Walking Dead Season 5 (No Comic Spoilers)

[Ulthosian Stark]

RE: Infected Bob Meat.

Remember that everyone is already infected. Getting bitten by a zomibe in Walking Dead doesn't give you the virus. It gives you an infection that kills you quickly. It would seem like cooking the meat would kill that infection though.

Here is my crackpot theory. Bob was bitten on the foot, so Gareth accidentally saved his life by cutting it off. After all, there is always a silver lining...

Ah! I'm not the only one who thought this!

Like yeah Bob, your life was saved etc but they still gonna pull a Vargo Hoat on em

[Kobayashi Maru]

Re:Beth...I still think she is in DC. Harem theory could be possible too but she was shown in that trailer with a woman, which doesn't have to mean anything, but the wibe was somehow military to me.

[Ulthosian Stark]

Re:Beth...I still think she is in DC. Harem theory could be possible too but she was shown in that trailer with a woman, which doesn't have to mean anything, but the wibe was somehow military to me.

It seemed like an almost Nazi SS vibe to me, like you must live like this or die

[First of My Name]

Re:Beth...I still think she is in DC. Harem theory could be possible too but she was shown in that trailer with a woman, which doesn't have to mean anything, but the wibe was somehow military to me.

The IMDB plot synopsis for episode 5.4 mentions (mild and vague spoilers:)

Beth and a group of cops, so you're not that far off :) don't know if she's in DC though.

[Q the Cat]

Re:Beth...I still think she is in DC. Harem theory could be possible too but she was shown in that trailer with a woman, which doesn't have to mean anything, but the wibe was somehow military to me.

I got the military vibe also. I was thinking she was in some sort of prison, hospital, or military facility. Definitely an institution of some sort.

I hadn't thought of the breeding theory, but it makes sense.

[First of My Name]

Actually I gave the IMDB a closer look and they say where she is , it's in

the middle of Atlanta

[Lord_Baelish]

That's it. I am never, ever choosing a favourite character in WD again. I only said to a friend on Saturday that Bob was my favourite and now look at him. Perhaps I'll be safe if I pretend Daryl is my favourite.

I thought it was a great episode (which makes two in a row!), full of suspense and good little moments. They really have been making an effort lately to flesh out these characters, so we care a lot more about someone like Bob than we did about either of those redshirts who died at the end of Season 2, for example.

I also think Bob was bitten/scratched on the stomach. As for that not mattering, I think that's wrong. Everyone is infected sure, but the zombie bite adds another layer of infection - hence why bites kill so quickly. Eating the meat of someone who has had a bite taken out of them is not going to be good for your health.

I really hope there is a scene next week where Bob just starts laughing at Gareth and then lifts up his shirt to show why.

[AndrewJ]

So what the hell is going on with Carol now? Did anyone else catch that she pretty much parroted back the exact same words to Daryl that Tyrese said to her.

Tyrese is obviously struggling with everything that's happened and is hurting bad. He says to Carol "I can't tell everone what happened [with the girls]. It hurts too much. I just want to forget." Then when Daryl asks Carol if she wants to talk, she repeats the exact same words - but completely flatly and emotionlessly. It's as if she's saying the words because apparently that's how a human being is supposed to feel, when deep down what she really wants to say is "I don't fucking give a shit about anything that happened and I don't have to explain myself to anyone.

And then, obviously, you get her behavior with the abandoned car.

As far as Bob being bitten on the leg and saved by having it removed goes, that would seem to contravene what we know about how bites work. Indications so far have been that removing the limb within minutes can save somebody - not hours later. But I'm not sure if it's ever been explicitly stated, so I guess it's a possibility. I'm dubious, though.

[Pecan]

Re:Beth...I still think she is in DC. Harem theory could be possible too but she was shown in that trailer with a woman, which doesn't have to mean anything, but the wibe was somehow military to me.

I think I missed this. What episode was this in?

[The Mance]

As far as Bob being bitten on the leg and saved by having it removed goes, that would seem to contravene what we know about how bites work. Indications so far have been that removing the limb within minutes can save somebody - not hours later. But I'm not sure if it's ever been explicitly stated, so I guess it's a possibility. I'm dubious, though.

It does seem like it was too long for amputation to be effective, but we really don't have an example of it not working. We've only seen it done the one time on Herschel, so who knows. I guess its fair to say that the timeliness could vary with the individual just as it does with turning times.

[The Anti-Targ]

RE: Infected Bob Meat.

Remember that everyone is already infected. Getting bitten by a zomibe in Walking Dead doesn't give you the virus. It gives you an infection that kills you quickly. It would seem like cooking the meat would kill that infection though.

Here is my crackpot theory. Bob was bitten on the foot, so Gareth accidentally saved his life by cutting it off. After all, there is always a silver lining...

There isn;t really a satisfactory microbiological explanation for why already infected people should get a fever and die from being bitten, other than that a zombie bite introduces an very nasty cocktail of deadly bacteria (after all the zombies have no active immune system to stop all sorts of nasties growing in their moist parts). Halitosis to the max! It can be justified that a limb full of zombie mouth bugs, is akin to eating zombie meat and at several species of zombie mouth bugs might be resistant to the sort of cooking you get on an open flame barbecue. The question then becomes what happens to a person who gets a gastric infection of zombie mouth bugs instead of a wound infection. There are numerous real diseases that have a different pathology depending on the route of infection.

Bob was holding his stomach a couple times, I think that's where he was bit, not on a leg or anything.

I thought Bob was limping actually, not suffering tummy cramps.

I think we can all be sure that Bob is definitely bit. The only question is whether it was on the severed leg. I certainly got the sense he was heading outside to off himself, before he got clobbered on the head.

How many more of the cast from The Wire are we going to see on The Walking Dead I wonder.

Tyreese beat the crap out of that dude in the shack. It was extremely incongruous to see him in pretty reasonable shape, let alone alive, in that final scene. Unless of course we are mistaken and one cannibal hick looks pretty much like any other.

I felt a bit unsatisfied after the episode. A bit like eating something really tasty, but still being hungry afterwards.

[SpaceChampion]

I think the "I won't. I won't. I won't." was in reference to Martin's statement that Tyrese would die because he was nice people.

[The Anti-Targ]

It does seem like it was too long for amputation to be effective, but we really don't have an example of it not working. We've only seen it done the one time on Herschel, so who knows. I guess its fair to say that the timeliness could vary with the individual just as it does with turning times.

Like any infection. Young, fit and healthy means usually means the incubation period is at the long end of the range, as opposed to old, unfit and infirmed in which the incubation period would be at the short end of the scale. Also a factor is direct or indirect injection into the blood stream. A deep bite will mean gaining entry into the blood stream for systemic spread much quicker than a shallow bite. Those water logged zombies might have well rotted teeth and gums from accelerated decomposition, and so the bite might be a pretty shallow one meaning it would take a good long while for septicemia to develop.

Also the zombie bite might be injecting a toxin rather than an infection, I hadn't really considered that in my previous post. If it is a toxin then it could be a highly heat stable toxin and no amount of cooking (at least conventional cooking) would deactivate the toxin. In which case eating meat from a bitten limb could be very bad indeed. But I don't expect the cannibals to see an early exit from the season, so if they have eaten toxic Bob meat it will only make them more dangerous at least in the short term.

[Q the Cat]

That's it. I am never, ever choosing a favourite character in WD again. I only said to a friend on Saturday that Bob was my favourite and now look at him. Perhaps I'll be safe if I pretend Daryl is my favourite.

I thought it was a great episode (which makes two in a row!), full of suspense and good little moments. They really have been making an effort lately to flesh out these characters, so we care a lot more about someone like Bob than we did about either of those redshirts who died at the end of Season 2, for example.

I also think Bob was bitten/scratched on the stomach. As for that not mattering, I think that's wrong. Everyone is infected sure, but the zombie bite adds another layer of infection - hence why bites kill so quickly. Eating the meat of someone who has had a bite taken out of them is not going to be good for your health.

I really hope there is a scene next week where Bob just starts laughing at Gareth and then lifts up his shirt to show why.

Oh yeah, that would be great!

[Q the Cat]

Like any infection. Young, fit and healthy means usually means the incubation period is at the long end of the range, as opposed to old, unfit and infirmed in which the incubation period would be at the short end of the scale. Also a factor is direct or indirect injection into the blood stream. A deep bite will mean gaining entry into the blood stream for systemic spread much quicker than a shallow bite. Those water logged zombies might have well rotted teeth and gums from accelerated decomposition, and so the bite might be a pretty shallow one meaning it would take a good long while for septicemia to develop.

Also the zombie bite might be injecting a toxin rather than an infection, I hadn't really considered that in my previous post. If it is a toxin then it could be a highly heat stable toxin and no amount of cooking (at least conventional cooking) would deactivate the toxin. In which case eating meat from a bitten limb could be very bad indeed. But I don't expect the cannibals to see an early exit from the season, so if they have eaten toxic Bob meat it will only make them more dangerous at least in the short term.

What if eating a freshly infected person gives immunity? Or a freshly killed, maybe.

Either way, I'm thinking that eating anyone infected is going to either be really, really good. Or really, really bad.

PS Toxic Bob Meat. :-)

[The Mother of The Others]

For bites, it's like tuberculosis? You can be "exposed" to TB but it doesn't do anything to you, but you're described as being exposed, which puts you in a different class of susceptibility from then on? (I'm not a medical doctor). But the idea is they've all been infected but it's dormant until some "live" culture of the virus (a bite) comes in contact with them and the dormant virus in their system goes active.

[l2 0 5 5]

What's the difference between eating infected skin/meat and getting infected blood in an open sore, eyes, mouth?

I only ask this because Rick et al do a lot of melee killing and we often see a shit ton of blood flying around.

I do have to remind myself that this isn't 28 Days Later, but if eating infected meat can turn someone I'm not sure why blood getting in a human orifice won't turn them.

[Q the Cat]

I was thinking that perhaps eating the infected meat would be similar to a vaccine - you get a small amount of the virus entered into your system at which point your system builds up immunity. (or however those vaccines work)

I'm not a doctor, but I've watch The Princess Bride and know Wesley developed an immunity to the deadly iocane powder. :-)

[S John]

What's the difference between eating infected skin/meat and getting infected blood in an open sore, eyes, mouth?

I only ask this because Rick et al do a lot of melee killing and we often see a shit ton of blood flying around.

I do have to remind myself that this isn't 28 Days Later, but if eating infected meat can turn someone I'm not sure why blood getting in a human orifice won't turn them.

Yea I think about that same thing all the time. They kill so many zombies and a lot of time they are doing a battle cry or panting from exertion or making a menacing face of some kind that leaves their mouths wide open. You'd think it would only be a matter of time before zombie blood found its way into an eye, an open mouth, or someone rubs their eyes/nose shortly after a big zombie battle while still covered in gore. Not to mention that the characters are perpetually covered in cuts and scratches for zombie fluid to easily come into contact with.

This whole time I've written that off as creative license because the show wouldn't be as cool visually if everyone was dressed like a lunatic in a hazmat suit pretty much all the time, and that is probably the reason. But, it does make you wonder if there is something about the bite in particular that is the only way of turning someone. Maybe something that is transmitted by saliva only? Or maybe undead saliva activates it since everyone is already infected? Maybe that stuff will get revealed if they ever make it to DC. It may not be in the cards for this show, but I could see us eventually finding out what caused the disease and the nature of how it behaves. And I guess we may find out a little more in the next few weeks if that Bob meat does turn out to be infected.

[Lord of Oop North]

But, it does make you wonder if there is something about the bite in particular that is the only way of turning someone. Maybe something that is transmitted by saliva only? Or maybe undead saliva activates it since everyone is already infected? Maybe that stuff will get revealed if they ever make it to DC. It may not be in the cards for this show, but I could see us eventually finding out what caused the disease and the nature of how it behaves. And I guess we may find out a little more in the next few weeks if that Bob meat does turn out to be infected.

We know that this isn't the case, though. Shane was shot to death and still turned. People in the prison died of the flu and still turned. This aligns completely with what they learned at the CDC in Atlanta at the end of the first season. Everyone is infected. When you die, whatever way that may be, you turn.