I’m a few days behind, mostly cuz my work schedule has been… helter skelter…? I’ll make the synopsis quick because, by now, you’ve all seen this episode:
Alright- basically, the group that was once trapped in Atlanta are now free and they have returned to the camp of survivors in the mountains. Rick is reunited with his family and then he decides he needs to go back into Atlanta to retrieve Merle who they had left handcuffed to the roof of the department store. But mostly he returns to get the sack o’ guns he dropped in episode 1- He goes with three others, including Merle’s brother Daryl. Meanwhile, Shane continues to try and endear Rick’s son to him and we find out he lied to Lori about Rick being dead…
Wow… when I type it out like this it seems like some kind of strange soap opera… with zombies. But that’s not the case at all with The Walking Dead. In fact, this episode in particular I REALLY felt like I could and did connect with the characters. From the opening scene with Merle on the roof, screaming, begging then cursing God- to the moment Rick (who I’ve been having a hard time connecting with) sees he family for the first time since before he was shot… A moment, I’ll admit willingly, that made me cry. I forgot all of Lori’s betrayal, I couldn’t care less that there was an immediate threat of Zombies and the end of the world… Rick found his boy. (a boy I might add who has some acting chops on him). Actually, the casting in this show is ridiculously perfect. Ridiculous I say!
I’m intrigued by the threat that has been set up in this episode- Merle’s brother Daryl is as volatile as Merle himself, and armed with a crossbow. Also- they set up that, even though they are miles and miles into the woods- Zombies… or “Geeks” are getting closer and closer to camp.
The thing about this episode that utterly blew my mind was the forward momentum of it… the pace- the drive of this show is unreal- almost surreal. I find myself wanting to know what happens next AFTER they have shown me what happens next- its a great way for me to really process the information and connect with the situations the characters find themselves in- which, may sound a bit backwards in logic- but it works so so so well.
The final thing I want to say is that the commercial selection AMC is using for this show could use a bit of a once over- its the same 3 over and over- and honestly, how many men with ED are watching TWD? (this may have been a silly question, now that I think about it)