Season two of AMCs The Walking Dead picks up right where last season left off, with the group headed out of Atlanta after the destruction of the CDC. There is a new team of writers this year and it remains to be seen what that will mean, but so far we are off to a really good start setting a new ratings record for cable with 7.3 million viewers…before DVR viewing is accounted for. That ain’t too shabby.
Not far out of the city our roving band of survivors faces an epic traffic jam blocking their way, or what we in Atlanta like to call “a day on I-20″. Before they can make their way through the RV breaks down and while Dale works on fixing it the others start rummaging through the abandoned cars for supplies. They find enough water and fuel to get them all the way to Fort Benning where they hope to find help.
But this is a zombie story after all and just as the sun starts getting really hot Rick (Andrew Lincoln) notices a walker making its way down the road, followed by another and another until they realize an entire herd of brain-eaters is bearing down on them. Quickly and silently they drop to the ground and hide under the cars while the walkers pass. It was an incredibly tense few minutes of television and our group almost made it out unscathed. Before its over T-Dog is injured and little Sophia has been chased off in the woods with Rick in hot pursuit. Rick saves the little girl by drawing the walkers away but Sophia vanishes into the woods before he can get back. The rest of the 90 minute episode was spent looking for her. Before long they hear bells in the woods and figure the girl has found a church and is signaling them. Zombies aren’t smart enough to ring bells for dinner are they?
The church turns out to be a dead end and after disposing of some random walkers the group takes turns making peace with God before moving on. Andrea overhears Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) and Shane discussing his intentions and she wants in on the deal. He isn’t sold on it but I suspect he will be. With Sophia gone the already damaged unit splinters even more. Carol (Melissa McBride) blames Rick for leaving her little girl alone. Andrea (Laurie Holden) is finding it hard to come up with a reason to live now that her baby sister is dead and Dale (Jeffrey DuMunn) isn’t too keen on letting her go. And Shane (Jon Bernthal), realizing he doesn’t have a place there now that Rick and Lori are back together plans on heading off on his own as soon as he can slip away.
With every zombie story there comes a fair amount of gore and this episode was full of it. The zombie autopsy in the woods was especially gruesome and made me wish I had waited to eat dinner after the episode. The Walking Dead is always good for a cliffhanger the finale ended with a bang that no doubt had viewers everywhere throwing things at the television. It is a brave move to focus the harm on the kids in the cast but it seems to have worked. The previews certainly didn’t give us any idea as to what becomes of the little ones later on. I guess we’ll have to tune in.
The Walking Dead returns next Sunday on AMC.
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