Beside the Dying Fire

Tonight brought us the second season finale of The Walking Dead. It did continue the general upward trend of the last couple episodes, gradually pulling out of the long, slow funk that dragged down the bulk of the season. But it still had a few flaws.

One of the things that made the first season of the show so great was the way that dramatic character scenes would sit side by side with tense action scenes, all within the same episode. Season two seemed too often to be one thing or the other, and this week wasn't a great exception. Having apparently squirreled away dollars on a budget-saving season confined mostly to a single location, the show tried to make up for it by throwing a Zombiepalooza in this final episode. And yes, the action was fun. But I think the show would have been much better overall if they'd used some of the bucks they'd stored for this bang at the end of the season earlier on to infuse some excitement into the endless "sit around the farm and talk" episodes.

I also felt that in these last couple episodes, the writers failed a bit at providing an experience that can exist separate from the original comic source material. I know snippets of the comic book storyline, getting the occasional details from some of my friends that have read them. But largely, I approach the show as its own thing. And on that level, the big "reveals" here at the end of the season simply weren't that compelling.

Last week, we learned that Walkers can be made not just by the bites of other Walkers, but that every person who dies of any cause will rise again as a Walker. Rick then confirmed this week that this was the big secret told to him by the CDC doctor way back in the first season finale. And apparently, this was a big revelation in the comic. As for the show? It gets a big "so what?" from me. How does it change anything about the survivors' plight?

The big cliffhanger ending of the episode was an even bigger misfire, if you've never read the comics. The show ended on a big dramatic shot of a prison in the distance. From the snippets I've heard from comic readers, The Prison (which certainly sounds deserving of capital letters) was a big, important storyline that ran over several issues. But to a TV only viewer, it doesn't mean a damn thing yet. Am I supposed to be excited to see it? If anything, I'm dreading that we've finally left one drama-killing setting (the farm) only to apparently be heading straight to another static location where the characters will try to wall off exterior problems and stew in their own stupidity-manufactured internal conflicts for another season. I'm not encouraged.

But there were a few strong moments in the episode that at least made it more entertaining than most episodes this season. Glenn taking charge. Rick's timely rescue of Hershel. Andrea's badass solo warrior flight from the farm.

Overall, I'm glad to see the series take a break. I hope the writers use the next few months to really regroup and think about the rather considerable list of things that did not go well with this season -- the glacial pacing, the irrational and ugly behavior of Lori, the repetition of plot points over several episodes ("Carl, get in in the house!" Guess what, Carl doesn't listen.). I could see myself possibly getting drawn back into The Walking Dead more fully, but I'm honestly far more excited to see what comes of this new TV series that I hear Frank Darabont is putting together over on another network.