The psychological toll continues to beat down the survivors as they deal with what’s thrown at them.

What They Say:
Rick and the others try to restore order after a terrible discovery. Hershel takes up an old habit and disappears.

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The second season of The Walking Dead has certainly been a challenge or a disappointment for a lot of people depending on their expectations based on the first season, buzz in general and comparisons to the first season. While I can certainly understand it, I rather liked the approach the first half of the second season took in letting us get to know the cast more, to have a bit more down time amidst the chaos and intensity of the first season and then to pull the rug out from under people with how it ended before the mid season break came along. It threw enough things into the mix that it kept people like me that adore the comic guessing and wondering where it will go next. It’s definitely its own vision and it’s held my attention well just on the character building alone. I like the zombie action, but I’ll admit that it’s not the main or exclusive draw.

The fallout from the brutal and powerful moments of the previous episode is pretty well done here as it’s finally severed things between the two groups and has made an even bigger strain between Rick and Shane, rightly so. It’s also putting an unusual but not unexpected strain between Carl and his mother as he’s turning pretty serious and says plainly that his dad did the right thing and he’d do the same. This and other little interactions after the death of Sophia shows how they’re handling it and the way it’s dividing them in different ways. And of course, Rick’s self doubt is paramount over all else, which is definitely believable with the way he takes so much on himself, much to the frustration of many viewers. But it’s the kind of man he is and it while it may make him too human to others and wearing it on his sleeve to much, it makes for compelling moments.

The group isn’t exactly splintering, but with Hershel having told them all to leave after what happened and the way he viewed the dead as still being able to be saved, there are definite problems to be had. Maggie doesn’t what Glen to leave for obvious reasons, but he can’t even feel like it’s a discussion to be having. Even more interesting is that Hershel has been so affected by it that he’s gone off the reservation so to speak and is taking up drinking again to cope with the new reality he had denied for so long. Rick’s going off to get him is definitely in character but you can also understand easily why Shane and Lori can’t quite wrap their head around it, Shane especially, but it’s exactly what makes Rick who he is.

One of the things promised a few interviews about this part of the season is that things will start ramping up more since the first half was relatively quiet when you get down to it. There’s not a lot of dead action here to be had, but there’s a couple of key moments that helps to start shifting things a bit as everyone starts to get their footing about how to go on now that their reality has been shattered. While there’s some potentially interesting changes in store for Lori based on what happens to her, it’s Rick, Glen and Hershel that offer the most as the trio run into a pair of men who appear to be traveling themselves and they offer up a bit of information, true or not, and shows the kinds of tension that comes in the new world when different groups meet. The distrust is simple, real and understandable. It definitely pushes the show to an old world style where men have certain understandings of each other, but trust isn’t easily won or even ever won.

In Summary:
While there’s still the sense in some ways that the show has turned a bit soft since it focuses so much on the character drama, it does make it clear here that these are hard men and women living as best as they can in a world beyond difficult. The final minutes alone reinforces it and again puts Rick in the position where he has to do what needs to be done no matter how it affects him. But he’s not the only one as we see they all deal with it in different ways and it’s not easy for anyone. There’s a lot of good material here but it may not be the knock out of the park that some were hopign for to get the second half of the series firing on all cylinders. But it is giving me what I wanted out of it for the most part and hasn’t lost me in the slightest.

Grade: B+

Readers Rating: [ratings]