The Walking Dead 3.7 "When the Dead Come Knocking" (spoiler warning)

[Deset Gled]

I've no problem thinking he could handle the day-to-day tactics of keeping walkers off his tail while still not grasping the situation with other human beings. He probably hasn't *been* very far from his shack since things started...

I have no trouble accepting that a crazy loner can stay alive in a cabin. I had trouble with was the fact that the cabin was so close to the Governor's town. Seems to me the Governor should have known his local territory a lot better, and is not the type to risk allowing someone to live that close to his town (regardless of how harmless the loner might have seemed).

I don't think he ever expected to get Glen to talk.

The entire interrogation was definitely a setup for Maggie, especially the part with the walker. If they had intended for Glenn to die, they could have easily guaranteed it by breaking his legs/feet, and they probably would have tortured his hands and eyes more. It was clear from the non-crippling methods of torture that they wanted to be able to stand him up in front of Maggie to show he was still complete and have maximum bargaining power with her.

Well, either that, or they fell into the common trope that they had to wuss out on the torture for no good in-story reason just because they couldn't afford to lose the character for the amount of downtime it would take to recover from real torture.

 

[Umbran]

I have no trouble accepting that a crazy loner can stay alive in a cabin. I had trouble with was the fact that the cabin was so close to the Governor's town. Seems to me the Governor should have known his local territory a lot better, and is not the type to risk allowing someone to live that close to his town (regardless of how harmless the loner might have seemed).

The folks in Woodbury have repeatedly referred to the Red Zone, where they don't seem to go at all. At the end of the episode, in fact, the Governor came down pretty hard on Mearle - the implication being that either Mearle was misleading the Gov about how hard things were out there, or that Rick's people are at this point really, really badass compared to the Woodbury folks.

Well, either that, or they fell into the common trope that they had to wuss out on the torture for no good in-story reason just because they couldn't afford to lose the character for the amount of downtime it would take to recover from real torture.

Thinking about it, there's a third possibility - Mearle is not a skilled interrogator, and his methods were dictated as much by his desire to have "fun" as effectiveness. It is only when the Governor turns up and takes control (and makes lemonade out of the lemon of Mearle's work) that they get answers. It happens to be that Mearle left the Gov a decent setup for a particular play, but maybe that was more fortuitous than intentional.

 

[jasper]

mearles skill in interrogation topped off in high school when He was giving us D&D nerds swirlys and stealing our lunch money. The Governor Knows how bad Merle is at getting people to talk. I think his orders were, don't kill Glenn, no broken bones and let the girl hear all of it. And I think if this was HBO, Maggie's torture scene would have went farther.
remember some times the writers have to remember the censors too.

 

[Umbran]

mAnd I think if this was HBO, Maggie's torture scene would have went farther.

No, I don't think so. The Governor's smarter than that - he understands both the carrot and the stick, it seems. Hurting people doesn't get them to talk nearly as much as their fear of what you *might* do. "I'm willing to do this, but if you do talk, you can avoid this entirely," is a much stronger motivator.

 

[jasper]

Hmm you maybe right. I do have a love/hate relationship with the show because sometimes the characters act so dumb.

 

[Umbran]

Hmm you maybe right. I do have a love/hate relationship with the show because sometimes the characters act so dumb.

I don't know what you're referring to, but I usually see a whole lot of armchair quarterbacking when I see folks talk about the characters being stupid. It isn't as if zombies are trying to eat our faces off, so maybe we shouldn't criticize their decision making too much - they're under stress, and we have time to do calm analysis.

Except for Carl, who should have been taken out by various Darwinian pressures last season already.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

I don't know what you're referring to, but I usually see a whole lot of armchair quarterbacking when I see folks talk about the characters being stupid. It isn't as if zombies are trying to eat our faces off, so maybe we shouldn't criticize their decision making too much - they're under stress, and we have time to do calm analysis.

I always have a problem with people who spend days rehashing what they would do, then act like the person should have done that in a life or death moment of choice... I bet 90% of us genra savy survival nuts would not last 10 months in a zombie armageden.

 

[jasper]

A good example, was where all the weapons when the alarm sounded. Also, if I have walkers on the fence line it a few minutes a day job to jab them thru the fence. The lack of weapons is another. I will accept the fact most of firearms are gone but no machetes, swords which you could get at any local swap meet, or jury rig spears. A saw off broom handle with a duct tape screwdriver makes a quick and dirty spear. Hell I would be happy if once in while some of their weapons would break or jam on camera. It sucks that i was sick for the midseason end, hear it was good.

 

[NewJeffCT]

A good example, was where all the weapons when the alarm sounded. Also, if I have walkers on the fence line it a few minutes a day job to jab them thru the fence. The lack of weapons is another. I will accept the fact most of firearms are gone but no machetes, swords which you could get at any local swap meet, or jury rig spears. A saw off broom handle with a duct tape screwdriver makes a quick and dirty spear. Hell I would be happy if once in while some of their weapons would break or jam on camera. It sucks that i was sick for the midseason end, hear it was good.

If I remember the GNs, they did do that every day - have people kill the walkers by the walls.