The Walking Dead Ep 6-7

Alright folks I'm back. I haven't updated cuz I've been lazy and busy at the same time. The makers of TWD thought it would be cool to have 13 episodes this season and to have a "mid season" finale. We have to wait another 3 months before the rest of the episodes come out, woopie-do.

S2E6 - Secrets

From the last episode, Glenn finds the barn full of walkers and his girlfriend Maggie tells him to stfu because her dad wants to keep them there. Apparently these people are "sick" according to the farmer man--damn ignorants. Rick spends more resources trying to find Sophia. Meanwhile, Shane goes to teach everyone on site how to shoot guns, including the little boy, Carl. Andrea shoots well at practice, so Shane makes her shoot moving targets and she can't hit a thing. Dale confronts Hershel about the barn and he tells him to mind their own business and be ready to leave their property. Glenn (& Maggie) goes to fetch more supplies for Lori because shes preggo. They almost die to a walker. Shane & Andrea go into town to search for Sophia and then confront a bunch of walkers. In distress, Andrea manages to learn how to shoot moving targets. Now that she has the abortion pills, Lori takes like ten of them, then throws them up. Dale confronts Shane about Otis' death and threatens him. It backfires. Rick finds the pills and Lori spills the beans--the pregnancy and her affair with Shane.

Thoughts - I think it's pretty stupid how they don't conserve ammunition and wastes all their rounds on "practice." Shane nails Andrea in this episode, about time. Lori finally spills the beans about her relationship with Shane and Rick is okay with that. Is Rick okay? The dude fucked your wife and you're going to pretend nothing happened?

Good parenting includes teaching your 8 year old to shoot a gun

S2E7 - Pretty Much Dead Already

Glenn tells the group there's walkers in the barn. Everyone freaks out and Shane wants to deal with it by killing all the walkers. Dale goes to hide the guns because he knows Shane will go clear the barn with or without Hershel's permission. Rick asks Hershel for his permission to stay on the farm instead of getting evicted because Lori is pregnant. Shane learns that Lori is pregnant and he is certain that the kid is his. Hershel brings Rick to help round up some walkers back to the farm with a leash. Otis used to do this but now hes dead, so someone else has to do the job. Shane tracks down Dale and gets the guns back through intimidation. Shane gives everyone a gun and prepares for the shoot down. Shane sees Rick herding walkers back to the farm and rages out. He screams that walkers aren't people and he shoots them down. He breaks down the locks on the barn to let the walkers out. The crew massacres the walkers in front of the distraught Hershel family. In the end, Sophia emerges from the barn. And thus we kill off Sophia.

Thoughts - slow start, but the episode ends in a bang. I just don't know what to make of Shane. He's a villain, the type you love to hate. He didnt have to go and knock down the doors of the barn, they were safe. But yet he did and massacred the crowd. At least they finally found Sophia, who was in the barn this whole time.

Whatchu gonn do old man?

This is easy, its like herding cow

Egg planted.

The A Team

Sophia's Dead

The Walking Dead Ep 5

S2E5 - "Chupacabra"
The script writers really need to come up with a better name for the episode titles. The crew still haven't found Sophia, the lost little girl in the woods. They send out a search party once again. Daryl takes a horse to scout further out. Rick and Shane have another morality conversation in the woods in which Shane says its a waste of time while Rick doesn't want to give up hope. Daryl's horse flips him over a cliff and he gets punctured by his own arrow. Poor guy has a will to survive and a natural instinct to do what is necessary to achieve it. However, with his wounds, he fails multiple times to get back up the hill. After he fails, he is knocked out and starts hallucinating. He sees his brother, whose name escapes me, and starts talking to him about how he's pathetic. Merle (thats his name) kicks Daryl and tells him to get up. He wakes up just in time before a walker takes a bite out of him. He pulls out the arrow from his body, shoots the walker, and eats a live squirrel. Talk about being a badass. He eventually gets over the cliff and walks back to the farm. Unfortunately, the way he walked looked like a walker, and the blonde bonehead shoots him with a sniper rifle, despite Dale telling her not to shoot. Luckily she missed and Daryl didn't die.

Never ride a horse in a zombie apoc.

Wake yoself up son

Lets shoot that incoming thing that looks like a walker

Why do they make them so pretty and dumb?

The Walking Dead Ep 2-4

S2E2 - "Bloodletting"
Honestly, nothing happens in this episode. Rick brings Carl to a farm where they can find help. The other crew continues to search for the lost little girl but find nothing. The vet tells Rick that he needs to operate on Carl in order to save his life. They need medical supplies. Shane and the guy who shot Carl volunteer to go to the local high school to grab supplies. Shane and Otis get trapped inside.

S2E3 - "Save the Last One"
The caravan crew and the farmers finally come together. They still haven't found Sophia. Lori and Rick contemplate on whether or not to perform the surgery on Carl, since the world sucks. Nothing really happens and in the end Shane comes back from the trip with the medical supplies--alone. The vet saves Carl's life. In the end, it is revealed to us that Shane killed Otis in order to escape from the horde of zombies when they were being pursued. However, he lies about it being an accident, that Otis sacrificed himself.

Thoughts - Shane had two options when he was being chased by the horde. One was to die together with Otis. The other was to turn on the guy and save himself. He chose the latter. However, he could've done it better by shooting the man in the head, instead of shooting him in the foot and causing his death to be much more painful (eaten alive sucks). And you have to wonder... if they had that much time to fight against each other before the zombies caught them, are you sure they couldn't have gotten away together?

S2E4 - "Cherokee Rose"
The crew finds a walker inside one of the water wells. Since they didn't want to contaminate the water by shooting it in the head, they decide to drag it up and then smash it. But honestly, if it already been down there for that long of a time, it probably already made the water bad. The geniuses decide to get the walker out of the well by using Glenn as bait. They almost get him killed because they couldn't support the rope. They successfully tie a noose to the walkers head and drag it out of the well. Ironically, the walker ripped in half and the lower half (guts and all) fall back into the well. Lori asks Glenn to get her a pregnancy test from the local pharmacy. Glenn goes with Maggie and when Maggie saw him digging through the condoms, she initiates sex. Back home, Lori cries when she finds out she's pregnant.

Thoughts - 3 things really happened: the ugly walker in the well, Glenn getting laid, and Lori is revealed to be pregnant. Glenn getting laid was awful. It downright made Asians look bad. He was the typical virgin nerd who didn't know what he was doing and got lucky. Lori is pregnant with Shane's kid and only Glenn knows.

Who woulda thought a single rope wouldn't hold him?

"Good thing we didn't do something stupid like shoot it - TDog"

The Walking Dead--Returns! S2E1 - What Lies Ahead

Spoiler Alert*

It's been a long freaking year. I've waited my whole life for this, television's zombie series, season 2! Everyone's gotten so excited about the show, my friends and I (who are huge fan of zombie genre) literally camped out the stream/download websites refreshing the page every minute on Sunday night waiting for the show to come out.

Season 1 Pilot was phenomenal. It felt like something that came out of a Romero movie. Season 1 left something to be desired, simply because it was way too short. For a six episode season, it made the viewers hungry for more. The build up and hype about the show is unprecedented for AMC. Last season the season finale ended with about 5 million viewers on the air date. Season 2 premier was up in the 7 million mark.

S2E1 - What Lies Ahead

Summary

For a 1.5 hour premier, it wasn't action packed. At the start of the episode, we get a mini recap of season 1. The crew is now an 11 member crew, 2 cars and a motorcycle. The gang is heading to a new destination but they get stuck on the highway because their car breaks down. Since the cars were abandoned, the crew scavenges the by standing cars for food and equipment. They find a ton of useful stuff until a "herd" of migrating walkers show up. Caught by surprise, they hide under cars. Since there were too many walkers around to use firearms, they had no choice but to hide. Somehow, the little girl Carol gets revealed and she runs for it. Rick goes after her and fights off the walkers chasing them. However, Carol is lost in the woods and can't be found. People panic and argue about the situation. The rest of the episode is about the crew walking around the woods and didn't find the lost girl. Towards the end, they encounter a deer. Carl walks extremely close to the deer and gets shot--by an unknown gunman. The credits roll.

Thoughts

The opening scene was both suspenseful and exciting. There were some excellent scenes. Daryl managed to save T-Dog, the idiot that cuffed his brother to be left for dead. T-Dog somehow cut his arm and spilled blood everywhere when the herd came along. If it wasn't for Daryl, he would've been dead. There was another scene in which Rick and Daryl had to cut open a walker in order to confirm that Sophia wasn't devoured. That was bloody disgusting. But I really dislike the fact that people are touching the blood of the dead. Shouldn't they be more careful not to get that stuff splattered all over their face and eyes?

Hide the children!

How to live: cover yourself with a dead body

The Walking Dead: S1E6 TS-19

S1E6 TS-19 - Season Finale

Summary

In the beginning of the episode, we are shown a flashback of a scene in which Shane attempts to get Rick out of the hospital bed. In the present, the survivors are momentarily saved in this government facility, ran by a single scientist. The rest of his team have either deserted or have commit suicide. The survivors have a decent meal and hot showers and everything seems to be great. But Shane has one too many drinks and confronts Lori once again about their relationship. Shane forces himself on her and Lori is luckily able to fend him off. In the morning, they discover the facility is running out of power and is going into shutdown. A timer goes off and the scientist locks them all inside to await their timely destruction. Some survivors threaten the guy, others plead him. In the end, Rick convinces the scientist to unlock the doors and let them choose their own fate. While some choose to leave, Andrea and another woman decides to stay and die in the explosion with the scientist. Dale manages to convince Andrea to escape and we see them all barely get away from the explosion.


Thoughts

This episode only set things in motion for the next season. It's a great cliffhanger. The survivors get to a government lab thinking they will be saved but in the end, they add one more to the death count and also lose some more ammunition. There was a scene in which they were each taking a shower and we as the viewers are shown the emotions of each individual. While some people were happy to finally take a shower (a luxury), others are all messed up in the head. One of those people is Shane. He almost rapes Lori after dinner, however the consequences probably stopped him from doing it. We are shown in the beginning of the episode that Shane truly tried to save Rick when he was in the hospital, so he wasn't lying when he told Lori that Rick is dead. I can empathize with Shane because he lost both Lori and his relationship. However, this also makes the viewers loathe Lori because there is nothing redeeming about her. Towards the end, the scientist whispers something to Rick as they were fleeing from the facility. I am going to guess that he saw the Shane vs. Lori conflict on camera and decided to tell Rick about it. Only time will tell.

But I love you Lori! You can't do this to me!

Let's threaten the guy who already chose to suicide, that will work.

Yo dawg, I theres something you need to know.

Girl you craze?

And it goes kaboom

The survivors (from left to right): Shane, Dale, Lori, Rick, T-Dog, Andrea, Carl, Glenn, Sophia, Daryl, Carol, Jacqui, Scientist Edwin.

End of the Season:
So who is left after season 1? Headcount would be: 11

Rick - leader of the group
Lori - Rick's wife, former affair with Shane
Carl - useless son
Shane - messed up in the head
T-Dog - minor character with no back story
Andrea - some back story, also the only hottie left
Glenn - Korean guy is still alive yeah!
Dale - old guy who seems to care a little too much about Andrea
Daryl - hothead badass
Carol - useless character
Sophia - useless character's daughter

Thoughts:

A six episode season is just retarded. They hook the viewers attention and then makes us wait for another year before we can watch the second season, which will be only 12 episodes. Due to the good ratings, AMC will probably produce a better second season, so I guess it's worth the wait. As far as what has happened so far, I think it could have gotten better. I thought they would spend the entire season focusing on how Rick tries to find his wife and son and along the way, meet different people. But he found them in episode 3, which was a huge letdown. They have so many characters but barely any of them have a back story. It's reminds me of Lost, except in Lost they went into depth with each character and make you care about each one of them. The problem with this series is there isn't enough character development. People seem to be dying every episode and we as the viewers can't sympathize with their deaths because we don't know them. Okay so you died, who cares? The love triangle relationship was given way too much emphasis and created far too much hostility towards Lori. I think every viewer wants her dead because she's a slut. Anyway, I hope they go above and beyond my expectations for this series because so far, it's been great. Each episode does serve it's meaning and it isn't like your typical American drama in each there is no linearity in the show. Don't you just hate shows in which stuff just happens and there is no point?

I would also like to thank everyone who followed me through this season.

The Walking Dead: S1E5 Wildfire

S1E5: Wildfire

Summary

The survivors are cleaning up the camp by burning the fallen walkers. While the rest of the dead get a pick axe through the skull, Andrea is still mourning over her dead sister Amy. She refuses to let anyone near her and threatens Rick when he offered to help her. Amy reanimates and Andrea shoots her in the head. They also find out another one of their crew got bitten and they debate on what to do with him. Rick suggests they move out and into the CDC, where there is supposed to be medical research on the disease and shelter. Rick and Shane have a long argument about it, stating it is a big gamble to move everyone out of the woods. However, with limited food supply, they head for the CDC. Inside the CDC, we are shown a single scientist still doing experiments. However, an accident destroys his only specimen and he gives up. Rick and the rest of the survivors make it to the CDC and finds nothing but dead bodies. When the group prepares to leave thinking the building is empty, Rick notices the cameras moving and begs for his group to be allowed in. The doors open as the group of survivors look on astonished.


Thoughts
The beginning half of the episode was emotionally intense. We see Andrea holding Amy's corpse the entire time and we wonder whether or not she was going to take care of the matter or commit suicide because of her sister's death. By letting her sister reanimate into a walker, she put everyone else in danger. It was really heart breaking to see Amy wake up again only to get her brains blown out. Another interesting thing that happened was Shane's shady moves. Rick and Shane went out into the woods to have their argument and while Rick was looking for something in the bushes, Shane had a deranged look on his face and held the shotgun toward Rick's back. We all know that Shane banged Rick's wife and one has to wonder how this will get resolved. This might be a foreshadowing of Shane trying to kill Rick when he gets the chance.

Back off, I'm going to take care of this.

Brains... want brains... (she doesnt speak but groans)

Hey Rick guess who is behind you?

The army (of the dead).

The Walking Dead S1E4: Vatos

S1E4: Vatos

Summary:

The rescue team finds Dixon's dismembered hand on top of the rooftop. In order to escape from the handcuffs and avoid death by starvation, Dixon ended up sawing through his own hand (desperate times call for desperate measures, kind of like SAW 1). They make their way back onto the streets to retrieve the guns Rick dropped on the streets earlier in the first episode only to find themselves ambushed by other people. The assailants capture Glenn (Asian guy) and takes him hostage. Rick and crew also take a hostage of their own and tries to make an exchange. The gang leader threatens to kill Glenn if Rick does not hand over the guns and the hostage. Both sides refuse to give in and a bloodbath almost takes place. Fortunately, an elderly lady comes out of the gang and prevents an all out shooting disaster. We learn that these "gangsters" are simply former hospital workers trying to defend the old and sick. Rick leaves half of their guns with these folks due to their just cause and heads back for camp. All is well back at the camp when suddenly, Amy is bitten by a walker. The camp plunges into chaos as walkers overrun the place and the survivors desperately try to fend them off. Rick and crew arrives back in time to save the day.

Thoughts:

This episode was very intense. The rescue team almost killed a bunch of innocent people trying to defend the elderly. I thought the "gang" leader's performance was utmost convincing. The two hostile groups were ready to fire at each other and Rick's outnumbered group definitely would not have survived the onslaught. It was a series of misunderstandings and thankfully the Abuelo came out to disarm the men. Rick's decision to distribute half their gun supply was both noble and risky. In a zombie apocalypse, guns are probably the most important asset one can obtain. As for the camp assault, it was very unfortunate that Amy died. She's young and she's blonde, why did they have to kill her off?! I was expecting her to die and reanimate and get shot again, but no such thing happened. Another discrepancy I noticed for this series in particular is that the way you can get infected is different. It seems the only way you can get infected in TWD is to actually get bitten and die from it. Andrea, Amy's sister, held Amy's dying body, smothered in blood and nothing happens to her. Another thing is that the only way to kill a walker, is to destroy the brain. Even decapitating the head doesn't entirely do the job, because the head will continue to snap at you.

Your life or your hand?

The standoff.

Officer Shoot-em-up.

Probably NSFW.

The Walking Dead S1E3: Tell It to the Frogs

S1E3: Tell It to the Frogs

Summary
The city survivors reunite with the rest of the survivors hiding in the woods. From the previous episode we learned that Lori, Rick's unfaithful wife, is actively involved with Rick's best friend, Shane. They both naturally assumed Rick was dead when the outbreak began and when he shows up in camp, they were all flabbergasted. Of course, Rick knows none of this and is just glad to see his best friend and wife/son alive. Meanwhile, the camp survivors discuss on the issue of how to relay the news of tying the violent hooligan (Dixon) up on the roof to the hooligan's brother (another violent guy, SURPRISE). Rick decides to lead the crew back into Atlanta to rescue Dixon because he was the one who tied him up there in the first place. While they travel to the city, we are shown the breakup of Lori and Shane. Lori wants nothing to do with Shane anymore because Rick is back and claims everything before was a mistake. Shane is an emotional mess because Rick's presence not only took away his lover, but also his purpose in life is now rendered meaningless. When a man beats his wife, Shane takes this opportunity to unleash his anger and beats the living pulp out of the guy. He almost kills the guy and everyone is horrified by his actions. Back in the city, the rescue crew make their way to the rooftop and finds Dixon missing, his whereabouts unknown.

Thoughts
I wasn't too thrilled about episode 3. First half of the episode was very predictable and there was way too much talking. As for the Lori x Shane relationship, it is really debatable on who is right. It's the end of the world, and it's natural to assume your husband's dead, after all he was lying unconscious in the hospital when the outbreak began. Now that Rick's back, the only logical/ethical thing to do is end the relationship. Shane is utterly destroyed by this reality and almost kills another man in a fit of rage. It started out righteous when he stepped in to stop the beating of the wife, but as he punched the guy in the face, it slowly got more frightening. If the others didn't pull him away, he most definitely would have killed. The other issue of the matter is Rick's decision making. Arguably, the decision to go rescue Dixon is a bad one. Why would you go rescue a guy who will most likely try to kill you once he is free? The guy is a threat to all the survivors because of his dictator/violent attributes and yet they want to rescue him. Now that he escaped, he will most likely seek revenge on those who left him there, namely Rick. Good one Rick, not only the dead are after you, watch out for Dixon.

HOW DARE YOU BEAT YOUR WIFE, ILL STOP YOU BY DOING THE SAME THING TO YOU

WHERE IS DIXON ARGHHHH

AMC Series: The Walking Dead

When I first learned of this new upcoming series back in October, I was hyped. Finally, a zombie TV series, something that is ongoing and doesn't simply end after 2 hours (stupid movies). Unfortunately, a show of this magnitude requires a lot of producing effort so the producers decided to make the first season only 6 episodes. Since there will only be 6 episodes, I decided I will give a plot summary each week. The show airs every Sunday at 10 PM ET on AMC.


*******SPOILERS AHEAD*******


Episode 1: Days Gone Bye

Summary:
Rick (main character) is a sheriff who was shot and put into the hospital for a month. After he wakes up, he discovers he is alone in the hospital. Rick decides to go home and encounters very "strange" people as he rides a bike back to his house. He later meets a father and a son and they tell him what's been going on. Apparently, the zombie apocalypse is happening (no duh). The father informs the sheriff that the city might be a safe zone based on a broadcast a while ago. Rick decides to go look for his wife and kid and sets off on his journey, parting ways with the father and son. Having no vehicle of transportation, Rick innovates and finds a horse in a barn. He rides the horse into the city and is overwhelmed by a large number of walkers. The walkers eat his horse and he barely escapes and is trapped inside a tank.

Thoughts:
The pilot was 90 minutes long and it sets up a situation that's similar to 28 Days Later. A guy wakes up from a hospital and discovers the world is in chaos. One thing I never understand from this concept is; why didn't the zombies eat him while he was unconscious? Nevertheless, the plot is linear and somewhat predictable. Even though they try to portray Rick as cool as possible, one has to question his intelligence. What kind of idiot rides a horse into the city and expects to be able to escape a horde? The horde easily zerg'd him and tore the poor horse apart. The poor bastard was stuck inside a tank. I really did not know how he was going to get out of that one, which made me want to watch EP 2 ASAP.

28 Days Later anyone?

Hey sup gaice, yall like mah horse?

Episode 2: Guts

Summary:
We see glimpses of survivors and more importantly, Rick's wife and son. For whatever reason, the wife Lori is banging Rick's co-worker. Back in the city, Rick receives a radio transmission from someone outside. Glenn, an Asian guy, helps Rick escape from inside the tank and the horde. After they get back into their hideout, everyone scolds on Rick for being an idiot. By firing his gun whenever a walker came close, he drew more noise and attention from the rest of the horde. Now, the shopping mall entrance is crawling with hungry zombies trying to break in. On top of the rooftop, a violent hooligan in the group almost kills one of the survivors and Rick steps in to disarm him. The rest of the survivors plan to escape from the mall because the doors won't hold out forever. Unfortunately, going out would be suicide with so many zombies waiting outside. Rick finally uses his brain for the first time in the series and decides to blend in with the zombies. They dismember a walker and spill the walker's guts onto their clothing. By smelling like the dead, they manage to get far enough to hitch a truck. In the end, they manage to get everyone out of the building--all of them except the violent hooligan, who was handcuffed to the rooftop to be left for dead.

Thoughts:
The pilot wasn't all that original. However, episode 2 really stepped it up. Rick's stupidity never ceases to amaze me, which is why I was surprised that he was the one who came up with the idea of cloaking themselves with the stench of the dead. The scene in which they chopped up the dead was gory and bloody disgusting. The scene when they had to walk slowly to the car was probably the best scene so far. I thought the entire episode was very well thought out. The only thing that didn't surprise me was the thing affair with the wife.

Choppin' it up.

Blending in with the crowd.

Screens from AMC.