TV Review: The Walking Dead 2.12, 'Better Angels'
In the penultimate episode of the second season, Shane reaches boiling point after an encounter with Lori. Carl blames himself for Dale’s death, T-Dog has some lines and Daryl and Glen learn you don’t need a bite to become a walker.
rating: 4.5
In the penultimate episode of the second season, Shane reaches boiling point after an encounter with Lori. Carl blames himself for Dales death, T-Dog has some lines and Daryl and Glen learn you dont need a bite to become a walker. Following from last weeks loss of Dale, the survivors gather around his grave whilst Rick delivers the eulogy, which was of course filled with mushy sentiment. Rick echoed Dales belief that the group was broken before stating how he is deciding to live by Dales ideals from now on. His first order of business being to let Randall loose. This was wonderfully intercut with Shane, Andrea, Daryl and T-Dog (still alive) driving around and securing the perimeter of the farm before relieving some stress by taking out a group of walkers helping themselves to another of Hershels cattle. Andrea was particularly badass with a pitchfork. Dales death affected everyone in different ways, Hershel has a change of heart and insists everyone stay under one roof in the house. He and Rick outline plans of how they can make it more secure, something tells me thatll come in handy pretty soon. Maggie lets Glen know hes welcome to bunk with her but he humbly declines, both upset with how he ended things with Dale and still a little terrified of Hershel. A sweet moment came when Glen and Andrea fix up the RV and remember Dale, complete with his hat on the dashboard. Meanwhile Carl decides to confide in Shane about stealing Daryls gun and believing hes the one responsible for Dales death. He vows to never carry a gun again, Shane makes Rick aware of this. Carls decision to go to him instead of his parents sends some mixed messages. However not nearly as bad when soon after Lori has a heart to heart with Shane to clear the air and thanks him for saving herself and Carl whilst clumsily dropping in that she doesnt know whos baby she is carrying. In the words of George Senior Never promise crazy a baby. Shanes misguided talk with Lori is the catalyst for what he does next. Rick has a father son talk with Carl, encouraging him to carry the gun because no one is safe and that he and Lori will die at some point, then complains of being tired, which explains some of the half-arsed eulogy; Id look at dale. Hed be looking back at me with that look he had. Poetry. Shane drags poor old Randall into the woods and snaps his neck, not before giving him a ray of hope though, and then runs into a tree. He returns to the farm, complete with bloody face, and a tall tale of how Randall jumped him and escaped. Rick, Glen and Daryl join him on the search but holes are quickly found in his story. After they split up Glen and Daryl stumble upon Randall, now a walker, and quickly dispose of him. Then something the writers hinted at in 18 Miles Out is confirmed when Daryl is certain Randall died from having his neck broken and was not infected via a bite. Elsewhere Shane has led Rick into an open field for the showdown of the alpha males. Rick catches on pretty quickly whats going to happen and turns around to see the gun pointed at him. It gets emotional, and Shane is saying all he can to justify his means, but something is still holding him back from pulling the trigger. Rick keeps his cool and does his best to calm Shane down and goes to remove his gun and hand it over to Shane. As quickly as Shane looks down to grab the gun, Rick sees his opportunity and fatally stabs his best friend. Rick holds him as he passes away, making sure he knows he did this to himself. Carl shows up soon after and is devastated at Shanes death, and points a gun at his father whilst zombie Shane (still with the same strut) arises behind them and heads towards Rick. Carls a good shot, and gets Shane in the head, resulting in his second death of the episode. A nearby herd happens to hear the shot though and were treated to a beautifully terrifying shot as the episode closes of the herd making their way over the hill towards Rick and Carl. The episode leaves us with some unanswered questions, and the set up of what is going to be an epic finale. Farm House. At Night. Dozens of zombies. Sounds familiar. The introduction to the fact that anyone who dies without a bite will still become a walker will greatly please the comic book readers, and opens up a new area for the show to explore. This will spark many more theories about the infection being an airborne virus, or could lead to the show exploring some supernatural elements, I prefer the latter. Maybe this is what Dr. Jenner told Rick at the CDC, that there isnt an infection and everyone will turn after they die, or he could have easily said that everyone is infected, and that its just a matter of time. Its sad to see another main cast member go, but you cant prevent the inevitable. Kudos to the writers once again for turning a minor (and unlikeable) character from the comic book into the shows most compelling loose cannon. His performance, along with Tate Langdon in American Horror Story, have been the best of any horror TV show in the past few years. Its still not certain what Shane was really trying to achieve, he seemed to keep changing his mind throughout this episode. It could be speculated that he wanted Rick to kill him, he knew he couldnt pull the trigger. It would have been interesting to see what Carl would have done if Shane hadnt of turned. Would he ever shoot Rick? I hope its something theyll address next week if they dont have their hands tied. Or maybe even in season 3 (now 16 episodes long) when Carl is a week older but 2ft taller, they do grow up fast. We need to talk about T-Dog I really hope he dies next week. Nevertheless this has been one of the seasons strongest episodes, and puts the shows longest running conflict to a close with a very satisfying ending. The finale of season two of The Walking Dead airs next Sunday with Beside the Dying fire.