Walking Dead - Vatos/Additional

 This episode, I felt, was Darabont and his team's reminder of two series inevitabilities: faction wars are always a possibility and never get too accustomed to characters introduced to you even a couple episodes ago. Miguel's Hispanic-American crew held up in Atlanta wanting Rick's guns didn't ultimately serve as the worst case scenario, but it was sort of a preparation for what was to come. This series, if anything, is known for its many groups threatening anyone Rick is associated with...a lot of groups aren't as level-headed or willing to let Rick, T-Dog, Glenn, and Daryl go with guns and health intact. Who doesn't escape intact is Amy, Andrea's sister or Ed, Carol's husband. Now, I wasn't crying at the departure of Ed, that's for sure. But when Amy and Andrea have that fishing conversation about their father, and how he taught them different ways to tie knots and whether to keep the fish or throw them away...the show sort of hinted at fans that if such cozy, human moments happen in this singular dialogue scene, it typically results in bad news for one of those characters talking. Poor Amy was just going to pee...and, unfortunate for her, a zombie stuck in from behind. Ed is in his tent just ready to punch somebody...and his neck got a nice big bite. I admit that I got all teary-eyed at the loss of Amy, though, I just didn't get a whole lot of time with her. I still thought Emma Bell and Sarah Wayne Gellies had a really nice acting scene there to really stretch the acting muscles. I did really like how Daryl and Rick follow the blood trail left behind by Merle, sort of breadcrumbs detailing Merle's actions after sawing off his hand...a hand Daryl places in T-Dog's do-rag and places in Glenn's backpack. You get these details like where Merle cauterized his stump, zombies he killed with one hand, and a window-break where he escaped. And this is a good "Daryl episode" where you see him just want to put an arrow in T-Dog's head but Rick convinces him to calm down and think rationally. Oh, and the subplot involving Jim digging graves in the hot sun, and Dale worried about his dedication to it, eventually needing Shane to bring him to the ground (and cuff him), sort of serves as "meat on the bone". Jim only got away because his wife and sons were eaten alive by zombies, and he later remembers that he had a dream about needing to dig graves for a loss of life in their camp. Shane is back down to earth and tends to Jim humanely, unlike how he was with the horrible Ed. Eventually Jim has his wits and regained his composure, but with their camp under attack, narrowly surviving at all thanks to the return of Rick, Daryl, Glenn, and T-Dog, those graves will soon be filled.

Amy's death is a gut-punch, and this is Darabont's way of saying: don't ever get used to secondary characters because they might "bite it" at any time. But it is a traumatic, tragic piece of drama during the show's heyday. I think what can get lost when a series goes on for way too long is you forget about character arcs like Jim's since he doesn't make it very long. We are only human so we sort of follow along with whoever is alive at any point and time. But these arcs such as Jim's really build a series into something special...I think it is when you fail to generate real tension, remind us of the serious threat of the zombies, allow the characters to discuss what they have lost (or eventually will still lose), and provide some real conclusion or mission these folks you are invested in will somehow reach (or eventually, hopefully reach) that can really hurt a series. I guess we'll always wonder what could have been if Darabont would have been allowed to continue this vision to some conclusion. Instead, this series is a dead horse beaten into submission and few care to look at it any longer.