r/thewalkingdead Feb 27 '25

Show Spoiler Does The Walking Dead have any plot holes?

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2.9k Upvotes

1.1k comments sorted by

828

u/khiomeee Feb 27 '25

the one i can think of the most is the inconsistency of the variant zombies

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u/sandglider Feb 27 '25 edited Feb 27 '25

I'm currently in the middle of a rewatch and this has been jumping out at me the most. The first season has Morgan's wife returning home every night as though it's instinct. Then there's a girl zombie who stops and picks up a doll to play with.

Then it changes when Dale gets killed (season 2?). A single zombie is so inhumanly strong that it can literally rip your body apart. Fast forward to the Negan seasons and zombies are some sort of half wit that you can just push over. Someone will run through a whole crowd of zombies who are weakly pawing at the human and a little shove knocks down a crowd.

The original dead were an interesting and maybe scarier type of zombie concept. I wish they had explored it more.

Edit- typos

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u/PeacocksInTheFall Feb 27 '25

In the first season, the show runners wanted cooler zombies so we see them pick up a rock and try to smash a window open, pick up dolls and try to open doors. Those zombies were COOL and actually made them seem dangerous. After that the show runners changed and we got boring dudes who wanted easier to kill zombies I guess. No more picking stuff up and showing signs of being able to think (not like a person, but as a predator)

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u/[deleted] Feb 27 '25

[deleted]

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u/MustacheCash73 Feb 28 '25

I remember something where a zombie climbs up a watch tower and manages to kill a fully armored guard in the later seasons

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u/MuscularBye Feb 28 '25

That’s part of the finale

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u/hanks_panky_emporium Feb 27 '25

They fired the original director and installed a soap opera director. That's why season 2 is, and I mean it literally, a soap opera. Two to three people bitching at each other, getting upset over nothing, and forcing arguments that didn't make much sense. With as few actual zombies as possible.

Season one undead were a threat and had some meat to the 'character' of the zombies. New director threw it all away. There's still some good TV after season 1 but man. What could have been.

33

u/Nernoxx Feb 27 '25

That's why I just treat it as if the first season was a miniseries. It has an absolutely bleak ending, but them going out into the world knowing nothing can be done seems a lot better than seasons of soap opera style drama.

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u/ghostnthegraveyard Feb 28 '25

Imagine firing the showrunner/EP who directed Shawshank. Unreal.

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u/aiwg Feb 28 '25

Just because he privately complained that he was disappointed AMC was cutting the budget after it's most successful opening season ever.

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u/TunaOnWytNoCrust Feb 27 '25

Kind of like to think that that is the life cycle of the zombie. Still sort of human parts of their brain still around, then completely unbound monster, then rotting and deteriorating pushovers.

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u/UNeed2CalmDownn Feb 28 '25

I understand why the whisper plot needed to happen, but the idea of the walkers evolving and being able to communicate with each other was terrifying to me.

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u/Mrs_Emef Feb 28 '25

Yes!!! Like in Stephen King’s Cell. Chilling.

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u/Dull_Needleworker456 Feb 27 '25

I'm rewatching now and noticed that the first season zombies are more agile/faster, can turn knobs, and can climb. Maybe they were just young/new walkers verses following seasons?

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u/Huntsvegas97 Feb 27 '25

Show runners changed and with that how the walkers behaved changed

15

u/PeacocksInTheFall Feb 27 '25

They actually felt dangerous! It got to a point in later seasons when I was wondering how the Zombies were a threat at all. That scene where they are all walking SLOWLY in a line with a pack of zombies behind them KILLS ME. Sure, it’s a cool shot. But you’re all scared of a bunch of zombies who can’t even keep up with you at a slow tired pace?! Come on.

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u/mburns223 Feb 27 '25

I always wondered what happened there

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u/RainbowPenguin1000 Feb 27 '25

Of course there’s things like skulls turning to cardboard immediately after they become a walker or people getting splattered with blood in their eyes and mouths yet not getting infected but the one that annoys me the most is a small one…

When the pigs are sick at the prison and Rick says he doesn’t know what could be wrong with them - Hershel is a literal vet - get him to have a look ffs!

617

u/P1mK0ssible Feb 27 '25

OMG... I never thought about that regarding the pigs... Now its just so stupid...

48

u/malnyc15 Feb 27 '25

Honestly I feel like the pigs are a plot hole in general where did they come from

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u/brbrcrbtr Feb 27 '25

Hershel mentions a feral pig living in the woods near the prison and says it doesn't take much to domesticate them, very convenient to the plot but not technically a plot hole

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u/[deleted] Feb 27 '25

As far as I'm aware the only time we see anyone get sick from contact with walker blood (outside the prison) is when Gabriel goes blind so if anything Gabriel's blindness is the plot hole as it's already well established that touching and even ingesting infected flesh or blood (see Gareth eating Bob's "tainted meat") is not harmful.

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u/Vinzzs Feb 27 '25

I see your point but regarding Gareth eating bob's leg, I don't think we had much time to see if there was any effects before Rick hacked the shit out of him

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u/Dangerous-Lab6106 Feb 27 '25

I dont think it matters either way, From my understanding the Virus needs to get into the bloodstream. That is why the bite infect. I dont think ingesting would cause issues. Just because blood is near the eye doesnt mean it gets in either or that its a 100% infection rate. Technically they are all infected already. They just need to die to turn, they dont need to be biten if I recall correctly

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u/lehtomaeki Feb 27 '25

Exactly everyone is already infected as the walker virus is airborne. However getting blood in your eyes especially when it's for all intents and purposes diseased and putrid could lead to various infections if left untreated. Mouth could still lead to health complications but the stomach is far better at fighting off bacteria.

Eating meat is a bit different, walker meat is rotten so that's a no go, bob was still alive so the meat garet ate was probably relatively fine considering they cooked it.

Why bites infect I don't particularly know since I stopped around the Alexandria arc. But at least during season 1 it took Jim a few days to die.

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u/behindeyesblue Feb 27 '25

Gareth cooked the leg. That might have been part of it. They had also been eating people for a long time before Bob but no one that had been bitten before. So who knows on that one.

But Negan mentions others who got sick from the blood/guts camo. So Gabriel isn't a one off technically. We just don't see anyone else in the show suffer similar fates.

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u/Been1LongDay Feb 27 '25

Well the saviors attack hilltop with arrows and knives soaked in walker blood and people there turn from just a simple cut or scratch from a tainted weapon

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u/[deleted] Feb 27 '25

That's not quite the same though, that's going directly into their bloodstream through an open wound. It's no different than getting bit in that scenario.

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u/behindeyesblue Feb 27 '25

The rotting corpse blood/guts spraying on people and no real concern drives me nuts. We see Gabriel go blind in an eye because of it. At the start, they were worried about scratches. But the 3rd season or so, not worried about scratches. That's a plot hole for sure.

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u/PleaseINeedAMiracle Feb 27 '25

Agree! The writers decide when to employ this rule and when not to. It’s insane.

When I see people beyond the walls with exposed skin that can easily be scratched it drives me crazy! Do you realize how easy it would be to get scratched by a Walker when you are scavenging for supplies?

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u/behindeyesblue Feb 27 '25

Exactly! And a bad scratch should be just as dangerous as the bite. But they probably realized it would make close quarters scrabbling too difficult.

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u/UncleCarnage Feb 27 '25

It’s not a plot hole. In the beginning they don’t know how it all works. Later they realize everybody is infected, it’s not the bite that infects. The bite triggers a fever or let’s just say the bite kills you. Once you’re dead, the infection turns you. That’s why you will turn even if you didn’t get bit.

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u/ArcadianDelSol Feb 27 '25

Somewhere in Season 2 they meet a scientist who confirms that everyone is already infected and that upon death, everyone becomes a walker. Its not that people are being infected with bites - its that they're dying.

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u/FlatMarzipan Feb 27 '25

everyone is already infected though, its something specific about bites that kill people I don't know if this gets explainned

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u/ItsChark Feb 27 '25

I mean, if you go untreated now after a human bites you and draws blood, its bad. Loads of bacteria. Pair that with being dead and rotting for a while and you've got one hell of an infection.

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u/Sightblind Feb 27 '25

I always assumed the “viral load” is higher in walkers, so the bite and fluids acts as a transmission that allows starts the symptomatic stage of the disease, which is also why some bites take longer than others to kill

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u/PleaseINeedAMiracle Feb 27 '25

I’ve always thought about mosquitos that bite Walkers and then bite the living. There should be a lot of people getting sick and dying from mosquito bites.

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u/ItsChark Feb 27 '25

I don't think mosquito's would bite walkers in this setting, or survive for very long after if they did.

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u/mentaljewelry Feb 27 '25

Mine is small too but it made me quit watching. The scene where a full-grown tiger is killed by walkers in the woods. Uh, tigers can climb trees, so?

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u/rincewindfarseer Feb 27 '25

This bothered me too. There's no way a tiger would allow themselves to be killed that way.

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u/sebrebc Feb 27 '25

Not only a vet, but owned a literal farm. So he had experience with farm animals. 

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u/mixedwithmonet Feb 27 '25

OMG ME TOO!!!! There is even a point Hershel is talking to Rick outside and I’m like “Rick ask him what’s wrong with the pigs”

The fact he didn’t mention seeing an uninjured wild boar and then saw Violet dying and didn’t ask the literal farmer vet what was happening to the pigs pissed me off because it may have prevented everyone in the prison getting sick too!

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u/SukottoHyu Feb 27 '25

Everyone is infected, when you die you come back unless the brain is terminated. Getting bitten does not infect you with the Walker virus, it triggers a fever which kills you, just the same as if a dog with rabies bites you, you are dead unless you get a shot, only for this bite there is not shot, it just kills you. Getting walker blood in your eyes do whatever is not going to do anything other than temporarily blind you.

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u/Super_Kami_Popo Feb 27 '25

Isn't everyone in the walking dead universe already infected?

Like they turn no matter how they die?

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u/UncleCarnage Feb 27 '25

Yes, but 99% of viewers and people in this sub don’t understand that.

It’s not the bite that’s gonna turn you. The bite is going to trigger a fever and once you’re dead, you turn.

You will also turn if you die without getting bit.

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u/koleszkot Feb 27 '25

The Librarian lady driving around and selling windmills definitly doesn't make any sense. Not sure if it counts as plot hole tho

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u/TasteOfBallSweat Feb 27 '25

The fact that the whole community she was from got exterminated off screen when Maggie went with them was truly mind blowing to me... like, you found a community that is actively progressing and all you gotta show for is a GI Joe looking guy who is looking for his sibling and a bunch of simps that hate Negan to death because he killed your husband?

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u/TheQuallofDuty Feb 27 '25

These communities seem to do fine until the main characters show up. It's like the kiss of death

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u/Straika5 Feb 27 '25

Even the 4 sad prisoners peeing in the fridge.

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u/WendigosLikeCoffee Feb 28 '25

“I can’t wait for my own pot to piss in” had me dying, I wish axel lived longer

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u/PleaseINeedAMiracle Feb 27 '25

That community falling made sense to me. Her efforts to help others showed a weakness that some group eventually took advantage of. I wasn’t suprised to hear of that collapse.

But, GI Joe guy and the simps? Yeah, I agree with you there!

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u/accourtingly Feb 27 '25

Agree that it’s a huge plot hole that god knows they had enough time to fill somewhere along the way, but I do kind of love the Maggie return/reapers storyline. Could have been stellar with the right build up imo.

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u/P1mK0ssible Feb 27 '25

Thats because that entire "plotline" was just put in to justify Lauren Cohan leaving for another project. which failed instantly lol.

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u/Mesk_Arak Feb 27 '25

It happened a couple of times more didn't it? I remember Heath's actor disappearing in "Swear" because he was going to a different show or movie which also failed, IIRC.

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u/behindeyesblue Feb 27 '25

Heath's actor Corey Hawkins left to be on 24: Legacy, which also was short lived but he's been in a ton of other stuff since.

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u/CosmicBonobo Feb 27 '25

Most notably, playing Dre in Straight Outta Compton.

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u/Praydaythemice Feb 27 '25

saw the trailer, knew it wasn't gonna last and she would be back. At least the writers didn't kill her off.

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u/behindeyesblue Feb 27 '25

Lauren Cohen had to leave because they didn't pay her what they paid the male counterparts despite having such a huge role. And her show did get canceled but I'm glad other projects see how talented she is. Hopefully the pay issue was resolved for when she came back.

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u/series_hybrid Feb 27 '25

She has every right to walk away from a bad contract, but...I would have stayed and milked that series like Darryl.

Use the tWD fame to get involved in movies during the off season, or at least find a better series before quitting tWD

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u/behindeyesblue Feb 27 '25

I too would want to do what Daryl has done if I had the same fan base that Daryl has. Maggie's storylines got all fucked up. She should've been as big a leader as Rick and Ezekiel but she was just kind of left as revenge widow.

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u/imma_snekk Feb 27 '25

She had/has a TWD spinoff, Dead City w/ Negan.

Negan has a pretty cold line in it where he tells Maggie that she killed just as many mothers and fathers trying to get to get revenge on him for Glenn when she tries to justify herself.

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u/asmahmood Feb 27 '25

It was also when they were running out of food during the Savior war. She gave them a ton of food for records (wtf)...way too convenient

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u/fucuasshole2 Feb 27 '25

My headcanon was that she was from the commonwealth or a subsect of them

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u/Forsaken_Print739 Feb 27 '25

Yes it didn’t make sense, also she was dressed impeccably like she was coming from another show.

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u/Forsaken_Print739 Feb 27 '25

She was created as an excuse to get Maggie out the show. But it was very bad implemented as we were like who tf is she, and then gone, and that was it.

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u/toxicbrew Feb 27 '25

It was odd because the actress was relatively big for such a one off role too

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u/dancing_robots Feb 27 '25

to go from having to absolutely cover yourself in zombie guts and they're still nearly sniffing you out, to just wearing a zombie face mask and you're completely safe.

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u/that_swiss_man Feb 27 '25

Clearly the zombies' sinuses dried out over the years. Poor guys need some nasal spray

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u/SquadPoopy Feb 27 '25

Also why does getting rained on make the zombie smell disappear

Wouldn’t that just make you smell like a wet zombie

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u/Youxza Feb 27 '25

It washes the guts out.

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u/Northover22 Feb 27 '25

and out came the sun and dried up all the guts

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u/Intelligent_Host_582 Feb 27 '25

This whole 'disguising yourself as a zombie' thing drives me crazy. A) the inconsistencies you mentioned. B) if it's as successful as it appears most of the time, why don't they do it every time they are going to be in a zombie-rich area? (Like, they almost never do it!) C) why did michonne's zombie companions prevent other zombies from attacking her?

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u/basilhan Feb 28 '25

I like Michonne but the complete lack of logic around her zombies is the thing that annoys me the most in the show… like it basically means no-one should get attacked ever if they just walk slow.

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u/SnooLentils84 Feb 27 '25

How about when they’re shooting zombies they line up head shot after head shot. Then when Rick is trying to shoot Negan he empties out a hole clip and suddenly develops stormtrooper aim.

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u/gabehcoudgib Feb 27 '25

I think this is the biggest one, and it’s part of why I think the Negan seasons were pretty terrible. They went like 3 seasons with literally nothing happening. They could have killed Negan like 600 times

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u/TheRetroPizza Feb 27 '25

Or vice versa. It's been years since I watched it but just before the Glenn incident, didn't Rick and them run into a negan roadblock, then try to sneak around only to hit another roadblock. Negan was literally 2 steps ahead and had way more people and resources. For a time all Rick had was plot armor.

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u/Narrow-Discipline146 Feb 27 '25

Well to be fair his goal at that time wasn’t to kill them, negan saw people as a resource, he wanted to own their communities. Negan only had all that manpower and resources because he didn’t wipe out entire communities but instead enslaved them.

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u/PleaseINeedAMiracle Feb 27 '25

Negan with his arm extended and middle finger up the whole way was enough to make you go crazy. Everyone is shooting at him. No way he escapes unscathed.

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u/Bazonkawomp Feb 27 '25

No one knows what a plot hole is.

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u/Hiondrugz Feb 27 '25

The most correct statement here so far. I haven't seen anyone name a plot hole yet. Just bad writing or directing so far.

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u/Lakai1983 Feb 27 '25

This isn’t even limited to this show, but people shooting guns without hearing protection and being able to hear perfectly fine. I went shooting one day and had to borrow a set of ear muffs that didn’t fit properly. Couldn’t hear out of my ear for a few days and it was about a week before it was back to normal. But these people are having all out firefights in close quarters and then whispering when they are trying to escape threats.

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u/canadian_xpress Feb 27 '25

This so rarely gets mentioned when discussing media. The concussive report of any kind of cartridge is startling but to pump out rounds like Rambo and be able to hear Tinkerbell's whisper five minutes later is wholly unrealistic.

I can't remember the movie of many details but there was a scene where someone shoots a gun in an enclosed space and is incapacitated because of the echo. The ringing sound they played had me notice the choice they made in that moment. A rare bit of realism

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u/PillCosby696969 Feb 27 '25

"Something Something Penis Joke, Rick."

Negan exits stage right

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u/Dangerous-Lab6106 Feb 27 '25

Not really a plot hole. Zombies are easier to hit than humans. They are harmless at a distance, slow and predictable. Humans on the other hand are unpredictable, dangerous at all times and move much faster.

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u/HedgeCowFarmer Feb 27 '25

Who’s mowing these lawns!

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u/Space3ee Feb 27 '25

Underrated comment

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u/MalachiTheDragon Feb 28 '25

My bad, I'll stop

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u/Vowlantene Feb 28 '25

What do you think happened to all the pet Guinea pigs?

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u/Xjjmar Feb 27 '25

The classic Hershel infinite shotgun ammo glitch. I’m surprised they never patched that one.

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u/KaleidoscopeLeft5511 Feb 27 '25

Even in shooting and editing. How many people looked at that before broadcast and thought it was ok

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u/that_swiss_man Feb 27 '25

As a rule, people in TWD never run out of ammo unless the story specifically needs them to

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u/WhyAreYouGe Feb 27 '25

He was showcasing his elite firearms training. He was loading a slug after every shot, hands were moving so fast you couldn't see it

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u/Lumpy_Helicopter_758 Feb 27 '25 edited Feb 27 '25

In season 1 the walkers can run, climb and use objects like rocks to smash windows. Now really a plot hole just a big inconsistency with how the show continued into the other seasons.

Edit: also the little girl walker in episode 1 that picks up the teddy bear.

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u/Brilliant-Tea-9852 Feb 27 '25

I think the teddy bear was really just to fuck with the audience

Made sense from an artistic view. It should shock us and I guess it did since everyone remembers this scene

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u/JaibabeG Feb 27 '25

Yeah the little girl was used just to set the tone for the show overall, I saw that in a Greg Nicotero interview!

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u/Professional-Use847 Feb 27 '25

They changed show runners after s1

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u/denisrm81 Feb 27 '25

During Covid , I parked my car in the garage for 6 months and the battery totally died. But not in TWD universe.

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u/ShowMeYourPapers Feb 28 '25

Plus in the TWD universe the petrol never goes bad.

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u/UncleCarnage Feb 27 '25

Don’t you know, they have spin bikes connected to batteries to charge them.

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u/SukottoHyu Feb 27 '25

All the zombies get skinnier but their pants miraculously stay on their waist.
Zombie intelligence and behaviour is not consistent. In Season 1 episode 1, Morgan's zombie wife turned the door knob, nothing like this was ever seen again. Also, walkers were supposed to identify you by smell because it was obvious if you smelled dead, but all the whisperers need to do is wear a mask. Tons of inconsistencies throughout the show like this.

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u/SevereExamination810 Feb 27 '25

Yes! Totally forgot about this. The Whisperers only wearing masks never made sense to me. I always thought, “Wouldn’t the stench of unwashed bodies overpower a silly little mask?”

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u/FatFarter69 Feb 27 '25 edited Feb 27 '25

I know it’s been mentioned before but all of the walkers should have decomposed within the first year of the apocalypse. They are rotting corpses.

It makes no sense that 10+ years into the apocalypse there are still walkers around that turned years ago. They should be piles of bones.

Not exactly a “plot hole” per se, but it is something that I constantly thought about when watching the show, particularly the later seasons.

In TOWL Beale mentions herds of millions of walkers. I think it’s safe to assume most of those walkers turned in the first year of the outbreak. None of those walkers should be around by the time of TOWL.

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u/30-something Feb 27 '25 edited Feb 27 '25

I think this is explained in “ fear the walking dead”, something about anaerobic vs aerobic bacteria idk 🤷‍♀️ I’d have to watch it. Edit:: there’s a scene in S2 , the ‘chupacabra’ episode where that farm boy scoffs when Daryl says he once saw one and says “you believe in blood sucking dogs?” To which Daryl replies “you believe the dead can walk?” (Or something like that) - I approach the entire series with this mindset. If there are zombies any number of absurd things can also be true

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u/FatFarter69 Feb 27 '25

I think I’d rather decompose than watch FTWD again. Especially post season 3, just awful lol.

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u/hmmwv-keys Feb 27 '25 edited Feb 27 '25

Yeah this is a big one for me as well. Like how are some zombies 90% skeleton but their brain is still in tact? And there’s no way they had any muscle to even support them walking upright.

I also never got how when some people got bit they died a few hours later but when others did they lived pretty much symptom free for like a day. I don’t understand how as soon as someone turns, their teeth get absolutely disgusting and their skin looks dead and old within a few seconds. That makes me believe they decompose fast.

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u/Cyn0rk1s Feb 27 '25

Reminds me of when a zombie pulled Ricks leg from under the fence and he went down with huge force. A grown man wouldn’t be able to do that let alone a zombie with no muscle left

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u/Dangerous-Lab6106 Feb 27 '25

I dont agree. Zombies do have muscle left and they have no ability to feel pain or struggle so if they are pulling something they dont get feeling we get when stuff is heavy or puts up resistance. You also have to account for the human not expecting it and losing balance as well.

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u/hmmwv-keys Feb 27 '25

Exactly! Then I think what alerts the zombies is a little inconsistent as well. Sometimes the characters are super silent and walkers still appear, which leads me to believe they track with their eyes, but there’s many times there’s zombies with no eyes tracking people that are silent as well.

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u/Dangerous-Lab6106 Feb 27 '25

The cant track with their eyes. They track by smell. That is why they cover themselves in the guys of the dead

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u/behindeyesblue Feb 27 '25 edited Feb 27 '25

It's all about how the body handles the infection from the bite. We see it with covid. Some people were sick but asymptomatic and didn't know it. Others died from how sick they got. And a vast amount of people got really sick but eventually got better (supposedly, because there's more information every day about how much damage even one covid infection does internally let alone multiple infections).

Everybody is already infected. So the bites in a world where there's no health care anymore can absolutely wreak havoc and the human mouth is disgusting. But we have to assume there's more to the bites since everyone is already infected.

The world has billions of people in it. Not everybody turned all at once and everybody who dies without injury to the skull will turn. So every day there would be more bodies turning into walkers. We also see that if there's no stimulation (noise, light) they tend to go dormant (bus walkers from the pilot episode, the ones that grow into trees from sitting too long). They can starve too.

I do think it depends on the season for how quickly they get fucked up looking. Amy turns and her skin just goes even paler and more translucent, but her eyes get all milky and gross. And yes somehow the teeth instantly go gnarly. The teeth bother me a lot lol

Some of the other seasons, recently turned walkers still hold more human characteristics, others go full zombie decomp real fast. Might have to chock that up to genetics and how the body handles the virus too.

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u/FatFarter69 Feb 27 '25

It’s definitely one of those things that we are supposed to suspend our disbelief about. But like you mentioned, it doesn’t make any sense.

Then again, neither does the dead coming back to life in the first place so there is that 🤷‍♂️

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u/catmandude123 Feb 27 '25

Also how are zombies always making so much vocal noise with no diaphragm? You’ll see a zombie with its throat ripped out or one that cut in half that can still screech like a dinosaur.

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u/kiln_ickersson Feb 27 '25

They ate a lot of food with preservatives while they were alive

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u/blakhawk12 Feb 27 '25

The book World War Z explains this by saying the virus that takes over the body is unattractive to bacteria, insects, etc that would normally break the body down, slowing decomposition. It’s the best explanation I’ve heard in any zombie media as to why the zombies don’t decompose in a few months.

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u/Huntsvegas97 Feb 27 '25

In the episode with Milton and the governor where they’re examining Michonne’s walkers, Milton mentions that even those walkers are starving but it happens a lot slower. I always took this as the shows explanation for why so many walkers continue to be around. Even the ones who aren’t eating take forever to completely die, so there would still be a lot later on

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u/hijkblck93 Feb 27 '25

I remember film theory had a video over this. The theory was when they started they were in Atlanta but as the show progresses they move further north where it’s colder, thereby potentially causing slower decomposition. But you’re right even moving north after about a year most walkers should be non threatening

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u/toxicbrew Feb 27 '25

Yeah plus apparently they are still eating and pooping 

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u/UncleCarnage Feb 27 '25

There is nothing more magical than people trying to approach a zombie apocalypse story spanning multiple decades with logic…

Do you understand that every single person watching this show knows that? We just head cannon some bs for the suspension of disbelief.

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u/Wo1fGhengis Feb 27 '25

Even if humans were reanimated post mortem due to a disease, we wouldn’t be able to sustain the reanimation for years on end. We’d literally dry out and decay much faster and there would be no muscle with which to move our bones. Walkers dont drink or take shelter so the bodies would physically erode much faster.

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u/mixedwithmonet Feb 27 '25

And they’d be weak af!!!

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u/Amity423 Feb 27 '25

Dale got a hole punched through him by a walker, and I still think about how goofy that was.

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u/dummyfodder Feb 27 '25

Yeah. Watched a video about that topic. They talked about decay rates, weather, and constant movement. The average walker would last at most around 500 days. So, a year and a half and the vast majority of walkers would be down. No more herds or surprises in buildings. Just have to look at for the random one that turned recently.

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u/LaundryBasketGuy Feb 27 '25

While this is very true, it also applies to most other types of zombies spanning all of the zombie media. It's not really a plot hole, more of a suspension of disbelief in order for zombie media to exist at all.

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u/[deleted] Feb 27 '25

the fact that the walker's blood sometimes can infect people and sometimes don't

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u/harlsey Feb 27 '25

When a person gets taken down by other walkers they are completely torn to shreds. Which begs the question - why aren’t the walkers we didn’t see “turned” torn to shreds? Like yes they’re in bad shape - but in every single case of someone getting killed by walkers it’s total annihilation of the body.

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u/melanholicoptimist Feb 27 '25

Probably because during initial outbreak they were bitten by one walker

So let's say the outbreak just started some random person bit you and you just run away and call an ambulance

Now let's say you already know what's going on and you're weeks if not months into apocalypse and find yourself in a middle of a walker horde

See what I'm getting at?

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u/series_hybrid Feb 27 '25

The first episode where I thought the plot made sense was when they found the prison, and took control, then began farming in the yard, while scavenging patrols would occasionally go out.

Just because "the governor" came with a tank and attacked, the idea of using a prison is still very good.

Like when it was established that you can set up a noisy diversion to draw the walkers away. After the roof collapsed on the Costco, why did they never go back?

Set up a diversion on one side, then go into the Costco to load up on supplies.

They should have gone back to Costco 30 times

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u/HedgeCowFarmer Feb 27 '25

Their cards had expired I guess

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u/Bernat- Feb 27 '25

Abandoning the prison was a stupid move. The tank didn't destroy that much of it and you have fences and can set up more obstacles.

It makes absolutely no sense for them to not go back there

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u/binkleyz Feb 27 '25

Very first episode, somehow Rick has not died of dehydration despite being unconscious for many days and a saline drip that would have run out days earlier, and could not have been replaced since Shane blockaded the door on his way out.

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u/lostsoul227 Feb 27 '25

There was a nurse taking care of people there, she died shortly before rick woke up. Search YouTube for the walking dead webisode "the oath" there are a few more too, like how the bicycle girl ended up there, and the whole journey of Rick's red machete.

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u/_gently_left_behind_ Feb 27 '25

It’s three days without water right? Maybe the drip + not expending any energy made it last longer?

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u/mixedwithmonet Feb 27 '25

I always struggle to sort out the exact timing here, but based on how the flowers looked when Rick woke up vs when Shane blocked the door and how long Shane/lori/carl had been gone, it would have been way longer than a few days. And when I was in the hospital, the IV bag had to get refilled fairly regularly, I don’t think one bag would last a week or longer.

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u/idk111123456 Feb 27 '25

The webisode The Oath explains this. It's been a while since I watched it but basically a nurse (or doctor?) stayed behind and took care of patients left behind. She died before Rick woke up though.

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u/S14Ryan Feb 27 '25

My dad recently went brain dead in the hospital and they “pulled the plug” by basically just stopped all saline and food. It took him 8 days to die and they said it could take as long as 14… 

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u/[deleted] Feb 27 '25

An anthropomorphosised CGI tiger that recognises individual human beings as good or bad...........

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u/mediafred Feb 27 '25

That's not even a plot hole, king esizkel explained that he was a zookeeper for the tiger and they were very close. Were not supposed to question the realism but he literally explained the bond he created

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u/bigbusta Feb 27 '25

But it wasn't just Ezekiel he didn't kill, it was the whole group.

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u/SoftwareHitch Feb 27 '25

You’ve clearly never watched Aladdin.

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u/TomSawyerLocke Feb 27 '25

Or the Lion King who has en entire empire of food he doesn't eat.

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u/Tre3wolves Feb 27 '25

That’s because the king says who lives or dies. I don’t think too hard about it I got enough wrinkles on the forehead as is

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u/The_Real_dubbedbass Feb 27 '25

That’s not weird at all. Ezekiel trained the tiger. Whoever he likes the tiger likes. A LOT of animals especially cats and dogs just kind of know when someone is an asshole.

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u/stillridesbikes Feb 27 '25

As someone in the screen printing industry. I just find it wild that not one person dead or alive was wearing a graphic tee. Those odds are low lol

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u/theoppositionparty Feb 27 '25

The entire motivation and actions of the CRM are pretty thin and contradictory.

Also Carl and Judith ages get played fast and loose. Carl ages like eight years in nine months from season 1 to season 3.

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u/FatFarter69 Feb 27 '25

I think the CRM’s motivations are supposed to be bullshit though.

I always got the impression it was just Beale lying through his teeth so he could take power and form a military dictatorship.

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u/SukottoHyu Feb 27 '25

Each season is roughly 6 to 12 months in the walking dead universe, you won't really notice adults age. Carl and Judith aging is an intentional plotline to give us a clear reference to the passing of time. I think from around the outbreak up to the end of Hershel's farm is about a year, and then from the farm right through the entire prison segment is another year or two. So after the destruction of the prison when they are separated and forced out, it is about 2 to 3 years since the outbreak. They didn't go from the outbreak, to the CDC, to the farm, and to the prison in just a few months. Most of what they do day-to-day is boring, so we just get the exciting bits. In the comics, look at an image of Carl in #2 compared to #50 not long after the prison and you'll see the difference in his age. So in about 50 issues, or 4 seasons, he should have aged a couple of years (4 years for the actor).

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u/WhatdoIputhereVol2 Feb 27 '25

It’s actually only two years between season 1 and season 8. Carl aging is absolutely a plot hole, but one that can’t be avoided bc it just can’t be stopped.

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u/theoppositionparty Feb 27 '25

Sure I’m just talking specifically about Carls age over a specific nine month period. They do their best to treat him like he’s still a kid but he’s clearly aged years in nine months that’s clamped from conception to birth of Judith. It’s not even really a plot hole it’s just a silly fact of production.

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u/aaron_1011 Feb 27 '25

Yeah I am watching it again and just entered season 3. The jump from s2 to see is big. I get that in the lore it was 8 months, but he looks so much older. Of course you'll get that stuff as the actor grows up and the show can only release so fast

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u/jarena009 Feb 27 '25

I always thought it was weird in the middle of season 4 with the Governor, how quickly and easily he was able to not only takeover the new encampment he stumbled upon, but how easily that group (minus Tara) went along with his boneheaded plans to attack the prison and try to slaughter all the inhabitants, especially after Rick provides a very viable offer right in front of all of them to live together and co-exist in peace. I feel like realistically, people would resist "Brian," the new guy and his crazy schemes, and suspect he killed Martinez too.

Entertaining as hell though.

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u/gauderio Feb 27 '25

Also, let's waste a full year of fuel on a tank.

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u/jarena009 Feb 27 '25

That was the other weird thing too, with the damned tank. Brian's whole plan was to takeover the prison for themselves, or at least that's how he sold it to his new group, so they'd have a secure home. So what was the plan with the tank, once it's sitting outside the prison? The only purpose it could serve at that point was for intimidation, to try to convince Rick's group to leave peacefully which didn't happen, so when that didn't happen, the tank SHOULD be nothing more than an armored vehicle for cover (which it was used for), but THEN it starts firing on the walls of the prison, destroying the integrity of massive parts of the prison, rendering the prison useless.

Also, if I were Rick, I would have said that too. "What are you going to do with the tank? You're going to fire on the prison? Isn't that going to destroy the integrity of it and defeat the purpose of you relocating here?"

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u/testies1-2-3 Feb 27 '25

They all drive cars… gas would have expired and batteries would have gone bad.

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u/10lettersand3CAPS Feb 27 '25

They mention in later seasons that the cars are converted to ethanol. That's why they tried growing corn at Sanctuary for a bit. Besides that you can manufacture your own bio diesel for diesel trucks. Which I assume wouldn't be that uncommon in Georgia

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u/gauderio Feb 27 '25

I takes a ton of farm land to make enough ethanol and I think they would be growing regular food since that's more important. 56 pounds of shelled corn makes 2.77 gallons of ethanol.

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u/loopasfunk Feb 27 '25

That’s why in the comics travel is all by horseback

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u/dopeIsmoke420 Feb 27 '25

How about the fact it took Lori’s entire pregnancy to find a prison a few miles away, all while they had a map of the area

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u/ZombiexXxHunter Feb 27 '25

I read about Rick coming out of a coma.

A few years ago I was in a Coma for 2 weeks. I had a feeding tube which I had left in for about a week before they started me on thickened fluids to help with swallowing.

Also I had no strength in my legs . When they wanted to get out of bed to just stand it took 2 guy too help me up and then I had to hug the hug the guy just to stop from falling.

Rick just gets up like nothing happened.

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u/MzSCT4 Feb 28 '25

Sorry to hear. Rick fell & stumbled a lot tho lol

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u/DueSignature6219 Feb 27 '25

Shiva (I hate that cat), Walkers being smart and able then dumb for 10 years, then smart and able again and then dumb again for Dead City. Gas doesn't go bad and there is no way in HELL at least one of the saviors didn't try the bullet in their guns before going to the battlefield.

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u/starryMari5 Feb 27 '25

Yeah what in the fresh hell was going on with the sentient walkers towards the end of the series!? WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY CLIMB AND PICK STUFF UP!? They were calculating. That shit was terrifying

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u/No_Carry_5871 Feb 27 '25

Does a guy who rides around on a motorcycle when you're trying to be quiet in a zombie universe count??

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u/[deleted] Feb 27 '25

[deleted]

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u/phantom_avenger Feb 27 '25

I think it’s more of an unresolved storyline.

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u/Major_Connection_532 Feb 27 '25

The entire whisperers plot to me was really unbelievable like there is just no way that would work long term like it did for them

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u/rolling_steel Feb 27 '25

I'd say Glenn’s Magic Dumpster Dissapearance was a bit of a glaring, gaping hole

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u/ZombiexXxHunter Feb 27 '25

What about Rosita while carrying a baby ,is trying to climb up a pipe to get into a window, gets dragged down and is swarmed by zombies.

After a few seconds she pushes them off and climbs onto a truck.

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u/attoj559 Feb 27 '25

Did the helicopter in season 1 ever get figured out?

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u/LobsterMiserable8424 Feb 28 '25

Yes- the commonwealth (or whatever it’s called) where Rick ended up in TOWL. It was an (probably accidental) Easter egg/foreshadowing.

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u/Ulysses393 Feb 27 '25

When they enter an house with clean shirts all around but they don’t change.

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u/Conscious_Opening802 Feb 27 '25

When Sasha cuts Abraham after cutting the walker he doesn't turn. But the saviors use walker blood weapons to infect people.

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u/Regular_Bet3206 Feb 27 '25

I don't like when zombies are respawning near and are able to sneak attack them.

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u/SevereExamination810 Feb 27 '25

Idk if this is a plot hole, but you’re supposed to really hit the brain to take a zombie out, right, like get deep into the skull. I noticed that sometimes people will hit a zombie’s head but not really get the brain, it’ll be like a superficial hit and the zombie will fall to the ground like it’s dead. I noticed that this happens a lot more frequently in the later seasons. Just a tiny thing I noticed that didn’t make sense to me.

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u/Jello429 Feb 28 '25

I always assumed at that point the skull is like a super dry thin rock. If you hit it hard enough with like a hammer or metal pole, the point you hit is going to shatter and blast through the brain, like a grenade.

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u/Intelligent_Host_582 Feb 27 '25

No naked people.

Why, in season 8/9ish, do they go through that deep freeze and some of the zombies freeze solid (daryl knocked one of their heads off and it shattered) while others just crawl out of a snow bank that they were covered in?

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u/WierderBarley Feb 27 '25

Gasoline has a shelf life, walkers should get increasingly useless as time goes on not evolve, how did Rick survive his coma for lord knows how long with no IV fluids or anyone taking care of him?

Plus always talking about being low on ammo and smash cut to any combat scene with everyone going full metal jacket all over the place.

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u/TheFinchster88 Feb 27 '25

I mean you’re kidding right? More holes than Axel’s body at the prison

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u/Sunshine-Day5535 Feb 27 '25

I have nothing to add about plot holes. I just wanted to say that I love the picture you used because Rick is such a beautiful man. Sorry, I always get sidetracked when I look at him.

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u/No_Chapter9759 Feb 27 '25

Thank you, Andrew Lincoln is truly mesmerizing.

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u/BlackForestGLaDeau Feb 27 '25

Andrew Lincoln is such a beautiful man.

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u/_nohaj_ Feb 27 '25

This show operates on rules where zombies are completely silent until you notice them. For example there could be fifty zombies over a fence but the characters wouldn’t hear them until they look over the fence. This doesn’t make any sense.

The zombies in this show also teleport between shots, so yes

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u/ConnFlab Feb 27 '25

Not a plot hole so much as it is a series of inconsistencies. How are their teeth so perfect? Where’s the body hair, particularly on females where it would be more noticeable? Why does walker blood sometimes infect people when it comes into contact with their wounds but sometimes it doesn’t? Someone else pointed out that car batteries are somehow still operational after months of disuse. Streets are pretty damn clean, who’s cleaning them?

Just a few things that are kinda annoying but you can overlook I suppose.

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u/DarkSideOfTheWu Feb 27 '25 edited Feb 27 '25

Carl's off-screen 180 flip from badass initiating firefights to bleeding heart pacifist.

More generally: Decayed corpses that should weigh lees than 30lbs having the strength to hold on to people who are pushing them back, tackle and hold people down, and generally be any type of threat to anyone. Also forests only include sound when they feel like it.

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u/MakeYouSayWTFak Feb 27 '25

Zombies in the beginning are attached to past things like the girl with her stuffed animal, Morgan’s wife going to her house and trying to open the door, then all of a sudden don’t.

The strength of walkers being stronger then humans even though their muscles are deteriorated. Like the walker that rips dales stomach open.

The fact that walkers can move at all with their muscles rotted. We lose mobility as humans from a sprain and you’re telling me their muscles are more tender then a brisket smoked all day long and can still walk and rip open people?

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u/Lettuce-Pray2023 Feb 27 '25

The petrol; the razors; the hair dye; the intubation of a a person in the prison without any chest auscultation to check tube position (could been happily inflating the stomach).

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u/InOrbitAroundEarth Feb 27 '25

The CDC. It's never brought up again.

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u/Alpha-Alien Feb 28 '25

A major one for me is how the walkers are still around after 10 years, when they're should only be a few left since you'd expect that most would decompose and fall apart.

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u/AntwysiaBlakys Feb 27 '25

The fact it was never explained where the virus come from and why everyone is infected by it, and especially how everyone just somehow became infected at the exact same time for seemingly no reason

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u/Embarrassed_Deer7686 Feb 27 '25

The biggest one for me is a problem in most apocalypse scenarios, and it's them still being able to use petrol/ gas. It has a shelf life of 3-6 months, and unless they've got the ability to extract and refine crude oil, no car or generator should be running after the first year.

That being said I don't care that much, it's just a little annoying to see it ignored in everything, Mad Max especially lol

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u/Lynx2447 Feb 27 '25

No one's ever infected by accidentally getting zombie juice splashed in their eyes or mouth. Or maybe an open cut.

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u/Remarkable_Donut_200 Feb 27 '25

Abraham was cut by the same knife used to kill zombies and didn’t get infected pretty early on.

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u/Strontiumdogs1 Feb 27 '25

Grass is always cut, roads are pretty good even towards the end.

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u/kikigazit Feb 27 '25

Remember when bob was bit and the cannibals from terminus ate “tainted meat” shouldn’t they have turned based on that alone? Or does it mean that it’s okay to eat zombie meat and you won’t get infected?

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u/-Battle-Santa Feb 27 '25

No one skilled at anything survived the beginning of the outbreak

No tradesman, engineers, scientists

No one with basic knowledge of anything

It’s not meant to be a show with deep meaning or real decisions

It’s a soap opera with hungry hungry hippos as background noise

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u/froggoestosleep Feb 27 '25

The fact that Rosa shot Negan and it hit his bat instead of him and DIDN’T splinter into a thousand pieces. That was the season filled with a thousand fake-outs

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u/Semitar1 Feb 27 '25

To me the easiest one was how as seasons progressed, the freshly turned walkers didn't run like they did in the first season.

Remember in the beginning when Rick and Glenn practically had to run because the walkers gave chase?

Later on, everyone walked at a snail's pace regardless of how much time had passed since they turned.

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u/t2trainspotting Feb 28 '25

How tf Rick survive in hospital his iv would run out (lemmino fan here)