The Resident Evil film franchise seems to be the franchise that just keeps on going and going. Like the undead which forms the bulk of the danger to the characters in the film, this film series just won’t die. It’s success has both confounded critics and audiences alike. It’s turned Milla Jovovich into an action star whether we like it or not. It’s also a series that despite some major flaws continues because it makes it’s studios money.
We now have the first teaser trailer for the 5th film in the series, Resident Evil: Retribution, and just like the 4th film in the series it will be in 3D. It will also have several characters from past films who we saw die make appearances in the film. Whether they come back as themselves in the film’s present storyline or in flashbacks has yet to be determined. The trailer itself looks like a major advert for Sony smartphones, PS Vita and tablet products. In fact, I’d say that almost 40% of this teaser is all about pushing Sony products.
If that’s the case then this trailer does teach me one thing: Sony products will lead to a global zombie apocalypse. I think this event would never happen if people bought iPhones and iPads.
Resident Evil: Retribution is set for a September 14, 2012 release date.
Tonight marks the mid-season finale of AMC’s The Walking Dead. We won’t get a new episode until the show returns in February to continue with season 2’s second half. One could say that tonight’s episode is the reason why this show has gained such a vocal and loyal following despite it’s many flaws both large and small.
This new season has been trying to improve on some of the flaws of the truncated first season by working on rounding out some of the main characters on the show. Whether the writers succeeded in this aspect of the show’s writing has been a hit-or-miss proposition. Characters like Daryl Dixon, Shane Walsh and new ones like Maggie and Hershel Greene become more fully realized during the first six episode this season while others like Rick, Dale, Carol and T-Dog remain too one-dimensional too often through the first half of the season. Then there are plot threads which seem to either drag on too long (search for the missing Sophia) or get too little mention (what is up with the nearly invisible T-Dog through this first half). It’s these inconsistencies which has brought out the even more vocal minority of the show’s viewers who have come to either feel apathetic towards the series or hate it for one reason or another.
“Pretty Much Dead Already” is the title of tonight’s episode and what happens throughout this episode goes a long way to rewarding the show’s loyal viewers for their wait through the first six episodes of this season and all its many flaws. It’s en episode which doesn’t come off as subtle with how it explores new themes of whether one belongs in a world of the living dead and does one have to lose their humanity to survive long. The episode also brings to a head the conflict which has been brewing for the last couple episodes between Rick’s group and that of Hershel Greene’s.
We see a silent opening of Rick and his group of survivors enjoying a breakfast with the tension in the air thick with unspoken consequences from the previous episode’s deluge of secrets being revealed. While Glenn had revealed the secret of the walkers in the barn to Dale the rest of the group still were kept unawares. Despite look of pleading from Maggie for Glenn to not tell the group he gives in to his conscience and tells everyone the biggest secret and their reaction at this reveal ranged from shock, surprise, incredulity and, finally with Rick, a hint of anger. It how everyone moves forward with this final secret reveal that the episode focuses mostly on. There were still some moments of character development and conflict sprinkled throughout the episode (mainly involving Shane and his distancing from Rick, Lori and others of the group), but the episode’s narrative still moved towards a final confrontation between Hershel’s need to keep the zombies corralled with the hope a cure could be found for them or Shane voicing everyone’s concern that a barn full of zombies was a disaster waiting to happen. Either they took care of the problem while they were still kept relatively harmless or they continue on towards their original plan of reaching Fort Benning.
This question finally gets answered with Shane forcefully making the decision for everyone. Jon Bernthal’s performance in the final five minutes of this episode was pretty good and while he teetered on over-the-top level in his anger and frustration at having to make the hard decisions concerning the group’s safety (at least in his own mind) he never steps over the line. The scene where he shows Hershel (as both he and Rick attempt to bring back two more catch-poled zombies back to the barn) made for some very tense and illuminating moments for everyone in the scene. We see understanding from people like Andrea and Daryl who think what Shane is saying is true to the look of horror on the faces of Hershel and Maggie as their idyllic world begins to crash all-around them. Maggie has gradually begun to move away from her father’s viewpoints about the zombies and how they should be treated through the last couple episodes, but to finally see Shane show them the true horror of what the world has become really hits both her father and herself pretty brutal and hard.
It’s interesting to note that tonight’s episode actually made a conscious effort to try and humanize the zombies. The way the episode unfolded was almost like the writers were trying to add some credence to Hershel’s way of thinking. This focus was understandable since everyone in the episode either followed Hershel blindly, were beginning to doubt Hershel’s way of doing things or just outright hostile towards it. This made the massacre of the zombies coming out of the barn with Shane leading a veritable firing squad somewhat poignant and sad. Even Glenn joined in on the shooting spree (though not before silently asking for Maggie’s consent) with an earlier personal epiphany about how he had forgotten just how dangerous the zombies were.
In the end, even the massacre of the barn zombies wasn’t the biggest shock of tonight’s episode. As the sound of gunfire stopped and the echoes faded away we hear a final zombie come out of the barn’s darkened interior and into the daylight. This was the final secret that finally answered the biggest and most dividing question of the second season of The Walking Dead.
Where the hell was Sophia?
Her final moments on the show has her coming out last from the barn and everyone’s fears were confirmed and everyone’s hopes about her eventually being found safe and alive were dashed. Even Shane who had been so gung-ho in showing Hershel and Rick that he was the right man for this new world to make the decisions about people’s well-being was left dumbstruck and unable to do what was needed. It took Rick — lambasted by both fans and detractors of the show plus Shane on top of them as being weak and unable to make the hard choices and decisions — to do what was needed. The scene ending with him standing over the body of Sophia after he shot her in the head (with the same Python revolver he used to start the series with the shooting of the little girl zombie in the pilot) made for a sad, poignant and incredible ending to what had been a tumultous story-arc to cover the first half of this new season.
The show will return this February. It is safe to say that moving forward the second half will be all about how new showrunner Glen Mazzara sees the show as and how to keep it the momentum of tonight’s episode into the second half. Darabont’s contribution to the show has probably ended with tonight’s episode or, as some have surmised, maybe even a couple episodes earlier. If the latter is the case then his firing from the show, as controversial and polarizing a decision to genre fans who love his work, may work to the show’s benefit. With Darabont we had a creative mastermind who dealt with film, but never with long-form tv shows. Maybe in addition to AMC being penny-pinchers and creating a hostile working arrangement with Darabont was only part of the problem. Could be that Darabont not having any experience writing for TV finally showed and kept the show from fixing some of the writing problems from the previous season. It will be interesting how a veteran tv writer and showrunner like Glen Mazzara will handle a show that tries to explore the conflicts and drama of a zombie apocalypse.
“Pretty Much Dead Already” doesn’t mean the show is now dead on arrival, but it does highlight that the premise which drives The Walking Dead could easily symbolize how this apocalyptic event has killed what humanity some might have had while also highlighting that every zombie killed was still someone’s son, daughter, mother, father, friend and family. In a world full of dead people the walking dead may not be the zombies but the survivors themselves.
Notes
Once again I like how the show has evolved the character of Glenn. Even when he’s being awkward as he tells everyone the secret of the barn gives a glimpse as to the sort of person Glenn is. Part of him wants to make Maggie happy, but knowing that keeping the secret of the barn will endanger his people and Maggie, he makes the hard decision to tell all even if it means Maggie hates him for it. Glenn shows that he can make the hard choices but do so with his conscience guiding him.
This is opposite with how the show has developed Shane this season and how this episode finally shows Shane tipping past his breaking point. Yes, he shows he can make the hard decisions but he does so not with his conscience as his guide but his base, survival instinct.
I found it darkly comical how Shane tried to one-up Rick in the eyes of Lori by pointing out how he was the one who has saved Lori and Carl to her. This scene with Lori really makes Shane less the badass zombie killer with people’s well-being in mind, but more of a selfish, sociopath who’s begun to believe all the lies he has been telling everyone and himself to justify his actions.
This in contrast to Daryl. While Daryl didn’t have as many scenes in tonight’s episode the ones he was in continued to explore his dual-nature. He will always be the true badass zombie killer in the show, but the show also continues to explore his growing humanity in his steadfast belief that they will find Sophia. It’ll be interesting how the dashing of his hopes on the Sophia subject will affect him moving forward.
I like how Daryl also hides behind aggressive reactions to hide his discomfort at others caring about his well-being and his safety. Will Daryl succumb to his inner-Merle and revert to how we first saw him in the beginning of the series as the violent, angry redneck? Or will he finally realize that the group does care and appreciate what he has done and continue on his journey into becoming a part of this post-apocalyptic family unit.
T-Dog has been pretty much useless and invisible this first-half of the season. I think I’ll echo what others have been saying about this character. Either give him something to do other than stand in the background or kill him off, but hopefully in spectacular and heroic fashion.
Even though Robert Kirkman gave an explanation about Sophia, the barn and Hershel during the after-show Talking Dead live segment I still think the second half needs to fully explain whether Hershel already knew that the girl the group had been searching for and putting themselves in danger during these searches.
There still some awkwardness in how child actor Chandler Riggs has been handling the role of Carl, but he’s getting better. I hope this improvement continues because Carl, whether the show follows the comic books or not, will become a major player in this show’s overall narrative sooner or later.
Once again, great make-up effects work by Greg Nicotero and his make-up effects wizards at KNB EFX. Their work tonight wasn’t as gruesome as the previous couple of episodes, but their work to give a semblance of humanity to these zombies helped make tonight’s episode one of the better ones, if not the best, of the show.
Finally, Andrew Lincoln does his best performance as Rick Grimes. Love how he lets his expression speak for themselves throughout most of the final 5 minutes of the episode. From the helpless look as he fails to stop Shane to finally showing everyone that only he can truly make the hard decision as he finally puts down Sophia while Shane watches helplessly this time around.
So, what did people think of tonight’s episode and the whole first-half of this second season. Did you like it? Does the show still have problems to work out with how these characters are written? Will Darabont’s removal and absence in these last few episodes and moving forward make the second half of season two something to look forward to?
All comments welcome and will be discussed in healthy, civilized, if heated discussions.
“Everything is food for something else.” – Carl Grimes
[spoilers within]
“Secrets” is the title for the sixth episode of the new season of The Walking Dead. It’s an episode that really should please not just fans of the gore and action, but also those who like some character and story development in their shows. The first five episodes of this second season has been hit or miss. Those episodes have reinforced some viewer complaints about how the show seems to go nowhere at times. Except for a couple moments of well-done script work involving Daryl Dixon (who happens to be the one character created for the show and absent from the comic book) the writing for this season continues last season’s uneven quality.
The last couple episodes were light on the zombie mayhem, but they were rife with character development and some forward momentum in the story (though Sophia still remains missing) with the discovery made by Glenn the big cliffhanger leading up to tonight’s episode. An episode which more than lives up to it’s title as secrets become known as others remain hidden.
With Glenn’s discovery one would think that the title of tonight’s episode meant Glenn and Maggie trying to keep the secret of the zombies in the barn kept from Rick and the rest of the group. The predicament Glenn finds himself in with Maggie begging him not to tell anyone about the barn then on another side Lori also begging him not to tell anyone that she’s pregnant. Glenn would be the first to tell both women how much he sucks at keeping secrets and the episode wasn’t even past the first ten minute mark when his resolve breaks under Dale’s epic eyebrows and fisherman’s hat.
The secrets which this episode focuses on doesn’t just include the barn and Lori’s pregnancy, but the secrets Shane has been trying to keep from everyone in camp. It’s during the aftermath of a very thrilling and eventful foray into the nearby housing association by Shane and his shooting apprentice in Andrea that Shane’s recent turn to the dark side comes to light with none other than the show’s elder busybody. Everyone in the show seems to tip-toe around the topic of Shane and his behavior, but not Dale who sees danger in Andrea learning from the one person who’s agenda may not lie in the group’s overall safety.
Like the show’s own troubled off-season, the show seems to have made a turn with the last couple episodes into something that seemed to balance well zombie action with the show’s more expositional side. This may not be too much of a surprise since Darabont as show-runner was supposed to have been fired around the filming of episode 4. Could his departure from the show and the promotion of a veteran tv writer and show-runner in Glen Mazzara finally put the show on a much more focused path. It’s a possibility and it could also have been part of Darabont’s plan for the season to have such a long slow-burn. I hate to admit it but as much as I love Darabont as a horror and genre fan I think his departure finally putting the show on the path to consistency on all creative fronts.
The secret about the barn and Lori’s pregnancy, not to mention Shane’s character becoming more and more dark, could’ve been strung along for the length of this season’s 13-episodes, but the last 2-3 episodes seem to dispute that. The show has begun to reveal it’s secrets into the open quite quickly and letting the characters deal with the ramifications and fall out. Already we see a much more spirited Rick react to Lori telling him of her pregnancy and what occurred between her and Shane. We get to see why in the end he’s the leader the group needs now and not Shane or Daryl or even Glenn (as Maggie suggested). He’s thinking of the group and trying to keep them sane in a new world hell-bent on driving all of them beyond the brink and past the breaking point. All that he has suspected since reuniting with his finally are now out in the open and while he’s angry he also looks to trying to work things out. How the knowledge that Shane and Lori got together bears out in future episode will make for some interesting thing times ahead especially for Rick.
This episode definitely put character conflict and drama into the forefront with very little wince-worthy moments. Everyone reacted in an organic way to everything suddenly coming out into the open. Even Andrea has begun to make the turn from helpless, suicidal to someone who may become the group’s most important protector. While the episode continues on last week’s high points it still had the Sophia issue which continues to plague the show. The writers will need to reward it’s viewers’ patience (and growing lack of in regards to the missing girl) and make sure the Sophia question gets an answer and soon.
There’s just one more episode left before the show goes on it’s mid-season break. From the look of things the show looks to be heading towards this break on a high note. It would be interesting to see how the Mazzara-led writing group deals with the ramifications of tonight’s episode with the mid-season finale.
Notes
For a kid who has been shot then operated on just days before (unless the show has skipped showing some days pass by) Carl looks to have recovered quite well.
Great to see Carl wearing Rick’s sheriff’s deputy hat. That look on Carl remains one of the comic book series’ most iconic image.
Seeing Carl learn how to shoot and do it well could be a sign that the show may soon start dealing with putting this show back on track in regards to the Rick-Lori-Shane triangle.
Steven Yeun’s role as Glenn continues to grow and he’s definitely got the awkward moments of the character done to a T.
I think T-Dog as a character either needs to grow or he needs to go. He’s been mostly absent from this season outside his fever-induced ranting to Dale a couple episodes back.
We finally get to see more and more how the Greene family sees the zombies and why they keep them cooped up in the barn. Some people will say what they’re doing is stupid. I think it’s a nice shout-out to the tenement scene in the beginning of Romero’s Dawn of the Dead where people kept their dead locked up because they still thought of them as loved ones who might still get cured or whose culture teaches them to respect the deceased.
Lauren Cohan as Maggie continues to be one of this season’s highlight. Her reaction once back on the farm toward’s Lori after her and Glenn have themselves a zombie encounter was very nice. Lori’s horrified reaction was great.
For those wondering what that piece of badass metal Glenn used to go aggro on the pharmacy zombie. It’s a Gerber Gator Machete Pro and retails on Amazon for $41.63 with nylon sheath.
If Glenn wasn’t confused about how Maggie feels about him then tonight’s episode will drive him crazy. Still great to see that the show has one relationship born out of genuine interest and not out of necessity (though for Maggie it may have started as one it sure doesn’t seem to be that now).
I know there are people out there calling for support of Team Shane, but I think everyone should get behind Team Glenn. He seems to be the one out of everyone in the group to be the most level-headed one notwithstanding the awkward with girls and not being able to keep a secret routine.
I know that there are many out there who hate Andrea because of the past 4-5 episodes going back to last season’s finale, but tonight definitely saw her go from victim to survivor and do so with a bang. Love the moment out in the middle of that suburban street as a calmness washes over her face and every shot begins to land true.
Dale gets to use those epic eyebrows of his and say how it really is when it comes to Shane.
Finally, the show’s cold opening of Patricia breaking the chickens’ legs before dumping them into the group of zombies in the barn should not be pleasing PETA and this show probably not in PETA’s must-see list since the pilot episode.
“If I knew the world was ending I would’ve brought better books.” – Dale
[spoilers within]
There’s been a growing complaint from fans of the show that this second season of The Walking Dead has been meandering and walking in place instead of dynamically moving forward and killing lots and lots of zombies along the way. I will admit that the show has lingered on too much on the”Sophia is missing angle” for far too long. The writers seems to be using the search for her as the reasoning for Rick and his group to continue on staying on the Greene Farm. I will however disagree that the show hasn’t had enough zombie action to justify the show’s premise of a world experiencing the zombie apocalypse.
The Walking Dead the tv series was always going to be a show which focused on the characters and how they’re managing to adapt or not adapt to the new world around them. If there was ever a reason why fans of the books became fans it was that very thing. I try not to compare the show to the books, but if there was ever a similarity between the two it’s how the zombies remain on the background as a looming threat which would actively make their presence known not every issue but when readers least suspect them. The show has done a good job in trying to convey this aspect of the books and at the same time taken more effort to make the characters on the show more fully-realized.
This season has done more in expanding the characters than the truncated first season, but it also meant it had to sacrifice some of the more gruesome and zombie action some fans have been clamoring for. The previous episode, “Cherokee Rose”, typified the complaints some fans have been having with this season. It went too heavy on dialogue some of which were pretty good and some which didn’t seem to do anything but just expound on the main themes for the season.
“Chupacabra” makes the fifth episode into the second season and it manages to balance the zombie action and the character interaction. First off, we still haven’t found Sophia in one shape or another. Even one of the characters on the show second-guesses the need to continue searching for the missing girl if it meant constantly putting the group in danger. While the search for Sophia only amounts to finding a discarded doll by the creek during the search it does mark one of the stronger part of this episode. An episode which continues to make a character created for the show and not in the books one of the highlights of the series in it’s 11-episode history to date.
But before we move onto why Daryl Dixon remains the badass and fan favorite of the series I must point out that the series does another great cold opening. This time it’s a flashback to the chaotic days of Shane, Lori and Carl trying to make it to the refugee center in Atlanta. We see them stuck in the very same type of highway gridlock which began this new season. This scene shows Sophia still safe and playing with Carl as we see a bit more of the abusive relationship between Carol and her husband. The highlight of this scene is seeing the event of Atlanta being napalmed and dashing the hopes of Shane and Lori that a safe haven could be found there. Like the cold opening from season 1 where we see Shane back in the hospital with a comatose Rick, this episode’s opening does a great job of showing how things just fell apart while Rick was under.
This opening would be followed up with Daryl going off on his own to continue looking for Sophia and getting into more trouble than he anticipated. If anyone ever doubted how much of a badass Daryl Dixon has turned out to be then this episode should erase such doubts. Not only did he survive falling off a horse, down a steep incline into the river and get an arrow stuck to his side for his troubles, but he survives even worst things as the day wore on. We even see the return of Daryl’s brother, Merle Dixon, in this episode but in such a way that fans of the show probably didn’t expect.
When the episode wasn’t focusing on Daryl’s troubles it brought it back into the Greene Farm where we continue to see a growing rift between Hershel and Rick. Hershel is starting to turn from the kindly, country doctor and into a patriarchal autocrat who expects his orders to be obeyed or else. In the case of Rick and his group the or else would be them being told to leave the safety of the farm for the outside world. It doesn’t help that Shane’s growing pragmatism and survival at all cost mentality has turned to questioning Rick’s judgement as the group’s leader. Even their good-natured conversation about their respective love life during their high school days shows that the two really are quite polar opposites when it comes to their personalities and how they view things around them.
It’s these type of scenes which some fans have considered as too soap opera-ish and boring. How it detracts from the horror of a show about the zombie apocalypse. It’s these scenes which actually makes a point in showing just how much horror awaits those who have survived, so far. All the reminiscing of their past lives just reinforces the fact to these people that their lives have irrevocably changed and not for the better. It also shows how much the new world they live in now have begun to change all of them and not for the better. For some these changes have been easier to accept while some still try to cling to the ways of the old world in an attempt to not just survive but live.
Even the title of the episode just reinforces the premise of the show and how everyone in it must learn on the go to live and survive. In a world where the dead have come back to life to devour those still left alive then everything and anything is possible. Whether those still left will find a way to stay human in order to survive is the ultimate focus of this show. The zombies will always be waiting to greet these characters which makes these “peaceful” moments that much more bittersweet for everyone involved.
Notes
As a huge fan of apocalyptic fiction the cold opening of the highway gridlock was well-staged. From everyone seeming to have packed haphazardly to Carol’s husband acting like their quest for a refuge was a military operation.
The scene of Atlanta being napalmed as the horrified refugees looked on in the distance is really something we rarely see in zombie fiction. Zombie apocalypse stories usually occur with the world already gone to hell or the setting is more intimate and smaller scale. Rarely do we see just how epic in scope the event truly is (w/ exception to Max Brooks’ World War Z and, to a certain extent, 28 Weeks Later)
It was good to see Carol not moping around and feeling all useless. Her volunteering to cook for the group and the Greene family was a nice touch in trying to bring her back from the brink.
Leave it up to Glenn to figure out Lori’s secret and as we see later on in the episode it won’t be the only one he will have to try and keep to himself.
Speaking of Glenn, his growing relationship with Maggie was such fun and nice addition to a show that’s all about doom and gloom. The fact that they were acting like high school kids who were in lust with each other put a smile on my face.
The fact that the barn finally becomes a major component to the current story-arc wasn’t a surprise, but how the writers were able to finally show why Hershel wanted Rick and his group to stay away from the barn should make the next episode something to look forward to.
Maggie’s expression of glee at another rendezvous with Glenn suddenly turning into utter horror continues another strong performance from Lauren Cohan in the role. She has definitely made the Maggie Greene much more well-rounded this early on in the show when compared to the books.
I was surprised at how Merle’s return was treated and I must admit that it was done in away that made sense.
Always wear steel-toed boots when the zombie apocalypse hits.
Andrea is finally on her way back from being useless and constantly harping on Dale and everyone. Unfortunately, her first attempt to show just how useful she can be ends up turning into a friendly fire situation.
Daryl’s “encounter” with his big brother Merle may not be to Rick and the group’s benefit. Going to be interesting what the writers plan to do with this turn of events and whether fans of the character will like or hate it.
Two more very inventive zombie kills from the make-up wizards of KNB EFX.
“Some fathers never earn their sons’ love” – Hershel Greene
[some spoilers within]
The first three episodes of this new season of The Walking Dead has for the most part been very good about keeping the story focused on what transpired in the beginning of the new season. The group is still looking for Sophia (a subplot that is definitely getting to become boring, if not a liability) who ran off during a zombie attack on the group. During the search we saw Carl end up accidentally getting shot by Otis, the hapless and helpful ranch hand of the Greene Farm. Every piece of plot thread in the three episodes had their origins from that initial premiere episode.
The previous episode took the two plot threads of the two kids in the group and the danger they were in and tried to resolve them. Carl’s predicament was resolved in horrific fashion as Shane had to make a calculating decision to wound Otis and make him become a living bait to the zombies on their tail. This plot and character development was one for the books as it put Shane on the dark path to losing his humanity as he begins to embrace the necessary cold-hearted decisions to survive.
One would think that with a third episode and still no sign of Sophia that the show would finally try to resolve this storyline in the fourth episode. The answer to that would be a yes and no. Yes, the episode has made some strides in the search for Sophia as Daryl comes across some signs of someone alive during his search of an abandoned home in the woods. Whether this was a sign that Sophia was still alive didn’t get resolved. This storyline thread has had quite the mileage to it and not for the betterment of the show.
“Cherokee Rose” wasn’t all bad despite what I’ve mentioned above. The episode was mostly acting like the calm before the storm. We see the episode begin with the Greenes, Patricia (Otis’ wife) and the Rick’s group holding a brief ceremony for our dear departed Otis. Shane doesn’t look well in this opening especially when Patricia begged him to say a few words and tell everyone Otis’ final moments. Shane’s words and how things played out definitely didn’t match up, but no one was the wiser and took Shane’s discomfort as his attempt to grieve. To say that Shane looked like a man holding onto that last strand of sanity would be an understatement. It was another great moment for Jon Bernthal which this season has had a lot of.
The rest of the episode was actually pretty peaceful as everyone went about trying to find Sophia in an organized manner, go out into town for supplies (Glenn and Maggie) and just contemplate once again the new world they now inhabit. I’m sure there will be many cries and complaints that the show was becoming too soap opera-ish. These people wouldn’t be too far off, but I also think that non-stop zombies would make this show become too one-note.
The scenes with Rick and Hershel as they briefly talked of God and their differing attitudes concerning the Creator were really interesting as were the scenes of Andrea finally making some strides in her attempt to move on from Amy’ death during season one. These scenes between Andrea and Shane as she pesters the deputy to teach her more about gun safety and how to protect herself was a good start in finally moving Andrea the character towards the badass that she’s destined to become. Andrea’s not fully there but this episode was a good start.
Another fun development in this episode had to be between Glenn and Maggie Greene as the two continued their flirty ways as they ventured into the nearby town to scavenge for more supplies. For fans of the book the relationship which begins between these two characters have become one of the few nice moments in a story that’s all about danger, dread and depression. Even how the two finally end up hooking up wasn’t born out of sentimentality but out of two lonely people and their current predicament allowing for something to brew. The fact that their brief tryst in the town market came out a very awkward situation Maggie found Glenn in was funny, touching and really something the show needed after all the doom and gloom of the first three episodes.
Even Daryl Dixon (becoming the fan favorite of everyone) got to show some of his softer side as he tries to comfort Carol about her missing Sophia. His little monologue about the white flower he found outside the abandoned home that might’ve been where Sophia was hiding explains this episode’s title but also showed much more about how much Daryl has started to see this group as his own little family even though his brusque outward appearance and attitude may not always say so.
“Cherokee Rose” wasn’t one of this season’s good episodes, but I wouldn’t call it one of it’s bad ones. Despite no resolution to the Sophia question the episode still made some good strides in developing some of the characters. The episode also continues this season’s habit of ending things either on a cliffhanger or on a surprising (at least for those who haven’t read the comic book) development. Tonight wasn’t a cliffhanger, but instead we have Lori finding out that she is pregnant. Now whether the baby is Shane’s or Rick’s will be a question that show will not be able to answer for quite awhile yet but still another wrinkle in the growing love triangle that is Rick-Lori-Shane.
Notes
For the first time since we were introduced to Hershel Greene there’s now a bit of tension occurring between Rick and his gracious host. Now that Carl is safe and on his way back to recovery the show looks to be setting up something big between Rick’s group and those of the Greene’s.
The episode did many lingering camera shots of the Greene’s barn.
I know that many will think the scene with the well zombie was mostly filler and not needed I wouldn’t be a zombie fan if I didn’t admit that it was still a cool scene. Plus, it more than filled tonight’s gross quotient as the water-logged zombie literally turned into a bloody pinata.
Maggie’s reaction as T-Dog put to rest the well zombie was an interesting one. It seemed like that was the very first time she ever saw a zombie killed.
Once again, outside of Daryl, it would be up to Glenn to always do the hard lifting on the show. He’s not just the group’s expert “going into town” guy, but now he’s also it’s best zombie wrangler and live bait.
While it differed from how it played out in the book, how Maggie and Glenn finally got together was a nice and funny scene. Love Maggie’s incredulous reaction to Glenn’s questioning of her proposition. Lauren Cohan as Maggie was a really nice choice by the casting director for the show.
One final Glenn moment would be his huge grin as he and Maggie rode into the farm with supplies in hand and how his glee was just as quickly shot down as Maggie went all business once again. Poor Glenn.
If female fans of this show wasn’t already in love with Daryl they are now after his awkward, but heartfelt speech about the Cherokee Rose he just gave Carol.
For my final public domain horror film of this wonderful month, allow me to present to you 1932’s White Zombie. Starring (and completely dominated) by Bela Lugosi, White Zombie is considered by many to be the first true zombie film. Watching this film today is an interesting experience if just because these aren’t the zombies that we’re used to. These are Pre-Romero, old school zombies. These are Serpent and the Rainbow zombies. Some of the acting in White Zombie (to be charitable) pretty bad but no matter. The film’s visuals have a hypnotic, dream-like quality to them and it’s a truly important piece of horror film history.
“Got bit. Fever hit. World turned to shit. Might as well quit.” — note from unnamed hanged man turned zombie
[some spoilers within]
The first two episodes of the newest season of The Walking Dead sees Rick and his group of survivors on the move after the events at the CDC which ended season 1. Their convoy to reach what they think as the safe haven of the US Army base at Fort Benning doesn’t get them very far as they come across traffic snarl of abandoned vehicles and wrecks on the main highway. Its during these first two episodes that the group begins to show signs of cracks in the group dynamic which could lead to a permanent splintering of factions. It doesn’t help that two young kids in the group have either gone missing or gets accidentally shot by a deer hunter’s bullet.
We also meet a new group of survivors in the form of the Greene family led by it’s country vet doctor in Hershel Greene, his eldest daughter Maggie, their ranch hand Otis and a few others. Its from the Greene farm that the previous spent most of it’s time though it did show some choice scenes back at the RV and the group searching for Sophia in the forest. We see another cliffhanger end the second episode with Shane and his new partner in Otis as they make their way to the local high school where a FEMA camp had been set up as a refugee center before it became overrun. While they got the necessary supplies needed to save Carl they soon find themselves besieged by a horde of zombies with just a security gate and a lose bolt keeping them at bay.
“Save the Last One” marks the third episode of this 13-episode season 2. Except for a brief pre-credits scene of Shane shaving his head and looking intensely at his reflection off of a steamed up bathroom mirror, the episode takes up right after the cliffhanger ending of the previous episode. Shane and Otis are running through the hallways of the high school they’ve gone into for safety only to have the zombies outside chasing in after them. This part of the episode is just one of four parallel subplots which includes Daryl and Andrea continuing into the night in their search for Sophia in the woods, Dale and Carol back in the RV and the rest of the group over at the Greene farm waiting to see if Carl will get the necessary he needs to survive.
The decision to cover all four threads in this episode was an interesting decision which doesn’t pay off for all. It would be the Shane and Otis section which would get the most action during the episode, but it would be at the Greene farm that we get some soul searching from the Grimes about whether its the best if Carl was just to die if just to save him the horror of having to try and survive in a world where something is always around the corner to tear into him. Andrea and Daryl has a conversation during their search that sounds just as similar though not as depressing and downbeat as Rick and Lori with theirs. We get more personal musings about faith, God and the need to live instead of just surviving.
Some of these dialogue-heavy scenes work like the ones between Andrea and Daryl. With each passing episode Reedus continues to make Daryl Dixon a well-rounded character beyond the racist redneck his initial introduction made him out to be. His Daryl shows much more than just being a badass in the show but also one who is more observant about those around him than he lets on. He sees how much Andrea is still hurting from Amy’s death from season 1 and understands the feeling of just ending it all though he doesn’t see it as the best option. The same goes with how Rick still remains optimistic about the world as it stands now and gives a wonderful speech to Lori about why Carl should have the chance to live instead of letting him die. Both Rick and Daryl seem to have much more in common than we realize though they each go about their optimistic viewpoint in their own particular way.
“Save the Last One” weaves too many concurrent subplots that at times they break some of the stronger scenes between Andrea and Daryl and those between Rick and Lori. Then there’s Shane and Otis in their attempt to escape the horde of zombies after them as they try to make it back to the Greene farm with their medical supplies. the episode tonight could easily have saved some of the scenes with Carol and Dale for the next episode since it looks like Sophia will remain missing. But all in all, tonight’s episode still moved the series forward despite the series still remaining static in terms of location for the group. While it didn’t hit on every note the show did bring up some of the more interesting themes from the comic book.
Despite the episode tonight having been uneven due to the juggling of several subplots to the main story it was fully redeemed by the ending which did a major deviate from the comic book source material and do so in a truly shocking way. I understand why the character in question made the decision that he made, but it still was one that sends this particular character past through the looking glass, shattering it and coming out changed on the other side and most likely not for the better. Plus, it was quite ballsy of Kirkman and the rest of the show’s writer to take out a character sooner than expected if one followed the book. If any episode really hammered in the point that the show will be going very far off the beaten path created by the comic book source material then it would be this one. “Save the Last One” is definitely one of the episodes in this show’s brief span, so far, that will be talked about for months to come.
Notes
It’s interesting to note that both Andrea and Dale has so far been written quite differently for the show than in the comic book. Will the writers continue to make them different from their comic book counterparts or will they gradually work them into finally becoming the characters fans ended up loving.
So far, the rules as to who can and who doesn’t become a zombie has remained vague outside of the survivors thinking it’s a virus transmitted by bites and injuries caused directly by the zombies. The comic book followed the Romero rules that any sort of death will result in the body returning to life as zombie as long as the brain is intact.
The episode being set mostly at night really made some of the scenes at the high school and at the RV look very dark that at times it was hard difficult to figure out what was going on.
Glenn got a bit more screen time in this episode and his interaction with Maggie Greene was good to see as these two would become quite integral in the group moving forward.
Lauren Cohan also got a bit more time during the episode to help flesh out her character as someone who seemed more well-adjusted to the new world than either Lori, Andrea or Carol. Though after finding out what had happened to one of her and her family’s oldest friends showed that deep down she’s as damaged by the zombie apocalypse as the other ladies.
I’m all for Sophia being found alive and all, but this season has put too much energy on this particular part of the storyline for far too long. They need to figure out a way to end this part of the show’s second season soon and do so in a way that makes sense or it would’ve been a wasted exercise in storytelling that took up almost a third of the season if not more.
Even with the episode set at night with minimal lighting the zombie make-up effects by co-executive producer Greg Nicotero and his band of make-up wizards at KNB EFX remain one of the highlight’s of the show. Example in point: legless zombie in the high school gym.
It’s been awhile since we’ve seen someone shown getting torn apart by zombies on this series, but tonight did a great job at showing how savage and brutal a death at the hands of a horde of zombies could be especially if the person in question being torn apart was still alive to experience it.
Some may think the season has been slow-going so far, but I like how it’s not all action. If there was ever one thing which always made zombie apocalypse stories very fun to read and watch is how they don’t just show gore and death, but also explore some heavy themes and ideas about faith, living versus survival and whether allowing the most helpless to remain surviving in such a terrifying world is such a good idea to begin with.
The episode’s title definitely played on the idea of saving the last bullet. Whether the episode means saving it for oneself as the final option out or to use it for a darker purpose to continue surviving would be up to the each individual to decide.
Lisa Marie has been posting some very good pubic domain horror films for the past couple weeks and I think it’s about high time I posted one of the best public domain films. This one happens to be a horror film and also happens to be one of the best horror films ever made. I would be of the mind to call this one of the most important films ever made in the last hundred years.
The film I speak of is George A. Romero’s classic and iconic horror film from 1968 simply called Night of the Living Dead. I’ve reviewed and posted this film from over a year ago, but it’s only been recently that Youtube has had a quality HD version of the full film uploaded to its site. Now, people don’t need to go find and buy the countless DVD versions of this film floating around in almost every store imaginable. I think even 7-11 and corner mom-and-pop stores carry a dvd of this film. This is why public domain films can be such a boon to films of the past (though also a curse since some transfers of pubic domain films are beyond awful) that tend rarely get a video release.
Fortunately, Night of the Living Dead is not one of those films. It’s the opposite in that it’s a film that many consider the birth of modern horror cinema and one of the perfect example of guerrilla filmmaking. It’s a film that didn’t just change how we look at horror now (gone are the gothic trappings that most horror had prior), but it also was one of the few horror films to successfully marry not just scares but thought-provoking themes and ideas. Even now most horror films fail to do one of the other let alone both at the same time.
The modern zombie genre of entertainment (films, stories, video games and even protest movements) owe it’s existence to this little low-budget horror film from the late 60’s by a Pittsburgh native and his friends who decided to pool their money together and make a horror flick. It’s a film that still stands the test of time. When all the hoopla over the Paranormal Activity nonsense, remakes of horror (both good and bad) and teen-sanitized horror goes by the wayside this film will continue to impress, remain relevant and still scare (pardon my French) the shit out of young people discovering it for the first time.
As I sit here collecting my thoughts on my next horror film review I went over on YouTube to look at a few favorite film scenes to help inspire me. One such scene I came across remains one of my favorite horror scenes ever. In fact, I would consider this one of my favorite film scenes I have ever seen and I have seen more than what’s considered normal.
The film the latest “Scenes I Love” comes from the classic and under-appreciated Day of the Dead. This would be his third zombie film and when it first came out was considered too dark and depressing. I don’t think I would disagree with those descriptions, but that’s not to say the film wasn’t great. The film just took awhile for people to finally appreciate it’s greatness and utter grindhouse vibe.
Now onto the scene that continues to be my favorite from this film. It involves the character of Capt. Rhodes as he tries to flee fro the horde of zombies which has breached the underground haven he and his men had called home. Just like the inspiring leader he was throughout the film, Rhodes leaves his men to fend for themselves as he goes for the cache of weapons and ammo to make a run for it. What he hadn’t counted on was the arrival of one smarter-than-the-average-zombie named Bub who has a bone to pick with dear old Capt. Rhodes.
What happens once the two get to doing their stand-off still remains one of the best scenes in horror ever. What made the scene great was how Rhodes reacted to the final situation he found himself in. If I ever meet such an end I would hope I go out with such words to utter.
The good thing about AMC’s The Walking Dead is that it puts zombies on the forefront of the public’s cultural consciousness. They’ve become the monster that still remains scary. The show has also allowed for new fans of the genre to seek out other classic zombie films and stories that they wouldn’t have bothered to check out if it hadn’t been for this show. One such classic zombie film would be another of Lucio Fulci’s gorefests from the early 80’s. It is a film which also has my latest “Scenes I Love” and one that continues this month’s horror theme.
Lucio Fulci’s The Beyond (aka Seven Doors of Death) has one of my favorite scenes in horror. It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to say that I love pretty much everything Fulci has done and each of those films always have several memorable scenes that would imprint themselves on fans. My favorite scene from The Beyond has to be when the film’s two protagonists (played by regular Fulci actors in Catriona McColl and David Warbeck) find themselves under siege by zombies in a hospital. Warbeck’s character tries to fend them off with his trusty six-shooter, but seems to have forgotten to read the memo about shooting them in the head.
Every miss lessens their chance and when the creepy little red-haired girl suddenly makes her appearance as she attacks McColl’s Liza then the payoff in the scene finally happens. It looks like Warbeck’s character suddenly remembered what will kill them undead and decides to test it out on the little red-haired girl. To say that this scene was shocking when seen by a 9 year-old boy would be an understatement. I think even now that soon to turn 38 years of age young boy would still react with utter shock at this scene.
Through the Shattered Lens 