It is that the bite kills you, not what infects you to turn you to a zombie. Think of it like the bite is poisonous and kills. It is a separate virus or something that causes people to be reanimated. In the comics, they discover this through characters killing themselves. So it was a major tease to those who read the comics earlier when that one girl tried to killer herself.

So zombies are also carriers of a lethal biotoxin that kills you in minutes? For realz?

I would go with one "disease"(just to give the writers some credit), that is Omni-present. When a person dies it reanimates them. The bite of an infected person would be "poisonous".

Yeeeaaahhhh... I guess part of the idea is that we don't see much "I only got nibbled and now I'll slowly turn into a zombie" stuff in any incarnation of TWD. We just see zombies. The fact that walkers are also murder machines is on some level separated from the transformation device. 

A bite won't kill you in minutes. There was Jim (I think that's his name) in the first season that wanted to be left on the side of the road. He was with them for about a day before they left him. He had a horrible fever. Also, back in the first episode, Morgan (the black guy who brought Rick in and up to speed) explained the same happened to his wife. Basically, if you're not ripped apart by zombies but just bit, you get a killer fever. Once you die, you'll turn.

As for it being a poor plot device, for some reason I feel like I had read in some of the letters section of the comics that Kirkman talked about what causes people to become zombies. I think it was he had said he didn't have anything planned for explaining the cause, or that he wasn't too interested in that aspect.

They just took the idea from Dead Mech. They are running out of ideas for their show.

I think that we all may be a little spoiled by an FDO that gives in depth scientific data on why these things happen as they do i.e. in the Infected series. There he gave us the description of the mutations and why they happened.  You have to remember that the machine that is Hollywood wants to appeal to the masses which leaves out most of the "question-asking" people and appeals more to the hordes of consumers much like the zombies they are selling. 

Well said.

Well said.

Well I guess I can see that angle. Kirkman is putting you in with the characters -- they don't know what the hell is happening, and therefore neither do you. 

I kinda like the "everyone's already infected" plot line. You die, you become a Walker - unless someone else takes care of you 1st by blowing your head off, etc. But I don't understand why Rick kept if a secret. What difference would it have made either way? You'd still want to try to stay alive regardless, right?

I also picked up on every shot being a head shot and LOL'd!

I think MuchADo might have an idea. She is a big fan of the comics too.

Also, I thought it was an interesting choice to use the flashing zombie imagery when Shane turned...

I was wondering if it they were going to do something somewhat unique and say that the zombification process is "learned", and that it's almost a "reprogramming" of the brain, as the virus acts more like a "jailbreaking" of the human "reptilian" brain, and the result (through exposure) would be the "walkers".

The cloaked person is Michonne.  She's a bad ass like Kayla!  Google her. By bad ass I mean she doesn't take shit from anyone

@Bella - well, Rick did have his son to think of, which doesn't excuse the fact that he kept the information from the rest of the group, but is understandable.

And, of course, they all are secret gun-totin' militia - how else can you explain the fact that they are crack shots? Unless, they all are secret government trained assassins? Then again, Carl managed to put one in Shane's head, shooting by his father! And  amoving target, to boot!

NC

She sounds awesome! I think I want to read the comics now because of her!

I have just as much of a problem with a pocket "folder" knife or even a full tang knife punching through the skull like it's an ostrich egg as I do with the Carlos Hathcocks and Annie Oakleys of the show.  Bone is very hard to punch through and I think they really should have done some research on that topic. 

As far as everyone being infected, I just don't see how it adds up.  A bio agent is very hard to spread around the country let alone around the world in a short amount of time.  How did it have time to infect the populous before the medical field started seeing a rash of cases.  How was the virus not detected in the blood work of people going in for full physical work-ups.

I love the show, mainly because it gives my wife the creeps, but there are some questions that I would like answered and not all "Lost" or "Battlestar" like.

Hmmm I just finished watching season two. WOW there was something big and/or dramatic in every show! Everyone is already infected ... THAT explains what crazy CDC guy whispered to Rick! That guy was a bit WACK! IDK if I'd believe him, be in denial or want to plant that lovely image in anyone's mind, I mean once it's out there you can't take it back no matter how wrong it ends up being. I think Rick needed proof. Yes there are the 2 guards but if he really believed it or thought it a possibility wouldn't he have shot Shane in the head after knifing him or at least not turned his back on him or looked over his shoulder when Carl pointed the gun in his direction? Without certainty IDK that I could tell the group - BTW you have one more fear to worry about ... when you die you are all going to become what you're out there slaughtering everyday so if you're gonna die make sure you take your brain with you. TWD could use more zombie and less talk but I like the show & will get an iTunes season pass for 3! Miss you all! Oh & those of you who shared about the iPad, you were right, I just got a new one, LOVE it! x