The most interesting elements of the episode were Daryl falling down a hill (twice) and climbing back up a hill (twice). The greatest character development involved him hallucinating about Merle.
I’d say that the show’s title refers to the plot, but suggesting that it is walking is overly charitable, in that walking might imply movement and direction.
Imagine if the farm people, ie. Herschel, et al. were the main characters, whom we had been following the farm people from the beginning of the series and we are supposed to sympathize with, instead of the road crew, ie. Rick, et al.
There they are, quietly getting along while waiting for the zombie apocalypse to blow over and praying for a cure for all those poor sick folks in the barn. Then, after a regrettable accident and some suicidal heroism by good old salt-of-the-earth Otis, our protagonists are outnumbered 3 to 1 by armed strangers, including several tough guys and at least one unstable woman who shoots at her own people.
The road guys are using up food and supplies and generally making themselves at home. Without permission, they screw around with a well and “borrow” a horse, 2 things guaranteed to piss off a farmer, even when the dead aren’t walking the earth. Their “leader” won’t keep them in line, and he’s non-commital about following the farm people’s rules. They claim to be searching for a lost little girl, but don’t make any concrete progress, and we have no proof she even exists.
It wouldn’t be unreasonable to think the road guys are at best a bunch of hapless moochers who are taking advantage of our heroes, or at worst a gang of bandits just waiting to murder the happy family in their sleep and take over the farm.
You’ve just written a better show -
Nah. My version also has the actual chupacabra appearing in this episode, and it later turns out that he is tied in to the virus or whatever it is. Also, the final shot of the season is Herschel on the porch with a shotgun, shaking his fist at the rapidly retreating Glenn, shouting “I told you you to stay away from my daughter!”. With the Benny Hill theme playing in the background.
Someone give this man a television show and a budget.
No, it seems like a really stupid thing. They’re DEAD AND ROTTING. What exactly does he think is going to be the cure for decomposition?
Darryl and Glen can stay. Maybe Dale. Pretty much everybody else can go hang out in the barn.
I’m glad the show finally addressed this. A lot of my friends complain about how incompetent Rick’s group is. They chalk it up to lazy writers adding drama by having the characters making foolish mistakes.
Right or wrong, my perception is that the writers decided that it would be more fun to document the adventures of a bunch of bush leaguers. Real “C” listers who ARE lucky to have survived this long. It was nice to hear a line that validated that perception for me.
For this to work Glenn must also be chasing Maggie whilst she is dressed in skimpy lingerie !
I love me some zombies, I really do. I’ve not given up on this show just yet but damn it is getting difficult. These are quite literally the stupidest group of people left on the planet. Zombie apocalypse breaks-out and I’ll give normal, everyday people a lot of room on the learning curve. In fact, that makes for a compelling part of the character development - blind luck that they initially survived but scrappy group of people learn new survival skills. Not this group, Dumb and Dumber meets Dawn of the Dead.
If not for Darryl, the ONLY interesting character on this show, I think I’d have packed it in and just caught episodes off of DVR when I have the time.
…and f-ck the writers for dragging this stupid-ass Sophia story for so damn long. I never cared about her to begin with and now I actively hope she shows up as a zombie and eats all of the rest of them (except Darryl).
MeanJoe
Me, I love the show. If I have a major gripe it is with casting. I am not happy with the actors chosen for Andrea, Lori or Dale. But we’re stuck with them, I guess.
Love the show. Love the actors. Love the writers.
Just had to put some points up on the board in favor of the show.
I hit the ‘stop’ button on the DVR and started watching “Hell on Wheels” instead. Maybe I’ll try to watch a few more minutes tonight. I can only stand so much stupid per day.
I’m a little tired of zombies showing up at just the right times. Daryl is at the bottom of a ravine surrounded by 100 foot cliffs. He hasn’t seen any zombies the whole day but suddenly two find him down there in the most private place on earth?
A couple weeks ago, the group spent all day in the woods and saw nothing until 10 seconds before Maggie showed up and saved the day.
The zombie in the well will probably also be a plot point.
It happened in the first season too, but it was more forgivable. The group camped for an undetermined amount of days when Carl ran into a single zombie. That was obviously just a way to introduce Daryl. Then the camp comes under attack 30 seconds before the guys show up with the bag of guns (which are oddly missing from this season).
Plus, why couldn’t Daryl walk out the same way the zombies walked in?
I didn’t care for this episode while watching it, but reflecting on it has made me like it alot more. The way I see it, is these people are very lucky to have survived this long, as Herschel said, and I think that’s the whole point of the show.
Think about it : if every decision they made was brilliant and they could all use guns like pros, someone would complain and say “these are everyday people and aren’t capable of these heroics.”
As for Daryl at the bottom of the ravine, who’s to say that Zombie “walked” in there? Those woods go on for miles. There’s most likely a way in and out but it’s two days’ walk to get there. That Zombie has been wandering around down there for months. He tried to climb out so he could find his way back to the farm house.
Kudos to Norman Reedus for making me believe in his physical struggle to get up the hill. When he made it to the top, I was just as achy as he was.
I did wonder why the horse didn’t go back to the farm. Don’t horses find their way home?
You know its going to be a bad day when you wake up to find a zombie chompin’ on your boot -
(but - don’t zombies usually start for the fleshy/bloody parts - I mean, there were plenty of soft bits to go for, or was this a short bus zombie?)
Great post.
I agree, some people have been looking at things from a “what would a living human do” instead of something that can walk for days/weeks without stopping, fall down, break, sprain, etc things and keep walking, get ripped in half and keep moving.
I mean, maybe they fell down the same way he did, but he is living and affected by the fall.
I agree with what someone said, the walker chewing on his foot was kind of silly, they don’t usually go for the feet unless that is what is easiest for them to get.
But, that’s just how they wrote it. Seemed like a weird version of the old"making out with a hottie, wake up from dream and it is the family dog" scene that ends up in a lot of shows.
And yeah, I still think Reedus is doing the best acting job on the show. Both of those climbs left me exhausted.
I imagine the horse will eventually wander back home; we might not hear about it if they don’t need it as a plot point.
The note from Maggie to Glenn is bothering me - Maggie isn’t shy at all with Glenn, she’s on her home turf - I don’t believe she would have handed him a note asking him where to meet her - it would have been, “The east side of the house, 10:00, be there.” They obviously needed it like this to get Glenn into the barn, but it’s clumsy to have a character act out of character for a plot point. I have to overlook writing like that if I want to continue to enjoy the show, though (and I do - I enjoy it, in spite of the ham-handed writing).
Me too! (I was one of ‘those’ who loved the ending of Lost, caring not a bit what the numbers meant, etc. Sue me.) It IS a bit slow, but I don’t have a short attention span, I’ll put up with it. I don’t like zombies to begin with, but I think they have the right amount in this thing. I DO love end-of-the-world survivors stories, which is what got me into it. Now that I can tell one character from the other, I’m really enjoying it.