Monday, March 19, 2012

TV Review: "The Walking Dead" Season 2 Finale

"Beside The Dying Fire" was a great episode of The Walking Dead, and for several reasons. For one reason... ZOMBIES! For another reason, it really did a great job of teasing season 3 with a couple of fan-favorite storylines being revealed (which I'll begin a discussion about later, for risk of *spoilers*).

Following the last two weeks on the show, we are left without Dale and Shane, the exact left and right on the survivor's moral compass. Dale was often the voice of caution, while Shane the voice of risk, and now both are gone, after having their own morality pushed to the brink by the group. The death of Dale was somewhat-expected, but Shane's death was a surprise to everyone, including the comic fans that knew it was inevitable. And the fact that it happened at Rick's hands made it much more heart-breaking, especially with Rick's near-breakdown during that scene.

So now, after the always-neglected Carl (seriously, where is his mother?) puts a cap in the reincarnated Shane, we're left with the impending zombie invasion reaching the farm. This group of walkers has seemingly been walking since the first season, when Rick saw the helicopter in Atlanta. After hearing the gunshots let off by Shane and Carl, they are now on the brink of their ultimate feast.

Rick and Carl struggle to survive as they make it back to the farm, while the others try and find a way to survive while escaping. I thought the scenes with Rick and Carl together were pretty cool, especially as Rick shows his son the ropes on zombie-killing, by leading them into the barn and having Carl help him set them ablaze. Family bonding... I also found it funny that only when a zombie herd approaches the farm does Lori finally realize that her son is missing, and begins a drastic search for him. Bitch, there's only about a dozen people left on the planet, and you can't even look after the one that's your child?!?! Anywho, I'm getting away from the point...

I was expecting Herschel to go down with his farm, but that was not the case. We finally got rid of some dead weight, as the only people with less lines than T-Dogg (Jimmy and Otis' wife, I forget her name) finally bit it, both in equally dumb yet satisfyingly gruesome ways. The group successfully manages to escape the farm, albeit without any supplies, and heads to where the season began, the freeway. Andrea, however, is abandoned not once, but twice, and left for dead on the farm, surrounded by the mindless horde.

Also, I just need to say, that the shot of Darryl looking upon the burning farm, is one of the best camera shots I've ever seen on a television show. And I'd really like to get my hands upon Herschel's shotgun, which has some unlimited ammo cheat code. He honestly fired constantly for minutes, reloading only once. At least he had a pretty badass moment before escaping (I believed him to be a dead man in this episode).

While escaping, T-Dogg finally had some lines (success!), and was convinced that he would head for the east coast, which sounds a lot better than hanging around in the woods for another few months as winter approaches. However, he was vetoed by Lori, who finally begins caring about her family, and a silent Beth, who's dumbstruck by the death of two of the only people she knows.

After the survivors (sans Andrea) meet up on the freeway, they all agree to begin heading away from the farm. Rick decides that going after Andrea (whose most likely dead) is a suicide mission, so he calls off a rescue and they begin heading away from the area. Meanwhile, Andrea is researching the #1 rule of zombie survival: cardio. She seemingly runs all night away from the pursuing herd, and officially punches her badass card as we see her deal away several walkers in ass-kickery fashion.

Finally, we come upon the ending, which reveals 4 big revelations. Here they are, in no specific order:

1.) We officially find out what Jenner whispered into Rick's ear at the end of season 1 in the CDC. We find out that everyone is infected with the disease, and the catalyst is death. I suspected this, as the show eluded to it all season (from the dead police officers to Randall and Shane becoming reincarnated with no bites), but the way that they actually revealed it was genius. Props to the writers for managing to keep what might have been a relatively minor thing and teasing us with it all season long.

2.) Rick finally becomes the badass he's notorious for being in the comics. After the death of Shane at his own hands and the constant rebuttals from everyone in the group that's constantly begging him for help, he snapped. This, to me, was the most intense scene of the entire season. We see Rick, who's always been the calm leader under pressure, reach his breaking point. He tells the entire group that it's no longer a democracy, and if they want to keep following him, they're going to listen to him. It was nice to see him shut up that stupid zombie bait, Carol, who's always nagging everyone for anything. It was also cool to see the other "men" in the group, Darryl, T-Dogg, and Herschel, give him the look of approval. The Ricktatorship begins!

3.) Andrea, after running out of ammo, is saved by a mysterious hooded character with a katana and two chained-up, armless zombie pets. I don't even read the comics, but I know that this character is the infamous Michonne. I could almost hear the country-wide nerdgasm as the shot revealed Michonne and her zombie pals, which is sure to shake up the show quite a bit. Not only is Andrea, a newly-appointed badass, saved, but she happens to be saved by a fan favorite character who's going to be officially introduced in season 3. I cannot wait to see the wrecking crew that the gruesome twosome of Andrea and Michonne make! Especially now that Andrea has an ax to grind with the entire group for ditching her!

4.) As the show came to an end, I assumed that the season was going to end with the group abandoned in the woods. I had heard grumblings of a certain politically-named character getting cast, so I just assumed that it would be revealed in season 3, as the farm was in season 2. However, I was EXTREMELY happy to see the final shot being a wide view of the prison. It's now inevitable that the poodoo is going to hit the fan in season 3. I should have taken the non-too-subtle hints throughout the episode ("We need to find a place to barricade! To fortify!") with a grain of salt. I cannot wait to see the dynamic of the group clashing with the Governor and his goons (perhaps Randall's buddies) in season 3!

Although the first half of the season went very slow, the show returned from its mid-season break extremely strong. I think that this is mostly due to the change of showrunners (now former "The Shield" E.P. Glen Mazzara is in charge), and according to interviews, the attitude and tone of the last few episodes of this season is going to be the format for the upcoming season 3. As a fan, I am extremely excited to see how Michonne, the Governor, and the prison play out with the current cast of characters, who just survived a horrendous event, and have now reached the point of desperation.

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