The Walking Dead - "Chupacabra"

Season 2, Episode 5

“You got this knack, you spread us thinner and thinner.”

The cold open to tonight’s episode involved shots of helicopters flying overhead, soon followed by some bad CGI of a city (Atlanta, I assume) getting blown up real good. Even though it was a flashback, I worried that it was the shape of things to come – that the episode would make the show once again making the bad choice of placing the characters in circumstances way over their head, a la the season one finale. Luckily my fears were assuaged, and the show actually doubled down on telling its personal stories, much to my delight.

Tonight, for perhaps the first time in the show’s (admittedly short) history, the A-plot belonged to someone other than Rick, as we got an in-depth focus on Daryl when he got lost and injured. It’s a bold move to take, for a show with as undefined characters as this one, to stick one out in the woods by his lonesome and spin a tale that tells us more about the character. Luckily, the show choose the most interesting characters to do this with, and by giving us some insight into his psychology, it turned out pretty great.

In theory though, this plot shouldn’t have worked. Back when he was introduced in the second episode, Merle was just an ugly, uncreative southern redneck stereotype, and though Michael Rooker is a fine actor, and gave a great performance in the cold open of the third episode, it was probably for the best that the character didn’t return. So when I saw in the previews for this episode that Merle would be making another appearance, even if it was just a hallucination, I was worried we would get more ham-fisted characterization just when the show seemed to be turning things around in that department.

Fortunately, the show used this ham-fisted nature to the episode’s advantage, making Merle a symbolic representation of the person Daryl used to be, before he began to unconsciously change his ways in order to fit the needs of the group. (Remember when we used to hate Daryl just like we hated Merle?) It was an ugly look into Daryl’s past, and one that only helped to highlight how he’s changed, which – and I know I keep harping on this – fits into that theme of people changing in the post-apocalyptic zombie wasteland. Even better, it made Daryl’s death seem like an dramatically acceptable move….

But before we can talk about the shooting, we need to acknowledge the other character interactions that were at play before Daryl’s return. Though sticking the characters in the relative safety of the farm has allowed the show opportunity to flesh out the other characters in the way it did with Daryl tonight, for whatever reason – okay, fine, because the audience numbers are good enough that it can justifying maintaining the status quo – it hasn’t done so, which, as I said two weeks ago, means these episodes are pretty much wasted time for the show. I don’t want to say it was a complete waste – I kind of liked Rick and Shane’s conversation out in the woods, and the show is trying to raise issues about what’s morally acceptable when you’re facing the possibility of getting eaten everyday – but these still feel like superficial moves, as if the show is afraid to get in the characters heads and allow them to grow.

Perhaps the only person that has done any real changing during this time has been Andrea, and even that’s been in fits and spurts, as the show randomly introduced the idea of her being suicidal in the premiere, and then somewhere along the way that morphed into recently discovered violence streak. (Yes, I know that Shane shot that guy, but it wasn’t anything he wasn’t willing to do last season. He’s still the same angry, scary guy; he’s just plumbed new depths of that same emotion in the past couple of weeks.) For a few weeks we’ve seen her grow more and more accustomed to using firearms, and it (sort of) came to head when she shot, but didn’t kill, Daryl tonight.

Up above, I mentioned that Daryl’s arc tonight would have been a great way to send the character off if he did die, since he has no found his redemption – plus it could raise the stakes, something the show sorely needs. But I’m also glad that the show didn’t kill him off, considering that he’s currently the most interesting character we have, and I’m not sure if any other character could suddenly become interesting enough to make up for the loss of Daryl. However, when we look at it from the Andrea angle, and ask whether it would have been more interesting for her if Daryl lived or died, I couldn’t come up with a definitive answers, if only because I’m still not sure what Andrea’s arc is exactly. Obviously she’s going to be in deep shit with the rest of the group, but so what? What makes this time different from her other fuckups? The show doesn’t tell us, and I’m not even sure the writers had an answer in mind when this episode was written.

But does it really matter? Probably not to writers, and I doubt to most of the people who watch this show for the basest of reasons, because HOLY SHIT DOC GREENE’S KEEPING ZOMBIE S IN THE FARMHOUSE. As a twist, this is a pretty good one, and it’s certainly more interesting than the fact that the group now seems closer to finding Sophia, a plot that should have ended like two episodes ago. However, much like with Andrea, I have no idea where this is supposed to be headed, and considering that there a real easy solution – the group could just, you know, fucking leave – the show’s going to have some work cut out for it to make this seem like something Rick and His Merry Band of Zombie Killers should deal with.

But poorly thought out plots and twists for the sake of twists? That’s just live when you’re living in Zombieland watching The Walking Dead.

Next Week: Glen decided to keep the zombie barn a secret, goes back to being stupid.

Quotes, Etc:  

Okay, raise your hand if, after you saw that arrow sticking through Daryl’s side, you yelled out “ARROWED!” No? Just me then….

Nothing better signifies Glen’s role in the group than the shot of him sitting at the kids’ table.

 “A home run is like ugh-ugh-ugh, it’s intercourse. The thing you did was more like a ground roll double.”

“No, I’m sorry. If I had known the world was ending, I would have brought better books.”

The best defense for having sex: “I was thinking I might be dead tomorrow.”

Herschel, saying what everybody is thinking: “It’s a wonder you people have survived this long.”

“Don’t be too hard on yourself; we’ve all wanted to shoot Daryl.”