Chapter 35-3 The End is Near

[scbubba]

+1

But Saul has Saul the ability to "glue" people together as Michael does? Burt failed on this miserably.

I think he does have the "people skills" and natural charisma. It's gonna be more about handling the stress of everyone looking to him for decisions. That's one of the traps of being promoted to leadership - you're making decisions beyond just you and just right now. For people unprepared and/or untrained it can be pretty harsh (in my experiences in the business world anyway).

[fredrum]

OK. Someone opens the gate and makes off with the SWAT van. Let's pick some cherries.

1. The last sounds we hear from Chapter 35-2 could be that of a sliding gate.
2. Victor says that the Mallers are escaping out of the personnel gate.
3. Bixby was the last to have control of the SWAT van.
4. Bixby was wearing a bullet-proof vest and was found dead with a Knife in the neck near one of the check points.
5. The supply gate can be opened from the ground by a single person in the pit between to two gates

I'm baking this cherry pie from Scratch.

This makes the most sense to me. We obviously haven't heard the end of Scratch, and since she is now without the rest of the Mallers, she needs to do something to remain a threat, and what better way to say a final (for now) fuck you to our heroes than to steal their primary means of escape while leaving them vulnerable by letting in the zombie hordes.
She could quite easily have either been hiding in the swat van waiting for the opportune time to make her escape, or hiding anywhere nearby in the Colony relying on the surrounding chaos to mask her presence.....

[YetAnotherBloodyCheek]

I think he does have the "people skills" and natural charisma. It's gonna be more about handling the stress of everyone looking to him for decisions. That's one of the traps of being promoted to leadership - you're making decisions beyond just you and just right now. For people unprepared and/or untrained it can be pretty harsh (in my experiences in the business world anyway).

I like Saul, I really do. Nevertheless, I somehow doubt that he could replace Michael as a leader. He definitely got the right set of skills, but he is too driven by personal interests. He started his Lizzy rescue mission without thinking a lot about the consequences for the other ones at the tower. Yeah, this makes him quite likable - but he remains a hotshot. I do not know if he would be able to delegate tasks he has a personal interest in to others. Besides, as you said, I do not know if he can cope with the results of hard decisions. Michael accepted his role as a "human lightning rod" (if you like) for the group. And the group at the tower on the other hand was funded on the simple fact, that each one's responsibility for anything going wrong could be deflected to a certain degree towards Michael. Even Saul and Burt benefited from that.

[scbubba]

I like Saul, I really do. Nevertheless, I somehow doubt that he could replace Michael as a leader. He definitely got the right set of skills, but he is too driven by personal interests. He started his Lizzy rescue mission without thinking a lot about the consequences for the other ones at the tower. Yeah, this makes him quite likable - but he remains a hotshot. I do not know if he would be able to delegate tasks he has a personal interest in to others. Besides, as you said, I do not know if he can cope with the results of hard decisions. Michael accepted his role as a "human lightning rod" (if you like) for the group. And the group at the tower on the other hand was funded on the simple fact, that each one's responsibility for anything going wrong could be deflected to a certain degree towards Michael. Even Saul and Burt benefited from that.

Very good points about Saul's personal interests.

I think the environment that Kc has been building is one chocked full of human failings. So the leader is going to be a person with some good qualities and some bad (sometimes fatal) qualities. We've seen it with Michael, Burt, Kimmet, Gatekeeper, and even Saul to a degree.

I've tried to be a student and observer of leadership for the past 20 years and am always intrigued more by how leaders cope with their own weaknesses than with their circumstances. It's one of the reasons I like WA so much, I think.

All that being said, I could see Saul stepping in and doing some things very well and some things not so good. Could even bring up some nail biting plot points where he has to make a "good for me vs good for all" decision involving Lizzy & Baby....

[LiamKerrington]

Do you mean negligible or refutable?

Negligible.

[YetAnotherBloodyCheek]

Negligible.

Ok.

[YetAnotherBloodyCheek]

[...]
All that being said, I could see Saul stepping in and doing some things very well and some things not so good. Could even bring up some nail biting plot points where he has to make a "good for me vs good for all" decision involving Lizzy & Baby....

I fear that this will be the case in a not so distant future. Wherever Lizzy is at moment, she is definitely not safe. Whether she is driving the SWAT van, or with CJ or whatever. The colony is on its own if nothing unexpected happens. If Lizzy survives, will she be more than a mother storywise?

Another nasty alternative: Lizzy is bitten in the heat of the battle - will that be it for her and the child - or did the child inherit Saul's immunity and did transfer it to Lizzy? The latter is just speculative...

[SmokeyZombified]

Did I miss something? Whats all this Lizzy is driving the SWAT van stuff? How does this even register as a logical theory? Why would Lizzy just up and randomly jump into the SWAT van and drive away leaving all of her loved ones (Who she was just reunited with) behind? This theory is poop and it hurts my brain whenever I read it. So please for the sake of my poor brain, stop with the silly nonsense!! Either that or this is just an inside joke that I am on the outside of...

[scbubba]

Did I miss something? Whats all this Lizzy is driving the SWAT van stuff? How does this even register as a logical theory? Why would Lizzy just up and randomly jump into the SWAT van and drive away leaving all of her loved ones (Who she was just reunited with) behind? This theory is poop and it hurts my brain whenever I read it. So please for the sake of my poor brain, stop with the silly nonsense!! Either that or this is just an inside joke that I am on the outside of...

All I can say to that is: Never think you understand what goes though the brain of a pregnant woman.

I'm just sayin'

[SmokeyZombified]

I have a 3 year old son lol I kno how pregnant women can react with craziness. But not that crazy, Lizzy has always been one to keep her head on straight. This theory is stinky poop.