Nice review!

I'm sorry this show didn't make it to all the hype to was cut out to be, Episode 1 and 2 was good then it was down hill from there.

Hopefully season two would be better. Anyways Kudos to AMC they doing good with all the new series.

Can anybody in the guess what jenner said to rick?
Anybody?
Let the debate start b4 the season 2

I bet he told Rick that they all have the disease in them already and that if they die they will turn to zombies.

Hence even if they die from normal causes they will become zombies.

I think jenner had bugged all the rooms and was monitoring everyone for signs of zombie behaviour, but he caught Lori and shane having their issue, maybe he was warning Rick to watch his back, you could see the way he was looking at his wife after the explosion!

or maybe Lori is pregnant, and he also probably told him that how long
Jenner tested everyones blood!
So Shane is going to be a father and that will thicken the plot of season 2

Definitely a possibility!

Vieira:

I bet he told Rick that they all have the disease in them already and that if they die they will turn to zombies.

Hence even if they die from normal causes they will become zombies.

Keep em coming, what do u think again

Actually I am now sure you are right.

Lori is pregnant.

I just remembered something from the comics!

Other insights

"I think Jenner told Rick that either Lori is pregnant and how far along she is or Lori or her son may hold a cure in their blood but he didn't have enough time to run tests because the clock was ticking down."

there is a cure and safe place in alaska says my friend, ( a producer), and Shane is infected

Wait, didn't Shane say that he listened to Rick's chest and there was no heartbeat? Could Rick have some resistance to the contagion? Or, like others have said, they all already have it, but came back with full function?

Kind of disappointed that they killed off Jacqui, but I guess they wanted to emphasize that nobody is safe and reduce the cast for season 2.

Looks like they want to paint Shane as the villain now, I suppose that adds to the drama, especially when we find out that Lori is pregnant with Shane's baby and that it could be a Zombie Pup

What I think Jenner said to Rick is that they’ll all going to die due to virus is air borne and it’s matter of time they all going to change. Reason I think is because the blood test he conducted in the beginning on the show and when Rick asked him about it? Jenner replied back they’re all okay, however he was going to kill them all the next day! Also if the virus did not go air borne why would the other CDC scientist all kill them self. To a scientist any virus or bacteria going air borne is the last stage and the final stage of the evolution. They all knew there is no cure or answer. I don’t think the doctor cares about Rick’s wife being pregnant, that’s the last thing in he’s mind before he’s going to die!!! It got to be something bigger that affects the whole group.

Do you agree with Jenner that humans will have an extinction event?

YES. Everything has an expiration date. Dinosaurs, the sun, the solar system. We will be gone too.

I think maybe Jenner might have whispered that one of them is infected and didn't feel it was necessary to tell Rick before because he was planning on mass suicide/murder,but since they were leaving felt obligated to let him know that one of their party was going to turn.

1. They all have the virus that turns them into a zombie.
2. The bite from a zombie will kill you but the virus already in you turns you into a zombie
3. Even if they die from ordinary car accident they will become zombies

That is the rule in the comic and hence the title walking dead refers to the survivors as well but I am not sure if the TV series will follow the same rules.

The Walking Dead - Season 1 Episode 5 (Wildfire)
We then see Jenner, wearing a full contamination suit, studying samples of the undead flesh and [size=15pt]listening to classical music[/size]. The man is exhausted -- and he accidently knocks over a test tube. Alarm bells begin to sound. Jenner hustles to the door and it slams shut behind him. Suddenly, the lab room bursts into flames. A robotic voice announces that "decontamination is complete." Jenner hangs his head. His fresh samples have just been destroyed. No more tests. Still no cure.

@Bold
OMG, I badly want to know what's the name of that classical score.
Please, anybody?

Who knows where I can download all episodes that have been released or is there a channel on Dstv that shows The walking dead?

I BET THERE'S NO MOVIE LIKE HORROR MOVIES BUT I PREFER SEXIE VAMPIRE MOVIES. . ALL THESE ZOMBIE CAN BE FREAKIN ANNOYIN SOMETIMES. . UNDERWORLD GET MA VOTE ANYTIME AND ALSO THE VAMPIRE DIARY. . .

WELCOME TO SEASON 2

[size=13pt]Season 2, Episode 1: What Lies Ahead[/size]

Zombie fanatics! Welcome to the second season of AMC's The Walking Dead. New episodes of the horror drama have arrived just in time for Halloween, bringing us the further adventures of lawman Rick Grimes​ and his ragtag crew of survivors. Now reunited with his son, Rick is planning to leave the compromised city of Atlanta to seek shelter at faraway Fort Benning--125 miles away. The journey, as we see in this first extra-long episode, will be treacherous—but it's the only way Rick can keep his family safe.

The season premiere, "What Lies Ahead," follows pretty closely on the heels of last year's season finale: The emotional wounds our heroes experienced at the CDC and following Amy's death are still open and bleeding. Yet they press on, while setbacks claim lives and impede progress.





Atlanta. The city is mostly empty ,  save for the walkers. Rick is on the roof of a building and talking to Morgan via walkie-talkie (Morgan, of course, may or may not actually be listening). "The CDC was a dead end," the sheriff says. "We're moving on." Rick tells Morgan that Dr. Jenner "Told me something, he told me, " and further continues the tease of whatever the Dr. whispered into Rick's ear before fleeing the CDC. Turns out the gang of survivors is heading to Fort Benning -- 125 miles away. The caravan consists of Daryl on a motorcycle and everybody else in a truck and RV. While Rick and Lori reminisce about a past family road trip to the Grand Canyon, Shane helps Andrea put together her gun, which was a gift from her father. The group soon runs into a snag when the entire road is blocked by cars filled with dead bodies. The caravan carefully snakes in and out of traffic when the RV suddenly breaks down.

So the survivors have to stop -- at least momentarily. They decide to take advantage of the situation by scavenging for food and supplies. "This is a graveyard," Lori says. "I don't know how I feel about this." Shane feels great about it, especially after he discovers a truck full of water cooler tanks. He takes an impromptu shower. Rick then notices a walker some miles down the road through the scope on his rifle ,  then another ,  and another ,  and another six dozen. Very quickly but quietly, Rick urges the scavenging survivors to hide under the vehicles as the zombies shuffle past within a few very intense moments.

Unfortunately, T-Dog cuts his arm on a car, causing it to bleed profusely. In the meantime, Andrea is inside the RV and quickly hides in restroom as a zombie wanders inside. She tries desperately to remember how to put her gun together ,  and drops the pieces. Hearing the noise, the zombie bursts into the bathroom. Dale, who's been hiding on the roof of the RV, drops a screwdriver down to Andrea who violently stabs the walker in the eye, killing it. Outside, a walker approaches T-Dog, who is on the verge of losing consciousness. Suddenly, Daryl appears and silently stabs the monster in the brain stem. He then pulls a few corpses over himself and T-Dog until the zombies pass by.

Seemingly safe, Sophia begins climbing out from under a car. Big mistake. A zombie appears and gives chase. She runs into the nearby woods and Rick follows. Two walkers chase Sophia but Rick manages to find her first and pleads with her to hide under a fallen tree in a stream. He tells her that he will draw the zombies away and that she is to run back toward the road once that happens. Rick explains that he can't shoot, or ALL the zombies on the road will hear. Well, the two zombies take the bait and pursue Rick, who hides behind a tree with a giant rock. He gets the best of the walkers, pounding their skulls with the rock when they pass.

Later, Sophia is discovered to have gone missing. Rick, Shane, Daryl, and Glenn find her tracks, which suddenly -- and without reason -- veer left and away from the road. Rick and Daryl press on while Shane and Glenn return to the road to try to calm everybody else. Carl finds a bag of axes and knives and proudly shows them to Shane, who curtly dismisses the boy. When confronted by Lori, he explains that he is going to "quietly slip away first chance I get." No longer can he stay anywhere near Lori. It hurts too much. Back in the woods, Daryl kills a walker with a crossbow. Rick notices that the zombie has flesh in its teeth. But what kind of flesh? Only one way to find out. So Daryl opens up the walker's stomach and pulls out its contents. It's absolutely disgusting, but productive. The zombie has only had a woodchuck for dinner. "At least we know," Rick quips.

Rick and Daryl then return to the road and try to calm Carol, who is near hysterical. "How could you just leave her there to begin with!" Carol cries. Rick explains that leaving Sophia alone was his only option but that they'll have to wait till morning to continue searching. The next morning, Daryl organizes the search party and reluctantly agrees to take along Carl who asserts that he's her friend and can help. Andrea, meanwhile, confronts Dale about the incident at the CDC. "I didn't want your blood on my hands and that's the only reason I left that building," Andrea says. She is angry that Dale did not let her choose death. He is speechless -- hurt and confused. So is Carl, who is once again rebuffed by a sullen Shane. The search party then heads into the woods and comes upon a tent. Inside is the rotting corpse of a man who has committed suicide. Daryl quickly pockets the dead man's gun.

Suddenly, the group hears bells ringing in the distance. They follow the noise to a pristine white church surrounded by a graveyard. Rick and Daryl burst inside to zombies sitting quietly in the church pews. It's incredibly creepy. Rick, Shane, and Daryl then slice and dice the inhabitants. Glenn, in the meantime, discovers that the bells are automated. "They're on a timer," gasps a disappointed Daryl. The group decides to take a breather and Andrea overhears Shane arguing with Lori about leaving. By the end of the conversation, Andrea knows that a) Shane and Lori had a thing and b) that Shane intends to leave without telling anyone. Lori storms inside the church. Afterwards, Shane turns and spots Andrea. He knows that she now knows his big secret.

Inside the church, Carol prays to Jesus that her daughter be returned safe. "Please, Lord, punish me however you want, but show mercy on her," the desperate mother finishes. Outside, Andrea tells Shane that she wants to go with him when he bolts. "All I care about is getting out of here," Andrea says. "I'm not asking you to go steady. I'm asking you for a ride ,  think it over." The group then decides to split up. Rick, Shane, and Carl will stay behind and search around the church. The others will head back to the road. Daryl gives his spare gun -- the dead man's weapon -- to Lori before she departs.

Now it is Rick's turn to pray. He asks for a sign that he is doing the "right thing." "I don't need all the answers ,  any sign will do," he tells the silent Jesus statue. In the meantime, the other survivors stop for a water break on their way back to the road. Lori confronts Andrea about giving her dirty looks because she has a gun, so she offers it up. She then tells Carol and everyone else to stop blaming Rick for what happened to Sophia and all their other troubles. The man isn't perfect, after all. Andrea, seemingly contrite, gives Lori the gun back and they all continue on their way.

Back in the woods, Rick, Carl, and Shane come across a male deer which stops to look at them. Carl approaches the deer curiously while Rick and Shane look on with adoration. Could this be the sign Rick prayed for? Just as Carl gets within arm's reach, a shot rings out. The bullet goes through the deer, killing it, and hits Carl in the chest. Rick screams and runs to his son who lies motionless on the ground.

To be continued ,

This particular episode is terrible, please don't watch if you have heart problems

[size=13pt]Season 2, Episode 2: Bloodletting[/size]









Flashback: Lori confides in a female friend that she and Rick had a big fight the night before. "Do you still love Rick?" asks the friend. Lori clearly isn't entirely sure. Suddenly, Shane pulls up with bad news: Rick has been hurt. He is in surgery. Lori tries to keep herself together as the school bell rings. Carl emerges from the school and Lori breaks the news to the boy, who immediately begins to cry. They embrace.

Present Day: Rick runs, carrying a seemingly lifeless Carl in his arms. Shane drags the man who shot Carl, an overweight and apologetic fellow named Otis. Otis (Pruitt Taylor Vince) tells Rick to head to a nearby farmhouse and talk to a man named Herchel Greene. "Herchel will help your boy!" Otis screams.

Rick runs to the farmhouse, explains that Otis shot the boy and watches as Herchel (Scott Wilson), apparently a doctor, springs into action. Carl has a heartbeat barely. Shane soon arrives and wipes blood off his longtime boss and friend. Rick is distraught. Otis is distraught. Herchel thinks he might be able to save the boy.

The rest of the survivors, meanwhile, continue to "beat the bushes" in an attempt to find Sophia. Lori heard the gunshot earlier -- and worries that Rick and Carl are somehow involved.

Back at the road, Dale and T-Dog (IronE Singleton) wait. T-Dog's wound looks to be severely infected. "You could die from blood poisoning!" Dale says. "We need to find you some antibiotics." They decide to search all the surrounding cars. Rick, in the meantime, is called inside the farmhouse to give blood. Carl screams in pain before passing out. Herchel is able to extract a bullet fragment. "One down, five to go," Herchel sighs.

Later, Rick is frantic. He wants to find Lori so she can be there with Carl. Shane talks his friend down. He then recalls how Lori reacted when Rick was in the hospital with a gunshot wound. "The strength of that woman you can't imagine," Shane tells Rick. Herchel then enters and explains that Carl needs full-fledged surgery. Herchel needs equipment that might be at a nearby high school, where a FEMA shelter had been set up. Unfortunately, the place is likely overrun by walkers. Otis, feeling responsible, volunteers to accompany Shane to the high school to retrieve the needed supplies. They take one of the pick-up trucks from the Greenes.

Back at the road, Dale and T-Dog have struck out. "No drugs," Dale says. T-Dog then begins to tell Dale that they've been left behind because they're the "weak ones." T-Dog then comments that Daryl, a "redneck," has never forgiven him for Merle's fate. "If I'm not mistaken, that redneck went out of his way to save your ass," Dale says. T-Dog suggests that he and Dale strike out on their own. Dale is aghast. He then feels T-Dog's forehead. The man is burning up with fever from his infected arm. "Where the hell are they?" wonders a worried Dale.

Andrea, meanwhile, is searching the woods for Sophia when she is suddenly attacked by a walker. She screams. At the last moment Maggie Greene (Lauren Cohan) rides from the woods on a horse and bashes the walker in the head. Andrea is saved. "There's been an accident," Maggie tells Lori. "Carl's been shot!" Lori jumps onto the horse with Maggie, who gives the rest of the gang directions to the nearby farmhouse before riding away.

Back at that farmhouse, Herchel explains to Rick that his wife and stepson were lost to the plague. His daughters, Maggie and Beth, survived. "These people here, all we've got left is each other," Herchel says. "Just hope we can ride it out in peace until there's a cure." And Herchel believes that there will be a cure. "It's nature correcting itself -- restoring some balance," he says. Rick is skeptical. Just then, Maggie and Lori ride up to the farmhouse. Lori runs inside to her sleeping and sick boy. Mother and father cry softly together.

Later, Rick gives more blood to his son. Lori then begins asking questions of Herchel, who reveals that he is actually a veterinarian. "And you've done this surgery before on what? Cows? Pigs?!" Lori shrilly demands. "You're completely in over your head, aren't you?" Herchel responds quietly: "Ma'am, aren't we all?"

Shane and Otis, meanwhile, arrive at the high school and surveil the location. It is indeed crawling with walkers. Uh oh.

Back at the road, Daryl and Dale explain that they'll stay with the RV in case Sophia returns. Dale then explains that T-Dog might not survive if he doesn't get some antibiotics. Daryl snorts derisively, then rummages through his motorcycle saddlebags and casually hands over a bag full of pills -- apparently Merle's old "stash."

"Not generics," he says, "top of the line stuff." Once again, the redneck comes through.

Herchel, meanwhile, explains to Rick and Lori that Carl doesn't have much time. He will need to operate soon if the boy is to have any chance at all.

At the high school, Shane and Otis find flares in the back of a cop car and toss them into the parking lot to distract and draw the walkers away from the medical trailer. It works -- and the two men race inside to find the surgical supplies. They load up their backpacks and exit , to find the walkers waiting. Shane and Otis make a run for it -- but there are walkers at every turn. In desperation, they barricade themselves inside the school and find that they are apparently trapped there.

It appears they have failed in their mission to get the supplies back to Herchel.

I really need to watch this series

[size=13pt]^{"What Lies Ahead" was a good premiere for Season 2 but could've been a lot better. The opening was fantastic, Rick kneels down and talks into the radio trying to contact a friend who saved his life when he left the hospital in episode one. No response and Rick and the group decide to head out away from the city trying to find refuge somewhere else. They come across a highway that blocks their road with flipped over cars and bodies as well as hundreds of zombies coming towards them . The scene when the group hides from the zombie mob was tremendous . It was suspenseful, it was nail biting, and it kept me on the edge of my seat.} [/size]

na2day!:

[size=13pt]Season 2, Episode 1: What Lies Ahead[/size]

Zombie fanatics! Welcome to the second season of AMC's The Walking Dead. New episodes of the horror drama have arrived just in time for Halloween, bringing us the further adventures of lawman Rick Grimes​ and his ragtag crew of survivors. Now reunited with his son, Rick is planning to leave the compromised city of Atlanta to seek shelter at faraway Fort Benning--125 miles away. The journey, as we see in this first extra-long episode, will be treacherous—but it's the only way Rick can keep his family safe.

The season premiere, "What Lies Ahead," follows pretty closely on the heels of last year's season finale: The emotional wounds our heroes experienced at the CDC and following Amy's death are still open and bleeding. Yet they press on, while setbacks claim lives and impede progress.





Atlanta. The city is mostly empty ,  save for the walkers. Rick is on the roof of a building and talking to Morgan via walkie-talkie (Morgan, of course, may or may not actually be listening). "The CDC was a dead end," the sheriff says. "We're moving on." Rick tells Morgan that Dr. Jenner "Told me something, he told me, " and further continues the tease of whatever the Dr. whispered into Rick's ear before fleeing the CDC. Turns out the gang of survivors is heading to Fort Benning -- 125 miles away. The caravan consists of Daryl on a motorcycle and everybody else in a truck and RV. While Rick and Lori reminisce about a past family road trip to the Grand Canyon, Shane helps Andrea put together her gun, which was a gift from her father. The group soon runs into a snag when the entire road is blocked by cars filled with dead bodies. The caravan carefully snakes in and out of traffic when the RV suddenly breaks down.

So the survivors have to stop -- at least momentarily. They decide to take advantage of the situation by scavenging for food and supplies. "This is a graveyard," Lori says. "I don't know how I feel about this." Shane feels great about it, especially after he discovers a truck full of water cooler tanks. He takes an impromptu shower. Rick then notices a walker some miles down the road through the scope on his rifle ,  then another ,  and another ,  and another six dozen. Very quickly but quietly, Rick urges the scavenging survivors to hide under the vehicles as the zombies shuffle past within a few very intense moments.

Unfortunately, T-Dog cuts his arm on a car, causing it to bleed profusely. In the meantime, Andrea is inside the RV and quickly hides in restroom as a zombie wanders inside. She tries desperately to remember how to put her gun together ,  and drops the pieces. Hearing the noise, the zombie bursts into the bathroom. Dale, who's been hiding on the roof of the RV, drops a screwdriver down to Andrea who violently stabs the walker in the eye, killing it. Outside, a walker approaches T-Dog, who is on the verge of losing consciousness. Suddenly, Daryl appears and silently stabs the monster in the brain stem. He then pulls a few corpses over himself and T-Dog until the zombies pass by.

Seemingly safe, Sophia begins climbing out from under a car. Big mistake. A zombie appears and gives chase. She runs into the nearby woods and Rick follows. Two walkers chase Sophia but Rick manages to find her first and pleads with her to hide under a fallen tree in a stream. He tells her that he will draw the zombies away and that she is to run back toward the road once that happens. Rick explains that he can't shoot, or ALL the zombies on the road will hear. Well, the two zombies take the bait and pursue Rick, who hides behind a tree with a giant rock. He gets the best of the walkers, pounding their skulls with the rock when they pass.

Later, Sophia is discovered to have gone missing. Rick, Shane, Daryl, and Glenn find her tracks, which suddenly -- and without reason -- veer left and away from the road. Rick and Daryl press on while Shane and Glenn return to the road to try to calm everybody else. Carl finds a bag of axes and knives and proudly shows them to Shane, who curtly dismisses the boy. When confronted by Lori, he explains that he is going to "quietly slip away first chance I get." No longer can he stay anywhere near Lori. It hurts too much. Back in the woods, Daryl kills a walker with a crossbow. Rick notices that the zombie has flesh in its teeth. But what kind of flesh? Only one way to find out. So Daryl opens up the walker's stomach and pulls out its contents. It's absolutely disgusting, but productive. The zombie has only had a woodchuck for dinner. "At least we know," Rick quips.

Rick and Daryl then return to the road and try to calm Carol, who is near hysterical. "How could you just leave her there to begin with!" Carol cries. Rick explains that leaving Sophia alone was his only option but that they'll have to wait till morning to continue searching. The next morning, Daryl organizes the search party and reluctantly agrees to take along Carl who asserts that he's her friend and can help. Andrea, meanwhile, confronts Dale about the incident at the CDC. "I didn't want your blood on my hands and that's the only reason I left that building," Andrea says. She is angry that Dale did not let her choose death. He is speechless -- hurt and confused. So is Carl, who is once again rebuffed by a sullen Shane. The search party then heads into the woods and comes upon a tent. Inside is the rotting corpse of a man who has committed suicide. Daryl quickly pockets the dead man's gun.

Suddenly, the group hears bells ringing in the distance. They follow the noise to a pristine white church surrounded by a graveyard. Rick and Daryl burst inside to zombies sitting quietly in the church pews. It's incredibly creepy. Rick, Shane, and Daryl then slice and dice the inhabitants. Glenn, in the meantime, discovers that the bells are automated. "They're on a timer," gasps a disappointed Daryl. The group decides to take a breather and Andrea overhears Shane arguing with Lori about leaving. By the end of the conversation, Andrea knows that a) Shane and Lori had a thing and b) that Shane intends to leave without telling anyone. Lori storms inside the church. Afterwards, Shane turns and spots Andrea. He knows that she now knows his big secret.

Inside the church, Carol prays to Jesus that her daughter be returned safe. "Please, Lord, punish me however you want, but show mercy on her," the desperate mother finishes. Outside, Andrea tells Shane that she wants to go with him when he bolts. "All I care about is getting out of here," Andrea says. "I'm not asking you to go steady. I'm asking you for a ride ,  think it over." The group then decides to split up. Rick, Shane, and Carl will stay behind and search around the church. The others will head back to the road. Daryl gives his spare gun -- the dead man's weapon -- to Lori before she departs.

Now it is Rick's turn to pray. He asks for a sign that he is doing the "right thing." "I don't need all the answers ,  any sign will do," he tells the silent Jesus statue. In the meantime, the other survivors stop for a water break on their way back to the road. Lori confronts Andrea about giving her dirty looks because she has a gun, so she offers it up. She then tells Carol and everyone else to stop blaming Rick for what happened to Sophia and all their other troubles. The man isn't perfect, after all. Andrea, seemingly contrite, gives Lori the gun back and they all continue on their way.

Back in the woods, Rick, Carl, and Shane come across a male deer which stops to look at them. Carl approaches the deer curiously while Rick and Shane look on with adoration. Could this be the sign Rick prayed for? Just as Carl gets within arm's reach, a shot rings out. The bullet goes through the deer, killing it, and hits Carl in the chest. Rick screams and runs to his son who lies motionless on the ground.

To be continued , 

Ogaga4Luv:

[size=13pt]^{"What Lies Ahead" was a good premiere for Season 2 but could've been a lot better. The opening was fantastic, Rick kneels down and talks into the radio trying to contact a friend who saved his life when he left the hospital in episode one. No response and Rick and the group decide to head out away from the city trying to find refuge somewhere else. They come across a highway that blocks their road with flipped over cars and bodies as well as hundreds of zombies coming towards them  . The scene when the group hides from the zombie mob was tremendous . It was suspenseful, it was nail biting, and it kept me on the edge of my seat.}  [/size]

ah ah ah!
My heart was in my mouth throughout that scene 
That was why i said you should not watch if u have heart problems, lol 

na2day!:

ah ah ah!
My heart was in my mouth throughout that scene 
That was why i said you should not watch if u have heart problems, lol 

[size=13pt]Season 2, Episode 3: Save The Last One[/size]



Another good one. Wow. And with a twist I never saw coming, though I should have. I really should have.

We opened with an almost surreal shot of Shane (Jon Bernthal, better than he’s ever been) taking an electric razor to his head in a steam-filled bathroom scene that was one part Taxi Driver and one part Full Metal Jacket. It was unsettling, as unsettling as the show has ever been (and The Walking Dead pretty much has the monopoly on unsettling right about now). And that only gave us a tease…

Speaking of unsettling, how about not being able sleep because one woman is sobbing her eyes out and the other one keeps field-stripping her revolver? Just that combination of sounds had me on edge. I can’t imagine how Daryl (played with surprising nuance by Norman Reedus) was able to stand it. And really, he couldn’t. Daryl is yet another pleasant surprise, and it’s a treat just watching him open up a little, revealing the good guy within. I’m still sort of waiting for the other shoe to drop with him; he’s either got one hell of a personal demon to reveal… or his brother’s coming back.

(Or both. My money’s on the demon that also involves his brother.)

I’m probably in the minority, I realize, where most television critics are concerned, given the fact that I love this show unapologetically, and sure, and the show takes some lumps where character development is concerned. Personally I don’t see the problem. We’re literally nine episodes in. How much development do you want from people living hour-to-hour, constantly clinging to life? There is development—the basic question of live or die—there’s nothing more vital, and it sort of takes precedence over “traditional” character development ploys.

Nothing illustrates that better than Rick (Andrew Lincoln)’s talk with Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies); you can’t get a better, more tense scene from any hospital drama. The question of “should we even try to save him” is made real when we’re living in a zombie-infested world.

But for “character development traditionalists,” I guess we had what could be called the barest inklings of maybe / might be / could be romances, with Daryl and Andrea (it seems logical), and even with shy Glenn (Steven Yeun) and Maggie (the amazingly chameleonic Lauren Cohan). Both potential romances show promise, assuming we get some life from these characters… and I have the feeling if we get to see them to fruition, both will be completely different from the other. (Daryl and Andrea feels like a Bonnie and Clyde in the making, don’t it?)

But in the end you’re not going to top the “character development” whopper we got with Shane.

I called it, of course. Fat Otis was zombie chow. But that dude redeemed himself at least. Big time. He wanted to do right by Carl. R.I.P. big guy. But… I didn’t expect it to go the way it did. I’m not sure that’s even how it went down in the comic. Someday I’m going to read that motherfarmer.

So the show brought us back, full circle, to Shane and his radical transformation. Bernthal is just bleeping awesome, and I can’t wait to see what comes of this. Because you might excuse it by saying, “Well, he did it for Carl” … but maybe he didn’t.

Maybe he just knew it was life or death—it was him or the fat guy.

Reminds me of a shirt my wife owns: “WARNING: If Zombies Chase Us, I’m Tripping You.”

I guess replace “trip” with “shoot you in the leg so that you flail around and make enough noise to draw all the zombies to your hot, bleeding corpse.”

Shane’s obviously not coming out of this unscathed. You can’t make that kind of moral decision and come out clean (at least not on television). As Daryl succintly put it: “He made his choice. Opted out. Let ‘im hang.”

I hope they give us a healthy dose of Shane before the show opts out of this character. Man, I want years of this.

[size=13pt]RECAP[/size]

Sophia is still missing. Carl is still ailing. It's not a good time to be a kid during the zombie apocalypse. CUT to Shane and Otis, who are running through the hallways of a school overrun by walkers. Rick, meanwhile, assures Lori that Shane will return with what Hershel needs to operate on Carl. Lori doesn't appear completely convinced.

CUT to Daryl, who is camped out with Andrea and a weeping Carol. Feeling sympathetic, Daryl offers to take a walk in the middle of the night to search for Sophia. Andrea volunteers to come along. "Are you sure this is the best idea?" asks Dale. Naturally, everybody ignores the voice of reason. Back at the school, Otis and Shane are trapped at the top of the gymnasium bleachers. Otis makes a run for it in one direction while Shane runs toward a window in the opposite direction. He SHOOTS a zombie in the face at point blank range before falling multiple stories to the ground. He limps away.

Sometime later, T-Dog and Glenn show up at the Hershel farm house and meet Maggie on the front porch. Glenn appears love struck. CUT to Daryl, who explains to Andrea that he once disappeared into the woods for nine days as a child. The point: Sophia might just be OK. Andrea isn't convinced. Back at the farm, Hershel announces that they might have to operate on Carl without the respirator as the boy is fading fast. "Maybe this is how it's supposed to be," Lori tells her husband, who refuses to believe that Carl is better off dead -- regardless of the current world order. Lori brings up Jackie, who chose death. Was Jackie right? "I don't accept that," Rick says. "I can't accept that." But why? Rick can't explain himself when pressed to explain why Carl would be better off living.

Shane, in the meantime, is about to overcome by walkers when a SHOT rings out, exploding some zombie heads. It's Otis -- and he has saved Shane's bacon. Back at the farmhouse, Carl wakes up and is suddenly lucid. "Where are we?" Carl asks. "It hurts." Lori strokes her boy's head as he talks about the pretty deer -- and then goes completely still. Lori gasps -- and then the boy undergoes a violent seizure. "His brain isn't getting enough blood," Hershel explains. Rick offers his arm for the umpteenth time.



Later, Daryl and Andrea sneak through the dark woods and come upon a campsite. They find a walker hanging by his neck from a tree. Poor guy tried to commit suicide before "turning," but forgot to shoot himself in the head. Animals have munched on the swinging zombie's legs. "He made his choice," Daryl says. "Let him hang." Andrea confesses that she doesn't know if she wants to live or if it's "just a habit." Daryl then honors her request to show mercy and SHOOTS the walker in the head with an arrow.

Back at the farm house, T-Dog gets stitched up by Patricia while Maggie catches Glenn praying. "This is my first try," says Glenn with a dispirited laugh. Maggie notes that quite a few prayers have gone unanswered as of late. Dale, meanwhile, has decided to ignore his own good advice and go searching for Andrea and Daryl by himself. He approaches the edge of the highway -- and then stops, uncertain of how to proceed. CUT to Rick, who earnestly tells his wife that Carl's moment of lucidness is a message. "He talked about the deer, Lori!" Rick says. In other words, he focused on life rather than death. Otis and Shane, in the meantime, continue to fight for their lives outside the school. Hurry, boys.

CUT to Hershel, who demands that Lori and Rick make a choice. Operate or let Carl slip away? "We do it," she says through tears. Carl is put on a table and the good doctor picks up his scalpel. Right before he is about to make the first incision, Shane ROARS up to the front door in a pickup truck. Rick hugs his friend, who is clearly very, very shaken. He admits to having left the slower Otis behind in order to return as quickly as he did. Back at the road, Dale doesn't have to go out into the woods, after all, as Andrea and Daryl return (without Sophia). "The choices I made for you were not mine to make," says Dale, handing over Andrea's gun to her. "Please, don't make me regret this." Does Andrea forgive Dale? She is trying. Back at the farm house, Maggie weeps over the apparent loss of Otis -- and the loss of all her family and friends. Glenn comforts her.

Later, Hershel emerges onto the front porch and tells Lori and Rick that Carl has undergone surgery -- and appears to have stabilized. Lori and Rick weep. Their boy is going to be OK. Hershel now must turn his attention to breaking the bad news to Patricia, who nearly falls over when told that Otis did not make it back. Shane can barely watch the scene. He walks into Carl's recovery room to find Lori crying over her boy. The two former lovers look at each other. "Stay," Lori pleads. Shane says nothing. He walks slowly to the shower and examines his wounds. A tuft of hair has apparently been pulled out of this head. FLASHBACK to Shane and Otis limping away from a wild pack of zombies. Suddenly, Shane uses his last bullet to SHOOT Otis in the leg. Screaming, Otis latches onto Shane and pulls out a chunk of his hair. After a furious struggle, Shane escapes, leaving Otis behind as a distraction to the walkers, who envelop him and tear him to shreds. It enables Shane to get away and save Carl. But at what cost to Shane?

The last we see of Shane, he is staring into a fogged over mirror, having just shaved his head to hide the last evidence of his struggle with Otis. Not good.

[size=13pt]Season 2, Episode 4: Cherokee Rose[/size]



All is quiet at the Hershel homestead. You'd almost think the zombie apocalypse hadn't occurred. It did, of course, and we're soon reminded by the arrival of all our favorite survivors, who have abandoned their highway campsite for country living.

Carl continues to recover under the watch of Rick and Lori. Dale is overjoyed that the boy will OK -- and Rick makes a point to thank Shane for his heroics. Of course, Shane knows HOW he was able to get away from the undead and shudders at the memory. His shame becomes worse when Hershel asks him to speak during Otis's funeral. "You were the last one with him," cries Patricia. "Please, I need to hear." Shane spins a story about Otis being a hero who willingly sacrificed himself to save Carl. It's a convincing story.

Later, the entire gang turns its attention toward missing Sophia, pouring over survey maps and the like. Hershel politely suggests that the new arrivals don't carry guns on his property. Shane doesn't like it, but Rick agrees. Maggie then volunteers to go to the local pharmacy to stock up on medical supplies. Rick suggests that Glenn accompany her. Sometime later, Lori and Shane have an awkward exchange. "Did you mean it?" Shane asks. "When you said 'stay,' did you mean it?" Says Lori: "I meant it." Shane then teaches Andrea how to strip the weapons before he stores them all in the RV. Hershel, meanwhile, approaches Rick with a stern reminder. "Once you find this girl and your boy is fit for travel, I expect you'll move on," Hershel says. "We need to be clear on that."

Dale and T-Dog are busy pumping water out of the well when Dale hears a noise from the deep. A horribly bloated zombie is at the bottom of the well. The disgusting walker might or might not have already contaminated the water, but blowing its brains out surely will. So how to get it out? The gang lowers a canned ham, but the zombie doesn't go for it. "We need live bait," Andrea says. Everybody looks at Glenn, the smallest in the group.

CUT to Glenn with a rope wrapped around his chest. He is lowered down into the well toward the snarling, bleached zombie. Suddenly, the pipe to which the rope is tied SNAPS, sending Glenn PLUMMETING downward. T-Dog is able to grab the pipe and holds on for dear life. Moments later, the group pulls Glenn out of the well. Safe. Even better, Glenn managed to fit a noose around the walker's neck and "hook" it. So, as it turns out, the boneheaded plan actually worked. The zombie can now be hauled out.

Daryl, in the meantime, approaches a rotting house with his crossbow at the ready. He finds scraps of recently devoured food and -- in the closet -- evidence of a makeshift bed. Has Sophia been here? Back at the farm, the survivors haul the zombie out of the well, but the squirming thing gets stuck on the lip. They HEAVE together , and the zombie SPLITS in half. Its lower body plunges into the water below in a cascade of blood of guts. Its upper half SNARLS and SPITS on the ground above until T-Dog BASHES it in the face with a blunt object. So the well will have to be sealed off, after all -- just in case.

Back to the woods, where Shane schools Andrea on the finer points of using a firearm. Basically, shooting a moving, "living" target is a whole lot more difficult than hitting a stationary target during training. "There ain't nothing easy about taking a man's life," says Shane, who is clearly thinking of Otis. "But when you get it done, you have to forget it. I guess I haven't quite got that last part down yet." Glenn and Maggie, meanwhile, ride into town on horseback. Maggie is quiet -- she is still quite upset over seeing the bloated zombie split and half and then beaten. Glenn explains that this group is rather "numb" to such grisly conclusions. They reach the pharmacy and Glenn reaches into his pocket to reveal a private note from Lori. It requests a pregnancy test. Uh oh. Maggie then approaches Glenn, who scrambles to hide the test , accidently picking up a pack of condoms instead. Maggie takes that as a sign and basically announces that she wants to have sex. Glenn is shocked. "You're not the only one who is lonely," she whispers. They are soon stripped to the waist and making out in the middle of the ransacked pharmacy.

Later, Rick deliberately puts Hershel on the spot, asking the patriarch to allow his band of ragged survivors to stay on the farm. Rick explains that he is only concerned with the well being of his boy. "There are aspects to this, things that I can't and won't discuss, but if you and your people respect my rules , no promises, but I will consider it," Hershel says. Rick doesn't ask about the things Hershel "won't discuss" and thanks the old man for meeting him halfway. Riding back to the farm, Maggie rather coldly tells Glenn that their dalliance was a "one time thing." Glenn appears hurt, but is quickly intercepted by Lori. Glenn hands over the pregnancy test and doesn't say a word. Nor does Lori.

CUT to Daryl, who returns from searching for Sophia with a Cherokee Rose that he gives to Carol. Daryl explains that the Indians believed that the rose bloomed as a way to comfort mothers grieving the loss of their children. "I'm not fool enough to believe that there are any flowers blooming for my brother, but I believe that this one bloomed for your little girl," he explains. A grateful Carol cries. Back the farm, Carl awakens from a deep sleep to find his father sitting next to the bed. Rick apologizes for not telling Carl that Sophia is missing. "I didn't mean to lie, I just didn't want to worry you," Rick says. Carl understands. Rick then gives his son his sheriff's hat. "I love you," dad says.

Later, Lori watches as her husband removes his badge and shirt after another long, long day. Is there something that she wants to tell him? No. Instead, she wanders outside to an isolated spot to take the pregnancy test. It is positive. Lori is terrified. She begins to cry.

[size=13pt] WOW![/size]

Let’s start out with Shane, who is obviously trying to justify in his own head his actions from last week. He tells Andrea that you have to be able to shut down when taking another man’s life in order to save someone you care about, but I’m thinking that it’s much easier to do that when you aren’t also lying to everyone about what actually happened.

The search is still on for Sophia and I’m getting more and more worried the longer it’s taking to find her. If they have to put down that little girl, I think it’s going to scar me for life. But I am starting to like Daryl more and more as his softer side comes out through all this.

Carl is on the mend and Rick is trying to do what he thinks is best for him by asking Hershel if they can stay on at his place. At first I thought that might be a good thing but it’s funny that the moment the old doc agreed to it, I started getting a very bad feeling that it’s somehow going to bite Rick in the ass someday. Plus there’s the fact that his wife has just found out she’s pregnant and if my math is correct, I’m thinking that it’s not his. Rick is not having a good year at all. Then again, neither is anyone else on this show so I guess fair’s fair. Now I’m just wondering what Lori’s going to do about it.

My favorite bits,

Being sort of frightened by Shane’s new look. Not just the buzzed hair but the fact that he’s wearing Otis’ clothes.

Wanting to die when everyone, especially Otis’ wife, asked Shane to speak on his behalf.

Shane telling his lie about that night, while the real images of what happened flashed through his head. Oh man.

Rick agreeing to go without weapons in deference to Hershel’s wishes. That can’t have been easy for him.

Rick telling Shane that if they found Sophia bit, they would have to do what needs to be done. Gulp.

Rick calling Glenn the “go to town expert” – yep, that’s totally him.

Giggling as soon as Maggie mentioned the word “horse”, knowing exactly what Glenn’s reaction to that would be.

Hershel telling Rick as soon as they found Sophia, they needed to move on. Wow, harsh.

“For the first time in my life, I’m betting on the snowball.”

“Looks like we got ourselves a swimmer.” – It’s so very wrong how many times this show makes me laugh out loud with lines like that one.

Rick telling Hershel that he felt that he and God should just stay out of each other’s way. Can’t say I blame the poor guy.

“It tells me that God’s got a strange sense of humor.” – And now I have a Depeche Mode song stuck in my head.

Everyone looking at Glenn when they said they would need living bait for the zombie fish (what else am I supposed to call it?).

Nearly screaming when the pipe holding Glenn broke. Holy crap.my poor heart!

Yeah! Go Glenn! That was pretty freaking badass.

Just when I think they can’t possibly find a more disgusting zombie, they pull that thing out of the water…oh and then it splits in half. *is never going to eat again as long as she lives*

“Good thing we didn’t do anything stupid, like shoot it.”

That sign in the drug store window. For some reason that really got to me.

Glenn trying to cover what he was really getting off the shelf by grabbing a box of condoms instead. Oops.

Maggie flat out telling Glenn she would have sex with him. Yet another moment on this series that was surprisingly powerful in its simplicity.

Hershel telling Rick that he would consider letting them stay. Now I’m wondering what those aspects were that he wouldn’t discuss.

Maggie telling Glenn not to spoil it when he went to open his mouth to talk about what happened. LOL.

Daryl giving Carol that rose in the beer bottle and telling her that it bloomed for Sophia. Now who knew he could be that sweet?

Carl remarking that both he and his dad had been shot.

Lori reading that little plus sign on that little stick. Such a small thing that means something so huge. Wow, I do not envy her at all.

What did you think of this episode of The Walking Dead? Got any favorite bits or least favorite bits of your own? I’d love to hear from you!

happy to announce that i have quit watching walking dead it has been dragging since this new season