TV Review: The Walking Dead 2.2, "Bloodletting"

rating: 4

Last week, The Walking Dead put into place seeds of discontent that set a whole new direction for the series. All it needed was a catalyst to set everything in motion, say, the sudden disappearance of one's child and the casualty of another. The pieces are beginning to fall into place and though the episode struggles with a few slow and a few over-sentimental moments, the pressure is on, and its bringing all of the characters to a new breaking point. This week, the series builds on many of the plot points that it set up in the series premiere. Rick and Shane bring Carl to a nearby ranch, home of last week's accidental assailant. They find a flicker of hope, and some much needed perspective, from a doctor (read: veterinarian) that resides there willing to help Carl in any way that he can. They form an uncommon, and certainly uneasy alliance to rally behind Carl and his waning condition. Dale and T-dog are left by the RV to talk things over, and T-dogs injury is only getting worse. His fever ridden mind lets out some harsh truths but Dale won't hear a word of it. The rest of the group continues their search for Sophia, warily optimistic about what they might find. Each of the characters has some serious time to let their situation stew for the first time, practically since they began. Their resources are becoming spread out too thin, and their loosing contact more and more. As for the situation at the ranch, it only reinforces what is at the heart of the series itself: the frailty of the human condition. The group only stopped to find a suitable way through the traffic and to pick up some supplies. A few days later, they're still there. The show did a wonderful job at leading us toward one savage truth. In the end, it will always be survival of the fittest and a family man ends up way too much like a weak link. Rick has certainly saved the lot of them more then once, but he's now at the center of the reason why they can't move forward. It's slowly coming down to a question of whether they're willing to do for him what he has always done for them. From the look of it, some of them may be unwilling to. The group dynamics have worked so far because they have all depended on one another. They've pushed forward together and everyone has played their part. This episode has drove a stake in the middle of that. The kids seem to the main problem, but they are not to be blamed. As I mentioned last week, the show is exposing the basic failings of the human condition. The doctor looks around and tells Rick "We've been fighting plagues since the beginning of the time," and hell, he makes a good point. But Rick is right, there is something different this time. The difference is that this time around, most people are just plain gone. Sure, we've managed to catch up with a few people who made it through, but its not like everyone else was killed for lack of trying. This is the unfortunate reality of the zombie tradition. The plague, the virus, whatever you want to call it, keeps its pace, slow and steady. It's a tortoise and the hare type situation, only with lots more blood and a dead rabbit. I'm happy that the show is exploring this facet of the apocalyptic setting they have established. This may just mean episodes that move a bit slower, less walkers and less action, but I think in the end it will be very rewarding. We're starting to see some of the more peripheral characters really bust out of their shell, something the first season gave us very little of. T-dog's getting more temperamental by the second, Darryl's getting some real screen time and Andrea's standing right there on the edge. The next logical step seems to be for them to draw a line in the sand. It was only a matter of time before it came to this, but I'm absolutely curious as to where everyone will land. If anything, this episode confirms that the series is setting off on a new path, one that is more calculated, but bound to explode at any moment.