Nope, I think that they have serious Government protection for some form of "payment".

Man/ Woman power is likely a highly prized commodity to what is left of the Federal Government. It is likely that this is one of several "safe havens" that serve as proving grounds for survivors capable of being of use to the infrastructure.

I am always crying that experimentation on Zombies in a very large scale of what Milton was doing at Woodbury.

The proving grounds would likely sort out the survivors used for infrastructure fulfilling jobs verses those without great value that could serve as "Human Guinea Pigs" for Scientists working on a cure or an offensive against the Zombies.

 

Yes, they're lucky. Very lucky. A unique set of circumstances that would be hard to duplicate elsewhere have created this little haven.

 

Tru dat. I've cried foul on the ASZ being a hidden gem. But it does seem the producers of the show are basically telling the viewers just that and to take it on faith. After seeing TWD world through our lil groups eyes I for one find it a lil hard to swallow ...oh well I guess we'll simply chalk it up to 'tv magic':zombies_rolleyes:

 

No, at this point I don't feel it's luck. I'm more on board with Screaminleeman up there...not sure what, but something else is up.

 

I think there's something wrong with the ASZ story, even though at first I didn't. But there are so many discrepancies and things that don't make sense.

One is Aaron telling Rick that they had built a steel and concrete wall so many feet thick that neither human nor dead can get through. Yet the wall, except at the entrance, looks like nothing more than tall wooden beams with corrugated sheet metal mounted in between. It's easily climbed from the inside or the outside. It is a strange wall for a Professor of Architecture to be directing the construction of: easily scaled from the inside or the outside, reinforced with wooden poles which will rot and whch are on the wrong side of the fence.

Then there's the matter of the ASZ citizens seemingly being so naive and incompetent. Yet, Aaron said they had cleared an entire highway (route 16) of walkers. Reg said they had lost 14 people during the building of the wall. They've clearly had to make supply runs during the 2 years they've supposedly been at ASZ and apparently they have massive stockpiles of food. They must have to go outside to pick apples in the apple orchard. They have more booze than you can shake a stick at. The point is, they've been making supply runs since the beginning, so how can they be so totally inept as they have been portrayed?

Then I wonder why would a grown man in his 30's or 40's (Nicholas) be taking orders from a snotty, arrogant young man just because he's a ROTC graduate? What is it that Aiden's brother wanted to talk to Father Gabriel about when he said he wanted to talk to him about some things about his brother? Why is Nicholas so scared of Glenn that he would try to murder him?

There's also a discrepancy in the "exiles" story: Deanna told Rick it was 3 men she exiled. Aaron told Darryl he'd exiled 2 men and a woman. So, are there six exiles or somebody just didn't do the proof-reading on the script?

Out in the woods, Aaron is asking Darryl stupid, naieve questions that don't make any sense for somebody who's been out scouting survivors, good & bad, for quite a while (like, "did this just happen?" when he sees bodies hacked up with fresh red blood) . When Darryl says yes, he isn't even alarmed. He isn't even alarmed when they find the woman who'd been tied to a tree and left for walkers. That is pretty strange.

Then, the next question is where the heck is everybody who lives in ASZ? The houses have framed photos of entire families who aren't there. There are hardly any ASZerians around anywhere. Compare ASZ to Woodbury which had 75 residents who were out & about, working and playing all the name. Team Prison with only 45 people had lots of people outside(although mostly at the fence). ASZ has a surgeon who, according to Aaron, is terrific -- but doesn't to have a medical clinic or nurses who help him. They have children who go to school and teens who go to school but where are they? They don't seem to have any problems at all, but they need a Constable and a deputy?

I'm not sure what's going on, it seems like (maybe) some of these discrepancies are "bread crumbs" hinting that there is a lot more to ASZ than they've told us so far?

 

Aaron actually said that the walls were 12 feet wide, not thick, and he didn't mention concrete. I think the idea there is that although Reg may be a good architect, he isn't necessarily adept at fortification from external human threats. I agree with you that some of the ASZ residents should be a bit less naïve about things, as they have cleared highways and gone on runs, but they are still being portrayed as naïve for the most part, so it makes more sense when

I think Nicholas is a typical beta male. He's not intelligent yet wants to be accepted so he clings to someone of a younger, cooler, generation and establishes himself as his sidekick. I have a couple members of my family that are this way, and I think in a lot of ways Nicholas is actually drawn pretty well. I think Spencer wanted to talk to Gabriel about his brother's death because he felt he needed a person of the clergy to talk to about it. It was just a way to show Gab's mindset at the time, with his response of "we'll see".

I think Deanna saying "3 men" was just a mistake.

With Aaron asking Daryl "did this just happen", I think it was referring more to Daryl's tracking abilities. Aaron may not be a good survivalist tracker. They used amplifiers to follow people. And he didn't express outward alarm, but if I remember right I thought his face looked pretty concerned.

I think the idea we are meant to believe is that we aren't seeing all the ASZ folks yet because Deanna told them to give Rick's group their space for awhile, plus Tovah said in an interview that she was the leader of about "30 people". If you add up all the central, named, ASZ residents, plus the visible red shirts, plus the people who have been mentioned or referred to, it comes to around that number, maybe even 2 or 3 more. But I think another more practical reason is they just didn't want to hire that many extras for ASZ yet. Maybe they will wait until this season when they had more time to find more committed longer term extras.

My personal opinion is that ASZ will pretty much just turn out how we think it will. I think they are just setting us up for a natural flow in terms of

 

You may be right, as for each odd thing, there is an explanation. I hope going forward it's not just a repeat (regardless of who's in charge) of being run out of the quarry by a herd; being run off the farm by a herd; being driven out of the prison by a lunatic leader; finding an apparently safe haven that's a huge industrialized cannibal butchery; etc. It would be interesting to see ASZ be successful for a while.

 

I think

 

I think