Tag: Zombies

TS-19 starts with an intense flashback to Shane at Rick’s bedside. Outside the hospital is being overrun by the undead. Shane struggles, first trying to pick Rick up before going to find a gurney. As Shane is trying to find transport we see soldiers gunning down hospital staff. The soldier lives long enough for walkers to catch them off guard and pull a few of them down. There is chaos. The soldiers are shooting anything not wearing a uniform. In a panic Shane pushes the gurney against Rick’s door and flees.

The CDC

As the flashback ends we jump back to current time. Team Rick is entering he CDC and we are introduced to Dr. Jenner, the sole survivor left at the facility. After a quick blood test to rule out active infections Jacqui mentions they haven’t eaten in days. This leads to Dr. Jenner bringing them to the cantina.

The food and drink flows and everyone is happy. At least until Shane wrecks the mood by pushing Dr. Jenner for some answers. Dr. Jenner tells the survivors that there were waves of defections as things got worse. Then a wave of suicides once it was clear the city was overrun.

When dinner breaks the team is treated to a rare treat in the apocalypse, hot showers!

While Rick is in his cups Shane confronts Lori with his need and jealousy. Lori scratches him up when things turn physical.

The next morning everyone is suffering from their celebrations from the previous day when Dale asks a few critical questions. This leads Dr. Jenner to show us the MRI of TS-19, Test Subject 19.

Then comes the stunning revelation that TS-19 was actually Dr. Jenner’s wife. Dale then points to the clock, and everyone gets a kick in the gut.

Decontamination Cycle

The facility is running out of power. When it does, it’s going to perform a deadly decontamination cycle which is essentially a fire bomb. Dr. Jenner is resigned to die. There is nothing left in the world for him. He tells the survivors they should hug their loved ones and shut their eyes, it will be quick.

The message rings true for Jacqui and Andrea. They are ready to go and sit with Dr. Jenner as the others work their way back to the main lobby. Dale sits with Andrea, telling her that if she’s going to stay, he is too.

The rest of the survivors escape thanks to the grenade that Carol saved from Ricks clothing. The grenade he took from the tank in Guts. The group is about to pull away when we see Dale and Andrea. She was willing to die, but not if it meant killing Dale.

TS-19 ends with the team pulling away in their caravan.

TS-19 Scoring

Season 1 of The Walking Dead ends at the same amazing pace as the rest of the season, which earned it a 99/100. The whole season is Worth Your Time, and is going to be tough for any other series to compete with. If you haven’t watched The Walking Dead recently, it is well worth visiting again.

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

Days Gone Bye kicked off not just The Walking Dead series, but spins off to become two more shows as well as an after episode talk show. Its hard to believe The Walking Dead is over a decade old at this point. I remember waiting to watch it with my older boys, all of us sitting on the couch, and we’d excitedly discuss what was going on during commercials.

Days Gone Bye reminded me why we love this series so much. It is just a masterclass in how to set mood and build characters.

Current Timeline

Days Gone Bye starts in the now. Rick has stopped at a gas station surrounded by what was a refugee camp, hoping to find some gas. What he finds instead is the iconic “little girl zombie“.

Rick is Wounded (Flashback)

We then cut to the series theme song before we take a step back in time. Rick Grimes and Shane are eating lunch as Shane is complaining about his girlfriend who leaves every light on in his house. Rick is telling Shane about his own problems with his wife Lori when the call comes in. There is a high speed pursuit, and one officer has already been shot and wounded. Rick and Shane put out the spike strip and wait.

After the bad guys hit the spike strip and wreck the bad guys come out with guns in hand. Rick gets tagged in the vest by assailant one. Assailant two goes down in a hail of bullets. Rick and Shane are celebrating the bullet hitting Rick’s vest when a 3rd Assailant climbs out and shoots Rick in the left shoulder.

We then see some haze as Shane drops by to talk to Rick who is barely conscious in the hospital.

Rick Wakes Up (Current Timeline)

When Rick wakes up he’s a little delirious. He thinks Shane is still in his room, but the flowers in the vase are dried up and dead. Rick tries to get out of bed and ends up on the floor, calling for a nurse who never comes. When he finally makes it to out of his room he finds a hospital bed pushed up against his door and a dim hallway with no nurses or patients in sight.

Rick finds his way to a nurses station and finds some matches, but its not long before he sees what type of world he’s woken into. Down the hallway there is what’s left of a woman lying on the floor.

Rick just woke up from some form of barely conscious state. he has no idea what’s going on, and its not getting better. He wanders down the hall the other way to find a doorway chained shut with a warning spray painted across the doors. I’m actually surprised this type of error made it into the show. What the hell does “Don’t Dead Open Inside” mean anyway?

Do fingers count as Rick’s first Zombie? He sees fingers coming through the door, but he doesn’t really know what’s going on yet so I’m going to say no, he still hasn’t seen his first Zombie.

Exiting The Hospital

Rick freaks out and flees through the fire escape, which is very dark and creepy before finding himself on the hospital loading dock. Bodies are lined up, and most of them have blood marks near their heads, showing they turned and were put down before being lined up outside. We get a good idea of just how bad things were as the camera pulls back, showing the volume of dead that were piling up.

Rick wanders away from the loading dock and finds what looks to be a military deployment on the nearby hill. Whatever happened at the hospital must have been quick. The helicopters appear to have weapons mounted but there are no nearby bodies, which makes me think the crews were taken down away from the helos.

Rick wanders away from the hospital until he finds a bicycle, as well as his first Zombie.

Lucky for Rick the first zombie he encountered was half the woman she was before turning. Rick jumps on the bike and races to his home to find it empty. Lori and Carl aren’t there and Rick has a moment of doubt. Is he in his hospital bed hallucinating?

Morgan

Rick goes out to the front of his house, his vision blurred as he sees a man walking towards him in the distance just before he gets clocked. As Rick is lying there half out of it he sees Morgan put a revolver against the walkers head and pull the trigger.

Morgan points his gun at Rick and demands to know what caused his wound as Rick passes out. When he wakes up Morgan has changed his bandage and tied him to the bed.

Once Morgan is convinced Rick wasn’t bitten, he cuts him loose. Rick, Morgan and Morgan’s son Duane end up in the living room and Rick is confused. He watched Morgan kill a man, and this is the first time we hear the term “walker”. Morgan tells Rick he didn’t kill a man, he killed a walker.

Morgan tries to explain the rules of the new world to Rick once he realizes Rick has no clue what’s going on, but Rick doesn’t look like he’s 100% convinced yet.

After a car alarm brings the survivors to the window we see Morgan’s turned walker wandering around in front of the house, which set’s Duane off. Rick is at the door, looking out the peep hole when Morgan’s wife comes to the door, attracted to something about the house.

Training Day

The next day Rick gets to kill his first walker. Morgan has given him a face shield and a baseball bat, but Rick’s still weak from being shot, and just barely gets the job done. Afterwards Rick takes Morgan to his house and explains that he thinks Lori and Carl are alive because clothes and pictures are missing.

Duane volunteers that they probably went to Atlanta. Before everything collapsed, people were told to head for Atlanta. There was supposed to be security there as well as the CDC. Rick has found a new destination, but first, he needs some gear.

This brings Rick to the station, where there is still enough propane in the tanks to allow the three survivors to enjoy a hot shower, a rarity in the post apocalypse days. After collecting weapons Rick gives Morgan a rifle and ammo before heading out.

As Rick goes back to find his first walker and put her out of her misery Morgan goes to his window to practice with his new rifle. Rick kills the female walker as Morgan kills a few of the walkers in front of his house, but isn’t able to pull the trigger when he finds his turned wife in his scope sights.

Atlanta

Rick is on his way to Atlanta, hailing anyone who can hear him on his CB radio. A group of survivors, including Lori and Shane can hear him, but Rick never get’s their transmission. Lori didn’t hear Rick’s voice, but she wants to warn whoever sent the transmission. The group of survivors know that Atlanta isn’t safe.

On his way into the city Rick is running out of fuel, but he finds a farm and a horse, which leads to another iconic shot from the series as Rick rides his steed into the city.

The city looks deserted at first, but its not long before Rick encounters his first walkers. The horse is skittish and does not like the undead. Rick is making his way down the street when he hears a helicopter and sees its reflection in a skyscraper, which leads him to go charging around the corner to try and get a glimpse of the whirly bird. Instead he finds himself face to face with a massive herd of walkers.

Things go downhill from here for Rick. Rick tries to flee but finds himself surrounded. His horse spooks and throws him as the zombies swarm. Rick uses the momentary distraction of his horse being eaten to climb under a tank. It doesn’t take long for the walkers to find him. Risk escapes into the tank through a hatch just in time.

Rick quickly kills a crew member turned walker before the tank is swarmed. Rick is surrounded on all sides, and in big trouble when someone reaches out on the radio.

Glenn – “Hey, you. Dumbass. Yeah, you in the tank.”

They were probably the sweetest words Rick’s ever heard.

Days Gone By Scoring

Days Gone Bye scored a 100/100 and is Worth Your Time. The atmosphere and mood set by this work of art was just perfect. This is what every other zombie show strives to be.

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

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