logan j. fowler talks The Walking Dead mid-season finale …
WARNING: This review contains spoilers.
Insane. Gut-wrenching. Gripping.
These are just some of the words I’d use to describe the final few moments of The Walking Dead‘s mid-season finale, which aired last night. The build up to the episode itself was extreme, as over the previous five episodes, a lot of bombs were dropped. Farm owner Hershel (Scott Wilson) is hoarding walkers in the barn, as he believes they are merely “sick.” Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies), Rick’s wife, is pregnant. Rick (Andrew Lincoln) knows about Lori’s relationship with Shane (Jon Bernthal). Not to mention, the whole story arc with Sophia (Madison Lintz) being missing left fans wondering where she was, and if the crew would ever find her.
Photo: Bob Mahoney/AMC
Over the hour that let the consequences of all these aforementioned factors unfold, Glenn (Steven Yeun) tells Rick and company about the walkers in the barn, a tidbit that none of then, save for Dale, were aware of. That little piece of information forces Rick to have a heart to heart with Hershel, as the farmer is asking them to leave once they find Sophia. Rick pleads with Hershel to let them stay, because Lori is with child. He goes on to explain about walkers to Hershel and since Hershel is not aware of how the world has change in the past few years, he needs to understand that the folk in the barn are dangerous.
However, Rick understands that in order to stay on the farm land, he must follow Hershel’s rules. In a turn of events, Hershel brings Rick out to an area where two walkers are located. He and farm hand Jimmy (James Allen McCune) have to leash the walkers and bring them back to the barn. Herhsel states that it’s his farm, his barn, his say, so Rick follows the orders, and brings the walker back to the barn, with Shane, Lori, and all the other fellow members of Rick’s gang, along with the Hershel’s kin and helpers, looking on.
And that’s when things kicked into overdrive. Shane snaps, plugging bullets into the walker Jimmy is holding, demonstrating (to Hershel) how bullets won’t affect the body, how the walker keeps moving towards its target. He then puts a bullet in its head, then proceeds to break down the barn’s security (bars and chained locks) and the infected folk walk out. Shane, Andrea (Laurie Holden), T-Dog (IronE Singleton), Daryl (Norman Reedus), and Glenn use their weaponry against the barn dwellers. (On a side note, Glenn is romantically involved with Maggie, played by Lauren Cohen, and the two have had their dispute over the walkers. Maggie agrees with her father, but dialogue between her and Glenn, not to mention Maggie being attacked and Glenn saving her, have started to change Maggie’s mind about the walkers. Before Glenn proceeds to join forces with the few taking down the infected in the barn, he asks Maggie’s permission. Really liked that little touch to the proceedings.)
The walker ambush is finally complete after about a minute or two…but oh wait, what’s this? A subtle groan is heard coming from the barn, and a first person camera perspective is taken from inside, and as the crew and farmers wait, the walker emerges into the sunlight, and it is a little girl who looks exactly like …
SOPHIA.
My jaw dropped. My eyes welled up with tears. I couldn’t believe it, but yet I sort of could. The expectancy of this poor little girl to remain alive all this time was probably low, in fact, I’m sure most viewers wouldn’t have been surprised if they never found her. But the five episodes beforehand built up to this, and coming full circle, the child Rick told to go into hiding, who he trusted would make it back alive was now staring him dead in the face — as a walker.
In the last few seconds, Mr. Grimes walks up to Sophia, lifts up his gun, and in a beautifully angled shot in where the barrel is pointed directly at the camera, the bullet fires out, switching back to the view of Rick and Sophia, and the little walker drops to the ground. The final shout pans out from the air, and the screen goes dark.
Talk about edge of your seat. I was flabbergasted. Like, really. That was … intense. I don’t think an episode of this show has caught me so off-guard. It is a testament to the actors, the music, and the directors that this mid season finale was so well done. It was the epitome of shocking television, and so memorizing in a horrifying sort of way.
Talk about all the dynamic changes following this episode. Hershel with Rick and his crew. Carol (Melissa Suzanna McBride), Sophia’s mom, with Rick, and how he made his decision for Sophia way back in the first episode. Shane with Rick. Glenn and Maggie. The list goes on and on. How is it all going to be handled?
We won’t know until Feb. 12, which is a horribly long wait for this show to return. However, to be disappointed by the mid season finale and have to wait would be one thing. But the sixth episode of the second season damn well delivered. The voices were unanimous in thinking it, as I saw no one on the social networks saying it differently.
So what’s going to happen? I don’t know, but rest assured, I will be waiting in high anticipation to find out.
Well done, Walking Dead. You floored me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL4slORJqcA
All Photos Credit: AMC
