Episode 6: TS-19

Sorry about skipping last week. I'll be throwing up a retro-review in time, because Wildfire did a lot of great things that I want to talk about. But until that time, let's talk season finale!

TS-19 opened with a needed explanation: how did Rick end up abandoned in the hospital? Speculation ranged from Shane leaving him there and intentionally lying to Lori and Carl to, well, I think that was all the speculation I heard. But now we know: Shane stuck with Rick until what appeared to be the end. Soldiers were murdering doctors, nurses, any civilians really, and I don't know if they were infected or not. Either way, this put Shane in a particularly dangerous spot. So he decided to try and roll Rick out there...until he realized he didn't know if it was possible (Rick was hooked up to a lot of stuff). We finally got a great moment from Shane, where he's begging Rick to wake up, to give him a sign, to tell him what to do. At that point, an explosion rocks the hospital and kills the power (aren't hospitals supposed to have independent generators?). Shane checks Rick's heartbeat, and I believe he thought Rick was gone. With walkers coming down the hall, Shane finally leaves, but not before blocking the door to Rick's room with a stretcher. No one wants their best friend turned into a zombie snack, dead or alive.

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. 

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. 

Episode 5: Wildfire

Man, it really sucks to just have 6 episodes in a season. I feel like we’ve just gotten to know these characters and already they are about to leave for a year. Bummer. Anyways, "Wildfire" brought some changes, changes that will most certainly have an effect on the upcoming seasons.

First let’s talk about the changes we saw in the characters. Dale is becoming the patriarch of our little family. I don’t mean patriarch as in the “leader,” but as the confidant—a father figure. He always seems to know what to say at the right time to make people feel better, or at least content with the situation at hand. This week he shared a few kind words with Andrea about how he had lost his wife to cancer and the effect it had on him. This little moment of character development was wonderful. Not only did it give us insight to Dale’s past, but it also showed what a caring, empathetic person he is. This was certainly my favorite scene in the episode.

How about Carol taking her aggression and sadness out on her late husband? This was a rather disturbing moment in the episode, not only because of how graphic it was, but because you get the sense that this is something that Carol needs to do. She endured years of abuse from this man and now she can finally get her revenge—by bashing his brains in with a pick-axe. You could say she was just doing it out of love, trying to prevent Ed from turning, but the look of anguish/anger in her eyes beg to differ.

One complaint I had about this episode was the choice to include “Adagio in D Minor” by John Murphy as the music for when the group decided to move camp. Perhaps I’m in the minority here, but I’m starting to get the sense that this particular tune is getting way over used. Maybe it’s just because I had literally just seen a commercial for a Matt Damon movie using the music. Regardless it took away from an otherwise powerful scene.

I like that the show is taking its time to show that decision making is never as easy as it looks (actually almost impossible)—especially when everybody’s lives are on the line. The friction between Shane and Rick hit a fever pitch this week when Rick suggested that everybody go to the Center for Disease Control (CDC). When Lori backed Rick you could see the hurt and confusion in Shane’s eyes. The scene in the woods where Shane aims his gun at an unsuspecting Rick shows just how close he is to breaking.

I really liked the big twist at the end. It was an interesting change of pace to see that there is someone who has been working on a cure for the outbreak in the CDC—although I’m not so sure about the POV camera shots that the twist opened with. It just took me out of the moment a bit. Once I readjusted I really liked the idea and I am really interested to see where we go with this new development.

So finally I am left with one question—where the hell is Merle? I’m almost 90 percent sure that we will see him again soon. In fact I’m willing to bet that he will find the little note that Rick had intended for Morgan and then catch up with the group at the CDC. What do you folks think?

Zombie of the Week: Amy...we hardly knew ya.

Final Verdict: 7.5 Head Shots out of 10. A quality episode marred by a few missteps. Despite a few bumps in the road, Wildfire brings some welcome changes.