Today's blog comes from Monday Night Flaw podcaster, Chris Alt. Chris hopes to be able to be a semi-regular contributor to Pun's House, so if any of you have any suggestions for a title for his column, feel free to post them in the comments:
The first half of The Walking Dead's second season was, to say the least, not especially well-received by most of its rabid fanbase. The criticism is understandable, for the most part- the pacing tended to weave between "methodical" and "glacial". The first handful of episodes revolved around our protagonists hunkering down as largely unwanted guests on a farm while searching for a little girl from their group who had gone missing. This led to lots (and lots, and lots, and lots) of tense moments with their cranky host, and more importantly, and perhaps unfortunately, some character development.
One of the reasons zombie movies and other forms of media are virtually everywhere are because they're typically a lazy writer's dream. In a two hour movie or a zombie-shooting video game, you don't need characters, just archetypes people can use to distinguish one bit of zombie fodder from the others. Nobody really needs to be anything more developed than "ex-special forces badass" or "hotheaded jerk" or "pampered rich girl" or "token black guy" because chances are they're just going to die anyway, and even if they don't, well, it's the end of the world and their only motivation is survival. Not a lot of room for subtle nuance, and none is necessary.
As an episodic television series, TWD wasn't going to be able to survive for long on the archetype formula, so with an extended second season, character development was inevitable, but the writers threw us all for a loop by making nearly every single character on the show into some kind of retarded asshole. I spent most of the last six episodes wondering why Glenn- the only character on the show who is consistently a reasonable facsimile of an actual human being that you or I might know- doesn't just grab the little boy and flee this band of dysfunctional lunatics. Rick- the show's main character- went from being the tough, smart cop and backbone of the show to a guy too worried about morality after the apocalypse to show a backbone, showing an almost Ned Stark-esque obsession with being noble and honorable that would have gotten him killed a dozen times over if his presence wasn't necessary for the show to continue. Shane went from Rick's hothead buddy to an insufferable prick (although, while primarily serving as the de facto "villain" of the show, Shane is certainly the most interesting, as he seems to be the only character who truly realizes that there is no place for nice guys in the end of the world. Shane deeply values self-preservation over morality, and for that reason we are supposed to hate him), Dale went from "affable older fella" to "meddling dipshit who has to be caught up in absolutely EVERYBODY'S business", Carol went from "barely noticeable background character" to "aggressively useless background character", Andrea went from "pretty blonde" to "insane loose cannon", and Lori just sort of became a pain in the ass. None of the people we're supposed to grow attached to as viewers benefited from the time they were given to let us get to know them.
Business picked up within the last five or so minutes of the last episode of the break, when the group discovered and mowed down grumpy farmer Hershel's private menagerie of zombies he'd been keeping in his barn, including Carol's missing daughter Sophia, rendering the endless searching for the girl a waste of time.
The first episode after the break, titled "Nebraska", seems to suggest that the pace for the rest of the season should pick up significantly. Life at the farm is chaos in the wake of the great zombie barn slaughter. Hershel and his kids are mourning the deaths of his (zombified) wife and her child; the group is mourning the death of Sophia- except for Shane, who's (understandably, sort of) mostly just pissed to learn the girl was in the barn the entire time. It's decided to bury the three that were actually important to Rick's group and Hershel's, and there's a short but effective scene that shows a quiet memorial service followed by all the characters going off in separate directions. After that, we get Rick trying to make peace with Hershel, Darryl trying to comfort Carol, Shane growling at Dale some more, and Maggie choosing a fairly awful time to try to wrangle Glenn into a commitment.
Just as it seems we're in for more methodical pacing, things pick up as Hershel finds an old flask and decides to give alcoholism a shot, disappearing from the farm just before his stepdaughter Beth collapses while doing dishes. Maggie has a hunch that he's gone to town to drink alone at a bar- Hershel is really diving headfirst into this alcoholic thing- and Rick and Glenn head off to find him. Lori, because she's Lori and needs to give Andrea competition as the most erratic and irrational character on the show, takes off after them, but runs into trouble when she runs over a zombie and flips her car. Rick and Glenn find Hershel at the bar, because that's just sort of what people are going to do amongst the zombie apocalypse, and Hershel tries to tell them to get bent. Rick gives him a sufficient enough pep talk to get him off his drunk ass, but they trio is interrupted by the arrival of two creepy men who apparently represent the redneck portion of New Jersey. The strangers hint that they'd appreciate taking refuge on Hershel's farm, and when Rick refuses they take a more forthcoming approach, with guns. For the first time in recent memory, Rick shows some spine by discarding the law and kills the two bozos, and the show ends with Rick incredulous to discover that he has a spine, and Lori laying in a ditch somewhere.
Overall, it wasn't a home run of an episode, but it showed promise for a more interesting second half of the season, if not a more exciting one.
Personally, I really loved the episode. I was glad to see Rick show some back bone finally. The first two seasons, I always thought Rick was the Luke Skywalker type character of the show - whiny and fretful, but with something brewing underneath that you knew was eventually going to come out. Hopefully, this is getting into the Empire/Jedi phase of his character.