Alouette opens with Isabelle, played by Clémence Poésy, as she experiences the infection as it hits Paris. Apparently she wasn’t always involved with the nunnery. She hears random screams as she is leaving a coke fueled party, and sees the beginning of the end as she walks to the subway. The gravity of the situation doesn’t hit her until the subway car rolls bye and she sees the violence up close.
Paris Falls
Isabelle almost buys it in those first crazy minutes but is lucky enough to get saved before the chaos on the streets can take her life.
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon
After she is rescued, Isabelle goes to her apartment to get a few things. While leaving her apartment we see her tell a little girl to go back to her apartment and lock the door. Isabelle tells the little girl that her mother will be back soon. Isabelle knows how badly Paris is right? It felt like she was blowing the kid off because it was easier to leave the kid behind, than take her.
Alouette Scoring
Alouette scores 75/100. Once again the Zombies aren’t the main focus of the episode. The other major issue was how Laurent is born. It feels like a not so subtle or elegant rip off of The Last of Us. The production values are top notch – I just hope the story is going to end up being the same quality level.
Spoilers Below:
The episode tells the back story of how Laurent was born. Isabelle’s sister was pregnant when the outbreak started. The two of them found shelter at the nunnery, where Isabelle was sworn to protect her sisters child.
The rest of the episode of Daryl playing commando to go raid a local hoarder’s palace. Team Daryl needs a horse for their cart. The feral kid colony needs supplies.
The Good
I love how the mule can sense the walkers ahead and refuses to go down the road.
Father Daryl. Do I need to say more?
How Isabelle leaves her male friend behind when it comes down to her sister or the dude.
The Bad
The feral kid camp. Its been done in so many other series. It feels worn out.
Infected is the Episode 2 of Season 1 of HBO’s new Zombie Apocalypse series.
There are spoilers in the review below.
The Last of Us: Infected
Jakarta, Indonesia 2003
Infected opens on a diner. Ibu Ratna is eating her lunch. Two uniformed men enter. Ibu Ratner has no choice but to go with them. The soldiers driver her to a base and show her a pathology slide taken from a human subject.
Ibu Ratna calmly explains that what she is seeing does not make any sense. Cordyceps cannot survive in humans. After questioning the three star general Ibu gives the soldiers some chilling advice. If they want to control the infect that is about to be unleashed they should start bombing.
Boston, Current Day
Ellie wakes up in a square of sunlight. Joel and Tess are sitting nearby watching her. Ellie’s positive test has Joel spooked.
Tess interrogates Ellie, forcing the girl to tell them her secret. The Fireflies are convinced that Ellie has the cure to the infection. Joel doesn’t believe it but Tess doesn’t care. She is more pragmatic. If the Fireflies are willing to pay for transporting Ellie, Tess is willing to do whatever needs to get done in order to get paid.
Tess forces Joel to think of the payday. It is time to head west. The first challenge is getting through Boston. The original route has been damaged by collapsing buildings, forcing the small group to cut through a hotel.
This gives us one of the first really cool visuals of the episode. Once they make it onto a terrace they see that the infected have swarmed out into the open. Ellie notices how the infected move in unison and Tess uses it as a chance to educate the young lady on how the Cordyceps can communicate across large distances.
The Horde
With their original plan blocked by infected, they fall back to take a route through The Museum.
The Museum, Current Day
Joel examines the Cordyceps veins outside The Museum, hopeful that the dried up tendrils mean the building is clear of the infected. At first all seems well. At least until Ellie finds a fresh body. Joel and Tess are anxious. Clearly they know that they are in danger. With little options, they continue through The Museum.
They make it up a few flights of stairs before the way behind them caves in, drawing the attention of the infected. In the distance we hear clicks and cries. The infected are coming. The three travels hide as the infected stumble into the room. The infected can’t see them, but it can hear them if they make any noise. Joel cautions her to be quiet but she can’t help but gasp in fear.
The survivors are separated briefly as the infected attack.
This leads to some awesome combat scenes. The Cordyceps are hard to kill, although head shots seem to be the most effective.
Ellie ends up bitten again while Tess has rolled her ankle. The trio makes it to the roof and then down through the collapsed buildings to the street.
The Street, Current Day
Once through The Museum the trio reaches a large transport vehicle. Whoever Joel was expecting to be there isn’t. There is however a body on the ground and a blood trail leading inside a nearby building.
Tess rushes in. The band of survivors they were hoping to find has been destroyed. Joel looks at the bodies. One of the band must have been bitten, which resulted in a battle that destroyed the group. Joel wants to keep moving but Tess tells them they are going to need to leave her behind.
Tess has been bitten. As the new reality sits in, one of the bodies on the floor moves and Joel quickly dispatches it with a head shot.
Tess shows Joel Ellie’s wound. Tess is going to turn, but Ellie isn’t. Joel has to get Ellie to Bill and Frank’s. They can take Ellie west if he can get her to them. As Tess is begging Joel to agree we see the hand near the infected Joel just killed. There is a tendril of Cordyceps nearby.
The Infected Phone Home
The infected are coming.
Tess grabs a rifle and uses it to spill barrels of fuel. She is going to keep the Cordyceps from following Joel and Ellie at all costs. As the door breaks down Tess is flicking her lighter, struggling to get a spark as hordes of infected run up the stairs.
One of the infected pauses in front of Tess, giving her a Cordyceps kiss as she desperately tries to flick her lighter. Just as she is being fully taken the lighter ignites and first floor of the building goes up.
Joel and Ellie hear the explosion and turn to see fire envelop the building.
Scoring
There were so many things I love about Infected. Ellie is sassy, funny, and adds a bit of humor to what could otherwise become too heavy. On the other side, Joel and Tess exude anxiety and fear when they are moving through the infected territory, making me sit on the edge of my seat with tension.
Infected earned every point of its perfect 100/100 score.
Prelude opens with a man packing in his garage, desperately grabbing what he can. He then heads out into the house with a baseball bat held at the ready. He doesn’t get far before he stumbles on his family, now Zombies, and runs upstairs instead of giving them mercy.
Black Summer, Season 2
Outside the sirens blare and we see people running. It looks like we have once again taken a step back in time. The man slowly takes off his ring before heading out into the blood covered hallways of his home.
Out on the street we see the team reunited. Spears, Sun, Rose, and Anna are together at this point (which I believe is pre Episode 1 – those god damn tricky producers). As they move down the street, forced to walk after their car’s gas was siphoned off by unknown scavengers, we once again hear and then see the plane in the sky overhead.
Enhance!!
Yep, that’s clearly a plane!
We then see the well armed group from Episode 1, and I’m guessing we are eventually going to find out how Sun became a prisoner, as well as why Rose asked Freddie if she “still smelled good”.
Team Rose runs as the well armed gang hunts them through the town. Spears gets his gunshot wound offscreen before Sun pushes him down the ravine – probably saving him. She gives up to save Spears.
Sun Captured
So why are these heavily armed men hunting other survivors? They clearly have gas and guns, why put themselves in harms way hunting scavengers?
We then cut to two men in a pickup as they drive into an ambush, which is how we get introduced to the less well armed group we saw battling the gun crew in Episode 1.
The next scene opens with a man checking out a car as the wind and snow blow outside. It is very cold out. Is that Freddie? I think it is but its really dark out. No, I think its the two guys from the very beginning who end up in the chase before they both get sniped. I did like that Friend 1 straps wounded Friend 2 down before they go to sleep – because if he dies in his sleep and turns, you know, it would be bad. Unfortunately for Friend 2, it’s not long before his body dies, turns, and breaks free of his belt.
We then see Spears, wounded and breathing heavily as that pesky plane flies overhead again. As Spears takes a rest we see a shape coming ever closer, marching across the snow landscape. Spears gets up and starts walking, his wound clearly slowing him down as he watches the figure approaching from behind. It doesn’t look like a Zombie to me – but I guess anyone following you in that world would be a bad sign. Things only get worse for spears as he stands on an icy ledge that gives out, giving him yet another rough ride down a hill. At the bottom he finds a lot of bodies, frozen or killed by violence? Nope, just frozen Zombies. As Spears borrows a pair of gloves from one of the mostly frozen Undead, his stalker stops at the top of the hill and watches.
Meanwhile Rose and Anna have found the house, and begin to approach it when a Zombie comes snarling down the lane. Lucky for Rose and Anna, the Undead are pretty dumb. Rose and Anna want into the house, and Rose risks a shot, but misses.
Lucky for Rose and Anna, the missed shot distracted the Zombie long enough for them to run to the door. When it opens we find the less well armed group is already inside. Thus ends Episode 2.
Prelude Scoring
Prelude was full of suspense and had a lot of good plot and background. What it didn’t have is a lot of Zombie violence in it, or much violence at all, which was a huge switch up when compared to Episode 1, which is costing it some points, 20 to be exact. Prelude is still well Worth Your Time at 80/100.
Zombie Bro has Liv transitioning from a Grumpy Old Man brain to a murdered fraternity brother. While Liv figures out how to live through such a drastic switch up Major has his own problems. The reality of his new role as Zombie Assassin is weighing heavily on his mind.
Do Zombie Assassins Have Guilt?
Spoilers Below
This episodes victim is a dead frat brother. The fact that it is a young college kid motivates Clive to solve the case as fast as possible. He asks Liv to let him know the moment she gets a psychic tingle. What’s a Hot Zombie pretending to be a crime solving psychic to do but make some brain nachos, right?
Brain Nachos Anyone?
Our fallen frat brother was a real douche. Our first potential murderer is a fellow frat brother who’s life was destroyed by a streaking prank.
Poor Clive doesn’t know why Liv is so different from case to case. He just sees her behavior as quirky and strange. He’s willing to put up with it because her “psychic” powers help him solve crimes.
Box Of Chocolates
Major still doesn’t want anything to do with Liv. All while Liv rides out theFrat Douche brains. These new brains have Liv take her new spy roomie to a frat party/wake.
While Liv is playing frat party detective, Major and Ravi decide to experiment with Utopian. This leads to Liv being called to rescue them from the club after they got totally messed up. Don’t do drugs kids.
Giving Me Déjà Vu
Back on the case Clive leads an innocent college girl on a voyage of pain and embarrassment. They investigate if the girl knew she was the ugliest girl at the frat party. This segment hit too close too home. I’m pretty sure I helped a girl win that award at a college party years ago.
Clive then finds the only costume rental that matches the murderer. The two kids they bring in are sweet – even if they are into some kinky stuff.
Meanwhile Blaine decides he wants to get back into the Utopian drug trade. This leads to him picking a fight with the cities main crime boss – who is literally named Mr. Boss.
Back on the case, Clive cracks this one with old fashioned detective work. The reason he couldn’t find any links between the murdered frat brother and the young man who rented the costume was because there weren’t any. The connection was between the other kid with the frat brothers same name.
It was all a case of mistaken identity.
Zombie Bro Scoring
Zombie Bro ends with Major rejecting Liv’s request to see him before he takes a hit of Utopium.
I’m giving Zombie Bro an 80/100 as it had a great twist and loved getting to meet “Princess Sparkles”.
Bloodletting begins with a short flashback. Lori is remembering the day that Shane came to tell her that Rick has been shot in the line of duty. Just before Shane arrived she’s telling a girlfriend that her and Rick had a fight, and she was not being reasonable. Rick responds to her anger with coolness, and that makes her even madder. The way Lori responds when Shane pulls up is just heartbreaking. How does a police wife respond when her husbands partner shows up without him?
Is He Alive?
Spoilers Below
Shane tells Lori that its his fault. The call said there were two men in the car, but there was a third. The third man got the drop on them. Lori has to tell Carl that his dad has been shot.
When we come back from the first break, Rick, Shane, and Otis (the man who shoots Carl while hunting deer) are running for the farm. Otis told them that Hershel will be able to help them. This does raise some interesting questions about how well supplied Hershel’s camp is, because, well, Otis is a big boy – which is slowing them down a bit.
Carl Is Down
We are then to meet a newcomer. This newcomer will become one of the major characters for multiple seasons. Please let me introduce Maggie. Maggie sees Rick running, and alerts her father, Hershel. When Rick gets to the porch the first thing Hershel asks is whether Carl was bit. Once they confirm Carl was shot, not bit, the Hershel Emergency medical team goes into action.
Back in the woods, Team Daryl is leading the rest of the group on their continued search for Sophia. They heard the shot in the distance that hit Carl, but have no idea what actually happened – yet.
Back at Hershel’s house, we see Carl struggling, screaming as Hershel removes the bullet fragments. At least until he passes out from the pain. Lucky for Carl, him and his father have the same blood type.
How To Save Carl
Hershel has stabilized Carl, but he needs to open his belly to stop a bleeder. The local hospital burnt down, but FEMA opened a shelter at the local high school and there are medical supplies there. Rick can’t leave, he has to be there to give Carl blood. This leaves the medical supply mission up to Shane and Otis, while Maggie goes to get Lori, on a f*cking horse!!!
Maggie’s Ride
Back at Hershel’s farm, Rick and Hershel are having a heart to heart, at least until Maggie returns with Lori and she’s faced with seeing her son on the brink of death, pale and unresponsive from his wounds.
We then get an awesome back and forth between Lori and Hershel as he tells her he’s a vet, and not a combat vet, a vet as in a veterinarian.
The High School
Meanwhile Shane and Otis have reached the FEMA site at the local high school, and things do not look so great. There are a lot of Zombies about.
Zombie Hordes At The High School
With so many Zombies about, Shane is forced to wait until nightfall when he can use road flares liberated from one of the cop cars to create a distraction to get the Zombies away from the FEMA trailer.
Flares To Distract The Walkers
The distraction gives Shane and Otis the time they need to collect the medical supplies, but the horde is hot on their trail as they leave the trailer. This is one of the reasons that The Walking Dead is so awesome, the Zombie hordes are just so well done:
The Horde Hot On Shane’s Heels
With hordes coming at them from every side, Shane and Otis are forced to take shelter inside the school, at least as long as the gate will hold.
Shane And Otis Are Cornered
Bloodletting Scoring
Bloodletting was another episode of The Walking Dead that kept me glued to the screen. It scored a 91/100, and is Worth Your Time. What cost it 9 points? Mostly very minor things. The first is that a lot of time bullet fragments are left in patients unless they are causing issues. So while the surgery is still necessary for the bleeder, going after the fragments is just asking for trouble. The other minor thing is the Zombies are heavy in the last few minutes, but you can never have enough Zombie kills, and there was really just one good kill when Daryl kills the Zombie that was menacing Andrea before Maggie shows up on her stead to save her.
A New Mission begins with Citizen Z, nearly frozen to death, stranded out in the snow in the far north. We then see someone put him on a sled and begin to pull him away.
Citizen Z On The Ice
We then cut over to Warren just as Murphy is approaching from the sub. We have apparently fallen back in time from Episode 1. A group Asian special forces have Warren, Doc, Addy, and Escorpion. Murphy has decided to set out on his own.
Ambush
Murphy, 10K and Murphy’s Zombie Slaves don’t make it far before two of their four wheelers blow tires. This leads to an attack by a group of very barbarian like newcomers. Murphy tries to stop them, but they aren’t Zombies, and his power doesn’t hold sway over them.
Savages
The special forces have air support, including an air drop of supplies. Unfortunately, everyone for miles around can see the supplies falling from the sky. This results in a mad rush to get to the supplies first.
Back in the north Citizen Z is slowly coming to, waking up next to a young lady. He doesn’t know where he is, but Pup is okay and he’s warm. That seems like a good reason to lie back down and rest. In the end it does make sense. If they wanted to harm him, he wouldn’t be waking up at all.
Citizen Z Got Lucky
Back on the race to the supplies, the special forces holding Team Warren show just how much firepower they have. A small group of Zombies approach, and is rapidly taken out by a laser grenade.
Laser Grenade
The special forces, being overly confident, almost fall pray to a Zombie straggler. Luckily for them, Warren and Escorpion take care of the Zombie even though they are in handcuffs. Warren and Escorpion get their zip tied cut off as a reward.
Back over on the Team Murphy side 10K is trying to break away from whatever hold Murphy has on him. As 10k struggles they hear something approaching. A massive ball of Zombies is rolling along, tearing into itself as the starving Zombies eat each other.
Zombie Ball
Out on the hunt for the air drop, the special forces have decided to give Team Warren their weapons back, with some small modifications. Addy gets a new Z-Whacker and this time its electrified.
Shockingly Nice Modifications
Kaya
Back in the cold North Citizen Z has woken up, literally, on every front, and we get introduced to Kaya. Kaya is a huge fan of Citizen Z. Kaya has a flat affect, but I love the way she approaches life, and her affection that is already apparent for Citizen Z.
Back on the hunt for the supply drop the special forces go down after one poorly timed laser grenade. A zombie throws the laser grenade back and all but one soldier gets their heads popped off. The survivor is bleeding though, and he doesn’t last long when the smell brings a hungry Zombie his way. The mission has been a total bust. The female leader of the special forces is still alive, but her team is dead, and the supplies have been destroyed.
Warren takes control the situation. Their new mission is to get Murphy, and help save the world. Because no one else is going to do it. This is just about when Murphy rolls up in an armored vehicle. Murphy wants Warren to join his mission, and he has no desire to save anyone.
As Team Warren is struggling with their next step to bring Murphy back into their fold, Citizen Z is watching the northern lights with Kaya.
The episode ends with The man showing the name on his paper, and no surprises here, he’s after Murphy.
Alvin Bernard Murphy
A New Mission Score
A New Mission had some great scenes and I loved seeing Citizen Z made it after nearly freezing to death. Overall I’m giving A New Mission a 77/100, making it Worth Your Time.
Brother, Can You Spare a Brain? gets right into the action in good murder mystery style. A couple comes home to find Javier, the resident artist, dead, a paintbrush pushed through his eye socket.
Love Is Blind
Flip To The Last Page
As soon as Clive shows up on scene his first question it to ask Liv if she’s got anything yet. I love her response. “Wow, your a flip to the last page of the book type guy, huh?” When Liv asks him what he’s detected so far Clive has an equally flip response. He doesn’t have to detect anything. The wife did it, the wife always did it.
Once the body is back in the ME’s office, Liv makes what appears to be a brains and hot sauce empanada. Yum.
Brains Empanada
The next morning Liv finds Major at her door, returning a box of things she left behind. Peyton returns just as Major is leaving. Peyton calls Liv out again for the fact that it’s clear that Liv still has feelings for the man. Liv is in pain, but she’s trying to save Major’s life. If a scratch turned her, what would f*cking do? I’m pretty sure he’d turn and so is Liv.
That night Liv wakes up from a nightmare. She sees the drug dealer from the boat in her dreams.
Visions
That day at work Liv gets her first vision from eating Javier’s brains, and its hot and steamy. She tells Clive what she was seeing but doesn’t have any real details. Just smuttiness. Clive thanks her for the “Fifty Shades of Psychic.”
Fifty Shades Of Psychic
Clive is still convinced it’s Lola, Javier’s wife, which leads us back to the loft.
Yes, Lola is played by Judy Reyes, aka Nurse Carla Espinosa, aka Turk’s better half. Hopefully Turk doesn’t find out she was banging Javier.
When they arrive at the studio, Tasha, the woman from the vision is there. We find out that Lola and Javier had an open relationship. Both parties knew who the others were sleeping with. Clive doesn’t care, he’s still got Lola pegged as the killer. At least until Ravi calls and tells him whoever did the murder was over six foot tall. Lola is not tall enough.
Drawings
Back at the ME’s office Ravi has enlisted the help of a police sketch artist under false pretenses. We also see the effect that Javier’s brain is having on Liv. She’s emotionally descriptive and she also discovers new artistic talents.
Liv Unleashing Her New Drawing Skills
With Liv’s new drawing out, she doesn’t find her target, but he does find her. Both Liv and Blaine thought they were the only Zombies pretending to be human. They bond over their loss of humanity until Ravi shows up and takes some samples.
As Blaine is apologizing for the boat party, and for turning Liv, he knocks over an instrument tray. This brings about another vision of Javier, being screamed at by Tasha’s jealous boyfriend. When Liv goes to tell Clive, Clive is already on it. The jealous ex boyfriend is already there, ready to be questioned.
Blaine
While Liv and Clive are questioning suspects we see Blaine picking up an older woman at a bar. The next day he shows up at the ME’s office again. He tells Liv that he’s changed, that he’s cut out the toxic people in his life. The next morning Liv witnesses Blaine with some of his old friends, proving to her he’s not what he says he is.
We then get a view of exactly what Blaine is up to. He turned the woman at the bar so he could go back and black mail her for brains to eat.
Turned By The Zombie STD
Back on the crime fighting front Clive has discovered that Javier was boning his manager’s daughter. Also that the manager was also dead broke. The team plans on stopping by the art show to question the manager again. Clive and Liv are there to solve a crime. Ravi is more interested in the models and the free booze.
While at the show Ravi gets pulled into a domestic dispute with a model and her boyfriend. As Ravi is distracted, Liv explores the loft. This s when Tasha’s boyfriend shows up and tries to take advantage of Liv. At least until she reveals she’s a lot stronger than she looks.
Pregnant Daughters
When Liv goes back out onto the main floor Clive is confronting Javier’s manager. Liv piles on, asking him how he felt about Javier getting his daughter pregnant.
The noose is tightening around the manager when Ravi has a revelation because of where Liv is standing. If Javier was on the lower step, the killer wouldn’t have to be over six foot after all.
Clive was right all along, the wife did it. Javier was going to leave her for his pregnant eighteen year old girlfriend. That sounds like a reasonable reason to kill someone to me, but maybe I’m old fashioned.
Brother, Can You Spare a Brain? ends with Liv going to Majors house and telling him that she can’t take not being close to him. She kisses him which leads to Major unleashing the pent up anger and frustration that been building up for six months and kicking Liv out. As Liv walks away she regrets all the times she didn’t spend with Major when she had a chance. I think that’s a valuable lesson we can all learn from. Life is short, enjoy it.
Brother, Can You Spare a Brain? Scoring
Brother, Can You Spare a Brain? scored a 70/100, making it Worth Your Time. If you have someone in your life who doesn’t like classic Zombie Gore but does like a good murder mystery, this is a great, unusual show to enjoy together.
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.
Dale On Watch
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.
Swarmed
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 Says Hi To Rick
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.
Breaking Glass
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 Dixon Having Some Target Practice
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.
Merle’s Weak Attempt At A Pick Up Line
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.
Andrea’s Mermaid Pendant For Her Sister
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!!!
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.
Walker Walking
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.
Walker Walking In The Rain
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.
Key Down The Drain
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.
Glenn Speeding Away
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.
White Light picks up where The Murphy left off. Citizen Z’s attempt to make sure that Murphy gets to the CDC backfires. Everyone wants the bounty. The bounty hungers are willing to kill anyone who gets in their way. This leads to a crazy free for all.
Free For All
Everyone is trying to get to Murphy at the same time they are trying to kill each other. Bullets are flying. Unfortunately Doc and 10K are pinned down by sniper fire. This leads to one of the most intense scenes in White Light. Doc is strangled, and only just survives. You can’t kill Doc!
He is one my favorite characters. Nothing better happen to Doc! Sadly, not everyone is as lucky as Doc. We lose another member of the crew in the human vs human vs zombie free for all.
While all hell is breaking loose in Cheyenne Wyoming, Citizen Z is fighting for both his life. Camp Northern Light is under attack. Citizen Z fights, and kills several fast, ex military zombies. Lucky for us, he’s up to the task.
After lots of shooting and violence, they catch Murphy. Addy nearly beats him to death. She clearly blames Murphy for making them chase him, which cost Mack his life.
White Light Scoring
I’m giving White Light an 81/100. There was a lot of action, but it bugs me when there is just tons of shooting as people cross open ground. Everyone who films a shooting scene should go play a few rounds of airsoft. Why? Because it is not like the movies. Being in the open means you will be hit.
Drive picks up, you guessed it, in the minivan with William, Sun, and Barbara. They are trying to make it to the stadium, which is supposed to be a rally point for the evacuation.
William is the leader of the group. Barbara is scared and insecure, and Sun is a determined, but hampered by her inability to communicate well. They are trying to navigate through streets full of abandoned cars and peoples belongings. As they drive they spot a black pickup, which appears to be pacing them.
Black Track Pacing Them
William thinks he’s lost them but in the process drives down an alley. Several survivors try to hijack their minivan, or maybe just take their supplies. This gets a kids bike stuck under the minivan and leads to the Best Zombie Kill of the episode.
Car Kill
Unfortunately for Team William, the success isn’t long lived. They barely get a little further down the road when the Black Truck finds them again. We then get to see a minivan drift around some corners in a post apocalyptic car chase.
Bad Drivers
Team William thinks they’ve gotten away, but you know that’s not quite how it works. There is a final car chase, and I do mean final, because Barbara bites it when William get’s distracted and drives head long into a truck carrying concrete barriers. The vehicles are wrecked, but William, Sun, and the other survivors make it into a diner before the infected can chase them down.
Rose and Spears, and their two companions aren’t as lucky as William, they are forced to walk. They don’t get far before they see a man and a woman trying to run from one of the infected. It’s an intense scene that shows us just how dangerous the infected are. Within seconds of being bitten, the woman becomes a starving monster.
Bitten & Turned
Team Rose makes it around the attack site and continue on their stroll. We get more evidence of just how bad things have gotten as they pass by a car that appears to have been hijacked.
Thus ends Driven.
Drive Scoring
Drive was an intense episode and scores 80/100, making it Worth Your Time.
