Another Take By Zac: TV Review: The Walking Dead 1.3 Tell It To The Frogs

The third entry into the series is the least zombie filled episode yet, and while that was a tad disappointing, focusing on the humans was almost just as engaging and compelling as the rest of the series.

Thankfully we find out, and maybe this was expressed last week and I just missed it, that the fact that all of these people are connected because the Atlanta folk are there from the camp.  We unfortunately did not really find out much about the love triangle and how far back Mrs. Grimes and Shane’s infidelity goes.  In fact, Lori’s reaction to Shane even further perplexes the situation as she basically tells him that he isn’t allowed to communicate with her or her son anymore unless absolutely necessary.  In fact they fueled the fire even further on Rick and Lori’s background as they basically forgive each other for all of their past discretions as a couple.  I gleaned from this that their relationship was definitely in trouble when Rick went into a comma and this makes me think that Shane and Lori might have been at it before the zombies showed up.

Ok, enough about them, how bout the rest of the cast which got quite the display this week.  The most intriguing development of the week was the story revolving around the abusive Ed and his wife Carol.  From the first moments we are introduced to them tensions are high between them and the rest of the group and it finally comes to a head in one of the final scenes when Ed takes offense to the girls having a good time.  When Ed hits Carol because he is mad at Andrea, who stood up to Ed’s misogynistic bullying, Shane steps in and beats the shit out of Ed; partly because he deserves it, mostly because he had just got rejected from Lori.  Basically Ed needs to get eaten, stat.

We also were introduced to Daryl, Merle’s (redneck handcuffed on the roof) brother, who is just as hick as brother.  He does seem to be a bit less crazy though and while he is still a bit of a hot head, Daryl, seems a tad more reasonable of an individual.  The shocking twist of the episode is that Rick, barely reunited with his family, is ready to head right back in to Atlanta to save Merle and get back his bag of guns he left in the street.  Unsurprisingly, Merle is nowhere to be found when the search party shows up, and even less surprising is the fact that he lobbed his hand off to get out.

All in all a solid episode just give me another zombie incident next time AMC.

Bullets Time:

-As good as the show is I still feel like we need some more original beats in the show.  From the chopping the hand off, to the hospital opening, and other scattered bits, I hope that the second season realizes that they don’t have to grift off its influences and that the show can blaze it’s own path, ala the zombie guts bit last week.

-I did not enjoy how long it took them to kill that deer eating zombie they find in the woods, they could have easily lobbed his head off from the get go and it was the first time the violence seemed rather out of place and pointless.

-Also, I don’t know if they sold Rick’s humanitarian characterization enough to make his quick turn around to head back in to town after just finding his family again that believable, especially for Merle.  He is our hero though, so I let it slide.

-Crossbow’s, your zombie warfare best friend for keeping a low profile.

-Can Shane punch Ed a couple more times?

-Still wish we got some more exposure to Dale, who is played by the great Jeffrey DeMunn, but the brief moment in which Rick told him they could strip the van they brought back from Atlanta, I got the sinking feeling him and his brother(?) might bolt once they are up and running.

And that is all I got for this week, only three episodes left and you know Merle is going to cause some shit sooner or later.  Here’s hoping they don’t wait till the finale.  Till next time.