We’re back with another week of The Walking Dead, as the second to last episode of the season, titled “Better Angels,” aired last night. How was it? Did my greatest Walking Dead wishes come true? Was T-Dog allowed to speak? Does Science Dog make a ninja appearance?
You can find five thoughts on this episode after the jump. Also to note, spoilers aplenty. Do not read if you haven’t watched.
1. Free at last! Free at last!
Thank you sweet baby Jesus! Shane is dead, and it feels so good! I’m glad that he went out the way he lived – like a complete crazy person. His plan of offing Randall and then using his “escape” as a way to try and kill Rick was quite transparent, so much so that even Daryl commented on the convenience of the situation they were involved in. But man, the whole final showdown between Rick and Shane was very intense even though we knew the probable outcome. One way or another, it’s a boon to the show to finally get the proverbial monkey off its back. Thank god he’s gone, but there’s still more housecleaning to take care of…
2. I hope Lori is next
Namely, Lori. Her conversation with Shane earlier in the episode is what drove him to try out his extremely crazy – even for him – plan. Basically, she doesn’t bring anything to the table besides an extreme lack of logic (hello, one woman mission to flip her car!) and an intense drive for brewing animosity amongst her peers (who doesn’t hate her at this point, really? She makes accepting a bed to sleep in dramatic!).
3. Zombie Rule Remix
Updated: I was wrong about this.
I could be wrong about this (from what I’ve read I am), but I don’t remember in the comic normal dead people coming back to life. That was a major turn here, as first Randall came back to life, then Shane came back to life, and then a whole mess of people did. The interesting thing about that is this is definitely something new for the show, so the question is this: what caused this? Why now? I don’t know why, but I dig it. It’s definitely a nice turn, and anything involving a herd going after them is something I can support.
4. Dale gets some proper love
There were some nice moments about Dale’s passing. I loved the open of the episode, which found the showrunners mashing up Dale’s funeral with some great shots of a crew of Daryl, T-Dog, Shane and Andrea making a run at securing the farm better and wiping out some walkers in the process. Then, there was the really great part where Glenn and Andrea commiserated about their dearly departed friend while fixing the ol’ Winnebago in a completely unbelievable way. It was a nice part that would have had a lot more weight in the comic simply because the show didn’t develop the relationship between Dale and Andrea nearly as well as the comic. Still, it was a nice moment, especially when you considered how the previous episode found Glenn siding with the crowd over Dale, and it was well performed by Steven Yeun and Laurie Holden.
5. The best episode of the season – easily
For the first time in a while…or maybe ever to be honest, I was legitimately stressed out watching this show.
That’s a good thing.
When I’m watching one of my favorite dramas, the tension is up to stomach churning levels often. This show, on the other hand, has spent way too much time having different variations of the same conversation over and over.
Tonight however, I noticed the hit levels on TWD related articles went way up. Way higher than usual. My mind started thinking “oh god, are they going to do something crazy?!” This led to me thinking “maybe they’re actually going to kill Rick, and not Shane!” Turns out I was wrong on that, but I can tell you, the idea in my head was enough to make me stressed beyond belief – especially after Shane came back to life and went after Rick.
This episode was the most I’ve cared about everything in this show in a very long time. Possibly since the first episode. With Shane dead and a massive herd coming, the show is on an upswing. Which is kind of bad timing because next week is the finale. C’est la vie.
