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The Walking Dead: What Lies Ahead

Rick: “It can’t be harder than our journey’s been so far, can it?”

Good movies and shows haunt me. What I mean by this is that for days after, scenes pop up in my head. I remember little bits and mull them over. The Walking Dead is certainly one of those shows. The strong story lines, the great acting, the obvious skill of the directors make it fabulous TV, and the second season premiere promised that there wouldn’t be any momentum lost from the first season. The suspense was maintained with little rest throughout the whole ninety minutes. I can’t wait for the next episode.

The episode starts with Rick talking to Morgan and saying good-bye to Atlanta. He talks about slim chances, but it feels like he is losing hope -- and if he loses hope, what happens then? This little group is looking to him to lead. Shane is a hard head who knows what needs to be done and is willing to order people around, but Rick is the good guy, the person that everyone knows should be leader. That is a lot of pressure for one man who obviously doesn’t have experience with this kind of situation.

The stress of living through the apocalypse is starting to show in everyone. The group is smaller and starting to fracture. This group has just been thrown together and, as Andrea so clearly points out, they are not really anything to each other. But is that actually true? If there are only a few members of humanity left, don’t they become your family? It seems that some members of the group feel this way. I was surprised by Daryl’s action to save T-dog at some risk to himself. This group may not be much, but at this point, they are all they’ve got. On the other hand, I did understand Andrea’s point. Shouldn’t she have had the choice to end it cleanly if she wanted to? Great questions with not-so-easy answers.

One of the things I appreciated about this episode was the emotional intensity it created. When they were hiding under the cars as the zombie “herd” went by, I realized I was holding my breath. Then, the chase after Sophia didn’t give me much time to recover -- not to mention Carl’s adventure with sharp tools and a dead man (I kept expecting him to wake up). Then there was the tent, and the race to the church bells, and I don’t even want to talk about the end of the episode. I think they managed to give us just a little taste of what it might actually be like to live in a zombie apocalypse, how utterly wearing it might be emotionally. And I think that is one of the ways that this show shines. It gets very personal.

The premiere was a great set-up (how many premieres have cliffhangers?) and it has me already committed to this rag-tag group for another season.

Bits and Pieces

Someone is broadcasting a signal within a 50m. radius. I hope it isn’t automatic like the church bells. There is also someone else with a shotgun in that forest. I hope they are friendly.

I’m not particularly fond of “rednecks” per se but I am pretty sure I would like Daryl on my team. Dragging the dead people on top of them was brilliant.

I wasn’t surprised the road was blocked. I was surprised it wasn’t blocked before now. Maybe they should think about horses. Although they don’t carry as much and they don’t come with a kitchen.

The parents are still trying to protect their children. I wonder if they should be training them for life with zombies?

Poor Shane. I know he is being a jerk, but you have to feel for him. Losing him would not be great for the group.

Gooey bit I could live without: Checking the stomach of the zombie.

Quotes:

Shane: “Can’t find a radiator hose here.”

Rick: “It was the only choice I could make.”
Shane: “I’m sure nobody doubts that.”

Andrea: “You took my choice away, Dale, and you expect gratitude?”

Dale: “I want to the hold off 'the needs of the many' versus 'the needs of the few' arguments as long as I can.”

Daryl: “Yo J.C., you takin’ requests?”

Carol: “Please, don’t let this be my punishment.”

Rick: “Any sign’ll do.”

8 comments:

  1. They certainly haven't lost their touch. How about those first twenty-five minutes of unbelievable tension? And that horrible cliffhanger. I couldn't believe they did that.

    Terrific review, Doc. Really good movies and shows haunt me, too. When you go to bed and you're still thinking about it, bingo.

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  2. As I was reading your review, I kept saying to myself, how you said exactly how I felt about this episode. Great job!!!

    I wonder if Darryl understands intrinsically that these are his people now, and he has to make sure that they are protected. That or he is genuinely good, I can't decide which. I thought the stomach scene was gross, but effective and sorta funny.

    This premiere was just awesome, and I wouldn't have realized it was on a reduced budget, and had writer issues if the media hadn't made such a big deal about it.

    Thanks for the lovely review,

    TVNerd

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  3. The bit after Dale handed Andrea the screwdriver... now that is going to haunt me for a while. Although, it is good to know there'll be no reduction in gore this season.

    Rick's opening monologue was slightly cheesy at times, but from the moment the herd showed up I was on the edge of my seat throughout. And then there was that cliff-hanger. Much like Game of Thrones and Spooks, I think The Walking Dead is one of those shows where you can genuinely believe that no character is safe. So when someone like Carl is shot it creates actual tension because we have no idea if he will survive or not.

    Well done on the great review, Doc.

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  4. I appreciate any show that doesn't screw around. For me, this beat out Breaking Bad, Supernatural, True Blood, and Dexter in the season premiere department.

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  5. I'm not easily disgusted, so, the checking the stomach part got me kind of bored.

    Now I've read the comics, I feel all I can comment is a comparison between the two. The most striking difference must be Dale and Andrea's relationship. I won't get into spoiler territory, but it's completely different in the comics, and, the way it is in the series right now, I don't know if they'll ever get to the point they do in the comics.

    And get Andrea a gun already!

    It makes sense, in a casting aspect, to kill off the two children. They grow up fast. It's been a year in real life, but only two days in the show.

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  6. And that horrible cliffhanger. I couldn't believe they did that.

    That's right out of the comic.

    I wasn't expecting it so soon, though, so it caught me off guard.

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  7. This premiere benefitted greatly from the opening scene of the pilot. We already know that even children are not safe so the tension was really high all episode long. Unlike say Terra Nova...

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  8. The thing that takes me out of the show sometimes is that nobody seems to be afraid to get zombie guts in their mouth or eyes or wounds. These zombies carry a deadly infectious disease, so any contact is going to be potentially fatal.

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