Andrea critiques Shane’s methods of getting what he wants in this sneak peek from episode 209. Don’t miss the new episode on Feb 19 at 9/8c.
With the midseason premiere out of the way it's time to discuss what took place in last night's episode, "Nebraska." They picked up right from where they left off, the tragic death of Sophia. This finally put a rest to the focus of the first half of this season which was mostly about the search for Carol's lost daughter. Instead of skipping along the show grinds to a snarl once again, spending much of the first half of the show cleaning up after Shane's zombie massacre.
So, the pain of Hershel losing his family, and his faith in the world drives him to drown his sorrows in booze. His daughter collapses in the kitchen, and it is believed that she has gone into shock. Now, they need Hershel to play doctor once again, but he can't be found. With a flask as evidence that the old man is hitting the sauce. First guess is that he headed into town to go to the local bar.
But before they go on the search for Hershel, Lori has another classicly annoying scene. This time she questions Rick's logic for going after Hershel. Mind you Hershel is the only one in the group with medical training, which kind of makes him one of the most important people to have alive. Also, with Lori being pregnant, her first instinct should be to make sure she has a doctor around to deliver her bastard child.
So anyways, Rick and Glen head off to find Hershel, and he is sitting in the bar slamming down drinks like a sorority girl on Thursday nights. Once Rick has made his usual rah rah speech Hershel is ready to head back and join the group, but a new twist is introduced. Two strange men appear from out of the blue, Dave, and his fat buddy, Tony. The conversation goes from a hesitant but semi-politeful banter to something menacing, bubbling with plenty of tension. Dave, the most talkative of the strangers peppers Rick with questions regarding their local accommodations and asks he can come and stay at their farm.
Rick's instinct is that these two guys are trouble and after a heated debate that is about to head completely South, Rick shoots and kills both men. What is interesting to me is the hypocrisy of this scene. In a lot of ways Rick and his clan were terrifying to Hershel, but Rick was able to push his way onto the farm. Here are two guys that would like to come to the farm as well.
This is where the writing to me was weak. They could of had the character's come off a little more subtle. It was too blunt that we as the viewer were supposed to find them so disgusting, so that it was justified that Rick shot and killed them. But, this was poorly handled. Did we need to have fat Tony asking about poontang, and pissing on the floor of the bar? Did we need Dave, the more talkative of the strangers peppering Rick with the same intrusive question over and over again? It's like okay okay I get it, their bad, stop knocking me over the head.
Also, is Hershel's sick daughter actually becoming a zombie? I don't think she is suffering from shock as was diagnosed by the non-medical members of the farm. She was attacked early in the episode when she inspected the body of her zombie mom. Maybe during that altercation she was infected, but that is just me speculating. What do you think?
The Walking Dead airs Sunday nights at 9/8c on AMC.