I'm new here but I'm gonna guess these kinds of threads happen all the time .

Putting the injured on the roof was the same idea I had, although they might have ended up surrounded by zombies and impossible to come back and save later. But anyway it doesn't matter, yeah it's a bit annoying but I guess we just have to accept these things, they've been there from the beginning of the series and will probably always be there. Part of the problem might be filming in real places rather than fully created sets, so for example those stairs in the alley are just there and in every other way that was the best spot for that scene overall. Still it would be nice if they put more effort into accounting for these apparently glaring oversights, throwing a bit of junk over the stairs that actually didn't look impossible to move or climb over didn't do it for me either. They could have put something larger, some kinda dangerous barricade, or maybe just used effects to alter the stairs to be rusted away, or whatever. Also the other fence that ran along the length of alley, NOT the one right against the dumpster, I think Nick shakes it at one point, if I remember correctly there was nothing on the other side, I recall thinking why not try to climb it? I'm watching the re-run right now, I'll try to keep an eye on that, maybe there was walkers on the other side. But again, we can go on and on with these forever, it's just the way it is.

On the other hand, maybe they do this on purpose. Maybe the point they are trying to make is that in these panicked situations people can easily miss things, make the wrong choice, etc. I've never done the research, maybe people from the show have addressed this before.

EDIT: That scene just came up. When Nick and Glenn first enter the alley, Nick runs to that long fence and like shakes it to see if it will open. There's nothing but trees on the other side. It's shaky but on the other side it's clear, so would've been worth trying to climb. Even from the top of the dumpster it looked close enough to attempt a jump onto it, but I guess Nick being frozen and in the way would've prevented that. Anyway, same as before, panicked situation you could easily argue they just didn't think to try climbing it. On another note I also considered getting inside the dumpster and trying to hold the lid down, but maybe it was chained, guess I'll have to look for that too later tonight .

 

I know, I know, those parts killed it so bad for me.

I even watched it twice, the whole thing.
At the end with Rick in the RV, it's even funnier...
First off I guess I can let it go, he probably just figured try it one more time, got nothing left to lose?
But I could tell, after the third start attempt, the RV isn't going to start.
Yet he tries again, and again, and again...!
Hello!!!
And then...

All the zombies were all coming out of the same side of the road...
So all Rick has to do is open up the driver's side door...
And sprint across the road, through a short patch of trees and into an open field on the other side.

But like yourself I'm left guessing they won't look at the obvious like we do.

 

Somehow they do not like roofs. But I was at the same page as you. Go to the roof, be quiet. They can either leave the injured there, get off the building left/right/back or, if they can jump real good, go to another roof.

That blocked off stairway in the alley was the first thing I saw, and was wondering why they didn't climb over it. And either went inside (probably a lot of dead guys) or again, try to climb on top of the roof.

 

Panic usually comes in 3 forms: freeze, fight or flee. Not to mention that when you get panicked your adrenal glands (I think they're called, you know the ones near your kidneys) are pumping your system full of adrenelin and other stuff. I understand this from Nicholas, someone who already was kind off scared. Though him shooting himself? I wonder which of the 3 this falls under.

But Glenn? He did not seem that panicked, more like, darn, how am I gonna get out of this?

 

I'm pretty sure Rick's whole purpose was to get the RV started so that he could try to lead that half of the herd away from Alexandria. He kept trying out of desperation. I doubt that he had self-preservation in mind at any point during that sequence.

 

This part, in particular!

Especially because our guys have been doing this stuff for SO long now, they just wouldn't make rookie mistakes at this point, and we know Glenn is like mister escape artist anyway, and he should know better! He would have been like "STAIRS!" not like, oh shit, let us just run around like stunned deer!

 

I'm afraid i became a bit firstly stair/ladder obsessed (oh look another one they ignored) and secondly a bit complacant (another alley lets guess how many walkers try and get them....)

Good episode though

 

I agree with the "real world" premiss that the most effective way of escape would be via a ladder or stairs to the roof/higher floor, but essentially it would make for a boring spectical with long periods of time with the group sat around waiting. As has been stated before on the forum, a lot of this show is about managing your suspension of disbelief and realising that the most obvious and plausible way of dealing with a situation may not necessarilybe the most entertaining.

 

Fair point. If they are never going to use the sensible escape routes, don't have them on screen.

 

There is another issue ...

Say they had taken the stairs, and say the stairs do not lead to the roof itself.
The stairs lead instead to a door, and when they get to the door they find it locked.
Climbing up to the roof is too far a step...

And now...
The walkers are all congregating at the bottom so the escape route is gone...
And yes, walkers do know how to get up the stairs as well.

Granted I would still think head-stabbing them one at a time from a high vantage point would be far easier...
Then again once there's a good congregation going up, all that weight could make the stairs collapse...

 

Stab a few of them and you have a blockade of bodies, but again if the show was 110% logical we wouldn't have a show.

Not even real people are logical most of the time.

 

That black metal stair case in the alley would have given them a fighting chance, by narrowing the point of attack plus obstacles in the way of oncoming walkers. It would def have bought them more time.

Im surprised that the sheer tubers of walkers pushing down that alley didn't cause a crush at the front, they squished their heads easy enough against the wall at the RV. Surely the gates fling open or they start damaging themselves?

 

Agree and agree some more, with all of it. The stair well kind of got to me too.
I will have to rewatch, but wasn't the stairs more of a fire escape? I'm gonna attempt to describe something that I know nothing about but where the end of the stairs are about 4 feet from the ground, and have like a trap door, or a landing of some sort... Or were they stairs all the way to the ground? I didn't notice the stairs till they were already on the dumpster staring deep into walker field.

Still no matter what the stairs looked like or are; I also thot, hot dang Glenn run up those! But if they weren't all the way to the ground, in a state of panic, it's kind of sort of plausible, maybe, that you would run right past em, not even noticing em, instead running full speed ahead at a barricaded end of the alley and chain link fence, till hindsight when you notice that staircase. Hindsight is 50/50 most of the time.

I think tho, beyond the staircase, I also even found myself yelling at Michonne after she took out the pet shop closet zombies, what! You guys are just gonna yank open the front doors and shoot away, then run, before- before I add, looking for maybe an alley entrance, or a back door, or any other entrance to the building besides the front? As for Glenn, I really don't know why, and maybe I need to rewatch, why? Why he would run down a barricaded, short, it wasn't like that alley was so long that neither one of em esp Glenn couldn't see the fence at the end, and surrounding it, plus the dumpster at the end.

I will tho state for the record; it makes for good tv drama and oh sh*^ moments. Also, I have never been chased by a zombie herd, or even a single zombie before so I don't know how I would react or what I would see and not see in a state of panic, cra**^~• my pants.

 

I'll preface this with the fact that my group and I just L O V E. This show. Very invested in it's primary characters and a HUGE fan. Having said that b/c I love this show so much some of it's very basic shortcomings are VERY frustrating.

In relation to the whole panic thing, Glenn is a veteran and would not panic, not even after he was caught on the dumpster. The FIRST issue I had with that whole sequence is the running down a dead end alley. I'm sorry there are multi-story buildings in range you can break a window and climb in. That alone will slow down the horde as they follow you. You can then barricade yourself and somehow get to a roof. Who cares if they are swamped and surrounded. It's been clear that a loud noise (air horn anyone?) will get the horde re-directed. Very simple to wait until help comes and one person with a horn and move them away from the building.

OK let's say that you buy the "run down this alley" bit. You don't run past ANY possible exit. Not Glenn who got his zombie experience doing runs in Atlanta. You get up that fire escape staircase and then raise it. Worse case you get up on that zombie meat platform and then JUMP to the nearby fences to the sides. OR just get into the the garbage dumpster. Between the two of you you can keep it closed and hope for the best. Anything then just sit up there like a pair of Zombie strippers on stage during a naval shore leave.

 

I don't know if this point has been brought up during the discussion but it puzzled me as well. Don't most businesses/small shops have some sort of back/delivery door? Is there no fire code in Georgia? Exiting out the back of the building, on to another street might have given the whole group time to make their escape. Maybe not, but it would have been nice to have the option.

 

If you're unlucky enough to find yourself at the end of a blind alley with a dumpster at the end, I actually like your suggestion that you climb into the dumpster. I think you'd have more protection. I don't believe I've ever seen a zombie reach under something purposely to lift it up. Don't they just shuffle along, using their arms to reach out grabbing what's in front of them? Wouldn't zombies standing all around the dumpster pushing against it equally stabilize it? They can't claw through metal and they don't climb, right? So mebbe you could survive in there until someone mounted a rescue....another loud noise distraction perhaps.

 

At the end of the day, it is all about creating drama.

If the characters always take the safest options suggested in forums, there would hardly be any edge-of-seat stuff left in the episode.

 

Where I live, dumpsters are kept locked, so the option of actually climbing into one wouldn't be there. Nor would there be any option of potentially squeezing under a dumpster (as has been suggested might happen as a way for Glenn to survive)...again, at least not here. The dumpsters here are so low to the ground that whenever my dog's Chuck-It ball bounces under one he turns and looks at me with his "Aw, c'mon, you did it again??" face. Nothing bigger than a tennis ball will fit under one of those suckers. But maybe in the south, they're higher or sumthin'....