THE WALKING DEAD “Save The Last One” Review

THE WALKING DEAD “Save The Last One” Season 2 Episode 3 – Another good one. Wow. And with a twist I never saw coming, though I should have. I really should have.

We opened with an almost surreal shot of Shane (Jon Bernthal, better than he’s ever been) taking an electric razor to his head in a steam-filled bathroom scene that was one part Taxi Driver and one part Full Metal Jacket. It was unsettling, as unsettling as the show has ever been (and The Walking Dead pretty much has the monopoly on unsettling right about now). And that only gave us a tease…

Speaking of unsettling, how about not being able sleep because one woman is sobbing her eyes out and the other one keeps field-stripping her revolver? Just that combination of sounds had me on edge. I can’t imagine how Daryl (played with surprising nuance by Norman Reedus) was able to stand it. And really, he couldn’t. Daryl is yet another pleasant surprise, and it’s a treat just watching him open up a little, revealing the good guy within. I’m still sort of waiting for the other shoe to drop with him; he’s either got one hell of a personal demon to reveal… or his brother’s coming back.

(Or both. My money’s on the demon that also involves his brother.)

I’m probably in the minority, I realize, where most television critics are concerned, given the fact that I love this show unapologetically, and sure, and the show takes some lumps where character development is concerned. Personally I don’t see the problem. We’re literally nine episodes in. How much development do you want from people living hour-to-hour, constantly clinging to life? There is development—the basic question of live or die—there’s nothing more vital, and it sort of takes precedence over “traditional” character development ploys.

Nothing illustrates that better than Rick (Andrew Lincoln)’s talk with Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies); you can’t get a better, more tense scene from any hospital drama. The question of “should we even try to save him” is made real when we’re living in a zombie-infested world.

But for “character development traditionalists,” I guess we had what could be called the barest inklings of maybe / might be / could be romances, with Daryl and Andrea (it seems logical), and even with shy Glenn (Steven Yeun) and Maggie (the amazingly chameleonic Lauren Cohan). Both potential romances show promise, assuming we get some life from these characters… and I have the feeling if we get to see them to fruition, both will be completely different from the other. (Daryl and Andrea feels like a Bonnie and Clyde in the making, don’t it?)

But in the end you’re not going to top the “character development” whopper we got with Shane.

I called it, of course. Fat Otis was zombie chow. But that dude redeemed himself at least. Big time. He wanted to do right by Carl. R.I.P. big guy. But… I didn’t expect it to go the way it did. I’m not sure that’s even how it went down in the comic. Someday I’m going to read that motherfarmer.

So the show brought us back, full circle, to Shane and his radical transformation. Bernthal is just bleeping awesome, and I can’t wait to see what comes of this. Because you might excuse it by saying, “Well, he did it for Carl” … but maybe he didn’t.

Maybe he just knew it was life or death—it was him or the fat guy.

Reminds me of a shirt my wife owns: “WARNING: If Zombies Chase Us, I’m Tripping You.”

I guess replace “trip” with “shoot you in the leg so that you flail around and make enough noise to draw all the zombies to your hot, bleeding corpse.”

Shane’s obviously not coming out of this unscathed. You can’t make that kind of moral decision and come out clean (at least not on television). As Daryl succintly put it: “He made his choice. Opted out. Let ‘im hang.”

I hope they give us a healthy dose of Shane before the show opts out of this character. Man, I want years of this.

All you zombies, follow me on Twitter! That’s @Axechucker, you bunch’a Hooters!