# The Walking Dead; 4.16 "A" (open spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 30, 2014, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-4-16-a-open-spoilers/684942 "2014-03-30T23:37:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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 31, 2014, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-4-16-a-open-spoilers/684942/21 "2014-03-31T02:55:43Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > If Beth was breeding stock so would be Maggie and Sasha and Michonne. Yeah, I’m thinking more cannibalism than breeding stock now, too (I didn’t see the piles of human bones, but cannibalism would explain them). I think the candle room was a shrine to all their dead friends. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-4-16-a-open-spoilers/684942/22 "2014-03-31T03:08:06Z")
“Fucked with the wrong people is right”. Rick already just fuckin’ ate a guy! Although it seems like they should have done some more recon. That army was sort of a big miss. Also not sure how burying their weapons outside the perimeter helps either. ---
**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 31, 2014, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-4-16-a-open-spoilers/684942/23 "2014-03-31T03:11:11Z")
Wow, on rewatch, I just noticed how Rick showing Carl about how to set a trap was a bit of foreshadowing. It was so blatant, I’m surprised I didn’t catch it the first time. ---
**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 31, 2014, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-4-16-a-open-spoilers/684942/24 "2014-03-31T03:12:06Z")
There can’t be enough stragglers to feed all those people at Terminus. How many were there along that fenceline, on top of the building, in the courtyard? Forty? Fifty? What do they do when they’re low on food…draw straws? “Sorry Fred, you’re dinner tonight.” I tend to think that the candle lit room was perhaps a memoriam to the people from their own group that they were “forced” to eat. They had all that meat on the grill…brrrr. If Darryl the badass hunter is scrounging and comes back with just a squirrel, we know the hunting around Terminus isn’t THAT good. ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-4-16-a-open-spoilers/684942/25 "2014-03-31T03:15:13Z")
> [@leftfield6](#): > > That’s the recruiting center. They were making “Come to Terminus” banners and maps, presumably to keep the next meal coming in. The lady speaking into the microphone is sending out a verbal recruiting message, basically to do the same thing, keep people chow coming. Remember that episode way back when Daryl/Michonne/Tyrese heard part of the message on the car radio? Having someone sitting at a microphone repeating the message seems inefficient. Why not a tape loop? I guess you’d need electrical power to run a tape machine. Do you need electrical power to broadcast a radio message? Back when I did a little radio DJ work we needed power for the transmitter. Maybe times have changed. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-4-16-a-open-spoilers/684942/26 "2014-03-31T03:19:44Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Although it seems like they should have done some more recon. That army was sort of a big miss. Also not sure how burying their weapons outside the perimeter helps either. That seemed odd to me as well. “Let’s check it out before we go in” Then literally three seconds later we see them hop over the fence and walk right in the back door. > [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > So, they took Glen’s/Hershel’s watch, Maggie’s poncho, and Eugene’s body armour, then lied about it. Not good. Yes, the lied about it, but they had no reason to know that one group knew the other. Of course, it may have been wise to put 2 and 2 together and not put the two groups together in the same train car. Who knows, maybe they’ll plot against you. Personally, I’d keep, at the very least, the two groups separated, at the most, kill them all (you’ve got more firepower than them). And with that. If you’re ‘bad people’ why give them their weapons back after they freely gave them up. Just to make it more fun later? > [@leftfield6](#): > > Well, that answers the question we all had about how Daryl was going to handle it when they caught up to Rick. Which, other than then Beth thing, basically made that whole sub plot pointless. Darryl gets separated, finds a new group, his group gets killed, he reconnects with his original group. None of that, again other than Beth, interfered with the main story at all, it has no lasting implications. Lazy story writing IMO. They could found another way to lose Beth. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-4-16-a-open-spoilers/684942/27 "2014-03-31T03:23:03Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Which, other than then Beth thing, basically made that whole sub plot pointless. > > Darryl gets separated, finds a new group, his group gets killed, he reconnects with his original group. None of that, again other than Beth, interfered with the main story at all, it has no lasting implications. Lazy story writing IMO. > They could found another way to lose Beth. There had to be other “bad guys” before the Terminus reveal, otherwise it would’ve been a buncha episodes of them walking through the forest. ---
**Author:** ![brewha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@brewha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brewha)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-4-16-a-open-spoilers/684942/28 "2014-03-31T03:31:25Z")
Here’s my prediction - that train station isn’t the sanctuary. It’s just the screening center. The people that come in get a free (drugged) meal. When they pass out, all their weapons and valuables are taken and they are put in a train car for quarentine to make sure that they aren’t injured/bitten/psycho. If they pass, they are taken down the tracks to the real sanctuary. IF not, they end up in pieces in that fenced area. How else are you going to ensure that the people of your new utopia are good? You think psychos or people bitten will volunteer to go into quarantine? ---
**Author:** ![sir\_viks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@sir\_viks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sir_viks)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-4-16-a-open-spoilers/684942/29 "2014-03-31T03:31:48Z")
I don’t get it. The people at Terminus could’ve killed either group at any time, but chose not to. Why keep everyone they recruit in a box car? Could next season start with everyone transported away from Terminus? Maybe the random glasses guy wandering by himself is the key – they keep the walking dead away from Terminus by randomly releasing a “sacrificial lamb”? Of course we gotta wait until October for answers. It’s going to be a long summer. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-4-16-a-open-spoilers/684942/30 "2014-03-31T03:32:14Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > There had to be other “bad guys” before the Terminus reveal, otherwise it would’ve been a buncha episodes of them walking through the forest. But they weren’t bad until last week when they started talking about killing Rick. Well, we knew it was Rick and Darryl knew it was Rick, but they just wanted to avenge their friend’s death. Imagine if out group was staying in a house and someone randomly killed Carl or Glenn. From another POV, our group would be the bad guys for avenging his death. Toilet guy didn’t do anything wrong, he was just sitting there and got strangled. They were just kinda douchey about the whole ‘claimed’ thing. Either way, most of the other things have had some kind of lasting effect. ISTM they could have written in a better ‘villain’ to fill a few episodes or at least made that one have something that will tie into the rest of the series somehow. Hell, even if they had made those guys some how, in some way related Terminus to give the Terminus an extra grudge against our group. ---
**Author:** ![sir\_viks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@sir\_viks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sir_viks)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-4-16-a-open-spoilers/684942/31 "2014-03-31T03:33:32Z")
> [@brewha](#): > > Here’s my prediction - that train station isn’t the sanctuary. It’s just the screening center. The people that come in get a free (drugged) meal. When they pass out, all their weapons and valuables are taken and they are put in a train car for quarentine to make sure that they aren’t injured/bitten/psycho. > > If they pass, they are taken down the tracks to the real sanctuary. IF not, they end up in pieces in that fenced area. > > How else are you going to ensure that the people of your new utopia are good? You think psychos or people bitten will volunteer to go into quarantine? This is a better theory – the group just didn’t seem like cannibals or a cult to me. The actually seemed kind of normal. ---
**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 31, 2014, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-4-16-a-open-spoilers/684942/32 "2014-03-31T03:36:39Z")
> [@sir\_viks](#): > > I don’t get it. The people at Terminus could’ve killed either group at any time, but chose not to. Why keep everyone they recruit in a box car? > > Could next season start with everyone transported away from Terminus? > > Maybe the random glasses guy wandering by himself is the key – they keep the walking dead away from Terminus by randomly releasing a “sacrificial lamb”? > > Of course we gotta wait until October for answers. It’s going to be a long summer. Maybe…but where did all that meat come from? What about the human looking bones? Admittedly we didn’t get to see them for long, but they looked human to me. What about that weird room with all the lit candles? Where did they get so many candles? Are they made from human tallow? 🙂 ETA: quoted the wrong post…meant to quote **brewha’s.** ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-4-16-a-open-spoilers/684942/33 "2014-03-31T03:40:36Z")
Terminus must go through a shitload of candles. Awesome scene with the fight between Rick and Joe. The Terminus stuff doesn’t make much sense, though. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-4-16-a-open-spoilers/684942/34 "2014-03-31T03:42:29Z")
> [@brewha](#): > > Here’s my prediction - that train station isn’t the sanctuary. It’s just the screening center. The people that come in get a free (drugged) meal. When they pass out, all their weapons and valuables are taken and they are put in a train car for quarentine to make sure that they aren’t injured/bitten/psycho. > > If they pass, they are taken down the tracks to the real sanctuary. IF not, they end up in pieces in that fenced area. > > How else are you going to ensure that the people of your new utopia are good? You think psychos or people bitten will volunteer to go into quarantine? Then A)It’s possible all that shooting was just an obstacle course to see who can handle themselves in that kind of situation OR B)If what you say is the case why did they start shooting at Rick & Co and presumably do the same thing to Glen and Maggie and their friends. ---
**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 31, 2014, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-4-16-a-open-spoilers/684942/35 "2014-03-31T04:05:45Z")
> [@brewha](#): > > Here’s my prediction - that train station isn’t the sanctuary. It’s just the screening center. The people that come in get a free (drugged) meal. When they pass out, all their weapons and valuables are taken and they are put in a train car for quarentine to make sure that they aren’t injured/bitten/psycho… That justifies taking away the weapons & body armour, but not the watch or the poncho. Taking the valuables is reminiscent of the Nazis. > [@Joey\_P](#): > > But they weren’t bad until last week when they started talking about killing Rick…They were just kinda douchey about the whole ‘claimed’ thing… Don’t forget their immediate reaction to finding out a woman was living there was to argue over who get’s to rape her first; that’s pretty far beyond douchey. We were supposed to know they’re bad from the beginning. [QUOTE=Joey P] …And with that. If you’re ‘bad people’ why give them their weapons back after they freely gave them up. Just to make it more fun later?.. [/QUOTE] You’re right, that was just plain bizarre. It doesn’t really serve a purpose, unless they normally plan on keeping up the act for longer. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-4-16-a-open-spoilers/684942/36 "2014-03-31T04:10:05Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > But they weren’t bad until last week when they started talking about killing Rick. Well, we knew it was Rick and Darryl knew it was Rick, but they just wanted to avenge their friend’s death. Imagine if out group was staying in a house and someone randomly killed Carl or Glenn. From another POV, our group would be the bad guys for avenging his death. Toilet guy didn’t do anything wrong, he was just sitting there and got strangled. > > They were just kinda douchey about the whole ‘claimed’ thing. No, we knew they were bad from the first time we met them. When they were searching the house that Rick & Carl were staying in, they were talking about raping women. ---
**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 31, 2014, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-4-16-a-open-spoilers/684942/37 "2014-03-31T04:11:12Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Yes, the lied about it, but they had no reason to know that one group knew the other. Of course, it may have been wise to put 2 and 2 together and not put the two groups together in the same train car. Who knows, maybe they’ll plot against you. Personally, I’d keep, at the very least, the two groups separated, at the most, kill them all (you’ve got more firepower than them). > And with that. If you’re ‘bad people’ why give them their weapons back after they freely gave them up. Just to make it more fun later? If we’re running with the cannibal (or even the breeding) thing, they didn’t want to spook them and end up having to kill them. While they apparently have enough power for a radio transmitter, I doubt they have enough for refrigerators. Better to just keep everyone relaxed and feed them some tranquilizers in their long-pork. > [@](#): > > Which, other than then Beth thing, basically made that whole sub plot pointless. > > Darryl gets separated, finds a new group, his group gets killed, he reconnects with his original group. None of that, again other than Beth, interfered with the main story at all, it has no lasting implications. Lazy story writing IMO. > They could found another way to lose Beth. I would have liked to see Rick’s and Daryl’s group meet near the entrance to Terminus, start going at it, only to have the Terminus people break it up. That would have been a great opportunity to have them form an unlikely (albeit temporary) alliance once they all got caged up. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-4-16-a-open-spoilers/684942/38 "2014-03-31T04:14:50Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Don’t forget their immediate reaction to finding out a woman was living there was to argue over who get’s to rape her first; that’s pretty far beyond douchey. We were supposed to know they’re bad from the beginning. I don’t remember that, but I’ll take your word for it. This show picks odd things to put in it’s “Previously on The Walking Dead” section. But I’ll still argue that wanting to kill Rick doesn’t make them bad. They were just out for some vengeance. I think the better part of all the main characters have (at least almost) killed someone to avenge someone’s death. Think about Daryl in S1 when he thought Merle was dead. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-4-16-a-open-spoilers/684942/39 "2014-03-31T04:16:33Z")
With no refrigeration, you don’t slaughter the calf until it’s time to eat it. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-4-16-a-open-spoilers/684942/40 "2014-03-31T04:18:03Z")
> [@voltaire](#): > > I would have liked to see Rick’s and Daryl’s group meet near the entrance to Terminus, start going at it, only to have the Terminus people break it up. That would have been a great opportunity to have them form an unlikely (albeit temporary) alliance once they all got caged up. That would have made a lot more sense. Like I said, it would have given us some long(er) lasting implications, even if that group went away afterwards. But they basically came and left with nothing to show for it. If this show is still on, not next year but the year after it we’ll have forgotten about the ‘claimed group’, but we’ll still be talking about the Governor and Woodbury. Granted, that was a bigger chunk of the series, an entire season and better written, but ignoring that, it’s the reason Herschel is dead and they don’t have the jail anymore. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-4-16-a-open-spoilers/684942.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-4-16-a-open-spoilers/684942.md?page=3)