I may be saying this a bit preemptively, but I'm going to say it anyways...I told you so. This second episode was great! Unfortunately, there were 19% less viewers this week, which kind of sucks, but you know what. This show is clearly not for everyone. I have a feeling that this show is going to be to The Walking Dead, what Caprica was to Battlestar Galactica; both amazing shows in the same universe but very different styles. (Rob French, a producer of BSG actually was one of the producers on this episode). Anyways, now we get into the spoiler territory.
In episode 2, we get to see a lot more of the societal impacts of this disease. I guess we focus more on society's reaction to the unknown. There are shootings, there are riots due to the shootings. And no one is talking about it. The scenes regarding police shooting an unarmed man ring almost too true for me and they made me feel very uneasy. That, however, is what a good piece of writing is supposed to do. Challenge you. Put a mirror up and say "LOOK AT WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON AROUND YOU!" And I think that this episode really succeeds in this.
The part that really made me cringe was the moment a walker came around the ambulance and a police over said "Stop right there", and a few seconds afterwards, shoots the walker woman in the chest and in the head. I know what you're all thinking "It was a walker"...but you have to ask yourself, does the policewoman in this scene know that? This is the beginning of the outbreak. Would all the police officers know that there's a disease that reanimates the dead, causing them to eat human flesh? Does the government know what's happening yet they just have told society? Is that why the police are so ready to shoot, and why police officers are stocking up on supplies? I don't know. It can be looked at in a bunch of different ways, but let's move on. The thing that I found most interesting about this episode is the relationship dynamics that we are starting to witness. As someone who loves to over analyze stuff, lets get pretentious.
My favorite character in this episode was Alicia (the daughter). I know what you're thinking, Madison (the mom) did the butt kicking and walker smashing, she was clearly the best. But I disagree. It's the zombie apocalypse. We know that people will have to bash in a few heads to survive. What we do not expect people to have during the apocalypse is compassion. And we see compassion within Alicia.
Throughout the episode you see Alicia struggling with choosing her boyfriend (who has been bitten) or her brother (who is going through heroin withdrawals). If you want to get overly analytical...Both men can become zombies, Matt (her boyfriend) will become a zombie. He's been bitten. That's inescapable. Nick (her brother) on the other hand has a chance. He is struggling with a heroin addiction and he can very easily become a metaphorical zombie. She reluctantly chose her brother, but it shows Alicia's true colors and her alliances. This action alone changes the entire perspective you have of Alicia and her familial relationships. Ultimately, this shows that Alicia is forgiving and compassionate; two traits that unfortunately in horror shows / movies don't lead to a happy ending for characters.
In any typical horror show, Alicia would be the first to go, but we all know that Kirkman doesn't give us what is expected. So I expect to be surprised moving forward, and that the will continue to get better! TOLD YOU SO!
