What happened?
Rick is forced to venture into town in pursuit of Hershal who has taken to drinking following the slaughter of the barn zombies and a crushing sense of hopelessness. Rick eventually talks him round, but not before they encounter two survivors that also want to join them on the farm. Rick shoots them both before they get the chance to shoot him.
At the farm, Hershal’s wife has entered a catatonic state. Whilst some of the group bury the dead they knew and burn the rest, Dale tells Lori that he is certain Shane was responsible for killing Otis. Lori leaves in a car to find Rick but crashes en route.
Thoughts
The Walking Dead is back after its mid-season break and it’s returned with. . . well, more of a canter than a spring, let’s put it that way. Not that I’ve had any trouble with the pacing of the show but I know the internet is teeming with its detractors at how it seems to be dragging its feet. Yet without the more leisurely pace how would we ever get to know the characters? And how would scenes like the meeting in the bar carry so much tension and effect if The Walking Dead was quickly-edited and injected with the pace of, say, 24? It just wouldn’t be the show it is and I like the show how it is.
Events kick off immediately after the devastating gunshot that ended zombie Sophia. The episode was primarily concerned in dealing with the effects that had on the group. From Daryl’s withdrawal to Hershal’s despair, it’s fair to say the effects weren’t good. I didn’t quite buy Glenn’s remarks about how, because it was Sophia, her death had caused such upset. I mean, I get that was what the episode was stating but it didn’t quite feel earned with what we had seen before. I don’t recall the group all fondly hugging Sophia and loving her youthful presence as the life and soul for them in dark times. Up until she went missing I didn’t even know her name!
Shane’s sense of being perceived as the right man always viewed in unfairly negative ways only became more pronounced this episode, too. He has a case to defend himself with. Aside from putting a crosshair on Rick to rid him of his love rival, Shane’s actions have been brutal (killing Otis) but generally for a purpose. In principle emotional terms I do tend to side with the view that Shane is bad news, but at the same time his conversation with Dale, rebuking his moral authority stance and generally useless practical help, does make me realise where he is coming from.
It’s not so much that his behaviour is completely wrong but his hot-headed anger and unreasonable outbursts make it hard to consider him an ideal leader of the people.
The love romance between Glenn and Maggie continues, again not quite as good a sell as the show’s creators perhaps expect of the audience. Maggie’s sudden dependency and professed love for Glenn feels unearned and more a product of plot necessity than organic development. I buy that they have potential, and I get that Glenn being torn between Maggie and the group provides some dramatic meat, but as a real deal loving couple they’ve got some way to go. I expect that Maggie is willing to go with Glenn and his group as things stand – though when it comes to it I expect her and maybe one or two others from Hershal’s group will be hitting the road with Rick’s tribe before too long.
Lori hit the road in a more literal manner this episode, cementing her position as the show’s most unintentionally annoying character. Barely a week goes by without her doing something dumb. This time she decided it was of the utmost importance that she go and try and find Rick to tell him to hurry bringing Hershal back (as though without her prompting him he would just be kicking back taking his sweet time!). Along the way she takes her eyes off the road, mows down one walker and then flips the car. Terrific. In a world full of problems that’s the kind of problem you really need to avoid!
It seems unlikely that it would have been just one solitary walker she hit, which means her crash is bound to have alerted other walkers to her position. I can well imagine a scenario where she escapes, is chased, and leads a whole bunch of the undead back to the farm, if anything just to compound what a complete idiot she is!
Meanwhile Rick was in the bar with Glenn and Hershal. Their conversation was interesting; Hershal’s despair was countered by Rick’s sense of duty when it came to how they continued. But, of course, the real talking point and the highlight of the episode came about when the two survivors turned up in the bar and ushered in a dialogue-heavy few scenes that were thick with tension.
I liked how we stayed with this scene for lengthy periods. In fact, the naysayers that argue about the pacing of the show would do well to take a long sober look at how well this particular scene worked precisely because of the measure and stately pacing. The faux-friendly jostling of introductions gave way to the two survivors masking their smiles to hide the ruthless instinct that had got them so far. As they tried to pick up the clues about where Rick and his group were located an impasse was inevitable. The proverbial immovable object (Rick) meeting the unstoppable force (the two survivors).
The moment Rick shot the pair of them just jolted me with the abrupt coolness of it. In fact, once I watched the episode through, I actually rewound back to that moment just to see it happen again. It was so fast, so slight, so brilliant. Further demonstrating that Rick is the natural choice for leader (you can imagine Shane might have got out of that situation but would it have been as elegant, and would Hershal and Glenn both made it, too?). He has now crossed new boundaries – dispatching real people in the same manner as walkers. At least he let them make the first move; he’s not a mercenary murderer and still just a man trying to keep himself and his family alive.
What was the best part?
The entire scene in the bar with the two survivors. Interesting conversations with a constant tension and rising unsettling feeling. As it played out it was clearly reaching an untenable point between Rick stoutly rejecting to give the two shelter, and the survivors being unwilling to take no for an answer. The result was Rick being quicker on the draw and me on my sofa going, “Whoa!”
What do I think will happen next?
The previews clued me in a little to what I probably would have concluded needed to happen: it’s time to hit the road. It appeared that Hershal’s farm was getting besieged by walkers, perhaps attracted to the area after Lori’s crash, or all the gunshots Rick fired in the town, or just from all the gunshots at the barn massacre – possibly they just happened to be wandering by! Either way, their arrival should only usher in the necessity for our survivors to hit the road again. Quite how many of them will survive is another matter. If Hershal’s wife doesn’t snap out of things soon then I don’t see her making the journey. . .
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