For 11 seasons,The Walking Deadtold the stories of a group of survivors in the aftermath of thezombieapocalypse. The series became a hit almost immediatelywhen it premiered in 2010, as Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) woke up from a coma to discover the world had drastically changed—it was overrun with the reanimated dead, and society had collapsed. The series was based on thecomic bookseries of the same name,and multiple spin-off series have followed,exploring the events from the perspectives of different characters in different locations and timeframes.
Almost allshowshave plot holes, continuity errors, and things that just don’t quite add up, andThe Walking Deadwas no exception. Some things are minor realities oftelevisionwhich could be explained away pretty easily, such asthe fact that characters' hair typically doesn’t grow and the clothes they wear over and over never get excessively grimy. Even blatant product placement can be forgiven as just something that comes with the territory. But there are others which are harder to explain and justify the more you think about them.
The Walking Dead
10Hershel’s Shotgun
How did it have unlimited ammo?
In Season 2, Rick meets Hershel (Scott Wilson) when Rick races to get medical care for his son, Carl (Chandler Riggs), and the group ends up spending some time on his farm. When faced with walkers,Hershel’s weapon of choice is a Remington 870 Wingmaster shotgun. With his farm under attack from a horde, he refuses to give up without a fight and continuously fires on the walkers—for a total of 25 shots before stopping to reload.
Hershel is shown firing far more rounds than most shotguns can hold before he stopped to reload…
Seemingly unlimited ammo is a common problem throughout movies and TV shows—but that should also mean it’s easy to notice and fix. Hershel is shown firing far more rounds than most shotguns can hold before he stopped to reload, andbecause he was onscreen the entire time, it can’t be explained by reloading offscreen. That said, it was a great moment for him and showed his willingness to stay and fight for his home.
9The Number of Walkers
They seemingly respawned more than they died.
Walker hordes were seen often throughout the series from the very beginning, from major cities to the middle of nowhere. But by the timeThe Walking Deadcame to an end, more than a decade had passed since the apocalypse first happened, meaning lots of walkers would’ve been killed over the years—Rick and his group alone easily dispatched hundreds, not to mention countless more killed by other groups. And while humans kept procreating, Walkers couldn’t.
…More than a decade had passed since the apocalypse first happened, meaning lots of walkers would’ve been killed over the years…
Eventually, with the sheer number of walkers being killed,their numbers would decrease. Of course, inThe Walking Dead, the fact that everyone was infected and turned into a Walker as soon as they died meant walkers would continue to appear—but given that the survivors were aware of this, they almost always made sure to kill a Walker as soon as it turned. At some point, the living would outnumber the dead.
8Walker Guts Were Effective but Rarely Used as Camouflage
In order to make it past hordes of walkers,the survivors doused themselves in zombie blood and guts, which masked their scent and allowed them to blend in. And Rick and his group weren’t the only ones to discover the tactic—it was also used by the Whisperers, which also allowed them to be largely undetected by other survivors and protected them from the sorts of villains Rick and the others encountered regularly.
…No one would be eager to gut walkers and douse themselves in blood, then walk alongside a horde which could devour them in seconds.
The survivors were reluctant to use the technique and were terrified the whole time, understandably so—no one would be eager to gut Walkers and douse themselves in blood, then walk alongside a horde which could devour them in seconds. It also had its downsides. Walkers could still be alerted through sound, for example, and rain would wash away the guts. But the technique was so effective,it was worth using more than a handful of times.
It either made you sick or it didn’t.
The use of walker blood as camouflage led to adverse effects only once, when it made Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) sick. Some characters also used it as a weapon for that reason—when preparing to attack Rick’s group, the Saviors smothered weapons in it so anyone who was injured would get sick. Despite this, after Michonne (Danai Gurira) was shot in Season 3,she touched the open wound when her hands were covered in walker blood and suffered no ill effects.
Even a small cut and surely a gunshot wound like Michonne’s would put someone at risk of getting sick…
The dangers of walker blood were presented inconsistently. The weaponization of it implied its use as camouflage carried more risk than was suggested—but except for Gabriel, this was never much of a concern, and even he was ultimately fine. Even a small cut and surely a gunshot wound like Michonne’s would put someone at risk of getting sick, and although the technique was rarely used, potential risks weren’t cited as a reason.
6Rick Survived a Coma
Without doctors and electricity, Rick shouldn’t have woken up.
The events ofThe Walking Deadgot started when Rick was injured in a shooting and went into a coma, then awoke just under two months later in an empty hospital and Walkers were roaming outside, with no idea of what had happened.The web series “The Oath” did reveal that a doctor stayed behind to care for patients for some time, but that still doesn’t answer all the questions raised by Rick’s survival.
…Eventually, the hospital would’ve lost power, causing his machines to shut down, and Rick would’ve run out of medication.
Admittedly,Rick awaking from a coma was a compelling start to the series—it allowed viewers to learn about Walkers at the same time as him, and it was a circumstance which would leave anyone terrified and confused. But two months is a long time, and even though he received some care for part of it, eventually, the hospital would’ve lost power, causing his machines to shut down, and Rick would’ve run out of medication.
5Gasoline Supplies
No one was ever concerned about running out of gas.
Throughout the series, characters used vehicles of all types to get around, from Dale’s (Jeffrey DeMunn) RV in the early episodes to Daryl’s (Norman Reedus) beloved motorcycle. Although they came to rely on them less and turned to alternate transportation like horses or even walking, gas-powered vehicles still appeared fairly regularly, and they almost always worked perfectly.Vehicles seemed to have an endless supply of usable gasoline, although the issue of fuel was an important part of some spin-offs.
…Gasoline typically only lasts about six months to a year when stored correctly…
The abundance of cars and gasoline makes sense in the first months of the apocalypse—many cars were left abandoned with gas in their tanks, and they’d be easy enough to use. But gasoline typically only lasts about six months to a year when stored correctly,meaning it should’ve been harder and harder to come by in later seasons. And that’s not even considering other maintenance cars would need several years into the apocalypse.
4Inconsistent Walker Behavior
Are Walkers capable killers or not?
For much of the duration ofThe Walking Dead, Walkers were shown to be slow and unintelligent. But in its first few episodes,they are more physically capable and intelligent—the undead wife of Morgan Jones (Lennie James) stays close to their home and tries to get inside. The final season and spin-offs returned to this idea—Walkers began to evolve to do simple tasks, and the concept of variants was also introduced.
The idea of Walkers retaining some form of memory was particularly fascinating and heartbreaking.
Walkers were always dangerous, no matter how quickly they moved or how smart they were,but the way they were depicted in the first few episodes was especially terrifying, as they were more difficult to outrun and defeat. The idea of Walkers retaining some form of memory was particularly fascinating and heartbreaking. But these traits were abandoned as the show progressed, possibly in favor of focusing on the still-living villains.
3Stealthy Walkers
There’s no reason for Walkers to surprise the survivors.
Walkers were a constant threat in the series, from hordes in the cities—which could get quite loud—to individuals still prowling rural areas. Often, Walkers would take survivors by surprise, suddenly attacking in calm moments when it wasn’t expected and remaining completely silent until the very moment they struck. Eventually,these Walkers posed less of a threat, as survivors were on alert and had become skilled at killing Walkers quickly.
…Walkers shouldn’t have been able to sneak up on survivors as easily and as often as they did…
No matter how much intelligence or physical skill they possessed, Walkers shouldn’t have been able to sneak up on survivors as easily and as often as they did—they weren’t capable of choosing to take the living by surprise, and even the slowest Walkers would’ve caused noise like rustling leaves or snapping twigs. And that’s not even considering the fact that they were growling almost constantly.It was also an overused device for creating suspense.
2The CDC Was Barely Mentioned
Was it too late for the world to care?
As Season 1 progresses,the survivors head to the CDC in Atlanta in hopes of both seeking refuge and finding an explanationand cure for the outbreak. There, they meet Dr. Jenner (Noah Emmerich), a scientist who explains thatall humans were already infectedwith the virus causing the outbreak and, although it reactivated the brain stem, the rest of the brain remained dead, making it impossible for Walkers to return to their normal selves.
The group learns some valuable information which very few others have, and as the series progresses,they encounter various others who hold out hope Walkers could be cured, including Hershel, who kept a horde of walkers locked in a barn. To be fair, he’s so committed to the possibility of a cure, it’s likely he wouldn’t have listened to anything anyone told him about the CDC’s findings—but it’s odd no one at least tried.
1Rick Survived the Bridge Explosion
When a massive horde of zombies puts all the communities in danger,Rick, already severely wounded, leads a horde of Walkers across a bridge and blows it up to prevent them from reaching the communities. He is presumed dead—Daryl and Michonne continue looking for him for quite some time—but in reality, he washes ashore nearby and is found by Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh), who calls a CRM helicopter which carries him to safety.
It allowed star Andrew Lincoln to leave the show and sent him off with a bang, literally…
Rick’s coma wasn’t the only time he had a brush with death and survived despite the unlikeliest of circumstances—making it out of the bridge explosion alive was arguably more unlikely.It was an understandable bit of fan service, however. It allowed star Andrew Lincoln to leave the show and sent him off with a bang, literally, while still leaving an opening for Rick’s story to continue in other ways. The final scenes of the episode also added to the mystery surrounding Jadis and the mysterious helicopters.
