Days Gone By Season 1 Episode 1 (S1E1)

 First "living" person Rick sees. 

YorkMix. (2013, April 19). The six greatest zombies who stumbled on screen. Retrieved April 25, 2013, from York: http://www.yorkmix.com/leisure/the-six-greatest-zombies-in-movies/

The show begins with Rick approaching an old accident and tent city looking for gas. Realizing that everyone who was there is dead and there is no gas, he hears footsteps...a little girl. He calls out to her and realizes that she is a zombie and has to kill her as she begins to attack him. But how does he know what to do? They flashback to how it all began. Before we go into the flash back I have a question, the little girl picked up the stuffed bunny if only the brain stem is activated why did she pick up the bunny? There shouldn't be any memory of the bunny right? (Darabont, 2010-2013) I have read that we don't really know where memories are stored in the brain but it is believed that the hypocampus is the most significant memory portion with the most memory lost if damaged. (UF Project Flexner, 2012) If only the brain stem is activated by the infection how does the little girl, or later Morgan's wife, remember how things like a door knob or picking up a stuffed bunny matter? (Darabont, 2010-2013)

Picture of the brain's parts. 
How the brain Learns. (2012, November 13). Retrieved April 25, 2013, from UF Project Flexner: http://projectflexner.sites.medinfo.ufl.edu/how-we-learn/

Jumping back into the flash back, Rick and Shane, both police officers, are working and get called to a high speed chase. Upon arriving they set the speed trap and take a stand to apprehend the criminals. The suspects penetrate the barrier and flip the car. Not expecting the people to get out they are surprised when they are shot at by the criminals. In the process, Rick is shot but saved by his bullet proof vest. Thinking that all the criminals are dead the other officers run to aid him but a third suspect escapes the demolished car and shoots him in what appears to be the shoulder. However, later when he is bandaged it is his side. I wonder if there is some foreshadowing of how Rick processes incidents and how he will lead the group. He was shot the second time because instead of paying attention to the scene he was distracted. In retrospect I feel this is sometimes an issue for Rick. (Darabont, 2010-2013)

Rick wakes up in a hospital bed calling for his friend Shane. When no one responds he climbs painfully out of bed to see what is going on and realizes that something is terribly wrong. The hospital is in array and he begins to explore. He finds dead bodies, bullet holes and a lot of blood spread throughout the halls and happens upon a door that says "Don't Open Dead Inside" confused by this the door begin to move despite them being chained and it frightens him. He runs to the stairwell and out of the hospital meeting a field of wrapped dead bodies and an abandoned army base where an obvious battle ensued. His first thoughts were to find his family and he runs toward his house but encounters a half body rotting that begins to move toward him terrifying him because he doesn't yet understand the world has changed. (Darabont, 2010-2013)

Rick killing his first zombie.

Assisi, S. C. (2010, Novemeber 4). The Walking Dead: A Pretty Crappy Day. Retrieved April 25, 2013, from TVgasm: http://www.tvgasm.com/recaps/the-walking-dead-a-pretty-crappy-day.html

This is where Rick meets Morgan and Duane. Taken captive by the pair until they know that he is not infected Rick learns about what is causing people to turn into the walking dead and how it changed the world. Morgan explained that individual walkers are not hard to handle but a herd is lethal. Morgan feeds, dresses and teaches Rick how to live in the new world including how to kill walkers. The three go to the police station to retrieve guns and ammo. Rick decides to leave and find his family in Atlanta, Georgia where the refugee center is located but also learned that the CDC (Center for Disease Control) may hold some answers to the world's situation. Morgan, however, isn't ready to leave his wife, who still visited them as a walker outside the house they were staying. Agreeing to meet up later, Rick leaves a walkie-talkie with Morgan and they part ways. (Darabont, 2010-2013)

Rick uses the CB to call out to anyone who is listening for help. The tent city set up outside of Atlanta hears his call but are unable to make contact with him and disclose that Atlanta is overrun with walkers and he is walking straight into it. The tent city houses Lori and Carl, Rick's family though they are not aware of this at this point. Shane is the leader of the tent city and refuses to let Lori set up signs warning people away from Atlanta. This upset Lori who storms off and is chased by Shane who reasons with her about how unsafe it would be for her to go and that Carl cannot lose another parent (he had told them that Rick died). We find out that a relationship has began when the two kiss. (Darabont, 2010-2013)

Rick attempting to find gas.   
Outlaw, K. (2003-2013). ‘The Walking Dead’ Review & Discussion. Retrieved April 25, 2013, from Screenrant: http://screenrant.com/the-walking-dead-reviews-kofi-85345/

In the meantime, Rick runs out of gas and stops at a farm to "barrow" some from the farmers. Upon arrival he finds they had committed suicide. When the farmers keys to their truck are no where to be found Rick saddles up their horse and rides it into Atlanta. Upon arrival Rick hears a helicopter (which who was in this helicopter and where were they going?) and begins to follow it but turns down a street jam packed with walkers who begin to chase him. Engulfed by the hoard of zombies Rick is thrown from his horse onto the ground while the horse is consumed by the zombies. Quick to realize that he is still under attack Rick seeks refuge under a tank leaving the guns he had carried with him in the middle of the street. The walkers begin to pile under the tank after him and Rick almost takes his life until he realizes the floor to the tank is open and he slips inside locking the zombies out. To his dismay one of the dead military personnel is in the tank and tries to eat Rick. He shoots the zombie but the sound rings loudly in the tank causing some disorientation. Trying to figure out a way to get out of the tank Rick looks out the top with walkers climbing to get him he locks himself in trapped with no way out. Then a voice of a man comes across the CB asking "hey you, in the tank, cozy in there?" We leave this episode with Rick trapped and the walking dead surrounding the tank. (Darabont, 2010-2013)

Works Cited

Frank Darabont. (2010-2013). Days Gone By Season 1 Episode 1[The Walking Dead]. Gale Anne Hurd.  Atlanta, GA: Stargate Studios.

How the brain Learns. (2012, November 13). Retrieved April 25, 2013, from UF Project Flexner: http://projectflexner.sites.medinfo.ufl.edu/how-we-learn/

Questions about becoming a zombie

Me as a zombie.  
The Walking Dead Dead Yourself. (2010-2013). Retrieved April 25, 2013, from AMC.com: http://www.deadyourself.com/walkers

It appears that there are a couple of ways to become a zombie. Dying and by being scratched or bitten by a zombie. In talking with some people I have found that there is confusion about this issue since everyone is infected and you don't have to be bitten in order to turn. For example one of my friends asked:

"What we wondered for the longest time was, once they found out they all were infected then did it matter if they got bit or not? Theoretically it shouldn't "turn" them until they died anyway, right?"

And the answer is no. Everyone is going to be a zombie, they will turn rather they are bitten or not. It's a matter of the person dying and the infection activating in their system. The bit itself somehow activates the zombie infection. If the person did not die initially the infection causes a intense fever that kills the person. After they are dead, the zombie infection then reactivates the brain stem and they wake as the walking dead.

What it appears to me is that once they are a zombie they are a threat because they attack and if you are bitten or scratched by one the infection is activated. Also because when a zombie attacks they savagely rip apart the body to consume it. This definitely kills the person form the loss of blood and the consumption of their body. But since everyone is infected everyone will become a zombie unless they are shot in the brain. My question, however, is why is it that after the zombies consume a person, if they don't consume the brain, that the corps does not become a zombie as well? Isn't it the brain what they must destroy in order to kill the zombie?

I pose these questions to you. I will post my thoughts once the conversation is started. So what do you think?

Work Cited

Frank Darabont. (2010-2013).[The Walking Dead]. Gale Anne Hurd.  Atlanta, GA: Stargate Studios.

Frank Darabont. (2010-2013). Season 1 Episode 1-6 [The Walking Dead]. Gale Anne Hurd.  Atlanta, GA: Stargate Studios.

What's gonig on with Carl? Will he be like Rick, Shane or the Governor?

Carol, played by Chandler Riggs. 
Huddleston, K. (2012, March 14). We predict Walking Dead's death odds: Who'll be the next to go? Retrieved April 25, 2013, from Blaster: http://www.blastr.com/2012/03/we-predict-walking-deads.php

It's easy to admit that Carl started out as an innocent child and now has become hardened by the circumstances of the Zombie Apocalypse.There is no doubt that this boy has been through a lot and growing up in a shift of moral compass cannot be easy. When was the innocence lost? Did it start when he ran away instead of killing the walker that killed Dale? Or when he killed zombie Shane? Was it when he was shot? When he found out the Sophia had been bitten and he watched as Rick shot her? Is it the daily massacre of killing what looks to be humans? Shooting his mom in the head after she passed while giving birth? Watching those he loved around him be consumed by an inevitable force? Is it the lack of stability in shelter, food, parenting? What or who influenced this slow decay of Carl's moral compass and do you think Rick's attempt at bringing civility back will change Carl's ways?

Parenting

      Carl is a very complex character. He starts the show with his dad, Rick, having "passed away" and Shane, his dad's co-worker and friend, taking the father role. Shane leads the surviving group with an iron fist in an attempt to keep everyone safe. What Shane wants he takes and often becomes a hot head when provoked or angered. When we meet Carl he and his mother, Lori, are living in a tent city outside of Atlanta, Georgia. The accommodations are grim and so is the outlook on survival but they are doing the best they can despite the circumstances. It is unclear rather Carl knew that Shane and his mother were an item but nonetheless he accepted parenting from Shane. He watched Shane's decision making and enjoyed the fun father son things that they did together like hunting frogs in the query. (Darabont, 2010-2013)

Carol when he shot the boy after the war at the Prison.
Johnson, S. (2013, April 1). The Walking Dead Finale: Carl’s Actions To Have Season Four Implications. Retrieved April 25, 2013, from Comicbook.com: http://comicbook.com/blog/2013/04/01/the-walking-dead-finale-carls-actions-to-have-season-four-implications/

     Enter Rick back into the scene. The excitement of seeing his dad and being a whole family again does not stop the confusion that comes from now having two father figures and having to decide which one to follow. He obviously takes the route of Rick, but continues to watch the ways of Shane. Rick, despite all of the horrors that surround his family, tries, to the best of his ability, to shield his son from the new world's hardships while explaining how life would be from now on. In an attempt to keep everyone safe, Rick makes many decisions some of which do not work out, and Carl is watching. Somewhere along the line Carl took a turn that Rick did not expect. There continues to be a battle between the men that Carl looks to and Rick ends up killing Shane in front of Carl. Leaving Rick at a loss when he realizes what Carl witnessed. Visibly shaken by this Carl then turns the gun on his dad...but when the zombie Shane came back he killed Shane instead. We don't know exactly what was going through Carl's mind at that point but we know that he had to kill Shane, one of his father figures. We find out later that until Rick confesses to killing Shane to the group Carl didn't really know that Rick had killed Shane, but had been curious about how Shane became a zombie. I wonder if this and Rick shooting Sophia is where Carl began to doubt Rick's choices. (Darabont, 2010-2013)

  
     Next Lori is pregnant which seems to excite Carl at the prospects of having a new sibling. However, there are obvious quarrels between Rick and Lori that Carl doesn't understand. Lori obviously loves her son and would do anything for him and vise-verse. However, upon Lori's death during the birth of Judith, Carl's new sister, Carl is the only one left to shoot his mother so she does not turn into a zombie. Parent figure number two that Carl had to kill. We wonder why he has a hard time respecting authority when he is constantly having to kill those who are in authority over him. This leaves Rick as the only parenting figure but he goes a little crazy and Carl is left to fend for himself. There are other adults who are around and help care for Carl but he is left to parent himself at a young age in the hardest of situations, the Zombie  Apocalypse. (Darabont, 2010-2013)

Carl fighting off the zombie that killed Dale. 
Yeoman, K. (2003-2013). ScreenRant. Retrieved April 25, 2013, from ‘The Walking Dead’ Season 3: Carl Grows Up: http://screenrant.com/the-walking-dead-season-3-carl-grows-up-yman-181911/

 Guilt

    Carl in Season three reasoned killing the boy when he happened upon them in the woods during the Woodbury attack on the prison by saying when people who attack aren't killed the ones he loves are. With this logic you can sympathize with him but does that justify murder? I believe the feeling of guilt that started when he saw that not killing the zombie at the farm ended up killing Dale. Despite the fact that the actions of the walker was not his fault and was out of his control, his role in the the swamp that day, he felt, made him responsible. (Darabont, 2010-2013)

     Moving forward he felt that he could save Sophia he was determined that she was alive and he was going to be the one to find her because she was his friend. But when she walked out of the barn and Rick shot her a piece of Carl died that day. Carl began to realize just how dangerous the new world they lived in was and that he had to save his people. Could this be that he watched the two father figures he had risk their lives day after day to save the others too and he was taking after them? Sure...but I think the guilt over losing his friend and Dale were two strong factors in his spiraling down the moral compass. (Darabont, 2010-2013)

Carl with his mom just before she passes away. 
Mullins, J. (2012, November 5). The Walking Dead Shocker: Sarah Wayne Callies Opens Up About Lori's "Difficult" Episode. Retrieved April 25, 2013, from E! TV Scoop: http://www.eonline.com/news/360152/the-walking-dead-shocker-sarah-wayne-callies-opens-up-about-difficult-episode

     The kicker, however, is when his mother dies, she was the last thing holding him steady and when he put that bullet through her head it cemented the guilt that he felt. This guilt eats him up inside and he makes decisions based on those feelings. Though his intentions are good no one has questioned his actions until the end of season three when he shoots the boy in the woods without cause. Hershel explains to Rick the real actions of Carl and Rick realizes that he has a problem on his hands. What is Rick's response? To bring civilization back to Carl. I wonder though is it too late? Will bringing more people into the situation just make Carl more aware of the people he has to protect and the guilt he feels for failing at that prior to their arrival or will it open him up to love and humanizing him again? Only time will tell. (Darabont, 2010-2013)

     Why is the fact that Carl is carrying this guilt around so important? Because he is the future of this new world, he is what they have to look forward to and it isn't looking good. Phillip also held a lot of guilt from his wife dying to his daughter being bitten and turned. His lack of being able to keep his family safe turned him into the "Governor". It lead to him hardening, dehumanizing, and killing even the people that he was protecting, the town of Woodbury. Is it possible that if Carl does not get a grip on his guilt that he could turn out to be like the "Governor", ruthless, cunning, and a murderer? I think Rick, in dealing with the governor, saw Carl in that light when he got back from the battle and heard what Carl had done. I give credit to Rick for trying to correct the damage, but I think it will take more than bringing in other people. (Darabont, 2010-2013)

 

Rick and Carl.
Perricone, K. (2013). 'Walking Dead' Season 2 premiere: Writer explains grotesque zombie autopsy scene. Retrieved April 25, 2013, from Daily News: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/walking-dead-season-2-premiere-writer-explains-grotesque-zombie-autopsy-scene-article-1.965992

  On the other hand Carl had a great role model for ruthlessness when he had Shane. The passive aggressive undertones that Shane exhibited were an example for Carl.  Shane was willing to kill anything that stood in the way of what he wanted or needed and it didn't matter if they were human or not. A prime example is when Shane shot Otis to get out of the school yard and back with the gear to save Carl...he needed to survive and to get the medical supplies back so Otis's life meant less to him. Shane wanted Lori and he was willing to kill Rick to get her. And when he didn't get his way he went off the deep end, like when he pried open the barn and shot up the walker inside. Did he have a reason to be concerned? Sure, but the way he approached it was not right....and Carl was watching and learning. I worry that Carl took some of that relentless and aggressive behavior from Shane. Will Carl be like Shane? Again only time will tell. (Darabont, 2010-2013)

    One thing is for sure that Carl is rebelling against the leadership and example of Rick. He disapproves of how he approaches situations and feels that he endangers the lives of those that are in their group with the decision Rick has made. He feels that it's kill or be killed whereas Rick believes in mercy. I think that Carl has stepped away from the influence of his dad and Rick has a lot of work to repair his example. One can pray that Carl doesn't become one of the other two examples, can Rick change the moral compass of Carl, restore his guilt ridden heart, and humanize his son again? And the biggest question of all is will Carl accept it? (Darabont, 2010-2013)

Works Cited

Frank Darabont. (2010-2013).[The Walking Dead]. Gale Anne Hurd.  Atlanta, GA: Stargate Studios.

Frank Darabont. (2010-2013).Season 1 Episodes 1-6 [The Walking Dead]. Gale Anne Hurd.  Atlanta, GA: Stargate Studios.

Frank Darabont. (2010-2013). Season 2 Episode 1-13 [The Walking Dead]. Gale Anne Hurd.  Atlanta, GA: Stargate Studios.

Frank Darabont. (2010-2013). Season 3 Episode 1-16 [The Walking Dead]. Gale Anne Hurd.  Atlanta, GA: Stargate Studios.