Speaking of which: OK, time to go into Old Man Rant Mode for a minute here. Feel free to read this in the voice of the late Andy Rooney. When I was a kid, TV shows consisted of 24 episodes (sometimes 32, depending on the series!). Each episode aired one after another for 24 weeks and when they were done, they re-ran them. Barring the occasional Xmas special, your favorite show would be on each and every week. It was a pretty good system that lasted for decades.
Cut to today, where many series film a scant 13 episodes per season. They air the 13 episodes– the last of which is usually a cliffhanger– then go on hiatus for up to a year. By the time the show comes back no one remembers what the hell happened last season or who any of the characters are. I'm not a fan of this new business model, but none of the networks have called to ask what I think, so I doubt there's anything I can do about it.
Lastly, I recently bought The Walking Dead Chronicles, a "making of" book about the origin of the comic and the first season of the TV series. In it, producer Frank Darabont tells about how he originally shopped the series to NBC. He said the NBC executives loved the pilot and wanted to buy it, but they wanted to know if it "had to have zombies in it." Sigh... is it any wonder there's so much crap on TV?
OK, onto the review. Spoilers!
• Only Darryl could shrug off being shot in the head as just part of keeping the camp safe.
• Nice to finally see Carl out of bed and up and about. I'm still amazed at how much he resembles Comic Book Carl, now that he's started wearing the hat. He looks exactly like he stepped out of the comic, which is a good thing. The only difference is that TV Carl seems to be a couple of years older than Comic Carl.
• After all the gruesome scenes there have been in this series, I think the most disturbing one occurred this week, when the lady from Herschel's farm (does she have a name?) broke the chicken's leg– while it was alive. Man, that made me wince!
• When Dale confronts Herschel about his zombie ranch, Herschel says his wife and stepson are in the barn. In the comic, Herschel tells Rick that his wife died six years before the world went to hell. I think the TV show made the right call by changing this. It helps justify Herschel's insane motivation a bit better.
• Lori finds out that Herschel wants Rick and Co. off his farm as soon as Carl is able to travel. She immediately lights into Rick for keeping this from her, while knowingly keeping her pregnancy a secret from him. Hypocrisy, thy name is Lori! It's almost like she's deliberately trying to make me hate her.
• The scenes of Carl wanting to learn to shoot and the resulting debate between Rick and Lori is straight out of the comic, almost word for word.
• We all knew that Shane and Lori did the deed while Rick was in a coma, but I think this is the first time we got an actual confirmation. Right? Or am I forgetting something?
• I refuse to mention the matter of the Earch-Say for Ophia-Say. Although we did get a cool zombie attack out of the deal this week.
• During the subdivision zombie attack, Andrea suddenly relaxes and uses the Force, allowing her to wipe out the entire herd. All that was missing was her lightsaber.
Seriously though, Comic Book Andrea is an uncommonly good shot, so it's nice to see TV Andrea finally taking on this mantle as well.
• So, Andrea and Shane are becoming an item. That's new.
Shane was killed (by Carl, no less!) in Issue 6 of the comic. Writer and creator Robert Kirkman now says that was probably a mistake on his part, which is why Shane is still alive in Season 2 of the series. Shane's a flawed and dangerous character and keeping him alive definitely makes for a more interesting show and character dynamic. Hopefully now that Carl's learning to shoot, he won't off Shane anytime soon.
• Woah, that confrontation between Dale and Shane! That was pretty intense. Dale's beginning to suspect that there's more to Otis' death than Shane's telling. Dale's better be careful or he's gonna be needing a new head!
Next week's episode is the last one until February and is titled "Pretty Much Dead Already." Sounds pretty ominous. I'm betting all Hell's going to break loose as the zombies get loose from Herschel's barn, and some characters are going to bite it, so to speak.
My predictions: Obviously Rick, Lori and Carl aren't going to die. Not yet, anyway. Shane seems pretty safe as well, since his descent into madness isn't over. Dale and Andrea are major characters in the comic, as well as Glen and Maggie. Daryl's not in the comic, but he's become one of the most interesting new characters, so I hope he survives. Carol can't be killed off until they find her daughter. After that, she's toast. I'm guessing T-Dog isn't long for this world either. He hasn't had much of anything to do all season besides heal from his wound.
Most of the people on Herschel's farm are nothing but red shirts. I don't even think they have names. If there's a bloodbath, I think they'll all supply the suds.
These are the best posts! I love reading them every week. The scene in the subdivision was great. We finally got to see some zombie herd action :) You made me laugh using pig latin!!One final thought: Andrea did the deed with Shane *gag, puke and barf*
ReplyDeleteAs for Andrea hooking up with Shane, I guess Andrea doesn't have a lot of options. She hooks up with someone else in the comic, someone who's also on the show.
ReplyDeleteI thought Rick took the news about Lori and Shane really well; better than I would have. I guess when you live in a zombie filled post apocalyptic world, finding out your wife slept with your best friend isn't that big a deal.