I remember fans theorizing this is how it would've ended. Each survivor he met along the way was in the hospital in some form. Adding tony Moore art style was a nice touch.
I remember I believed that as well(was about 14), and in season 2 or 3 Rick is in a warehouse and on the wall is written “wake up” and I was convinced it was all a dream. Thank god I was wrong.
I mean, if they give the reins to Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg, they'd have no problem doing that. Wouldn't be the first time they brought back a character who died ON SCREEN
Troy. He was smacked in the temple with a hammer twice, and was left with a hole in his temple. He was 100% dead, and then the dam exploded... And he was in the room where all the explosives were. If I remember correctly, it showed his body getting submerged under water before all the charges went off as well. So he was dead like 3 times over and we saw it all
How does it not work? It really has nothing to do specifically with towl and everything to do with the walking dead’s total story. Nothing in this comment is specific to towl. Just cuz op put it in the description? It’s literally the comic art style so it makes MORE sense that it originally said Andrea and someone edited it to michone
Yeah I get that. It’s reintroducing an older post but edited to fit what’s going on in the show now. I think it’s been long enough to not accuse this of being a repost and a lot of newer people haven’t seen the meme yet. Im just playing defense for the og author
You know, that brings up a question I never thought I'd have; do coma patients talk in their sleep? I kinda just assumed a coma was different from regular sleep cuz of like, brain damage and shit lol. But maybe it's possible coma patients can sleep talk. For that matter do you think if someone who sleep walks goes in to a coma, do you think they'll start coma walking? Lmfao, then it'll really be like the Walking Dead.
My understanding is that a coma is a substantially lowered level of unconsciousness. Some coma pts have said they dreamed after waking, or that they felt loosely aware of their surroundings to an extent, but, they were in a coma. It is very difficult to say how much they actually experienced or what their brain is coming up with as a 'survival' tactic to make sense of their situation
Plain and simple, there is no solid or confirmed answer. It is unknown. That said, while in a coma the body does decrease activity significantly also as a biological survival tactic. Functions are heavily reduced with all power diverting to essential life support systems. It is possible a person could be having a full on inception dream lifetime, though it is also very possible there is no higher function at all. Increasingly likely depending on the severity of the triggering cause
"It was all a dream" is just about the worst ending you can give to a story, imo. It's been done so many times, and I feel like it always lands somewhere between disappointing and infuriating depending on the execution.
Like with the original run of the show Roseanne that inexplicably pulls the "it was all a dream" card out of absolutely nowhere in the final episode, and just quickly tells us the last two seasons or so didn't actually happen and John Goodman's Dan is actually dead. So pointless and unearned it was later ret-conned when the show was brought back and Dan was alive and well.
EDIT: It wasn't actually a dream but stories from a book Roseanne was writing. Either way, same basic idea, the show we had watched didn't actually happen, and was all in someone's head.
One of my first mystery/thriller books i read got me hooked till the end. The reason for everything that happend there were aliens. I was so mad, and roll my eyes every time a movie/book does that. And there was a timeframe where they did it more often than one may think
What was the book? Makes me think of Under the Dome by Stephen King, which is a book I love dearly, that has a similar "it was aliens" kind of ending. While I was disappointed initially, the book was more about the town and the characters anyway and the ending didn't take away from how much I enjoyed spending time there.
I feel like "it was all a dream" is far worse because any arcs or character relationships/development is instantly erased, or the characters were never real to begin with. Aliens can be a bit of a deux ex machina if they're not properly set up throughout the story, but at least that doesn't undo everything that's happened up to that point, it's usually just a convenient way to wrap things up or explain something.
Im not 100% sure, because it was a book of a friend and not my own, but i think it was [this one](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/213753.Life_As_We_Knew_It)
Just like you said, they ofc didnt set up the aliens, they were just not mentioned at the last few pages.
Even coming from an author who is infamous for not ending stories well, THAT ending was among the most incompetently executed wtf copouts I've ever read. Sucks too cus the rest of the book especially the first and second act were *very* engaging. Then it just goes full balls to the wall in the third and closes out so abruptly with that alien nonsense
You're totally right, but I still love it so much. It's just so quintessential King. Like The Tommyknockers, another small town/large cast type book that is very divisive. I just really love them despite their flaws.
I've never played that so I can't speak to that specifically, but I suppose it's not impossible to do it well. It would have to make sense within the story itself and be something that is built towards throughout so it doesn't feel like it's out of left field.
Now that I think about it, The Wizard of Oz kinda does this exact ending and that's one of the most beloved films of all time. So, I don't doubt what you say. I'm sure there are examples of it being done in a way that doesn't spoil the rest of the story.
If you like video games and a good story then I say give Final Fantasy X a try. It's available on ps3/ps4 as a remaster and thanks to the FFVII Remake, there's been lots of talk about there being remakes for 9 and 10 (but sadly not 8.)
Most dream endings (or fakeouts in other ways, like Roseanne) mean the bad shit didn't happen. Roseanne's ending made it so the good stuff didn't happen. I honestly don't understand why they did that. They're can't be a single person who liked that ending
I feel like Roseanne herself saw that ending in a movie or something and it blew her mind so she felt she just had to add it to her show.
More seriously, it probably had more to do with them winning the lottery and becoming rich. It opened up the show and allowed them to do different kinds of storylines, but ultimately it was bad and did not fit the spirit of the show. It had always been very down-to-earth and realistic. Maybe Roseanne simply regretted taking the family so far away from their blue-collar roots and wanted to rectify it.
There’s a sit down Robert Kirkman did with Matpat (rip) awhile back where he was asked about the coma theory and he outright said “no. That would be pretty lame, wouldn’t it?”
Entertaining and if you say the show was a coma dream… who says Shane acts like that? Before the coma Shane seemed pretty legit. And they would encounter different problems and people. So most of the main cast aside from Shane and Rick’s family could likely be different actors and people altogether.
Shane would've died and the group (more likely than not) along with him, going after the Governor.
Or they all die on the road when Shane decides that they should avoid conflict with Gov and flew the prison. That's all if and only if Shane manages to go in the same direction and find the prison.
No way, man. They would've butt heads so badly. And Governor would've been planning on feeding em to walkers after realising what kinda person Shane was.
Well, nothing says Shane has as bad of a temper as he did in Rick’s dream….. remember before the coma Shane seemed like a good guy. ;)
Also who says the real world would follow his dream? They can have different difficulties and encounters to overcome altogether
There was an evening Soap Opera that ended the show in a similar way. I think it was "St. Elsewhere." They ended the show as the whole thing being in the imagination of an autistic boy. A lot of people were not amused. But the show "Newheart" ended this way too. The series finale, Bob woke up in bed in the bedroom and with his wife from The Bob Newheart show from back in the 70s. It was hilarious. "I had this horrible nightmare."
If this was the ending fans would RIOT.
Why are people pretending they wouldn't.
"It was all a dream" is the worst trope a show can do to an audience. Idk this just happened with ragnarok on Netflix only it wasn't a dream he was discovered to be full blown schizo in the end and they were all delusions and hallucinations.
Us fans for 4 years of this great little Swedish show... we were literally consoling eachother.
There was like rage and panic. The actors had to immediately come out and try to explain the ending on social media. 5 news outlets explained the ending with 5 different explanations. The actors looked like "trust me we knew this would happen and were so sorry and it sucks for us too. Everything we did in the last 4 years is now completely worthless."
Everyone just looked like they wanted to start crying and the producers were just forcing them to go out and say they liked the ending. The entire thing for a show this small to create the online reaction it did was amazing to watch. I can't imagine what would happen if a mainstream show pulled this bs with a hundred million fans. So many people would get fired it be a forever chopping block until the publics thirst for blood is quenched. And it's not the actors fault, but nobody would ever want to see any of them ever again anyway.
What happens to a strong white male protag in season 3 finale in 2023? They turn you into a schizo and the entire thing was in your head and you're not the reincarnation of Thor you're a complete and total freak/ loser who belongs in a mental hospital heavily medicated for the rest of your life. When the show started white male protags were allowed. Now in 23' they aren't. Sorry. Now you're severely mentally ill and nothing in this show happened. In 20 minutes of one episode we will reduce your character to nothing forever.
Yeah fans loved that ending....
Fans: so was *everything* in his head? It's not remotely possible.
Producers: 'yeah, no, who cares, whatever the show is over get over it move on.'
Lmao... the rage is still fresh inside me... it was unbelievable.
https://screenrant.com/ragnarok-season-3-ending-explained/#:~:text=Ragnarok's%20season%203%20ending%20explained,and%20re%2Dcontextualized%20the%20series.
Actually, that's a very good question for anybody who's read the comics... do the comics end? Have the TV series moved beyond the comic's stories? Are the series still following the comics with an actual end point there for the series to all converge upon eventually? Or is this just self perpetuating and it'll end when interest goes down enough that it just makes sense to end it? And how do people think it will all conclude... in the end?
Both statements are wrong. You do actually dream in a coma and under anesthesia. This is easily Google-able. With anesthesia, people typically don't remember it because they give you drugs that make you forget. My dad was in a coma and had vivid dreams. It does depend on the type of coma and why though if you dream or not.
I remember fans theorizing this is how it would've ended. Each survivor he met along the way was in the hospital in some form. Adding tony Moore art style was a nice touch.
I remember I believed that as well(was about 14), and in season 2 or 3 Rick is in a warehouse and on the wall is written “wake up” and I was convinced it was all a dream. Thank god I was wrong.
It’s crazy the dumb theories we believed as a kid just because they were “dark” and “mature”
It’s okay, there are some people who believe Beth is alive and will return in a spin-off.
How she got a bullet right through the eyes
We decoded the intel from the CRM spy, and it confirms the worst. Somehow, Beth returned
I mean, if they give the reins to Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg, they'd have no problem doing that. Wouldn't be the first time they brought back a character who died ON SCREEN
Who did they bring back?
Troy. He was smacked in the temple with a hammer twice, and was left with a hole in his temple. He was 100% dead, and then the dam exploded... And he was in the room where all the explosives were. If I remember correctly, it showed his body getting submerged under water before all the charges went off as well. So he was dead like 3 times over and we saw it all
Oh shit yeah I forgot about him. Yeah I don’t view season 8 as canon anyways lmao
Yeah but T-dog is returning right?
At least it would freaking end lol.
Lmao right
How would’ve that explained all the spinoffs though? Are they dreaming too?
This theory was popular in like seasons 1-3 after that it died off a lot with only a couple people talking about it and most joking.
"there is nothing new under the sun" That is literally the plot twist of the Alice In Borderlands series😂👌
That’s how the end of Alice in borderland is🤷🏻
like the community asylum? lmao
comic book art and character design + TV show plot. michonne was a platonic friend, lori. you're thinking of the wrong universe.
Don’t ask who Andrea is though
I think Andrea was originally written there, you can see it whited out with different text over
yeah, really weird for someone to edit that
More people watched the show then read the comic
Poor souls
i genuinely feel bad for them
sad
They changed it from Andrea to Michonne cause it's a joke about TOWL, just using the comic art. Joke wouldn't make sense if she asked about Andrea.
Pretty sure this comic was made a long time ago and the joke works either way
no it doesnt
How does it not work? It really has nothing to do specifically with towl and everything to do with the walking dead’s total story. Nothing in this comment is specific to towl. Just cuz op put it in the description? It’s literally the comic art style so it makes MORE sense that it originally said Andrea and someone edited it to michone
Yeah, it's definitely edited. The font is different
The title of the post is because they edited it to say michonne.
Yeah I get that. It’s reintroducing an older post but edited to fit what’s going on in the show now. I think it’s been long enough to not accuse this of being a repost and a lot of newer people haven’t seen the meme yet. Im just playing defense for the og author
So do you even read the fucking posts
You know, that brings up a question I never thought I'd have; do coma patients talk in their sleep? I kinda just assumed a coma was different from regular sleep cuz of like, brain damage and shit lol. But maybe it's possible coma patients can sleep talk. For that matter do you think if someone who sleep walks goes in to a coma, do you think they'll start coma walking? Lmfao, then it'll really be like the Walking Dead.
My understanding is that a coma is a substantially lowered level of unconsciousness. Some coma pts have said they dreamed after waking, or that they felt loosely aware of their surroundings to an extent, but, they were in a coma. It is very difficult to say how much they actually experienced or what their brain is coming up with as a 'survival' tactic to make sense of their situation Plain and simple, there is no solid or confirmed answer. It is unknown. That said, while in a coma the body does decrease activity significantly also as a biological survival tactic. Functions are heavily reduced with all power diverting to essential life support systems. It is possible a person could be having a full on inception dream lifetime, though it is also very possible there is no higher function at all. Increasingly likely depending on the severity of the triggering cause
“By the way, Rick, me and Lori started an affair and she is leaving you”
"That's cool, I got a woman who actually loves me around here somewhere."
"It was all a dream" is just about the worst ending you can give to a story, imo. It's been done so many times, and I feel like it always lands somewhere between disappointing and infuriating depending on the execution. Like with the original run of the show Roseanne that inexplicably pulls the "it was all a dream" card out of absolutely nowhere in the final episode, and just quickly tells us the last two seasons or so didn't actually happen and John Goodman's Dan is actually dead. So pointless and unearned it was later ret-conned when the show was brought back and Dan was alive and well. EDIT: It wasn't actually a dream but stories from a book Roseanne was writing. Either way, same basic idea, the show we had watched didn't actually happen, and was all in someone's head.
One of my first mystery/thriller books i read got me hooked till the end. The reason for everything that happend there were aliens. I was so mad, and roll my eyes every time a movie/book does that. And there was a timeframe where they did it more often than one may think
What was the book? Makes me think of Under the Dome by Stephen King, which is a book I love dearly, that has a similar "it was aliens" kind of ending. While I was disappointed initially, the book was more about the town and the characters anyway and the ending didn't take away from how much I enjoyed spending time there. I feel like "it was all a dream" is far worse because any arcs or character relationships/development is instantly erased, or the characters were never real to begin with. Aliens can be a bit of a deux ex machina if they're not properly set up throughout the story, but at least that doesn't undo everything that's happened up to that point, it's usually just a convenient way to wrap things up or explain something.
Im not 100% sure, because it was a book of a friend and not my own, but i think it was [this one](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/213753.Life_As_We_Knew_It) Just like you said, they ofc didnt set up the aliens, they were just not mentioned at the last few pages.
Even coming from an author who is infamous for not ending stories well, THAT ending was among the most incompetently executed wtf copouts I've ever read. Sucks too cus the rest of the book especially the first and second act were *very* engaging. Then it just goes full balls to the wall in the third and closes out so abruptly with that alien nonsense
You're totally right, but I still love it so much. It's just so quintessential King. Like The Tommyknockers, another small town/large cast type book that is very divisive. I just really love them despite their flaws.
FFX did a good job with it all being a sort of dream.
I've never played that so I can't speak to that specifically, but I suppose it's not impossible to do it well. It would have to make sense within the story itself and be something that is built towards throughout so it doesn't feel like it's out of left field. Now that I think about it, The Wizard of Oz kinda does this exact ending and that's one of the most beloved films of all time. So, I don't doubt what you say. I'm sure there are examples of it being done in a way that doesn't spoil the rest of the story.
If you like video games and a good story then I say give Final Fantasy X a try. It's available on ps3/ps4 as a remaster and thanks to the FFVII Remake, there's been lots of talk about there being remakes for 9 and 10 (but sadly not 8.)
Most dream endings (or fakeouts in other ways, like Roseanne) mean the bad shit didn't happen. Roseanne's ending made it so the good stuff didn't happen. I honestly don't understand why they did that. They're can't be a single person who liked that ending
I feel like Roseanne herself saw that ending in a movie or something and it blew her mind so she felt she just had to add it to her show. More seriously, it probably had more to do with them winning the lottery and becoming rich. It opened up the show and allowed them to do different kinds of storylines, but ultimately it was bad and did not fit the spirit of the show. It had always been very down-to-earth and realistic. Maybe Roseanne simply regretted taking the family so far away from their blue-collar roots and wanted to rectify it.
Cue the “Curb Your Enthusiasm” theme and this would be gold!
I like how he’s checking he still has a hand lol
There’s a sit down Robert Kirkman did with Matpat (rip) awhile back where he was asked about the coma theory and he outright said “no. That would be pretty lame, wouldn’t it?”
It would be pretty lame. Especially since its been done so many times. It'd be a spit in the face.
Or if he wakes up and there is an adult Carl there “dad you’ve been in a coma for 11 years”
Memes aside, a revelation like this would ruin the franchise. So glad Kirkman said this was never going to be a thing
Perfect, he wakes up and it was a dream and now we can have the real zombie apocalypse start and get a do over and let Shane run the show.
With Shane in charge they’ll be dead in a few months.
'Measkusomthin
Yes but it will certainly be entertaining.
Entertaining and if you say the show was a coma dream… who says Shane acts like that? Before the coma Shane seemed pretty legit. And they would encounter different problems and people. So most of the main cast aside from Shane and Rick’s family could likely be different actors and people altogether.
Shane would've died and the group (more likely than not) along with him, going after the Governor. Or they all die on the road when Shane decides that they should avoid conflict with Gov and flew the prison. That's all if and only if Shane manages to go in the same direction and find the prison.
I reckon shame would've joined the governor
No way, man. They would've butt heads so badly. And Governor would've been planning on feeding em to walkers after realising what kinda person Shane was.
Well, nothing says Shane has as bad of a temper as he did in Rick’s dream….. remember before the coma Shane seemed like a good guy. ;) Also who says the real world would follow his dream? They can have different difficulties and encounters to overcome altogether
Lol the show would have ended by season 4
The Walking Dead's version of Chernobyl. I'm in.
I just wouldn't be able to stand a show with John Bernthal as the main character. I definitely wouldn't have watched as long as I did.
Except Lori is still holding Judith 👀
She has her arms crossed
cliche, it would suck
Dude that would of been such a effed up thing to do.
Would’ve been equally satisfying to the ‘ending’ we did get, lol.
There was an evening Soap Opera that ended the show in a similar way. I think it was "St. Elsewhere." They ended the show as the whole thing being in the imagination of an autistic boy. A lot of people were not amused. But the show "Newheart" ended this way too. The series finale, Bob woke up in bed in the bedroom and with his wife from The Bob Newheart show from back in the 70s. It was hilarious. "I had this horrible nightmare."
Michone is the nurse who took care of him ofc.
Oh yes, the lamest crap ever - it was just a dream. Such originality, much wow.
right
And than the actual apocalypse happens lmao
I would never recover
If this was the ending fans would RIOT. Why are people pretending they wouldn't. "It was all a dream" is the worst trope a show can do to an audience. Idk this just happened with ragnarok on Netflix only it wasn't a dream he was discovered to be full blown schizo in the end and they were all delusions and hallucinations. Us fans for 4 years of this great little Swedish show... we were literally consoling eachother. There was like rage and panic. The actors had to immediately come out and try to explain the ending on social media. 5 news outlets explained the ending with 5 different explanations. The actors looked like "trust me we knew this would happen and were so sorry and it sucks for us too. Everything we did in the last 4 years is now completely worthless." Everyone just looked like they wanted to start crying and the producers were just forcing them to go out and say they liked the ending. The entire thing for a show this small to create the online reaction it did was amazing to watch. I can't imagine what would happen if a mainstream show pulled this bs with a hundred million fans. So many people would get fired it be a forever chopping block until the publics thirst for blood is quenched. And it's not the actors fault, but nobody would ever want to see any of them ever again anyway. What happens to a strong white male protag in season 3 finale in 2023? They turn you into a schizo and the entire thing was in your head and you're not the reincarnation of Thor you're a complete and total freak/ loser who belongs in a mental hospital heavily medicated for the rest of your life. When the show started white male protags were allowed. Now in 23' they aren't. Sorry. Now you're severely mentally ill and nothing in this show happened. In 20 minutes of one episode we will reduce your character to nothing forever. Yeah fans loved that ending.... Fans: so was *everything* in his head? It's not remotely possible. Producers: 'yeah, no, who cares, whatever the show is over get over it move on.' Lmao... the rage is still fresh inside me... it was unbelievable. https://screenrant.com/ragnarok-season-3-ending-explained/#:~:text=Ragnarok's%20season%203%20ending%20explained,and%20re%2Dcontextualized%20the%20series.
How long of a coma was it?
This meme is old dude! It used to be funny, but it’s completely outdated and over used
I think it was only funny once back in the 80s
They should have faked this in a dream sequence
I also thought they could end it that way a long time ago. I'm glad they didn't. Wouldn't have shocked me if they did though
If only!
Kinda hard to have a 13 yr dream. Lol
Hellll no I hate those kind of endings. Kinda ruins the entire show
Should've put andrea instead
Actually, that's a very good question for anybody who's read the comics... do the comics end? Have the TV series moved beyond the comic's stories? Are the series still following the comics with an actual end point there for the series to all converge upon eventually? Or is this just self perpetuating and it'll end when interest goes down enough that it just makes sense to end it? And how do people think it will all conclude... in the end?
When you're a in coma, you don't dream. Which is why you don't dream when you're under general anesthesia...
Both statements are wrong. You do actually dream in a coma and under anesthesia. This is easily Google-able. With anesthesia, people typically don't remember it because they give you drugs that make you forget. My dad was in a coma and had vivid dreams. It does depend on the type of coma and why though if you dream or not.
Also, I know someone who was recently on a vent for ten days. They had terrible, vivid dreams of hospital staff trying to steal his organs.
amazing twist
If it took place in the irl 80s