Air Date: Sunday, October 23, 2011 9/8c on AMC
The Walking Dead continues to bring the most realistic reactions to the screen with each new episode. The actors are to be commended for thrusting themselves into a situation they have no knowledge of, behaving as if they are truly living through a ‘zombiepocalypse.’
Rick running to save Carl's life followed by Shane and the guilty Otis
What an interesting parallel. Flashback to Shane (Jon Bernthal) telling Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) about Rick (Andrew Lincoln) being shot—which isn’t something we saw during season one—to Rick being the bearer of similar news. Having to explain to his wife their son has been shot in a hunting accident, of all things, is a first. We haven’t seen any deer (or any other animals, except a horse) since the zombie outbreak. Coming across new survivors, however, is refreshing. Especially a doctor! (Well, technically he’s a vet.) I was just thinking the group is short on a few people like a doctor or a nurse and here’s both, plus an EMT. Yes, the group has two officers and a quick thinking pizza guy, but they lack any medical professionals. Don’t you find it curious how none of the new survivors Rick has come across ever breaks away from their group to join the sheriff and his band of merry men?
Observations and thoughts:
Dr. Hershel Greene (Scott Wilson) replies, “One down, five to go,” after removing a bullet fragment from Carl’s (Chandler Riggs) abdomen. I cannot imagine how Rick stands by and watches his son in such pain. I want to smack the good doctor myself. Hearing Carl cry and call for his dad pulls at my heartstrings. It’s truly great acting on Riggs’ part, but that may have been too good. I have to fight back tears during the scene and I’m not looking forward to reliving that moment in the future.
I like the new folks, but I’m getting that strange feeling—the feeling that occurs when watching a show like Star Trek, and there’s one lone officer whose name you don’t know who goes along with the team. You how you know he won’t make it back, or he’ll be hurt along the way? Yeah… that feeling is sticking with me and I can’t shake it. The problem is, there’s a houseful of people who have medical knowledge and I’m just waiting for a herd of Walkers to appear from nowhere and take them all out. Talk about putting all your eggs in one basket.
Why not just get it over with Andrea? You obviously don't want to be around anymore.
For someone who wants to die, Andrea (Laurie Holden) sure does scream for her life when she’s caught by a Walker. I find it interesting she fights to save herself. Why not just lie down and be done with it? Oh right, she doesn’t want to die like that. Beggars can’t be choosy, especially when she can’t get her hands on a gun. The suicidal tendencies she has give me the creeps.
I really want to dislike Shane but he can show his good side at times, can’t he? I’m conflicted when it comes to his relationship with Rick. There’s a huge secret looming between the two and once it comes out, I’m sure the shit will hit the fan. And I bet that’s what will cause Shane to leave eventually. There’s a lot of unknown surrounding the hows and the whys of his and Lori’s affair. Sure, they both thought Rick was dead and turned to one another for comfort, but those feelings don’t just come out of nowhere and they sure as heck don’t disappear in a flash.
“I’m the only one that’s Zen around here? Good Lord.” I really like Daryl (Norman Reedus). His sensibilities are always on point. Not only does he keep his head in the game, he thinks positively. You gotta keep thinking things will work out instead of dwelling on the negative. Though I wouldn’t count out the praying and hoping. Can’t hurt.
Dale (Jeffrey DeMunn) and T-Dog (IronE Singleton) are quite the odd couple, but they have an interesting conversation while scavenging. T-Dog might be on the delirious side because of his injury, but I don’t mind chuckling with him about how ridiculous it is he might die from an infection in the midst of “the dead coming back and eating the living.” What are the odds?
Shane is redeeming himself to me, only a little bit. He needs to come clean with Rick, like now.
I understand why some viewers didn’t think looking for Sophia (Madison Lintz) made for an interesting storyline in the season opener, but I think they may have missed the point. It’s not that they were looking for a lost child; it’s more like why they were looking for a lost child. Not leaving a man behind; caring for another’s child as if it were your own—those things come to mind when I think about the search for Sophia. What if it were Rick’s son? Or one of the adult members of the group? Would they not look for them as well? I think you lose a sense of humanity during these crises, so to see they all haven’t completely gone every man for himself makes me smile. I’d like to know there are still considerate people in the world who think to “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” It is the golden rule after all.
How cool to see another horse in “Bloodletting,” let alone a woman riding in to save the day. The last horse we saw, Rick rode into Atlanta and that was pretty symbolic of the lone hero riding in on his brave steed to bring the law back to town. Well, we know what happened to that poor beast. Did anyone else think about Zombieland while watching Shane and Otis (Pruitt Taylor Vince) running through the throng of Walkers? I was going through the list of rules and thinking they are totally and truly screwed. These cliffhanger endings are killing me.
Tune in to The Walking Dead Sundays at 9/8c on AMC. For more on the show, visit http://www.amctv.com/shows/the-walking-dead.
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Photos courtesy of Bob Mahoney/AMC © 2010-2011 American Movie Classics Company LLC. All rights reserved.
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