Original Air Date: March 4, 2012
A few things…. [with SPOILERS]
1. This is what this show can do… – Critics (myself included) have focused a lot of energy on what this show doesn’t do well… But this episode showed what TWD can do as well as any show on television. Not many other shows right now are going to give you horribly bloody deaths of main characters. It’s not unique, as you’ll also find this sort of thing in Spartacus or Game of Thrones. And, it isn’t particularly high-level story telling either: having a character die horribly is pretty easy to pull off. But, it was a moment where you said, “Oh shit! They’re killing Dale!” It was like wish fulfillment as my notes say, “If this is all they’re going to do with Dale, they should just kill him for shock value!”
2. Not sure it had the impact they were looking for though… – But as I said, I’m not sure the killing of Dale is working at the deep level some of the creators wanted. If the idea was to put some deeper significance on the death of a character who was prattling on about “losing our humanity” and “the end of society if we behave like barbarians” (Ironic how the NEW world killed him when he was trying to hold onto the OLD world), it fails because no one really liked Dale anymore. Now, if a) we had seen Dale DOING something to hold onto the group’s humanity instead of just TALKING about it or b) if the group had been doing disgusting things already and Dale was the one keeping the candle lit for decent human society or c) if vicious Shane had beaten Dale for having a big mouth…. Perhaps Dale’s death would have had more significance. But we didn’t get that, so we didn’t like Dale that much and we didn’t care when he died. Except that it shows that the TV show is very different than the comic book.
3. Man, this Randall plotline is tedious. – The whole thing makes no sense. If you’re probably going to kill the dude, why torture him first? How could you believe anything the guy has to say? The dude is scared and just wants to live and stop getting beaten, so he might say that his group consisted of an army of 30 sentient ostriches if he thought that was the answer Darryl was looking for. And Randall… Why, if you’re trying to get Darryl to stop hitting you, WHY would you tell the super cool story of the time you and your buddies raped two girls in front of their father? WTF? That’s the time to make up some story about how your group delivers Meals-on-Wheels to the elderly. I can see where this story is going and surely Randall’s group will be the plot device that moves the group on down the road, but it could develop faster.
4. A Peter Parker moment… – Don’t screw around with zombies, Carl. Sometimes if you don’t kill them, they’ll rip open the belly of someone in your group later. Could the scene of the zombie pulling loose from the mud have been any more predictable? This show loves to patronize the viewers. Later, the Dale attack reminded me of Peter Parker letting the mugger go and the mugger later killing Uncle Ben. I wonder if the creators will use this event in the same way with Carl. My guess is “no” if only because the writers didn’t foreshadow that by showing Carl proclaiming to his Mom, “If only I hadn’t let that zombie go, Dale would be alive. I’ll NEVER let a zombie go again!”
5. Little things. – They found T-Dog, but not his lines for this week. I hear they have “big things” planned for T-Dog… And Darryl has a neo-Nazi chopper! Did you catch the “SS” on the gas tank? Not sure why that symbol of hatred needs to be there. Surely there were many motorcycles to choose from… When the group was arguing about killing Randall and an exasperated Shane blurted out, “Oh my GOD!” Those were my thoughts exactly. “Here’s my watch. Please help yourself to my daughter. How does everyone know about Otis? Who fed Carol bitchy medicine?
Conclusion: This episode showed both the good and the bad of TWD. The first 55 minutes were borderline unwatchable as the group argued about killing Randall. That element of the show is shit. But, then they do something exciting and kill a major character. Now, if only the zombie had gotten about 4-5 other annoying cast members first! Then we’d have a show. It really freaks me out that the same network that brings us Mad Men and Breaking Bad is also responsible for this show… And TWD gets better ratings than either. Hopefully AMC won’t figure out that the patronizing formula of TWD is more effective for ratings that outstanding TV like their other two hits.
Grade: C
-Dean Stell
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