Season 2 of The Walking Dead has ended and, still a week later, I find myself sifting through a myriad of emotions regarding the final episode. I'm happy and optimistic yet confused and disappointed. I always felt as long as the characters stayed on the farm the story had no way to progress. Every week I found myself rooting for a major character to die so at least there was a constant sense of danger. (Shane doesn't count because anyone following the show knew that guy needed to go) Throughout this season I felt to many episodes went by where the characters got to settled into their routines and at times they forgot they were trying to survive a zombie apocalypse.
I was hopeful that the season 2 finale would change my mind but I quickly realized that asking one 45 minute episode to undo the damage an entire season had done was simply irrational. The episode begins by showing the audience just how mesmerizing zombies find helicopters, as one passes over Atlanta the zombies in the city begin to follow it and don't stop walking until they find Hershel's farm. Now I would be remissed if I did not take a moment to mention that as the zombies descended upon the farm and pinned Rick and Little Lone Ranger Carl at the wall of the barn, I wished undead Shane was leading the heard...just so he could stop and look into the camera just before all of them broke it down zombie style. (I'm not above shameless pop culture zombie references...don't judge me)
Once the farm is being attacked I start thinking "ok here we go one of these people has to go or else whats the point right?" After Rick sets fire to the barn Lady Macbeth Lori is frantic because she can't find her son Little Lone Ranger Carl (who by the way, is quite possibly the least supervised kid since Kevin McCallister). All the while Hershel is valiantly defending his house with his pump action shotgun that apparently, you don't have to reload. Andrea, the civil rights attorney turned Vasily Zaytsev, and even more deadly from a moving vehicle (seriously WTF, I can't even get head shots on the move that consistently on Call of Duty...a VIDEO GAME) she should be competing on Top Shot, winning Bass Pro Shops swag from Colby Donaldson.
At one point we see Daryl doing laps around the farm on his Schutzstaffel themed hog, Glen and Maggie are shooting at zombies from AMC's product placement Hyundai, and Lady Macbeth Lori is hoofing it with Hershel's suicidal daughter and Mrs. Otis who makes it about 20 ft, at least she lasted longer than her husband. (I love Cool Runnings) Carol finds herself alone trying to fend off two walkers with a shovel...she is saved by Andrea who, is now on foot and picking off walkers left and right. Carol runs off leaving Andrea all alone (lol) and is picked up by Daryl at the road. Rick, Little Lone Ranger Carl, and Hershel take off in a suburban not noticing Andrea trying to flag them down, she caps a couple more walkers then grabs a duffel bag of guns and runs into the forest.
Now at this point in the episode, as everyone was fleeing the farm, did anyone watching think for a second they wouldn't meet up on the highway where they told Sophia, when she got lost, to wait? They had to bring that full circle right? When all the characters were reunited on the highway (minus Andrea who is running for her life in the woods alone because everyone left her behind!) I was slightly disappointed when I realized that none of the pivotal characters had been killed. Mainly because I felt like that needed to happen in order to shake up the dynamic of this boring group. Instead the show runners decided that the deaths of the shows two redshirt characters (Hershel's daughter's boyfriend and Mrs. Otis...wait who?...Exactly) would suffice.
After the gang reunites they take off down the highway for a few hours before running out of fuel. As they are all standing on the road deciding on what to do next, Rick admits he knows that everyone is infected with the zombie....strain? virus? disease? bug? flu? (I dunno pick one) which suddenly unleashes a flood of self-righteous "how could you's" from the previously docile peanut gallery. "Oh my god you knew and didn't tell us!?" "I told people about the zombies in the barn to protect the group!"...blah blah blah. Stop it. So Rick goes off by himself to think and who do we see walking up to comfort him? Fucking Lady Macbeth Lori (as this was happening I literally thought to myself "good lord what the hell does she want...")
Lady Macbeth Lori tells Rick everything is going to be ok and recognizes he had his reasons for keeping that information to himself but if she thought Rick was all out of confessions boy was she wrong. Rick had one last ace up his sleeve and tells his supposedly loving and supporting wife that he had to kill Shane, because Shane had planned to kill him in the woods and actually drew down on him. So how does a loving supportive wife, who at one points tells Rick that Shane (whom she had an affair with and quite possibly could be her baby's daddy) is dangerous and should be dealt with, react? Just as you'd expect...she gets angry. Wait...WHAT!?
I hate this woman so much. I could make the case that Lori, the character, is by far the worse female lead ever written in television history, but I digress. So first she wants Rick to "deal" with Shane so he did, and now she's all upset? Make up your damn mind! At that point I wanted Rick to go all Judd Nelson on the group and bounce.
Meanwhile, as everyone was upset with Rick for being honest, Andrea is still running away from zombies in the woods. She takes out two with a pocket knife (respect bonus), she trips and the third zombie crawls on top of her. As she is tries to fight it off Michonne appears, with two armless walker pets, and cuts its head off with a katana sword. Interest peaked.
The last sequence of the season shows everyone around a campfire trying to decide the next best course of action when Rick steps into the group and rages out. He talks about trying to be a leader, keeping everyone alive, and how he killed his best friend for the betterment of the group. He basically lays down the law and decrees that this group is no longer working within the comfy structure of a democracy, it has now become a Rick-tatorship! (heard this from a friend who said a guy he watched this episode with coined the term and I thought it was hilarious so Mr. Ricardo Gutierrez I tip my hat to you sir)
Although I have not read the comic books, it was very obvious that the introduction of Michonne and the final scene being the shot of the infamous prison was clearly the show runners way of paying homage to Walking Dead fanboys. While the credits were rolling I found myself a little excited to see what season 3 has in store, So I'm in for one more go around. When the Walking Dead returns in the fall we will see what nuances Glen Mazzara and his team come up with that will make the show their own. Let's hope they take these characters to an emotionally dark place, a Glen Mazzara calling card.
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