TV: The Walking Dead (Episode 3, Season 2)
Sorry about the delay in posting about this episode. Things have been busy (and lazy).
Okay, I’ll touch a few other things first. I think it’s great that Carl is coming around and they’ve been able to stabilize him. Fantastic news. During the entire episode my emotions were forced to teeter along a fine line:
Is Carl better off in this zombie ridden world or is he better off dead?
Personally, if there was any chance that my non-existant child would survive something if certain things happened, I would never give up on them. Ever. I would never just allow my child to die because the world is a cruel place. The world has always been a cruel place. There’s beauty out there, and Rick’s right, that’s what he needs to live for.
Despite the fact that this particular internal battle was ongoing during the entire episode and you’re left with this feeling of hope and desperation for all of the characters we’ve gotten to know (except for Andrea, she sucks), that is not what drove my brain to grab hold of it’s Holy Shit handle.
The first scene in this episode is some guy in a bathroom, with a gun, shaving his head. Turns out it’s Shane and he’s got “crazy eyes” as he looks at himself in the mirror. You’re left with a “huh…” feeling as the episode shortly goes into the introduction credits. Then, Shane gets back with the medication – without Otis. Turns out Otis sacrificed himself to the Walkers (or at least that’s what I got out of what Shane was trying to explain to everyone) and poor Shane is left barely hanging on to his sanity after watching such a horrible ordeal. Then he goes to visit Carl as Lori is in the room and she asks him to stay with the group. Of course, she does.
Oh, but wait – then shit gets real as Shane’s in the bathroom (same as in the opening scene of the episode) we are given the real story as he reflects on the evening’s events internally.
He totally murdered Otis so that he’d come out the only hero in the situation. It has something to do with Lori, I bet. He wants Lori’s attention in any way he can get it. He’s obsessed!
He’s definitely going to have some weird reasoning for murdering that man. If it’s revealed to the others at all, he’ll probably assume guilt but will say something along the lines of the fact that Otis never would have made it. Still, Shane didn’t give him the chance to try. He just murdered him in cold blood.
OTIS. HE KILLED OTIS. OMG!
My jaw was dropped open during this entire sequence. I was so upset.
It was brutal.
Now, what do I think of the episode overall? With my new set of non-comic book reading eyes, I liked it. I liked it a lot. It messed with my head a little bit and, you know what, that’s always fun in a television show.
Until next week!
I have to agree. I was shocked that Lori would want her -able to survive- son to die. Seriously. I would do anything to keep him alive.
However, my main shock came with Shane. As soon as he came back and explained things, I knew he killed Otis. I just had a gut feeling. The part that got me was that Otis was keeping up! It’s not like he was so badly injured that he was lagging behind and making it impossible for them to escape. Shane just wanted to improve his chances of survival by giving the walkers a snack (or as you said, has something to prove to the group? Lori? being a hero?). Whatever his deal was, I seriously hope he gets killed off because he’s an evil man. I loved Otis.