# The Walking Dead; 7.10 "New Best Friends" (open spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 20, 2017, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-10-new-best-friends-open-spoilers/780281 "2017-02-20T00:38:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-10-new-best-friends-open-spoilers/780281/21 "2017-02-20T17:09:03Z")
A group having a funny language doesn’t surprise me at all. It doesn’t take generations. Making your own language is one of the simplest ways of forming bonds and closeness.They don’t talk that way because they don’t know any better; they talk that way to declare they are one of the group vs. people outside the group. ---
**Author:** ![Keweenaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Keweenaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keweenaw)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-10-new-best-friends-open-spoilers/780281/22 "2017-02-20T18:32:03Z")
My guess is that Jadis’s odd Mad Max type society is just another version of what Ezekiel is doing with the Kingdom. She latched onto something that works, keeps people in line and has a loose cultural reference that people can understand and follow. She could probably talk and act normally in private if needed. ---
**Author:** ![rainy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@rainy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rainy)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-10-new-best-friends-open-spoilers/780281/23 "2017-02-20T18:52:34Z")
That episode was garbage, literally. I hated every moment of it. Not only was it filler, but pointless filler. How did all the emos end up at the dump together? The stupid verbal quirks, that pointless dance of forming the two circles around Rick’s group, that trial by spiky walker…sheesh. All of Gabrielle’s lines were so much the writer talking and not the character. Rick’s character was sent right off the rails having to grin like an idiot while the emos waved their hands in the air. And when they went to the “up up up” posing like a comic book panel there where everyone could see them and then pushing Rick into what must have looked like his death to Michonne. Conveniently there was a pipe there so there was some filmsy excuse for her not launching into a killing frenzy when she sees Rick pushed to his presumable death. We didn’t learn anything about this new group. EMO “We’ve been eating from cans and staying hidden.” RICK “Wow, no wonder we’re not making any progress in the zombie apocalypse, we’ve spent all this time waiting patiently in the drive through lane at the burger shack!!!” EMO “We need guns.” RICK “So do we. Remember how I told you that guy Negan keeps taking all our stuff. I thought you said you were some kind of super scavenger.” EMO “Sometimes the cans make our tummies hurt. And nobody has had a tetanus booster in a long time. Which is really, really dangerous considering where we live.” EMO “We waited long at the boat.” RICK “Really? The canoe was right there. Took me like ten seconds to figure it out.” EMO “We were busy scavenging for matching outfits and hair products for everyone. You don’t think THIS just happens do you?” They dialed the stupid up to eleven on this one. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-10-new-best-friends-open-spoilers/780281/24 "2017-02-20T19:43:27Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I said to Mrs. L.A. something along the lines of, ‘[Jadis] sure lost her verbal ability quickly.’ I can understand people becoming a little weird. But not _Mad Max_ weird. I’m fanwanking it as them living in a waste dump for several years, drinking lead and mercury infused well water from the dump. Heck, they probably flavor their food with lead paint chips 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![stosh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@stosh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stosh)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-10-new-best-friends-open-spoilers/780281/25 "2017-02-20T21:27:26Z")
I just love when two people are standing there pointing weapons at each other and talking . This show is getting worse and worse. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-10-new-best-friends-open-spoilers/780281/26 "2017-02-20T21:35:19Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I picked out the _Smokey And The Bandit_ trailer immediately, and pointed it out to my wife. She didn’t pick up on it at all. She said that I never know who actors are, but I can recognise a trailer from _Smokey And The Bandit_ :rolleyes: . Since that film was shot in Georgia, I wondered if that was the actual trailer, or if they found a trailer and painted it to look like the real one had been sitting for 40 years. Watching _The Talking Dead_ now. The Dead Live Quiz just confirmed that it was ‘the exact same truck’ used in _Smokey And The Bandit_. How cool is that? 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-10-new-best-friends-open-spoilers/780281/27 "2017-02-20T21:44:03Z")
> [@rainy](#): > > That episode was garbage, literally. I hated every moment of it. > > Not only was it filler, but pointless filler. How did all the emos end up at the dump together? The stupid verbal quirks, that pointless dance of forming the two circles around Rick’s group, that trial by spiky walker…sheesh. All of Gabrielle’s lines were so much the writer talking and not the character. Rick’s character was sent right off the rails having to grin like an idiot while the emos waved their hands in the air. > > And when they went to the “up up up” posing like a comic book panel there where everyone could see them and then pushing Rick into what must have looked like his death to Michonne. Conveniently there was a pipe there so there was some filmsy excuse for her not launching into a killing frenzy when she sees Rick pushed to his presumable death. > > We didn’t learn anything about this new group. > > EMO “We’ve been eating from cans and staying hidden.” > RICK “Wow, no wonder we’re not making any progress in the zombie apocalypse, we’ve spent all this time waiting patiently in the drive through lane at the burger shack!!!” > > EMO “We need guns.” > RICK “So do we. Remember how I told you that guy Negan keeps taking all our stuff. I thought you said you were some kind of super scavenger.” > EMO “Sometimes the cans make our tummies hurt. And nobody has had a tetanus booster in a long time. Which is really, really dangerous considering where we live.” > > EMO “We waited long at the boat.” > RICK “Really? The canoe was right there. Took me like ten seconds to figure it out.” > EMO “We were busy scavenging for matching outfits and hair products for everyone. You don’t think THIS just happens do you?” > > They dialed the stupid up to eleven on this one. I was almost getting a Pakled vibe off Ms. NotaRomulan… “We look for things…we look for things that make us go” ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-10-new-best-friends-open-spoilers/780281/28 "2017-02-20T22:06:08Z")
> [@MeanJoe](#): > > Yeah, the filler complaint and that the plot didn’t move forward seems odd to me. > > We were introduced to a new group with their own pseudo-society. Their method of survival has developed into mostly a hide-and-scavenge tribe which is interesting. I did find their dialect very off-putting and ridiculous considering it has only been about 5 years since society fell. These are all 1st generation survivors, there is no reason their language would devolve so much. The use of hand signals though was interesting but logical for a group that hides and avoids being known/discovered. > > We are seeing tensions rise between The Kingdom and The Saviors. Obviously the internal politics are becoming external, both in more confrontational interactions with the Saviors and Whats-His-Name trying to take actions to force conflict. > > And the Darryl and Carol scene was interesting for the obvious reason that Darryl did not tell Carol the truth regarding the Saviors and her friends. I agree. The writers are building drama. Not every episode can be a blockbuster with a side order of 4th of July fireworks. Daryl couldn’t tell the already depressed Carol that any more of her friends had died. Carol had fled because she couldn’t stand losing any more loved ones. She’ll be back to her ol’ self in another episode or two. The new group, the collectors(?), act like a hive. Bees who won’t expend any more energy than they absolutely have to, which is not very bee-like actually. When they filed thru the entrance of the junkyard central courtyard, they reminded me of cockroaches wandering around aimlessly. Until they formed up in two circles around their new hostages. The hand signals are an interesting twist. Silent and effective. Good for stealth operations. Plus the new language is difficult for others to decipher. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-10-new-best-friends-open-spoilers/780281/29 "2017-02-20T22:48:35Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > I’m fanwanking it as them living in a waste dump for several years, drinking lead and mercury infused well water from the dump. Heck, they probably flavor their food with lead paint chips 🙂 Ya know, that’s as good an explanation as any. ---
**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:** [February 20, 2017, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-10-new-best-friends-open-spoilers/780281/30 "2017-02-20T23:28:32Z")
Considering the filler accusation, it is indeed possible that the writers wrote the first and last episodes of the season, the revolt begins and the revolt succeeds, and needed something to put in between. ---
**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:** [February 21, 2017, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-10-new-best-friends-open-spoilers/780281/31 "2017-02-21T03:39:43Z")
:dubious: Has it really been 5 years in-universe since the zombie apocalypse? I know they’ve been really vague about the passage of time, but I was thinking it’s only been about 2-3 years. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2017, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-10-new-best-friends-open-spoilers/780281/32 "2017-02-21T04:05:23Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > :dubious: Has it really been 5 years in-universe since the zombie apocalypse? I know they’ve been really vague about the passage of time, but I was thinking it’s only been about 2-3 years. Corrrrel was about 10 when the show started. ---
**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:** [February 21, 2017, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-10-new-best-friends-open-spoilers/780281/33 "2017-02-21T06:22:45Z")
Is there some reason people keep calling Gabriel Gabrielle in this thread? ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2017, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-10-new-best-friends-open-spoilers/780281/34 "2017-02-21T06:41:15Z")
What is the optimal way to create an armored zombie? Do you trap it, risking getting bit? Or do you take some random guy, and kill him either during or after putting the equipment on? ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2017, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-10-new-best-friends-open-spoilers/780281/35 "2017-02-21T07:40:11Z")
Wait, so we’re buying Gabriel’s story about getting jumped by a Garbage Goth pissed she didn’t get the boat stuff so Gab just packs up all of Alexandria’s stuff and goes with the Goths? Doesn’t make much sense. ---
**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:** [February 21, 2017, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-10-new-best-friends-open-spoilers/780281/36 "2017-02-21T11:34:36Z")
Pretty sure it’s only been two years since the apocalypse, child actor aging in real time notwithstanding. Googling “Walking Dead timeline” brings up [this article](https://moviepilot.com/posts/2592317) which says that when Beth was killed at the end of season 5, it was 514 days after the apocalypse first broke. ---
**Author:** ![zwede](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ac91a4/32.png) [@zwede](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zwede)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2017, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-10-new-best-friends-open-spoilers/780281/37 "2017-02-21T16:32:09Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I picked out the _Smokey And The Bandit_ trailer immediately, and pointed it out to my wife. She didn’t pick up on it at all. She said that I never know who actors are, but I can recognise a trailer from _Smokey And The Bandit_ :rolleyes: . Since that film was shot in Georgia, I wondered if that was the actual trailer, or if they found a trailer and painted it to look like the real one had been sitting for 40 years. According to _Talking Dead_ it was the real deal. Pretty cool! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2017, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-10-new-best-friends-open-spoilers/780281/38 "2017-02-21T17:09:26Z")
> [@zwede](#): > > According to _Talking Dead_ it was the real deal. Pretty cool! Yep. > [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Watching _The Talking Dead_ now. The Dead Live Quiz just confirmed that it was ‘the exact same truck’ used in _Smokey And The Bandit_. How cool is that? 🆒 😉 ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2017, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-10-new-best-friends-open-spoilers/780281/39 "2017-02-21T18:22:09Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Wait, so we’re buying Gabriel’s story about getting jumped by a Garbage Goth pissed she didn’t get the boat stuff so Gab just packs up all of Alexandria’s stuff and goes with the Goths? > > Doesn’t make much sense. As I understand it, Gabriel was on guard duty and failed to do his job. Gabe was captured by the new group (Collectors? Garbage Goths? Trash-collecting bees?) and taken by force to the dump/home/HQ of the new group. The new group also looted all of the Alexandria stores. That’s the writer’s story and they’re sticking to it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![rainy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@rainy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rainy)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2017, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-10-new-best-friends-open-spoilers/780281/40 "2017-02-21T19:09:02Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > As I understand it, Gabriel was on guard duty and failed to do his job. Gabe was captured by the new group (Collectors? Garbage Goths? Trash-collecting bees?) and taken by force to the dump/home/HQ of the new group. The new group also looted all of the Alexandria stores. > > That’s the writer’s story and they’re sticking to it. 😃 Gabriel sure didn’t look to be operating under duress when he was cleaning stuff out. Especially since he climbed down from his post in the tower to go get the supplies. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-10-new-best-friends-open-spoilers/780281.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-10-new-best-friends-open-spoilers/780281.md?page=3)