What happened?
Rick, Glenn and Hershal survive attacks from man and zombie and escape town – taking with them a blindfolded but injured man from the group that attacked them. Bringing him back to the farm further aggravates Shane, who perceives Rick as a danger to the group. He also tells Lori he believes the child is his and they had a special relationship before Rick returned.
Lori is adamant that she wants nothing to do with Shane and her unborn child is Rick’s no matter what. She tells Rick that Shane is dangerous and may present a threat to him in taking Lori and the child as his own.
Thoughts
Once again, for me, The Walking Dead delivers another top notch episode that combines tension, strong characters and truly grisly events to great effect. This episode was like a mirror flip of last week’s, with the real tense action occurring at the beginning and allowing the talking to close things off. Although when it comes to Shane’s increasingly volatile nature leisurely conversations aren’t easily forthcoming.
The reveal that the two guys that Rick had killed in the previous episode were part of a larger, gun-toting group was a surprise. It certainly further cemented what a wise move it had been not to let them into the farm group; no doubt they’d have sought to infiltrate, compromise and overthrow the group and take the farm for themselves. I did like how the gang outside were kept vague and unknown – speaking through closed doors and viewed in shadows. Their numbers were kept elusive and their threat all the more menacing. When it comes down to it real people are far more dangerous and scarier than ‘walkers’ are (although I’d rather be shot dead than have my face eaten off as I screamed like what happened to one of the attackers).
The debate about what to do with the injured man between Rick and Hershal was interesting. Whilst it was clear that Hershal and Rick were in clear alliance and working together (good to see) Hershal’s instinct just to shoot him and leave him certainly felt merited. Considering this same guy had been shooting them it’d be an understandable response. Rick, however, is more interested in keeping his conscience relatively clear. He could tell himself that the two men had drew on him first before he killed them (and he was right) because for him, for now, there’s a line over which he will not go in outright murder for self-preservation. The matter of Shane may bring that level of self-preservation morality to its utmost limit.
I liked how the matter of cutting the leg off and cauterising the wound and so forth was dismissed for the more immediate ‘pull leg off railing and run’ technique. Honestly, I can’t believe that wasn’t their first thought! He was already a dead man if they left him anyway, so yanking the leg clear and taking their chances that way improved his odds immeasurably.
Shane, of course, does not share the view that any attempt to save him should have been made. The line Rick won’t cross has already been crossed by Shane in killing Otis. I can see his point of view. Andrea addressing the issue that it wasn’t necessarily what he was saying that was the problem, it was the more the way he was saying it that created so much friction and antagonism sounded close to true. Unfortunately Shane’s feelings for Lori betrayed much about him. He is fuelled by the memory of the good time they had in those early desperate days together, and his belief that Lori also feels the same are crucial. Throw in the fact that he surely believes the unborn child is his and, yes, I think she was right when she told Rick that he could present a credible, irrational threat to him.
Lori’s presence of mind against the threat here went some way to addressing how she almost got herself killed following the car crash. Her getting out of the car and getting the gun to fend off the attacking walkers was creditable, but at the same time she stumbled out of the car having killed one and didn’t notice the other one shambling along behind her! I mean, really. In that situation you’d have thought your senses would have been blazing and your survival instinct have you panicking and checking all around you for threats. Still, she did manage to save herself from the mess she got herself into so I suppose I’ll chalk that up as a minor plus point.
Glenn didn’t fare so well when it came to saving his own skin (although when the zombies were closing in around them he did OK with some well-aimed, long range shotgun blasts!). His change from being the plucky survivor to a rabbit frozen in the headlights due to his improbable state of falling in love (although the farmer’s daughter is pretty hot so, you know, I’ll cut him some slack) has hit him hard. Their relationship is a tad frustrating for its forever dodging of a straight love story, but really that’s a more sophisticated path for the two to take and ought to make their eventual union all the more rewarding.
Or potentially heartbreaking, should one of them not make it. . .
Another unlikely love relationship doesn’t threaten to blossom between Carol and Daryl. His switch to outsider is just about believable, although I think his character has been given a short amount of screen time to really make us comprehend where he is at right now. But I like how Carol has emerged as brittle yet strong, and not willing to just wither away following her devastating loss. This is a woman with incredible courage, and a willingness to live and make the best of the life she has left. Whilst Daryl’s ungracious sulk and scathing outbursts are brutal, she takes it and perseveres. I have to hope that perseverance will be rewarded.
What was the best part?
Lori’s escape from the car could have been the standout moment, but her bungling her own fight for survival and only just making it made it more frustrating than entertaining. So the plaudits have to go the intense peak of the walkers closing in around Rick, Hershal and Glenn whilst they debated what to do with the man impaled on the railings. This many episodes in, this many walker attacks down the line, and The Walking Dead can still make its action sequences inventive and exciting.
What do I think will happen next?
Rick appears to be being steered on an eventual collisions course with Shane, and with just three episodes to go I have to wonder if this isn’t something that will come to absolute head for the finale. I expect skirmishes to be forthcoming, but the all-out one-on-one showdown isn’t quite ready to be brought to the boil, I think.
I still believe that Hershal’s farm cannot remain a permanent residence for the survivors for much longer and the open road beckons. And I still believe that really the only thing that can force them to move on, especially now that Hershal and Rick are seeing eye to eye, has to be a threat from outside that overpowers them. To that end I still anticipate either a zombie infestation descending on the farm, but there is now potential that the gun-toting gang we barely saw this episode will make another appearance.
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