RECAP: ‘The Walking Dead’ – S02E13 – “Beside The Dying Fire”

NOTE: Let’s be mindful of all the new viewers participating in this conversation and try not to spoil plot points taking place deep into the run of the comic series. Mild speculation is fine and encouraged, as well as talking about things that have happened in the comic up until the point they are at in the show, but don’t get too explicit with regard to future surprises. They will be deleted. Thanks!


“Beside The Dying Fire”

or

“The Zombie Extras Budget For This Episode Must Have Been Ridiculous”

Flashback! Remember when Rick thought he saw a helicopter when he was in Atlanta and everyone said he was hallucinating? Yeah, there really was a helicopter. We know this because all those zombies in Atlanta, may of whom were feasting on Rick’s horse, saw the helicopter and started following it. Thus, The Herd was formed! Long did the herd walk. They walked through fences, they walked through forests, they walked until they were close enough to hear Carl shoot Zombie Shane.

Roll credits!

Everyone sits tensely in the house waiting for word on the Randall search party. Andrea wants to go help but she’s told to stay put. Daryl and Glenn walk in with a bunch of news: they’ve heard a gunshot, they found Randall, Randall was a zombie, Randall wasn’t bitten by a zombie, Shane and Randall’s tracks were suspicious.

Back out in the woods, Rick and Carl take a leisurely stroll through the clearing. Carl is full of questions about the whole Zombie Shane thing so they stop to chat, not knowing that The Herd is in the shadows behind them. Oh, wait they now they know. The Herd is not adept at stealth. Honestly, this is a good development for Rick because he had no answers for Carl. “Shane was a dick. He had sex with your mom. I killed him.” There’s no pamphlets for that conversation.

Back at the house, everyone is watching the woods from an upper floor and the see The Herd approaching. Time to break out the guns! Glenn is in favor of just staying put and letting The Herd pass them by like the one on the highway from the season premiere. Daryl doesn’t think that’s a good idea. This here Herd is going to take the house with them like a tornado.

No one tells this bit of information to Rick who takes Carl and attempts to barricade himself in the barn. He barely gets the door closed as zombies already begin to pound on the walls.

At the house, Mother of the Year 2012 Lori finally realize that Carl is missing.

The group starts to shotgun up but Daryl is wary of this plan. They don’t have enough guns and people to shoot the entire Herd. He thinks they should run. Hershel says he’s rather die at his farm then be driven out. I am suddenly reminded of Han and Luke having a chat on the way to the Sarlaac Pit on Tatooine.

In the barn Rick and Carl are furiously pouring gasoline on the floor of the barn that is entirely made up of wood and hay. Rick is hoping to draw all the zombies to the barn and way from the house. He opens the barn door and then starts taunting the zombies into the barn. He runs to the ladder and meets Carl on the hayloft and when the barn is full up with zombies orders Carl to drop a lighter onto the gasoline. He does, and the barn becomes one big zombie flambe.

Outside the barn, Daryl rides up on his motorcycle and starts capping stray zombies because Daryl is awesome. Two other cars appear and Andrea and Glenn start taking out zombies while T-Dogg and Maggie drive in big circles.

In the house, Carol and Random Blonde Chick… and ANOTHER Random Blonde Chick (there are TWO?) watch the barn burn. They’re cautiously optimistic that the fire is attracting The Herd and keeping them from the house. Lori comes to rain on their parade to tell them she still can’t find Carl. Carol tells her that maybe Carl snuck out to go find Rick or to look for Randall on his own. Great, Carol. Why don’t you add, “Maybe he snuck out to do heroin” while you’re at it?

Back out at the barn, Daryl continues to calmly pick off zombies, but there are just so many. He tells the random dude driving the RV to pull around back of the barn to see if he can find Rick. Random dude does and finds Rick and Carl outside the hayloft. He pulls and Rick and Carl jump on the roof of the RV. And then for some reason, random dude gets up and opens the RV door where he is immediately set upon by a group of zombies and torn to pieces! Rick shoots a bunch of zombies and he and Carl run!

Glenn and Andrea continue blasting away at the zombies around the barn but it’s a futile effort. They’re a lot more zombies than bullets. They need a new plan!

Hershel stands resolutely in front of his house blasting away with his shotgun while Lori and Carol run around frantically in the background trying to find Carl. Lori channels her anxiety into letting off a few shots at some in-coming zombies before she’s called to make a run for it with Carol and the two random blondes. (They try to get Hershel to come with them but it’s no use. He’s too busy shotgunning.) The womenfolk make it about twenty feet from the house before they are set upon by zombies. Random blonde chick number one gets grabbed and torn apart and Carol runs around in circles trying to find a place to hide like she’s in Benny Hill. Just as all seems lost Andrea and T-Dogg pull up in their pick-up truck. Andrea gets out of the truck to go save Carol while Lori and The Last of the Random Blonde Chicks get in the truck. Andrea pops a few zombies and saves Carol while zombies start to swarm the pick-up truck. T-Dogg has no choice and takes off, leaving Andrea and Carol behind.

Glenn and Maggie are having similar problems. The Herd is getting too thick and their truck is being swarmed. Glenn tells her they have no choice, they have to get out of there and abandon the farm. Mggie’s not too keen on this idea buy, you know, zombies.

Back at the house Hershel continues to shoot and reload and shoot and reload his shotgun, all the while unaware of a lone zombie coming up behind him. Just as that zombie is about to chomp down on some sweet, sweet Hershel neck, Rick appears and shoots it in the head. Rick asks Hershel where Lori is and Hershel doesn’t know. Rick tells Hershel it’s time to leave and he grabs the protesting old man and drags him to a truck. As he speeds away he doesn’t notice Andrea frantically waving that she needs a ride because, again, the zombies.

Daryl watches the barn burn from a safe distance until he hears a scream. He drives his bike over to investigate and finds Carol who he swoops up on his bike. They take off leaving poor Andrea all alone with a bag of guns and The Herd.

As Rick, Carl, and Hershel drive away Hershel watches zombies overtake his property. He’s probably thinking that there isn’t enough whiskey left in the whole world to make this feeling go away, but he’s damn sure going to put that theory to the test.

Meanwhile, the barn burns and collapses as The Herd roams the farm, confused as to wear all the food went.

They may have escaped The Herd, but there’s still a lot of stragglers around but luckily Daryl’s got a motorcycle. Maggie and Glenn don’t have a motorcycle but they do have Maggie’s impending nervous breakdown. Glenn wisely has Maggie stop the car so he can drive because driving while having a nervous breakdown is almost as dangerous as driving while texting. Glenn tries to calm Maggie down by proclaiming his love for her and telling her that everything will be okay.

Rick, Carl, and Hershel pull up to where everything all began this season: the highway. Carl is confused: Rick told him that Lori would be there but Lori isn’t there. Why did they leave her behind? Carl is mighty pissed at his dad and runs off to pout. Hershel tells Rick to go and take Carl to safety. He volunteers to stay behind and wait for any survivors and if zombies kill him, so be it. Rick refuses.

In the pick-up truck Lori tries to convince T-Dogg to head to the meeting place on the highway. T-Dogg won’t do it, he wants to get as far away from The Herd as possible. Lori threatens to jump out of the moving car if he doesn’t turn around. T-Dogg relents.

Back at the highway, Rick, Carl, and Hershel hide from a random zombie wearing argyle. They decide that maybe the road isn’t safe after all and it’s time to go. Rick prepares to tell Carl that they’re going to have to give up and leave on their own just as everyone else starts to arrive! Oh happy day—there are survivors! It’s an emotional happy reunion with hugs all around. (Wait, what happened to the argyle zombie on the road?) They survey their losses: Shane, Second Random Blond Chick, Random Dude, and Andrea, who is the only one they don’t know for sure is dead. Daryl wants to go back and look for Andrea but Rick says it’s too dangerous. Daryl isn’t having that, but their discussion is interrupted when the argyle zombie pops up and Daryl puts an arrow in its head.

They next thing we see is all the cars in the new caravan taking off… but to where? Are they running or going to look for Andrea?

(And then there’s another awesome ad for Mad Men that makes it look like the cast is all zombies.)

Andrea isn’t waiting around for any rescue; she’s too busy hightailing it through the woods with a passel of zombies on her ass. She stops for a quick reload and ammo check. There’s not much left, maybe a handful of bullets, so the next zombie that appears gets stomped on the head. She shoots the next zombies and takes off running again.

On the road, Rick’s truck runs out of gas they decide to make camp because they all can’t fit in the other cars. They need to find gas because they’re running low on ammo themselves. Maggie and Glenn want to make a run for gas but Rick is now fanatical about sticking together. He wants to find a new place to hide out and fortify and build a life together. Rick is… becoming a little unhinged. Daryl takes this opportunity to tell everyone that Randall had become a zombie without being bit by a zombie. Everyone’s got questions. That’s when Rick drops the bomb: “We’re all infected.” That’s what Crazy Jenner at the CDC whispered in his ear last season. They’re all carrying the zombie virus. No one is very pleased that Rick chose to keep this information to himself.

Rick stumbles away from the group because no one likes him very much right now, Lori follows him and Rick confesses that he killed Shane. He tells her what happened in the woods with Randall and Shane and Carl. He tells Lori that he wanted it all to end. He wanted to kill Shane. Lori looks a wee bit concerned, especially when Rick reveals that Carl was the one to kill Zombie Shane. Lori wants no part of her husband right now.

Back in the woods, it’s getting dark and Andrea is out of ammo. She smashes one zombie in the head and stabs another with a switchblade. She’s overtaken by a third zombie who knocks her down and just as he’s about to take a big ol’ bite, the zombie’s head gets loped off. By a woman in a hood. Holding a samurai sword. Michonne!

The group sits around a campfire and Rick is still not very popular. Carol wants Daryl to take charge and lead everyone in abandoning Rick. Maggie suggests the same to Glenn. Daryl isn’t to keen on the idea, Rick’s been alright by him. Rick comes back to the campfire and tells the group about Shane and that he feels no guilt about killing his best friend. He tells everyone that he’s just doing his best to keep the group together and everyone alive. He tells everyone that they are free to go and try to survive on their own but if they stay he’s in charge. “This isn’t a democracy anymore.” No one leaves.

The camera pulls up from Rick and the gang and tracks over the woods and reveals, not far from their camp, the prison!

 


And thus ends the second season of The Walking Dead. Superior to the first season on just about every level, this season brought some serious thrills, chills, and tension. Season two was all about the philosophical (and then physical) conflict between Rick and Shane, and Hershel coming to grips with the reality of the world. Next season, with the addition of Michonne and The Governor and the new setting at the prison, promises to be very different.

See you in the fall!

Comments

  1. wow so much has happened, things are really turning up in the tv series

  2. This episode was a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to next season.

  3. This was a crazy episode, but so much fun. I really liked the formation of the Herd sequence. Kind of interesting to see how it forms, and i think kinda necessary.

    The Mad Men zombie commercials made me lol

    The Michonne reveal was creepy and very Mad Max-y. I’m sure she’ll be an interesting addition to the cast. Kind of annoyed that her reveal/casting was spoiled all over the pop culture internet before the show came on.

    • I couldn’t decide if Andre was going to get picked up my the other group, or Michonne, then I saw a sound swipe the screen and I yelped.

      I never thought her vision the first time you see her would be so faithful. I thought they’d ditch the zombies on chains idea for a TV audience, but it worked.

  4. Sigh now it is boring tv on Sundays starting next week up to October. It was a great season 2. ZOMBIES!!!!!! BULLETS!!! & new character(s) & the prison. Bring on the drama.

    Matthew

    PS
    Comic book men was good & I hope it returns in the fall.

    • the thing with comic book men is they are so ugly! BIG yellow tooth is the biggest dork and not in the fun way, the guy with the beard is crepy, Ming looks like he has been hit in the face with a bag of bricks, Kevin is not near as funny as he thinks he is and the other guy is forgettable. With that being said I like the show but doubt it will last and with out people watching to see a scene from the walking dead the ratings will drop.

  5. Not sure I’m happy with the way Rick is being characterized this early in the span of the series. But what do I know, I’m working at a desk, NOT writing an awesome TV show.

  6. I jumped off my couch when Michonne appeared.

  7. A question was just posed to me. If everyone is infected, why didn’t those two guys that Rick shot in the bar turn? I think he shot one of them in the head, but not both. I might be wrong.

    I understand that Shane’s transformation was sped up for story purposes, but one of those guys should have gotten up, shouldn’t they?

    • Both were shot in the head.

    • I asked the same thing last week. If you can find the thread for the last episode Conor responded with a link to an interesting Kirkman interview where they explain that issue.

    • Considering we now know that Rick knew that all along, I’d say those headshots were deliberate. Especially given the fact that he shot the one dude twice to get the headshot.

  8. I don’t know how I called it, but somehow I knew Michonne was going to appear when she did. My wife and I were totally nerding out screaming, “No! They won’t kill Andrea right now! Michonne! Where’s Michonne? She can save her! Samurai Sword! Where’s the sword!” Then we pretty much didn’t get to pay attention for the next few seconds because we were was going nuts. I loved how they got the action out of the way in the first half, because it gave them an opportunity to show how close they were to the prison. Also, I thought the opening was great. It made me think it was an awesome way to show how the herds get going in a direction when there isn’t someone around them. Reminded me of Night of the Living Dead. Maybe that’s how they all ended up around the farm so quickly in that movie.

    • Uh… because honestly, things in this show aren’t all that hard to call. Anyone who DIDN’T realize that Michonne was going to save Andrea at that moment, isn’t thinking critically.

  9. What difference would it have made if they knew Jenner’s secret? Could anyone do anything about it?

    • It’s a safety concern. Remember a few episodes ago when that girl tried to slit her wrists? If she had actually gone through with it they would have broken the door down to find a walker inside and she would have probably bitten Maggie and Lori and then all hell would have broken loose

    • it would have destroyed all morale and really created a bleaker outlook on their entire world. On the farm they had hope that they could create a new life. Being told you’re a ticking time bomb really can’t do much for your will to live.

    • I thought they over reacted at that. Roivampire I can your point, but Rick didn’t even know if it was true, until Shane died.

  10. Hmm, no more possible post prison meet-up at Hershel’s Farm since that thing’s wrecked to all hell. Could still happen though. :/ With all the windows boarded up, I thought they’d make a last stand at casa de Hershels. Glad they didn’t. Also glad they didn’t have Andrea go up Randell’s shack and have her wait it out (with most of the gang’s guns (or just ammo)). Pressumptions pre-episode are annoying. Oddly disappointed about the low human death count but I really liked that the RV possibly got torched since it also placed that little bow around Dale’s story (a horrible, we’ll miss you bow… or something like that).

    I wooting and shouting at the Michonne reveal with Andrea. 😀 Eagerly waiting for season 3.

  11. Loved this episode and it made me determined to read the books more. Previously I had only read the first trade. Can someone tell me, without spoilers of course, how far into the books I need to get for Michonne to show up and to know why everyone is very excited about the prison?

    Thanks!

    • 94 issues its a great time to read them

    • They have shown up and left the farm by the end of the 2nd trade. The prison is pretty much from issue 13 to 48. Which is what makes the compendium edition great since that’s the first 48 issues. Michonne comes in not too long after that at the start of the 4th trade.

    • Thanks mayoroftelevision,

      Compendiums are too hard to read in my experience. I think I’ll just pick up the hardcovers. Hopefully I can read it all before the show starts up again. I really didn’t think I’d get this into it but it’s so well done.

    • I can attest if you have the volumes in front of you, you will have zero problem reading it all before the show starts up again. Even rereading I can’t go through less than 6 issues in a sitting.

    • yeah i was able to tear through the compendium pretty fast. Its a very engrossing, very fast read. You can catch up very fast.

    • @KreiderDesigns: Yeah I’m not a fan volumes that big, too. I have just been using it as a way to get a lot of my friends who love the show into the comic. Plus if you wanted your collections to match, there is no guarantee the 2nd one with 49-96 will come out anytime soon. I love the Walking Dead trades because unlike almost everything else, there isn’t a break in between issues with the covers so it’s seems like a bigger story that doesn’t stop.

      @itsbecca: Yeah, 3 months before the 1st season started I told my wife if she started reading them she could knock out one trade a week. She read all of them in a few weeks.

    • @itsbecca: The problem is getting them all. I dont think any of my friends have them and I don’t have the scratch for them all right now. Should be able to afford the first and second hard covers before too long though.

  12. Oh my god, when are they going to leave the damn prison???

  13. I was pretty excited to see Michonne show up, i even got a quizzical look from my girlfriend. But after thinking about it, and others expressing the same thing (Wally said she looked mad max-y, which i would agree with), did Michonne look out of place in this realistic setting? She looked like she stepped right out of the comic, zombies and all, and i have to wonder if this very comic book-y character will work in a series that has been set up to be very realistic in setting. I have high hopes for her, and i know a lot of people here do as well; but i just keep going back to that image of her that seemed very different for other images we’ve seen.

    Also, the reveal that the prison is just around the corner from the group was weird. The only reason i knew what it was is because i’ve read the book, but my girlfriend, who she and I work for the prison system, didn’t recognize this at all. I would have preffered not to see it like this, but I know they wnated to show it to get people excited for the next season.

    • THIS…. my wife was both confused by people coming back as zombies without being bit, and found it weird that there was zombies on chains (Michonne).

      And the last shot of the prison… doesn’t really tell anything to anyone that’s never read the comics.

      Pan up… its… a BUILDING! Fade to black.

      Ok.

    • @jessecuster chicken or egg type situation ya dig, wich came first? How can you be a walker without being bit means no walkers cause no one got bit by something that can only be if some one gets bit by some one whos been bit right. LOL do you know what I am sayen it had to come from some where before some one got bit or no one would of ever got it. 2nd WALKERS on chains (Michonne) was to show us that their is some one who knows how to live in this world so well they are keeping Walkers on chains like a guard dog (would you mess with some one with walkers chained up if you came across them in this world where its every man for him self? If rick had a few walkers chianed up at the bar them dudes would of never f’ed with him) walking around cutting the undead’s heads off. AND 3rd Rick said there is a place to go he just has to find it then the last shot of the prison, pan up… its… a BUILDING they can live in! Fade to black.
      Ok, hope that helps.

  14. Called it called it caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalled it! *HAPPY DANCE* Knew from episode 1 (go check the post) that was going to be the last shot of the season. Granted, it was a bit obvious. What could possibly be better as a giant reveal and set up a new paradigm for season 3? But still, I’m chuffed. Let me have my moment.

    Now that that’s out of the way… MICHONNE MICHONNE MICHONNE MICHONNE!!!!! Hoooooooooray! Great entrance as the mysterious bad ass. And the prospect of her and Andrea as a team? I have no words. I really don’t.

    Next season we’re going to get to meat of this series: The depraved, disgusting and terrifying, and I’m not talking about zombies.

    • On that note, I’m really curious how the time away from the group is going to affect Andrea, and how long it will last. I hope she meets back up with them in time for… certain events where she was awesome. But will this turn her hard[er]? Make her embittered? Sway her loyalty? She was good to the group but the people she was closest to are dead. Should be really interesting.

    • Good call, I thought she wouldn’t be seen until season 3 but I knew at least the prison would be the cliffhanger ending.

    • I was hoping when Dale passed Andrea would start to redeem herself a bit, and become the Andrea I love. Which I think she did a bit this episode and last.

      I hope that Michonne’s adaption is more successful that the other woman on the show. At the moment I think Maggie is the only one true to her character. The others are all Lady MacBeth pushing “their man” to take over.

    • I think I remember you calling that. Yeah, what a perfect spot to end the season. I wish they would’ve showed the prison in the daytime. The shot made it look like Castle Greyskull. But that’s cool. Yeah, I wonder if Andrea will be a little bitter that she was left behind. It was just a fog of war type thing. I think what she just went through in the woods (and is going through) is traumatic. She was killing zombies with her bare hands and was almost a goner. She will definitely come out of this changed. I’m thinking and hoping she’ll come out of it more confident and effective in her combat kills.

    • @wayne Hah! My first thought, though us readers obviously knew what it was, was that it looked like a rather large, run down, old southern type plantation. I think because the watchtowers looked a bit like columns, and how the middle was taller than the wings on the sides. Really though, it was so dark and foreboding it was hard to make out any real characteristics at all.

  15. I hope they don’t dumb it down too much when they start living at the prison. That’s my worry.

  16. Carl must be the most unsupervised kid in the history of tv. And Lori gets more and more unlikable. Carol now too. I loved how chaotic this finale was. People were running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Everyone was confused. No one knew where to meet up, who was with whom, who was killed, etc. This exposed the group’s weakness and is the reason why it can no longer be a democracy. Luckily Daryl was around to police everyone up. If Rick is the platoon leader, Daryl would be the platoon sergeant. And I thought the introduction of Michonne was sick! She almost seemed supernatural, like she stepped out of a Mortal Kombat game. It gives the audience (those that haven’t read the books) a great “what the hell is that?!” Moment. Bring on the prison and the Governor.

    • I was okay with Carol, I mean women be a little crazy when they lose their kid. But if her dissent against Rick ever pops up again that will change quickly. I have a weirdly fierce Rick loyalty.

    • I dont see how anyone likes Lori, the only cool thing she did was to get T Dogg to turn around, she is useless.

  17. With Michonne finally arriving gotta think that it won’t take long for T-Dog to finally bite the big one. Pretty sure the only reason he’s stuck around so long was to diversify the cast.

    But seriously, they really ramped up the second half of the season. Hope they keep the momentum for next season.

  18. Lori IMO has always been that way even in the comics, I never found myself liking her. In the comic Carl was never unsupervised like this, I guess it’s just bad writing for the TV show but from the comic version when Carl kills Shane he was going hunting with Rick/Shane and Shane goes ape shit. It was really cool seeing live action Michonne because I’m a really big fan of the comic but I noticed alot of peeps who don’t read the comic getting upset because she looked to much like a super hero and for them it went from a horror drama to a nerdy scifi show.

    • NExt time someone brings that up ask them how many super heroes they know that wear tattered clothes and hoods and walk around with walkers chained to them. She looks more like she stepped out of Robin Hood than a comic book.

    • why did she have the armless zombies? To walk among them?

    • @Roi lol I total agree, I’m so deep in the comic culture that I forget sometimes most people don’t watch scifi or read comics let alone read novels..,,It was just a funny obervation of me freaky out with joy seeing Michonne and my none comic friends thinking it was stupid and the show lost it’s credibility.

    • @Amir so they can’t paw and grab at her,,Notice there jaws are gone too…They’re no longer threats, she keeps the around because of there stench.

    • It protects her from other zombies noticing her

  19. I really think the person in the helicopter you see flying around is the governor..fingers crossed

  20. It’s going to be WAY to long of a wait for the next season to start!

  21. It amused me that the two people to die were the two characters who’ve barely had five lines between them. Fairly obvious they were going to die. Other than that, great episode. And Michonne looks awesome!

    • I was actually more upset they lost the Winnebago than the guy (see I don’t even know what his name was) dying.

    • Well, to be fair, those we cared about happened prior to the finale.

    • I knew there was a random guy around the farm, but I didn’t know who he was. I’m sure he’s been referred to as Hershall’s son and Hershall’s blond daughter’s boyfriend. So either I’m remembering wrong, or the farm had some questionable relationships going on.

      The Whinne will be missed.

    • The kid driving the Winnebago was Jimmy, Beth’s boyfriend. Beth (aka Random Blonde Chick) is Maggie’s half-sister who tried to commit suicide.

      Anyone see The Talking Dead? They said the actor who played Jimmy has a phobia of being eaten alive and was terrified filming his death scene.

  22. The whole thing with Shane turned Rick into a total dick about everything. What the hell?

  23. Well, at least we still got Spartacus.

  24. The show has been fun but flawed in probably one of the worst ways: characterization

    Inconsistent characterization for the purpose of artificial conflict.

    Before a bunch of apologists get in here and start defending the show with lame rationalizations, follow this.

    Rick argues to save some kid that tried to kill them. Hershell (the guy who saves zombies) tells them to leave the kid to his fate.

    Rick saves kid and by doing so causes a two episode conflict.

    Shane says kill the kid. Rick says no. Rick and Shane fight. Kid assists in escaping zombies and kid is now even more suspect.

    Darrell, who is the “outsider” and claims to not care about the group much, tortures kid while calling Shane and Rick “his boys.”

    Rick now wants to kill kid so Dale (the only one with consistent characterization) does a 12 angry men and tries to convince the group not to kill the kid but the whole group wants to do it. Shane sits back and doesn’t do shit this episode.

    Rick doesn’t want to kill kid and now they are back where they were episodes ago.

    Shane kills kid like he would have done much earlier if the writers didn’t want to create a tiring conflict across episodes.

    Shane is killed by Rick.

    Lori is afraid/angry with Rick because he killed Shane even though she was convincing him to do just that episodes ago.

    Silly bullshit. Huge character motivation problems that belittle the show’s potential and reduce it more to soap opera fast-and-loose character conflict for dramatic moments.

  25. This could all be fixed very easily.

    Hershell says he won’t leave the kid on fence (consistent characterization). Rick saves kid cuz he won’t leave Hershell (consistent characterization).

    Saving kid proves a problem for the group and they don’t know what to do. Shane kills kid (consistent characterization).

    Rick kills Shane.

    Lori kisses Rick (consistent characterization).

  26. @ScorpianMasada, you brought up so many good examples, and I’m so glad someone else noticed the WTF moment of Lori freaking out over Rick killing Shane, just days, weeks (?) after basically telling him “He is dangerous, you might have to kill him, it’s your role as leader of the group to keep us safe”. Maybe she was freaking out about Carl shooting Zombie Shane. I can understand Rick sort of going a bit crazy or getting fed up, but the writers keep using Lori to push Rick or Shane over the edge. I enjoy the show, and i’m excited and hopeful for the 3rd season, but I just hope the turmoil surrounding the 2nd season caused all these inconsistencies.

  27. I thought this was a great finale to an alright season and have two thoughts:

    1. If I ever buy a shotgun, I need to remember to get the unlimited ammo cheat that Herschel obviously got with his.
    2. Evidently the reason Stormtroopers can’t hit anything is due to Rick’s group absorbing every bit of aiming skill in the universe. I don’t think anyone missed a single shot. Quite efficient.

  28. @ScorpianMasada: Thanks for posting this. The wild “WTF” swings in characterization really took me out of the show at times this season and I’m glad I’m not the only one. That scene with Lori telling Rick how he needed to kill Shane seemed totally out of left field and I didn’t understand Dale’s sudden and violent antipathy toward Shane either. I thought they were doing a good job of growing Daryl early, but then he was just all over the place.

    On the plus side, I did enjoy seeing Andrea go from suicidal to bad ass and in general I thought Herschel’s character transformation was believable. His “whatever” attitude about Randall was an off key moment, but then I thought that whole sub-plot was contrived and read silly to me at times.

    Of course, it’s still a great show and I look forward to next season, but I don’t agree with Conor that this season was superior to the first one.

  29. Good to see I’m not the only one who felt there were some problems.

    Last time I complained was Season 1 Vatos episode and I was alone in finding that epsiode as hugely problematic to say the least.

    Nevertheless, I am psyched for Season 3 as well!