‘Fear The Walking Dead’ Season 2, Episode 10: Why Did That Infected Guy Reanimate So Quickly?

Episode 10 of AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead saw one of the infected animate in record timing. So why do the undead in L.A. and Mexico seem to reanimate quicker than those of the same time frame in the show’s companion program, The Walking Dead?

Spoiler alert: This article discusses Episode 10 and Season 2 of AMC’s Fear The Walking Dead as well as its companion program, The Walking Dead. Please proceed with caution if you wish to avoid spoilers.

This week, in Episode 10 of Fear the Walking Dead, viewers got to see a flashback to the wedding reception that occurred in the hotel Madison’s (Kim Dickens) group is currently holed up in. Whispers of the world falling to the infected were happening at the wedding and the mother of the bride wanted the wedding wound up early so they wouldn’t be stuck in Mexico if the borders closed. But, then her husband went and had a heart attack and died on the dance floor. His daughter tried in vain to resuscitate him but he turned in record time and bit off part of her face. In order to contain the outbreak, one of the hotel staff, Elena (Karen Bethzabe), locked the entire wedding party into the reception room, sealing their fate, once and for all, in Fear the Walking Dead.

But why did the father of the bride reanimate so quickly after his death in Episode 10 of Fear the Walking Dead? Was it just a plot device to move the story line along, or is there a reason why some people reanimate more quickly than others in the Walking Dead universe? Remember how long it took for Amy to reanimate back in Season 1 of The Walking Dead? Shouldn’t the person be dead for a while before they reanimate? Let’s have a look at the established rules in the Walking Dead universe in relation to reanimation.

When Rick’s group visited the CDC in Season 1 of The Walking Dead, they found out more about the zombie virus from a scientific viewpoint. They learned that part of the brain is reanimated at some point after death. The time of reanimation can occur any time from three minutes to eight hours after death according to Dr. Jenner (Noah Emmerich).

So why do some bodies take longer to reanimate? Why did the father of the bride reanimate so quickly in Episode 10 of Fear the Walking Dead? Robert Kirkman, creator of The Walking Dead comics and executive producer on both Walking Dead shows, revealed in his Letter Hacks section of the Walking Dead comic #153 that a body must cool in core body temperature before reanimation occurs.

“A dead body wouldn’t become a walker until its body temperature had lowered enough that another walker wouldn’t be tempted to bite it. It reaches a very dead corpse state before reanimation occurs.”

This would explain how reanimation occurs in vastly different time frames. However, it would not explain how a man wearing a suit would die of a heart attack in Fear the Walking Dead and have his body temperature drop significantly in such a short amount of time considering the wedding took place in Mexico. His daughter was still trying to resuscitate him when he reanimated and bit her, indicating he was probably not feeling cold like a corpse would.

When The Walking Dead first hit our screens, AMC published some tweets establishing the rules of their zombie apocalypse. One of them indicated that the type of bite indicates how quickly someone will die and reanimate.

“Zombie Rule #10: Once you’re bitten you’ll die and reanimate as a walker. How long it takes is related to the nature [of] your bite.”

While the man who died and quickly reanimated in Fear the Walking Dead was not bitten, it does bring up an interesting idea. Could the cause of death indicate how quickly one reanimates? This topic has been discussed at length by fans on Roamers and Lurkers. And these fans have discovered something interesting: people who die of something other than a zombie bite seem to reanimate quicker than those who are bitten.

Once again, Amy is used as an example. She was bitten and took many hours after death occurred in Season 1 of The Walking Dead to reanimate. Milton (Dallas Roberts), on the other hand, died of a stab wound in Season 3 of The Walking Dead. He reanimated much quicker. Merle (Michael Rooker) is another example of someone who was killed at the hand of another and reanimated quickly.

As a result of this theory, some fans have suggested that aAdrenalin is a factor in determining just how quickly a person reanimates after death. If this is true, a person suffering a heart attack could be seen as having more Adrenalin coursing through their body than someone who is bitten and succumbs to infection.

What did you think of the quick reanimation in Episode 10 of AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead? Let us know your thoughts and theories on reanimation by commenting below.

Season 2 of AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead returns Sunday, September 11, with Episode 11 (entitled “Pablo & Jessica”) at 9 p.m. ET.

The official synopsis for Episode 11 of Fear the Walking Dead is below.

“Alicia and Madison work to unite two competing factions. Nick draws upon skills from his past to take on a new role at the Colonia.”

[Image via Richard Foreman, Jr./AMC]