Episode 762: Two and Two

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Dave

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Zombie Cliche Lookout: Getting Defensive

Nobody likes owning up to mistakes, and mistakes made during the course of a zombie outbreak tend to be far worse than mistakes made during normal times. Taking responsibility is a painful, often humiliating process, but it’s also an essential one if you’re concerned about learning and maturing. In fact, it can be a pretty interesting way to take the measure of a person to see how they react to screwing up.

This truism of life can show up in zombie fiction, usually as a way of helping to define a character. Sometimes this character is a hero who is forced to take stock of their life and make some hard choices. Sometimes it’s the coward of the group having their defining character moment. And sometimes this is what pushes a formerly normal character into villain territory.

About this Episode:

Apologies again for posting the write-up so late. I was gone all weekend and didn’t get a chance to do it on Friday like I had planned.

Also, I’m pretty damn tired this morning, so I suspect this post will be rife with typos. Sorry about that.

Discussion Question: What’s the Dead with Clark

I’ve really enjoyed how some of the conversation in the comments has been people talking about Clark and guessing at his motives, mental health, etc. It’s been really interesting to read through, and really hard not to respond to with any real depth.

So let’s keep the train running by just asking everyone directly: what’s up with Clark? Is there something more going on with him? Is he just a coward at heart and it finally came out during a horrible set of circumstances? Did he just have a moment of exhaustion and weakness where he wasn’t thinking rationally? Wild speculation: go!

17 thoughts on “Episode 762: Two and Two”

  1. Hmm, the first thing is, we only saw one zombie, yet Clark is claiming they were “completely mobbed”. I’m suspicious of Clark’s intentions here. Is he trying to weasel out and make his side of the story over inflated or is he trying to justify his reasons for not going back to try and attempt a rescue or provide evidence of their fates?

    He’s also getting a bit pushy. Maybe Barb would just hop in that truck and drive off, and leave Clark standing there, and I wouldn’t blame her one bit for doing so! 😀

    • Quite literally, he is getting pushy.

      • Hah, indeed he is. Changing tactics, perhaps, or is Barb just piling on too much and he’s lashing out?

    • I was just going to say the same thing. A bit of a contradictory story, there!

      • Hah, just a bit.

  2. In Episodes 707-715 inclusive, Clark and Barb set all of this up. What happened to the plan? Wow this story arc is falling apart faster than the continuity writer is! 😀

    On a side note, it was around 6PM AEST where I live here and I had some kind of database connection issue with the Prev and Next buttons on this site. when I was digging around checking all these episodes. I don’t know if that’s anything significant, but maybe Dave would want to check on what’s happening. For all I know it could just have been maintenance meaning the database was unavailable for a short time.

    • The server is, I believe, in Central Time, which would put your issues very late at night when maintenance is usually performed. I’ll check to make sure there aren’t other issues, however.

  3. Probably better to have the write up later. Because I am tired as…Zzz…Zzz…Zzz

    • Oh man, still tired here.

  4. Typo alerts: “In fact, it’s can be pretty interesting way to take the measure of a person to see how they react to screwing up.” Rewrite the first six words so it reads like this: “In fact, it can be a pretty interesting way to take the measure of a person to see how they react to screwing up.

    “hero who is forces to take stock” forces–>forced 😀

    “this is what pushes a formally normal” formally–>formerly 😉

    Not a lot of typos, that last case is the wrong word being used! 😀

    • Fixed all, thanks. Really not too bad considering how tired I am.

      I’m intrigued at what “formally normal” would look like.

  5. I think Clark is heading down that path towards villainy if he keeps trying to cover up what happened to Vicky and the kids. Barb isn’t going to let it go and Clark is going to have to do something drastic if he wants to keep the secret.

    • Or maybe Clark gets bitten, hides it from the group, turns into a zombie and destroys them all. It seems as if this last possibility will eventuate if he dies somehow, too! 😀

  6. “They were completely mobbed. By like literally hundreds of zombies. Oh. Was it just one? Well, okay then, it was just one zombie. But…still.” 😕

    Cliche:
    Like I always say. It sucks owning up to your mistakes. Especially when those mistakes got people eaten by zombies.
    I say that all the time. 😀 People think I’m weird. 😅

    About the episode.
    No problems. Where were you this weekend?
    (I might already know, but I forget. Hah!)

    Question:
    Maybe Clark was an escaped prisoner (hiding in the woods)! Maybe that’s why the prisoners wanted to kill him! Clark may have owed him some cigarettes. Or some homosexual activity. 👬😁

    Okay. That’s probably not even close to what happened. Haha!

    🏁End of Comment🏁

    🔘Word of the Day:🔘

    “Confess.”

    JUST DO IT, CLARK! 😲

  7. I like Clark’s body language in this episode.
    In the second panel, when he’s telling the truth, he’s standing up straight pointing his finger sternly.
    But when he’s lying, in panel three, he’s throwing his arms around absurdly.

    • The one limitation to your interpretation is that, technically speaking, minifig hands don’t come with fingers. So it’s all hand gestures. 😀

      • Yes! 😀