S01.E05: Like a Sheep Among the Wolves

[formerlyfreedom]

Tensions between Lex and Dr. Lommers reach a boiling point after they disagree over how to execute a much-needed food drop inside the cordon. With limited resources on his side, Jake’s attempt to control a desperate and hungry crowd leaves him rattled after a group of thugs show up and a stand-off ensues. Meanwhile, when the timeline of events leading up to the outbreak doesn’t add up, Katie sets out in search of the truth.

 

[ottoDbusdriver]

Why, oh, why are the cops not wearing face masks ?  Anywhere.

And still not even a plastic sheet separating Lex from Jake -- but they have some nifty yellow lines.

Why are the municipal cops still running the show ?  They showed the Army dropping off MREs, so why isn't the Army patrolling the cordon and coordinating the food drops ?

How did Jana manage to get past those bikers in the parking garage of the building but was unable to use the same method to get back ?  And who are these yokels that have nothing better to do but hang out in a parking garage riding motorcycles for days on end ?  And where has this building operations guy been all this time -- just waiting in the parking garage waiting for Jana ?

And what was Jake doing clutching that bear of the dead girl ?  That bear was likely highly contaminated and should have gone straight into the incinerator.

Katie is going all Nancy Drew to find the source of the contagion.  It's not like she doesn't have anything else to do like making sure the kids in her charge are staying 4 to 6 feet apart.

And TeenMom was MIA this episode, but her boyfriend Xander got plenty of screen time.  So did the gang that staved off the holdup take all the food from the shop too ?  Or did they only rob all the MREs ?

I think I get why this show was canceled -- all of a sudden multiple conspiracies are coming out of the woodworks.  The doctor is covering up the source of the virus and the police chief has his own mole inside the cordon

[NorthstarATL]

Indeed. The Big Conspiracy is only interesting when either a) you have everything else under control, and time for finger pointing or b) said Conspiracy is hiding a key to the cure. This may be a case of b), but I am not holding my breath. I think it's too make the story last longer by making it more "complex". The guy who rescued Jana was I think the guy she left on the roof because of the rules the guys who have NO BUSINESS being in the building are now turning around on her. The bikers are stupid because, like food, fuel will shortly be scarce as no deliveries are being made. They are also largely the fault of Claudia Black's character, because, as I stated previously, taking away the internet and communication took away things that will keep people occupied that don't include looting and mayhem. Her argument that information was getting out that could cause panic was specious, because if you can cut off the flow of information, chances are you have the means to filter it as well.

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And what was Jake doing clutching that bear of the dead girl ?  That bear was likely highly contaminated and should have gone straight into the incinerator.

There are clearly no rules for the virus. Half the characters have done things that should have them quarantined and/or dying, but the plot protects them.

And Katie is annoying as all heck! I know that the dating pool is shallow in the cordoned area, but Jake did NOT need that lecture after the day he had had. Way to make the end of the world all about you.

[holly4755]

well. I can say I lasted longer with this show than under the dome, but not by much. 

I can buy they are keeping something from then, I can buy that there may be more than one source, I can deal with a lot of crap, but seriously the cops do not understand that their lives and their family's lives would be a t risk letting the cop out of there? Blue may be strong, but when it is your life on the line, it changes. but the worst is the neurotic teacher who has suspicions and finds a book with torn out pages and can be the detective without computer resources and no inside help to figure this out with her brilliant mind and probably cure the disease as well. 

 

the one thing I did like about this show was having a time line. 

[Margherita Erdman]

From no plot elements relating to the origin and spread of the virus, to multiple plotlines going in different directions. Not my kind of storytelling, especially for a limited series.

Honestly, with the level of civil breakdown that purports to have happened by this episode, there should be widespread looting, home invasions, sexual assault, and many more wandering waifs than just the one tragic little girl we saw. And as our recapper pointed out a week or two ago, this is Georgia, where many (most?) households have many many guns, so there should be a great deal more in the way of gunfire by way of armed civilians, and maybe citizen militia type activity going on, for good and bad, not just this one surprisingly well-spoken "gangbanger."

And how long has it been since patient records, even a timeline of emergency room check-ins, were kept in anything like a wirebound notebook???

[NorthstarATL]

14 minutes ago, Margherita Erdman said:

From no plot elements relating to the origin and spread of the virus, to multiple plotlines going in different directions. Not my kind of storytelling, especially for a limited series.

Honestly, with the level of civil breakdown that purports to have happened by this episode, there should be widespread looting, home invasions, sexual assault, and many more wandering waifs than just the one tragic little girl we saw. And as our recapper pointed out a week or two ago, this is Georgia, where many (most?) households have many many guns, so there should be a great deal more in the way of gunfire by way of armed civilians, and maybe citizen militia type activity going on, for good and bad, not just this one surprisingly well-spoken "gangbanger."

And how long has it been since patient records, even a timeline of emergency room check-ins, were kept in anything like a wirebound notebook???

This is happening in the city of Atlanta, though, which is not at all like the rest of the state, so I can buy that there would not be many (if any) armed civilians. It also explains why there are more people who are lacking any sort of long-term food storage (except maybe the older couple, who already seemed to be reaching the bottom of the barrel), as city dwellers are more likely than those elsewhere to have built their lifestyles around easy access to groceries, police, etc. As for assaults, I will give them leeway with that, if only for the reason that any altercation might involve blood contact and the assailant is taking too large a health risk. This is another example, though, of why it is so foolish to have quashed communication to the cordoned area. After a time, especially if no one around you has been obviously infected, the "emergency" will seem less and less pertinent. Government benefits by incessant "news alerts" about emergency situations to heighten fear (but keeping it below "panic") so that they can impose draconian regulations, such as the TSA.

Edited May 18, 2016 by NorthstarATL
I obviously cannot spel.

[Arynm]

This show is killing me! Why could they not just bring more food in? The rest of the world is chugging along just fine, no virus out there. If they bring in more MREs then the "gangbangers" have nothing of value anymore. It should not be hard to get more food to them. Everyone should have masks, they should have been dropped with the food. Why can't they helicopter drop it in? There should be national guard in full hazmat suits all over the place. I like shows of this genre, but I am fast losing my patience.

[AnnaMayWong]

Basically, This Show is ridiculous.

[tom87]

Urg after cuddling the virus infested bear the cop then literally uses his fingers to wipe his eyes the next scene.

The army would be suited up and in there so fast and the Red Cross would be outside setting up communication between families and such especially if the internet and phones were cut off.   The majority of the local police department would only be in control of the rest of the city by now.

The food situation makes zero sense. Well none of it make sense. 

Edited May 18, 2016 by tom87

[Raja]

3 hours ago, tom87 said:

 

The army would be suited up and in there so fast and the Red Cross would be outside setting up communication between families and such especially if the internet and phones were cut off.   The majority of the local police department would only be in control of the rest of the city by now.

The food situation makes zero sense. Well none of it make sense. 

I don't know about the original in Belgium with their small army but in Atlanta you would think there wasn't a major army base less than a two hour drive  right up the road on a major highway

[Muffyn]

Just watched this episode.  The stupid runs so deep.  Were we supposed to be upset about the random little girl who went from classic dirty street urchin to dead in seemingly a few short hours?  Jake screamed; Muffyn laughed.  Won't somebody think of the children (TM Helen Lovejoy)?!?!?!?!?!? 

None of this makes any sense.  None. Of. It.  I am back to not caring about anyone. 

[Texasmom1970]

On 5/18/2016 at 7:14 PM, NorthstarATL said:

And Katie is annoying as all heck! I know that the dating pool is shallow in the cordoned area, but Jake did NOT need that lecture after the day he had had. Way to make the end of the world all about you.

I was thinking the same thing. Hate to tell her Jake won the shitty day contest. Burning bodies and seeing a fellow officer kill himself trumps your hyped up drama. And could somebody please burn that over sized ridiculous sweater Katie is wearing, she is dragging her sleeves all over counters potentially spreading germs. Just curious do they have a clause that Jake must spend at least a few minutes of each episode sweaty and half-dressed? A desperate attempt to keep viewers.

I did like the touching dinner scene between the rat man and his wife, that was sweet.

[Giselle]

I know that chaos can happen in a disaster but only a week in and they are dumpster diving and eating rat BBQ like it's been 2 months. I don't think so. 

This show has become so implausible as to the time line and what can go wrong will most assuredly go wrong for plot development.

[holly4755]

A few times I got snowed in because I didn't shovel the 100 foot drive way in time and I don't have any reason to leave my house except  for fun in the winter. I found I tend to store enough food that I could live for 6 weeks on what I have, heh. I do like to drink water so the faucet would have to work.and I do store a lot of pasta that I now throw out the uneaten once a year since I had a bag of pasta explode and release a bunch of bugs once. I just have less choice as the weeks go on, first eat all the fresh food, then the frozen then the dried and bottled and canned. Now not everyone has that big a fridge, but the dog loves it when I run out of dog food and she gets homemade chicken soup for a few weeks.

7 days is not a long time and if you are not poor and in your home, you should not be out of food.  You just don't have a much choice. 

[Bobcatkitten]

Also, I don't know of any buildings where the only way in or out is the parking garage. There have to be some doors on the main floor. 

[SonofaBiscuit]

Why are you touching the germy bear, Jake?  Please keep that virus-infested thing at least four feet from your beautiful face, sir.

When that cop was getting ready to shoot himself, I think I would have discretely pulled my face mask down.  Sure, that's disrespectful...but no way I'd risk catching the 100% lethal virus.

Are these people showering and washing their clothes?  Mmmm...some of them sure don't look like it.  I'd be soaking my clothing in disinfectant daily.

Also, if this were real life (holy shit, I hope this scenario never happens), there is no way that Jake wouldn't catch the virus.  His home base is a hospital filled with virus-infested people, during the day he's out interacting with the public (and some of them are very visibly infected), and at night he's burning dead bodies and clutching virus-infected stuffed teddies.  You'd be screwed in real life, Jake!!

Edited May 20, 2016 by SonofaBiscuit

[DoubleUTeeEff]

I think if you want to successfully cordon an area, you HAVE to provide internet access, cell phone service, food, clean water and protection to the people in it. There is just no way you would keep people in if you cut them off from the internet, from communicating with loved ones, starve them and let gangs take over. After all that has happened, people are left with nothing to lose and there's just no way you could keep them in with 9 police officers.  I mean, really.  You aren't even saving them from the virus.  Why wouldn't a mob of people force their way out?  You would need the army to keep them in!

[Giselle]

On ‎5‎/‎20‎/‎2016 at 7:29 AM, SonofaBiscuit said:

Why are you touching the germy bear, Jake?  Please keep that virus-infested thing at least four feet from your beautiful face, sir.

When that cop was getting ready to shoot himself, I think I would have discretely pulled my face mask down.  Sure, that's disrespectful...but no way I'd risk catching the 100% lethal virus.

Are these people showering and washing their clothes?  Mmmm...some of them sure don't look like it.  I'd be soaking my clothing in disinfectant daily.

Also, if this were real life (holy shit, I hope this scenario never happens), there is no way that Jake wouldn't catch the virus.  His home base is a hospital filled with virus-infested people, during the day he's out interacting with the public (and some of them are very visibly infected), and at night he's burning dead bodies and clutching virus-infected stuffed teddies.  You'd be screwed in real life, Jake!!

 The healthcare workers in Africa with the Ebola virus had better provisions, better protection, and better organization than what they are showing in the good old US of A.

[thuganomics85]

Seriously, I can't believe I was suppose to not see Katie as an asshole in that final scene with Jake, but I just found it so fucked up that she was basically like "Yeah, yeah.  You had to burn a little girls body and you just a fellow officer of yours a few minutes ago.  So what?!  Man up!" about it. Even if she had a point, there was a way more tactful way to go at it.  Jake does some things that are stupid like holding that grimy bear and not using his face mask (although I blame that on simple bad writing), but I can't fandom why he would be interested in her, outside of her looks. Because I feel like she's really treating him like shit 75% of the time.

I give up on trying to figure out why the government seems to be mishandling this so poorly.  They know the virus is spread by body fluids and contact perhaps.  At this point, they just need to get the CDC and a whole of military folks suited up and they should be good to go.  But instead, they keep saddling these seven or so cops with everything, and it is just making anythings worse.  And they do realize that Atlanta isn't under a dome, right?  Why not just airdrop food and provisions?  This whole thing is so stupid.

All this stuff with the gang just feels like the writers had just binged The Wire, and came up with the idea of what would happen if the characters from that show were stuck in diseased city.  Of course, the big difference is all the gangsters here are one dimensional and poorly acted, and can't even touch the awesomeness of the Barksdales, Stringer Bell, Omar, etc. 

Fucking hell, show.  No wonder you were the only one that The CW canceled this season.

[LadyArcadia]

I wanted to love this show, I really did.  But to echo what others have said:

• Katie is an insensitive bitch. Shut up, Katie.
• I fully believe there would be riots and looting even after this short time.  People look for opportunities.
• I do not believe people would run out of food after a week.  Most people only go grocery shopping once a week and still have plenty of food stock piled.  This is not believable at all.
• People would also not look like they haven't bathed. Most reasonable people would shut themselves in their home and carry on as normal.
• One would think the national guard would suit up and go in to keep the peace.  Yes, they'd have to stay in there, but I can't believe they wouldn't have the authorities go in.

I see in here the show has been cancelled.  I didn't realize it was meant to be a long running series. I thought it was supposed to only be a mini-series with limited episodes.  Does the cancellation mean we don't see the ending or does it mean we just don't get future seasons?

[Jordan27]

Well, they are showing real visuals of my beautiful home state city of Atlanta.    That's where the good stops.

This show is ridiculous, the characters are stupid and there is no one to root for.   

This was to be expected with the popularity of Walking Dead that there would numerous ripoffs that would by really bad.

This might be the worst.

[hatchetgirl]

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When that cop was getting ready to shoot himself, I think I would have discretely pulled my face mask down.  Sure, that's disrespectful...but no way I'd risk catching the 100% lethal virus.

WAY!

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I do not believe people would run out of food after a week.  Most people only go grocery shopping once a week and still have plenty of food stock piled.

I just realized I don't have a week worth of food.  Well, I do have 3 cats and 3 hens...

[AudienceofOne]

It's called a food 'drop' for a reason. Just drop the food. And if you feel you need a distribution centre and don't have enough soldiers to distribute it, send in more soldiers. So they can't come out. Then they can't come out. The whole cordon is supposed to be a quarantine zone, not a gulag.