world where Rick somehow managed to more or less stumble upon the one tiny group of survivors who just happened to include his wife, son, and best friend, the fabric of fictional reality is more than elastic enough to allow a kid to run and pick up a gun he dropped.
Edit - Posted before I saw your clarification that it was bad writing you objected to, which I more or less agree with.
I think red herring is a best case. I still think it’s inconsistent, given the group’s reaction to Dale’s death, that Carl would be let to roam the woods the next morning. Then again, Rick and Lori aren’t winning any parenting awards.
And I guess I disagree with the notion that because the story relies on an unlikely event, the writers should rely on the elasticity of the set up to and force the viewer to clean up any inconsistencies.
But that’s the issue: there’s no actual inconsistency here. There’s nothing implausible about Carl’s having the gun. They just didn’t show him getting it. That fact isn’t logically inconsistent with anything else we’ve seen. Yes, you personally might think it unlikely, but there’s nothing in the show itself that logically contradicts it. It’s not as if we had seen the gun burn up in a river of molten lava. Carl knew where it was and none of the facts in the narrative make it impossible for him to have retrieved it.
It’s just like those who are saying that there is no way that Carl would have messed around on someone else’s bag and taken a gun. That conclusion is not based on anything that exists in the show itself. It’s only a contradiction if you start with a long series of assumptions, none of which have any basis in the show itself.
So yes while it might be bad writing, it’s not a plot hole and it isn’t actually inconsistent with anything.
The “long series of assumptions” is, try to keep up with me, I know this is elaborate, that they wouldn’t let Carl wander off the morning after a zombie killed Dale.
It’s a TV show. Time is critical; they have to leave things out.
If they spent fifteen seconds of Lori telling Carl not to wander off, and fifteen seconds showing him climbing out a window, thirty seconds recovering the pistol, they’ve lost a minute of the fight between Rick and Shayne. We just have to figure some stuff out all by ourselves.
So any guesses for who goes down in the Battle of Herschel’s Farm? I don’t think it will be bloodless for the living.
The below is not in any way based on spoilers from the series or the books. (As mentioned the books and series are now irreconcilable in some ways anyway [and there are some plots in the books I would prefer they not do in the series].) So conjectures based just on watching the series:
I’d give easily 250:1 odds for Rick, Carl, or Glenn. (No odds on wounded for Rick or Glenn; I don’t think they’ll wound Carl as that’s been done.)
I’d give about 50:1 for Lori. She’s the cause of too much of the show’s drama.
25:1 each for Maggie and Darryl.
I’d give 10:1 for Darryl- still a long shot, but he’s a fan favorite, probably the best equipped for survival, and the obvious Number 2 for Rick, but it would be a big shocker upset that wouldn’t destroy the series.
I’d give about 2:1 for Herschel and even money for Carol or or Suicidal Daughter or Jimmy as they’re the most dispensible. I’d bet 5:1 that at least one of those four (Hershel/Carol/SD/Jimmy) will die.
T-Dog is hard to weigh: I’d like to think the writers wouldn’t kill him off before developing the character more because I’d hate to think he’s just “What was the name of that black guy who used to be with us? T-Bone? T-Man…T something. Some say the T stood for Tyrese but I don’t think we knew for certain…”).
I think its been conclusively shown that Carl does what Carl wants now - and that Lori is not paying any attention (or is just senile) – Pretty sure that Rick/Shane neither one told Lori that Carl was in the woods yesterday and encountered said zombie - nor have they told her about his stealing the gun.
So, I don’t think that anyone ‘let’ Carl wander off again - he just did - that he can manage to sneak out so easily is a completely different problem.
The fact that they seemed to hit us over the head in this episode that T-dog still existed this episode makes his immediate future survival look pretty grim. Usually drawing attention to a little seen character is a death-sentence. On the reverse, killing Jimmy when most of the audience has forgotten he existed seems unlikely.
Shaved head woman has already lost her family and is kind of pointless, I could see her getting killed. And I agree SD is another likely target (and she also was more or less a background figure who the script recently drew attention to).
I think Andrea is the other one you forgot. She doesn’t seem to likely to get offed.
Ok, I saw what Sarah Wayne Callies (Lori) said the intent was and I still find it hard to believe. Shane’s level of emotional maturity was pretty low and Lori pushed all his buttons. If she was trying to draw him back in the fold, why not just say, “Thanks for helping out” or whatever, not the other stuff I summarized.
Maybe I’m giving the characters more credit that they are due. I thought it was slick writing, but I guess I imagined most of it.
Seriously, why DO you watch this show? I mean, we all complain about bits and pieces of it here and there, but we are all riveted because we actually like the damn thing because there’s never been anything on TV quite like it.
Must be that SDMB groupthink at work again. Curse you, you fucking liberals! You have polluted my mind and now I require channeling J. Edgar Hoover to expunge you and your commie like-mindedness!
You seem to be incapable of enjoying the show. Why don’t you take a rest pal? There aren’t any bombs.
I don’t agree. For one, there’s a budding love interest there with Daryl, and HE isn’t going to get killed off…he’s way too badass. Actually if they manage to kill him off without an adequate *denoument *I will stop watching. He’s the best character.
Anyway, Carol is a GREAT character, and they have left her undeveloped. Her wanting to be the one that chopped up her zombie husband with the axe was a compelling scene as she was so abused by him in life. The fact that Sophie was her daughter makes her even more powerful, especially in light of the barn incident.
I predict she will have a larger, more nurturing role going forward. Some woman in the group has to, and I can’t imagine it will be Lori (even though she has a fine little ass).
I thought she wanted to fu…have sex with him again.
TNAI Mrs. Plant believes she was honestly sorry for having a relationship with him and hurting his feelings.
Nonetheless, and I detest identifying with Shayne, but I think he thought she wanted to fu…have sex again.
