The Walking Dead returns...

*** COMIC BOOK SPOILERS***




There was Dexter in the comics, who basically was against the survivors, and wanted to force them out. He was a direct threat/challenge to Rick's authority, and Rick dealt with it rather directly.

*** END SPOILERS***



As for this episode, 2 thoughts:

1. The zombie cops obviously had weapons on them; why leave them there until the obvious need in the plot? Rick was already getting the thought that ammo was going to be scarce, so why didn't they take the guns? I thought Shane was going to take them, but then he left the belts there.

2. We finally got to see them scrounging, even though it appears they only took gas. A public works department would have a lot of usable tools at it; why no mention of coming back? I'm glad that Rick is at least looking forward towards winter, so supplies would be needed. I know supply runs would be boring for a TV show, but as least mention it in passing would show that it is a concern/priority.

Spoiler Alert!

I WANT THAT ZOMBIE HEAD!

But Blu-Ray? Ick. Pass-adena.

The wife and I just got around to watching the last two episodes we had recorded. And so I think it’s time that I commented on them, and some of your comments as well.

About time in the last two episodes: boy did I have trouble with that! Especially the one from the 19th.

Right at the beginning of the episode we have that wonderful ‘previously on Walking Dead’ and it shows the lighting and where the sun is very nicely. In fact when Lori has her car crash we actually see the sun through the trees. It would appear to be about ‘two fingers’ from the horizon – or an hour or two before it sets. During the ‘previously on’ segment, we are also shown how light it was in the bar when the two others come in, and the Rick baddassery. Now when Lori crashed ‘Maggie’s new car,’ the sun is in a position that looks to be an hour, perhaps two, before sunset. So she was out for at least a few hours.

When our two new gunshot victims show up, they are shown in the doorway in full daylight, and while they do close the door during the comercial break, their entire scene is played out with lots of light coming in through the windows in the door and windows at the front of the bar. The ‘previously’ recap ends with the shooting. We then fade to black, and fade back in with Lori in an uncomfortable position in her crashed car and an walker trying to get in the windshield, illuminated only by what appears to be her dashboard hazard light flashing. Full dark here. Fade to black again and commercial. Back from commercial, and we get a brief replay of the bar shooting. First we get a shot from the outside of the bar with the sound of the three gunshots. It’s total night here, with what looks to be the moon out, judging by the illumination we see of the buildings and vehicle. We then cut to inside the bar, and Rick is still pointing his gun at newly perforated fat-guy, and then holsters it. Glen and Hershel come up to Rick to look at his handiwork and the episode is properly started. So, in between episodes, in between gunfire and breathing even, it’s gone from what could have maybe, maybe, have been ‘the sun has just touched the horizon’ to ‘full night with a moon shining.’ Wow. Talk about jarring a person out of the story.

Now I’m going to go on a slight tangent here about day, sun, and night. See, a couple years ago I had the chance to go to Indianapolis for the first time. Now, being from Colorado all my life, something really struck me about that area with it’s flatness. See, here in Colorado, when the sun goes behind those mountains it gets dark, sometimes quite fast. And that can happen pretty fast. But pretty much after 9PM, you can consider it night. And that’s in the summer. In December, it can be full on night-dark at 5PM. However, in Indianapolis on the Fourth of July, I was quite surprised to see that it was still light at 10:30, almost 11 at night. The reason I bring this up is because what we’re shown of ‘Georgia’ is very similar to what I saw in Indiana, with lots of open land and a few hills. What I mean by all this is that with no working clocks in the show, it could have been quite late at ‘night’ before the sun was fully over the horizon and twilight had faded into full night. But even that progression takes longer than an eyeblink. What we have here folks is television a retcon without even the courtesy of telling us ‘this is what really happened.’

Now I’m totally OK with having Lori being unconscious for several hours after her car crash. And depending on which way the bar is facing, it could be illuminated by the sun quite nicely until it went behind the other buildings in town. But to go from that ‘previously seen’ scene to what we’re shown is totally wrong.

The only hesitating the group did between the shooting and heading out was to scavenge weapons and ammo, and that took all of 30 seconds. “Let’s head back,” Hershel says after to them after their wordless understanding about the shooting. Before our group can even get to the door, headlights from the interloper’s truck sweep the bar and our group starts to hide. We’re then shown the truck pulling up, hear a guy get out and call for Dave and Tony. Then we’re shown two silhouettes through the curtains at the bar windows and later we’re shown all three men outside through the curtains

Now we don’t know how big a group this other party actually has, but we see that there was five men sent out scavenge the town and we hear mention of a Jane (who was apparently attached to Dave or Tony) and possibly others back at their camp. So that group was at least six people big. But for now it really doesn’t matter. A part of their group went out with five people, only one came back. That’s worse odds than going out on a mission with just you and Shane! That survivor isn’t going to go out scavenging any time soon.

Anyways, on to Lori, her stupidity, and Shane’s lies. When Shane finds her and she asks if Rick is back, and he replies “safe and sound,” the first words out of her mouth should have been “well, why isn’t he with you?” I realize that she was rattled by her crash and confrontation with the walkers, but to not to think that he should be in, and leading the search party when we’re led to believe that there are only so many roads to that lead to the town? Yeah, not very smart there Lori.

And then Lori just sets around the house, waiting for Rick to return with Hershel and Glen? Ok, I can see getting some rest, and dressing wounds, but really. Then we’re shown the sun just peeking over the horizon, get a scene with Maggie, suicide-girl and Andrea, before we cut to Shane preparing to go look for Rick with Andrea. Then the Suburban comes down the road with the missing men +1 (Randall). So our group spent at least four to six hours after getting Randall into the vehicle getting home.

So the vast majority of the episode takes place during full-on night, after the previous episode ended at sunset at worst. I can kinda accept that, but the time it takes to get back to the farm after we’re led to believe that town is perhaps an hour horse ride from the farm. Final verdict: an interesting episode with some possible future complications due to the opposing group, but ultimately deeply flawed due to the episode-to-episode hand-off time blunder and how little happened during the amount of time we’re shown has passed.

On to this week’s episode. The one thing that kept going through my mind was ‘the sooner Shane and Andrea are out of this group, the better for the group.’ However, Andrea did make a good point to Shane in that a lot of his decisions are not necessarily wrong, sometimes even right. It’s just the way he goes about them that’s going to get him (and probably others in the group) killed. But there was really good character development between Shane and Rick in this episode.

Another thing about the passage of time in this show hit me. According to Hershel near the end of the previous episode, Randall wouldn’t be walking on his leg for ‘at least a week.’ So the episode has to open ‘at least a week’ later (Randall is shown to be able to walk), and at least 10 miles from the farm. Actually I can accept this amount of time passing. It leaves enough time for Rick to figure out how he wants to confront Shane, and leaves Shane to stew for a while as well. Also, the entire episode takes place within the passage of a few hours. Add in the fact that Rick keeps talking about the ‘approaching winter’ (which is a good thing) and the fact that the writers have played fast and lose with how much time has actually passed this season and I have to wonder just how long the group has been mooching off of Hershel’s good nature.

I want to comment on the Lori and Andrea confrontations in the episode, and both character’s stupidity. First, I respect Lori’s decision to be house wife, but her trying to push Andrea into that role is just plain stupid and wrong. Especially to a career girl like Andrea was before the zombie apocalypse. One person’s clothing does not put any extra burden on the other five women at the farm. And just how much cleaning other than dishes is taking place on any particular day? For Lori to expect that every woman in the place will revert to roles from three hundred years ago after having the relatively equal rights and roles of the modern day that they have enjoyed for their entire lives is incredibly stupid. But Lori is not the only one to show incredible stupidity in this episode. Andrea shows some as well. Also, I realize that Andrea a rather fatalistic world view now, and her giving suicide-girl the chance to ‘opt-out’ may have been the right thing to do, but the way she went about it – especially how calculated it was – was the wrong way. Especially after she talked to Shane about the way he approaches problems.

In a way, I feel kinda sorry for Dale. He's trying to hold on to a world that simply doesn't exist anymore. Randall's a threat and at the very least an admitted accessory to **** and potentially murder.

Edit - AAAAAAAAAH! DID NOT SEE THAT COMING!

Well that was surprising!

Spoilers took the total surprise away from it, but it was still interesting to see.

2 episodes left.

Well I think that all hell will break loose now that the group's consious (soul) is dead.