Episode 4: Vatos

First off, I want to apologize for my missing recap/review of last week’s episode “Tell It To The Frogs.” My wife and I got a new TV and cable-service and, due to some issues, I was unable to catch the episode until a week later. I’ll write a special recap/review for it later this week. But for now, on to the latest episode.

So last night we got a reminder—zombies in The Walking Dead eat people. In the intense final scene of last night episode, “Vatos,” we saw the camp come under attack and our group lost several of its members. Last night’s episode was written by Robert Kirkman—the creator of the source material—and I couldn’t help but feel like there was a deep understanding of the characters in the writing. Perhaps it’s because there has been quite a bit of character development going on in the last two episodes, but because I think Kirkman is a genius I’m gonna say it’s him. Regardless, these characters are becoming very multi-dimensional and we are beginning to see the way these people think as well as their motivations.

In the beginning I didn’t really know what to make of the scene between Andrea and Amy. I liked the dialogue but I just didn’t really understand what they were trying to say about the way their father taught them to fish. I don’t know if there was supposed to be some kind of deeper meaning or if it was just supposed to add weight to the ending. I thought the scene did the latter very well, which may be all it was trying to do. We didn’t really know Amy too well—but Andrea did, and that is what is important. Amy’s death is going to affect Andrea the most out of anyone and the honesty in the acting from Laurie Holden as she watched her sister die in her arms was really an incredible thing to watch.

One of my favorite parts about this episode was how we immediately thought that the group that jumped Glenn and Daryl were thugs. They certainly acted like it. They kidnapped Glenn and ran off. These guys must be bad guys right? Well as it turned out—no, they were taking care of the survivors of a retirement home. They were just trying to protect their people. I really loved the line between Rick and the groups lead Guillermo just after we find out that before the outbreak Guillermo was the custodian of the home. Guillermo says to Rick that he doesn’t know why the elderly trust him, to which Rick responds “Because they can.” It’s a powerful statement that says more about Rick than it does about anyone else.

This is the state that these people live in—it is almost impossible to trust anyone when you’re only goal is to survive and try to keep your people alive. You have to assume that everyone else is going to steal from you, take your food, and leave you for dead. Thomas Hobbes, a famous English philosopher, wrote that in the state of nature (basically when we revert to our basic natural instincts) life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.” According to Hobbes, humans will kill each other and take what they have if it is necessary to their survival. It’s an interesting theory (if not a bit flawed) and one that I think we will see experimented with a bit in the coming episodes.

I have to admit—I was a glad to see Ed get torn to pieces by zombies. If anyone in the group deserved it (though I don’t know that anybody can deserve that kind of death) it would be him. The violence in this episode (specifically in the last 10 minutes) was nothing short of intense. We’ve seen zombies and animals get dealt with violently, but until last night humans had remained relatively untouched. Our creators did not hold back when it came to blood, guts, and ripped flesh—and let’s be honest The Walking Dead would not have been an acceptable piece of zombie-lore if it had.

So we are left with one burning question. Where the hell is Merle? There is no way that Rick's group beat him to the camp on foot. Where did he go--and when will he come back? I can't imagine that he will be in the best mood when he finally reunites with the camp. "Good" times lay ahead for us!

Zombie of the Week: The jawless zombie in the beginning. Greg Nicotero is a genius.

Final Verdict: 9 out of 10 Headshots. “Vatos” has been my favorite episode of The Walking Dead since the premiere. A wonderful mix of character development, violence, as well as a bit of social commentary.