Tuesday 1 November 2011

The Walking Dead - S02-E03 - Save the Last One

Everyday We Shufflin'

Welcome to week 3 of B-S Reviews; The Walking Dead.
Feel free to rate and/or comment. Be sure to follow us both on twitter,
@BlairMFink
@the_lazy_gamer




-To start things off, the title, "Save the Last One" is in reference to a golden zombie apocalypse rule. ALWAYS save the last round for yourself. Better to use your last bullet on yourself and save the pain of turning into a zombie. Just a little foreshadowing there.



-This time it’s a cold open flashforward and this time it is way more effective. Short and simple but effective.
-Got me hooked right away! What happened to cause him to have that look in his eye? Either something happened to someone close to him or he has done something terrible. Agreed, this one worked.

-Daryl is really becoming somewhat of a hero. I wonder how his eventual reunion with Merle will go. Will he change?
-I am totally team Daryl, if I had to pick one person as my favorite character in the series as a whole, it would be him.

-Daryl and Andrea’s nighttime patrol seemed a bit unrealistic (Would they seriously do that?) but it was worth it for Daryl’s “I was lost once…” story.
-I understand wanting to get away from Carol, but to take off into the woods, at night is foolish! I'm not the only one who has noticed Andrea giving up hope. When they come across the hung zombie he asks her, "Still wanna die now?" He can see that she is losing hope. However I hope they don't turn this into a love interest just because.

-The beginning of the episode with mostly scenes of Shane and Otis and Daryl and Andrea were solid. I was starting to get excited for the rest of the episode until…
-I was a bit annoyed by the scene when Shane and Otis meet back up. From the camera work it looked like the zombie was in between Shane and Otis. Has he not learned to check his line of fire. I'm not sure how his riffle shot through the bulk of a buck and into Carl, yet can't pass through a zombie's decayed skull into Shane...

-The middle of the episode became a bit pile of dragging shittiness starting with Lori’s awful spiel about how Carl would be better off just bleeding out. What? Her character gets worse and worse.
-It slowed right down in the middle, and I am tired of Lori. Save Carl and leave that bitch to die. 
Her character flip flops and changes her mind all the time. Last season it was between Rick and Shane, then telling Shane to stay away from Carl, then getting mad at him for pushing Carl away this season. Now she can't decide if she wants her son to live?! Are you kidding me?

-Glenn finally gets more than one line this episode. He gets a potential love interest.
-He had quite the chuck of screen time. I would prefer to see this love interest rather than a potential Daryl/Andrea one.

-What is it about front porches and dramatic monologues/dialogues?

-I’m still on the fence regarding Rick’s accent.
-Sometimes it slips, but I have been impressed with his weak acting....as in acting weak, from his lack of blood, he is pulling off the lethargic role pretty well.

-Seriously, the Sophia storyline needs to conclude ASAP. It’s dragging on way too long.
-Agreed, I was hoping this episode would close it off, they get one more and she is considered gone and they move on. Way to much time invested in this arc.

-Annoyed by Dale’s blunt “Do you forgive me?” question but enjoyed Andrea’s response of “I’m trying.”

-Okay, that ending. Even though the twist was spoiled for me ahead of time, it still was really intense and painful. It was a solid twist and really well executed overall.
-When Shane looks at him and says "Sorry" I damn near threw up. That was a painful scene to watch, but it was an amazing scene all the same. I put that on the same level of tense, edge of the seat, action as the first episode's horde passing by.

-Shane’s choice: What makes the twist even better is that you could justify his actions. He didn’t just do it for selfish reasons. The way they were going, they were both going to die and if that happened Carl was going to die. 

Don’t shoot Otis: All three of them likely die. 

Shoot himself: Otis still may not make it due to his weight and fitness situation. Slim possibility that Otis and Carl both live. All three of them may still die.

Shoot Otis: Shane is more likely to make it. Shane and Carl have a better chance of living. Slim possibility all three of them still die.

For Shane, it basically boiled down to: “Carl or Otis?” Would Rick have made a different choice?

-His action is completely justified. He is looking out for his people, he knew he had to get back for Carl, and Shane is noted as a character that will do whatever it takes to finish something, especially for Grimes family. This is the scene that the title eludes to, rather than using the bullet on himself though he make another sacrifice.

-Based on pure logic and odds, Shane probably made the right choice. To morally make that choice is the issue. How does that choice affect him as time passes? Does it plant a dark seed in his mind? Like a drop of ink in a glass of water? If he’s faced with another situation like that, it will only get easier to pull the trigger.

-Once he made the choice to shoot Otis, wouldn’t it have made more sense/been more humane to shoot him in the head? The zombies would have still swarmed him but he wouldn’t have fought Shane (slowing him down) and would have not died so horribly.

-It was nice to see the shaving of Shane’s hair actually had meaning. It was where Otis grabbed him and for Shane it probably feels like it severs the last physical tie with Otis. Sometimes characters in movies or TV shows seem to shave their head just for the sake of being dramatic or looking different.

-Before it flashed back to what actually happened I thought he had been scratched by a walker, which would have been a huge twist for the group to lose Shane. But with shooting Otis maybe he is already slipping. I see dark things to come with Shane

-In Otis’ memory, Kanye West and Jay-Z should do an “Otis” remix but replace Otis Redding’s voice with Otis from this show. Guaranteed hit.

-Knowing what actually happened you understand the pain in Shane's face when he is given the clothes and is told "...they might not fit, they were Otis'" 

-If it weren’t for that crappy middle, this would probably be at least an A-. (First 1/3 of episode: A-, Middle 1/3: C, End 1/3: A)
-The start and end scenes pulled up the slack for the slow middle. However the only thing that really annoyed me about the middle was Lori. T-dog and mainly Glenn's scenes made the middle bearable.
-Daryl was a close MVP for me, his conversation with Andrea in the woods by the hanging zombie added a lot to his character. But ultimately Shane had a huge game changer moment.

Blair’s Episode MVP: Shane

Steve’s Episode MVP: Shane

Blair’s Grade: B+

Steve’s Grade: A-


No comments:

Post a Comment