The Walking Dead: "Better Angels" S2_Ep12

Well. Well well well. What consistently great writing.

I knew it was over with Dale’s death; I wanted to see what kind of show this was going to be….if it was going to be about the triumph of the human spirit over impossible odds, or, a show about the inevitability of death…turns out it’s the latter.

When the world goes to Hell, so do people, some faster than others.

People keep saying that Shane’s a psycho; maybe he is, but he’s not totally a psycho, because when it came to group safety decisions, he was RIGHT. EVERY. TIME. I don’t know why people don’t give him credit for that just because he was an asshole. And Lori….Lori clearly fed his obsession. She did so again tonight. So not everything Shane felt was unfounded. But true enough…he wasn’t a team player. As they said on The Talking Dead, you can’t have two Alpha males in the same camp.

And Darryl. Consistently my favorite character, for several reasons. Mainly because, he’s never tried to hide who he is, from day one. The conflict he’s been dealing with lately has been centered around the fact that he’s a redneck with a heart of gold, and his brother’s vision made him mad at himself for caring. Darryl loved Sophia, like a little sister or maybe even a daughter; and he’s heartbroken over her loss, more than he ever thought he’d be. And he clearly cares for Carol….he just wishes that he didn’t. But he’s still the most sincere and honest of the lot of them, bar none.

This episode finally brought resolution and/or light to quite a few things:

1) Carl is nothing but trouble and needs to be watched at all times, because he messes up every moment that he stumbles upon. I can’t remember the last time I despised a child character the way I despise Carl.

2) Hershel finally figured out what we knew weeks ago, they need to combine forces to survive.

3) Andrea is the next loose cannon. A female Shane. Count on it.

4) Shane’s obsession with Lori and Carl and jealousy of Rick’s life cements him as the Cain…except in this case, Abel slew his brother first. Shane had to die. But I’m one of the people that wishes he’d left with Andrea as they’d discussed.

5) What was whispered to Rick at the CDC was, “Everybody becomes a walker when they die. There is no infection.” Yikes.

6) They’re all gonna die. It’s just a matter of time.

I do have to say, I don’t think I’ve enjoyed the ending of a punk character the way I did tonight with Randall. I absolutely desPISE guys like him, and I was hoping he wouldn’t get out of this alive; and I’m glad he got the double death tap that he did. I’m surprised that Walker Randall got the drop on Darryl tho, but it’s clear that members of the group keep underestimating what the walkers can do in close range combat.

The problem now, is Lori. She’s got a Karma bill that’s gonna have to come due, one way or the other. I can’t believe her narcissism and speech to Shane. I just can’t. She gave him hope and compliments and told him she doesn’t know whose baby it is…exactly what did she think that was going to do to him? Did she forget that this was a man that tried to rape her?

And T-Dog? Still T-Useless and T-Ghetto. The few lines they finally gave him just made him look like a welfare rat. Ugh.

That ending square off with Rick and Shane was PITCH. PERFECT. It’s similar to Superman and Batman…not identical, but it’s passion and bottom line truth colliding head on with doing what’s right in spite of the risks. Andrew Lincoln and Jon Bernthal brought their A game with that acting…having to kill your brother, because he forced the issue…just so powerful. Check out an EW interview with Jon Bernthal about it all here.

Shane was basically laying it out for Rick…only one of them could go forward, and Shane clearly wanted Rick to take him out. Know why? Because he had him. Shane completely had the drop on Rick. Shane has no problem taking people out; he’s proven that. Then he puts his gun away and challenges Rick openly; and then a trained police officer allows an equally trained target to slowly walk up to him. I know that people will say that Shane had already begun to devolve, and Walkerize, which is true; but he still had presence of mind enough to drop Rick at any point. He clearly didn’t actually want to kill Rick; but Shane knew that it was over, and that he needed to be put out of his misery, so that Rick, Lori, and Carl could move on; he had reached the end of his journey with them. And Walker Shane being dropped by Carl….just. Wow.

Biggest waste of time tonight? Glenn and Andrea, and their “Dale bonding” at the Winnebago. Whatever. It’s good to see that Glenn is trying to be respectful of Hershel….I know that I certainly couldn’t be screwing my girlfriend and living in her bedroom with her father in the house. Ugh.

Everything that happened tonight was telegraphed throughout the episode; but it was still beyond incredible to watch it unfold. I also can’t wait to see the Season Finale next week. It’ll be awesome.

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