“At least I can say that when the world went to s— I didn’t let it take me down with it.” – Dale
In this episode of The Walking Dead, we witnessed a television show achieve its complete full potential.
Yes, it took a whole bunch of lousy episodes to build up to the climax at the end of “Pretty Much Dead Already.” Call me a sucker, but I really think the final scene of this episode made up for all of that.
Let’s start where things really started to get good. Herschel (Scott Williams) informs Rick (Andrew Lincoln) that he and his band of survivors have until the end of the week to remain at the farmhouse. After that, they don’t have to go home, but they have to get the hell up out of there. Rick begs for him to reconsider, but Herschel is steadfast. “I’ve given you safe harbor. My conscience is clear,” he says.
At this moment, I began to realize where this particular story was heading: An insurrection is afoot, pitting the nomad survivors against the farm dwellers. I am quite pleased with this development. Until now, The Walking Dead has mostly been a story of humans versus zombies. By aligning two groups of people against one another, the show has added a wrinkle that will hopefully keep the drama from becoming stale and repetitive.
It comes as no surprise that Rick, the survivors’ de facto leader, isn’t the person to lead the revolt against the farmhouse crew. Rick is kind of a limp noodle and his constant need to compromise and please all parties at all times prevent him from ever making any real decisions on behalf of his flock. Those duties fall to Shane (Jon Bernthal), the real hero of The Walking Dead.
It’s Shane who fires the “Shot Heard ‘Round The Zombie World,” sparking the inevitable clash that we won’t get to see play out until February. Enough is enough, he decides when he witnesses Rick and Herschel treating walkers like infirmed human beings instead of the soulless killing machines he knows them to be. “These things ain’t sick. They ain’t people. They’re dead!” he exclaims before firing a couple of shots into one of Herschel’s undead friends in order to prove his point.
Unwilling to kowtow to Herschel’s irrational desire to house a gaggle of zombies, Shane unlatches the barn door and frees the walkers within. Daryl (Norman Reedus), Andrea (Laurie Holden), Glenn (Steven Yeun) and T-Dog (IronE Singleton) join Shane in forming an impromptu firing squad. They blast Herschel’s loved ones and neighbors one by one as they stream out of the barn. All poor Herschel can do is watch in agony as Shane and company ignore Rick’s pleas for a ceasefire. It’s a truly riveting and moving scene, by far the best moment the show has done since last year’s pilot.
The episode could have ended right there and I would have been (mostly) satisfied. But it wasn’t done yet. Mercifully, the writers finally decided to put a bow on the ongoing “Sophia saga.” After the amateur firing squad dispatches all of the walkers from the barn, a lone figure lumbers out of the darkness and through the barn door. After episode upon episode of searching and praying for Sophia, Shane is proven correct. They should have abandoned the search long ago. Sophia is a walker. Rick, apparently finally feeling the need to act like the leader, steps up to the plate and puts zombie-Sophia down with a single shot to the forehead. Now that’s how you end an episode! Let’s just hope The Walking Dead can maintain this level of intensity when it returns from its extended hiatus. I’m cautiously optimistic.
Some stats and info about The Walking Dead, “Pretty Much Dead Already”
TV SHOW – The Walking Dead
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 2, Episode 7
AIRED ON – November 27th, 2011
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – AMC
GENRE – Horror, Drama, Zombies, Thriller
CREATED BY – Frank Darabont
CAST – Norman Reedus, Melissa McBride, Lauren Cohan, Christian Serratos, Josh McDermitt, Danai Guria, Seth Gilliam, Andrew Lincoln, Ross Marquand, Chandler Riggs
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.