The Walking Dead Season Two Part Two, Episode 4.

Whoops accidentally posted this on BOLS! Sorry larry.


I am trying to get these out faster than right before the next episode!

So this week's episode ran right up on us and punched us in the face.  Frankly it was a good thing. For the love of god I was sick of hearing Dale whine about morality.  They need to accept two realities.  The world is overrun with zombies, and people are bad.

The world is overrun by zombies! Gone are the days when a boy can walk through his back yard and the worst thing he could run across was a foraging skunk.  Now he has to worry about zombies stuck in marshes, eating cows and doing all sorts of nasty things.

One question... Why has Rick not instituted a mandatory buddy system?  The farm is far from secure. Cows smashed through the gate. There was a walker in the well.  When I take my students on a field trip, I institute a mandatory and strict buddy system. And there are not 30 million zombies walking around! Well, dead ones at least..

Rick is logical, and being a cop would recognize the need for safety, thus requiring that EVERY one has a buddy and every one go on walkabouts with said buddy. Period.  But in this episode we see Carl and Dale both walking off alone, and both running in to trouble.  Previously it was Carol and Daryl.  Uhoh... do we see a coincidence?  Carl/Carol... Daryl/Dale?  Is Carol going to do something that causes harm to Daryl accidentally? Hmmm...

Any way, back to my point.  Granted, in both instances Carl and Dale were frustrated and annoyed and wandered off alone to do alone guy things and probably would have done so whether or not there was a buddy rule.  But still.

So Carl is a kid, and kids do stupid things.  I will take his zombie encounter at face value. The question is.. did Carl get scratched?  Do we see potential future plot twists?

But Dale?  He approached a writhing cow in the middle of a mostly open field on a clear moon light night. He looked at the cow for about 10 seconds... then turned around and BLAU.... BOOOYA... a zombie is standing there. How did he get there?  Was he sneaking up on Dale like Scooby Doo trying to get away from a mummy?  If you have ever been out in an open field on a night like that, you would know, there aint no way a Zombie would be able to sneak up on him.  This zombie was feeding on a cow, (it's still alive) and must have heard Dale approaching... then it ran off to take cover behind a tree or boulder, then as Dale was busy examining it's handy work, snuck up behind him like a ninja.

This harkens back to the opening of season 2.  When a horde of zombies shambled up on them while they were stuck in the traffic snarl, FROM THE DIRECTION THEY CAME!  God there are so many good things about this show, I hate it when they throw out logic and character for plot twists.  Dale was the most cautious member of the group.  He was preoccupied with his thoughts and feelings about the execution... but so much that he missed the zombie in the open?

Well, we all learned a valuable tip. If you ever encounter an eviscerated steer in the middle of the field at night, don't look behind you, sprint straight forward.  It is your only hope.

People are bad!

Bad at what?  Well Tdog is bad at getting screen time.  This time he was on screen for about 27 seconds. Did he even have a line?  The woman that plays Carol is bad at making us understand that she is upset.  Carl said the most hurtful line yet to appear in the show to her, and she reported it matter of factly to Rick and Lori, as if she was repeating some ones fast food order. She delivered the lines so blandly that Lori's next lines, when she tells her to "calm down" were absurd. The woman was not upset! She was barely even speaking.  (More bad writing by the way, I don't think Lori would have told her to "calm down".)

The prisoner is bad. Or is he? We can't tell!  (Good writing and acting.)  He is so believable when speaking to Rick that you want them to give him a chance. Yet, when he tries to manipulate Carl, and when he killed the female zombie, you see a little bit of his bad side.  My instinct? he is bad.  He probably hit on Maggie at some point and she blew him off in typical hot girl pre ZA fashion.  He no doubt harbors ill feelings and they will come back to haunt her!

Merl badly needs to come back. It will be cool if he is part of the bad guys. As some one mentioned before, I doubt he will be the leader though. I think the guy from Philly was... Merl is definitely not a leader. He is a bully, and there is no way a large group of armed dudes would follow him, especially ones of unscrupulous intent.

It was a great episode.  The kid is responsible for Dale's death. That is gona cause problems. Hopefully they will kill him off. Besides, the writers have to get rid of him sooner or later.  Two years will have passed during the production of the show, spanning the start of Seasons 1 and 3.  That 12 year old kid will be 14... and no doubt hit a growth spurt and pimples.  The show itself will only span about 2 months.  Such is the problem with having kids in shows!  We can expect him to no last any longer than season 3.

Dale bought it.  Good, I was getting sick of his continually shocked face and preaching rhetoric.  The world is now a bad place and there is no room for morality.  You think about yourself, and the guy who helps you stay alive.  Any one else is in the way, and subject to execution. Especially if they shoot at you.

Tdog also has to go.  They have way too many unimportant characters. Like Dale, they are zombie bate, which really is their only purpose.  Tdog, little sister, Otis' wife, all will hopefully be gone, and hopefully by the end of season 2.

We see some cool flashes of action in the previews! Zombies breaking through a fence... blondie running with the gun bag, the kid ripping the skin off his hands to escape... The last 2 episodes of this season promise to end with a bang!

Jawaballs