Another Take By Zac: TV Review: The Walking Dead 1.4: Vatos

Vatos, The Walking Dead’s fourth episode, sees the return of zombie action and a large chunk of the cast won’t be back for week 5.

The Atlanta plot line didn’t really move that much forward this week other than the discovery of a new batch of survivors in a nursing home being protected by a batch of Latino gang-bangers.   The story line gets to show off the tension among humans as well as further Rick’s character by showing how much of a badass/humanitarian this guy is.  Willing to go back and go gun to gun with the gang for Glenn and then giving the gang half the weapons bag after realizing their situation, Rick is a very deep and diverse character that is easy to love.  Giving up half the guns will prove to be a bad deal though as all hell has broken loose at the camp by the time they get back.

Weird air is about back at the camp as sister’s, Andrea and Amy, bond over their father’s differing parenting technique, Jim is digging a bunch of holes on a hill side because of his dream the previous night, and everyone else is getting seriously freaked out by Jim’s demeanor.  Once Jim calms down and night falls the camp settles in and is feeling good about their fish dinner when a whole mess of zombies show up ripping people apart left and right.  The scene is brutal and overwhelming with the amount of dead that fall for both the living and walking dead.  Rick and the Atlanta group are late to getting back because their car was stolen, presumably by Merle, and they had to run back to camp.  Arriving just in time to avoid a complete wipeout of the camp Rick and company help kill the remaining zombies but leave the camp’s numbers greatly diminished and with the need to find a new home as the zombies have now reached them at the quarry.

Bullets:

-Yay, Ed got eaten!  Women beaters die!

-Amy’s death was the hardest to take of the bunch, especially since everyone else eaten at the camp were all extras, and watching Andrea’s horror was one of the saddest points of the show.

-Was a little disappointed with the Latin stereotype being so overblown, made even worse when we find out who the gang guys really are, nurses and janitors.  Why would the leader, Guillermo, all of a sudden be all gangster to show how hard he is; wasn’t that believable if you ask me.

-I love Glenn and was very, very nervous when he got abducted.  It’s great that the humans acting crazy is usually the scariest thing happening on the show.

-Rick is such a badass and when the rolled up on the gang fully loaded wearing all the guns was a highlight of the episode.

-Wasn’t feeling the whole dream subplot surrounding Jim and it was no surprise why he was digging those graves in the opening, the reveal at end about the dream had no impact.

-Nice to see a big zombie scene again after a couple of more subdued moments the last couple weeks

-I imagine the camp is going to head into town and try and hole up in a building there, seems much smarter than hanging out on a tree line in the woods.

That’s it for this week, another solid episode for the series though I do wish the show was a bit more epic in scope as we seem to be spinning in circles here, that’s what season 2 is for though right?  Till next time.