October 23, 2011 18:59
“It’s nature correcting itself…restoring some balance.” – Hershel Greene
[slight spoilers]
The new season of AMC’s The Walking Dead arrived with a major bang. The season 2 premiere episode, “What Lies Ahead”, was seen by over 7.3 million viewers which more than eclipsed the show’s own high-ratings pilot premiere from 2010. It’s no surprise that the episode would do so well with the network having pushed the new season through most of the summer. With fans of the showing growing with every passing month (DVD and Blu-Ray sales of the first season also helping keep the show in the public’s consciousness) there was really no doubt on whether the new season would come back firing.
“What Lies Ahead” saw Rick and his group fight through their very first experience of a zombie “herd” and how this event led to the two kids in the group in extreme danger as Sophia goes missing after the herd encounter on the highway and Carl getting himself accidentally shot to end the episode. While I would think that the writers would begin episode 2, “Bloodletting”, soon after the events of the premiere episode we instead get a flashback moment. A moment in time before the zombie apocalypse arrived and Lori waiting for Carl outside his school and confiding to a friend about her and Rick’s relationship. The emotional impact of this scene is not that Lori and Rick were having marital problems, but its from the arrival of Shane to inform her that Rick has been shot (seen in the pilot episode “Days Gone Bye”) and now she has to tell Carl. We see in this sequence the look of anguish on Shane and, most likely, the seed of his love not just for Lori but Carl as well.
This flashback will segue into Rick running desperately with an unconscious and bleeding Carl in his arms with Shane and Carl’s shooter, Otis, right behind them. For those who have read the comic book shouldn’t be surprised how this scene plays out, but I know that many who have not and only been following the show will be hoping for the worst for the youngest of the Grimes. Soon enough Otis (Pruitt Taylor Vance) leads them to the farm, the Greene family farm, where it’s patriarch might be able to help Carl survive the gunshot. We get to meet Hershel Greene (Scott Wilson) and his family, from the eldest daughter Maggie (Lauren Cohan) to the youngest Beth (Emily Kinney) and, for the moment, we only see how this family will be able to help Rick and Carl. For fans of the book this family will prove to be integral to the continued survival of Rick and the original group.
“Bloodletting” continues the theme established with the premiere episode in that this new world is going to be about slim chances even if logic says there’s none to be had. There’s only the slimmest chance that a country veterinarian doctor will be able to save Carl. It’s the slimmest of chances that T-Dog may survive the wound he suffered from the previous episode. Only the slimmest of chance that they will ever find Sophia. Finally, the episode ends in another cliffhanger which gives Shane and Otis the slimmest of chances to survive their trip to an overrun FEMA station for much needed medical supplies and equipment.
This episode’s title also makes for a proper description for Rick and what he’s been going through since he woke up from his coma in the hospital. It’s not just the literal bloodletting he must endure to help save Carl’s life, but just every waking moment since the pilot episode. Rick has been trying to remain the bedrock of optimism and provide the sort of calm leadership his group of survivors need in this new world. Yet, we see how much every moment has cost him even before leading up to Carl’s incident with a wayward bullet. he’s being bled not just literally in this episode but figuratively. It helps that Andrew Lincoln’s performance during the first two episode of this new season has been great, so far. We get to see some genuine emotion as Rick must watch someone else try to save his son. The look of utter grief and impotence in Lincoln’s face as he tries to do anything and everything to save Carl continues to make Lincoln’s work in this show one of the reason to continue watching it.
The Walking Dead wouldn’t be the fan-favorite it has become if it skimped on any sort of zombie action. While it doesn’t have the high gore quotient that the previous episode had it still had enough zombies to sate the show’s fans until next week’s episode. Most of the zombies appear close at the end of the episode at the FEMA camp and it’s also in this sequence where we get the show’s heart-thumping moments as Shane and Otis must figure out a way to get out of their predicament which ends the episode on another cliffhanger.
“Bloodletting” doesn’t do much in terms of finding Sophia or even whether Carl gets to live. It does make a good job of introducing a new set of characters without making them feel extraneous. While we only got to know a few of these new additions there’s a sense that they will (at least some of them) become important ones during this first half of the season. Finally, those who have been fans of the comic books should accept the reality now and admit to themselves that this show has become it’s own growing tale. While still remaining on the basic path Kirkman set for them through the comic book the show has taken on a life of it’s own and it’s unpredicatability and changes in that path should make things interesting moving forward.
Notes
Posted by Arleigh
Categories: TV, TV Review, TV Show
Tags: AMC, Andrew Lincoln, Bear McCreary, Bloodletting, Chandler Riggs, Emily Kinney, Ernest Dickerson, Frank Darabont, Gale Anne Hurd, Glen Mazzara, IronE Singleton, James McCune, Jane McNeill, Jeffrey DeMunn, Jon Bernthal, Lauren Cohan, Laurie Holden, Madison Lintz, Melissa McBride, Michael Zegen, Norman Reedus, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Robert Kirkman, Sarah Wayne Callies, Scott Wilson, Steven Yeun, The Walking Dead
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I’d rather T-Dog stay and Carol go. Andrea most of all. Carl hasn’t done much, and Sophia even less. T-Dog did have a funny point though, he is the only black guy left at this point. Dale is a reassuring voice of reason, but the fact remains: Do you honestly think a black guy in the south (as the vet still lives on a farm that used to be a plantation I might add) has a very high chance of survival during a zombie outbreak? Zombies be danged, if it came down to saving one of their ‘kin’ to saving someone of a different race, I don’t mean to sound jaded, but I wouldn’t be surprised if in that scenario T-Dog was ‘voted off the island.’
Kinda like T-Dog, just wish he had more lines. Glenn is the fan fav and even he only had one funny line this episode, even less last episode. But at least it was a good one! Far better than last weeks. Keep it up, AMC!
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By Encrazed Crafts on October 24, 2011 at 18:30
Andrea won’t be going anywhere. I know that the show has been deviating a lot from the books, but she’s actually one of the better and turns into the Daryl Dixon-type role as the story moves along. I think the writers trying to make her transition from suicidal to cold-hearted badass. I just hope they don’t string it out too long.
As for the kids I don’t see them going anywhere as well. The way the show’s ratings remaining high I see this show lasting quite long and if the writers don’t screw things up Carl and Sophia become major players in the group.
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By Arleigh on October 24, 2011 at 18:38