I will start this off with: Who is your favorite character, and why?
And, were you shocked with who came out of the barn, and what happened right after? Or did you see it coming?
You can also read my zombie short story, Vaccination, while you wait for tonight's mid-season premiere!
Walking Dead 1st premiered on October 31, 2010 and voted the “Best Television Series Drama at the 68th Golden Globe Awards.”
Cast of Main Characters:
Sheriff Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln)
Lori Grimes (Sarah Wayne Callies)
Carl Grimes – son of Rick and Lori (Chandler Riggs)
Shane Walsh (Jon Bernthal)
Andrea (Laurie Holden)
Dale (Jeffrey DeMunn)
Glenn (Steven Yeun)
Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus)
Carol (Sophia's mother)
Sophia (Carol's daughter)
Hershel Greene (Scott Wilson)
Maggie Greene (Lauren Cohan)
OK... Here we go ...
Season Finale -- Shane tries to take matters into his own hands. But it is Rick Grimes who steps up and handles the situation.
And the new mid-season opens where the old one ended ...
Friends and family members slaughtered as the exit the barn. Andrea drives a sickle through the head of a young girl's mother ...
Shane is pissed off that the farmers, the Greene's, new Sophia was in the barn...His temper gets them thrown off the land, despite Lori being pregnant.
Then Shane turns his anger on Rick--blaming Rick for putting everyone in danger to search for a little girl "that everyone of" them knew "was dead!"
I think, too it is time for them to move on from the farm. It served its purpose for the opening episodes in late 2011. With Carl getting shot. Letting Glen meet a woman to fall in love with. The barn was clearly the climax. And worked. Everything built to the barn. And to finding Sophia.
It's time to get back on the road. Time to start a new trek towards a new unknown destination. There is almost too much safety at the Greene farm. Too much normalcy. Bury the dead and get rolling!
The tension is thick. Building tight and hard between Shane and Dale. Shane's character is in terrible inner turmoil. Does it all stem from his relationship with Rick's wife? His inability to let go? To move forward? Is it justified? Maybe in the non-apocalyptical world, no. But based on all that has happened? I say yes. Shane's character is as borderline insane as the rest, with just enough additional doses of his own nightmare to tip him over the edge.
Burn the bodies of the dead. Bury the ones you know. Burn the rest. That's what Andrea said. And that's what they plan to do. Andrea has changed. A lot. Retrieving a severed arm and throwing it into the back of the pick up before jumping in after to sit among the piled corpses? Oh yeah. She is far from the same suicidal "victim" she'd been in Season 1.
And where in the world did Hershel go? Why would he pack his bags and leave? For booze?
Maggie's not going to let Glen go. Worried about his "team" bossing him around, does she see that her saying, "No", is as de-masculating?
So who is Shane trying to hook up with. Andrea still? Or Carol?
I like Dale. But he gets under my skin. Too righteous. Although--he might be right. Shane is out of control. We did all see what happened at the end of 2011. Shane and Otis were on a run. Going for medical supplies. Carl's life hung in the balance. When surrounded by zombies, with no way out, Shane did sacrifice Otis. Left him as bait so that he could escape. And escape he did. It was a pivotal point for Shane's character.
So Glen is "allowed" to go with Rick. Good for him. And, this may be thie first time Glen and Rick have had some time alone. Poor Glen-- he'd only ever told his mother that he loved her. He left Maggie hanging. She confessed her love, and he chickened out.
Overall, I like Glen. He played a great roll in 2011.
Showing more of the Greene family in this episode. With the exception of Otis, who Shane killed, Maggie and Hershel, I really don't know much about them. Beth? Bess? She's in shock over seeing her mother skull-stabbed.
And Daryl is "done looking for people". Is he? Is he really? Or is he, too unraveling. Why wouldn't he be? His brother was possibly killed in Season 1. He feels shuned by the others becuase he's clearly a redneck. He wants to love, but holds back.
Hershel's drinking. And Beth--yes, it was Beth, not Bess--needs him. Holding out for hope, Hershel realizes hope is a sham. "A bait and switch."
...And here we go -- 39 minutes in -- and some action. Lori is driving. Where? No idea. Maybe into town to find Rick and Glen. Is she distraught over Dale's news that Shane is crazy? When a zombie steps out into the street while (cliche) Lori consults a map. (It's a one-horse town. Not sure why a map is needed). She strikes the zombie -- or maybe he wasn't one, and rolls the vehicle. (Will she be okay? Will the baby growing inside her? Grrrr ... commercial ... great!)
...And back to the bar. Back to obvious talk, about the obvious lack of hope. Sophia stepping out of the bar with her sluggish, jerking walk, milky white dead eyes and growling was all the prove Rick, Hershel and perhaps everyone else needed to prove ... Hope is dead.
Who is this? Two more men looking for Last Call? (Were the men who entered the bar, disrupting a hopeless conversation betwen Hershel and Rick from early episodes -- like from Season 1? I couldn't see them close enough. I don't think so. I think--I hope, a new "clan" is being added to the mix. But I still want to see what happened to the group huddled behind closed doors -- the armed men, protecting a community of elderly and sick. Remember them? Remember Rick gave them half the guns he'd come across? What happened to them?
What about Lorie. Remember at 39 minutes in she crashed? Rolled her car?
Only ten minutes left! What will the cliff hanger be?
I don't trust Dave. Dave from Philly. Dave and Tony. The new guy that walked into the bar. Not at all.
Stole a gun off a dead cop.
Dave talks about everyone's rumors towards salvation. Coast Guard, Nebraska.
Fort Benning. Rick's plan. Rick's rumor.
Dave shoots it down. Lame-Brains runing the show. Go from pipedream to pipedream.
Ah, but Dave asks too many questions.
And yes. Tony is urinating in the corner of the bar.
It's coming. I feel it. Gun fight. A saloon brawl!
Dave seems sensative. Ready to pop. Living out of cars. Trying to connect. Trying to level experiences.
Rick ain't buying it.
Friends having a drink? That's what Dave wants everyone to believe.
Even innocent Glen--youg Glen who's in love but won't admit it--is apprehensive.
Not appreciating Rick's advice to keep looking, Dave goes for his gun.
But there is no out-drawing the New Sheriff in town. Officer Rick Grimes.
He draws and fires and blows Dave away. And puts two holes into the swollen gut of Tony.
...Meanwhile, back at the farm (always wanted to write that) ...
Bodies of the infected burn ...
... But what about Lori? Not a thing. Not a frame of an update!!! I guess that is the cliff hanger. Have to wait until next Sunday to check in, and check up on Lori's condition.
Hope you'll join me then!
(Please, leave comments, questions, feedback, whatever!)
--Phillip Tomasso
Author of (now for Kindle) Pigeon Drop, Adverse Impact, Johnny Blade, Third Ring, Vaccination
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