so i need somebody to inform me about walkimg dead

[Westcoastvibes]

So in a nutshell I decided to start watching walking dead about a month ago. Problem is, I can't afford to buy/rent the previous seasons right now nor do I have time to binge watch the show. So what I need is someone to fill me in enough that I understand the current seasons plots and characters. Any info much appreciated

[Viazon]

I'll start from the beginning. I hope you take the time to read all of this because there is a lot here!

Rick is the main character. Before the outbreak, he was a cop. In the first episode, him an his partner Shane were involved in a stand off with some bad guys and Rick was shot. This put him in a coma. When he woke up from his coma, he discovered that a zombie apocalypse had happened.

He makes his way to his home to try and find his wife and son, Lori and Carl. On the way, he discovers a man called Morgan and his son Duane. They explain to him what has been going on. Rick finds his house cleared out and assumed his wife and son are alive and have gone of the run. He assumes they have gone to Atlanta and goes there to look for them. He and Morgan have a walkie talkie each and he says he will try to keep in contact with him, but throughout the series, every time he does so, he gets no answer.

He stops off at his former police station to stock up on weapons and heads to Atlanta. Simultaneously, Shane has gone off with Lori and Carl to take care of them and they have met up with other survivors and they have made a camp outside of Atlanta. During this time, Lori and Shane assume Rick is dead and they have begun a sexual relationship. There are quite a few people in this camp, but the main ones you need to know are Andrea and her sister Amy, Daryl and his brother Merle, Glenn, Dale, T-Dog and Carol and her daughter Sophia and her abusive husband Ed. While Rick is in Atlanta, some of the camp are also in Atlanta to gather supplies and they run into him. Rick and Merle get into a scrap on the roof of a building and to calm him down, Rick handcuffs him to a pipe. Then are then attacked my a hoard of zombies. In the confusion, they reluctantly have to leave Merle handcuffed to the drain pipe and head back to the camp.

When they get back to the camp, Rick is reunited with Lori and Carl and Shane is both please to have his best friend back but at the same time sad that he can no longer see Lori. Lori is angry with Shane because he was the one who told her Rick was dead. She breaks things of with him and this causes Shane to grow increasingly angry and insane as the series goes on. The rest of group inform Merles brother Daryl about him being left on the roof. An angry Daryl demands they go back to find him and him, Rick, Glenn and T-Dog go back, but when they get to the roof top, they discovered Merles severed hand, which he had sawed through to get free.

When head back to the camp. Just as they do, the camp is attacked by zombies. A lot of people are killed in the attack, including Andreas sister Amy and Carols husband Ed. After Eds death, Carol, who has always been shy and timid and lived in fear of her husband, starts to become more confident when she no longer has to live in fear of him. Rick becomes the de facto leader of the group and decides that it isn't safe to stay there. He suggest heading to a place called CDC where he believes that they will be working on a cure. When they get there, they meet Dr Jenner, who is the only Dr left there. There, they eventually learn that Jenner plans on locking them inside the building which he is planning to blow up, killing them all. He claims that there is nothing he can do and that it is better this way. After a few minutes of arguing, he eventually lets them leave but stays behind himself. Before the group leaves, Jenner whispers something in Ricks ear, but we don't know what he says. The building blows up with Jenner in it and everyone else escapes. This concludes season one.

At the start of season two, they head back on the road. They come across many broken down cars on the road, which they kind of used as a temporary base while trying to figure out what to do and where to go. A group of zombies attack again and Rick, trying to save Sophia, Carols daughter, he leaves her somewhere and tells her to stay there and not move. After they deal with the zombies, he goes back to find Sophia missing. Then spend much of the first part of the season looking for Sophia. While looking for her, Rick, Shane and Carl discover a deer. However, Carl is accidentally shot by a man who is trying to hunt the dear. The man is Otis and is living on a farm. Him, Rick and Shane rush to the farm to take him to a man called Hershel who has experience as a vet and tries to help Carl. He sends one of his daughters, Maggie, back to find the rest of the camp survivors to inform Lori what has happened to Carl and leads them back to the farm. They are welcome to stay at the farm and it becomes their temporary home. Shane makes a trek to a school to find some medical supplies for Carl and Otis goes with him, through guilt from being the one who shot Carl. While they are running away from zombies, Shane shoots Otis and sacrifices him to the zombies in order to get away. When he gets back to the farm, he tells them he sacrificed himself and makes him out to be a hero. During the time at the farm, Glenn as started a romantic relationship with one of Hershels daughters, Maggie. He also discovers that they are keeping zombies alive in their barn. He tells the group and Rick confronts Hershel about it and tells him they need to die. Hershel refuses because he considers them sick and are able to be healed. He also claims that some of the zombies in the barn are family and friends, included his wife and one of his sons. Rick agrees to abide by his rules but Shane disagrees. In rage, he breaks open the farm door and begins shooting the zombies. The rest of the group have no choice but to take out all of the zombies. They are shocked to discover that one of the zombies in the barn is in fact Sophia, who they have been looking for. (This whole sequence is in my opinion the best scene of the whole series.)

A depress Hershel has a drink for the first time in years and comes to realize that the zombies do indeed have to be killed. During this time, Lori has discovered she is pregnant and it is wildly implied that the baby is Shanes. Rick has also discovered what went on between Shane and Lori and tensions begin to rise. Shane grows increasingly mad an angry and leads Rick out into a field to kill him. Rick manages to fight back and shoots Shane. Even though he hasn't been bitten, Shane still reanimates as a zombie and is shot dead by Carl. They return to the farm which is being attacked by zombies and they have to flee the farm, which gets burned to the ground. Shortly before this attack, Dale was attacked and killed by a zombie while going for a walk. The rest of the group flee but Andrea is separated from them. She runs into Michonne who saves her from a zombie. The rest of the group rest up at the side of a road where Rick reveals that he had to kill Shane. Lori reacts angrily and the group start to question his leadership. There, he declares that if they are to survive, then they have to have a leader and they have to do what he says. He declares that it can no longer be a democracy, but a dictatorship and says that he is the leader. He always reveals to the group what Dr. Jenner whispered to him. He tells them that everyone is infected, not just people who are bitten. Which means, whenever someone dies, no matter how they die, they will come back as a zombie. This concludes season two.

At the start of season three, the group have spent several months of the road. The remaining members from the original Atlanta camp are Rick, Lori, Carl, Glenn, Daryl, Carol and T-Dog, along with Hershel and his daughters Maggie and Beth. Andrea, who separated from the group in the season two finale is presumed dead, but herself has been on the road with the lady who saved her life, Michonne. The group finds a prison and attempt to get inside, thinking it will be a save place to stay. Rick has himself grown increasingly angry and slightly insane over the last few months and is no longer the same man he was in the first season. He is more ruthless than he was and more willing to do things he wouldn't have normally done in order to keep the group alive. He has started to show hostility towards Lori and to two have a rift between them. Inside the prison, while fighting off some zombies, Hershel gets bitten on the leg, which Rick cuts off to stop the infection from spreading. It works and Hershel lives. They discover a group of inmates living in the prison. They inform the inmates what has been going on and attempt to find a way to coincide in the prison together. However, after tensions rise, Rick ends up having to defend his group from the prisoners and kills one of them. A couple of the other prisoners end up dying, leaving two prisoners left, Axel and Oscar. These two eventually gain the trust of the group and becomes one of them. During one of the fights with the zombies, T-Dog is killed.

Andrea and Michonne come across a group of people, one of whom is Merle, Daryls brother from the first season. His hand has been replaced with a knife. They take them back to Woodbury, a town which has been barricaded off to keep the zombies out and where a community resides. The town is led by a man called The Governor. At first, The Governor seems nice and welcoming and he wins Andrea over but Michonne remains weary of him. Andrea is happy to stay in Woodbury but Michonne doesn't trust the Governor. It is revealed that the Governor keeps severed heads of zombies alive in tanks in a secret room, along with his daughter Penny, who is a zombie and chained up.

Back at the prison, while trying to fight of a herd of zombies, Lori asks Maggie to perform. a Caesarean on her because she fears she won't live long enough to give birth to her baby. She does so, successfully delivering the baby, but at the expense of Loris life. Carl shoots his mother to keep her from coming back as a zombie. When Rick finds out, he breaks down in tears and goes on a rampage, killing a number of zombies. The group leave him be for a while they believe this is how he is dealing with the grief. Back at Woodbury, Andrea and Michonne are about to leave Woodbury but Andrea opts to stay there, claiming she is happy there and can't take life in the road. She asks Michonne to stay but she refuses because she doesn't trust Governor and she leaves.

Back at the prison, Rick receives a phone call on an old phone from someone who claims to have a safe place for people to stay. After receiving more phone calls and talking to more people, he realizes that the people on the phone are people who have died in the past and the phone calls are in his head. He eventually receives a call from Lori. He tells her he is sorry for the way he treated her and tells her he loves and misses her. She tells him that he needs to forget about her and be there for their son and new daughter. Rick snaps out of his rampage and attempts to be there for his kids, but through the season, he is still haunted by visions of Lori. Glenn and Maggie go out for supplies and more specifically, baby formula. At the same time, Governor has sent out Merle and some of his other men to track down and kill Michonne. Michonne sees Glenn and Maggie leaving a store who are then confronted by Merle. She hides as they talk. Merle and Glenn obviously recognize each other from Atlanta and Merle asks about his brother. Glenn tells him he is alive and is staying at the prison. Merle demands he take him to the prison to see his brother but Glenn refuses, telling him to stay there while he goes back to confer with the rest with the group, who will then come back to pick him up. Merle doesnt except this and takes Maggie and Glenn hostage, bringing them back to Woodbury. Michonne picks up the supplies and finds the prison herself.

With Michonne now in the prison, she tells the group that Maggie and Glenn were taking hostage and brought to to Woodbury. The group don't realize that she has met Merle and Andrea. She tells them she will lead them to Woodbury. Back at Woodbury, Merle and The Governor torture Maggie and Glenn to try and find out where the prison is but they don't say anything. When The Governor threatens to shoot Glenn in front of Maggie, she finally breaks and tells them about the prison. Merle tells Governor that his brother is at the prison and he becomes concerned about where he loyalties lie.

Rick, Daryl, Michonne, and Oscar invade Woodbury and rescue Glenn and Maggie. Glenn tells Daryl that Merle is there in Woodbury and is one of The Governors henchmen. In the ensuing battle, Oscar is killed and Daryl is captured. Michonne goes into Governors secret room to try and kill him. There she discovers his daughter Penny. He walks in and begs her to let her go, but she kills her anyway. Governor attacks Michonne and the two fight. One of his tanks with the severed head inside breaks and Michonne stabs him with the eye with a shard of glass and makes her escape. The group make their way back to the prison. Governor believes that Merle betrayed him, as he had told him earlier that he had killed Michonne. He believes Merle led to group to Woodbury. He then brings out Daryl, who has been captured and forces the two brothers to fight to the death. Andrea and Daryl see each other and she tries to tell the Governor to stop this but he refuses.

Meanwhile. a new group of survivors are making their way through the forest. They are Tyrese and his sister Sasha and a family of three, consisting of Allen, Ben, and Donna. Donna has been bitten and Tyrese is forced to kill her. The four survivors eventually come across the prison. Rick and the rest arrive back at the prison, where Tyrese begs them to let them stay. However, plagued by a vision of Lori, he lets out an angry outburst which frightens every one else and causing Tyrese and his group to run away in fear. Daryl and Merle work together to escape Woodbury. Rick, Glenn and Michonne go back to rescue Daryl but find he has already escape with Merle. Glenn and Michonne are upset that Merle is with them. Daryl tries to convince Rick to let Merle join the group, but he refuses. Siding with his brother, Daryl leaves the group and heads of with him instead. After a discussion with his brother, he realizes he has made the wrong decision and heads back to the prison, with or without Merle. Back at the prison, the survivors are ambushed by Governor as his men. They surround the prison and open fire, killing Axel in the process and busting down their fence. This allows a number of zombies to get inside but they are dispatched by a returning Daryl and Merle.

Governor lies to Andrea and tells her that he went to the prison to seek peace but was attacked. Milton, Governors reluctant second hand man, helps Andrea escape to the prison so she can talk with the rest of the group. While helping Andrea, Milton runs into Tyrese and his group and offers to bring them back to Woodbury where there will be safe. When Andrea gets to the prison, she is told a contrasting story to what Governor told her. She attempts to play peacemaker and tries to have Governor and Rick meet up and discuss a possible peaceful solution, but with no success. Governor gives Rick an ultimatum. Return Michonne or go to war. While preparing for the upcoming battle, Rick, Michonne and Carl go out looking for supplies and they run into Morgan, the man who help Rick in the first season. His son Duane is now dead and he has become mad over time. Rick offers to let him come back to the prison, but he refuses and stays where he is.

Tyrese gets to Woodbury and talks to the Governor. Believe him to be the good guy and Rick to be the bad guy, he agree to help him in exchange for him and his group staying there. Andrea begins to realize she can't trust the Governor and attempts to warn Tyrese. She escapes Woodbury but Governor tracks her down and locks her in a room. Merle captures Michonne and attempts to deliver her to the Governor himself. However, after a heart felt discussion, he decides to let Michonne go and to the planned meeting place to kill the Governor. However, he is out numbered my is men and killed. When Michonne returns to the prison without Merle, Daryl goes out looking for him but only finds his reanimated corpse and tearfully takes him down.

Governor, betrayed by Milton when he helped Andrea escape, stabs him and leaves him to die in the room with Andrea locked up, where he will then kill her after turning. Governor and his men then attack the prison but Rick and his men fight back. They end up retreating and regrouping, where the residents of Woodbury, who have been forced to fight by the Governor, express their desire to leave the prison alone and head back to Woodbury. This angers Governor and he guns down all of his own men in a fit of rage, except for Martinez and Shumpert, his two main henchmen who are the only ones still willing to fight. They can only look on in shock as the Governor dispatches all of the Woodbury residents. The three men they take off in a car, not realizing that one woman, Karen, has survived the onslaught. Rick, Daryl and Michonne come across the massacre where they meet Karen, who agrees to take them back to Woodbury. When they get there, Karen informs Tyrese and the remaining Woodbury residents what Governor has done and that he wasn't what he seemed. Tyrese let's them in and they look for Andrea but they are too late. Milton has already turned into a zombie and bitten Andrea. Michonne tearfully makes up with Andrea while waiting for her to die and then puts her down before she can turn.

Rick and his people along with Tyrese, Sasha, Karen and the rest of the Woodbury residents go back to the prison, where he let's them all in. Governor and his two henchmen are still at large. Thus concludes the third season.

And now we are in the fourth season. The original survivors along with the former Woodbury survivors have turned the prison into a well oiled, fully functional, peaceful society. But they have discovered that there is a very aggressive flu strain going around which can cause death. It took the life of a young man, who came back as a zombie and attacked some others. They decided to keep anyone who may be suffering from this flu separate while they try and come up with a solution. One of these people is Karen, who has become romantically involved with Tyrese. However, Tyrese goes to see Karen bit discovers her body and the body of another possible flu victim has been dragged outside and burnt. It is also revealed that someone has been going to the outer fence of the prison and feeding the zombies rats, but we don't know who. And that's where we are are.

[Westcoastvibes]

My god that was long. Thank you for the wonderful insight into the world of walking dead, haha

So who do you think is feeding the rats to the walkers?

[Viazon]

Did you read all of it? I didn't even realize how long it was until I wrote it!

I have no idea. There are a lot of new characters now is this series and I don't really expect anyone yet. But there is definitely someone up to something, what with the burnt bodies and all.

[Westcoastvibes]

Did you read all of it? I didn't even realize how long it was until I wrote it!

I have no idea. There are a lot of new characters now is this series and I don't really expect anyone yet. But there is definitely someone up to something, what with the burnt bodies and all.

It took me a bit but I did read it all. The burnt bodies kinda has me wondering, its obvious that they were not taken out back and burned alive with the massive blood trails and all. So I am torn between the idea that someone went in and killed them first to maybe stop the flu outbreak and then torched them as a extra precaution against the flu, or they did die from the flu and turn so someone did what they were supposed to do and killed them then burned the bodies again as a way to contain the flu. I hope we find out some more tonight though

[Viazon]

Whether they died from the flu or whether someone killed them, they were definitely dead before being dragged outside to be burned.