Timeline Web Series | The Oath

Timeline The Oath – SPOILER ALERT

Complete summary table at the bottom of the page.

The Moral Significance of the “Oath”

The title The Oath has a double and profound philosophical interpretation that enriches the Lore of the series:

• The oath of loyalty between survivors: It represents the solemn promise Paul and Karina made to each other at the onset of the apocalypse: never to leave each other behind and never allow the other to transform into a monster. This justifies Paul’s macabre yet loving final gesture, preferring to travel with Karina’s reanimated (but harmless and toothless) corpse rather than abandon her in that hellish place.
• The Distorted Hippocratic Oath: This represents Dr. Macones’s medical vow. No longer able to cure or save people due to the lack of drugs and surgeons, the doctor reinterprets her duty to “do no harm,” offering a peaceful and painless death. The hospital cafeteria thus becomes a structured logistical graveyard, a mad yet rigorous attempt to maintain scientific order amidst total chaos.

The Mystery of Rick’s Survival: The Implied Role of Dr. Macones

One of the most frequently asked questions among fans of The Walking Dead is: “How did Rick Grimes survive in a coma for almost two months without food, water, or medical care?” The web series The Oath offers, between the lines, the definitive answer to this riddle.
Although we never see Dr. Macones enter Rick’s room during the three episodes, her active and solitary presence inside Harrison Memorial Hospital until Day 48 demonstrates that the facility was not completely abandoned. It is entirely plausible that the doctor, driven by her distorted Hippocratic Oath, continued to replace the IV bags and monitor the deputy’s vital signs for weeks, considering him a non-terminal patient and therefore excluded from her euthanasia protocol. Without Macones’s silent presence, shown in this web series, Rick’s awakening on Day 59 would not have been biologically possible.

Production and Technical Background

To film The Oath, the production reused the same corridors and hospital facilities from the first season of TWD, paying meticulous attention to the placement of the wooden planks and the spacing of the spray paint, so that they perfectly matched the shots Rick saw two years earlier in Season One of TWD.

Why Paul pulls Karina’s teeth in the finale?

Paul removes Karina’s teeth after her transformation to uphold their oath of protection, allowing her to “live” alongside him inside the van without posing a biological threat in the event of a bite.

September 20th, 2010
After the outbreak, Paul and Karina take refuge in a camp with other survivors when the place is overrun by a horde.
September 21st, 2010
The young couple escapes, and the next day they find a car and a gun. Karina notices, however, that Paul is wounded in the side and losing a lot of blood.
After several failed attempts, they reach a hospital that doesn’t seem overrun by walkers. There they meet Dr. Macones, who has stayed in the hospital since the very beginning to help anyone in need. Resigned to the situation, she now euthanizes those with no hope left, later moving their bodies to the hospital cafeteria.
She convinces Karina that Paul is beyond saving as well. For safety, she ties him to a gurney and locks him in the cafeteria. Inside, Paul regains strength and manages to escape the walkers, barricading the door with a large wooden plank. Meanwhile, Karina decides to end her own life, and Dr. Macones injects her with poison that kills her.
Paul arrives in the room just in time to witness the final moments of the girl’s life, watching her die before his eyes. Devastated, he confronts Dr. Macones, who admits that she offers this “option” to anyone who wishes to end their suffering.
Paul leaves with a reanimated Karina, from whom he has pulled out all her teeth.
Before departing, he sprays a warning on the cafeteria door: “DO NOT OPEN, DEAD INSIDE.”
October 2nd, 2010
A few days later, in that very same hospital, Rick will awaken from his coma.

P.S.: The dates in the timeline are approximate, but everything happened more or less around those days.