Wildfire

What I enjoyed about tonight's episode of The Walking Dead was the way it put the question of "what is necessary for survival" front and center. Several characters had an emotional need to do things this week that weren't fulfilling the strictest survival needs. On the more benign end of the spectrum, Glenn needed to see his fallen comrades buried rather than burned. In decidedly more dangerous territory, Andrea needed to hold a vigil over her sister, and ultimately deliver the kill shot herself.

Behind all of this is that unspoken question of what is truly necessary to survive in this particular apocalypse. Some would argue that just seeing to basic needs is all that's important. Others would argue that if you suppress emotional concerns, and let too much of civilization go, that you aren't really surviving. I appreciated that all this was on the table this episode without the writers needing to call direct attention to it.

There were other intriguingly messed up moments this week too, like watching a battered wife take an axe to the head of her dead husband. Or abandoning a man at the road side to endure an excruciatingly slow and painful death by disease, because that's what he asked for. Or Shane actually putting Rick in his gun sight for a moment... and being caught doing it by Dale.

This brief run of six episodes will conclude next Sunday, but it's been a hell of a ride for the short while it's lasted. What will happen inside the CDC? Will we see Merle or Morgan again? What other thrills await us in the final hour of this first season?