# The Walking Dead; 3.07 "When the Dead Come a Knocking" (open spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 26, 2012, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-3-07-when-the-dead-come-a-knocking-open-spoilers/642114 "2012-11-26T00:58:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-3-07-when-the-dead-come-a-knocking-open-spoilers/642114/121 "2012-11-27T20:16:35Z")
> [@obfusciatrist](#): > > There’d always be the potential for new zombies. But among survivors traditions of making sure the dead don’t reanimate would quickly take hold. So a zombie would likely only happen for those who died in isolation and there wouldn’t be a enough people left to produce the zombie hordes that are the real risk. > > If eventually the 5.5 billion zombies currently wandering the earth decay to immobility, in just a couple years after that actually getting killed by a zombie will likely be viewed as practically Darwin Award worthy. That’s the problem of the zombie apocalypse. It’s the living who are the real danger. ---
**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:** [November 27, 2012, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-3-07-when-the-dead-come-a-knocking-open-spoilers/642114/122 "2012-11-27T20:27:13Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Or Maggie could carry it around on a stick. > Flash it every once and a while. > 🙂 After stuffing certain bodily appendages of the Governor down his own throat of course. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-3-07-when-the-dead-come-a-knocking-open-spoilers/642114/123 "2012-11-27T20:31:32Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > After stuffing certain bodily appendages of the Governor down his own throat of course. 😉 Out standing! ---
**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:** [November 27, 2012, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-3-07-when-the-dead-come-a-knocking-open-spoilers/642114/124 "2012-11-27T20:39:03Z")
> [@Fubaya](#): > > I think they set something up with the Gov questioning Meryl’s loyalty. So I predict there will be a showdown with Daryl, Meryl turns on the governor, and Meryl dies. Not necessarily in that order but my prediction is that those three things will happen. Meryl is a girl’s name. Meryl Streep for example. Merle is boy’s name. Merle Haggard for example. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-3-07-when-the-dead-come-a-knocking-open-spoilers/642114/125 "2012-11-27T20:44:29Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > Meryl is a girl’s name. Meryl Streep for example. Merle is boy’s name. Merle Haggard for example. Like I care? 🙂 ---
**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:** [November 27, 2012, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-3-07-when-the-dead-come-a-knocking-open-spoilers/642114/126 "2012-11-27T21:08:35Z")
> [@leftfield6](#): > > Maybe I’m the only one, but every time that I hear or read Governor, my mind wants it to be spoken with a Cockney accent, as in [8 seconds into this youtube video.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5TMJ4_0kAM) Perhaps [this](http://youtu.be/GFU9wKm2sRE) is why. It’s also why I can’t take the Governor seriously. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-3-07-when-the-dead-come-a-knocking-open-spoilers/642114/127 "2012-11-27T21:28:09Z")
> [@Sister\_Vigilante](#): > > Perhaps [this](http://youtu.be/GFU9wKm2sRE) is why. > > It’s also why I can’t take the Governor seriously. I can understand. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-3-07-when-the-dead-come-a-knocking-open-spoilers/642114/128 "2012-11-27T21:38:14Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Or Maggie could carry it around on a stick. > Flash it every once and a while. > 🙂 In response to what? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Feyrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/fbc32d/32.png) [@Feyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feyrat)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-3-07-when-the-dead-come-a-knocking-open-spoilers/642114/129 "2012-11-27T22:01:39Z")
> [@Reverse](#): > > That aint Tyreese. Actually, pretty sure it is. [http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2012/11/the-walking-dead-casts-tyreese-chad-coleman-of-the-wire-to-play-comic-book-favorite.html](http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2012/11/the-walking-dead-casts-tyreese-chad-coleman-of-the-wire-to-play-comic-book-favorite.html) Cameras don’t linger on extras like that unless they’re important later. > [@Human\_Action](#): > > The fact that Michonne went for the impalement instead of a trip or tackle says a lot about her character; the fact that the others didn’t seem to mind says a lot about theirs. Did you miss the fact that they DID tackle and grapple him? And he continued to make noise and then broke away from them? They needed him to stop making noise - the more noise he made, the more Walkers he attracts. They explained about herds, right? That look of disgust she shot Rick after the fact said it all. They couldn’t handle the hobo and she was forced to do it. If they wanted him alive, they should have dealt with him better, but he was an outright threat to the group at that point, between making noise (what happened when his yelling started attracting Walkers to the back of the cabin where the only clean exit was?) and trying to open the front door. There’s no question that he needed to be taken out. Crazy can’t be reasoned with, and it is literally life and death out there. > [@Santos\_L\_Halper](#): > > I assumed it had to do with the Governor hoping there was some chance to ‘cure’ his daughter. Me too. > [@Santos\_L\_Halper](#): > > I was curious why Andrea didn’t mention the time they spent with the guy at the CDC. He talked about (and showed a video of) his study of the zombification process, which would have helped answer what they were trying to figure out with Mr. Coleman.. We don’t know she didn’t. They can’t show every conversation these people have on-screen. > [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > I don’t understand why Maggie didn’t simply tell The Gov about the farm. The bad guys would go there…get overrun by walkers…problem solved. But then I figured that the farm might be too far away to seem plausible. I thought the SAME THING. She’s going to talk, she has to talk, and they both know that. Why the hell not LIE? They managed to keep quiet until they were both in the room together (very sloppy on the part of the Gov to allow them in the room to get their stories straight!) so there’d be no question of contradicting each other. Say the group is at a local mall. Say they went back to the farm. Say they don’t have a camp, they’re still living in a caravan of RVs (Merle knows about the original RV, after all) - why the hell go straight to the prison?? > [@DigitalC](#): > > They know about the farm from Andrea, they know they are not there anymore. Glenn and Maggie don’t know that. And Andrea doesn’t know they didn’t RETURN to the farm well after they left to set up shop again. ---
**Author:** ![Reverse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@Reverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reverse)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-3-07-when-the-dead-come-a-knocking-open-spoilers/642114/130 "2012-11-27T22:16:36Z")
> [@Feyrat](#): > > Actually, pretty sure it is. [http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2012/11/the-walking-dead-casts-tyreese-chad-coleman-of-the-wire-to-play-comic-book-favorite.html](http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2012/11/the-walking-dead-casts-tyreese-chad-coleman-of-the-wire-to-play-comic-book-favorite.html) Cameras don’t linger on extras like that unless they’re important later. The black man with the bow is “Bowman” Shupert, played by Travis Love. But I guess they all look the same, huh? ---
**Author:** ![Feyrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/fbc32d/32.png) [@Feyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feyrat)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-3-07-when-the-dead-come-a-knocking-open-spoilers/642114/131 "2012-11-27T22:18:18Z")
> [@Reverse](#): > > The black man with the bow is “Bowman” Shupert, played by Travis Love. > > But I guess they all look the same, huh? Rude much? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-3-07-when-the-dead-come-a-knocking-open-spoilers/642114/132 "2012-11-27T22:19:26Z")
> [@Reverse](#): > > But I guess they all look the same, huh? Yes, all archers look the same at first. 🙂 ---
**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:** [November 28, 2012, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-3-07-when-the-dead-come-a-knocking-open-spoilers/642114/133 "2012-11-28T00:06:11Z")
> [@brewha](#): > > The scene with the gunva and Maggie was just a bit too uncomfortable. I kinda knew it was coming, and it did blatantly paint him as the bad guy, I just didn’t like it. Poor girl has been through enough with the undead. This is just an example of sentiment expressed across the thread. You know, I kind of think the brutal physical beatings, and then being bound in a room with something that wants to eat you alive, is just a little more unpleasant than having to take your shirt off. I don’t know if it’s sexist, if we view anything inflicted on a woman as being far more devastating or important than something inflicted on a man, or if we’re just totally desensitized to physical torture and rapey overtones squick us out, but this sentiment is sort of ridiculous. I don’t think rape was meant to be implied (she was put into the room again with Glenn in the same shirtless condition, otherwise seemingly unharmed), so all this sympathy for Maggie and none for Glenn is quite bizarre. I’m reasonably sure that any sane human being would choose what she went through over what Glenn did. In fact I’m kind of surprised they didn’t just have the governor rape her, if they were trying to black hat him. ---
**Author:** ![Santos\_L\_Halper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/santos_l_halper/32/1_2.png) [@Santos\_L\_Halper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santos_L_Halper)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-3-07-when-the-dead-come-a-knocking-open-spoilers/642114/134 "2012-11-28T00:19:19Z")
> [@Feyrat](#): > > We don’t know she didn’t. They can’t show every conversation these people have on-screen. True, but the way he was describing his experiment it didn’t seem to me she had told him about the CDC. As for Maggie, I was kinda hoping that as the Governor was menacing her and she cowered teary-eyed she would grab the knife he’d used moments before to cut her bindings and stab him in the eye. Then she would bust into the adjacent room, put the smack-down on Merle and rescue Glenn. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![wheresmymind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@wheresmymind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wheresmymind)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-3-07-when-the-dead-come-a-knocking-open-spoilers/642114/135 "2012-11-28T00:25:26Z")
> [@Reverse](#): > > The black man with the bow is “Bowman” Shupert, played by Travis Love. > > But I guess they all look the same, huh? Yeah, only a complete racist would think [this guy](http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2012/11/the-walking-dead-casts-tyreese-chad-coleman-of-the-wire-to-play-comic-book-favorite.html) could be the actor playing [this guy](http://walkingdead.wikia.com/wiki/File:Bowman04.jpg). :rolleyes: It looks like you’re right, the man in question is indeed named “Shupert.” And side-by-side they do look a bit different. But considering the two actors do share at least a superficial resemblance (beyond both being African American) it’s not an outrageous mistake to make, especially considering that Shupert has had about 15 seconds of screen time, most of which was either out of focus, in the background, or less than 3 seconds at a time. ---
**Author:** ![Human\_Action](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@Human\_Action](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Human_Action)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-3-07-when-the-dead-come-a-knocking-open-spoilers/642114/136 "2012-11-28T15:24:37Z")
> [@Feyrat](#): > > Did you miss the fact that they DID tackle and grapple him? And he continued to make noise and then broke away from them? They needed him to stop making noise - the more noise he made, the more Walkers he attracts. They explained about herds, right? > > That look of disgust she shot Rick after the fact said it all. They couldn’t handle the hobo and she was forced to do it. If they wanted him alive, they should have dealt with him better, but he was an outright threat to the group at that point, between making noise (what happened when his yelling started attracting Walkers to the back of the cabin where the only clean exit was?) and trying to open the front door. > > There’s no question that he needed to be taken out. Crazy can’t be reasoned with, and it is literally life and death out there. The hermit asked them to leave, (which they could have, right out the walker-free back door) and the gang refused. Rick snatched his magical shotgun (made the sound of a pump-action despite being a break-action) away, and put him in a weak grapple of some kind. Again, when he ran for the door, why not let him open it? That’s more defensible than stabbing him in the heart. So this guy’s had armed strangers burst into his cabin. He stayed hidden under his blanket, but they spotted him, refused to leave, and forcibly disarmed him. And he’s the threat? I’m not buying the noise arguement, there were 8 or so walkers actively trying to break into the cabin; they knew that Rick’s gang was in there. This is tribalism. If you aren’t part of the group, you are not a real person, and if it’s convenient or useful to kill you, the group will do so. It’s alien to all the higher reasoning of mankind. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-3-07-when-the-dead-come-a-knocking-open-spoilers/642114/137 "2012-11-28T15:40:41Z")
> [@Human\_Action](#): > > This is tribalism. If you aren’t part of the group, you are not a real person, and if it’s convenient or useful to kill you, the group will do so. It’s alien to all the higher reasoning of mankind. They didn’t want to hurt the guy, Michonne (sp) whacked him. ---
**Author:** ![wheresmymind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@wheresmymind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wheresmymind)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-3-07-when-the-dead-come-a-knocking-open-spoilers/642114/138 "2012-11-28T16:51:59Z")
> [@Human\_Action](#): > > Again, when he ran for the door, why not let him open it? That’s more defensible than stabbing him in the heart. Because it appeared that him opening it would mean certain death for the whole crew. Only after he was killed did they have time to think, notice the back door, and formulate a plan. It’s nice that you would gladly sacrifice yourself, three friends and a stranger rather than harm the stranger. > [@Human\_Action](#): > > So this guy’s had armed strangers burst into his cabin. He stayed hidden under his blanket, but they spotted him, refused to leave, and forcibly disarmed him. And he’s the threat? I’m not buying the noise arguement, there were 8 or so walkers actively trying to break into the cabin; they knew that Rick’s gang was in there. He wasn’t a threat for the two seconds that he was disarmed and restrained by Rick. And they didn’t kill him for those two seconds. Heck, they even tried the measured, rational approach when he was a crazy man with a gun pointed at them. But yeah, when there’s a half-dozen people in a ramshackle hut being mobbed by walkers, the guy who goes to open the door is a threat. The man was at the door and about to open it before anyone else even had time to react. Michonne was the only one within striking distance, and with about a quarter-second to think about it she took him down the fastest way she could. > [@Human\_Action](#): > > This is tribalism. If you aren’t part of the group, you are not a real person, and if it’s convenient or useful to kill you, the group will do so. It’s alien to all the higher reasoning of mankind. It’s also just about the only way you can survive as a small group in the wild while being constantly pursued by predators. All the “higher reasoning of mankind” kind of went out the door when civilization collapsed. What are they going to do, elect a committee to deliberate the necessary course of action to control the crazy man who’s one second away from letting a herd of walkers into the building, who will then prepare and deliver a report to Congress, who will then vote on the course of action they should take? All the “higher reasoning of mankind” and civility that we enjoy is made possible by a large, stable, and safely functioning society. Rick and Co enjoy none of these things. And even in our enlightened world, it’s permissible in some instances to use lethal force to protect oneself. I also disagree with your characterization of killing people if it’s “convenient or useful.” Ricks group has pretty much only killed people who pose a threat, or in situations where it was clearly “him or me.” ---
**Author:** ![Reverse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@Reverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reverse)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-3-07-when-the-dead-come-a-knocking-open-spoilers/642114/139 "2012-11-28T17:05:43Z")
> [@Human\_Action](#): > > Again, when he ran for the door, why not let him open it? That’s more defensible than stabbing him in the heart. You think letting a man get torn to pieces and eaten alive is more defensible than giving him a quick death? ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-3-07-when-the-dead-come-a-knocking-open-spoilers/642114/140 "2012-11-28T17:07:55Z")
> [@Reverse](#): > > You think letting a man get torn to pieces and eaten alive is more defensible than giving him a quick death? There are persons – I’m not one of them – who are so concerned about avoiding the _personal_ stain of guilt that they’re willing to allow (and, in fact, enable) greater overall losses to protect themselves from becoming killers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-3-07-when-the-dead-come-a-knocking-open-spoilers/642114.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-3-07-when-the-dead-come-a-knocking-open-spoilers/642114.md?page=8)