The Walking Dead 2.12 - Better Angels (Spoilers)

[NewJeffCT]

Setting this up for a discussion of the penultimate season 2 episode tonight.

Here is the description on AMC's website:

The group learns that someone dangerous may be on the loose near the farm. As night falls, Rick, Shane, Daryl and Glenn comb the woods to handle the situation and keep the group safe.

[Brigid]

1. Dale's funeral.

I'm going to miss miss him.

[charlie and algernon]

2. that was a great opening

though it's hard to imagine that they suddenly just decided to do a proper patrol of the farm now that Dale died.

[Brigid]

4. I think they felt safe at the farm.

Dale's death made them realize they had to get their act together.

[Liberal Veteran]

28. They better do it really really fast after that last scene.

[charlie and algernon]

3. It's nice to see T-Dog actually get some lines

I guess that means he's gonna die tonight.

[NewJeffCT]

6. Yeah

they might as well dress him in a red shirt...

[Brigid]

7. No! No! Not T-Dog too!

I guess it's not a good idea to like characters on this show.

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. Oh Laurie! Horrible Laurie!

What IS she doing!

What is her motivation for stirring up Shane?

[Brigid]

8. I don't think that's her intent.

I think Dale's death has made her see things more clearly.

[charlie and algernon]

9. They might as well call this "A Very Special Episode of the Walking Dead"

Laying on the mournful violin and piano music pretty heavy, lol!

Not complaining, mind you, it's been a pretty good episode so far.

[charlie and algernon]

10. What. The. Fuck.

[NewJeffCT]

11. With Shane & Randall, you mean?

that was WTF...

[charlie and algernon]

13. yeah, especially when Shane hit himself against the tree

[Brigid]

12. Wow!

I think Shane has been reading Machiavelli.

[NewJeffCT]

14. I think it's starting to unravel for him, though

Daryl & Glen know something is up.

Those scenes with Rick & Shane are intense.

[Brigid]

17. Whoa!

I always said Lori wasn't exaggerating about Shane being dangerous.

[charlie and algernon]

15. So I guess that confirms the rumors that EVERYONE has the virus in them already

and that's what the scientist whispered to Rick.

[Brigid]

18. Yep, it's true all right.

Great episode.

[deucemagnet]

63. I guess this means that they don't have to treat walker gore as an infectious agent.

Good thing for this group, as universal precautions aren't exactly among their strong points. I think I'd still double-glove and wear a lab coat, respirator, goggles and a face-shield before I started with the splatter, though. There are probably a host of other nasty bugs on reanimated corpses who aren't very particular about what they eat.

[dr.strangelove]

69. Good point

but when getting chased by the dead, its tough to glove up.

[Baclava]

70. There are no hard and fast rules now - it appears the virus is mutating

If you got bit before - you turn zombie. Now just dying without a head wound turns you zombie. Still doesn't explain the cops at the bus though. What killed them?

I still say they're all infected. That's what that blood test at the CDC showed - the doc there lied when he said they were all OK.
But he whispered it to rick.

[dr.strangelove]

71. I don't think it is mutating, I think its there

There may well be two viruses. A zombie bite might cause the fever, which results in a slow death. But we have never seen someone try to fight that death. Maybe in a hospital with penicillin, you would not die from a bite.

But the reanimation virus is probably in everyone. I think that is what the doc told Rick, that they all have the virus. Its probably airborne. Once anyone dies, no matter the cause, you come back.

If those two sheriffs died from exposure or starvation, or maybe they took pills to kill themselves, they come back.

[Baclava]

73. So why didn't all the people left dead in their cars on the turnpike "turn"?

Something's changing.

[deucemagnet]

16. So what's up with zombie Randall?

Do people who die of causes other than bites re-animate? Or did Shane use his gory walker knife on him?

[deucemagnet]

20. Shit, well I guess that answers my question!

[amerikat]

19. Holy Shit!

Talk about Game Change.

[NewJeffCT]

26. Yup

Looks like Carl is bringing down a whole lotta death & destruction on the group...

[The Backlash Cometh]

27. Why didn't it happen the night before when they put Dale out of his misery?

[NewJeffCT]

33. just a guess

but, maybe Randall's group somehow drove them closer to the farm?

[NewJeffCT]

21. wow, what an ending

and, next week looks like farmageddon

[MrScorpio]

23. "Farmageddon"

I love it

[ellisonz]

43. +1

for Farmageddon

[Liberal Veteran]

22. That ending.

Holy shit!

[charlie and algernon]

24. That episode was fucking incredible

The ending will go down as one of the best endings to a TV episode ever.

[Flaxbee]

25. Spoilers! I need spoilers! We have company and I couldn't watch (don't watch much anyway b/c

the show bothers the family intensely, and I'm a chicken when it comes to gore, too).

But I NEEEEEED to know what happened! Please!

[NewJeffCT]

29. short summary

Shane sneaks Randall off into the woods & snaps his neck. Runs his face into the tree to bloody it up & gets back shouting that Randall jumped him.

Rick & Shane go off in one direction to look for Randall, while Daryl & Glen go in another.

You could really feel the tension between Rick & Shane - it was intense. Almost electrical.

Daryl pieces together than something funny is happening with Randall when they get jumped by walker Randall, who almost gets Daryl before Glen splits his head open.

Rick & Shane have it out on a hilltop outside the farm - Shane telling Rick that he's the better man and that if Rick dies, Lori will get over it, just like before - Rick offers to hand his gun to Shane, and just as Shane reaches for the gun, Rick pulls a knife and stabs Shane in the gut, killing him. Rick stays over the body for a minute or longer

Then, Rick notices Carl saw that. He moves towards Carl, who then pulls a gun on him. Rick then tries to calm Carl down, but Carl then shoots zombie Shane in the head, putting him down.

Last scene is a whole horde of walkers in the woods hearing the sound and you can see scores of them moving towards twice dead Shane as Rick looks down at Shane...

[Flaxbee]

30. holy crap. They're really ratcheting up the tension near the end of this season, aren't they?

So much talking and dilly dallying around during this season until the mid-season cliffhanger, and now this.

I know Shane was dangerous, but I liked his sheer berserkness.

So - the comment upthread about how everyone knows now that everybody has the virus and if you're not shot in the head when you die, you re-animate.

Was there discussion of that? Or just that they figured it out since Randall became a walker w/o being bitten?

[charlie and algernon]

31. It seems like Daryl and Glen have figured something's funny

Daryl searched Randal's body and couldn't find any bites or scratches.

[amerikat]

32. So did Shane.

Yup everyone seems to carry the virus.

[Hayabusa]

40. Haven't seen/read them all

but is it a virus or the Romero Rule?

Excellent episode, by the way.

[Lasher]

50. Same difference, I guess.

As you know, this is consistent with the Romero classics. I hoped it would turn out this way. Don't be messin' with my traditional genres! I don't wanna see no vampires killed with no plastic stakes!

[The Backlash Cometh]

34. Quickie.

Dale gets buried, nice eulogy from Rick. Others go on a hunt to clean up any zombies near the farm and take their anger out on the dead. Laurie gets Shane to come down from the wind vane and puts just enough doubt in his head as to her affections that he goes over the edge. Meanwhile, Rick's boy gives Shane the gun he stole from Daryl and tells him he's done with guns. Shane tells Rick that his son needs him because he feels guilty about letting the zombie go, says that he's a better father to his kids than he is. Rick has a talk with the boy and tells him the plot to the rest of the show. "I'm going to die, your mother is going to die, and all we can do is postpone it for as long as we can." Then Rick goes on another scouting mission, leaving Shane behind to stir up more mischief. He takes Randall out of the barn, takes him in the woods and breaks his neck (though they don't let you see it.) And then Shane breaks his nose on a tree trunk and runs back to the farm. By this time everybody figures out that Randall has flown the coup. Shane tells him his story and they go out on a hunting mission to find Randall. Daryl and Glenn go in one direction and Shane and Rick in another. It gets all ominous foggy and dark. Daryl and Glenn eventually find the tracks and Daryl reads the story of what happened just in time to meet Zombie Randall. Glenn kills him with a knife and they notice there's no bites. Meanwhile, Shane walks Rick into an open field. You have no idea where this is. And there's a dramatic show down. You get the feeling that Rick is finally talking Shane out of his latest murderous attempt and then Rick stabs Shane and kills him. Then he sits over the body and waits. Meanwhile, Carl comes looking for him. He had a gun in his hands and he points it at his father. His father tries to get the gun from him but Carl shoots just in time to kill Zombie Shane who has animated. And then the two are left standing talking in a field which is not far from the farm. Meanwhile, one hundred Zombies who were right there in the woods and missed the shot the night before when they killed the zombie that killed Dale, suddenly start following the sound of the gunshot. Meanwhile, Carl and Rick keep talking to each other without being aware that they're about to be overrun.

[fishwax]

35. Well, Shane lasted longer on TV than

he did in the book ...

[NewJeffCT]

36. One of the great parts of the comic

SPOILER ALERT - swipe below:

[font color=white]
Was when they later find out that you don't need to be bitten to come back as a walker, Rick goes by himself and drives back to Atlanta, digs up Shane, who is now a zombie, but couldn't get out of his grave, and then shoots Shane in the head, to finally put Shane out of his misery.
[/font]

[fishwax]

38. ooh, that sounds great

How far in is that, do you remember? I haven't gotten very far in the books yet ...

[NewJeffCT]

39. To be honest

I read through the first 50 or so issues so quickly that I don't remember.

[NewJeffCT]

64. update

I believe the death of Shane was in issue 6? Rick returning is 9 issues later from Shane dying the first time.

[fishwax]

65. cool, thanks! I should get to it fairly soon then

[Solly Mack]

37. I've been looking forward to Shane's demise.

Still...that's one less gun for what's coming.

Can't wait!

[Joe Shlabotnik]

41. Once again great music and great cinematography, the whole episode through.

Great opening scene too, but maybe its just me but it reminded me of office space.... Killing a Zombie printer would have been so cooooool.

[wysimdnwyg]

52. LOL

I got that reference, too. I really hope it was intended.

[krispos42]

42. So Shane's plan...

...was to break Randall's neck, ram his own face into a tree, hide his gun, then find the group and tell them than Randall had jumped him, knocked him loopy, stolen his gun, and fled.

If the group didn't do it themselves, Shane would then push for an immediate posse to hunt down the fled Randall.

Shane then makes sure he teams up with Rick. And when Rick and Shane get near Randall's body, Shane shoots Rick, plants the gun on Randall's now-cold corpse, and claims that Randall shot Rick and Shane chased him into the woods and broke his neck.

Clever. Especially since the group, now leaderless with Rick dead, would likely hesitate to take immediate action against Shane, not wanting to believe they would lose yet another member in such short order.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

45. mmmmmm no.

Shane hid his glock in the leaves, and never retrieved it. And he didn't lead lead Rick anywhere near the body of Randal (thank god they finally cleaned up that plot mess), but rather to a pasture within sight of the homestead. Nothing clever about it, rather clumsy story line.

[krispos42]

62. Well, hold on now.

Remember that Shane didn't lead Randall too far into the woods before killing him, so it's possible that Randall's body wasn't terribly far from where Shane and Rick had it out. Or from the barn, where Shane's Glock was.

[ellisonz]

44. Shane got what deserved...

...Good riddance to bad rubbish.

Can't wait for Farmageddon.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

46. yes and no.

the way it played out......definitely. But the last 1 or 2 episodes showed Shane acting in a more compassionate and reasonable light (always the hallmark of a controversial character about to exit). Realistically, I'd have joined team Shane and Andrea, and hope that I could steal Daryl and/or Glen to my side. (admittedly I'd covet Rick's .357 Python too) C'mon.... the 'humanity' aspect died long before Dale.

[ellisonz]

47. Daryl and Glen don't particularly like Shane...

...both seem much more in league with Rick. I don't think Andrea would go along with Shane either. Dude is a lone wolf and a backstabber.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

49. Dayrl is a pragmatist. Andrea shared Shane's survivalist views...

Glen, will likely defer to Maggie, whom I get the feeling will grow increasingly callous. (farm girls are TOUGH! (I've dated a few!))

[JCMach1]

67. I am with Joe... way too many Shane haters

Rick is just as guilty on many counts... and often just a bit too stupid.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

48. About Daryl

Last edited Mon Mar 12, 2012, 05:10 AM - Edit history (1)

He's become my favorite character, the one I respect the most. Last week
he told Dale that if Rick had bothered to notice Shane returned with Ottis's
gun, he would have known Shane killed Ottis. He was the one tonight to
figure out not only that Randall died and reanimated without a bite, he also
concluded Shane killed Randall and injured himself. Remember last season
when Shane held Daryl in the same choke hold?

Daryl recognized the group was broke and quietly removed himself rather than
do that alpha male psychosis thing. And lastly, grieving for Sophie and never
giving up on her seems to me leaves his humanity is intact.

Funny thing, he's not in the book but if he got killed off I would hate the writers.

[NewJeffCT]

51. I have a feeling

that Daryl will be around at least until Merle shows up.

But, I think at least a few of them will die on the farm next week (T-Dog, Hershel's silent son and daughter, etc)

[Baclava]

54. I hope Daryl makes it. So long Dale, so long Shane, so long Farm. Can't wait for the finale

I figure half of the crew will be dead when the farm gets overrun - no reason to keep Hershals family except for maggie, and that one blond haired guy who never talks should be toast too.

Andrea has no Shane or Dale now - she's probably gone too.

[TuxedoKat]

53. Me too!

Was he in the group in the beginning last night killing the zombies?

[NewJeffCT]

55. I believe it was

Daryl, Shane, T-Dog & Andrea.

[WilliamPitt]

56. I can't WAIT

for the final episode.

[Flaxbee]

57. Question for long-term viewers about Merle

I saw the scene where he was still handcuffed and stuck on the roof of the building with a bunch o'zombies breaking down a door to get to him.

(I watch this show intermittently when I can stand it, and when other family isn't around, so I miss a lot).

Saw another scene where they all went back to look for him, but he was gone.

I know everyone knows he's alive - but people here in threads have referenced him cauterizing his limb -- how do you know that happened? That he cut his hand off and was able to cauterize the stump and escape the zombies?

[NewJeffCT]

58. In the episode they went back to get Merle

his brother Daryl was able to figure out that after he got off the roof, he eventually got to some sort of restaurant kitchen and they figured out he had cauterized the wound there while also taking out a walker or two.

There had been some speculation in Season 1 that Merle would become the person who would become the memorable Walking Dead character The Governor. However, since they cast another actor as The Governor, that is obviously not going to be true.

[Flaxbee]

59. hm. OK. But - how did they know where Merle went, and what he did?

Who/what is "The Governor"?

[Indianademocrat91]

60. IDK "The Governor" but as to Merle

When they went back on the roof to get Merle out of Atlanta, they drove there in a big product truck it looked like. They parked it in a good part of Atlanta where there were no walkers..however when they came back to the same spot to go back to camp after not finding Merle, the truck was gone and they all assumed Merle took it. That is at least what I remember.

[NewJeffCT]

61. A man known as "The Governor"

became a major character in The Walking Dead after the group left Hershel's farm in the comics. Since Merle had disappeared midway through Season 1, people thought he might pop up again in the role as The Governor, since Merle might have an axe to grind with the group.

[Bill219]

66. Just got caught up on the comics today

A lot different than the TV series. I am very interested to see who will take over the "Dale" role seeing as they killed him off so early in the TV series and he still played a major role in the comic. The writers of the TV series also kept Shane around a lot longer than in the comic and killed off Sophia really early.

I can't wait to see how they cover the "Prison" and "Alexandria" arcs.

That Governor guy was nutz especially when he pulled out the zombie girls teeth so he could suck face with her. Very disturbing.

Curious how they will handle what happens to Rick's family in the comic.

[NewJeffCT]

68. yes, a lot of changes

If I recall correctly, the group met Tyreese and his daughter and her boyfriend on the way to Hershel's farm, no?

[ceile]

72. Best episode yet.

Glad Shane is gone, hope we see more of Daryl leading, and what's up with the virus? Can't wait for Sunday!