Walking Dead 2.13 - Beside The Dying Fire

A strong finish makes the second season of The Walking Dead feel less uneven, plus a few great details set up an amazing journey for Season 3. Oh, and we are finally leaving the farm! More thoughts below:

A great finale can make or break an otherwise average season and turn it into the stuff of legend or simply hour number 13. This finale did the former; it made a bumpy season feel like it had a purpose the entire time and provided some promising leads to follow up on that will keep viewers hungry for the next chapter over the long break.

Picking up right where things left off last week we see a massive heard of zombies heading towards the farm to threaten our band of scattered survivors. The resulting escape and the torching of the barn might go down as one of the most memorable moments of the this season, and it reminded us why this show is great both dramatically and visually. I particularly loved the way the show blew apart the group safety model by splitting everyone up in the most dire of circumstances without any means of communication. The show has slowly been destroying the comforting idea of the group's safety and forcing the survivors to come to terms with the reality that they are living in a dangerous world that threatens their very existence. The burning of the barn along with the gruesome deaths of two known (if not necessarily significant) characters put the final nail in the coffin of security; on top of the all too recent incident of Dale's death. I feel like this is the show I have been waiting to see since day one.

When the remaining survivors finally meet up on the road it's a relief, but their conversation is also colored by the realization that things have changed dramatically. On that note I also enjoyed the visual cues of often having the zombies sneaking up on, or behind the survivors; as though they constantly need to be looking over their shoulder. The group is now facing the realities of being on the move, like leaving behind fellow members (Andrea) and supply issues (running out of gas idiots!). Speaking of Andrea, I was thrilled by her character in this episode. She finally seems to have turned into the confident, all around badass, I've been waiting for all season. Her exhausted run through the zombie filled forest also set up the entrance of a new character ( I won't spoil the name for anyone, but it is easily found on the interwebs). This scene was my second favorite of the episode after the barn burning and to say I'm excited to meet this character next season would be an incredible understatement.

Rick's revelation that everyone is infected with the virus was a big move forward on the zombie mythology front, and his survivor buddies were clearly upset that he had kept it from them for the past couple months. I was a little upset with their reaction considering it was clear that Rick was right on this point when he remarked: "what would it have changed?". I was also disappointed with Lori's reaction to Rick's confession about Shane. She was clearly playing both sides of that argument through both Rick and Shane, and for her to be pissed after she basically goaded them both into a conflict was ridiculous.

The final scenes which displayed Rick's new state of mind on things only added to the episode’s overall sense of leaving this season behind. After his constant wavering this season and the endless debates Rick’s proclamations felt like a breath of fresh air, even if they were a bit depressing. The final shot of the prison looming in the distance above the ridge from the small band of survivors huddled around the fire was a fitting and suitably ominous ending to an amazing episode that makes me wish Season 3 was starting tomorrow instead of 6 months from now.

If I had to rate this episode it would be a 99 out of 100

Lots of tense drama and zombie killing action; great plot and character developments; and a wealth of snippets to build the anticipation for next season. This one was truly the complete package. See you all in Season 3!

Notables and quotables:

-Daryl playing the redneck knight in shining armor- rescuing Carol on his motorcycle steed and carrying her off to safety.
-Bear McCreary outdid himself with the music in this episode. The score for the barn/farm scenes was beyond amazing!
-Armless walker man slaves and a Samurai sword are a hell of way to make an entrance.
-I watched this episode with a friend and we kept commenting on the survivors lack of taste in car choices. Except for Maggie and Glenn with the apparently fuel efficient Hyundai, everyone else seems to have chosen the crappiest trucks from 1987 ever. At least we said goodbye to the RV.
-Hershel: "This is my farm. I'll die here."
Daryl: "Alright, it's as good a night as any"
-Glenn: "I love you. Maggie, I love you. Listen, I should have said it a long time ago and its been true for a long time. We're gonna be alright, ok, we'll be alright." -even in the zombie apocalypse I'm a sucker for romance and I love these two crazy kids.
-Rick: "Lets get one thing straight: if you're staying; this isn't a democracy anymore!"- I normally hate Rick speechifying but in this case I almost posted his whole monologue as a quotable.

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Geek Furious the Poopcast, Episode 10: Calling Out Lisa Nova

In this episode, we discuss COMMUNITY, SOUTH PARK, CHUCK, DIABLO III, wannabe geeks, Lisa Nova, and why zombies suck plus much, much more.

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Or right-click and SAVE to play it wherever and however you like.

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The Walking Dead 2.12: Better Angels

The penultimate episode delivers an epic showdown and more strong character beats to lead us into a season-ending last stand.

With the end approaching its worth noting that one thing the second half of Season 2 has accomplished, likely due to the internal shenanigans, is building its characters into individuals worth caring about. Tonight I liked the scene between Glenn and Andrea; two characters who often don't get to interact much, but who clearly shared the greatest bond over the now absent Dale.

Other big improvements included the group's decision to move inside and fortify the farmhouse and their decision to go ahead with drop and dash plan with Randall. The one thing dramatic character deaths are good for is motivation. Lori's talk with Shane perplexed me a bit, but in the context of the whole episode it seems like it was certainly a set up for Shane's breakdown at the end. I also liked Carl’s scenes with Shane and Rick which showed how truly the survivors must leave behind the ways and laws of the old world. The culmination of having him be the one to execute zombie Shane was a fitting final nail in the transformation.

Obviously the biggest events in this episode came toward the end. My one problem with the episode was the decision to go wandering off in the woods (at night no less) looking for Randall, which seems totally illogical in light of their recent security crackdown. Randall, even by Rick’s own admission in the episode, is basically an undernourished, sniveling kid with a bum leg, who is unlikely to make it in the zombie filled swamps on his own (even with Shane’s favorite piece!). It also risked the lives of both Daryl and Glenn who are probably my two favorite characters, so I was a bit unhappy with that. Rick and Shane’s show down went on a bit long for me despite its significance. I could have done with one or two less minutes of Rick trying to convince Shane not to shoot him, when it was clear that was how things would end one way or another.

The transformation of Shane and Randall opens up a whole new chapter in the mythology of the zombie disease and how it spreads. I am at a loss on this one, especially since we haven’t seen zombie Dale wandering around. It would almost seem to be related to the morality of the characters (Shane was clearly crazy and Randall didn’t exactly seem to have the highest moral standards since he was living with a gang of rapists). On the other hand its clear that the virus still spreads via bites/scratches (Sophia presumably), so based on copious movie and television experience I’m gonna say its mutating possibly? Changing its characteristics to account for dwindling human population to feed off/transform? Either way I intrigued to hear what peoples thoughts are on it.

If I had to rate this episode I would give it a 93 out of 100

I didn’t quite like it as much as last weeks, but its hard to complain since the episode tied up a lot of loose ends and set things up well for the finale next week. It did pretty much everything a pre-finale episode should do and kept things moving quickly.

Notables
- So the Shane mouth-breathing was deliberate foreshadowing this week?
- Carl making that shot at the end was remarkable considering it looked like his hands were shaking the whole time
- Maggie; shot down again! Also, would have thought Glenn would have jumped at the chance not to sleep in the living room with T-Dog and Hershel.

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REVIEW - The Walking Dead 2.11: Judge, Jury, Executioner

This week's episode spolights some other group members as the gang takes a vote on Randall's fate; and things end with shocker. Check out the rest of my thoughts below.

In shows with a big ensemble cast it's a common problem for certain characters to get the short shrift. With close to ten core group members and a variety of other characters The Walking Dead often has trouble giving some characters more than a few lines an episode (or in the case of T-Dog any). Much of the focus the past few weeks has been on Rick, Shane and Lori; with a few others thrown in occasionally. This week we got to see some of the rest of group speak out through Dale trying to rally support to stay the execution of Randall. This was a nice change and something I had been looking forward to for a while. I like that the show actually gave all the charatcers a decent amount of lines in which to say their piece (except of course T-Dog).

One of my favorites Daryl got to show off by employing some creative techniques to have a "chat" with Randall where he learns that Randall's group numbers close to 30 and are armed. This prompts Rick to declare that they should vote on whether or not to execute Randall, and in turn launches Dale's campaign to "talk some sense" into everyone.

Dale's humane view of maintaining the moral code of a pre-apocalpyse world is set against Carl trying to show off how tough he's becoming. I understood the idea behind this, but it only slightly worked for me. There were moments where the contrast was great, like Carl childishly playing with Daryl's motorcycle. But other times he felt like a nosy, insulting brat. In the end Carl fails to kill a walker and cowers with his mom in the wake of Dale's gruesome death; showing he's not quite the bad ass he thinks he is.

Rick's reluctance to execute Randall at the end was somewhat frustrating, only because it's clear that A.) it only acts as a stall tactic so they can drag it into the next episode and B.) Rick had the full support of the group, so there's really no conceivable reason for him not to do it, even when Carl walks in on him. Like the characters the show has to commit to a point of view, and its pretty clear Rick's waffling grates on the viewers as much as it sometimes does his fellow group members. Dale's death was a suitably gory and shocking way to end things in an episode focused on that characters campaign for humanity. It was also a true tribute to the shows awesome special effects and makeup folks (yay fake intestines!).

If I had to rate this one it would be a 95 out of 100

I enjoyed hearing everyone's point of view, but the fact that Dale's argument wasn't compelling only made Rick's lack of action at the end even more ridiculous.

A few notables and quotables:
- The camera work with Randall talking to Andrea through the slats in the barn was a nice cinematic touch and I really liked it.
-The scene with Hershel and Glenn was oddly moving, if a bit out of place, and was less sappy than I expected.
-In an episode focused on the death of the old rules of law the group bans everyone under 18 from voting. Sorry kids- age of consent still applies even in a world without rules.
-Shane: "Let me ask you something; every time we have a problem around here, who you thinks behind it?"
Andrea: "Some might say you"
- Daryl: "Ah man, I don't need my head shrunk. This group's broken."
- Dale: "If we do this we are saying there's no hope; rule of law is dead; there is no civilization!"
-FYI for Chuck fans- next week Zach will be on the Talking Dead after show, hosted by Chris Hardwick (Nerdist), along with Lauren Cohan (Maggie Greene, Vivian Volkoff).

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Review: The Walking Dead 2.09- 'Triggerfinger'

This weeks episode fails to move the gang off the farm, but makes up for it with some tense character arcs, and more zombie killing action. Also, Lori sort of redeems herself for being a dumb ass last week. I enjoyed this weeks episode a bit more than last weeks since they ramped up the action, and overall that helped things feel like they were moving forward more than they actually were.

Let me say that my biggest problem with the opening Lori scene was that I’m curious why only the road walker that she hit and one other walker were there, when it seemed she had been in the car for at least a few hours. None of the other walkers in the surrounding area heard the horrendous car crash, or their buddies getting a free meal on the highway? However, Lori did a good job of taking care of two walkers all on her own, and considering she doesn’t get many action scenes it was a nice change up to see her get to kick some zombie ass.

Plot-wise this episode did squat really. We spend the majority of it watching Rick, Glenn and Hershel try to get out of the town bar without being killed by the, apparently very mean, gang from up north who have come looking for Philly Dave and Philly Tony (more regional discrimination!). There’s a tense standoff/shootout as Rick tells the other members of the gang that he had to shoot their friends, and eventually our guys try to make a run for their truck. The most important part of this scene is the part where Hershel, the guy who wouldn’t shoot a bunch of already dead walkers in his barn last week, does a complete moral 360 and shoots one of the opposing gang members without blinking an eye, and leaves him to get his face eaten off!

Back on the barn the rest of our gang eventually realized Lori was missing (these people need to wear bells or get safety whistles) and Shane goes off to get her. He finds her wandering along the road in the dark, which is obviously a great idea. He also lies to her and tells her Rick and the guys got back to the farm already so she won’t insist on going into town after them. The scene between these two later on where they discuss their time together before Rick showed up and the baby made for some great tension. Both actors did a great job in the scene and I look forward to seeing some of the fallout from it next week.

Things in town with Rick and the boys almost go awry when one of the dumb dumb northerners manages to fall off the roof and impale his leg on an iron fence spike. I’m pretty sure there was a life lesson here about your mom always telling you not to try jumping off the roof. Anyway, there is some debate about leaving him and putting him out of his misery, or try to save him. Of course Rick hasn’t changed that much and he can’t help himself so they wind up saving dumb guy and taking off back to the farm.

The guys return and everyone is reunited. Glenn tells Maggie that he can’t be in love with her because it makes him too concerned for his own safety. Then we get perhaps the episode’s most important scene. Rick and Ms. Rick decide to have a little alone time in their tent and get to talking about her conversation with Shane and how he thinks the baby might be his. Lori, being smart and a bit manipulative, reminds Rick that she has decided one way or another that the baby is his and that Shane is dangerous. She tells Rick that he must do whatever is necessary to protect her and the baby.

I would rate this episode an 88 out of 100

The action was better and the conflicts it set up with both the individual characters like Rick/Lori/ Shane and Glenn/Maggie was good. Also, it more solidly developed the overall conflict between the Rick and Shane camps of leadership, and which one is better suited to be the groups head honcho.

Some notables and quotables:

- Guy who’s leg was impaled on the fence: “Don’t cut my leg off please!” - seriously dude?

- Carl missed out on the sex talk because of the zombie apocalypse

- Daryl and Carol developing a hillbilly will-they-won’t-they!

- Lori: “You killed the living to protect what’s yours”

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Review: The Walking Dead 2.08 - 'Nebraska'

Every ones favorite band of zombie apocalypse survivors returned last night after a brief mid-season hiatus. This episode didn’t have quite the forward movement I was looking for after the first half of the season, but it was decent.

This episode picks up right where things left off, with the gang having just shot, or otherwise killed, all the walkers from Hershel’s barn plus poor little zombie Sophia (honestly I could not remember her name until they said it in this episode, so thankfully that story is done with). Hershel is none to happy about this obviously, and orders Rick and Co. off of his farm oasis.

The group plans an impromptu burial ceremony for the walkers they do care about and afterward they begin disposing of the ones they don’t. Plus, Maggie is upset that Glenn might be leaving now that the search for Sophia is done for and asks him to stay.

Inside, blond farm girl goes into shock (Really? You are living in the zombie apocalypse nightmare and seeing your already dead zombie mom get shot sends you into shock?). This also leads them to discover that Hershel has disappeared, and Maggie suggests he’s gone off on a bender at the local bar to mourn his walker wife and step son who got shot in the barn massacre. Glenn knows the bar and offers to lead Rick there, upsetting both Maggie and Mrs. Rick who don’t want to see their men go off on the dangerous jaunt, but Rick promises they’ll return safe and sound.

Dale tells Lori about his theory that Shane killed/sacrificed Otis and warns her that eventually Shane will kill someone else because he is a crazy ass. However, Shane is also trying to prove to Carol that the rest of the group is wrong about him being too impulsive or harsh. In the truck Rick and Glenn talk about Maggie being in love with him- awww.

Back at the farm blond girl is getting worse and Mrs. Rick, after failing to convince Daryl to help, heads into town after Rick and Glenn. On the way there she is reading a map and then accidentally hits a walker in the middle of the road and impossibly manages to crash her car into a FREAKING ditch!

In town Rick and Glenn find Hershel a few drinks into a relapse at the bar. Rick and Hershel have an impossibly long conversation about hope. Seriously, I actually think the word “hope” is used about every other line in dialogue for a solid five minutes. Next is the most interesting part of the episode. Two new live people, Dave and Tony, stroll into the bar looking for survivors. They claim to be from up North and are looking for a place to settle down, also Philly Dave tells Rick that they talked to a soldier who told them Fort Benning has been overrun, uh oh. They are clearly interested in coming back to the farm with Rick, Glenn and Hershel; Rick doesn’t really seem convinced of their story though and he refuses saying it’s too crowded there. They have a bit of a tense stand off and after Philly Dave reaches for his gun Rick winds up shooting both of them!

There weren’t really a lot quotables in this episode, so some brief points instead:

-I’m assuming Philly Tony’s line about the Coast Guard plan was a nod to Dawn of the Dead, or maybe the Left4Dead games.

-Since I hail from the Northeast- way to shoot the only people to appear on the show who happen to be from north of the Mason-Dixon line. So much for that Southern hospitality huh Philly Dave.

-I almost put Carl’s line where he told his Mom he would have killed zombie Sophia too as a quotable- because Carl is like 9!!! But it’s also kinda cute because he is mini-Rick.

-Aside from Mrs. Rick being dumb the camera shot of her hitting the walker from inside the car and it flipping over was pretty cool, and some quality production work.

-Probably the only quotable necessary because it explains the title of the episode:

Glenn: “Why Nebraska?”
Philly Tony: “Low population, lots of guns.”

I would rate this episode an: 85 out of 100

I was hopeful after being stranded on the farm for most of the first half of this season that things would pick up a bit more quickly in this episode. That didn’t really happen, but it did set up some good plot points that might move us off the farm and into more interesting territory. Most of the minus points are for Mrs. Rick being a total dumb ass, and not enough Daryl for my liking. Also, what about Mrs. Rick and baby? Suspense!!!

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