Thoughts On The Walking Dead Season 2 Return

 SPOILERS BELOW

The mid-season premier opened up directly where the mid season finale left off. When I say exactly, I mean when the opening shot comes in, the camera angle is set so the audience is staring down the barrel of Rick's gun seconds following the execution of Sophia. Shortly following the massacre at Hershel’s farm, many of the main issues that the fans have been wondering about since before the massacre were addressed. Did Hershel know that Sophia was in the barn? He says he didn't, but Shane still doesn't buy it.

During the premier there are a lot of moral crossroads that are presented not only to the characters of the show, but to us as well. Do you agree with Shane opening up the barn door to slaughter those walkers? Should Rick have handled it like he said he was? Is Shane's way of handling this post-apocalyptic world the right or the wrong way? Most of these questions are addressed in the mid-season opener.

Putting all of that on the back burner for the time being, the main issue that I personally think should be addressed first and foremost is; Team Rick or team Shane? I am team Shane all the way. In a world of constant decay one cannot risk life and limb around every corner simply to rescue one little girl. Please don't think of me as being cold hearted here, but put your self in any member of Rick's group's shoes. I would be concerned about survival, and strength in numbers.

Going by the rule of any given police force nowadays, the window is only really 24 hours before the chances of getting the missing person back alive is sliced in half. Now take a zombie infested world with those odds, and that's not exactly a lot of room for success. Nobody wants to come out and say that, however, that is something that totally needs to be brought up. And that’s exactly what Shane does from the very beginning, and nobody listens to the poor guy. Not until the only beacon of hope shows up undead that is.

Rick introduces his good friend 'Python' to some unfortunate soul

Another thing that I would like to point out is that throughout the entire second season so far I felt like Hershel was being a big baby about everything. He didn't want to see the hard truth that was staring him right in the face. It takes Shane to release his wife and put five in her chest and say “WHY IS IT STILL COMING!?” for him to actually see that he is being that delusional. On top off all that he makes the selfish decision to go into town all by his lonesome just to have a drink. So only following logic Rick and Glen go after him.

Which brings us to the next segment of this episode: the bar scene. This 10 minute scene kind of sets the tone for the rest of the season to come. After Rick and Glen pursue Hershel into town and enter the bar, they face a much more trying challenge than walkers. They have to learn to face their fellow man. Two douches barge into the bar and strike up a conversation with Rick. They seem friendly at first, but then things get insane real fast.

They figure out that Rick and friends are held up at Hershel's farm all safe and sound. After an exchange of friendly and not so friendly conversation, it becomes pretty clear where this scene is headed.

After a short while of a little more conversation this turns into the wild west, and we get to see what Rick was like back when he was a bad ass cowboy cop that he showed us in first few episodes of the series. And let me tell you, Rick has one quick draw. In a blink of an eye he whips out his python and puts one square in the not so friendly guys head.

The last thing that really stuck out at me from this premier was when they were gathering the dead corpses of the walkers. They would collect them from the barn to bury and burn, but that's not what stuck out at me.

When Andrea and T-dog loaded the back of the pick up and started driving to the drop off point, they don't even get 50 feet when some poor bastards arm just falls off his body like meat falling off a rib. Andrea nonchalantly runs back, picks it up, and throws it back onto the truck. It just goes to show that this is life to them now, it's second nature, and it's not going away.

By the end of this episode both Hershel and Rick learn that there is more to life in this screwed up walker infested world then just keeping everyone happy. You need to step on some toes sometimes, get your hands dirty. Only then can you wash the blood out from under your finger nails.