It’s probably fair to say that this second season was really a tale of two disparate seasons. We began in a place that so far stretched the limits of modern television drama that it was enough to make even the most staunch soap opera fan weep. It was filled with long expositions about the meaning of life, life without hope, what it means to be truly dead, and if there is ever a hope of seeing the Walkers as anything but ambulating meat sacks during near constant contemplation of right and wrong.
This carried us through much of the first half of the second season, and it was a shameless demonstration of going so far down the existential rabbit hole that we hardly remembered that the world was overrun with zombies, and that most of the concerns of the Grimes group and Hershel’s family didn’t really matter one iota in a world when just making it to the next day was a major accomplishment. Only in the long-suffering final discovery of Sophia amid a barn full of protected zombies, and Shane’s subsequent meltdown, did that reality come back into focus. The second half of the season aimed to keep us there.
The last three episodes of this season proved that there is some fight left in this series, and that perhaps The Walking Dead team now understands the delicate balance between the human development on the show, and the need for urgency when it comes to existing in a world that is being eaten alive by a reanimating virus. In short, if we never spend seven episodes looking for one character or an entire season languishing in relative safety it will be too soon.
The season two finale opens with a cityscape. We’re back in downtown Atlanta, but more specifically with a horde of zombies feeding on what I’m going to assume is the horse Sheriff Rick rode into town in the early episodes of the first season. The zombies hear a sound and it’s a helicopter flying up above, possibly the same helicopter Rick also saw in those early days. We’re not sure exactly what the helicopter means other than it’s full of other humans. We don’t know if it’s a military outfit, or run by individuals, but what we’re supposed to infer is that it represents some kind of help or hope — but I’ll say as a longtime zombie movie fan, sometimes the ones who you believe are there to help, may have ulterior motives. I have no such knowledge about this regarding The Walking Dead because I’ve not read the comics (and I’m not going to…yet), so I’m just surmising different outcomes. This will be important later.
The zombies, lured by the helicopter, start off in that direction, where we see them shambling through the forest, and coming upon what may be farm after farm in search of whatever vestige of life that pulls it forward. In a stunning scene, we see the horde approach a fence with a delightful warning, “If you trespass, that’s your ass” or something to that effect, and we’re gifted with witnessing how the sheer force and number of zombies collecting at this breach manage to overwhelm it. They burst forth, clawing and scraping, but all with a single-minded focus that was more than a bit eerie, and extremely well acted by the Zombie Extras Extraordinaire.
This migration is all to tell us how the zombies move in packs, or as many have rightly called it, herds. We get the sense that possibly this herd, or an offshoot, is what we saw at the beginning of the season on the highway. So we were unsurprised as they closed in on Hershel’s farm upon hearing the gun shot from Shane and Rick’s scuffle. This was also put in motion to explain how there was never any large group of zombies at the farm. Duh! They hadn’t gotten there yet! Supposedly, we guess, it was just a matter of time. You know, the zombies were busy down in the city shopping for dungarees, or making plans to put new siding on the house, eating the town doctor — busy, busy! Eventually, though, they’d get their shit together and go looking for human flesh to wear around their waists like fanny packs for their annual Virus Walk Through Georgia.
Rick is awkwardly trying to tell Carl why he had to gut Shane, and Carl being that kind of kid won’t take, “Because I did. Now hush, boy” for an answer. Luckily for Rick they both see the zombie horde coming straight at them, so they run for their lives instead of continuing to discuss how bad men sometimes need to get knife-popped in the aorta. Back at the house everyone sees the horde approaching in the distance. Daryl pretty adeptly notes that hiding in the house is a bad idea, since the horde will rip the house down around them. Nonetheless, a plan needs to happen quick. [Spirit Note: Why didn’t this plan include packing whatever supplies they could get their hands on and getting into the cars for a quick getaway?]
What’s decided, because of it’s epic boneheadedness and need to ratchet up ratings, is that they would ride the cars down to the horde, kill as many as they can, and then lead the rest off the farm. Would the plan then be to double back to the farm and continue to live in peace? Nah. That won’t happen. The farm? Yeah, that’s over. Thank God. Regardless, they begin to execute this awesome plan of taunt, shoot, and sheep herd to the highway. Seems the best thing is for one person to drive and another to shoot unless you’re Daryl or T-Dog. Each member, Glenn and Maggie, Daryl on his bike, and T-Dog, start picking off zombies one by one with much success. Curiously, everyone is an incredibly excellent shot since there seem to be hardly any misses. Apparently, Shane’s School of Shooting and Making Angry Faces seemed to work.
Meanwhile, Rick and Carl have found themselves trapped in the barn, until Rick decides their only chance is to get high and burn the zombies on the ground thus making a zombie pit beef barbeque jamboree. This only really serves as a distraction. Rick killed maybe fifteen zombies this way despite the elaborate setup, the rest just moseyed out of the way. Now he and Carl are stuck at the top of the barn until Jimmy, Hershel’s step-son, or cousin, or the guy who worked the soda fountain down at the Woolworth’s in the town time forgot, tries to help by driving up to the barn. Oops, well, there were too many zombies for that. They overrun the RV and begin a sensational feast on Yeoman Johnson Jimmy. Oh, it was gory and wet. We’re sure in real life the extras were chewing on something like cherry sauce covered gummy worms, but it still worked on the awesome zombie kill level. Rick and Carl manage to escape while the zombies were otherwise occupied with Jimmy’s entrails.
Everyone else is fending off as many as they can until they realize DUH! AGAIN! that there are just too many, the farm is lost, and it’s time to hot foot it out of there. Lori, who’s lost Carl again, and who must be the worst mother of all mothers everywhere since she can’t keep track of her son during a zombie apocalypse of all things, is lead away from the house by Carol, Otis’s girlfriend, Patricia, and Hershel’s daughter, Amy, who suffered from Catatonic Fever a few episodes ago. As they’re making an escape a Walker grabs hold of Patricia and we see with wonderful horror as it digs in, chomp, chomp, and a few others join in. Amy is holding on to her hand for dear life and maybe we wanted another Walker to eat her face too, but that would’ve been mean, right? No? Okay. She’s wrestled away and she and Lori are piled into a car with T-Dog. They watch as Carol is separated and gets cornered by a couple Walkers until Andrea barrels down killing each one so Carol can get away, but one falls on top of her, and the others think she’s a goner, so they drive off. With friends like these…
Hershel is doing his best Captain Ahab and flirting with some sort of “Going down with the ship” notion and has positioned himself in front of the house, shotgun in hand, and taking down any Walker that gets close. He’s running out of ammo, and a walker comes up from behind. POW! Rick takes her out splattering Hershel’s entire back and bald spot with zombie chum. Nice. Kudos to the effects guys on creating Bloody Back Hershel. He, Rick, and Carl make it to the car, but they don’t see Andrea who tries to flag them down and is now being chased by a handful of Walkers. She’s pretty much been left for dead i.e. Andrea’s horrible, terrible, very bad, day. Daryl comes across Carol who’s also chased by a few Walkers, he shoots them, and he and Carol ride off on his Harley. Sigh. I don’t know what to make of this relationship, but it’s bothersome.
At last glimpse of the farm, it’s going up like cinder wood. It’s deserted, abandoned with all the lights on, and empty of human activity, but best of all, the Walkers are shuffling along the property like it’s 3am in a Wal-Mart, which pretty much sums up the whole thing. The world where such things mattered no longer exists. [Zombie Kills: Too Many To Count…Finally!]
As day breaks we see each group of survivors contemplating the next move. Where will they go? How will they find the others? Can they find the others? Maggie has an epic freakout called Virgin Zombie Attack PTSD since she’s been so sheltered during this whole thing she doesn’t know how to think much less drive, T-Dog is ready to drive up into space, until Lori talks some sense into him, and Rick, Carl, and Hershel head back to the highway where they left supplies for Sophia. They debate the prudence of staying out in the open, while Carl cries for his mommy, but just when they’re about to leave, and Rick is about to have yet another hard conversation with Carl…well, lookee here! Everyone drives up to the highway one by one! Isn’t that miraculous?
The reunion is quick, and they don’t spend much time lamenting about Andrea. “We saw her go down.” “She probably didn’t make it.” “Okay, let’s go.” and off they go for points unknown. Andrea, meanwhile, has been running all night from a pack of Walkers. She’s gone from guns, which are now out of ammo, to a knife she’s using for a little hand-to-hand combat to kill each Walker that gets close enough. She even makes good use out of a tree by ramming a Walker’s head into it. Nothing is spared. Even though it’s been said that slow and steady wins the race, we know Andrea is running out of stamina, and when she goes down and a Walker falls at her heels, we think that this will probably be the end — nope! Out of nowhere a shadowy character complete with hooded cloak takes out the Walker nipping at Andrea’s heels with the single slice of a sword. Um, okay! In addition, said shadowy woman is walking with two armless zombies with leashes around their necks. Instantly it seems that we are plunged into the world of the nearly supernatural with this arrival. Nothing about this says long discussions about morality. [Spirit Note: Can we do away with the zombie kill buzzer beaters? You know, the last minute gotcha? It’s lame. That is all.]
On the road with the Grimes group and Hershel and his daughters, they’ve stopped as Rick’s car runs out of gas. Everyone weighs the options of bedding down for the night out in the open after what they went through, and we see the group starting to splinter as they voice their concerns about Rick’s leadership decisions. Mostly, Rick is hopeful that somewhere out there resides an oasis or some sort of promised land. The group after just loosing a promised land, is more than a bit skeptical. And if that weren’t enough Rick admits what Dr. Jenner at the CDC told him — they’re all infected with the zombie virus which will cause them all to reanimate upon death. Dunh, Dunh, Dunhhhhh! When asked why he kept the secret, he claims that Jenner was crazy, and he wasn’t sure until Shane came back. At any rate, the group, especially the Grimes group looks at Rick as if seeing him for the first time. Perhaps they’re realizing that Rick is just a man? A regular old plain man caught up in hell just like everyone else.
Shortly after, when he and Lori are alone, he tells her what went down with Shane. He tells her how he knew that Shane was luring him out to that clearing to kill him, and he didn’t want to stop him, and how he wanted the showdown so he could kill Shane in self-defense. He wanted it to happen because it would finally be over. This was probably some of the best acting of the night. We see both the exhaustion and the lack of remorse. We see undoubtedly the beginnings of Rick’s possible descent into desensitization, or maybe madness. It further appears later on when he speaks to the grousing group. Rick is tired of being questioned by his best friend, by Dale, and now by the group. He’s making the hard decisions and attempting to live up to a responsibility he didn’t ask for — to be everyone’s savior. Oh, but Rick, you’ve put yourself in that position more than once. He tells the group about killing Shane, but instead of taking the position of victim who defended himself against Shane, he almost sounds like the aggressor, especially as it seems that he’s defending his actions, “You saw what he was like! How he pushed me! How it compromised us! How it threatened us!” In that moment, we realize how much he and Shane are alike now, or how much the circumstances have pushed them into being more and more the same. It is now Rick who stands before them all, angry, hunched, and resembling the image of one of the monsters they just fled. He has decided, as Shane also said, “This isn’t a democracy anymore.”
We are left with furtive glances shared by the group, and even Lori who is no longer looking at Rick the same way. Some even lean into one another conspiratorially, and it’s possible that the blind faith they once held in Rick, protector, savior, decision maker, hero — no longer exists. We rise out of the shadows of this conversation and see yet another in the distance. Is it a hospital? A military facility? or some other massive, three-tiered structure? But more importantly is it a safe haven, or a place where more horrors dwell? We’ll find out next season.
So what did you guys think about the finale and the second season in general? Tell us in the comments. If you have spoilers, please be kind and give us an alert before proceeding. Thanks!
