It is not a ghost, but rather a simple side effect of Rick's growing insanity. Just wait till you see how long Rick carries that phone around with him.

It would have worked a lot better if they had been hinting towards his eventual emotional breakdown before this episode (as the comics did), instead of trying to cram it into two episodes so that more zombie skulls could be knifed.

I never quite understand the criticism this show gets for having the gall to have character development and dialogue. If it is all zombie killing, it would be incredibly stupid and simple, and eventually boring. Of course, if it is all hanging around and talking, you get the 12 episode farm story arc (shudder).

The season started with a bang and now it is turning into a rather boring whimper. They need to pick up the pace. When I read that the Governor and Michonne would be in this season I was thrilled to see how they'd bring into the screen the horrific storyline from the comic but, so far, it's becoming boring fast. The Woodbury storyline is just not compelling enough, and the post-cleanup prison is getting dull.

@1,

I have no problem with character development. What I have a problem with is terrible writing. I mean, what the fuck was Lori's deal anyway? Just citing one example among many, she effectively tells Rick that he needs to kill Shane; he kills Shane; and she tears him a new asshole. The writers never address what was wrong with her or what her motivations were (or, if they did, I missed it). Basically, they just made her a terrible person whenever the occasion called for it.

And all of this goes hand in hand with so much other dumb shit the writers and production people throw in there. Like that the morning after pill causes abortions. Or that Baptist churches contain crucifixes. In the second season, Lori was drinking from a *cold* bottle of water.

@1
"I never quite understand the criticism this show gets for having the gall to have character development and dialogue."

The problem is that most of the character development is stupid.
They start out stupid.
And they get more stupid back story.
Then they do stupid things.
And the end up even more stupid than they began.

The farm is a great example of that.
Stupid vet thinks that the zombies can get better.
Stupid guy gets eaten by a zombie when he was wandering around alone in the dark.
The farm is overrun because none of the characters put any effort into building any useful defenses.

The town is also stupid.
So they have a "wall".
But every house behind that wall has street-level windows and doors.
It looks just like it would have BEFORE the zombie uprising.

How about some character development where they realize that they are NOT living the same life that they had before the zombie uprising?

Talking to dead people is a terrible television cliché by now. Be they actual ghosts or just inner dialogue metaphors.

I thought that episode had come strong moments. Like Michonne kicking ass, the kidnapping and the redneck finding the girl who's name I don't remember. But the rest was either boring or stupid.

fuck you, haters! i love this show

@4 is completely correct. The show is insufferable.

It's only popular because it has:
- some passible acting
- trendy gritty cinematography
- a good prosthesis and CGI budget
- the "pop-culture-du-jour" gimmick of zombies.

Take away any one of those things and it falls apart.

For all the PR it get's as a self-proclaimed "intelligent horror" show the writing, the story, and the character development are stupefyingly bad. Especially considering the source material. In the age of Breaking Bad there is no excuse for writing this shitty and fan-boy pandering.

They literally have not done one original thing with this show. The writing exists to keep the characters as morons so they can cynically throw them into gory action sequences every episode.

@7,

It's pretty amazing that it's AMC that produces such a terrible show. The channel of Breaking Bad and Mad Men. Although I do love to hate it.

The cinematography is shitty. Although I do agree that the prosthetics and makeup are top notch.

Yet you still watch it? The reason I don't watch Family Guy is because it isn't funny. Why would I want to repeat that every week?

@9 my thoughts exactly... (not the Family Guy part, I like Family Guy).

Possible Spoilery-text below:
The phone thing... oh ffs why don't you guys read the damn comic? He's insane, any second he will notice the phone isn't plugged in. So yeah... oh and then someone will die when the governor finds the prison (the farmer). Handless-dude is a stand-in for a part of the comicbook verson of the governor. I kinda bet he will be the one to cut someones head of on the back of a truck infront of the prison with Michones sword when they try to force the people inside to come out.
The Sheriffs wife was doomed from the start (she died just after they leave the prison in the comic by a random shot. The shows version was better)

If you wan't to watch the same dull zombie-slaughter why don't you guys just download a copy of [insert random Zombie-killer movie here of which there are thousands] and let the rest of us enjoy this?

@4: Ha, why do you keep watching it every week if it is so dumb?

You say the people on the farm were stupid for not building walls, but the people at Woodbury are stupid because they built walls, but did not put their homes on stilts, or destroyed the ground level entry? Geez, why didn't they just get a spaceship and live in orbit? Big stupidheads.

Keep in mind that a big part of the comics was that the survivors were slowly learning about their new world, and people learn by trial and error/mistakes. As a viewer who has watched tons of zombie movies, YOU know it can not be cured but the characters do not. If you are going to say that people wandering off makes the show stupid, then every horror movie ever made is stupid.

Besides, you sound like a ten year old. "The characters are stupid, I think the back stories are stupid, the writers are big stupid heads, and everyone is stupid."

Rick: Next time u call use my cell number. I'm ditching the land line.
Ghost: Uhh. Ok.

@12
"Besides, you sound like a ten year old."

Yeah, I get that from the Twilight fans, too.
You see, I'm criticizing the series.
But you are attacking me.

"Geez, why didn't they just get a spaceship and live in orbit?"

That would be the same if they then built houses just like their old houses on that spaceship.
Wait, wasn't that the design on the old "The Starlost" series?
And didn't that series suck?

"As a viewer who has watched tons of zombie movies, YOU know it can not be cured but the characters do not."

No. The point is that the veterinarian who is capable of operating on a child to remove a bullet cannot tell the difference between a sick human and an animated corpse with obvious fatal injuries.
Yet most of the other characters (without his knowledge of anatomy) CAN figure out that dead people are walking around.

"... slowly learning ..." "... learn by trial and error/mistakes."

But that's the problem.
They are NOT learning.
It's been about 9 or 10 months (got pregnant and had baby) since the zombie uprising started.
Yet they're still wandering around alone.
Only the bad guys post guards.
Only the bad guys actively "kill" zombies near their town.
Their primary combat technique is either shoot it with something OR run up with a short hand-held weapon and hit its brain.
Which is great until you slip and fall.
Which will never happen unless the writers need it to happen.
That's bad writing.

If anyone wants to read, you know, less snarky/grumpy commentary, try the AV Club:
http://www.avclub.com/articles/hounded,8…