Chapter 29-2 Beyond Our Walls Part 2

[awkwardalex]

Oh wait best line updated:...Riley hell of a shot with a bow [when she isn't drunk]

Oh admit it you saw the video and thought it to.

[Pandora]

It is all good..I think they are going to be forced into going towards Saul or the Mallers..he wouldnt want Pegs there anyways. Did Riley and Kelly even say buh bye?

[Litmaster]

What a nice episode... really broadened the story out in lots of new directions, so here goes:

Here There Be Dragons...
I had this sense of awe come over when hearing about distant places and the fragmented web of humanity that still survives... 150,000 in Boulder? Special Ops Teams?? Irwin as a forward operating base??? Our little story, which started from a little college in Southern LA, has now broadened out to parts beyond... for the longest time, our little map had one little spot of color, surrounded by all white, uncharted, unknown territory, marked 'Here There Be Dragons'... and now that white space is starting to get filled in...


The Outbreak Started Along the Ring of Fire...
So it was Chogidog, I believe, who was the first to first to post here that many of the 'hotspots' Kimmet mentioned were along the Ring of Fire. Even though my first guess at the cause of the outbreak was bio-terrorism, the Ring of Fire thing and the cracks led me to think that maybe the zombie outbreak was caused by some kind of toxic strain of volcanic smog.... A quick listing of the hotspot cities that Kimmet mentioned supports the Ring of Fire / Vog theory:

• LA, San Diego, (2 in SF area), Oregon (Portland?), Seattle, Japan, China, Phillipines. Also add Hawaii to the list.

...Uh, Unless the Outbreak Didn't Start Along the Ring of Fire...
So all looks good for the Ring of Fire thing. However, way back in Ch. 2-3 ("The Two Things"), at 2:23, when they are listening to the TIVO of the news broadcasts about the outbreak, the following cities are mentioned as having 'rioting':

• LA, San Diego, Detroit, Houston, Chicago, New York

So check for the first 2 on the list, but the other 4 cities are not on the Ring of Fire. Also, this news broadcast was made as shit was hitting the fan in LA, so that seems to contradict Kimmet's information that the outbreak started purely on the west coast and then spread east. So which is the truth?
- Could it be that the rioting in Detroit, Houston, Chicago, and NY was caused simply due to panic but not yet zombies?
- And how could the outbreak spread so fast across the country (1 1/2 days, according to Kimmet), if traffic jams and gridlock would keep everybody pretty much locked into their own cities?


Departures
Aaaah, nothing like a tearful departure scene to jerk at the heart-strings... or cause one to retch in disgust, depending on how it is handled. So props to Kc for handling the scene with emotion but without dissolving into melodrama. That scene could have come off as really cheezy if mis-handled...

• So great, a now-single Michael is going to be even more of an emotionally constipated asshole than ever. Thanks, Pegs. Stay away from those flower pots, girl.
• And pretty cold on the part of Pegs, huh? That was a weird relationship from the start...

Who Will the Narration Follow?
I, for one, hope that Pegs & Co. fly off into the sunset, and we don't hear from them again, perhaps with the exception of an occasional letter or shocking news report that Boulder has been overrun. I don't think they will be back, or should. They have fulfilled their role, so keeping them around just to keep the band together is kind of dumb. Remember, the story started with Michael, Saul, and Angel, so I think the narration should stick with those three.

[And yeah, Kc, we all know that Angel is still alive, so quit bullshitting us and get Shane back in the studio, will ya??? You know when even Nik starts missing Angel, you have kept the character out of the limelight a bit too long!]

Tanya Bitten
And last but not least, the Worst-Kept Secret in the Story Award goes to.... Tanya has been bitten!!!! It seems like we called that about 14 episodes ago. So related to that:

• Tanya probably got bit back in the Colony but kept it hidden. In the process, she discovered that she was able to prevent herself from turning by a certain drug cocktail...
• Tanya probably tried the same thing on other patients, but it failed to work, thus making her hesitant to tell others about her new 'vaccine'
• It wouldn't surprise me to find that Tanya had somehow saved Hope with the same drug cocktail...
• ...and, of course, she gave some to Saul when she was treating him back at the Tower.
• ...and now the cat wil be out of the bag, with Mike going to bat for her and eventually convincing Kimmet to recruit Tanya as an Army medical researcher...
• ...Tanya was eventually come upon a workable vaccine, which will end the story with it beginning to be distributed.

Whew! All right, I know it's large, but I tried to make it easy to skim the main points...

[Pandora]

I am SURE our Gov. has bunkers everywhere...they would take their families and their teenage daughter boyfriends to in the even of as you said a hell on earth emergency.

[Pandora]

DAYUMM...some of you guys write flippin BOOKS on here! I will read it as I can...I cant stare at monitors too long or I get the evil migraine.


Hahahahah Litmaster! I like it! Maybe if we all quote Lit KC will actually see it!


Quote;[And yeah, Kc, we all know that Angel is still alive, so quit bullshitting us and get Shane back in the studio, will ya??? You know when even Nik starts missing Angel, you have kept the character out of the limelight a bit too long!]

[Cabbage Patch]

Pegs is gone. We'll miss her, but she made her choice. Michael needs to start hanging out at Weed Army Community Hospital and get to know nurse Britt better. It sounds like she's a civilian after-all, so he doesn't have to deal with that whole rank-disparity thing.

[Osiris]

I have got so much to say about this episode that I'm going to have to blog it. It'll be too much for one thread. I just... I... this is... aw fuck it.

[TheNoelWilliams]

Hey all, first time poster here. Finally caught up, so sad, need a hug. Dammm u pegs and Michael

[Osiris]

I was sitting here, thinking about the plane flying off into the sunset, and it occurred to me that I was hoping the plane goes down. It gives Michael a reason to head off on a mission to recover survivors. It also provides the story with that Henry Blake moment that is always a good way to cut a character out of a show without any loose threads dangling. As far as Pegs being rather cold in her decision? Most women I've known have that mechanism that facilitates ending a relationship without tears and screaming (thank God). I think she was simply divorcing herself emotionally in order to maintain composure, while keeping Michael from entertaining the idea that she might simply come to her senses.

I'm going to miss Kelly. She really grew on me. I won't miss Datu. I'm just glad that I won't have to listen to him weep anymore. Jesus, he cried more than Pegs, Riley and Samantha put together.

[Osiris]

Hey all, first time poster here. Finally caught up, so sad, need a hug. Dammm u pegs and Michael

Hey, welcome aboard! Be sure and pop over to the Introduction Thread and say hi!