Written by Matt Barone (@MBarone)
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Well, the inevitable finally happened on AMCâs The Walking Dead: Yes, the zombies found Hershel Greeneâs (Scott Wilson) farm. What, you thought we were referring to something else?
That's coming, don't worry. With all the gunshots, yelling, and philosophizing thatâs gone down on the old manâs property, all it took for the walkers to locate a hotbed of live, fresh meat was a loud, fatal squabble between a pair of old friends, which itself is another inevitability that transpired by the end of last nightâs episode, âBetter Angels.â The second seasonâs penultimate hour, âBetter Angelsâ continued the showâs hot streak post its midseason return, ratcheting up the tension and darkness several more ticks and further proving that new showrunner Glen Mazzara isnât about to let any narrative beats drag along for any more episodes than ultimately is necessary.
Most likely due to the fact that itâs been something weâve allâat least in-tune Walking Dead viewers and fans of Robert Kirkmanâs original comic booksâbeen anticipating, but the final seconds of one major character didnât hit with the devastating wallop weâd been expecting; it was a taut, and largely satisfying moment, no question, yet, still, the pivotal death scene wasnât a sheer knockdown. What it wrought, however, was; the stage is now set for an all-about-action season finale, and we couldnât be more excited. But, firstâŠ
âNo more kidsâ stuff.â
The yearâs first shocking demise on The Walking Dead, that of morality representative Dale (Jeffrey DeMunn) at the end of the preceding episode, âJudge, Jury, Executionerâ, is having lasting effects on the group, which we see as Rick (Andrew Lincoln) leads them all with some final thoughts about the man, spoken near his backyard gravesite. Rickâs none too content with Daleâs last pre-death statement about the group being âbroken,â and in his estimation, âThe best way to honor [Dale] is to un-break it.â
Try telling that to Shane (Jon Bernthal), though, whoâs first seen on a kill-all-zombies mission with the equally irate Andrea (Laurie Holden), Daryl (Norman Reedus), and the ever-useful T-Dog (IronE Singleton). With his trusty crossbow in hand, Daryl fires a few arrows through living dead skulls; Andrea, meanwhile, grabs a rusty pitchfork and drives through a ghoulâs jaw, and Shane, wielding a mighty shovel, rams the tool down on a zombieâs head, crushing it into bits like it was a melon placed on top of one of those carnival strong-man games. Youâve heard of âhate sex,â right? This is The Walking Deadâs version of âhate mourning.â And we like it.
Doing what he shouldâve done a long time ago, Hershel invites Rickâs gang to stay inside his house, rather than camp out along the propertyâs perimeter any longer and run the risk of offering zombies buffets, now that the farmland has seen its first on-site walker (i.e., the one that murked Dale). But thereâs still the matter of their prisoner, Randall (Michael Zegen), the captive whoâs become a terrible nuisance without ever doing anything but sit around tied up and gagged inside a barn. Rick decides to revisit the old plan of driving him miles out and leaving him to fend for himself, and, this time, he asks Daryl to join him for the ride, not Shaneâa move that leaves Shane visibly hurt. Raging hotheads have feelings too, after all.
Young Carl (Chandler Riggs), however, has no problem with confiding in Shane. Given a little one-on-one time with his honorary uncle, Carl admits to Shane that the Daleâs killer walker was one that heâd pissed off and provoked shortly before, and that he had the chance to shoot it in the head but clammed up, thus, in Carlâs mind, causing Daleâs swan song. Shane rebukes the kidâs thoughts, going so far as to advise him to keep the gun for his own protection; Carl, unsurprisingly, wants nothing to do with the gun. Similar to how Rick seemingly wants nothing to do with his troubled son in light of the whole Randall situationâor, as Shane puts it, âFreeing that prisoner is more important to you than Carl.â Which leads to a father/son heart-to-heart, one that results in the touching sight of daddy Rick giving Carl the handgun backânot exactly a Teddy bear, but, in the midst of a zombie apocalypse, itâll do.
So, on one side of Shaneâs already fractured psyche, youâve not got the knowledge that Rick, his longtime best friend and âbrotherâ from another mother, wants nothing to do with him, having basically replaced him with Daryl for second-in-command duties. But add on to that Loriâs (Sarah Wayne Callies) sudden lamentation and confessions, apologizing to Shane for putting him and Rick âat odds,â and pointing out that she canât imagine how bad it must be for Shane to not know whether her unborn child is his or Rickâs. Ending the tender exchange with a simple yet effective, âIâm sorry, Shane,â Lori, whether she realizes it or not, has driven the dagger even further into Shaneâs emotions. The man is officially ready to snap.
âSo this is where youâre gonna do it, huh?â
And, boy does he. In a rather overdone sequence, Shane creeps into the barn to sit by Randall, and weâre treated to some erratic cuts and jarring edits that aim to dictate Shaneâs descent into pure madness, only the final product looks more forced than disturbing. The guyâs next moves, on the other hand, arenât as beaten-over-the-head.
Abducting Randall, Shane walks the blindfolded teen into the woods and asks about his sordid group, and informs Randall that he wants to leave Rick and the other behind and join the other side, so to speak. Randall, understandably happy about having a longer lease on life, says, âItâs a tough bunch of guysâyouâll fit in good.â But would any of the so-called deviants residing five miles away sneak up behind a guy after pretending to let him live, snap his neck, and then ram his face into a tree to make it look like the âprisonerâ got in a few solid punches before fleeing? We now know that Shane would, being that he does just that to Randall, then stashing his gun underneath a pile of leaves and heading back to the group to shout a lie about Randall clocking him, taking his weapon, and running for his life.
A search-and-kill mission kicks off, with Daryl and Glenn (Steven Yuen) heading off in one direction and Rick and Shane going in another; to his credit, Daryl says what everyone else should be thinking: âThe kid weights a buck-twenty-five soaking wetâyouâre tellinâ me he got the jump on you?â Almost like the zombie version of Randall gets the jump on Glenn moments later, though Mr. Walker Bait busts through dead-Randallâs head with a knife. The just-undead body lying on the ground, Daryl notices that he âgot his neck broke,â and that âheâs got no bites.â
And Daryl isnât the only one whoâs suspicions of Shane. Rick begins showing his disbelief in the whole Randall-got-away tale, and once he holsters his gun, Shane draws his; not to mention, he even has a second bullshit explanation on standby, this one designed for after Shane kills Rickâheâd blame it on Randall again. A Mexican standoff ensues, and Shane, in pure frothing madman mode, shouts, âIâm a better father than you, Rick!â Followed by, âYouâve got a broken woman, youâve got a weak boy, and you ainât got the first good one on how to fix it!â
Clearly furious, Rick pulls the old okie-doke on Shane, making it seem like heâs about to relinquish his gun and then, once Shaneâs close enough to hug, stabbing him in the chest, and yelling, in heartbroken agony, âThis was you, not me!â Also in uncontrollable tears is Carl, whoâs stumbled into the murder location and has his pistol aimed at Rick, thinking heâs the bad guy for killing Uncle Shane. Like the un-bitten Randall, however, Shane isnât totally lifelessâheâs now a zombie, indicating that The Walking Deadâs world is one where, like the universe of zombie movie titan George A. Romero, anyone who dies, no matter the cause, comes back as a flesh-craving monster. Unless you stop their proverbial clocks with a bullet to the head, which Carl gives Zombie Shane.
Unfortunately, Carlâs wee gun doesnât have enough slugs to handle the swarm of alert walkers thatâs rapidly approaching he and daddy. And it looks like the season finale is about to remake Romeroâs Night Of The Living Dead set-up: people trapped inside a farmhouse, fending off dozens of zombies.
Still bitching and moaning about the showâs lack of action and gory violence now, haters?
Written by Matt Barone (@MBarone)