Let's Talk The Walking Dead - Spoilers!!

[DharmaDog]

Did not realize that was Randall...thought it was a random walker.

[Mike Sellers]

Everyone's already infected with the zombie virus. Dying just activates it. I think that's what the CDC guy whispered to Rick at the end of season one.

[N-OS X-tasy!]

DharmaDog wrote:
Then there was some scary rabid animal/zombie/gory flashes then carl shows up and all of a sudden Shane is zombified.

That sequence represented Shane's consciousness as he underwent the zombification process.

[N-OS X-tasy!]

Mike Sellers wrote:
Everyone's already infected with the zombie virus. Dying just activates it. I think that's what the CDC guy whispered to Rick at the end of season one.

Since the show is so close to addressing this...

[spoiler=COMIC BOOK SPOILER!]
...in the comic book series the characters learn very early on that any means of death that doesn't destroy the brain results in zombification. The show first hinted at this possibility a couple of weeks back when Rick and Shane made the first trip to release Randall and encountered two security guard zombies that showed no signs of having been bitten. Sunday's episode provided (many!) additional clues to this development; I'm certain the characters will realize this truth in the season finale next week.

Of course, this does raise the question of why none of the many dead bodies encountered by our heroes in all those vehicles abandoned on the highway in the first two episodes of this season were not in fact zombies...

Also, as I've mentioned before, the show's CDC subplot never appears in the comic book series, so I have no idea what CDC Guy told Rick at the end of last season. I find it hard to believe that Mike's theory is correct, though - you'd think Rick would share that info with the group.
[/spoiler]

[N-OS X-tasy!]

DharmaDog wrote:
Did not realize that was Randall...thought it was a random walker.

I didn't realize it at first, either.

[Black]

The show first hinted at this possibility a couple of weeks back when Rick and Shane made the first trip to release Randall and encountered two security guard zombies that showed no signs of having been bitten.

OK, but why were they "dead?"

If I was one of the good-for-nothing writers on this show I'd just explain all the inconsistencies by playing the "mutating virus" card.