Written by: Evan Reilly & Glen Mazzara Directed by: Guy Ferland If there is anything to concede about the quality of Season 2, it is that they rarely cut to the chase with plots that logically should have been a lot more concise. Rick and Shane were set on a collision course from episode one, and by the end of season one, it became clear that Shane wasn't going to last out the series. While the conflict between the two of them was soap opera-esque at times ("Who is the father of Lori's baby?") there is nothing quite like their moments of outright conflict. In most TV dramas nowadays, there is a clear "main character" whose role is clear as the most qualified to lead the team against whatever force they are up against. The Walking Dead's brilliance in its first two seasons was in how both Rick AND Shane fit that archetype to the tee - but two Alpha Males do not fit a pack mentality. The final scene is brilliantly acted by Andrew Lincoln and Jon Bernthal, and it is one of the few TV relationships where their entire friendship comes to bear in how they deliver every line. Not to mention, like 18 Miles Out, the honesty is quite refreshing after so much tiptoeing around confronting the problem. And I'm not just putting this episode on the list for its final scene - it works as a whole quite excellently, too - Beginning with Dale's funeral and the subsequent unraveling of pent up secrets, this episode is a thematic and emotional journey from beginning to end.
Self-evidently a man who writes for the Internet, Robert also writes films, plays, teleplays, and short stories when he's not working on a movie set somewhere. He lives somewhere behind the Hollywood sign.
