‘The Walking Dead’ 2.13 Recap: “This Isn’t a Democracy Anymore!”

The farm was doomed to fail. Instead of constructing defenses and planning for an attack, the ‘Walking Dead’ group got mired in Dale’s moralistic ramblings, Rick’s see-sawing, and Shane’s head-rubbing. It took just one errant helicopter to put the idyllic Farm Base on top of the zombie menu.

Like a giant apple on a string, only in this instance a fleshy femur with a propeller, a helicopter leads a pack of zombies out of the city and right to the forest. Then, to make matters worse, Carl shooting Shane seals the deal. The pop from Carl’s gun attracts an endless number of Walkers who descend on the farm like blood-thirsty lemmings.

Because the group wasted so much time arguing amongst themselves about how best to create a civilized society, they’re in no way ready for the deluge of undead at the door. All hell breaks loose. The characters drive around wildly in their vehicles, somehow hitting an alarmingly high number of zombies with perfect head-shots. (In the zombie apocalypse, everyone is a crack-shot.)

Rick and Carl find refuge in the barn and then create their own little Walker inferno, complete with a slo-mo lighter drop. It’s complete mayhem – all because the group preferred to discuss collective politics than escape plans.

In all fairness, the raid on the farm is pretty neat-o. The show must have had a budget surplus left over from all the farm-sitting all season long. It seems like Glen Mazzara and company splurged on this finale episode to give us a little taste of what we’d been missing. My only regret? Shane isn’t around to partake in the bloodbath.

Expendable characters Jimmy and Patricia don’t fare well in the melee. We all knew those deaths were coming. T-Dog miraculously makes it through, and even gets a few lines in the process. It’s amazing what losing a couple of ancillary supporting players will do for a once-forgotten character’s screen time.

The attack on the farm splinters the group. For a while, I thought we’d ping-pong from one displaced team to the other, at least for the next few episodes. Could you imagine the hilarious hi-jinks that a T-Dog/Beth/Lori team would get into? Or how about the “I Love You” mushy musings of Glenn and Maggie? Daryl and Carol could simply ride off into the sunset on his hog, putting their checkered past behind them. On second thought, I’m glad they all find each other relatively quickly, because I don’t think I could stomach a Rick/Hershel/Carl trio for the foreseeable future. What a downer that would be.

The group, now reunited (minus some dead weight – rest in pieces, Jimmy and Patricia), take to the highway to find somewhere else to live. No one decides to take the time to siphon fuel from the abandoned cars on the freeway, so Rick’s ride runs out of gas in the middle of nowhere. That’s where we finally get a hint of Rick turning into the “I’m Not as Nice as You Thought I Was” guy. I swear that I saw a Shane-like twinkle in his eye when he orders the group to put up or shut up. Maybe Shane’s way of life is just as infectious as that damned zombie virus. Whatever it is, Rick pulls some cajones out of nowhere, and we finally have some type of leader. The question now is: Will he wilt? He’s been known to flip-flop before, but his “This is not a democracy!” speech seems very stern. Way to finally whip your subordinates into shape, Rick.

Andrea gets left behind. She almost becomes Walker chow a few times, but Shane’s survival training and shooting practice created quite the survivalist. She runs and stumbles through the forest, all the while carrying the Big Bag ‘o Guns. Right when all seems lost, a hooded samurai appears out of nowhere and slices her attacker’s head clean off. Not only that, but chained to this mysterious hooded figure are two, docile (?), Walkers. We’ve officially entered comic book territory.

We end with a slow crane shot, rising up away from a freshly tongue-lashed group of survivors, as a complex comes into view. Yes, a prison. That’s where we’re headed, folks.

I know I’ve given the show some grief over the past couple episodes, but the prison offers promise of new characters who are hopefully more interesting than the bunch we’ve spent two seasons with already. While I’m somewhat excited to see where Semi-Evil Rick takes us, the promise of fresh meat has me salivating.

Onward! To the prison y’all. But will someone take a moment and go grab Shane’s corpse? I miss him already.

5 comments

  1. Lahrs

    Finally, I can talk about “the next place.” Yep, heading to the prison, which sets up the whole Governor thing nicely. The prison story arc is I believe going to be much more satisfying for viewers than the farm. It is very brutal, highly infested, and may contain a few other surprises.

    My favorite part though was seeing Michonne, talk about bad ass (she was the one with the sword and two chained up walkers). Have they ever mentioned what T-Dog’s real name is? Just curious if it is Tyrone as it would put a few more pieces together.

    It was a good end, and bodes well for next season. You have to admit, one good thing about writing for a show such as Walking Dead is it is super easy to get rid of the unnecessary characters; kind of an end of season pruning of the cast that other shows do not have the luxury to do.

    This is also about the point in the comic where Rick starts to lose it as well, but geez, everybody puts so much pressure on him to stay alive, and then gets upset with all of his decisions, that has to be so emotionally and mentally draining, not to mention the world in general they are in.

    And Lori… my god, does she need to go, for everyone’s sake. Didn’t she push Rick toward killing Shane to begin with? She was not this annoying at all in the comics. This isn’t a debate on male or female roles in a family, but as she specifically has accepted the role as mother and housewife, she doesn’t seem to have a single clue what is going on with her son, but is the first to panic and put everyone in danger when she can’t find him, repeatedly. Her character annoys the hell out of me. And Chandler Riggs (Carl)… that boy can’t act and it becomes more painful to watch every episode, especially now that he is getting more lines, a more prominent role, and is supposed to be showing more emotional range. I understand the cast praising their fellow cast mates, no matter what, but it doesn’t mean everyone else has to buy it. There are good child actors, plenty of them, and I am sure a show like Walking Dead is a lot more stressful and difficult than a sitcom where they just have to come down stairs, say something cute and funny, and then leave.

    • Lahrs

      You are right. I am fine with the changes. I am not a purist screaming because it is not panel for shot. If anything, I wish Daryl was in the comic, or at least used more in the show.

  2. That whole out of nowhere, cape-wearing ninja with chained zombie bracelets saving the day scene was seriously one of the most bad-ass reveals of all time in my book.

    I don’t know if it was as cool for the comic book readers that already knew about her and were anxiously awaiting her (or maybe it was cooler), but dang . . . I had to watch that scene over and over. Awesome.

    “We’ve officially entered comic book territory.” I said much the same thing to my wife after the last five minutes of the episode. Season two was a bit difficult to get through at times, but that tease to season three right at the end has me salivating.

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