After that enlightening opening, we move into the CDC, with our new host, Dr. Jenner. Since being introduced to him, I haven't trusted him. Maybe it's because he's an outsider to this group, but he seemed peculiar in Wildfire and was unsure of himself with guests. I now understand his hesitation in letting them in, considering the situation with the generators. That situation involved the entire facility running on a single barrel—the last of the back-up fuel. Once it's used up, the computer sets the air on fire because, as Jenner tells the group, they dealt with a lot of dangerous things at the CDC that you'd never want getting out. Nothing like a cleansing explosion to take of that. But we don't find that out until the last twenty minutes of the show, so let's deal with the other forty first.
The group got to eat a big meal, get drunk on wine, and act like human beings used to. At dinner, Shane opted to ruin the good mood in an attempt to make Rick look bad: he asked Jenner why there was only one guy left. Jenner explained that some left when it got bad, and when it got really bad, others killed themselves rather than face the hordes of undead. He only stuck around because of a promise he made...to TS-19! Let me say now that the scenes of everyone getting drunk and eating well were great. They'd have been better if they hadn't been preceded, a few episodes ago, of everyone eating a ton of fish and being happy and satisfied. Of course, that scene was interrupted by a zombie attack, which is in direct contrast to this meal. But if we had seen more suffering, more starving, them finally getting food would've been astonishing. In the same vein, the reveal of hot water was tainted by the first episode: we'd already seen the joys of a good shower when Rick, Morgan, and Duane at the police station. These were monumental moments. They just didn't feel like it.
The next morning, Jenner shows them the brain activity of an infected person as they descend into flesh-eating terribleness. It was here I started to worry. Explanations for zombies usually suck. It also takes away some of the sheer horror they represent when you can boil it down to a microbe or virus or bacteria. So I was relieved when one of the group asked Jenner what caused it and he named EVERY possibility. Of course, this frustrated the group, especially after Rick hyped the place up as their best hope for not just a cure, but also safety and sanctuary.
The next morning, Jenner shows them the brain activity of an infected person as they descend into flesh-eating terribleness. It was here I started to worry. Explanations for zombies usually suck. It also takes away some of the sheer horror they represent when you can boil it down to a microbe or virus or bacteria. So I was relieved when one of the group asked Jenner what caused it and he named EVERY possibility. Of course, this frustrated the group, especially after Rick hyped the place up as their best hope for not just a cure, but also safety and sanctuary.
One of the bigger moments, and one I personally didn't care for at all, saw a drunk Shane attempt to justify his actions to Lori. He explained, albeit drunkenly, what actually happened in the hospital, but how can she believe him? He's intoxicated, and as far as she's concerned, he lied. If the creators wanted us to question Shane right alongside Lori, we shouldn't have gotten the opening we did. But then he tries to rape her. We don't need this sort of BS. We can like or dislike Shane because he's moody, he's jealous of Rick, he's petty, etc. Or we can like him because he led that group of people to Atlanta and kept them alive, he stuck it out with Rick until the end. Having him force himself on Lori feels forced. They want us to dislike Shane, when he could've been a viable alternative to Rick. Up until this scene, that's what they'd been setting up and it worked very well. I thought this was a giant step back and nothing we haven't seen before.
That next morning, after a breakfast of powdered eggs, we get the big reveal that the CDC is going sky-high in all of thirty minutes. Jenner locks everyone in the main control room with him, so we can get some yelling, shooting, and axe-swinging. I may not have trusted Jenner, but him locking everyone in just seemed off. If he knows the doors upstairs can't be unlocked/opened, who cares where these people go in their last half hour? What it led to was a confession on Jenner's part that his wife was TS-19 and if their roles had been reversed, she might've found some sort of cure. She was the Einstein of whatever her field was, he says. He was finally convinced to open the door, but Jacqui and Andrea opt to stay. Dale heroically convinces Andrea to leave, but Jacqui stays. Did we know anything about her? No, we hardly knew her. She was expendable. It looked to me like the creators' chance to get rid of a superfluous character. But how does the group get out if the place is locked down? Think back to episode one: Rick snatched a grenade from that tank, and it's been out of the picture since. It makes a triumphant return, blowing out a window and giving the group their way out. They get in their cars, watch the place explode and drive off.
Verdict: I was disappointed. It didn't have the impact of umph of a season finale. I plan on diving further into my disappointment when I do a season review.
I was disappointed with the finale, i think mainly because of all the things you said. Since they had already been seen having a hot shower, had already been seen eating a good meal, and since the group never seemed to be suffering physically (although definitely emotionally), their actions in the CDC made them look, honestly, a little spoiled. Now I know, i know, that after surviving a zombie apocalypse, everyone deserves a few bottles of wine, but it came off as a little over indulgent to me. It would have been a lot more effective if we had seen them starving in earlier episodes (or even if we had seen Lori without makeup on, just once.)
ReplyDeleteI also agree with what you said about Shane. But the worst part of that episode had to be that grenade. That has to be the worst example of deus ex machina that I've ever seen. And she didn't remember she had a grenade when they were locked in the control room for 20 minutes? Ok, you say, maybe she was too panicked in the control room and once they got out, she could calm down and remember. But why would she calm down then? They're still trapped in the same building with even less time on the clock!
That being said, i thought the song choice at the end was great
Spoiled is a great word to use, and that's exactly how it felt. If there were more than just 4 episodes separating the first and last, it probably would've felt different. But like you say, we never saw them suffer, unless a geek was around.
ReplyDeleteLogic was thrown out the window for the sake of narrative, which is something I can't stand as a wanna-be writer and a critical fan. The grenade was too easy. But at least they set it up early, which is about the only good of that.
Any time you add a Dylan song, a moment is elevated. There's a gravity to his style that just fit. Like in Watchmen, The Times They Are A-Changing brought that opening to a whole new level. Or when the Dawn of the Dead remake used Johnny Cash. There's something to those guys and their acoustic guitars.