# The Walking Dead; 5.05 "Self Help" (open spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 10, 2014, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-5-05-self-help-open-spoilers/704199 "2014-11-10T00:55:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-5-05-self-help-open-spoilers/704199/101 "2014-11-11T00:10:59Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > From what we saw in the show, it looked like Abe just had a disagreement over canned goods. I didn’t even think that was his wife at first, just some random woman with kids he was trying to help, who didn’t want his help. I’m assuming that the writers would have addressed the issue of who Abe was canning in the aisle (why else would they spend the time and money on makeup or film any of it) but the editor(s) may have cut out a wee bit too much. ☹ ---
**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 11, 2014, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-5-05-self-help-open-spoilers/704199/102 "2014-11-11T01:02:34Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I think it’s clear the ordinary laws of thermodynamics do not apply to zombies, and I’ve never liked or bought the virus explanation. Hell is full, so the dead are walking the earth. Since zombies don’t have functioning digesting systems they wouldn’t be producing faeces at all; it would be the some undigested flesh they ate, just more rotten, coming out (either tru the anus, mouth, or exploding abdomen). That being said most zombies would have shit in their pants simply because most people void their bowels when they die. ---
**Author:** ![PlumBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@PlumBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlumBob)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-5-05-self-help-open-spoilers/704199/103 "2014-11-11T02:23:49Z")
Anybody catch the bicycle comment by Tara? I’m paraphrasing “We should find bicycles, at least they don’t burn”. That gives me an idea for a Spin off series…The Re-cycling Dead. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-5-05-self-help-open-spoilers/704199/104 "2014-11-11T02:28:08Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > Perhaps my view was colored by the fact that I spent the first quarter of the episode slightly unfairly pissed off at the writers. I thought we had another example of the strange inability for people on this show to drive (like with the open road car crash that Lori managed to pull off). I was all “Really? _Really?_” Really, I was. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-5-05-self-help-open-spoilers/704199/105 "2014-11-11T02:32:37Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I think Eugene purposely found a group like that. He can manipulate a group of dumb jocks into keeping him alive. > [@UncleRojelio](#): > > The lady on ‘The Talking Dead’ seems so proud of the zombie fire hose scene and even mentions that they had trouble filming it because they couldn’t get the truck to start. In the show, the truck clealy won’t start yet Eugene is still able to hose down all the walkers with high pressure water. Why do the writers get to call us stupid to our faces and think they can get away with it? The writers are Eugene. The audience are the jocks. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-5-05-self-help-open-spoilers/704199/106 "2014-11-11T02:36:15Z")
Thanks for killing another fucking discussion thread. I wish I knew spoilers just so I could crap them out while leaving the thread. Fucking inanity. ---
**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 11, 2014, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-5-05-self-help-open-spoilers/704199/107 "2014-11-11T02:41:54Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > The staff doesn’t care what you want to do – putting things from the graphic novels that haven’t been addressed on the show yet into spoiler boxes will probably suffice – but we will be happy to enforce the rule once you’ve decided what it is. I don’t believe we are going to decide that. Do Moderators (yes, I capitalized it, I can suck up with the best) go with the guy who started the thread, a majority vote, or posters that suck up well? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-5-05-self-help-open-spoilers/704199/108 "2014-11-11T02:46:23Z")
Since I’m the one who brought up the comic, I apologize but FWIW it was a response to someone who directly asked about them. Either way I am spoiler phobic myself so I understand people’s attitudes on the subject. So anyway, I wonder how this is all going to play out. People seem sympathetic to Eugene (I’m assuming he survived Abraham’s assault) so i wonder which of the two people will be more mad at. ---
**Author:** ![Chicago\_Faucet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chicago_faucet/32/13910_2.png) [@Chicago\_Faucet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicago_Faucet)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-5-05-self-help-open-spoilers/704199/109 "2014-11-11T02:47:32Z")
Wait, am I the only one that thinks Abraham killed Eugene at the end? I mean, those hits were quite vicious, and direct to the face, and up against the hard object of the fire truck. Eugene fell lifeless, straight on his face, with blood coming out of his nose. If Eugene is dead, I though that was a fitting conclusion of that story arc between Abraham and Eugene - where lies will take you, and violence begets violence, and you see the alpha and omega of their alliance. I caught the Tara remark about bicycles. I chucked on the inside, because Cracked mentioned the exact same thing. A bicycle doesn’t break down, it doesn’t need fuel, and with minimal effort, it can travel several times the speed of a walking zombie. In the immortal words of Max Brooks: “Because you never have to reload a machete.” ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-5-05-self-help-open-spoilers/704199/110 "2014-11-11T02:47:51Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > (I’m assuming he survived Abraham’s assault) Sure, he did. An unwashed mullet’s better than a football helmet. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-5-05-self-help-open-spoilers/704199/111 "2014-11-11T02:53:31Z")
So when the thread title says (open spoilers) it doesn’t really mean you can post spoilers? ---
**Author:** ![Chicago\_Faucet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chicago_faucet/32/13910_2.png) [@Chicago\_Faucet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicago_Faucet)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-5-05-self-help-open-spoilers/704199/112 "2014-11-11T02:59:43Z")
Just continuing to add that I am tired, after five seasons, of the main group just surviving by wandering around the outskirts of Atlanta. I’m also sick and tired of the villain-of-the-season plot lines. Thank god the Termites only lasted something like three episodes. If it were me, I would have hit the road a long time ago. The group talked about going to Fort Benning, but were talked out of it when someone simply said that it was overrun. They came close to moving on at the end of the first season, making it to that CDC building, and got even closer, until a damned blown gasket stopped the RV and stymied them at the farm…which seems to be the main driver of the plot of the past couple seasons - a darned blown gasket on an RV determines who lives or dies for the next three seasons. 🙂 I mentioned to a friend one time that I fully expected - hoped, really - when the prison was being onslaughted by zombies, to just see everyone getting surrounded and overrun. Zoom out. Focus in on a new group of people. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-5-05-self-help-open-spoilers/704199/113 "2014-11-11T03:01:45Z")
The only reason nobody has ever gotten more than 15 miles away from Atlanta is actually very simple. It cost a lot of money to move the shooting location. ---
**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:** [November 11, 2014, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-5-05-self-help-open-spoilers/704199/114 "2014-11-11T03:37:56Z")
> [@Chicago\_Faucet](#): > > Just continuing to add that I am tired, after five seasons, of the main group just surviving by wandering around the outskirts of Atlanta. I’m also sick and tired of the villain-of-the-season plot lines. Thank god the Termites only lasted something like three episodes. > > If it were me, I would have hit the road a long time ago. > > The group talked about going to Fort Benning, but were talked out of it when someone simply said that it was overrun. They came close to moving on at the end of the first season, making it to that CDC building, and got even closer, until a damned blown gasket stopped the RV and stymied them at the farm…which seems to be the main driver of the plot of the past couple seasons - a darned blown gasket on an RV determines who lives or dies for the next three seasons. 🙂 > > I mentioned to a friend one time that I fully expected - hoped, really - when the prison was being onslaughted by zombies, to just see everyone getting surrounded and overrun. Zoom out. Focus in on a new group of people. I’m kinda over it too, it’s like they’re going in circles. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-5-05-self-help-open-spoilers/704199/115 "2014-11-11T03:57:27Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > So when the thread title says (open spoilers) it doesn’t really mean you can post spoilers? It means open spoilers about the episode that just aired. Open spoilers doesn’t mean i can come in this thread and tell you Bruce Willis was dead the whole time. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-5-05-self-help-open-spoilers/704199/116 "2014-11-11T03:58:36Z")
This thread reminds me a bit of a porn flick I saw years ago, I’m which the action got so dull that the camera panned over for several minutes of loving attention to a hot cafe racer motorcycle. This ep was so dull, we’d rather dredge up “Comic season!” “TV season!” 🙂 ---
**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 11, 2014, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-5-05-self-help-open-spoilers/704199/117 "2014-11-11T04:01:02Z")
I watched it tonight. Eugene is an asshole, but there aren’t enough live people left to kill him, dammit. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-5-05-self-help-open-spoilers/704199/118 "2014-11-11T04:05:14Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > This ep was so dull, we’d rather dredge up “Comic season!” “TV season!” 🙂 The show gets a lot of criticism for not balancing the grim darkness with a little levity. I think this was one of the funniest WD episodes yet! Unintentional comedy still counts, right? There was a legit joke when the truck burst into flames. ---
**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:** [November 11, 2014, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-5-05-self-help-open-spoilers/704199/119 "2014-11-11T04:38:09Z")
As far as I’m aware, there has never been a “comics don’t exist” rule in TWD threads. Maybe, _maybe_, in the threads for the very first season, but certainly not for the last several seasons. I definitely do NOT remember “hashing this out every season.” There are plenty of comics references in the various episode threads, but for the most part people have done a great job of spoiler-boxing spoilers and discussing irrelevant minutia openly. So I’d like cites of examples where it’s stated the “comics don’t exist” is a rule in these threads. I’d also like cites of examples where it’s being “hashed out every year.” I think the “comics don’t exist” rule can’t possibly work for TWD specifically because of The Talking Dead. Case in point: They did NOT say the reason why Abe killed those dudes in the grocery store on the Talking Dead. The actor who played Abe was very specific: “That scene was a callback to the comics. In the comics, those guys were his neighbors and friends when the apocalypse hit, and were part of his group. Abe had gone off on a supply run and those guys raped his family, so he killed them. That’s what happens in the comics, anyway; the writers could very well revisit that scene and make it some other reason.” I highly doubt the writers would change the reason, but the explanation given was specifically “this is what happened in the comics.” NOT “this is what happened in the show.” I find this hand-wringing over “the comics DON"T EXISTS!!!1!!” shameful and embarrassing, a showcase of the worst aspects of SDMB culture. Link to me the last time this was an issue. Also, link me the last TWD thread that didn’t mention the comics. ---
**Author:** ![wedgehed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@wedgehed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wedgehed)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-5-05-self-help-open-spoilers/704199/120 "2014-11-11T04:39:48Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > Since I’m the one who brought up the comic, I apologize but FWIW it was a response to someone who directly asked about them. You were answering my question & I appreciate it. I don’t get the outrage at referring to the comics to criticize or clarify events that have already occurred on the TV show. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-5-05-self-help-open-spoilers/704199.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-5-05-self-help-open-spoilers/704199.md?page=7)