The Evil Princess and I owe you a confession. Since its inception a dozen years and eleven (COVID-extended, ironically) seasons ago, this AMC series about a zombie apocalypse has kept us tuning in.
Sociologists see it as an allegory to the poor rising up against the rich in a dystopian world, and epidemiologists have used it to explain how pandemics work. Inventive writers and (for the most part) good actors kept us watching it.
If you wanted comedy instead, you could have watched the EP and me as we watched the show. When I wasn’t head-shooting zombies with my SIRT laser pistol, I’d be yelling at the screen, “Stop with the full auto fire already! You need one shot at a time to hit the zombie brains, and live ammunition would have become irreplaceable precious metal in that situation! OMG, now they have a THIRD character who’s lost his right eye but still shoots long guns from his right shoulder. And that one doesn’t even have sights on his Marlin lever action, and that other one doesn’t have sights on her M4! And those people aren’t swinging those knives nearly hard enough to punch through skulls and into zombie brains! And where the hell are they finding gasoline a decade after society collapsed?”
To which my lovely bride would reply with a sigh that could overload the Richter Scale of the sighs-mograph, “Yet you accept the animated corpses…”
We found ourselves bonding with the characters. Asked who she’d hook up with, the EP said, “Maybe Rick…but no, he left. Maybe Daryl, I’ve always gone for the bad boys. Or maybe Ezekiel, he had a freaking pet tiger…eh, I guess Daryl.”
It was harder for me. Michonne captured my foolish heart with her katana-wielding, and I could have taught her how to hold her Beretta properly…Maggie was hot, and I could have taught her not to take people at gunpoint with the hammer down on her single-action 1911…but they were both way too young for me I was way too old for them. No, definitely silver-haired Carol, the mature cookie-baking woman who killed bad guys with aplomb and came closer to my dating range (if I was still allowed to have a dating range). After all, I’ve already married a cute and deadly cookie-baking grandma in real life…
The show is closing the end of this month. Gail and I visited the set in Senoia, Georgia recently and took the tour with a cool dude who has been on the show and dressed like the Negan character. Over the years, I’ve joked with people that I should have a one-question test for people who want to take my classes. The question would have been, “’The Walking Dead’ is (A) a television fantasy, (B) a documentary, or (C) a training film.” Anyone who answered anything but (A) wouldn’t be allowed to take my class.
But then I realized that anyone who answered (B) or (C) would need my class more than anyone else…
I never understood why they didn’t just get a person to dangle over the edge of a canyon via a crane and let all those zombies walk over the edge trying to get to them. I mean the zombies had no learning curve, right?
Fill up one canyon, go to the next…
Operation Human Carrot. I like it!
I gave up on it early, when those idiots were in the woods, looking for a lost girl, and stopped to fuck around with a large stag.
Just before that, they had taken the guns away from the women, even though one of the men couldn’t bring himself to shoot his zombified wife and one of the women coolly shot her sister after she turned.
People use fantasy shows as an escape from their troubles in real life.
When one watches a show such as the Walking Dead, it is reassuring. One can think that, at least, things here in the real world are better than a freaking world where civilization has collapsed, and zombies run rampant, and eat people! 🙂
Unfortunately, this country moves closer to a Walking Dead-level collapse each year. We already have a brain-damaged zombie in the White House!
In Pennsylvania, the democrat party has just elected another brain-damaged zombie to the Senate. In addition, they elected a genuine dead person into the House. See this story:
https://hotair.com/jazz-shaw/2022/11/09/dead-democrat-wins-reelection-in-pennsylvania-not-a-joke-n509483
So, we live in an environment where a democrat does not even need a pulse to get elected! All he needs is the magic “D” after his name on the ballot! 🙂
Maybe the correct answer to your question is (C) – A training film. The Walking Dead functions as an effective training film. It teaches us what to expect when the USA becomes a one-party State and, by hook or by crook, the democrat party takes over for good!
If one thinks that I am being hyperbolic, then consider the results of the recent midterm election. The expected Red Wave turned into nothing more than a ripple in the pond. Plus, as in 2020, we have entered the period of THE PAUSE.
Early election results come in and the Republicans take the lead. Then, THE PAUSE occurs in democrat-controlled areas. The election results freeze-in-time as the democrats scramble to find, or manufacture, more votes.
When THE PAUSE ends, in a day or two, the democrat will have, miraculously, found enough votes to squeak out wins in a handful of critical races. THE PAUSE will occur, again, in the democrat-controlled Atlanta area of GA, during the Senate runoff next month.
At the end of the day, the Senate will, miraculously, turn out to remain at 50/50 giving the democrats control. Even the House may slip back into their control. See this link:
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/11/10/23451445/house-election-results-democrats-majority
If the democrats can manufacture enough votes in the remaining undecided races during THE PAUSE, it could happen. IF not, they will cut into the Republican majority until it is razon thin and hope to resume control next time.
Our elections are not worth the mail-in ballots that are being used to stuff the boxes!
Excellent post, TN_MAN. I predict Hillary Clinton will become President in November 2024. (Please let me be wrong, God, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please!) Of course, if Civil War Two breaks out before then, maybe she will not be President. Anything can happen in this crazy world.
Hahaha !!! Who knew ??
Great entertaining and lighthearted article. A nice change.
Hope you and the EP have a great holiday season.
Haaa.. an amazing parallel here, as I have said and done the same things… my better half cuts the show up left and right, but still tunes in to see this through and see what happens… I have seen the same faux pas and many others, which really is part of the entertainment factor of this show. I’ll admit it has spurred a couple good conversations on the “what would you do if” angle…. not many, but some situations make you stop and think!!! Thanks for the article and the good laugh, in knowing I am not alone…
“Yet you accept the animated corpses”. Almost spewed my scotch on that one! Ha!
Was a great series at the beginning when the exigencies of a social apocolypse come into crystal clarity. And then when man against man becomes all to real in the daily quest for survival, the changes that occur in the human animal show themselves for what they are. Season one was instructive if nothing else.
I must confess that I saw the very first episode of the Walking Dead but have almost never watched another one. I just find it difficult to watch any kind of TV series that makes you wait a week for the next infusion. The same way with The Sopranos. The old Flash Gordon movie serials must have made me that way. If The Walking Dead is finally winding up, then maybe I’ll start watching it from the beginning on streaming TV where I can watch until I get my fill and then return later.
Mas, you are not the only one to be a “shooting” critic for these shows and movies. I am the same way and I know how frustrating it can be. I have never desired to own a fully automatic weapon, because for self defense semi-automatic outshines them all (even for zombies). Automatic fire is only useful in combat where it is used to pin down the enemy while the squad maneuvers. If you actually want to hit the target use semi-auto fire.
I also never ceased to be amazed when the hero of the drama is able to get 16 or more shots out of a 1911 without reloading (even if its a .38 Super). Actually, I can remember when Roy Rogers was able to shoot ten or more times out of one six-shooter. It will never end since the non-shooter is impressed by the action and not the realism.
Oh, and then there is the actor always “shucking” a 12-gauge pump for effect. You should always have a round in the chamber before confronting your adversary. This Hollywood effect either leaves you with fewer rounds or reveals you as a tactical idiot. Sheeesh….
That’s really funny Mas. So I’m not the only one who has found a good use of the SIRT pistol. Mine is mainly used during stupid political ads, but hey, most of them are zombies too. I haven’t watched the series yet, but you have piqued my interest. I could certainly use the dry fire time on moving targets. Thanks for the laughs ?
Fortunately, TV police and civilian combat tactics, hideously incompetent as they so often are, have not entirely destroyed my ability to enjoy at least some of that genre of shows. I find the active and willing suspension of disbelief is key. However, Janet can testify that sometimes I do quit watching a show when the tactical malpractice exceeds a certain threshold. My loss. Further, I am forced to tone down my critical commentary, lest I ruin the show for my lovely wife. In fairness, TV and movie characters at least keep their fingers off the trigger much more regularly when not in the act of firing and they don’t as frequently sweep their partners when “making entry”. But, I remain disgusted with how regularly TV police surrender their firearms to the bad guy who is holding a gun or a knife on a hostage, even when two or more officers have the baddie well flanked!
“…I’d be yelling at the screen,…”
We just watched “Romancing the Stone” with anti-gun Michael Douglas firing 10 or 11 shots from his standard magazine Rem 870. Sigh.
Our son is an extra in the LD being filmed in Savannah. You may have seen him and as much as we look alike he’s a zombie so you would not have recognized him ( or maybe you would). Have a good weekend
Mas,
That post is hilarious!!! I almost fell off my chair while reading it. I watched only a few episodes of “The Walking Dead.” Some wannabe leader was plotting to kill the current leader. I believe, during bad times, good people should co-operate and help each other. I don’t like infighting. So, I gave up on the show. Must confess that I loved watching a zombie head mounted on a pike, and the head kept moving because it was still, . . . . . . undead. Now that was cool.
Speaking of cool, I had a far out Halloween costume this year. I had someone write “666” on my forehead with red lipstick. I saw someone do that in a grocery store twenty years ago, and thought it was pretty awesome. Took me twenty years to get my courage up to do it. It was fun, easy, and maybe it makes people think of Revelation chapter 13.
Guess what? I get to watch reruns of “The A Team,” every night at 6pm. It is terribly silly, and has more mistakes than “The Walking Dead,” but I love it anyway. Lots of fun!!! I love the characters.
I’d need a (D) for the one question test.
(D) An allegory for the 21st century democrat party! Except they have no brain to kill, thereby stopping them.
The premise of the show was enough to keep me away. However, accounts of actual armed encounters where the bad folks refuse to quit attacking despite multiple severe wounds make part of the show at least somewhat realistic. Unfortunately, some of them don’t shamble about like the undead.
Speaking of fantasies, it’d be nice if writers would quit showing folks who get shot being flung to the ground.
WR Moore,
I agree with your last sentence. I’ll never forget Jeff Cooper writing that, before movies, soldiers who were shot didn’t necessarily fall down. He mentioned our American Civil War. So, Jeff taught me that, just because you are shot with a bullet, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to fall down. He did mention it might be a good idea to fall down, if you think another shot is coming at you.
Imagine someone in today’s world, getting shot in a city, but not falling down. I’m sure all the witnesses would think he was a god. The greatest example was Teddy Roosevelt. He got shot in the stomach while standing and delivering a speech. He kept on speaking, and standing, for another 20 or 30 minutes. There’s a real He-man.
hmm… the fantasy, hollywood production garnered my attention in the first three series, then went belly-up because it became a soap opera drama. the allegory take away from this show is, what created the zombies? a VIRUS. what created it?
everyone suspected everyone was infected, until proven otherwise. masks didn’t work but muzzles did. sounds reminiscent of our recent past…
Deaf smith wrote:
‘I never understood why they didn’t just get a person to dangle over the edge of a canyon via a crane and let all those zombies walk over the edge trying to get to them.’
hmmm…. you haven’t seen ‘Zombieland Double Tap’ by any chance have you?
The ‘walking dead reaction’ videos on youtube are hilarious. Don’t understand why people put themselves through this
TN-MAN
For heaven sakes lighten up man!
No offense, but when we discussed election rigging on a previous thread I was pleasantly suprised how reasonable you were. Because always bringing everything back to the same subject, aint healthy.
And still you have NIL evidence. Everyone supervising the elections, including all the republicans, say there is no fraud. The whole process is filmed now. Show us the tapes.
Election fraud is a crime. Where are the convictions?
Your previous explanation was that no legal challenge could succeed because ‘the left’ controlled everything. If they already have every cop, prosecutor, judge and jury why worry about them taking over? They already have!
It can’t really have completely escaped your notice that to hear Trump speak he is always the victim. The primaries are rigged, the debates are rigged, the elections are rigged.
@ nicholas kane,
C’mon Man! You see repeated cases of THE PAUSE occurring in Democrat-controlled areas, followed by Democrats squeaking out wins, and still reject, out-of-hand, any hanky-panky with ballot stuffing and the count! Reminds me of the injured wife who turns a blind eye to her husband’s infidelity because she will do and believe anything to keep the marriage working!
Let me add a counterpoint. The Red Wave did occur in Florida. Why is that? Florida has never been considered a deep-red State. To many Yankees have moved down from the North. Yet, there it was: Mr. Big Red Wave, himself, striking like a hurricane. Why?
Could it be that, after past sorry elections (2000, 2018), the Florida legislature moved to tighten up election laws in Florida so that no hanky-panky, by either party, could happen?
The was no PAUSE in Florida. Instead, the State was a model of election efficiency. See this news report:
https://www.fox4now.com/news/local-news/investigates/how-florida-counts-votes-so-fast-compared-to-other-states
If one is objective, one can see a direct correlation between how long it takes to get the votes counted, the length of THE PAUSE, and the number of tight wins racked up, in the end, by the democrat party.
The say that correlation does not necessarily equate to causation. However, in this case, I believe it does.
RE: Florida — Florida’s Ron DeSantis squeaked his first win, and then “flipped” solid-blue Miami-Dade county this year for a landslide victory. You’re not the only one thinking that Florida weeded out the “hanky-panky” in their elections, and that DeSantis didn’t “flip” a blue county so much as win a naturally-purple county by making sure they could vote without shenanigans.
His top-notch hurricane response over the past four years certainly hasn’t hurt, either. Nor has Democrats’ tone-deaf viewing of a large portion of the non-white population of M-D, not as Cubans, but as generic “Latinos” and “Hispanics”, indistinct from Mexicans despite their wildly different lived histories; older Cubans, having lived through Castro-style socialism, generally vote against the socialist Left.
But it’s interesting to hear the same hypothesis from two different sources: Florida in general — and Miami-Dade County in particular — didn’t “flip red” so much as the shenanigans of the past were eliminated and the votes were counted as they should have been all along.
Quote of the Day:
“I’ll be back pulling strings to get guys elected mayor and governor before you ever get a ten-buck raise! Yeah, how many of those guys in office owe everything to me? I made them. Yeah, I made them just like a… Like a tailor makes a suit of clothes. I’d take a nobody, see, teach him what to say, get his name in the papers. Then I’d pay for his campaign expenses. Dish out a lot of groceries and coal. Get my boys to bring the voters out. And then count the votes over and over again ’til they added up right, and he was elected.”
Johnny Rocco from the Movie “Key Largo (1948)”
P.S. – Old Johnny was clearly a Democrat. 🙂
I enjoyed watching the first few seasons. Ordinary people banding together against adversity. Seeing who would rise to the challenge & who would crumble. Carol was a badass and my favorite character. Thought about what my firearm of choice would be…lever action .22 magnum with 50,000 rounds of FMJ??? Gradually lost interest & haven’t watched in years.
yep…
No possible “Walking Dead” show could possibly have surpassed our Number One Zombie in the area of “suspension of disbelief.” So I have never been motivated to watch impossibly imaginary villains get zapped. Three guesses as to whom I refer as Number One Zombie. Nope. It is Buffalo Bob’s buddy Howdy Doody. You just cannot beat real wood for making fake speeches. So I have never watched a Walking Dead episode. I can’t even stand to watch Number Two Zombie. Egad! Please spare me the thought. You don’t even need to guess who that is.
It’s a television fantasy?
Fun series to watch. The Hausdrachen (house dragon) claimed that I made too many corrective snide comments to the use of weapons.
TN_MAN
The reason the pause results in the dems vote rising, is because more dems vote by post.
If there is so much evidence of crime. Where are the convictions?
What happened when you reported it? Obviously if you knew of a crime being committed you reported it.
Really I should keep my mouth shut. The electon just demonstrated that a majority of voters don’t accept the rigged election fantasy. It’s a losing campaign issue.
@ nicholas kane – “Where are the convictions?”
In order to have a conviction, which is a finding of guilt beyond reasonable doubt, one must first have a serious investigation.
So, I will answer your question with another one: Who will press for and perform a serious investigation?
Will the Anti-American Media press for an investigation? Will they probe with serious investigative journalism? Will they run story after story after story exposing cases of election malfeasance? Corporate media is totally in the pocket of the democrat party. They function as the propaganda arm of the democrat party. You know they will never do serious investigative journalism on the subject of cheating in our elections.
Will the Justice Department and the FBI conduct serious investigations into the claims of election malfeasance? They were both politicized under the Obama Administration. The Russia Hoax proved that beyond a shadow of a doubt. So, will these organs of the Biden Administration do serious investigations on the integrity of our elections? You know they will not do any such thing.
Unless the malfeasance is alleged to have been done by a Republican, no serious investigation will ever be performed at any level of government.
Without serious investigations and without the effort to build a solid case that can be taken to trial, no court will ever convict anybody of anything. Everybody is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. However, if no effort is ever undertake to proven guilt, then the only possible outcome can be perpetual innocence.
Your persistence claims of innocence, for the democrat party, are not credible (in my eyes anyway) unless someone in authority undertakes to take the claims of malfeasance seriously and performs an in-depth investigation. An investigation that is serious and transparent enough to convenience the people, such as myself, that are slandered, by the media, as “Election Deniers”.
Until such a serious investigation is openly done, people who stand pat on the ground that “nothing has been proven in a court of law yet” may, justly in my opinion, be termed as “Corruption Deniers”.
The Anti-American Media will press for an investigation — and indeed they have — when a Republican wins by a solid majority in a contested area. Doubly so if the Democrat is particularly “woke” and the area has recently been “redistricted”.
Y’know, because the GOP cannot win any other way. No Democrat is ever so unlikable that they would lose (Mrs. Clinton, call your office), nor is any Republican idea so correct or popular that it could possibly win without pulling all the racists, misogynists, bigots, and homophobes (also known as “white males”) together into one insanely-convoluted boundary and calling it a “district”. All the Media know this for truth. That it could ever not be true is a foreign concept to them.
“The reason the pause results in the dems vote rising, is because more dems vote by post.”
Voting by means of “post” is a primary mechanism that allows for election fraud. While a “mail-in ballot” is treated the same as a vote cast, in- person on election day, they are not the same.
It is hard to cheat when a person must show up, in-person, sign his or her name, and show ID to cast a vote. It is easy to do when bundles of mail-in ballots are stuffed into remote boxes with none of them being properly vetted.
Here is an article that explains some mechanisms of the fraud MO:
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2022/11/why_the_red_tsunami_turned_into_a_ripple.html
What does the media have to do with whether an investigation happens or not? Anyone can do one. Why don’t you all? You seem to have seen masses of evidence of Dems rigging elections. Ok present it to a court!
In a previous thread I asked how the FBI was made a dem tool under O’Bama. And then in the 2016 election announces it is investigating Hilarys emails but keeps their investigation into Trump secret. Why are you repeating such obvious lies?
And can someone explain to me why the Dems with enough votes under their control to give themselves the senate, didn’t bother to give themselves the house?
You can’t really believe this stuff you are saying surely.
@ nicholas kane – You can’t seriously believe that the DOJ and FBI are non-partisan? What do you do? Sit around all day absorbing pro-democrat propaganda by watching CNN and MSNBC?
They pulled the entire Russia hoax scam. Fed thousands of leaks to the Anti-American media, got secret warrants to spy on Trump and his supporters, launched numerous investigations and raids on Conservative supporters of Trump, and even served search warrants on Trump’s home. Yet, you expect us to believe that, because Comey (in a CYA move) announced a pretended investigation into Clinton’s emails, during the 2016 election (after previously clearing her of all criminal charges), this one, single, move (which was viewed as an error by the DOJ) somehow establishes the DOJ and FBI as choirboys and proves their non-partisan nature?
So, in your opinion, this one act (which might be viewed as non-partisan) offsets the 100,000 partisan acts committed over the last decade?
Yes, indeed, I really believe the stuff I am saying. It is your blindness to DOJ and FBI dirty tricks that I have a hard time believing!
Here. read this:
https://republicans-judiciary.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/HJC_STAFF_FBI_REPORT.pdf
Now, I know that you will tend to reject this report, out-of-hand, because it offers a different viewpoint from the comfortable one being fed you by the Anti-American media. However, don’t accuse me of believing in a fantasy until you at least consider the other side. Remember, there are always two sides. The anti-American media only feeds you one side, however, there is another one.
@ nicholas Kane – “And can someone explain to me why the Dems with enough votes under their control to give themselves the senate, didn’t bother to give themselves the house?”
It was not from lack of trying let me assure you. The main point of THE PAUSE right now is to see if it is still possible to steal back the House.
Have you never noticed how quickly democrat seats are called versus how reluctant the Anti-American Media has been to call a seat for a republican?
The count has floated at 217 seats for the republicans for more than a day now. Why is it stalled there? Because 218 will give control of the House to the republicans.
There are about 10 to 12 seats still outstanding. The democrats are working (and stuffing) like Hell to see if they still can take them all and stall out the republicans at one vote short!
See this story from the Anti-American media itself:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/the-gop-is-on-track-to-take-the-house-the-question-is-by-how-much/ar-AA148L9n
As this story implies, if the democrats absolutely cannot stop the fall of the House, into republican hands, then they will at least try to pick off, by hook or by crook, every possible remaining seat and cut the republican’s margin of control to be paper-thin.
This will give them a good shot at cheating enough to retake the House next time!
Mas – Fun post. Even gun-guys (& gals) have an inner nerd? Never mind. Glad you enjoyed the show. Didn’t work for me, can’t really put my finger on why, but I watched the first episode and then never went back. Although one part which did impress me was when one character touched off a handgun inside a tank turret. Boy, did his ears ring!
But if you enjoyed ‘The Walking Dead’ may I make a couple of recommendations. ‘The Zombie Survival Guide’ and also ‘World War Z’ both by Max Brooks. Very well written, ‘The Guide’ makes a a lot of very sensible points about a completely non-sensical subject. While WWZ covers a worldwide Zombie outbreak, told from the view point of different survivors. Some of the tales are creepy, some throught provoking, some heart breaking and some uplifting.
Both, JIMHO, well worth your time.
Uncle Mas – Please include “D) All of the above” in your answers to your quiz.
For a time, this was one of the best shows on tv.
Not a show about zombies/walkers but a show about people. Not about the dead, but the living.
Watching Rick mature as a leader, watching Carol move from victim to warrior, Darryl’s evolution from loner to realizing he needs other people… how many other programs could show this while cleverly distracting you with a horror show going on in the background?
The lesson is: It all comes down to people.
Plus: Carry a gun, or learn to run!
Comments are closed.