TV Review: ‘The Walking Dead,’ Season 2 Premiere

bill bodkin looks at the season premiere of AMC’s zombie drama …

As the first segment of AMC’s The Walking Dead went to commercial, we were reminded why this show is one of the absolute best dramas on television.

Prior to the commercial break, we were given a white knuckle, cold sweat-inducing, terrifying sequence in which the survivors quietly hide under abandoned cars on a Georgia interstate as a “herd” of zombies shuffles by. We held our breath hoping that the survivors wouldn’t make a peep, that Andrea (Laurie Holden) wouldn’t drop parts of her dissembled gun, that the zombies wouldn’t be drawn to T-Dog’s (IronE Singleton) massive, bloody wound, that those pesky kids wouldn’t do something stupid.

It was so intense that after the nearly 15-minute sequence, I wondered when was the last time a television show has captivated me in this way.

My next thought was: The bar has been set very high. Would the rest of the episode be able to match this sequence’s intensity and excitement?

Luckily, from the moment we returned from commercial to the rolling of the final credits, we were given a thrilling, dramatic, captivating, and in the end, tantalizing episode of a series that is already is full of heart-pounding, brilliantly directly and memorable episodes.

This season, the themes — like the stakes for our survivors — are much higher. After the scene where our survivors take down the zombies in a church (how cool was that?), it’s safe to say that the idea of faith will be a recurring theme this season.

And this is not just faith in God, but faith in Rick as a leader, and faith in each other. And can we blame these people’s lack of faith? I mean it is the zombie apocalypse … to these survivors, it must feel like God has left them. And can we blame them for questioning Rick? While he may be a lawman, what makes him the right guy to lead them? Through the brilliance of Andrew Lincoln’s facial expressions, we can see that he’s coming more and more unhinged and exasperated as the minutes pass.

And how about that ending? It came out of left field for viewers, especially for those un-savy to the comic. I figured probably a zombie would come out of the woods and grab Carl, but in no way did I think what actually did happened would ever occur.

Of course, there are number of questions we’re left with some carrying over from last season and from the teaser trailer for the rest of the second season:

[To those who’ve read the comic, you probably know these answers, so take this from the POV of someone who hasn’t]

*First and foremost, what will be the fate of Rick’s son?

*What’s happened to Merle (Michael Rooker)? He sawed his hand off and escaped the roof in Atlanta…so where is he?

*Will we ever see Morgan Jones (Snatch’s Lennie James) again, or did he succumb to the zombies after he was shooting at them from his safe house?

*Will Shane (Jon Bernthal) actually leave Rick and the survivors? And will Andrea join him?

*Will T-Dog be able to survive with that nasty wound?

*Will they ever find Sophia?

*Were those helicopters we saw in the trailer?

*Someone’s gotta eat it this year. Which survivor is destined to become a buffet for the undead?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grWV8WZtAQc

All Photos Credit: Gene Page/AMC