And we're back
After a two-and-a-half month absence, we return to "The Walking Dead" right where we left off. Rick stands with his gun over the dead corpse of zombie Sophia, as the bloodbath that ended the first half of season two has just ended. Yes, this was an emotional, intense, and story- altering moment in the series, but it is time to move on
right?
Well, sort of. The problem I had with the first half of the second season of "The Walking Dead" was the lulls created by the story on the farm. In trying to develop characters deeper, the show ends up taking too much time for what is a zombie-apocalypse story. Don't get me wrong, I love character development, and AMC does it incredibly between "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad." But (number one) I don't need character development in a zombie-apocalypse story for me to care for and cheer for the survivors and (number two) none of these characters are crafted well enough to even waste time developing deeper.
Seriously, what else are we going to find out about Shane? That he is even more of a hot-head than we think he is now? What could we find out about Andrea? That she doesn't care if she lives or dies even more with each passing day since her sister's death? What has happened is each of these characters has become almost the extreme of the cliché of their personality type. Shane is the madman that is ruthless even when he thinks he's doing the right thing. Dale is the soft-spoken, yet wise and always correct old guy. Rick is the leader everyone looks to that has to gun down a little girl that was once part of the group to keep his new family safe.
We already are aware of what each of these characters is about. Say 40 zombies come rushing on the farm in the next episode. Is there any reason to think the following won't happen: Rick, Shane, Andrea, T-Dog, and Glenn will go for the guns
Daryl for the crossbow. Glenn will worry Maggie won't like him anymore for icing some "walkers." Shane will go apeshit on a couple of the zombies. Lori (with the help of Carol) will try to protect Carl, who will want to shoot alongside his Dad. Hershel will cry out that he doesn't want the zombies killed and will want them off the farm afterwards
obviously we have seen this before, so why shouldn't it be the same again.
My argument is this
get this show off that goddamn farm. The first season of the show with Rick trying to find his family, meeting and being saved by Morgan and Duane, leaving for Atlanta, meeting the group after escaping a tank he was surrounded in, walking with guts all over himself through a minefield of death walkers, Shane beating an abusive husband to a pulp, fighting off an attack on the camp, leaving behind a scratched victim, traveling and finally getting into the C.D.C., escaping the C.D.C. before it explodes
THAT WAS SIX EPISODES.
So far, season two had the first episode where they hide from a horde of zombies, Sophie gets lost, and Carl gets shot. The next five episodes are a slow lead up to a bloodbath in the barn. Sure, you had Shane shoot Otis and leave him for dead, Glenn got some, and Lori is prego, but the fact is things are taking forever to get anywhere. The reason it needs to go somewhere can be seen in the end of the first episode from the second half of this season.
The bar scene, in which Rick has to blow away a few passers through, will hopefully be the pivotal point for this season. First off, Rick reestablishes himself as the leader of this group (and a quick and accurate shot, to say the least). Next, Rick has defended the entire farm from two strangers that were not to be trusted. Third, Rick has (hopefully) regained the trust of Hershel as 1) he wouldn't allow the two men to join their group on the farm to begin with and 2) he killed them to protect Hershel's farm and keep new and dangerous occupants off his land. If Hershel can't see Rick is the good guy now, they might as well pack up and go within the first minutes of episode 9.
Of course, there is the Lori situation to deal with now. While I have this moment, can I mention how pathetic these "survivors" really are? The fact that this is the group that is still standing during a zombie apocalypse is bewildering. Old guy gets upset his barn full of zombies gets shot up, so he goes into a dangerous and vacant town (probably full of zombies) alone. Wife is too worried about her hubby (who has backup) that she leaves her only child alone on a farm with a bunch of strangers to drive ALONE into town (and is dumb enough to pull the old 'where am I going' 'how do you read a map' routine). The group starts a GIANT BONFIRE near dusk on the outskirts of a forest that we know inhabits the undead. It's almost to ridiculous to keep watching
but I do it anyway.
So anyway, Lori is in a half overturned car on an empty road somewhere between the farm and the town. Rick seemed like he would get back to find her by the episodes end, but the little run-in with the Philly boys has put them a few minutes behind. So we are likely to waste the next episode with Rick finding her over-turned car now vacant, and the search will be on to find Lori. It's the first half of season two all over again
Sophia=Lori.
Read the rest of the review at: CustodianFilmCritic.com
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