[Neganite]

Hi all, I mentioned this in the review of episode 9 but I thought it might get glossed over so I thought id start a topic as I would like to hear what people think.

 

Is it just me that hates the walker pet strategy. It just would not work. In the comic I kinda put up with it because from the top of my head Michonne only has them for a few panels, immediately disposes of them and never uses them again. But after episode 9 where Michonne got her self some Governor henchman walker pets. Its just stupid. I mean she is walking through a herd of 20+ walkers and the reason she is safe is because there are two walkers walking a few paces ahead of her.

 

By that logic you could just wander round freely because once a walker is within a couple of meters of you, you become invisible too them. The technique used by Rick and Glenn in 'Guts' and used several times in the comics makes sense for obvious reasons. But just wandering round next to a walker and being safe is just ludicrous.

 

I do get that the reason she is safe is because her pets cannot bite her, but it doesn't make sense why they would lose interest entirely, walkers do not have brain function, they don't have the gumption to think I don't have a bottom jaw so il stop trying, They relentlessly try to get food, they wouldn't just stop trying and walk happily next to her.

 

Plus I know its a zombie show and realism isn't the most important thing, but does this annoy any one else or am I all on my lonesome.

[head_creeps]

I also find this hard to rationalize.  I go with it, because it's a show, and we have to give them some slack, but it doesn't really make sense to me.

 

I never understood why the two de-armed, de-jawed "pets" wouldn't try to attack her, even though their attacks would always fail.  I thought walkers were pure instinct, no thought.

 

On the other hand, playing devil's advocate for a moment:  they do have herding instincts, so maybe once you're in a herd, that instinct prevails.  What I mean is, if she suddenly tried to run for it, they'd all start chasing her, much like the moment she decided to hack away, the jig was up and they all started to close in on her.

 

It does make me wonder...

[Blasko_Z]

Hi all, I mentioned this in the review of episode 9 but I thought it might get glossed over so I thought id start a topic as I would like to hear what people think.

 

Is it just me that hates the walker pet strategy. It just would not work. In the comic I kinda put up with it because from the top of my head Michonne only has them for a few panels, immediately disposes of them and never uses them again. But after episode 9 where Michonne got her self some Governor henchman walker pets. Its just stupid. I mean she is walking through a herd of 20+ walkers and the reason she is safe is because there are two walkers walking a few paces ahead of her.

 

By that logic you could just wander round freely because once a walker is within a couple of meters of you, you become invisible too them. The technique used by Rick and Glenn in 'Guts' and used several times in the comics makes sense for obvious reasons. But just wandering round next to a walker and being safe is just ludicrous.

 

I do get that the reason she is safe is because her pets cannot bite her, but it doesn't make sense why they would lose interest entirely, walkers do not have brain function, they don't have the gumption to think I don't have a bottom jaw so il stop trying, They relentlessly try to get food, they wouldn't just stop trying and walk happily next to her.

 

Plus I know its a zombie show and realism isn't the most important thing, but does this annoy any one else or am I all on my lonesome.

 

This was one of the weakest points in the episode for me. I get what they were aiming for with her internal struggle and the visual representation of one half of that (walking in a herd, basically dead), but this just would never work. Like you say, if this is how the walkers in the show truly are, then all one would ever need to do to survive is walk slowly into a mass of them.

 

I think the biggest problem here is that we don't have a rubric by which we can effectively judge the walker's abilities. Each showrunner seems to have a different idea of what the walkers can do/survive, so we have a "body of work" that is so wildly inconsistent, we can determine what fits and what doesn't.

[mosher]

I hate the walker pets too, but I don't read the comics. Comic book logic let it work and it's iconic so it had to be there. But wearing the smell and being near the smell are very different things. I was fine with wearing the guts. I don't need the show to be scientific, just consistent with it's own rules. I think walker pets break the rules because the other walkers wouldn't comprehend that the pets ignore Michonne so they should too. 

[Creeper]

Yeah, I had the same thought when I was watching the episode.  I just chose to let it go, because I know they have gone with that theory that it would work, so I might as well accept it I guess and enjoy myself, ha ha. 

 

I guess I could MAYBE believe that eventually walkers might give up trying to get at you if they couldn't touch or bite you.  But they certainly wouldn't lose interest the instant their arms and jaw are removed!

 

I think sometimes the show just doesn't want to waste the time being 100% logical, so it sorta jumps a few steps, and assumes the audience will just go with it. For the most part, it doesn't really bother me, I just roll my eyes and say "Ooookay!" 

[Steph]

I liked how it depicted her reverting back to her old defense mechanism, but yeah, I don't see them working THAT good in a herd that size. 

[Creeper]

Back when she had her pets before, I thought they would probably work best in a situation where there is a herd passing by and she could sort of hide behind them or something. I think for the most part it just wouldn't work that well, and I sure wouldn't be putting my back to a pile of walkers who could suddenly decide to taste-test you. 

[Neganite]

Yea on the whole I liked Michonnes story this episode, just that particular aspect got to me.

 

However if in a few seasons time lightsabers come into it like your Sig then I might be able to let the walker pet thing slide

[Serenity@sea]

Hi all, I mentioned this in the review of episode 9 but I thought it might get glossed over so I thought id start a topic as I would like to hear what people think.

 

Is it just me that hates the walker pet strategy. It just would not work. In the comic I kinda put up with it because from the top of my head Michonne only has them for a few panels, immediately disposes of them and never uses them again. But after episode 9 where Michonne got her self some Governor henchman walker pets. Its just stupid. I mean she is walking through a herd of 20+ walkers and the reason she is safe is because there are two walkers walking a few paces ahead of her.

 

By that logic you could just wander round freely because once a walker is within a couple of meters of you, you become invisible too them. The technique used by Rick and Glenn in 'Guts' and used several times in the comics makes sense for obvious reasons. But just wandering round next to a walker and being safe is just ludicrous.

 

I do get that the reason she is safe is because her pets cannot bite her, but it doesn't make sense why they would lose interest entirely, walkers do not have brain function, they don't have the gumption to think I don't have a bottom jaw so il stop trying, They relentlessly try to get food, they wouldn't just stop trying and walk happily next to her.

 

Plus I know its a zombie show and realism isn't the most important thing, but does this annoy any one else or am I all on my lonesome.

Yeah, I can accept that if you smell like a walker, then the chances are that they would leave you alone, but in this case, her human smell would still be strong.

It would have been more believable to me if the pets had made feeble attempts to grab at her.

[Neganite]

I agree it would be better if they were still trying to get her. But then they would be in a situation where 2 walkers were trying to grab at her and all the rest were just ignoring her which would just look jarring.

 

Glad to see people at least agree its a kinda stupid thing.

[Lioness]

This is a willing suspension of disbelief for me. However, I really hope that we have seen the last of this technique for awhile. It really doesn't make a whole lot of sense considering that just a few minutes before she roped them up the other walkers were crossing the field to get at her. Once she lassos the two guys the other walkers don't see her anymore? And I also agree that the jawless ones would still be trying to get at her, at least initially.

[SpaceBum]

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.

[Dead Gov Walking]

Equally effective strategy

[SteadyEddie]

It doesn't make much sense but it's from the comics, so  they can get away with it, apparently.

 

Nothing about dead people walking makes sense, so add this to the pile.

 

It does add a level of 'cool' about it. She's a cool, badass character, with a cool style. 

But admittedly, it doesn't seem to make much sense. She's walking along with zombies inches from her and they couldn't smell her, huh?

[Neganite]

Haha yes, I love Shaun of the Dead so much

[Serenity@sea]

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.

 

That is a great analogy.

I loved that movie. It was a very powerful scene.

[Thierry88]

I actually thought about the same thing in Season 3, when Andrea uses one walker to get at the prison for the first time. She walks through the prison yard full of walkers after TG's first attack with the walker bomb truck. Andrea held one walker in front of her with a snare pole and apparently no walkers attack her from her back, despite some getting really close but backs off after smelling the pet walker. I doubt the smell from a walker in front of you completely masks your own scent to walkers showing up behind you.

[Zombie chick]

Yup. Me and my husband said the exact same thing while watching. It makes no sense and wouldn't work at all. Her pet walkers were walking so far from her she might as well walk through the herd alone, why need pet walkers?
It was an annoying detail but we let it go since pets likely won't be used again and we enjoyed the rest of the episode, but I know what u mean. I'm surprised its only now someone has brought this up.

[Chinghis]

I should read all thread headlines before I comment some place ... just mentioned this in the review thread that, yeah, I don't like the pet walker thing. She would need them in front of her and behind to make it effective. And their immediate passiveness kind of bugged me.

[boutte]

If she at least snuggled up real close to them it would make a little more sense. It was fun watching her go full samurai though.

[Zombie chick]

Yup. Me and my husband said the exact same thing while watching. It makes no sense and wouldn't work at all. Her pet walkers were walking so far from her she might as well walk through the herd alone, why need pet walkers?
It was an annoying detail but we let it go since pets likely won't be used again and we enjoyed the rest of the episode, but I know what u mean. I'm surprised its only now someone has brought this up.

[UrFavSigma]

The Walker Pet thing also annoys me slightly. My thing is, if it works so well why doesn't the group use walker pets more often when going on runs?

[I_Follow_You_Axel]

Her original pets made more sense, because they had been with her for such a long time. They were unable to attack her, so they just sort of gave up after a while, got accustomed to her scent, and went into a docile state. In Season 3, they became frenzied when they smelled new humans from Woodbury, thus giving up their position. The new walker pets were de-jawed and de-armed and immediately went into the docile state. It doesn't make sense.

 

Walking through a herd of walkers and not getting attacked because you have two walker pets really makes no sense anyway. Using that logic, just being near walkers in general would mask your smell and allow you to walk among them. The only thing different is that two of them aren't trying to attack you. But again, the walker pets from the comic was iconic so it had to be put in the show, and using them as pack mules was smart too.

 

I can appreciate the idea of MIchonne reverting to her former habits, only to have emotions from the past hit her hard anyway. Her walker doppelgänger (or walker-gänger) setting her off on a massive walker slaying binge was awesome too. I just think the idea of the two new pets working so well right out of the gate was a little weak.

[hannsg]

When she was shown in the season 3 with the pets she also had 

a heavy duty cloak with a hood which was smeared with walker blood

This aspect of the method is forgotten

Its supposed to be two walkers deformed + the cloak/hood.

 

Two walkers on their own might work some of the time especially at a distance. but close up you need the cloak

which they decided to forget this time.

[Jayne23]

Totally agree with you all about this pet thing in this last episode. I was also bugged with her just appearing at the prison and then casually walking along and basically picking and choosiing zombies
Notice none of the other zombies noticing her at all / no rush at her or head turn except one
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?