Zombie Cliche Lookout: Whom Do You Trust?
One of the more difficult questions to tackle in the middle of a zombie uprising is whether you can or should trust the people you suddenly find yourself partnered with. If zombie movies have taught us anything – and I certainly like to believe they have – it’s that other people are really the biggest survival challenge. That makes it extra hard to tell whether you should trust anyone you don’t already know. Hell, you should probably be suspicious of your current acquaintances too, just to be thorough.
This lack of trust can lead to other problems. Most people are slighted if they are not trusted, and some can become violently offended. The lack of trust can cause misunderstandings, simmering tensions, and even all out fights. Finally, not trusting someone is a sure way of missing out on whatever they might have to offer you: security, companionship, supplies, or anything else for that matter.
About this Episode:
Since I didn’t come up with Michael and Joy as characters, I didn’t have a full backstory on them. I may, indeed, have missed the mark on their original intentions. At any rate, I like to have them react to things, especially things the other characters do, as a way of developing them as characters. Here, we see them as being very cautious, but also functioning as a team with very open communication. That’s a strong team in my book.
Discussion Question: Bailing Out
Let’s pull that old trick of sliding into the shoes on one of these characters. Pick either Michael or Joy, it honestly doesn’t matter. Would you agree to let Inez join? Why or why not? Are there any compromises you think might work, such as agreeing to bring her somewhere, but not letting her officially join your group.
I’m not, honestly, sure who to pick for the Discussion Question, so I’d like to ask Dave some questions myself:
1. Before Michael and Joy came along, where would the current storyline have taken Inez and Brent if they hadn’t been around?
2. In order to accommodate their introduction to the storyline were there any other possible characters or issues you were going to throw at the current group prior to the introduction of Michael and Joy that you had to skip or postpone?
3. All other things being equal, do either Michael or Joy have any inkling of what the group knows concerning the reasons Inez’s sudden desire to leave the current group?
There certainly are questions, questions I’d like Dave to shed some light on, if he can. 😀
1. There was going to be a shake-up of one sort or another. It’s something I’ve been setting up since the characters were introduced. That was the whole point of Brent not helping and just continuing to film when everyone was in danger. There have been a few more incidents since then.
2. I didn’t really skip or postpone anything. The group was still going to have an impasse at some point.
3. They don’t; they’re pretty ignorant about the internal politics in the group.
Also, I predict Monday’s episode is going to lead to either a sudden zombie invasion, or a short but pointed sermon on morality issues within the group Michael and Joy are looking at, and their departure later in the week thereafter. 😀
Hah, I guess we’ll find out on Monday.
Thanks Dave! Regarding your response to #3, Do they know what group politics, internal or otherwise, are? 😉 It sure seems to me like someone should introduce the group Inez is in to what’s happening internally and help them figure out what this is all about. it’s definitely something they’d want to learn about in a zombie apocalypse. I kinda wish Michael and Joy would stick around, well, at least until this politics mechanism is revealed to the group, so they know what they’re actually dealing with. 😀
Also, I did finally notice it in the background, but when were you going to call attention to the fact that there does in fact seem to be some discussion going on in the background that doesn’t have speech associated with it. Because from the movements and positioning of Cheryl and the other characters, I’d definitely think there is some sort of talking going on in the background. 😀