Written by: Robert Kirkman Directed by: Johan Renck This is the sweet spot of season one - immediately after all the characters have been established, but just before the plot has kicked in and sent them all on the road. The majority of this episode is framed around a conflict with another group of the living who want some of the guns Rick dropped on the street. The first episode of the show to deal with a conflict with another group of humans, "Vatos" acquits itself well by making the other group well developed and motivated rather than just being a bunch of thugs like they were implied to be when they first appeared. The reveal that all these thugs are protecting a defunct nursing home is an almost heartwarmingly optimistic take on the apocalypse that the show never quite captures again. Rick's deference to these people affirms why the best of humanity is always worth something, even in a world as bleak as The Walking Dead's. But the scene that lands this episode so high on the list comes right at the end of the episode - during a campfire chat with half of the cast, a group of Walkers attack and almost immediately start chowing into characters we just got to know. This scene is when the Walkers are at their most intimidating - especially we don't quite know the characters well enough to know who will live and who will die.
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.
