Chapter 31 Family Ties part 1

[PuddleWhite]

I don't think there's anything wrong with the baby, if thats what you're getting at. What is that was supposed to signify that Lizzie couldn't read the sonogram, and ''What was wrong'', was Scratch getting chocked up, for whatever reason...

[reaper239]

Not to imply that crime is good in any way, but allow me to indulge my Scratch fanishness in the following rant:
It is, as we can imagine, hard for women in the crime world. For scratch in particular, it meant dealing with rape, pregnancy and abortion at the far-from-ripe age of 16, and thats just what we know for certain about her. The whole situation is made harder by the fact that ist not something she chose, she was obviously born into The Family. In the present situation, we know she can handle a crew of convicts, not an easy feat for any man, and she is no man.
On the softer side, i may remind you that the reason Lizzie remains un-raped, un-worked to death and un-tortured for information is because of Scratch?
So, i personally don't think i would have been able to grow up where she did, and even if i did, i probably wouldn't have been able to give to shits about anyone else at that point.
And i believe that everyone that achieves something extraordinary should be respected, if not loved or liked. If nothing else, if you fail to see the capacity of your enemies, that would lessen your chances against them, right?

i feel you, and yes i agree, very tough upbringing, very hard to find true north after being so spun around like that, but that doesn't remove her guilt for the things she's done. i know people who grew up in criminal families, but got out. it's possible, and if anything it shows scratch's true weakness. scratch is tough as nails in a fight and can put any man down with impunity, but she didn't have the strength to remove herself from that situation. that shows a true weakness of character. now, i'm not condeming her for that, few have the intestinal fortitude to leave like that, but that doesn't absolve her of her actions before the outbreak, and especially with the dissolution of social constructs after the outbreak. she clearly had a problem with what happened to her, so once she could get away from the family, why didn't she? it would've been fairly easy for her and latch to slip away in the night, but they didn't, and that makes her culpable for everything that she set in motion, to include the death of her brother.

[reaper239]

Hrm. Now think about it, doesn't the slavish devotion to code and her dead brother kinda put away the idea that Scratch being a psychopath/sociopath?

not really, there was no devotion to her cutting up that guy like a turkey dinner just so he would take the blame for the trucks dissapearing. she's a psychopath, even if complex and driven by a cause.

[Kc]

Wow..... just.... wow. This was probably one of my most favorite episodes so far.

First of all, before I go with my Lit-Treatise and try to dissect the details and make hypothesis about there the story is going, I want to step back a bit an just appreciate what is being done here.

To Kc and the Cast: (the entire cast, including Grayson, the actors, and even the music people)

I've never been much of a horror fan and am not really into zombies, per se. When I first discovered We're Alive over a year ago, I thought the zombiepocalypse situation was somewhat interesting, but it would have fallen flat and dissolved into trivia and gimmicks long ago had I not been carried along into this story by the quality of the writing and of the production overall.

Thanks! I appreciate that. One day I promise, a tell-all book.

[awkwardalex]

God I loved hating scratch but I kinda love scratch cutting the guys nuts off! Damn, I mean if thathappened to me I'd do that and worse.
That would be a time I'd be glad I know Yarri, she could come up with something way worse then scratch or I could ever do.

[PuddleWhite]

Well, i will try and answer your point, but it is true, Scratch is not one of the good guys. I do, however think i can make her out to be one of the light grey guys...
So lets get to it
I would plead that it could have been Latch that kept her in. If i remember correctly, we know she did a crime, he got sent to jail for it, and she busted him out when the outbreak started. A somewhat unprobable, but possible scenario goes- after her crime she could have been trying to steer clear of The Family in the meantime (probably a hard thing to do with her previous record) when she gets a chance to spring her brother, whom she owes, from prison. She does, and here we have to ask ourselves, what kind of a guy Latch was. He might be Jesus reborn, but then again, it was him that tried to get Lizzie in exchange for the tanker, if you remember. Anyway, it's not inconceivable that he would want to stick to Duray, out of fear, or loyalty, or whatever, and its also probable that Scratch would not abandon him (My own brother is dumb, far more beautiful than me and does things i abhor every day. In an apocalypse though, i would never ever leave him by himself.). But then he gets killed, and Scratch wants revenge- irrational, stupid and understandable. Her only chance is sticking with the maulers, whatever they might do, be it slavery or whatever.

Of course, its a far fetched theory, born from my want for Scratch to be good more than anything else.

[reaper239]

Well, i will try and answer your point, but it is true, Scratch is not one of the good guys. I do, however think i can make her out to be one of the light grey guys...
So lets get to it
I would plead that it could have been Latch that kept her in. If i remember correctly, we know she did a crime, he got sent to jail for it, and she busted him out when the outbreak started. A somewhat unprobable, but possible scenario goes- after her crime she could have been trying to steer clear of The Family in the meantime (probably a hard thing to do with her previous record) when she gets a chance to spring her brother, whom she owes, from prison. She does, and here we have to ask ourselves, what kind of a guy Latch was. He might be Jesus reborn, but then again, it was him that tried to get Lizzie in exchange for the tanker, if you remember. Anyway, it's not inconceivable that he would want to stick to Duray, out of fear, or loyalty, or whatever, and its also probable that Scratch would not abandon him (My own brother is dumb, far more beautiful than me and does things i abhor every day. In an apocalypse though, i would never ever leave him by himself.). But then he gets killed, and Scratch wants revenge- irrational, stupid and understandable. Her only chance is sticking with the maulers, whatever they might do, be it slavery or whatever.

Of course, its a far fetched theory, born from my want for Scratch to be good more than anything else.

true, it is entirely possible that latch was the reason they stuck with the mallers, but somehow i think it was less to do with latch and more to do with a joint desire for self preservation. after springing them, scratch had the number two position in the mallers. that affords her a lot of protection, both from external threats, and from internal threats. self preservation is a powerful thing, and can drive people to do insane things. in "The Book of Eli" we're introduced to the possiblility (not for the first time) of survivors in arid climates with little food and water turning to cannabalism to survive. true it is a movie, but are we so sure that people wouldn't be driven to that extreme just to ensure their survival. and we know that such acts have occured in the past from the donner party. well here they're not worried about food as much as they are with zombies. while we may not necessarily blame her for sticking with the mallers, she must still be held accountable for her actions understandable or not.

[PuddleWhite]

Well, i guess I hope for redemption then
Btw, did you know that, in the book of Eli, the reason they always checked the hands of strangers is because they were looking for shaking? Uncontrollable twitching is a symptom of Kuru, a degenerative neurological disease that you get from eating human meat. That's why both the bartender and the shopkeeper wanted to see Eli's hands and thats how he found out that the elderly couple were cannibals.

[Loyal Retainer]

Alright, so it sounds like Scratch was heading to see Burt with Lizzy and Bricks hot on her trail. So how do you guys see this playing out when Lizzy finds out about Burt being held captive? Does she play it cool and go along with it or demand that he is let go? Will she try to use her newly gained personal info on Scratch to convince her to let him go? This is about to get really interesting!

[awkwardalex]

Well, i will try and answer your point, but it is true, Scratch is not one of the good guys. I do, however think i can make her out to be one of the light grey guys...
So lets get to it
I would plead that it could have been Latch that kept her in. If i remember correctly, we know she did a crime, he got sent to jail for it, and she busted him out when the outbreak started. A somewhat unprobable, but possible scenario goes- after her crime she could have been trying to steer clear of The Family in the meantime (probably a hard thing to do with her previous record) when she gets a chance to spring her brother, whom she owes, from prison. She does, and here we have to ask ourselves, what kind of a guy Latch was. He might be Jesus reborn, but then again, it was him that tried to get Lizzie in exchange for the tanker, if you remember. Anyway, it's not inconceivable that he would want to stick to Duray, out of fear, or loyalty, or whatever, and its also probable that Scratch would not abandon him (My own brother is dumb, far more beautiful than me and does things i abhor every day. In an apocalypse though, i would never ever leave him by himself.). But then he gets killed, and Scratch wants revenge- irrational, stupid and understandable. Her only chance is sticking with the maulers, whatever they might do, be it slavery or whatever.

Of course, its a far fetched theory, born from my want for Scratch to be good more than anything else.

I agree with most of that. Family is definatly important to scratch no question. Avenging Latch maybe more of family love then "the famlies". I have to agree my brother is pretty and dumb and I worry about him going anywhere alone, and he gets anything he wants, but when someone comes after him (which has happened) you have to hold me back from avenging him, and he and I have done so for each other several times. So I can definatly see why scratch wants to torture Pegs and kill her.

Scratch can be irrational but she is not dumb. She doesn't have stratigical training that Michael has but she is not dumb. She does need the Mallers, she needs people to work for her, she needs intel, food, medical, and more.

But I do not see her as a "grey guy" she was bad before losing Latch.