Walk on By

** SPOILER Disclaimer – In my articles I talk openly about things that happen in older issues of the comic series, The Walking Dead. I think for the most part this is extremely fair as the series began in 2003 so it’s unreasonable to gag events from 5 to 8 years old. Know that I will tend to be closed mouthed about specifics for up to 20 issues back from current (meaning #94 is current so I’ll try hard not to spoil anything after issue #74). If I feel I have to I will put a Spoiler warning in the article. Everything else is fair game. All images property of their copyright owners.**

I was so excited to see this lone “walker” shambling through a field tall with grass. The evening sun casting long shadows. It was a very tranquil moment, almost a spoof of some National Geographic documentary. I’m referring to a scene from the Walking Dead TV episode, “18 Miles Out” of course. I was so excited, but even more for the “non-reaction” of our two survivors, Rick and Shane.

It is unclear whether Rick ever saw the zombie, but I like to believe he did. I took driver’s ed classes so I was trained to constantly scan everything. That on top of my post-traumatic stress and I just couldn’t miss a large detail like that. But, maybe Rick is one of those “focused” drivers, or his head was full of Lori, Shane, and poopy diapers. Shane saw it all though, and it is his total, unflinching silence that I love. He doesn’t instinctively reach for a gun, or hit Ricks shoulder for attention. He just watches this zombie, like a viewer watching a lion walking across the Serengeti in a lazy rest from stalking antelope, in contemplative silence. And if ever a silence spoke volumes it was this silence. And because of this, in my mind Rick saw it and had that same non-reaction.

You see, this type of scene has now happened many times in the graphic novel, or comic, or whatever term you prefer. I don’t think ‘nonchalant’ is the correct word, but in some ways it is… The lone roamer, or even a couple lurkers thrown in, 40 or 50 feet away doing whatever zombies do in their down-time has become this secondary issue for survivors. As long as a lone zombie is not at this very moment attacking, and she is “over there”, then we can get on about our business as long as we keep an eye on him. And so, I’ve been waiting patiently to see how this might come to pass in the tv show.

Walk on ByA little terminology lesson for those who are just discovering the whole TWD thing. In the graphic novel (comics – also referred to as GN) the word “zombie” appears very early on. It isn’t used often but it exists. There are two types of zombies: zombies who are constantly in motion are called “roamers” and zombies who find some place to sit or lay are known as “lurkers”.  The word “Walkers” does not exist in the GN. Lurkers seem to have found undeath just too tiring. You have to at least get within a couple of feet before they will even acknowledge your existence. Some you have to actually kick, and then they might find the energy to try and eat you. The two TV walkers I can point to as lurkers would be the woman in the car that Glenn wakes up (played by a really nice lady, Sonya Thompson – who has a Facebook page btw) and the lurker in the tank with Rick. These two kind of show the range for lurkers. Roamers have a bit of a range also, but it never reaches the physical and mental range of the walkers on the show.

As kind of a critique of the show, I have seen TWD zombies use rocks to smash windows which is a bit more tool usage than I prefer. In the show I have seen them reach speeds equal to a run. No, they did not have that classic form, and no you cannot say they were running. But you go back and watch those roamers keep up with Shane and Otis, who were running. As far as I’m concerned, even if you are jerking and shambling, if you are keeping up with someone running then you are pretty much running too. My point is this though, you are not going to get outrun by a walker in the GN. The zombies here are very much like those in George A. Romero’s ground shattering “Night of the Living Dead” and this is the way I prefer my zombies, thank you.

Robert Kirkman, creator of The Walking Dead, has stated in interviews and letters that the zombies are very secondary. This becomes so apparent in the graphic novels as the characters have longer interaction with them. Scenes of the lone walker in the grassy field are common. We can debate the effect of this, whether it is bad or good for a long time. And it comes down to two basic camps: Terror lovers –v- Creepy Eerie lovers.

I for one prefer the eeriness, the surreal-ness, of the living moving through an undead world in an uneasy truce. “Man” always adapts… we do this with deadly spiders, and lions, and snakes around the world. Recall the extreme story of Timothy Treadwell, environmentalist/film maker,  who lived with bears for 13 summers until he and his girlfriend were finally eaten. Why should the walking dead be any different? I was heartened to here Glenn saying how he had forgotten how dangerous they were, that it’s all become another round of Portal. With that “comfort” comes new dangers to the survivors as Kirkman examines how we humans just cannot help ourselves. We HAVE to find some comfort level, some radical acceptance, of the world around us or we go mad. Hence, my personal preference for the creepy-surreal over the constant horror/terror.

Walking Dead comic "yeah..they do"I think, in closing, that there is a hidden seed of hope (or the need for that seed of hope) in Kirkman’s vision. He wants us to see the zombies as merely the earthquake, tsunami, or sinking ship. But these are all events with which we must merely endure, find a way to survive. There is no cutting the head off an earthquake, no sticking a screwdriver in the eye of a hurricane; we can only seek shelter. Intentionally or unintentionally, The Walking Dead exposes that need for the human to fight back. With knives and guns we fought to keep bears and lions from eating us. With tools and shelters we fight the weather from freezing us or cooking us. With all of our arts and sciences we fight an uncaring universe for our right to breath. And through the lens of a silly little comic and tv show I can see that “we” would only find a zombie apocalypse a speed bump and nothing more. We would eventually watch a roamer stumble  through the sunlit field with as much excitement as we watch cows chew their cud. In this we are not the Walking Dead.

The Lone Walker

The Lone Walker in "18 Miles Out"

The Lone Walker is a cold, distant figure moving through an empty field. We see it as Shane does: gazing through a car window, sitting next to the man who should be his best friend, following a day filled with regrettable actions. It is far enough away to make distinguishing any features impossible.

The Lone Walker is anonymous and unknowable, but it is difficult to not feel sadness rather than fear while gazing upon it.

This is a mirror for what Shane has become. He has finally been told, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Rick’s family is just that: Rick’s. He has relentlessly beat on the man he calls brother. He has attempted to murder two people and subsequently been rescued by them both. When Shane is looking upon the Lone Walker he feels a kinship. He was alone before, but it is painfully obvious now that there are so few people in the world. He has no more purpose than a mindless corpse shuffling through the dying grass.

This moment in the car is perhaps the first time we see Shane look utterly defeated. In what is a moment of synergy, the song playing over this crisis of mind is “Civilian” by Wye Oak.

I don’t need another friend
When most of them
I can barely keep up with
I’m perfectly able to hold my own hand,
but I still can’t kiss my own neck

Shane observing the lone walker roaming through the field

In a different man, this may have been the turning point back to humanity. However, like the Lone Walker, Shane will not remain an object of pity for long.

He has become a creature driven by survival and possession. The enormity and emotions of the day in “18 Miles Out” tapped him out, but his slide into something less than human began long before and shows no sign of stopping. Once he has a chance to regroup, Rick’s unequivocal claiming of Lori, Carl and the baby will be taken as a gauntlet thrown and Shane’s efforts to wrestle control of the group will be renewed with a sense of vigor.

The Lone Walker is not merely a lonely traveller.

The Lone Walker is the harbinger of the threat of Walkers to come and the danger of Shane’s continuing deterioration.

It is the calm before the storm and the sky is starting to look awfully cloudy.

The Influence of Lori and Andrea

The big brawl between Rick and Shane looms on the horizon, and at the center are two of the show’s most polarizing figures.

In this post-apocalyptic word, most of the skills and jobs held before are completely irrelevant. For someone like Lori, who has no outstanding capabilities to fight walkers¹ or survive in harsh conditions, the only option is to attach herself to someone who is capable of those things. Enter Shane who, if inferences made from their conversation in Triggerfinger are correct, has had a thing for Lori since long before the virus happened. He is strong, a fighter, and willing to do anything to keep Lori and Carl safe, even if to the detriment of others. Then there is Rick. Her husband, also strong and capable, and a natural leader. Both of these men, although different in approach, are very much the alphas of the group.

Under these circumstances, it would be difficult to find a sense of self-worth, as Lori’s entire existence depends on another person. This all has led me to believe there is a part of Lori that enjoys having two alpha males fighting over her. It may be disingenuous to say it is a conscious feeling, but there is at the very least a sub-conscious pleasure to be had from the turmoil. Lori’s helplessness and neediness has fed into both men’s love and desire to protect, who then spend most of their waking energy on her. The majority of their decisions, especially of late, have been based in some way on Lori and, to a lesser extent, Carl. It would be difficult not to get an ego boost from such hyper-aware attention from the two most desirable men around². Despite being the one protected, Lori wields a very real power over them, and seeing as she has little control over the rest of her life, it is little wonder that she would sub-consciously revel in it.

Despite clinging to certain pre-apocalypse societal norms, such as honoring marriage by sticking with Rick, Lori shows a new level of ruthlessness in Triggerfinger. Shane’s increasingly aggressive way of handling things and obsessiveness towards Lori finally has her worried, and the way she approaches this situation is really what cemented my belief on Lori’s enjoyment of wielding power. She pulls a Lady Macbeth and essentially tells Rick that he needs to kill Shane before Shane gets him first. Although this showdown has been a longtime coming, Lori provides the tipping point for Rick.

The other player in this tableau is Andrea. She was in the same boat as Lori, but showed from the beginning an intense desire to be able to fight and has been reckless in its pursuit. Andrea has alienated herself from most of the group through the attempted suicide and endangerment of others by using a weapon without training, so when shown the least bit of consideration from Shane, she grabs onto it with a death grip. He has provided the means for her to finally be a contributing member of the group, as well as validation that she has some worth. Because of this, Andrea has been willfully blind to any indications that Shane is unstable. It of course doesn’t help that Dale is the one attempting to convince her of Shane’s duplicity, as she remains resentful of his interference at the CDC.

Andrea is not the only one getting something out of their relationship. In Andrea, Shane gets outside reinforcement in his belief that he is the only one that really takes care of the group; that the actions he takes are the correct ones. Although Shane does not need nearly as much outside influence as Rick does to come into conflict with each other, Andrea unwittingly provides it. When Shane says that their group is being put in danger and Andrea replies “Well, then we need to stop it”, she undoubtedly means making sure that Randall’s group does not find them. However, in Shane’s mind the real danger, the one who is standing in his way, is Rick. This constant affirmation from Andrea for his every action just cements in Shane’s mind that something needs to be done about Rick, both to protect the group and so he can claim what he believes to be rightfully his: Lori and the baby.

Based on the previews and sneak peaks for 18 Miles Out we will most likely be seeing the big confrontation between Rick and Shane and I for one cannot wait to see how it plays out.

1. Obviously Lori had her first Walker kills in Triggerfinger and did so fairly competently. However, I will postulate that this happened because there was literally no other option. She has shown over the course of the show a distinct unwillingness to learn survival skills. In any other situation we have seen where Lori come into contact with Walkers she has let someone else take care of her. The biggest instance of this was when the heard attacks camp in season one. All Lori does is scream “Shane” and hide behind his back. Perhaps with these recent kills we will see her evolve into someone that is not content with being saved, but as of now she is firmly in the role of the protected.

2. Although Daryl is the most capable of anyone in the group to survive, he is still viewed as a second class citizen by most of the group and not as a leader. At least, not yet!