Michonne's Pets.

- - - - - Michonne after walker pets

#26
Lukey

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I'm willing to suspend disbelief regarding the issue of the pets for the sake of appreciating the point the writers were trying to get across.  The scene with Michonne amid the walker herd was, on the whole, powerfully effective, particularly after she saw her walker doppelganger, which jolted her out of her desire to walk with death.  It reminded me somewhat of a scene from the movie Midnight Express, where Billy, the protagonist, is shown at one point "walking the circle" with the other insane prisoners, symbolizing his final descent into hopeless madness.  When Billy receives a visit from his girlfriend, he's similarly jolted from his catatonic funk and he begins to want to live again.

What he said.

 

It really doesn't make sense that just by tying up 2 walkers would make you invisible for the others but I can let it pass since it is used to show the state Michonne is in. She decided it was the best to be on her own and going back to what she was before she met Andrea and the group, then realizing that she would rather risk it with the living than be safe with the dead, which ends up in slicing heads.

If it was used in a way of "Oh yeah, look how cool I am with these walkers on the leash, I'm such a badass." which I know some showrunners would probably do (yes Mazzara, I'm looking at you) it would be more of a problem.


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#27
kombat

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I think the original concept is plausible. Make them harmless, then by being around them constantly you start to smell like them.

 

Andrea's use of one last season and Michonne on Sunday totally went against that.


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#28
mADAM Scorpious

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I don't believe that the new pets would have become docile so soon but I think the ability to walk within a herd does make sense. Herds have pack mentalities, and although they'd be able to smell Michonne perhaps the fact that the 2 other Zs closest to her aren't attacking her might trick the others into dismissing her as one of them that had recently eaten and acquired a human scent, which might prevent them from swarming, however any one of them that got closer than her pets and went on the attack would blow her cover. In the comic, Michonne basically says that the trick to being out in the open is to keep moving.


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#29
Lukey

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I don't believe that the new pets would have become docile so soon but I think the ability to walk within a herd does make sense. Herds have pack mentalities, and although they'd be able to smell Michonne perhaps the fact that the 2 other Zs closest to her aren't attacking her might trick the others into dismissing her as one of them that had recently eaten and acquired a human scent, which might prevent them from swarming, however any one of them that got closer than her pets and went on the attack would blow her cover. In the comic, Michonne basically says that the trick to being out in the open is to keep moving.

Sounds too complicated for walkers don't you think. It should basically be, see/smell/hear human = eat human IMO.


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#30
DrAnguish

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I also keep wondering how her sword stays so sharp after hacking branches/ ropes / heads and such
Don't those swords ever need any blade sharpening? Don't knives?

 

Easy! Maaaaaaaan you didnt see her sharpening the sword with that kitchen block in her dream !?! :-) :zombiethumbsup: jk


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#31
SteadyEddie

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I kind of understand why it was done originally. It's cool, visually, to have a badass character with two walker "pets" 

It gives a woman this badass dominatrix vibe, doesn't it?

But logically, it fails.


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#32
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 Michonne's trek with the walkers would have been more believable if she has taken some walker goo and smeared it all over herself.

We already know that it is an effective masking device.


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#33
mADAM Scorpious

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@Lukey, yes the 'smell/hear/see humans = food' theory makes more sense and is much simpler but Morgan talks about how if one zombie would've bumped into a door the others would follow and begin rushing to the door, well maybe the reverse is true as well. Like say youre feeding geese in a park. you throw one piece of bread out there and if they all notice they'll all rush over, but say you throw a piece of garbage down, one or 2 might investigate it but wont eat it, and the next time you throw down bread they might ignore it having assumed it was garbage.


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#34
slimymeteor

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Maybe the walkers are so decayed at this point that they're losing their sense of smell.  Especially as their own bodies decay more, their own stench is probably starting to dominate their diminishing sense of smell.  This is why they can't smell Michonne as easily.

 

Perhaps Michonne isn't using the walker pets to mask her smell, but rather to camouflage herself visually.  With two walkers calmly shuffling close to her, she kind of looks like she's part of a group of three of them.  The theory that the herdlike mentality of the zombies primarily takes over the bigger a group gets could fit in here.

 

Maybe their eyesight also gets weaker as they continue to decay, and it's not as easy to differentiate a human from a walker.  If Michonne is strolling like normal amongst of a group of them, then she isn't as noticeable as long as she stays quiet.  As soon as she killed the first walker, the other ones then took notice that she was behaving unlike a walker and then started to go in.

 

Even if this plan works as explained here, it's still very dangerous.  But if this is true, then yeah, you could theoretically slowly walk into and through a herd, but I still wouldn't recommend trying.


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#35
SteadyEddie

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Maybe the walkers are so decayed at this point that they're losing their sense of smell.  Especially as their own bodies decay more, their own stench is probably starting to dominate their diminishing sense of smell.  This is why they can't smell Michonne as easily.

 

Perhaps Michonne isn't using the walker pets to mask her smell, but rather to camouflage herself visually.  With two walkers calmly shuffling close to her, she kind of looks like she's part of a group of three of them.  The theory that the herdlike mentality of the zombies primarily takes over the bigger a group gets could fit in here.

 

Maybe their eyesight also gets weaker as they continue to decay, and it's not as easy to differentiate a human from a walker.  If Michonne is strolling like normal amongst of a group of them, then she isn't as noticeable as long as she stays quiet.  As soon as she killed the first walker, the other ones then took notice that she was behaving unlike a walker and then started to go in.

 

Even if this plan works as explained here, it's still very dangerous.  But if this is true, then yeah, you could theoretically slowly walk into and through a herd, but I still wouldn't recommend trying.

 

With no bloodflow, I don't know how the walkers can see anything through those opaque eyes. I don't know how they see anything. I don't know how they keep their balance, all their inner ear fluid has probably dried out or leaked out or something.

There's nothing that really makes sense. But it's a show. It's so weird, because you have to suspend belief, but then still believe that certain things are possible/plausible.


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#36
Lukey

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I also keep wondering how her sword stays so sharp after hacking branches/ ropes / heads and such
Don't those swords ever need any blade sharpening? Don't knives?

It actually doesnt need sharpening. If a katana is good quality it never needs sharpening.
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#37
Nareen

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I agree that Michonne's new pets seemed too docile and inadequate protection for walking in the middle of a herd.  I disliked her old pets and was glad when she got rid of them, and the new ones.

 

But the image of her walking with the dead, especially with her doppelganger, was so powerful and so symbolically and thematically relevant that I don't care about the practicalities.  It wasn't exactly subtle but it was great, IMO.


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#38
DeadInDetroit

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I think its because i love the show so much that shit like this really pisses me off! Lol!

I instantly said "what is this bullshit!?" right when she roped the two walkers. They went from trying to eat her face to instantly docile. It was believable with her first 2 who were with her a long time but this time it was just awkward. I can understand the "herd mentality" an see how once she has the 2 pets, others just fall in line too but not being 1ft away an not attacking. Now what they should have done is had her grab a coat/blanket/sheet, smother it with blood an guts from a walker an cover herself with it. That would have worked for me an made it believable but she was just walking within inches of a dozen or 2 walkers with no problem, not even a walker-shuffle type walk or anything! Smh!

they couldve easily had her drap herself with a blood soaked blanket or even had her make 2 more pets, 2 walking in front of her an 2 walking behind her!!
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#39
hannsg

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ya it annoying that they get such 

 

I think its because i love the show so much that shit like this really pisses me off! Lol!

I instantly said "what is this bullshit!?" right when she roped the two walkers. They went from trying to eat her face to instantly docile. It was believable with her first 2 who were with her a long time but this time it was just awkward. I can understand the "herd mentality" an see how once she has the 2 pets, others just fall in line too but not being 1ft away an not attacking. Now what they should have done is had her grab a coat/blanket/sheet, smother it with blood an guts from a walker an cover herself with it. That would have worked for me an made it believable but she was just walking within inches of a dozen or 2 walkers with no problem, not even a walker-shuffle type walk or anything! Smh!

they couldve easily had her drap herself with a blood soaked blanket or even had her make 2 more pets, 2 walking in front of her an 2 walking behind her!!

ya its annoying that they make such silly mistakes as this >


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#40
SteadyEddie

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I'm not going to nitpick because it is what it is, but remember in S1 when Rick and Glenn cover themselves in guts and the rain starts to wash it off... Seems that the "pets" do a lot less to mask their human scent... 

Ah screw it. 


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#41
jayde

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It did bother me a bit that she's walking in a herd that size and not a single one of those walkers even seemed about to munch on her. But, at the same time, I wonder if the reason why this works is because the smell of the two walkers overpowers the scent of a living being. It's hard to make a judgment without any basis to either reject this method or accept it but I suppose it's a possibility. I think if she tried to sneak off they would have pursued her so I question why she really put herself in that position aside from it furthering the plot and triggering a breakdown, of course.


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#42
Chinghis

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{snip}That would have worked for me an made it believable but she was just walking within inches of a dozen or 2 walkers with no problem, not even a walker-shuffle type walk or anything! Smh!

{snip}

That's OK, one of her pets wasn't really shuffling, either.


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#43
slimymeteor

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It did bother me a bit that she's walking in a herd that size and not a single one of those walkers even seemed about to munch on her. But, at the same time, I wonder if the reason why this works is because the smell of the two walkers overpowers the scent of a living being. It's hard to make a judgment without any basis to either reject this method or accept it but I suppose it's a possibility. I think if she tried to sneak off they would have pursued her so I question why she really put herself in that position aside from it furthering the plot and triggering a breakdown, of course.


I'm wondering if having the two zombies next to each other confuses the two of them. They should only be able to mostly smell themselves and each other at this point, if they can still smell. And maybe having the two of them next to each other puts them in that herdlike, "Let's just walk aimlessly together," mentality. We know the zombies do seem to have this mentality because of how other walkers just mindlessly joined them in walking through the woods as she went along. So, maybe when zombies start grouping up, their "herdlike mentality" takes over and they just shuffle along with the others until something distracts them. As long as Michonne is silent, doing what they're doing (walking forward), and her scent is masked (as it should be with as badly decayed the walkers now are under that sun), then this is theoretically possible.

But, like I said before, I still wouldn't try it.
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#44
etphoto

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Something I don't ever remember being covered in the show was personal hygiene.  Maybe its been months since Michonne took a shower and she smelled just as bad as the walkers, so they didn't notice her.  Just a thought. 


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#45
Lioness

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Something I don't ever remember being covered in the show was personal hygiene.  Maybe its been months since Michonne took a shower and she smelled just as bad as the walkers, so they didn't notice her.  Just a thought. 

That is a good point. But then again, everyone who is still alive and didn't have access to bath water would be free to walk around the zombies undetected at this point if that was the case, wouldn't they?


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#46
CoffeeZombie

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Something I don't ever remember being covered in the show was personal hygiene.  Maybe its been months since Michonne took a shower and she smelled just as bad as the walkers, so they didn't notice her.  Just a thought. 

 

Maybe that is how Michonne got her fleas from Darryl......

 

That is a good point. But then again, everyone who is still alive and didn't have access to bath water would be free to walk around the zombies undetected at this point if that was the case, wouldn't they?

 

They all appear pretty clean to me, considering they were using what amounted to a campers shower back at the prison. But remember when Rick met the psycho girl in the woods (whose name is slipping me): she was filthy. So maybe hygiene in the ZA  is over rated, unless your like Glen and Maggie, or the Gov with his harem.  :zombiethumbsup:


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#47
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Something I don't ever remember being covered in the show was personal hygiene.  Maybe its been months since Michonne took a shower and she smelled just as bad as the walkers, so they didn't notice her.  Just a thought. 

 

 

Except that we saw they had rigged up working showers for everyone. So as it had probably been a couple of days, we know it hasn't been months. 


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#48
etphoto

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We know they had showers rigged, but we didn't know who if everyone used them.  Maybe water was being rationed and it wasn't Michonne's month to shower. Lol.


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#49
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For most of S3, Rick and Daryl were filthy. It went from sexy dirt to Ewwww!


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#50
Crumple

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who knows?  Walker behavior is erratic.

 

One picked up a brick and broke the glass in Atlanta.

 

One would return to her house and try to open the door every night.

 

One left a herd to enter a disabled camper and have a look around

 

probably other's I forgot.


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