Contains spoilers.
Hot from the
explosive finale of season 1, season 2 sees us rejoin Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and the reduced number of survivors
on the road leaving the CDC and all hopes of salvation in ruins.
Leaving Atlanta
behind the group set off in convoy towards rumours of some semblance of
resistance a hundred odd miles away at Fort Benning. With the roads strewn with
debris and low on supplies the weary survivors make slow progress and when
Dale's (Jeffrey DeMunn) RV finally splutters to a halt while manoeuvring
through a car park of abandoned vehicles
the group decides to stop and scavenge for supplies.
After the commercial
and critical success of the first season, AMC saw fit to reward The Walking
Dead with a significantly increased number of episodes for season 2. This
allowed a new writing staff the opportunity for a slower deeper narrative and,
whereas season 1 could be seen as a sequence of events moving Rick from the
hospital through to his reunion with Lori(Sarah Wayne Callies) and Carl
(Chandler Riggs) and eventually the CDC, season 2 seizes the opportunity not
only tell several interconnected stories but to weave all this within an
over-arching narrative structure exploring moral ambiguity under extreme conditions.
A central story for
much of the film is the search for Sophia (Madison Lintz), the daughter of
Carol (Melissa McBride) who becomes separated from the group after the convoy
is attacked. It is during one of the subsequent searches that Carl, out with
Rick and Shane (Jon Bernthal), accidently gets shot by Otis (Pruitt Taylor
Vince) out hunting and the group and story move to the location that becomes
the main focus for the season, Hershel's farm.
Contrasted with the
rest of the world, Hershel Greene's (Scott Wilson) farm is an oasis of calm.
Life continues, crops are tended, cows graze and grace is still uttered before
dinner. Hershel is a trained veterinarian and takes care of Carl. Many of the survivors take to the respite and
start thinking that the place could become a permanent home. Hershel see's the
situation quite differently though and is firm in his stance that the
arrangement should only last while the lad is recovering and Sophia's search
continues.
A theme through
season 2 is Shane's disintegrating relation with Rick and his inner struggle
justifying the morality of decisions he feels he alone is clear in having to
make. Constantly at odds, and constantly rebuked by Rick the situation flares
after Glenn (Steven Yeun) discovers that the source of Hershel's reticence in
letting the group stay is a refusal to acknowledge that his friends and family,
now undead and in the barn, aren't beyond a cure. With Rick's apparent refusal
'to do what must be done' he openly defies his leadership and the massacre that
results splinters their friendship, the group and its relationship with the
residents of the farm.
The battle between
Rick and Shane can be seen, as well a struggle for the affections of Lori, as a
clash between utilitarianism; a quantitative and reductionist approach to
ethics embodied by Shane constantly arguing that he is the only one capable of
making the hard decisions necessary for the groups survival, versus Rick's
deontological position that good doesn't need qualifying, it simply is, and the
group should strive to follow a doctrine of good at all times despite the
consequences. This all leads to some fantastic existential wrangling as the
viewer is at once sympathetic to both courses despite misgivings.
With their
relationship beyond repair, Shane does ultimately, and for those readers of the
comic belatedly, overstep the mark leading to a tense and traumatic end to
their friendship. A central theme for The Walking Dead is sacrifice; that
attempting at all times do the right thing and abiding by a doctrine of good
costs, and for Rick, this time, it's his best-friend.
Season 2 of The
Walking Dead knows what it's doing and accomplishes it with supreme maturity
and confidence. Whilst the story at times is slower paced that the first, the
action is tense throughout and constantly moving. A relentless and remorseless
ride, the survivors are punished for any moment of complacency and the reality
that they're pretty much alone in a bleak unforgiving endless apocalypse is
never lost despite the tightness of the key locations. Authentic to its origin
and immaculately acted, written, directed and produced, The Walking Dead spoils
the fan of zombie survival fiction and is a must see, 9/10.
Steven@WTD.
No comments:
Post a Comment