Because The Walking Dead season 10 finale has been delayed thanks to the real-world virus, I have decided that to fill the void left in the schedule, to start a re-watch of the series. I live tweeted the episode as if it were playing live in the regular 9pm GMT slot on FOX TV UK. You can see all the tweets here or embedded below.

In a turn of events, episode 9 starts strongly but slowly fades away, opposed to the previous two episodes. After a shootout at the bar goes wrong, for the other group, not ours, Rick (Andrew Lincoln), Glenn (Steven Yeun) and Hershel (Scott Wilson) must decide what to do with the one remaining enemy who is impaled on a fence spike.

Coupled with Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) being hunted by walkers who’ll do anything to eat her flesh, including forcing their face through broken glass; the visual effects game is strong in this episode!

Other than that, there is more tension in the group towards Shane (Jon Bernthal) who rescues Lori but lies to her that Rick is waiting for her at the camp. How did she not see through this earlier. 1) Rick would have had to pass her wreck on the side of the road. 2) Rick wouldn’t send Shane out to find her. Once Randall (Michael Zegen) arrives at the farm, Shane is furious that Rick has now started a war with another group and only Andrea (Laurie Holden) is on his side.

Maggie (Lauren Cohan) snubs her daddy when they all return and runs straight to hug Glenn. Later he’ll tell her that all he could think about was her as he was being shot at, when he should have been focusing on the job at hand. Time to slide the on-again-off-again hand to “off again”. When will these crazy kids see the light?!

The episode ends with Lori putting the idea in Ricks head that Shane is a threat, she’s basically telling Rick to kill Shane so they can be happy. Talk about manipulative! This is Rick’s best friend she’s talking about. Sure they’re relationship is a little fractured at the moment but can a woman break that bond?

Not a terrible episode, extra points for the beautiful brutality, even though it was tinged with blue hue for nighttime. Felt much more like a breather than anything though.

Overall Rating: 6.5

S02E07 Pretty Much Dead.. – Curated tweets by Zombie_Scribe

Because The Walking Dead season 10 finale has been delayed thanks to the real-world virus, I have decided that to fill the void left in the schedule, to start a re-watch of the series. I live tweeted the episode as if it were playing live in the regular 9pm GMT slot on FOX TV UK. You can see all the tweets here or embedded below.

Picking up exactly where episode 7 ended, the survivors must deal with what they found in that barn. The rest of the episode looks at how they handle what happened and whilst it isn’t the greatest episode, there are some solid character exchanges and developments.

Firstly, Rick (Andrew Lincoln), was the only one to step up and put Sophia down, regardless of how hard a thing that must have been to do. Not only is it someone you knew, someone you promised you’d come back for, but it’s a child! Shane (Jon Bernthal) goes off on his usual angry tirade and Rick has to deal with being the person everyone in the group looks to for leadership when he never asked to be put in that position.

At one point Rick is telling Glenn (Steven Yeun) that he did what he thought was the right thing to do, even though he was wrong. He respected him for that and sticking to his beliefs. Why then can’t Rick own his own mistakes? Leaders will make errors, they are human afterall, but because all the eyes are on them, they feel it harder.

Hershel (Scott Wilson) turns to drink. He realises that he’s lost his wife, that there was no saving her. But with this he has lost all hope. What is the point in life now if there is nothing to be hopeful for? He throws in some racism about his daughter hanging around with Glenn’s sort, but the series as a whole seems to have really toned down the overt racism that it displayed in the first season.

Maggie (Lauren Cohan) meanwhile seems disappointed that Glenn thinks now is the time to move on. She tells him she loves him which throws him for a loop. Beth (Emily Kinney) collapses in shock or grief and so Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) decides she’s going to go and get Rick, Glenn and Hershel and bring them back, even though that’s what Rick and Glenn are doing. It seems the only way they can put Lori into a car which she ends up crashing. Ding dong the witch might be dead!

The episode ends with a similar high to the episode prior. At the bar as the trio are about to head home some strangers appear. Things seem pleasant at first but soon tensions rise when too many questions about where they live and bringing them back. They do reveal that Fort Benning is gone, which Shane will undoubtedly want to see for himself.

Just as things were going so well, they’re not. One of the strangers hops behind the bar and makes a sudden movement so Rick shoots him and his buddy too. No justification is given other than they looked shady, probably were, and were about to shoot first.

It’s testament to the show that even though we are eight seasons ahead, revisiting this episode can still give the tension tingles. But now Rick has killed to save himself from being killed, what sort of person has he become?

Overall Rating: 7

S02E08 – Nebraska – Curated tweets by Zombie_Scribe

Because The Walking Dead season 10 finale has been delayed thanks to the real-world virus, I have decided that to fill the void left in the schedule, to start a re-watch of the series. I live tweeted the episode as if it were playing live in the regular 9pm GMT slot on FOX TV UK. You can see all the tweets here or embedded below.

**WARNING – SPOILERS BELOW**

Episode Seven manages to ramp the drama up a little bit here in Season Two with a mighty big payoff at the end of the episode. Before we get there however we have to sit through more of Rick (Andrew Lincoln) pleading with Hershel (Scott Wilson) to let them stay, Dale (Jeffrey DeMunn) doing what’s in his best interests not the groups to thwart Shane (Jon Bernthal), and Glenn (Steven Yeun) and Maggie’s (Lauren Cohan) relationship continues to bounce between on and off again.

It’s possible to skip the first half an hour of this episode. There isn’t anything really new here until Hershel enlists Rick’s help to go fishing. This isn’t any normal fishing, some walkers are stuck in the mud. One worked up at the shops and the other was a farmer next door. Hershel wants to add these to his collection and if Rick wants to stay, he needs to help and treat the dead like human beings. Rick goes along with this because he’s an idiot and so blinded by doing what he needs to do to keep his pregnant wife (who he admits is expecting to both Hershel…and SHANE!) near a doctor.

After Shane does a spot of hunting of his own, he comes storming into camp with the guns and demands they need to do what is right. Furious Shane is brilliant. Daryl (Norman Reedus) makes the excellent point that they’re all stood around when they should be looking for Sophia but it is ignored as Shane hands out the weapons. Glenn, Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) and Maggie all try to talk him out of it when Rick arrives with his undead buddies.

If Shane was angry before he is enraged now. He can’t believe Hershel could be so stupid as to think the walkers are alive. He shoots one in the leg, lungs and heart to show how it can’t be alive because nobody would survive that. After shooting the walker in the head, Shane goes to break down the barn. Rick screams at him, but nobody tries to stop him. Hershel is broken on the floor and won’t take the walker Rick is holding who seems to be the only one wanting to stop Shane.

The barn doors open and shots are fired. Walkers line the farmyard. Glenn gets the OK from Maggie, probably because they’re “on-again” after Glenn gave her the sweet-talk earlier. When the dusk settles, there is one more walker to kill. It’s little Sophia.

Suddenly struck with what Hershel must have been feeling towards his dead friends and family, all the survivors just watch as Sophia comes stumbling towards them. Nobody, not even Shane knows what to do. Until Rick steps up and Sophia is put down.

After all this time, Sophia was right under their noses.

It was a fantastic ending to the episode that rights it of all the wrongs that came before. Not that there were too many this week. The big question remains how they can move on from this massacre and still provide a good pacing without dwelling on the deaths and Hershel being all stubborn again.

Overall Rating: 7.5

S02E07 Pretty Much Dead.. – Curated tweets by Zombie_Scribe

Because The Walking Dead season 10 finale has been delayed thanks to the real-world virus, I have decided that to fill the void left in the schedule, to start a re-watch of the series. I live tweeted the episode as if it were playing live in the regular 9pm GMT slot on FOX TV UK. You can see all the tweets here or embedded below.

Once again, The Walking Dead suffers from a slow pace and storylines that weren’t what we signed up for. Sure, the show has to have a story to it, but make that story click and tick to improve how things all come together. The arguement as Carl (Chandler Riggs) wants to join gun practice for example goes on far too long.

Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) is torn between having her baby or not and after taking a morning-after pill, decides she actually wants it so throws it up. It’s a difficult decision to make, bringing a baby into this world and one that Lori shouldn’t be making alone. The problem with this is we don’t particularity like Lori, so her anguish and turmoil doesn’t give the right resonation.

In the search for Sophia, Andrea (Laurie Holden) and Shane (Jon Bernthal) encounter some walkers. Shane uses it as a way to test Andrea’s shooting skills after she did so well on the basic training but choked on the advanced. She manages to get some kills in, and enjoys it. She enjoys it a little too much! On their way back to camp Andrea decides she wants to be the second person at camp to have sex with Shane. Ew.

Glenn (Steven Yeun) tells Dale (Jeffrey DeMunn) about the walkers in the barn who then goes to talk to Hershel (Scott Wilson). Hershel is resolute in his decision to leave those walkers be, he thinks they’re still living people under all that death. The constant questions and being bugged about it only appears to drive Hershel to the choice that these visitors need to leave.

Nothing happens. Rick (Andrew Lincoln) finds out about Lori’s baby and she admits to him that she and Shane did the bad thing, Rick admits he knew. This should be a big moment and give us feels, but Lori just…ugh.

Overall Rating: 5

S02E06 Secrets – Curated tweets by Zombie_Scribe

Because The Walking Dead season 10 finale has been delayed thanks to the real-world virus, I have decided that to fill the void left in the schedule, to start a re-watch of the series. I live tweeted the episode as if it were playing live in the regular 9pm GMT slot on FOX TV UK. You can see all the tweets here or embedded below.

Chupacabra doesn’t improve the pace of the season, but getting to spend a bit of extra time with Daryl (Norman Reedus) is very welcomed. We get to see him on the hunt for Sophia when he has a little accident and ends up impaled on one of his own arrows!

As he loses blood, he starts to hallucinate and who should arrive to give him the motivation to succeed? His brother, Merle (Michael Rooker). It’s a wonderful way to get Merle back on the screen and highlights how different the two brothers are. Merle slapping Daryl around to keep him awake but also to tell him how soft he’s gone is just what we needed.

Elsewhere there isn’t any further movement in character growth. Glenn (Steven Yeun) is a little upset he didn’t rock Maggie’s (Lauren Cohan) world, but she agrees to give him another chance by passing him a secret note at dinner. He suggests a place for them, but Maggie doesn’t check until it’s almost too late. Glenn goes to prepare the hayloft, only to find the barn chock full of walkers! Maggie catches up to him and says he wasn’t supposed to find it.

Hershel (Scott Wilson) gets grumpier. He doesn’t like these extra people on his land and maybe we found out why. He’s got a barn of walkers and the longer they stay the more likely they are to find it. But he also reprimands them that they’re going through his medication too quickly. Shane (Jon Bernthal) agree’s with him and he wants to get moving off, quit searching for Sophia. But Daryl probably will never quit, despite what his brother says.

It appears the stage is set for the mid-season finale, more in-fighting as the truth about the barn comes to light. Will anything else transpire with Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) who is keeping her pregnancy secret, although Glenn knows, so others probably will soon enough. More Daryl please. It’s easy to see how he became such a fan favourite, even if he did nearly lose his toe to a hungry walker.

Overall Rating: 6.5

S02E04 Cherokee Rose – Curated tweets by Zombie_Scribe

Because The Walking Dead season 10 finale has been delayed thanks to the real-world virus, I have decided that to fill the void left in the schedule, to start a re-watch of the series. I live tweeted the episode as if it were playing live in the regular 9pm GMT slot on FOX TV UK. You can see all the tweets here or embedded below.

Cherokee Rose continues season two’s slow pace as now only Daryl (Norman Reedus) is left in search of Sophia and the rest of the survivors arrive at the farm where Hershel (Scott Wilson) warns Rick (Andrew Lincoln) that this isn’t a permanent place for them to stay.

If only season two had been given six episodes! So much of the survivors doing nothing could have been cut and things would zip through without feeling like we’re wading through mud. Whilst Cherokee Rose is better than the episode that came before, there is still too much thinking happening for the characters and not enough doing.

The action comes when Maggie (Lauren Cohan) tells the visitors they can take water from the well out on the field. When they find the well, inside is a bloated walker (or swimmer) who needs to be extracted carefully for fear of poisoning the water. The fishing part is tense and the extraction disgusting but this is the only walker you’ll see this episode (outside of Shane’s (Jon Bernthal) flashbacks) so enjoy it.

Maggie and Glenn (Steven Yeun) go on a mission to the pharmacy to collect supplies. Glenn has been given a secret mission by Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) to find her something from the feminine hygiene aisle. Watching Glenn squirm is a delight and the smile on his face as he and Maggie head back to the farm having gotten to know each other a little more intimately is the ray of hope that this apocalypse needs.

The product collected? A pregnancy test! As Rick puts his badges away in a drawer, maybe for the last time, Lori heads mysteriously off into the dark to pee on the stick, and the test is positive! Lori looks shocked, as well she might. How on earth are you to raise a child in this world?

If the pacing could be improved, this would have been an OK episode. Daryl explaining what a Cherokee Rose is to Carol (Melissa McBride) is the only thing left of Sophia at this point, the show seems to have forgotten her. Some tense moments, some dull. Shane concocts another lie to keep people happy at the farm but how much longer can he keep this up without either going crazy (signs of this are already forthcoming) or blurting out the truth? Time will tell, and currently, we have a lot of that on our hands.

Overall Rating: 6

S02E04 Cherokee Rose – Curated tweets by Zombie_Scribe

Because The Walking Dead season 10 finale has been delayed thanks to the real-world virus, I have decided that to fill the void left in the schedule, to start a re-watch of the series. I live tweeted the episode as if it were playing live in the regular 9pm GMT slot on FOX TV UK. You can see all the tweets here or embedded below.

There isn’t a great deal to say about this episode. It moves our characters to a new location, Hershel’s (Scott Wilson) Farm as some continue the search for Sophia (Madison Lintz), Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) learns about Carl (Chandler Riggs) and Shane (Jon Bernthal) goes on a mission with Otis (Pruitt Taylor Vince) to try and get medical supplies to save Carl.

There isn’t so much in terms of character development as much as character introduction as there are a few new faces to get acquainted too. The big two of these are Hershel, who seems to know a lot about surgery and medicine only to reveal later he is a veterinarian, not a surgeon. The other is Maggie (Lauren Cohan), Hershel’s daughter, who saves Andrea (Laurie Holden) in super slow mo, riding in on horseback and slaying a walker. Good stuff.

Meanwhile, Shane and Otis find the medical supplies but they are surrounded by walkers. They use what distraction methods they can but ultimately end up getting trapped. The clock is ticking on their mission as Carl continues to slip back at the farm. The pair are very good in leaving medical supplies for others in need, but really, they should have stockpiled.

It’s a standard character introduction episode that has a risk element of Carl’s live and the walkers at the school, but ultimately, feels otherwise empty.

Overall Rating: 6

S02E02 Bloodletting – Curated tweets by Zombie_Scribe

Because The Walking Dead season 10 finale has been delayed thanks to the real-world virus, I have decided that to fill the void left in the schedule, to start a re-watch of the series. I live tweeted the episode as if it were playing live in the regular 9pm GMT slot on FOX TV UK. You can see all the tweets here or embedded below.

TS-19 ends the first season of The Walking Dead with a bang. Literally. Having made it to the CDC with hardly any trouble on the road, even Dale’s RV doesn’t conk out, Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and crew discover that the place they hoped would have the answers, doesn’t.

The survivors enjoy a hot showers again followed by a feast with wine which makes them all a little on edge. Shane (Jon Bernthal) wants to know where everyone is and the answer is they either left to be with their families or took their own lives. Rick thinks they’re safe at the CDC, but his wife isn’t, not with Shane around.

Shane tries to forcefully take advantage of Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) who manages to fight him off but the danger of him exploding again is very real. We do get a flashback to when everything first started to go sour and it confirms Shane’s story that he honestly thought Rick was dead. The hospital was under fire, collapsing, without power, he couldn’t hear Rick breathing, so Shane gets a little redemption for that. Which he promptly loses when trying to rape Lori.

Dr. Jenner (Noah Emmerich) explains how the virus works and that there is no cure. Dale (Jeffrey DeMunn) then spots a clock on the wall which happens to be a doomsday clock, ticking down to when the facility runs out of power and chooses to self-destruct to contain all the viruses inside.

Panic ensues as the CDC goes into lockdown, sealing the deaths of everyone inside. Eventually they convince Jenner to let them out but he reminds them that he said “once those front doors close, they won’t open again”. Which was literal. Lockdown will not open the main doors. Luckily, Carol (Melissa McBride) has been carrying around with her a grenade she found when washing Rick’s uniform. There’s a small explosion allowing them to escape and a bigger one as the CDC goes up.

Jacqui (Jeryl Prescott) decided to stay behind and die in the explosion and Andrea (Laurie Holden) very nearly did too, until Dale gave her a guilt trip of “if you’re staying so am I”.

The final act does ramp up the tension and excitement in an episode that is otherwise a little dull. Lots of science talk and more entrapment that the survivors eventually escape, but there is no plan of what to do next or how they plan to survive any longer than they have already. Perhaps at the time of filming there wasn’t any indication if they’d get a second season, so it is left open. There is still the Lori/Rick/Shane situation to resolve and the case of the missing Dixon brother that appears to have been overlooked considering Daryl (Norman Reedus) went to the CDC instead of staying behind to continue the search.

Overall Rating: 7

S01E06 TS-19 – Curated tweets by Zombie_Scribe

Because The Walking Dead season 10 finale has been delayed thanks to the real-world virus, I have decided that to fill the void left in the schedule, to start a re-watch of the series. I live tweeted the episode as if it were playing live in the regular 9pm GMT slot on FOX TV UK. You can see all the tweets here or embedded below.

Wildfire never really gets going. It deals with the aftermath of the attack at the camp, but spends too much time lingering on the death. I understand this is the first real loss of living characters we know, but we are hardly invested in them so it makes their deaths just that.

We know Amy (Emma Bell) had a sister who was considerably older than her and their father loved them, treating them as they needed to be treated. We really know nothing about Jim (Andrew Rothenberg) other than he helped around the camp. Morales (Juan Gabriel Pareja), despite surviving the attack decides to leave, there are tears from the others, but why do we care that he is leaving? We don’t know these characters.

The only person this dwelling on the dead benefits is Carol (Melissa McBride) and her mourning is rather glossed over as she smashes her former husband in the head repeatedly with a pick-axe, getting a sense of relief and pleasure as she does so.

The tensions continue to rise in the camp between Shane (Jon Bernthal), Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) and Rick (Andrew Lincoln) as they try to reach an agreement about heading to the CDC, each hoping Lori will side with them. But Rick gets his way and they’re off.

Upon arrival, the place is in a heck of a mess. Bodies are piled everywhere which only makes you wonder why other cities don’t sport this type of body count later in the series. After some desperation and begging from Rick at the closed shutters of the CDC, the single doctor alive inside decides to take pity and help these new-comers out.

It’s a transition episode, moving the characters from one place to another. Exploring a little bit of grief and dealing with death, both the instant sort and the played out one with Jim’s bite. The problems come with dwelling too long on characters we hardly know and not focusing enough on the main protagonists and their delicately balanced relationship. Sure, Dale (Jeffrey DeMunn) walks in on Shane holding a gun to Rick contemplating shooting him as his back is turned. But nothing comes of it, not yet. Hopefully the finale will be more explosive.

Overall Rating: 6

S01E05 Wildfire – Curated tweets by Zombie_Scribe

Because The Walking Dead season 10 finale has been delayed thanks to the real-world virus, I have decided that to fill the void left in the schedule, to start a re-watch of the series. I live tweeted the episode as if it were playing live in the regular 9pm GMT slot on FOX TV UK. You can see all the tweets here or embedded below.

Vatos is the first episode of The Walking Dead that pulls the “nobody lives happily ever after” trick. This is where characters seemingly find happiness only to have it ripped from them, sometimes quite literally. It starts out slow, with Andrea (Laurie Holden) and Amy (Emma Bell) out on a boat, fishing and reminiscing. They share a tearful memory of their father who loved his daughters, despite them being so different. They later return to the camp with armfuls of fish.

Having spent too long in the sun, Jim (Andrew Rothenberg) starts to dig random holes around the camp, grave like holes. After being physically stopped and restrained by Shane (Jon Bernthal) he starts to return to himself and claims it was all part of a vision he had. In that vision he saw Rick (Andrew Lincoln) being a hero to them all.

In Atlanta, Rick, Glenn (Steven Yeun), T-Dogg (Irone Singleton) and Daryl (Norman Reedus) hunt for Merle (Michael Rooker) having found his hand atop the roof. This is the first real signs of Daryl’s tracking skill. Having discovered that Merle is a real bad ass, having cauterised his own wound on a stove, they decide to make a play for the guns first, before they wander the streets looking for him.

Whilst making a play for the weapons, the group are ambushed and Glenn is kidnapped! Luckily, Daryl takes one of their too which allows for a switch to occur later. The standoff is tense and the threats seem all too real. It looks as though it’s not just the zombies who are dangerous if encountered. Hostilities run rampant, until an old lady appears and diffuses the whole situation. Turns out these guys are just custodians and orderly’s at a care home trying to keep everyone alive.

The gang head back to camp but find their van is gone, maybe Merle took it? Luckily, at camp all is fine and they poke fun at Dale (Jeffrey DeMunn) for still wearing a watch. He recants a tale about time, whilst over at Ed’s (Adam Minarovich) tent he is bothered by someone scuffling outside. Thinking it’s his wife he goes to lash out at her, only to find it’s a walker who tears his face off. There are walkers in the camp! Dozens of them! Everyone flees, some don’t survive, including Amy. Rick and gang return just in time to help out but not to save them all. Jim then suddenly remembers his vision and why he dug the graves.

The episode ends with a fantastic brawl at the camp, under the cover of darkness makes it even more frightening but the gore is no less bloody. The stand-off in Atlanta played out with a bit of humour with the hand interrogation tactic and Satan’s hounds, but ultimately felt like it was slowing the episode down.

Overall Rating: 7.5

S01E04 Vatos – Curated tweets by Zombie_Scribe