Last night’s somewhat saddening midseason finale put a cap on The Walking Dead for the next two months, giving audiences a chance to contemplate whether or not the events of the episode justified the first half of Season 5. But take a break from that to go back into Season 4 with me to relive a scene so disgusting that AMC forced The Walking Dead’s creative team to edit it. Splat.
Speaking with Vulture mostly about the recent events plaguing Rick & Co., showrunner Scott Gimple was asked if there was ever anything shot during his time with the show that was too graphic for viewers. Here’s what he said.
There was a walker being sort of cheese-gratered through a fence. Portions of that did not make the cut. In general, I think we’ve found the sweet spot between totally awful and abhorrent but acceptable.”
There’s a good chance you’ll remember what scene he’s talking about, as it was definitely one of the coolest ways The Walking Dead has ever dealt with a rotting zombie body. The episode in question is “Infected,” the second installment of Season 4. This is when the gang was in the prison and constantly surrounded by the sounds of walkers smacking against chain-link fences.
At one point, the horde is clamoring as hard as ever, and one particular zombie gets shoved forward against the fence, and its head is pushed through the holes. Gimple calls it a cheese grater effect, but to me it’s a lot more like Play-Doh. (Albeit some not-sold-in-stores Play-Doh.) You can find the money shot from that particular sequence at the 4:30 mark of the video below.
It’s a righteous scene, and a key moment of grossness in The Walking Dead’s run, but was it really all THAT disgusting? (Probably.) Perhaps the entire uncut product was even worse and resembled a bunch of clabbered milk clumps starting a mosh pit, but I’m fairly certain horror fans have seen worse. Even on this show.
Earlier this season in particular, there was a scene where Eugene got on top of the fire engine and started mowing walkers down left and right, using a blast of water to rip their bodies to pieces. Maybe because that scene wasn’t shown in close-up like the one seen above was? And we still don’t know why AMC was wishy washy about airing this episode, so there is clearly some fluctuation going on when it comes to AMC’s censor board.
What kind of vomit-inducing mayhem will ensue when the show returns? Check back in with AMC on February 8 for the return of Season 5.
