He was recording and broadcasting. Recording for scientific reasons and broadcasting for the same. As far as he knew he was broadcasting in the dark. That is to say he had no idea if anybody was listening, but was doing so in hopes that they could hear him even if they couldn't reply.

To answer your question though... Jenner was broadcasting, in my opinion, out of duty, country, honor, pride, last will and testament, leaving messages for the aliens who come after, heck just because he felt the need to talk to somebody.

I would probably do the same with the job he had and the tools at his disposal. He has to try to pass information even if he has no idea if it's going anywhere.

 

I thought Jenner was recording; he was keeping a recorded journal of his attempts to find a cure.

The day he lost the last samples of walker tissue, he finally gave up: Jenner's wife died for nothing, his colleagues either committed suicide or ran off; he hadn't heard from anyone outside the CDC in weeks, no one is ever going to see his journal.

 

After I posted I was thinking... Wait, he was only recording. Yea, he was only recording, but like I said it was out of

duty, country, honor, pride, last will and testament, leaving messages for the aliens who come after, heck just because he felt the need to talk to somebody.​

 

Ya, he was only recording, oddly enough he knew he was about to blow up along with his recordings. I'm guessing he just wanted someone to talk with.

 

Hard telling where the videos were stored, but I'm sure its safe to assume somewhere on site. So, yea, he was gonna blow them up too. I agree 100% that he just needed to talk to "somebody" and that was the best he could do.

 

There is no shame in my game, I would have done it too if I was in his shoes...they would have found tapes with me arguing with my self lol

 

For real! I wonder if that is why it was easy for him to let them in. Ya know, hadn't seen anybody for some time and felt like he didn't want to blow up alone. :Chainsaw:

 

I thought Jenner let Rick's group into the CDC so he could use one of them as a guniea pig. Too bad they left Jim under a tree, huh?

 

Ya, probably a little of both.

 

Maybe he was broadcasting to someone like Washington DC, but maybe they were not responding just in case he got overrun or that way when he stopped transmitting, they would know that he was gone/auto destruct. They also might have been recording or the recordings were going off site for future use.

 

The more I reflect on this episode, the more enigmatic it seems.

Aside from what Jenner said to Rick, I don't think we'll get much more insight into some of the details of the "virus" and/or condition of the world that the doctor began to speak of.

Things like how fast the virus spread, who has pinpointed a cure, where it came from....I doubt that will really be touched upon again. If anything I think a character like Jenner was used to illustrate how this epidemic basically just happened, baffled everyone and killed everyone with any sort of clue as to how it occurred. Now we are basically left with a bunch of unanswered questions while everyone just tries to survive.....

 

I have to agree with you on that.

He was probably broadcasting for some higher ups or even some big research facilities around the world. I think that he wasn't the only one doing recordings. There must be other people like him.

 

Interesting thought. If Jenner needed another walker to experiment on, why didn't he go outside and find one? Or was there something extra special about his wife's transformation? I know he was distraught over losing those samples.

 

Going outside alone would have been suicide and he might not be able to get back in. His wife might have been the last person alive with him and volunteered to do the last test possible, so when the samples were lost, then it ended for him. Maybe all the centers doing research were linked together so they could quickly compare notes, but he had to watch the scientists from the other countries fall apart, so he lost faith. I am sure that the recordings were for someone else, but who we will never know.

 

I think during the initial stages of whatever caused the body to reanimate, he was broadcasting to others like him, someone searching for answers as their whole world fell apart. Over time, each of those institutions were compromised either by walkers or simply humanity leaving the scientists.

When Rick and company join him, I think that he was simply continuing to do what he always did with HOPE that the others weren't compromised. It was a safe-guard against madness. When Rick and company arrived, he finally realized the reality. A team as he was obviously part of could not exist. As to why he was recording, well, the hope that others, after finding the recordings would attempt to research for a cure (no, I don't think there is one).

 

The world went to hell. Jenner was simply recording his attempts at finding a cure. He needed something to do/someone to talk to. His whole life abandoned him (his wife, his colleagues, etc.)... all of it. That's why he blew up the CDC -- he lost all hope.