Sam Talks of the Dead: Chapter 2

It’s time again to talk about The Walking Dead!!! Oh boy.

TV SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Chapter 2 opens with a flashback to the scene where Lori and Shane hook up. Lori’s all depressed about Atlanta being overrun and everyone she knows probably being dead. Then she gets emotional about leaving Rick behind, and suddenly decides that she needs to have sex with Shane…To Shane’s credit he tries to stop her, but she insists. Thus the adulterous deed is done. Fast-forward to the present, during Shane’s funeral and Lori seems to be more upset than everyone else. Instead of crying she spits on Shane’s grave after everyone else has left. Dale tells Rick to consider the possibility that Lori and Shane had something while he was stuck in the hospital. Rick isn’t thrilled with the idea, but agrees that his moment of craziness is only explainable if he had feelings for Lori.

The group bumps into a man named Tyrese, a former NFL player, and 2 kids, his daughter and her boyfriend. They join up with the rest of the group. Everyone gathers around a fire that evening and Lori is still standoffish. Rick tries to talk to her, and she reveals that she is pregnant. Points to Lori’s character for making sure that Rick was the first person she told, the group is then informed immediately following. They all quickly realize they must find a good place to settle, for Lori’s sake. Rick is adamant they keep the baby, and that everything will work out. Now in comic book land it seems a lot more likely that the baby could be Shane’s, as Rick soon tells Dale that he and Lori have only slept together once since his return. The next day the group packs up and leaves.

Eventually they find a gated community that they think will be perfect to live in for a while. There’s snow everywhere, including the sign in front of the suburban outcropping which reads “ALL DEAD DO NOT ENTER”!!! They movie into a house, kill a few zombies in the basement, and sleep for the night. During this seemingly innocuous evening a romance begins between Carol and Tyrese, and we also learn that Dale and Andrea are actually sleeping together…*larger shudder*

The next day they start to search the rest of the estate and Rick finds the sign after some snow melts. The group gets attacked during their search while Rick is off getting supplies from the RV. Donna is bitten, and Allen freaks out trying to save her. Everyone runs away and they escape.

Rick goes out shooting with Tyrese and Carl, and Carl gets shot ala episode 1 of season 2 by Otis. Otis tells them how to get to the farm. So everyone makes it to the farm and we meet Herschel, Maggie, Lacey (daughter), Arnold (son), Billy (son), and Rachel and Susie who I assume are also his daughters. Otis and Patricia, his wife, live their as well. So there’s no Beth, and a lot more kids.

Andrea keeps trying to cheer up Allen after Donna’s death, Sophia has a crush on Carl, and Maggie and Glenn start sleeping together. Herschel soon makes it clear that they are not welcome to stay at his place, and reveals the presence of the zombies in his barn. Rick isn’t happy about any of this. They put their differences aside and remain on the farm. They have another day of shooting practice and a zombie shows up to spoil the fun. Herschel tries to put it in the barn instead of letting Rick kill it. This doesn’t go well and the zombies break out of the barn and end up killing Lacey and Arnold. The zombified children Herschel was keeping in the barn were also “killed”.

After this there’s a bit of a spat between Herschel and the gang and they end up leaving. It seems like Tyrese’s daughter and her boyfriend want to commit suicide and they have their own guns now so they’ll probably do something stupid soon. They go off trying to find a new place to settle and Andrea and Dale stumble upon the Prison, which appears to be overrun by zombies.

So the comic reveals some major departures in this chapter from the TV show, that should be the other way around…but whatever. Sophia has been totally fine, so the whole angle of looking for a girl who everyone knew was dead is gone. She’s also there for Carl, which I much prefer to the crush he now appears to have on Beth…which is just gross. I was a little upset by Herschel’s character in the comic, I’m assuming we may not see him again, as he’s not with the group anymore. I liked the angle of him being a religious man, but in the comic’s he looses that man-of-faith quality in favor of denial…which was fine and honestly more believable in that world, it just wasn’t quite as deep I suppose.

I was very happy with Glenn in this chapter, I thought that his admittance of loneliness and really having nothing to lose was refreshing. I feel like he’s spoken less, but said so much more. Sure he isn’t as loveable as TV Glenn, but as a character I’m more intrigued by him. Carol’s continued to be far more of a sexual character, and overall I’m stricken by how many couples are forming up in the group. I’m not sure if I like it or not, but it’s interesting. I’m hoping we get introduced to Michonne next chapter, i’m sure I’ll have a lot to say about her. I’ll also get to start speculating about what’s going to happen in further TV episodes! Yay!

Well I think this has gone on long enough…

-SM

PS if you don’t know I DO make videos…this one’s pretty good: http://www.thatruled.com/comic-review-show-alan-moore-before-watchmen/