Episode 4: Vatos, Take 2

Last week's episode, Tell It To The Frogs, ended on a gruesome cliff-hanger: where was the rest of Merle? Well, we still don't know but we know he's alive and we know the steps he took to stay alive. Daryl Dixon, Merle's brother (sorry for calling him Dylan in the last review), tells Rick straight away that Merle is the toughest S.O.B. he knows, and as we follow Merle's blood trail, we have to agree. The blood led across the roof, to a banged up door, down some stairs, into a room with TWO dead geeks, and into a kitchen. One of the stoves was on, flame still burning. Next to it was something reminiscent of an iron. Bits of flesh clung to the end of it. Merle cauterized his wrist-stump. I want you to stop and think about a couple of things. First, I want you to look at your right hand. Now imagine the resolve it would take to saw through it. Then, the strength it'd take to fight off and kill two zombies. And finally, think about how much it'd take to place a burning hot iron and burn your wound shut. Merle is a badass. And he might have a vehicle.

Vatos opens and closes with Amy and Andrea, the blond sisters. The opening had them in the middle of the quarry lake, fishing and chatting. They reminisce about their dad, and wonder whether or not Florida's any safer. The conversation didn't feel right to me—everything they said, I bought. And I liked the depth it added to them. But the content, well, it felt like the conversation you have a lot sooner after the outbreak. Are we to believe this was the first time either of them spoke about the likelihood of their dad's survival? It felt added on to give some umph for later in the show. In that regard, I felt that Andrea's scene in Dale's camper did more to advance the sisters' relationship. Once Andrea set down future plans for Amy, even if it was just a day in advance, I found myself invested. We needed more time with Amy to feel for her being attacked, and I think the writer of this episode, series creator Robert Kirkman, realized that, and made it more about Andrea, who we've gotten to know a bit more.

Rick, Daryl, T-Dog, and Glenn ran into trouble in downtown Atlanta trying to snag the bad of guns. Since the city's been overrun by flesh-eating dead people, you'd expect trouble. But this wasn't from the dead, it was from some vatos. They had their eye on the guns, so when Glenn snags them, things get dicey. Daryl and Glenn both get beat with an aluminum bat, Glenn gets abducted, and Daryl gets to shoot someone in the ass with arrow. But they do get a hostage—a vato youngin, who originally distracted Daryl. Rick and Daryl get to play good cop bad cop and Daryl, restricted from physically harming the kid, shows he's the brains of the Dixon boys. He pulls out Merle's severed hand and tells the kid it belonged to the last guy who pissed him off. This leads to our first showdown between our group and the gangsters. It's one of those moments where you question humanity, and how petty/foolish/immature it can be, to keep up the gang mentality. After a break for planning, the groups reconvene. Guns are leveled, rounds chambered, and trigger-fingers get itchy. But then grandma comes down. Nothing like a clueless, elderly woman to defuse a massacre-in-waiting. Our vatos are actually good people: two of them worked at a nursing home, one as a nurse, the leader, Guillermo, as the janitor. The rest of the gang visited loved ones and stuck around. They made the home a fortress, and put on the gang front to keep themselves safe. Rick gives them a bunch of guns and ammo, because that's just the fellow he is.

Back at the camp, Jim is having a breakdown. We hadn't met him yet, so our first moments with him didn't make him too shiny. For hours, he was digging and digging in the heat, not taking breaks of water. Dale gets worried and gets Shane and the rest of the adults. Jim goes a little crazy, swings a shovel at Shane, and winds up getting tied to a tree. Apparently, he was digging because of a dream he had. But he doesn't remember much more than that. Night comes along, and everyone's chowing down on the fish Amy and Andrea caught. Since people can't have a nice moment during the zombiepocalypse, there's an attack on the camp. Ed's the first to go and then we watch as Amy gets chomped on before people finally start making moves. The group's reaction really disappointed me. They live in a world where they're outnumbered by unfeeling monsters. The group knows these creatures are out there, but they don't have a night watch. They don't know how to react when they see one coming at them (see Amy stand there and let her arm get bitten). I'm willing to suspend disbelief for a zombie show. But these folks have been in it for a while now and have survived, that I expected more. That said, the fight was awesome. A lot of the group (that we hadn't met or even seen) was killed, and it looked like our principles were on their way out when Rick and co. arrive. They make short work of the zombies and give everyone a moment to assess their losses. Andrea gets right up to Amy, frightening close, as she dies. But did she die? It looked to me like she did, but she didn't turn. And the previews made it sound like they might try to get her help next episode. So I don't know. Either way, I thought Andrea probably shouldn't have been so close to Amy's mouth. 

Final Verdict: 9.35 Head Shots out of 10. This was by far the best episode since the premiere. We had proper character development, plenty of drama, action, zombies, gangs—but it never felt like too much.