Guts opens up on Lori and Shane’s survivor group. We get introduced to characters we saw but didn’t really hear much from in Days Gone Bye. The first of which is Dale, who is dutifully watching over the camp from on top of the RV. We know he’s a good guy because Lori trusts him to watch over Carl if she needs to leave camp.
Lori is Whorey
Lori is in the woods when she hears movement. She nearly pees herself when Shane grabs her and pulls her to the ground. The two quickly get down to business. Shane pauses when he sees her wedding ring on a necklace and they don’t continue until she takes it off.
We then cut back to the tank where Rick is swarmed with walkers.
Glenn informs Rick he’s in trouble, but at least he’s got Glenn’s eyes outside helping him find the path of least resistance. On top of that Rick finds a grenade near the dead crew member. Glenn pushes Rick to run for it while the walkers are distracted with their horse dinner.
Rick makes it down the street and almost pops Glenn before his new friend leads him to the safety of a fire escape. Glenn then tells Rick what a dumbass he is again. As they flee across the roof Rick asks Glenn why he helped, and I love Glenn’s answer.
Rick: “Back at the tank, why’d you stick your neck out for me?”
Glenn: “Call it foolish, naïve hope that if I’m ever that far up shit creek, somebody might do the same for me. Guess I’m an even bigger dumbass than you.”
The exchange just shows Glenn’s nature. He’s a realist, but a glass half full type of guy at the same time.
Andrea
As Glenn and Rick flee down into the building Glenn radios out that he’s got a guest. Several people come out to bash some walkers as Glenn leads Rick into the relative safety of his friend’s company. At least until Andrea puts a gun in his face. She is pissed that Rick pulled walkers down on them.
Andrea is convinced that Rick has killed them by making so much noise. The other survivors explain to Rick that they are there to scavenge, and the key to scavenging is getting in, grabbing items they need, and getting out without making too much noise. Rick’s gunfire has pulled all the walkers in earshot. Worse yet, the glass isn’t going to hold the undead back for long.
The survivors ask Rick what he was doing out there, and me mentions the helicopter he heard and saw in the buildings reflection. They thinks he’s nuts. As they decide to flee upward they hear gunshots and Andrea askes “Oh no, is that Dixon?”
Merle
When the survivors get to the roof Merle is laughing. T-Dog is miffed that Merle is wasting bullets, and bringing more walkers down on them. Merle then shows his true nature. Merle isn’t a fan of diversity and isn’t willing to take feedback, much less orders from T-Dog.
I was a little shocked to hear Merle use the hard “N” word. Its been a decade since I originally watched Guts during its original airing and I didn’t remember that. This of course leads to a fist fight. Merle takes down Rick, then gets T-Dog on the ground and pummels him. He then goes on a rant. Merle votes Merle is in charge, and its honestly the only vote Merle cares about. He makes the other survivors raise their hands by casually sweeping them with his pistol.
Thankfully Rick is there to even things up and he bashes Merle in the back of the head. Rick then handcuffs the Dumb-As-Sh*t, Inbred White Trash Fool before reminding Merle you “Ought to be polite to a man with a gun.” Which is exactly what Merle told the rest of them when they started to complain about him shooting his rifle.
As the others discuss their next steps, Merle hits on Andrea. Even handcuffed Merle is just a disgusting human being with no self control.
Rick asks them if the sewers are an option which leads Glenn to show them what he thinks is the sewer entrance in the basement.
The team has a plan. Glenn and Morales are going to see if the sewers are a viable exit while the rest of the team monitors the store front and tries to reach out for help using the radio from the roof. Glenn and Morales find their way blocked by a massive steel grate, which already has walkers eating rats on the other side. Yum…
In the store Andrea is looking at a necklace and Rick asks her if she sees something she likes and we learn that Andrea has a sister. Andrea’s sister is still young enough to love things like unicorns, and especially mermaids.
When Rick asks her why she doesn’t take it, she replies that there is a cop staring at her before Rick assures her its okay. This is what TWD does so well, shows the humanity in each of its characters.
Glenn and Morales come back up and let them know the storm drain isn’t an option just in time for the glass in the storefront to break some more. Time is running out.
As the team discusses their options Rick comes up with a crazy plan. The walkers hunt by sound, sight, and smell, and Rick wants to know if masking one of those senses might change how the walkers react to them.
They grab one of the dead walkers outside the rear door and hack him up after saying a few quick words. At least the guy was an organ donor, so he did sign up for this right? The team then uses a bit of emulsified walker to coat themselves.
As Glenn is complaining, Rick tells him to think about something else, like Puppies and Kittens!!!
I had no idea that Z Nation borrowed this from TWD! I had to go back to check. Guts first aired on November 7th, 2010 while Z Nation’s Puppies and Kittens episode didn’t air until four years later.
Zombie Camo
Rick did achieve his goal though. He and Glenn smell like walkers. The last thing Rick does before walking out into the horde is to throw T-Dog the key to Mer’s cuffs.
Rick and Glenn carefully make it through the walker horde, their disguises appearing to hold up, at least for the moment.
Back at the survivors camp, Andrea’s sister, Amy is worried. T-Dog just manages to get a message through as the weather changes. T-Dog lets them know they are surrounded at the department store, but the connection is poor. Amy wants people to go into Atlanta to save her sister, but Shane say’s they can’t risk mores lives while Lori looks on, wide eyed.
Rick and Glenn are in the thick of the walkers when the rain starts to fall, washing away the precious walker gore they’ve covered themselves in.
Rick tries to comfort Glenn, but even as he’s saying their protective layer isn’t washing off, the walkers are beginning to focus on the two live humans more and more.
It’s time to run. Rick and Glenn just make it to the construction site before the horde turns on them. Thanks to the construction fencing they are able to grab a box truck and start rolling before the horde is on top of them.
Rolling Rescue
As Andrea, T-Dog and Morales watch from the top of the department store they are at first afraid Rick and Glenn are abandoning them, but Rick just needed to find another vehicle so they could create a distraction. Glenn calls them on the radio and tells them to come down to the rolling gates and be ready to roll.
As they move out Merle begs T-Dog not to just leave him there. T-Dog is actually going to let Merle go before he trips and the handcuff key goes flying.
I tried to highlight that little key flying towards the drain, and that is exactly where it went. T-Dog does the only thing he thinks will help and locks the door to the roof. At least the horde won’t be able to eat Merle while he’s trapped.
Out on the street Glenn uses his stolen Dodge Charger (with its alarm blaring) to pull the horde away from the side entrance. This gives Rick the time he needs to collect the other survivors.
T-Dog tells the others he dropped the key as they flee Atlanta.
Guts ends with Glenn flying down the highway, intoxicated with speed as the car alarm continues to go off.
Guts Scoring
Guts scored a 100/100, making the first time a season opener and second episode both just hit it out of the park. I forgot how awesome these original episodes were. Guts is Worth Your Time.
| Season | Episode | Episode Name | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Days Gone Bye | 100 |
| 1 | 2 | Guts | 100 |
| 1 | 3 | Tell It To The Frogs | 95 |
| 1 | 4 | Vatos | 94 |
| 1 | 5 | Wildfire | 95 |
| 1 | 6 | TS-19 | 99 |
| 2 | 1 | What Lies Ahead | 95 |
| 2 | 2 | Bloodletting | 91 |
| 2 | 3 | Save The Last One | 83 |
| 2 | 4 | Cherokee Rose | 94 |
| 2 | 5 | Chupacabra | 97 |
| 2 | 6 | Secrets | 85 |
| 2 | 7 | Pretty Much Dead Already | 100 |
| 2 | 8 | Nebraska | 88 |
| 2 | 9 | Triggerfinger | 76 |
| 2 | 10 | Miles Out | 90 |
| 2 | 11 | Judge, Jury, Executioner | 70 |
| 2 | 12 | Better Angels | 75 |
| 2 | 13 | Beside the Dying Fire | 100 |
| Season | Episode | Episode Name | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Human Flow | 85 |
| 1 | 2 | Drive | 80 |
| 1 | 3 | Summer School | 70 |
| 1 | 4 | Alone | 82 |
| 1 | 5 | Diner | 86 |
| 1 | 6 | Heist | 90 |
| 1 | 7 | The Tunnel | 83 |
| 1 | 8 | The Stadium | 91 |
| 2 | 1 | The Cold | 95 |
| 2 | 2 | Prelude | 80 |
| 2 | 3 | Card Game | 91 |
| 2 | 4 | Cold War | 83 |
| 2 | 5 | White Horse | 88 |
| 2 | 6 | Currency | 69 |
| 2 | 7 | The Lodge | 75 |
| 2 | 8 | The Plane | 99 |
