The Walking Dead returns to round out season two

In our previous discussions of AMC’s The Walking Dead, we’ve been very careful not to spoil details from the Image Comics series the show is based on. With nearly one-hundred issues published, there’s a great deal to mine for television but the two series are becoming more and more distinct from one another. The result is both maintaining the sense that anything can happen and no one is safe that the comic series is known for.

As the show returns tonight for the remainder of its second season, we’ll digest everything we’ve seen so far and try to make sense of where things are heading. Spoilers for all forms of The Walking Dead will follow.

PTB: Due to a DVR snafu, the first hour of the season premiere was the last thing we saw when it aired again after the mid-season finale. Even knowing who lived and died, the horde scene was incredibly stressful to watch!

KevinMLD: It was a fantastic way to open a season. The first moments and final moments of the fall season were the absolute highlights. It’s interesting because in the comics, Rick and company didn’t experience a horde until much later.

PTB: I loved the opening with Rick’s broadcast to Morgan. I’d like to see more of that framing some of the episodes. Is that part of the comic series?

KevinMLD: Rick definitely reached out to Morgan on more than one occasion in the comic books.

PTB: It was heartbreaking to see how Sofia got away from Rick. It made the closing moments even more crushing.

KevinMLD: If she’d just followed his instructions…

PTB: It seemed like there was a move in the direction of the survivors having some compassion for the walkers in the first half of the season. Things almost got to that point until we saw Rick go out and shoot Sophia. It was shocking and said so much with so little about whether the group could ever come around to Hershel’s way of thinking.

KevinMLD: I don’t really expect to see much sympathy for the walkers beyond what we’ve seen. In some ways the visit to the CDC where it was established that the walkers are definitely dead weakens Hershel’s belief that there may one day be a cure. It was a more thought provoking idea in the comics because we knew so much less about the walkers.

Though one thing I expect to start seeing develop on the television series is how much worse people can be than the walkers in this post-civilized world.

PTB: Speaking of walkers do they not use the “zed word” in this universe?

KevinMLD: It’s always been creator Robert Kirkman’s assertion that in this world there’s never been a zombie movie. They don’t know what a zombie is.

PTB: That’s crazy

One thing that really gets me about the conclusion is that Sophia had to have been taken by one of Hershel’s people and put in the barn. The entire time Rick’s group has been there searching for her, the farm family had to know that they’d never find her because they had her locked up in the barn. Technically Hershel put all of them at risk, especially Daryl who went out every day and nearly lost his life several times in the search.

KevinMLD: Hershel wasn’t involved in rounding up zombies until Shane killed Otis. He’d have no idea the girl was in there. The only one who might have known she was there was shot in the leg by Shane and left for the walkers.

PTB: That’s a fair point. I just think the questions surrounding when the girl was put in that barn and by whom will have to come up when things start up again. Assuming Otis was the only one who knew, that puts even more heat on Shane for what he did during his escape at the high school.

KevinMLD: Maybe internal pressure I guess, but no one else knows for sure that Shane killed Otis. Most of them don’t even suspect it.

PTB: Shane has clearly become an example of some the worst aspects of humanity and a real driving force on the show. It’s incredible to me that he’s such an important character on the show when you consider he was killed in issue #6 of the comic book. Has someone else played that role in the comics and they’ve just mapped that role over to Shane?

KevinMLD: I don’t think there’s been anyone in Rick’s group in the comics who is analogous to Shane, but I can tell you far more evil people will presumably enter Rick’s life in the future. Shane at least has his reasons for the way he behaves. Personally, I really didn’t like that Shane survived season one. I think it really weakened the impact of the first year. Having said that, he’s developed into an interesting antagonist for Rick and company. Rick clearly cares about Shane, but Shane could very well end up getting them killed by being so impulsive.

PTB: It’s amazing how much better a man Shane is when Rick’s influencing him.

KevinMLD: I actually expect this version of Shane and the points he’s making now will prove to be a bigger influence on Rick in time than vice versa. This is a nasty world they live in and the weak will not survive.

PTB: Daryl and Shane are arguably the two “survivalists” of the group and it’s interesting to me that while Shane has lost some of his humanity, Darryl seems to have gained some. Is this kind of balance anywhere in the comics?

KevinMLD: I don’t think anyone became a better person over time in the comics. It’s kind of the point. Even at times when they think momentarily they can rebuild some sense of civilization, it’s very clear these are no longer truly civilized people.

PTB: Flashbacks were also used remarkably well so far this year. I know they were a part of last season providing the backstory but the scenes are so much more compelling as we’re more invested in the characters.

KevinMLD: You say the flashback scenes have grown in power as we have become more invested in the characters, but I think those scenes are a big reason why we’ve become invested in them in the first place.

PTB: The thing I enjoy most about the flashbacks is the way they’ve told us what the characters know about their situation and their reinforcement of the element of the unknown. Are there encampments of other survivors? Are there any major cities that are still standing? Seeing the napalm attack on Atlanta and knowing only what the survivors know is a great storytelling device that is used very well.

KevinMLD: This technique is used similarly in the comics. We rarely if ever know anything the main characters don’t know. Are there other encampments? Can they be reached? Should they be?

PTB: Angelique had to turn away from so many scenes this season but the zomb-autopsy was the worst.

KevinMLD: I think my favorite zombie was the bloated well zombie.

PTB: In dealing with the walkers, the survivors seem really unconcerned about zombie blood splatter. There are even times where it never seems to get back on them after a brutal brutal beat down. After the cudgeling of the zombie at the pharmacy Glen comes back without a drop on him.

KevinMLD: I don’t totally agree with this point. Sometimes they end up exposed to walker blood. Like when Rick cut up that walker in the department store even before they intentionally covered themselves in gore. I think the producers are just inconsistent and it could even be tied to this season’s budget cuts.

PTB: With everything that’s happened, it’s crazy to think there are only 13 episodes of this show.

KevinMLD: I guess. It doesn’t seem like a lot happened this fall considering how much happened last year. This season was a lot of build up to that final pay off of Sophie walking out of the barn. I thought in the end it worked, but I might be alone in that assessment.

PTB: It seemed like they were at that farm forever, but I agree that it paid off.

KevinMLD: The other interesting thing is how different the TV show has been from the comic books. Prime examples have been that Shane died early on in the comics while Sophia is still running around. Though admittedly she’s not doing much beyond demonstrating how living in that world has messed up these kids.

PTB: I think it’s great for a shared audience that there are characters who are alive in the comics and dead on TV, dead in the comics and alive on TV, and even some characters on the TV show that never existed in the source material at all.

KevinMLD: Yeah. For example, Daryl and his brother never existed in the comics. The producers have created a distinction between the two series where you cannot really be sure what’s going to happen next in either when you experience them for the first time. Personally I’m glad and I’m looking forward to seeing where they both go next.